Chapter 4: Trial

7th Ring, Sector 4, 1st Academy, Class 5A; the teacher stood before a whiteboard, using a marker to draw on it. 30 students sat before her, some listening, some in a daze, and some secretly playing a game to pass the time. The teacher didn't seem the type to care about their behaviour and just patiently continued with the lesson.

"Modern Rodawri, the language that had been created to avoid information leakage to the beasts; it is part of your curriculum. Created by the Rhachis Ancestor Light 180 years ago, it has become the foundation of our linguistic system."

Jyorta was listening with rapt attention; at least, that was what it looked like. His eyes were glazed over, a trace of drool leaking out of his mouth while his frame was crouched low, to avoid being detected by the teacher. The blue soul connected its senses to his eyes and ears, allowing it to receive the information. Since Jyorta was asleep, it took this opportunity to gain information.

'The so-called Rodawri feels similar to Sanskrit, but it has English, Chinese, Tamil, and Latin mixed into it. It also seems to have been formed after removing the complexities of the base languages and has evolved into its own complexity. Though, I can't be sure since I am not an expert in languages.'

The Blue soul thought, extending a tendril outside the body, trying to connect it with the student sitting before Jyorta. But, the moment it emerged outside Jyorta's body, it rapidly dissolved, breaking down into specs of light invisible to the naked eye.

'So, it is not possible for me to attach myself to the soul of other people for the time being. Then, I should take care to not expose myself before the mother character. She is too perceptive for my own good. And, it has only been 2 years since I could begin to think about my past and analyse the surroundings in detail.'

When Jyorta became 8 years old, his brain had developed sufficiently to allow the blue soul to use it for thinking purposes. Without connecting to a brain, it would just be like a dead phantom, unable to think and unable to make decisions. With its connection to Jyorta's soul, it could automatically infer whenever Jyorta was asleep and make use of his brain to think.

Before Jyorta turned 8 years old, his brain was too undeveloped, which prevented the blue soul from accessing it often in fear that Jyorta would be reshaped into his character which might create troubles in this world that was different from Earth. Different worlds operated with different principles; the mentality of people living in such worlds would be distinctively different.

Through his experiences for the past 2 years, he found a major flaw in his existence. The memories he processed through Jyorta's brain would be stored inside it. This enables a possibility for him to recall it, supposedly he thought in such direction in the future, leaving most of Kaushik's memories for him to access.

The only saving grace was the fact that Kaushik's soul had invaded more than half of Jyorta's soul. It was only a matter of years before he could completely take over the soul of Jyorta, finally embarking on his journey in this world.

A bell rang, prompting the teacher to stop her lecture and walk out of the room. It almost looked like she was happy to leave. The kids stood up, in response to her exit, performing a small bow.

"Thank you, Madam!"

Jyorta continued to sit. The blue soul didn't dare to control his body to stand up like others, afraid that Jyorta would notice something amiss and spark off a chain reaction in his body that might endanger him. It only dared to connect to the sensory organs, never once trying to actuate any body movements.

"Jyorta, wake up!" A hand landed on his shoulder, shaking him awake, prompting the blue soul to hurriedly cut off its connection and slumber in absolute silence.

"Pokemon is awesome," Jyorta mumbled in a daze, regaining his senses to find a boy looking at him. The boy looked slightly mature, sporting wide facial features on his tall body frame, almost half a head taller than Jyorta.

"Pokemon? What is that? Are you daydreaming again?" The boy stood up from his seat, walked forward, and sat atop Jyorta's desk.

"I should say, Jyorta has a wild imagination. He always mutters such weird names in his sleep." Another feminine voice sounded from the front; a girl approached, pushed the boy a little, and climbed atop the desk. The two completely occupied the desk.

"Anyway, have you heard the news?" The girl excitedly said, "Next month, Rhachis Ancestor Strongest will pay a visit to Sector 4."

"Really?" The boy became excited. "He's coming here? That's awesome!"

"I heard it too. I saw the Principal talk about how she would organise an exam soon and the top 3 scorers from our school will get the chance to meet him in person." Jyorta said, his eyes shining with anticipation.

The boisterous crowd suddenly calmed down as a teacher walked in. They hurriedly stood up and greeted the teacher. The boy and the girl who sat on his desk deftly slipped and retreated to their seats, joining the others with the greeting.

The man motioned for them to sit as he picked up the marker and wrote '89%' on the whiteboard with exaggerated size. He turned to the confused students and said, "Do you students know what this percentage means?"

The students uniformly shook their heads. They concentrated their attention on the number, trying to bore their gaze into it and find the answer. Finding the expected response, the man smirked a little, raising his eyebrows and sporting a wide grin, displaying how proud he felt at the moment.

