The items that fell were of two types: disks and spindles. The disks were light, its radius varying between 2 centimetres and 30 centimetres. The spindles were relatively heavy, their cross-section spanning 1 centimetre while their length varied between 5 centimetres to 15 centimetres.
The myriad of the items converged in the air, forming a large pile. They then split into 131 portions, arriving before each Esper.
A pile of items fell on his floor mat, landing 5 centimetres away from his foot. Jyorta looked at Haesha, noticing another pile formed before her, placed 5 centimetres from her legs. He also noticed it repeating with everyone he could see. On closer inspection, even the items scattered into the pile were the exact same.
'That mess was segregated in the fraction of a second and split into 131 portions, with each portion placed at the exact same distance from the foot of each Esper. Her senses, calculation, and her psychic energy, they are all terrifying.' Jyorta thought, bringing his arm forward to touch an item from the pile.
"Ouch!" Jyorta winced in pain as his arm was swatted away. Immediately, numerous similar sounds echoed across the room, the injured Espers flailing their dominant hand that they used to reach out to the pile.
"Did I tell you to touch them?" A stern voice rang out, involuntarily making every Esper sit with their backs erect, feeling nervous.
"Once I've finished instructing you, you can proceed to touch them. Now listen," The lady began her introduction, hovering 6 metres in the air, her body unmoving, more rigid than a statue. "I am Mila Marble; you can address me as Madam Mila. I will be teaching you everything about your psychic energy: its uses, actions, nurturing, accumulation, etc."
"In this one year, you will be whipped into shape to be bonafide Espers." She swept her glance across everyone in the room, pausing for a second on Laila and Jyorta. "So, only two people can prevent their psychic energy from leaking out."
"Now, I will first give a lecture on the psychic energy of Espers," Madam Mila said, "There are two ways to affect matter: one, using the physical body to apply force, and two, applying dispersed force that doesn't require direct contact. We Espers fall on the latter."
"In the early days, the act of using psychic energy and affecting matter was termed Psychokinesis. The term Psychokinesis is wordy and is hardly used at present. The term has become redundant when Unranked Skills for Espers came into the picture." Madam Mila said, her mouth unmoving.
She vibrated the surrounding air through her psychic energy, showcasing its uses in day-to-day applications. "As the Wisdom Parasite fused into our brain nurtures it, a Brain Crystal would eventually form. It is a condensed form of our psychic energy mixed with particles of the Wisdom Parasite's body."
She then created a psychic arm, turning it yellow, allowing everyone to see it clearly. "Think of it as an extra arm that behaves in the way we will it to, lacking any physical limitations. Normally, psychic energy is dispersed; we can use it to affect a wide area. No physical material can block its permeation. But, for the sake of efficiency, we use our psychic arms during battle."
The yellow psychic arm slowly moved up and down, tossing and turning, clenching and relaxing, performing the basic actions, "Warriors nurture a Skill at every Tier while Espers nurture a psychic arm at the same. At Tier 2, we will have 2 psychic arms, and at Tier 3, we will have 3 psychic arms. Once your Brain Crystal finishes forming, you would be able to create a psychic arm."
The yellow psychic arm then multiplied, becoming two, repeating the set of actions, "There is one advantage that we have over Warriors…well, many in fact. First is that, when Warriors nurture a Skill at Tier 1, its strength is limited. The lower Tiered Skill has a ceiling, almost useless at higher Tiers."
"For example," As she said, the two yellow psychic arms fused into a whole, forming a small cylinder, 10 centimetres in radius, and a metre in height. To its side bottom, a tap appeared, its nozzle faced in the horizontal direction.
A fluid similar to water appeared in it, visible to everyone present as the cylinder became a transparent shade of yellow.
"Consider this tap as the Tier 1 Skill of a Warrior and this cylinder as the energy in their Heart Crystal. The volume of the cylinder is the amount of energy they possess and the liquid pressure is the quality of their energy." As she said, the tap opened, leaking out a stream of water, making an arc as it fell.
