novelraw Chapter 92 : Chapter 92
Chapter 92 : Chapter 92
Chapter 92 : Synergy
"Please... can't you write a bit quieter?"
Barry groaned, burying his face in his hands.
Sal found Barry slumped in a corner of the empty cafeteria.
Judging by the empty containers scattered around, he had bought and eaten various foods known to be good for hangovers.
"Did anything work?"
Sal laughed, pointing at the trash on the table.
Barry shook his head slowly without even lifting it.
Then a deep sigh escaped him.
"Coffee is useless for hangovers. I barely swallowed the food, but after eating, I feel slightly stronger and maybe faster... That's all. It doesn't help at all! Why hasn't a cure for hangovers been invented yet?"
Barry crossed his arms, rested his head on them, and leaned against them like a pillow.
"Have you tried Healing? Put that on the list."
Sal thought for a moment and wrote Healing down as a candidate for the tracker's potential attributes.
He already had experience applying a similar attribute to the exoskeleton design.
Only now did he realize that it stemmed from his interaction with the mean healer.
"What effect would the Healing attribute have on a tracker? At best, it would cure hangovers."
When Sal spoke, another painful groan escaped Barry.
It sounded like a mix of despair and annoyance.
Barry waved his hand weakly and muttered.
"You said you know how to handle the Restoration skill... Can't you integrate that with Healing? You've created new skills before. Can't you just make another one like that?"
A look of surprise flashed across Sal's face for a moment.
However, it wasn't as simple a task as it sounded.
Sal had woven threads internally when registering skills before, but attempting such a thing again would consume a massive amount of internal essence.
"Honestly, I don't even have a clue where to start. I would need a list of skills that mesh well and have excellent synergy..."
Sal stopped speaking and quickly took out his tablet from his pocket.
Skipping through notifications rapidly, he found the message from Quest.
He was able to find the list Quest sent a few weeks ago quickly.
Barry rested his chin on his wrist and looked at Sal with confused eyes.
"Why are you suddenly quiet? Did I go deaf?"
Sal continued to scan the list silently.
Then, a faint smile spread across his lips as if he discovered a new possibility.
Barry, who had been watching Sal for a while, deliberately let out an exaggerated cough.
"Team leader's orders. Show some compassion, please."
Sal glanced at Barry with a smile, then fixed his gaze back on the list.
"You're not a team leader yet. Wield that authority during the Cohort Battle."
Barry sighed, leaned on the table, and tilted his body back.
"I should try drinking some water at least. It'd be pathetic if I blew all my Q-Credits trying to cure a hangover. Want something to drink?"
Sal shook his head.
Meanwhile, Barry barely managed to lift his exhausted body and stood up slowly.
Just as he was about to take a step, Sal looked up and called Barry.
"Ah, then can I ask you to get me a coffee? I'll pay you back later."
Barry nodded and limped toward the concession stand.
With every step, a painful groan escaped him.
Sal smiled faintly and found the Analysis ability on the list, meticulously examining the synergies connected to it.
"Wow..."
A sound of admiration burst from Sal's lips.
Surprisingly, all attributes and variations of that ability were organized clearly.
'Is it because it's a module covered in the academy's official curriculum? Or maybe Professor Beck organized this ability personally.'
Sal's gaze moved down the list.
He guessed that the Analysis ability might be much more powerful than expected.
Analysis Ability List:
* Vital Point Detection
* Technique Analysis
* Threat Detection
* Weakness Detection
* Combat Power Measurement
* Perception Enhancement
* Prediction Probability Enhancement
* Reasoning Enhancement
* Motion Analysis
* Status Reading
Analysis Ability Synergy:
* Interface Generation
* Interface Manipulation
* System
* Memory Indexing
* Networking
Analysis Ability Complementary Skills:
* Appraisal
* Investigation
* Perception
Since many names seemed to have similar functions, Sal checked the detailed information of several abilities.
Vital Point Detection, as the name suggested, seemed to be an ability to grasp the target's vitality status.
"It would be useful for a healer too, but if applied to a tracker, it could also help check the enemy's remaining vitality?"
