Psychic Parasite

Chapter 288: Height of Aura Application

Jyorta placed his hand on the sand, feeling its loose texture. He saw the Steel Porcupines slithering towards him, feeling a sense of urgency. Blood leaked out through his legs, making him feel light-headed. He didn't have enough time to treat the injury.

He inspected his psychic energy levels, noting that he had around 40 percent left. Just when he was about to execute a plan for escape, the psychic arm from before coiled around him. At the next moment, he disappeared from the spot.

Two seconds later, Jyorta found himself before the exit as the voice of a man resounded in his ears, "It seems you still have a plan to save yourself. But I judged the situation threatening your growth after seeing the injuries you had accumulated. Even though you have protected yourself well, the Essence of Frenzy from the Amplifier Steel Porcupine has invaded your body. That's why I pulled you out."

"Sorry," Jyorta sighed, feeling down. The double door opened with a rumble as his body floated before it.

"You don't need to worry about something like this. You are still learning. Make use of everything here to grow stronger. After all, there won't be anyone to rescue you in the Wilds." The voice replied as another psychic arm grabbed the Two-Faced Firefly on his shoulder and placed it in a rock's crevice.

The double door closed with a thud as Jyorta was carried to the nursing room within a second. After dropping him on a berth, the voice said his final piece, "The Heart/Brain Crystals you obtained can still be traded for Credits. But, this favour is only given for the first time. From the next time you are pulled out by a staff, the Credits you gain from that exploration will be deemed zero, irrespective of how many Heart/Brain Crystals you obtained."

'So, it is a Ground Controller.' Jyorta accurately sensed the psychic arm's disappearance, feeling surprised. Suddenly, he noticed another psychic arm seep into his body, its arrival detected only after it made its presence noticeable.

'So, the Ground Controller purposely made his presence noticeable.' Jyorta felt a bit disappointed at the fact that his senses hadn't grown to sense their presence yet. He then turned around, trailing the psychic arm to the familiar nurse, Vaika.

Sensing his body's overall state through her psychic arm, Vaika frowned, "What the hell did you fight to end up in this state?"

"A Tier 2 Steel Porcupine, on the level of a genius," Jyorta replied, glancing at his body, retracting his psychic energy barrier. He saw Vaika's psychic arm pass through his barrier without trouble, as if there existed enough gap in it to allow free travel.

After retracting his barrier, he watched his armour drenched with blood, the blood he had shed. Vaika used all her three psychic arms to begin his treatment. Soon, she pulled out faint strands from the wound in his legs.

The strands were the same he noticed emerge from the Steel Porcupine's spike when it came into contact with blood. Seeing his gaze, Vaika said, "It is similar to hair but has an affinity to blood. When injured, numerous such strands emerge from the spike and seep into the body. They absorb the blood while wrapping themselves around any organ they come across."

"This prevents the victim from directly pulling out the spike. If not treated soon, the strands would soon coil over all the internal organs and kill the victim from inside out. Even otherwise, they would faint from blood loss as the spike collects the blood absorbed by the strands and simply gush it out."

Vaika talked while she treated Jyorta, teaching him about the various injuries inflicted on him and how they would worsen if not treated on time. Soon, she turned silent, her forehead filled with sweat.

Jyorta noticed tremendous waves of psychic energy emitting from her, all gushing into his body through her psychic arms. But, they were being continuously expended, even though Jyorta couldn't make out where.

A couple of minutes later, three black droplets were pulled out from his leg wound. Vaika placed them in a yellow container, commanding her psychic arms to arrange the broken bones in order. She connected the torn tissues, loosened the coiled muscles, etc.

Finally, her psychic arms turned pale blue as all the injuries started to heal. Jyorta closed his eyes, sensing the working of the Unranked Skill, Regen as it healed his body. The work was efficient, only using minimal psychic energy to complete the process.

Vaika guessed his intentions, saying with a smile, "Technically speaking, even if you have zero knowledge of the human body, you can still perfectly heal it, thanks to Regen's effect. The moment I activate it and seep my psychic arm into your body, I receive a lot of feedback that would guide me through the injured regions and take actions that efficiently heal the body."

