After their encounter with the middle-aged man outside the old and rusty bookstore, the party of three moved to a further busier street towards their destination.
With cart-sellers and small shops on either side of the road, this particular Central District market was known to be one of the only 'good' spots in the whole district to hang around with friends.
While nibbling on the juicy kebabs, Maya and Casper, in high spirits, was window shopping as they went along the walkways.
Vikram, however, looked like he had aged a couple of years in the past few minutes.
'Who was that man? How did Ancestral Tongue appear in this world?'
His gaze turned to the fanny pack around his waist.
'... Could he be a transmigrator like me? did he write this book?'
He put his (only) hand on top of the fanny-pack to feel the old hardcover from above the leather bag. It wasn't a book written in recent times evident from the sogginess of the hardcover.
*sigh*
Vikram remembered the melancholic past and the war for the theological supremacy fought between the Empire and the Tribes and shook his head in sadness.
[ Dhi Abhava ] (In the absence of thoughts)
He iterated the title of the book in his mind many times before he was able to let go of the sorrowful memories.
*****
"and BEHOLD-!!"
Casper exclaimed pointing at a shop in the distance.
He looked comical extending two hands in a typical SRK fashion with his slight-paunchy stomach and shoulder-length hair; it made him look like an over-excited fashion enthusiast.
Maya's gaze shifted to the store while licking the popsicle-shaped kebab and went wide with shock.
"W... Wh... Why are we going there? *cough*"
"Stop with the questions and lets just go", Casper shut her down, and lead the party towards a store that read "World Clothing no. 101"
In another 100 meters, they reached a giant five-story building with glass windows and exquisite sculptures on the door frame.
Build in a classic Roman fashion of marble stone and decorated with pillars, the building looked like a renovated mini castle.
*****
{ Evening | Central District }
Escaping to an empty alleyway on the corner of the market, leaving both Casper and Maya in the store, Vikram made sure that he wasn't followed.
He was not interested in the dress that Avi had booked for Maya before Vikram's arrival on the Blue Planet.
He even felt a slight pain in his heart when he found out that Avi had paid the price of 1000 UC (Union Coins) in advance for a couple of dresses. He knew from his first week on the planet that 300 was more than enough to buy a week's worth of rations and clothes from the slum markets.
'Why the hell would you spend so much on a dress when you don't even have enough to eat?'
Vikram couldn't understand how Avi had even survived in this world with such extravagance on stupid stuff, but couldn't purchase winter clothes for his sister.
The only reason he had followed them to the store was that he was planning to visit the Central District anyway.
Being able to keep the facade of Avi intact was simply an unforeseen benefit. Not that a Shika's identity mattered in a Dystopian world where strength was the law, but Vikram didn't have strength either and hence the effort.
*prattle prattle*
He channelled Prana and pearl-sized bug-like black parasites started to expunge from his body like sweat after a 400-meter race.
"ughh-!!"
He groaned in pain until most of the parasites residing in his body were out.
'Goddammit!? It's such a pain to use this ability.'
Jane who had gotten off his shoulder for a moment was shocked beyond reason to see black goo existing from his limbs, back, chest, neck, and face.
Being attuned to death, she should have been devoid of horror and pain, but she felt both whilst looking at Vikram covered in black spots and stripes.
'What is master doing-? This looks like plain torture-?'
It was the price Vikram had to pay for using the power of Arajakta.
Just like Annapurna's descendants had to live a sickly life, Vikram had to endure the pain of his skin ripping apart every time he called the parasites out of his body.
*flop*
A gooey insect-like pile of Parasites landed near Vikram's feet and slumped on the ground like lifeless algae.
Jane's eyes widened with shock when she saw the puddle on the ground, she would have screamed in horror if she was still a human.
'What is that-?', her face morphed in disgust.
Parasites were creatures of the Chaos that only followed Hive's command. And since the said Hive was gasping for breath while holding onto the walls of the dark alleyway for his dear life, they could only lay on the ground like lifeless mud.
The price of using two systems was more painful than Vikram had imagined. It almost made him never want to call the Parasites ever again.
'Damn! If I had known this would happen, I would've waited-!!'
'... Bhendi Corp isn't going anywhere anyway-!?'
He felt thankful to Kane for messing up his physical senses before. He realized now how much of a disguised blessing it was.
