Chapitre 26: Psuche Activation
Three hours later, Cody was feeling sore both inside as well as outside, except that there was no massage cocoon for the soreness inside.
"This Psuche thing is harder than I thought." Cody grumbled. All he'd done so far today was absorb lunch! His digestive systems would absorb a decent amount normally, effortlessly, but actively using Psuche to absorb absolutely everything was very difficult. Trying to move Life Force was tricky enough; Cody felt like he was trying to swirl water with a toothpick. Trying to use it to absorb nutrients was like trying to suck ice and starch through a twisted metal straw. Hours of effort and he'd only managed to improve his normal nutrient absorption by a bit. He was nowhere near absorbing it all.
Tired out both inside and out, Cody took a break that Saturday and had a surprisingly long nap. Then they had dinner with Mom when she came online in the Sphere. Afterward, she went back to sleep, and they logged out to have their real dinner.
Worn out after a heavy day, Cody slept early that night.
"Good night, Ghost Girl." He yawned, barely waving at her image in the window before he dozed off.
***
The next day was a Sunday. In the morning, Dad brought them to the Prayi church.
It was a new thing, for them. Previously, they went to Tree Song with the New Order of Gaia. But for some reason, Dad wouldn't take them to Gaian activities any more. Instead, they joined the Prayi.
As far as cultures and religious beliefs went, Gaians and Prayi were often at odds. The Gaians believed in the godhood of the planets. Every world was a god, and it was their sacred duty to serve them caringly, therefore, taking care of the environment and the planets themselves was a religious obligation. The Prayi believed in just one God, and that they talked to Him in prayer, and He was supposed to talk back. They were People Who Prayed, thus 'Prayi', for short. That was about as much as Cody understood about either Gaians or Prayi. The point was, Dad said to make friends at the places they went to on Sunday mornings.
Cody wasn't sure how he was supposed to make friends when everyone was usually busy singing or praying, or having classes about being good and praying more. The teachers kept saying they should keep quiet and not make too much noise in class, or when others were praying, or singing, so… basically that meant he wasn't supposed to talk to anyone, right?
Whatever the case, Cody spent most of the time with his eyes closed sitting in a corner, his hands clasped together exactly the way the Prayi kids did when they prayed. The difference was, Cody was busy using Psuche to absorb breakfast. He didn't actually know how to pray, after all. He was new to this whole Prayi thing. They only started coming here a few months ago, after they left the Gaians.
As for why they left the Gaians, Cody wasn't entirely sure. Everyone started treating Dad really badly the last time they went to Tree Song. Some of them even called him a murderer.
Since when was Dad a murderer? Who did he murder? Why would he murder anyone? Cody didn't understand any of it, but whatever. He just sat down and practiced Psuche Activation. The sooner he mastered it, the sooner he could take Body Enhancement Supplements and get really strong. Then Kalen would have a much harder time trying to bully him.
Once he got the hang of it, and learned how to use Psuche to boost his physical strength and speed, Cody swore he was going to get so good at it that Kalen would never dare fight him again!
According to Vera it all boiled down to practice. Lots and lots of practice.
So Cody practiced.
Another thing he practiced was the Uta Form. Using Cyril's training arena in the Sphere, Cody practiced lunges against the target dummy for hours on end. The dummy didn't seem to like that; it kept trying to dodge. The moment Cody took a step towards it, the dummy would try to avoid the inevitable stab that followed. The only way Cody could really hit it was if he struck as fast as he possibly could.
As quick as a thought, Cyril said. Cody remembered seeing Cyril strike like lightning. That was a truly fast move. If he himself could strike that fast, he would have a proper chance against those Mole Serpents!
***
When Monday morning arrived, Cody slipped back into the Academy VR early. He had class first thing in the morning, and was supposed to report to Multi-Purpose Hall 2 at First Light. That meant he had to get up early and make his way there before the sun even rose.
Inside the hall were six students, including Oren and Na'Sar. At the far end of the hall, an older girl in colorful flashing clothes sat tapping away at a handheld datapad.
