Damon's Ascension-Chapter 129: The Vanguard Team 3

"Sure thing. I also climbed 20 levels in all and with 20 points, I deemed to allocate things in much the same manner as Kyle and Levi," Nicholas stated with his legs crossed.

[Name: Nicholas Spencley || Race: Homo Sapien (Pure) || Faction: None]

[POW: 5 || MOB: 5 || FOR: 5 || MEN: 15 || PRO: 1]

[Abilities: Mental Manipulation (SSS).]

[Mental Manipulation - Element Manipulation Type]

[Grade: SSS || Stage: D]

[Effect: The owner of this Ability has the power to control all psychic energies and sentient mind powers within his eyesight and sensory range. This also includes the minds of any sentient being as well as semi-sentient beings. At the D-Stage, the owner can suitably control approximately 10 kilograms of psychic energy in the universe.]

Henry let out a low whistle. "Control ten kilos of psychic energy? What does that even mean? Are we talking brain weight, telepathy, or actual people?"

"Depends on whether he’s aiming to delete your thoughts or just rent out the space in your head," Kyle muttered.

Xela blinked. "Wait... semi-sentient beings too? Like... dogs? Like AI? Like... old man Henry?"

"Hey!" Henry shot her a betrayed look.

He folded his arms in complaint. "I am exactly sentient enough to deserve respect."

"Barely," Connor commented with a roll of his eyes, earning a soft snort from Marshal.

Bane tilted his head. "Mind control on that scale isn’t just dangerous. It’s very invasive."

Nicholas nodded calmly. "Which is why I prefer not to use it directly unless necessary. It’s one thing to win a battle... another to walk away knowing you dismantled someone’s will to live."

That earned him a pause of consideration. Even Felicia’s expression softened slightly at the remark.

"A psychic with restraint, that’s rare," she said.

"Don’t praise him yet, he once hijacked Henry mid-sentence during training just to make him recite Shakespeare," Kyle added as he glanced at Nicholas askance.

Henry crossed his arms, sulking. "I still don’t know how he made me cry during Julius Caesar."

"It was the delivery," Nicholas said simply.

Damon finally spoke, relaxed and conversational. "A smart build. With abilities like yours, the limitation’s never in what you can do, just what you can afford not to."

Nicholas inclined his head. "Exactly, a high Mentality keeps the leash tight."

Xela tilted her head. "But you could still... what? Freeze someone in place? Send them fake memories?"

"Temporarily scramble emotional states, misdirect perception, reroute decision trees. It’s more efficient to make someone want to lose than to beat them physically," Nicholas listed off on his fingers.

Kyle nodded. "He’s terrifying in the least violent way possible."

Marshal leaned back. "Psychic warfare’s clean, until it isn’t."

Connor added, "And you never know when it’s started."

Even Bane, usually terse, gave a small grunt of agreement. "He’s the quiet kind of dangerous."

Damon gave Nicholas a faint smile. "Let me guess... you also have a backup list of psychological breakdown strategies for every one of us?"

Nicholas smiled back, unfazed. "Not yet, but I’m working on it."

The group let out varying reactions, some amused, some wary.

Felicia exhaled lightly. "At least you’re honest."

Xela stretched. "Whew. Alright, that’s what... seven of us down? Who’s left?"

Damon’s expression turned mildly curious as he looked across the room.

"Protizen, let’s see you next," he said.

[Name: Protizen Echo || Race: Homo Sapien (Pure) || Faction: None]

[POW: 10 || MOB: 5 || FOR: 10 || MEN: 5 || PRO: 1]

[Abilities: Ultra Armor (SS).]

[Ultra Armor - Object Manipulation Type]

[Grade: SS || Stage: D]

[Effect: The owner of this Ability has the power to generate an exo-armor that fully merges with the topmost layer of their epidermis, forming a set of intuitive armor designed by the user’s imagination. To make the armor stronger, the owner must imbibe different types of alloys and learn different types of technologies.]

"So how big can your armor get? Is it power ranger level, kamen rider level or like, gundam level?" Kyle asked with curiosity.

Protizen smiled. "As the description says, my imagination - and the amount of imbibed mental - is the limit."

Damon tapped the table with his fingers. "But there must be a cost, right?"

Protizen nodded. "Correct, Sir. It’s the same as every other ability, it costs me physical energy depending on my specifications. The simpler the armor and the less its functions, the less it consumes."

"Hmm, so you can add functions? Does that mean you can make an iron man suit with lasers and the unibeam?" Xela asked with surprise.

"Yup, I can add anything as long as it fits the specifications of what ’armor’ can achieve, in a technological and even fantastical setting. Magic armor, scientific armor, dark matter armor, anything. I just have to have enough metal of that type and enough energy," Protizen explained.

"Is there a direct correlation between the mental imbued and the energy cost?" Felicia asked next, seeming interested in this topic.

Protizen glanced over. "Correct again. The closer the mental I have imbibed is to the nature of my created armor, the less the cost. For example, if I want to manifest Frodo and Bilbo’s Mithril Armor, the cost will be significantly lower if I have actually obtained Mithril before and consumed it using my ability."

"Does it help if you have more than the base amount?" Bane asked in a deep voice.

"No. If I want to make an armor of 30 kilograms that is made of mithril, as long as I have imbibed enough mithril, I can further reduce the cost by 99% on top of the base reduction that abilities afford. However, even if I have imbibed 300kg of Mithril and want to make a 30kg mithril armor, the cost reduction will not surpass this amount no matter how much more I have," Protizen explained slowly.

