It was already late in the evening when Jay woke up. He intended to get up in the late afternoon, even setting up an alarm for it.

He had class tomorrow, and it wouldn’t be ideal if he didn’t feel sleepy enough for his regular sleep schedule.

Unfortunately, it seemed like he had been sleeping so deeply that even the usually loud ringtone failed to stir him even a little bit.

Despite the rejuvenating effect of the enhanced ambient metaphysical energy of the observation base, he still had to deal with mental fatigue, especially with the volume of astonishing information he had absorbed recently.

The only consolation was that his classes start late in the morning, so he wasn’t that bothered by it.

To induce sleepiness, he planned to tire himself out with some dumbbell and body weight exercise.

He wasn’t a gym enthusiast by any means, but he was making a conscious effort to take care of his body for what it’s worth.

He had found out that his mind had become more agile ever since he tried exercising, even it wasn’t considered intense.

Although, before everything else, he had to eat first.

His rumbling stomach had just reminded him that he forgot about lunch in all his reverie earlier at noon.

It seemed that he had just dozed off out of nowhere, which was something you would expect if you stayed still for too long.

Jay was about to get dressed when a voice appeared in his head.

“Hello, young man. This is Arthas. We have come to give you the psionic lifeform, as we discussed earlier.

It has already been pacified for your safety. Come down. We’re outside the building.”

Earlier, during the shift, Mr. Arthas and Mr. Vergil had captured the psionic lifeform without harming it and its host.

Mr. Vergil had apparently sent a psionic manifestation into the contaminated salaryman’s residence.

Although he could’ve technically viewed the spectacle through the projection, Mr. Arthas didn’t want to take the risk as they won’t be able to focus on his safety if things went wrong.

“Good evening, sirs. Do you want to come inside? It might not be spacious, so I’ll have to apologize in advance.”

“No need. We’re going to the observation base after this anyway.

Well then, are you ready to accept it, young man? I trust that you’re aware of the implications, so I’ll leave things to your discretion.

But I have to stress an important matter before anything else. This psionic lifeform is not a tool. You should do well to remember that.”

The psionic lifeform must be sentient enough for Mr. Arthas to give such a reminder.

It was fine, as Jay didn’t intend to treat it like an object in the first place.

He too respected the miracle of life. A newborn entity like it, despite its potential danger, was a pure soul and should be treated like one.

He believed that the circumstance of birth was not as important as the care that followed.

“Alright, sir. I am ready.”

A few breaths had passed when Arthas replied.

“Alright, it’s done.”

Jay could only make a confused expression as he didn’t really understand what just happened.

He was about to ask Mr. Arthas when Mr. Vergil spoke suddenly.

“Oh, would you look at that? Headquarters requires our immediate presence. Sorry, young man, we’ll have to speak with you some other time.”

Soon after Mr. Vergil finished speaking, the two of them vanished out of thin air in the blink of an eye.

Passersby didn’t even glance at his location, as if he had been alone this whole time.

It implied a smooth transition from isolated space into reality, with none the wiser, not even himself.

Regardless of his astonishment, Jay felt quite frustrated at the moment.

Surely, there weren’t any urgent business like Mr. Vergil said. From what he had observed, elders like them certainly valued propriety even in mundane situations.

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For them to leave suddenly without explaining matters made Jay thoughtful for a while.

He had been asking too many questions recently.

Perhaps they wanted him to explore on his own, which was understandable, considering that some information requires personal interpretation to become useful.

Nevertheless, a simple overview would’ve helped Jay a lot.

Now, he didn’t even know where to find the supposed psionic lifeform that was entrusted to him, let alone get to know it.

-

Back in the observation base, Arthas and Vergil appeared instantly in the living room.

It was a literal instant, as if reality had stopped for a moment just to wait for them to get into position, before resuming as if nothing even happened.

“Are you sure that was the right thing to do? We didn’t even get to teach him how to sense it.

I don’t think he has the capability to find out on his own, at least not for quite some time.”

“Bah. Don’t worry about it. We both know he’s not an ordinary young man, and ascendant for that matter. He’ll figure it out.

Besides, let’s allow the psionic lifeform some time to observe him. It wouldn’t be good if we forced things and they didn’t get along.”

“You’re right. Good point. Anyway, you praised me for my progress earlier but you’re not bad yourself.

However, I’m still quite ahead of you, all things considered.”

“Tch.”

-

It had been a few days since Jay’s last meeting with the two elders.

So far, he hasn’t made contact with the supposed psionic entity, since the only metaphysical action he could perform for now was his Identification ability.

The only problem was that he couldn’t even observe the target, let alone touch it. He even tried using his ability on himself, to no avail.

