Psychic Parasite

Chapter 195: A Family Member's Concern

Laila's score always led Jyorta's by a steady margin. Irrespective of how he performed, she was always ranked first. It was as if she could predict his performance and adjust accordingly.

In order to probe and test if such a thing was true, in the month of May, Jyorta acted as if he was appearing for many tests. But in actuality, it was just a front he put forth. He didn't appear for a single test during that month.

All he obtained were the tiny amounts of Credits handed out during the theoretical lessons and the practical sessions. When the results were announced on the 10th of the next month, he was shocked to find Laila's score only leading him by a small margin, the same as before.

The next month, he appeared for numerous tests, trying to score as many Credits as possible, also appearing for many practical exams in the subject of martial arts. Other than the month of December, he scored the highest during the month of June.

When the results were displayed on the 10th of July, the same phenomenon as before repeated, with Laila exceeding him by 1065 Credits. It was as if she could read his mind of all the plans and prepare in response.

Also, due to her identity, Jyorta dared not try anything drastic that would expose his identity. He didn't want to fall under her radar. After all, if not for his existence, she would have a monopoly in the domain of the soul, her authority uncontested.

Laila was the one person he felt the most threatened against. His powers allowed him to convert the souls of others into his own, instilling in them his will, ego, character, etc. also shaping their personalities as he wished. Also, if he wanted them to commit suicide, he now had the methods, thanks to the false personas he could create and imbue in others.

Moreover, as long as he penetrated the broiling fog around beings at Tier 3 and above, he would be able to overlay a false persona over their souls, temporarily affecting their behavioural patterns. By the time the murkiness in their souls destroyed the imbued false personas, he would be able to achieve his objective.

These were the abilities he had as just a Tier 2 Psychic Parasite. He dared not imagine the abilities Laila ought to possess, considering her higher Tiered state. The only time he probed her foundation, all he was able to witness was a flat blue wall, the size of which he couldn't observe.

Just that fact alone proved about the immensity of her soul's foundation. She ought to have been a Tier 5 or even a Tier 6 Psychic Parasite. Whenever he was in her presence, his blue soul shuddered in fear. Only thanks to his false persona was he able to control his emotions from being displayed through his physique.

Jyorta sat cross-legged, wondering what he was supposed to do now. He had to stay in this dark room for quite the time, equivalent to the extent a person took to breakthrough from Tier 1 to Tier 2.

The actual breakthrough process was short, spanning only a few minutes. But before that, one had to prepare a lot, firming their mindset, keeping their bodies at optimal condition, and consolidating their life's experiences.

All this took time, the right mentality while at the right moment. Only when one was confident would they attempt the breakthrough. Also, since this was their first breakthrough, the Cadets consumed more than a couple of hours to prepare while in the room.

The staff assigned as their protectors were in charge of preparing everything in accordance with the needs of the individual attempting a breakthrough.

Preparations prior to breakthrough, the assistance provided during breakthrough, and also the precautions taken to ensure the survivability of the individual. Also, if one lost control, the protector should be capable of swiftly killing them.

Therefore, a lot of weight was placed on the protectors. Due to the nature of the job and the delicate requirements at stake, only Espers were chosen for the task. Also, Espers a Tier higher than the person attempting a breakthrough would oversee as the protector.

So, when a Tier 1 being attempts to breakthrough to Tier 2, the protector would be an Area Controller. Since the abilities of an Area Controller are lacking, Wave Controllers were the lowest Tier of protectors present in the scene.

So, for a breakthrough from Tier 1 to Tier 2 and Tier 2 to Tier 3, Wave Controllers took charge as the protectors. Currently, a Sky Controller oversaw the role of a protector for him, which was normally a cause for celebration.

With a Sky Controller in the scene, the chances for any disaster happening was close to nil. Currently, after getting word from the other party, Jyorta was no longer tensed, thinking of the schemes Laila had apparently been concocting.