Technique Analysis was one of the abilities Sal paid particular attention to.
"It decomposes and analyzes the enemy's movements in detail?!"
It meant that if the opponent used martial arts, one could not only predict their trajectory but also grasp their combat style.
This skill was also included in the list of skills synergistic with his Replication, but it wasn't a research skill Sal needed immediately right now.
A few days ago, Beck had asked Sal about threat identification.
Sal couldn't judge the threat level, and it turned out that was a separate skill.
Weakness Detection was exactly as the name implied.
It must be a useful ability for subduing enemies more efficiently.
"It would help identify the team's weaknesses and supplement those vulnerabilities."
Sal was so immersed in reading that he didn't even notice when Barry returned and placed the coffee in front of him.
He hurriedly wrote down notes, distinguishing between skills absolutely necessary for the tracker and those that weren't.
Barry leaned over the table without a word, rested his chin on his right hand, and leisurely scanned the list.
Only the scratching sound of the pen tip on paper continued for a while until Barry opened his mouth.
"That's quite a long list you pulled? But wouldn't it be unreasonable to apply all of that to the tracker?"
Sal frowned and activated his Mythos Crafter ability, dyeing his eyes purple.
He began to scan through various blueprints stored in his head.
"Even the Legend rank sniper rifle had seven abilities, and Rare or Epic ranks usually have about three to four. I don't think I can make something that can contain all of this."
Sal's eyes blinked once, returned to silver, and he showed a bitter expression.
"Even if I could integrate them all into a single skill, the skill rank would become excessively high, causing material supply or crafting difficulty to skyrocket. It's not like I've fully mastered crafting yet, and while I produced surprising results a few times, that was all thanks to the Workshop team's help. This is... a personal project I want to accomplish on my own."
Barry swallowed a sip of water and nodded.
Then he cast his gaze elsewhere for a moment before asking Sal again.
"But do you have to make something that perfect from the start?"
Sal looked at him with a face that didn't understand, then took a sip of coffee.
"Well, if I'm making it, naturally I want to make it the best. I don't want to waste materials I worked hard to get."
Barry waved his hand dismissively as if Sal had missed the key point.
"Hey, you can do upgrades and modifications too, right? So just make a simple basic model first. Something incredibly simple. Then as your skills improve, you can improve it little by little. No one is rushing you right now. Doesn't it just need to let you use the Analysis ability?"
Sal bit his lip silently and fell into thought.
Soon, he stared straight at Barry, dropped his shoulders, and said.
"Yeah... I know. I don't need to make something amazing right now. But just... I want to make something surprising. Is that a bit arrogant?"
Barry lifted his cup, clinked it against Sal's, and laughed.
"Finally admitting that you're a human full of flaws just like us! Here, cheers~ Cheers to arrogant humans!"
Sal laughed, lifted his cup, and clinked it against Barry's.
"Rather than arrogant... wouldn't you say ambitious? Until now, I didn't have the ability to make anything. But now I have both the potential and the ability. I don't want to let this rot. All the gear I can make looks incredibly cool... Should I say it's exciting?"
Sal smiled excitedly and pointed at his notebook.
Barry leaned back against his chair, sighed, and nodded.
"But your talent isn't being wasted. You already made a weapon that can evolve to Mythos rank in the future. If it were me, I'd just make normal gear capable of evolving to Mythos rank and sell it. You just need to sell the evolution potential well, right? The rest is up to the buyer."
Sal looked at Barry with a surprised face.
"That's it, Barry! You're a genius!"
Sal hurriedly wrote down new content.
Barry yawned and stretched his body.
"Now you recognize it. So, in what part exactly am I a genius?"
When Barry asked, tilting his head curiously, Sal answered without even lifting his face, pointing at the notebook.
"Evolution. I can make the blueprint for the perfect tracker with all the abilities I want first, and then design downgraded versions for each rank. I'll still need excellent materials to support the final evolution, but the crafting itself will become much simpler."
Barry put his cup down with a deep sigh.
