Psychic Parasite

Chapter 208: Nurturing Starts From Birth
”It was quite risky of you to do that,” The girl turned around, speaking with a tone that seemed to admonish him but didn’t carry any of the necessary intent whatsoever.

”Thank you for saving me; that was a close call.” Jyorta nodded, placing a hand on his chest, feeling his thumping heart. It was indeed a close call. For a moment there, he glossed over the fact of the narrowness of the platform he stood upon. It was an act of alarm; his only intention was to create a gap.

’I have to take in the surroundings as I plan, whether executed based on focus or due to a reflex. If I did something like this in the Wilds, I would probably lose my life.’ Jyorta thanked the girl again, glancing at the mouth of the Life Leech sucking on the cage’s barrier.

Jyorta unleashed his psychic arm, inching it towards the life leech; it got blocked by the transparent membrane. Beyond that, irrespective of the force he exerted, his psychic arm failed to penetrate.

Just the transparent membrane alone was rigid enough to block him, not to mention the barrier covering the cage. Jyorta seeped his psychic arm through the hole in the outermost transparent membrane, trying to seep between the layers in an effort to sense its mysteries.

Each transparent membrane had its designated function, selectively filtering substances. It was the first time he came across such a technique, immediately deriving its advantages in a battle.

A normal psychic energy barrier he created shielded him from everything, except light. It also consumed a lot of psychic energy to maintain. Even though its defensive properties were the highest, it came with its own set of disadvantages.

Within such a barrier, he wouldn’t be able to smell or hear anything. In normal situations, an Esper used his psychic energy to sense the surroundings while in battle. But, it wasn’t wise to enact such a method while accompanying Warriors.

The sensory Skills of Warriors were extensions of their primitive senses. A normal psychic energy barrier was capable of interfering with their Skills to a certain extent, which was a major disadvantage.

But, if he were to learn the technique to selectively limit the effect his psychic energy barrier could filter and isolate, he would have a lot of chips while in battle. He could adapt to situations based on the terrain, his teammates, and his enemies.

Suppose there was a Frenzy Beast that solely depended on sound to sense, he would be able to create a psychic energy barrier that isolated the sounds, blinding the Frenzy Beast. Based on the focus, the effect will be higher while also consuming less psychic energy.

This was why Jyorta was interested in its mechanism, intending to research and learn the secrets behind it. An Esper’s ability was based on his accumulated knowledge and techniques. Because it revolved around delicate operations, one had to carefully study and experiment with many ideas, finally implementing the ones that worked.

”What are you planning on doing?” The girl, Dalna Doppler asked, looking at him with curiosity.

”I am trying to learn the technique used in this transparent membrane.” Jyorta pointed at the target, lightly tapping it with his finger. The sensation was soft to the touch, like leather but, it was extremely tough.

The texture was smooth, the feel a mixture of plastic and steel. Jyorta then looked at Dalna Doppler, ”Did you find anything worth the notice to come here?”

”Yeah,” Dalna Doppler nodded, pointing at the top of the cages, at a sole cage attached to the ceiling. ”For some reason, I feel fear when I look at that.”

Jyorta trailed his line of sight, gazing at the cage she pointed. It was slightly larger than the rest, but not overly different to the extent it stood out. On a closer inspection, it was just a tad larger.

There seemed to exist another layer of transparent membrane on it, also blocking the light, preventing them from gazing at the Frenzy Beast within. The membrane reflected yellow light, looking no different from the walls unless observed closely. That was why he failed to spot it before.

His attention had been grabbed by the transparent membrane and its functionality. This prevented him from noticing the odd cage. Also, he wasn’t one to have an eye for details in most cases, unless it was related to a task he had been focused on.

”What do you plan to do once you head there?” Jyorta gazed at the visage of Dalna Doppler, trying to know her intention first before altering his plans.

”I have no idea,” Dalna Doppler shrugged, ”I was just curious since I felt slight fear when I gazed at it. If what they said is the truth, there should only be Tier 2 Frenzy Beasts here. But, I don’t feel fear when seeing all the Tier 2 Frenzy Beasts around us. So, the entity within that cage must be a special existence.”

Dalna Doppler slightly shivered, affected by the sudden spike in the aura. Jyorta kneeled, feeling trouble breathing for an instant. He then noticed another hole form in the transparent membrane near him, it allowed the Life Leech’s aura to leak out. Since they were the closest, they were affected the most.

”If you find something interesting, please call me. Currently, while the transparent membrane dissipates, it makes it easy for me to sense its inner workings.” Jyorta sat cross-legged on the platform, seeping his psychic arm through the newly formed hole, making coils in the gap between the layers.

