Psychic Parasite

Chapter 275: To Search, To Capture, and to Reap
The four enemy races of Marble City had set a plan in motion, spanning decades to destroy it. The memories he obtained from the Crust-Mantle only detailed a small portion of the plan. Even if he wished to inform Psychic Ancestor Marble about it, he had to unravel all the details first.

Marble City was his home, his haven in this treacherous era. He didn’t wish for anything to compromise its safety or change the status quo. Therefore, his prime objective was to obtain the details from the Crust-Mantles.

If he failed to find them, then he simply planned to use the Hoberman sphere to initiate a massacre in the Labyrinth and rake in a lot of Credits. From what Rakh Veera had told him, the fifth layer spanned an area equivalent to the military academy. Moreover, all the 100 paths joined into it at various locations. From the fifth layer, one could access all the paths.

Therefore, he would definitely be able to come across the Crust-Mantles while he went about accumulating Credits.

’After all, I shouldn’t lose sight of my goal.’ His eyes shone with a cunning glint as a marble slab materialised, causing the double door to open. He unleashed both his psychic arms and took a step inside; his intent, to search, to capture, and to reap.

His weaker psychic arm immediately formed a layer over his armour, while his stronger psychic arm formed the epidermis. The moment he took a step inside the path, his figure vanished. The double door closed after with a rumble.

Jyorta stood 3 metres from the double door, his senses trained to his surroundings. Unlike last time, he now knew the factors that came into play in the labyrinth. Of them, the multitude of auras lingering in the air was a prime factor.

Jyorta unleashed his domain; 3 metres 35 centimetres was the current range of his domain. Having consumed the rewards of his second rank, his Sync Rate had progressed from 71.2 percent to 73 percent. He still had a Tier 4 Frenzy Fruit remaining to be consumed.

It wasn’t much but, the slight increase in Sync Rate helped him in the long term. Thanks to the Trait of Efficiency, his current Nurturing Rate was at 0.92 centimetres per day. Adding onto the suppression effect on the Wisdom Parasite’s soul through his blue soul and the suppression effect on his body through the Tier 5 Artifact’s aura, his Nurturing Rate surpassed 1 centimetre per day.

He could say his Nurturing Rate had surpassed Tier 2. Through his domain, Jyorta felt lingering traces in the air around him. There were the presences of the Frenzy Beasts who had roamed the area.

Each aura was like a coloured particle, separated from each other by huge distances. They moved about in the same manner as air particles, with most of them suffused in them. Various forms of aura occupied in the space between each other, creating a puzzling mess, the overall effect unable to be determined with his current abilities.

’I see, so most of the damage last time was from the air I inhaled here.’ Jyorta nodded, finally understanding how he suffered such injuries the previous time without his notice. The very air in the labyrinth was filled with various forms of aura.

As he inhaled them while moving, they affected his internals, starting with his lungs. Moreover, when he emitted his aura, his internal defences decreased. And through the lungs, as the oxygen mixed with his blood, it carried the dangerous aura, affecting his entire body.

Sweat oozed out his pores as Jyorta felt a chill. The more he thought about it, the more afraid he felt, afraid at his ignorance. During his first exploration, he had assumed he would be unmatched thanks to his robust aura that was able to overwhelm all Tier 1. Now that he looked at it from a knowledgeable perspective, it was nothing but a fool’s endeavour.

’Thankfully, I finished learning the ability to filter aura from Wave Formation.’ Jyorta heaved a sigh of relief, causing a subtle change within the two barriers that shielded him. The Tier 3 Artifact, Wave Formation had a lot of abilities useful for Espers. Using it, he had already obtained enough memory fragments to master all the techniques later.

At present, he concentrated on abilities that he felt were mandatory for his labyrinth exploration. Jyorta took in a deep breath, sensing the aura in the air clash with his aura in the barrier. After an instant’s worth of pause, only the air particles entered.

All the foreign aura was successfully filtered out. Jyorta noticed his psychic energy be faintly expended every time he took in a breath. He noticed the quantity of expenditure, mentally calculating the amount of time he could remain within the labyrinth.

