Chapter 379: First Blood

The Blue Soul used the Soul Cornea and created soul tendrils one after another, attaching the souls of the Shoe Fishes to the River Whale's soul. It soon made a circuit of sorts, one where all their souls were connected in one way or another.

Once it was done, the Soul Cornea tugged the soul of a Shoe Fish's Frenzy Parasite, shaping a thin soul tendril. It lacked the foundation for the soul tendril to extend any longer. Jyorta thought for a moment, pulling up the memory of a movie from his previous life.

Finding Nemo!

He pulled up all the memory fragments related to the movie and dumped them into the soul of the Shoe Fish's frenzy Parasite, forcibly increasing its foundation. There was a bit of his ego on them, forming a white layer over the memory fragments.

Jyorta didn't take any measures to destroy his ego on the memory fragments, watching them interact with the local memory fragments. There was a lot of friction, with the egos of both sides getting damaged.

As the Frenzy Parasite developed based on the host, its ego was undeveloped as compared to its peers parasitising bodies of other races. So, his ego soon won the battle, dominating the soul. The soul soon stabilised, allowing the soul tendril to be extended further.

The Soul Cornea connected the soul tendril to the soul of the River Whale's Frenzy Parasite. Using the same process as before, it connected the souls of the Shoe Fishes' Frenzy Parasites to the soul of the River Whale's Frenzy Parasite.

Now, an entire circuit had been created. The souls of the Shoe Fishes were connected to their respective Frenzy Parasite's souls. Their souls were also connected to the River Whale's soul while the souls of their Frenzy Parasites were connected to the soul of the River Whale's Frenzy Parasite.

The Soul Cornea arrived at the soul of the River Whale; its form bulged as something resembling a sphere moved through it. A hole appeared on its from that opened like a snake's as the Hoberman Sphere was ejected.

This was the second Hoberman Sphere the blue soul had made over the month. And, unlike the previous one, the souls forming it weren't subsouls, but rather normal souls that he had obtained from his explorations.

This was his cautious nature coming into play. He dared not leave any subsoul beyond his control in fear that it would attempt a breakthrough and head to the Mental Realm. There, all it would ever do is feed the Mind Hound and make it stronger.

Every time he thought about it, Jyorta felt fear. It was an instinctual feeling, originating from both his mind and soul. The fact that he felt a response from two paths instead of just one further scared him. So, he dared not take any risks.

'There is still the threat of Wenina Marble. How should I even deal with her? Hope she doesn't attempt to breakthrough in the meantime.' Jyorta shuddered at the thought. Wenina Marble was the nurse taking care of him during the end of his coma. He had converted her Wisdom Parasite's soul into his subsoul and used it to clinch victory in his fight against the previous Jyorta's soul.

Once that was done, he immediately returned the subsoul to its owner. After all, he couldn't extract it out of her Wisdom Parasite, for that would kill it. Now, this was a threat looming over him, weighing on his mind ever since.

She was an Area Controller back then. And, more than two years had passed since then. There was no guarantee that she hadn't attempted a breakthrough to Tier 3.

Before he came to the military academy, he was still in hiding. From his point of view, only Rhachis Ancestor Light, his sister, and his grandfather knew of his identity. And, he didn't have any guarantee that they would support him, except his sister. Even then, his sister didn't have much power or sway in the grand scheme of things.

But now, he knew that wasn't the case. Psychic Ancestor Marble, Rhachis Ancestor Strongest, Atika Light, and Mary Veera; they would all lend him a hand as long as he contributed enough for them to make a move. His mindset was different from back then, same for the confidence to make a move now that he had a sort of backing, though flimsy.

'I can only be optimistic.' Jyorta shook his head, focusing on the task at hand. The Soul Cornea ejected the Hoberman Sphere into the River Whale's subsoul. He had modified it a little now. It was the false persona—of absolute servitude, resolution, and compassion.

The Hoberman Sphere looked no different from a regular sphere as it approached the soul core. Then, like a fisherman's net, the Hoberman Sphere expanded, enlarging its jaw as it swallowed the soul core whole.

