Chapter 283: Predator

Previously before its breakthrough, the Crust-Mantle wasn't anything impressive, only possessing a Sync Rate of 64 percent. Moreover, it had been at Tier 1 for almost 7 years, a period too long for even Frenzy Beasts.

This showed its lack of confidence to even breakthrough to Tier 2. But now, not only did it successfully breakthrough, its Sync Rate even shot up to a staggering 97 percent, surpassing common sense.

Raising the Sync Rate by even a single percent required a Tier 5 Frenzy Fruit. The Trait of Severability consumed the full capacity of a Transformer's Heart Crystal to increase the Sync Rate by one percent. This fact alone showed how difficult it was to raise the Sync Rate. After all, it meant regenerating the lost body parts of the Wisdom Parasite while simultaneously fusing it with the host.

Buy the Crust-Mantle easily broke this preconceived notion, easily raising its Sync Rate by staggering heights, after a breakthrough even. Jyorta felt his head spin, unable to handle the surge in the information.

"I have to know the reason, no matter what it takes." Jyorta gritted his teeth, unleashing his two Soul Corneas into the Crust-Mantle's soul. Immediately, they exerted their influence, vaporising all the murkiness.

Jyorta only used up 5 percent of his psychic energy reserves before he managed to fully vaporise all murkiness. He then absorbed all the memory fragments, leaving none behind. He did the same to its Frenzy Parasite's soul, absorbing all its memory fragments.

He stored them inside a soul husk, sealing it up and leaving it on one corner of the blue soul. He hadn't removed the white layer surrounding the memory fragments, so there was a chance they would birth an ego soon.

But, thanks to the never-ending fight in his subsoul—the soul of his Wisdom Parasite—between his ego and the ego birthed from Ehara Gobi's memory fragments, he was now able to easily take care of any egos that popped out efficiently. After all, unlike normal egos, the one birthed from Ehara Gobi's memory fragments possessed ample resistance against his corrosion. Therefore, it served as the perfect whetstone to sharpen his abilities.

Jyorta gazed at the Crust-Mantle, noticing its weakened state. Its body was subtly changing, turning into a better killing machine. Thought, it seemed it would take a lot of time before it was ready to hunt. Until then, it would probably desire to remain hidden.

'I have time until then to solve this mystery.' Jyorta placed his hand on the sand walls, noticing the height he had to scale. After thinking his plan through, he took out a plastic bottle from his kit. It was shaped like a sachet, with a corked lid.

He brought it before the Crust-Mantle's mouth, gently unleashing his aura personification of hallucination. A couple of seconds later, the Crust-Mantle opened its mouth, generating saliva that drooled out.

Using his psychic arm, he diverted the flow, pouring the contents into the sachet. When it was filled to the brim, he made the Crust-Mantle close its mouth. Stored within the sachet was about 600 millilitres of its saliva. Jyorta glanced at the dome above, nodding after a moment of thought, deciding that the amount was enough.

He placed the sachet in the kit and took out two spindles, holding one in each hand.

He pierced the spindle in the wall, using it to support his climb, piercing the spindles one after in order as he climbed up. Thankfully, the place was shaped like a funnel, the sand walls only being steep. Therefore, he managed to climb without any difficulties, managing to prevent them from caving in.

That was part of his concern. Until he solved the mystery, he didn't want the Crust-Mantle's place to collapse and become a target of the prowling Steel Porcupines. Soon, he bored through the dome from a corner, surfacing from the same hole he had bored through to enter.

Upon exiting, he first took some solid footing. Removing the sachet from the kit, he poured the saliva on the sand nearby, mixing them up. The sand hardened, turning similar to clay in strength. Using his psychic arm, he layered it atop the mound, closing up the hole he had burrowed out from.

He also layered more sand over, hardening the entire structure to reinforce it further, just in case as a safety measure. Thankfully, the area was dominated by the Steel Porcupines. They were long and agile, therefor possessing very little chance of causing the dome to collapse through their weight.

He only hoped no One-Horned Rhino would walk over it. 'I'll try to return before something like that happens. I can't let go of this opportunity to know something this mysterious.'

Just when he turned around, he paused, 'Why are there no such records in the Portal? Is this confidential information? Or is there some other reason?'

He sighed, "There is no harm in trying."

He then gazed at the existence on his shoulder, watching it sleep peacefully despite everything that had happened. Jyorta laughed, gently patting its back once, "You are one brave little champ."

