《Psychic Parasite: Final Serenity》 Chapter 1 - Birth Of The Skep King You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com The gentle rays of the morning sun seeped into the darkness, casting a glow of radiance into the turbid atmosphere. The faint heat it unleashed melted the fog as a metro train passed through a building, alighting at a station. It was still early in the morning, the passengers all shared a common phenomenon: They were tired. It seemed as if none of them had a wink of sleep in the past couple of days or even more based on the degree of hollowness in their eyes. Lifeless, lacking energy like soulless husks, the passengers alighted at the station, heaving a collective sigh before proceeding about their respective tasks. Gazing at their tired figures from within the train was a young boy, a youth on the verge of growing into an adult. His eyes gleamed with a hint of innocence and curiosity, one suffused with the laziness of the morning warm atmosphere. When the compartment doors opened, a faint gust of cold wind assaulted him, brushing his hair a little, causing his body to tremble a bit from the cold. But, as the rays of the sun fell on him, it created a feeling of warmth that made him wish to sleep right then and there. The doors closed as the mechanical announcement resounded through the compartment. The train began to move once again as Jyorta rested his face on his hand, peeking through the window as he gazed at the buildings that spanned past. There was one thing common in everything: Cracks. Cracks that ranged from hairline width to massive ones spanning at least three to four centimetres in width coursed through every building. As the train sped past, Jyorta watched some of the smaller hairline cracks mend themselves, healing completely until the patch of the wall looked undamaged. But, this was just one segment. There were numerous damaged buildings. Moreover, as the train continued to travel past, droplets of water fell on the window. Jyorta frowned as he gazed at the window, noticing the droplets of water soon increase in intensity. Soon, there was a heavy downpour, causing the window panels to become foggy, preventing him from seeing outside clearly. Using the sleeve of his shirt, Jyorta wiped the window, able to see outside once again. But, it got covered by the fog soon after. Sighing, he gave up after a couple of tries, closing his eyes as he sat in silence. At present, he neither had any energy nor the mind to think about other matters, only enjoying the momentary peace. For he knew, this was probably the last time he would be idle. War and chaos had already knocked on their doorbell twice. And, the residents had reciprocated in kind to the summons. "Sector 12, Baker Street." The mechanical voice announced as the train halted. Jyorta Bone got up, slumped the bag on his shoulder, and alighted. He stared forward, gazing at the guard posted at the checkout of the station. Jyorta and the guard made eye contact, but nothing was exchanged between them. Both of them were exhausted, lacking the energy to converse. Swiping his ID card through the entryway, he exited the train station, one that passed through the fiftieth floor of a skyscraper. Boarding the public lift, he reached the ground floor, exiting the building as he noticed the dense stream of downpour on the street. The expression of everyone in the place was solemn as they gazed at the water. After all, it had never rained at Marble City. Jyorta left the protection of the building, heading into the open as the rain fell on him. He wasn''t drenched though, for a transparent membrane protected him and his luggage from the rain. Jyorta gazed upwards, frowning as his heart shuddered. For, in the sky was a massive crack, a gaping hole, one that didn''t heal despite it being a week since the incident. The crack was in the barrier protecting their city, one that was transparent but had the same strength as the magenta walls protecting their city from ground attacks. And now, it had been blasted open, unable to be repaired. Rain fell through the hole, landing on the city for the first time since it had been built. Jyorta focused along the edges of the crack in the sky, noticing sparks of magenta flashing around in futility, unable to heal the damage. He then looked into the crack, failing to sense anything. But upon seeing the struggles of the magenta light along the edges of the crack, he knew that a mysterious power was hindering it, placing Marble City in a state of panic. That was why no one had obtained a wink of sleep in the past week. They were always ready to face any trouble that came their way. The entire city was on edge due to the events that had transpired a week ago, right on the day when he concluded his Graduation Ceremony. Moreover, it happened right as they had killed the Tier 3 River Whale, their final Tier 3 opponent. Right as Madam Mary had congratulated them, a Skep crashed into their city''s barrier. And, this had happened right atop their military academy, allowing them to see everything from up close. The Skep, a being that had escaped the evolution mode relying on Parasites and had ventured in a new direction, one that was stronger than all Tier 5 beings in strength and was close to attaining Tier 6, was now in a ragged state. And, unlike the other Skeps, it seemed to have lost half of its power for some reason, based on what Jyorta had felt. But, everything was revealed right after that as his destined foe arrived, causing the entire Marble City to tremble. The ground rumbled as the landmass screamed at the presence the other party exuded. It was a being known by many names: Mother Parasite, The First Parasite, Rhachis Ancestor Parasite. It landed on the Skep, pummeling it deep into the city''s barrier, shouting, "I sensed that you''ve given birth to the king of your species. Where is it?" "You''ll¡­never¡­find¡­it!" The Skep spoke as it slammed forth a bluish beam at Rhachis Ancestor Parasite, trembling when its attacks failed to even scratch the other party. And right as it had done so, more than a hundred Skeps took off into the skies from the ocean in the south, unleashing bluish beams one after another. As for the Skep Primogenitor, it hovered in the sky behind all the Skeps, holding a newborn Skep in its tentacles. The ocean water had spilled out like a tsunami and crashed into the walls of Marble City thanks to the action of the Skeps. So, all the Skeps were only a kilometre away from Marble City. Even though it was dangerous, Madam Mary used her psychic arm to condense a massive lens, allowing her to zoom into the scene to gaze at the Skep Primogenitor. Thanks to that, Jyorta was able to see the newborn Skep, one that was barely three metres in height. And, the moment he gazed at it, his blue soul shuddered, shriveling up as it began to lose soul energy for some reason. Fear! The same fear that he felt whenever he faced Laila emanated from the newborn Skep. And, he immediately concluded that the newborn Skep was one of Laila''s subsouls. Or rather, Gajara Rahi''s subsoul that had been created exclusively for this event, same as Laila. Jyavreh Sahi! The newborn Skep weakly lifted its head, gazing in his direction. For a moment, Jyorta felt like the other party was able to see him, for, despite the other party not doing anything else, he got the notion that it was¡­laughing. He shuddered at that thought, watching the hundreds of bluish beams land on Rhachis Ancestor Parasite. The moment it noticed the appearance of the Skep Primogenitor, Rhachis Ancestor Parasite gazed at the newborn Skep, muttering, "So, that''s the pinnacle of your race." Right as it waved its hands, unleashing a formless force to attack the Skep Primogenitor, the bluish beams landed on it, thwarting its attack, also causing it to be slammed into Marble City''s barrier. It was apparent that the Skeps wished to divert Rhachis Ancestor Parasite''s focus on Marble City so that they could use the chance to escape. After all, with their city being the focus of attacks from both the opposing forces, Marble City''s Ancestors wouldn''t have any choice but to take action against Rhachis Ancestor Parasite. Followed by a flicker of light, Rhachis Ancestor Light appeared, unleashing a massive beam into Rhachis Ancestor Parasite in an effort to send it flying away from the city. Currently, due to the force of the bluish beams, it was sinking deeper into the city''s barrier. "This damn barrier!" Rhachis Ancestor Parasite cursed as its body slightly shrunk before emitting a formless force as it shouted, "Tier 6!" The body of the Skep it was pressing upon vaporised instantly, unleashing a mysterious effect from its collapsing body, eradicating the barrier within a fraction of a second. And, right when Rhachis Ancestor Parasite was about to send in another attack to flatten out the entire city, it suddenly flinched, watching a murky river emerge from the ground and fly towards it at rapid speeds. Unwilling to face the mysterious substance that even it judged as a threat, Rhachis Ancestor Parasite retreated, intending to chase after its target when it noticed the group of Skeps calmly positioning themselves on the other side of Marble City, intent to involve the humans in the scheme. As for the Skep Primogenitor, it smiled while gazing at Rhachis Ancestor Parasite, "Just as you have dominance over the Parasite Path, the Skep King would have the same in the Evolutionary Path.. In the future, if you ever try to embark on this path, you''ll fall under our control." You can read the novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 2 - Your Days Are Numbered You can read the novel online free at novelhall.com Dominance! That was the factor contested for ever since the Mother Parasite came into being. As the source of the Frenzy Parasites and the first Ancestor to have become in the Parasite Path, Rhachis Ancestor Parasite had control over every Frenzy Beast. After all, the Frenzy Parasites the Frenzy Beasts relied on to grow stronger stemmed from it. And if it so desired, it could make any Frenzy Beast lose control with a thought. Only the Frenzy Beast Ancestors were exempt from this since they had already fused with their respective Frenzy Parasites and had gained complete control over it. And similarly, humanity wasn''t free from this influence too. They had a secret method to create a layer of protection on their Wisdom Parasites, keeping them free from Rhachis Ancestor Parasite''s influence. Though, once they lose control or their bodies soak up a tremendous quantity of Essence of Frenzy, their Wisdom Parasite would turn into a Frenzy Parasite. After that, they would be under Rhachis Ancestor Parasite''s control. Consider the Child of Wisdom for example. Leaving aside the impossibility of future breakthroughs, just the fact that they have the abilities of both a Warrior and as Esper makes them potential powerhouses. Even though they wouldn''t be as strong as either Warriors or Espers of their respective Tiers, this was only true until Tier 5. After all, their Sync Rate of 100 would be split up between their brain and spine. But, once they reach Tier 6, the percentage of the fused region in both the brain and spine would reach 100 percent, allowing them full control of both the Warrior and Esper abilities¡ªas evidenced by the Tier 6 Frenzy Beast, Colossal Bawling Sheep, Rhachis Ancestor Parasite''s mount. It was a Child of Frenzy. They would become many times stronger than the current generation of Ancestors. Such was their potential. Unfortunately, all Children of Wisdom lacked that shielding on their Wisdom Parasites, causing them to mutate into a Frenzy Parasite with a year. Once this happened, they were under the control of Rhachis Ancestor Parasite, their life and death decided by it. This was the reason every Frenzy Beast race obeyed Rhachis Ancestor Parasite. Its single thought would decide if their race would achieve greater strength or annihilation. This was another reason humanity researched heavily in the Mind, Soul, and Aura Paths. It was in an effort to reach its peak first and create a power system that was no longer dependant on the Parasites. And now, the Skeps had attained that. The Skep Primogenitor had been the first generation of Frenzy Beasts, created when Rhachis Ancestor Parasite was only at Tier 1. And, by breaking through the Tiers and gaining power swiftly on par with Mother Parasite, it upgraded its intelligence, soon realising the concept at play when it was at the peak of Tier 5. It then tried numerous means, eventually breaking free from the Parasite Path by ripping out its Frenzy Parasite and managing to barely survive. Once Rhachis Ancestor Parasite reached Tier 6, it went in hiding, realising fully well that its decision was correct. The Skep Primogenitor then spent decades developing itself, using the Skills it gained while being a Frenzy Beast to finally create a path where it could grow by absorbing the genetic material of other creatures. It was hard at first, since the genetic materials destroyed its body, causing more harm than good. But over time, it figured out a way to refine its body, absorbing the beneficial genetic materials while shedding out the rest. Eventually, it reached the peak of Tier 5 in strength, the level most Skeps were at today. At this point, it had accumulated enough genetic material to birth an offspring. By sacrificing half of its core, it birthed another Skep. From that point onwards, whenever they reached a certain level of accumulation, they split half of their accumulations to birth new Skeps. And over the centuries, their population increased. They also obtained the means to create plants that grew on the ocean floor, absorbing the nutrients within. And, this created a life cycle to bolster aquatic life even further. And once the Skeps gained the ability to birth the Swarm, they made use of these aquatic plants, eventually conquering the ocean. At present, except for some minor corners under the ocean''s tectonic plates, everywhere else was occupied by the Swarm. The ocean was now dominated by the Skeps. And, using the Ocean''s depth to its advantage, by layering numerous abilities it possessed, the Skep Primogenitor lived in hiding, suppressing itself as it continued to grow in strength. It knew very well for a fact that facing Rhachis Ancestor Parasite was impossible. After all, the opponent was too strong and was still growing in strength with the development of the Parasite Path. That was its advantage of having dominance over a Path. As the Path developed, the ruler also grew in strength. After all, by the notion of a Path''s development, it meant the very Earth itself getting accustomed to it, allowing the progression of the Path naturally. After all, with the arrival of the Parasite Path, three offshoot Paths had been created. First was the Mind Path. The result of its development in the world was the Mental Realm. The second was the Aura Path. The Earth''s presence itself was changing with the passing of every day, causing numerous beneficial changes in the creatures living on it. It was still unknown as to what changes the offshoot of Soul Path would bring to Earth, but it would definitely enrich the Parasite Path even more. And, if that happened, Rhachis Ancestor Parasite would be unstoppable. The only way to combat that was to attain the peak of their Evolution Path and gain dominance over it. This way, Earth would recognise it and assimilate the Evolution Path into itself, developing it naturally, creating more benefits for the Skeps. And, to achieve that, the Skep Primogenitor knew that it wasn''t suitable. After all, despite breaking free of the Parasite Path, it still had some traces of the influence in its body. And, Rhachis Ancestor Parasite was still able to influence it, even though the influence was negligible to its current power. So, it meant that it couldn''t become the ruler of the Evolution Path. And, the only other Skep to do that had yet to be born. Finally, through some mysterious means that even it wasn''t able to understand, the Skep Primogenitor witnessed the birth of a new Skep. And, a glance was enough to determine that the newborn Skep was capable of becoming the ruler of the Evolution Path and cause Earth to develop the Path even further. Staring at Rhachis Ancestor Parasite, the Skep Primogenitor spoke, "There''s no way I''ll allow you to shatter our hope.. Your days are numbered, Frenzy." Read novel fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 3 - Too Much Had Happened "Too much had happened." Jyorta Bone sighed, shaking his head as he walked on the street, watching some of the Espers walking past shield the Warriors from the rain. ''In the end, Ancestor Light and Marble barely protected the city while Ancestor Strongest prevented any enemies from entering through the crack. As for the Skeps, they fought a massive war with Rhachis Ancestor Parasite and all the Frenzy Beast Ancestors surrounding Marble City. Eventually, they flooded this entire region and barely managed to escape into the depths of the ocean until no Ancestor was able to detect them.'' Jyorta recalled. He then sighed, ''When Ancestor Light brought in Ancestor Dawn and Reef, the Frenzy Beasts retreated as Rhachis Ancestor Parasite headed into the ocean in search of the Skeps. It seemed intent to kill the Skep King. Thankfully for that, we barely managed to evade an all-out war.'' Shuddering, Jyorta recalled the scene where the tidal waves from the ocean crashed into Marble City, almost drowning it. Even now, the land surrounding Marble City was at a depth of 50 metres below the ocean surface. And for some reason, the ocean water didn''t recede. This also made it harder to deal with the Swarm that was now able to hide within the water and attack the city walls from all sides. It made Ancestor Marble busy, slowing down the city''s recovery. ''Thankfully, a war didn''t erupt. With my puny strength¡­'' His hands shivered as Jyorta tried to clench them, realising that his sense of fear and anxiety prevented him from gathering his strength. Even though the battle had been short, the scale was beyond what he could comprehend. It was a clash between natural disasters one after another. ''The Skeps are too dangerous. Now that they have birthed a king, they''ll eventually pose more threat than Frenzy Beasts. At least, the Frenzy Beasts are useful to us, since we can create Artifacts and Relics out of their corpses. They also form the base materials for many Unranked Skills and Traits. But as for the Swarm¡­'' Jyorta shook his head, realising very well that the enemy gave no benefit other than being a food source. He then sensed the pattering raindrops make tiny ripples on his psychic energy barrier, realising that he was running out of psychic energy. He didn''t have much, to begin with, considering the week of training in the military academy he underwent. One of the training processes consisted of the method to infuse his aura into the city walls at a moment of crisis. It was what he had observed previously when Rhachis Ancestor Parasite had attacked Marble City. All the citizens had infused their aura into the city walls, strengthening it to the limit. That''s how it was able to withstand a couple of Rhachis Ancestor Parasite''s punches. Jyorta stared ahead, noticing the Bone Family''s mansion come into view. Standing opposite to it was another skyscraper; his home was located on its 28th floor. Arriving before the door, he took in a deep breath, ''It''s been a year.'' Even though he formed many attachments in this world, this home was the firmest of them all, the reason he strived to retain his humanity. After all, there were numerous incidents where he would have gone crazy. Voluntarily, he had attached himself to the place. Otherwise, he dared not think about what he might be capable of. Without any self-imposed restrictions, he was¡­scary. When he rang the doorbell, there was a flurry of sounds from within. There was also a shrill crying sound, the voice unfamiliar, confusing him. Within a couple of seconds, the door opened as the chiselled face of a man appeared. He looked at Jyorta, blinking in confusion. A second later, his eyes lit up, "Right, it was supposed to be today. Welcome home, Jyorta Bone." "You are¡­?" Jyorta was confused, watching the chiselled-faced man prompt him to enter. As he stepped inside, Jyorta immediately noticed some minor changes to the place. There were extra things in some places, items that had recently been purchased in a hurry, apparent as they had been stuffed in any random place that could house them. Jyorta didn''t know what to make sense of the situation, frowning when he noticed the chiselled-faced man act like he was at home. But, he didn''t say anything, for the moment hoping to understand the state of things first, unwilling to let out any misunderstood remarks. The chiselled-faced man entered the master bedroom, the room that had been used by his parents before. Seated inside was Heima, smiling as she stared into a cradle, having not noticed his arrival. "Heima, Jyorta returned." The chiselled-faced man said, causing Heima to look in surprise before beaming with a smile. For a moment, it seemed like she had entirely forgotten about the matter. Jyorta was just about to wave his hand when Heima''s figure flashed before him, enveloping him in a hug, whispering, "Welcome back!" If he still failed to understand, then his IQ could very well be argued to be non-existent. Jyorta gazed at Heima in surprise, "Sister, when did you marry? And, how come you already have a child?" "Haha, cute, aren''t they?" Heima said, dragging Jyorta as she showed her kids, a pair of twins. At present, they were fast asleep, their expressions occasionally displaying anger, happiness, peacefulness, etc. It was a sign that their brain was developing, articulating every emotion a functional human being ought to possess. Staring at them, Heima''s expression softened as she lightly touched the cheek of one of them, fawning as she whispered, "They are less than 10 days old. I never understood the joys of being a mother. But now, I do." --------------------------- Author Notes: Updates for this novel would only be 4 chapters per week. And, every chapter would only have 1000 words. This is because we have yet to achieve the goal I set before on my Patre0n. The goal is 400 USD, the amount I need to give daily updates for free, with each chapter ranging between 1700-1800 words like in the prequel. Support here: patre0n.com/overlord_venus Releases will increase accordingly to the increase in support on Patre0n. --------------------------- You can read the novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 4 - Ravis Macht/Bone You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com Seated in the living room, Heima sipped some coffee, smiling as she talked, "He''s Ravis Macht; I''m sure I talked about him before." "You mean¡­" Jyorta said after a moment of thought, "He''s the same person who obtained more Sync Rate than you and currently boasts the highest Sync Rate in the 7th Ring to date? The same guy?" "He doesn''t look like that, right?" Heima laughed, "When he doesn''t fight, he''s just a goofball. Though, you can say this aspect of him is what I fell for." "But, marriage¡­" Jyorta hesitated, unable to articulate his emotions clearly, still feeling as if everything was surreal, "Isn''t it too fast? You could have at least waited until I returned, right?" "Normally, that should have been the case," Heima sighed, "But, we didn''t have the freedom of time. I''ve already been in Tier 3 for quite some time. He''s been the same too. So, if we tried to have kids any later, it''s guaranteed that I''ll give birth to a Child of Wisdom. I don''t think I''ll be able to handle that emotional stress." "The incident with the Ethereal-Tailed Frenzy Beasts came in handy," She looked around, hearing light sounds of Ravis Macht cuddling her children, smiling as she spoke, "My Sync Rate took a heavy hit. And, my Wisdom Parasite was in a weakened state. As for Ravis, he managed to discover one of the Ethereal-Tailed Frenzy Beasts'' hideouts. But as a result, he was heavily attacked by them to the extent he was on death''s door. If the Sky Controllers back then had arrived a second later, he would have lost his life." "Due to that incident, both of our Sync Rates were at an all-time low and our Wisdom Parasites had been severely injured. This was the best time to have children without fear of birthing a Child of Wisdom." Heima said, "So, on the 30th of December, we married. I conceived pretty soon after that, and gave birth just 10 days ago." "Thankfully," Heima trembled, clenching her fists as she teared up in gratitude, "I gave birth to a pair of twins. I have two children now. I don''t need to worry about anything else. I''m afraid this is the one and only time I can give birth without fear." Jyorta gazed at his sister''s eyes, realising very well the extent of fear she had harboured over the months while she was pregnant. There wasn''t anything more horrible than birthing a Child of Wisdom. Having to watch your child slip into the back while the parasite within takes control. Moreover, its protection would slowly vanish as the Wisdom Parasite would turn into a Frenzy Parasite and fall under the control of Rhachis Ancestor Parasite. Eventually, it would attack the humans and would have to be laid to rest. It was unbearable. Even after giving birth, she was still paranoid, finally shedding tears in gratitude upon scanning the babies to see that their nervous system had zero traces of a Parasite. Wiping her tears, Heima laughed, "How was your stay in the Military Academy? Quite a few incidents had taken place during your time there." "Indeed," Jyorta sighed, "But, it was memorable in the end. I learned a lot, made some friends, and grew stronger." "I watched your fight," Heima patted his head gently, "You were hella strong. Grandfather was grinning in pride the whole time. You should have seen his face back then. It is rare for him to let loose like that. Also, get changed. He''s waiting for you. It seems he has a lot to talk with you." "Really?" Jyorta laughed, "That is great. I have some things to talk about with him too." Right at this time, Ravis Macht arrived, smiling as he looked at Jyorta, "Well, I think your sister might have told you everything by now. So, let me introduce myself." He shook hands with Jyorta, saying with a tone akin to a boast, "I''m Ravis Macht. Though, I''m addressed as Ravis Bone these days. I''m the dude that fished your sister''s heart." "That was¡­cringy," Heima said as goosebumps appeared on her arms. Rubbing it, she complained, "You could have just introduced yourself normally." "I should make an impact, you know. An impact!" Ravis Macht, now going by Ravis Bone since he had married into the Bone Family, argued. Seeing the light banter, Jyorta laughed, ''It seems this isn''t a political marriage. Thank goodness.'' "Alright, I''ll go make breakfast." Heima said, pushing Ravis away with a glare, ordering him, "Don''t move away from our children, got it?" "Yes, ma''am!" Ravis Bone saluted, bursting into a laugh as he headed into the master bedroom, doing nothing else but stare at his children and admire them, breaking into a grin from time to time. "Take a bath, Jyorta. Your room is still the same as before." Heima said, heading into the kitchen, "I''ll finish making breakfast by the time you are finished. You do take hours to get ready, after all." "I''m pretty quick these days. My record is 12 minutes. I''m telling you, if I put my mind to it, I can get ready really quick." Jyorta grumbled, heading into his room as he immediately fell at ease. Upon seeing that everything was exactly as he had left them a year ago, he was happy. Though, upon noticing the cracks in the walls, ones that were healing at a snail''s pace, his mood turned sombre, ''The Ancestors managed to stop Rhachis Ancestor Parasite this time. But once the Mental Realm attains the saturation point, the Parasite Path would reach its completion. Rhachis Ancestor Parasite would be at its strongest then. No new Ancestor would ever appear after that point.'' ''If I fail to achieve Tier 6 by then¡­'' He thought, clenching his hand into a fist, shaking his head as he took out his towel and headed into the bathroom, beginning to refresh himself. ''I am developing in the Parasite and Aura Path. Thanks to the blue soul, I''ll be developing in the Soul Path too. As for the Mind Path, I''ll have to work on it in my next project.'' As the water cascaded down his face, Jyorta focused on the tattoo in him, the one containing the presences of hundreds of Frenzy Beasts that he had obtained from the Labyrinth of Frenzy. He also had their respective souls in his blue soul. "It''ll take me time to process them and create the Tower of God. I shouldn''t make haste and screw up everything I have achieved to date." Sighing, he muttered, "One step at a time." --------------------------- Author Notes: Updates for this novel would only be 4 chapters per week. And, every chapter would only have 1000 words. This is because we have yet to achieve the goal I set before on my Patre0n. The goal is 400 USD, the amount I need to give daily updates for free, with each chapter ranging between 1700-1800 words like in the prequel. Support here: patre0n.com/overlord_venus Releases will increase accordingly to the increase in support on Patre0n. --------------------------- Read novel online free fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 5 - A Compromise You can read the novel online free at novelhall.com Eating the familiar cooking of his sister, Jyorta almost teared up, missing it while he had been in the military academy. Food in the military academy was bland, without any spice or flavour. But now, every flavour he liked had been prepared. Even though she had been busy with everything that had been happening, Heima still prepared a feast for him. When they were finished with their breakfast, Heima asked in passing, "What job were you allotted with now?" "When I reach Tier 3, I''ll gain entry into Grapple Force. My job description would change then." Jyorta recalled everything that had happened in the past week, saying, "But until then, I have two temporary jobs." "As a Soldier, I have been stationed at the walls. Since my Psychic Energy reserves aren''t that high, I''ll just be acting as a reserve of energy for the fighting soldiers. Regen is great in that regard. For my civilian job, I''ve been posted as a nurse/caretaker in the Second Academy." Jyorta laughed, "Both are less demanding jobs. I have a month of free time until I have to start working." "That''s great," Heima smiled, "It''s impressive that you have Regen now. You won''t face too much risk thanks to that." "Alright, I''ll be heading out to work now." Ravis Bone took the moment to excuse himself, noticing the time as he hurried along. He then laughed while facing Jyorta, "Sorry that I''m busy. Once I return, let''s catch up." "Sure," Jyorta waved his hand, watching Ravis Bone exit the home. He then sighed, looking at his sister as he spoke, still unable to believe himself, "It feels surreal that you''ve married and already have kids." "It was bound to happen anyway," Heima said, then sporting a serious expression, "By the way, do you have a girl you like?" "W-Why are you asking it all of a sudden?" Jyorta was flustered for a moment. Upon seeing the seriousness of his sister, he had assumed she was about to talk of something serious. But, her statement caught him off guard. "There''s nothing sudden about it," Heima glared, easing up a little as she spoke, "Madam Light has finalised what to do for our subsequent breakthroughs." His eyes widened as Jyorta straightened himself, "Did she figure out a method to deal with the Mind Hound?" "That''s impossible," Heima shook her head, "The Mind Hound is closely related to something Gajara Rahi had done in the past. At present, it isn''t something anyone can deal with. No matter what we attack it with, it won''t ever die, since it seems to now bear the consciousness of the Mental Realm itself." "The consciousness of the Mental Realm?" Jyorta was shocked, "How is that possible?" "It''s related to the Mind Path. So, anything''s possible." Heima sighed, "And, during every breakthrough in Marble City over the year, we have seen the Mind Hound prowling about the city. It hasn''t attacked us, but hasn''t left the city''s vicinity either." "With it around, the moment we enter the Mental Realm, it will devour us," Heima shuddered for a moment, recalling every statement she had read about the matter, "The Mind Hound isn''t something we can deal with. So, we have to settle with a compromise." "A compromise?" Jyorta asked. "Yes," Heima nodded, iterating the plan Atika Light had informed her about, "We''ll breakthrough simultaneously every time. And, we''ll be heading to each city of humanity to do so. This way, the distance between us and Marble City would be vast. By the time the Mind Hound reaches the respective city, we would have completed our breakthroughs. Every time, we''ll be doing the same." "And, to prevent it from following us, Ancestor Light would personally drop us off. It would hardly take a second with him to transport us," Heima laughed, "We''ll head towards the weakest of human stronghold first, Desert City. I''ll reach Tier 4 while you''ll reach Tier 3 there. For our subsequent breakthroughs, we''ll head to Floating City, Reef City, and finally, Dawn City. This way, we''ll avoid the Mind Hound all the time." "That''s a solid plan," Jyorta nodded, "Since someone is constantly breaking through in all the cities, we''ll be able to figure out the Mind Hound''s position and prepare accordingly." He then expressed his confusion, "What does this matter have to do with your initial question?" "It matters a lot," Heima stressed, "Remember your identity. The Mind, Soul, and Aura Paths are offshoots of the Parasite Path. And, you''re the fusion of the Soul and Parasite Path. Why do you think I was so worried about having a child all along?" She stated, "At Tier 3, the chances of birthing a Child of Wisdom is only 30 percent. That means, if I give birth three times, I''ll only birth a Child of Wisdom once. But in reality, that is not the case for me. It''s because I''m a Subsoul. The essence of the Parasite Path is stronger in me. So, my chances to birth a Child of Wisdom is almost the same as the case of a Shifter giving birth. I just got lucky this time." "And you!" She shouted, "You''re even worse. I am just a Subsoul. But you''re a Psychic Parasite. For you, forget about birthing a normal child once you reach Tier 3. The risks are high even at your current level." "You can''t prolong your development just to birth a child. The Saturation Point in the Mental Realm is fast approaching." Heima almost shouted, "And, Madam Light has already given the date for us to breakthrough. There are only two years left. So, do you get my point now?" "If you don''t have a child within these two years, you can forget about having one for the rest of your life." Her words slammed like a hammer on him as Jyorta''s mood worsened instantly. ''2¡­years? That''s too short. Can I¡­really handle it?'' As he worried about it, Heima dropped another bomb on him, "That''s why I asked if you had someone you liked. Otherwise, grandpa plans to engage you to Dalna Doppler. Her pedigree, talent, character, potential, etc. is stellar. Comparing everything, she seems to be your best match." ---------------------------- Author Notes: Until we reach the target amount in my Patre0n, I''ll release a bonus chapter for every 10 USD increase in the pledged amount. ----------------------------- Best novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 6 - Just A Farce You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com "Otherwise, grandpa is planning to marry you to Dalna Doppler¡­" Heima''s words resounded in his mind as Jyorta walked on the road, heading towards the skyscraper on the opposite side¡ªthe Bone Family''s mansion. Upon entering it, he felt a chill all of a sudden, as if he was about to be devoured by a prehistoric beast. The feeling clawed onto him in an instant, paralysing him, causing him to be slick with sweat. Without any hesitation, Jyorta unleashed the brunt of his aura, manipulating it to shred apart the sensation. But, just as he had thought it was over, the sensation returned once again, this time, even more powerful. The image of a beast appeared in his mind, causing him to feel as if he was about to be devoured. Suddenly, the sounds of footsteps resounded in his ears as a man walked towards him, lightly tapping his shoulder, "Welcome back, Jyorta Bone." Only now did Jyorta flinch, turning around to see that there wasn''t anyone behind him. He then looked around, watching a man walking a fair distance away, waving his hand as his voice echoed, "Welcome to the Bone Family Mansion." ''What¡­the heck¡­was that?'' Jyorta was flabbergasted, wiping the sweat dripping down his face. In the face of that sensation, he was unable to break free from it, pulled into it. Had the effect subsisted for a couple more seconds, then he would have assumed that he had been devoured by a beast. There was a good chance he would lose his life due to the induced notion. Aura Personification! Once he realised it, Jyorta understood just how powerful an Aura Personification was, getting a feeling his foes had experienced under his Hallucination. Shaking his head, he planned to move ahead, only to realise his legs failed to heed his command. No matter what, they remained rooted to the spot. And when he tried to force himself, Jyorta felt as if there was the maw of a beast around him, ready to clamp him the moment he took a step forward. This sensation continued to grow in him as Jyorta understood, sensing the fluctuation in his presence, "I''m still the influence of that Aura Personification." Aura Personification¡ªHallucination! Jyorta first replicated the same feeling in his hallucination before erecting a fire of sorts around himself, burning the maws of the prehistoric beast. And, as he burned through it, the fluctuation of his presence stabilised as his mind escaped from the influence. Within ten seconds, Jyorta was free from the influence, taking a step forward to see that he was no longer affected, ''Even though the effect had vanished, my presence was still affected. So, despite it vanishing, I was still under its effect.'' At this point, the man that had patted his shoulder reached the lift at the end of the massive lobby, extending his index finger to punch the button when his hand paused. His eyes widened in surprise as he pushed the button, entering the lift upon its arrival, "So, this is Jyorta Bone. He''s a freaking monster. To have such a powerful mind¡­as expected of a Pillar Candidate." "Hah," Jyorta exhaled a deep breath, arriving before the lift as he waited, boarding it upon its arrival. Soon, he reached the second floor from the top, surprised upon seeing a familiar figure, "Uncle Hubert!" "Oh Jyorta," Hubert Bone exclaimed in surprise before nodding, "Right, it was supposed to be today. Great work out there. I''m proud of you." "Oh, did you see my Graduation Ceremony?" Jyorta asked in surprise. "Yes, most of the Bone Family witnessed it," Hubert Bone nodded, "Your actions were stellar there, especially the way you handled the Tier 3 Lava Turtle. Even I got a chill while seeing that." "Haha, I just used what was available around me," Jyorta laughed sheepishly. ''Not anyone is capable of such unbridled cruelty, even if they were our enemies.'' Hubert Bone didn''t say it out loud, instead pointing at a room towards the end of the corridor, "Father''s waiting for you. Head inside now." "I''ll see you later, uncle." Jyorta waved his hand and reached the end of the corridor, pushing open the door to enter a spacious room. It was a conference room of sorts, the place where the members of the Bone Family had watched Jyorta''s Graduation Ceremony. Currently, sporting a squarely trimmed beard was an old man sporting a mild hunch. He was looking at the screen, reading the information he had collected about the girl whose picture was presented at the side. Upon seeing Jyovic Bone, Jyorta was just about to greet the old man when his eyes landed on the girl on the screen, frowning, ''That''s Dalna Doppler.'' Upon noticing his arrival, Jyovic Bone didn''t turn around, staring at the screen as he said, "She''s one hell of a talented child. I''m sure she''s a great match for you. Her father had contacted me a week ago in regards to this." Jyorta closed his eyes once, taking in a breath as he opened, gazing at the photo calmly, "So, What''s your idea, grandfather?" "Dalna Doppler is the scion of the Doppler Family. So, her marrying into our family is impossible. The same can be said to you," Jyovic Bone gazed at Jyorta, staring with no hint of emotion in his eyes, "I''ll never allow you to marry into any family either. So, this potential engagement falls short at the first step itself." "Right, it wouldn''t have made sense if you had made any promise regarding that. That would mean our deal would fall short." Jyorta spoke as the emotions in his eyes died one after another until there was nothing in them. The Blue Soul had cut them all off. For a moment, the two people continued to stare at each other before Jyovic Bone said in remark, "If I hadn''t seen you a year before, I would have thought you were a different individual. A year ago, you gave me the feeling of a hollow container, but now, you''re a container overflowing with substance." "To think you''ll counterattack immediately with our deal on the line," Jyovic Bone laughed, impressed, "Alright, let''s cancel this farce." ''An Unranked Skill for our family''s Espers is more important. And, Jyorta has a possibility of achieving it before the Saturation Point..'' He thought. You can read the novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 7 - 70000:10 Jyovic Bone switched off the screen, "But, we can''t just call it off like it''s nothing. Dalna Doppler''s father is the current head of the Doppler Family. And, he took the initiative of asking us with his daughter''s hand in marriage. It would offend him if we just give him a cutthroat answer." "There''s nothing going on between me and her." Jyorta replied, "And¡­" Right as Jyorta was about to continue, Jyovic Bone took a seat a couple of seats away, crossing his legs as he said, "It was Dalna Doppler who had first proposed this idea. When her father asked about the prospects she was interested in, your name was brought up first." "I already have someone I like," Jyorta said, "And since my marriage with Dalna Doppler is impossible, let''s just call it off." He then said, "If we wait it out a bit, then George''s family might extend Dalna Doppler a hand in marriage." "Who''s George?" Jyovic Bone asked. "He''s the guy who landed the first hit on the Tier 3 River Whale. He''s from the Eagle Family." Jyorta said. "Ah, him," Jyovic Bone nodded, "It seems he and Dalna Doppler have obtained the same inheritance from the staff in the Military Academy. It makes sense to have similar talents together for greater benefits. Right, if we drive the course of discussions through this way, then it would ease up tensions with the Doppler Family. How willing would this George kid be to marry Dalna Doppler?" "I don''t think any guy from my Batch would refuse to marry her. If I didn''t already have someone I like, I would have said yes to this proposal myself." Jyorta said honestly, "You saw her charisma. It''s impossible for any guy to not fall for her." After some thought, Jyovic Bone nodded, asking, "Who''s the girl you said you liked?" "She''s named Haesha," Jyorta said, "She was the girl who caught me after I unleashed my attack on the Tier 3 River Whale." "She is pleasing to the eye indeed and resembles your mother in grace and character. I can see why you like her," Jyovic Bone nodded, "Anyway, if you like her, then that''s it. She''ll be your moral support from the moment you reach Tier 3. I''ll send her family an invitation in regards to this." "Let me do it myself," Jyorta said, "I''ll first win her hand." "Whatever you want, hurry it up. Based on what Heima told me, it seems you don''t have much time." Jyovic Bone said, "I''ll give you a month at maximum. Beyond that, I''ll take matters into my hand." "Fine," Jyorta sighed, understanding very well that marriage was a complex undertaking in Marble City. A lot had to be considered before two people could be married. After all, marriage was no different from a connection between two families. It would mean the sharing of data, resources, etc. between the two families. And, in Jyorta''s case, it would be Haesha marrying into the Bone Family. That meant if her family had been involved in some research, then Haesha would no longer be a part of it. It meant a loss in manpower, ideas, and leak of the information she was already privy to. Individually, Haesha would benefit the most. But overall, the Bone Family would benefit. But as for her family, they wouldn''t have any concrete benefits. They would have someone¡ªHaesha¡ªto back them up in the future though. So, no matter what, a lot had to be taken into consideration. And, this was just in the case of monetary and material substances. There was also Haesha''s character, personality, and quality as a human being to factor in. After all, if she had any mental defects and her children were to inherit them, they would fail to reach higher Tiers in the future. It was especially troubling since everything would change once someone reached Tier 3. After all, from this moment onwards, their Wisdom Parasite would obtain intelligence and maturity to speak. And, it would constantly keep talking in their minds, always attacking their mental states by targeting their weaknesses as much as it could. If their minds weren''t sturdy enough or they had gone through troubling childhood that could be used against them, they would lose control soon enough. And to prevent this from happening, the quality of the parents was the most necessary. Only with a proper upbringing would the child grow without any mental weakness that the Wisdom Parasite could exploit in the future. This was the most important factor a family considered at the prospect of marriage. It was especially true since Jyorta formed the main line of succession in the Bone Family. So, Jyovic Bone would definitely test Haesha''s calibre in upbringing. Once they finished discussing this issue, Jyorta spoke, "Grandpa, I need the means to secure a source of energy." "Is the energy you replenish from eating food insufficient?" Jyovic Bone asked, "What about the Healing Salve?" "That''s insufficient too. I have a tremendous energy requirement. And, the Trait of Severability''s needs only forms a tenth of it." Jyorta said, shocking Jyovic Bone for a moment. After some thought, Jyovic Bone said, "We have one Tier 4 Relic made using