9:25 AM, finished with the snacks, Jyorta excused himself. Putting his plate in the designated area, he washed his hands and walked towards the exit, intending to head to his room.
Once he had moved away from their proximity, Laila looked at Haesha, "I am still feeling hungry. Why don't we go for another round of snacks?"
Haesha shook her head, replying, "No thanks, I am feeling full."
Laila laughed, inching closer to her, "Even if you feel full, it is best to eat as much as you can. The more you eat, the more energy available to the Wisdom Parasite in you, and the faster your Brain Crystal forms."
"This is the single piece of advice my father gave me," Laila said, her voice a whisper, "After your Induction Ceremony, your body is not your own. So, take the chance to run as fast as you can and ensure that the Wisdom Parasite never catches up to you. After all, it has the prefix of Wisdom for a reason."
"I'll heed your advice," Haesha nodded, getting up from her seat, intending to grab another plate.
"Good girl," Laila laughed, removing her ID card, and placing it on Haesha's hands, "Get me a plate; I'll leave the choice to you."
Seeing Haesha nod and walk away obediently, Laila gazed at the figure of the walking Jyorta through the open section of the cafeteria. She leaned on her table, her eyes sparkling in vibrancy, her smile making the surrounding Espers blush for some reason.
Suddenly, Jyorta felt goosebumps on his arms as the feeling of a mild electric shock cropped up his spine, making him feel alarmed. He then swerved his head, looking at the sun that radiated heat, making him wonder the chill he felt.
Shaking his head, he hurried towards his room, closing the door behind him upon entry. He took out his trolley bag and fished out the small box. Untying the rope binding it, he placed it on the bed, sitting before it.
Finished with erecting the spherical barrier, he opened the lid once again, ensuring the gap being as minimal as possible. The brutish aura hit him; his thoughts froze over, his mind turning blank, his body turning weak.
"Ghoff," Jyorta wheezed, unable to control his limbs, feeling a suffocating feeling as his lungs failed to expand and contract. His stomach churned in discomfort, the food mixed with his bile juices inching their way up his food pipe, the bottled up contents about to spill out.
Jyorta fell on the bed, pressing his jaw downward, locking the pathway for food travel, trying his best to resist vomiting out everything he had eaten. The blue soul hurriedly created a soul tendril, attaching it to the lungs, forming a second connection with it.
It tried its best to override its frozen state, struggling to make it work again. Jyorta felt his body begin to cool down, a sense of drowsiness clouding over his senses. The blue soul hurriedly created numerous tendrils, ensuring that none of the parts of his body failed on him.
A minute later, Jyorta wheezed, taking a deep breath of air, feeling his body regain a bit of its lost heat. He then tried to prop his body, feeling his hands shiver like crazy as he placed them on the bed. Heaving out a sigh, he rested in the same pose, taking his time to regain his bearings.
9:45 AM, inching his shivering hand towards the water bottle, he struggled to lift it, spilling more than he had drunk. Looking at his shirt that had been drenched by the water, he looked a bit lost as he got up, feeling his legs shiver.
'Just a Tier 5 Artifact is capable of making me feel this way. I don't know how strong a Tier 5 Relic would be, not to mention a Transformer or a Sky Controller. Probably just their auras alone would be enough to kill me.' He thought, sitting on his bed. He then got up with difficulty, his body feeling heavier than he was used to.
The blue soul in him tripled its connections, maintaining his body's state through forceful means. Jyorta took out a handkerchief, wiping the soaked regions on his shirt. He then exited the room and headed towards the White Building.
9:55 AM, closing in on the White Building, he noticed the wall no longer white, replaced by a picture.
"Dedicated Credit Ranking System: March Batch." Jyorta read aloud, bringing his gaze downwards, looking at the Credits accumulated by the top three students.
"The top scorer is from the Veera Family, having accumulated 56,947 Credits. The second ranker is from the Doppler Family, with a score of 56,921 Credits. The third ranker is from the Bone Family, with a score of 55,672 Credits. All three are from Aristocratic families." Jyorta murmured, looking at the other ranks, feeling a great disparity below the 20th rank.
'The top 10 in the March Batch have scores pretty next to one another. Anything can happen.' Jyorta shook his head, unwilling to waste his time. He then dragged his weary body towards the White Building.
The rewards listed in the pamphlet weren't unlimited. The valuable ones were available in limited portions, exclusive to each batch. Hence, the Aristocratic Families ensured that at least one child from the younger generation was born every month.
This reduced the competition between family members while raising their chances of gaining more resources. After all, the treasures available in the pamphlet were funded by the two Royal Families. No Aristocratic Family could shoulder the production costs for them on their own; the demand vastly outstripped their capacity.
Beginning from the 4th Ring, Aristocratic families settle in a particular area, making it their base of operations, gradually spreading their influence in the region. From the 4th Ring till the 6th Ring, each Ring had two Aristocratic Families settled within them, having more than 200 years of history.
Among them, the Veera family was at the top of the Aristocratic Families, possessing two Unranked Skills. Their base was in the 4th Ring, with a smaller part occupying the 7th Ring, due to its special nature.
The Doppler Family and the Bone Family that had recently emerged had their roots in the 7th Ring. So, altogether, three Aristocratic Families operated and spread their influence in the 7th Ring.
The rest of the Aristocratic families operate around the 8th and 9th Ring. The 10th Ring that was still being developed was under the direct control of the two Royal Families: Light, and Marble.
They hand over certain large scale missions to the Aristocratic Families, to clear the Wild Zones every once in a while, in order to further expand the city.
Central Command or Circle Zero for short was the headquarters of Marble City. Rings 1, 2, and 3 were exclusive to the two Royal Families.
Jyorta browsed the information in the Portal, gaining partial comprehension about the city of his delving. Not much information about the first three Rings was available, possibly filtered. Also, he couldn't directly pull up the information about the Aristocratic Families, except for their family name and their base of operations.
When he searched for the Unranked Skills, only Regen and Flight popped up. The rest, including his Bone Family's Bone Devour, didn't appear. At first, he planned to appear for a test and accumulate some Credits but, thinking it through, he wanted to look up more information first.
'I will study during the evening and appear for tests in the night. This way, I will have a stable routine.' Jyorta thought, pulling up more information in the Portal.
10:15 AM, noticing the time, he exited the White Building. While walking towards the Yellow Building, he noticed students running around the ground, wearing tracksuits. It was normal running, separated by Warriors and Espers.
The Warriors made a perimeter around the ground while the Espers shuttled between the longer ends, their paths straight. Jyorta took five minutes to observe them running, taking note of the Espers. He saw them using their physical bodies to run, never making use of their psychic energy to augment their pace.
"Now, this is what I meant by stamina training; just plain, simple running." Jyorta murmured, picking up his pace.
10:25 AM, seated in his spot, Jyorta looked at the Espers of his Batch walking in, leaking out psychic energy in small but, steady streams. Many seemed to have made improvements; the amount of psychic energy leaked was almost negligible when compared to before.
Soon, Haesha returned to her seat, shooting a glance at Laila sitting on the 9th row. Gleaming something through eye contact, she shifted her line of sight, looking beyond the 9th row, at the 10th row that was attached to the wall.
Haesha noticed Madam Mila standing there like a statue, her figure taking a couple of seconds of observation to register in her eyes. The moment she wanted to open her mouth, a voice resounded in her ears, inaudible to everyone else.
Haesha turned silent, gazing to her front, her mind whirring with thoughts.