After the teacher's unnecessarily flashy demonstration, all the students, under his direction, went out into the school yard so that they could get down to the business of what the course was all about, which was improving their control of their skills.
The courtyard, like many other fields at the academy, consisted of a large grassy field with the occasional tree popping up from time to time, giving the entire school more than enough space for all of its students.
As for why they had not headed to the training center, it was because the center was for specialized training, with conditions such as qi inhibition and so on being present, things that were not necessary for an introductory class.
Quickly, all the students took their seats on the lawn, with the teacher being at the front and explaining the first step of a control technique, "Let's start with something basic, first I need everyone to manifest their ability in both palms, for those with passive abilities, it will be enough if you gather your energy in your palms."
Following the teacher's instructions, the students' palms then became filled with various flashy abilities, from fireballs, sparks of electricity, and even the occasional small energy field.
The most eye-catching abilities and the ones that caused the most pressure to others however belonged to none other than the three students who had answered the teacher's question correctly.
With little sparks of energy jumping from finger to finger in her palm, Syvis didn't think much of this and just continued to be attentive to the teacher's next instructions.
On the other hand, Faith was with several small golden colored energy spheres fluttering around her, but focusing especially on her hands, on her face an expression of indifference.
As for Allen, while nothing could be seen on either of his palms, every now and then an invisible wave would expand from his palms before disappearing and repeating that process in a loop.
While their abilities were different, what all three had in common was that, aside from the fact that they could manifest their abilities as easily as breathing, they were all emanating considerable pressure.
To the other students' bad luck, the three had placed themselves in strategic locations, with Syvis in the center of the students, Faith to the left side and Allen to the right, not allowing a single one of their classmates to be at ease.
While all this was going on, there was one person who was not at all concerned about the threat of these three, in fact, he was even sitting relatively close to one of these people, and instead, he was rapidly working his brain as his gaze fell on each of his classmates.
'Quick, I must memorize as much as I can!' Jay thought as he deeply recorded the faces of his classmates along with their skills.
It was clear that instead of paying attention to the teacher, he was much more interested in his classmates, or rather, their skills.
Of course, this was understandable, after all, this was the main reason he had come to the academy.
While the lessons from the teachers at the academy would also have benefits for him and Jay would definitely take whatever they offered, he already knew that the path he had to follow to get stronger was different from that of any other super.
For any other mage, esper or pugilist, getting stronger depended on several factors, some external, such as the resources available for training, and some internal, such as one's own talent.
However, Jay didn't need to follow that path, because he had his own path, called the Parasyte System!
At that moment, interrupting Jay's information gathering, the teacher spoke again, "Now that everyone activated their abilities, the next step is to separate your hands and limit your energy to just the center of your palms!"
Just as before, the students followed the teacher's instructions and limited their abilities, or at least they tried to.
While they could manifest their abilities with relative ease, most were used to letting them out as much as they could, not suppressing them, so it was inevitable that they would have difficulty.
Although there were students like Syvis, Faith and Allen who seemed to have little trouble, they were the exception.
"Ah!" Shouted one of the students whose fireball suddenly lost control, heading towards another of the students, a thin, gray-haired boy.
Because the latter had been focused on complying with what the teacher asked, he only noticed the fireball when it was too late, unable to defend himself even if he wanted to, only managing to grit his teeth and close his eyes, waiting for the impact.
*SWOOSH!*
However, the blow never came, so the boy's curiosity forced him to open his eyes, the first thing he saw being a wind-covered hand that was right in front of his face.
Before he could process what had happened, Jay's soft voice reached the young man's ears, "Are you okay?"
"Ah, I...yes, thank you very." Replied the young man, averting his gaze from Jay's, making him a little nervous that Jay's face was so close.
Thanks to the fact that Jay had been paying attention to his classmates, he was the first, other than the professor, to notice the fireball that had gotten out of control.
Therefore, even though he was sure the professor would have dealt with it without a problem, using his pugilist body, he arrived at the young man's side in barely a moment, just in time to help him.
"Well done, Sacrest, as for you, I'm afraid I'll have to give you a reprimand in the form of a homework pass." Said the professor before causing a small yellow colored ticket to drop in front of the young man, "It's a pass for a three hour intensive session for esper skill control at the training center, I would recommend that you complete it before tomorrow, as if you don't, you won't be able to get into any other classes, besides..."
Taking advantage of the fact that the teacher was scolding and explaining what the homework pass was to the student who let the fireball escape, Jay struck up a conversation with the gray-haired boy.
"Hm, it seems to me that the pass is more of a reward than a punishment..." Jay said, sitting down casually.
Focusing more attention on Jay's words than his actions, the gray-haired boy added, "Of course not, although it might sound easy since it's only three hours, surely he won't be able to complete the pass for at least two weeks."