He had long ago tattled her existence to Psychic Ancestor Marble. On seeing that no action had been taken, he decided to drop the matter. Three ancestors, Psychic Ancestor Marble, Rhachis Ancestor Light, and Rhachis Ancestor Dawn had grouped up to kill Rhachis Ancestor Space, Gajara Rahi.

Once it was done, Rhachis Ancestor Light went around the world, getting rid of all her subsouls. This was the last of the information his sister had given him.

Now, the fact that despite learning of the presence of Gajara Rahi's subsoul or possibly her own self inhabiting Laila, Psychic Ancestor Marble hadn't taken any action; this action of his held a lot of significance.

This made it seem as if the earlier battle had a lot of underlying significance.

What was presented to the world wouldn't have been the actual truth, with reality and falsity intermixing with one another. None of the Ancestors were simple beings, this was an irrefutable fact he was able to verify numerous times.

Also, the more he thought about their schemes, the greater he was able to dig out from them, shaking the confidence he had in his intelligence every single time. Humans were inertly intelligent beings. This was why they dominated Earth for thousands of years.

Thanks to the Wisdom Parasite, Warriors obtained superhuman bodies. Their brains too developed, as a result, allowing them to think faster, remember more, and generate thoughts of greater complexities. Espers took this ability to the extreme, almost achieving omniscience.

Also, only people with complex thoughts were capable of breaking through to higher Tiers. Those with simple thought processes and lacking intelligence would lose control at some point in their journey once the Wisdom Parasite in them develops a sufficient understanding of them.

This was why the greater a person's Tier, the more complex of a being he/she turned out to be. It was a process of natural selection.

'This world is so similar yet so different from the Earth in my memories.' The blue soul in him retracted the false persona, noticing Madam Mary's intention to talk to him.

Over the past few months, he had begun comprehending the treasure trove of experiences contained in the memory fragments in his blue soul. He also began to digest the memories from his past life, enriching his character, trying to understand how his character had been shaped as is.

Apart from the memories of his past life, he simultaneously comprehended the memory fragments belonging to the Floating Spiders, trying to understand their thoughts, ambitions, intelligence, behaviour, structure of their society, their social norms, etc.

As for the memory fragments siphoned from Heima's Wisdom Parasite, he had yet to touch them. He first wished to finish solidifying his character by using his previous life's memories. Only then did he plan to touch the memory fragments from Heima's Wisdom Parasite.

Those memory fragments belonged to Ehara Gobi, a subsoul of Gajara Rahi that had hidden itself within Heima's soul. Even though he desired to comprehend the secrets her memory fragments contained to get a boost in the abilities of his soul, he controlled himself.

'One step at a time, like always.' He noticed Madam Mary open her eyes, gazing at him with a smile.

She opened her mouth, scanning him from head to toe, "The side effects of your Trait of Corrosion haven't emerged in the past eight months nor did Grapple Force ever contact me in regards to this matter. If my memory serves right, they only claimed to have temporarily resolved this issue. What are your thoughts in regards to this?"

Jyorta felt a slight chill spike through his spine, throwing his thoughts into chaos. The meaning behind her statement was tremendous. She was directly questioning the validity of the claim, despite it originating from Grapple Force, with the Head being Atika Light, one whose prestige and authority was almost equivalent to the Ancestors.

Even though she had mentioned eight months ago about not raising any questions and putting him in the spot, her current statement proved otherwise. It was a direct probe, the intentions unconcealed.

If he failed to give a proper answer, then he was bound to garner her animosity. If he said anything he wasn't supposed to, then there was a guarantee Atika Light was bound to destroy him.

"I won't put you in the spot; just tell me how you feel. Are there any problems you face in your daily life? Do you feel some disorder while using the Trait?" Madam Mary smiled, "This question is only directed from one family member to another. I am not asking about what you had learned in Grapple Force. I only want to know if your body feels alright."

"I am concerned since Jyovic Bone tends to disregard a lot of things while immersed in his research."