"Now, it changes for a Tier 2 Skill." The cylinder expanded downwards, becoming 2 metres in height. Another tap appeared to the bottom on its side, twice bigger than the previous tap. As she opened it, a thicker stream of water gushed out, making an arc in the air.
"Now, see the difference; despite the increased volume and the pressure at the bottom increasing, the arc made by the first tap remains the same. This is because it is situated one metre from the top while the second tap is situated 2 metres from the top. In simpler terms, despite the quality and quantity of energy increasing, the output of a Tier 1 Skill remains the same, whether they invoke it as a Tier 1, Tier 2, or Tier 3 Warrior." Madam Mila glanced around, noticing every Esper being able to understand her words.
"Espers are also smarter than Warriors. This becomes apparent the higher the Tier since we develop our brains. Coming back to the point, at higher Tiers for Warriors, the Skills they have nurtured during Tier 1 and Tier 2 will prove to be useless." She then dispersed the cylinder, creating a yellow psychic arm.
The yellow psychic arm lifted a spindle, almost looking like a spear. It was two metres in length and had a diameter of 5 centimetres, looking thick and sturdy. The moment the yellow psychic arm grabbed hold of it, the spear-like spindle turned yellow.
"I am using my Unranked Skill to make my psychic arm visible to you. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to understand just by depending on your undeveloped senses." Madam Mila said. She then held the spear-like spindle using the yellow psychic arm, moving it forward, the pace slow.
"The psychic arms of Tier 1 Espers can only execute a linear motion. If you control an object, you can only move it up and down or forward and backward." She then raised her brows, creating a subtle change in the yellow psychic arm. The spear-like spindle immediately began to spin along its axis.
"At Tier 2, your psychic arm can also make objects spin in place. A single psychic arm is enough to achieve this feat." She then raised her other brow, causing another change in the yellow psychic arm.
The spear-like spindle that was rotating along its axis also began to spin—like the blade of a fan—along the middle of its shaft as the focus. It raised gusts of air, producing a high-frequency sound of wind being cut.
"The advantage we Espers have is that when we become a Wave Controller, all three of our psychic arms can do this. We also have many other advantages that I will explain to you in future lessons. This is why, even though Espers are weak at Tier 1 and Tier 2, they can easily gain the upper hand against Warriors in Tier 4 and Tier 5." Madam Mila smiled, retracting the yellow psychic arm, allowing the spear-like spindle to fall on the ground, producing a loud thud.
Jyorta trailed his gaze towards it, looking at the large crack that had formed on the floor, with the spear-like spindle not suffering a single scratch. He then heard Madam Mila speak, "I guess this spindle can now be counted as a Tier 5 Artifact."
Noticing the shock on the faces of the Espers as they trailed after the spindle, Madam Mila didn't continue on the topic. "So, our first lesson today is learning to control an object using your psychic energy. Even if you don't have a psychic arm, don't worry. Just the dispersed psychic energy should do the trick for light objects."
"You need to know a small theory for it." Madam Mila said, beckoning for the attention of everyone, "Even though psychic energy can pass through all matter, it suffers from some resistance. The resistance varies depending on the material. The greater the resistance, the more your psychic energy consumed."
"So, in order to counter it, we have come up with a technique. This is a must for every Esper since the greater part of our strength lies in manipulating objects." Madam Mila continued, "We termed it Object Refinement."
"You take an object of your choice and pass your psychic energy through it, over and over again. As you continue to do it, the resistance offered by the object decreases as it gets more attuned to your psychic energy. After a certain period, its resistance to your psychic energy will become zero. At that point in time, you can call it your Refined Object." She said.
As the Espers gazed at the yellow spindle, Madam Mila continued, "You can sense the presence of your Refined Object when in range. Moreover, the psychic energy of each individual has subtle differences; meaning, you can't make use of the Refined Objects of others. Also, the resistance it offers will be even greater than the original material."
"We will talk about the Domain, Speed, and Force on a later date. Let us concentrate on Object Refinement for today." Madam Mila motioned their attention to the pile of things before them, "Pick up a lightweight item and begin to refine it. This will be your first assignment."