Psychic Parasite - Chapter 414

“Most of everything the academy has done consists of general education. Only when we try something or require a certain piece of knowledge or technique do the staff take a hands-on approach. As these students hadn’t ever tried to do anything, they weren’t taught personally by the staff.” George offered his conjecture.

“Even otherwise, if they changed their methods or gave a bit of individual attention to these students. I’m sure they would fare better than their current selves.” Dalna Doppler frowned.

“It’s because they cannot afford to do so,” Jyorta sighed, “Remember that all these students have the least Sync Rate possible. No matter how hard they worked, they won’t make any difference in the grand scale of things. Only if their efforts led to a qualitative change would it prove worthy. But for that, they would have enough drive from the start to do so. Such students wouldn’t end up at the bottom and would crawl their way to the top no matter what.”

“Cannot afford to do so…” Dalna Doppler thought for a moment as she nodded in realisation, “Indeed, if they wish to improve themselves, they would have to tackle the root cause of the situation, that is their low Sync Rate. To increase it, they need to obtain Frenzy Fruits. But Frenzy Fruits are expensive and their supply never meets the demand. So indeed, they just cannot afford to boost the students.”

“Yeah,” George nodded, “I think that’s why the ranking, contribution, and rewards system exist. It is their way of providing a way to improve for the ambitious individuals. And, this graduation ceremony is probably their last attempt at correcting these students in hopes they might strive to better themselves after graduating.”

“That should be the case,” Jyorta nodded, “But how are you planning to correct them? On my side, I am going to put them in numerous hallucinations and forcefully mould them. I have my Regen to prevent their minds from taking any damage.”

“How convenient,” Dalna Doppler sighed, “Your methods are numerous, Jyorta Bone.”

“Not really,” He let out a wry smile, “I only have one method that is applicable in a lot of situations in a variety of ways.”

“Which means the same,” George retorted, waving his hand as walked away, “Anyway, I am going to round up my team members and try something with them. We don’t have the time to chat.”

Once George entered his room, Dalna Doppler glanced at Jyorta, “One step at a time, right?”

Before he could reply, she walked away, entering the room with her teammates. Jyorta frowned, “What was that?”

He shook his head, not putting her expression to mind as he returned to his dorm room, taking out the Tier 3 Relic, Enhanced Healing Salve as he scooped out some healing salve using his psychic arm. He gobbled it, now used to its bland, jelly-like taste.

‘It would be better if I had something like the River Whale’s Essence of Frenzy to digest my food faster. At least, the Trait of Efficiency is helping me to a fair extent.’

A Sync Rate of 76 percent. It wasn’t high, but it wasn’t low either. Thanks to his feat in the Labyrinth of Frenzy, he managed to increase his Sync Rate by three percent. It was a lot, considering the Credits he would have obtained had he given the Heart/Brain Crystals to the academy.

It cost 10,000 Credits to buy a Tier 4 Frenzy Fruit. To increase his Sync Rate by 1 percent, he needed 10 Tier 4 Frenzy Fruits, a sum of 1,00,000 Credits. There was also the option to buy a Tier 5 Frenzy Fruit which was at a 50 percent discount and could be exchanged with 50,000 Credits.

Even then, that only amounted to a percentage increase in his Sync Rate. In retrospect, using his method, Jyorta had gained more than a three percent increase in his Sync Rate. This difference in efficiency is what caused him to go all out in his exploration.

‘Traits, Skills, and Unranked Skills. With the right combination, a person’s growth speed would skyrocket.’ Jyorta picked up a box from the bag—placed within the cupboard overhead. Contained within was the Tier 5 Artifact—a book containing all the Bone Family’s research about Espers.

He was incapable of accessing the information yet. All he was using it for was as a device to train his aura.

His psychic arm shot out and touched the box, inserting some psychic energy into it. The box absorbed the psychic energy and created a barrier around him. This was the shield that prevented any aura from exiting every time he trained with the Tier 5 Artifact.

After taking in a deep breath, Jyorta opened the box’s lid using his psychic arm, feeling a wave of aura crash into him like a tsunami, causing him to suffocate immediately. Unlike before, his aura reserves were almost empty, so the effect of the Artifact’s aura was many times higher than usual.

