Psychic Parasite

Chapter 416: Gazing from Beyond the Clouds
”What shall we do now, Jyorta?” Rishana fidgeted around, feeling tense. It was easy to do something or even take a test. But now that she had nothing to do, she was unable to endure it.

”Get some sleep,” Jyorta closed his eyes, ”The Graduation Ceremony would span for 24 hours. We would be fighting to our limits the entire time and wouldn’t get even a second of rest.”

”But…” Rishana darted glances at his face, etching the image in her head as she spoke, ”I feel nervous. Can you hold my hand until I relax? I think that would help me fall asleep immediately.”

Jyorta opened his eyes, cheerfully smiling at her as he inched his left hand towards her, slowly making his thumb and index finger touch each other.

Seeing that he was about to snap his fingers, Rishana waved her hands, ”N-No, I am fine. I was asking for Sreshta. You know how shy she is.”

”Oh,” Jyorta turned around, looking at Sreshta sitting on his right, looking as if he would snap his right hand, ”Are you feeling nervous, Sreshta? I know the perfect situation to make you fall asleep.”

Sreshta had closed her eyes before he turned around, acting as if she had dozed off long ago. She looked like she was in a deep sleep, like someone that hadn’t slept for a week and only obtained the opportunity to do so now.

Jyorta didn’t say anything else, noticing how Bilena used the shoulder of Sreshta as a pillow to sleep. His eyelids twitched as he noticed that Duvic went a step further, sleeping on the floor. He even went to the extent of using the chair as a leg rest. He had folded his hands behind his head, using them as a pillow as he slept as if he owned the place.

’Is this really the guy that had a major inferiority complex a week ago?’ Jyorta chuckled. The fruits of their training session weren’t anything drastic. All it achieved was to harden their mentality and firm their decision-making process.

They also got used to using their Tier 1 Skills and were now able to activate them unconsciously and react accordingly. They were also quick to move their bodies now. He didn’t give them anything special, only making them practice and expertise the abilities they already possessed.

If they had such a mindset at the start of their academic year, their rankings would have been in the 500s by now. After all, the difference in the lower ranks wasn’t much. A single Credit would allow them to skip tens of ranks.

In the end, he was pleased by their growth. He was still unsure if they would prove helpful in the Graduation Ceremony, but they at least wouldn’t slow him down or do something stupid.

Five minutes later, Jyorta noticed how everyone except Rishana had actually fallen asleep. A lot of the students were discussing the tactics they would employ, the battle positions they would use, the formations they would create, etc.

There was a lot of discussion going on as his eyes trailed after the students once after another, finally landing on Haesha as he noticed her glance his way, as if she had sensed him looking at her. She made a crawling motion with her right hand and placed her palm on her cheek, closing her eyes as she tilted her head to the right.

Jyorta smiled, nodding as he repeated the same action as her, relaxing as he closed his eyes. Haesha stared at him a second longer to see that he was sleeping before turning around to rest. Her teammates stayed silent, occasionally whispering to each other before they too rested, listening to her orders as they closed their eyes, attempting to sleep.

Having witnessed the entire action, Rishana muttered, ”Jyorta…?”

”…Yes?” Jyorta muttered back.

”Do you like Haesha?”

”Do you want to sleep in the rock pillar terrain?”

”N-No…”

”Get some sleep then.”

…

5:00 AM; the auditorium was mostly silent, thanks to most of the students resting or relaxing. There were a lot among them that were unable to sleep, either due to their tension or were unable to sleep while sitting on the chairs.

Madam Rizenne silently flashed into existence on the dais, smiling as she looked at everyone. She didn’t speak anything, just staying silent as she continued to stare with an amicable smile. The ones that were still awake noticed her presence after a minute had passed, shaking their friends awake when they looked at the time.

It created a lot of whispers being exchanged among them that steadily increased in volume as more and more got up. As she hadn’t been a heavy sleeper, Rishana was the first to get up from the commotion, looking around as she was unable to make sense of the surroundings.

Every time she woke up, the surroundings in her room were what greeted her always. The alien surroundings confused her for a moment before she recalled everything, glancing at the time on her watch to note it was 5:20 AM.

