Domain and Limits

"You did well." Madam Mila appeared, finally showing her presence. She had her eyes open, the rest of her body rigid like a statue.

Jyorta picked himself up, looking at his injuries that had completely healed. He also felt healthier than before, feeling his body brimming with energy. As he closed his eyes, he sensed his Brain Crystal forming at a faster rate, its pace only a bit slower than when he stimulated it with the aura of the Tier 5 Artifact.

"The Wisdom Parasite lives inside you, its life and death connected to you. Its senses, mentality, memories, etc. are all derived from you. So, when you feel threatened, the Wisdom Parasite in you also feels the same. In order to cope up with that, it unconsciously increases the speed of the Nurturing." Madam Mila said, giving some time for the Espers to regain their bearings.

As the Espers woke up their friends that had been knocked unconscious, Madam Mila continued, "If you feel threatened for greater durations, it would become detrimental to your health as the Wisdom Parasite would use up all the energy stored in your muscles. But, for shorter durations like this, it is beneficial to you. Moreover, you would also gain some battle experience."

"Try to sense the formation of the Brain Crystal." Following her advice, everyone closed their eyes, sensing their Brain Crystals, heaving out exclamations one after another. Despite having checked it just a few seconds ago, Jyorta mimicked the actions of others and concentrated on his Brain Crystal.

In the previous battle, he gleaned an important piece of information. After forming a connection with his Brain Crystal, he found out that he could use his corrosion ability by sourcing the energy in it.

'Expending the energy in my soul barely managed to corrode 8 centimetres of a strip of paper. But, using the energy from my Brain Crystal, I would be able to achieve a lot more.' Jyorta controlled his expression, sporting a poker face except for the occasional exclamations, mimicking the others.

"The five marble figures were made from my Unranked Skill. I had made them in such a way that their physical abilities bordered around a Warrior at the peak of Tier 1." Madam Mila dispersed her psychic energy, collecting the fragments scattered around the room, converging them before her.

Jyorta hurriedly placed a hand in his pocket, feeling it empty. The shards in his pocket had disappeared at some point in time. His heart lurched in fear; the blue soul once again overlaid the false persona over him.

Within a dozen seconds, all the fragments spanning various shapes and sizes converged before her. As she raised an eyebrow, the fragments broke down into fine particles, their individual size equivalent to dust.

One of the compartments on the wall floated over, opening its lid to reveal 150 glass jars. The marble dust split into 131 portions, settling within each glass jar. Madam Mila corked all of them, sending a glass jar to every Esper.

"Consider it both a test and my gift to you. It has a very high resistance to your psychic energy. Your task is to make each particle present in it your Refined Object by the end of this month. Doing so will significantly increase your control over your psychic energy. Bring it with you everywhere you go and focus your psychic energy on it. I'll check your progress once a week when we have classes." Madam Mila smiled, sending the Espers into a daze upon seeing her lifelike action.

"I have hidden a gift into it. Make sure you find it." Madam Mila then motioned for them to put their glass jars away, signalling them to be seated on their spots.

Jyorta walked towards the 3rd row and brushed aside the items that were strewn across his place, making some space for him to sit. In the earlier scuffle, people used every object they could come across, not caring of whose pile they picked it from.

A wave of psychic energy washed over them, lifting the items from the ground. It was then segregated into 131 portions and scooped before each Esper, their spot, and positions the same as before.

As Jyorta marvelled at the accuracy, he felt something beckoning for his focus from within the pile. It seemed to have a connection with him, like an organ that had detached from his body but still had the nerves trailing to him. With a thought, a disk rose up, producing slinging sounds as it pushed aside some objects along its path.

The disk floated towards him, slightly unsteady, landing on his palm. It was slightly crumpled, its edges bent over. Some places had cracks while a part on the periphery had been nicked away. Looking at the damaged disk, Jyorta wanted to sigh for some reason.

"You should have heard the term Sync Rate over and over again." A voice resounded, beckoning the attention of everyone present, "The Sync Rate is a direct correlation of our fusion with the Wisdom Parasite. Due to that, some changes occur to our brains and the spines of Warriors."

