Chapter 115: The Curtain

"Dammit," Jyorta slumped on the bed, heaving exhausted breaths, letting out a self-deprecating laugh. He clutched his forehead, massaging his brows, feeling his eyes moisten.

Seeing his expression, Atika Light appeared beside him, placing her hand on his back, in an effort to console him. "Tell me the difficulties you faced. I'll try to come up with a plausible solution."

There was the question of doubt, thanks to his ignorance of her character. Moreover, he didn't want to reveal his secrets without a valid reason. Based on the reaction exhibited by the onlookers from the metro station in the Lower Strata until they reached the current building, Jyorta concluded that Atika Light wasn't a normal character.

She had a nature to her that scared everyone, especially the stronger ones. This wasn't possible just because of her strength; there ought to have been another reason.

The blue soul in him overlaid the unfinished false persona—one of calm, optimism, and filled with focus—on him, placing the face mask on his blue face, subtly influencing his personality traits.

Jyorta glanced at Heima, touching her feet, feeling his broiling emotions cool down, the process steady. He wiped the tears that streamed out his eyes, sniffed a couple of times, and gazed at Atika Light, having made up his mind.

He concocted an explanation, bordering on the truth, but one that wouldn't expose his secrets. "The prime hurdle is my lacking energy. Every person has a barrier shielding their souls from my access; the stronger the person, the sturdier the barrier. I barely managed to penetrate her barrier before my energy ran out."

"Energy…" Atika Light murmured, immersed in thought, having gleaned some insight as she inspected his body. "If it is lacking energy, then it is relatively simple to solve. All you need to do is multitask after unleashing your Caterpillar."

Hearing her advice, Jyorta's mind whirred in thought. 'Espers are capable of multitasking, thanks to their developed brains; though, it would be difficult for me, considering I'm just a Line Controller. Also, I haven't practiced multitasking; so, it would prove to be difficult.'

The blue soul in him glanced around, gazing at the husk of a subsoul—belonging to the late language teacher's Wisdom Parasite. Thoughts clashed in his mind, formulating a plan.

Jyorta looked at Atika Light, "Ma'am, if I make some preparations, I should be able to do it. Though, I don't know how many Brain Crystals I would consume in order to do so."

Atika Light smiled, walking towards her chair, seating herself in a comfortable position. "You don't need to worry about their consumption. The existence of Heima is vital to Marble City; I hope you understand that."

Jyorta nodded, showcasing his comprehension of the state of things. Heima inherited the abilities of space of Rhachis Ancestor Space. Now, after the death of Rhachis Ancestor Space, she was the sole figure capable of manipulating space, at least according to the knowledge of the higher-ups in Central Command.

Jyorta never dared to leak the existence of Laila to a third party, barring Psychic Ancestor Marble. Seeing that Psychic Ancestor Marble hadn't taken any action despite learning the truth, Jyorta dared not mention her again.

It meant that Psychic Ancestor Marble had reached an agreement of sorts with Laila, willing to help her hide her identity. Whether Psychic Ancestor Marble informed of the other Ancestors of her existence or not, it was none of Jyorta's concern. He didn't want to stupidly flaunt his tooth, lest he garnered Laila's animosity and suffered retaliation.

The current status quo was of Laila misunderstanding George as a Psychic Parasite, and Jyorta being his subsoul. It was something Psychic Ancestor Marble informed him in passing. He didn't know how they—Psychic Ancestor Marble and Rhachis Ancestor Light—enacted it and made Laila believe it but, he didn't want to do anything that would morph her preconceived notion.

Moreover, after he had been discharged from the hospital post coma, Laila and George had come to visit him. Based on all the clues that ensued forth, and everything that had transpired until the disaster with the late language teacher, George was the only candidate that could take the blame.

Jyorta felt bad for George but, with his life at a risk, he didn't mind someone else shielding him. He wasn't the type to use someone as his shield but, he also wasn't the character to object when such a thing occurred thanks to a third party's arrangements.

Moreover, as long as George wasn't affected because of him, Jyorta wouldn't feel guilty. Also, he had a faint feeling that Laila didn't have any intentions to harm George.

He didn't want to bank on that feeling but, it wasn't like he was capable of changing things should Laila chose to act.