Bone Devour. There''s just one of it in our family now, so it''s incredibly expensive to even be loaned out. The loan costs are something you wouldn''t be able to handle." "How much does it cost?" Jyorta asked. "70,000 Contribution Points to be loaned its use for a day." Jyovic Bone said, "And, that''s because there''s only one of it, and the demand is insane. Using it, anyone can replenish their energy levels to the maximum within a minute. And for higher Tiered Warriors and Espers, it means they can fight and obtain contribution points even longer. With the ongoing Lacquer Wave, it is all the more important." "By the way, a mission handout for an Area Controller rewards around 10 Contribution Points." Jyovic Bone said, "Since there is external demand for this Relic, I can''t even take it out without being pressured by tens of thousands of soldiers and higher officials who are waiting for their turn to use it.. Unless you can offer the required Contribution Points, I won''t even be able to pull any strings for you." Read novel online free fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 8 - I’m A Psychic Parasite You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com "Oh, I can offer something accordingly," Jyorta laughed, causing Jyovic Bone to look at him in surprise. Followed by a focused stare at Jyorta, Jyovic Bone sighed, "You have indeed changed. I thought you would be deterred by this impossible to acquire Contribution Points. But, it seems you already have thought of an answer." "Of course, I won''t make a deal without enough assets on my behalf," Jyorta said, asking in response, "Do we have any Tier 3 Frenzy Beasts stored in our mansion? Ones that are alive." "Not here," Jyovic Bone said, "But in our mansion in the 10th Ring, we do have Frenzy Beasts stored. They are those that have been captured to create Bone Devour. There are a couple of other Frenzy Beasts too that are involved in some of the other experiments we conduct." "Then, loan me 10 Tier 3 Frenzy Beasts, and as many Tier 2 Heart Crystals as possible. I''ll pay with interest using the corpses of the Swarm a couple of months later." Jyorta smiled, then pointing his index finger up as he asked, "You just mentioned that the Wisdom Parasite would enact an orchestra in our minds nonstop once we reach Tier 3, right? And, this pushes us close to losing control, right? How much effect does a meditation chamber have on this?" "Not much," Jyovic Bone said, "When we are in a meditation chamber, the Wisdom Parasite cunningly stops all activities. And once we are busy with work, it resumes its chaos." "Then, this is what I''ll pay with. For a day''s worth of use of the Tier 4 Relic, I''ll install a safety net in a person''s presence that will allow them to control themselves moments before they are able to lose control or every time they are about to lose control. And, I can guarantee that this process can prevent them from losing control for at least a year from the day they show signs of losing control." Jyorta said, turning silent as he just flashed a calm smile. Jyovic Bone''s eye trembled as he digested the content, looking at Jyorta with a new light, "Is this related to the inheritance you obtained in the military academy." "Yes, there are just three people with this in Marble City. And one of them is Ancestor Strongest. And, unlike the other two, I have one advantage that I can use to make what I said a reality." Jyorta asserted, "I''m the only one that can achieve this. And, you can extend this offer to the person that is next in line to loan out the Tier 4 Relic." He simply laid out the terms, stating what he was able to offer in return. The choice of a person being able to resist the act of losing control for a year after ending up in such a state was a tremendous boon. With an extra year, they would be able to grow that much stronger. And, when they consume a Cleansement Fruit, they would be stronger as compared to the initial case. A year''s worth of accumulation would mean a tremendous difference. So, it was indeed an irresistible offer. As to how he would be able to achieve it, Jyorta was confident. He was a Psychic Parasite. Adding onto the Aura Induction atop his ability to experience the memory fragments in the souls of others, he would be able to develop the cure easily. ''But first, I should increase my Sync Rate to 100 percent and destroy the remnant will of Ehara Gobi in the subsoul of my Wisdom Parasite.'' Jyorta thought, ''And to do that, I need an unrelenting supply of energy.'' "Fine, I''ll allow that," Jyovic Bone said after considering everything, "But, I won''t talk with the person who is loaning out the Relic tomorrow. Let''s postpone the date to three days later. The one loaning it on that day is someone from the Bone Family." ''So, he wishes for this advantage to be exclusive to the Bone Family for the time being. That''s fine with me, I guess.'' Jyorta nodded, "I need three days to finish my preparations too." He then asked, "As for the ten Tier 3 Frenzy Beasts, it would be optimal if they were River Whales. And, I also need as many Shoe Fishes as you can get. Since the military academy has them, I''m sure there is a channel to procure them. As for the cost involved, I''ll shoulder it myself." "Just do what you promised for one more Bone Family member. That should cover all the costs for whatever you need." Jyovic Bone said, having understood his role in this. It was to act as an intermediary for this transaction. Though, as it helped his Bone Family become stronger, he was glad. And in the end, Jyorta was using the resources of the Bone Family to strengthen it. It was a win-win situation. Moreover, it also gave him a clear excuse to support Jyorta without anyone else raising a complaint that Jyorta obtained benefits without working for it. Now, all Jyovic Bone has to do is create the necessary channels for Jyorta to obtain what he needed by doing what he was capable of. This way, no resource was given to Jyorta for free. And, Jyorta not only trains his abilities but also grows in the process. And when he arrived at this conclusion, Jyovic Bone was amazed, looking at Jyorta as he thought, ''Even adding his previous life''s experiences, he''s only 37 years old. And, he spent 4 years in a coma while not experiencing anything significant for most of this life. Before he went to the military academy, he was smart, but not calculating to this extent.'' ''Just what had he done in this short one year?'' In his life, there hadn''t been many incidents that had surprised or shocked him to this extent. After all, he had even killed an Ancestor¡ªthe fourth Floating Spider Ancestor that died moments after reaching Tier 6 when he drilled out of its body. So, not many things were capable of affecting him. But now, he was clearly able to sense the multitude of layers under Jyorta''s thought process, the considerations he had done before initiating a conversation, realising something he hadn''t been able to understand to date after he came to learn of Jyorta''s identity. ''So, this is what a Psychic Parasite is capable of.'' Best novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 9 - What Happens When You Have River Whales And Shoe Fishes? You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com Passing through the semi-dark tunnels was a metro train. It was travelling through the Lower Strata. And, seated in one of the seats was Jyorta, looking through the window as he was bored, unable to see anything outside. But, now that he had gone through the Induction Ceremony, obtained a Wisdom Parasite, and had graduated from the military academy, he was able to notice some things that he hadn''t noticed before. Rather, it seemed like his senses had evolved to pick up these things that anyone without a Wisdom Parasite wouldn''t be able to perceive. Jyorta looked at a man seated at the end of the compartment, gazing out the window in a daze. And, when Jyorta focused on his eyes, he noticed that some images seemed to be flashing through them. It was odd, as he was unable to determine just how he was able to perceive something like that. "It''s because he''s on the verge of losing control. This is the most obvious sign relating to that." Jyovic Bone whispered, motioning for Jyorta to stop staring at the man for too long, "Most people are more sensitive than you think once they reach Tier 3. The slightest of actions would act as the catalyst to make them lose control. That''s why, Elites that have reached Tier 4 have such a tremendous value. Do you understand it now?" Upon seeing Jyorta nod in response and divert his gaze away from the man, Jyovic Bone nodded in support, "Thankfully, it seems he has come to terms with his fate and is on the way to obtain a Cleansement Fruit. Even though he would lose a greater portion of his powers as a result, he''ll be freed from the mental plague." Once their discussion had been completed, Jyovic Bone called forth the Bone Family members living in the 10th Ring and relayed to them his needs. As they began to prepare, Jyovic Bone motioned for Jyorta to follow him as they arrived at the Lower Strata and boarded a metro train. Their destination was Sector 9 of the 10th Ring. After all, creating Sector 9 of the 11th Ring was their task. And subsequently, they also had to create Sector 9 of the 12th Ring, the final Ring of Marble City based on the plans relayed by Rhachis Ancestor Light. And to do that, the militarised Sector 9 of the 10th ring was used as their base. They obtained part of the Sector for all their needs. It was also where they kept the Frenzy Beasts locked up to be used in the creation of their Unranked Skill, Bone Devour. Most of their research-related stuff was in Sector 9, 10th Ring. After all, it wasn''t a civilian area. So, only those part of the workforce travelled there. It was a relatively long Journey since they had to travel from Sector 12, 7th Ring that was positioned in the north all the way to Sector 9, 10th Ring which was positioned in the west. And as they had to move about in circle due to the shape of the Rings, the travel distance was longer, causing a lot of time to be spent on the Journey. It was afternoon when they arrived at Sector 9,10th Ring, entering the Bone Family''s research institution. Jyovic Bone pointed at an entryway to the side upon entering the lobby, "You still don''t have the clearance to access inside. So, I prepared everything you need in a side room." "Do I have to be Tier 3 to obtain the Clearance?" Jyorta asked. "That is just one of the requirements. You should also have enough Contribution Points and some degree of acclaim in the fields desired here. There is heavy competition within our family for the select few spots that open up every year." Jyovic Bone said, "And, everything''s fair game here. Your personal achievements are the only merit valued here." "That''s¡­impressive," Jyorta nodded, liking the concept. After all, if someone with lacking skill made way into any organisation through connections alone, he was the type to look down on them like they were dirt. In his past life, he had attained what he wished to obtain through sheer merit every single time. So, he pretty much despised the less talented that made it into prestigious places through bribery and useless pedigree. As for the opportunities he had missed due to lacking results, he always let them go, even though a single word from his parents would have been enough to get him into the institution he had applied for. His ego prevented him from doing that, wishing to achieve things through his effort. And, he used this sense of ego to weigh everything. So, upon hearing that everything at the place was merit-based, he smiled, following Jyovic Bone as they arrived inside a massive room that seemed like a garage of sorts. Looking at it, Jyovic Bone said, "We have just transported all the items here to a different facility. It would take a week before new items would be brought here. So, I thought you could use this free space until then." In the circular room with a radius of 40 metres lay eleven large glass tanks filled with water. And, present within the first ten, each was a Tier 3 River Whale, currently unconscious. In the final tank were the Shoe Fishes, innumerous, but invisible to the eye. "Hmm, can the eleven water tanks be connected?" Jyorta asked. "Of course, there are pipes to do so," Jyovic Bone said, pointing to the pipe outlets at the side of the tanks that were each a metre in diameter. Upon Jyorta''s request, Jyovic Bone connected all eleven tanks to one another. He then took a step back, crossing his arms as he gazed at them with a smile. Taking in a deep breath, Jyorta focused, sensing the tinge of psychic energy remaining within him. He had already consumed quite the amount of Healing Salve, so his psychic energy reserves continued to slowly but surely be replenished. Taking advantage of the fact that all the Frenzy Beasts in the place had been placed at a state of unconsciousness, Jyorta slowly riled up his aura, focusing on the first water tank. Aura Personification¡ªHallucination! Read novel online free fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 10 - Creating A Subsoul Best novel online free at novelhall.com Jyorta focused on the first water tank, gazing at the unconscious Tier 3 River Whale within as he enveloped it in his Aura Personification of Hallucination. He then extended the hallucination towards the Shoe Fishes, causing them to instinctively move towards the Tier 3 River Whale. In their senses, the River Whale''s body was a cluster of feet that they could attach themselves onto. Unlike the Tier 3 River Whales, the Shoe Fishes were only at Tier 1. They weren''t a threat to anyone and hence were still conscious. And, those who dealt with the Shoe Fishes either had Tier 1 Skills like Life Aura Sense or Relics containing similar Skills that allowed them to sense the Shoe Fishes. So, there were no risks of the Shoe Fishes escaping while being transported. Now that his hallucination affected them, the Shoe Fishes began to swim towards the Tier 3 River Whale, slow in their approach. Slowly, they attached themselves onto its body, thinking that they had attached themselves onto a foot. But, as their bodies passed through the hallucination and attached to the River Whale''s skin, they realised that they had been played. But, it was no use anymore. Once attached, a Shoe Fish couldn''t extricate itself until either it dies or its host dies. Within ten minutes, the Tier 3 River Whale''s body was completely covered by the Shoe Fishes, leaving no empty area behind. Jyorta then created a hallucination as if there was a cluster of feet in the original tank of the Shoe Fishes, causing them to swim towards the location. Once they had all headed there, Jyorta closed the outlet connecting their tank to the other water tanks. "Phew," He wiped his sweat, taking a bit of rest while his psychic energy reserves continued to increase. He consumed some more Healing Salve, meditating for an hour before he got up, climbing over the water tank as he seated himself on the edge. As there was no threat, he would be safe. Taking in a deep breath, Jyorta activated his Soul Domain, immediately being hit by numerous murky waves that strived to penetrate his blue soul. He stared at the enormous barrier of sorts before him, one that wrapped around the River Whale''s soul. ''That''s the natural soul barrier everyone at Tier 3 and above possesses.'' Jyorta thought, unleashing his two Soul Corneas as he coiled one over the other, turning both pitch black as they gently touched the soul barrier. Corrosion! The two Soul Corneas began to corrode through the soul barrier while Jyorta flinched at the energy expenditure. But, he didn''t relent, increasing the output of his corrosion, beginning to slowly penetrate through the barrier. The opponent''s soul was unable to retaliate, but its murkiness wafted over to the Soul Corneas, intending to corrupt them. Once corrupted, Jyorta would be unable to move them as he did normally. They would be stuck at the place, unable to be retracted, creating a gateway for the River Whale''s soul to send in murkiness into his soul. Eventually, it would corrupt him, destroying his ego, taking over his soul. This was the inherent risk involved in attacking the souls of others. It was also why it had taken him 15 years to gain control over the previous Jyorta''s soul. But now, coupled with the psychic energy in his Brain Crystal, and the soul energy in his blue soul, Jyorta had enough energy to go on the offensive and actively attack his opponent. Any murkiness sent over by the River Whale''s soul was corroded by the Soul Corneas. Five minutes later, they managed to penetrate the soul barrier, immediately causing his expenditure to spike once again. It was because the soul barrier was trying to clamp on the Soul Corneas. Thankfully as the second Soul Cornea had coiled around the first, it resisted the soul barrier by corroding the contact areas. As for the first Soul Cornea, it penetrated deeper into the River Whale''s soul, unleashing its influence, beginning to vaporise the murkiness. Jyorta didn''t try to vaporise all the murkiness in one sitting. For, that was impossible with his current energy reserves. But, he was planning on a battle of attrition. At present, the energy he consumed was the same as the energy influx by digesting the Healing Salve. So, as long as he maintained the same, he would eventually win the exchange. After all, his first Soul Cornea was steadily vaporising all the murkiness. Three hours passed in such a fashion when Jyorta smiled, having vaporised all the murkiness in the River Whale''s soul. Moreover, he was now able to see two soul cores, one belonging to the River Whale while the other belonged to its Frenzy Parasite. Except for their cores, their presence had turned one and the same, a condition required to be attained before the soul barrier begins to form. Jyorta then took around ten minutes to vaporise the murkiness in the souls of all the Shoe Fishes and their respective Frenzy Parasites. Soon, he began to knead their souls, creating soul tendrils to connect with one another, creating a circuit. But, when he created the circuit and connected all the souls to the River Whale''s soul, Jyorta flinched in pain when his psychic energy expenditure increased by five times. It was because the soul barrier was increasing in strength as all the Shoe Fish souls and their respective Frenzy Parasite souls were synchronising in presence to the River Whale''s, beginning to create a collective soul barrier. ''At this rate, I''ll not be able to touch the River Whale''s soul.'' Jyorta began to worry, deciding to go all-in as his Soul Cornea wrapped around the River Whale''s soul, instilling his Will into it in large amounts. If he needed to generate more Will, the blue soul sent his memory fragments into his brain, causing it to experience them once again, generating more Will as a result. He then dumped all the Will into the River Whale, overwhelming its Will slowly. He also used his aura personification to affect its mind, making it think that it was Jyorta Bone, a human. This psychological input reduced its defence against his Will, causing it to fight on losing ground. An hour later, Jyorta turned it into his subsoul, now able to actively cause a tiny hole to appear on the soul barrier when he needed. The moment he achieved this, the Soul Cornea began to absorb soul energy from the River Whale in large amounts.. Jyorta then gazed at the nine other Tier 3 River Whales, smiling. Read novel online free fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 11 - Jyovic Bone’s True Face If possible, Jyorta was unwilling to create a subsoul. After all, there was a risk it would attempt a breakthrough and head towards the Mental Realm, feeding the Mind Hound. Moreover, he also didn''t wish to give any chances for Laila to experiment with his subsouls in the case she was still in the city. ''There''s also Wenina Marble to worry about.'' He thought, frowning as he looked at the River Whale before him, placing a Hoberman Sphere on the subsoul to prevent it from attempting a breakthrough. He also placed mental suggestions in all the souls, ensuring none of them would try anything that might put him at risk. And in the end, to give it the final push, Jyorta faced his palm towards it, unleashing his presence. Aura Induction¡ªTattoo! In the time he worked on its soul, he was also making a tattoo suitable to it, placing it under his control. Now, with the added layers of security, no matter what might happen, neither the River Whale nor the Shoe Fishes attached to its skin would ever attempt a breakthrough. And, that also extended to their respective Frenzy Parasites. Only with this level of guarantee can he remain calm. Now, his Soul Cornea could pass through the soul barrier without any trouble, beginning to siphon energy from the River Whale''s soul. Since it was also connected to all the souls of the Shoe Fishes that encompassed its massive body, the energy reserve was massive. The Soul Corneas had also created soul tendrils to connect the souls with their respective Heart Crystals. Thanks to that, Jyorta now had a battery, one that was many times potent than the one he had in the Labyrinth of Frenzy. Now, relying on the energy supply, Jyorta was able to act upon the other River Whales at a faster pace, done with everyone within six hours. It was thanks to him having a tremendous supply of psychic energy. Once he was done, less than twenty Shoe Fishes were remaining. Jyorta simply made a River Whale swallow them. Now that all ten River Whales were under his control, he caused them to fly out of the water tank, made to hover above him as he began to siphon energy from them. ''T-This!'' Jyovic Bone gazed at everything from the side, expressing maniacal excitement for a moment before he controlled himself, sporting a poker face. He gazed at Jyorta, his eyes sharpening as he closed them, taking in a deep breath before deciding to walk away. "Jyorta, there''s a phone in the corner. If you need anything, contact me. I''ll have to return to my work." "If you want to eat, just head towards the counter in the lobby and ask the person in charge. Everyone in the Bone Family knows you, so you needn''t worry about anything." Jyovic Bone''s figure flashed past, exiting the room as he arrived at the lobby, maintaining a poker face. He then arrived at the topmost floor of the research institute, entering a conference room as he gazed at Hubert Bone and Havita Bone seated behind a stack of papers, arguing about something with each other. Looking at the two for a moment, Jyovic Bone focused on Hubert, ''It seems he''s ready now. He''s the final step of my plan.'' Thinking as such, Jyovic Bone made eye contact with Havita Bone, causing the other party to stare in shock for an instant before her expression turned normal. She then took in a deep breath, resigning herself as she closed the book she was surfing through. Jyovic Bone looked at Hubert, "There''s been an emergency." "What emergency?" Hubert was shocked, wondering if the Skeps had decided to attack their city once again. "I''ll tell you along the way. The Warlord Family of the Floating Spiders is doing something that''ll put a stop to our Family''s rise." Jyovic Bone said, "I already took the legal permission to leave the city. Let''s make a move now." "Alright," Even though he wasn''t sure of the details, Hubert Bone left his seat, accompanying Jyovic Bone and Havita Bone as the three Transformers of the Bone Family left the city. Unranked Skill¡ªBone Devour! The three of them turned into an eight-metre-tall giant each, sprouting a pair of wings as they took flight, flying west of Marble City, heading towards the territory of the Floating Spiders. Throughout the Journey, Jyovic Bone was silent, expressing a troubled face all along. Havita and Hubert made eye contact, looking at the doubt in the faces of each other. But, they just decided to observe for now. "We''re here!" Suddenly, Jyovic Bone stopped, causing the other two to express worry when all of a sudden, he attacked Hubert. "Bastard! So, you''re finally showing your true colours!" Hubert defended himself, expanding his hands to block the attack while shouting, "Now, you''ve proved that you had a hand in the deaths of Henrietta and Jyunta." "If you had suspected me all along, you should have taken action. Why did you decide to wait?" Jyovic Bone laughed, activating his Skills one after another, "Or¡­let me guess. Did you simply decide not to intervene since the truth might place you at risk? From young, you''ve been a coward, Hubert." "¡­" Hubert glared at Jyovic Bone. His body thinned a little before intense force emanated from his body, erecting a forcefield in the place as his presence overwhelmed everything, wishing to swallow everything in his way. "Hahaha! You are indeed the most suited to wield Bone Devour. Even I cannot activate it to this extent." Jyovic Bone laughed, "But, you see¡­I knew of it and had planned for it all along. As you''re my precious son, I gave you a certain something. Your version of Bone Devour is the same as Henrietta''s." Jyovic Bone smiled, snapping his fingers when Hubert''s imposing presence vanished all of a sudden, "Both of you were created as a tonic for my growth." With his Bone Devour deactivated all of a sudden, Hubert Bone was stupefied, having turned human-size immediately. But, before he could react and activate his Tier 5 Skill, a thick bone spear pierced his body, siphoning all his energy. Hubert was shocked as he turned around, looking at Havita as he grumbled in anger, "Until the end, you are a freaking idiot. You''ll be next after me." But, right as he activated his Tier 5 Skill, intending to use his Warlord Transformation to deal with the two attackers, he realised that his Bone Devour started to work against him, beginning to eat his spine, devouring the part of the spine related to the Tier 5 Skill first. Now, Hubert was unable to activate his Tier 5 Skill, helpless, dropping to the ground with a mild thud. Best novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 12 - Why Is It Named Bone Devour? Best novel online free at novelhall.com "Your death will never be peaceful," Hubert spat out, shrivelling up with the passage of every second. He was unable to activate any of his Skills as they were all devoured by his Bone Devour. "I don''t plan on dying," Jyovic Bone patted Hubert''s cheek, motioning for Havita to stop siphoning energy from him. Gazing at Hubert''s anger-filled face, he consoled, "Don''t look at me like that. Only my children are my tonic. I''ve never hurt anyone else from our Bone Family nor do I ever plan to do so." "What did you do to Henrietta and Jyunta?" Hubert gasped for air, noticing his muscles turning weak as time passed. As his spine was getting devoured, his cells were exhibiting a phenomenon of rejection. If the status quo remains unchanged, his death was certain. "Well, let''s head inside first." Jyovic Bone said, tapping the ground with his heel once, causing a panel to open up, swallowing them whole. Havita carried Hubert, ensuring he wasn''t hurt during the descent. The moment they landed, Jyovic Bone exerted his influence, closing up the more than 30 metres of the tunnel towards the surface. It was fully made from the bones of Tier 5 Frenzy Beasts, tremendously tough. Moreover, it also seemed to be layered with the Relics taken from Espers, shielding the interior with psychic energy. It was a cold, desolate room. There existed a glass cylinder on one end, housing a humanoid figure. The figure within was barely skin and bones, living on life support. The moment Jyovic Bone arrived, the humanoid figure woke up, glaring at Jyovic Bone with a bloodthirsty gaze. In response to it, Jyovic Bone smiled, motioning for Hubert to look at the humanoid figure, "You''ve last seen him when you were six years old, Hubert. Meet your older brother, Jyunta Bone." "He''s¡­alive?" Hubert was shocked, but just when he assumed of a hopeful situation, trying to understand that he was only being used to help his older brother, Hubert gazed at a stand nearby, noticing a grey sphere placed atop it. And, emanating from it was a very familiar presence, one that of his sister. "Bastard! How could you do this? She''s your daughter!" Hubert teared up, for the grey sphere was Henrietta, at least, what had once been her. "The Trait of Wonder, the perfect ability to condense everything into Relics," Jyovic Bone chuckled, "During the Flying Signature Raid, I snuck into the stomach of a Frenzy Beast and manipulated it into doing my bidding. It was what killed Henrietta. I condensed her Skills, Bone Devour, and presence into this grey sphere, a Relic of her entire being." Jyovic Bone then pressed a switch, causing the fluid solution within the glass container to reduce in level a little, allowing Jyunta Bone to speak. But, the latter only continued to glare at Jyovic Bone. "Don''t assume he''s your older brother, Hubert." Jyovic Bone pointed at Jyunta Bone, "He''s a Child of Wisdom. Mentally, he was never a human in the first place. The actual Jyunta Bone died when he was eight years old." "I''m sure even the most bloodthirsty of demons would look tame before you, bastard Jyovic." Jyunta Bone opened his mouth, speaking with a raspy tone, "No matter what you do, a second Induction is impossible." "A Second Induction?" Hubert was shocked, realisation finally hit him as he glared at Jyovic Bone, "Madman, a Wisdom Parasite''s protection against Rhachis Ancestor Parasite''s influence would be eradicated if you induce a second one into you. Every higher up in our city knows of this. This is just madness." "You sure?" Jyovic Bone laughed, "The last time I probed, it seems the Central Command already has the method to achieve this. But, they are only reserving it for Atika Light and Mary Veera. Damned hags, when was I inferior to them?" Jyovic Bone grumbled, "Their only merit was the fact that they had trained Angrushen Light into an Ancestor." Sighing, Jyovic Bone gazed at the floor, turning silent. But, Hubert suddenly felt a chill, like his entire existence was about to be devoured. Even Havita Bone, despite being a Transformer, still shuddered. "Havita, give it to me now." Jyovic Bone said in an unusually calm tone. Nodding in response, Havita Bone resigned herself to her fate, placing her hand before her stomach as the stomach walls parted, revealing a Cleansement Fruit within. She immediately used it, losing all her Skills and the consciousness of her Wisdom Parasite, turning them into a Relic. "Good," Jyovic Bone grabbed hold of the Relic, watching her hand tremble while he did so. He took out a tiny piece of bone from his pocket, throwing it towards Havita Bone, "I recorded all the secrets of Bone Devour in it. Give it to Heima Bone when you return to the city. She''ll be the next leader of the Bone Family and would raise it to unsurpassable heights. Until she becomes strong enough, be the temporary head of the Bone Family." His voice was then tinged with a hint of warmth, looking at the expression of distraught on Havita Bone''s face, "Why are you worried? You have the Trait of Growth with you. While on your return, hunt the Swarm and recover your Skills. You were close to losing control anyway, so just live freely from now on." "Sorry," Havita muttered while facing Hubert, creating a pair of wings on her back as she flew out of the room, beginning to fly towards Marble City. "Now, all my bloodline is in my grasp," Jyovic Bone laughed, gazing at Hubert as he muttered, slowly closing in, "You seem to think that I''m radical, right?" Seeing Hubert''s reaction, Jyovic Bone laughed, "But, you are completely misunderstood about something. The Life Leech siphons lifeforce, the Steel Porcupine shoots out the blades grown on its back, and the One-Horned Rhino has a vigorous vitality and fleshly power. The three of them form the core of our Unranked Skill. But, what aspect of their traits caused the Unranked Skill to be designated with the name of Bone Devour?" "None," Jyovic Bone said, causing Hubert to shudder as he continued, "You see, it was the goal of our Ancestors to achieve this right from the start. To devour our children and use them as a tonic to bolster our growth.. They were the actual radical ones and would have carried mass genocide had Bone Devour been completed during their era." You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 13 - 13: Child Of Frenzy Best novel online free at novelhall.com "From the moment we reach Tier 3, every day is hell. Either we lose control or resist the mental erosion, turning into monsters worse than Frenzy Beasts. There''s no other choice. Cleansement Fruits are the only mode of escape from this hell. Unfortunately, we would lose a significant sum of our powers as a result." Jyovic Bone muttered, "That''s where the Trait of Growth comes into play. It''ll allow us to regain our powers eventually." "But, thanks to Bone Devour, as long as we have enough Frenzy Beasts to use as energy sources, we''ll be able to recover all our abilities within a couple of days." Jyovic Bone smiled, "It took me quite the convincing to make that mad woman proceed in this direction of research. And just as I had expected, she was able to achieve something all of us had tried and failed to accomplish." "The fact that she had failed her breakthrough to Tier 6 and still managed to survive caused her to see the benefits in the Trait of Growth, using the experience fragments she obtained from the Mental Realm as insight to complete it." Jyovic Bone laughed, immersed in nostalgia for a moment. "Just¡­what are you planning?" Hubert Bone had accepted his fate by this point, no longer able to feel any strength in him. His body had become even weaker than a regular human by this point, beginning to collapse at a couple of places. "Upon becoming a Transformer, I persisted, dealing with the mental erosion that wished to make me into a monster. I put up with it for as long as I could, finally consuming the Cleansement Fruit one fine day." Jyovic Bone clenched his hand into a fist, "Even though my active days as a Warrior was finished, I attained mental peace. And, due to the tug of war between me and my Wisdom Parasite over the decades, my mind became immensely firm upon achieving peace." "Now, with a second Induction Ceremony, I''ll be able to grow into an Esper''s route too. No matter what the Wisdom Parasite does, I''ll be unaffected. But," Jyovic Bone shook his head, "That''s not enough. Even if I were to reach the status as a Sky Controller, and breakthrough to Tier 6, I''ll only be a Psychic Ancestor." "You¡­" Hubert Bone sighed, "So, becoming an Ancestor as a Child of Wisdom is your goal." "Yes," Jyovic Bone nodded, "Somehow, the Colossal Bawling Sheep has been able to attain it. I''m sure I''ll be able to do it too. This has been the Bone Family''s true goal, one that we have strived towards for more than a century." Jyovic Bone''s stomach suddenly caved open, revealing a massive jaw that crunched upon Hubert Bone, devouring him within a couple of seconds. He then looked at the Relic in his hands, "Actually, the other three are enough. Havita''s Relic is just a safety net in case it proves insufficient. Well, whatever. I already have it in my hand." He then simply dumped it into the mouth in his stomach, shuddering as his Unranked Skill began to act up, creating numerous mouths and tendrils all over his body. Bone spikes exited it, unable to be controlled as they crashed into the ground, scraping it as Jyovic Bone barely reined himself. "Dammit, just two Relics, and I am already close to losing control." Jyovic Bone sat and meditated for a moment, barely controlling the bone spikes from exiting anymore, pausing their actions. He was in such a state because the Relics were composed of the Wisdom Parasites that had been refined into such a form. Even though they were physically dead, their Will was still inside, present at enough amounts to affect Jyovic Bone the moment he devoured them. After all, he absorbed them in their entirety into his body. His body was beginning to destabilise, unable to endure the bodies of different Wisdom Parasites trying to wrestle control in him. Ensuring that the Wisdom Parasites were still alive while in the Relic form was one of the modifications he had done to the Bone Devour of Hubert, Henrietta, and Havita Bone. So, without wasting time, Jyovic Bone immediately devoured Henrietta''s Relic too, grunting in pain as his eyes glazed over, his face melted while his presence rapidly plummeted. Jyovic Bone, as an individual was getting shredded apart alarmingly quick. His humanoid form collapsed as Jyovic Bone turned into a sludge from which tendrils shot out everywhere, unleashing bone spikes that began to destroy the room. One of them pierced through the glass cylinder, penetrating Jyunta Bone, causing the other party to throw up some blood in response. Lured by the blood, the blob of flesh condensed a massive mouth of flesh that flashed towards him, clamping on him. The bone spikes in its body acted as teeth, piercing through Jyunta Bone''s body one after another, riddling him with holes as he was shredded apart. As he was the Wisdom Parasite itself, one that had turned into a Frenzy Parasite as Jyunta Bone grew older while the human self died, he was alive. Or rather, while his body was getting shredded, his Central Nervous System escaped his body, using Bone Devour to morph itself into a serpent as it headed towards the centre of the pile of flesh, intending to take charge of everything. To ensure the experiment would succeed, Jyovic Bone had given the modified Bone Devour to Jyunta Bone too. After all, everything depended on Bone Devour to succeed. So, they must all have it¡ªthe modified ones that he was able to control. "Hahaha, I''ll be the one to succeed in the end." Jyunta Bone''s voice resounded as his serpentine form began to devour the serpents belonging to his siblings that had now hatched within Jyovic Bone''s body. They tussled, bit, snapped, and devoured each other. Unlike the others, Jyunta Bone had a greater advantage, so soon after, he reined at the top, having devoured all the Wisdom Parasites when a green light radiated throughout the mass of flesh. Trait of Wonder! It was the Trait Jyovic Bone had created, used to condense the fused organ of a human or Frenzy Beast into a Relic upon death. And now, this light was emitted throughout the fleshly mass as Jyunta Bone screamed, watching his Will getting shredded apart while his serpentine form destabilised. To his shock, it began to revert into the original Central Nervous System, forming the core of the fleshly mass as everything began to converge over it. ''So, that''s what you had planned. Impressive, haha!'' Jyunta Bone''s consciousness thought moments before it was completely eradicated. No sooner was it done when the green radiance began to condense the flesh as Bone Devour was activated, condensing the fleshly mass into a humanoid form. Within a couple of seconds, a humanoid figure had formed, of one in his youth, looking like the healthier version of Jyunta Bone. A second later, his eyes shot open while his lips curled up into a smile, "I''ve attained it. Now, I''m a¡­" "Child of Frenzy!" Read novel online free fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 14 - Cape Of Good Hope Best novel online free at novelhall.com Child of Frenzy! It wasn''t a Child of Wisdom, but a Child of Frenzy. Jyovic Bone sighed, having prepared for it all along. The linchpin of his plan was Jyunta Bone from the start. After all, he was a Child of Wisdom. Meaning, the fused region in his body consisted of both the Brain and the Spinal cord. So, Jyunta Bone possessed both the abilities of an Esper and a Warrior. Before death, the Sync Rate of his brain was 36 percent and the Sync Rate of his spinal cord was 64 percent. Now that his Frenzy Parasite had devoured the Wisdom Parasites of Jyovic Bone, Henrietta Bone, Havita Bone, and Hubert Bone, all of which were Warriors with a 100 percent Sync Rate, the final Sync Rate of Jyovic Bone was as follows: 7.2 percent Sync Rate for the brain, and 92.8 percent Sync Rate for the spinal cord. "Even though my Sync Rate for being an Esper is pitiful, as long as I can use psychic energy, I''ll be content," Jyovic Bone smiled, "Once I become an Ancestor, both the Sync Rates would reach 100 percent anyway. That''s my goal." He then inspected his body, determining that there was nothing problematic, "Right, with a breakthrough, all problems would be fixed as this Frenzy Parasite would perfectly fuse into my body." After all, during a breakthrough, the Wisdom/Frenzy Parasite''s body would exit as tiny molecules and condense in either the Heart/Brain Crystal. And, once the breakthrough completes, it would break off from the Heart/Brain Crystal and return to the fused region. This was the best method to make the Frenzy Parasite completely his and remove any Will or anything else that had been left behind by the others. It was wise to nip them all in the bud. Just when he planned on heading somewhere else to attempt a breakthrough, Jyovic Bone thought, ''As the Saturation Point in the Mental Realm is approaching, there is enough Cogen Phrenics everywhere in the Mental Realm. So, I can just break through here. It''s a lot safer too since I''ll be wanted by Marble City for what I have done.'' He had commanded Havita Bone to directly inform everything he had done to Psychic Ancestor Marble. That way, no one else would try to attempt something he had done. In the end, he didn''t wish for anything to befall Jyorta and Heima due to the actions the other Bone Family members might commit upon knowing of his actions and the secret of Bone Devour. He knew very well that Havita Bone never said no to anything he had said. Had he wished to kill her, she would have meekly accepted it. That was why he didn''t kill her, sending her back to Marble City. Also, he didn''t need to devour her body anyway. The bodies of Henrietta, Hubert, and Jyunta were enough. She was just a contingency plan. And, devouring her Relic was enough for that. Thankfully, Jyovic Bone had calculated everything without any errors. Once he finished thinking about everything, Jyovic Bone meditated for a couple of hours, firming his mindset before attempting a breakthrough. With enough expertise, he finished the fusion process in both his brain and heart, completing stage 1 of the breakthrough, thinking, ''No wonder they are unable to reach Tier 2. This level of control is impossible for a Child of Wisdom/Frenzy since their breakthrough would automatically begin when they are six years old. Either that or the Frenzy Parasite kills the mind of the host, becoming the sole owner of the body, preventing it from being able to attempt a breakthrough ever again.'' Jyovic Bone could feel the Mental Realm wrapping around him as he was pulled into it. His form was a gigantic spherical beast whose entire body acted as its mouth. The moment it appeared, it looked at the four mouth clusters standing before it, derived from its Frenzy Parasite. Following a short fight between the two, the gigantic mouth devoured the mouth cluster, using its tongue to wrap around the opponent''s core, preventing it from fusing into its body. With this, it wasn''t brought to reality immediately. The massive mouth then looked at the innumerous Cogent Phrenics around that almost formed a sea. It opened its mouth, making cackling motions but didn''t produce any sounds since it was impossible to do so in the Mental Realm. It then began to devour all the Cogent Phrenics that came its way, devouring them to the limit, only stopping when its body was immensely bloated to the extent its Will was failing to keep up the structure from collapsing. Upon reaching this point, the massive mouth swallowed its Frenzy Parasite''s core, returning to reality. The moment he appeared, Jyovic Bone felt a splitting headache as he had devoured more experience fragments than he could endure, causing numerous tentacles to emerge from his body as he was losing control over himself. But steadily, he meditated, barely controlling himself for the moment. He then headed towards one corner of the room, pushing a button to reveal another room. And, placed within it was a cabin, facing a tunnel. There was a pod placed here that he entered, pressing a couple of buttons as he seated himself comfortably. The pod immediately began to accelerate through the tunnel through which rails had been installed. As this was a project he had been working on for decades, ever since Jyunta Bone was born, he already had everything installed in place. ''It would take time for Havita Bone to hunt the swarm and recover her Skills far away from the city. Only after that would she be confident enough to return to Marble City and confess about everything to Ancestor Marble. The entire process would take at least around two to three days. By then, I would have disappeared from this subcontinent.'' Four hours later, the pod reached the end of the tracks, stopping at a station. In these four hours, Jyovic Bone had meditated to calm himself to a certain extent, barely enough for him to move about without too many problems. ''I still cannot use too much power since the essence of the Frenzy Parasite hasn''t returned to the fused regions. Even for me, it might take a day to do so.'' As it was dangerous to head outside in such a situation, especially into the part of the sea where the Floating Spiders and the swarm operated, Jyovic Bone calmly meditated at the place. And a day later, once he was able to use his Heart Crystal, he took seat within a submarine that he had prepared, opening the hatch to the tunnel as the ocean water rushed in. He was already in the western banks of the subcontinent, entering the waters of the Arabian Sea as he set course towards the southern tip of Africa, smiling, "In the Silicon Era, it was called the Cape of Good Hope.. I guess it''s the best place to hide for now." Read novel online free fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 15 - The Duality Of The Floating Spider Mind You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com "Ahhh! Don''t kill me!" Jyorta shouted in alarm as he got up, panting as he looked around, unable to understand just what was happening. He looked above him, flinching upon seeing ten Tier 3 River Whales calmly floating above, having condensed a river in the air. Right as he was about to attack them in reflex, he controlled himself, remembering that he was the one commanding them. He rested his cheek on his palm, panting as he felt the slick sweat covering his body, only now noticing that his clothes were drenched. "As expected, that was dangerous." He sighed, calming himself as he spent an hour strengthening and healing his mind. He had a tremendous quantity of memory fragments stored in his blue soul, so much so that it was bloated to the extent beyond what he could