Two weeks had passed since the dreaded finals period at Jay's university.

In their section, some had failed their exams, others had delayed grades because of incomplete requirements, while a few abandoned academics altogether to enter society instead.

It was a concrete manifestation of diversity in such an open and populated university, albeit not in a positive way.

Nevertheless, life went on for everyone, despite the twists and turns.

The outing planned by Dexter and the others had still been carried out somehow, despite some of them going through a rough time in academics at that moment.

Although one could argue that it was somewhat inappropriate, considering that not everyone had something to celebrate, an opportunity to relax and have fun might have been what they truly needed to preserve their sanity amidst the pressure from the world.

Jay could have asked Sorrow to take away their troubles, but that would have only proven counterproductive, as they needed the feeling of disappointment and helplessness to fuel their desire to overcome life's challenges.

To be fair, this was somewhat of a high-handed thought coming from him, who was technically one of them, but it reflected the reality of the situation.

The problems that plagued his peers had long stopped affecting him ever since he became an ascendant.

Despite his genuine desire to enjoy his ordinary life, the stark contrast between himself and his peers had been gradually eroding his sense of belonging to the mundane world, though he had yet to notice this himself.

-

Students from most universities would probably be rejoicing by now, as this time was supposed to be the summer break in academia, or a chance to make up for their failed subjects.

Unfortunately for Jay and the others, their university didn't seem to care about this convention.

In addition to the standard semesters, there was a mandatory mini-semester that spanned about a month and a half, taking the place of the supposed summer break.

In most universities, the summer break was usually allotted for retaking failed subjects, thereby giving students the chance to catch up in the next semester.

However, they didn't have this option, greatly vexing some students, especially those who had felt that they only failed because of their teacher’s inadequacies.

Based on their prospectus, as a fourth-year Electrical Engineering student, Jay’s only subject for the summer was the on-the-job training, often abbreviated as OJT.

They were given the chance to choose which company they would perform their internship on.

There were several companies among the choices that belonged to some aspects of their profession, such as power distribution, infrastructure, or equipment fabrication.

He didn't have a strong opinion about which one to choose, so he just let the program head assign him wherever convenient.

He believed that any of those options would be a learning opportunity regardless, so the act of choosing didn't really matter to him.

In the end, he was assigned to an engineering services company that was contracted to work on a stadium just outside the heart of the city.

The internship was scheduled to begin next week, so he still had some time to enjoy life at his leisure.

Of course, most of the time would be used for his and Sorrow's improvement, although that was also a form of entertainment in itself.

-

Over the past two weeks of free time, Jay continued with his usual arrangements.

He engaged in a few transactions here and there, which served as a good source of income, as well as good practice for his ability to navigate clandestine dealings.

However, there hadn’t been an instance of a repeat customer, despite the supposed positive evaluation of his work.

He had even tried minimizing the amount of 'irrelevant' information in the files to avoid spooking his customers, but it seemed like it hadn’t worked out well.

He could try to further pare down his output, but that would infringe upon his own quality standards.

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To be fair, he would rather miss out on some transactions than feel disgust toward his own work.

As for the earnings, they hadn’t quite reached the level of his transaction with Ms. Anne, although they were quite considerable in their own right.

So far, he had only used his funds to improve his quality of life, but not to the point where it would seem like he came from an affluent background, as that would be too conspicuous.

He didn’t spend much on external articles, such as clothes and gadgets, to avoid potential points of scrutiny if things ever went wrong.

Also, there weren’t any problems with his belongings at the moment, so there was no point in getting new ones.

Instead of material possessions, he invested in self-improvement paraphernalia, such as supplements, small exercise equipment, and convenient household items.

The supplements and exercise equipment were for his physical health, while the household gadgets were meant to make his day-to-day life easier, thus improving his mental health.

Speaking of which, the items he ordered right after his previous windfall arrived quite some time ago.

His physique had improved since then, achieved by doing some exercise here and there, coupled with a few supplements taken accordingly.

While his weight had largely remained the same, his stamina greatly improved, and he also started to put on a bit of muscle.

However, despite the benefits, he didn’t intend to devote more time to honing his physique, as it didn’t interest him as much as his improvement in the metaphysical aspect.