In order to live with upright morals, he first needed to have sufficient strength to back them up.

Jyorta unleashed his Caterpillar, watching it form, taking its sweet time. He exerted himself, creating a psychic arm, noticing the energy stored in his muscles being consumed to sustain it.

He pushed open the lid of the tiny box, revealing the 99 Tier 1 Brain Crystals—each equivalent to a rice grain in size, pink in colour, sporting a single stripe. His psychic arm thinned until its limits, lifting a Brain Crystal through its narrow gap, hoisting it before the Caterpillar.

The Caterpillar's face beamed with joy, breaking into a dance to express its giddiness. It grabbed the Brain Crystal, wrapping its arms around it, gentle in its approach. It opened its mouth wide, expanding it along the section of its body, seemingly as if its lateral expansion didn't possess a structural limit.

The Caterpillar opened its mouth wide enough to swallow the Brain Crystal whole but ended up taking a small bite, breaking a piece less than a tenth of it. It ate it in relish, its facial expression one of bliss.

A rush of energy entered his body through the two blood tendrils, gushing into his bloodstream, eventually making way to his Brain Crystal. The energy from his Brain Crystal was siphoned out and transferred to his soul, ballooning it in size.

Numerous soul tendrils emerged from his blue soul, grabbing hold of the soul husk belonging to the late language teacher's Wisdom Parasite, making an impression on it.

They flattened it into a circle, shaping its base structure to resemble a blanket. The soul husk was stretched and thinned until it had become large enough to wrap around the subsoul—belonging to his Wisdom Parasite.

Numerous memory fragments were extracted from the blue soul, their contents processed using the brain, duplicating them. The original memories were placed in the blue soul, occupying their prior position; the Soul Cornea began to affect the copied memory fragments, destroying everything apart from the white layer coating them.

Each white layer corresponded to a persona, forming the fragments of a whole. They were shaped into hexagons, carefully overlaid on the blanket. Irrespective of the energy consumption, the blue soul continued to create soul tendrils, working on it en masse.

The moment a trace amount of psychic energy entered his Brain Crystal, they were siphoned out through the five soul tendrils, maintaining it in a state of near emptiness.

Every time the Caterpillar finished eating a Brain Crystal, the thinned psychic arm would place another before it. Without any command, the Caterpillar automatically began to eat the Brain Crystal, guided by its desire and instinct.

Two hours later, a false persona hovered inside the blue soul, shaped into a blanket, transparent in nature, with one side of it layered with white hexagons. This false persona was imbued with the qualities of gluttony, focus, and filled with self-control.

The blue soul overlaid the blanket on the wisp belonging to his Wisdom Parasite, affecting its personality. Simultaneously, the Caterpillar that was devouring the Brain Crystal in relish slowed down its actions, showcasing a controlled nature.

It took one bite after another, controlling its actions to provide a smooth, uninterrupted flow of energy into his bloodstream. Jyorta nodded with a smile, once again closing his eyes, taking the opportunity to finish the other false persona.

It would have taken him a long time to finish this false persona, considering the sturdiness he had intended to imbue in it. It consumed a lot of energy to layer each white hexagon on its surface, not to mention shaping them according to the facial features on the face mask.

As for the curtain, he didn't give it much thought, except for the personality traits it ought to have. Since he planned to use it only on the subsoul of his Wisdom Parasite, he could finish it quickly. As of present, the Wisdom Parasite didn't have much in the way of emotions, except for the trace amount it absorbed from Jyorta.

As the requirements were low, he could finish it in two hours. But, when it came to the face mask, he depended on it for a lot of situations, hence the planning, energy cost, and time consumed being tremendous.

Atika Light noticed the changes exhibited by his Caterpillar, focusing on the insight she gleaned thanks to her Tier 4 Skill. She silently nodded her head, her mind buried under a mountain of thoughts, linking each of his actions to the knowledge she had accumulated.

'As expected of his arrangement; the mysteries related to a Psychic Parasite are endless. This is a good opportunity to observe a Psychic Parasite in action. Maybe at the end of it, I would be able to accumulate enough knowledge to derive another Unranked Skill, focusing on the aspect of the soul.' Her eyes shone with a cunning light, glancing at the unconscious Heima, and shifting focus to Jyorta who sat near her legs.