control. That was why he was unable to use his soul abilities to the full extent. Most of the memory fragments were stored in a soul husk each, including all the murkiness accompanying them. So, Jyorta first worked on vaporising all the murkiness, finally done with the task when it was late into the night. When he felt hungry, he simply used Regen to sustain himself. There was enough energy for him to do so. The ten Tier 3 River Whales and the innumerous Shoe Fishes attached to their ridiculously big bodies provided him with enough energy for all his needs. So, once he finished vaporising all the murkiness, the bloated feeling in his blue soul subsided to a certain extent. After that, he worked on comprehending the memory fragments, wishing to make them his. He first started with the Floating Spiders since their numbers were the highest among the memory fragments he had obtained. But, once he began to do so, Jyorta regretted it immediately. The Floating Spiders seemed like they were a vicious Frenzy Beast race, having derived their vicious insect nature as they evolved. That wasn''t all, they were cruel both to their friends and foes. But, once he began to comprehend their memories, Jyorta realised just how bad his preconceived notion was. Rather, it seemed every race, whether Human or Frenzy Beast had been fooled by the Floating Spiders all along. Sure, the Floating Spiders were vicious, incredibly so. But, that didn''t mean they were monsters unfeeling of emotions. Rather, they were capable of feeling all sorts of emotions, and to a depth grandly surpassing human emotions. They had evolved to obtain a duality to their nature. One was the exterior self and the other was the interior self. The exterior self was bereft of emotions, cruelly doing the designated tasks most efficiently, no matter how cruel. Whereas, the interior self was emotional, very much so that they were capable of appreciating even the faintest breeze, able to feel the joy at the slightest of things. Friendship, camaraderie, love, hate, giddiness, etc. every emotion a human can experience, they were able to experience it too. And, as for emotions that humans didn''t have, they were capable of experiencing it too. And, even for the most basic of human emotions, the Floating Spiders were able to feel it deeper than humans. But no matter what, when they took an action, even if it were the smallest of things like sleeping, only their exterior self was at play. As for their interior self, they never influenced their thoughts or actions, none whatsoever. And, this duality caused the Floating Spiders to develop interesting intelligence and thought processes. Because they were able to feel every single emotion and knew the value of everything, their emotionless external nature was capable of abusing them to the greatest means to complete their task. Moreover, this duality also caused their minds to be tremendously strong. That was the reason they lost control at a rate that was the lowest in the world, including both humans and Frenzy Beasts. This was also another reason they were touted to be the strongest Frenzy Beast race in the world and had produced three Ancestors. Actually, if not for Jyovic Bone, they would have had four Ancestors now, and were also the race with the fastest growth. After all, it was amazing growth since during the Silicon Era, they were just insects living a primal way of life. As for humans, they had a long-standing history, development of life, culture, intelligence, and knowledge accumulation. Only after obtaining a Frenzy Parasite and reaching Tier 3 did the first generation of spiders obtain intelligence on par with humans. And after that, Rhachis Ancestor Web, a Tier 3 Frenzy Beast back then sought to unite all the spiders of the world in one place to accumulate their diversity of gene pool. Thereby, the Floating Spiders race came to be born. And the prime aspect of their growth and success was this duality in them. But, once Jyorta began to experience their memories, he was unable to endure them. After all, the depth of emotions he felt was beyond what he could handle. And at the same time, the Floating Spiders were doing vicious stuff to the prey they had captured. His mind didn''t have the duality of nature like the Floating Spiders, so the emotional fluctuations tore at his mind, causing him to turn mad. Had the blue soul not pulled him out on time, his mind would have been destroyed. Beyond that, he as an individual would cease to exist. And, whether his plethora of memories¡ªthat form his figure as the core of the blue soul¡ªwould birth his self, his mind again was questionable. It might be possible, but at the same time, it wouldn''t be the same as now. After all, the only memories contained in it were those of his past life and the core of the previous Jyorta. The emotional growth he had perceived in the past year and the filling up of his ''hollowness'' would vanish, causing all his accumulations in the recent time in the mental department to go to waste. He would have to begin from scratch once again and develop himself. It was way too risky. "But, this is the only way for me to begin the Tower of God project. Only with that would I be able to research and develop all the four paths to become stronger." Sighing, Jyorta took out the goggles that had the Tier 4 Relics of Deific Inference and Light Symphony fused into it. As for the body, it was a Tier 6 Artifact, made from Marble Sonata personally by Ancestor Marble. Jyorta''s psychic arm grabbed hold of it, feeding it psychic energy as it cast a beam of light onto him, erecting a projection behind him.. And unlike the projections from before, there was a wide crack running through the centre now, almost splitting the projection in half. Best novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 16 - The Dangers Of Being A Psychic Parasite Best novel online free at novelhall.com The projection behind him was the projection of his mind. And, the fact that there was a long crack in the centre spoke volumes about his current state of mind. The duality of the Floating Spider wasn''t something the current him could handle. Even the cruellest of things he could come up with was tame before the Floating Spiders. After all, even the most brutal of killers were only able to do so because their minds were numb about such things. But the Floating Spiders¡­weren''t like that. They could feel everything. Despite that, the fact that they could commit horrors beyond what any other race was capable of was on a whole other level of brutality. The moment the projection appeared, Jyorta unleashed his two psychic arms, turning them jet black as he activated his corrosion. He then used it to shed the influence the Floating Spider memories had on him, finally purifying his mind. But, the crack was still there. So, he returned his Soul Cornea to normal, wrapping them around his projection as he joined them together forcefully as the blue soul dumped innumerous memory fragments of his into his brain, making it process them all. As his brain reexperienced his past, it generated his Will that the Soul Corneas supplied to the projection. As it was a projection of his mind, the recovery in his mental state meant the damage in it would heal. And, whether they were pleasant or horrific memories, they were his, memories that had shaped Jyorta Bone. So, they were all related to his mental maturity. And now, as he experienced them all once again, the crack in the projection began to heal. Though, it took considerable time, causing Jyorta to become tired. He unleashed his psychic arm, turning it pale blue as he activated his Unranked Skill, Regen. His psychic arm fused into his body, healing him, also refreshing his mind. Regen was able to heal both the body and the mind. So, it was the perfect medicine for him. Moreover, upon using it, Jyorta noticed that the crack in his projection was healing at a faster rate, smiling, ''So, Regen works on this too. This Unranked Skill treads deep into the Mind Path.'' Eventually, with the combined efforts of the blue soul and Regen, Jyorta made a full recovery, ''Thankfully, I can recover from any damage I sustain, given I have enough time and energy to heal myself. This is good enough. Let''s continue.'' To be more efficient, he set aside the memories of the Floating Spiders, intending to go through with the memory fragments of the other Frenzy Beasts first. He selected the Spindle Bees, beginning to experience their life. ¡­ It was a massive tree, but its bark didn''t resemble one, but rather seemed like a plant''s. Even otherwise, its height caused it to resemble a mountain, for it had surpassed a kilometre. But, that wasn''t all. It wasn''t the only one like that. There were thousands of such in the place, peeking out of the massive sea waters, their roots reaching and boring into the seabed. Territory of the Spindle Bees! Among one such tree was a massive flower, and under one of its petals was a tiny beehive. Situated within the hive were innumerous eggs, immersed in honey. As it was time for them to hatch, the Spindle Bees eggs began to hatch one after another. Among them was a certain egg, one that hatched the fastest. And, a tiny Spindle Bee popped out, raising its legs into the air as it jumped around, diving into the honey as it gulped some first before landing atop the eggshell it had crawled out from, shouting at the top of its voice, "Colony First! Individual Last!" "Colony First! Individual Last!" Every other spindle Bee that had hatched also said the same, creating a collective buzz. As for the adult Spindle Bees, they smiled upon seeing the scene, beginning to guide the hatchlings, integrating them into their society. The sense of bond they shared here wasn''t directed at each other but the colony as a whole. Whether it was happiness, sadness, anger, etc. everything was directed at the colony. And, only in terms of the colony were they able to experience such emotions. As for whatever happened to the individual, no one cared, including the concerned individual itself. As the hatchling Spindle Bee flew around, it was fully integrated into the Spindle Bee''s way of life. ¡­ "Colony First! Individual Last!" Jyorta raised his hand, shouting at the top of his voice. His eyes were blank, and his sense of self had vanished. He then looked around, muttering, "Right, my tattoos are useful for humanity. I should first work on that. Also, if I share my memory fragments with others after removing my ego from them, many would benefit. We''ll be able to produce stronger powerhouses as a result." "Right, why didn''t I think of that before?" He frowned, "I should have done that at the start." He then gazed at the ten Tier 3 River Whales above him, "Since I can enslave them using my tattoos, if I use my abilities correctly, humanity would be able to employ the Frenzy Beasts to fight their battles. Once I give this tattoo ability to everyone, humanity would grow strong by many folds. Why did master Vaika keep such a valuable ability to herself?" "How selfish of her to do so," He snorted, "Seriously, why are people like this? If we all work together, we could decimate our enemies easily." "This unnaturally high sense of individualism is¡­" Jyorta expressed his disdain and anger, "So¡­revolting." He then looked at his two Soul Corneas, "Right, since I am able to take the memory fragments from the souls of others, I should be able to do the same in reverse. So, if I prepare a set of memories with a tremendous amount of ego that would destroy their sense of individualism and plant this in the minds of everyone, then sooner or later, humanity would progress as a whole." "We''ll become even better as a race.." He laughed, clenching his hand into a fist, sitting cross-legged as he began to prepare accordingly. You can read the novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 17 - Mental Cue, And The Monster In You Read novel online free fast updates at novelhall.com Just as Jyorta began to prepare, the blue soul suddenly sent in a group of memory fragments into his brain, forcing it to process it immediately. For a moment, he was stunned, pausing in his action as the blue soul had acted abruptly. It had taken action when he hadn''t thought about it or had directed it beforehand. It was odd, almost causing his heart to leap in fear. But, during the couple of seconds it took for him to process the state of things, his eyes lit up as he shuddered in fear, "Oh my goodness, just what have I been thinking of doing now?" He hurriedly seeped his psychic arm into the goggles, activating it to unleash a beam of light that lit up the projection of his mind, casting it behind him. His Soul Corneas then turned jet black as he activated his corrosion, corroding all the influence the Spindle Bee memories had implanted in his mind. Within a minute, he returned to his normal self. But, as he thought of his earlier actions, he began to feel that they weren''t all¡­that bad. Such a thought frightened him. People change as they experience many things and as their horizons are widened. As for Jyorta, following every comprehension session, his horizons would broaden, widely so. Thanks to that, his thought process had already changed alarmingly as compared to before. And now, the mentality of the Spindle Bees had affected him. The direct effect had been eradicated. But, as he had lived through the Spindle Bee memory fragments, he understood the advantages of their lifestyle. So, his aversion to his recent thoughts was less than what he would have felt a couple of hours ago. Such was the drastic change in mental growth he was experiencing. The experience was changing him, alarmingly so, abruptly after every session. "I don''t even know what I would become when I reach higher Tiers as a Psychic Parasite." Even he, as someone with the ability of corrosion, and also possessing the ability of Deific Inference to aid him was having this much trouble, then he dared not think about what Gajara Rahi had gone through. After all, her ability as a Psychic Parasite was the power of space, relating to teleportation. Moreover, she had grown during the years when Deific Inference wasn''t even a thing, and when external helpful items were little to none in the department of the mind. "Just how screwed up is her mind?" As he thought of it, Jyorta shuddered, wishing to never encounter Laila ever again, "It is a wonder that she was able to behave like a regular human teenager." Soon, he fell into deep thought, "Every time I do this, the risks are great. And the more I understand about a race, the greater I would be immersed in their memories, and the harder it would become to break out of that mould. If I proceed in this manner, sooner or later, I would commit something that I would regret for the rest of my life." "Just my memories are proving insufficient. Adding onto my past and present life, the total is only around 40 years'' worth. This is insufficient, considering my comprehension of Frenzy Beast memory fragments has already surpassed a century. Mentally speaking, I''m already more Frenzy Beast than a human." Sighing, he thought, "Thankfully, humans are complex creatures too. So, I''m able to handle everything to a certain extent. We are both the greatest of the kindest saints and the cruellest of the most vicious devils." He then decided, "I need to obtain more memory fragments of humans. This way, I can keep the influence of the Frenzy Beasts on my mind in check and ensure my thought processes conform to the general circle of humanity''s operations." "That should be the best method." He thought, sighing in relief, "Thankfully, I have my secondary job to be thankful for. A month later, I''ll have enough opportunities to balance my mind. Until then, I''ll have to hold on and proceed forth accordingly." The reason he was able to break free of the Spindle Bee influence was a mental cue he had left behind in the blue soul. Once he exits the immersion, it was supposed to send in a bunch of memory fragments into his brain and force it to comprehend them all. As it was his memory fragments, it was bound to cause him to think clearly and notice the changes to his mentality. That way, he''ll immediately use the goggles to shed off the influence in his mind. Moreover, there were numerous layers of mental cues he had left behind. This way, he ensured that he wouldn''t run out of control even by mistake. Being careful was a necessity, especially considering his power. Like before, had he not resolved the issue thanks to the mental cue, he would have gone about inserting memory fragments in the minds of everyone he came across and subtly change them. Eventually, he would be the cause that reshaped human society, causing it to collapse. After all, beyond a certain point, once the group of people affected by him grew into a sizeable number, Marble City would definitely notice them. After all, the conflict of interest and the mindset between the two groups would be completely different. This would spark a war that would annihilate the group he had created. After all, he didn''t have the means to penetrate the minds of people above Tier 3. So, those he was capable of influencing were only the weaker section of humans. His actions would only result in the weakening of humanity and shake up their foundation. Moreover, as the cause for the chaos, he would be killed viciously. Sighing, Jyorta meditated, beginning to comprehend more Spindle Bee memory fragments once he ensured all the mental cues were in place. Thankfully for him, he had enough energy to do so. Moreover, when he was resting his mind while relying on Regen to do so, Jyorta also began to stockpile his reserve of tattoos, intending to be prepared for the event when he would obtain the Tier 4 Relic¡ªcontaining Bone Devour. He wished to spike his Sync Rate to 100 percent using it. But, it was odd, for three days had passed by and Jyovic Bone hadn''t returned. There were less than five hours to the appointed time. "I should check and see what''s up.." Muttering, Jyorta got up, leaving a note behind at the place as he exited it, reaching the counter at the lobby to notice someone familiar seated behind it. You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 18 - This Isn’t Realistic Best novel online free at novelhall.com "Hello there. How did you reach Tier 3 so quickly?" Jyorta waved his hand at the girl seated behind the counter, causing her to look at him in surprise before recalling who he was. "Jyorta¡­was it?" She blinked her eyes, "Did you just return from the military academy?" "I returned three days ago," Jyorta nodded, smiling. "I see," The girl nodded in understanding, "So, my Graduation Ceremony was the first you had witnessed." "Indeed, it was mind-boggling." Jyorta laughed, "Seeing Rakh Veera in action, it was an eye-opener as to how strong an Amplifier could become." "He''s just a monster. Don''t even compare us normal people with him. He''s a pillar candidate." Hruna Bone, the girl behind the counter said, then gazing at Jyorta as she spoke, "Right, you too are a pillar candidate. My father has mentioned you at least twice every day for the past week. As a fellow Esper, it is good to see someone as strong as you." "But," Jyorta smiled wryly, "My strength as an Esper isn''t even at the top of my Batch. I only excel in the aura department." "Still, it is impressive. I wasn''t allowed to watch your Graduation Ceremony, but based on what everyone has been speaking about, it seems you were rather spectacular there." She spoke. Hruna Bone was part of the same Batch as Rakh Veera. So, she had seen what peak talent looked like, having understood the vastness of the world rather early. Spurred by her experience, she managed to reach Tier 3 within a year of her graduation, "I had just broken through to Tier 3 a couple of weeks ago. So, I''m still adjusting to the changes." "That''s why my father told me to simply sit here and stare at the wall all day. This is honestly such a boring job as I don''t have anything to do. The only ones who arrive here are members of our family. As for anyone else, they at most visit once per month. So, I have nothing else to do here." She then looked at Jyorta in surprise, recalling that he is just an Area Controller, "How did you come here? Only those at Tier 3 and beyond are allowed to set foot in this research institution." "Grandfather brought me here for a couple of reasons." Jyorta said, "And, he had said he would return by evening. And, that was supposed to be two days ago. He hasn''t arrived even once. So, I was wondering if something came up." "Actually, about that," Hruna Bone whispered, "It seems something happened as all the higher-ups of our family are in a meeting now. So, you probably have to wait for some time." "I understand," Jyorta then pointed towards the door at the side of the lobby, "I''ll be working there. If anything happens, please inform me." "What are you doing there?" Hruna Bone showed an expression of interest, wishing to know why Jyorta Bone, an Area Controller was at the place. And judging by what he said, he had been at the place for three days. She wished to know what was up. "I''m training." Jyorta smiled, asking in response, "Do you wish to see?" "Of course," She beamed in laughter, immediately getting up from her seat as she rushed him, "Let''s go, come on." "But, what about your work here?" Jyorta pointed at the counter, "What if someone arrives now?" "There''s no problem with that," Hruna Bone laughed, pointing a device in her hand, "It''ll alert me once anyone enters the lobby. Since the room you are training in is attached to it, I''ll be able to take care of anything immediately. Besides, my psychic arm will keep an eye on the lobby." "That''s great then." Jyorta smiled, opening the door to the room as he calmly entered. But, when Hruna Bone followed suit, she was startled to see ten Tier 3 River Whales nonchalantly flying about, making circles in the air with their water streams. "What the heck? Did they escape their confines?" Hruna Bone was alarmed, intending to sound the alarm when Jyorta stopped her from doing so. He pointed at them, "Relax, they are under my control." "They''re under your control?" Hruna Bone stared at him, flabbergasted at the notion of being able to control a Frenzy Beast, "Did you receive the Unranked Skill of Rhachis Ancestor Reef? Wait no, that shouldn''t be possible. You''re an Esper. Only a Warrior can inherit that Unranked Skill." "This is different," Jyorta smiled, snapping his hand as the River Whales manipulated the water stream, making it take up the shape of her name, "This is what I have been training." "How¡­are you able to do this?" Hruna Bone was unable to wrap her head around it, failing to keep a sense of reality. "This isn''t realistically possible unless you have Rhachis Ancestor Reef''s Unranked Skill. Or, did you inherit a new Unranked Skill Marble City has created? What''s the cause?" "My Unranked Skill is Regen, the same as you." Jyorta laughed, "I am controlling the River Whales through my aura. Rather, I have planted in them a hallucination and am manipulating it constantly as we speak to force them to move and react in the way I desire." "Aura? Hallucination?" Hruna Bone was shocked as only now did she sense Jyorta''s presence lingering in the air, "You''re able to achieve this level of finesse using hallucination?" "Shouldn''t it be possible for anyone else that uses the aura personification of hallucination?" Jyorta said, looking at Hruna Bone with a hint of confusion. "It''s mostly on the level of confusing the Frenzy Beasts to perceive their terrain wrongly or aim attacks at their foes that don''t exist in reality. No matter what, there would be a glitch in their movements since their senses wouldn''t be completely cut off from reality." Hruna Bone expressed her doubt, "Manipulating them for extended durations like this is impossible. And, you''re even making them manipulate the water into writing my name. The River Whales aren''t idiots. They are as smart as humans, especially at Tier 3 and beyond. Moreover, they also know Modern Rodawri, so they would realise that they are being manipulated. How come they haven''t expressed even the tiniest bit of hesitation or resistance?" "I''ve seen some of my friends use Hallucination too.. No matter how much they improved, only the quality of their hallucinations improved, making it tougher for the trapped prey to escape. This¡­isn''t realistic!" You can read the novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 19 - The Lies One Say To Maintain Peace "How much do you know about the Mind Path?" Jyorta asked her, causing her to look at him in shock. "How do you even know about it? Did they start teaching about it in the military academy now?" Hruna Bone was confused, unable to understand just how Jyorta was able to obtain information related to it. But, even if he had been informed about it by Jyovic Bone in secret, it still didn''t make sense. After all, based on what she could sense, Jyorta seemed like he had a solid idea about the Mind Path. It shouldn''t have been possible if he just learned about it. "My master taught me a bit about it," Jyorta said, recalling his experience in the Crimson Desert where he had become an entirely different person. Such a level of control and manipulation was only possible with a deeper comprehension of the Mind Path. After all, it was to the extent Jyorta had forgotten entirely about himself, even though he was a Psychic Parasite and was capable of manipulating all his memories, emotions, mental states as and when necessary. It was not to mention him possessing three False Personas to use in various situations. But even then, he had fallen into his role, only knowing the backstory of his character as his memories. So, it was a terrifying notion. When Jyorta had thought about it, he understood that was a deeper play on the minds of the affected parties. But as to how he had to go about attaining that level, Jyorta wasn''t yet sure. But, the way he controlled the River Whales so seamlessly was different. After all, he was privy to a certain extent of their memories and understood their habits to a surface level. Beyond that, he simply followed their command structure, causing a stronger River Whale to appear in their hallucination and command them. That was all. And through it, he relayed them all the commands that he wished for them to execute. To manipulate someone, there were countless methods. And, Jyorta used whatever he felt would get the job done. Moreover, he had designed a tattoo accordingly for each. And, this tattoo was created to suit them the best, making it easy for him to manipulate them. That''s why all Jyorta needed to do was command them through the aura. And in response, the River Whales would hallucinate on their own, the best hallucination in relation to the command, and do the job themselves. Based on the insight he obtained by manipulating the Tier 3 Lava Turtle during the Graduation Ceremony, Jyorta understood that hallucinations were the most effective when it was coughed up by the target itself. This way, just to protect their bias or assumptions, they would think up many scenarios, most of which were false. And in this manner, they would fall deeper into the hallucination, a hole they had dug themselves. So, the tattoos he created recently were all made using this trait. Thanks to that, his control over the River Whales was seamless. "Master?" Hruna Bone''s eyes lit up, asking in surprise, "You mean to say you obtained an inheritance from one of the staff there?" "Yeah," Jyorta nodded, "Three of us in my Batch had obtained an inheritance." "Three?" Hruna Bone was shocked, muttering in defeat, "Only two managed to obtain an inheritance in my Batch. By the looks of it, your Batch seems to be stronger than mine overall." "Well, we can''t say it just based on this criterion." Jyorta laughed, then pointing at the River Whales as he made them fight each other, improving his ability to multitask, preparing himself to lead a crowd of Frenzy Beasts into battle in the future. ¡­ "Jyovic Bone and Hubert Bone are dead." Havita Bone looked at all the higher-ups of the Bone Family, dropping the bomb. Everyone was startled at the information, unable to believe it. One of them, an old man in his seventies, having retired as a Shifter shouted, "Impossible! Their strength guarantees that they can survive in any situation. With Bone Devour, the number of enemies they face won''t ever be a problem. At least, they should have been able to last long enough until reinforcements from Marble City arrived. And, if they had been in danger, how were we not alerted? With our Family''s aura impulse method, a message is guaranteed to reach us." "Father had obtained some information relating to the Floating Spiders. It seemed they had been preparing to do something that would endanger our Family''s development." Havita Bone began to speak of the lie that she had thought up, continuing from where Jyovic Bone''s lie ended, "We all know that Bone Devour can counter Web World of the Floating Spiders." "And, in the past couple of years, too many Floating Spiders lost their lives under our hands." Havita Bone sighed, "And they have judged that we are their most threatening enemy. There is also the fact that father was the one to kill the fourth Ancestor of the Floating Spiders. So, they possess tremendous hatred towards us and had been planning something all along." "That''s why, the moment he became privy to the information, father asked me and Hubert to accompany him on a stealth mission." Havita Bone sighed, "But, we were ambushed in the end. The two of them covered for me, allowing me to escape. As for whether they are actually alive or not, I am unsure. But, the chances are slim as they charged deeper into the Floating Spider territory." Havita Bone then said solemnly, "As to what I have witnessed there, I cannot say them to you since I have been prohibited from disclosing the details to others. Ancestor Marble said he will think up a solution and inform us of it later." Havita Bone shuddered, thinking of the scene from when she visited Central Command to inform Psychic Ancestor Marble of everything that had actually happened. It was the first time she had seen the ever-placid Ancestor Marble express his killing intent. Just the mere thought caused her to shudder in fear, recalling the command she had received from Ancestor Marble, causing her to reel from confusion, failing to understand just what was happening anymore. "Do nothing.. Continue to lead the Bone Family until Heima Bone reaches Tier 5." Read novel fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 20 - A Time Limit Of Two Weeks You can read the novel online free at novelhall.com "Hmm, I hope Sir Jyovic Bone didn''t lie about it," A middle-aged man sighed as he walked through the lobby of the Bone Family''s research institute, soon arriving before an entrance attached to the lobby, muttering, "Jyorta Bone, huh, he has some exaggerated rumours flying about him. This should be the best time to verify whether they are true or not." He calmly unleashed a psychic arm, passing it through the door as he created a sphere, causing a faint distortion in it as he opened the door. To the eyes of everyone below his level, they would only see a door that remained shut, allowing him to stealthily enter the room. Ground Controller! He was one of the Bone Family''s Ground Controllers, one of their powerhouses in fact. After all, he was the closest to reaching Tier 5 among everyone. To make preparations, he had hoped to use the Tier 4 Relic¡ªcontaining Bone Devour¡ªto first increase his Sync Rate to 100 percent and then use the excess energy to bloat himself accordingly. After that, he''ll meditate for a day before attempting a breakthrough. This way, his chances would be higher. But, upon hearing Jyovic Bone''s proposal, he would be lying if he said he wasn''t interested. But, he was still doubtful. After all, it involved not losing control for a year for a person that was on the verge of losing control. Had he been told that the person that was capable of achieving this was a Sky controller, then he would have believed it, albeit with some doubts. But, to think the person that would do it was just an Area Controller, he would be called an idiot if he believed it. But still, the one that proposed it to him was Jyovic Bone. And despite the old man''s flaws, he was someone that didn''t bullshit in such scenarios. So, he hoped to believe it and wished for it to be the truth. After all, his goal was to become a Sky Controller. And for the means necessary to attain that, he wasn''t concerned. Rather, if Jyorta was capable of making him attain that goal, then he would gladly take up the offer. To him, using the Tier 4 Relic was a last resort. He didn''t have any other means to guarantee a successful breakthrough. Based on his calculation, he had less than a couple of weeks before he would lose control. He had to reach Tier 5 before then. But, his breakthrough chances were slim, if not minimal. So, he had to gamble. ''I''ll know once I probe him a bit.'' He had just thought as such when he looked forward, noticing the figures of Jyorta Bone and Hruna Bone talking about jovially. But, flying behind them, performing acrobatics in the air were ten Tier 3 River Whales. Such a scene shocked him, making him wonder just what the heck Jyorta ate to attain such power. After all, he wasn''t even at the peak of Tier 2. Had he killed a Tier 3 River Whale, then he would be labelled a genius. After all, there were quite a lot of genius humans that were capable of skipping a Tier to kill higher Tiered opponents. But, the action of controlling not one not two but ten higher Tiered opponents was absurd, even on the level of geniuses. This alone made him hope that Jyorta Bone was indeed capable of something at least. He then revealed himself, causing the other two to look in his direction in alarm when he introduced himself, "Jyorta Bone, was it? I''m Henrik Bone, the one who was supposed to use the Tier 4 Relic today. I am interested in the trade Jyovic Bone had proposed. But, I''m not convinced as I have no idea if you''re capable of pulling off what you had promised. Only if I judge it possible would I concede my slot to you." "Of course, that''s only natural." Jyorta nodded, gazing at Hruna Bone as he smiled wryly, "I''ll show you more later." "No worries, I had fun. Since you''ll be here for the rest of this month, we''ll have more opportunities to interact in the future." Hruna Bone nodded, understanding that Jyorta was motioning for her to leave, pleased at his considerate way of showcasing it. She waved her hands, exiting the room. "I''m Jyorta Bone," Jyorta shook hands with Henrik Bone, saying in confidence while pointing at the ten Tier 3 Rover Whales behind him, "I do have the confidence of doing what I had proposed. But, I''m not sure if the energy reserves here are sufficient for that." "The energy reserves here?" Henrik was confused for a moment as he looked at the River Whales, "You mean to say they are your energy reserves?" "Yes," Jyorta nodded, "As to how I''m able to achieve this, I can''t say that. I hope you don''t press forth on my methods." "I understand," Henrik nodded, "As long as the end result is what I want, I won''t probe into whatever you use." It also meant that if the results were subpar, then Henrik would interrogate Jyorta. As a Ground Controller, he would be able to do so without even alerting Jyorta. Jyorta was clearly aware of it, understanding the might of Ground Controllers and Sky Controllers from his stay at the military academy. If they needed, they were able to manipulate his emotions to the extent he would cough up everything he knew readily. To them, it was as easy as taking candy from a newborn baby. "Then," Jyorta asked, "Do you have any time restrictions or anything that might hinder my methods? Even though I am confident, I''m unsure of how long it might take. This is my first time attempting this on a Ground Controller." "Two weeks, that''s the maximum time I can give you," Henrik said, "That''s the time I have before I lose control. So, it is a hard time limit. It can never be extended, of course, unless your method is successful." "Two weeks," Frowning, Jyorta nodded, "I''ll first try it once. If it seems feasible, I''ll give a guarantee." "Sure," Henrik nodded, "Try whatever you want now." Read novel fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 21 - Probing From Both Sides Best novel online free at novelhall.com "Alright, please sit here and face your back towards me," Jyorta said, motioning Henrik to be seated on the ground. As Henrik did as told, Jyorta sat a metre behind him, causing two Tier 3 River Whales to hover beside him. He then inserted a Soul Cornea into the one on his left while wrapping the other Soul Cornea around the blue soul, guarding it against the murkiness that would attack him the moment he activated his soul domain. Fully prepared, the blue soul activated its soul domain, immediately shuddering when a mass of murkiness slammed into it. For a moment, the Soul Cornea was overwhelmed by the pressure, almost becoming polluted. But, the first Soul Cornea supplied him with tremendous quantities of soul energy constantly. The blue soul used it, causing the second Soul Cornea to expend them to exhibit its influence, vaporising all the murkiness around it instantly. Its influence slammed into Henrik''s soul, beginning to vaporise all the murkiness. Within a minute, all the murkiness was vaporised, revealing a gigantic cocoon within. The cocoon spanned a length of four metres and a diameter of three metres. Contained within it was his actual soul. This was the soul shielding present in every person at Tier 3 and above. After all, at Tier 3, the souls of the person and his Wisdom Parasite would have finished synchronising in wavelength. And, the moment this happens, a cocoon would form around them, protecting them against anything that might threaten their soul. And as time passes, this cocoon would only solidify further. So, only by penetrating it would he be able to access the soul within. And, if Jyorta fails to do so, then his plans would collapse right then and there. After taking in a deep breath, he extended the Soul Cornea covering the blue soul. As its length was more than four metres, it still had enough to move forward even after coiling itself around the blue soul. At present, he only wished to see if he could penetrate the soul shielding of Henrik. As long as that was possible, he would be able to do something within two weeks. The Soul Cornea stopped before the cocoon as its tip turned jet black. But, it didn''t proceed forward, remaining in place as more and more soul energy concentrated in the tip while the blue soul continued to increase the potency of corrosion. Forming the core of the blue soul was a bluish figure of his previous self, only possessing a head and a body, lacking all four limbs. It had its mouth open now, unleashing a torrent of jet-black ink, the source of his corrosion. As the blue soul continued to increase the corrosion''s potency, the head of the bluish figure began to turn jet black. The condition soon pervaded to its entire body as the potency of corrosion reached the maximum of what he was capable of. Only now did the Soul Cornea move forth, touching the cocoon as it began to corrode through the surface, slowly penetrating it. The moment it started to penetrate it, Jyorta was overjoyed that it was possible. Now, he only needed to spend time for the rest. The Sour Cornea was attacked constantly by the cocoon, intending to snuff it into nothing. But, the corrosion destroyed everything that touched the Soul Cornea as it headed deeper into the cocoon. The energy expenditure was tremendous, but thanks to the support from the Tier 3 River Whales, Jyorta was able to press forth. More than ten minutes later, the Soul Cornea managed to penetrate through the cocoon, peeking into it as the blue soul processed everything that it sensed. What was present within was a disaster more horrible than whatever he could think about. If the blue soul was exposed to the cocoon''s interior, then it would be destroyed in a couple of seconds. Even now, the Soul Cornea had to constantly maintain its corrosion to barely hold on. And, even that was placing some strain on its structural makeup. After probing enough, and having sensed the position of the soul core of Henrik''s Wisdom Parasite, Jyorta retracted his Soul Cornea, saying, "It''s possible. I''ll barely be able to complete it before the time limit. But, you should also be sensing the changes by the end of this process. So, I''ll be able to extend the time limit a bit until I finish it." "That''s great." Henrik nodded, getting up as he said, "Let me prepare myself. I''ll bring the Tier 4 Relic when my time starts. You can remain here until then. I''ll bring you to the walls once I get the Relic." "Alright," Jyorta nodded, waiting in place as he seemed to be preparing himself. Henrik vanished from the place, arriving at the lobby as he smiled, "He''s not saying it simply. It seems he has a certain level of guarantee to it. Haha, this is better than my original plan." While Jyorta was probing through his soul, he was probing through Jyorta. Thanks to his level of control, Jyorta failed to sense his actions, allowing him to calmly determine based on the physical, mental, hormonal, and aura fluctuations that whatever Jyorta had said before was indeed the truth. Only with this level of guarantee was he able to proceed along with the trade. After all, he was waging his life here. This level of caution was the bare minimum necessity. And during his probing, Henrik noticed the tattoo world in Jyorta''s body. Upon probing it further, he was shocked to find the presence of thousands of Frenzy Beast within, wondering just which technique allowed Jyorta to accomplish it. It made him realise that the individual before him was special in a certain way. As he was one of the few that had witnessed Jyorta''s Graduation Ceremony, he was able to understand a little. "I guess betting my life on him has greater odds. Is this how every pillar candidate is? They are surprisingly fearsome. Thankfully, they are on humanity''s side." Laughing, he proceeded towards the headquarters of the Bone Family in Sector 9, 10th Ring, grabbing hold of the Tier 4 Relic, the only one of its kind after completing a bunch of formalities. After that, his figure flashed, appearing before Jyorta Bone, "Let''s head towards the top of the walls first. We have 24 hours to use this Relic. Let''s make the best use of it." "Yes!" Jyorta nodded when Henrik wrapped him with his psychic arm.. Immediately, their figures vanished. Read novel online free fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 22 - Bone Dancers Of The Battlefield Within a couple of seconds, Jyorta arrived atop the City Walls situated in Sector 9, 10th Ring. Henrik stood beside him, gazing at the ongoing war as he said, "What do you plan to do now? You have 24 hours to make the most of this Tier 4 Relic." Jyorta looked at the three species among the Swarm, observing their actions. The first was the flying type. They possessed a body similar to a stingray, but more rounded. Their round bodies spun at terrific speeds, hovering in the air. Hung from the centre were tentacles, their ends attached with sharp spikes, and seemed denser than the rest, weighing as much as the rest of its body. Hidden within the roots of the tentacles was a large protrusion, shaped into a cone. It was its sensory device. Its surface was fully covered with fins that faintly trembled, emitting an ultrasonic wave that it used to perceive and transmit information. The tentacles spanned thrice the radius of the body. The sizes of their bodies varied from three metres to 20 metres. Occasionally, mixed among them were Frenzy Beasts, their sizes surpassing a hundred metres at Tier 3. They were codenamed the Stingray. Crawling on the ground were eight-legged beasts. Their feet were webbed, their bodies covered by fins that flapped, producing a faint sound. They used the sound similar to the Stingrays, for both perceiving and transmitting information. Their bodies were shaped similar to a reptile but had long sturdy legs akin to frogs. Using them, they were capable of jumping as high as 50 metres. Their skin was fully covered by scales, tough like steel. Their tongues were the same as frogs, capable of expanding up to 10 times their body length. Their bodies ranged from 10 metres to 30 metres in size. They were hulking fortresses. When they hopped, they released faint toxins into the air, polluting it, making the environment dangerous. They were codenamed the Frog. The final species was shaped like a frog with the head of an octopus. It possessed thick, stout legs that supported its massive frame and a long tail to balance its actions. It was fully armoured from head to tail, its defences the strongest among the three. Its head was almost one-fourth its body while it possessed two bellies. The underbelly was full, housing something while the upper belly expanded to twice its body size before contracting. When it contracted, the beast opened its mouth and shot out a large spike. The spike flew with tremendous speed and impacted the city walls. After launching the spike, the beast inhaled again, causing its upper belly to inflate once again. A couple of seconds later, it exhaled while opening its mouth, shooting forth another spike. It was codenamed the Armadillo. The spikes it shot forth ranged from 3-5 metres in length, possessing tremendous weight and material toughness. They proved to be the most troublesome of the three due to the fact that they positioned themselves two kilometres away from the city walls and spammed their attacks. It was hard for the soldiers on the walls to range their attacks that far. After all, there were too many obstacles along the way, absorbing most of their attacks. And thanks to their ridiculously tough armour, the Armadillos resisted all attacks. Only Sky Controllers were able to reach them. But at present, all the Sky Controllers only remained on standby, intending to intervene only when the situation deteriorated. Every Aristocratic Family was given the task of expanding the city by two Sectors worth within two years. For the Bone Family, it was Sector 9 among the 11th and 12th Rings. At present, many Sectors among the 10th Ring were yet to be completed. So, it was proving troublesome to expand. Though, considering the advantages of Bone Devour, the Swarm was their perfect opponent. So, the Bone Family was having a rather great time reaping the tremendous benefits. Every Bone Family member possessing Bone Devour had a 100 percent Sync Rate now. Jyorta watched a Shifter land on a Frog as his feet wriggled. The bones forming it expanded like spikes, boring deep into the Frog as it spread like fibrous roots. Immediately after, the Frog''s body began to rapidly thin as the Shifter