Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story. Worm is property of Wildbow. I do not have any interest in offending anyone and only wish to entertain readers.
Note: Bonus points for those who understand the meaning of the title.
XXXXXXX
[Your next mentor will be... Thufir Hawat.]
Soon, information entered my mind and I have to say I'm quite impressed.
Thufir Hawat was a Mentat and Master of Assassins for House Atreides during the time of Duke Leto the Just.
For three generations, Hawat had been responsible for Atreides House security. This meant protection for Atreides family members, anti-espionage, risk management, and various aspects of kanly. Moreover, Hawat had been entrusted with the training of the Ducal Heir Paul in the arts of war, as well as political and military strategy.
Throughout the Imperium, Hawat had a formidable reputation. He was known in the Landsraad to be both cunning and honourable. Indeed, other Great Houses coveted him for his abilities as a strategist, warrior, and trusted advisor.
He was what people called a mentat. They are humans trained to replace thinking machines following the Butlerian Jihad, mentats possess what is known as the "naïve mind". This endows them with a supralogical mental state free from preconceptions or prejudices, meticulously crafted within their unconscious mind to perceive, comprehend, and hypothesize patterns and connections ranging from pure unstructured data to multivariable processes in a manner superior to modern supercomputers.
Bordering prescience, they can even extend these outward patterns and connections into the future, enabling them to discern precisely which variables within a complex system need adjustment (and how they should be adjusted) to yield an outcome they may find desirable.
Soon the world around me glitched out of existence and it soon changed into what I can only describe as a meditation room from Dune.
It was a spacious, seemingly underground chamber with a predominantly grey, concrete aesthetic. The walls are textured and appear aged. A large, circular window, deeply recessed into the architecture, dominates one wall. This window offers a view of a dark, rain-swept forest, the trees indistinct in the misty atmosphere. Which means that there's a forest outside this training room, which must be Guru's doing to fit the aesthetic.
The window's design incorporates concentric circles.
The floor of the chamber is smooth, polished concrete, seemingly uninterrupted except for a slightly raised platform near the foreground and a section of hexagonal tiling.
Near the opposite wall from the window, a large doorway is subtly recessed within a circular frame mimicking the window's design.
Then I saw him my mentat teacher, Thufir Hawat.
He opened his eyes and noticed me and he smiled gently at me. He motioned for me to come forward and so I did as I neared him he said, "Ah, hello young master would you like to begin your training now?"
I nodded at him in acknowledgement, "Yes please."
He smiled at me, "Alright, let's get started."
...
Thufir immediately began my mentat training and I have to say people from Dune are cracked.
In Dune mentats were basically the biological equivalent of AI, their minds work as good as advanced AI. Logically, the only way for that to be possible is to have enhancements to help with that, but no.
Mentats are just human beings who have been selectively bred by the Bene Gesserit. That also goes Navagators, Bene Tleilax etc. They are just highly conditioned and trained humans who has had 10,000 years of brutal Darwinian evolution that eliminated out all the weaklings.
Thufir began instructing me on doing mentat computation. I have to say that the mentat's ability is really useful for me in my quest.
The mental boost Guru gave me during my training and my enhanced mind from the Hercules Method helped me learn a lot from him. My intellect was already immense because of my mastery of the Hercules Method and Thufir began helping me reach even higher levels.
As time passed he taught me how to have a perfectly indexed and rapidly searchable memory, and the ability to rapidly process raw data in very short order (imagine being able to watch an entire movie at x100 speed and remember every frame in perfect fidelity).
With my enhanced mind it was quite easy to do. Thufir began teaching me to how to construct 'The Naive Mind', it was a mental state endowed me with a supralogical mental state free from preconceptions or prejudices, it's meticulously crafted within my unconscious mind to perceive, comprehend, and hypothesize patterns and connections ranging from pure unstructured data to multivariable processes in a manner superior to modern supercomputers.
