Limitless The Strongest Revenant

My mind tried to understand the Soulgear that Exa had chosen for me. The three Soulgears had completely different concepts. When choosing equipment in RPGs, there were usually two schools of thought.

One was to minimize weaknesses, and the other was to enhance strengths. That was why you gave heavy armor to knights and not to archers.

Archers, who were not normally on the front lines, were instead given items for evasion or movement speed.

If your goal was to avoid getting hit, you might as well avoid the hit altogether instead of taking it.

The {ATK Boost} was basically something that made me hit harder. It was the easiest of the three to understand. I pay soul to get a 25% kinetic damage boost.

This was for both ranged and melee weapons. That meant it made swords hit harder and arrows pierce deeper. I could see why Exa would recommend it.

Despite not being an original soulgear, a 25% increase to bullet momentum would directly translate to more damage by kinetic momentum. If given to a sniper round, it would penetrate deeper. If given to a rocket, the explosion would be much more powerful.

As the highest ranked Soulgear of the three, with a five-star rating, it was a solid option. The only drawback was that it didn't stack. And it would expire after five minutes. Since the duration was based on {Fate}, that meant that even if I stored it in my subspace, the timer would still run out.

'Hmm, I could refresh the duration with {Rewind}, but using {Rewind} every 5 minutes just to increase the power by 25% seems a bit much.'

The second option was not for combat, but for utility. The {Heat Sink}, as the name implied, was a support item that could transfer heat from an object, rapidly cooling it.

The only thing I could think of to use this on would be a gun barrel. Guns used the ignition of gunpowder to fire their ordnance. The concept of automatic repeating fire usually used the explosion from firing a round to cycle the gun.

Due to the nature of this system, the muzzle and barrel were normally exposed to the gases that come from the chemical reaction. The explosions that cycle the round also create a flash of light. The brilliant light coming out of the gun was known as muzzle flash.

Suppressors and muzzle brakes try to either reduce this or increase the rate at which these gasses were expelled. However, the one thing that had no answer from a material standpoint was how to cool the barrel when firing at a rapid rate.

Open bolt and rotary machine guns had different approaches to this problem.

The first was to make the barrels themselves interchangeable. Instead of waiting for it to cool down, just change it out. This allowed the gun to continue firing.

Rotary machine guns, on the other hand, simply increased the number of barrels used when firing. This ensured the heat was spread out. It didn't solve the problem, but with six barrels, the same number of rounds that would melt a standard barrel had less of an impact.

Currently my {Kismet} {Armory} stored a snapshot of my weapons and their status. This meant that if one of them broke, I just had to discard it. The next time I summoned it, it would not only reload the weapon, but it would also repair it for a soul cost.

"If I had this, I could fire for longer before having to use {Armory}, which would save me some souls."

The only problem I found with {Heat Sink} was that the Soulgear was a precision instrument. While it could help reduce the heat, there was also a caveat that if the upper or lower temperature thresholds were exceeded, the soulgear would break.

I didn't know how hot my weapons could get when I fired them continuously. Because I had {EXA Reload}, I was able to keep raining lead until my ammo stores were depleted. This shifted the point of failure from the ammo to the gun itself.

Regardless of whether you had unlimited ammunition, if your gun broke, all your bullets would turn into paper weights.

Another thing I assumed it would work for was to dissipate the heat of {Suffer}. If I put this thing on my chest, would it reduce the heat while allowing me to keep the energy?

It was also worth checking if I could move it over weapons. If I couldn't, then the cost of 21,000 souls wouldn't be justified. In fact, it would be a complete waste.

I'm guessing this was highly valued because it was something the reapers used to keep their bodies from overheating. Maybe when they went through a volcanic area or something?

I then looked at the last soulgear and read it out loud.

"{Day by Day} is a Formless {Fate}. Allows the user to create up to six avatar bodies using soul. Exa, does that mean it creates something like clones?"

[Yes, Limitless. That is exactly what it does]. .net

"Why is it barely two stars? Cloning abilities are super cool in games."

[In such games, the clones usually have the ability to follow simple commands. Like go to this place or kill this monster. {Day by Day} has none of that. Even though it can create six soul bodies, the user has to control them all manually at the same time.]

"How would that even work?"

[It would be like playing seven Dark Souls games at once. The clones do nothing but breathe unless a consciousness is driving them. Many who have experimented with this have simply created statues that never move].

"Playing Dark Souls on seven PCs sounds impossible. Why are you even suggesting this to me?"

[This is because of your {Kismet}, Limitless. Specifically, because of {Perspective}]

"Why would that matter?"

[Other users of this Soulgear had mind control abilities or Puppetry {Fates} similar to Dominic Maegester. The problem with such applications is that forcing the body to move is different from controlling it. The low rating for this Soulgear is due to lack luster results].

"Still, you think I can do it? {Perspective} allows me to see with another person's senses, but I can't control them."

[This is where you are wrong, Limitless. The definition of consciousness for this soulgear is to have a consciousness in the brain. I believe that using {Perspective} on a body would allow your mind to control it while still having control of your main body].

"Then I would literally be multiboxing in real life, wouldn't I?"

[Yes, the next problem would be the mental strain of moving two different "people". However, since the {Code} family of {Fates} increases your brain's processing power, you could theoretically learn to control seven bodies at once].

"But {Perspective} only works on one person, and it has to be a Siren."

[Incorrect, Limitless. Your exact words at that time were to use {Limitless} as a guide. {Perspective} applies to everyone with {Limitless}, which includes you. That is why the Sirens can use you as a target for the {Kismet} even though you are not one of them.]

"Okay, fine, I'll give you that. Then why do you think it is possible to control seven bodies?"

[There has been precedent. Ishtar's {Program} [Beacon] follows the same concept. However, of the Seven Sirens, only Minerva has the ability to have six external {Perspectives}. She does this by having her mind juggle six points of view in addition to her own.]

"This sounds way over my head. Do you think I can do it?"