absorbed all the energy, raising his hand as he pointed them towards the incoming Swarm. His finger bones shot out as they expanded in length, turning into bone spears as they pierced through the Swarm. And immediately after, the monsters in the Swarm became tired as the energy in their bodies leaked out through the bone spikes, weakening them. Like a machine gun, the Shifter shot out bone spikes nonstop. Even when the Shifter received a hit from the enemies, he was unfazed, swiftly healing the injury in an instant by absorbing energy from his foes. Another Shifter laughed as she jumped from one Frog to another, only remaining on their bodies for a couple of seconds each. She didn''t kill them, simply jumping after the interval. But, the Frogs touched by her no longer jumped or attacked the city, rooted to the spots, immobile. It was because their joints had melted and joined together into one, caging them. Their skeletal structure was the cage that bound them to the place, preventing them from ever moving. A team of Developers arrived and tied up ropes around the caged Frog, slowly hailing it into the city. The ability to manipulate flesh and bone, also devouring the energy of their foes while filtering out any Essence of Frenzy; that was the power of Bone Devour. "Impressive, isn''t it?" Henrik Bone laughed, gazing at the scene of the Bone Family members dancing through the battlefield, "If in terms of battle strength and survivability, Bone Devour is the greatest among all the Unranked Skills. After seeing our actions, Marble City dubbed us the title of¡­" "Bone Dancers of the Battlefield." "Bone Devour sure is impressive," Jyorta nodded, closing his eyes as he sensed the number of tattoos he had prepared for this occasion, ''I have 30 tattoos in total. That should be enough for the time being.'' He then looked at Henrik, pointing at the Armadillos positioned two kilometres away, "Can you protect me while transporting me to them?" "No sweat," Henrik smiled as their figures flashed past, appearing atop an Armadillo a couple of seconds later. ---------------------------- Author Notes: Until we reach the target amount in my Patre0n, I''ll release a bonus chapter for every 10 USD increase in the pledged amount. If you wish to get more bonus chapters and increase the update schedule, support me on my Patre0n. patre0n.com/overlord_venus Current pledge: 144/400 USD ----------------------------- You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 23 - Bone Devour Is The Best You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com Aura Induction¡ªTattoo! The moment Henrik brought him atop an Armadillo, Jyorta extended his psychic arm, touching the Armadillo''s body as he sent in his tattoo through it, immediately causing a change in the Armadillo''s behaviour. It stopped shooting spikes at the city walls and turned silent. As Henrik shielded them using his psychic arms, none of the Swarm monsters were able to sense them. As a Ground Controller, shielding himself from the detection methods of the Swarm was child''s play. Only the Skeps with their myriad methods were troublesome. As Jyorta asked, Henrik moved him from the top of one Armadillo to the next in sequence. Soon, Jyorta finished imbuing the tattoo on the thirtieth Armadillo, giving them a command as he said to Henrik, "Let''s return to the city walls." "Sure," Henrik didn''t question him, bringing Jyorta to their prior position above the city walls. Closing his eyes, Jyorta sensed the aura fluctuations he had felt before, nodding, ''The tattoos would last for six hours. That''s amazing.'' He then opened his eyes, watching the thirty Armadillos slowly march towards the city walls. And, just as the Bone Family members planned to attack the troublesome opponents, Henrik transmitted them a message, preventing them from attacking the Armadillos. "So, that''s Jyorta Bone." A Shifter looked at the thirty Armadillos approaching the city walls with a subservient posture, gazing at the figure of Jyorta Bone that had been the cause, smirking, "To think it has only been a year since his Induction Ceremony, interesting." All the Armadillos lined themselves before the city walls, facing the Swarm as their upper bellies bulged before shrinking abruptly. Opening their mouths, the Armadillos shot thirty spikes towards the swarm, hitting many, injuring them to a significant extent. Without any breaks, the thirty Armadillos expanded their upper bellies once again, contracting them instantly to shoot forth another volley of thirty spikes. The Bone Family members fighting on the battlefield slowed down their attacks as they watched the scene taking place, smacked amazed as they muttered, "He''s controlling thirty Armadillos? Isn''t he just an Area Controller?" As all the Armadillos had to do was shoot blindly at the Swarm, all Jyorta did was give them the necessary commands. He didn''t control them after that, so he was free to make more preparations, beginning to condense more tattoos for his use. He multitasked, finally gazing at the Tier 4 Relic. It was only thirty centimetres in length, shaped like a spearhead, magenta in colour. It was apparent that due to the significance of its value, Psychic Ancestor Marble had personally condensed the Artifact to hold the Tier 4 Relic. With Tier 6 toughness, it wouldn''t be damaged by any attacks below the level of Tier 6. This way, the Tier 4 Relic wouldn''t ever be damaged. After all, the Relics were fragile and could be destroyed easily. Even a Tier 6 Relic could be destroyed by an Amplifier. So, to protect the sole Relic with Bone Devour, Psychic Ancestor Marble had taken action, condensing the toughest Artifact to house it. Jyorta grabbed hold of it, feeling its ridiculous toughness as he seeped his psychic arm into it, realising that he was instantly able to make it his Refined Object. "When you are returning it, you''ll have to destroy your psychic energy imprint on it. That''s the rule." Henrik said. "Of course, that makes sense." Jyorta nodded, then pointed at a Frog that had died under the volley of the Armadillo spikes, "Can you bring me before it?" "Sure," Henrik said, bringing Jyorta to the mentioned spot within a second. Thanks to his psychic energy shielding him from all the inertia due to the abrupt movement, Jyorta didn''t feel any damage. This was the advantage of psychic energy, the reason Espers were capable of moving at tremendous speeds without taking any damage from the inertial forces. Upon his thought, the magenta spike¡ªcontaining the Tier 4 Relic of Bone Devour¡ªbegan to spin as his psychic arm extended in length, causing it to bore into the Frog''s body a bit. He had chosen a spot that had already been impaled by the spike, so it was easy to insert the magenta spike through the wound. ''Here goes nothing.'' Taking in a deep breath, Jyorta activated the Tier 4 Relic, grunting in pain for a moment when an insane amount of energy gushed into his brain through his psychic arm, overwhelming him. He deactivated it immediately, panting as blood dripped out of his nose. Upon seeing the scene, Henrik said, "The energy influx cannot be controlled since this is a Relic. So, you''ll be taking damage constantly. But, you have Regen with you, right? Use it and hold on." "Yes," Jyorta nodded, seeping his second psychic arm through his body, turning it pale blue as he activated Regen. It began to consume his psychic energy to heal his body while Jyorta activated a Trait to absorb the remainder of the energy. Trait of Severability! The psychic energy in his body gushed into the Trait as his Sync Rate began to grudgingly increase little by little. Now that he was expending enough psychic energy, Jyorta activated the Tier 4 Relic once again, barely able to bear with the energy influx as he began to bleed from his orifices. Twenty seconds later, the gigantic flesh monster of a Frog that spanned 30 metres in size had shrivelled up into a husk of its former self. Even though he was dripping enough blood to dye his body red, Jyorta was amazed as he muttered, "Just this one Frog increased my Sync Rate by 0.05 percent?" "Of course," Henrik pointed at their humongous sizes, "They have a tremendous reserve of flesh in them. So, two of them contain enough energy equivalent to a Shifter. This is despite the energy losses due to using the Relic. Had you been a Shifter with Bone Devour, the efficiency would have been even higher." Regen constantly healed his body''s damage as Jyorta absorbed as much energy as possible. He was also multi-tasking as he riled up his aura to condense a tattoo. After all, Regen also replenished his aura, allowing him to condense as much as possible to create every tattoo. And, to certify for his use, he intended to create a tattoo by condensing all his presence into each. This way, they would last longer while manipulating the Armadillos. Every minute, his Sync Rate increased by 0.1 percent, causing Jyorta to become high with the feeling, causing him to exclaim, "Every Unranked Skill has their respective advantage. But, Bone Devour is indeed the best. This growth speed is unattainable with any other Unranked Skill." ---------------------------- Author Notes: Until we reach the target amount in my Patre0n, I''ll release a bonus chapter for every 10 USD increase in the pledged amount. If you wish to get more bonus chapters and increase the update schedule, support me on my Patre0n. patre0n.com/overlord_venus Current pledge: 144/400 USD ----------------------------- Read novel fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 24 - A Genius Farms Passively Five hours since he arrived at the top of the city wall, Jyorta Bone grinned as he wiped his bloodied face, "I''ve finally achieved it." "A Sync Rate of 100 percent." He could immediately feel a spike in his Nurturing rate, feeling a bit relaxed now that he was assured his growth would be the fastest that he could currently attain. He then looked at Henrik, asking while giving him the Tier 4 Relic, "It seems you were hoping to reach a 100 percent Sync Rate too. Please use this to attain that." "What do you want in return," Henrik asked, knowing very well that it was a simple transaction. Due to their prior transaction, the usage of the Tier 4 Relic was Jyorta''s exclusive. So, if he wished to use it, he needed to pay a certain price. Instead of beating about the bush, fearing the wastage of time allotted for the Tier 4 Relic, Henrik was direct in his choice of words. Being in the same wavelength, Jyorta too was direct, handing over a cup¡ªthe Tier 3 Relic with the Tier 3 Skill of Healing Salve¡ªas he said, "Since you have the range of a Ground Controller, it would be more efficient for you to use it." "All I need is for you to absorb energy using the Tier 4 Relic on one side, and produce Healing Salve with this Tier 3 Relic on the other. For my use, I need as much Healing Salve as possible. So, once your Sync Rate reaches 100 percent, please use the remaining time to generate as much Healing Salve as possible." He finished speaking, looking at Henrik to see the other party smile. "Interesting," Henrik laughed, causing both the Relics to disappear as he said, "This is an advantageous trade to me, Jyorta Bone." One of his psychic arms carried the Tier 4 Relic, penetrating a Swarm monster, siphoning all the energy condensed in its massive fleshly body. All the absorbed energy flowed through his psychic arm as psychic energy, pouring into his Brain Crystal. On the other hand, his second psychic arm carried the cup¡ªthe Tier 3 Relic¡ªand arrived above the city wall, activating it to begin generating Healing Salve. The produced Healing Salve contained as much energy as in a Developer''s Heart Crystal when the cup was full. And because the Relic with Bone Devour was at Tier 4, the energy influx was greater. Henrik watched the Healing Salve be produced from the Tier 3 Relic with a frown, thinking of something as he extended his third psychic arm, informing something to one of the Bone Family members stationed atop the wall. The third psychic arm then proceeded into the city, bringing back a container. It was to store the Healing Salve. The container was being filled by the Healing Salve as Henrik compressed the contents as much as possible to prevent wasting space. Since the energy influx was greater than the expenditure, he used the excess on his Trait of Severability, beginning to increase his Sync Rate. As he was already close to 100 percent, it only took him an hour to reach it. And in this time, the Bone Family member he had contacted brought another Tier 3 Relic that possessed the Tier 3 Skill of Healing Salve. Henrik now activated both the Tier 3 Relics, doubling the production of the Healing Salve, laughing as he said to Jyorta, "Thirty percent of the Healing Salve produced from the second Relic will go to its respective owner. The rest is yours. Consider it my investment for the energy needs you require while helping me." "That would be a tremendous help." Jyorta nodded, immediately closing his eyes as he continued with his task. He was multitasking at present. First, he was creating new tattoos. Second, he was modifying the tattoos already in the bodies of the thirty Armadillos, making them accordingly to their respective presence. He wished to permanently make them subservient to him. After all, participating in soldier activities would award him Contribution Points. And, there was an easier way to obtain it. So, he might very well be an idiot if he didn''t abuse it to the limit. The monsters in the Swarm weren''t intelligent. They just relied on basic instinct and impulses to move about. And, most of the orders they received were already coded into their genetics by the Skeps¡ªand, that was the collection of genetic material from the humans. So, once he modified the first tattoo, it took less time for him to modify the second, third, and so on. And before his tattoos could crumble, he had modified them to suit each of the thirty Armadillos. Now, they were fully under his control. Henrik then brought him before another group of Armadillos as he took control of five of them, bringing them to the base of the city wall where they took battle positions, shooting spikes into the swarm. When the Armadillos were tired, they rested a little while gobbling up one of the corpses of the Swarm that was piled up near the walls. After that, they resumed the attacks. Anyone who witnessed his actions had figured out his plans by now. Some of them snorted, some of them looked at his abilities in envy, while most of the remainder were unfazed. And every Shifter with Bone Devour fell in the third category. It was the sort of arrogance that came with possessing an Unranked Skill. Henrik seemed like he was having fun while staring at Jyorta. At regular intervals, he transported large containers filled with Healing Extract into the large warehouse where Jyorta trained with the ten Tier 3 River Whales. Every large container contained a cubic capacity of 1000 litres of the Healing Salve. The Tier 3 Relic had a storage capacity of a litre approximately. So, a litre of the Healing Salve equalled a Developer''s Heart Crystal worth of energy. And, as long as there was enough prey, the Tier 4 Relic was capable of generating energy equivalent to a Shifter''s in a minute. So, the number of containers with the Healing Extract continued to pile up even though Henrik compressed them to the limit. Soon, the 24 hours of the Tier 4 Relic''s lending period finished as Jyorta beamed with a content smile, gazing at the row of Armadillos that now numbered one hundred. ''Let them passively farm my Contribution Points.'' ---------------------------- Author Notes: Until we reach the target amount in my Patre0n, I''ll release a bonus chapter for every 10 USD increase in the pledged amount. If you wish to get more bonus chapters and increase the update schedule, support me on my Patre0n. patre0n.com/overlord_venus Current pledge: 144/400 USD ----------------------------- You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 25 - The Journey’s Necessity You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com In the warehouse situated in the Bone Family''s research institution, there were twenty containers containing a certain gelatinous salve. Seated on the floor before they were Jyorta and Henrik. And, flying above them were two Tier 3 River Whales. "We''ll do it in batches." Jyorta said, pointing at the ten Tier 3 River Whales, "Can you please feed them a lump of Healing Salve? Around 20 litres per each would do." "At Tier 3, a litre would be the limit as to what they can digest¡­" Henrik was just about to retort when he noticed something amiss, hurriedly unleashing his psychic arm to inspect a Tier 3 River Whale, shuddering as he looked at Jyorta, "What¡­have you done to them?" "They are batteries," Jyorta said casually. ''Just¡­'' Henrik stopped his line of thought, no longer intending to dig any deeper, sighing as his psychic arm flashed a bit, instantly placing lumps of Healing Salve in the mouths of all ten River Whales. He then sat on the floor as instructed by Jyorta. "Please don''t use your psychic arms for the time being. There is a good chance you might kill me while I am trying to treat you. There are certain risks if you keep your psychic arm unleashed, after all." Jyorta said, just in case. There wasn''t any need to do so. But, he didn''t wish for Henrik to probe his secrets unnecessarily. If a Ground Controller wished to do so, there wasn''t much Jyorta could do to prevent it. So, as a precaution, he made it seem as if there was a danger to his life if Henrik used his psychic arms. Henrik materialised his psychic arms, allowing Jyorta to see them as he retracted them into his head. It wasn''t necessary to do so. But, Henrik wanted to show Jyorta that he had indeed retracted his psychic arms. Even though he was curious about Jyorta''s abilities, becoming a Sky Controller was more important. He had clear priorities. So, he didn''t wish to side-track any longer. "You can sleep if you want. That''ll help me even better." Jyorta said, taking in a deep breath as a River Whale arrived within the range of his Soul Cornea. "Sure," Henrik didn''t resist, calmly closing his eyes as he immediately fell asleep. He was able to manipulate his body to do so, something even Wave Controllers were capable of to a certain extent. Soul Cornea¡ªCorrosion! Jyorta caused his second Soul Cornea to turn jet black and penetrate the cocoon shielding Henrik''s soul, penetrating bit by bit. His first Soul Cornea siphoned energy from the soul of the River Whale. After some effort, the second Soul Cornea managed to penetrate the soul cocoon, immediately unleashing its influence to the limit, beginning to vaporise the murkiness in its surroundings bit by bit. Even though the effect was potent, Jyorta sported a frown. For, as the murkiness in Henrik''s soul was vaporised bit by bit, a change was triggered in his body, immediately causing more murkiness to spill in like a tide. ''I have to persist until his body is unable to generate murkiness any longer. Only after that can I work in vaporising all the murkiness in his soul.'' Jyorta sighed, firming himself, ''This would be a prolonged battle.'' Two days later, sporting reddened eyes, Jyorta grunted, clenching his hand into a fist, ''Too strong. It took me two days just to finish vaporising the murkiness alone.'' On the side, a River Whale manipulated some of the water layers around it, gently lifting some Healing Salve from a container before swallowing it. It then returned to its tank, resting. It was the one that Jyorta had just finished absorbing energy from. It was almost expended of all its energy. Thankfully, as its skin was covered by the Shoe Fishes, its digestion speed had spiked. Adding onto its Essence of Frenzy, it was able to swiftly digest all the Healing Salve and replenish its energy back to full within a couple of hours. And this meant the Heart Crystals of itself and all the Shoe Fishes on it. Now that all the murkiness had been vaporised, Jyorta gazed at Henrik''s soul, noticing what seemed to resemble a fish with four long fins. It was his memory fragments creating such a shape in their existence. Each soul was distinctly different in shape and size. After all, it varied based on how the memory fragments forming it had structured themselves. The structure formation depended mostly on the affinity of the memory fragments to one another. So, the structures were usually large and hollow. This also allowed plenty of gaps for the murkiness to settle within and move around. Jyorta''s blue soul was different since he had stacked everything to consume as little space as possible. After all, he needed the remaining space to store the soul husks containing memory fragments from different beings that he had collected in the past and would collect in the future. ''Now, the best method to go about solving Henrik''s issue is to use his memory fragments. If I use mine, they would be corroded by the murkiness once his body generates it. So, I only have one option.'' Jyorta sighed, firming himself as he wore the goggles, ''Even though I didn''t want to do this, I was planning to obtain memory fragments from humans anyway. Might as well obtain it when a chance presented itself.'' Without the murkiness to fight back, all the second Soul Cornea had to defend against was the soul cocoon that was still trying to clamp on it. It then penetrated deeper into Henrik''s soul, sucking the soul fragments bit by bit. There wasn''t much resistance the murkiness-less soul could offer as a significant volume of its memory fragments were absorbed. Jyorta didn''t blindly absorb them, but rather probed around first, picking memory fragment clusters that seemed to be connected to the soul core of Henrik''s Wisdom Parasite''s soul. ''These are probably the memory fragments it is using to make him lose control.'' Jyorta could feel his heart thumping in trepidation, fearing just what he might do next under the influence of Henrik''s memory fragments, ''I have no other choice.'' ''This is a necessity in my journey as a Psychic Parasite.'' Read novel online free fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 26 - Mystic Lord Read novel online free fast updates at novelhall.com "Impossible! I don''t need that power! I''ll never do it, not to you! Never!" A middle-aged man kneeled on the ground, feeling weak as he expressed intense anger. He was neither suppressed by some unsurpassable power nor was his strength robbed from him. He was kneeling in helplessness. Standing before him was an old woman that was gaining in on age rapidly as the days sped past. But currently, she was brimming with power that was inferior to only the Ancestors, or rather, the boundary couldn''t be depicted clearly, for her strength had already entered that realm. Dark brown hair that was tied up into a bun, a pair of brown eyes with a mild reddish hue, and a short, rotund body with pale, oily skin, she was a figure both feared and respected by everyone within and beyond Marble City. Atika Light! Currently, she gently caressed a sphere that she held, saying with a gentle whisper, "When I consumed the Cleansement Fruit, my Tier 4 and Tier 5 Skills were extracted to result in this Refined Relic. It is at Tier 5, using my Tier 5 Skill, Mystic Lord Transformation as the base to fuse my Tier 4 Skill, Cataclysmic Inferrer into it to result in this Skill¡­" "Mystic Lord!" "And," She laughed, gently placing the Tier 5 Relic on a stand beside, "I have planned for this Relic to be used in the production of the Unranked Skill for Jyorta Bone. But, it still needs a lot of work to be done." "I''ll let you finish the rest," Atika Light said, watching the middle-aged man before her tear up in response, beginning to cry. Her eyes became a bit moist as she spoke, "You shouldn''t cry. You''re a grown man now and would become the strongest pillar of humanity soon. You are titled Rhachis Ancestor Strongest, after all." "But, I don''t want to become humanity''s pillar by stepping atop my mother''s corpse." Rhachis Ancestor Strongest said while crying, lacking any semblance of his usual demeanour, "I''m already strong. And once my Tier 6 Skill completes, I''ll confront Parasite and kill it." "No, it''s not enough." Atika Light sighed, "There are certain things I have figured out recently." "The Trait of Growth, and the Trait of Severability, I have upgraded both to the Tier 6 Level. And every other Trait I have, I upgraded them all to the Tier 6 Level until I hit my limit and am unable to obtain anymore Traits. And while using my Tier 5 Skill, I comprehended it to its limit." Atika Light nodded as Rhachis Ancestor Strongest stared at her in surprise, "Yes, I managed to comprehend all my abilities to their absolute limit." "And, this includes my Unranked Skill, Light Symphony that even Ancestor Light has yet to comprehend fully." She then said slowly, "And, using my Mystic Lord Transformation, I made a connection with the Mental Realm, understanding the actual reason for why I have refrained from breaking through to Tier 6 all along." "If I wanted, I could breakthrough anytime I wish and would safely attain Tier 6 without a single hiccup. I am assured of this fact. But, the reason I felt it would be dangerous and instinctively perceived that I would become the enemy of humanity¡­I found it now." She said, "All along, I had been hoping to nurture more people to attain the Mystic Lord Transformation. But now, it seems I have been wrong all along." "Everything starts during the Induction Ceremony," She sighed, "The moment the Sync Rate at the end of the Ceremony is 95 percent and above, that person creates a faint energy fluctuation. But, this fluctuation is in the mind, a reason no one managed to sense anything amiss during my Induction Ceremony." "In all our history, both humans and Frenzy Beasts combined, I was the only one to attain a Sync Rate of 95 percent during the Induction Ceremony. And when I did, the Mental Realm formed a connection with me." She said, causing Rhachis Ancestor Strongest''s eyes to widen in shock as he understood the implications. "Yes," She nodded, "That''s the prerequisite to attaining the Mystic Lord Transformation. And, there can only be one holder of Mystic Lord Transformation in the entire world." "And, the moment I attain Tier 6, my mind would be shattered," She sighed, shuddering a bit, "After all, the entire Mental Realm would enter my mind and take root there. I would become the personification of the Mental Realm, an existence solely of the Mind Path. I would have power rivalling Parasite right from the get-go. And, I would be neither an ally nor an enemy to both humans and Frenzy Beasts." "That''s what I had sensed partially before. And now that I have attained peak comprehension of Mystic Lord Transformation, I can confirm it." She sighed, saying, "And, I also sensed through the Mental Realm that Parasite is planning something, something huge, something grand. If it succeeds, even with the combined power of humans and Skeps, killing it would be impossible." "The only ones that can resist it would be the two Psychic Parasites that have Wisdom''s protection and you." Atika Light calmly walked forward, kneeling as she gently brushed her hand on Rhachis Ancestor Strongest''s cheek, "Angrushen, my child, you still need around eight years to nurture your Tier 6 Skill. And even though it would make you the strongest of humanity, it is still insufficient to face our enemies." "Though they would become tremendously strong, the Psychic Parasites have a one-track mind thanks to Wisdom''s arrangements. I conversed with Wisdom''s Will hidden within Jyorta Bone. And, based on what he said, the moment Parasite is killed, the Psychic Parasites would lose their purpose and become humanity''s enemy." Atika Light frowned, "And if that future ever comes to happen, I need you to be strong enough to handle everything." "And for that to happen, you need my power, my Mystic Lord Transformation." She said solemnly, wiping Rhachis Ancestor Strongest''s tears, "With me by your side, your Tier 6 Skill would become even more comprehensive." "You are my child. And, I''ll make damn sure you have everything in the world by your side!" ---------------------------- Author Notes: Until we reach the target amount in my Patre0n, I''ll release a bonus chapter for every 10 USD increase in the pledged amount. If you wish to get more bonus chapters and increase the update schedule, support me on my Patre0n. patre0n.com/overlord_venus Current pledge: 144/400 USD ----------------------------- Best novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 27 - Memoir Beckoner You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com "I still¡­don''t want to kill you. I don''t want to live in guilt for the rest of my life..." Rhachis Ancestor Strongest said, suddenly stopping when he was slapped by Atika Light. Even though the attack itself didn''t even scratch him, the notion behind it hurt him. "Don''t be weak!" Atika Light bellowed, "How long would I be alive? 10 years? 20 years? I would have to die anyway. I have already attained my maximum growth. There is only greater benefit if you obtain my power now." "This discussion ends here," She said, standing a couple of metres away from Rhachis Ancestor Strongest, "Gajara Rahi''s plot runs deep; the Mind Hound is just a facet of them. Laila is planning something massive too. And, the second part of Gajara Rahi, now calling herself as Jyavreh Sahi is the Skep King that was birthed recently." "Now, don''t delay your growth anymore. Wield my powers to their true potential." Atika Light raised her hands, "Now, do it!" "I''ll never forget you, mother. For all my life, for as long as I live, I''ll follow your teachings." Sporting an expression of intense pain on his face, Rhachis Ancestor Strongest slowly got up, tears streaming as he gently pulled Atika Light in his embrace. "Silly, you will never forget anything. That''s what your power entails¡­" Atika Light gently patted the back of his head, consoling him as she felt his warmth for the last time, "Your back is wide, just like your dad. You are capable of shouldering this world''s fate on your shoulders." "I''m always proud of you." Atika Light gently spoke until her voice turned into a whisper as a murky stream exited Rhachis Ancestor Strongest and wrapped around her, turning her body ethereal before fully dissolving into it. "Memoir Beckoner!" Rhachis Ancestor Strongest retracted the murky stream into himself, collapsing to the ground immediately as he shed tears, trembling as he was unable to control himself anymore, crying at the top of his voice, "Ahhhhhhhh!" Boom! The entire Marble City trembled as the quakes began to become more and more intense. Rhachis Ancestor Light and Psychic Ancestor Marble immediately arrived at the source, gazing at the wailing figure of Rhachis Ancestor Strongest. The two looked at each other, immediately taking action as they sealed the room in a layer of light and marble, immediately noticing faint cracks begin to form on them nonstop. And at the centre, surrounding Rhachis Ancestor Strongest was an overbearing fluctuation, an aura of magnitude they had never encountered before. "T-This¡­?" Rhachis Ancestor Light shuddered at the presence, "His Tier 6 Skill hasn''t even finished forming. This level of power¡­makes no sense!" "Rhachis Ancestor Strongest¡­" Psychic Ancestor Marble muttered, "I didn''t completely understand why Atika Light wanted to coin him this title and spread the news to the rest of the world. But now I understand." The two Ancestors stared at the wailing figure within while trying their best to prevent any shockwaves from damaging Marble City. ¡­ Situated more than a thousand kilometres to the west of Marble City, hovering atop the Arabian Sea was a gigantic Web World. And, this was one of the three Web Worlds that formed the core of the Floating Spiders, belonging to the Warlord Family that was only comprised of a small number of Tier 5 Floating Spiders. Suddenly, the Web World trembled before a figure burst out, colliding into the seawater as it struggled to breathe, gasping for air. It was a Floating Spider with a plain appearance, looking no different to a Tier 1 Floating Spiders. But, its size was around 40 metres. Rhachis Ancestor Warlord! "This¡­presence!" It shuddered, flailing about as it inspected itself, muttering, "What is this¡­feeling of fear? This is originating from my¡­Unranked Skill?" It hurriedly gazed towards the east, frowning, "Just¡­what is happening in Marble City?" Its body continued to tremble as an intense sense of fear overwhelmed it, suddenly causing it to initiate its Warlord Transformation and become crazy, unleashing the beam of Forged Line everywhere, raising waves of destruction. The other two Ancestors of the Floating Spiders were alerted as they hurriedly rushed towards it, noticing Rhachis Ancestor Warlord thrashing about in a state of Frenzy. "Dammit! What happened now?" "Quick! Let''s subdue it first. It''s just mindlessly flailing about now. So, we can overwhelm it!" The two Ancestors immediately pounced upon Rhachis Ancestor Warlord, soon tying it up into a cocoon to constrict it, eventually sighing in relief when the thrashing died down. Soon, Rhachis Ancestor Warlord regained clarity of mind, saying as it gazed at the other two Floating Spider Ancestors, "Something incredibly scary is brewing within Marble City." ¡­ "I''m fine now. Thank you for your concern." Rhachis Ancestor Strongest got up, wiping his tears as he looked at Rhachis Ancestor Light and Psychic Ancestor Marble, "Sorry for making you worry." "Did you¡­?" Psychic Ancestor Marble looked around, failing to notice Atika Light anymore, not in the room, in the building, or even the entirety of Marble City. "Yes," Rhachis Ancestor Strongest nodded, "Please leave me alone for some time. I need to rest." "Alright, call us if you need anything." Saying their pieces, the two Ancestors vanished. Sighing, Rhachis Ancestor Strongest looked at the empty house, slumping on the ground as he felt tired. Suddenly, a pair of hands wrapped around his neck, whispering to him, "You did well, son." "Mom, is this really the right way?" He muttered, turning around to see the figure of Atika Light behind him. "Of course," Atika Light nodded, smiling in response, "I may just be a part of your memory now. But I am what I have been until my death. And, I''ll continue living on in your memory, forever." "Now, activate my ability and use it to comprehend your abilities. It would hasten your Tier 6 Skill''s nurturing." She spoke. "I''ll summon you immediately once I''m done, mother." Rhachis Ancestor Strongest nodded, watching the other party smile before collapsing into a pool of murky water, vanishing instantly. Immediately, a mysterious power welled up from deep within him, causing a surge of information in his mind as his body morphed. Tier 5 Skill¡ªMystic Lord Transformation! You can read the novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 28 - Traumatised You can read the novel online free at novelhall.com "Number 27, proceed to your room." A Nurse''s voice resounded as a teenage boy got up, following the nurse that was assigned to him. Soon, he entered the room numbered 27, following the nurse''s instructions as he changed into a rough gown that was handed to him. But, when he was motioned to lie atop the hard bed in the centre of the room, he didn''t move, his face flushed beet reed, an expression of shame welled up in him as his eyes darted towards the nurse lady. She spanned a height of six feet, sporting an angular face with a sharp jawline. Her eyes were sharp, cold even, with a glint of wisdom in them. She wore a pair of high heels that further accentuated her body figure, causing him to stare at her, awestruck. Moreover, his gaze often trailed towards the pair of mountains on her chest, the action of his eyes beyond his control. He hadn''t seen such a size ever before, ones that remained firm and compact, containing the explosive might within themselves. Everything about the nurse caused him to almost swoon, feeling embarrassed at his thoughts. After all, she was completely his type. Every part of her sent critical hits to his soft corners. "Come forward and lie on this bed. The Induction Ceremony is short and would be done quickly once you comply." The nurse said with a gentle smile. The moment he heard her voice, he was in a trance, for it was the most pleasing voice he had ever heard. But, he was unable to walk forward, for his little brother was saluting the moon like a battle-hardened soldier. The patriotism wasn''t something that could be culled in a short while, not in the current place, not while the nurse was still in his line of sight. The nurse acted like she hadn''t noticed his plight, gently saying, "It''s normal to be nervous. Let''s me help you." She slowly walked towards him as the boy could hear his heart thumping vigorously, causing the sounds to blank out all the sounds from his surroundings. He couldn''t even hear the nurse''s voice, but for some reason, he could hear her footsteps. Whether it was a hallucination conjured by his excitement or not, he was unsure. But, his body stunned up as it felt like he was electrocuted the moment the nurse touched him, causing his legs to lose their strength. Just as he was about to fall, the nurse caught hold of him, carrying him in a princess carry as she arrived before the bed. Now in direct contact with her mountains, the patriotism of his little brother attained a new zenith, breaking through limits time after time. Inhaling her scent caused him to become intoxicated. In every way he could ever think of, she was perfect. Once the nurse placed him atop the hard bed, she began to gently strap him to it. And, due to the sheer size of her mountains, they came in contact with the boy time after again. As he only wore a coarse cloth, he was able to feel every single sensation. Soon after, his little brother raised the country flag, a symbol of peace. The boy was ashen with shame for doing that, especially in front of the nurse. But in contrast, the nurse didn''t seem like she had realised. Once she finished strapping him, a psychic arm flashed as the boy realised the wetness in his nether region had vanished. He was confused for a moment before he made eye contact with the nurse. His little brother became patriotic once again as words he thought of were automatically mouthed by him, "Sister, will you date me?" "How cute," The nurse laughed, gently ruffling his hand, "Let''s see¡­if you manage to top the ranks in the military academy, we''ll go on a date once." "I''ll marry you once I become strong." The boy said as his heart thumped increasingly faster, faster than when he had sprinted at his top speed, watching the nurse''s face close in on him. "Is that¡­so?" She stopped five centimetres before him, noticing his intoxicated expression, "Can you first¡­open your mouth?" The boy automatically opened his mouth, assuming the nurse planned to give him a memorable kiss when a bracer was placed in his mouth, preventing him from closing them. In the next moment, a pipe was attached to it as a gelatinous liquid began to gush through it, diverted towards a bucket when it arrived before his mouth. And as time passed, the boy slowly opened his mouth, wondering why he hadn''t ascended to heaven yet when he made eye contact with a strange entity that was only five centimetres before him, moving through the tube connected to his mouth, sluggishly slithering forth. And it then slowly entered his mouth. He had mentally prepared to visit heaven when hell ambushed him out of nowhere. ¡­ "As promised, I am at the top of my Batch. My score is also the second-highest in the military academy''s history." The boy was at his late teens now, sporting an expression of vigour, one of valance accentuating his presence. "Sure," The nurse from before was now wearing civilian clothes, appearing younger and more beautiful, causing the youth''s heart to thump even faster than when he had experienced his Induction Ceremony. "Call me Zaela, Zaela Walta." They clicked off with one another after that, gradually falling in love. And for the first time, he leaned in on her, making eye contact as he approached to kiss her, suddenly trembling as his trauma from the Induction Ceremony flashed in his mind, making him recall the scene where his supposed kiss had become a nightmarish encounter. He was a Wave Controller now. ¡­ In his early twenties, on the night of their marriage, as he looked at Zaela, her arms spread wide, inviting him for an embrace, his heart thumped as his little brother''s patriotism attained enlightenment. But, right as he planned to consummate their marriage, he looked at his little brother, suddenly feeling like his appearance had changed from his cute self to that of the Wisdom Parasite, instantly eradicating his patriotism. ¡­ Jyorta opened his eyes, covered in sweat, gazing at the back of Henrik as he trembled in fear, now traumatised. You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 29 - Jyorta’s Lack Of Anchors Jyorta closed his eyes as the blue soul began to slowly structure the memories he had obtained from Henrik Bone. He couldn''t remove the influence of Henrik''s memories for the time being. After all, he had to remain in that influence to complete the treatment. Otherwise, the effect wouldn''t be potent enough. He then sighed, unleashing his Soul Cornea, turning it jet black as it pierced through Henrik''s Soul Cocoon, siphoning more memory fragments from the vicinity of the Wisdom Parasite''s Soul Core. The souls of Henrik and his Wisdom Parasite had assimilated into one another. Only their Soul Cores retained their individuality. This was how a Soul Cocoon was created, a process that finished completing after one spent some time at Tier 3. Once he siphoned another batch of memory fragments, Jyorta sighed, retracting his Soul Cornea as he began to experience them. He lived through Henrik''s life, experienced his fears, worries, trauma, etc. Everything that the Wisdom Parasite used to weaken his mind, Jyorta experienced through them all, becoming more and more traumatised in the end. Henrik suddenly shot his eyes open, looking at Jyorta with a frown, ''Just what is happening? Why is Jyorta Bone in such a state? It''s like he''s in hell.'' ''Is this what he has to endure to treat me?'' As he thought, Henrik was puzzled for a moment, ''Why¡­are my thoughts so clear?'' The constant ravings from his Wisdom Parasite had subsided to a certain extent, allowing him to think clearly. Rather, his thinking capacity exploded by a multitude as it was no longer restrained by the Wisdom Parasite''s machinations. He was able to exert a part of the true strength of the mind as a Ground Controller. ''Whatever he seems to be doing, it''s working.'' Henrik closed his eyes, forcefully placing his body in a state of rest to not hinder the treatment. Jyorta''s Soul Cornea was currently flailing about within Henrik''s soul, creating a structure around the Wisdom Parasite''s Soul Core. He finally created a spherical caged structure using the memories he obtained from Henrik, sighing as he retracted his Soul Corneas, waking up Henrik as he said, "The first treatment process is done. It will take a day for the changes to sink in. So, we''ll continue the rest tomorrow." "Alright," Henrik nodded, "I''ll return sharp at 10 AM tomorrow." Saying his piece, Henrik vanished from the warehouse. Jyorta slumped on the ground, hurriedly activating the goggles he wore, casting a beam of light on himself to light up a projection of his mind behind him. Unranked Skill¡ªDeific Inference! His two Soul Corneas turned jet black as they corroded all the influences that Henrik''s memory fragments had inflicted on him. When he noticed traces of Henrick''s facial features on the projection of his mind, Jyorta became afraid, "This is too dangerous. I should prepare myself a lot, otherwise, I would slowly become Henrik." He sighed, understanding the root cause of the issue, "It''s because my anchors are too weak." His first Anchor was Heima. But, the duration of this Anchor''s establishment was less than two years. So, it wasn''t sturdy enough to make him attached to his life, his self as Jyorta Bone. As for his Anchors from when he was Kaushik, only the memories existed. None of those forming his past life''s Anchors were alive now. So, there wasn''t much preventing him from desiring to become someone else, to obtain greater familiar bonds, affection, and a sense of belonging. He wasn''t part of this world. And among his family, only his sister was alive, and that too after suffering numerous complications thanks to becoming the Subsoul of Gajara Rahi once. So, unlike when he lived through the memory fragments of Frenzy Beasts, Henrik''s memory proved troublesome. After all, the sense of attachment here was greater. Whether it was his past or his present life, Jyorta was a human in both. So, his sense of desire towards the memory fragments of a human was greater than towards other memory fragments. And, despite the man''s traumas, he had a wholesome life. He chased after the woman he had a crush on and ended up marrying her, leading a happy life where his wife and children were hale and hearty. His wife had already consumed a Cleansement Fruit and now lived with peace of mind, possessing strength as a Ground Controller. Moreover, Henrik''s siblings were all alive. And, they shared rather great relationships with him. All things considered, Henrik''s memory fragments were trap-worthy baits to the blue soul. Jyorta had only one Anchor, and that was Heima. He had dropped a second Anchor in Haesha, but it had yet to firm itself. The Anchors related to his friends too hadn''t become firm enough to root himself to his self as Jyorta Bone. His Soul Corneas quickly destroyed all of Henrik''s influence. But, having lived through a part of Henrik''s life, Jyorta had an urge. And, this urge not only prompted him to take action but also to become afraid that he would be too late if he remained passive any longer. Once he healed both body and mind using Regen, Jyorta exited the warehouse, noticing Hruna Bone seated at the counter, "Can you inform anyone arriving to use the warehouse about what I have been using it for?" "Sure, I''ll inform them." Hruna Bone then said, "But, we would be refilling it with shipment after two days. So, if anything happens, I''ll call you first." "Thanks, that should suffice." Jyorta said, "And if it seems urgent, you can inform Henrik Bone first. I''m working with him on something in the warehouse." "With¡­Henrik Bone?" Hruna Bone was surprised, wondering what Jyorta was doing with the strongest Esper of their family. "Alright, I''ll inform him first." "Thank you," Finishing his piece, Jyorta exited the research institution, boarded the metro train in the Lower Strata, and began to head back to his house. "There''s something different about him now. What happened to cause this