"Good, all 131 Espers of the October batch have made it here," The middle-aged lady, Madam Rizenne smiled, taking a glance at Jyorta. She then pressed a button on the remote held in her hands, flashing the image of a human on the screen behind her.
The image looked blank, like a shadow, save for the white dot on the glabella. Madam Rizenne motioned for their attention, "Everyone, concentrate on the area highlighted in white. You can close your eyes for improved focus."
As everyone silently enacted her instructions, Madam Rizenne continued, "I'll give pointers personally to each of you, one by one. Until then, just focus on the mentioned area."
Madam Rizenne jumped down from the dais, her body gently descending to the floor, producing no sounds. There seemed to be a gap of a millimetre between the ground and the soles of her footwear, ensuring no sounds were produced when she walked.
A boy sat on the seat in the first row, situated to the left extreme, his eyes closed, trying to focus. Madam Rizenne stood before him, placing her forefinger on his glabella, "I will suppress your psychic energy now. Concentrate on the feeling and get used to it. When you get the idea, you would be able to control the leakage of your psychic energy at will."
As the boy tersely nodded, Madam Rizenne emitted a gentle fluctuation of psychic energy from her fingertips, spreading it over his skin, swerving to block all contact with the surroundings. The boy immediately experienced a suffocating sensation, feeling his psychic energy being blocked, preventing it from seeping out.
A second later, Madam Rizenne retracted her psychic energy, noticing his psychic energy leaking out once again. Her gaze filled with patience, she said, "We will do it again. Don't worry; you can take your time to get a feel of it. The first time is the greatest hurdle."
As she instructed the boy, occasionally sending a glare at the students who peeked in her direction with curiosity, Madam Rizenne made a mental calculation. After 27 times, the boy finally got a hang of the feeling, beginning to gain control over the leakage of his psychic energy.
"Take the same steps and you will soon be able to prevent your psychic energy from leaking out. It is just a matter of getting used to it from now on." Madam Rizenne smiled, discretely sending two of her psychic arms over to the podium.
Placed above it was a register, a pen lay next to it, its cap open, showcasing the pointed nib. A psychic arm flipped through the pages, stopping at a name, the face affixed next to it belonging to the boy she had just instructed. The other psychic arm picked up the pen, scribbling the number '27' under a certain column.
The page was then flipped over, stopping before the details of another boy, the next person that Madam Rizenne began instructing. The process was slow, with each student consuming at least 10-15 minutes, taking numerous tries to get accustomed to the feeling.
Jyorta closed his eyes, using his blue soul, going through the information stored in it. Using the connection between the blue soul and the brain, he accessed the information, memorising everything until they were at his finger-tips, ready to recall at a moment's notice.
'Academic knowledge takes priority, followed by the information sister has imparted to me over the past year and a half. I should go through them as many times as possible, making me prepared to recall them even while asleep or in a drowsy state.'
With a thought, he switched the vision of the blue soul, feeling the world around him turn dark. His blue soul was massive, crystal clear, and radiating a blue hue. Hovering next to his blue soul was a wisp, the subsoul originating from his Wisdom Parasite.
He could also sense 8 other souls in his periphery, their sizes relatively similar, and the degree of their murkiness varying with each other. Hovering beside them were tiny wisps, looking almost transparent, except for faint murkiness that steadily permeated through them.
He felt an intense stench, filled with a myriad of thoughts and emotions, the desires of their selves entrenched into their souls, weighing them down.
'The three students to my front, the three to my back, the one on my right and finally, the one on my left, belonging to Haesha.' Jyorta focused his gaze on Haesha's soul, looking at the murky mass, the rings embedded into them being numerous.
'It seems she has a lot of pressure placed on her. There is also ambition, desire, apprehension, and other feelings, pressing down on her.' Jyorta retracted the vision of his blue soul, not intending to do anything.
He had to be careful in the military academy. Even though there didn't exist any individual who could sense his soul, he still didn't want to take his chances. After all, he didn't know the details of the myriad Skills that existed in this world.
