Psychic Parasite

Chapter 175: Nurturing, Guess on a Wave Controller
20th December, the year 333 of the Dawn Era; five days after Jyorta had returned to the military academy. The surroundings were barely illuminated, the darkness seeping into every nook and cranny, barely resisted by the occasional artificial lamps installed in discrete locations.

3:00 AM, in a certain room situated in the Indigo Building, an alarm went off. The sound of the alarm was ear-piercing, rattling the objects placed nearby. A hand shot forth, slamming the alarm shut, instilling silence back into the peaceful atmosphere.

”What is the time…?” A voice muttered, the tone hazy. A faint glow saturated inside the alarm clock, displaying the hand dials clearly for the owner of the voice to see.A figure sat up, pushing aside the bedsheet.

It was Jyorta, having woken up at the first alarm, a shocking phenomenon. He sat in the same pose for 15 minutes, only getting up from the bed after his drowsiness had abated. He closed his eyes and unleashed his psychic arm, picking up a measuring tape placed on the table nearby.

He used it to measure the length of the psychic arm, sporting a smile. ”It has increased to 63 centimetres. A growth of one centimetre every three days, that’s a good speed.”

After the Trait of Recovery finished forming in his body, Jyorta also sensed a slight increase in the recovery of his Brain Crystal and Wisdom Parasite. Now, as he closed his eyes and tried to sense his Brain Crystal, a smile crept upon his face.

’It has fully healed. My Trait of Efficiency is also working better than before.’ When he was a Line Controller, his Trait of Efficiency increased the Nurturing process to the level of a Tier 2 Esper. Now that he had become an Area Controller, the Trait of Efficiency increased the Nurturing Effect to the level of a Tier 3 Esper.

Though, it was a pity that it was the Trait of Efficiency’s limit.

’Once my Sync Rate increases, the Nurturing effect will experience both a qualitative and a quantitative increase.’

Jyorta opened the cupboard overhead and took out the bag from within. He fished out the rectangular box from it and pushed the bag away from him, placing it on the floor, situated 2 metres from the bed over which he sat.

Jyorta unleashed his psychic arm, making it trace a pattern over the rectangular box, erecting a psychic energy barrier—shaped into a sphere—around him. He sat cross-legged on the bed, with the rectangular box situated right next to the end of his leg.

His psychic arm grabbed hold of the lid, slightly craning it open. The next moment, a terrifying aura impacted him, immediately blasting his senses into haywire. The first to be affected were his lungs, stifling him, unable to either inhale or exhale.

The next to be affected were the bones in his leg muscles, trembling crazily, shaking his balance, and causing his body to tilt to the right. Jyorta’s arms hung limp, unable to exert any strength in them. He watched himself fall on his right, with no way of stopping.

Thanks to the berth, his fall was cushioned. His psychic arm relaxed, allowing the lid to close, putting a stop to the aura emission. The spherical barrier emitted a fluctuation of psychic energy, keeping the air within it under normal conditions.

The more he used it, the more he understood about the numerous details imbued in the barrier. Higher Tiered auras could affect the surroundings upon being unleashed, even actuating chemical reactions. One of the functions instilled in the spherical barrier was to prevent such an effect within it.

Jyorta stayed in his fallen pose, feeling the effect of the Trait of Recovery act upon him. It recovered some semblance of control over his muscles, imbuing in them certain changes to absorb and utilise the seeping aura, alleviating part of the pressure.

The muscles experienced minute changes, imbuing in each portion of them a presence, one that was greater than before. Soon, Jyorta’s body exerted its influence, unleashing its own aura. It took a while before Jyorta could retract it into his body once again.

After a bit more than 10 minutes had passed in such a manner, Jyorta recovered enough to be able to walk again. His psychic arm traced the symbol on the rectangular box, allowing the spherical barrier to dissipate, the ensuing psychic energy absorbed back into it.

He tied a rope around the box, making four loops to secure it tightly, preventing the lid from coming off in the off chance some accident happened. He set it aside for the moment and fished out the suitcase from the bag, placing it on the bed before him.

There was a small panel on the suitcase, flashing with the number ’70’. Below it were two lights, one red, and one green. Currently, the green light shone, signifying that he could take out a Frenzy Fruit.

Jyorta summoned his Caterpillar, allowing it to land on his palm. Using his psychic arm, he traced a pattern on a designated spot on the suitcase, watching a bore open up. The bore had a radius of two centimetres, from within of which a stand emerged, holding an orange colour plum.

