The crowd turned silent, not a single person stood up to answer. The terms mentioned by the middle-aged lady were quite familiar to them, but none of them knew about their meaning. Long ago when they consulted their parents or teachers about it, they were told to wait until they were old enough; no one was willing to divulge the information.
The middle-aged lady nodded in praise, as if their ignorance was only natural. She would have taken some measures had any student stood up to answer; it meant their parents or an adult in their circles didn't have a tight lip. That person likely didn't give importance to the confidentiality of the military, making him/her a potential threat. That person would then fall under the radar of the military and be dealt with accordingly.
"Okay," The middle-aged lady interrupted the silence, "Let us begin with the basics. What do you understand by the term 'Parasite'?"
Heima took the opportunity to raise her hand; she was faster than her peers, thanks to Hancent who told her plenty of information the day before. "Ma'am," She took a moment to collect her thoughts, "A parasite is an organism that lives in or on the body of an organism, generally referred to as the host, and gains benefits by absorbing the nutrients of the host. The benefits include the parasite's growth, reproduction, and protection against its predators."
Heima paused, using the instant to think her next sentence. "A parasite maintains a symbiotic relationship with its host, only causing slight harm. Since, if the host dies, then it invariably leads to the death of the parasite."
"A classic textbook explanation," The middle-aged lady nodded in praise as she continued, "But, there are two species of parasites in this world as far as we know that creates a mutualism effect with the host. One, the Wisdom Parasite created by us, while the other is the Frenzy Parasite created by Rhachis Ancestor Frenzy."
Noticing the bouts of confusion creep on the faces of the students, the middle-aged lady continued, "It's a title. Rhachis Ancestor Frenzy is not a human. He's the leader of the Frenzy Beasts, the reason behind the Dark era."
There was a trace of anger in her voice which she managed to quickly control, "Coming back to the point, the Wisdom Parasite grows by absorbing the nutrients in our body, and nurturing our bodies in return. Because of that, our bodies grow stronger as time passes, but for the Wisdom Parasite, they grow in a step-based manner. Each stage of their growth is similar to moulting; there are six stages in total."
"We just represent them with Tiers, from one to six. The nurturing effect on our bodies increase based on the stage of its evolution. Hence, we determined different names for each Tier, giving us the means to classify." The middle-aged lady said as the first row appeared on the screen.
[Tier 1] [Observer] [Line Controller]
"Your parents might have told you about this, but let me explain it again." The middle-aged lady said with a smile, "The Central Nervous System has two major parts: The Brain, and the Spinal Cord. Your future path depends on where the Wisdom Parasite fuses. If it fuses with your brain, you become an Esper and if it fuses with your spinal cord, you become a Warrior.
"Warriors have strong bodies, capable of executing superhuman feats like jumping hundreds of metres high, punching through boulders, swimming at the depth of the ocean, etc. Espers, on the other hand have weak bodies, but their brains are tremendously developed. They have acute senses, tremendous brainpower, capable of performing complicated calculations and simulations in their head, and last but not the least, they have Psychic powers. They gain control over a formless force that can move objects, termed Psychokinesis."
"Depending on the completeness of the fusion, the term Sync Rate is derived. It directly correlates to how high the nurturing effect of the Wisdom Parasite in your body is. It also has an effect on your body in different areas, but I will talk about them in detail in the future."
She then looked at the students seated at the very back of the auditorium, separated by a barrier, "Tier 1 Warriors are called Observers while Tier 1 Espers are called Line Controllers. Let me give you an example: Suppose…" The middle-aged lady looked into the crowd, looking for a volunteer as her sight fell on the boy who answered her first question.
She made him stand up, "What are you called, Cadet?"
"Ravis Macht, ma'am." The boy said.
"I see, so you were the one." The middle-aged lady nodded, speaking into the mike, "Consider our brave Cadet, Ravis. He's a Tier 1 Warrior. Suppose he had a sync Rate of 100%. Had he completed the nurturing process, oh, the nurturing process is a slow but steady process. You need to accumulate it over time."
The middle-aged lady blinked once, returning back to the topic, "After his nurturing, his body will be twice as powerful. Suppose his sync rate is 50%, then, he would only be 1.5 times as powerful."
Noticing their confused looks, the middle-aged lady made Ravis sit as she said, "Suppose Ravis was a Tier 1 Esper with 100% Sync Rate, then he would be able to control a single object at a time. The maximum weight of the object he can move will be 1 kilogram, its maximum speed of movement will be one metre per second, and he could move it within a metre of himself."
