Zarek crouched on the roof of a skyscraper, looking out toward the bloody moon in the distance with a calmness about him. He thought through the earlier day's events in silence, feeling out every detail and seeing what he could grasp about it all. In the end, he came to a single, one-word conclusion.
'Troublesome.'
His Growth Potential right now could only be described as variable. The reason for the question marks, as expected, was truly related to the other seven. But the variability itself was the problem.
He didn't get the average of their Growth Potentials—though he could have worked with that. He didn't get the sum of them either—he most definitely could have worked with that.
Instead, his Growth Potential had become volatile. Sometimes it would pluck from the strongest, and sometimes from the weakest. It would twist and turn, flipping in his body as it bounced from one of the Hero Candidates to the next in a continuous cycle.
Sometimes he would have Marx's S+ Charisma, and at other times he would have Boop's C- Strength.
The worst part was that it was weighted—meaning, it was far more likely for him to land on a weak Growth Potential rather than a strong one. And that meant that, on average…
All of his Growth Potentials had fallen across the board.
—
Name: [Zarek Ashford]
Role: [Hero Candidate]
Core Stats:
[Strength: D-] <B+>
[Dexterity: D-]
[Intelligence: D-] B->
[Endurance: D-] <B+>
[Charisma: D-]
…
—
These were just his Growth Potentials right now. But Zarek found that every time he tried to tap into one of his Core Stats, there would be a shift.
To make matters worse, he had just learned Core Harmony to the first level, but now he had lost it. It was as though he didn't understand what Core Harmony was anymore. The resonance between his Core Stats had been thrown completely off, and it was like he was trying to learn Core Harmony for the first time all over again.
Zarek had never seen anything so ridiculous in his life. He had never heard of a Role that could give so much, and yet take so much away at the same time.
Would things even get better if he got the full Role? Or would it be more of the same nonsense?
There should have been a great amount of frustration on Zarek's face. He should have been quite fed up with all of it. But looking down at his Notes…
—
Notes:
[…]
—
There was nothing at all. The system wasn't commenting.
It was interesting. The system wasn't beneath trying to throw him off—it had done so before. Back when he first cleared the Hero Tear, it had left a Note making fun of him for getting his hands on an Atom Link Talent that was too strong for his purposes.
Thinking back, that was most definitely an attempt to throw him off the scent of this path. By making him think that this was all the Tear had to offer, and that he had already been screwed over by it, he wouldn't go as far as to complete the rest of the Hidden Quest and trigger the ultimate Role Quest that came with it.
But now, it wasn't saying anything. It wasn't making fun of him, it wasn't encouraging him, it wasn't mentioning Priya or anything else.
"Finally quiet, huh? You useless pile of shit."
—
Notes:
[Why don't you just jump off this building and do us all the favor?]
—
Zarek sneered when he saw the Note come back.
"You're actually afraid for the first time. How interesting. I've been wondering what makes you tick. As uncomfortable as this makes me, I'm looking forward to sticking my foot up your ass all the more."
The system didn't respond, and Zarek didn't expect it to.
If there was one thing the system was good at, it was insulting him on its own terms. It had always been aloof, and it rarely said something in direct response to something Zarek told it.
It reminded Zarek a lot of what a child with supreme arrogance and nigh-omnipotence would act like. All the power in the world, but carrying the maturity of a toddler in their terrible twos.
The fact that it had responded this time told Zarek one of two things.
Either it truly was scared this time. Or… it was baiting him into continuing this path, knowing it would screw him over.
It was a quite interesting tightrope to walk, and he felt like he was staring down the barrel of a gun. But… if there was one thing Zarek was good at, it was gambling with his own life.
Well, there was that—and finding solutions to problems others couldn't.
The volatility of his Growth Potential was a problem. It would slow Zarek's growth considerably, but worse than that, it might accelerate it at the worst of times.
There were three S Class Talents in the group, split between Zade and Marx. Marx had an S Class Intelligence and Charisma, while Zade had S Class Intelligence and A Class Charisma.
This actually increased the odds Zarek would gain S Class Intelligence at the worst time, and if that happened, what if he accidentally broke through ahead of schedule and ruined his Core Breakthrough sequence?
Suddenly, there were so many more problems to juggle, but Zarek didn't panic. Instead, as he stared off to the moon high in the skies, he already had a solution.
Core Harmony.
Why did he suddenly lose his Core Harmony after all of this happened? And what would it mean if he could gain it back?
Did Core Harmony now mean synchronizing not just his own Core Stats, but those of these seven new Links attached to him as well?
And if that happened, how much more powerful would his Core Harmony be?
Even further than that… would he be able to regain his S Class Talent far faster through this method?
A flicker danced in Zarek's eyes, a familiar heat spreading within him.
His palms were starting to itch again. 'Let's go on a little killing spree.'