Psychic Overlord

Soon, the auditorium went dark as the lights focused on the stage, where an instructor that Kaizer and Rina had seen during their orientation came onto the stage.

If Kaizer remembered correctly, this was Dennis Olio, a Second Generation Esper who graduated from the Third Echelon many years ago and was retained as an instructor for the Esper Academy. His Esper ability was the B Rank Super Brain, which enhanced his mental functions both passively and actively.

He was a rather thin middle-aged man with unkempt brown hair, wearing a blue tracksuit of all things to come and teach. Upon seeing him, many students seemed to perk up with interest, and Kaizer could tell from their thoughts that they were looking forward to his presentation.

This naturally interested Kaizer, who looked at the man and tried to probe his mind, but was surprised to find that it was blocked. Well, it seemed the fellow had a mind-related superpower, so it wasn’t impossible for him to have any defenses, but Kaizer did not remember him doing this during the orientation.

So, what changed?

While his expression became somewhat somber, Dennis coughed and held up the mic, addressing the crowd. "Greetings, Fledgling Espers. For those of you who are new and don’t know me, my name is Dennis Olio, and my ability is the B Rank Super Brain, which enhances my mental facilities."

"This naturally means that I am almost as smart as Einstein, who held the B+ Rank Super Brain, but a little short of Stephen Hawking, who had the S rank Quantum Brain," Dennis added with a smile.

Everyone couldn’t help but roll their eyes at that. You are B rank calling yourself a little short of an S rank? The gap between B rank and S rank is greater than the gap between F rank up to B rank; otherwise, the Special Echelon wouldn’t be given such treatment.

"Today, the topic of my lecture is The Foundation of Esper Abilities. This is a year one topic to cater to the newer students, so you second years and above might hear some repeat content, but I can promise you there is also something new," Dennis stated as he snapped a finger, the screen behind him coming to life.

An image of the human brain emerged, showing the cross-section of it in a rather vivid manner. Dennis came up to it and gestured to a part of the brain that was nearer to the front cortex.

"Do you know why humans can develop esper powers but animals can’t? It is purely because of the evolutionary path we took as a species," Dennis began, his voice picking up due to excitement.

"There have been many theories about the collective human will affecting our racial subconscious, even causing our genes and path of evolution to change. After all, while evolution is a scientific process, it must be guided by something in order to achieve the necessary effect, especially in the case of adaptation."

"I’m here to tell you today, for those who did not know, that the Collective Human Will exists. Surprisingly, humans have always somewhat acknowledged this force, with religions deifying it when information was lesser and many strange occurrences during history happening because of it."

"It is the Collective Human Will that decided to shift our evolution or ’talent tree’ as I like to call it from a mixture of physical and all-rounder to purely mental. Our brains have been evolving greatly over the millennia since we came into being, while our bodies have been regressing."

Dennis tapped his temple with a weird smile. "And it is precisely because of our development here that Esper Powers came about. It has always been the Collective Wish of every single human to possess some form of extraordinary power beyond the limitations of our weak bodies. Whether to live forever, to fly, to lift mountains, or to move as fast as a bullet."

"This benevolent ’God’ then inadvertently granted our wish by developing a rather strange organ in the human brain, the recently notorious Pineal Gland. This organ is said to have no real useful function and slowly calcifies itself as you grow, shriveling and locking itself up till you die."

Dennis waved, and the brain image showed a small organ within the brain that was likely the Pineal Gland. "However, this organ is special, for those whose glands don’t seal up during their youth become like you all—espers with abilities as varied as the sun."

"For those who do not awaken esper abilities, it can be said that their luck was bad because their pineal glands calcified too fast, not allowing the organ to fully merge with the brain and unleash the power within."

After saying this, though, Dennis became slightly awkward. "However, this is where the scientific aspect of esper abilities ends."

Those who were already aware of this smirked, while those hearing it for the first time, like Kaizer and Rina, raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"We can identify the existence of the Collective Human Will thanks to special espers that have come before with extraordinary mental power, even able to commune with this God. Likewise, recent advancements in technology allowed us to identify this bizarre organ that, under scrutiny from espers, was revealed to be tied to the source of power generation in youngsters."

"However, no matter how deep we have probed, science cannot explain the rest. For example, what decides your esper power? While many second-generation espers tend to inherit the esper ability of their predecessors, it is actually rare. The majority of espers develop new powers altogether."

"Secondly, where does the energy for your esper power come from? Where is it stored? The majority of espers have elemental-related abilities, forming about 85% of all espers worldwide. Even though mental stamina and physical fortitude play a role in how much you can control, what about those who possess elemental generation?"

"Science tells us that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed. However, in the testing center, we have observed that all known energy indexes remain the same when a young esper generated pure fire energy from nowhere on the basis of his esper ability, adding new energy into the mix, or converting a form of energy we have no idea of."

"Thirdly and most importantly, why can you control your esper abilities? These are not natural instincts engraved into your body through human inheritance, but a unique power awakened by you during childhood. How can you control it so well, just as well as you would move your arm and leg? How do you achieve this? What trained you? Did your esper ability also come with an instruction manual or a set of drivers installed?"

Dennis calmed down slightly. "So many questions, very few answers. Esper abilities even go further than that, adapting to the times. There has been an S class esper admitted in the former headquarters of Westminster who possesses the ability to manipulate digital technology. Technology like this only appeared during the mid-20th century, just about a hundred years ago; now there are powers emerging related to it."

Dennis looked deeply at the crowd. "Esper abilities are limitless in essence. Your utility of them might be limited, and due to your physical form, your final level is preordained, but there is possible room for growth in esper abilities, and I don’t mean by training as we do here."

Dennis’ eyes became somewhat fanatical and deeply moved. "I mean growth as in your base ability increases, but there has never been such a situation in history. The human body is, in the end, too limited. I don’t even know what conditions would be necessary for such a miracle to appear, but I can tell you this!" 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

His eyes scanned the crowd, and especially fell on the seven present S class espers. "If such a person were ever to appear in this world, the very foundations of esper society and human evolution would change forever!"

For the first time, there was a spell of discussion in the auditorium as this was what Dennis likely meant to be his newly discovered revelation. Rather than being dismissed, it seems that these students took it seriously, whether out of Dennis’ built-up credibility due to his ability or because they fancied the idea.

The other five S class espers became tense, their expressions betraying their greed and desire. They naturally hoped to be the ones who would stand above all, growing endlessly and changing the world as they saw fit.

Rina simply looked at Kaizer with a look of pride and curiosity, almost asking him what he would do to change the world when he became the strongest. Meanwhile, Kaizer was pensive, wondering why this had to be brought up now of all times when he had just enrolled.

Not only had Dennis suddenly guarded his mind, but the fellow was also talking about endless growth. If you told Kaizer that this was a coincidence, then he would not believe you!