"Hmm, I don't want to kill the mood, but there's a problem with that plan. Where will you get the essence needed for that tracker to evolve? It can't suck essence directly from monsters itself. And what if a situation occurs where it sucks all your essence dry like that shirt?"
Sal frowned deeply and glared at Barry expressionlessly.
"Who did you hear that from?"
Barry grinned with the most innocent face possible.
"Does that matter? How are you going to handle the evolution?"
Sal stared at him without withdrawing his gaze, then finally opened his mouth as if resigned.
"I don't know yet. But there must be a way to solve it. Maybe the Mythos Crafter can find a solution. Or couldn't I make it absorb essence from the atmosphere? That sniper rifle used a tremendous energy binding ability too. It absorbed essence just by aiming at the target with a bullet. I could make the tracker absorb essence by aiming at the opponent too."
Barry snorted and shook his head.
Then his laughter turned into a painful cough.
"Hey, if your Vital Point Detection skill really levels up like that, a pretty funny situation would occur. Trying to see if someone is healthy, but instead, the ability absorbs their remaining essence and takes their life."
Before Sal could continue, Barry pointed a finger at one of the skills listed.
"What exactly is Memory Indexing?"
Sal frowned at the thought that he might accidentally absorb someone else's essence.
He scanned the list and moved his gaze to the Memory Indexing item.
"A sub-item of Knowledge Manipulation? It encodes and preserves all sorts of information? It means it remembers everything the user witnesses so they can retrieve it whenever needed."
Sal looked up at Barry.
"Wouldn't that be Recall's ability? We met in the Doom Society, and Divinity did something similar with her ability then."
Barry shrugged and gestured toward Sal.
"Didn't you have that kind of ability originally? You can find blueprints with Mythos Crafter even without them in front of you. Seems like some memory-related ability is mixed in?"
Sal shook his head.
"That seems a bit different. Appraisal skill can originally do that. It's also classified as a complementary skill for Analysis ability. Maybe that's the overlapping part. Still, the indexing skill looks quite useful. It's not limited to just items. I should check if that's really Recall's ability."
Sal looked at the skill list and drew up a plan in his head.
"Thanks to you, things got sorted out a lot, Barry. If not for you, I wouldn't have thought this far. Do you really want me to make you a piece of gear?"
Barry shook his head slightly.
"Don't take this the wrong way. Actually, I want to fully master my ability first without relying on gear. I might change my mind later, but for now, I want to test how far I can go with my own power."
Sal smiled, respecting Barry's decision.
"If you ever change your mind, tell me. Because the ideas for this tracker might become the perfect tool for the Controller class!"
Barry nodded in agreement but didn't wipe the mischievous smile off his face.
"Hey, I think you're overlooking something truly important. Thinking of staying in the Support class even after crafting a tracker capable of collecting such tremendous information."
Barry sighed and shook his head.
"The sword you made really suits Anthony, but what do you plan to use to build up your own combat proficiency? Don't take this the wrong way... Anyone can see you're not the type to fight in the middle of enemy lines. But why aren't you making something like a gun for yourself? You could even grant it an Evolution attribute and make gear that evolves over time."
Sal laughed, shook his head, and focused on his notes again, but Barry didn't give up.
"The Cohort Battle won't be easy, Sal. The opposing teams will be much stronger, and everything will get harder from now on. If you want to keep your spot as a Savior Class candidate, you need gear befitting that. Otherwise... I might end up taking your spot!"
"Earlier you said sucking others' essence with the tracker is inhumane. But now a gun is the answer?"
Sal grinned and looked up at Barry.
"I've rarely seen guns, and I've certainly never shot one. I have absolutely no clue how to make one. The sniper rifle was different since I restored and upgraded it... Honestly, I'm not sure about using a gun as a weapon yet."
Barry crossed his arms and sent a meaningful look.
To appease him, Sal deliberately made an exaggerated gesture and wrote a line at the top of his memo.
'Review crafting a firearm with Evolution attribute.'
"Satisfied?"
Sal asked, pointing at the sentence.
Barry grinned and nodded.
"Totally satisfied."