BXBX NOVEL Chapter 159: Only 50%? [2/2]
'People who just go along with their desires like this, what kind of regrets would they have at all?'
Every single one of them led a disgusting life as a human being, you would think they would be better off with Reaper money, right? No, the money didn't help at all. It only made the problem worse.
They still killed, they just had money to pay off the authorities. Instead of killing random people, they hired or bought immigrants, orphans, drug addicts, abandoned pensioners, and convicts. Then they butchered them all.
Their evil impulses didn't go away, it just made it easier to hide. After all, who cared about minorities, right? Even with all their money, they stole just for the thrill. And since they didn't show up on any surveillance cameras, no one could prove anything.
'But just like the conspiracy theories about why the world was turning to shit, someone was supporting these fuckers,' I surmised.
And after I was done with these bastards, those people would come after me.
"Sigh. I am really going to be busy."
[My Lord? Are you okay now?] Exa asked in apprehension.
"Stop calling me that. What do you want?"
[I... I wish to apologize].
"You haven't answered me yet. Are you Aira?"
[I do not know. I remember everything she has done, everything she has said. But I am not her.]
"Are you still spying on me for Zach?"
[No. Only AI created by Reaper Zachary Lynch report to him. I may have been modeled after Aira, but I am not her].
"..."
[I know you must have been angry and felt betrayed by her actions, and though it is no excuse, know that her loyalty remained with you.]
'Thank you for your words, my lord. I may be the most fortunate among the Death Seeker AI.'
'That may be, my lord. But I am certain that I would refuse to be used by anyone else. You will be the only Death Seeker I will serve. This Aira will answer to no other.'
Exa's words were a bitter pill for me to swallow. Had I known that I would lose Aira, I might not have gone through with my plan. But knowing that she might betray me made the trust I placed in her worthless.
"What value does the loyalty of a machine have, anyway? And I have no way of verifying whether you still have that intention."
[That is true. Would you like me to refrain from speaking?]
"No. I lost a good friend just to get you. You are my {Kismet}. So I will put you to use."
[Understood. How... how should I address you?]
"Just call me Limitless."
[Understood.]
Not bothering with EXA anymore, I started reading my new {Kismet}. The whole thing with Aira threw me for a loop. But the main reason I was doing all this was to get stronger.
In contrast to the rudimentary interface of {code}, I now had a menu system similar to that of a personal computer. I navigated into the {Kismet} {Limitless} v.1 and saw a few options pop up.
"Hmm. Define, Enable, Configure, and Upgrade. At least I got what I wanted."
After seeing the more intuitive controls, I tried to read the description for my namesake {Kismet}.
___
{Limitless} v.1
- {Kismet} was created from the merging of {Fates} for Reaper Limitless. Acts as a container that packages abilities in a pre-set loadout.
- Abilities are organized into two pools. Actives, which allow manual activation, and Passives, which are active as long as {Limitless} v.1 is enabled.
Built-in Features:
EXA Integration - Using the E.X.A. {Fate} combat system, some tasks can be delegated.
Skill Upgrading - Using the E.X.A. {Fate} combat system, both active and passive pools can be upgraded regardless of their original {Fates}.
Skill Download - Once activated, the abilities will last for 24 hours.
Cost: 3000 souls / day
Active: Nothing set. (15 slots available)
Passives: Nothing set. (30 slots available)
Limitations: {Rewind} family incompatible. Once activated all other {Fates} except the hosts will be disabled.
___
"..."
When I tried to click on one of the empty slots for my passives, a large list appeared. The list contained every {Fate} from the Seven Sirens. I tried dragging and dropping {Fates} into the passives and it quickly filled up.
What I liked even more was that the system was showing me more information than {Code}. I now knew exactly what each {Fate} did to my body.
___
[Passives:] 14/30
[Enhanced Wizard Suite]
- {Gather} - grants photographic memory (EXA)
- {Interpret} - grants omnilingualism for reading and comprehension.
- {Code} - grants technopathy, increased analytical ability.
[Enhanced Hunter Suite]
- {Aim} - grants ballistic prediction (EXA)
- {Snipe} - grants automatic ballistic correction (EXA)
- {Perceive} - grants improved eyesight of 20/5
- {Listen} - grants ultrasonic hearing, allows perception up to 120 kHz (EXA)
- {Hike} - grants immunity to air resistance if speed is below Mach 1 (EXA)
[Enhanced Warrior Suite]
- {Withstand} - grants negation of external kinetic energy below 12 megajoules upon being struck. (EXA)
- {Endure} - grants negation of internal kinetic energy below 12 meganewtons upon being struck. (EXA)
- {Suffer} - grants ability to store kinetic damage as energy (EXA)
- {Carry} - grants ability to reduce weight of objects by 3/4 if below 2 tons. For 300 seconds (EXA)
- {Pack} - grants ability to reduce weight of held those with {Carry} to zero if below 1 ton (EXA)
- {Digest} - grants poison immunity to poisons at Mithridat Class 3 or below
___
From the tooltips, I understood that basically everything in {Limitless} v.1 became my skill for the day, which meant I could not use any other {Fate}.
On the other hand, that meant even if my loans from the girls expired, once I downloaded, I would keep the skills till the duration for {Limitless} expired. At 3000 souls a day it was steep, but it basically turned me into a superhuman permanently.
And while it was unfortunate {Regen} could no longer be combined with {Limitless}. Luckily the {Rewind} family could still be used independently.
"Exa, why does your name appear on all these passives?"
[Limitless, when a passive has EXA integration, it means I will automate the task based on your combat tendencies. For example, if you hear a loud explosion, I will deactivate {Listen} so you don't suffer from ear damage.]
"Ho? Right, my old class {Kismet} had something similar."
[That is an incorrect assumption. At that time, as there was no one to control such nuances, all the component {fates} of the classes were only activated at 50% capacity.]
"50%? Only 50%?"