Two hours later, Madam Rizenne finished instructing Haesha, her smile turning wider, the difference being minuscule. She then noticed Jyorta sitting in peace, not emitting a trace of psychic energy. One of her psychic arms flipped through the register on the podium, pulling up his information.
'He's the scion of the Bone Family. No wonder," She nodded, patting his head a couple of times, proceeding towards the next student. Jyorta opened his eyes, feeling surprised at the sudden head pat, trailing his gaze to her back. He then closed his eyes, continuing the process of surfing through his memories.
'Even if I were to forget it, the information stored in my blue soul will never be erased. This enables me to go through them again and again, as many times as necessary until it becomes a part of my muscle memory. This is a major advantage.' A smile crept on his face as Jyorta indulged in his thoughts.
He then focused in the area of his head, feeling the numerous connections that spanned between his soul and his body, trailing like a complicated web, the network looking complex. He trailed his gaze over each strand, going towards the part of his body it connected to, repeating the process until the memory became etched deep in his brain.
A wise man once said, "The fastest thing in this world is a thought. A thought can travel the universe in the span of a second."
'If I become well versed in them, I can recall the contents within an instant when necessary; it would be of great help to me in the future. There has never been an instance in history where information failed to be of use. The difference between a human and an animal is how well they can make use of the available information and gain an advantage in their quest for life.'
As he continued to memorise all of his connections, he came across a part of his body that hadn't formed a connection with his soul. It was a tiny, white crystal, the size of a rice grain. It had a stripe on its surface, the single line dividing it into two halves.
'Brain Crystal!' With a thought, he extended a tendril from his soul, intending to form a connection with it. Without any surprise, the tendril formed a connection with the Brain Crystal, beginning to sap the energy stored in it.
Noticing the situation, and feeling a small increase in the size of his soul, Jyorta hurriedly severed the connection, 'So, I can directly make use of the energy from the Brain Crystal. Does this mean that I would be able to use my corrosion ability to a greater extent? I can't wait to try it out.'
Jyorta turned excited, unable to control his excitement. His hands turned jittery while a wide, stupid grin formed on his face. He then remembered the warnings of his sister and grandfather, reining in his emotions.
'I will patiently wait until I graduate from here. After all, I do have the time to spare. Moreover, I have just begun my journey as an Esper. There are many things that I will come to know of in the future.' His mind turned calmer but the stupid grin on his face refused to fade away, his body being more honest than his mind.
11:30 AM, finished with instructing everyone, Madam Rizenne appeared atop the dais, "You will be having a 30 minutes break. After that, you are to assemble in the auditorium of the Head office building. There, you will be having a collective lecture on history with the Warriors."
Saying her piece, she exited through a door beside the dais, her gaze steady, showing zero signs of exhaustion.
"I feel like Madam Rizenne is stronger than she lets on. What do you think, Jyorta?" Haesha rubbed her eyes, getting accustomed to the light. She then noticed Jyorta flashing a foolish grin, despite his eyes sporting a look of seriousness, painting a comical sight.
"My sister had once commented on this topic," Jyorta took a couple of seconds to think, recalling the incident, "She said that Madam Rizenne was the person to take charge in the Medical Corps during the absence of Madam Mary. I don't have an inkling of her actual strength but, I know that she is someone with a lot of weight in our city."
"I need to work harder," Haesha clenched her fists, her expression filled with determination.
Jyorta felt his stomach rumble, having not eaten any breakfast. Going without food in this period will have a negative influence on his body. After all, the Wisdom Parasite in him used the energy from the food to nurture his brain and develop his powers as an Esper.
"Let us quickly grab some food before heading there, okay?" Jyorta turned around, asking for her opinion.
"Sure, I don't mind. We have free time for the next 30 minutes anyway." Haesha replied, thinking of the ways to make use of her time, her thoughts churning towards her goals.