She looked around, noticing Jyorta sleep like a log while Sreshta and Bilena were in a hug. They used each other as a body pillow, looking like they were sleeping comfortably. Her eyes then darted to Duvic as she only saw his feet. The rest of his body was under the chairs.

She patted Jyorta’s shoulder, surprised when he didn’t respond. He was literally like a log as his body just shook according to her pats. Rishana then thought of something as her eyes darted to and fro sneakily, extending her hand as she patted Jyorta’s shoulder on his right, adding a little more power. She intended to make him rest on her lap using this as a chance.

”Time is running short.” Madam Rizenne’s voice resounded at this time, causing Jyorta to jolt awake. Rishana’s hand shot back at all its speed, unwilling to see Jyorta learn of her little scheme. Sreshta and Bilena woke up and stared at the faces of each other as they shouted in alarm.

Spurred by their shout, Duvic shouted as he got up in reflex; his head slammed at the underneath of the chairs as he winced in pain. The three of them quickly noticed the place they were in and returned to their seats.

Duvic rubbed his head as he winced, watching Madam Rizenne smile, ”Madam Mary had informed you to use up all the energy in your Heart/Brain Crystal. But, since you had eaten your dinner, the energy from that slowly flowed into your Heart/Brain Crystal. During the time you were here, I slowly extracted all the energy from them until they were emptied and there wouldn’t be any replenishment.”

”What?” Jyorta was shocked, sensing that what Madam Rizenne said was true. His psychic arms still existed, but he didn’t have the psychic energy required to even move them. Moreover, Jyorta felt a bit weak, sensing that he only retained a fraction of his presence. Based on the amount, it was only a tenth of an average Area Controller.

As he stared in shock, Madam Rizenne made eye contact with him for a short moment as she continued, ”I also siphoned out your auras and only left a tenth of what your respective Tier possessed on average. Now, you might be wondering why, but first, change into these clothes.”

The moment she said, a pair of clothes hovered before everyone. They were fully white, made from cotton, and were fairly tight. Jyorta had just taken a glance at the cloth when he noticed a yellow barrier surround him, creating a partition for him to change his dress without any worries.

There were both inner and outer garments in it. Jyorta sighed as he changed into them, folding his uniform, keeping them on his lap as he took his seat. The moment he did so, the barrier around him vanished.

There were numerous barriers around him, with each of them vanishing upon every moment as the student within finished changing into the white dress. It was at this time did Jyorta notice that the garment they provided was actually a perfect fit, including the undergarment. He didn’t continue to ponder as he watched the barriers vanish one after another as all the students finished changing.

”Your Graduation Ceremony would start at 6:00 AM sharp and end at 6:00 AM sharp on 21st November.” She then smiled, looking like she was anticipating the fun that would happen next, ”You won’t be provided any weapons now.”

”What?” The students were alarmed, but before they could react, Madam Rizenne dropped an even bigger bombshell, ”You also won’t be healed. Neither would your energy reserves be replenished nor will your presence be. You will be entering the Graduation Ceremony Battlefield just like this.”

Jyorta began to sweat immediately after, spurred by her words. Many other students too were in similar situations as him, but none of them could react as their bodies began to float and move towards a hole that appeared in the ceiling.

They had appeared in this particular auditorium many times to attend Madam Rizenne’s lectures and hadn’t ever noticed something like this. Each student disappeared into the hole, including Jyorta.

Jyorta activated his senses to their limit, but still failed to sense anything. He was staring at his Batch mates in the auditorium for an instant when he blinked and was staring at the same Batch mates in the same positions, but the auditorium had disappeared.

Replacing it was a familiar cityscape where the rays of the morning sun cast upon. The 200-metre-high marble walls forming the Sectors and the Rings were clearly visible from this height as they reflected the incident rays of the sun. When the reflection seemed like it would be cast onto the buildings, a change appeared in the walls as they absorbed the sunlight instead, acting similar to a blackbody, but retained its original appearance. 

Hovering in the air next to him were his teammates as Jyorta gazed down, noticing a sea of clouds encompass the entire military academy.

”The Graduation Ceremony Battlefield.” His heart thumped.