’3 hours, 57 minutes; ample time for me.’ Jyorta also sensed his aura lingering in the air he exhaled be similarly filtered, only allowing plain air to pass through the barriers. This way, he could minimise his loss in aura.

It was then a thought hit him, ’If my aura lingers in my breath, then how come the air in the military academy remains pure. Shouldn’t it become a cluster of auras originating from all the students and teachers? Do they possess a method to suppress and annihilate the auras? I should experiment once I leave the labyrinth.’

Jyorta began to walk; his two layers of barrier made him invisible, prevented the sound of his footsteps from resounding, blocked his aura and smell, and also made the lingering auras in the air pass around him. This way, no frenzy beast would be able to detect his presence through their auras.

Thankfully, there were only Tier 1 Frenzy Beasts in the first layer, beings incapable of using aura. So, Jyorta didn’t worry. He trained his senses, focusing everything on his domain to detect the approach of any Frenzy Beast.

Even though he had negated most of his presence, he couldn’t negate his weight. The floor beneath him would experience stress due to his body weight as he treads on it. To the Ring Worms, it was their cue as their Tier 1 Skills were mostly touch-based.

Based on the data he surfed about their Tier 1 Skills, some of them were even capable of detecting the minute change in stress in an object or ground. Therefore, he was careful.

Sleeping before him was a Spiked Lizard, its body sprawled on a boulder only wide enough for it. Its senses were trained for any threat, thanks to the danger of death lingering above all Frenzy Beasts in the labyrinth 24x7. But, should he act quickly, he would be able to kill it.

But, Jyorta didn’t attack it. He didn’t wish to alert the others of his presence. Moreover, it wasn’t efficient to hunt Tier 1 Frenzy Beasts. He would run out of psychic energy by the time he was through 20 of them.

Instead, it was more efficient to hunt Tier 2 Frenzy Beasts. They would serve as his training and he had the Hoberman sphere to use should things go south. Therefore, Jyorta continued to march forth, passing alarmingly close by each Spiked Lizard.

’Damn, it’s huge!’ He mentally bellowed, using his legs to cross over a sleeping Spiked Lizard. They had occupied all the ground in the area, leaving him with the sole choice to cross over their bodies.

Sweat dripped from his face while his nerves were stretched taut. Sleeping between two boulders was a Spiked Lizard, and crossing over its back was Jyorta. The height was too much in the remaining areas, thanks to many boulders strewn across.

His heart thumped with increasing intensity as he crossed over its back with his left leg first. His eyes were focused under his groin, watching the tip of a spike come alarmingly close, almost touching him. All the Spiked Lizard had to do was move its back a little and send him into a world of pain and a lifetime’s worth of trauma.

He felt strength ebbing from his left leg as he lifted his right, slowly bringing it over the spikes. Moreover, he carried a lot of weight on him, causing his balance to be less than optimal. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he managed to cross over it, taking a couple of steps forward to rest.

His limbs shivered while he felt mentally drained, the endeavour proved more strenuous than he had imagined. Thinking back to his risky action, Jyorta shook his head, rubbing his arms to ease the goosebumps that had formed.

He inspected the condition of his armour, noting its pristine state. He also inspected himself, concluding that everything went fine. He hadn’t taken any damage from the surrounding aura.

20 metres, 50 metres, 150 metres… finally, Jyorta arrived halfway on his path. Through his domain, he noticed that the strength of the Spiked Lizards hadn’t changed all that much. It was then he noticed a Spiked Lizard slowly crawl towards his location.

It had only taken a single step before turning still, looking no different from a rock, unwilling to alert its prey. After a momentary observation, Jyorta understood why it had discovered him. It was an Esper. It had sensed the psychic energy he unleashed through his domain.

’Let me see the extent of my improvement.’ Jyorta calmly turned around, unsheathing his sword. He gazed at it while deactivating his outer barrier, using the stronger psychic arm to lift a spindle. For a moment, he had to focus intensively to maintain all the effects with his weaker psychic arm to prevent from giving his position away.

He gazed at the Spiked Lizard, his mouth automatically curling up into a smile, unleashing his aura coupled with an aura personification.

Aura Personification—Insignificance!