-

As for Sorrow’s cultivation, it had finally undergone the first qualitative change in its metaphysical qualities after a few weeks' worth of extraction.

It still couldn’t suppress its sadness-inducing attribute, but it gained the ability to concentrate its effects on a distant target at will, albeit for only a short duration.

It finally had a rudimentary active form of attack, as opposed to having only its passive debilitating aura.

Although this feature could be active for only a short time, just a few seconds of interruption were usually enough for many things to happen, including turning the tides in a confrontation.

They hadn't observed an inkling of any form of aggravated weakness, such as Nosiness, so far.

Perhaps it didn’t exist for metaphysical creatures as it did for ascendants, or it could possibly be something unique to Jay’s circumstances.

He would have to keep this matter in the back of his mind for now, as he had no way of testing its feasibility without gathering a crowd of friendly ascendants and metaphysical creatures willing to expose their possible inherent flaws, which was an impossibility in itself.

If he could somehow perform a deep but subtle implementation of Identification on other ascendants, then confirming the matter wouldn’t be a problem anymore.

Alas, it was quite likely that he would have to wait for a long time, as the speculated strength of Identification in question was probably several qualitative changes away from its current state, based on his current pace of improvement.

-

As for Jay’s own cultivation, he had never forgotten to practice his Identification even once, despite everything that happened in his life in recent months.

He had used his ability so often that it had already become second nature to him.

The information stored in his mind had reached such a staggering amount that he could be considered a living library all by himself.

Of course, most of it consisted of relatively useless knowledge, such as the physical dimensions of his cellphone charger or the identity of the last person who flushed down the toilet in a certain mall, but even the minute portion considered useful was substantial by itself.

However, despite the already expansive archive in his head, Jay wished that he could directly acquire the knowledge inside books, as he recognized that the stored knowledge in his mind wasn’t inherently useful in most real-life situations.

Unfortunately, for the time being, he could only acquire information about the book itself, excluding its written content.

If he could include the recorded information in written media, it would only be a matter of time before he mastered every subject in the mundane world.

By extension, if he could also acquire information stored digitally or even metaphysically, then the world would be at his fingertips.

He could learn everything known to man and venture beyond the bounds of human knowledge on his own afterward.

The integrated knowledge of the entire planet, both mundane and metaphysical, concentrated in a single entity, was bound to create miracles beyond imagination.

Perhaps this feat was something only a god could achieve, which was nothing more than a pipe dream for Jay at the moment.

He couldn't even fully sense his psionic lifeform partner, who was always technically beside him.

For now, he could only take things one at a time and see where they lead him.

-

At the moment, Jay was in the mall where he had unintentionally drawn Mr. Arthas’ attention due to his careless use of Identification on a random Jolluboat figure.

He was currently in the department store, engaging in the usual pretentious action of careful browsing.

Although he had already gone through a considerable portion of the department store’s selection, there were always new stocks available every once in a while.

This essentially ensured that he would never run out of things to Identify, as long as he maintained his usual pace and cycled through different commercial centers every practice session.

To be fair, he would rather cultivate his ability through online images than the current hands-on approach, where he had to touch objects here and there.

However, the gap in improvement acquired from ‘image’ and ‘touch’ was quite substantial, making it impractical for him to forgo the latter in favor of the former, despite the former being more convenient and covert.

Of course, it didn’t mean that he never utilized the ‘image’ mode, as he had always used it as a form of entertainment and a way of cultivating when it was inconvenient to move around.

Nevertheless, his desire to uncover the mystery surrounding himself carried more weight than his inclination to take the easiest path or, in relation to his academic field, the path of least resistance.

He was currently swinging a fly swatter to test its handling when he suddenly felt a familiar sensation.

It was the brief mental overload-like sensation brought about by the qualitative change in his ability. However, it wasn’t as oppressive as the first time it happened.

Perhaps his mental resilience had improved a lot since then, allowing him to better withstand the debilitating side effect of the qualitative change.

However, he couldn’t verify this possibility as he was unconscious during the second time he had the upgrade, when a strange reaction occurred between Sorrow and his ability.

There was also the possibility that the enhancement to his ability wasn’t as powerful as the previous ones, hence the milder side effect.

Of course, pure speculation was nothing compared to deliberate observation, but it would have to wait until he regained his bearings and found the opportunity to observe the changes within himself.