Psychic Parasite

Chapter 160: Becoming a Subsoul Once Again

Blue Building, in the cafeteria meant for Espers, Jyorta noticed the lack of a queue, heaving a sigh of relief. He hurriedly headed to the counter and handed over his ID card, selecting the food he wanted to buy. Since it wasn't the time for lunch yet while it was long past breakfast hours, Jyorta could only resort to snacks.

Moreover, he now had some time in his hands, without any work to complete. All he had to do now was loiter in the cafeteria until he spotted someone from his batch and inquired about the details of the subsequent classes.

Jyorta received his ID card and a slip of the food items he had ordered. The man behind the counter glanced at him with a weird look, wondering why he ordered so many food items. He opened his mouth, speaking with a hoarse voice, "If you waste any food, your credits will be deducted accordingly."

"I'll keep that in mind," Jyorta nodded in response and headed towards the self-service section, giving the slip to a chef stationed at the scene. The chef glanced at the amount of food he had ordered, raising a brow in response.

Without any unnecessary remarks, he signalled a couple of chefs about the items and began to cook. Within a minute, the snacks he had ordered were placed on the counter, taking up three whole plates. Jyorta thanked in response and carried the first plate, taking a seat on the table that had ample view of the entrance, situated adjacent to the open section.

This allowed him to keep track of the students walking outside and the ones who entered the cafeteria. Moreover, even if he were to gloss over someone from his batch due to the unfamiliarity, it would not be a problem.

Thanks to his seat of choice, his visage would be visible to anyone who walked past the cafeteria along the sides of the ground. So, his batch mates would also be able to recognise him in return.

Jyorta made two more rounds, bringing forth a plate each time, finally settling all three plates on the table. He picked up the first food item, placing it in his mouth, scrunching up due to a lack of taste. The food was bland, like water mixed with a jelly that tasted like water.

Since he wasn't a desert traveller thirsting for water, he was unable to appreciate its taste. Disregarding the lack of taste, Jyorta continued to eat in silence, giving his body the much-needed nutrition.

He took in the view of his blue soul, watching his surroundings turn dark. Now, he could see his surroundings surpassing the radius of a metre. On a rough estimate, it had grown past three metres, giving him a slight surprise.

'Is it thanks to memory fragments from the Floating Spiders? So, the development of my soul is slightly different from a Wisdom Parasite. The Nurturing process can be accelerated with an influx of memory fragments. So, my current abilities are a representation of the foundation of my soul.'

Jyorta glanced at the soul of his Wisdom Parasite, watching its state of inactivity. Even though it still retained its ego, thanks to its consciousness destroyed in the Mental Realm, it currently posed zero threat to Jyorta.

'Before its consciousness reforms, I should annihilate this internal threat.' The blue soul extended two Soul Corneas, approaching the soul of the Wisdom Parasite.

One of the Soul Corneas wrapped around the soul while the other pierced through it, slithering past the memory fragments that acted as stationary obstacles. Without the consciousness to direct a response, the ego was like an engine lacking fuel, unable to mount any resistance.

The soul cornea arrived before its core, stopping near a mass of red. It was the ego covering the soul, one that had formed due to the memory fragments siphoned from the soul of Heima's Wisdom Parasite.

The blue soul exerted itself, experiencing a slight decrease in its size. From the blue face within it, a halo appeared, condensing into a projection similar to his appearance from the previous life. The projection travelled through the Soul Cornea, arriving before the mass of red.

The projection tore through the mass of red, consuming a lot of time due to the sturdiness of the other party. The Soul Cornea helped speed up the process, turning the tip jet black. It touched the mass of red, corroding it, dissipating it into pure energy.

The blue soul multitasked, attacking the mass of red on one side, upholding the process of Jyorta eating the food at a consistent pace, and keeping watch for any familiar faces. Thanks to the brain's development, it was now somewhat easier to multitask as compared to before.

Moreover, as Jyorta continued to develop, multitasking would no longer require skilled control of the mind, becoming something that could be done with ease. Though, adding onto a skilled control atop that, it would birth greater capabilities in him, something he wished to achieve one day.