It then contracted, fully enclosing the soul core within it, unleashing its influence. The soul of the River Whale's Frenzy Parasite trembled for a second before stabilising, the effect of the influence pervaded it.

The goal of the false persona was to prevent the Frenzy Parasite from trying to take control of the host or attempt a breakthrough. Jyorta knew that its effect wouldn't be permanent. After all, as time passed, generated from the desires of the body, murkiness would seep into the soul once again. And, it would start to eat away at the makeup of the Hoberman Sphere, hacking away at its influence before finally destroying it.

The only way to prevent such a scenario was to vaporise the murkiness constantly as and when they emerged. And, Jyorta didn't know for how long he would stay with it. But, since this was his first experiment, he wasn't overly concerned.

The Soul Cornea tugged one side of the soul of the River Whale's Frenzy Parasite, creating a soul tendril before attaching it to the River Whale's soul. The circuit he had been planning was now complete.

The goal of this was to allow the sharing of the memory fragments between all the parties, developing them in unison. As the body digests them, there was a tiny chance that the intelligence of the Shoe Fishes would improve.

Jyorta didn't know for sure, that's why he was experimenting. It was a long-term goal. But for the short-term goal, it was his energy battery. Jyorta jumped on its back, seating himself cross-legged. He controlled the River Whale through his hallucination, making it create the film of water.

Through his soul domain, he noticed the absence of free Shoe Fishes in his vicinity, heaving a sigh of relief. The film of water fully submerged his body underneath as the River Whale took off to the air. Jyorta wasn't concerned about being drowned, shaping the psychic arm barrier over him, extending a part from his nose.

He created a thin pipe that extended out of the film of water, allowing him to breathe without trouble. Moreover, it still retained all its functions: filtering the aura in the air, preventing his heat, smell, and presence from leaking, and keeping him invisible.

The water in the film moved around him, creating a cage of sorts to hold him in place. This way, he wouldn't be floating all over the place as the River Whale moved. The Steel Porcupine curled itself into a ball and jumped, landing atop the River Whale.

It swam in the film of water around its body, making a couple of rotations to see that it wouldn't fall. Jyorta experimented with all forms he would have to use in battles, taking necessary measures before noting the ones he could exploit.

"I now have a battleship." Jyorta laughed, looking forward to see the figure of the Rigordile gaze his way from within the water. It didn't have any muscles to display facial features, but just from the posture of its body and the variation in the presence it exhibited, Jyorta determined that it was puzzled, curious, and also slightly apprehensive.

It too was a Tier 2 being, so Jyorta dared not be careless around it. He chose it as his first target to test his preparations. The Rigordile was alarmed, watching the River Whale fly towards it. When it neared, the Steel Porcupine slithered within the film of water, arriving at its underside, gazing at the Rigordile.

Without any abstruse movement, it launched three spikes at the Rigordile, having activated its Tier 2 Skill. The spikes began to spin at a faster speed, increasing its penetrative power while it faced almost zero air resistance, zooming towards the Rigordile with increased might.

Tier 2 Skill—Shoot Burst!

It was the signature Tier 2 Skill of the Steel Porcupines. It amplified the attacks of their steel spikes that they unleashed. The Rigordile tried to dodge when its eyes glazed over as Jyorta's hallucination struck it.

In the instant it was under the effects of the hallucination, it failed to dodge. The three spikes lodged into its head, spilling out three tiny fountains of blood. Two pierced through its eyes respectively, heading deep inside before poking its brain.

The third one flew into its snout, piercing into the breathing tract deep inside, hindering its breathing. The Rigordile's attention was focused on the three life-threatening attacks it faced, trying to pull them out when a massive shadow loomed over it.

The River Whale crashed into it from high up, the slam creating a wave as high as ten metres. The Rigordile was almost flattened from the attack, numerous bones of it had broken. As for the River Whale, it hadn't taken any damage.

After all, the film of water around it had absorbed all the shock from the impact.

"The Traits of Frenzy Beasts are incredible!" Jyorta exclaimed, controlling the River Whale to fly up before slamming onto the Rigordile once again. The second attack flattened it as the water in the area turned red, with shades of black mixed into it.

A Tier 2 Frenzy Beast had been killed as easily as that.