BXBX NOVEL Chapter 162: Can you do it? [1/2]
"Can you use a {Fate} as a clear example?"
[Of course. Take {Withstand}. When invoked alone, {Withstand} had the power to negate 12 megajoules. But in both {Fighter} and {Mage}, that limit has been reduced to only 6 megajoules of energy].
"Ugh. Can you explain this in a way I can understand?"
[According to your {Fates}, you asked them to make the {Fate} work in tandem while being cheaper. To compensate for the lack of souls, they decided to degrade everything.]
'How did Exa even know that? Did she really talk to my {Fates}? This is getting weird.' I gasped inwardly.
[In simpler terms. If an M1A2 Abrams fired an M829A4 APFSDS round at you. If you were using {Withstand}, you would shrug off the blow. But with {Fighter}, you would get blown away by over a hundred yards as it goes over the threshold of {Fighter}].
"Wait. What do you mean, shrug it off? I can shrug off a tank round?"
[Yes, {Withstand} negates force up to a certain limit. Since that limit is equivalent to 12 megajoules, only hits above that threshold would affect your body.]
Inwardly, I agreed with Exa's explanation. It made sense, since I could shrug off M26 grenades and handle their explosions without a problem.
Originally, I thought {Withstand} nullified momentum. But if that was true, I should not have been beaten to a pulp by David or Zach's blows.
"Then what about {Endure}?"
[{Endure}, like {Withstand}, has a limit of 12 meganewtons. This means that unless you receive an impact or counterforce greater than 12 meganewtons, you will never feel any recoil or g-forces].
"Can you say that again?"
[Unless you block a tank round with a shield, you will never feel any recoil. If you run and then stop without momentum greater than a tank round, you will never experience negative g-forces when you brake.]
"Wow? And {Fighter} and {Mage} cut that limit in half, right?"
[Yes].
While I appreciated having Exa to explain it to me, my mind flashed back to the times I almost died. The first was when I collided with a D-class brute's leg, and the second was when I clashed head-on with its fist. The third was from taking a Revenant's blows.
I was in {Withstand} in all three cases, which meant the limit was 12 meganewtons. I was able to put up some resistance with the brute, but David crippled me with each of his strikes.
Punching a nuke into existence was just too far from reality. But the thought of the Revenant's simple punches being stronger than even tank rounds made me swallow with nervousness.
It must be the same with the other {Fate}, for example, I knew that perfect vision was 20/20, but {Perceive} gave me 20/5 vision.
{Listen} gave me something called ultrasonic hearing at 120 kHz or whatever.
I was already impressed with these abilities, but now that Exa was explaining them to me, I was astonished at how far away from common sense I already was.
'I never even tested how much momentum I could cancel, because most of the time I just got mauled by zombies.'
And no matter how thick a man's jaws were, he would never be able to generate more force than a tank round.
Eager to activate {Limitless}, I started filling up the active skill pool in a hurry.
___
[Actives:] 9/15
[Offensive Skills]
- {Counter} - Sends all stored kinetic energy to one target.
[Defensive Skills]
- {Dampen} - Inflicts 150 db of acoustic absorption on a target (limited to host).
[Restoration Skills]
- {Eat} - Increases stamina reserves by 1000 calories per gram of food.
[Technopathy].
- {Connect} - Technopathy, gains access to electronics.
- {Shutdown} - Technopathy, forces deactivation of electronics
[Spatial Manipulation]
- {Store} - Objects in contact with the host will be sent to a spatial rift, object size limit 5 square feet.
- {Retrieve} - Pulls an object from the rift, grants dimensional storage. Storage size is 10 square feet.
- {Stock} - Objects within 10 feet of the host will be sent to a space rift, object size limit 10 square feet.
- {Withdraw} - Withdraw multiple objects from a rift one after the other, increases storage limit by 10 square feet.
___
"That should do it," I said with a smile on my face.
With 9 in active and 14 in passive, all 23 of the girls' {Fates} were in {Limitless}. I still had {Reveal} and {Booster}, so my old fighting style was more or less the same. I still had {Trace}, but I didn't know how to use it well.
"Exa, explain {Trace}."
[Understood. {Trace} is a combined application of {Draw} and {Sheathe}. Think or say the name of an object from your storage and it will appear. When you let go, the object will be returned to your subspace.]
"Hmm. That was one of the things I asked for, but doesn't that mean I can't throw grenades with {Trace} anymore?"
[That is correct, but since you now have access to both {Retrieve} and {Withdraw}, if you allow me, I can translate what you want to get out of the stockpile].
"Okay, that works, at least you can use the situation to know if I want to withdraw one grenade or all of them."
[Yes, {Withdraw} can get both a single grenade or a whole set of them, as long as the proper visualization is done].
"Sounds good. Last time I had trouble visualizing when I was getting magazines."
[Magazines?]
"Yeah, I couldn't use {Fates} to pull the magazines directly into the guns."
[I can perform that task for you, if you wish.]
"Really? Okay, let's try it. {Trace} Ivory."
A black 1911 manifested in my right hand in less than a second. Even though I called them Ebony and Ivory, they were still identical black Colt 1911s from the Punisher movie.
'I really should buy new guns, maybe as a gift to myself?'