Psychic Parasite

Chapter 202: Advantages and Disadvantages
”The Wisdom Parasite in us Nurtures our body, maturing in return by absorbing our life experiences. Upon evolution into each Tier, its body experiences a qualitative change each time. This qualitative change influences our body, slowly changing it. That is how we grow.” Madam Rizenne began to speak after 10 minutes, taking into consideration her emotional upheavals.

”But, this influence, brought about by the Nurturing our body experiences every second for years changes our functional being. As has been taught in your other classes, the Nurturing process will never stop, even while mating.”

”This creates a possibility for a trace amount of the Wisdom Parasite’s body within the mating couple to shed off and seep into the ovum. As the ovum becomes fertilised and begins to develop into a baby, there is a chance for this trace to grow into a Wisdom Parasite. Genetically, this is for the best, allowing the human baby to naturally develop superhuman strength. But…as I said before, the existence of Rhachis Ancestor Parasite screws up everything.”

Madam Rizenne managed to calm down, continuing with her session, ”Eventually, the baby is born as a Chid of Wisdom. This is only in the case the trace manages to grow to a certain extent alongside the baby. Otherwise, it is gradually ejected by the baby’s body and is flushed out.”

She shook her head, ”This trace is a natural process. It exists in every baby when they are birthed. It is just that the trace failed to form into a Wisdom Parasite. That is why when a couple mate, they experience a minute decrease in their Sync Rate.”

”Now, this is an inevitable process but, at lower Tiers, the trace is weak to the extent it cannot form into a Wisdom Parasite inside the baby. But, the higher the Tier, the greater the quality of the trace, allowing the Wisdom Parasite to develop more easily.” Madam Rizenne glanced around the auditorium, taking in the faces of all the students seated.

Many students sported reddish eyes, with a significant number of them shedding tears, affected by her sadness. Madam Rizenne sighed once, ”When the couple are at Tier 1, the chances of their offspring being a Child of Wisdom is less than five percent. This percentage steadily increases as their Tier increases until at Tier 4 where it is almost 90 percent. This is only on average, your personal strength affects this even more.”

”You don’t even need to think about Tier 5. It is almost guaranteed. That is why my personal advice is for you Cadets to get married early and have children before your strength crosses Tier 3.” Madam Rizenne sighed once again, ”There is only a one-in-three chance to birth a Child of Wisdom if both the parents are at Tier 3. It is further less if one of the parents is at a lower Tier.”

”Everything has its time; I hope you understand that well. Never forget it; your teacher here is the best example.”

”We have derailed from the topic too much,” Madam Rizenne took in a deep breath, ”The Wisdom Parasite is our first advantage. The second is our Traits. Now, you can argue about the superiority of the Traits possessed by the Floating Spiders, Lava Turtles, Spindle Bees, and River whales, despite each of them possessing only one.”

She exhaled, the force in her exhale falling to a level of normalcy, ”The superiority of their Traits lies in the fact that they possess them by birth and that their Trait develops alongside them. This makes their prowess to be on par with Skills of similar Tiers.”

”We don’t have such an inherent advantage. We had been trying to develop such a Trait for humanity for almost a century but have yet to achieve initial success. But, our advantage lies with the fact that we can imbue ourselves with many Traits.”

”Consider the Trait of Temperance; it helps limit the development of the Wisdom Parasite and helps in your Breakthrough. Even though its effect peaks at Tier 3, its advantages are useful even in higher Tiers. After all, breakthrough becomes so dangerous from Tier 4 and above that every advantage helps widen the gap between life and death.”

”There is our Trait of Severability; by consuming energy in the Heart or Brain Crystal, it directly increases the Sync Rate. This is a major advantage we possess. We also have the Frenzy Fruits, ones that raise our Sync Rate upon consumption. The Frenzy Beasts don’t possess these methods, including their leader, Rhachis Ancestor Parasite thanks to our efforts in safeguarding its production method.”

”We have the Cleansement Fruit that allows us to avoid the fate of losing control and still retain a sliver of our peak strength. Warriors lose their Skills but still retain their Nurtured bodies. Espers lose all but one psychic arm. But, this still leaves them with sufficient strength to safeguard their selves.”