"Now," The middle-aged pointed with a finger, "Suppose his Sync Rate is only 50%, then, he would still be able to control an object. But, he can only lift 500 grams, move it at the maximum speed of 0.5 metres per second, and move it within 50 centimetres from him. The power he can display is half as compared to before. Is it clear to you guys now?"
"Yes, ma'am!" The students replied. Some students who were still confused inquired with their friends, gaining comprehension through the simple analogy provided by their friends. The middle-aged lady turned silent, allowing the students to discuss and digest the information.
After 10 minutes had passed, as she noticed the topic of conversation between the students changing to subjects irrelevant to studies, she clicked the button on the remote, making the table on the screen fill up with words.
[Tier 2] [Amplifier] [Area Controller]
[Tier 3] [Developer] [Wave Controller]
[Tier 4] [Shifter] [Ground Controller]
[Tier 5] [Transformer] [Sky Controller]
[Tier 6] [Rhachis Ancestor] [Psychic Ancestor]
"This information is printed in your textbooks, read them later. You will only be having theory classes until the end of this month. Cadets of the March batch have also joined at the same time as you, but they have already acclimated to the changes in their bodies. They will be using the training facilities for now. Your actual training starts from the next month. That will be all for today." The middle-aged watched in silence as the students heaved a sigh of relief and walked out of the auditorium.
The double doors opened as Heima noticed many students standing outside, the teary-eyed Gita one of them. As soon as she noticed Heima, Gita threw herself at her, sobbing, "I never expected the teacher to close the door at exactly 8:30 AM. I'm going to be scolded by my mother again for missing today's class."
"Don't worry; I'll fill you on all the details." Heima gazed at her wristwatch, noting the time. "We have an hour free now. Let's find an open place to discuss."
…
10:45 AM, 1st Academy, Class 5A; Jyorta looked at the language teacher teaching verbs. The eyes of the teacher were surrounded by dark circles, her eye bags apparent. She mechanically continued with the class, not caring about the students. She looked distracted, making many mistakes as she taught, having to rub and rewrite the words on the whiteboard numerous times.
Since the class was boring, to begin with, and the teacher lacking the enthusiasm to teach, Jyorta was long asleep. Connecting to his eyes and ears, the blue soul, Kaushik looked at his surroundings, trying to experiment with his abilities.
A pale blue tendril extended out of his soul, crawling its way out of Jyorta. The moment it appeared outside his body, it rapidly disintegrated. The blue soul thought in silence, trying to make another attempt.
'I can detect the presence of other souls in a range of one metre around myself. But, I am unable to extend my soul outside Jyorta's body; it directly dissipates, making me feel tired.'
The blue soul thought, chanting the verse of the Creepy-Haired man, making two tendrils appear. The two tendrils were filled with complex blue patterns, converging his knowledge and life-experience in them. The blue soul carefully extended one of the tendrils out, slowly extending it outside Jyorta's body.
Even though it was dissipating, it was at a rate slower as compared to before. Feeling a slight sense of success, the blue soul retracted the tendril, noticing the changes it had experienced.
'The only part that had been vaporised is the part of my soul in it. The part belonging to my knowledge and experience, the blue patterns, have experienced zero damage. I should experiment further, knowing the limits I could manipulate them.'
Suddenly, a small bang resounded from behind him. The student seated behind Jyorta had slammed his head on the table, panting as he heaved ragged breaths. The teacher immediately dropped the marker and rushed towards the student, inspecting him.
"He has a fever," She muttered before picking up the student, shouting at the students. "I'll be back in 5 minutes. Revise the verbs I have listed out today. I will conduct a small test when I return."
The students groaned with displeasure as the teacher carried the ill student with her, walking to the door of the classroom, planning to head to the school infirmary. Jyorta suddenly sat up straight, looking at the teacher.
"Teacher, let me accompany you. I can contact his mother, I know her very well." Jyorta said. His glazed eyes then regained clarity, a sense of confusion present in them.
"Okay, come with me, Jyorta." The teacher said. Even though he felt puzzled, Jyorta stood up, having gained some idea after witnessing his classmate in the teacher's hands, showing a look of worry. He followed after the teacher, looking at the face of his classmate from time to time.
'Good, it worked out as I planned.' The blue soul extended a blue tendril, filled with the blue patterns, extending it into the spine of the teacher.