It was the Tier 4 Frenzy Fruit. Jyorta picked it up with his hand, taking measures to not touch it with his psychic arm. Based on what he witnessed, there was a chance the Frenzy Fruits could be tainted through the psychic arms, the cause for the reason unknown to him.

Atika Light too hadn’t given him any special note to remember. But, it was just his careful nature acting up. He watched Atika Light pick up the Frenzy Fruits with her hand while feeding them to Heima’s Wisdom Parasite, so he too opted for the same.

Jyorta picked up the orange coloured plum and dropped it in the hands of his Caterpillar, watching it eat the Frenzy Fruit in interest. In the next second, the tendrils of blood connecting the two experienced a rush in energy, almost bursting due to the sheer volume.

The blood tendrils fused with one another, increasing their girths, barely able to now withstand the energy passage. The energy seeped into his body, circulating through his blood, unabating in quantity or quality despite passing through numerous organs.

They were like a substance that was immiscible with his body, retaining the components without any additions. Through the natural blood circulation in his body, the energy was eventually carried to his brain, inducing a chain reaction.

The body of the Wisdom Parasite, one that had fused with his brain, present in an injured state, as depicted by his Sync Rate absorbed the incoming energy. Soon, like an injured person regrowing lost body parts, the body of the Wisdom Parasite began to grow.

Since the Wisdom Parasite’s body was fused into the brain, the extra body parts that grew also fused with the regions of the brain—ones that hadn’t fused with the Wisdom Parasite before. This process pulled in the blood circulating around, affecting the nerves, exerting pressure everywhere around the head region.

”Aargh,” Jyorta felt a sharp pain in his head, similar to a headache but of greater magnitude. The pain originated from his forehead, the region around his temples, and even from the section around his neck.

He couldn’t even pinpoint where the pain originated from, just that he felt pain everywhere in his head. The feeling was similar to what he experienced in the Induction Ceremony. The pain abated within a second, as rapid as it came into effect.

Seeing that there was nothing else for it to do, the Caterpillar waved its hands at Jyorta and dissolved into blood tendrils, seeping into him through the pores on his face. Thankfully, the process shifted to the pores on his face, as compared to his nostrils when he was a Line Controller, saving him from experiencing that weird feeling akin to sneezing out mucus and retracting it back into his nose.

The after-effects of the pain persisted, making him clutch his head and grunt every few seconds. A minute later, the pain subsided, imbuing in him startling clarity of mind. As a result, he felt fresh.

Also, he vaguely sensed the Nurturing process speed up in him, a cause for joy that he couldn’t share. Jyorta noticed the stand retreating into the suitcase as the panel on it flashed once, changing the number displayed to ’69’.

’Even though the process is painful and makes me recall the Induction Ceremony, the ensuing effects are well worth it. The greater my Sync Rate, the faster my growth speed.’ Jyorta had a vague feeling, stemming from the memories he had accumulated in his blue soul, despite him having yet to comprehend most of them.

It was like an instinct, one that guided him about stuff he had no knowledge of, like a vague premonition that pointed him in a certain direction, allowing him to make a blurry prediction about the outcome or the factor that he would be able to eventually discover.

’I feel like my Nurturing Speed could be increased until my psychic arm grows by one centimetre per day at my current Tier.’ Based on the direction pointed by his instincts, he determined that the Nurturing speed he guessed to be what Wave Controllers experienced.

He packed everything in the bag, checking twice to ensure everything was secured and no accidents would happen. He then placed the bag in the cupboard overhead his bed, closing the doors before stretching his limbs.

He picked up his basket and placed his uniform in them, feeling excited upon anticipation of what he would witness later during the day.

4:30 AM, Jyorta returned to the room, fully refreshed, dressed in his uniform. He picked up a rag he had, polishing his shoes of the dirt, dusting it once before throwing it to a corner. He strapped his watch, noting the time, not carrying anything else with him.

He glanced at the glass jar placed on the table, one that Madam Mila had gifted every Esper in their Batch, ”I should start working on refining all the yellow dust in it. There are only 10 days left to the deadline. I am also curious about the gift she had concealed within that yellow dust.”

The glass jar had a lower radius of three centimetres. It spanned the height of 10 centimetres, small enough for Jyorta to easily carry around. Jyorta picked up the glass jar, and closed the door upon exit, locking it.

He pocketed the key and arrived before Haesha’s room, knocking the door once. He also noticed a couple of students exiting their rooms, already dressed in their uniforms, all brimming with excitement.