change¡­?" Hruna Bone muttered once Jyorta left, sighing, "There are quite some questions surrounding Jyorta Bone. I wonder just what is happening here." Seated within the train, Jyorta was deep in thought, gazing outside as he watched the dark tunnel span past, finally deciding on his course of action, ''I''ll meet with Haesha first.'' You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 30 - A Prompt Conversation Best novel online free at novelhall.com "What work made you stay up for four days straight?" Heima asked in concern the moment she saw Jyorta standing at the entrance of their house. "I was helping Henrik Bone," Jyorta said, making eye contact with Heima once when she motioned that her husband wasn''t at home. Sighing, he continued, "I was helping him to last at least a year longer so that he can successfully become a Sky Controller." "Be careful with the memory fragments. They can affect you too much. Gajara Rahi turned into an entirely different person every day when she was at Tier 6." Heima expressed her worry, "It isn''t worth the risks. You''ll still be able to become a powerhouse in the future." "This is a part of the process," Jyorta sighed, entering the house as he slumped on the sofa, "I need to do it for my growth. Though, I clearly understand the risks. I have a Relic to help me in this regard." "Fine then," Heima didn''t pry in too much, "Even though it is somewhat late, have some lunch." "Give me five minutes," Jyorta said, heading towards the bathroom to take a bath and refresh himself. With a towel wrapped around his hip, he walked out, wearing a casual set of clothes before heading towards the sound-proofed room, the one where their landline was. He dialled a number in it, hearing the call go through as his heart thumped. Followed by four rings, the call was picked up as a man''s rough voice resounded, "Hello?" "Hello, I''m Jyorta, Haesha''s classmate," Jyorta replied politely. "One sec," The receiver seemed to have placed the handset somewhere as his distant voice echoed, "Haesha, you have a call! It''s someone named Jyorta." There was some flurry of sounds in the back before the headset was picked up. A tired voice resounded, "I thought you would call sooner." "I was involved in some work and returned just now. I haven''t even slept ever since I arrived home." Jyorta laughed, feeling his mind be at peace upon hearing Haesha''s voice, thinking, ''She''s my choice.'' "Seriously? You should take some rest then! Call me later once you wake up!" Haesha said in a hurry as her voice increased in pitch. "It''s fine, I was relying on Regen all along. So, I''m actually a lot fresher than if I had slept normally." Jyorta said, then noticing the tiredness in her voice, "What is happening on your side? Why are you tired?" "It''s¡­nothing much. Don''t worry." Haesha said, appearing calm. Jyorta noticed the slight hesitation in her voice, recalling what she had told him at times in the military academy, "Is everything in your family alright?" There was a longer pause before Haesha''s voice resounded, "Yeah, everything is alright." Upon seeing that Haesha was unwilling to talk much about it with him, Jyorta thought a bit before saying, "Oh yeah, do you know any good caf¨¦ nearby?" "Hm, there''s the Distilled Caf¨¦ pretty close by. They have a variety of sweets and beverages." Haesha replied, suddenly noticing what he had pulled as she clicked her tongue, "You said you''ll never act smart with me." "It was instinct!" Jyorta played it off casually, "Then, let''s meet at 4:00 PM there tomorrow." "Sure," Haesha replied, ending the call promptly. Jyorta exited the sound-proofed room, spinning in the corridor once as he enacted a couple of dance steps, coolly taking a seat on the dining table. Once he finished his lunch, he stared at his sister, continuing to stare while she was working in the kitchen, washing the dishes. "What?" Heima asked, noticing that he had something to say. "Sis, lend me some money." Jyorta sported a fawning tone, putting on an innocent face. "Why do you need money?" She gazed at him in return, "Are you planning to slack off somewhere?" "I was thinking of buying a gift box," Jyorta replied. "A gift box? For Haesha?" Heima said, rolling her eyes in annoyance upon seeing him stare at her with widened expression, wondering how she knew about it. "My credit card is in the second draw on the left, below the TV. Don''t forget to bring it back." She said, saying after she saw Jyorta pick it up readily, "What gift are you planning to give her?" "A gift box." Jyorta flashed a smile. "This retard¡­" She grumbled, shooing him away, "I''m busy, get lost. Don''t forget to take an umbrella with you." "I''ll return before dinner." Humming a merry tune, Jyorta exited the house, soon arriving at the bottom of their apartment building as he glanced at the skyscraper on the other side of the road. It was the Bone Family''s mansion. He didn''t have any purpose in heading there anyway so he simply began to walk through the road, hearing the pitter-patter sounds of the rain as they fell on his umbrella. As he casually walked on the road, he saw the figures of many children scuttling across, veering through the people walking alongside, trying to catch their peers before bursting into a fit of laughter. As he saw their faces, he recalled the times when he did the same with Laila and George. ''George is still here, but Laila¡­I don''t wish to see her ever again. She''s too scary.'' Even though they conversed plenty, there was still a distance between him and George. It was unlike the close-knit relationship they had during their childhood. Sighing, Jyorta walked into a gift store, looking at the array of gifts placed everywhere. Upon seeing the heart symbols plastered all around, he felt a bit embarrassed to enter the place, ''I''ve always been weak in this regard.'' "Sir, what do you wish to buy?" A clerk quickly arrived before him, asking while sporting a business smile. "A gift box," Jyorta replied. "Sure, what do you plan for the gift to be?" The clerk asked in return. "Just the gift box." Jyorta said, noticing the clerk''s face twitch as he quickly corrected himself, "I already have the gift prepared. I just need a good gift box, something made from marble would be good." "We have the red, white, and blue varieties here. Though, red marble is brittle. So, we generally only advise them for gifts where the gift box would be thrown out immediately.." The clerk said in disappointment, realising that the customer before her wouldn''t purchase anything expensive. Read novel online free fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 31 - A Rather Regular Day You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com Details about the Unranked Skill, Marble Sonata was known to the general public. After all, everyone would have stared at the walls protecting the city innumerous times. So, they were aware that it was Psychic Ancestor Marble''s Unranked Skill. It was not to mention the battlefield where the Graduation Ceremony was conducted. Every student would have seen their respective military''s Sky Controller belonging to the Marble Family setting up the battlefield right before their eyes. So, knowledge about Marble Sonata was commonplace. Though, except for the related parties, everyone else didn''t know of any details beyond what they witnessed through sight, i.e, the colours of the marble created by Espers at different Tiers. Plenty of their products were typically created by Espers with Marble Sonata. After all, production costs were cheaper, the precision of the item''s quality was hard to be matched even by the most sophisticated of machines, and finally, the durability within the sophistication. Everything meant the items created using Marble Sonata had the highest quality and material integrity. Jyorta went around, looking through the various marble gift boxes before picking up a plain blue one. It was created by a Wave Controller. But, there was no design on it. So, it was the cheapest of all blue marble gift boxes. Paying the money with a swipe of the credit card, Jyorta returned home, locking himself up in his room as he stared at it, slowly unleashing his two psychic arms as he created a construct. He continued to change and modify it until its design was complex and looked spectacular. The design he picked was a landscape of the Nilgiris, viewed from its peak. It was a scene from his previous life. He had picked it because mount Nilgiris was now Circle Zero¡ªthe Central Command. It had long since been modified by Psychic Ancestor Marble to serve as the city''s core, having long lost its natural beauty and symbolism. So, he wished to showcase a scene from when it was before the Frenzy/Wisdom Parasites changed the entire world. Finally, after correcting the construct to the minute detail, Jyorta took in a deep breath as the blue figure of his past life within the blue soul opened its mouth, unleashing a jet-black ink. His psychic arms turned jet-black as Jyorta watched the surface of the box now possess the detailed engraving of his construct. As it was marble created by a Wave Controller, his corrosion didn''t affect it too much, allowing him to carefully engrave the details. Though, as he had already prepared the construct, he finished engraving within a couple of seconds. Retracting his psychic arms, Jyorta touched the gift box, grinning as he could feel the gentle impression formed on it. The created scenery was indeed a work of art. After all, he had also varied the effect of corrosion, faintly changing the colour of the inscriptions at various places, painting a realistic scenery. Adding onto its impression, it was a work of art. "This looks great!" He then placed the gift box in a bag and carried it with him towards Sector 9, 10th Ring, entering the warehouse in the Bone Family''s research institution. He stuffed the gift box with as much of the compressed Healing Salve as he could, finally muttering as he looked at the gift box with a capacity of a litre, "Thanks to them being compressed by Henrik, this one litre now contains Healing Salve worth the energy of five Wave Controllers. This should be a good gift." "Based on what Haesha has talked about, her family isn''t well off. All of them had only managed to reach Tier 2. So, a lot of things rests on her shoulder. And, it seems one of her family members have suffered an injury that they have been unable to completely treat due to the costs involved." He muttered, recalling everything he had conversed about with Haesha. Normally, he wouldn''t have been able to conclude things with this level of precision. But, using the blue soul, he lived through the related memories many times, taking note of each of her reactions, choice of words, expressions, etc. Only after that did he arrive at such a conclusion. And, Haesha was a headstrong individual. If he simply gifted her money, she would simply refuse it. Moreover, her impression of him might even drop. After all, Jyorta didn''t have any means to earn money now, since he had yet to begin his job. So, giving her a gift that would allow her to treat her family members better using her Regen would be the best outcome. And, the Healing Salve he gifted her was something he earned himself. So, she won''t be able to refuse it. After stuffing it to the brim, Jyorta closed the lid, carefully gift-wrapping it with a casual cover. It was just a piece of paper sporting an ivory colour. It neither seemed special nor expensive. He placed it in his bag and returned to his home, arriving when it was time for dinner. "You''re back, Jyorta Bone." Ravis Bone smiled, watching television while seated in the living room. Jyorta casually glanced at the TV, eyes twitching as he noticed Ravis watching Tom & Jerry. For such a burly grown man to see a cartoon meant for kids was a strange sight. After all, he wasn''t watching it with his kids. Rather, he was watching it alone. Upon seeing his reaction, Ravis Bone laughed, "This always gets me cracking. It is a good remedy to maintain mental peace. I''m sure your teachers in the academy would have recommended it too." "They did," Jyorta nodded, thinking, ''I''ve watched it so many times that I can''t even smile while seeing it anymore.'' ''Anyway, if I want to experience the time when I laughed the hardest while seeing it, I can simply live through the memories of my childhood.'' Thinking as such, Jyorta placed his bag in his room, returning to the living room as he joined Ravis Bone in watching the television. Immediately after, Heima shouted from the kitchen, prompting Ravis to hurriedly run into their bedroom to take care of their kids. It seemed that one of them had pooped, a normal situation for a baby. ---------------------------- Author Notes: Until we reach the target amount in my Patre0n, I''ll release a bonus chapter for every 10 USD increase in the pledged amount. If you wish to get more bonus chapters and increase the update schedule, support me on my Patre0n. patre0n.com/overlord_venus Current pledge: 154/400 USD ----------------------------- Best novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 32 - A Date? You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com "It''s a good day to be alive!" Jyorta hummed a rather unlyrical tone, pacing about the house from dawn. Ravis Macht was just getting ready to depart, having seen Jyorta moving about the house all along, practically accomplishing nothing while his head seemed to be embedded deep into the clouds. Confused, he whispered to Heima, "What happened to Jyorta today? Is his Wisdom Parasite already acting up?" "It''s his hormones that are acting up." Heima muttered, "Leave him be. It''s a good situation for him actually, since he''ll be thrust into gritty situations in the future. Something to make him behave silly like this is his good fortune." "Like sister, like brother, huh." Ravis laughed, vanishing from the spot as Heima''s outstretched hand now remained in the place where his neck was supposed to be, remaining in a position as if she was placing someone in a chokehold. Heima glared at Ravis, "Why don''t we meet up in the Wild Zone for a couple of minutes?" Ravis vanished from the place, calmly strutting out of his bedroom after a couple of minutes, acting like their previous conversation hadn''t happened. He then nonchalantly looked at Heima, asking, "I''m hungry. Is breakfast ready?" "¡­" Heima groaned a bit, ''He''s such a goofball when he''s not in a battle.'' She then replied after a sigh, "Give me a minute." "Alright," Ravis nodded with a smile, mentally relieved to see that Heima didn''t wish to smack his face into the ground anymore. He then thought of something, shouting at Jyorta, "Come here! As your senior, I''ll give you some life experiences." Right as he said so, he watched Jyorta casually occupying a chair at the dining table, looking at him with rapt attention. Laughing, he said, "So, this girl, how much do you like her?" "Lots," Jyorta said without batting an eye, suddenly looking at the table as his cheeks blushed. ''I never knew a boy was capable of being this bashful. Whoever this girl is, she lucked out to have someone fall for her this hard.'' Ravis thought, asking, "And, how much does she like you?" "Can''t say for sure, but she likes me too." Jyorta said, returning to his usual self as he smiled wryly, "But, it seems she doesn''t want to think about anything until her family problems are solved." "Then, you have to pay heed to her emotional state at times. Don''t force it on her." Ravis said, "Don''t take up her problems onto yourself. Women these days don''t like to wholly rely on others. Just act as her support and help her at times. Offer her suggestions, become a partner that she values and confides with." "I''m doing that," Jyorta nodded in response. "That''s great. It means you are already on the right track. But, you should also do one more thing." Ravis Bone said seriously, "You must make it apparent that you like her. And you must make her realise this fact. Otherwise, everything you do would end up amounting to nothing." ¡­ Seated in the metro train, Jyorta proceeded towards Sector 11, the place where Haesha''s home was located. He didn''t know her address yet, for she hadn''t disclosed it. All he knew was the caf¨¦ that was located nearby her house. And, that''s where they planned to meet. Jyorta didn''t set off too early or late, ensuring to only reach the place ten minutes early. Another reason would be that it would be too awkward to be seated all alone in a caf¨¦. Though he wasn''t someone that cared about something like that, being a person that could spend an entire day just staring at the clouds, Heima stressed that he only arrive ten minutes early. Moreover, she picked his dress, ensuring that he appeared casual. Jyorta too wasn''t someone that wished to wear anything tacky. So, he simply went with the flow, focusing on being comfortable with what he wore. 3:45 PM, he walked on the road, following the address he had noted down on a piece of paper, arriving before a bustling caf¨¦. It had clear window panels with moderate decorations. There were many tables within, ensured to be built in semi-closed cubicles to give a sense of privacy. Moreover, small ornamental plants and bonsai were placed at opportune locations, keeping the place filled with vitality and a sense of ambience. Also, the place wasn''t pricy, judging by the number of people that frequented it. Jyorta had just peeked inside through the window when he noticed the reflection of a certain someone walking from the opposite side, turning around to see Haesha far away. He waved at her, watching her wave in return as her actions brought a smile automatically to his face. Haesha had a light chirp to her pacing as she had dressed up for the occasion, wearing a plain blue frock that accentuated her appearance. Upon seeing her, Jyorta''s heartbeat sped up a little as he spoke, "You''re right on time. I had just arrived myself." "Let''s head inside, shall we? The last time I came here was a year ago. I missed their pastries." Haesha said, leading the way as she seemed familiar with the place, pointing at a corner where a table with two seats was placed side by side, positioned right next to the window, allowing for the gentle evening sunlight to cast inside. As they sat, their shoulders lightly brushed off against one another, causing Jyorta''s heart to leap. He stole a glance at her, noticing that she had a similar reaction as him, laughing internally, happy at the occasion. "Recommend me your choice," Jyorta said, "I haven''t been at a caf¨¦ for a long time." ''Actually, the last time I visited one was with mother.'' He mentally sighed, not expressing anything that might turn the mood sombre as he watched Haesha telling the waiter of her choices. Soon, the pastries they ordered arrived as Jyorta said, "Shall we have an eating competition? Let''s see who eats the most?" "They have to be enjoyed, and not be gobbled up like there is no tomorrow." Haesha pouted. "There is no time limit. So, we can take our time eating." He grinned, whispering, "Besides, I''m craving sweets a lot.. So, until I taste every single item, I''m not leaving." Read novel fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 33 - You Really Are Evil You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com "Are you nervous about your job?" Jyorta asked after some time, noticing the look of hesitation on Haesha, "At the start, you''ll only have to use Regen to replenish the energy of the soldiers battling atop the walls." "I''m¡­not worried about that¡­" Haesha gently sighed, intending to speak as she opened her mouth a couple of times but failed to form words. After a moment of thought, Jyorta gently grabbed her shoulder, saying in all seriousness, "I''ll be listening. Just speak your heart out. You should know that bottling up everything is rather harmful to your mental health." "Y-Yah!" Haesha nodded as her cheeks reddened all of a sudden upon seeing Jyorta in closeup. As for the person in question, he too was the same, feeling that his heart was thumping alarmingly fast, enough to break out of his weak ribcage. The blue soul overlapped the facemask¡ªthe false persona of calm, focus, and filled with optimism¡ªon him, giving him enough willpower to calmly retract his hands. If he didn''t resort to this, he had zero guarantees of being able to retract his hands. It was an electrifying feeling. Haesha struggled to speak before turning silent as she continued to eat her pastry. Jyorta didn''t force her, silently accompanying her as he began to speak, deciding that it was a good time to break her out of her thoughts and allow her to relax a bit, "I brought you a little something¡­" He said, taking the gift box out of his bag, handing it over to Haesha, "It''s a little something I made." "What''s with the formality?" Haesha was surprised, seeing the gift box as she asked, "Is this a¡­gift? For me?" "Of course, for who else?" Jyorta laughed, "I got some good things after I toiled for my family. So, I brought you a little from that." "So, you earned it?" Haesha asked, holding the gift as she said after seeing him nod in response, "Can I open it now?" "Of course! It''s nothing too special anyway." Jyorta laughed a little, brushing it off as he watched Haesha tear open the gift wrap, sporting an expression of wonder upon seeing the detailed inscription on the gift box. "This¡­looks too expensive!" She said in shock, suddenly noticing the smug expression on Jyorta''s face before glancing at the engraving in detail, brushing her finger on it before exclaiming in surprise, "You created this using your Trait, right?" "It''s nice, right?" Jyorta sported a look filled with pride, staring right at the ceiling. Had he been a comic character, his nose would have poked through the roof by now. "I love it." Haesha smiled, gently brushing over the engraving as she admired it for a good minute, "This is the first time I am receiving a gift from someone." "This is just the first time you''ll be receiving from that certain someone," Jyorta muttered under his breath. Even though he had muttered it to a barely audible extent, Haesha still managed to hear it, thanks to her enhanced senses. After all, she had a higher control of her psychic energy, allowing her to enhance her muscular functions a bit. Blushing in response, she stared at the gift, "From day 1, why¡­have you been so nice to me?" "I''m just¡­doing whatever makes me happy, nothing else." Jyorta grinned, "I don''t need any other reason, right?" "There''s nothing special about me. I''m just a plain girl." Haesha muttered, her tone sadder, "As the scion of the Bone Family, shouldn''t someone popular, talented, and strong like Dalna Doppler be someone more suitable to you?" Haesha was a perceptive individual. And, as Jyorta hadn''t hidden his thoughts about her, she had gradually come to understand his feelings towards her. But, she was apprehensive, afraid even, wondering if she was a good match. After all, she didn''t hail from a prestigious family, while Jyorta hailed from one with significant power, an Aristocratic Family, the Bone Family that has been on the constant rise in recent years. Practically everyone began to talk about them. And, now that she had graduated, she too became privy of things that she hadn''t heard about before, even though it had only been four days since she entered society. It made her realise just how large of a behemoth an Aristocratic Family was, the power and influence they wielded, and the burden they endured. It was something she wasn''t equipped to deal with. As she was being drowned by her worries and pessimistic thoughts, Haesha flinched when Jyorta grabbed hold of her hands. "I''m not sure myself." He then placed her hands on his chest, positioning them above his heart, saying, "Why don''t you ask this fella? He only speaks the truth." Thump! Thump! Haesha could feel Jyorta''s vigorous heartbeat increase in frequency and intensity, even more, the moment her hand touched him. The heartbeats were powerful, the fluctuation pulsing through her hands, making her realise just what he experienced every time he conversed with her. "Well, what is he saying?" Jyorta asked with a reddened face, feeling a bit tipsy as he was unable to control his emotions. Even though he knew that using the facemask was necessary, he didn''t do so, caught up in the moment. Still, he didn''t wish to impose upon her, saying, "I won''t force you to say anything. All I am doing is expressing just what I have been feeling all along. If you ask why I am doing this? I honestly don''t know. I just want to do it, as simple as that." He then laughed, "Well, I prepared something good for you. Check it out." Nodding like a static doll, Haesha mechanically opened the gift box, seeing it filled to the brim with Healing Salve. She then gazed at Jyorta, watching his cheerful smile, tearing up as she wrapped him in a hug, "It''s like you know what my problems are." "I arrived at an estimated guess. You know how I''m good at such things, right?" Jyorta grinned, stuttering as his hands automatically held Haesha dear to him, unwilling to let go. "You really are evil, Jyorta." Best novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 34 - Taking A Loan Best novel online free at novelhall.com Only after fifteen minutes spanned past did Jyorta reluctantly retract his arms, and that too after using his facemask for a split second. The two sat in their respective seats, silent for the next ten minutes as they took infinitesimally small nibbles of their pastries. His mind was completely occupied by the hug, sporting a foolish grin on his face, one that failed to be controlled despite his best efforts. After some more time had passed, Haesha opened her mouth, "My family consists of my father, my mother, three brothers, and one sister. Among them, none managed to reach Tier 3. And, during the Phantom Wave, my father got injured by a Swarm monster that also possessed a Frenzy Parasite, losing his legs in the process. Its Essence of Frenzy caused his already low Sync Rate to drop to the bare minimum." "We didn''t have enough money to get a highly skilled healer to treat him. So, the money my brothers saved up was only enough to get him occasional treatment. After all, the Essence of Frenzy already seeped deep into his nervous system and even into his fused region. So, the cost to just delay the conversion of his Wisdom Parasite into a Frenzy Parasite cost a lot." She muttered. "Even though they didn''t show it externally, and even treated me a lot of times to things that I liked, but I knew that they were troubled all along." She said, gritting her teeth, "So, just to prevent them from worrying any further, I had to act like I was oblivious to everything and live a somewhat pampered life. I hated that all along. And, now that I have Regen, I''ll slowly work on healing him, despite the time it would take." "Hmm, that''s risky." Jyorta said, "As an area Controller, your ability to manipulate psychic energy isn''t on par with the delicacy necessary for this process." "Yes, I know that." Haesha said, "But, I already have Regen with me. So, I should do something with it, right?" "I was also planning to sell my Tier 3 Relic to get enough funds for father to undergo enough treatment so that I should be able to heal the rest." Haesha said, "I feel like that is my only viable option now." "Don''t sell your Tier 3 Relic. It has tremendous value. And, it would prove tremendously helpful when you are sent on missions outside Marble City." Jyorta said, hurriedly offering a solution before Haesha could oppose, "We can take a loan." "A loan?" Haesha was surprised, "That is possible?" "Yes, though not many do this since they don''t have a guarantee in earning enough to pay off the interest, not without risking their lives to perform missions." He said, "But, the both of us can pawn our respective Tier 3 Relics. With that, we should obtain enough funds to treat him in a hospital completely." "We are healers. So, the demand for us always exceeds the supply. We can quickly pay off the loan and reclaim our Relics too. This way, your dad gets proper treatment while we won''t be losing anything too." Jyorta grinned, "It''s a perfect plan, right?" "No, it''s not." Haesha shook her head, "You earned that Relic through your hard work. I can''t ask you to pawn it for my sake¡­" "Well, give me a valid reason as to why I shouldn''t." Jyorta said, staring at her, expressing his stubbornness, "If you can convince me otherwise, I will back down." "It''s a Tier 3 Relic. A valuable Tier 3 Relic!" Haesha said. "Yes," Jyorta nodded, "But I''m Jyorta Bone. If I really want a Tier 3 Relic, all I have to do is beg my sister. I''ll be able to get my hands on another." "¡­" "Anything else?" He grinned, lightly tapping Haesha''s shoulder, saying with a disappointed shake of his head, "You are hundred years too young to change my mind. No matter what, I''m in this with you." "Fine¡­" Haesha turned around, wiping her tears quickly as she faced him once again, "You win, do as you wish." "That''s great!" Jyorta grinned, "Now, let''s finish all these pastries here. We shouldn''t waste such tasty treats. My sister would beat me up if I don''t use her credit card at least once." "Wait, this is my treat. I''ll be the one to pay. You already gave me such an expensive gift." Haesha said, standing up all of a sudden, "Since this is my recommendation, I''ll be the one to pay." "Actually¡­" Jyorta smiled wryly, "I wasn''t that hungry today, so I barely showed you my ability. So, once your father is fully cured, treat me here once again. At that time¡­" He grinned, pointing at himself while proclaiming with a tone of boasting, "This lord here will show you my true potential. I''ll be eating so much that the entire caf¨¦ would run out of food. So now, I''ll pay for this paltry eating contest." "Alright!" Haesha chuckled, "We''ll do that then." Once they were done eating, Jyorta awaited at the caf¨¦''s entrance while Haesha ran off to her home and quickly returned with a box, one that contained her Tier 3 Relic¡ªthe one with the Tier 3 Skill of Energy Force. Soon, they boarded a metro train, arriving at Sector 1, meeting up with Ravis Bone who stood before a bank, carrying Jyorta''s Tier 3 Relic with him¡ªthe one with the Tier 3 Skill of Brethren Bait. "You sure about this, Jyorta?" Ravis asked, though laughing immediately, "Well, you are healers. So, there won''t be any problems in repaying the loan. One of my Batchmates works here. I''ve already talked with him. He''ll finish all the paperwork immediately." He then led them into the bank, proceeding through the loan process, watching Jyorta sign the document first. Then, he watched Haesha sign it next, whispering to Jyorta, "You chose a really fine lady." "Thank you." Jyorta grinned, trailing after Haesha''s confident back, "I guess it''s a mutual choice now." "Well, if I have to comment on your taste in women," He grinned, massaging his beard as he spoke, "It is as refined as your sister''s taste in men.. You have my nod of approval in this regard." You can read the novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 35 - Being Invaded In Reverse You can read the novel online free at novelhall.com "Haesha, I''m actually feeling pretty great these days. You don''t need to waste the money that would allow you to reach Tier 3. That takes more priority than my treatment. You can treat me yourself once you become a Wave Controller." A middle-aged man¡ªthat lacked a pair of legs¡ªwas pushed on a wheelchair while he spoke in fluster, "The treatment is too expensive. You shouldn''t waste¡­" "Dad, shut up!" Haesha said in anger, "Just get treated first. You can''t refuse anyway since I''m the one pushing your wheelchair." "My precious daughter, that Tier 3 Relic has significant value. You should use it for yourself rather than waste it on me." Her father continued to speak in panic, "It is the first time anyone in our family line obtained a Tier 3 Relic. You shouldn''t waste it on me." "Dad, just give up. Haesha already paid the bill." The rough voice of a man resounded as he said, gently patting his father''s shoulder, "We''ll talk about the rest once you have recovered." The middle-aged man sighed, seeing the expressions of worry plastered on the faces of his children, "I may have been a useless father, but I''ve been blessed with treasures for children." "I''ll take it over from this point." A nurse arrived and took hold of the wheelchair, beginning to push it towards a ward, noticing something as she glanced at Haesha, "Which hospital have you been posted at?" Haesha felt like she sensed a bit of psychic energy, but it was so fast that she was unable to get a hold of it. Thinking that it was because the nurse had probed her, she nodded, "I''ve been posted as a nurse in Aurora Hospital." "Aurora Hospital?" The nurse was surprised, doubling down her senses onto Haesha, thinking, ''Is she that talented? Doesn''t the best of healers join the Aurora Hospital? That''s the subsidiary under Madam Mary.'' "Alright, come with me. You can watch your father''s treatment process and gain some experience." The nurse said, thinking, ''Might as well make a connection with her. It might prove useful in the future.'' "Thank you very much!" Haesha was overjoyed, following the nurse as she consoled her father along the way. Seeing her confident back, Haesha''s brother said after a sigh, "She has grown a lot." "She''s no longer a child that needs our protection." ¡­ "Uwak!" Jyorta clenched his head as he shuddered, feeling intense main as it felt like his mind was being ripped apart into pieces, "Urrghh!" "Are you alright, Jyorta Bone?" Henrik asked in alarm, sensing that Jyorta''s hormonal balance had gone haywire, causing his organs to begin to stress as they worked in overdrive. His brain sent numerous signals that actuated his muscles for no reason whatsoever, also causing him difficulty in the involuntary muscular process such as breathing, blood circulation, etc. "It''s¡­nothing! Please return to sleep! I''m¡­at a critical juncture in your treatment¡­hurry!" Jyorta said as blood bled from his nose. His eyes were bloodshot, streaming down tears while his forehead was hot. He tried to use Regen but failed to activate it, for, in his mind, a war was being waged on. It was between Henrik''s personality and Jyorta''s. Currently, they were tussling in his soul, influencing his mind accordingly. Henrik''s memory fragments formed a gigantic cluster, shaping itself into a beast with four arms that constantly bombarded his memory fragments. And, it was exerting its influence, affecting his mind, causing him to hallucinate that he was Henrik Bone. And in response, his personality too was exerting its influence, causing the two to influence his mind at the same time, actuating two different sets of behaviour simultaneously. Due to this, his body was unable to do anything. When Jyorta tried to use Regen to calm his mind a little, Henrik''s personality prevented the use, also causing him more headaches at the same time. Everything started when Jyorta had resumed his treatment on Henrik Bone. After some time passed, his Soul Cornea had just penetrated through the Soul Cocoon shielding Henrik''s soul when suddenly, murkiness that had been solidified into a tiny stone shot out from Henrik''s soul. And as he had activated his soul domain, it meant both Jyorta''s and Henrik''s souls were in the same dimension now, allowing the solidified murkiness to reach the blue soul and bore into it easily. As both his Soul Corneas were working, they weren''t able to react fast enough, not to mention the fact that the solidified murkiness travelled at a speed faster than what his Soul Corneas could achieve. After all, his Soul Corneas were currently able to travel at a speed of six metres per second, thanks to his soul domain having reached a radius of six metres. The blue soul had yet to reach the peak of being a Tier 2 Psychic Parasite¡ªa domain radius of 10 metres. The moment the solidified murkiness entered the blue soul, all the memory fragments that he had siphoned from Henrik became active instantly, grabbing hold of the solidified murkiness to make it their core, using it to turn into an active personality that attacked his memory fragments. This was a result of his oversight. After all, this was his first time working with the memory fragments of someone at Tier 4. Until Tier 3, a living being was just the stronger version of the previous Tier. But, the moment one reached Tier 4, they would evolve to become incomparably different. Whether it be aura, Skills, presence, body, mind, etc. everything would achieve a qualitative improvement. And Henrik was a Ground Controller atop that, possessing a supercomputer for a mind, able to process countless thoughts and actions. And, his murkiness stemmed from the desires of his body, which were actuated by his mind. And, since Jyorta vaporised all the murkiness, his soul became clean, allowing his memory fragments to completely influence his mind. And due to that, the next wave of murkiness that was generated by his body was accordingly, subconsciously created to counter Jyorta Bone the next time he invaded the soul. After all, whatever he did was remembered by Henrik''s soul, as it was an action involving the souls themselves. Jyorta didn''t understand the cause, as this was his first time working on the soul of a Tier 4 being. And, that proved to be fatal, working against his favour. Therefore, the moment he invaded, Henrik''s soul attacked in response, riling up his memory fragments stored in the blue soul, leading to the current sequence of events. Best novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 36 - Dangers And Preparations You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com Soul Cornea! The Soul Cornea siphoning energy from the soul of the Tier 3 River Whale returned as the blue soul used it to wrap around the rampaging memory fragments, coiling further and further like a python before unleashing enough pressure to shatter the construct. Right when the memory fragments broke into pieces, it coiled around the spilled fragments, separating them into many cocoons that it formed using its body. Thanks to that, the influence on his mind vanished as Jyorta''s personality regained control over everything. Unranked Skill¡ªRegen! One of his psychic arms healed the damage to his body and mind, allowing him to relax after a minute had passed in response, saying, "I''m fine now." Only after that did Henrik close his eyes, having judged that whatever he was facing, Jyorta had managed to overcome them. ''That was dangerous.'' Jyorta sighed in relief, quickly regaining his wits about himself as he healed his mind, bolstering his defences before beginning to vaporise the solid murkiness that acted as the core of the revolt in the blue soul. It seemed a considerable amount of murkiness had been condensed to result in the solid. Therefore, Jyorta had to expend a lot of energy to finally vaporise it, consuming an hour to do so. Once that happened, Henrik''s memory fragments in the blue soul turned docile, no longer acting up. Even though they still had their ego, but when they tried to join together, the blue soul used its soul tendrils to break them apart. That was also how he maintained the memory fragments originating from the hundreds of Frenzy Beasts. Honestly, the more the number of memory fragments¡ªthat hadn''t been comprehended¡ªaccumulated, the greater the risks and maintenance. After all, the ego in them caused them to form clusters that tried to wrestle control with his memory fragments. And to prevent that, the soul tendrils had to constantly break them apart. And all of this wasted soul energy. After all, even the memory fragments of the Frenzy Beasts gradually absorbed soul energy from the blue soul to spark resistance. In the end, he was the one losing strength to constantly maintain them, ''I have to work on them next and reach the peak of Tier 2 as a Psychic Parasite. That would boost my abilities further.'' Now that he had mitigated all the problems in the blue soul, Jyorta sent a Soul Cornea deeper into Henrik''s soul, vaporising the remainder murkiness within it, noticing the state of the Hoberman Sphere enveloping the soul core of Henrik''s Wisdom Parasite, ''Hmm, it hasn''t been damaged much. And, it has begun to influence the Wisdom Parasite a bit.'' Using the Soul Cornea, he began to influence it further, repairing the damage while adding more experience fragments into it, selecting the appropriate memory fragments to do the job. His objective was to gradually separate Henrik''s Wisdom Parasite''s mind from its body, i.e. to put it into a hallucination where it thought it was influencing Henrik. But in actuality, it was influencing the ''Henrik'' that was present in the hallucination. This way, Henrik Bone would be free of its ravings for a certain duration. This wasn''t a permanent solution though, as the Wisdom Parasite would be constantly siphoning memories from him. And, this included the memories of him being free of its ravings. This would create a sense of discrepancy. So, over time, the Wisdom Parasite would become aware of the scheme and would break out of it. But, as to how long it takes to realise this and break free, that was what Jyorta was working on. He was working on creating layers of hallucinations one over another. So, once the Wisdom Parasite realised the discrepancy between what it was experiencing and the memories it obtained, it would break free of the hallucination. Now, it would observe that Henrik was using an ability to cause the previous situation. It would then attack Henrik like usual, wishing to take control of his body. But in actuality, this was another hallucination, a hallucination mimicking reality. Eventually, the Wisdom Parasite would come to notice that even though it had taken control of Henrik, it wasn''t actually in control of his body yet, understanding that it was within another hallucination all along. Jyorta planned to add a couple more layers of hallucinations above that. Since he was comprehending Henrik''s memories, he was confident of coming up with layers of hallucination that would delay his Wisdom Parasite by a year. And by then, Henrik would have become a Sky Controller, weakening it both physically and mentally during the breakthrough. And by the time it recovers, he would have become a bit stronger at Tier 5, allowing him to peacefully consume a Cleansement Fruit. Thanks to the Trait of Growth, he would be able to recover his abilities in the future and live as a Sky Controller. After three hours, Jyorta had completed enough, sighing as he retracted his Soul Corneas, saying, "It''s done. I''ll continue tomorrow at the same time." "Now that I have enough understanding, I''ll be able to complete the treatment within a week." Jyorta said, wiping his sweat, "I''ll be able to buy you around 10-12 months in time. If you haven''t managed to break through to Tier 5 by then, approach me once again. I should be able to extend it by a couple more months I think." "Thank you," Henrik said, relieved as he could feel the clearness in his thoughts, asking in worry, "But, are you alright? I feel like you are sharing the mental load of my Wisdom Parasite. I don''t know how you are able to achieve this, but that''s risky." He said solemnly, "The Ravings from a Tier 4 Wisdom Parasite isn''t something your mind can handle. You''ll lose control at this rate." "Please don''t worry about that." Jyorta laughed, "It might look like I am suffering, but I won''t ever lose control. This, I can say with assurance." ''After all, I have placed enough mental clues throughout my mind and soul. The moment my situation approaches danger, they would activate and protect me from losing my sense of self. Without this, I wouldn''t have dared to treat you.'' He thought, watching Henrik Bone sigh once before getting up. Dusting his clothes, Henrik Bone glanced at the ten Tier 3 River Whales before saying, "By the way, you were summoned to the Bone Family Mansion to report at 6:00 PM today.. Don''t forget to head there." You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 37 - Strangely Antagonistic You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com Once Henrik Bone left, Jyorta sat cross-legged, meditating as he used Regen to calm his mind. He then used the goggles¡ªactivating the Unranked Skill of Deific Inference at Tier 4 to project his mind behind him. His Soul Corneas used corrosion to shed all the influences Henrik Bone''s memory fragments had on him, sighing as he recalled some of the scenes from his life, worried as he noticed his point of observation and reflection had slightly deviated once again, ''The more I do this, the more I am changing.'' 