Parasyte System - Chapter 120: An Optimization

“…U-urgh…”

After an unknown amount of time had passed, Vedran awoke from his sleep, his body feeling incredibly tired and heavy.

It was a feeling he hadn’t experienced in a long time, but he had to admit that he didn’t miss it.

Bringing his gaze to the surroundings, the sight of dozens of unconscious students on the ground filled his vision.

Immediately, memories of what had happened before he himself fell unconscious came into his head.

“The chimera!” He shouted as the blood in his body began to rise to a high temperature.

Although he normally avoided using his ability at all costs, in a dangerous situation like this, he really had no choice.

However, no matter how prepared he was for a fight, no matter how much he looked around, he could find no trace of that towering monster.

At least not in the direction he was looking.

Since he remembered that the monster had come from was the forest that was on the edge of the farmland, he had been looking in that direction.

“…This…”

While he couldn’t find the chimera, looking at the patch of land where the chimera had been standing, Vedran could tell that there were small craters, as if the chimera had started running hard from there.

As a result, there was a clear path of large footprints leading away from where he was.

Guided mainly by his concern and curiosity, Vedran then began to follow the trail.

The further he went, the more common it became for him to find broken tools lying on the ground, some with the metal part completely bent or others just completely ruined.

However, these had one thing in common, and that was that, for some reason, none of them were even close to a student.

Maybe it was a coincidence, but Vedran decided to remember this detail.

After walking around a bit, the esper came across something that quickly brought back bad memories, specifically, of when he fainted.

In front of him was a small crater with a purple, bubbling liquid at the bottom, and it possessed such a depth that it made Vedran wonder if it hadn’t been made with tools.

Beside the crater were two footprints, judging by their shape, they were unmistakably the footprints of a human being, which appeared to have used considerable force.

Seeing these things, although several ideas came into Vedran’s head, he decided to ignore them and continue to find the truth as soon as possible.

Moving further, the number of craters with the same purple liquid at the bottom increased, although this time they followed a pattern, as if they had been made with the figure of a circle in mind, or at least that of a very large curve.

Finally, after walking a good distance, at the same time as a strong smell made his mind grow weary, Vedran could see, that in the distance, the motionless body of the chimera lay in the middle of a plot of land.

“…What… is this?” Vedran wondered, a confused expression on his face.

The sight of such a strong monster dead was undoubtedly a shocking sight, but what had surprised Vedran the most was not that, but how grotesque the scene was in general.

On top of the chimera, was Jay’s half-naked body, which was in a state quite similar to that of the chimera.

With blood everywhere, bruises that looked incredibly painful, specially around the side of his ribs, Jay, at first glance, appeared to have been the primary victim of the chimera’s rampant violence.

“JAY!!!” Vedran shouted as he rushed towards the scene, the surprise he felt at first being instantly replaced by pure concern.

“Stop.”

However, just as he was about to start running, a woman’s voice interrupted him.

Bringing his gaze to where the voice had come from, Vedran could see Faith, sitting on the ground carefully observing the scene of Jay and the chimera.

“Even though the chimera has fallen, the smoke is still present, if you approach it carelessly, you’ll be left the same as before.” Faith continued, without even looking in Vedran’s direction.

Just as Faith said, even though Vedran hadn’t even gotten too close, a sudden breeze of wind carried with it a trace of purple smoke that ended up colliding directly with Vedran’s face.

“Urgh… what a… troublesome skill…” Said the esper as he clutched his head, resisting the effects of the smoke, “But… there must be something I can do…”

Still, the urge Vedran had to get into the middle of the smoke didn’t diminish in the slightest, the only thing holding him back being the fact that it would be in vain if he tried anything.

After all, if the effect was already so strong from afar, just what kind of hell was Jay going through right now?

The next moment, the blood inside his body began to raise his temperature once again, and with it, his energy level.

Quickly, all the muscles in his body swelled slightly, increasing Vedran’s height even more.

This was clearly the effect of using his ability, the same way Jay used his wind control to cover his body from the wind, Vedran had also developed his own way of using his ability for himself.

“…Even if you had an enhancement twice as strong, you won’t get to them… I’ve already tried.” Faith said, again interrupting Vedran before he stepped in closer to the area.

“You’ve already tried?” Vedran then asked.

He had originally thought that Faith had merely watched because of her seemingly indifferent and apathetic personality, but if it was true that she, who had a power level equal to or greater than his own, had tried and accomplished nothing, then that only meant that his power would not be enough.

“That’s right, I tried to break through the smoke using my ability to protect myself, try to push the smoke away, bring him over here, but nothing has worked for me so far.” Faith said with the same nonchalant expression as always.

However, although her face didn’t show it, she was actually intrigued.

She wanted to know how, with a substance as dangerous as the purple smoke was, and against an enemy against whom she herself would have trouble face to face, how was it that an esper such as Jay was able to seize victory?