The Two-Faced Firefly trembled upon his touch, flapping its wings for an instant before curling up, returning to sleep. Jyorta was amazed, chuckling at the response. Despite its grotesque, almost nightmare-inducing appearance, its actions were cute.

Moreover, the Two-Faced Fireflies were one of the most harmless races among the Frenzy Beasts. They neither possessed any offensive Skill nor were they biologically evolved to hunt. All they did was feast on the corpses of Frenzy Beasts after the predator had its share and had left the remainder.

It was a scavenger. Therefore, Jyorta wasn't guarded against it. Moreover, just to ensure it wasn't part of a mysterious secret like the Crust-Mantles, he went through some of its memory fragments, concluding that it was just a harmless Frenzy Beast. Moreover, it seemed to possess fairly sharp instincts, not once trying to feast on his blood that had seeped out through the gauze on his wounds.

After braving through some ordeals together, despite it doing nothing, Jyorta began to treat it a little as his pet. Though, he hadn't become attached to it enough to name it. He drew a clear line between human and Frenzy Beast, unwilling to take chances that would soften his view on them.

The moment he does so would plunge him into a vicious spiral when he comprehends the memories of Frenzy Beasts, eventually making him unable to harm them. This approach would prove detrimental to him in the long run.

Jyorta treaded on the sand, maintaining both his domains. The soul domain was used to sense the presences of any Frenzy Beasts while the psychic domain was to look out for any traps. He had only taken twenty steps on the sand before he started to pant in exhaustion.

'This isn't good.' Jyorta thought, gazing at the distance he had to travel to reach the stairs to the first layer. He had more than 150 metres to traverse. In the current environment, that was hard. Moreover, every step was laden with traps while the heat and the ambient aura further served to wear him out.

To prevent the environmental factors from affecting him, he had to expend psychic energy to filter them out through his barrier. After a moment of thought, he stopped moving, conserving his stamina.

He glanced back, making a note of the area where the Crust-Mantle was resting under. He took deep breaths while the blue soul sent some memory fragments to his brain. Soon, he unleashed his aura personification, ensuring to avoid the area around the Crust-Mantle.

Aura Personification—Hallucination!

'I hope at least one Frenzy Beast takes the bait.' He wished to pull out a Frenzy Beast and ride it to his destination.

He was alert, attentive of his surroundings, observing all the changes. Suddenly, his back was covered with sweat as a mound appeared right behind him.

It was only a metre behind him. Jyorta hurriedly rolled forward, watching a massive serpentine figure crawl out. It was three metres long, its girth almost 60 centimetres. The spikes on its back were menacing, deadly sharp.

Muscles wriggled around their roots, concealing tremendous power. They were elastic, able to store and burst with enough power to shoot out the spikes like a bullet. Moreover, the serpentine figure possessed 12 full-body length spikes, displaying its immense might.

It was a Tier 2 Steel Porcupine. Among the Steel Porcupines, the number of body length spikes they possessed displayed their accumulation, their strength. This was the case for all Warriors among the Steel Porcupines.

They averaged between three and five body length spikes while possessing about 30-50 short spikes. Anything beyond that classified them as elites, powerful foes that Frenzy Beast from other races wished to evade.

Jyorta mentally counted, feeling his head spin. His forehead was covered with sweat while his mind was alert as if he had faced his life's worst enemy. Numbering on the Steel Porcupine's back were 12 body length spikes, while it also retained around 80 normal spikes.

The numbers were too much, so much so that he wondered if it were a special case. The moment he gazed at it, a certain term popped up in his mind. Until now, he witnessed the term only used to refer to some students in the military academy.

In their Batch, he, Laila, Dalna Doppler, George, and Haesha were referred to as such. It was a term to show they were above the average, even a step above the elites, a showcase to their potential and displayed abilities.

A Genius!

The Steel Porcupine before him was the same. A Steel Porcupine with 6 full-body spikes would be the leader of its group, becoming the alpha of the pack. But a being with 12 spikes; that was a notch above the rest, a genius.

Moreover, unlike the other Frenzy Beasts, this Steel Porcupine unleashed a sliver of its aura, making it apparent that it had activated a Skill. A second later, it gazed at Jyorta, its eyes shimmering with murderous intent. It overlaid a subtle influence atop its aura, seeking to break past Jyorta's influence.

Aura Personification—Predator!