"A simple example to understand them is through the use of our psychic energy. Each Esper has a domain originating from their brain as the centre. This domain is the spherical influence around you where you can sense your Refined Objects and make your psychic energy flow. Beyond the range, the psychic energy you send will extricate itself from your control and disperse into the surroundings."

"The domain is your absolute advantage over Warriors," As Madam Mila said, she made small protrusions appear underneath the skin of the Espers, making them move along it like a bug. "Within your domain, you can affect the matter from any angle and direction. We call this an Esper's Domain."

Once the psychic energy dispersed, the bump visible on his right hand vanished, instilling in him a sense of fear. Jyorta gazed at Madam Mila with apprehension, largely fear. His thoughts exploded as he imagined one scenario after the other, further imprinting a desolate impression in him.

"You don't need to fear it that much. It is not omnipotent against fellow Espers," Madam Mila said, gazing at the fear etched in the expressions of every Esper, Laila included. "Espers can erect a psychic barrier, shrouding over their bodies. This will shield other Espers from affecting your body. Though, this will also render the healing services useless. Don't worry; we will train you for all occasions."

"Coming back to the domain, there is a limit for Espers at each Tier. After experimenting over the years, we haven't managed to overcome the limit. On the off chance we did, it immediately led to a destabilisation of the Sync Rate of the Esper, leading to his death when his Sync Rate dropped below 50 percent." Madam Mila recounted an experience, giving them a better idea.

"The domain for Tier 1 Espers is 1 metre, with the focus being the brain. For Tier 2 Espers, it is 10 metres and for Tier 3 Espers, it is 100 metres. It increases with a multiple of ten per each Tier." Madam Mila coagulated her psychic energy before her, turning it yellow and displaying the numbers.

"The domain of Ground Controllers has a radius of 1 kilometre while it is 10 kilometres for Sky Controllers. Psychic Ancestor Marble boasts a radius of 100 kilometres; every inch of our Marble city is under his watch." Her tone turned slightly jovial, "Who knows, if you give a spectacular performance, you might even gain his approval."

When they heard the last statement, every Esper turned excited for some reason, their previous concerns about the domain vanishing. Some of them even fantasised about strange things while others unknowingly flexed their biceps.

"Now, there are similar limits in the physical effects our psychic energy can exert on matter." Madam Mila began, her expression unchanging, seemingly unbothered about the strange atmosphere that had formed below.

Jyorta gazed at Haesha from the corner of his eye, looking at her place her palm on her cheeks, flushed red, seemingly mumbling something.

"He's a grandpa among grandpas," Jyorta said, expressing his envy, jealousy, and other emotions. He then felt embarrassed, looking at Haesha who had ignored him, as if she hadn't heard his statement. He let out a wry chuckle and scratched his cheeks, glancing around the rest of his class.

'Why…are the faces of all the girls flushed red? And, why the hell is Laila looking even worse than them?' He felt shocked at seeing Laila's face that was redder than a tomato. She was behaving kind of weird, letting out discrete chuckles.

'Considering her mental age, maybe he is in her strike zone?' Jyorta shook his head, concentrating on Madam Mila's lecture.

"For a Tier 1 Esper, at the peak, he can lift an object weighing 1 kilogram and send it travelling at a speed of 1 metre per second."

"At Tier 2, the weight-limit increases to 10 kilograms while the speed of travel becomes 10 metres per second."

"At Tier 3, the weight-limit becomes 100 kilograms whereas the speed of travel becomes 100 metres per second and so on for higher Tiers. Moreover, these limits are for a single psychic arm. At Tier 3, you can wield 3 psychic arms. Meaning, if you club two or more into a single psychic arm, the power you have at your disposal further increases."

"Espers can use many variations to attack. This is why they get progressively stronger from Tier 3. At Tier 4, their attacks break through the sound barrier. But, there is a catch," Her tone turned serious, "This is in the case you possess a Sync Rate of 100 percent."