At that thought, a trace of interest in her classmate began to form in her eyes.

While it was true that she had acted as if she didn’t know Jay, the truth was that she did remember him, though not as clearly as the latter knew her.

After a couple of attempts of him trying to strike up a conversation with her, Faith had simply decided not to waste her time with someone who appeared to be Syvis’ lackey.

After all, thanks to her appearance, she was already used to being approached by several people, especially men.

Thus, over time, her ability to ignore people had improved considerably, which is why even though Jay was usually good at socializing, he ended up failing anyway..

However, thanks to the scene in front of her, Faith had changed her mind.

“I think you’re faster than me, so why don’t you go find a teacher? I’ll stay here to make sure no one gets close.” Faith then said.

“Ah! You’re right, I forgot we are in the academy!!” Vedran replied.

Although normally his attitude was much more calm and detached, thanks to all the events that had happened in such a short time, he was in a constant state of alertness.

“Then I’m leaving, I’ll be right back!”

With those words as his last, Vedran then started running in the direction of the city, disappearing from Faith’s sight in no time.

Now that she was alone, Faith let out a small sigh as a single question popped into her mind, ‘I wonder… when will you wake up?”

***

As Faith waited for Jay to awaken, the person in question, despite his body being in an undoubtedly unconscious state, that didn’t mean that his insides were quiet.

_____________

[Warning: The [Carrier]’s energy levels have fallen below the allowable limit, the system will now take control of the [Carrier]’s body in order to transport him to a safe place until recovery].

[Attempt number 1… Failed.

Reason: Unknown substance interrupting the control of the [Carrier]’s body.

Solution: Adapt the [Carrier’s] body to be able to withstand  the substance].

[Proceeding to attempt to solve the (Reason).]

[Attempt number 1… Failed.

Motive A: The substance is (85)% harmful to the [Carrier]

Reason B: The substance is only (15)% compatible with the [Carrier]

Solution: Increase the compatibility and reduce the damage.]

[Proceeding to attempt to solve (Motive A) and (Motive B)]

[Attempt number 1… Failed.

Motive C: Lack of energy.

Reason D: Lack of a more compatible example source.

Solution: Search for a source of energy and compatibility].

[Proceeding to attempt to solve (Motive C) and (Motive D).]

[Attempt number 1… Success]

[Energy source detected in the vicinity]

[Example compatibility source detected in the vicinity]

[Proceeding to connect the [Carrier] with the available sources-]

_____________

***

Back outside, Faith was still waiting for Jay to wake up, when suddenly, she noticed the movement of the aforementioned esper’s body.

“!”

It was slight, incredibly slight, so much so that if Faith wasn’t a rank (C-) super and was watching him closely, she would have missed it.

“…His arm, he just moved it, right…?” She said, immediately improving her eyesight with a bit of energy.

The question she had just asked herself wasn’t misguided, in fact, one might even say she had hit the mark… if it weren’t for one small detail.

Yes, Jay’s arm had moved, but the one who made the movement had not been him.

Hidden from Faith’s enhanced view, all the parasites on Jay’s body were, at this moment, gathered on the aforementioned esper’s right arm.

While before it wasn’t necessary for the system to order them to do something as they were able to move freely, things had changed since the system upgrade.

Though of course, Jay wouldn’t be able to figure this out until he woke up and asked his little ones about this.

Without wasting any more time, the parasites then poked their heads through the lower part of Jay’s forearm, which was a hidden part that made direct contact with the chimera’s corpse.

They then infiltrated the chimera’s body and began to absorb two things in particular, blood and muscle tissue.

Due to their diminutive size, they weren’t able to carry much, but they made up for it with numbers, so after a couple of trips, they managed to transport a considerable amount.

They ran into a couple of problems, such as the fact that they couldn’t just leave the blood and muscle tissue anywhere as that would be harmful to Jay, but thinking cleverly, they decided to use a makeshift storage facility, his stomach.

Of course, so much movement in his stomach made Jay want to vomit a couple of times, but the parasites also made sure that didn’t happen.

They were certainly capable and responsible helpers.

Then, with the materials ready, the system started working on a solution that would solve all the problems present in Jay’s body at the same time.

_____________

[Beginning (Body Optimization: Chimera Poison)]

_____________

Immediately, Jay’s body began to shake, several veins swelling in different places on his body.

It was clear that he was under great pressure, though it was understandable, after all, while not reaching the level of [Limit Breaker], this optimization was definitely no slouch.

And the reason for this was nothing more and nothing less than the fact that the system was using the body of a monster as an example of optimization.

As a result, this optimization was proving to be almost as complex and demanding as that of the [Limit Breaker], but luckily, this time the system didn’t have to recycle anything.

After all, it had a large source of energy and material right next door, with capable workers making sure the reserves weren’t depleted at all times.

…

…

Finally, after about ten minutes, the optimization ended, and with it, the rest Jay had been having.