Chapter 124 - A Link That Goes Beyond The Physical

A couple of days passed, and the students of the bronze city had returned to their normal activity of attending classes and spending their time in the city.

Though of course, that didn't mean they had forgotten about the chimera incident, in fact, it was all anyone was talking about these days, by this point, this matter had even reached the ears of students in other cities.

That included, of course, students like Sarah and James, who were in the golden city, who upon hearing this news, immediately contacted Jay to find out if he was okay.

After sending a couple of messages and calling a certain mage who had a lot of questions, Jay was finally free to go about his business, so as he had been doing these past days, he headed for an empty courtyard of the training center.

Immediately, he took off the top of his work uniform and positioned himself in front of the wooden dummy he always used to practice on.

"Fuu..."

Letting out a breath, Jay then gathered all the wind in the surroundings and wrapped it around his arm, his mind reliving the scene of when he managed to deflect the bile bullet from the chimera.

"Ha!"

*Swoosh!*

This time, however, he did not attempt to deflect this stream of wind to the ground, instead deciding to pass it to his other arm, without losing the strength or speed of the wind current.

As for why he was doing this, it was simple... it was because Jay had realized that he needed more ways to strengthen his overall physical abilities.

Whether it was strength, agility, or endurance, they were all lacking the necessary power to make him feel good about himself.

Deep down, the truth was that Jay had a certain pride about himself, having faced a rank (C+) pugilist as well as a monster like the Aqugas snake, without really getting hurt badly.

All of that was, of course, thanks to his rank (D+) pugilist physique, along with his wind control and the martial technique, Phantom Trace.

He had thought that, no matter what the situation was, he would at least be able to protect his own life and escape if necessary.

However, the chimera had shown him how wrong he was.

The moment when he had been in the most danger, and when he had actually felt the risk of dying, had been when the chimera had thrown the bile bullet at him.

It was a direct hit, with enough power and speed to laugh at everything Jay possessed.

Phantom Trace? Too slow unless the fifth and sixth step were activated.

Trying to flee by making an air platform? Sure, if what one wanted was to lose their lower body.

Trying to withstand the bullet using his pugilist's body? It would be better to write a will before that.

To be honest, the only thing that saved Jay at that moment was the ingenuity he possessed to be able to think of solutions in a very short time, including how to avoid the chimera's bullet, which, with a bit of luck, worked.

And while it is true that he received a Trait and an increase in his physical resistance, Jay was fully aware that only that would not be enough if he had to face another monster again!

But fortunately, thanks to the battle with the chimera, a new path opened up for him, one that had been under his nose all this time, and that he hadn't even thought of using due to his own hubris about his power.

At the same time as the wind current was increasing in speed due to the times it had swirled around Jay's arms, Jay was also taking advantage of this to harmonize the wind currents with the energy of his little ones.

Normally he used the energy of his little ones to power himself in a very general way, and this in turn allowed him to use his wind control more powerfully.

However, what he was trying to do now was that instead of his wind control using his energy, he was now trying to use the energy of his little ones to activate the wind control.

It was a new concept that he hadn't tried to do until now and that he didn't even know if it was possible, but for some reason, he had a feeling that it could be done.

*Swoosh*.

Slowly, the wind throughout the courtyard began to move slightly, swirling around Jay but not making contact with the wind currents in his arms, as if it knew it couldn't compete with it if it got close.

As for Jay, his eyes were closed due to the concentration it took to coordinate the movement of the wind currents with the energy of his little ones.

"...Hm..."

Quickly, several beads of sweat began to appear all over his body, making it obvious how demanding this action was for Jay.

The end point of this was to throw a punch that would contain both the wind and the energy of his little ones, but just as he had been trying to do these past few days, the closer he got to the decisive point of throwing the punch, the more he lost the harmony he had created.

Jay had been thinking about why this happened, but no matter what he tried, he couldn't come to an acceptable conclusion so far.

Still, he wasn't going to give up so easily, so even at this moment of high tension, he was trying to analyze the reason why he had been failing.

'My body is burning... but I should be fine until the end... my energy levels and those of my little ones are stable... so what's the problem?' He thought, his eyes still closed as he concentrated on the inside of his body.

Finally, just out of curiosity, he decided to take a deeper look at his little ones, feeling the presence of each of them more strongly than before.

Even though they were separated in different parts of his body in order to optimize their energy expenditure, they were all working hard in order to power Jay's wind control.

However, Jay noticed that there was something off about them, what was more, was that they all seemed to be having the same problem.

At that moment, Jay felt a couple of emotions, which were "Confusion" and "Uncertainty", coming from no one but his little ones.

Raising an eyebrow due to the fact that he didn't understand why they were confused, Jay tried to communicate further with them, to get them to explain exactly why they were in such a state.

Unfortunately, try as he might, his little ones wouldn't tell him any more, so Jay had to change his approach.

'If you won't talk to me... then I'll talk to you...'

