Third Rebirth: Godsfall Apocalypse

'… Not bad…'

Zarek's Godsfall reserves fell like a boulder from the sky. It took him an entire half of it to coat himself like this, but he also knew that he didn't need to go nearly so far.

In addition, because he used Godsfall so minimally in other aspects, just keeping a constant reserve on his bones and tendons would cost him very little.

If he did just the latter, it would probably cost around 20%, which was still a substantial amount considering his recent Core Breakthrough, but this was still pale in comparison to the amount he would have needed had he not managed to progress his Godsfall Intent to C Class.

Having a C Class Godsfall Intent wasn't the same as having C Class Godsfall, but what it did mean was that in comparison to all other D Class Godsfall users, he was a step above at the very least.

A higher Godsfall Intent than Godsfall was a rarity among rarities, and only those with S Class Intelligence Growth Potential could usually pull it off… so it was a good thing that Zarek had been able to borrow Marx's for a bit.

What this also meant was that Zarek was able to save a great deal of Godsfall because he needed less of it to accomplish the same task.

If his Godsfall Intent had been D Class—let alone 50%—even 100% of his Godsfall would probably not be enough to do this. Even to just coat his tendons and bones would have taken upwards of 80% of it, if not more.

But now… now it could work.

Zarek took a step forward and felt a stickiness he could control beneath his feet.

'This might be more useful than I thought…'

The possibilities for its uses in battle felt endless. He liked using the Lurker's Whip because of the flexibility it gave him, but that was still just an E Class Treasure. Now, he had C Class Lurker's Godsfall to control, making it far better than using just the whip alone. But…

'It would waste too much Godsfall to try and use my energy like the whip. But, if I use the whip in conjunction with this…'

Zarek pulled out his Lurker's Whip again. He had coated his skin with his Lurker's Godsfall, but not his clothing for obvious reasons. It would be a waste, and it would make too many other things inconvenient.

'Perfect.'

The moment Zarek poured his Godsfall into the whip, he felt it erupt with life. In that moment, though still an E Class Treasure, Zarek's experience told him it was no weaker than a decent D Class Treasure now.

Its sturdiness, the lengths it could expand and retract to, and the speed with which it could do so were now on another level.

The Matrices that formed the Treasure were simply too responsive to Zarek's Lurker's Godsfall. This was the importance of synergy in this world.

Once again… this apocalypse wasn't taking place in a video game. Seemingly straightforward Talents would have clever and sometimes unexpected secondary and tertiary effects that only seemed natural after you took a moment to think about it, and there would always be some unique coupling effects when two abilities met.

It was the same reason Atom Link could make Marx so powerful now. Day after day, that man was probably only finding new ways to apply it to his strength and was likely also putting all his effort into training ranged weapons…

And why wouldn't he?

If Marx had Malik's homing ability…

Zarek's lip curled, but because his body was covered in the very same black stickiness, he looked more demon than human as his white teeth flashed.

But then he suppressed his excitement. He had still yet to test if his actual theory would work or not.

The good news was that even if it didn't work, this Lurker's Godsfall was useful enough that it wouldn't matter.

He could stick himself to the ground for extra leverage or even just casually walk up walls or use terrain in unexpected ways. And, with the elasticity of the Godsfall, when he coated his skin with it like this, it naturally increased his Endurance.

Right now, his Endurance read D-, but if he factored in his Godsfall, it was probably closer to D+.

Between this and the ability to casually stick and unstick to anything he pleased, the ways a creative fighter like Zarek could use this in battle were simply endless.

If he could also…

Zarek punched out. It was slow and deliberate, but seemingly not liking something, he pulled back.

In steady movements, he started a sort of martial arts dance, shadow boxing and sparring with an invisible opponent.

His movements almost seemed jerky, unpracticed, completely unlike the instinctual fighter he had always been before.

But as the waning hours of the night began to pour forth, Zarek became sharper and sharper. The speed of his movements increased, and their fluidity did as well.

'Yes… just like this…'

There was a springiness to Zarek's actions that couldn't be quite explained.

'It's working…'

Zarek's thoughts were simple. If his body became more like a spring, dancing between rigidity and elasticity, any potential that came from an attack would be harder to change.

If Zarek started to punch, but then the Growth Potential of his Strength suddenly plummeted, under normal circumstances he would lose all of that previous momentum. After all, the human body worked in such a way that it needed continuously applied force.

If you were benching weight and your power suddenly gave out halfway, you would be finished.

But, what if you bounced the bar off your chest first? If the weight was light enough, and you had done so with enough momentum, even if your strength gave out halfway, the bar would still travel quite a distance without your input because of the initial power you put into it.

And that was exactly what Zarek was aiming for right here.

If he could store the potential of his stats the moment he began to attack…

Then it would matter far less if his Growth Potential changed midway.

THWAP.

Zarek's fist left a sharp bang in the air.