Zarek's laughter echoed through the condominium.
This was it. This was what he was looking for. This solution actually made him more powerful in the short term.
Was it a long-term solution? Absolutely not. It was more like a bandaid on a gaping wound.
He had already limit-broken Lurker's Godsfall. C-Class was its absolute limit. By the time Zarek's own stats were becoming C-Class as well, its ability to store and release that potential seamlessly would begin to lag behind.
He would have to replace it with something else.
Plus, this method of combat required him to corner off a large segment of his Godsfall before battle even began, and that would limit his options in action.
Of course, it was worth it for the tradeoff and the benefits that came with it.
But it was still something he felt was only worth using for now… until he could gain a better hold on things.
Honestly speaking, although the cost of Harmonic Recall was exceptionally low for him because of his affinity with time, using it continuously in battle would probably cost just as much as this suit of Lurker's Godsfall.
And that was just the first problem with using Harmonic Recall in this way. The other problem was having to read and react to the information he was receiving as well, and that would bring its own issues. Namely, it would start to make him rely on another Growth Potential stat that wasn't too good for him.
Charisma.
The amount of thought and effort he would have to put into that was too much.
There was also the elephant in the room.
These solutions worked for his physical stats, but what about the others?
It could cover for his Strength and Dexterity, and the synergy between them. And the coating of Lurker's Godsfall would make changes to his Endurance almost irrelevant—at least not when it was applied to his defenses. As for his aerobic Endurance… well, that would be another troublesome matter to deal with.
However, what about his Intelligence and Charisma?
Intelligence mattered less now because the Godsfall would be deployed to its appropriate location all at once. But even then, what about when he needed to use his Godsfall for other things?
And his Charisma? Its changes would come with their own headaches.
Then the biggest elephant of them all…
What about when his Core Stats started to buck up against his Growth Potential?
If he reached B+ in a Core Stat, but his Growth Potential suddenly plummeted to B-, would his entire Core Stat fall to B- too? That would be a far worse dip in his power than a Growth Potential change alone.
A shift in Growth Potential would be a few percentage points at best. But a change in Core Stats would mean a drop in power by as much as half—or even down to a third of his original strength.
That was too big a change for even Zarek to account for in battle.
One's Growth Potential was a soft cap on how far a Core Stat could grow. Someone with B-Class Growth Potential would find it basically impossible to grow a stat to A-Class.
Zarek was still quite a distance from facing that problem… but he had to prepare.
For now, though… this would be enough. It would definitely be enough.
'Let's go practice a bit.'
Zarek pushed open one of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the condominium. A rush of dawn air came in, and it only cracked just a sliver. But with a push, Zarek broke the safety mechanisms and leapt out.
Just when it seemed he was going to freefall dozens of meters to his death, the soles of his feet latched onto the walls. His body tensed, holding a perfectly straight position perpendicular to the building.
'They make this look so easy in the movies, but this shit hurts,' Zarek cursed.
Standing on the side of a building like it was flat ground hurt like hell. His entire body had to be flexed just to make it happen.
Luckily, though…
He was a D-Class now.
Zarek grinned. He was going to have fun testing out these new abilities.
**
The days ticked by, and Zarek became more and more used to his new abilities. In truth, after the first day, he had already grasped things to over 90% of what he felt its potential could be.
But Zarek was nothing if not a battle maniac, and maybe he had a bit of a perfectionist streak within him that he didn't quite notice—except in the times Priya pointed it out.
Regardless, he ground day in and day out, clearing even beyond GFI territory and wading hip-deep into the dangerous waters of the city.
As he did so, he found more weaknesses in this combat style, but none were more annoying than the fact that using weapons almost made it less effective than normal. But not using weapons made him far less lethal at the same time.
The stickiness of his body in this form was a huge plus—he didn't have to waste grip strength to get a hold on an enemy, and a well-timed grab and release could throw even the more veteran combatants off.
Imagine battling a judo master, and you were in the middle of hand-fighting for gi grip position, only for your opponent to attach a palm to your chest as though your skin was all the grip they needed.
It was devastating mid-combat.
But it also wasn't something Zarek could use effectively if he had a machete in his hand.
These were the little tweaks and details Zarek was slowly learning about himself as the days went on. His stat progression might have slowed to a crawl, but his actual strength… well, that was a different matter entirely.
…
Two weeks later, Marx called him into his office once again. It seemed that Zarek's movements had begun to make the others antsy.
Zarek knew that they had most definitely been observing him as best they could all this time. But he was flashy like this on purpose. The more eyes were on him…
The fewer would be on Priya until it was far too late.
It seemed, though, they had begun to feel that the time between now and the Godsfall Tear's opening was far too long.
Zarek couldn't help but smile.