HOTD Intermission 2
Haven: Well... that's nice...
[Haven, you don't seem to understand what this truly means.]
Haven: You're right... can you explain?
[My role... in this dimension. I always believed that I would never be able to control any aspect of your body. I've always only believed that I would serve as a guide... or something. Having control over Haki, changes everything. I'm now able to help you fight.]
Haven: Oh... now that you put it that way, I guess thats is pretty cool.
[Indeed. Now, our plan is going to change substantially.]
Haven: Oh? Which parts are we changing?
[Originally, I was planning for you to exchange for the Vampire(Count) mutation, Haki and Ki energy but due to myself being able to play an active role now, we're going to have to change it out to something better. A mere vampire's bloodline wont satisfy me now.]
Haven: Im not following your train of thought.
[Im going to build us in a way that we will become unstoppable monsters. First, before we do anything new... I need to familiarize myself with this power. One of my previous incarnations had a similar ability to Haki. Since his experiences have transferred into me, I feel as if I should be able to master this ability within two days. Do not exchange for anything just yet. I recommend, while I do internal training, you gain fighting experience with Yukio and Jax.]
Haven: Fighting experience? I know how to fight. You thought me martial arts.
[Yes. I did. However that was merely a foundation. You have to build experience and abilities from the foundation which I've bestowed you. This can be done by constantly fighting. Now get to it.]
Haven: Alright. Two days huh? What exactly are you planning, Erin? Why two days before we exchange for something else?
[This is because I want to make sure that I can stabilize our gene- never mind. You'll see. I don't want to spoil it.]
Haven: Seriously?
[Yes, it might take away from your focus... but on second thought... do one more exchange. Get Intermediate level Ki.]
Haven: Ki? Will I even be able to control this energy or are you going to take it?
[I don't know, I can only speculate at this point however Ki has some healing properties to it that allows the body to recover from wounds much easier. It's a good choice for an upgrade.]
Haven: Sure...
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Connecting to God once more, we selected the option for Low level Ki and paid for it. It costed us a 1000 points and a D rank reward. Deciding that it was for the best, we split out last B reward into 3 C ranks and used it to upgrade our lower level Ki to an intermediate amount.
All these exchanges left us with only 5200 points and 2C and 2D rank rewards.
As our exchanges were complete, I urged Haven to use our upgrade certificate to Level up the Intermediate Ki into the High leveled one. This will be relevant later on as we would definitely need the deeper reserves in order to accomplish and create special skills.
A beam of light shone upon us and a stream of energy started to appear within Haven's body. It was like a warm current, flowing freely through his veins.
When we landed, Haven attempted to control the energy. For the most part, he was successful. He made it flow into his arms and his legs, and circulate around his body. Ki had somewhat of a neutral attribute to it. It seemed, welcoming as if it was willing to incorporate others into its care.
Everywhere his Ki passed through, it seemed to nourish his cells ever so slightly. Perhaps, the more Ki he introduced to his body, the more it would strengthen upon itself. If this was the case, we might have found a way to cultivate.
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Haven: Alright. I think I can control it. It's a little hard but... I could get used to this.
[This is good news. We now have a tiny healing factor.]
Haven: Healing factor?
[Yes. I've noticed that Ki seems to nourish your cells a little. If you ever get injured, Ki should help you in recovering.]
Haven: Alright... I guess? Are you able to control Ki as well?
[Yes. I am able to use it as well.]
Haven: Interesting. You don't have control over our body physically but you have control over the energy inside...
[We can figure this out some other time. You should go speak to Yukio about training.]
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I could tell that Haven didn't want to let the conversation go but unfortunately he had to. Perhaps this, motivation for an unknown power of some sort would allow him to put 100% of his focus into gaining battle experience. I wouldn't know for sure but I suspect that Haven would definitely grow from this.
Haven went over to Yukio and started conversing.
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Haven: I'm going to need some help.
Yukio: With?
Haven: Fighting. I have the basics down, but a voice in my head told me that experience in battle would be more worthwhile.
Yukio: A voice in your head? Hmm... I guess I could spar with you but... what exactly did you exchange for? I need to know so I can regulate my strength to keep you from dying.
Haven: I exchanged for Haki and High level Ki. I can control the armament section of Haki but I'm going to need some experience if i want to use the Observation module of it. As for Ki, I think it has the ability to heal me but I'm unsure about the specifcs. Sooner or later im going to be able to shoot Kamehamehas.
Yukio: It that it?
Haven: What?
Yukio: Is that all you exchanged for? That... seems somewhat wasteful. Are you planning on saving up for the Back to the Origin option, which allows you to go back into the real world permanently? I don't recommend this action. You'll need all the power you can spare to survive a mission.
Haven: Oh no, nothing like that. I just want to get used to my current abilities first before I enhance myself.
Yukio: ... Alright. It's your choice after all. Just try not to be stupid. Alright?
Haven: Sure.
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Yukio then dragged the three newbies over to his room. He explained that each room can be customized to certain degree. His room was customized to be a giant partial shooting range and fighting ring. There were guns of all types and sizes available in the corners of the rooms.