1:00 PM; after checking the time, Jyorta took in the view of his blue soul, now focusing on his Wisdom Parasite''s soul. It had once been his subsoul, but due to Ehara Gobi, it had slipped away from his control. And now, even though he had made it his subsoul once again, it was constantly under threat as Ehara Gobi''s memory fragments had birthed its ego, constantly wrestling his ego in the subsoul. There were many times when her ego came close to defeating him. In such times, he used his Soul Corneas to corrode part of her ego. This way, it took her time to regain strength. And during this duration, his ego recovered to its optimal state. Jyorta hadn''t dealt with her ego because the constant clash between their egos was actually strengthening his ego bit by bit. That was how he was able to survive while attempting to work with the soul of Henrik Bone, experience the memory fragments of the Floating Spiders, etc. If not for the tempering brought about by her attacks, his ego would have fractured long ago. "But¡­" He frowned, noticing the state of his Wisdom Parasite''s growth. As Jyorta was growing at a tremendous pace thanks to comprehending the memories of other beings, even his Wisdom Parasite was growing. Rather, if it was within anyone at Tier 2, they would have lost control already. Its growth had been accelerated to such an extent. "I don''t know whether this is a good thing or not." He wasn''t sure if the Nurturing process would experience any improvement when the Wisdom Parasite matured more. There wasn''t any account of that written in the books he had surfed. So, he was still unsure about this fact. But as his ego was getting strengthened, so did the ego of the subsoul. Due to that, the reinforcement from Ehara Gobi''s attacks was no longer worth the risks. ''I''ll wait and observe. Once I complete Henrik''s task, I''ll focus on eradicating her ego and digest her memory fragments.'' He thought, concluding, ''And once I obtain all the knowledge in them, I''ll begin working on my Tower of God project. I have more than enough Healing Salve to satisfy all my energy requirements.'' He spent some time comprehending the memory fragments of some Frenzy Beasts, careful in the process, shaving off their influences once he was done, sighing as he massaged his forehead, "I hope I don''t become an overly sensitive killing machine by the end of this journey." Even though he was afraid of the potential of his powers, he had no other choice but to embark on this path. After all, if he planned to live in this world, he had to obtain enough guarantee that his life would be safe. Either he became an Ancestor to actively go against Parasite, or he remained a Sky Controller like Madam Mary and Atika Light, focusing on bolstering humanity through numerous innovations and research breakthroughs. Until he decides on a final path, he planned to run with all his might. ''Thankfully, it seems Haesha is fine with me. That alone would make me enough attached to the current life and not forsake Jyorta''s individuality.'' "Hopefully, it''s enough." Sighing, he got up, motioning for the ten Tier 3 River Whales to return to their respective containers, watching a couple of Bone Family members enter the warehouse to bring in some goods. "Are you Jyorta Bone?" One of them asked. "Yes, is there a problem?" Jyorta asked in return. "Just know that you are occupying a lot of space in the warehouse. You haven''t obtained permission to do so. Obtain permission from the Family Head or we''ll have to ask you to take all these containers elsewhere." The man said, pointing at the River Whales. "Sure," Jyorta nodded, taking a second glance at the man as he walked past, "I''ll return with a permission letter tomorrow. Don''t touch them until then." "If I don''t see the permission letter first thing tomorrow, you can rest assured that I''ll be dumping all of them beyond the walls." The man said, snorting. "Go ahead," Jyorta smiled, turning around to gaze at the man once, "Just make sure you don''t forget what you have done." "This cocky bastard." The man gritted his teeth, cursing once Jyorta left the warehouse. "He''s part of the main family line. Of course, he would be arrogant." Another man said, snorting, "They talk about contributions and whatnot, but Jyovic Bone has been stealthily helping him develop all along. How else do you think he has access to all these resources?" "I''m only a year older than him, but I''m already a Wave Controller. Jyorta''s growth speed is insufficient to attain my strength." The man gazed at the River Whales in the water containers, grumbling, "He started with a Sync Rate of 71 percent. Even if he obtained a lot of resources, he shouldn''t have crossed 75 percent. With that speed, he''ll need around five years before reaching the peak as an Area Controller." "Just based on his growth speed, he''s four years slower than me. What gives him the qualification to obtain so many resources without enough contribution?" "We''ll raise this in the Family meeting that is scheduled for this month-end. Let''s prepare all the points." ¡­ Boarding a metro train, Jyorta Bone frowned, ''Those two seemed strangely antagonistic towards me. Is it because of the internal struggles within the family?'' ''I don''t even know who they are, except for the fact that they belong to the Bone Family.'' He massaged his forehead, ''And, I''m not interested in their so-called internal struggles. I have more pressing matters to worry about.'' "Besides," He smirked, "I can obtain whatever I want through my own means." After all, beyond the walls were a hundred Armadillos under his control, constantly attacking the Swarm nonstop, raking in however many contribution points such an action allotted. And in the future, Jyorta planned to increase them further in number. You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 38 - Aura Personification—Desert You can read the novel online free at novelhall.com 5:30 PM, Sector 12, 7th Ring; Jyorta arrived before the Bone Family Mansion, gazing inside as he entered. The moment he set foot inside, he was able to feel a chill creep up his spine, alarming him for a moment. But, there didn''t seem anything out of place here. Rather, it was just a strange sensation pervading in the air, as if a beast had been set loose in the place and was prowling around, in wait for its prey. ''Just¡­what is¡­happening?'' Jyorta wondered, taking a lift as he arrived at the topmost floor. It was where Jyovic Bone''s office was situated. Everything related to the Bone Family was present in the place, including the administrator''s office that managed the family''s internal affairs. ''Did he call me to discuss about my marriage? It hasn''t been long since we talked about that.'' Just as he was thinking of the reason Jyovic Bone had called him, Jyorta flinched the moment he arrived on the topmost floor, noticing goosebumps form on his skin while his hairs stood on an end. He felt a searing sensation, beginning to sweat immediately when he noticed his surroundings were different than he had expected. Before he realised it, he was in a desert now, the temperatures blazing hot, causing him to sweat buckets immediately. ''Am I under an aura personification?'' The moment he thought as such, Jyorta riled up his aura while unleashing his psychic arms, creating a cocoon around him before emitting his aura to the limit. He noticed the surroundings flicker, causing faint static at places where the desert and the corridor of the Bone Family Mansion''s topmost floor fluctuated. But, he was alarmed upon seeing the situation, noticing that he wasn''t strong enough to escape from the aura personification, observing the fluctuations beginning to die down in intensity and size. ''Dammit, I''m falling into the aura personification!'' He hurriedly riled up his aura, seeping his weaker psychic arm into himself after activating Regen. He focused all its power on maintaining a stable state of mind while replenishing his presence. This way, he riled up his aura further, unleashing it to the limit as he infused it into his stronger psychic arm, causing it to begin attacking the aura personification intending to affect him. But, upon noticing that it was growing in strength, he was alarmed, finally going all out. Jyorta clasped his hands, clapping once before facing the palms closer to one another, emanating his aura through them, also imbuing his corrosion into it, shouting, "Hah!" Aura Wave! Instantly, his aura fluctuated, carrying the corrosion with them as they exploded, immediately searing through the air, ionising it. Within a couple of seconds, a bolt of lightning crashed into a sand dune, causing it to vanish as the corridor was revealed in the impact area. The lightning bolts impacted the other areas too, causing the desert to vanish in such places, revealing the corridor that was mildly singed by them. "Ouch!" He flinched when a bolt landed on his psychic arm barrier, causing it to burst like a balloon, damaging his clothes. Thanks to Regen, he quickly recovered from the damage, looking around to see the area surrounding him was bereft of the desert. But beyond that was still covered by the desert, causing him to frown, ''Just what is happening? Isn''t this the Bone Family Mansion?'' Thump! Thump! Suddenly, his heartrate accelerated when Jyorta watched the desert creep towards him once again, covering the places singed by the lightning bolts. As for the remainder of the lightning bolts, when they crashed, they failed to destroy the sand dunes within the desert as hot winds brushed past his face. By the time Jyorta managed to react, preparing to unleash a second Aura Wave, he flinched, noticing his feet entering the sand below, as if he had stepped upon quicksand. "Dammit, this makes no sense!" Aura Beam! In his hurry, he unlashed his fastest technique, causing the area two metres around him to become bereft of the desert once again. "I shouldn''t be here unless I understand the situation first." Right as he turned around, intending to enter the lift, he noticed his body burning up once again. And, the moment his index finger approached the lift button, pressing it, he noticed the lift turn into sand and collapse. Aura Beam! Jyorta grunted, shocked when he noticed all his Aura Beam did now was just cause some sand to fly away, no longer dispersing the aura personification around him like before. "What the heck?" Just as he was about to unleash another Aura Beam, he controlled himself, noticing that the weather was turning hotter and hotter. He could feel the sense of realism of the place turn increasingly solid, rapidly becoming so as he judged, ''This feels somewhat like the Crimson Desert, but there isn''t any restriction on my abilities. Rather, my psychic energy has reduced from all the attacks I unleashed. So, this is different.'' ''It''s not exactly a hallucination.'' He concluded, having been using the aura personification of hallucination the most, ''Rather, this feels like the presence of someone has spread throughout the place and has enveloped everyone within the building.'' This was the reason he didn''t attempt to head towards the lift once again. After all, the range of the aura personification had already reached a couple of lower floors. And based on what he could sense in the short moment he had broken out of it, the aura personification would reach the ground floor before his lift managed to reach it. Thereby, he would remain within the aura personification, failing to escape. Instead, he could rather stay in place and work in solving the issue or whatever it was. After all, he was closer to the source now. This way, he would be able to escape somehow, or at least find a solution. ''Just what had happened here to create this? Why haven''t the elders of the Bone Family done anything to prevent this from happening?'' Wrapping his psychic arms around himself, Jyorta shielded himself from the heat, flinching at his psychic energy expenditure when suddenly, a gust of wind blew him away, causing him to slide over more than thirty metres. His psychic arm barrier had shattered from the force when he noticed something crash into the ground beside him, with the force of impact spilling out the sand like a tidal wave, burying him. ---------------------------- Author Notes: Until we reach the target amount in my Patre0n, I''ll release a bonus chapter for every 10 USD increase in the pledged amount. If you wish to get more bonus chapters and increase the update schedule, support me on my Patre0n. Once we hit 200 USD, the update schedule would become 7 chappies/week. patre0n.com/overlord_venus Current pledge: 154/400 USD ----------------------------- You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 39 - Raging Momentum You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com "Huff!" Jyorta exited a sand dune, coughing as he spat out all the sand that had entered his mouth, grunting as he weaselled out. He turned around, gazing at the spot where something had crashed before. Its impact had resulted in a wave of sand that buried him in the end. Now that he took a proper look, Jyorta was shocked, "Aunt¡­?" The one that had crashed into the ground was Havita Bone. Jyorta quickly approached her, noticing that she was bleeding, currently lacking an arm, having fallen unconscious. Unranked Skill¡ªRegen! He was unable to understand just how a Transformer like her had been injured to such an extent, that too at the headquarters of the Bone Family. ''Did grandfather injure her?'' He wasn''t sure. But, until he could confirm it, it''s not like he could leave his aunt alone. During his childhood, he had seldom met his aunt. She never got along with either Hubert Bone or Henrietta. So, Jyorta hardly ever came in contact with her. Still, that didn''t slow down his speed of trying to save her. His psychic arms seeped into her head first, beginning to heal any damage that might have been the cause of her fainting. Havita Bone was a Transformer. So, even if he were to expend all his psychic energy, he wouldn''t even be able to regrow the stump of her arm. After all, she might look like a regular human appearance-wise, but in reality, she weighed as much as a skyscraper. The density of her flesh meant he had to expend energy accordingly to regrow them. But thankfully, she had Bone Devour. So, as long as he managed to wake her up, she would be able to save herself. ''There is indeed something wrong with her mind.'' Jyorta felt some feedback through his psychic arm. He wasn''t a Wave Controller, so he wasn''t able to understand them. But still, he was able to make out a couple of information, frowning as he thought, ''It seems like this attack directly harmed her mind.'' Thankfully, Regen was able to heal the mind too. So, Jyorta only focused on this task, healing her for a minute when Havita Bone''s eyelids flickered before they shot open. She was about to reflexively unleash her aura when Jyorta''s presence registered in her senses, causing her to stop herself on time. "Jyorta¡­" Havita Bone waved her hand, motioning for him to stop healing her, "Thanks to you, the damage to my mind has been fully healed." "Aunt, what actually happened here? I tried to break out of this aura personification, but it grew in strength until I am unable to break out of it anymore." Jyorta asked in a hurry, noticing how serious his aunt looked. "The situation is like this," Havita Bone sighed, looking around to make a sweep of the area using her detection methods, noticing that there wasn''t anyone in their surroundings, "Officially, Jyovic Bone and Hubert Bone have been sent on a dangerous mission into the Wilds by Rhachis Ancestor Light. There''s a good chance they won''t ever return." "Officially?" Jyorta caught onto her choice of words. "Yes, officially." Havita sighed, explaining, "But in actuality, Jyovic Bone had killed Hubert Bone." "What? Grandpa killed uncle? Why?" Jyorta was shocked, "He might be a madman, but even he wouldn''t resort to something like this, right?" "There were actually four of us siblings. Jyunta, Hubert, me, and Henrietta." Havita Bone got up, dusting herself as she used some of the energy in her Heart Crystal, regenerating her hand, "Jyunta was born a Child of Wisdom. So, he was supposed to be mercy killed, just like what we do for all Children of Wisdom. But, Jyovic Bone hid him all along within the territory of the Floating Spiders." Before Jyorta could speak, she continued in a hurry, noticing faint fluctuations in the temperature of the place, "Bone Devour, using this, Jyovic Bone wished to also attain the power of an Esper. He wished to become a Child of Wisdom and breakthrough to become an Ancestor similar to the Colossal Bawling Sheep. And for that, he devoured all his children." "All his children?" Jyorta became alarmed, retreating as he increased the distance between himself and Havita Bone, noticing the contradiction in her words. "You don''t have to be alarmed. Jyovic Bone only devoured the Relic I produced after consuming a Cleansement Fruit." Havita Bone said, "As for the rest, they weren''t lucky. Your mother too was a victim. Heima should be more aware of the specifics. Ask her later. She has been investigating into your grandfather''s plans all along." "Wait, it makes no sense." Jyorta was confused, "So, to become a Child of Wisdom, grandfather devoured mother and uncle Hubert. Is that it?" "That''s true." Havita Bone nodded, sighing, "Since I have no use in his plans, he let me return to Marble City and inform Ancestor Marble about everything." "I understand," Jyorta nodded, asking, "How is that related to our current situation?" ''I understand?'' Havita''s eyes widened in surprise upon seeing Jyorta''s nonchalant reaction, ''I delivered the news that his mother had been killed by his grandfather. And that''s his reaction? I understand? What the heck!'' Even though she was surprised, Havita didn''t show any expression on her face, saying, "So, once I relayed the official reason to the family members, Hubert''s wife lost control. It seemed she had been having suspicions all along. And my news only served to trigger her." "And the problem is the fact that when she lost control, her Bone Devour acted up for some reason. Something from within her erupted and devoured her entirely, including a couple of Elders of the family that had been near her at the time." Havita said, frowning as she looked around, "And that resulted in this." "The cause was her Tier 3 Skill. It had been the culprit that turned sentient for some reason and took matters into its own initiative, creating such a domain of aura that has pulled all of us into it." She spoke. "A Tier 3 Skill resulted in such a terrifying place that also managed to injure you to such an extent?" Jyorta felt a prickling sensation as he could feel his body shuddering in fear, as if something terrifying was crawling towards him at an alarming pace. "Yes, it''s an odd Skill that has been popping up in a lot of Developers in the past couple of decades." Havita said, recalling the scene from when she was injured, saying, "This is one of the two Tier 3 Skills that we lack an understanding of¡­" "Tier 3 Skill, Raging Momentum." Best novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 40 - Aura Beast "Raging Momentum, a Skill related to the Aura Path¡­" Jyorta muttered, nodding in understanding, "So, this¡­desert was created by this Skill?" "Indeed," Havita Bone nodded, "And, it had gained sentience, pulling us all into this world of aura. Even though we can use all our abilities, only our aura is trapped here. In reality, our bodies remain still, rooted to their initial spots. As to its objective for trapping us here, we are unsure." Jyorta became worried, "If we can''t understand its objective, it would become difficult to leave this place." Thinking of something, he asked Havita, "Aunt, can''t you unleash your aura here and forcefully break this aura personification? With your aura reserves as a Transformer, it should be easy, right? A few minutes before, even my aura managed to destroy a part of my surroundings." "That was only because you hadn''t been pulled into this aura personification back then." Havita sighed, "Once this Aura Beast noticed your presence, it pulled you here. That''s why your latest attack didn''t manage to damage this place." "Aura Beast? Is that what it is called?" Jyorta asked. "Let''s just assume it as one for convenience''s sake." Havita picked him up, carrying him as she began to run all of a sudden, "The strange thing is, this Aura World is absorbing a mysterious energy of sorts from the outside world to empower itself." "The Aura Path!" Jyorta gasped for breath when Havita Bone picked up speed. Though, he immediately noticed the cause. "Indeed, as the Earth is developing along the Aura Path, not only are Skills related to aura popping up among humans and Frenzy Beasts, the world''s presence itself is building up. And this Aura Beast has tapped into that aura reserve. That''s why even I am unable to destroy this place using my aura." Havita Bone quickly flickered around as something crashed into the place she had been standing upon, "Our only choice is to figure out the cause and solve the root of the issue." Once Havita came to a stop, Jyorta was able to notice an ethereal figure that had appeared at the place, one that faintly resembled Havita at first glance, having a somewhat similar presence as her. It calmly stood atop a sand dune, gazing at the two people before it, thinking of something as it waved its hand once. Instantly, the sand below its feet acted like water, forming a wave as it came crashing into Havita. Unwilling to face it head-on, Havita leaped into the air, condensing a pair of wings on her back by morphing her back muscles, flapping them to retreat further. She then gazed below, watching the sand resembling a tsunami as it drowned all the sand dunes, completely changing the terrain. "This would be dangerous to fight," Havita said, "All sorts of Aura Beasts have appeared here, with their presence ranging from Tier 1 to Tier 5. Thankfully, they have traits similar to Cogen Phrenics. Only Aura Beasts with a presence on par with you or lower would try to attack you." "This Aura Beast is on my level. I won''t be able to fight it while carrying you, Jyorta." Havita said, flapping her wings as she flew at tremendous speeds, noticing the Aura Beast chasing after them by surfing the sands. She soon noticed an oasis, using her sensory means to scout the place to ensure it was safe, dropping Jyorta as she said, "Just remain here in safety. The elders are already working out a solution. We''ll soon figure out the method to escape this place. Until then, stay put here." Saying her piece, she quickly flew in another direction, preventing Jyorta from being caught up in the Aura Beast''s attacks. Jyorta watched the two fighting existences head far away from him as he groaned, slumping on the ground as he wiped off the blood leaking from his nose, "Even with Regen, I took this much damage. If she moved around any faster, my internal organs would have ruptured." If Havita used her actual speed, she would easily break the sound barrier. To his unguarded self, that would be enough to kill him. After all, she wasn''t accelerating slowly from zero to that speed, rather, she would reach that pace in an instant, constantly changing directions to fight. The inertial fluctuations would be enough to grind his organs into pulp. Now that he had some freedom of thought, Jyorta frowned in worry, "Was what she said before the truth? Was mother killed by grandpa?" He sighed, controlling himself as he noticed the sand in his vicinity beginning to melt as his body was emanating a suffocating presence, one suffused with corrosion. Wrath! The blue soul placed the face mask¡ªthe false persona of calm, optimism, and filled with focus¡ªon him once again, allowing him to cool his head. He had been using it before when Havita Bone was telling information about his mother''s death. As he had been going through numerous memory fragments, Jyorta''s mental state was sensitive at present. And considering the information was related to his family, his emotions got the best of him. If it had been the him from 10 months ago, he wouldn''t have felt this level of rage. Now, whatever emotion it was that he experienced, all were amplified to a certain extent. After all, the memory fragments related to himself, his past life, Henrik''s, and the Frenzy Beasts that he had comprehended all reacted accordingly to this information, influencing his mind. Due to that, he had become brasher than an emotional teenager that didn''t have a leash on his emotional state. That''s why he was relying on the face mask. "I shouldn''t give in to my emotions in this situation." Jyorta sighed, massaging his forehead as he distracted himself with other thoughts, retracting his false persona once he had returned to normalcy. He then looked around, muttering, "An oasis with a small pond around 8 metres in diameter." He then noticed the sole tree at the place, the one he had been standing under, using its shade to get some relief from the heat, "Is this a banana¡­tree?" The banana shrub was five times bigger than the ones he had commonly seen in his previous life, reaching a height of 15 metres. Its leaves were massive, providing a large shade for him to stand under. He then noticed that there were some bananas on the tree, wondering what would happen if he were to eat them. After all, he was in a place created by aura. He wondered if it would actually recover his expended presence or if it would serve to immerse him deeper into the place. But right as he thought so, Jyorta noticed a small group of beasts running towards him, tensing up when they were gradually growing in size as they approached him. You can read the novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 41 - Edible Banana And Drinkable Water You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com Aura Beasts! The moment he saw them, the term popped into his mind. After all, Jyorta was able to feel a mild familiarity in them, one that caused him to shudder. The aura he had expended at the start to break out of the aura personification had now been absorbed by the place to birth some Aura Beasts. "Shit!" Jyorta condensed his two psychic arms, wrapping them around him into a bubble as he rolled on the ground, watching all the approaching Aura Beasts raise their hands his way. Aura Beam! More than ten Aura Beams slammed into the place he had been standing upon before, causing a tide of sand to spill over, forming a wave that drowned everything, also covering the oasis that he had been taking shade under. To avoid on time, Jyorta had rolled on the ground, arriving at the foot of a sand dune to make it act as his shield. And now, he was buried under all the sand that fell on him. "How the heck are they able to use my abilities?" Jyorta muttered in a daze before he gathered his bearings, pedalling through the sand as he slowly surfaced, exiting the sand as he noticed that he was surrounded by the Aura Beasts. They were called Aura Beasts. But in actuality, they looked no different to humanoid creatures sharing some resemblance to his facial features. After all, they had been formed by using his aura. ''That''s strange.'' He frowned, noticing that only their upper halves resembled him. But as for the lower halves, they resembled the legs of a lizard creature with a webbed feet pattern that allowed them to move better on this desert terrain. One of the Aura Beasts jumped towards him, aiming a kick at his face when Jyorta glared at it, sending a minor pulse of aura mixed with corrosion at its head, disorienting its sense for an instant. As its form destabilised, he bent backwards, dodging the attack before pulling his legs out of the sand. He immediately rolled on the ground, watching another Aura Beast land on the spot he was upon. One of his psychic arms coiled around the neck of an Aura Beast, turning jet black as it snapped the neck, melting through it like it was jelly. Jyorta retracted his defence, modifying both his psychic arms into blades as he spun his body a couple of times, turning their bladed ends jet black as they slashed through the Aura Beasts surrounding him. Aura Wave! Followed by the slash attacks was an Aura Wave that he used to send them all flying away as faint lightning bolts flickered across their bodies, melting them accordingly. "Hahh¡­huff¡­" He grunted, collapsing to the ground in exhaustion as he felt difficulty in breathing for a moment. He then looked around, noticing that the damage to all the Aura Beasts was beginning to wane. He observed the neck of the Aura Beast that he had melted through was beginning to regenerate too. Rather, the body began to condense a new head while the head too seemed to be condensing a new body. But, it was apparent that the head would need a long time before it could finish condensing a body. Jyorta arrived before it, thinking for a moment before he stomped on the head, noticing it cave into the sand a bit. He raised his leg high up and slammed forth with all his strength, shattering the head when he noticed some faint aura converge into his leg and course through his body, replenishing his reserves by a minute sum. It was minute to the extent it was negligible. "That''s¡­surprising," Jyorta muttered in surprise, not because he received some aura from his opponent but because he could feel his presence turning tougher by a minute sum. Fighting in this place was no different to tempering his presence, after all, he was here with only his presence, "This''ll help me develop my Tower of God project better." Thinking as such, Jyorta stomped on all the severed bodies of the Aura Beasts, destroying them all as he watched them dissipate soon after. "But, I''ve already expended all my aura reserves in this fight." He was worried. Even if he could temper his presence thanks to the fight in the place, once his aura reserves were emptied, he would be helpless and in danger. After all, he was unaware of the repercussions of having his presence devoured here by the Aura Beasts. "Let''s gamble a bit." Jyorta thought before he started digging through the sand, soon pulling out a banana from within, gazing at it as he peeled its skin before taking a bite, laughing immediately. "As expected, since this aura personification is taking energy from the outside world, and since the aura I expended allowed it to birth some Aura Beasts, it means those that resemble edible stuff are indeed beneficial." Eating the banana replenished his aura reserves by a little. Seeing that, Jyorta began to eat through them all, noticing that he still had around five bananas left once his aura reserves were fully replenished. He took out a banana leaf, made some cuts on it before creating a tiny bag to keep the bananas safe within as he tied it up around his hip. Jyorta then used another piece of banana leaf to create a small cup as he approached the pond, one that had been almost fully buried. There was a small part of it still remaining as he scooped up some water and drank it, sighing in relief, "That is pretty tasty." He then thought of something, shaping his weaker psychic arm into a bottle. Its entrance began to spin as it created a mild suction force, sucking in the water from the pond. Once he sucked in around three litres of the water, he stopped, for the remainder was dirtied by the sand. Though, Jyorta noticed that the sand was slowly sinking into the water as faint winds carried the rest away, nodding in surprise, "It seems this oasis would recover within a day to its original state." He plucked a large banana leaf before attaching its ends to his shoulders, causing it to arch overhead, shielding him from the blinding sun.. Upon noticing a couple of Aura Beasts far away, Jyorta turned around and began to walk away, intending to find another oasis to rest and plan his actions. Read novel online free fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 42 - The Fusion Of Impersonation And Manifestation His weaker psychic arm carried the water and healed his body from time to time. As for the stronger psychic arm, it had layered atop his body, including the banana leaf shielding him from the heat. This way, he moved without the winds damaging it. Moreover, he wrapped it around him, slowly modifying it accordingly as he moved, trying to optimise the design and reduce the air resistance it faced. ''Thanks to this banana leaf, the amount of psychic energy I''m expending to remain unaffected by the heat is less than a tenth of before.'' ''But, how is this place working?'' Jyorta was unable to make sense of it, closing his eyes to see that the blue soul was still able to take action. By sending out a Soul Cornea, he observed the corridor in which he now lay on the floor, eyes vacant, drooling a little. The two Soul Corneas looked around, noticing a couple more Bone Family members lying on the corridor. "Let''s see what happens next." Jyorta thought as the blue soul extracted some memory fragments, creating a temporary false persona, layering it over him. Immediately, his body got up, though it was wobbly. His eyes were closed, but his feet moved, allowing him to arrive before the elevator as his hands slowly moved up before pressing on the button. Once the lift doors opened, he entered it and slumped on the floor once again, unable to maintain balance when the elevator moved down. Thanks to the mental cues given by the temporary false persona, Jyorta entered a state akin to sleepwalking. Taking advantage of this, he moved his body accordingly, alternating the mental cues to force his body to move in the respective direction. Though, this process was slow. After all, the changed mental clues had to take effect first before the body could move accordingly. But still, it was better than being trapped in the place. Even though his body was moving in reality, his presence within the aura personification remained the same, not moving even a little. It seemed like his presence was locked up within the aura personification, just like what he had done to the presence of the Frenzy Beasts that he had killed in the Labyrinth of Frenzy. ''What would happen once my body escapes this sphere of influence?'' He was curious, wishing to see just what was up. In the aura personification, it seemed at first glance that he was trapped in the place. But in actuality, only his presence was trapped here. And, since all of his abilities, character, etc. were recorded in his presence, he hadn''t realised this point. "This is exactly what I plan to have in my project too." Jyorta nodded in response as his body¡ªin reality¡ªnow arrived at the ground floor, wobbling around as it slowly walked forward, soon reaching the exit. Suddenly, his body tumbled upon coming in contact with an energy barrier, about to collapse to the ground when a psychic arm grabbed hold of him. Right at this time, his eyes shot open as he realised that he was back, looking around to see a lot of people surrounding the Bone Family mansion. "Jyorta Bone, can you explain what had happened inside?" Psychic Ancestor Marble asked, having condensed a magenta figure to speak. Jyorta didn''t immediately reply, orienting his thoughts as he turned around, noticing his master, Vaika hovering in the air, constantly fuelling her aura into the barrier that was cast around the Bone Family mansion. It seemed she was the reason the aura personification hadn''t expanded in range. Upon seeing him hesitate for a moment, Psychic Ancestor Marble erected a barrier around themselves, turning it magenta to prevent anyone else to figure out the contents of the conversation based on lip movement, "You can speak freely now." "Yes," Nodding in response, Jyorta began to tell everything that Havita Bone had relayed to him. He also added in his thoughts on the matter, saying at the end, "This aura personification is one where our minds are trapped within our presences and sucked into this place. There are hints of Mind Path in this condensation of Aura Path." "That''s where it gets troublesome," Psychic Ancestor Marble frowned, "Mind Path is tough to guard against. Even though their bodies are unaffected and their aura reserves can simply be replenished through Regen, since their minds are trapped in the place, we cannot rescue them. How did you escape, Jyorta Bone?" "Through the Soul Path, sir." Jyorta said in response, "I used my memories to give myself some mental cue and slowly cause my body to move. I used a state similar to sleep-walking to achieve this." "But, it still doesn''t explain how your mind returned to reality. All you did was escape the range of its influence. If this is all it requires, I can simply bring everyone out." Psychic Ancestor Marble continued after a moment of thought, "Let''s just wait for Strongest to come here and take charge of things. He''s the expert in this field." An hour later, Rhachis Ancestor Strongest arrived at the scene, having already been briefed about everything by Psychic Ancestor Marble. Upon seeing the aura personification that had enveloped the Bone Family mansion, he said with a frown, "Damn, to think this would happen naturally." "Do you know about it?" Psychic Ancestor Marble asked curiously. Since this was the first time such a phenomenon had happened, he was probing for information from it first. Otherwise, he could easily snuff the place out of existence using his aura. If there was a first, there was bound to be more in the future. So, they had to obtain enough information about everything before that. Rhachis Ancestor Strongest then whispered to Psychic Ancestor Marble, "You know how the Earth is developing based on our growth, right? It influences changes in us and uses our accumulation to develop in the four Paths." Seeing Psychic Ancestor Marble nod in response, he continued, "And, two abilities that are at the peak of the Aura Path have fused to create this¡­place." "Dawn''s Aura Impersonation and my Aura Manifestation." Read novel fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 43 - The Rocky Hill’s Bird Nest Best novel online free at novelhall.com "Dawn''s Aura Impersonation is able to permanently change the presence of an object, place, or even a person based on his desires. That''s how he turned a part of Parasite''s land into a land of fire. And, my Aura Manifestation is slightly more special." Rhachis Ancestor Strongest said. He placed a hand on the barrier Vaika had erected, nodding as he continued, "My Aura Manifestation can manifest a sentient entity in anything. And, this sentient entity can be the personification of any aura personification." "Is this what you used against the Skep that you are nurturing for the future?" Psychic Ancestor Marble asked, realising something. "Yes," Rhachis Ancestor Strongest nodded, "And now, these two abilities of the Aura Path have been fused by the Earth to produce this aura personification. The catalyst for that is Raging Momentum. This Skill is definitely something that has appeared due to the Earth''s voluntary influence." "So it has started to take action," Psychic Ancestor Marble sighed, "From the day Mind Path became a thing, I feared this. Earth would soon develop a mind of its own and would begin to influence all living beings on it accordingly as it desired." "And, Parasite plans to influence its mind from the get-go so that any action Earth takes is to its benefit." Rhachis Ancestor Strongest replied, sighing as he gazed at the Bone Family Mansion, "And, this is the first step that sparks such a future." "The greater these paths develop, the harsher our world becomes." Psychic Ancestor Marble sighed, saying, "But, we have no other choice but to do that." "Still, how is the terraforming plan coming along?" Rhachis Ancestor Strongest asked, "My mother only said a couple of things in passing." "At present, twenty Transformers, Seven Sky Controllers, 170 Shifters, and 80 Ground Controllers that have retired have volunteered to this mission." Psychic Ancestor Marble said, "Once Heima becomes a Shifter, she''ll have enough energy to create gates between all the cities. We''ll finalise the plan by then and send groups of people towards other planets." "It would be hard to terraform other planets, even with the help of Unranked Skill, Ingrained Earth." Rhachis Ancestor Strongest sighed. "But, thanks to Dawn''s Unranked Skill, Morning Sun, they would never face any deficit of energy for a variety of operations. And, we''ll equip them with enough Relics containing the Skill of Healing Salve. That''ll make them self-sufficient." Psychic Ancestor Marble replied. "Leaving that aside," Rhachis Ancestor Strongest focused on the task at hand, gazing at Jyorta, "Can you make another trip into this aura personification? You''ll be fully healed before that, so you don''t have to worry." Upon seeing Jyorta nod in response, Rhachis Ancestor Strongest continued, "Also, when you enter the place, you''ll find another self of yours there." "What?" Jyorta was shocked, "You mean to say my mind is still trapped there?" "Not actually," Rhachis Ancestor Strongest replied, "Your mind has returned to reality the moment your body exited the range of this aura personification. But, your presence that was left inside automatically birthed a replica of your mind there. That''s the trait of my Aura Ability." "So, once you enter the place, you''ll see another self of yours. And, if my conjecture is right, there is a small chance this presence would be able to replace you once it defeats you." He concluded, causing Jyorta to shudder. "That makes sense," Jyorta nodded, suddenly laughing as the two Ancestors looked at him in surprise. Seeing their reactions, he asked, "My presence that is trapped there would instinctively try to reconnect with my body, right?" "Yes," Rhachis Ancestor Strongest nodded when his eyes lit up, gazing at Jyorta with interest, "I was thinking about that too. Try and see if you can achieve it." "I need a couple of hours to prepare first," Jyorta said before sitting down on the road, closing his eyes. He immediately focused on some of the memory fragments belonging to Henrik Bone, beginning to comprehend them. It was simple. Since his presence within the aura personification was no longer able to develop in this field, he planned to use this to gain an edge. After all, Henrik''s memory fragments were currently his weakness. So, Jyorta planned to create a false persona that would trap the mind of his other-self. The blue soul hurriedly began to work in full swing as Madam Mary gently landed behind him, gazing at him in interest before healing him completely, replenishing his energy reserves to the brim. Two hours later, just before Jyorta was about to enter the place, Rhachis Ancestor Strongest advised him, "You can stop after taking a couple of steps inside. That should be sufficient to pull you within the aura personification. Also, see if you can reach the core of the aura personification and figure out a natural way to leave that place. And, if the situation turns dangerous, just make your body walk out of the aura personification. If you die there, your mind would be destroyed." "Even with all your other methods, you''ll need at least a year to fully grow another mind from your memories. And that may or may not be like the current you. So, exercise the utmost caution." "I''ll do that, sir." Jyorta nodded and took a step into the range of the aura personification, noticing his surroundings change before he arrived at the desert. But now, he was situated atop a rock hill, one that was around 300 metres in height. He looked around, trembling in shock as he noticed giant eggs placed around him, ones that were bigger than him. Only now did he realise that he was standing within a giant nest, situated amongst almost ten eggs, ''Just where the hell did I appear? And, didn''t this place form just recently? Why are there eggs here as if enough time passed for natural birth to occur?'' As he was wondering in confusion, Jyorta suddenly heard one of the eggshells cracking, turning in the direction in alarm as he watched a couple of pieces of the eggshell collapse to the ground before an enormous eye gazed at him, yellowish-green in colour, its scaly iris emanating a thirst for blood, or rather just food, since he was now treated as prey. Read novel online free fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 44 - Sending In An Army Read novel online free fast updates at novelhall.com Aura Induction¡ªTattoo! Jyorta seeped his two psychic arms into the opened hole in the egg, wrapping them over the creature within, unleashing the effect. The opponent was a creature created by aura, and hence, he was able to affect it. At first, the creature tried to resist his influence, actually beginning to shave off the effects of his tattoo, and had even begun to destroy it. But, as it was just a newborn, Jyorta was able to trump it as he constantly modified the tattoo according to its aura signature, ensuring that it would fall under the hallucination. It was the first time he had spent so long against a creature, taking almost ten minutes before it fell under the effects of his hallucination. But, before he could even begin to bring it out of its egg and observe it, Jyorta was alarmed, turning around to see a small dot in the sky, heading towards the nest from afar. "Dammit, that must be their mother." He understood that the moment the mother arrived, he would be devoured. Just the hatchlings were strong, not to mention the creature that would have birthed them. Jyorta didn''t wish to risk his life, quickly thinking of a plan. He spread his presence through his psychic arms, overlaying it onto the creature before activating his Aura Induction once again. But this time, he actuated it in reverse, inducing the creature''s presence within him, directing it into the tattoo world he had been creating. Since it was already under the effects of his hallucination, it was easy to bring the creature into his tattoo world, causing it to disappear from the place. But immediately, Jyorta grunted in pain, watching his presence cracking in response. He didn''t have the time to think about it as he jumped into the now empty egg, using his psychic arms to pull in the eggshells, placing them back in their original location. Moreover, one of his psychic arms turned pale blue as Regen was activated, mending the cracks to make it seem as if the egg hadn''t cracked in the first place. Even though it was slightly suffocating to stay within a confined place, as long as he took in slow breaths, he would at least be able to survive for twenty to thirty minutes. He then felt faint vibrations course through the eggshell, understanding that the mother of the creatures had landed. Having obtained some time for himself, he hurriedly inspected his condition, watching the cracks on his presence continue to increase, unabated. ''I see, I''ve already placed the presences of so many creatures in my tattoo world that the total aura it possesses has now exceeded beyond what the aura in my body could withstand.'' Even though tattoos functioned like discrete packets of aura in which he could imbue many things, they were supplementary products that had to be attached somewhere. So, once he laid a tattoo in a Frenzy Beast, if the aura within the tattoo exceeded a certain extent, it would completely destroy the Frenzy Beast''s presence. And, that would cause a lot of problems. When the Frenzy Beast tried to activate its Skills, they would at times fail, its body cells might die faster than usual, unable to bear the burden of its body weight, etc. Since aura was an inherent substance that everything that existed in the physical world possessed, once someone''s presence was destroyed, even though it won''t lead to their death, they would pretty much enter a state similar to being vegetative. It was similar to getting one''s mind shattered. Even though they would be alive, they wouldn''t be able to do anything beyond that. The only difference between them and a corpse was the fact that the involuntary muscles in their body would still be functioning as usual. The destruction of one''s presence would result in a similar situation, though Jyorta was unsure about the specifics. After all, Aura Path was still developing. So, a lot of common sense related to this path was constantly changing as the path itself developed. And now, he understood that taking in the creature in his tattoo world caused too much strain on his presence. If he didn''t do anything, then his presence would continue to crack before shattering entirely. And that meant he would die in this aura personification, which would in turn also destroy his mind. ''But, the presence of the creature is now situated in my tattoo world.'' Using his Soul Corneas, he determined that the creature had appeared in the tattoo world that was in his actual body in reality. It was the same as the tattoo world he currently had within the aura personification. ''Somehow, this seems possible and had become reality.'' Thinking of something, the blue soul sent some mental cues to his brain, causing his body to take action. Rhachis Ancestor Strongest watched Jyorta raise his arm before his presence surged into the palm of his hands, condensing a tattoo. And, something