Psychic Parasite

Chapter 337: Not Inferior to a Nuke
”Sensory Invisibility…” Jyorta muttered, frowning once. It was the Skill his sister possessed, something that she had once used to scare the living daylights out of him. Even after the incident had passed and she had come to accept his existence, the trauma from back then affected him to this day.

For a moment, he wanted to obtain the Relic, almost pointing at it. He then controlled his urges, rationally thinking, ’Using my psychic arms, I can shield myself to a fair extent. I can also use my hallucination to create another layer of veil around me, swapping reality with illusion in the senses of my foes. Combined, the overall effect I could establish shouldn’t be inferior to this Relic. Even if it is inferior, obtaining this Relic doesn’t give me much of an advantage. Rather, I might increase my risk by spending my Credits on it. In the end, if I fail to obtain the Trait of Severability, then crying would be my only option.’

He proceeded to look into the next shelf, looking at the Tier 3 Skill fused into the Relic, ”Mental Calm.”

’So, its effects are the opposite of Mental Frenzy. This Skill is incredibly useful to alleviate the strained mental states of soldiers that roam the Wilds. It can also reduce the chances of a person losing control and even helps greatly during a breakthrough. Most of the meditation rooms in the military academy are run by the Relics with Mental Calm.’ Jyorta finished reading the information, sighing in amazement.

Each Tier 3 Skill had incredible value, its usage not limited to battles. And, a common point he noticed in them was a rather shocking fact, ’Mental Frenzy and Mental Calm affect the mind. Their effects tread in the domain of the mind.’

Jyorta took in a sharp breath, ’Then, why was Deific Inference claimed as the sole Skill in the domain of the mind? No, that might not be true or I am confusing something here.’

He frowned, ’What exactly is the domain of the mind? What factors or abilities fall under it?’

He then thought about his abilities as a Psychic Parasite, ’I can invade the souls of others using my soul. The cause and effect are both related to the souls. All my abilities of the soul are only effective against souls.’

Jyorta muttered aloud, putting on an expression of confusion, one that made him vexed, ”Sir, how do these two Skills, Mental Frenzy and Mental Calm take effect?”

He paid careful attention to not utter anything about the domain of the mind. He didn’t wish to showcase his knowledge that surpassed his peers or what people his age and at his strength ought to be privy of.

Jyorta suddenly sensed something amiss. A psychic arm materialised beside him and slapped his hand, the pain making him retract the hand in reflex, ”Aah!”

Before he could try anything, the psychic arm appeared before his face, morphing into a transparent film that reflected his face. The staff’s gruff voice echoed, ”Look at your expression. When I hit your hand, your emotions were affected.”

His eyes were slightly red while tears welled up within them, on the verge of falling off. His face was flushed, his eyebrows scrunched, his left eye almost closed, a sign that pain was transmitted from his right hand.

On noticing that Jyorta had taken a good look at his expression, the gruff voice chuckled, ”The attack on your right hand is transmitted as a signal to your brain, which then registers the stimulus as pain and sends the necessary signal back to the wounded area. That is how you feel the sensation of pain. And, this pain causes a faint hormonal disturbance in your body as the adrenaline kicks in. Fight, Fright, and Flight; your actions will vary accordingly.”

”And, in any of the three cases, you display certain emotions, and your mental states will be accordingly affected.” The gruff voice lowered its tone, ”Manipulating the stimulus, brain signals, and hormonal changes through physical contact, the basis for the two Tier 3 Skills is similar. But, unlike my example, they achieve this through the energy wave they emit.”

”So, they affect the mind through the chemical reactions in the body?” Jyorta nodded, hearing the gruff voice confirm it.

’I see, so they won’t fall in the domain of the mind. Even though they could affect the mind, they achieve it through the Parasite path. It’s the same as how I affect the emotions through my false personas.’ Jyorta nodded, losing interest in them for the time being.

They weren’t the Skills he currently desired. His objective was to obtain a Relic that would better his situation in the Labyrinth of Frenzy and obtain more Credits. From what he was told, only the Relics or Artifacts—that he had brought with him to the military academy from outside—can not be used in any activities.