”Sure,” Dalna Doppler walked away, the shivering in her body coming to a stop once she created some distance. She then hopped along the steps, each of her jump traversing six steps with ease.

Jyorta’s body was no longer protected by a psychic arm, allowing the aura to hit him with full strength. Two Traits worked in his body, combating the invading aura while recovering his body’s condition.

The Trait of Recovery and the Trait of Resistance; after he had accumulated enough Credits, he immediately exchanged for a Trait of Resistance, getting his third Trait. This allowed him to resist external influences like aura to a certain extent. Also, the more he trained with the Tier 5 Artifact his grandfather had given him, the greater his Trait of Resistance developed.

Soon, the Trait of Resistance became specialised in resisting auras. This was why he could resist the auras to a certain extent even without shielding his body with a psychic energy barrier. As for how Dalna Doppler managed to achieve a feat superior to his own, he had no idea. He attributed it to a Trait she possessed; it should have been something her family had prepared for her.

Jyorta began to study the wonders of the Transparent Membrane. Even though he still couldn’t understand the feedback given by his psychic arm, he could experiment on a trial and error basis.

The hole formed in the membrane was tiny, allowing him to plug it with his psychic arm. Jyorta then began to change the inherent structure in his psychic arm, varying it randomly, without any order. Upon each change, the effect varied, able to be sensed by his body.

After all, aura, smell, and sound were easily detectable for him, thanks to his heightened senses capable of sensing even a trace of the above three. At present, a hole had formed on the transparent membranes filtering aura and smell.

As he varied the inherent structure of his psychic arm, he trained his senses, making note of the changes in the aura and smell. They changed from being partially blocked, to completely isolated, to barely filtered. He made a note of everything, remembering the final structure of his psychic arm when he achieved the desired objective.

’Now, all I need to do is practice this until I get the hang of it.’ Jyorta smiled, turning around to notice most of the students had fallen unconscious, with the conscious ones numbering around 20.

Among the conscious ones were his friends, Haesha, Ashten Coorg, and Esina Hawker. There was also George Eagle who mimicked Dalna Doppler’s actions before another similar cage, situated along the opposite wall.

Haesha’s complexion had become normal by now. She had even adapted to the extent capable of conversing with Laila. They seemed to be exchanging their insights, in an effort to collectively improve.

’It is tiring to always control my strength.’ Jyorta gazed at his hands that had begun to shiver. Despite resisting the aura with his body alone, it seemed he was beginning to hit his limit. It was aura saturation, his body unable to resist any longer.

Though, he would have hardly been affected if he could unleash his actual aura. But, in order to conform to the official power scale, he had to limit himself. This limited the speed at which he could experiment and learn.

’There is no other choice.’ Jyorta sighed, practicing the filtering technique with his psychic arm, noticing the hole in the transparent membrane begin to widen. He then decisively stopped his experiments and began to retreat to the ground.

…

Hovering in the air was Madam Rizenne and Madam Mila; they had never left the hall. Having wrapped a psychic arm around themselves, they disappeared from everyone’s senses. The previous act of their disappearance was just a front, to misguide the students of their absence.

All the while, they had been observing the actions of the students, judging them on a variety of criteria.

”In terms of quality, the October Batch is only above average.” Madam Mila commented.

”But, in terms of individual prowess, this Batch has some of the best to date, especially Jyorta and Laila.” Madam Rizenne smiled, nodding in praise.

”Laila is well-versed on all fronts. As long as she doesn’t die a premature death, she would become a pillar in the future. As for Jyorta,” Madam Mila shook her head, a rare action where she moved her body, ”He’s good in researching a technique or grasping it after seeing it once. But, he seems to lack battle instincts.”

”It is very rare for one to possess battle instincts at their age. Laila is an exception thanks to her father. I am always impressed by him; he grew to our level out of nowhere.” Madam Rizenne sighed, waving her hands to suppress the aura in the hall.

”Qualities taught since birth becomes useful tools at an older age. The Nurturing of our basic abilities starts right from birth. That is how our talent and instincts are shaped even without being thrust into a myriad of situations.” Madam Mila nodded, ”Mavelin’s method of teaching is full of foresight and wisdom; no wonder Laila has such exemplary qualities.”

”I have instructed him to file a document regarding it. Once he finishes the draft, we can publish it to every Aristocratic Family. The next generation will see the rise of even more geniuses.” Madam Rizenne retracted her psychic arm, allowing everyone to notice her presence.