Watching the wound on his legs close, she said, "This feedback is from your body's memory of you. So, it is 100 percent accurate. But, we are still advised to learn more about the body. This way, we can save time prodding around, and not wait for the patient's body to transmit the feedback."

She retracted two psychic arms, leaving behind the last one to heal the remainder in his body. "It is because the Essence of Frenzy tampers and blocks the feedback process. So, in patients with a high concentration of the Essence of Frenzy in them, we have to manually heal them."

She gazed into Jyorta's eyes, "Judging by your actions, it seems you wish to exchange for the Unranked Skill, Regen. When you graduate, don't stint on learning about the human body, in both theory and practice."

"Yes, ma'am." Jyorta nodded, feeling strength return to him. His fatigue too was mostly cleared out while his psychic energy reserves had grown from 40 percent to 50 percent."

Jyorta placed his legs on the floor, finding no issues with it. He then looked around, finding the room empty. Seeing her attention trained on his face, like a mother waiting for her son's scorecard, Jyorta said with a smile, "The aura personification of hallucination is amazing."

"Right! I told you about its merits that vastly outweigh its demerits." She clapped her hands, motioning for him to continue further, inquiring the ways he used the aura personification.

Jyorta calmly explained everything that had happened from the start, only omitting the part where he used the false personas.

"Right, when your mental state fluctuates, your aura personification shatters. It is a weakness of all aura personifications." She nodded, "But, that is only the case now."

She gazed into his eyes, motioning with a finger to look at her eyes, "Stare for three seconds and focus only on it."

Jyorta did as told, curbing his embarrassment to focus on the task. A second later, he felt his head spin. He shook his head and noticed Vaika had disappeared from her spot. But, seated in her spot was Rhachis Ancestor Light, looking calm with a hint of a derisive sneer.

Followed by a clap, Rhachis Ancestor Light disappeared and Vaika took his place. Seeing his confused state, she smiled. But upon noticing a hint of fear in his eyes, she was puzzled for a moment before deciding to gloss over it.

"When you master an aura personification, it becomes permanently etched in your presence. That way, activating it is the same as activating your aura, only requiring a thought. And, as you have experienced, after mastering it, it has become ingrained into me. Even without activating it, onlookers fall into a hallucination when they stare at my eyes. To keep it simple, I replace myself with the figure of Rhachis Ancestor Light in my hallucination. It always works wonders against all my foes."

She then pointed at herself, sporting a smug expression, "Mastering an aura personification is not an easy feat but it is definitely achievable."

"Usually, after experiencing a qualitative change in their aura at Tier 4, they become able to do this. Mastering the aura personification is part of the qualitative change at Tier 4." Her smugness rose by a notch, "But certain incredibly, superiorly talented individuals can achieve it even at Tier 3. This shows that their aura has grown to the extent it experiences a qualitative change." 

Jyorta sported an expression of being amazed, "Ma'am, how many have achieved the same as you in Marble City?"

Vaika pondered in thought, shaking her head with a sigh, "I don't know the details of the entire Marble City. But in the 7th Ring, I am the sole individual to do this within the past 7 years. That is because, even though I am a Wave Controller, my aura is already on par with Ground Controllers. My understanding of aura also surpasses most Ground Controllers. Many fail to realise that aura is a powerful force to rely on."

She then looked at him with surprise, "Your concept of an aura beam is fairly decent. When you condense it more in the future, it would become a powerful ranged attack. Good work!"

'It hasn't even been three weeks since he came into contact with aura personifications but he is already able to wield them fairly well. Moreover, his usage of them is also creative enough to be labelled as a combat system of its own.' Vaika thought, placing Jyorta in a new light.

She then gave him heartfelt advice, "When you become a Wave Controller, your Esper abilities improve drastically. But even after that, don't neglect your aura training. Because, as a Wave Controller, you can directly infuse your aura into your domain. This drastically elevates the quality of your domain while also improving your senses."

She then lowered her voice, her expression solemn, "As for the heights you can achieve with it, look into the walls of Dawn City once you graduate. The information is not available in the Portal you have access to but it is available for all graduates."

"Dawn City is dubbed a wall-less city but its defences are inferior only to Marble City."