emerged from him, or rather, the tattoo world that he had. This entity entered the tattoo on the palm, emanating a subtle aura fluctuation before the world of the aura personification absorbed it instantly. Seeing the scene, Rhachis Ancestor Strongest furrowed his brows in thought, seemingly thinking of something. In the meantime, Jyorta shuddered at the loud noise, clutching his ears in pain as he watched the cracks on his presence mend themselves automatically. He watched with bated breath at the cracks that formed on his eggshell as the shouts of the creature beyond reverberated violently. In order to reduce the burden on his presence, he had condensed a tattoo and imbued the presence of more than one hundred Floating Spiders into it. As the aura personification sucked in the presence of everything in its range of effect, it also did the same for the tattoo, which acted as a body to house all the presences within. And now, all one hundred Floating Spiders appeared in Jyorta''s vicinity, startling the creature that was guarding its eggs. Most of the Floating Spiders were Tier 1, with some being Tier 2. But, the threat of a floating spider lay in their speed. The moment they appeared, the vicious figures of everyone glared at the eggs, scattering instantly as the creature was startled, unable to react. Best novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 45 - Killing Oneself You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com The creature was a weird mesh between a humanoid entity and something resembling a centipede, possessing hundreds of arms on a serpentine tail that spanned almost ten metres. Its physique spanned three metres in height, possessing five pairs of wings on its back that looked like lathered steel. Its head resembled a human at first glance, but lacked a lower jaw, and was replaced by a dangling tongue with countless feelers squirming within. As for arms, it had none, relying on its sharp tail to attack the Floating Spiders that swerved around it, at times attacking the eggs to begin cracking them. Jyorta was aware of how tough an eggshell was. It was capable of surviving the brunt of his Aura Beam while only suffering a dent. So, even though it seemed like the Floating Spiders were having an advantage at the start, they weren''t doing any serious damage. And among them, only the Tier 2 Floating Spiders posed a real threat. The Tier 1 Floating Spiders only scuttled about, dodging the creature''s attacks while succeeding in annoying it. But a couple dozen seconds later, the Tier 2 Floating Spiders suddenly began screeching, producing a sonorous sound when the movements of all the Floating Spiders changed their rhyme. All the Tier 1 Floating Spiders flew through the air, swerving around the creature as they casually dodged its slow but powerful attacks. Faint white strings flew in the air, slowly wrapping around it in faint layers. Though, they weren''t strong enough to trap it, snapping at the mildest movements from the creature. In the meantime, the Tier 2 Floating Spiders arrived behind an egg and began to weave a layer of silk around it. Their figures were tiny, and hence, once they began to hide, the creature wasn''t able to find them. Suddenly, a minute later, the creature was alarmed when one of the eggs started to fly up into the air. And right as it reacted, the egg sped away rapidly, shocking it. In a fluster, the creature screeched in anger before taking off to the skies, chasing after the egg after observing some Floating Spiders perched onto it. The Floating Spiders had spun enough of their webs around the egg to completely negate its weight. And, once it began to gently float into the air, they casually carried it with them, since it was no longer heavy. Thanks to this, they could carry the egg and fly at their top speed, alarming the creature into giving chase. But, the moment the creature chased for a couple hundred metres, it was alarmed, turning around to notice that its nest was being attacked by all the remaining Floating Spiders. Moreover, now that a couple of eggs started to hatch, they began to concentrate the attacks there. Screee! Followed by a baleful screech, the creature returned to its nest, no longer able to give chase to the egg that was being carried away. It decided to save the majority of its offspring first. There were around ten Tier 2 Floating Spiders latched onto the egg, carrying it over a distance of ten kilometres before they stopped. Immediately after, a thin circle formed at the top of the egg, gently lifting out the shell piece as Jyorta''s head peeked out, looking around to no longer see any traces of the bird, sighing in relief. He had corroded the shell to lift the circular piece. Of course, all the ten Floating Spiders were under his control. When he was releasing them, he placed them under his hallucination. Now, he got himself a flying equipment that boasted defence superior to his attack means. So, he was pretty content with the arrangement. Moreover, having ten Tier 2 Floating Spiders to steer gave him enough confidence that he would be able to find his other presence that was in this aura personification. Moreover, Jyorta could hide within the egg and remain unaffected by the high temperatures of the place. This way, he could conserve a lot of his psychic energy. He also had understood the concept at place after exiting the aura personification once. It was that he only possessed as much power as what he had when he entered the aura personification. Beyond that, he wasn''t using any psychic energy in his body, but the same reserves that had been replicated in his presence in the aura personification. So, even if he expends all his psychic energy here, in reality, his reserves wouldn''t have diminished. This also proved that he wouldn''t be able to receive any external help. Otherwise, Madam Mary could casually help him by replenishing his energy reserves. Using that, he could rely on Regen to recover his aura reserves and spam Aura Beams everywhere. As for the first time, since he hadn''t actually been pulled into the aura personification by then, his Aura Beams expended the presence in his body, and Regen depleted his psychic energy reserves to heal his aura. Now that he had solved his issue for mobility, his body, in reality, performed the same action as before, condensing a tattoo before putting some presences into it. The aura personification sucked it in, but Jyorta didn''t notice them appearing beside him. Rather, they had arrived at the nest, troubling the creature further. After hiding in a discrete spot, he observed the situation in the nest, condensing the third tattoo in reality. This time, he put ten presences in it, also imbuing a hallucination in them in advance. He morphed the aura signature of the hallucination to resemble the respective presences. So, when they were sucked into the aura personification, it was treated as if his hallucination was also part of their presence. So, thanks to this, he gained a use similar to the tattoo but by only using the basic hallucination once. Now, they were under his control without any effort. The latest ten presences consisted of nine Tier 2 Spindle Bees and one Tier 2 River Whale. Upon arrival, they began to fly away. Upon seeing that they weren''t attacking it, the creature didn''t bother with them, already tressed enough as is to defend its nest against the pesky attackers. The nine Spindle Bees and one River Whale flew towards Jyorta when he smiled, "Alright, I now have enough power to kill myself." Best novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 46 - The Desert’s Scarcity Best novel online free at novelhall.com "Hmm, why is this desert turning hotter?" Jyorta frowned as he continued to walk on the sand, using his psychic arms to adjust the banana leaf overhead. He closed his eyes, taking on the view of his blue soul that was using the Soul Corneas to look around, watching the street before the Bone Family mansion. He was unable to exit the aura personification even after his body exited the range of the effect. As his mind was still trapped in the place, he was unable to extricate himself from there. Moreover, his body was wobbly, as it was only moving based on the mental cues he had sent it. Sighing, he made his body return to the mansion and lay on the ground in the foyer. "I should find a method to leave this place." He frowned in worry, continuing to move around, suddenly leaping back as he watched the sand before him beginning to sink into the ground. As he hurried back, Jyorta was alarmed to find that the sand underneath him too was beginning to be pulled towards the centre, like it was a sinkhole. His psychic arms flashed, activating his corrosion as they corroded the sand, turning them solid as he used them as footholds to leap backwards. He repeated the process, quickly crossing 10 metres as he watched the radius of the falling sand span around five metres. But, he couldn''t sigh in relief upon leaving the area of effect, frowning in worry when a massive worm exited it, glaring at him. The worm sported a centipede''s head on its cylindrical body. Moreover, on its head existed an appendage that acted like the creature''s ears, expanding to reveal a large fan that vibrated as the worm hissed in response. Hiss! It opened its mouth, unleashing hot, putrid air from its mouth that formed a gust of wind and slammed into him. Jyorta hurriedly wrapped his psychic arms around himself, alarmed when he noticed cracks forming on the barrier. He seeped the effect of corrosion in them, corroding the substance infused in the worm''s breath. "Ah, shit!" Jyorta''s face paled when he noticed his surroundings dance, as if the image had been immersed in water and formed ripples. It was because his surroundings had turned so hot that it looked like everything around him was dancing, thanks to the violent movement of the air particles. Right as the worm''s breath ended, there was a small clicking sound that resounded from deep within its throat, unleashed when two objects that resembled teeth in its throat canal snapped together, creating a spark. The spark instantly ignited all the volatile substances in the breath that it had unleashed, giving rise to a sea of flames around Jyorta, trapping him in its centre. It was a two-pronged attack. The worm then hissed as it watched Jyorta''s barrier melting under the fire, waiting for him to die before devouring him. But suddenly, alarm bells rang in its mind as it noticed Jyorta facing his palm at it. And before it was able to react, its mind spun as something powerful slammed into it. Aura Beam¡ªTattoo! Jyorta unleashed a tattoo that he had prepared, slamming it into the worm with the help of an Aura Beam. This way, the tattoo wasn''t destroyed by the worm''s emanating aura, allowing it to slam into his opponent and bury deep into it, enough for it to take effect. It was like planting a seed, one that would begin to grow using the opponent''s aura as nutrients. And once it germinates, the target would be under his control. Within a couple of seconds, the worm used its body like a whip to lash at the sand, causing a mini-wave that drowned the area under fire, cutting off the oxygen contact to it. The fire was immediately put off as a weary Jyorta surfaced after a dozen seconds had passed, gasping for breath. He then used his aura to manipulate the worm, causing it to come near him as he used his psychic arm to seep into its body, beginning to slowly manipulate the tattoo within it. Soon after, he modified it to suit its presence, ensuring the tattoo wouldn''t be destroyed. "Now, I have a mount." He muttered in relief, climbing atop it as he motioned for it to slither on the sand. Though, after travelling for a hundred metres in this way, he noticed that the worm was already showing signs of exhaustion, grumbling. "So, this worm creates a trap and waits for a prey to fall in. It doesn''t have the capability to travel far." Sighing, he got down before thinking of a plan of action, observing a couple of Aura Beasts running about far away. He pointed a finger at them, unleashing a weak Aura Beam, also imbuing a hallucination in them. The Aura Beam slammed into the two Aura Beasts, immediately causing them to stare his way. The Aura Beam had lost most of its power by travelling so far and didn''t even cause them an itch. But, the hallucination imbued in it was otherwise. It caused them to catch a whiff of a delicious scent, of food and water, of both in excess. Such a scent was alluring in the desert environment, causing them to immediately begin running in the respective direction. They relied upon their senses to trace towards the source. Even though they didn''t manage to find the source, they spotted the lone figure of Jyorta walking about in the distance. At the same time they saw him, he too noticed their presence, beginning to run immediately. Upon determining that he was prey material, the two Aura Beasts began to chase after him, quickly closing in the distance. But right at this time, the ground underneath them collapsed as the massive maw of a beast emerged from within, biting one of them before exerting strength, causing blood to ooze out like a torrent. As for the second Aura Beast, it barely managed to react on time, dodging the attack to survive. But right at this time, Jyorta took action, turning around to face his palm at it. Aura Beam¡ªTattoo! You can read the novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 47 - A Pitched Battle Of Hallucinations You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com "Haha, I got a proper mount now." Jyorta laughed, climbing atop the Aura Beast. Even though it was awkward to sit atop a creature whose face resembled a human, as the rest of its body was similar to a lizard, he barely reigned in his disgust. This Aura Beast was both agile and had a lot of stamina. So, he intended to rely upon it to travel, commanding the worm, "Stay within the ground for now. I''ll call you if I have any use for you." The worm immediately burrowed into the ground, erasing all traces of it. Smiling in content, Jyorta motioned for the Aura Beast to begin running, picking a direction to travel. But, he had travelled for less than a minute when the blue soul suddenly shuddered a little, or rather, it also expressed some desire. He turned around in response, gazing at the sky, failing to see anything. But, he frowned, noticing the sensation given to him by the blue soul continuing to increase steadily, making him understand that something was indeed amiss, ''This doesn''t feel like Laila. Has a subsoul of her entered here?'' ''No, this is different!'' Just as the thought appeared in his mind, Jyorta patted the Aura Beast, commanding it while he raised his hand and shot forth a weak Aura Beam. At the same time, the Aura Beast jumped forth, evading nine spindles that pierced through the sand. "Spindles?" Jyorta muttered, alarmed, gazing up at the sky to see an eggshell be revealed. His attack caused its invisibility to wear off. The scene alarmed him, watching nine Tier 2 Spindle Bees flying in the air to aim attacks at him. Aura Personification¡ªHallucination! Jyorta hurriedly unleashed his ability, causing the nine Spindle Bees to flinch for a moment before their actions alarmed him. His hallucination got countered. Moreover, he noticed his Aura Beast pausing for a moment, as if it was being subjected to a hallucination. He instantly countered it, frowning in alarm, ''This freaking egg has the same abilities as me!'' Without any hesitation, he commanded the Aura Beast to flee from the place, beginning to escape when his expression collapsed, seeing the egg trailing right after him, easily keeping up with the speed. Only now did he notice ten Tier 2 Floating Spiders steering it about. For a moment, the scene struck him with an odd sense of familiarity, not to mention the sensation his blue soul was continuously transmitting to him. ''Is it an Aura Beast that has gathered all my presence scattered about in this world?'' Thinking as such, Jyorta looked at his energy reserves, enacting a daring plan, ''At present, it seems the abilities of both of us are on par with one another.'' Aura Induction¡ªTattoo World! He immediately brought out the presences from his tattoo world, placing them under his hallucination as he caused them to swarm the egg. In the meantime, he took out his reserve of bananas and began to consume them, intending to quickly replenish his expended presence. The Tier 2 Spindle Bees shot their spindles, shooting down the Floating Spiders and Spindles Bees he had released, piling up countless deaths. Even though he flinched at the wasted resources, those that he had painstakingly captured, Jyorta had no other choice but to do so. Otherwise, he wouldn''t be able to survive. Taking advantage of the chaos brought about by the countless Frenzy Beasts, he hesitated for a moment before taking out a Tier 2 Lava Turtle, causing it to focus on the egg before unleashing a gust of hot wind that burst into flames immediately. In defence against the attack, the egg simply charged forward, allowing the fire to strike it. But, right before it had done so, the Tier 2 Floating Spiders spun a web, creating a defensive barrier using it. It blocked the fiery gust while three Spindle Bees focused attacks onto the Tier 2 Lava Turtle, causing it to scream in pain while its head was riddled with spindles. Moreover, a wave of hallucination wrapped around it, affecting his hallucination, negating the two. As they entered a stalemate, the Lava Turtle was able to see the reality now, gazing at the figure of Jyorta nearby, immediately beginning to attack him. Even though he was flustered, Jyorta didn''t lose his cool, knowing his opponent from the start. He brought out something from his tattoo world and shot them using his Aura Beams as launchers. The entities landed on each of Tier 2 Floating Spider on the egg accurately, burrowing into them, suddenly causing them to scream in pain. For, they were being eaten up from the inside. Shoe Fishes! He temporarily created fragile tattoos and overlaid them atop the Shoe Fishes, launching them forth using his Aura Beams. And, their only task was to be suicidal, to destroy the nervous system of the Floating Spiders after gaining control of that. And in this situation, it only meant one thing. Losing Control! After all, he was aware of one fact. It was that Frenzy Parasites couldn''t be controlled through his hallucinations. Even if he put them under a hallucination, the effect would be swiftly eroded. It was because every Frenzy Parasite was under the influence of Rhachis Ancestor Parasite. All he would be able to control was the respective Frenzy Beast. And only by using it as a catalyst was he able to affect the Frenzy Parasite to some extent. But, once the Frenzy Beast lost control, controlling it using a hallucination, at least with the level of expertise he had, wasn''t possible. Since his opponent had the same level of power as him, Jyorta had taken such a daring response, watching the ten Tier 2 Floating Spiders lose control. As their bodies morphed, they entered a state of frenzy, immediately attacking their closest target. And here, it was the egg, or rather, the entity within it. The moment they began to attack the egg, the effect of hallucination from the other party vanished as Jyorta was instantly able to change the tide of the battlefield, placing all the Frenzy Beasts under his control, causing them to attack the nine Tier 2 Spindle Bees that were desperately resisting them. Best novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 48 - Trapping Jyorta Bone Right as Jyorta thought that he had gained an upper hand now, the sky blanketed as a cloud flew towards him. It was a dust cloud, slightly moist, but its size was enormous. And currently, it seemed to be building up a lot of momentum, of kinetic energy and frictional energy as the various particles within collided into one another, building up polar charges. As he had been focused on cornering the eggshell, Jyorta hadn''t noticed its approach until it had arrived close by. But, before he could flee the place, a familiar presence startled him. "T-This aura! How? Impossible!" Upon sensing his presence emanating from within the eggshell, Jyorta was shocked. After all, the presence not only contained his aura, but also the change in his aura that occurred when he infused corrosion into it. "Dammit! Protect me!" Jyorta shouted, having understood the enemy''s response. Upon his shout, the worm exited the ground and coiled around him. Initially, upon clashing with the egg, Jyorta had been moving towards the worm. This way, he planned to use the worm''s strength to clamp onto the egg and destroy it. And, once the Floating Spiders carrying it turned against it, he was biding his time, wishing for the egg to move a bit lower and enter the worm''s range. But now, he had to make it show early to protect himself. His heart thumped in fear upon seeing the changes in the aura in the surroundings. This wasn''t something that he could counter. Aura Wave! Two aura fluctuations collided as they spread out like waves, ionising the air at every point they clashed, soon causing a difference in potential to the extent the charges were transferred from one point to another in the form of lightning bolts. Boom! A massive bolt of lightning struck the ground. The cause was the dust cloud in the air. From the start, it had been building up a charge, approaching his location. And once the egg unleashed the fluctuation, countless bolts of lightning condensed from the dust cloud and crashed into the ground. The bolts of lightning created by the Aura Wave were further amplified by this massive charge present in the air. Scree! The worm cried out in pain as countless bolts of lightning slammed on it. It wished to burrow into the ground and escape. But instead, Jyorta forced it to defend him, preventing the lightning bolts from landing on him. For an entire minute, the lightning bolts continued to rain down. As the desert was dry, with the wind constantly blowing over the sand, it was easy to build up a charge in them. So, once triggered, the rain of lightning was way stronger than what he had unleashed at the Graduation Ceremony. All the Frenzy Beasts Jyorta had released had died under the lightning assault, including the ones being used by the egg. A lot of the lightning bolts also landed on the egg, first burning up the thick layer of silk woven over it as a protective cover. But, despite all the silk being destroyed, the egg still hovered in the air. Finally, followed by an ear-clapping sound of thunder, the rain of lightning ended as an Aura Beast jumped out after pushing away the carcass of the worm. Seated on it was Jyorta, immediately commanding the Aura Beast to run. But, he had only begun to do so when his senses alerted him, causing him to strengthen the psychic arm barrier covering him, turning it jet black. Spindles constantly landed on it, losing most of their power when they were corroded into a liquid and splashed over. Jyorta was alarmed, noticing that he was surrounded by over twenty Tier 1 Spindle Bees and five Tier 2 Spindle Bees. Moreover, slithering on the ground were fifty Tier 1 Steel Porcupines and another 10 Tier 2 Steel Porcupines. It was an army. They had surrounded him and began to bombard their spikes and spindles, overwhelming him. In response, Jyorta brought out as many Frenzy Beasts as he could from his tattoo world¡ªthat he could control. But, the moment he began to use them for his defence and retaliation, another wave of hallucination struck. But this time, they targeted him instead. "Dammit!" Jyorta was frustrated, having to split his focus as his psychic energy barrier rippled. Most of the Frenzy Beasts he released simply died off while defending against the incoming projectiles. Aura Beam! "Gah!" Suddenly, an Aura Beam landed on him, causing him to scream in pain as his concentration came undone, causing his construct to shatter when some spikes pierced through it, targeting the location where his psychic arms emerged out of his head. So, once these two locations were destroyed, it destroyed his psychic arms, causing his barrier to collapse. It was as if his opponent knew exactly where to target to destabilise him. Left with no other choice, Jyorta brought out all the Frenzy Beasts in his tattoo world, intending to use the chaos to run away. He swerved through the chaotic mess of Frenzy Beasts that roamed the ground and the skies, scurrying about in their effort to evade the projectiles. Some of them shot forth attacks at their opponents, sparking a war. Somehow, he managed to evade them enough until he reached the exit, wrapping his psychic arms around himself as he turned invisible. His psychic energy had already run out, same for his aura. Now, he was relying upon the soul energy in his blue soul to fuel his actions. He had already consumed all the bananas during the consequent battles, having expended all other means. But, just as he began to run, a Tier 2 Crust-Mantle exited the ground, clamping upon the Aur Beast he was using to run. The sudden arrival caused him to be thrown off as his Aura Beast struggled within the Crust-Mantle''s mouth. A couple more Crust Mantles exited the ground and crushed it into pieces before sharing it with each. Wheeee! Followed by a whistling sound, more than twenty Floating Spiders revolved around him, beginning to weave their silk around him. Moreover, they had activated their Tier 2 Skills, increasing their flight speed while instantly condensing a lot of silk, tugging some strings to retract it in size from a radius of ten metres to instantly slam into him. Jyorta Bone got trapped! Read novel online free fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 49 - Two In One Read novel online free fast updates at novelhall.com "Aargh!" Jyorta grunted, unleashing his psychic arms as he layered them over his skin, using his corrosion to burn through the silk wrapping around him. But, the more he corroded through them, the more he noticed that the layer of silk on him continued to increase. "Hello there, Jyorta Bone!" Suddenly, a familiar voice resounded, shocking him. For a moment he, felt around his throat, checking if he was the one talking. After all, it was his voice. But suddenly, he calmed down, speaking, "I''m not the real Jyorta Bone, am I right?" "Yeah, you are just what this world created the moment I escaped its influence." As the egg hovered above the cocoon, Jyorta spoke. He then asked, "Are you able to feel the blue soul?" "Mine should be something this world created then," The Jyorta within the cocoon said, no longer having any fighting spirit. "So, the world that I saw through it was fabricated?" "Have you checked its sense of realism? How far does it extend?" The Jyorta within the egg asked, "Is it like inception?" "I only observed the street before the Bone Family Mansion." The Jyorta within the cocoon said, finally asking after a sigh, "Are you planning to destroy me now?" "No," The Jyorta within the egg laughed, "I''ll take you within my tattoo world. You are pretty much me, right? Even if you are a copy of me, it''s a realistic one. And, within my tattoo world, all your abilities would be legit." "Haha, interesting. Are you keeping me as a backup plan?" The Jyorta within the cocoon laughed. "Of course," The Jyorta in the egg nodded, sighing in worry, "There is no guarantee if I can retain my sanity in the future or if my mind won''t shatter during some danger. At that time, you''ll replace me." "Alright, don''t die too soon." The Jyorta within the cocoon laughed before his figure vanished. Aura Induction¡ªTattoo World! Jyorta had taken him into his tattoo world, made to hibernate until he began to build the world there. Now that he had taken care of ''himself'', Jyorta looked around, commanding all the Frenzy Beasts under his command to extricate themselves from the fight and surround their foes. He then noticed the Frenzy Beasts that had died remained as corpses for some time before dissipating as aura. The stronger they were, the longer they existed as corpses. Thinking of something, Jyorta roamed through the battlefield once, causing a Floating Spider to push the egg. When he passed over the corpse of a Frenzy Beast that was disappearing, the dissipating aura streamed into him a little, mildly tempering his presence. It was an almost insignificant increase, but now, he wished to verify something. Thinking as such, he gave a command to the Frenzy Beasts to attack the ones not under his control. Immediately, a war erupted. But, the opposing side was unable to fight well, because Jyorta placed them under his hallucination, preventing them from attacking. Like sitting ducks, they were killed one after another. Jyorta arrived before every Frenzy Beast died, watching his body¡ªpresence¡ªgetting tempered as a result. He then noticed that the egg he was using was also getting tempered, the same for the Floating Spider pushing it. Thinking of something, he caused nine more Tier 2 Floating Spiders to come and latch onto the egg''s surface while four Tier 2 Spindle Bees entered the egg, hiding within. Jyorta noticed that his rate of tempering didn''t suffer because of their arrival, remaining the same as before. After all, only a partial amount of the dissipating aura tempered them. As the battle continued, a resounding thud alarmed him. Turning around, he noticed the body of a River Whale buried in the sand. It was the sole River Whale he had brought over, one that he commanded to fly over to the oasis and absorb all the water from there. And until it flew there, it had been relying upon the moisture stored within its body to condense a bubble of water around itself. Thankfully, with the water from the buried pond, it was able to last longer. It had then built up the sand cloud based on his orders. But, too much water evaporated that it wasn''t able to retain through its Trait, eventually losing control from its thirst. As the bubble of water around itself vanished, it lost its balance and fell to the air, dying in the process, killing by its own weight. Jyorta arrived before it, smiling, ''I see, so the tempering from the River Whale is higher because it has a larger body.'' Soon, he finished killing all the Frenzy Beasts not under his control. "Now, I need to target that creature." Whenever he brought out presences from his tattoo world, the aura personification would absorb it and condense it atop the hill where the massive bird-like creature lived. It was proving troublesome all along. Because, when he brought Frenzy Beasts to corner the other Jyorta, he had lost a lot of Crust-Mantles and Steel Porcupines to the creature. Only the Spindle Bees and the Floating Spiders, thanks to their superior agility, were able to evade it and arrive at his location. "It seems every location within the range of the aura personification, in reality, conforms to a place in this world. So, that hill would become my base." He riled up his army, charging towards the hill while the ten Tier 2 Floating Spiders began to weave a protective layer of silk on the egg once again. As for the reason it hovered in the air before even after the protective layer was destroyed, it was because there was another layer within the egg. Jyorta had created a comfortable cushion on all sides in the interior of the egg. This way, he could laze around and fly through the air, in comfort. As an Esper, he shouldn''t be the one toiling about in the desert environment that was bound to exhaust him in a matter of hours. Also stored within the egg was a small flash of water. The flask was created using spider silk. And, placed beside it were some bananas.. Of course, they were from the oasis, those that the other Jyorta hadn''t taken because they were too heavy to carry around. Read novel fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 50 - Armed Beak You can read the novel online free at novelhall.com Roar! The bird-like creature let out a roar, unlike its bird self, using its wings to defend against the spindles and spikes hurled at its offspring. Two creatures had hatched from their eggs now, so, they became the primary target for the attacks. While the Spindle Bees and Steel Porcupines engaged it with ranged attacks, three Lava Turtles arrived at the scene, blasting flaming columns at the creature. The Crust-Mantles attacked the eggs. Though, they didn''t actually harm them, holding back completely. They only acted like they were trying to destroy the eggs, mentally pressuring the creature. In the meantime, the Floating Spiders swerved around it, constantly annoying it while continuing to weave silk around it. After a moment of thought, Jyorta decided to go all out. The Floating Spiders he was saving up for the tattoo world weren''t that important anyway. He could simply capture as many as he wanted later. And, most of them were just Tier 1 Floating Spiders. The creature had more value. And, he wanted to capture it. Thinking as such, Jyorta brought in all the Floating Spiders that he had in his tattoo world, also ensuring he placed a hallucination on them first. So, once the aura personification brought it into the world, they voluntarily fell under his control like it was an integral part of their nature. "Wait¡­" Jyorta thought, having observed the scene of the place as he grinned, "I can use this in the future. That''ll increase the power of my Aura Induction further." The creature continued to screech as the Floating Spiders continued to spin webs around it, beginning to stack up layers as its movements continued to slow down. It was facing difficulties in breaking the strings now that enough of them had coiled around it. In the meantime, Jyorta had placed it under a hallucination. Though, it had yet to take effect, he was waiting for the creature to become exhausted. After all, from the start, he had left a batch of Floating Spiders to pester it. So, it had been trying to kill them for a long time. As it had a huge body, moving consumed more energy than all the scuttling Floating Spiders combined. After two hours, the creature had become a bit tired. But, it was no longer able to fight, having been wound up into a ball by the Floating Spider silk. As it lay on the ground, Jyorta focused on the two creatures that had hatched, using Aura Induction on them to take them into his Tattoo World. Unlike the presences he stored that didn''t have a mind of their own, the creatures in this aura personification possessed one. For the presence of the Frenzy Beasts he had stored before, to make them form a mind, he would have to comprehend their memory fragments first and use them to form a mind in their presence. This was a process that would take a lot of time. But instead, he could simply use the creatures before him. Though, there was a negative in this case. In the case of the Frenzy Beasts, he already had their souls. So, even if their presence in the tattoo world was destroyed, he could simply revive them using the experiences in their memory fragments. But for these creatures, that wasn''t possible. If they died in his tattoo world, they couldn''t be revived. Despite that, he wished to obtain them. They were a product of the Aura Path. And having them would serve to increase his understanding of the said path. Besides, he could add any number of Frenzy Beasts in his tattoo world. There were plenty of them in the Wild. And, it wasn''t as if the ones he had were any endangered species. So, Jyorta didn''t value the Frenzy Beast presences much for the time being. If he wasn''t flexible, then he wouldn''t be able to become strong. Thinking as such, he sent the two hatchling creatures into his tattoo world. As he had brought out a lot of the stored Frenzy Beasts, he had more than enough space in his tattoo world to hold the heavy presences of the two hatchling creatures, ones that he decided to call the Armed Beak. He didn''t give them a deeper thought, just rolling out with the name that appeared at the tip of his tongue. With that said, he didn''t stop, targeting the unhatched eggs next. He took them to his tattoo world, eggs included, as a whole. The creature watched in aghast, letting out a mournful grunt, unable to even leak out a sound as it was completely bound. Once all the eggs vanished, Jyorta appeared before it, slamming a tattoo into it, surprised when the tattoo hardly took effect. He then unleashed a second tattoo, linking up the two, frowning as he slammed in three more tattoos. He caused each tattoo to unleash the desired hallucination. One was sight, one was sound, one was smell, one was touch, and the last affected its emotions. By sharing the load, the tattoos were able to slowly affect it as Jyorta multitasked, switching between each of the five tattoos as he continued to alter them according to the creature''s presence. Upon still experiencing difficulty, he gritted his teeth, sending in the sixth tattoo that pushed it deeper into the hallucination, showing it the scene of the hill, one where all the eggs had hatched and the hatchlings were chirping in joy. And, lying on the ground before them were all the Frenzy Beasts that had attacked them. Even though the hatchling creatures were injured, they had survived the battle. And now, as victors, they feasted upon their enemies. As he couldn''t create a good hallucination that manoeuvred from the creature''s defeat, he went along this route. This caused it to become aware that the scene was a hallucination, but over time, thanks to the effect of nostalgia, it gradually fell into the hallucination. Soon after, Jyorta sighed in relief, now calmly modifying the tattoos to ensure it would be fully under his control. Finally, he had succeeded, "Now, I have a powerful ally in this place.. It''s time I begin to work towards clearing this aura personification." You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 51 - Teaching It Abilities Boom! Havita Bone slammed down onto an Aura Beast as her feet split off into five pieces that pierced through its body, rapidly draining it of its energy. In response, using the surplus energy, she faced her palm towards a figure in the air, unleashing countless bone spikes. They were just the bones of her fingers, but as they flew in the air, they elongated in size thanks to the energy imbued in them. The entity in the air wrapped four psychic arms around itself, defending against the attack. Even though it seemed like it was a Ground Controller, the amount of energy it had seemed endless, as despite the extent of damage it suffered, it constantly recovered. After all, one of its arms turned pale blue, seeping into its body to heal all the injuries it sustained. All this entity did was focus on defending itself. Nothing more, nothing less. But, Havita Bone was instead in dire straits, having to also fight against other Aura Beasts that snooped in to attack her. She then extended her hand, clenching her hand into a fish before retracting it. Suddenly, all the bone spikes that she had unleashed until now flew up from the ground, trembling as they melted into a greyish-white liquid, spinning as it formed a tornado, trapping the strange entity within. "Success!" As the other Elders from the Bone Family rejoiced, Havita Bone''s expression paled. She then shouted, "Hurry, bring me more Aura Beasts to use as fuel. It''s not trapped yet. Don''t forget that it''s energy reserves is practically endless." ¡­ "Kaka!" Jyorta cackled evily as the Armed Beak killed a group of Aura Beasts. Faint aura particles emanated from the dead Aura Beasts, tempering the presences of both of them, including the egg and the other Frenzy Beasts he had brought with him. Currently, he was marching forth with an army, bringing them with him to slaughter any and all Aura Beasts that he encountered. For him, expending his energy reserves was a cause for concern, since he didn''t have much supplements to rely upon. But for the Frenzy Beasts, there was no such concern. They devoured everything in their path and digested them to supplement themselves. The Essence of Frenzy was potent everywhere. As for the Aura Beasts, they lived upon devouring the other Aura Beasts. It was their nature, so they too were fine. If Jyorta consumed a Frenzy Beast, he would be seeking death. After all, the Essence of Frenzy would begin to affect his Wisdom Parasite. The last thing he wished was for his Wisdom Parasite to turn into a Frenzy Parasite and cause him to fall under the control of Rhachis Ancestor Parasite. That would be a laughable situation. As for consuming Aura Beasts, he had never consumed the flesh of a beast, neither in his past life, nor now. Even though he had lived through the memories of Frenzy Beasts consuming other Frenzy Beasts, that wasn''t him. So, he didn''t want to proceed in that direction. If only there were souls in every creature within the aura personification, his life would have been easier. ''But, the Soul Path hasn''t even been developed a little. Of course, it wouldn''t be integrated into this place.'' He sighed before beginning to command his army to charge towards another location. He was aware of where to proceed to reach the core of the aura personification. Every Aura Beast knew it. And, since the Armed Beak was able to fly in that direction, Jyorta wished to prepare next. At his current state, he was too weak. He wouldn''t be able to affect the catalyst that had birthed this aura personification. So, he had to temper himself first. Probably hunting for any and every single Aura Beast would be for the best. At present, most of his army consisted of Tier 1 Frenzy Beasts with a small group of Tier 2 Frenzy Beasts that formed the elite. Then there was the Aura Beast, Armed Beak, whose strength was on par with a Tier 3 Frenzy Beast. Unlike a Frenzy Beast, it didn''t have any abilities. But, Jyorta didn''t worry about that, having been training it after he seeped in the sixth tattoo into it. And this tattoo contained his knowledge about two abilities that he imbued into it, making it seem as if that too was part of it. As the tattoo slowly sunk into it, he constantly worked on it while making the Aura Beast fight. The conditions necessary to activate it, the state of mind required to condense and unleash it, and finally, the way in which the aura had to be manipulated, the tattoo contained them all. Moreover, it made the Aura Beast believe that it had been able to use these abilities in the past but had forgotten them after it had become an adult now. It was a small gimmick. So, while fighting, the Armed Beak constantly tried to use the abilities. Even though it got careless as a result, Jyorta protected it using the Frenzy Beasts. This way, he trained it to eventually be able to unleash them. Aura Beam! Aura Personification¡ªInsignificance! What were the two necessary tools required for a predator of the skies? An oppressive presence and a powerful attack. Even though its physical attacks were dangerous, they were useless against agile opponents like the Floating Spiders and Spindle Bees. Rather, even Tier 1 Floating Spiders were able to evade its attacks. Against a higher Tiered Esper, it would be no different to a practice dummy. So, he allowed it to learn Aura Beam to negate its weakness. Besides, he just wanted to make it do all the work and reap the rewards. "Attack!" Upon spotting an Aura Beast that was on part with a Tier 3 Frenzy Beast, Jyorta commanded the Armed Beak, watching it hover high up in the air before opening its mouth to unleash a beam of energy, annihilating the foe until it was a mangled mess. "Haha!" Jyorta laughed in response, making the egg hover above the crater in the ground, watching his physique being tempered with even more potency. The Armed Beak chirped once as it gobbled up the corpse of its opponent, letting out a victorious shout. You can read the novel online free at novelhall.com Chapter 52 - Bone Cocoon Aura Beam! Boom! The Armed Beast landed on the ground, opening its mouth to reveal countless tentacle-like tongues within that extended out, diced up the flesh and pulled them into the mouth. As it gobbled them all, it felt bloated, closing its eyes to fall asleep. Upon Jyorta''s instructions, it slumped atop a white cloth. This had been created by the joint venture between Tier 2 Floating Spiders, Tier 2 Steel Porcupine, and Tier 2 Spindle Bees. All along, they hadn''t participated in any battles, slowly eating the flesh of the killed Aura Beasts to replenish their energy reserves as they constantly worked on this project. It was just to create a platform for the Armed Beast to sleep upon while travelling. As it was now resting, all the Tier 1 Floating Spiders too action, pulling up the cloth platform, lifting the Armed Beak easily. The rest of the creatures that were land based too boarded it, now travelling in the air as a result. As for the weight that had to be carried by the Floating Spiders and the natural buoyancy of the Floating Spider silk in the platform, it was of no concern. Even in this place, aura could be used to vary one''s body weight, just like on Earth. So, while on board, everyone retracted their auras accordingly to ensure their total weight equalled the lift generated by the platform. This way, the platform would always maintain a state of equilibrium, allowing the Floating Spiders to move it easily. Flying beside it was the egg within which Jyorta cozied up, eating a banana. Currently, there were a variety of fruits placed before him, his harvests from another oasis, one that was larger than the first one. He also created a big enough container to store in the water that he had siphoned. The contents were enough to last him for three to four days. Moreover, he had noted down the place, leaving behind a couple of Spindle Bees, Floating Spiders, and Crust Mantles at the place, enough to take care of any casual intruder. Once his supplies were exhausted, he would return there to stockpile. For the next two days, all he did was hunt the Aura Beasts to temper himself. At first, he indeed wished to expand his army. But, he decided against, prioritising his personal tempering the most. Any army he makes would be useless once the aura personification collapses. But, the strengthening of his presence was beneficial. Currently, he was tempering his presence at a rate faster than training using the Tier 5 Artifact. During the past two days, he had indeed come across many Bone Family members, picking them up on his platform. That was also the intention behind its creation. Most of those he rescued were at Tier 1 and Tier 2, those involved with the most basic of operations in the Family Mansion. They had been pretty helpless, trying their best to survive. After inquiring the details with them, Jyorta understood that they had all been dropped at safe places by the stronger members of their Family to remain in hiding. It was similar to what Havita Bone had done by dropping Jyorta at an oasis after deeming that it was safe. After that, she had went rallying all those at Tier 