He knew that he couldn’t do it by his own merit, considering his poor knowledge of metaphysics and his underdeveloped ability.

He also didn’t have access to the former, especially since Mr. Arthas hadn’t contacted him at all during the past few days, so he could only focus on the latter.

Now that he thought about it, he forgot to ask about their contact details.

He had been too engrossed in metaphysical matters that he neglected this mundane yet crucial task.

It seems like it wasn’t too good to keep his head up in the clouds, while refusing to look at the ground once in a while.

Nevertheless, it didn’t affect his normal life too much. In the back of his mind, he considered his ascendance as something like a cherry on top.

It was good to have, but not to the point where it would become his sole focus from here onwards.

There was no point to having power while completely forgoing the other interesting aspects of life.

To Jay, power was only a means, not an end, although he hadn’t decided yet about what he really wanted to do with it.

He was only interested in advancing because of curiosity, as well as preparation for the supposedly inevitable encounters with metaphysical-related matters, as forewarned by Mr. Vergil.

For the past few days, he had been living his life as he did during the recent month.

He did his academic responsibilities, practiced his ability in various commercial areas, and had occasional drinks either at home or somewhere quiet outside.

In essence, one could say that his life had seamlessly returned to a semblance of normalcy, which wasn’t too bad, as he didn’t want to lose himself completely in metaphysical matters.

He knew that he was still had a long way toward having the capability to observe the psionic entity on his own, so he decided to take his time.

Although he could try to ask for the elders’ assistance, he felt that it wasn’t too appropriate.

His current situation was probably intended by the elders for him to achieve natural growth, which was beneficial for him in the long run.

He didn’t have the capability to communicate with the psionic entity, but the same couldn’t be said the other way.

-

As midnight approached, Jay was about to sleep after another satisfying day of improvement in academics and metaphysics when something unusual happened.

He had been in a good mood since earlier, primarily due to the absence of hindrances as he went about his day.

He even managed to catch a jeep immediately after arriving at the designated loading spot.

Of course, the usual traffic was still there, but it didn’t bother him at all. He already considered it a constant by now, hence his nonchalance.

Logically, he had no reason to be sad at the moment, especially since he was about to sleep.

However, an intense feeling of melancholy pervaded his psyche without warning.

Despite his usual calm demeanor, Jay felt confused and terrified at that moment.

This was the first time he received some sort of metaphysical ‘attack’. Worse, he was clueless about the possible motive and the method.

Fortunately, his survival instincts became alive immediately, giving him the clarity he needed to analyze his situation.

The only meaningful interactions he had in the metaphysical world were with Mr. Arthas and Mr. Vergil.

Surely, they had no motive in giving him the scare of his life, even if it was for training.

There were better ways of teaching, and inducing a traumatic event would only twist his perception of the metaphysical world.

It might even make him unnecessarily fearful of everything metaphysical, which would severely hamper his growth.

This leaves him with the psionic lifeform, although it wasn’t technically an interaction, as it was a one-sided observation, through a projection no less.

Even now, although it had already been entrusted to him supposedly, there hasn’t been an inkling of interaction so far.

However, Jay was inclined to think that this situation was definitely the psionic lifeform’s doing.

The probability that he was targeted by a completely random and unfamiliar existence was extremely low, considering the precautions performed by the elders, as well as his own for what it’s worth.

Despite his suspicions, he didn’t really know much about the psionic lifeform.

He only knew that it was a potentially dangerous newborn sentient energy entity, as stated by Mr. Arthas.

He didn’t know about its degree of sentience, whether it had a mature mind, a child-like one, or if it’s even something similar to humans in the first place.

The only course of action he could think of at the moment was to use Identification on himself, as that was his only form of interaction with metaphysical phenomena for now.

He had already tried it on himself many times during these past few days, but nothing regarding the psionic entity ever came up.

This time was bound to be different though. He was quite certain of it.

Although this string of thoughts might have seemed long, it only occurred in the span of a few breaths, courtesy of his enhanced cognitive functions, as well as the adrenaline rush induced by the situation.

When using Identification on himself, he didn’t need to make any physical movements, as he was already technically in ‘touch’ with himself.

As soon as the thought of usage formed in his mind, a surge of information suddenly pervaded his mind.

Although his mind had already been tempered through his frequent usage of Identification, especially since he gained the ability to retrieve the ‘history’ of targets, he was still overwhelmed by the volume of information that flooded his mind.

Unable to cope with the torrent, Jay’s mind could only shut itself down to prevent further complications.

During his last moments of consciousness, when the surge of information finally subsided, he felt a sense of relief wash over him.

The only consolation he had was that his head didn’t blow up due to information overload like he had always feared.