”The Frenzy Beasts don’t have this option; their only fate is to lose control in old age, when their accumulations are no longer enough for a breakthrough. The moment they begin to lose control, they will be ganged up by their brethren and swiftly killed.”

”When Madam Mary created the Trait of Growth, our advantage in this aspect further spiked. After consuming a Cleansement Fruit, using this Trait, we can once again regain our peak strength. Even though further growth is impossible, just the fact of recovering our peak strength is an impossibly achievable feat.”

”I had consumed a Cleansement Fruit eight years ago. After that, despite losing four psychic arms, I still retained my capabilities as a Sky Controller thanks to my remaining psychic arm. Madam Mary published the creation of the Trait of Growth seven years ago. I was one of the first members that obtained it.”

”Now, basing my accumulations using this Trait for seven years,” She unleashed five psychic arms, ”I have almost recovered my peak battle strength. I estimate one more year before I would achieve the same strength I had possessed in my peak.”

”The Trait of Growth and the Trait of Severability, these two Traits have elevated the power under humanity’s disposal to a whole new level. Now, when needed, we retired veterans can take up arms at any time.”

”We have taken measures to never reveal this aspect. We retired veterans are waiting in silence, sitting in peace within Marble City. On the fateful day, we would rise up once again, taking those bastard Frenzy Beasts in surprise.” Her voice resounded throughout the auditorium, echoing in the minds of every student, instilling in them the complex planning and consideration Marble City had taken to ensure their development and survival.

It showed the resolve they had to forge a path into the future, and their indomitable spirits that were unwavering despite all odds.

’Even the Ancestors aren’t immortal, possessing a definite lifespan. Without the protection of the Ancestors, their race would be annihilated or pushed to the brink of extinction sooner or later. Therefore, in order to ensure the survival of their race post-death, they plan to destroy their enemies or deal them a fatal blow. This is the fateful day Madam Rizenne had implied.’

’I wonder since when Marble City had begun its planning. Considering the intellect and cunning of the higher-up characters like Madam Atika Light and Rhachis Ancestor Light, I can’t even imagine the date their preparations had begun.’

’Also, most of the Ancestors in this world are part of the first generation, becoming Tier 6 beings during the same period as Rhachis Ancestor Dawn and Rhachis Ancestor Light. If the lifespan of most of the significant characters in the world is coming to an end…it would be a catastrophic war.’

’Before that happens, I should possess definite strength. Only then can I guarantee the survival of me and my family. If Psychic Ancestor Marble’s estimate is accurate, I have at most four decades.’

Madam Rizenne interrupted his thoughts, speaking with a brisk tempo. ”We have the superiority in our information gathering aspects, thanks to our technological advancements. There are also our Artifacts and Relics, furthering our advantage. Even the Floating Spiders, the strongest Frenzy Beast race has a technological advancement equivalent to our Stone Age.”

”But, they are significantly developed when it comes to Artifacts. Their Unranked Skill, Web World shares similar traits to our Unranked Skill, Marble Sonata in its ability to create Artifacts. But, when it comes to Relics, their research is only on the basic level.”

There was a hint of ridicule in her tone, one submerged by pride, ”They have yet to create a Relic to date. The rare few Relics they possess are looted from us. Despite imitating us in many aspects, their foundation is still lacking to establish dedicated research capabilities.”

”You might wonder how, despite possessing so many advantages, we have yet to annihilate the Frenzy Beasts.” Madam Rizenne sighed, ”It is simple when you think about it. They outnumber us by far too much. The population of humanity had dwindled to critical levels during the Dark Ages. When we were recovering from the damage, the Frenzy Beasts developed even more.”

”The Frenzy Beasts also possess a single weapon that has managed to counter most of our abilities.” Madam Rizenne let out a wry smile, expressing her helplessness in this regard. ”It is the Essence of Frenzy. At first, the Essence of Frenzy was something that damaged the Frenzy Beast into one of irrationality.”

”But, with time, the Frenzy Beasts managed to develop methods to turn the Essence of Frenzy into terrifying weapons. The Essence of Frenzy within each Frenzy Beast is unique; this fact further elevated its effectiveness. To this day, we have yet to counter this.”