Chapter 3: Ability Discovered

""You're crazy,"" so says the God of Stupidity. I don't think he gets the irony there is in him making such a statement.

"How am I crazy?" I ask him, raising an eyebrow.

""Do I really need to explain it to you?"" I think for a moment before deciding that's understandable. I probably did look crazy while fighting Rai.

""Why didn't you give up?"" he inquires.

"I just didn't want to lose."

""That's... that's all?" he stutters in disbelief.

"Yeah." I don't really know what else he's expecting me to say. As illogical as it sounds, that's really the only reason.

""I... wow. Okay. Anyways, I have good and bad news for you,"" Koalemos tells me.

"Hit me with it." I let out a sigh, just wanting to get it over with.

""Well, the good news is that somehow, my blessing on you strengthened.""

"There are different strengths of blessings?"

""Yes. I gave you the strongest blessing I could as a Minor God without making you an Apostle. The strange thing is that your blessing strengthened independently of me. I mean, don't get me wrong, there's no downsides for it becoming stronger, it's just... unprecedented,"" he explains in a surprising amount of deftness.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the reason is due to my Power stat increasing. That's when something he mentioned processes in my mind. I furrow my brows.

"Wait, Apostle?"

""Uh, damn, forget I said that!"' he shouts, panic clear from his tone. Whatever makes a God panic... yeah.

"Forgotten," I instantaneously say. I decide to change the subject. "Anyways, what's the bad news?"

""Well, your ability..."

"Ah shit." From my meeting with Zeus I've always expected my ability to be possibly deadly. It's sad that my suspicions turn out to be true.

""Yeah... your ability's name is Folly. Essentially, if you do something stupid you get a minor increase to strength, agility, ect. If you do something stupid within an hour of the previous idiotic deed, it stacks, and so on and so forth. If you do something very very very stupid, it can stack multiple times with one activation.""

'A passive stacking ability!?' That's better than I hoped for. You see, the more someone uses their ability, the stronger it gets. So a passive ability can get really strong, really quick. Especially one that stacks.

'Though the condition of it's activation...' It's hard to figure out what exactly constitutes as stupid. I can give examples of stupid things, and say why they're stupid, but the problem is, do those stupid things align with what my ability considers stupid?

'It's already more complicated than I'd like.'

""That's not all. The main ability of Folly is that the more you stack it, the more resistant you get to affects. You know how you could still move when you should've been paralyzed by that guy's lightning?""

"Huh. Okay, that's good, great even. How many stacks did I have by then?" I inquire.

""One from talking back to your teacher, fighting someone who's way stronger than you, that's another. Not giving up when you should is a third. Knowing something is stupid yet doing it anyways. And, finally, cracking your own skull by headbutting someone, repeatedly, that one gave you four. So... in total, eight,"" he lists.

"The conditions are pretty loose..." I murmur to myself. In no time at all, I get an idea. A very painful idea. Hopefully it works, or I'm in for a rude awakening.

"Hey, so these affects I get more resistant to, what are they exactly?"

""Poison, mind control, elemental things, the usual...""

"Could I become resistant to death, then?"

""You just got a stack for saying something insane,"" Koalemos annouces. I grin.

"Alright, I see how it is."

""You see how what is? Eman? Wait- hey hey hey! What do you think you're doing!?"" he screams. I ignore him as I rip off my casts.

I flex my hand as I slowly get up, stretching like I just woke up from a good sleep. I can't become resistant to pain, it seems. As I'm hurting a crap ton right now.

I can feel my body throb. My fractures in my knuckles grate agonizingly against each other as I clench my fists. I want to cry, but I endure.

Crying is the normal thing to do. I can't be normal if I want to kill all Giants. So I have to be stupid.

This realization makes me feel like crying even more. 'How did my life come to this?' I inwardly wonder.

""You have six stacks,"" he helpfully informs. For a God of Stupidity, he sure catches on quick. I do a little hop to test my legs.

"Jesus Christ!" I yelp, my knees nearly buckling under the knives assailing them.

"I have fractures in my legs too?" I muse aloud with a raspy voice.

""Of course you do! Why did you think you had casts around your legs then!? Damm idio- ... oh.""

'Of course I know I have fractures in my legs you dumbass! I'm the one who peeled off the casts! Not to mention that I can fucking FEEL them!' I silently curse him as I begin to walk.

""Twelve stacks.""

Well, I can conclude that the results of my test is an astounding, yes. Injuries are indeed one of the affects that affect me less the higher my stacks are. The overwhelming pain is still there, the injuries are too, but at least I can walk as if I don't have them, right?

I walk into the bathroom and do my business. Once I'm done, I finally decide that enough is enough and lay back down on the hospital bed.

""Well, from what I noticed during you're... er, tests, is that you can't activate your ability from the same thing twice.""

"So I only have to say something stupid once?" I ask hopefully.

""Not exactly. You see, you can say something stupid like how you said if you had fractures in your legs, and you can say something insane. Like how you asked if you could resist death.""

"That's needlessly complicated."

""Not really. Like, you can purposely fractures your arm, and then you can also purposely break your arm. The difference is minute, but there. Like you can also do something stupid that inadvertently breaks your arm, or cracks your skull like in your spar.""

