The Good Teacher

Guy was stuck in a bind. In an attempt to allay suspicion he had inadvertently created a lie, which had now pushed him into a self-dug hole. And now, he was forced to crawl out of it.

But how? He couldn't tell anyone the truth about his transmigration.

If he couldn't claw out of the hole, the only option left was to dig deeper. So deep that it would be practically impossible to see the light from above. And that was what he was about to do.

However, this begged the question of how? Guy wasn't a confidence artist in his past life to be able to weave such intricate lies that would entrap even the most vigilant of people. But that didn't mean he couldn't learn from them.

He was an educator first. And as an educator, he must have the capacity to adapt and update his own repertoire to best enlighten the youths.

Thankfully, the RoK provided him with the perfect learning environment, and Mast provided him with an excellent set of references to sharpen his skills in deception, misrepresentation and falsification.

This did not mean that Guy was comfortable with the whole deal. He was wholly against such acts from the very core of his being. However, when faced with lying on one end and eternal cessation on the other end of the balance, as a human being with an inbuilt urge to survive, he gravitated towards the former.

As he leafed through the pages of the books provided by Mast, albeit with visible uneasiness, another change transpired in his budding foundation.

Just like how a parent works to mould their children's morals and character, a cultivation method works to do the same for a mage. It is a type of indoctrination that a mage does to themselves that later blooms to cement their being, both externally and internally.

The values inculcated through cultivation are harder to change in later realms, but since Guy was still in the Mana Condensation realm it was easier to mould.

Initially, he had a foundation that mimicked a spark - a nascent flame. If he had cultivated the Way of the Burning Fist to breakthrough, this foundation would have burgeoned into a turbulent sea of flames. It was a common starting point for most fire element-centric mages.

However, his initial resolve to actively disinvolve himself in the lives of people in this world was ideologically different to his old foundation. And so the shift, while drastic, was manageable and didn't result in any negative feedback.

His most recent resolve to adorn a mask of deception to align himself to the people around him was also a momentous decision that would stay with him for the rest of his life here. Thankfully, it meshed perfectly with his already passive credo and as a result, it also caused a positive change in his foundation.

It should be noted that it wasn't so easy for mages to undergo such magical shifts in ideology by just reading random books. The content must evoke a certain shift so profound that it creates some form of appreciable change in the mage's psyche. The shifts within Guy should be wholly attributed to the "deep" contents of the books he was reading.

Yet this change in Guy was not apparent at first glance. After all, the foundation hadn't been formed yet. What would later grow to resemble a body of water was just a measly puddle. Still, if anyone were to approach this puddle of transparent and clear water, they wouldn't see the water bed, but rather a reflection of themselves that presented them in a form they yearned for subconsciously. The tranquil puddle was a mirror that reflected the perfect reality everyone wanted to see.

Right after Guy finished absorbing the contents of the books before him, his mind ran on overdrive and built an elaborate web free of holes. As the metaphorical web materialised, a mask formed in his RoK that manifested the reality weaved in this web.

The mask was void black with white spots floating in it forming unintelligible shapes. It was like an inverted Rorschach test. As he lifted the mask, he asked, "What is this?"

(Apparently, your actions have resulted in a philosophical shift within you. It has affected your cultivation, but surprisingly it has also left a mark on your soul. This mask in front of you is the remnant of that mark,) Mast replied with a hint of confusion in his tone.

"Will this affect me in any way?" Guy probed with visible concern. His soul was what bound him to his life in this world. He couldn't afford to damage it in any way.

(It doesn't seem so. It appears as if you've created a partition in your soul. That mask works like a gateway for you to access that other partition.)

"All of this sounds so precarious. Are you sure that it's safe for me to use?"

(I blame mana,) Mast sighed. (Stuff like this never happened in my world. There was a clear boundary that the sentient beings in my world couldn't cross. But mana just screws everything up!)

Guy stared at the mask as he debated on whether he should adorn it or not. He didn't know what it did. But just the presence of an unknown object in his RoK was bugging him.

Gritting his teeth, Guy brought the mask closer to his face. Right as the cold and steely material contacted the skin on his face, Guy started to experience a shift in his psyche that spread out from a deep corner.

While it was hard to describe, Guy could feel a creeping shadow work its way through, suppressing certain thoughts and magnifying others. In some cases, it even flipped some of his notions on their head. As he was tempted to contend on some matters, and fiercely debate on others, the shadow quickly quelled those urges. Surprisingly, he started to agree with them vehemently, to an almost zealous degree.

The shadow quickly enveloped everything, leaving a mass of supreme rationality intact in a corner of his mind. It was strong enough to get out of his now trance-like state, and quite possibly suppress it for a set period of time if necessary. Guy was thankful for that. He was extremely uncomfortable and disgusted by his current beliefs.

When Guy pulled his attention out from his psyche, he saw that he was no longer in the RoK. Or maybe he was. Maybe this was the RoK that corresponded to this partition of his soul.

He was standing on top of a dais. Behind him, the wall was pearly white, emanating a conflicting sense of approachability and foreboding. Right at the centre was a massive symbol formed of a stark black metal. It wasn't a static symbol, as the structure morphed intermittently.

A trio of interlocked triangles. A swirl. A pentagram. The eye of the Illuminati. An ankh. The Ouroborous. The deathly hallows?

Guy quickly averted his gaze from the alluring symbol and turned forward.

Like the RoK, this place extended to infinity but with a caveat. While in both situations there was an origin, the RoK extended in all 360 degrees, this place extended monodirectionally starting from the dais he was on.

On the dais, there was a podium similar to the ones found in churches. It too shifted periodically, with its themes alternating between a myriad of flavours. To his right was a large altar. Its design would match that of the podium and the implied flavour from the symbol hanging behind him.

From the dais, extending forward, were rows of benches all facing towards him.

"This place..." Guy muttered.

(Looks like a church,) Mast interjected.

"The Church..." Guy parroted.

Guy approached the shifting podium and inspected its designs. As his fingers contacted its surface, a series of visuals flashed before his eyes.

He saw the Earth getting warmer, and people stripping off their skins to reveal their reptilian selves. He saw a horde of UFOs approaching the planet and abducting groups of peoples. He saw the Earth's crust cracking resulting in an age of disasters of apocalyptic proportions.

As he was getting absorbed into the various "revelations" presented by the podium, his rational self took over and pulled him out.

Sweating due to a mix of excitement and fear, Guy snarled at Mast, "You did this to me!"

Mast raised his hands to feign acquittal and replied, (Hey man... How would I know that you'd get so absorbed?)

Guy slowly unfurled his shaking fists and exhaled to calm himself down. "What exactly is this place?"

(Hmm... I can't say for sure. It feels exactly like the RoK. It's another space built within your consciousness except that it is tied to your soul partition,) Mast hummed in contemplation.

Guy's eyes widened as he replied, "Wait a minute! Did I make my own system? I can't believe it! I had the power inside me all along!"

Mast face-palmed. (By your definition, it appears to be something like it. But unlike the RoK, its functionalities aren't known to me. I guess we'll have to figure things out as we go along.)

Guy shuddered with a devious chuckle as he surveyed the room.

"Let's call this place... The Church!" He declared piously.

Following that, he clapped his hands and commented resolutely, "Well, let's get this over with then!"

And with that, Guy pulled his consciousness out of The Church. As he returned to his body, he saw Al looking at him with a concerned expression.

It was then that Guy realised that he had been sitting in place blankly for over half an hour.

Guy quickly centred himself and began.

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