Psychic Parasite

"Almost there!" After locking the room, Jyorta pocketed the key and sprinted through the corridor, descending the flight of stairs by making large jumps. He even used Regen to heal the damage he suffered due to his risky untrained jumps.

His shirt was unbuttoned and wasn't tucked in. His belt was only strapped at the start. His socks were inside his shoes in which he placed his feet, pushed to the end. The only thing in its usual place was his pen that he always carried with him.

Held in his shirt pocket was a piece of paper, blank, the canvas he planned to use to take any notes. If he brought his notebook with him, he wouldn't be able to tidy his dress. So, he had left it in his room. Only when he had paced 10 steps from the room did he realise he was an Esper and could use his psychic arms to carry the notebook.

But alas, he was running short on time. Just the act of unlocking the door, picking up the notebook, and locking it again would consume enough time to make him late. And, punctuality was heavily emphasised in the military academy. A second late meant he lost the opportunity to attend the class.

If it was a normal class whose contents he had already studied, then skipping it was fine in his opinion. He had skipped a lot of classes during his labyrinth explorations. When he returned, he either bugged his friends or found a doubt to inquire with the staff, sneakily using the opportunity to clarify the rest of the topic.

He somehow managed to keep up with everything taught in the academy in such a manner. He sure did lose a lot of brownie points with the staff because of his sneaky acts, but he didn't have a choice in the matter. Sometimes, brownie points had to be sacrificed for the greater cause.

There was less than a minute before he had to assemble, so Jyorta went full-throttle. His two psychic arms shot out, beginning to button his shirt while he used his hands to pass the belt through his pant. Once they finished buttoning his shirt, he began to tuck them into his pant, all the while hopping like a frog to cover some distance while finishing his task.

Some of the girls that were walking towards their classes gazed at his messy appearance, turning their heads the other way, feeling embarrassed on his behalf. Jyorta didn't have time to care about shame, arriving on the ground to see the students standing in assembly.

"Shit…shit…goat…shiet." Jyorta seeped his psychic arms into each shoe respectively, creating a layer over his legs. He sprinted at his greatest speed, mentally counting the time needed to reach the place and the time available.

'I will make it on time!' He bellowed in his mind, running forth like a raging bull. His psychic arms fully covered his running legs now, extending further to seep into the socks he had stuffed at the end. They were almost stuck, compressed by his foot that hit deep into the shoe's interior.

By expending the psychic energy he recovered during the night, Jyorta turned the socks into his Refined Object, manipulating them using his psychic arms. They began to rotate until aligning accordingly to his foot, soon expanding longitudinally.

The socks steadily moved over his foot, reaching his ankle before extending up until its limit. He wore both the socks now, with the second sock taking a second longer than the first due to the weaker abilities of his second—weaker—psychic arm.

Jyorta leaped, landing on the corner of the assembly, the final spot available at the final moment.

'Safe!'

Jyorta gazed at the sky, smiling arrogantly, 'Thankfully, I only used Regen to sustain myself for the past three days. If I had eaten something, I would have had to finish my morning duties now and would have been 100 percent late. Thank you, Regen.'

His arrogant expression was akin to a newbie player that had scored a lucky win in a game against his friends. It was the needless arrogance stemming from baseless confidence boosted by infallible ego.

Jyorta sported a wide smile, grinning as he saw the figure of Madam Mary flash into existence on the dot. She looked at the students assembled prim and proper below her; her senses involuntarily caught hold of the psychic energy stemming from Jyorta's socks. Her eyelids twitched as she ignored his stupid grin, announcing, "Alright, except Laila, all 877 students from the October Batch have gathered here."

The October Batch had 878 students in total, divided into 131 Espers and 747 Warriors. Madam Mary glanced over the mental states of every student, mentally praising their readiness as she spoke, "Out of the 130 Espers present here, 8 have broken through to Tier 2. And out of 747 Warriors, 35 have broken through to Tier 2."

