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Chapter 5: Pain Makes Me Stronger

"Well done, Adam. This is your first lesson here at Layton Academy."

Adam had only just gotten back on his feet when a large group of people barged into his psychic world, led by none other than the lecturer who had just introduced him, Lena.

"It's not every day that we get a new transfer student, so let's take this opportunity to review some past knowledge. Firstly, why is it that she was able to invade your consciousness, yet you weren't able to do the same to her? That's because there's a transmitter implanted into her brain and her arm. We may be adapters, but our synapses still aren't anywhere near strong enough to invade someone else's consciousness. As I'm sure you're already aware, the genesis of a human's consciousness and communication between consciousnesses all rely on the synapses. The implanted transmitter is like a huge synapse that can connect with someone else's consciousness through physical contact, or even over a distance."

"Then what about me..."

"Rest assured, our academy will perform the required surgeries on you, and the costs have already been deducted from your tuition fees." In the psychic world, Lena was presented in the form of a magician wearing a long robe. She first pointed at herself, then at Shae before continuing, "You can interpret the psychic world as a deep-level dreamscape. The individual entities in here are manifestations of one's personality, and everyone's personality manifestation is different. Shae is prideful and loves to express herself, so in here, she's presented in a form where she's wearing high heels and strange clothing. As for myself, I am a bit of a control freak in real life, so my appearance and abilities will all be related to that."

Lena beckoned to a motorcycle on the side of the street as she spoke, and she was able to pick it up before tossing it at Shae.

The latter immediately tried to take evasive measures, but the motorcycle chased her down and knocked her onto the ground.

"There are strong humans and weak humans, and the same applies to personalities. In real life, you'll be able to clearly distinguish between these people. Some people are cowardly and weak, while some remain completely unfazed no matter how much pain they endure. Courage, wisdom, vengeance, resilience... All of those can give rise to powerful personalities, while fear, hesitation, and confusion will weaken your personality. Our academy teaches you how to develop a powerful personality in order to bolster the powers of us adapters. Shae, you broke the rules by bullying a new student, so you'll be receiving a slight punishment!"

Lena raised her arm as she spoke, picking up Shae from the ground from afar, then clenched her fingers together, and five huge finger indentations instantly appeared on Shae's stomach, upon which she began to howl with agony.

However, Lena wasn't about to let her off the hook. She continued to exert pressure on Shae's stomach, and Shae was unable to endure the pain, so she began to resist. Initially, her efforts were futile, but another head grew out of the back of her neck, and as a result, her strength noticeably increased as she attempted to struggle free from Lena's grip to regain her footing.

Another head? What does that mean? Does she have dual personalities?

That thought immediately occurred to Adam upon seeing this, and he focused his gaze onto Shae's second head to find that it was in the form of an elderly man's head.

The fact that the head of a young woman and the head of an elderly man were present in the same body was something that was very much worthy of contemplation.

However, it was clear that all of the students were already accustomed to seeing this, and no one said anything.

After struggling for a while, Shae was still unable to free herself from Lena's grasp. She was slammed down onto the ground, following which Lena severed everyone's connection with Adam, and everyone returned to reality in a flash.

They were still in the same classroom, and everyone turned around to look at Adam and Shae.

Adam also cast his gaze toward Shae, whose complexion was deathly pale, and the veins on her temples were visibly pulsing. It was clear that after sustaining damage to one's psyche and personality, their body and brain would also be harmed.

"What are you looking at?"

Shae snapped as she glared at her fellow students with furrowed brows. However, due to the presence of Lena in the room, she didn't dare to go any further than that.

Thus, Lena took a moment to restore order in the classroom, and the lesson continued.

The lesson lasted several hours, and the inhumane nature of these lessons was a signature trait of the academies under the Psychic Church.

After class was over, Adam had only just stood up from his chair before an arm was slung across his shoulders.

"How're ya doing, brother? My name's Hook. I've been here for two months, so I'm relatively new here as well. How about I show you where the cafeteria is?"

"Hmm?" Adam had no experience in interpersonal interactions, and he was a little flustered by the fact that Hook was being so friendly and enthusiastic from the get-go.

"Ah, allow me to explain: my family has received assistance from the pawn shop in the past. If the pawn shop hadn't resolved our troubles back then, perhaps I would already be dead by now." Upon noticing Adam's awkward expression, Hook hurriedly explained why he was so eager to befriend Adam. "Judging from the setting in your psychic world, you're from the pawn shop, right?"

"That's right."

"There we go! Let's be friends!"

Hook removed his arm from Adam's shoulders before reaching out for a handshake.

"My name's Adam."

This was the first friend that Adam had ever made, and it was a little abrupt, but he wasn't opposed to establishing interpersonal connections with others. Thus, he reached out to shake Hook's sweaty hand.

"Let's go, I'll treat you to a meal at the cafeteria."

Hook slung his arm across Adam's shoulder as he spoke, and the two of them left the classroom.

The corridor outside the classroom was a great representation of the Psychic Church's style, with all types of incomprehensible symbols and bewildering lines inscribed all over the walls.

The doctrine of the Psychic Church was: "Pain Cultivates Power".

During the first generation of adapter research, it was discovered that the happier one's personality was, the healthier they were, but also the more fragile they were. Those who coasted through life without encountering any adversity would crumple in the face of any hardship. Only pain could make one stronger.

For those capable of enduring pain, some rose up again from the ashes, some fell into ruin, and some evolved. However, regardless of whether one rose up again or evolved with the pain, their personalities would become extremely powerful and resolute.

Just as Adam was beginning to develop a headache from looking at the symbols littered throughout the entire corridor, Hook's voice rang out beside him.

"Don't worry about what happened earlier, that's just how Shae is. It's nothing personal, she's like that to everyone. You've probably already heard about how wealthy her family is. They control the entertainment industry in several major cities, and many celebrities, singers, actors, and virtual idols are related to her family's company in one way or another. On top of that, she's one of the top students in our class. There aren’t many people who can defeat her in psychic spars, and that's only made her even more arrogant."

"Has she also picked on you before?"

"Nah. I'd say I'm pretty clever, and I try to avoid her."

"Did you see that she had two personalities?"

"I did. There are many adapters who are rather abnormal and have mutated personalities. You'll understand why eventually."

As they were talking, the two of them arrived at a place that made Adam begin to "understand" what he was getting himself into. It was the Layton Academy cafeteria.

The presentation, aroma, and flavor of the food here had truly been raised to the extreme, except it was the extreme pinnacle of awfulness!

Most of the food here was presented in extremely unappetizing colors, such as green or purple, and they were giving off intensely foul odors. As for the flavors and textures, it was no different from eating dog shit.

"This does fit with the doctrine of the Psychic Church. I think I'm beginning to understand why so many adapters develop mutated personalities."

Inside all of the academies under the Psychic Church, all sources of joy were to be erased.