—
Profession: [Anato Scribe (S)]
Profession Tier: [F-]
Profession Talents:
>[Inscribe (F-)]
>[Decode (F-)]
>[Infuse (F-)]
—
'Then just what is this Infuse?'
After breaking down the majority of what Inscribe and Decode could do, Zarek felt that he had at least a rudimentary understanding of them.
Inscribe was his method of taking things from the outside world and converting them into something his body could use directly through the circulation channels of Godsfall in his body and around the general vicinity of where the tattoo was formed.
From what he could tell, location mattered—at least to some extent—and results varied depending on what his actual target was.
For example, if he put a blade on the back of his hand, there was only so much use it could have. After all, even if he formed his palm into a pseudo-blade, it was a waste of Godsfall to mimic a blade when it would be easier to just make one.
For defenses, it was likewise something that seemed better suited to short-term, abrupt blocks of an opponent's dangerous attack rather than something to rely on perpetually.
At least for now, it was better to just wear an inner armor of some sort than it was to rely on tattoos entirely for defense—except in those critical moments Zarek mentioned.
Honestly, the more Zarek thought about it, the more his excitement dimmed. There were a lot of benefits to having real, tangible weapons that these tattoos wouldn't be able to replace.
But there were tradeoffs with all things. When it came to flexibility, catching opponents off guard, and adapting in battle… he really couldn't think of anyone who would be able to exceed the arsenal he had right now.
Decode was exceptional as well. Even if he ignored the chance at tattoos entirely, just being able to forge a blueprint by observing a treasure was huge.
Of course, this blueprint was purely for his body and his body alone, but there was something about that that actually made Zarek's understanding of it even deeper than normal.
So, what of Infuse?
Infuse didn't seem to have an obvious use at first. Zarek tried several different ways of using it. But what he didn't realize was that there were actually two methods of use.
When he realized this, he realized just how lucky he had gotten this time—though not because the ability was powerful. Well, the ability was quite good, but this time, he meant luck as in: if he hadn't had Atom Link, he wouldn't have noticed the second ability after finding the first at all.
Infuse allowed him to skip over the complicated step of circulating Godsfall within his body, injecting Godsfall directly into the tattoo to trigger its effects.
However, this weakened the tattoo by a good margin. It was only about half as effective when triggered like this.
At first, Zarek would have thought this was quite useless. He would rather drill himself, learning how to do it the more complicated way than to do it like this…
Until the sixth sense granted to him by Atom Link kicked in.
When he triggered the parrying shield on his chest with Infuse, he felt something odd, almost as though he were observing something through Atom Link, and yet not quite Atom Link at the same time.
He turned to the parrying shield in slight confusion.
'Could it be… Holy shit… A damn Armament.'
Armaments were what made Suki so dangerous. Well, there were many things, and he was especially hard to kill—Zarek knew that personally.
But what was shocking about Suki wasn't just his personal self-preservation abilities, but his strength in building armies.
What made his Armaments so powerful, and the reason so many wanted to get their hands on them, was because they were so perfectly in tune with their users that their power output was greater than 100%, as though they allowed one to gain mastery over the Treasure as if it were a Skill or Talent rather than just an inanimate object…
Like it was an extension of your body rather than just a lump of metal shaped into something sharp and pointy.
Zarek happened to know that it took Suki quite a lot of planning and effort to create the blueprint of an Armament, then even longer to curate the perfect materials. Both were long processes, and some of his most difficult Armaments to forge took him decades of planning and foresight to complete.
But right now, this shield in Zarek's hand had suddenly transcended the strength of an E Class Treasure, entering the ranks of D Class…
All because of Infuse.
The tattoo on his chest and the parrying shield formed a link with one another. Feeding off his body and Godsfall, the shield pushed past its own limits and touched onto something far greater.
By the third time Zarek circulated the blood vessel pattern for the parrying shield, he had it completely ingrained.
—
[Talent {Anato Codex} has shown great progress]
-
>[Anato Codex: F+]
-
>[Anato Codex: E-]
…
>[Anato Codex: E+]
—
'It really is Anato Codex…'
The Talent and Profession were feeding into one another perfectly.
Zarek's Intelligence was too low. If he needed to feel his way around his body every time to complete the circulation, he would never be able to do this in battle. But now, he finally understood what Incode did.
—
>[Anato Codex: F-) <SSS+>
>>[Abilities: Incode]
—
'Grasp the unique patterns of the world and feel them within yourself…'
When he learned a new pattern, Incode helped him to impart it into his arsenal. It also helped him to repeat the pattern with greater ease, but there was something else.
Looking deep inside of him, Zarek began to notice something else.
The blood vessels he had circulated the unique patterns of the parrying shield into had gained just the slightest tinge of dark gold to them—so subtle that he had to wait for Marx's S Growth Potential to kick in to feel them.
It wasn't just them either.
He had only fired a bolt from his arm once, but he saw it tinged with just the slightest hint of extra red as well.
'You've all really fucked up now.'
Zarek grinned ear to ear.
All the way to this point, he had been cobbling together these trashy Talents to barely scrape by, relying on his experience and raw battle prowess to take just small steps forward.
But now, he had a real blade in his hands.
It was about time he let his hair loose a little more.
Zarek looked toward Priya and then directly left.
It was time he cleared that C Class Godsfall Tear.