Chapter 197: A Blurry Lie

Jyorta took in the view of his blue soul, watching his surroundings turn dark, now replaced all-around by a broiling fog, one whose intensity was similar to Atika Light's. It was like gazing at the turbulent sea, one during a full-moon night.

'I don't know if what she said was the truth or a lie she concocted just to test me. But irrespective of the reason, my emotions were affected through external means, with the effect still persisting. She must have done something to the surroundings to subtly affect my emotions. I wouldn't be surprised if she had one of her psychic arms hiding within my body.'

Using the clarity brought about by his false persona, he maintained the same emotional state as before, looking immersed in thought, thinking, 'Grapple Force claimed of the side-effects brought about by my so-called Trait of Corrosion. To be honest, there is neither a Trait of Corrosion nor its accompanying side-effects. I can only go with the excuse they have prepared and slightly improvise it.'

Jyorta exited the view of his blue soul, collating his thoughts and forming the sentence he wanted to speak. He gazed at Madam Mary, speaking without a pause, "To be honest, I never experienced the side-effects. All I ever feel is some minute sluggishness in my psychic energy when I use it at full power. But that too, I am only able to feel them recently after becoming an Area Controller. Until I was called by Grapple Force, I didn't even know about any side-effects nor did I feel one."

"Anything else?" Madam Mary looked at him with a gentle smile, her tone calm, as if she had known about it beforehand.

"That's all, ma'am. I have never used the Trait, barring the single time I did before. So, I haven't felt anything else. When I was in Grapple Force, I was accommodated in a room half the size of my dorm room. Nothing of note was done to me. I just had my meals, slept, and did nothing else."

"All's good if you are fine," Madam Mary smiled, nodding at him once. She then made some small talk, asking about his experience in staying at the military academy. Jyorta replied with a prepared response, which mostly bordered on thoughts that were common among the students.

After some rounds of conversations, Madam Mary turned silent, no longer speaking anything. On noticing her unwillingness to pursue the topic about his Trait, Jyorta mentally heaved a sigh of relief. He then closed his eyes, taking a meditative posture.

An hour later, Madam Mary opened her eyes, "That should be about it. We have spent enough time here. You can directly return to your room. Since I was the one who supervised your breakthrough, it would be assumed that I have fully healed you. This is just a formality since most of the staff and faculty members are privy to your situation."

Jyorta stood up, performing a bow towards her, "Thank you for your help ma'am."

"It is only natural that I would help my grandson," Madam Mary smiled, "Though, I wouldn't provide any more help. Never slack during your days here; try to grasp every opportunity you can find. A diligent person will definitely be rewarded, especially in our merit-based society."

As Madam Mary floated towards the exit, Jyorta followed after her, hearing a voice echo in his ear, "Everything we have spoken about here, don't leak it everywhere. You are intelligent enough to know why, right?"

Jyorta nodded, exiting the room, following Madam Mary through the lift, and finally arriving in the corridor from before. Madam Mary slowly walked towards the principal's office, not glancing behind even once, her expression sporting a smile as always.

Jyorta bowed towards her direction once before descending through a flight of stairs nearby, exiting the Head Office Building. He walked on the ground, inhaling the scent of the grass, feeling invigorated.

The stuffy atmosphere from before, seated in a room with barely any illumination, they were partly calming but mostly fear-inducing. Jyorta felt free now, walking on the open grass plain.

He appreciated the open ground for the space it provided. It allowed him to broaden his perspective from time to time. He headed to the cafeteria, ate some snacks, and walked towards his room.

Closing the door behind him, and placing the key in its respective socket, Jyorta heaved a sigh, feeling his mental state running on exhaustive levels. Every moment he spent with Madam Mary felt like he was treading on a thin rope, beneath it being an abyss that sought to devour him whole.

His nerves were tensed for the whole time, despite Madam Mary speaking a couple of sentences to calm his nerves. The fear etched in his heart never disappeared even once. The reason for this was due to his inability to detect her psychic arm if she wished to hide them from view.

'At one hundred percent Sync Rate, the Range of a Sky Controller's Domain is 10 kilometres. I am well within her range. Even now, her psychic arm might be inside me, sensing every action I take. It might just be my paranoia affecting my thoughts; Madam Mary is a busy individual, she wouldn't waste her time monitoring my actions 24x7.'

'There is also no guarantee that she isn't monitoring me either. After all, if she had a method to detect the presence of Traits in a human body, she would have figured out the truth long ago. Or maybe…' he sighed, unable to figure out the full extent of the lie Psychic Ancestor Marble had concocted.

The effect of his Trait of Corrosion couldn't be sensed unless it acts upon a physical object. That was what had been established when he used his Skill, Corrosion in Madam Mila's class. If the lie had been built upon this factor, meaning even the Trait couldn't be sensed, even if a method to detect Traits exists, he would be safe.

'It may be or may not be.' He shook his head, picking up a glass jar on the table by habit. Contained within it was yellow dust, created by Madam Mila. It was a gift she had given to every Esper in his Batch early on.

Jyorta unleashed his psychic arm, seeping it through the glass jar, watching it pass with ease. Every particle of the yellow dust was his Refined Object, possessing zero resistance to his psychic energy. Upon the influx of his psychic energy, the yellow dust swirled, forming the shape of a person. It was his appearance, a miniaturised version.

His figure crumbled, turning into the Indigo Building. It then changed into Haesha's appearance, remaining as such for more than three seconds. He unleashed his second psychic arm, also passing it through the glass jar, seeping it into the created figure of Haesha.

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before opening it, willing his complete concentration into the glass jar. The lower jaw of Haesha moved, slightly, collapsing soon. This led to her entire figure collapsing into the yellow dust, collecting at the bottom.

"Failed again," Jyorta sighed, it was training, one he performed every day. The abilities of Espers became more complex at higher Tiers, requiring greater skill, concentration, and control. That was why he trained with the yellow dust every day.

It took him almost a month just to get his figure right. As for Haesha's, he could only recreate her face and hair, with the rest of her figure looking like a basic female humanoid. It was a sort of task Madam Mila had given to everyone, meant as training.

The task was for everyone to create their respective faces before the end of their term. Since Jyorta was an Area Controller, Madam Mila changed his task, whispering him to create the bodies of himself and five other people.

All had to be done using the yellow dust. It was a difficult task but Jyorta learned a lot each time he tried it. When he had first finished refining the yellow dust, a thought popped into his head, it was the gift Madam Mila had hidden within the yellow dust.

The thought was a set of instructions that guided his will into shaping his psychic arm, flattening and enlarging it, turning the surface convex. It was the method to create a barrier, something every Esper ought to learn and master before they graduated.

Thanks to the guidance by the thought, most Espers were able to finish creating a spherical barrier—using their psychic arms—in a month. They were then slowly trained every day in hastening the creation of the barrier, in preparation to be effective in battles.

The task of shaping the yellow dust into their faces was a next-level application of the barrier. A spherical barrier consumed too much psychic energy to create and maintain. It also consumed greater volume, increasing air resistance, having a greater chance of being hit, etc.

Therefore, layering the barrier over the surface of one's body was the best method. This task was to achieve that. Thanks to being an Area Controller, Jyorta had managed to achieve it within a couple of months, allowing him to greater appreciate his enhanced abilities.

Line Controllers were only capable of moving their psychic arms straight. So, if they had to change direction, they had to retract their psychic arm and unleash it anew, pointing at the desired direction. This was another limitation that put Line Controllers at a further disadvantage.

Area Controllers were slightly superior in this aspect, but even they faced many limitations. Only Wave Controllers were bereft of such limitations, allowing them to exhibit the true powers of an Esper.