With that thought, Jay then began to focus on the faint link he had felt with his little ones from the moment he received the system.

It was because of this link, so vague, seemingly fragile and intangible, but ever present, that Jay was able to receive messages from his little ones and feel what they felt.

It was also thanks to this that he was able to find Noah when he was in the Southern part of Nightown City, although this had been more of a stroke of luck than anything else.

This link was, for Jay, one of the most mysterious things the system had shown him so far, something that in just a few months, had taken deep root within him, connecting him on a level beyond the physical with his little ones.

As the seconds ticked by, the emotions of "Confusion" and "Uncertainty" that his little ones had conveyed to him became more and more intense, but not because they were communicating that to Jay, but because he himself was delving deeper into it.

Slowly, along with these emotions of 'Confusion' and 'Uncertainty', Jay could sense that the reason for it stemmed from a very simple something he had missed.

'...So that was it... they didn't understand my instructions and now they don't know what to do...'

Normally he couldn't communicate with his little ones except to talk to them and wait until they had understood, and this had worked so far.

But as he was feeling at the moment, the more complex the instructions he gave them, the less likely they were to understand them.

Hence all his little ones felt confused and not confident that they could do what he wanted, because they didn't understand what to do in the first place!

'Let's see... how can I fix this then..."

Though of course, that he had figured this out didn't solve the problem, but at least now he knew where to work from.

Right away, Jay decided to stay in the same place of the link, with his little ones' emotions being much more intense than usual, but instead of just feeling them, he started trying to send something.

"Argh...!"

Immediately, a sharp pain shot through his entire body, coming from nothing but the center of his head.

However, Jay didn't stop there, and this was for a reason... he could feel himself getting closer to his target.

With each passing second, the pain became more intense, so much so in fact, that Jay's body began to spasm slightly, which threatened to disrupt the wind currents.

The only reason this hadn't happened yet being thanks to the assistance of his little ones and Jay who had etched these movements into his body.

"ACK!"

Finally, the pain, which had started out feeling like a needle had pierced deep inside his brain, had now turned into thousands of needles that kept sticking in over and over again.

If one took into account that Jay was wincing in pain, when his expression had been almost nonchalant even when his ribs were broken, one could imagine the amount of torture he was going through.

As for why it was costing so much, Jay could already get an idea, and it was because he was trying something he wasn't supposed to do.

His body was telling him, that by trying to communicate with his little ones, he was forcing his body to do something it had never done before, and the risks of which were unknown!

But Jay, in the face of this primitive, animalistic safety system, just kept moving forward.

*CRACK!!!*

"A-Ah."

Just then, Jay could feel, as something inside him, just as the headaches disappeared, suddenly burst.

He knew something had broken, never to be repaired again.

But in return, his senses began to expand, his vision to double, and his sense of his surroundings became much sharper than before.

At that point, Jay knew what had happened, but the system, timely as always, took care to explain it more clearly.

_____________________

The [Hidden Task: The First Milestone] has been completed.

Description: Going through endless pain, enduring great physical and mental strain, the [Carrier] has fulfilled the requirements to take his first step to greatness! Congratulations to the [Carrier]!

First Reward: (15) Parasites - Original

Second Reward: (1) System Ability Fragment.

Third Reward: New System Ability Unlocked.

Fourth Reward: Increased Authority Level.

Remark: You could have died... but you didn't so lucky you!

_____________________

However, as impressive as this system notification was, Jay at this time could not afford to check its contents.

At this moment, the state of his body was similar to when he was making use of [Overload], with the exception that his body did not receive the bonus of temporarily being a rank (C-) super.

Instead, what he did feel, was that his little ones were part of his body, being able to share information, sensations and energy to a degree incomparable to before.

In just a moment, Jay gave them instructions on what to do, and all his little ones understood immediately.

*SWOOSH!

The current of wind in Jay's arms then greatly increased in intensity, becoming a small swirl of wind that moved from one arm to the other.

Jay then opened his eyes and taking advantage of the whirlpool being in his right arm, he hit the wooden dummy in front of him with all his might.

*BAM!*

A loud sound echoed in the surroundings, the product of Jay having made a small fist-shaped hole in the dummy, evidence of the force behind the blow.

Undoubtedly his power had increased compared to normal, however, Jay had not aimed for a simple increase in strength.

*CHAK!*

Without even a second having passed, the wind that had been surrounding Jay's arm then passed into the wooden dummy, releasing all of its destructive power and creating vortex-like gashes all over its surface.

Small pieces of splinter then flew everywhere, unable to withstand the damage the wooden dummy was taking.

*Bam*

"O-ouch..."

Although the wind whirlpool was still continuing to damage the wooden dummy, unfortunately Jay could no longer stand up, being forced to sit down to rest for a bit, a great wave of exhaustion flooding his entire body

However, although he was quite eager to sleep, he didn't.

"...Come on, I can't be... passing out all the time..." He said with a bitter smile on his face.

With those words as his last, Jay then began to rest with the help of his little ones.