Just as the boy had said, the pass was in no way a reward, but was more of a leveling class for those students who were lacking in one or two aspects, with the difference being that they were quite a bit more difficult to complete than any other normal class.
"You seem to know quite a bit, weren't you also a first grader?" Jay asked.
At that moment, the young man brought his gaze to meet Jay's, narrowing his eyes, "...You say that because of my size?"
Now that he mentioned it, Jay couldn't help but take a closer look at the boy, realizing that he was not only thin, but also slightly shorter than normal.
Waving his hand to lighten the situation, Jay spoke again, "Of course not, it's because this class is only for first graders."
"Ah... right. Ahem, I know because my sister is in fourth grade and she's told me several things about the Academy." Replied the young man with a lightly embarrased look on his face.
Stretching his hand forward, Jay said with a smile on his face, "It was already my plan, but now that I know you have valuable information, I definitely need to have you as a friend, nice to meet you, I'm Jay Sacrest."
The young man found it a bit odd how straightforward Jay was, but thanks to the fact that the latter had created a good impression by helping him earlier, plus the fact that he didn't seem to have bad intentions, the young man relented, "...Vilda Lundell, likewise."
In that way, thanks to the carelessness of an esper, Jay got to meet another classmate.
With no further interruptions or out-of-the-ordinary occurrences, the class continued, with students trying their best while the teacher gave advice for the whole class or to specific students from time to time.
At the end of the class, only seven students were able to accomplish what the teacher asked, causing the next part of the technique to be postponed for another day.
***
After several hours, the classes that followed after the Skills Control also ended, releasing all the students to the streets of the bronze city.
Some took the opportunity to relax a bit after so many hours of class by going to cafes or similar places, others instead headed straight to their apartments, not wanting to know anything about the city at least until the next day.
However, although the majority of students had a veil of tiredness over their shoulders, there were a very small number of students who continued to exert themselves despite the fact that classes were over.
And those were none other than the ones who had a job at the academy!
Inside the bronze city's training center, a young black haired man was arduously cleaning a stone courtyard with a broom, instantly sweeping away any signs of dust and dirt he found.
*Swoosh swoosh!*
The broom's movements were so fast that one could even slightly feel the wind pressure emanating from it.
The person cleaning was clearly Jay, who was shamelessly using his pugilist's body to perform his tasks faster because his time was limited.
Regardless, what was occupying his mind right now was not that, but all the information he had gotten today.
Thanks to his great memory but mainly due to the fact that the Skill Control class lasted a couple of hours, Jay had managed to memorize the skills and faces of more than half of his classmates, giving him a wide repertoire from which to choose a potential new host.
Still... he wasn't too excited about it.
'...Not bad skills but... they're a bit common, aren't they?' He thought, his expression turning to one of discomfort.
He didn't want to judge his classmates' abilities too much, even more so when he was the one who was going to get all the benefits, but when he remembered the abilities he had seen, he couldn't help but feel that he was right.
'Well, complaining won't do any good, I guess I'll just have to filter everything I have.'
Thinking that, Jay then let out a sigh before starting to organize the skills he had seen.
First were the elemental abilities, which were similar to the one he had, only instead of wind, they were things like fire, water, ice, rocks, and so on.
It's wasn't that they were bad, for while their effects and potential were simple, it was that simplicity that also made them strong, after all, Jay also possessed that type of ability and knew well how useful they could become.
With that in mind, Jay listed their benefits in three, simple to use, low energy expenditure and the ability to create a strong combination.
By strong combination, Jay meant looking for a elemental skill to complement the one he already possessed, though it was somewhat difficult, since of all the elemental skills, the only one that he could think that would be compatible with his Wind Control was Fire Control.
'Hm...'
The mental image of him controlling a huge hurricane of fire was enough to excite him, but remembering that he only had room for one more skill, he suppressed his excitement.
'I'll leave that option as a last resort...'
Second were the miscellaneous abilities, namely those held by both Syvis and Allen and a couple of other students, the effects of which were not clear at first glance.
These were harder to judge because they could either be very useful, or they could be useless to him, Syvis' case being the perfect example of this.
While Syvis herself was strong, being able to overpower Jay in a matter of seconds, that was only because her ability went perfectly with her trait.
Therefore, even if somehow Jay managed to obtain her ability, he would not be able to reach the same level of power no matter how much he trained and raised the proficiency level of the ability.
As for Allen and the other students with this kind of ability, due to the lack of information, Jay couldn't say much.
'Hm, inconclusive result.' With that statement, Jay ruled out this group.
Finally, there is the last group, or rather person, which caught not only Jay's attention, but also that of certain little ones.
'Faith...' Jay thought, remembering the ability of said esper.
He didn't know exactly what kind of effect her ability had, but one thing was clear, just as his little ones had reacted violently when the training center instructor showed her killing intent, the parasites also reacted in this way when she used her ability.