"A student from our school managed to get a Sync Rate of 89%, the second-highest in all of 7th Ring."

On seeing the students still clueless about what he was talking about, the man switched on a projector, displaying the Central Nervous System of the Human Body. "The CNS consists of two parts: the brain, and the spinal cord. I have already briefly told you about the CNS in previous classes."

On seeing the children nod in confirmation to his statement, the man smiled and continued, "This time, I will tell you about Sync Rate. The level of fusion of a Wisdom Parasite with either the brain or the spinal cord gives rise to the term, Sync Rate. I won't go much into detail since you will learn about them in higher studies."

On seeing their relieved look about not having to mug up complicated theories, the man gave a knowing laugh and continued, "Just remember that the higher your Sync Rate, the stronger you can become in the future."

…

7th Ring, Sector 1, a 120 storey skyscraper stood tall, its top obscured by the clouds. Unlike the other skyscrapers, this building was made from what looked like monster bones that were refined under extreme heat.

It stood out like a sore thumb among the similar-looking skyscrapers, looking like an alien amongst normal humans. A huge sign was engraved into an arch on the ground at the front, acting as an entrance to the building.

Limitless Tower!

Mrs. Bone stood at the entrance, a stack of documents in her hands, accompanied by Mr. Bone. She was hesitating to take a step inside, in fear that this would be her last. Mr. Bone placed his hand around her shoulder, in efforts to comfort her, but failed to hide mask his worry.

"Dear, I…"

"We went over this many times. If I don't attempt this, my survival chances out there might very well be zero." Mrs. Bone said, overcoming her hesitation, entering the Tower. Mr. Bone followed with a forlorn sigh, lamenting his weakness.

Ground floor, reception hall; a receptionist received the stack of documents Mrs. Bone had handed over, carefully scrutinised through its information before dialling a number in the landline near her. She took out a token card from her pocket and handed it to Mrs. Bone, informing her to wait in the reception area until she was called.

Mr. and Mrs. Bone sat, their expressions tense when suddenly, the entire tower vibrated. The decorative objects placed before them, consisting of flower vases, pen stand, magazine stall, etc fell on the ground. The duo hurriedly crouched down, shielding their heads when Mr. Bone took out a filament from his pockets, expanding it to cover their bodies.

The filament turned into a hard cover that shielded their bodies, bracing the occasional miscellaneous items that collided into it. Staff personnel dressed in battle garments, carrying weapons, rushed into the reception hall, quickly calming the people. The vibrations of the Tower soon subsided.

"What happened?" Once the situation had stabilised, Mr. Bone retracted the filament and questioned a friendly-looking staff. The staff looked at his face for a second and paused, communicating through a transceiver attached in the earlobe on his right. After a couple of seconds, the staff whispered a couple of words to Mr. Bone, and hurriedly walked away.

Mr. Bone stood stupefied for a good whole minute before coming to his senses after Mrs. Bone nudged him.

"It seems a Shifter lost control while trying to breakthrough." Mr. Bone muttered, ensuring that other people wouldn't be able to hear this piece of information.

"We can come back another day. Once they have settled today's mess." Mr. Bone suggested. Seeing the figure of his wife who remained silent despite hearing the commotion, his worries had further intensified. If she tried to breakthrough in such circumstances, there might be a high chance of her failing to breakthrough and lose her life in the process.

"Are you Henrietta Bone? I am Lucas Dark; I will be the one supervising your breakthrough." A man introduced himself, sporting a calm visage, despite the turbulence the Tower had just faced. He shook hands with Mrs. Bone and motioned for her to follow him. He turned around to gaze at Mr. Bone, inspecting his strength for an instant before switching back to matters at hand.

"Family members are advised to wait here. Please read some magazines to pass your time." Lucas said. Mr. Bone could only nod and sit in a corner, patiently waiting for the news of his wife's success.

…

1st Academy infirmary, Heima lay atop a bed, looking weak. She could barely lift her hands when her face turned pale; she hurriedly sat up and moved closer to a bowl, vomiting into it. Her vomit was a mixture of bile and blood; wiping her mouth with a towel placed beside her bed, she once again lay on the bed, her gaze unfocused.

A nurse beside inserted a needle through one of the veins on her hand, connected to a dip filled with a viscous solution. The viscous solution steadily entered her bloodstream, replenishing her blood plasma.

'This is worse than the pain during the Induction. When will I be able to leave here? I hope mom doesn't get too angry.' She thought, closing her eyes to rest. Suddenly, her eyes shot open; she hurriedly sat up once again, leaning closer to the bowl and vomiting until her stomach was emptied of all fluids.