But, the Artifacts or Relics he had exchanged using his Credits could be used in the Labyrinth of Frenzy. That was another reason he was willing to spend his Credits. Otherwise, there was no reason to exchange for them.

He was the scion of the Bone Family, an Aristocratic Family. It wasn’t hard for him to obtain one or two Tier 3 Relics. Thought, he would have to contribute something of equal value should he wish to obtain them.

Contribution and reward was a system deeply ingrained in the minds of everyone in Marble City. It was to prevent wastrels from popping up in powerful families due to the amount of wealth they had amassed over the years.

As a wastrel, someone who hadn’t ever lifted a finger to obtain something wouldn’t know the value of the product or the time and effort that went into making it. Similarly, they would have egos spanning the high heavens without accomplishing anything of value ever, simply because of their birth status. And, should a person from a lower status ever achieve more than them, then their egos would be hurt.

In such a situation, they would try their best to put that person down, even going to the extent of etching mental wounds in them. There might also be cases their toxic behaviour would affect their family members or the family members wishing to uphold face or even being forced to make a move due to their familial bonds.

All such cases were the recipes for disaster, one that would hinder the growth of the city as a whole. Geniuses had to be nurtured while Wastrels had to be eradicated, this was a moto Marble City abided by.

It was something Psychic Ancestor Marble had installed, and influenced the people over time. Thereby, the Reward and Contribution system came into effect. Even in an Aristocratic family, everyone competed against one another, progressing further and further, getting rewarded for their accomplishments.

This created a beneficial cycle. Envy and grudges existed but none went overboard while within or beyond the city. After all, there were countless Skills in place to investigate any scene, not to mention every nook and cranny of Marble City fell under the domain of Psychic Ancestor Marble. So, none dared to go overboard, and eventually, the system was etched in the minds and subconscious of everyone.

Previously, Jyorta had faced a lot of criticism in the Bone Family because of his low Sync Rate. As the grandson of Jyovic Bone, the head of the Bone Family, a Sync Rate of 71 percent was humiliating. Thankfully, Jyovic Bone’s prestige protected him, preventing others from causing any trouble to him.

”Don’t shame us; even if you don’t fare as well as Heima, at least try to uphold the bare minimum so that you don’t end up as an embarrassment,” Jyorta recalled the first sentence Hrita Bone had said to him. Just that alone showed the Bone Family’s attitude towards him.

There was at least one student from the Bone Family in every Batch. So, information about him was constantly circulated with the Bone Family every month. In his first month in the military academy, Jyorta had received plenty of stares from his family members.

But, ever since the announcement of his rank on the 10th of December, such stares disappeared. It meant that they had acknowledged him as someone worthy of his pedigree. Though, that was only from the students. The actual storm would only arrive when he graduates and mixes with the affairs of the Bone Family.

’When I interacted with them before, they were all cordial, behaving kindly. But, that was because I didn’t have a Wisdom Parasite back then. Those with and without a Wisdom Parasite belong in different worlds, so they didn’t care about me, to be honest. When I graduate and return to the Bone Family, I would probably witness their true faces.’ Jyorta sighed, looking at the next Tier 3 Skill.

”Mental Sloth,” Jyorta read the name aloud, thinking as he read its description, ’So, it is the same as the other two. It slows down the thoughts of foes, reducing the speed of their reflex. It even causes their complexity of thoughts to drop by a level, preventing them from concocting any complex strategies. This Skill too can be stacked.’

He then realised that Mental Calm could be used in conjunction with Mental Sloth. Suppose an army of Frenzy Beasts charged at Marble City, then when many Warriors activate the two Skills, the vigour, bloodthirstiness, raging momentum, etc. of the Frenzy Beasts would be suppressed and even erased, turning them calm.

Anyone, whether human or Frenzy Beasts wouldn’t be able to battle while in a state of calm. And the state of calm wasn’t limited to the mind, but was also related to the aura. While in battle, the aura in any being would broil and rage forth. When even the aura is calmed, the offensive strength of the target would plummet to rock bottom while their desire to fight might simply disappear.

’I see, possessing Skills that have strategic value; when thousands of Warriors activate them in unison, their potency is in no way inferior to even nuclear bombs. It is no wonder humanity is the strongest.’

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