"Your stay as a Cadet in the military academy was officially complete by the end of yesterday. Now, you will be facing the Graduation Ceremony on the 20th of this month. This week is a preparation for that." Madam Mary cleared her throat, transmitting her message through her psychic energy.

It looked like she was speaking, but she was doing everything through her psychic energy and just made it seem like she did the talking.

"Upon graduation, you will be scouted by numerous organisations. That will be your secondary job, the one that pays you money. It would also decide the position, group, and the type of missions you would receive in your primary job, that is being a soldier."

"So, your secondary profession is super important. That is what you would be doing for the rest of your life, unless you are drafted for missions. And, one won't always be drafted for missions. It would only arise when there is a need. Currently, the Lacquer Wave is ongoing, so fledgelings like you cannot participate in it much. Therefore, you have to depend on your secondary jobs to accumulate higher quality experiences." Madam Mary glared, "I'm sure I don't need to explain to you why."

All the students nodded. Jyorta thought, 'The higher the quality of the experience, the greater the person's mind matures. And, this makes it harder for the Wisdom Parasite to grasp their mind, reducing the chances of losing control. If one stays holed up within his room, even a Line Controller would lose control within 5-6 years.'

"The quality of experiences you've accumulated is your saving grace against the viciousness of this world. You haven't seen this yet but," Madam Mary's gaze hardened, "Once you graduate, you would come across a lot of cases of people losing control. It is especially among the soldiers returning from a mission. They are sensitive and lose control over the slightest of stimulus."

"As part of the workforce, you are paid money for the work you do. Your secondary job basically gives you all necessities of life and luxury if you wish to obtain it." Madam Mary gazed at the faces of the students, focusing on ones who had little to no hope of reaching Tier 3, "But, you are awarded contribution points when you complete a mission as a soldier."

"After all, what you are doing as a soldier is a service to Marble City, and to the greater development of humanity." Her gaze made the weak-willed ones shudder, "And, the contribution points you have obtained can be primarily used to purchase: Frenzy Fruits, Traits, Research Data, Artifacts, Relics, and even an Unranked Skill. Everything comes with the respective clauses and conditions; you will learn about them more in the upcoming days."

"Now," Her voice boomed, "We'll talk about the Graduation Ceremony. The Graduation Ceremony is our final test of your skills and everything you have learned in the military academy. You will be given a mission and would have to complete it as a team of five. I'm sure you've seen enough of them to understand what I am speaking about, right?"

Seeing the students nod, Madam Mary continued, "Now, I'll be calling out the teams and their respective members."

"Team 1," Her voice rose up a notch further, "Cadet number 1 is its team leader. The team members are Cadet 756, Cadet 794, Cadet 877, and Cadet 878."

Upon mention of Cadet 1, Dalna Doppler walked forth, standing 20 metres opposite to the assembly. A boy at the back shouted in joy, his face flushed red, "Heck yeah!"

Seeing the stares his friends gave him, he flashed them a mocking look, "I'm on the same team as the beautiful princess. Maybe this is my chance to ascend to the heaven."

"Go die loser."

"May you fart before her."

"Hope your piss turns green."

"I know, I know. I'm lucky. You don't have to be jealous of me. Let this gracious brother of yours recount his glory upon returning." With a smug expression, he patted the shoulders of his friends, one after another, his smug expression becoming more pronounced upon each pat. The gazes of jealousy directed at him further deepened.

As the top scorer, a genius, being one of the strongest in the Batch, in line of succession to an Aristocratic Family, and being the most beautiful girl in the academy to boot, she had no shortage of admirers. So, the boy's reaction was justified, and received gazes of envy from the others. They too wished to be on the same team as her, for that would give them an opportunity to talk to her.

As the four team members assembled behind her in a file, Madam Mary turned around, "Team 2 will be led by Cadet number 2. His teammates are…"

Their Cadet numbers were based on their ranking in their Batch's Dedicated Credit Ranking System. Very soon, it was his turn as Madam Mary spoke, "Team 6 will be led by Cadet number 6. His teammates are…"