novelraw Chapter 110: Stand-In Attack
Chapter 110: Stand-In Attack
The bluish-white flames grew increasingly intense, until finally, a blinding white light gradually began to flash above the flames.
"So this is the light attribute," Fly murmured to himself.
Subsequently, the white light grew brighter and brighter, gradually becoming so piercing that it was impossible to keep one's eyes open.
Fly aimed his finger at the wall ahead and violently thrusted it forward, which was immediately followed by a thunderous booming sound...
...
It was unknown how much time had passed before the Gravity Chamber finally returned to a state of calm.
Under the dumbfounded gazes of the other four, Fly walked over, raised his hand, and gently touched the wall that was now as soft as mud. The residual heat immediately transmitted through his fingertips.
Excellent, Fly thought to himself. Although it's still unrefined, this is more than enough to verify my theory.
When electric charges move at high speeds and overcome a conductor to perform work, electrical energy is converted into thermal energy. This was essentially "frictional heating" on a microscopic level.
With high temperatures, combined with combustibles and oxygen, it was possible to convert a light-attribute attack into a fire-attribute one. It was just that the balance of the various minute changes involved was incredibly difficult to master, which was why many who had attempted this in the past had fallen short of success at the final hurdle.
But Fly had the system's innate talent, "Learning Genius," which gave him the confidence to attempt it. Under the influence of all these prerequisites, coupled with a stroke of luck, he had succeeded on his very first try, even if it wasn't quite stable yet.
At the very least, it proved the feasibility of this method.
Staring at the wall that had melted into a pile of sludge under the intense heat, towering waves of shock crashed through the minds of Mr. Carter and the others.
'Emperor' Valerius quickly stepped forward and mimicked Fly's action, touching the wall. The residual heat had yet to dissipate.
"This... how is this even possible?" Genevieve exclaimed, her beautiful eyes wide as silver bells and her soft pink lips parted slightly in disbelief.
Wasn't Fly's talent a little too ridiculous?
Not only was his cultivation speed ridiculously fast, but his Beast Totem could also continuously evolve, and now he had directly altered the inherent attribute of his attacks.
It was simply outrageous!
"Fly, what did you mean when you said 'just as I thought' earlier?" Mr. Carter's eyes revealed an unprecedented level of pleasant surprise.
Even though he had no idea how Fly managed to pull it off, this was undoubtedly monumental news for the upcoming Jade State League.
"Just a few hunches," Fly said, turning back to Mr. Carter. "There are some faint commonalities between the different attributes. Just as Genevieve and Valerius mentioned, countless predecessors have already discovered and researched this."
"I think the reason they failed is that the minute changes during the attribute conversion process are too difficult to precisely detect."
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"I just followed my intuition and gave it a simple try, and to my surprise, it worked. Talk about a stroke of good luck," Fly said with a smile, scratching his head.
"But, this is merely a success based on intuition, not a systematic one. I figured it out relying on this gut feeling, but if I had to teach it to someone else, I wouldn't even know where to begin. It's like... some profound truth that's difficult to put into words."
As Fly casually recounted his experience, the pupils of everyone present quaked with shock once again.
This Fly guy not only had outstanding talent but also possessed luck that was off the charts. Was there no justice in this world!??
Right at that moment, the voice of the system, which hadn't made an appearance for quite some time, suddenly chimed in Fly's mind.
[System Prompt: Congratulations to the user for acquiring a new Skill: Stand-In Attack.]
Fly: "???"
Although he had long felt that this system, much like many modern AIs, was slightly mentally challenged, wasn't this a bit too stupid? This Skill description was completely baffling!
His previous Thunder Strike could at least be understood literally.
What the hell was a "Stand-In Attack"?
Was his Roach Matriarch going to release a proxy to punch people?
Was it going to leave a dummy behind like Pokémon's 'Substitute', or summon a spirit like an actual 'Stand' from JoJo?
"What's wrong, Fly?" Noticing the change in Fly's expression, Mr. Carter also grew tense.
Could it be that executing that Skill earlier had left behind some sort of backlash?
It made sense when he thought about it. There was no precedent for successfully converting Skill attributes, so naturally, no one knew the consequences of doing so.
"It's not that there's a problem," Fly explained with a slight shake of his head, seeing the nervous concern on Mr. Carter and the others' faces. "It's just that the AI of my Inner Realm prompted me that I've acquired a new Skill called 'Stand-In Attack'."
"Literally speaking, I can't quite understand what it means."
Hearing this, Mr. Carter and the others exchanged blank glances, equally unable to make heads or tails of it.
Fly intentionally emphasized that it was the built-in AI of the Beast Totem Card issued by the school that had alerted him, deliberately concealing the existence of the Insect Fusion System.
Ironically, this only made it more believable.
Even though modern AI technology was highly advanced, it still had some flaws that couldn't be ignored, such as occasional logic errors.
For instance, Mr. Carter had experienced this firsthand...
When talking to his car's AI, he once mentioned that he felt a little hot, meaning he wanted the AI to turn on the AC. Instead, the AI directly activated the auto-navigation feature and pulled up all the nearby red-light districts.
Good grief, did saying he felt hot automatically mean he wanted to go to the red-light district!?
"This kind of thing happens from time to time, so your new ability needs to be tested to see the results."
Mr. Carter turned to look at the Gravity Chamber wall that Fly had melted into a pile of sludge.
Although people wouldn't normally test their Skills directly on these walls, they were all specially reinforced just in case. If nothing else, they should have been more than enough to handle the impact of Skills from most high school Beast Warriors. But who could have anticipated an abnormally overpowered high school Beast Warrior like Fly?
Looking at it now, this was not a good place to test Fly's new Skill.
"Let's go to your Inner Realm," Mr. Carter said to Fly.
"Alright," Fly nodded. This time, he didn't ask for an entrance fee.
After all, Jett had already sponsored them with quite a bit of cash.
One had to be magnanimous in life!
Fly took out his Beast Totem Card and invited the others into his Inner Realm.
In the next moment, everyone arrived within Fly's desolate Inner Realm.
This was the first time 'Emperor' Valerius and Jett had visited Fly's Inner Realm. While they felt a sense of wonder, they also found it to be rather bare-bones.
Fly manifested his Beast Totem and activated his new Skill. "Hah! Skill: Stand-In Attack!"
To get a more intuitive feel for the new Skill, Fly even had the AI generate a fat pig in the Inner Realm, letting it scurry around on the ground. Only then did he channel his energy and execute his new Skill, just as he would with any other.
'Emperor' Valerius and Jett bobbed their throats, nervously swallowing a mouthful of saliva.
They wondered if this Stand-In Attack was going to summon several clones identical to Fly, much like Gareth's Doppelgänger Totem.
However, the scene playing out in Valerius's and Jett's minds failed to materialize.
Instead, a bizarre "hissing" screech suddenly echoed through the air.
A split second later...
A massive Spectral Roach suddenly materialized in front of Fly. Its body underwent a rapid transformation; its originally snow-white carapace turning a crimson red right before their eyes.
From a distance, it looked quite a bit like a cooked crawfish.
"Wait, is it going to breathe fire?" Jett suddenly asked.