Psychic Parasite

Chapter 260: 18 Aura Personifications
The blue soul stopped sending memory fragments to his brain. To create the third aura personification, Jyorta didn’t require its help.He closed his eyes and concentrated, recalling his previous life.

The first time he visited a Thrillarium, a place where he was strapped to a hydraulic seat while his surroundings had become a screen. It was a 15-minutes ride—in the virtual sense—where he travelled through space, missed the asteroids by a hair’s width, travelled past the Earth, reached the Moon, and finally arrived on Jupiter. His spaceship launched laser attacks on the aliens and clenched victory, eventually returning to Earth.

The seat never moved from its spot, but it jerked, tilted up and down accordingly to the scenes, making him feel as if he were experiencing everything for real.

It wasn’t that enjoyable for an adult, but when he was a child, he went for that ride many times and was always fascinated by it. He never missed a chance even once.

When he was five years old, he broke an old speaker by mistake in his home. He chanced upon a strange UFO-like object among the broken parts. It was a magnet, something he came to know of later. He spent the time playing with mud every day, exclaiming in astonishment whenever stuff within the mud got attached to the magnet.

He would repeat the process and extract the strange substance daily, later coming to know they were called iron filings after his father taught him the basics. He was 6 years old when he came to know of a compass; the way in which the needle spun and always pointed in the same direction fascinated him.

During his youth, he strapped a pair of paper wings on his back and imitated the birds. His attempt to fly failed, and later he was beaten up by his mother for the act of foolishness. His father introduced him to the concept of aerofoil after that.

When he was in his fifth grade, he played by giving a light stir to his half-filled water bottle and gazed at the water tornado that formed within.

”Hurricane! Hurricane!” He and his friends exclaimed back then. They threw Balsam fruits on each other, shouting, ”Bomb!”

He was always curious at how they exploded with the slightest touch. The leaves of a touch-me-not plant that shrink upon touch, and a parade of ants that carried cubicles of sugar bigger than their bodies; Jyorta recalled many such events.

His eyes were slightly moist, an expression of longing grew in his heart; having comprehended most of his childhood, the respective attachments were forming.

Emotions that every human possessed, and spent their very lives to glean a part of, a reason for their evolution. That one desire, that one emotion, that one concept that was ingrained into the deepest of human DNA, forming their functional essence—it was wonder.

Aura personification—Wonder!

His aura changed, subtly influencing the environment. Part of it also influenced him, making him wonder about the causes of aura, the way it integrated itself into physics, its relation to chemical reactions, whether it would be a reactant or a catalyst, etc. His thoughts ran wild, clashing randomly, generating new thoughts that were even broader.

’What is life? How was life birthed on Earth? How did we achieve sentience? Is the universe ever-expanding? Then before the big bang, how was it like?’ From one topic to another, his thoughts jumped, covering more and more concepts every instance.

The blue soul overlaid the face mask, the false persona of calm, optimism, and filled with focus, causing his thoughts to arrive at a halt. Jyorta shook himself awake, feeling goosebumps on his skin. Unknowingly, he was influenced by his aura personification. Despite having the capacity to break it or remove its influence on him, he indulged in it; or rather, his personality desired it.

”That was dangerous,” Indulging in such thoughts was an act he did in his previous life, something he was fond of. His mind continuously pondered about various topics every second, eventually giving him ideas that led to his research breakthroughs. It was a feeling he was comfortable with, like fish in the water.

But, it was fine in his previous life. He had that much brainpower and firm control over his self. But, his current body wasn’t like that. Similar to electrical circuits, every brain was differently wired (not in the biological sense). This was why some people were good at maths, some were good at physics, some were cunning, some had the street-smarts to survive, etc.

Based on the direct comparison between his memories, the thinking ability of his previous life was superior to the current body of Jyorta. If he used the personality of the previous Jyorta, then such thinking would have been beyond him. Even using his current personality, despite being an Area Controller, there were limits.

’Though, in a year or two, with the development of my Esper abilities, I would be able to think on the same level as my previous life.’ Jyorta shook his head, bringing his attention back to reality, glancing at the nail.