"Alright, you can stop talking, I get it. I just need to be smart about." I stop him there.

""You need to be smart to be stupid... you're the first person I've ever heard say that. I was right to bless you.""

"That doesn't make me feel any better..." I growl as I massage my forehead with my hand. I flinch, that hurts. I drop my hand and stare at the ceiling.

"How many stacks?" I ask again.

""18.""

I check my stats. Only two went up.

Power: 24 (+2.16)

Grit: 20 (+7.2)

A big grin stretches onto my face. I get out my phone to do the math, and eventually figure out that I get a 0.5% buff to power for each stack. So, 9% of 24 is 2.16. I get a 2% buff to Grit for each stack, 36% of 20 is 7.2.

"I think I'm actually falling in love with this ability," I proclaim. Though there's one last thing I need to make sure of.

""Don't tell me you're actually insane?"" I ignore him and ask my question.

"Is there a limit to the amount of stacks I can have?"

""Not that I'm aware of. Though, does that even matter? The more you use it, the stronger it gets, right? So your limit would just keep increasing, so why worry about it?""

"Hmm."

'So if I'm getting this right, the only problem right now is how many stacks I can get within an hour? Ones that also don't involve me giving myself debilitating injuries during a fight?' It seems like I'll need to test it out some more. Though hurting myself appears to be the best way to train it.

"You know what? I take it back, I think I hate this ability."

*****

As I toss and turn in my bed, my mind lingers on Koalemos. No, just Gods in general.

Because despite my best attempts at playing it off, having a God talking in my head. Is. Weird. Not only that, if Gods are so powerful, why don't they just kill the Giants themselves? Why use humans? I mean, this is their battle isn't? Gigantomachia, Gods against Giants, why embroil humans into it?

In the two days I was bedridden from my sparring injuries, I looked up any and all information I could find about Gods. The results were inconclusive. All media just praising them as magnanimous. There was no information about Gigantomachia.

When I first regained my memories I also tried searching up more information about tropes. I was unable learn anything that I didn't already know. The site I vaguely remembered being all about them gone.

This is an entirely different world. I understand that. But for some reason, it's been impossible for me to be anything other than critical to everything that enters my sight. Especially the Gods.

I'm usually not this suspicious. 'But then again, I'm not usually in a shounen manga,' I think to myself.

I sigh and open my eyes. Laying on my side, arm under pillow, I stare blankly at the wall facing me. I mean, there are so many inconsistencies. And that can't just be due to a bad writer, can it?

As I think about the Gods, inevitably, I get to thinking about the one closest to me

Koalemos. He not only can speak within my head, he sees what I'm doing, and knows instantly when I use my ability and how I can use it. Who's to say he can't read my thoughts?

'And he's only a Minor God. What can Zeus do?' This frightens me. The Gods are possibly surveilling Giant Slayers. No, maybe just humans in general?

Why?

Gods won't fight Giants, are watching humans carefully yet need them, and are possibly censoring information about themselves. As I examine my findings, it all points to a clear answer.

The Gods are utterly terrified. Of Giants and Humanity. Which only makes me wonder why anyone else doesn't realize this.

'Or maybe they can't?' What if they can't because they're bewitched? Mind controlled? Maybe the censor isn't just on information, but mentally, emotionally...

""Those are some dangerous thoughts, Emery,"" Koalemos states in a grave voice. My brain halts.

""As I mentioned before, I've never blessed anyone until you. What you're thinking right now is part of that reason. Keep your realizations to yourself, otherwise, I really can't protect you Eman,"" he tells me.

It's nice to know I have a God on my side, however Minor. And that he can't hear my thoughts about this being a fictitious world. This information might be useful if I ever need to keep something from him. A screen pops-up in front of my face.

[You have spoiled a Major Plot Twist!]

[+ 10,000 MP]

[+10 Wit]

A grin spreads to my face. At this very moment, I feel like the smartest man alive. But, after the brief elation and surge of endorphins pass, another question enters my mind.

Is this the Author's original intention for the Gods? Them being afraid of both Humans and Giants? The story will then resolve the tension between Humans and Gods, truly uniting through the use of Rai's friendship with Heracles and Zeus?

'That does sound like a shounen manga.' That feels very likely. But now that I'm in the picture, I can't forget I might distort it. It's a happy ending, yes. But a relatively boring one.

'Obliterating all Giants feels like a better ending.' Since I don't want to die before my goal is accomplished, I decide to stay silent on my realization. Another screen appears a few moments after the last few.

[For Surpassing 1,000 MP, you've unlocked the Media Shop! It is in the media section on the main menu.]

'Main menu?'

[The Trope System]

Status

Media

Shop

'This is feeling more and more like an actual game,' I muse as I press on the shop tab.

[Media Shop]

X1 Comment Reader - 100 MP

X1 Review Reader - 100 MP

X1 Character Reader - 10 to 10,000 MP

X1 Chapter Trope Reader - 100 MP

X1 Exit Chapter - 100 to 1,000,000

X1 Re-read - 1,000,000,000

'That's a lot of stuff.'