This made him wonder what would have happened if he had done the same before his evolution and without Kane messing up his body.
There was a good chance that he would have either gone into a Coma or died because of the excruciating pain that came with utilizing the Parasites.
*whirl*
Vikram calmed his racing heart and invoked the Aum. He was internally lamenting at how frequently he had to use it ever since stepping foot inside the novel.
[ Viral Thought ]
With revigorated breath, he called out to Akashvani and invoked the ability in his menu.
[ Searching for target... ]
[ Target Found: Akashik Parasites ]
Using Akashvani's interface was the easiest way to use an Ability in Diaspora.
Of course, using ability with Akashvani's help came with a tradeoff of efficiency and control. It was like auto-aiming in shooting games.
It was doubly true for Vikram who hadn't learned to control the Chaotic Energy yet. In fact, the only reason Vikram could control gene power at all was also because of Avi's body.
Prana or Animus was also called the power of the soul, whereas Gene Power was known as the power of the body. As for Chaotic Energy, Vikram had no clue.
In Diaspora, every system had its signature Energy. Akashvani had Gene Power and Arajakta ruled the Chaotic Energy of the Chaos World. As for who ruled the law of Prana there wasn't any information in the Animus Unity Manual.
That is why Vikram couldn't simply substitute one energy for other, that was akin to blasphemy in the Diasporan sense of the world. If it was possible, Vikram wouldn't have had a problem simply using Prana to control both Akashvani and Arajakta.
Energies were like colours, with each having its own frequency and spectrum. And just like the human eye was incapable of observing every colour on that spectrum, a Shika wasn't able to use every Energy either.
That is why, Vikram had to use the ability [Viral Thought] via the system, rather than directly controlling the Parasites with Hive's authority.
[ Gaining control of the parasitical lifeform ]
[ Calculating... ]
[ ERROR: Can't read genome instruction of "Akashik Parasites" ]
Still, it wasn't easy for Akashvani to simply override Arajakta's control over the parasites. To Akashvani, Parasites would be something akin to viruses and must be eradicated.
'Ignore the error', Vikram commanded.
[ TRY 1: Initiating remote control. ]
[ ERROR: Akashik Parasites have rejected the system's advances. ]
The millions of Parasites were, after all, the property of the Arajakta. How could they let a foreign god order them around?
'Try with a different protocol'
Vikram helped Akashvani shorten the process by nudging it in the right direction. His knowledge of the main character's first big fight with the second system's power was still fresh in his mind.
[ TRY 2: Changing Instruction language to ??? ]
[ ERROR: Parasites' Genome doesn't have a ?? translation DNA. ]
[ TRY 3: Changing Instruction language t... ]
'Change to manual instruction mode.'
[ Enabling Manual Instruction Mode. ]
[ Host is warned of extreme neural stress. Do you still want to continue? ]
'Yes'
[ Viral Thought - Manual Instruction Mode set. ]
'... Move to the next step.'
'... Initiate energy transformation'
[ Establishing direct channel with Akashik Parasites' nuclei ]
[ Akashik Parasites recognize the host's signature DNA. ]
[Connection successful ]
[ Using Host's physical channel to transfer Gene Power ]
[ ERROR: Akashik Parasites rejected system's gene power ]
'... Modify Energy frequency to match target's scale'
[ Try 1: Transferring modified Energy Signature ]
[ Success ]
[ Syncing Viral Thought response time with Akashik Parasite's response time ]
[ Calibration Successful ]
[ Current Effective rate: 9% ]
"Haa! Finally"
Vikram breathed a deep sigh of relief.
Even if the effective rate was low, it was already a big boon for him that he could now use Akashik Parasites' combat ability for himself.
The effective Rate of ability was like Skill Proficiency in a Game. The higher the effective rate, the better the ability would perform. At 100% it was also possible to upgrade the Ability.
'Should I just retire after destroying the device?'
~Master-?~
Jane who had been observing from the sidelines till now spoke up in a fearful tone.
'... to heck with the device. I need to first get out of the Two System Curse and also stop the bloody time reversal from happening!!'
~Let's go, Jane, it is time for your first revenge~
He commanded and Jane happily snugged onto his collar forgetting the previous horrendous sight of Vikram.