"Orb? How long until First Light?" Cody asked, then.
"First Light occurs in Initial Village one minute and thirty nine seconds from now."
"Great." Cody tried to relax. "How are things in the village today? Any special events?"
"There are no special events today. Status of Initial Village SE-T3 is as follows; Current security level for Initial Village is measured at 19. Threat level is estimated at 17. At this ratio, safety for Initial Village is graded at High Risk."
It seemed some people had done some missions to raise Security, but each day, Security would drop by 3 and Threat Levels would rise by 7. While the Weekends didn't count, because time was 'frozen', Initial Village was still just barely keeping its head above water.
An alarm went off inside the hall, making Cody jump nervously. But apparently, it wasn't anything to worry about. The older girl in flashy clothes simply got to her feet and announced, "It's First Light! Time for class to begin. Gather around!"
They gathered.
"My name is Cyrita. Obviously, I'm from Ancayx." She said, gesturing at her clothes.
Cyrita's attire was a colorful mesh of advertisements. Both her long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans were covered with animated advertisements. Words, images and colors moved all over her clothes at every moment. Cyrita was literally a walking advertisement board. Was that typical of Ancayi? Cody suspected so.
"To avoid distracting you guys, I'm going to turn the ads off while class is in session." Cyrita added, and with that, the colors all over her clothes faded, leaving her with a comfortable black t-shirt and jeans. "That means I'm missing out on money I could be earning, so you guys better make this worth my while!"
Cody blinked, dumbfounded. "You get paid for wearing advertisements…?"
But Oren gave a more level-headed response. "Here's my payment. Fifty credits for the class fees."
Oh. So that was what she was asking for.
They paid their fees, and then class started in earnest.
Similarly to Vera, Cyrita started with having them sense their own Life Force. Unlike Vera, however, she wanted them to focus their Psuche in their muscles.
"The most basic Active use of Psuche is to boost strength. It's the easiest form of Channeling Life Force; simply focus it in your arm when you punch." She said. "I will guide you through the first few times, and then you should be able to do it on your own."
She laid a hand on Cody's arm. Soft yellow light gleamed. Cody suddenly felt a surge of energy in his arm.
Then, that Cyrita's energy drew Cody's own Life Force towards it like a magnet. When she took her hand away, Cody found that a good dollop of his Psuche was gathered in his right arm muscles.
"Add more power to it. Just follow the feeling you had earlier. It's easy." Cyrita advised.
She was right! Cody suddenly felt a bit miffed when he tried it and found it happen almost naturally.
Blast it, Vera! Why didn't you start with this?! It would have been so much easier!
Arms, legs, fingers, feet, even their backs and shoulders… Cyrita guided them to practice focusing Psuche in each of them.
"The process of moving Psuche through your body is called Channeling." Cyrita added. "There are many applications to it. Boosting muscle strength is just the beginning. Focusing Psuche to heal injuries is also possible. A more advanced use is to enhance your senses or internal organs with it, like your stomach, to absorb nutrients better. An even more advanced use is to channel Psuche outside your body, like a protective layer. But that's all for later. Right now, just practice focusing it and increasing the strength of your movements."
"How long would it be until we reach the protective layer stage?" Oren asked.
"If you practice diligently, you could reach it in an Earth year." Cyrita shrugged.
"How long is an Earth Year?"
"365 days."
"365 days? That's short!" Cody exclaimed.
"It would be enough, if you practice hard every day." Cyrita assured him.
"I don't know. The rate I'm going, I might take a Sabakan year instead." Oren groaned.
"How long is a Sabakan year?" Cyrita asked.
"517 days. We have seventeen months."
"That's long…" Cody gulped.
(Note: Cody is five Floran years old, not Earth years. In Earth years, he'd be about 7, of age to start school)
"Well, it's all up to you to practice from here on out." Cyrita waved, and turned her ads back on. "We're done for the day! Come back same time next week and let me see your progress! Practice hard, now!"
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
VicL
VicL Threw in one more just for the heck of it.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone