Parasyte System

"Haa..."

At the same time that Jay had arrived at Vilda's location, back at the training center, a person was making use of one of the special training rooms.

Unlike the training yards that Jay used, which had no roof and only had wooden dummies, this training room consisted of a huge room where both the walls and the ceiling were completely black in color.

The only exception to this rule was the floor, which, although it was also mostly black, it had a pattern drawn all over it.

While a person might look at the pattern and think that it simply looked like cracks on the floor, they were actually much more complex than that.

Their function was similar to that of the pillar of espers that the examiner on the entrance exam had used, with each crack functioning as a circuit through which the energy of an esper could travel freely.

However, the difference between the pillar and this pattern was in the way the energy was distributed.

In the pillar, the goal of the espers was to try to light as many circuits as they could, a task that, thanks to the material the pillar was made of, was one that a only few would be able to excel at.

In contrast, with the pattern on the floor of this room, as long as one was somewhat skilled at managing their energy, even lighting the entire pattern would not be a problem.

Instead, the challenge here lay in that the goal of this special training room was not to increase the amount of energy a esper had, but to help them to improve their control.

Thanks to the pattern that resembled the shape of cracks, with the center of these cracks being the person using this pattern, the esper could choose which crack their energy would go through, gradually improving their control.

At this moment, the person using the training room was illuminating 6 different cracks, all separated from each other, making it clear that their control was no joke.

Normally, this would be an arduous task for any esper, but proving that they were not just anyone, this person showed no signs of tiring or anything of the sort, seemingly able to go on for hours on end if need be.

If they continued at this pace, there would be no doubt that their control would reach new heights.

"...Hngh!"

*Swoosh!*

Suddenly, the person trembled for a moment before losing control of their energy, releasing a wave of energy that illuminated all the cracks.

The next moment, the cracks went out, a product of this person having voluntarily cut off the power supply.

"...Again... how annoying..." The person said, expressing an anger that was unlike them, "Just what have you done to me...?"

Upon finishing saying these words, this person let out a sigh before clapping their hands twice, causing the black walls and ceiling to light up.

Now that there was light, this person's appearance became fully visible.

With golden hair that reached her shoulders, features so refined that they made her the center of attention wherever she went, and a slender figure ready to be able to face any kind of situation, Faith was standing in the middle of the room.

On her face, aside from a few beads of sweat appearing thanks to the energy release she had a few moments ago, a slight frown could also be seen.

"...No matter how much I think about it, it doesn't make sense... a simple Bond shouldn't be able to leave me in this state..." She said as she began to walk towards the exit door of the training room.

Unlike Jay, who had been busy thinking about other things that were more or equally as important as the energy exchange he had with Faith, the latter had been thinking about this ever since she got out of class in a hurry.

At first, she was somewhat embarrassed that she had let herself get so carried away with Jay, but after a couple of hours, the embarrassment subsided to a great extent, causing her to focus on the part of the energy exchange that needed her special attention.

Like Jay, she too had felt the effects that the energy exchange had in her, especially the feeling of her cells becoming stronger as well as revitalized.

It was as if from the moment she began to exchange energy with Jay, her ability reacted and began to purify her body on its own, slowly taking her to a new level.

And at the end of the exchange, Faith once again felt like she was getting closer to advancing in rank.

Although it was easy to put this into words and it might seem like a simple task, it wasn't like that at all.

It was normal for talented young supers to constantly advance in rank and grade, going from being normal rank (F-) people to becoming grade (D+) supers, causing their self-esteem to grow tremendously and sometimes even develop great pride.

However, this changed when they reached grade (C-), as it was at this step that complications began for young supers, putting a stop to their streak of breaking through the ranks, something that even happened with the more talented youngsters.

This rank also  represented an important change for every super, as it marked the first step they took towards their advancement in the hierarchy of life.

So much so in fact, that for the three different super classes, each of the ranks belonging to (C), starting at (C-), going through (C), and ending at (C+), had obtained different titles.

For example, for pugilists, the rank (C) was known as "The Limit", the strongest the human body of a normal person could be, so "breaking" this limit was what would truly make them supers.

On the other hand, for espers, they called the rank (C-) "The Awakening", since it would only be here where they would stop feeling their abilities as something that they only used, and it would become completely part of them.

In the case of magicians, thanks to the different branches of magic that existed, they had special names that differed from each other, generating a chaos that was only possible to unravel by magicians themselves.

If something was clear, it was that for the supers, each of the steps of the (C) rank were important, as much as to obtain their own titles.

Matching that importance, however, was the difficulty involved in advancing once rank (C-) was achieved.

Normally, this would be a process that would take years, with most supers barely being able to reach rank (C+) after having accumulated an enormous amount of experience and having exhausted almost all of their talent.

In Faith's case, although she was a very talented young woman who had been able to reach the rank (C-) at the age of 17, she herself knew and felt better than anyone else that advancement was a process that would take a long time.

She had resigned herself to this, thinking that she would achieve the rank (C+) in her last year of the academy after having used all the resources she could find at the academy.

However, after teaming up with Jay for today's class, a new possibility for her had appeared, and all because of her curiosity.

"Hm... and to think that things would play out this way..." Faith whispered as she walked through the corridors of the training center.

After the disaster that had been the incident with the chimera, while most students who had been caught up in it had been left with the tragedy of the deceased students or the fact that they themselves had nearly died, Faith was different.

For her, what had most caught her attention was not the chimera or the risk she had gone through, instead, it was the person known as Jay Sacrest, someone who had managed to defeat a monster one rank above him, and who apparently did so using an unusual but incredibly destructive ability.

While she had previously ignored him because he didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary, she had now realized that her judgment when it came to judging people was quite faulty.

Therefore, trying to discover more about this person, Faith had decided to change her attitude towards him, with this change becoming visible in her wanting to work with him in classes.

Thanks to Jay not rejecting her advances, something she already knew would happen because of the attitude he'd had with her before, plus the fact that in the process she was able to manage to irritate an annoying person like Syvis, things had been going well for Faith.

If everything kept going like this, it was only a matter of time before she could unravel the mysteries surrounding the seemingly normal person known as Jay Sacrest.

However, totally unexpectedly and against all odds, not only did she not get any answers, but she had ended up with more questions!

"Hmmm... I guess I'll just have to wait until tomorrow before I can discuss this with him.... it wouldn't be a bad idea to find out where he lives either.... Or I could invite him over to my apartment, then we wouldn't have any interruptions..." Faith said.

Quickly, the idea of exchanging energy with him again popped into her head, and remembering the scene from the afternoon, Faith couldn't help but blush a little, though that didn't mean she stopped thinking about it.

In that way, the esper arrived at the reception of the training center, a place where a girl who was completely focused on her smartwatch was attending.

Unlike other days, in which the girl was busy with her smartwatch, this time she seemed much more committed than usual.

Not caring much about this fact, Faith walked over and asked, "Are any of the espers fitness rooms available?"

Since she couldn't improve her energy control, which was something she did almost daily, Faith decided she could at least train her physique and take the opportunity to let off some steam.

However, even though she had spoken, the girl didn't even turn to look at her, which caused Faith to repeat her question again, though this time moving closer to the girl and raising her voice a little.

"Excuse me."

"...Hm?"

Finally, the receptionist looked up, causing her to directly meet the sight of Faith's face being close to her.

"I'll repeat my question... are any of the espers fitness rooms available?" Faith said.

"..."

"..."

For a moment, the receptionist then stared at Faith's face, causing Faith to speak again.

"...I'll repeat my question..."

"Ah, uh, no, yes I heard you... one moment please..." Replied the receptionist as she put her smartwatch still on to the side.

Unexpectedly, the receptionist, who normally didn't even look directly at the students who came to use the facilities, fidgeted nervously in front of Faith before she started checking which rooms were available.

"There really weren't any available, but juuust now, a room became free! You're pretty lucky, huh!" Said the receptionist as she tried to hide her nervousness a bit by standing up and leaning with her elbows on her desk, "And uh... what time do you finish...? I mean, for how long do you plan on using the room...?"

Faced with this, Faith was about to ask what the room number was, but at that moment, the screen of what the receptionist had been looking at on her smart watch came into her eyes.

In this, one could see the distinctive interface of a person's profile in Palu, and in this profile, what was most striking was a photo, which although blurred due to the movement of one of the people, it was still possible to appreciate several details.

Noticing this, the receptionist, wanting to extend her conversation time with Faith, hurriedly held up her smart watch as she explained what she was seeing, "Oh, you use Palu too? There are quite a few interesting things lately, for example, right now I'm following the story of a guy seeking justice for his friends. Look, they even managed to catch one of them! Although it looks like something happened..."

Now that she could see the image clearly, Faith analyzed the image in detail.

In the photo, she could see the faces of two people, one with cloth over both eyes and mouth, and the other who, for some reason, had his face distorted, almost as if he had been forcibly moved when the picture was taken.

It was a strange photo without a doubt, but what caught Faith's attention, was that the gagged person, for some reason, looked familiar.

"!"

Suddenly, the image of a person came into her head.

"This.... is the guy Jay hangs out with!"