Almost any items could be created in the room with the exception for magic weapons and the like. It seemed like god didn't want us to gain experience from using these types of weaponry so that when we exchange for them, we would be able to use them easily.
The items created in the rooms also could not be brought out of them. Which meant that there was no chance to bring out unlimited ammunition and bombs into missions.
Yukio started to explain that training was another way for us to increase our stats as well but it would take a much longer time than simply enhancing it. Yukio demonstrated by walking over towards a giant barbell which probably weighed over 500 kilos. He demonstrated his strength by lifting with seemingly effortless strength, using a single hand.
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Yukio: Training is important. You'll be able to advance any of your abilities using this method. Its a good chance of testing out your abilities as well. Jax since you and Izumi are more comfortable around each other, why don't you teach her some basic martial techniques that she might be able to pick up?
Jax: Huh? Sure, I guess but why are you training Haven?
Yukio: He's the only one who'll be able to take out some of the punishment I'll be dishing out to him. Also this'll serve as some good stress relief for me.
Haven: ...
Jax: Heh. Good luck to you Haven. Come on Izumi, lets train.
Izumi: I guess I'll be in your care.
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[Relax. I'll mitigate as much damage as I can with Haki. You... should be alright. Even if he takes it overboard.]
Haven: ...For some reason, that doesn't really reassure me.
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Yukio and Haven walked into the fighting ring. Yukio started it off with a signal then rushed at Haven with high speed. Haven countered by ducking under his punches or dodging backwards. When he wasn't able to, I used Haki to negate the impacts from Yukio's punches and kick.
Gradually, Yukio started increasing his skill level and speed, employing unusual attacks and tricks that tripped Haven from his concentration.
Yukio held back a great deal but he still had the abilities close to 10 times that of a regular human's. His punches and kicks definitely hurt.
As Haven kept getting knocked down from Yukio's ever increasing strength, Haven started learning in tangent as well. His reaction speed kept increasing faster as Yukio's attacks became harder to deal with.
When Haven believed that his stamina was starting to dwindle to mere cinders, he circulated his Ki around his body to reduce the fatigue. Soon even his control over Ki energy reached a higher level, allowing him to enhance his stats for a short while.
Within what seemed like no time at all, two days passed.
After fighting with Yukio for a while, he punched Haven in the gut without holding back any strength. It was all I could do to reduce the impact of the punch using Haki, however it was strong enough to blast him backward and into the corner of the ring, his body rag dolling across the floor.
Haven spat out blood as he tried getting to his feet.
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Haven:(coughing) Why did you suddenly do that?
Yukio: I wanted to see how you'd respond. Good job on your part, being able block the initial impact using Haki. It seems that your ability to heal yourself using Ki energy has increased as well.
Haven: Well... im glad you found that to your liking.
Yukio: You seem to be misunderstanding something here, Haven. I'm not doing this for fun. I'm only pushing you as hard as I am right now due to your ability.
Haven: Ability? You mean my Ki?
Yukio: No. Not that, and im not talking about Haki either.
Haven: What...?
Yukio: You have a very high talent in martial arts. I don't know how you did it but your learning speed is off the roof. It took you two days to match my level using 40% of my strength in Stats. Do you know... how crazy that it?
Haven: What do you mean? This isn't normal?
Yukio: No. Normal people might take close to 2-3 months of fighting to be able to reach this level expertise in fighting. This is... just short of... crazy.
Haven: Huh...
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In any case, Yukio was right. Haven's comprehension of martial ability vastly surpasses that of a common human. Our souls being interconnected has probably caused this development to occur. It makes me wonder what level of power we could unleash if Haven could access all of my fighting experience as well.
Our abilities have grown beyond what I had expected. Haven was still no where near being a match for Yukio seeing as he still hadn't even come close to using his genetic enhancement but he was getting there.
Within the past two days, his control over Ki energy had grown enough to a level where he was able to use it to temporarily enhance his attributes and my control over Haki was sufficient enough to begin the phase of our plan.
After a brief shot period of rest, I urged Haven to connect once more to God, the ball of light. This would either cause irreparable damage and kill us or it would transform us into something.... else.
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Haven: Erin... are you sure about this? I... have to say, I'm not very excited about this part.
[I understand your sentiments but my control has reached a level strong enough to at least handle this. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. Now, do it!]
Haven: Sigh. God. Show me the entry level genetic mutations for Vampire and Werewolf.
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Vampire(Baron) Genetic Mutation
Rating 90
Applicable to most missions. Allows the user to gain blood energy and the healing power of the vampire race. Wounds can be healed as long as the heart of brain isn't destroyed. Requires 2,500 points and a C rank reward.
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Entry Werewolf Genetic Mutation
Rating 90
Applicable to most missions. Gives the user immense physical might and the ability to transform into a werewolf, which significantly enhances stats for a period of time. Requires 2,500 points and a C rank reward
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The dignified and ethereal voice of God rang out in our heads.
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BE WARNED, EXCHANGING FOR TWO GENETIC MUTATIONS WILL HAVE UNPREDICTABLE RESULTS. YOU HAVE A SEVENTY PERCENT CHANCE OF TURNING INTO A NON HUMAN BEING.
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Haven: ...
[Finalize]
Haven: I understand. I wish to exchange for it anyways.
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