The aura caused his psychic arm to break down as Jyorta lost consciousness. The moment his psychic arm broke, its hold over the lid was released, causing it to fall. The aura unleashed from within was cut off instantly.

The aura lingering within the barrier condensed and coagulated into Jyorta as his body breathed, struggling to inhale and exhale every breath. It was a pure aura, lacking any form and substance—aura personification.

So, when he inhaled, the aura mixed into the blood in his lungs, slowly getting assimilated into it. The pressure it emitted on the muscles caused them to feel constricted, but as time passed, they got used to it and assimilated the pressure into their internals.

Ten minutes later, Jyorta woke up, grunting in pain as his head spun. He slowly regained his bearings as he tied up the box, placing it within the bag that he tucked into the cupboard overhead. His stomach digested the healing salve at a faster pace thanks to the pressure dealt by the Artifact’s aura.

This aura also pressured his Wisdom Parasite, subconsciously increasing the Nurturing Rate. The steady trickle of psychic energy entering his Brain Crystal doubled in the duration of the aura’s effect before trickling down to the usual amount.

After resting for 20 minutes, Jyorta headed to the cafeteria to grab some food. The nutrition wasn’t needed as he had already consumed the healing salve. A teaspoon worth of it was equivalent to ten meals, so he didn’t need to eat any food.

The only reason he still ate some food, despite it being of minimal quantity was to retain his sense of taste. Eating, sleeping, and taking a shit; those were three fundamental aspects of being a flesh-body organism. Regen and the healing salve ensured he didn’t need to follow the three. But, Jyorta didn’t wish to rely on them completely.

If he stopped doing the actions every human did, he would become less human, both physically and mentally. The mental aspect was why he refrained from relying solely on Regen and healing salve to function. He needed to do the activities of humans to feel human, as simple as that.

It was less efficient this way, but he didn’t wish to become a calculative monster that was completely goal-oriented. There would be no meaning in his life then.

Jyorta headed towards the White Building, entering the study room to see his four teammates talking with each other. It seemed to be the contents of what they had experienced in his hallucinations.

Seeing him enter, they were alarmed, springing up in fright. Jyorta laughed, “Relax, that would be all for today. I ran out of psychic energy.”

“Then…tomorrow…” Rishana looked at Jyorta hesitantly; her expression crumbled when he nodded.

Jyorta glanced at Duvic and Sreshta, seeing that they were normal now. Their mental wasn’t in a jeopardy; it was thanks to the psychic energy he left in the room after activating Regen. That allowed them to calm down and analyse their experiences.

“You have mental blocks against many things. The scenes I’ll make you experience daily will allow you to break out of your shell and become Warriors who can defend themselves.” Jyorta spoke, seeing Rishana sigh as she nodded. It seemed she didn’t bear a grudge towards him. Rather, she was thankful.

In the short while she was in that rocky terrain, she had grasped a lot of uses for her Tier 1 Skill. Moreover, she realised a fact; as long as she strived for, she was able to become better than her current self.

Bilena, though afraid, managed to realise it too. After all, the sense of satisfaction she felt from dodging an arrow on her own was intoxicating. Sreshta and Duvic were still the same as before, showing zero signs of improvement.

‘At least, two out of four are improving. And this is only the first day. I’ll shape them all before Graduation Ceremony.’ Jyorta smiled, speaking with praise, “All of you have shown improvement. Keep up with it, and your performances during the Graduation Ceremony will shock the others.”

“Can I become as strong as you?” Rishana looked at Jyorta with twinkling eyes, withholding anticipation.

“Hmm,” Jyorta thought through, “Your Sync Rate is less, so your growth would be slower than mine. But, if you work to the limit and reach Tier 2, you would be as strong as me within three years.”

“Three years,” Rishana smiled, “If I can catch up to your current strength in three years, that should be more than enough for me.”

“Three years to obtain Jyorta Bone’s strength,” Bilena looked happy, “That’s the best I have heard in this entire year.”