Nonhuman examiners were innately at odds with humans in their cognition and worldview, let alone one that was a psychic aggregate without even a physical body.
Trying to grasp the stance of such an entity was absolutely no easy task.
Angel's heart sank.
For now, he could only see whether the identity information Nomephins had uncovered would bring good news.
If he could determine its stance from its identity, that would be best.
If not, he could only use Extrasensory Perception to probe and adjust bit by bit.
As Angel's thoughts turned, the psychic aggregate before him had completely broken free of the Sealing Stele's restraints and slowly opened its "eyes."
—In truth, Angel did not know whether they counted as eyes. The countless sucker-like circles along the tentacles drooping from its head slowly opened, revealing eyeballs resembling horizontal pupils.
The innumerable eyes wriggled slowly before, at subtle angles, all fixing themselves upon Angel.
Just as he was locked onto by that mass of "bizarre gazes," a message devoid of any emotional fluctuation came from the psychic aggregate before him.
"Are you this trial's challenger?"
Its method of transmitting information was peculiar. It seemed to radiate an arcing field outward, and anyone within that field could clearly understand its meaning without a word being spoken.
It was somewhat like a variant of psychic communication, yet Angel vaguely felt that this was not its usual method.
After all, Angel himself could conduct psychic communication through Nightmare Illusion, which was normally a precise one-to-one transmission. Its method leaked unnecessary psychic power and carried the risk of its stream of information being overheard.
As though it had caught the fleeting doubt in Angel's perception, the psychic aggregate slowly added, "Within the space of the Heart Chapter, direct psychic communication is forbidden."
It paused.