Chapter 154: The Only Constant [1/2]
At the moment, I had eight {Fate} families to draw from. Whether by accident or fate, I have yet to absorb another {Fate} outside of the Sirens.
"I haven't checked my own stats in a while, {Code} show me."
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Name: Limitless
Rank: Wraith
Soul Capacity: {Fate} 8/8 | {Kismet} 7/7
Souls Available: 137,302 | To evolve: 20,000
{Fates}
1. {Rewind} | Lvl 3 | Cost: 1 | Owner: Self | Sub: {Reload}, {Regen} Sup: {Save}, {Auto}
2. {Code} | Lvl 3 | Cost: 1| Loaned: Bella - 8 D |Sub: {Connect} , {Shutdown}
3. {Perceive} | Lvl 3 |Cost: 1| Loaned: Jas - 20 D |Sub: {Aim}, {Snipe}
4. {Listen} | Lvl 3 | Cost: 1| Loaned: Jo - 20 D | Sub: {Interpret}, {Dampen}
5. {Withstand} | Lvl 3 | Cost: 1| Loaned: Liv - 8 D | Sub: {Endure}, {Counter} Sup:{Suffer}
6. {Carry} | Lvl 3 | Cost: 1| Loaned: Robyn - 20 D | Sub: {Pack}, {Hike}
7. {Eat} | Lvl 3 | Cost: 1| Loaned: Aki - 20 D | Sub: {Gather}, {Digest}
8. {Store} | Lvl 4 | Cost: 1| Loaned: Lilly - 8 D | Sub: {Retrieve}, {Stock}, {Withdraw}
{Kindred}: ???????
{Kismet}: {Reveal} | {Draw} | {Sheathe} | {Fighter} | {Thief} | {Mage} | {Booster}
Soulgear: {Honey Trap}
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In just two days, I had earned over 100,000 souls. I had enough to pay off my 26,000 soul debt. While 20,000 to evolve to Phantom originally seemed extremely expensive, now it was something I could afford.
I also no longer had any Kismet slots available, another thing that changed was that I now owned a Soulgear. But perhaps the most noticeable difference was my {Kindred} status.
Before, it said N/A. Now it was a bunch of question marks. What did that mean? Maybe {Code} was playing a joke? But somehow I understood.
It was because I now recognize the Sirens as candidates to be my kindred.
It was my own assumption that {Kismet} was fulfilling a Reaper's wish by using whatever {Fate} they had access to. And so far, I believed it to be true.
Each of my {Kismet} was born from my wishes in specific situations.
{Reveal} combined {Identify}, {Loot}, {Expose}, and {Sight}. I wanted {Identify} when I almost died to buried Chuckies. {Loot} was for stealing souls from reapers. {Expose} was for spotting weaknesses, while {Sight} was, for lack of a better description, bullet time.
I was suddenly nostalgic for how both {Rewind} and my {Kismet} had evolved with me. They were, in a way, the literal manifestation of my journey.
{Draw} and {Sheathe} were the first time I experimented with asking my {Fates} for help.
{Fighter}, {Thief}, {Mage} were created specifically because I asked for them. Anime and manga were my inspirations.
{Booster}, on the other hand, was born out of my desire to fly. It wasn't an idea I asked for, but a {Kismet} born from my own solutions.
That is, if I didn't figure out how to fly first, even if I wanted to fight in the air, the {Kismet} couldn't be created.
Similarly, {Draw} and {Sheathe} were specialized versions of the {Fates} {Stock} and {Retrieve}. If I didn't find the limitations of the {Fates} annoying, I wouldn't have needed the {Kismet} in the first place.
The same thing happened with the class {Kismet}. Perhaps that was why I had such flexibility in creating them. Rather than {Kismet} being wishes that defied logic, they were more like recipes that you had to choose the ingredients for.
And while my current kit of skills worked, I needed to get stronger for the coming war. The {Kismet} classes were the most important, because they were designed for specific roles, and I found them limiting when I went off-role.
For example, {Fighter} was used for tanking, so when I needed accuracy or speed, it sucked balls. Similarly, {Thief} made me extremely prone to dying from damage. While {Mage} was a good all-rounder, it was not very good at mobility.
If I had teammates around me all the time, I could choose a path while they compensated for my weaknesses. That was what RPG parties were built on.
By combining the skills of different people, you gained a stronger force. But it was funny, in the military that was not the expectation. While there are specialized units, aside from snipers, most soldiers were expected to be all-rounders.
If you were assigned to be anti-armor, you had to know how to use portable rocket launchers or anti-material rifles. If you were assigned to be a grenadier or a driver, you were expected to have the basic skills for those tasks.
Training in the US military was mostly standard. Even grunts would be taught to use sniper rifles, first aid, reconnaissance, and even leadership. This was so that if a soldier suddenly died, others could take over his role, even if it wasn't to the fallen person's proficiency.
A dead sharpshooter's sniper rifle was of no use to anyone, so it was expected that someone else would pick it up if the situation required it. Specialized equipment went against the general orientation of most militaries.
Perhaps this is why adventurers used the word party, while Mercenaries used squad and army. The general focus of the two groups was fundamentally different.
For me, I was a Death Seeker from the start. Separating my abilities by role was a mistake from the very beginning. I fought alone, and even if I had people in the future, I would still need a way to fight solo.
[My Lord, the first thing on my list is to separate your abilities by use.]
"What do you mean?"
[For example, my lord, the {Fate} {Interpret}. Even if you do not use it all the time, it is extremely useful to have it available by default.]
I agreed with this statement. Hellsgate had hundreds of languages, which was expected since the Earth where the Reapers came from was the same. {Mage} and {Thief} had {Interpret}, so when I was in those modes, I could talk to anyone.
But when I was in {Fighter}, language barriers could become a problem. There was no reason not to have {Interpret} all the time, not if I could afford its soul cost.