"Interesting. Then your ability is quite overpowered, so why is it only SS?" Levi Thane asked with puzzlement.

Protizen smiled thinly. "True, I can manifest almost anything, making it seem on par with reality manipulation. I can even bypass stats and manifest armors that can increase or multiply my Power, Mobility, Fortitude, and Mentality if I want."

"However, the reason I assume it’s SS and not SSS or EX, is because of the cost. You see, unlike normal abilities where the cost is deducted once, I pay for mine in real time, based on the duration in which the armor is worn," Protizen revealed, which caused the room to go silent.

As powerful ability holders, each of them knew the horrifying cost of their abilities, and to imagine paying that full cost on a per second basis... it meant that Protizen could only wait till he became much stronger before manifesting overpowered armors with broken abilities.

"No wonder, you’ve been following me and Kyle to research on fictional armors, it’s because you want to increase your database!" Henry muttered in realization.

Protizen gave a nonchalant shrug. "Guilty as charged. Every new anime or sci-fi series is potential fuel, and besides, Kyle has excellent taste."

Kyle grinned. "You hear that, Damon? I’ve been validated."

"Yeah, for once," Levi muttered dryly.

Henry leaned forward, mock-serious. "So tell me, Protizen... have you actually tried manifesting a Sailor Moon armor set yet?"

"Only in private," Protizen replied smoothly, deadpan.

That earned a round of laughter, with even Connor cracking a faint smirk and Xela clapping once, delighted.

"Okay, okay, let’s not encourage him to turn into a magical girl just yet," Damon said, voice light but edged with amusement.

Felicia leaned back with a smile. "Honestly? Wouldn’t be the weirdest thing I’ve seen."

Nicholas added with a wry tone. "I’d be more worried if it worked."

"I’m not, but if I ever appear on the battlefield with glowing wings and a wand... just know you’re all going to lose," Protizen folded his arms, exuding calm.

Damon chuckled, then glanced toward the corner.

His voice shifted, not cold, but precise. "Alright. Jokes aside. Bane, you’re next."

"Yes. From level 7 to level 27, 10 billion Worldly Essence spent, with around 3 billion remaining. This is the result," Bane said simply.

[Name: Bane McGregor || Race: Homo Sapien (Pure) || Faction: None]

[POW: 10 || MOB: 5 || FOR: 10 || MEN: 3 || PRO: 3]

[Abilities: Apex Shifter (SSS).]

[Alpha Shifter - Body Manipulation Type]

[Rank: SSS || Stage: D]

[Effect: The owner of this ability has the power to transform into the complete form of another species at will. The owner is required to possess a DNA sample of the other species in order to transform into them. At the D Rank, only 27 forms can be stored at a time. Transformation time is limitless.]

"Wait, before we ask about the forms, how does the energy cost work here? We just learned that Protizen pays per second for his armor, so do you pay per second for your transformation?" Henry asked right away.

Bane shook his head. "No, as the ability says, my transformation time is limitless, and because I require DNA samples, my transformation is free as well."

"Wait so you don’t pay anything?!" Henry asked with shock.

"I wouldn’t be so surprised as there are countless ’free abilities.’ For example, my Devour costs nothing to use and same with Avatar. Xela’s Divine Life also costs her nothing and same with Felicia’s abilities," Damon responded with amusement.

"Still though..." Henry muttered sullenly.

"I do pay a cost. Depending on the creature I summon, I pay a cost to use its special abilities proportional to the power of that ability," Bane stated seriously.

"Huh? Special abilities? Do you mean like a dragon’s ability to breathe fire or something?" Xela asked with confusion.

Bane shook his head. "Fire dragons of fantasy can do that already so If I have their DNA, I can do that naturally at no cost. No, special abilities here refers to things like their racial ability of SSS Heat Manipulation or the SS Nirvana ability of the phoenixes."

Kyle stood up with shock. "What? You can hijack the racial abilities of other species?!"

Bane nodded.

Connor shook his head. "Terrifying."

Henry slowly leaned back, muttering to himself. "So let me get this straight... he can turn into a phoenix, breathe fire for free, and borrow their racial awakening skills like Nirvana?"

Xela glanced sideways at him. "You’re sounding nervous."

"I am nervous! The man basically bought a shapeshifter’s buffet pass and access to everyone else’s cheat menu."

"Relax, he only gets twenty-seven cheat codes at once," Kyle added dryly.

Felicia tapped her fingers together thoughtfully. "Still, that’s twenty-seven full biological templates... dragons, phoenixes, giants... If his collection grows strategically, his adaptability in combat could eclipse everyone here."

"Keyword: could. Most of my current samples are B-rank creatures or worse. Exotic SSS and EX-level species don’t exactly leave DNA lying around," Bane replied.

Nicholas nodded. "Which means your biggest limiter is resource acquisition."

"Correct," Bane said simply.

Marshal arched a brow. "So if we ever run into an EX-ranked nightmare beast..."

"I’ll be the one scraping its flesh into a sample bag," Bane replied without irony.

Henry groaned. "I hate how reasonable that sounded."

Connor cracked a small smirk. "You’ll be fine, Henry. He’s not looking to shift into you."

"Yet," Kyle added.

"I’m flattered you all think I’m worth copying. I’ll remember this when my statue goes up," Henry deadpanned.

Damon chuckled softly. "Don’t push it."

Xela clapped once, eager. "Okay! That was nine of us. Which means..."

Felicia turned toward the last seat. "Henry."

All eyes turned to the final member of the circle. Damon’s tone was casual now, almost teasing.

"You’ve been holding out. Let’s see what you’ve got, Jasek."