To Temp Duplicate, understanding the overall item was far less important than understanding the individual materials that made it up. Zarek found that by studying the individual materials, Temp Duplicate came to him sharper and faster, and the energy he used in forging items became lesser and lesser.
The beauty of it all was that because of his sensitivity to time, Harmonic Recall was leaving Temp Duplicate in its dust. But the stronger Harmonic Recall became by comparison, the more shocking the improvement to Temp Duplicate became.
He found that Harmonic Recall wasn't just a factor of time. It wasn't that he was seeing further and further back in time, but rather that the difficulty in comprehending and reverse engineering what any given item had been through had become far easier because his depth of understanding toward it had deepened.
Harmonic Recall was a process of resonating with an item before you, sensing the streams of time it had been through, and then reverse engineering that timeline.
How could anyone be more sensitive to time than a Rebirther who once had three SSS+ Talents?
And by extension, with that understanding through time, Temp Duplicate was being dragged along whether it liked it or not.
When Zarek was able to confirm this, he knew for a fact that his plan would work. When he gained the third piece, the world would feel the weight three useless Talents could hold.
And yet…
That was still just the first step.
He was far from finished.
…
Zarek organized his thoughts and categorized several things.
Harmonic Recall came as easy as breathing to him, but it was Temp Duplicate he had to give more attention.
Other than the durability issue, there were several other things to note.
For one, as he had already confirmed thanks to the fact it saved his life, mass was consistent based on the amount of Godsfall he was able to put into it.
That meant that the heavier the item, even though it was smaller, it would take more effort to forge.
This was quite intuitive, and there was no problem with it. That was why Zarek had been so gassed after he forged an amoeba-like mass heavy enough to push him back to the window he had leapt from.
However, what wasn't intuitive was that the time to scan an item was dependent on size, not mass. Temp Duplicate would analyze a normal gun and one forged with Godsfall Steel, assuming they were the same size and shape, in the same amount of time.
But the latter gun would obviously be the far heavier of the two.
It also made Zarek curious. Because although Godsfall Steel was incredibly heavy, that didn't mean that there weren't other Godsfall Ores that weren't. Would Temp Duplicate have as easy a time analyzing them for recreation?
These were the little details Zarek had promised himself to figure out today, so he brought out one of the treasures he had stolen from the toll booth.
This was the only treasure aside from the one Priya was currently wearing that he cared for. It was a small parrying shield.
During the battle on the bridge, he had it strapped to his thigh under his baggy pants because he didn't want to bring it out, nor did he need to.
The blades in his hand and the gun Priya used could be easily mistaken for normal weapons. That was because the Godsfall Steel that had been used to create them was the most normal kind, and their power, though far superior to current modern weapons, wouldn't be easily spotted by a layman.
This shield, however, was different.
It was also convenient because it was very small. It was barely larger than the back of Zarek's hand and it was meant to be used like that.
After the shocking improvement to Harmonic Recall blew even his expectations out of the water, Zarek even began to wonder if… there was room for him as an Appraised in the future.
As usual, first he used Harmonic Recall on it.
With a flash, the last ten minutes of the item's life was downloaded into his mind in a single breath.
Zarek paused for a moment and then nodded. There was nothing to see, just the darkness in his pants, the sweat that was beginning to cake it, the slight chafing…
Its experience bled into Zarek's and suddenly he was able to see every sensation that he had tuned out after leaving it there for hours.
'Fascinating… I can definitely use that in the future…'
It was one of those things his experience told him would be useful even if he hadn't come up with the perfect use for it yet.
Then he started on the individual materials. The strap that formed it, the metal, or metals. The Matrix Patterns that gave it its strength and power…
Slowly, he put it all together, but he was stonewalled again and again.
This time, there was no flashback to years back. He saw darkness, then swirls of chaos, spiking masses and twirling Matrix Patterns being formed from thin air.
—
[Talent {Harmonic Recall} has shown great progress]
-
>[Harmonic Recall: E+]
-
>[Harmonic Recall: D-]
—
Zarek trembled from head to toe, his eyes snapping open with bloodshot aura to them. He felt like something was drilling into his mind, but with slow breaths, he was able to calm his heart.
'That backlash… it should have been much worse than it was, but it practically fell from my shoulders with ease. Someone else would have been lost in that stream. Even if I had only gone through two Rebirths, I would have suffered… I needed all three…'
Zarek's eyes began to blaze brighter and brighter. That was the last piece of the puzzle, the final thing he needed to confirm.
He was right.
'Temp Duplicate.'
A large pull of Godsfall came from the depths of Zarek's body and he was almost bled dry.
But he knew one thing for certain as a second small shield formed on the palm of his hand.
The Godsfall he had used just now was a mere fraction of what would have been required had he not seen that vision.
—
[Talent {Temp Duplicate} has shown great progress]
-
>[Temp Duplicate: E-]
-
>[Temp Duplicate: E]
-
>[Temp Duplicate: E+]
—
Zarek raised a hand, unsheathing one of his machetes. His body teetered on the edge of collapse, completely drained, but his eyes were focused as he slammed down with all the might he could muster.
BANG!
Crack.
Zarek's wrist shivered on impact, nearly breaking, but there the duplicate shield was, quivering, and with a thin line running right through it.
After analyzing the shield so many different ways, Zarek knew that it could withstand two more hits like that at most. By comparison, the original shield would be able to withstand thousands upon thousands. In fact, the Godsfall Steel machete would definitely give way first.
But… Zarek had limit-broken E- Strength, and he was capable of concentrating his power such that not a single ounce of it leaked.
Yet, a shield he created from thin air could withstand three of those strikes.
He grinned ear to ear.
But his happiness was short-lived.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Heavy knocking came from the door, the violent intent behind it obvious.
It seems that the toll booth people had come to collect.