3 and beyond to deal with the aura personification. Having been scouting for two days, Jyorta had pretty much scouted the entire aura personification. Its size was almost on par with Marble City. After finding a large enough oasis, he dropped all the Bone Family members there to take refuge, leaving some Spindle Bees and Steel Porcupines to act as sentries that would warn them. Though, there wasn''t any cause for concern. After all, any and every strong Aura Beast¡ªTier 4 and above¡ªhad been summoned towards the centre of the aura personification. As for the remaining ones, they were Jyorta''s targets, ones that he happily scooped up. ''It takes time for the aura personification to create an Aura Beast. Now that the Ancestors had made a move, its growth has been contained. So, it would only be able to create Aura Beasts based on the presence signatures it already possesses. And, that would take time, unlike at the start where it created them based on the presences that were pulled into it.'' He summarised his thoughts. With that said, he made some more rounds through the aura personification, watching the extent of his aura reserves continue to grow in the realm of Tier 3. But, after another day had passed, he frowned, noticing a sharp decline in the creation of the Aura Beasts. ''Has Aunt and the other higher ups taken action?'' He thought, changing his plan as he began to fly towards the centre. If they had already determined a solution to the problem, then it would be an enlightening experience for him. Within an hour of travel, he reached the core of the aura personification, noticing a giant cocoon of bone made in the centre. And, slumped on the ground next to it was Havita Bone, exhausted. Her body was brimming with power but her eyes were a bit dull, signs of mental exhaustion. Upon seeing his arrival, and that too with an army, she was surprised for a moment before chuckling, "How did your harvest go?" "Pretty great," He laughed, landing on the ground. Just based on the presence he exuded, Havita Bone was able to determine that he had been hunting, hence her question. "I''ve also grouped up everyone that had been scattered about." Jyorta said, "They are currently taking refuge in a large oasis. I''ve left some Frenzy Beasts there to patrol the surroundings." "That''s pretty nice of you," Havita Bone said, motioning for him to sit beside him. She then pointed at the massive bone cocoon, "We''ve managed to contain the entity managing this aura personification. Now, the rest is for the Espers to figure out a method for us to leave this place." "Since you have quite the insight into aura path yourself, join them. Your horizons would be broadened." She laughed, pointing at the group of Ground Controllers that were huddled on one side, discussing something as he constantly probed the bone cocoon with their psychic arms. "I''ll do that.." Nodding in response, Jyorta approached the group, feeling his hear thump in response as he gazed at the bone cocoon, ''An entity that manages the aura personification.'' You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com Chapter 53 - Aura Induction: Reverse Hallucination "Are you Jyorta Bone?" An old Esper of the Bone Family, someone part of the senior generation to even Jyovic Bone turned around, gazing at the teenager that stood before him. "Yes, Sir!" Jyorta saluted in response, seeing no other option to reply. The other party was older than his grandfather and was the sole person from the previous generation that was still alive. And, he had been a retired Ground Controller all along, sporting a mysterious identity. He was also the head researcher in the creation of Bone Devour. Even though Jyovic Bone had entered the limelight for its creation, he had only been the head of the project. Most of the grunt work, research, and the driving direction of the creation of the Unranked Skill was done by this man. But, he was a weird individual, living in solitude in a research lab of the family present in Sector 9, 10th Ring. If not for the severity of the situation, he wouldn''t have arrived at the Bone Family Mansion in the 7th Ring. The moment Jyorta made eye contact, he shuddered, feeling as if the other party was capable of seeing through all his secrets. ''This feeling¡­!'' He was alarmed before understanding something, inhaling a sharp breath in shock. Deific Inference! The old man before him actually possessed the Unranked Skill and had comprehended it to an alarming level. That was why Jyorta felt the awful feeling that he experienced under Rhachis Ancestor Light. ''Just¡­who''s this man? How come he possesses the same ability that is exclusive to the Light Family?'' Jyorta wondered, watching the old man turn his head to continue staring at the bone cocoon. "Have a try," He spoke, alarming everyone at the location. "But sir, Jyorta Bone is only an Area Controller. He''s inexperienced! If is messes with our intricate arrangement, then the entity within would escape." Another Esper interjected, stating in a flurry. "There''s no harm," The old man said casually, shutting up the others. He then gazed at Jyorta, raising one eyebrow, "Well, isn''t that why you have come here? Go on, have an attempt at it." Jitu Bone, the old man who shared an awkward status in the Bone Family. During Jyovic Bone''s rise, he seemed the closest to becoming the next Family Head. But an accident wiped out his entire family line, making him the sole survivor. Without a family line, he lost qualifications to become the Family Head. After that, once Jyovic Bone took charge as the Family Head, he supressed Jitu Bone, confining him to research, preventing him from interacting with the rest of the Family Elites. For some reason, Jitu Bone too never resisted the suppression, going along with Jyovic Bone''s whims. With Jyovic Bone''s disappearance¡ªand possible betrayal in the eyes of others¡ªrecently, adding onto the fact that Hubert Bone too had vanished, it caused the situation in the Bone Family to become messy. Two of their three Transformers had vanished with the excuse of being on a long-term mission. Whether it was the truth or not, they were experienced with the way Central Command did things, understanding that the likelihood of Hubert and Jyovic Bone ever returning to Marble City was close to zero. And now that Jitu Bone had returned, most of the higher-ups of the family were unsure as to what they had to do. After all, Havita Bone''s influence was grandly lacking. She wasn''t respected much in the family, despite her status as a Transformer. As Jyorta was unaware of the turbulent politics brewing in his family, he nodded in excitement and gently placed his hand on the bone cocoon, feeling a vast, inexhaustible presence emanating from within. He didn''t attempt anything and just let loose his senses, feeling the presence within more and more. ''It feels like a rock, a mountain, and at the same time like a world, a blimp on our world.'' He felt a myriad of sensations from the presence within, soon noticing that there was something amiss, stating, "I feel like the entity is hibernating in preparation for an evolution." "And, how do you suppose it is evolving?" Jitu Bone asked, expressing no change on his face. "By absorbing our presence scattered throughout this aura personification." Jyorta muttered, feeling a stream underground that was flowing into the bone cocoon, unblocked by it. "What do you think? Is this change beneficial or harmful to us?" Jitu Bone asked next. "I¡­don''t know¡­" Jyorta shook his head, "I am unable to feel anything beyond this." "Well, good work anyway." Jitu Bone said. Suddenly, a voice resounded in Jyorta''s ear. It was Jitu Bone''s, "You are Vaika''s successor, right? Use Aura Induction on it to establish a connection before establishing a reverse hallucination. You''ll see something fairly interesting." Even though his words didn''t make much sense at the start, suddenly, Jyorta could feel thoughts clashing in his mind before an answer was derived, alarming him as he looked at Jitu Bone, concealing his shock. Mind Path! Jitu Bone had subtly influenced his mind to direct his train of thought in such a way his previous experiences clashed with one another to generate a new field of thought, allowing him to perceive something different. ''H-How?'' Even though he was confused, upon seeing that Jitu Bone was casually looking at the bone cocoon, Jyorta did as told, seeping his psychic arm through the bone cocoon before activating his Aura Induction. But, he didn''t induce a hallucination into the entity, but reversed the case and effect. In Aura Induction, he established a path, making it seem like the entity within was placing him in a hallucination. But, as to what the hallucination dictated, he was the one in control. Basically, in this manner, he was making the entity show its memories to him using hallucination. It was such an advanced application that he was surprised that he pulled it off. The moment he thought of that, his surroundings changed as Jyorta noticed that he was inside a kitchen, stirring up batter before pouring it onto a pan. Echoing behind him were sounds of children squabbling, the voice familiar. But, even though he wished to turn around, he was unable to do so. After all, he was in a hallucination, only able to see everything that played out passively. "Dear, I''m hungry. How long?" A familiar voice resounded from behind as Jyorta¡ªthe entity whose point of view he was sharing¡ªturned around. His mouth opened as a feminine voice resounded, "A couple more minutes.. Jeez, your patience is even lower than your children, Hubert." Chapter 54 - Chaotically Complex "Haha, well I am mentally still in my sweet sixteen." Hubert laughed, creeping forth as he peeked over his wife''s shoulder, gazing at the food that was being prepared. For a moment, Jyorta shuddered in response, for he was currently in the point of view of Hubert Bone''s wife. And, he was feeling everything his wife was experiencing. Jyorta broke out of the hallucination, frowning as he asked Jitu Bone, "The entity within is connected to¡­" "Hubert''s wife, of course." Jitu Bone said, "Raging Momentum is a mysterious Tier 3 Skill. And, she was one of those few possessing it. It took control of her using her weakened mental state and created this aura personification." Jitu Bone then said, transmitting the contents into his ear, "Anyway, investigating everything would take time. First of all, we need to leave this place. Place a tattoo of your Aura Induction into this cocoon. I''ll take care of the rest." "Alright," Jyorta didn''t waste any time, sending a tattoo into the cocoon. He then noticed Jitu Bone frowning, beginning to work on something. "Your tattoos have impressive uses. You''ll have to work on them more in the future. Don''t waste your potential." Saying as such, Jitu Bone turned silent, motioning with his hands as he beckoned for the other Ground Controllers of the Bone Family to arrive. After that, he gave them some instructions, making them take action accordingly. In the meantime, Jyorta constantly focused on everything, sensing all the changes in aura taking place as he was enlightened, ''Aura is a completely new system indeed. I have barely scratched its uses.'' He sighed, mentally berating himself for becoming a tad arrogant recently. He was still unaware of a lot of things, but the recent success in things made him a bit cocky, ''If I don''t inspect myself from various angles, I won''t be able to control my changes.'' Sighing, he worked on his mind, ensuring to become an optimal knowledge seeker. He then watched the Ground Controllers surrounding the bone cocoon. Even though it seemed like they were being idle, their psychic arms were doing all the work, proceeding in such a speed that Jyorta was unable to even feel any psychic energy fluctuations. Five hours later, Jitu Bone gazed at Havita Bone, "Havita, pour your aura into this." "Alright," Havita Bone nodded, sighing as she got up and appeared before the bone cocoon, watching a tiny column appear, forming an indentation similar to a human palm. She placed her hand on it and began to pour in her aura, watching the cocoon whirr into life. Suddenly, the ground quaked, alarming everyone as faint cracks formed in the sky. But, it seemed to be a temporary alarm as the cracks healed soon after when a massive door of bone formed next to the bone cocoon. Moreover, a building appeared around the bone cocoon, trapping it in the centre. "This way, we can ensure to protect, monitor, and research the entity within without allowing it to escape." Jitu Bone smiled. "What has happened now?" Havita Bone frowned, turning around as she was able to see a similar building far away. "It''s to create an exploration field for research." Jitu Bone explained, "There''s this gate in the centre. Similarly, there are four gates facing a direction each, situated around the middle grounds of this aura personification. And finally, there are four more gates situated around the edges of the aura personification." "All of them allow us to travel forth between our world and this aura personification." He said, "This way, those with weaker aura can roam around the edges while those as strong as us can explore the centre." "I understand," Havita Bone nodded, "And, is this setup permanent?" "Are you dumb?" Jitu Bone laughed, "We''ll need to replenish the aura on this cocoon daily. Otherwise, the entity within would break out. But, you don''t have to worry. I made it sure that anyone would be able to pour their aura into it using the palm imprint." "It''s a crude setup, but it works." Jitu Bone waved his hand, yawning as he snapped his finger, watching the gate shine before showing a room at the top of the Bone Family Mansion. Without any hesitation, he entered it, exiting the aura personification. "Haah!" Havita Bone massaged her forehead, feeling like her future was turbulent as he gave a command to the Espers, "Please evacuate everyone here and bring them outside." "Consider it done," Leaving behind a curt reply, the Ground Controllers vanished, followed by the Wave Controllers. Soon, they began to return with the rest of the Bone Family members. "There''s a lot that needs to be discussed with you, Jyorta." Havita said, accompanying him as they entered the gate, arriving outside, "So, just accompany me to the meeting room now." Upon confirming the case using his blue soul, Jyorta confirmed that he had returned to the real world, noticing that he was at the ground floor of the Bone Family Mansion. But, he couldn''t be sure yet, turning around to see the figure of Rhachis Ancestor Strongest. For a moment, the two stared at each other before Jyorta said, "Can you prove to me that you are real?" "That''s easy." Psychic Ancestor Marble took the chance to reply, snapping his fingers when Jyorta noticed that he had appeared at Wild Zone 12, watching the humans slamming down attacks onto the Swarm. Similarly, his figure vanished all over Marble City, even arriving at places he hadn''t visited before, constantly changing places before he finally arrived at the initial location. "Now, since you have seen the complexity of things at places you are unaware off, it basically confirms that this is reality, right?" Psychic Ancestor Marble smiled. "Yes," Jyorta nodded, laughing awkwardly, "At least, this feels as real as reality." He then informed the details about the other Jyorta that he fought in the aura personification to the two Ancestors, stating the detail as to how there was a world out there that the other Jyorta managed to witness using his blue soul. "Layers¡­" Rhachis Ancestor Strongest muttered, "As I expected, when the four paths combine, things become chaotically complex." Chapter 55 - The Mental Realm’s Intervention "Ancestor Marble, it is my oversight to allow such a blunder to transpire. I''m willing to face my punishments." Havita Bone kneeled on the ground, facing her back towards the Bone Family mansion''s entrance. Alongside here was Jitu Bone, the oldest member of the family and the one with enough authority to plead alongside the Clan Head. "Explain the full situation first." Psychic Ancestor Marble spoke curtly. Even though he was aware of everything thanks to what Jyorta had informed him, not to mention the probing done by Vaika and Rhachis Ancestor strongest, he still wished to see what explanation the Bone Family had to give. After all, one of them had foolishly allowed a mere Skill to take control of their bodies to result in what would have become a major disaster. Even allowing one to lose control was a punishable offence. After all, not only would it mean their death, but once their Wisdom Parasite takes control, it would harm the surrounding people to gobble up their respective Wisdom Parasites too. It was because, from the moment one lost control, they fell under the influence of Rhachis Ancestor Parasite. And, infiltration or the likes wasn''t possible, not when there were Tier 6 Espers defending each city of humanity. So, the direction it gave to every human that lost control in a city was to simply slaughter everyone around them. This way, it would weaken humanity''s foundation. Maybe one of those victims was a genius with great potential. His/her death would mean humanity would lose a future powerhouse. And, it had happened many times in the past. As a result, strict protocols had been erected to ensure people would take action the moment someone was on the verge of losing control. Two protocols were introduced for this: Shifting Protocol and Control Protocol. When one was on the verge of losing control while in public, they would announce this, causing any higher-tiered Espers in their surroundings to take care of them and bring them to the Limitless Tower immediately. They would consume a Cleansement Fruit and be rid of the threat. Though, they''ll have to pay a fine after this, for pushing away their consumption of a Cleansement Fruit until their condition reached such a dangerous stage. Following it was the Control Protocol. This was announced when someone lost control in public abruptly. In this case, those on the same Tier as the person who had lost control would swarm him/her, killing them brutally. With that, they would destroy the threat before the Wisdom Parasite could get accustomed to controlling its respective body. After all, once the human loses control, the Wisdom Parasite needs at least a couple of seconds to gain complete control of the human body. And Control Protocol was executed in this duration to finish them off. Since even the act of losing control was strictly punished, the action taken by Hubert Bone''s wife was a major blunder, one that put the blame on the entire Bone Family. After all, it had happened in their headquarters. So, even if he acted calm, the air in the entire street was slowly turning hotter, a sign of his anger. Before the Bone Family''s entrance was Havita Bone and Jitu Bone. Standing behind Rhachis Ancestor Strongest was Jyorta Bone, acting unconcerned with the situation. And finally, kneeling on the ground floor of the Bone Family Mansion were the higher-ups of the Bone Family, those with enough power to enact either a Shifting Protocol or even a Control Protocol. After all, there were tens of Ground Controllers among them, those capable of killing a Shifter within a second when combining powers. So, the blame on them was justified. Had Vaika not arrived on time, the aura personification would have continued to grow and would have pulled in even more people into it. And, if they were killed within it, the situation would only become worse, further fuelling the aura personification''s growth. "Ancestor Marble, everything started with the sudden mission that had been assigned to Hubert Bone and Jyovic Bone." Havita Bone began to speak, "Their disappearance placed our family under a state of unrest. And upon hearing the news that they might not be returning anytime soon, Hubert Bone''s wife became angry and had attacked me." "She attacked you?" Psychic Ancestor Marble frowned. "Yes," Havita Bone nodded, "Though the attack was something that didn''t even scratch me, I felt a foreboding sensation when she activated her Bone Devour. Usually, while using Bone Devour, when she uses Raging Momentum, there would be sparks of aura that take a variety of effects." "We had been collecting data regarding that and transmitting it to Central Comment at the end of every month. But this time, the irregularity didn''t occur outside but happened within her." Havita Bone bowed her head even lower, sweating profusely as she felt the gaze of two Ancestors on her, "Her aura suddenly became alive, and for a moment, I felt it clearly¡­" "It was unknown how she had done it, but," Jitu Bone interjected, speaking with a solemn tone, "Parasite and Aura, I felt these two paths completely vanishing from her system. For an instant, there was only the sensation of the Mind Path emanating from her. And, I felt a stirrup from the Mental Realm." "She was able to connect with the Mental Realm?" The two Ancestors made eye contact, understanding the seriousness of the issue. "It wasn''t her that had established this connection." Jitu Bone said with assurance, causing Havita Bone to look at him in shock. Ignoring her, he spoke, "It was the Mental Realm that had taken the initiative. And, it was what triggered something in her." "For a moment, it was like we were all attempting a breakthrough." Jitu Bone said, expressing fear and annoyance, "We were unable to control our bodies as our minds began to enter the Mental Realm. And in this duration, the changes completed as her body erupted. At that moment, I could feel that her mind had been destroyed, and replacing it was something whose presence was no different to Earth." After a moment''s pause, he corrected himself, "It isn''t that Lava Turtle.. The one I felt during that moment was the Earth''s vast presence surging from within her." Chapter 56 - Identity Leaked "So, the Mental Realm intervened." Rhachis Ancestor Strongest nodded, gazing at Jitu Bone, "did you find out anything else?" "While I probed the spirit of the aura personification, I couldn''t find anything concrete other than the fact that the Mental Realm is searching for something." Jitu Bone replied, "Also, I could feel that these aura personifications are a means for it to further the Aura Path''s development and also accelerate the Mind Path." Psychic Ancestor Marble stared at Jitu Bone for a good couple of seconds, blinking once before stating, "I''ll reduce your punishments. Head towards Wild Zone 9 and kill five thousand of each of the three Swarm species. For the Shifters in the Bone Family with the Tier 3 Skill of Healing Salve, they are to consume all those fifteen thousand Swarm monsters and produce Healing Salve out of them. The Ground Controllers are to compress it to the limit. The remainder of your punishment will be dealt later." "Get going, now." He spoke, waving his hand as everyone from the Bone Family vanished, including those at Tier 2 and 3, those unrelated to this miss, including those just living in their homes. Every single one was transported to the walls. As for those involved in research, they were notified first and were given a grace period of one hour. From those at Tier 1 to Havita Bone, every single member of the Bone Family found themselves on the walls. There was confusion at the start before Havita Bone sighed in worry, beginning to inform everyone of their mission. She then frowned, looking around, failing to see Jyorta and Heima absent. "Why¡­am I here?" Heima was confused, bowing immediately once she gazed at the figure of Rhachis Ancestor Strongest and Psychic Ancestor Marble. "There''s something the two of you must become aware of." Psychic Ancestor Marble said, sighing as he gazed at the sky for a moment, "Jyovic Bone went rogue." "Grandpa did?" Heima raised her eyebrow, not exactly surprised at the fact. "Well, he didn''t just go rouge." Psychic Ancestor Marble spoke, saying, "He had become a Child of Frenzy before doing so. Now, there is one more problem with this fact." He said in all seriousness, "He knows the truth about the both of you. And, he''s a special Transformer, the only one that had managed to kill an Ancestor as a Tier 5 being. So, it''s a guarantee that Parasite would have already discovered him by now, if not captured him already." "So, our identities have been compromised." Jyorta grit his teeth for a moment before sighing, "Well, it was bound to happen." "That is true," Rhachis Ancestor Strongest nodded, "But, from now on, you''ll have to be extra careful during missions since you might be targeted." "So, I''ll still have to perform missions." Jyorta smiled, understanding the implications. It was basically Marble City''s motto: Earn your keep. As long as he contributed to the City, he would be rewarded and protected accordingly. Moreover, unlike others, he was a Psychic Parasite. So, even if he was killed while in the Wilds, one of his Subsouls could become the main soul, as long as he made prior preparations already. After his thoughts settled down, Jyorta asked, "So, you''re asking me to create a backup?" "Yes," Psychic Ancestor Marble nodded, "Basically, create a subsoul in every city. we have no idea what the future has in store, so making preparations beforehand is a must." "Though, as to who you''ll select, the choice is yours. No matter who they are, you can ask for them." Rhachis Ancestor Strongest smiled, "Given that you can make them into your subsouls in the first place." "Though, I''ll have to ask that person for their permission first," Jyorta said, surprised when he didn''t even feel as much remorse as he had expected for taking such an action. ''It seems I must create a false persona for compassion and humanity next. That way, no matter what kind of monster I become, I''ll still be a human.'' He sighed in worry. "Do you already have someone in mind?" Psychic Ancestor Marble was surprised. "Yes," Nodding in response, Jyorta spoke, "Her name is Wenina Marble. When I had been in a coma, I had turned the soul of her Wisdom Parasite into my subsoul." "Wenina Marble¡­" Psychic Ancestor Marble thought for a moment before frowning, "She doesn''t even have a semblance of talent though. Well, the choice is still yours." "Thank you, Ancestor." Jyorta nodded, bowing in response. When he lifted his head, he noticed that he was on the wall, alongside Heima. "Did the Ancestors say something to you?" Havita Bone''s figure flashed, appearing before him as she asked in a hurry. "Yes," Jyorta nodded, "But, I am unable to tell it to others though." "Fine," She sighed, pointing at two Armadillos, "It seems only those two among your control are still alive. Though, I''m not expecting much from the younger generation. Let those at Tier 3 and above take care of this." Saying her piece, Havita Bone condensed a pair of wings on her back and took off into the air, flying three kilometres away from the city walls as everywhere she flew past, the Swarm monsters dropped to the ground. They were still alive but were unable to move. The bones in their joints had become attached to one another, turning into a whole. Due to that, they were unable to move anymore, dropping to the ground like statues. She then landed on a Frog as her feet expanded like roots into its body, rapidly causing its body to thin as she raised her hand, creating a column of bone that reached a height of twenty metres that she plunged into the ground. In a similar fashion, she landed on the immobile monsters one after another, erecting such pillars of bone every fifty metres apart, finally commanding after erecting hundred of such pillars, "It''s done. The Bone Family¡­" "Take Action!" The moment she uttered, everyone from the Bone Family grinned and jumped off from the walls. "Well, it has been a while since I last fought." Heima said, stretching her body as she muttered, "My Sync Rate is still pitiful. I need to reach the peak of Tier 3 within two years." Her body was then wrapped by a layer of black before her figure vanished, appearing atop a bone pillar. Chapter 57 - A Normal Conversation "Now that we''ve sent everyone away," Rhachis Ancestor Strongest spoke, entering the Bone Family Mansion, "Let''s find out the truth about this aura personification." Walking alongside him was Psychic Ancestor Marble and training behind them were Madam Mary and Vaika. The four of them arrived at the topmost floor when Vaika commented, "It seems Jitu Marble has restricted the area of the aura personification to a couple of rooms only." "It does make things easier in the future." Nodding in response, Rhachis Ancestor Strongest opened the door, entering the personification. Though, unlike the others that had been trapped before, his presence wasn''t pulled out from his body. Rather, the aura personification tried to do so but failed to do it. the remaining three, including Vaika were the same, being experts in the Aura Path. Rhachis Ancestor Strongest gazed at Vaika, nodding in praise, "You''ve grown stronger since I last saw you. When are you planning to become a Ground Controller? Haven''t you reached the peak as a Wave Controlled a couple of years ago?" "There''s still something I need to finish before attempting a breakthrough." Vaika said, "That way, I''ll be able to gain the relevant knowledge from the Mental Realm and complete my research about the Aura Path." "A sound plan indeed," Nodding, Rhachis Ancestor Strongest entered the building of bone, arriving before the cocoon, placing his hand on it. In the next moment, the cocoon cracked, opening like a flower. And seated within was the core of the aura personification, a humanoid entity without any facial features. It was constantly morphing its texture for some reason, slightly lifting its head to gaze at Rhachis Ancestor Strongest. It then formed a mouth, opening it to speak, "You''ve grown stronger, kid. Soon, you''ll become worthy of your title." "How should I address you?" Rhachis Ancestor Strongest asked solemnly. He shielded Madam Mary and Vaika, even making Psychic Ancestor Marble retreat towards the side. This way, if anything happens, he would be able to protect the others. "Why do you concern yourself with a captive?" The figure smirked. "Hmph," He snorted, tapping his foot on the ground once when the aura personification began to quake while the massive stream of aura gushing into it stopped abruptly. "If you wanted, you would have been able to break out of this cocoon within a couple of hours. You surely aren''t a captive." "Well, you''re right about that." The entity laughed before stating, "Well, call me momma. That should do." "¡­" Rhachis Ancestor Strongest stared at it, remaining silent. The two continued to stare at one another for a good couple of hours before he broke the silence, "¡­momma." "Good boy," The entity smiled gladly, "So, what do you want to know?" "Since when have you gained sentience?" Rhachis Ancestor Strongest asked. "Heh," The entity formed a pair of eyes, winking once, "From the moment the Mind Path became a thing." "That''s¡­" Psychic Ancestor Marble frowned. But, before he asked anything, Rhachis Ancestor Strongest stopped him with a motion of his hand. Upon judging the minor facial muscle fluctuations on him, Psychic Ancestor Marble understood what he was facing. Fear! Alertness! There were the two emotions that Rhachis Ancestor Strongest was currently feeling. Even though the strength of the entity was something he could destroy with an exhale, this was what he felt. Because, the implications were beyond grave. "Are you planning to eradicate us now?" Rhachis Ancestor Strongest asked, controlling his voice from shiver, making it a notch colder. "Nope, I never had such an intention." The entity replied, "Whether it''s the humans, Frenzy Beasts, or even the Skeps, all are my children. I''ll never interfere in your affairs." "Then, why had you done so now?" He asked next. "You mean this?" The entity laughed, "That wasn''t me though. It''s just the autonomous response from the Mental Realm." "What do you mean?" He looked with a doubtful gaze. "It''s like the involuntary muscles of the human body. The Mental Realm is a culmination of the experiences of every living being. So, it works similar to the human heart. I don''t control its actions." The entity spoke. "And, you might think it''s a threat, but this would become the norm in the future." The entity smiled, "Hasn''t that always been the case?" "Survival of the fittest," It laughed, "If you don''t wish to disappear, tread on all four paths. At present, humanity is just a culmination of the Parasite and Aura Path. You have yet to integrate the Mind and Soul Path into your essence." "When do you think this would happen?" Rhachis Ancestor Strongest asked, "Are these changes introduced by you to hasten this evolution?" "You could say it''s something like that." It nodded, "At present, none of the races living in me can handle the future that would transpire once the Parasite Path reaches its completion. After all, from that moment onwards, all the other three paths would spike in their development and would also reach their peak withing the next few decades." "Without any living beings, my development would halt. I can''t have that, you know." The entity spoke, tilting its head. It then got up and arrived before Rhachis Ancestor Strongest, ruffling his hair, seeing that it had to exert all its strength to even move a couple of his hair strands, "You''re one strong entity." "At present," It spoke, closing in on him, whispering in his ears, "The development of the Mind Path mostly relies on you. There''s also Warlord, but it pales in comparison to you." "Don''t worry, humanity would adapt to these changes, just as how we managed to do so since our inception." Rhachis Ancestor Strongest spoke, snapping his fingers as the bone cocoon began to revert to its original shape. The entity within waved its hands, "To be frank, I am pretty excited to see that future. Work hard, kid." "You''re one of the few kids I''ve kept an eye on from the start." There was silence once the bone cocoon returned to normalcy as Rhachis Ancestor Strongest wiped off his sweat, turning around as he walked out of the building, arriving at the corridor of the Bone Family Mansion as he slumped down, coughing violently. Madam Mary hurriedly turned her psychic arms pale blue, beginning to heal him when she screamed in shock, "What the heck happened? Why is your body in a mess all of a sudden?" "The conversation they shared now was just a front." Psychic Ancestor Marble walked out before collapsing to the ground, "As if we can share a normal conversation with our planet.. Just handling its aura, parasite, mind, and soul''s presence overwhelmed us." Chapter 58 - Numerous Containers "Wheee!" Heima landed on the bone pillar, using Bone Devour to melt it into a puddle. Then, she ran over the puddle, manipulating it to create a sea of spikes, piercing through a frog''s body, preventing it from jumping. After all, once the spikes pierced through its flesh and met the bone, they were welded together. This prevented the frog from jumping. Using this chance, Heima created a bone spike and plunged into the frog, beginning to suck its energy. Though, she frowned immediately, gazing around her as she sighed, "At Tier 3, Bone Devour is too weak." She noticed that the rate at which she was absorbing the energy from the frog was too slow. Thankfully, she had constricted it first, having enough time to slowly absorb all the energy. In the meantime, the Shifters of the Bone Family flashed through the battlefield, waving their hands as they pulled the bone pillars like they were made from water, turning them into large cages that they plunged into the Swarm monsters, constricting them to the ground. In this manner, they continued to move deeper into the Wild Zones. And behind them, hovering a metre above ground was a Ground Controller, groaning as she plunged a magenta spike into the Swarm monsters one after another. Accompanying her in a defensive stance were two Shifters, meant to protect her. The magenta spike was the Tier 4 Relic with the Unranked Skill of Bone Devour, the only Relic of its kind for now. And as the magenta spike absorbed the energy, she used three psychic arms to take out three Tier 3 Relics, condensing the Healing Salve using them. A Ground Controller worked in transporting all the Healing Salve to another Ground Control atop the walls. His task was to compress them a little and store them in large containers. After that, they would transport the containers to a certain building nearby. As there was just one Relic with Bone Devour, the brunt of work lay on the Ground Controller, "If only Bone Devour had two anchors. Then the Shifters might have been able to use their Tier 3 Skills." As they moved from one monster to another, one of the Shifters protecting her sighed in exhaustion, "15,000 of this¡­" "Well, be glad that it''s just grunt work. If we had been punished in any other way¡­" The other Shifter spoke, shuddering in response, "I felt like my heart skipped a beat when Ancestor Marble expressed his anger." "Don''t make me recall that. Shit, had I been in Havita''s place, I would have fainted then and there." The two Shifters spoke as the Ground Controller went from one monster to another. And on their wake was a sea of brittle, deflated carcasses, sucked of all energy. "Eh?" Heima looked around in surprise, noticing two Armadillos standing before her as shields. upon sensing a familiar presence on them, she gazed at the top of the walls, noticing Jyorta nod at her. "Well, I don''t need protection though," Heima muttered, looking around to see the strongest of the Bone Family rampaging deeper into the Wild Zones, "There aren''t even any monsters around me now." "Well, I still appreciate." She smiled, shaking her head as she continued to suck in the energy from the frog, activating her Trait of Temperance, watching her Sync Rate slowly increase. After she gave birth to her kids, she had yet to return to Grapple Force. And hence hadn''t managed to increase her Sync Rate yet. Moreover, as her physique was at a weakened state after giving birth, she used the chance to receive Bone Devour. Even though she knew it was pretty useless at Tier 3 and would instead prevent her from using her strong Tier 3 Skill ever again, she needed it anyway. It was because increasing her Sync Rate using Frenzy Fruits was risky. After all, her Wisdom Parasite was in a dangerous state, having begun to turn into a Frenzy Parasite once before. So, if she consumed Frenzy Fruits, it would turn into a Frenzy Parasite sooner or later. So, to prevent that, she had to rely on the Trait of Temperance. But, just relying on the energy gained through food daily took too long. Her mission was to reach the peak of Tier 3 within two years and accompany Jyorta to Desert City on their quest to breakthrough. And for that to happen, her Sync Rate has to reach 100 percent immediately. That was why she had obtained Bone Devour after successfully giving birth to a pair of twins. After realising that she wouldn''t be able to give birth to a normal baby ever again, she obtained Bone Devour. She had already racked up enough contribution points in the Bone Family''s records to obtain the Unranked Skill. And now, using this mission that gave her a safety net, Heima took the chance to slowly increase her Sync Rate. Seeing Heima continuing with her task, Jyorta planned to make some tattoos and increase the number of Armadillos under his control once again when Henrik Bone landed beside him. "The Family Head has ordered me to bring everyone at Tier 1 and 2 back to the headquarters. So, let''s get going." He spoke, lifting Jyorta. "What is happening in that building?" Jyorta asked suddenly, pointing at the building where the large containers of the Healing Salve was being transported into. "Are you curious?" Henrik Bone smiled upon seeing him nod, "Well, it''s not much of a secret anyway. Let me show it to you." Jyorta didn''t even manage to blink when he noticed that he had appeared within the building that he had pointed at. It led into a large underground warehouse where more than ten such containers already stood. "Why did you bring a brat here, Henrik?" A calm voice resounded when Jyorta was surprised. It was because when the other party spoke, the containers mildly vibrated. Henrik Bone bowed a little, "Sir, I wish to have one of our younger generation see the refinement process." "Well, tell him to come in." The voice responded when Jyorta noticed he was in another room now. There were four containers placed side by side, with their lids opened. And, hovering in the air above them was a man in his seventies. Levitating before him was a large chunk of the Healing Salve, compressed to the limit through his psychic arms as the old man snapped his fingers, causing his psychic arms to radiate with a myriad of colours. Chapter 59 - Flame Refinery "Sit in a corner and be silent." The old man said as his psychic arm carried out a large chunk of Healing Salve from it, morphing it into a sphere before it was pressured from all sides. Hearing the old man, Jyorta retreated to a corner and stood there. As for Henrik Bone, he excused himself and flashed away, transporting the rest of the Bone Family members at Tier 1 and Tier 2 to the Bone Family Mansion in the 7th Ring. Jyorta continued to stare at the scene as his eyes widened, watching the mysterious colours emanating from the old man''s psychic arm resemble flames as they danced around and swerved into the sphere of Healing Salve. Suddenly, the Healing Salve sphere began to shrink rapidly as its colour continued to change, starting from violet all the way to red, and then turning transparent before returning to its initial creamy state. Slowly, the sphere was compressed until it was only a tenth of its original size as countless substances were sucked out from it. At first glance, they seemed like impurities as the old man sent them into a large container behind him. Half filled within it were the same impurities, slightly darker creamy in colour. The remainder of the Healing Salve sphere turned into a fluid as it branched out, turning into ten smaller spheres. A couple of seconds later, they stopped rotating and solidified. The old man inspected them before nodding, "Alright, they''re done." He then stored them carefully in a box to the side glancing at Jyorta to see his confused expression. Thinking for a moment, the old man felt it was a pain, massaging his forehead as he began to speak, "What I''m using is the Unranked Skill of Flame Refinery. This is the oldest Unranked Skill among humanity, jointly created by the Ancestors. Its function is to refine anything, created to target the Essence of Frenzy." "Essence of Frenzy?" Jyorta was shocked, "We have a method to deal with them?" "Of course," The old man nodded, "How else do you think soldiers can replenish their energy reserves by using their Caterpillar or Centipede to devour Heart and Brain Crystals?" "Every harvested Heart or Brain Crystal is brought to us as we refine it first using Flame Refinery, destroying the invasive properties of the Essence of Frenzy before turning it into a beneficial component." He said, "As the Essence of Frenzy of the Frenzy Beasts continues to evolve every day, an Unranked Skill is necessary to keep up with it. And that''s what Flame Refinery is." "When a soldier consumes a refined Heart of Brain Crystal, the refined Essence of Frenzy within them gets accumulated in the soldier. And, this spurs our evolution too. After all, that''s the trait of the Essence of Frenzy." He smirked. "Then, when I consumed Brain Crystal too much, a white substance began to bleed out of my orifices. Why did that happen?" Jyorta asked. "You''ve done that?" The old man was surprised as he took a second glance at Jyorta, "What situation led you to do something that dangerous?" "Sir, I''ve been commanded to not disclose details regarding that." Jyorta smiled wryly, replying as such. "Fair enough." The old man nodded before saying, "That white substance is actually the refined Essence of Frenzy. When consumed in small amounts, it''s a tonic that would boost our evolution. But an overdose would result in you losing control at the very least. The fall of your Sync Rate is the first sign." "I see," Jyorta recalled the experience from when he tried to help Heima, understanding that the situation from back then made better sense now. He then thought of something, asking, "But sir, if we have been consuming this refined Essence of Frenzy all along, why have humans remained the same? There haven''t been any changes to our physique. Whereas, the Frenzy Beasts evolve so much that new races emerge among them constantly." "The evolutionary changes in humans haven''t been displayed in their body." The old man replied, "From the start, based on our genetics, we''ve already attained our natural physical limits. It''s the mind where our evolution lies." He then smirked, "You''ll truly understand it when you reach Tier 4. That''s where humanity''s evolutionary advantages truly come into play. Moreover," He stopped the refinement process for a moment, saying, "Unlike the Frenzy Beasts that constantly morph into new races, we have remained the same and accumulated a treasure trove of information within our genetic material. And, that''s best reflected in our Skills." "This is the reason the Skills of humanity are the strongest and constantly continue to be so." Jyorta''s eyes widened in surprise as he digested the details, feeling enlightened as thoughts exploded in his mind, causing him to understand a core detail that he had failed to neglect all along. The evolution and development that he was chasing after with his Tower of God project wasn''t something out there. But it was already within him, countless millennia of evolution before the dark ages and centuries worth post-apocalypse. He should manifest them wholly and take them a step further. That''s how he''ll be able to develop in all four paths. "Thank you for your time, sir." Jyorta bowed in response. "It''s fine." The old man nodded, "I was feeling a bit bored recently anyway. Might as well teach a brat some good things to ponder about." He then pointed at the tiny spheres that he was storing in a box nearby, "These are what you call as Healing Pellets. Ingesting them would not only heal your wounds but also replenish your energy at a quicker pace than eating Healing Salve. Ten Healing Pellets are enough to replenish a Ground Controller''s energy to the limit." "Before, refining the Healing Salve produced from Developers took a lot longer to produce a Healing Pellet. But, the current Healing Salve is at Tier 4 level, so this is pretty helpful." He laughed, "It''s all thanks to the Tier 4 Relic of Bone Devour. From the day it was created, it has been put to constant use, so much so that¡­" He grinned as his tone turned strangely chill-inducing, "It almost made us force the Shifters from the Bone Family to create more of such Relics."