It was actually quite hard cultivating 'The Naive Mind', but with Thufir's guidance I was able to construct mine. I spent some time refining and improving it because of my mastery of the Hercules Method.
With my computation abilities enhanced and with the construction of my 'Naive Mind' it was time to move on to other things Thufir began to teach me.
As the Master of Assassins of the Atreides household for three generations this meant that he was in charge ofthe Atreides House security. This meant protection for Atreides family members, anti-espionage, risk management, and more.
Though it wasn't just anti-espionage, Thufir knows many assassination techniques, he knows how to make plans within plans, and so much more.
Thufir began teaching me everything he knew and he knew a lot, especially since he's been alive for over a century. Even with my enhanced computation abilities it still took a bit of time for me to learn what he knew, but within a few weeks I learned everything he knew.
Though, despite the many things I learned from Thufir it didn't stop there. Befitting as one of the main mentors of Paul Atreides, he gave me a well-rounded education befitting that of a noble of great house in the Dune universe.
The education Thufir taught me consisted of all the social and physical sciences, and he taught me comprehensive knowledge of tactics, strategy, logistics, leadership, oratory, history... and
above all the techniques of personal combat, both political and physical.
If I was a noble in the Dune universe, I have a higher chance of surviving with my education. Surprisingly, the education that Thufir taught me was actually quite advanced, people will assume that the Dune universe isn't that actually advanced because of the lack of computers, feudal society, and more and that's understandable.
Nope! They are quite advanced and while they might not seem like it they have over 10,000 years of collected knowledge and scientific advancement and while the last 10,000 years they were in stagnation, there were still some people within the Imperium that was interested in advancing technology, such as the Ixians.
Dune has pretty interesting technology despite the setting such as the scientific principle of the Holtzman Effect-a principle based on the repellant force of subatomic particles, and which allowed the creation of forcefields, space folding, and suspensors. There are also various materials such as Plasteel and Gel circuitry.
As I received training to have mentat computation abilities, the education and training of a noble from a Great House, and the skills of a Master of Assassins. While I deemed it enough, Thufir wasn't satisfied as he said and I quote, "Have an aura of infallible genius."
So I spent more time refining my abilities that I learned under him and it was the right decision. My mentat computation and Naive Mind have improved to the point I can even extend the outward patterns and connections I see into the future, enabling me to discern precisely which variables within a complex system need adjustment (and how they should be adjusted) to yield an outcome you I find desirable.
My skills as a Master of Assassins improved as well, my planning, assassination, training of assassins, and more have improved. My espionage and counter-espionage skills have improved.
Overall, I spent more time with Thufir to refine my abilities and soon I knew it was time for my training with Thufir to end.
...
We were in the meditation room and Thufir was looking at me with a proud smile.
"Well done, my lord you have finished your training under me. I can't help, but be proud in how far you have come. I know you're going to succeed in your endeavors."
As he said that the room began glitching out of existence and so was Thufir. Soon it was back to normal and the meditation room was replaced with my large bedroom.
Guru then spoke
[Great Job! You have finished your training with Thufir Hawat is there any more teachers that you wish to learn from?]
Hmmm, I began to think of more teachers that I can learn from. I mastered pretty much everything I might think I need, but I knew that there might be a skill I can use if I'm ever in trouble and that's when it hit me
Disguises.
'I want to learn from a mentor that's considered a master of disguise.'
[Of course!]
Guru went silent indicating she's now searching for a mentor that can teach me how to be a master of disguise.
[Aha! I found the perfect master of disguise to teach you.]
'Oh, who is it?'
[Your next teacher will be...]
XXXXXXXXXX
Author's Note: The eighth chapter of his training arc is finished! I will post a chapter explaining his profile after this training arc. Two more chapters to go to be done with the training arc.
Note: I'm trying to finish Ren's training arc as soon as possible and that's when the story begins.
Also shout out to the Dune Wiki, Worm CYOA, and Dune Jumpchain for helping me make this chapter. I'm thankful for the people that made them, as I wouldn't have been able to do this chapter.