Jyorta kept watch of the time, gazing at the second-hand tick past without pause, consistent in its pace. Time passed in such a manner as Jyorta continued to eat at a slow pace. The Wisdom Parasite continued to Nurture, using the energy in the food arriving at his stomach and converting it into psychic energy.

It was something he always wondered. The higher the Tier, the greater the demand for energy, primarily derived from the food intake. At first, he thought the food would be the same for everyone but, his views were changed after the visit to the Headquarters of Grapple Force.

It seemed Marble City had gained control of a method to increase the nutritional content in the food provided, the quality many times greater than what could be processed through machines and conventional extraction processes.

This lead to a designation of Tiers to even the food they consumed. Based on what he had spied through his Soul Cornea in the dining section in Grapple Force, the food they consumed there had enough nutritional content to satiate the needs of Tier 3 and Tier 4 beings.

Here came his doubt; Warriors possessed tough bodies, which lead to an overall increase in the functionality of each organ in them, the case being the same for their muscles, bones, etc. This allowed them to possess superior digestive traits, allowing them to consume large quantities of food without trouble.

But, in the case of Espers, possessing bodies no different from regular humans, how were they able to take care of the energy needs for Nurturing at higher Tiers? Also, how were they capable of digesting food prepared for consumption at the respective Tiers?

Today, Jyorta was able to conclude a guess to this question that plagued his mind, thanks to what he currently experienced.

It was through the blood. As a substance that flowed to all corners of the body, the blood also came into contact with the organ that had fused with the Wisdom Parasite.

This allowed it to experience some changes, modifying its inherent structure to suit the body's needs. This allowed it to carry the energy produced as a product of the Nurturing, circulating it through the body.

It also acted as the carrier that transported the effect of the Nurturing to the rest of the body from the spine, in the case of Warriors.

This also had a relation to how the energy required to activate their Skills originated. After all, the Skills formed in the spine of Warriors while their Heart Crystal was present in their heart.

For the case of the Espers, it seemed the blood carried substances in it that allowed the intake food substances to quickly breakdown, allowing the digestive system to easily digest it. This allowed the Espers to digest their highly nutritional food, substances that otherwise would have proved to be a poison to their bodies.

'I would have to research it in the Portal. I can't say with assurance that my conjecture is right. After all, I am not an expert in biology. I can only take a guess through my base in chemistry.' Jyorta noticed the mass of red in the soul of his Wisdom Parasite finally destroyed.

The moment it was destroyed, the projection entered the core, enacting a mystical change, causing a wave to emit. In a matter of seconds, the soul of his Wisdom Parasite had become his subsoul once again.

The memory fragments condensed around the core continued to secrete faint traces of red, allowing it to coagulate around the core, intending to birth an ego again. The projection appeared, its lower body turning into a layer that wrapped around the core, forming a protective cover.

The projection continued to fight against the forming red mass, struggling in its efforts to shred it, just like before. If Jyorta left it to its devices, the situation from before would just repeat itself.

The Soul Cornea wrapped around the subsoul unfurled itself and returned to the blue soul, hovering within it. The other Soul Cornea continued to stay within the subsoul, siphoning some memory fragments.

The moment the memory fragments arrived in the blue soul, the former Soul Cornea turned ink-black, thinning itself considerably. It acted upon the memory fragments, corroding the white layers covering them.

Jyorta's brows scrunched up in strain, feeling the massive drain in his psychic energy. The white layer covering the memory fragments showcased staunch resistance against his corrosion. It consumed almost 1000 times the energy required to corrode the white layer from a regular memory fragment.

The other Soul Cornea stayed in the subsoul, helping the projection in battling against the forming red mass. Jyorta continued to eat, trying to keep up with the energy expenditure through the Nurturing alone.

He slowed the process of his Soul Cornea corroding the white layer to match his recovery process, which wasn't much to take note of. It was a slow process, passive in nature. Many times, the blue soul paused the process, watching a faint trickle of psychic energy fill up the Brain Crystal.