A single hair had risen, implying that this aura personification greatly suited him. Jyorta thought, beginning to retract the aura personification, ”If I use this in battle, will my enemies ponder too much for every action, causing a delay in their reaction? I can only experiment and see.”

He made a tick next to the third option and wrote a comment, ’1 hair strand, no dancing’.He then looked at the fourth option, ”Curiosity.”

After a few minutes had passed, he successfully unleashed the aura personification, watching the nail remain still; not a single hair strand had risen. Jyorta nodded and noted it down, looking at the next in the list.

There were many aura personifications; a person could use more than one. They can have one aura personification as the primary while retaining one or two more as secondary.

The nurse lady, Vaika had stated that using only one aura personification for the entire life brought about added benefits. But, she also stated that it sometimes affected the user accordingly. There were times where a person with an aura personification of killing intent had used it too much in battles; after that, he was no longer able to retract his killing intent.

Even after retracting his aura, his gaze, his posture, and his manner of speech would be affected by the killing intent, making it seem as if he is ready to attack any person he chances upon. The benefits of only using one aura personification were high, but it also had some side-effects.

That was why she recommended he choose two other aura personifications that would slightly offset the effect of his primary aura personification. This way, he would still get some benefits while not become affected by it.

To ensure that happened, the nature of the secondary aura personification should be of an element opposing to his primary aura personification. To select them, he first needed to see his compatibility with all sorts of aura personifications.

All through the night, Jyorta continued with his experimentation, noting down the details of each on the slip. It was well past midnight when he finally finished through the list, sighing once. Now, all that was left for him to check was the aura personification he had thought about before.

[Killing Intent: 9 Hair strands (3 Dancing)]

[Compassion: 8 Hair Strands (No Dancing)]

[Wonder: 1 Hair Strand (No Dancing)]

[Curiosity: 0 Hair Strands (No Dancing)]

[Pride: 2 Hair Strands (No Dancing)]

[Lust: 11 Hair Strands (No Dancing)]

[Greed: 4 Hair Strands (1 Dancing)]

[Gluttony: 3 Hair Strands (No Dancing)]

[Sloth: 1 Hair Strand (No Dancing)]

[Wrath: 5 Hair Strands (1 Dancing)]

[Hallucination: 2 Hair Strands (No Dancing)]

[Desire: 2 Hair Strands (2 Dancing)]

[Fear: 7 Hair Strands (4 Dancing)]

[Despair: 12 Hair Strands (6 Dancing)]

[Resolve: 7 Hair Strands (No Dancing)]

[Mental Pressure: 0 Hair Strands (No Dancing)]

[Dominance: 1 Hair Strand (No Dancing)]

[Servitude: 8 Hair Strands (2 Dancing)]

These were all the aura personifications listed out on the list. They were the ones that the nurse lady, Vaika was allowed to divulge the information of. She also told him that there existed other aura personifications; the secrets were held by people who wished to keep it exclusive to their family or organisation.

Jyorta had obtained a clearer understanding of himself, at least based on what his body exhibited. In the future, if his actions conformed to the data he obtained today, the chances of him inflicting injuries to himself would be minimal. This would also reduce his Wisdom Parasite’s chance of striking him.

Though, he didn’t need to worry about his Wisdom Parasite. It was just another him. But to normal people, this information had startling significance. Suppose there was a person similar to Jyorta that fought in the Wilds and had developed a tremendous level of killing intent.

He would be a force to reckon with on his Tier but, as time passes, his body would begin to suffer damage as a result. The Wisdom Parasite will take advantage of this fact and gain greater ownership of his body. After a matter of years, the person will lose control. This is the case if he were at Tier 3. At higher Tiers, this duration would be further shortened.

So, Jyorta understood the significance of this data. The nurse lady, Vaika had also warned him to never leak this information to anyone else. She didn’t tell him the reason but Jyorta took her advice to heart.

”Now, onto the final one,” Jyorta took in deep breaths, beginning to recall that one incident that left the deepest impression on him. It was what had changed his life, or straightforwardly ended his previous life and gave him another.