Damon's Ascension-Chapter 128: The Vanguard Team 2

"Anyway, lets continue. Marshal, take the lead." Damon promoted after letting his words sink in.

Marshal nodded. "Same as Connor. Originally level 6 and became level 26. Gained 20 points and allocated them as necessary."

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

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

[Abilities: Words of Power (SSS).]

[Words of Power - Reality Manipulation Type]

[Grade: SSS || Stage: D]

[Effect: The owner of this Ability has the power to speak things into existence. Anything the owner says has a chance to manifest as an absolute truth in reality. Being deaf or unable to hear does not act as a defense, as the owner speaks in the omnipotent language of the Universe.]

Damon raised an eyebrow. "Good choice investing in Fortitude."

As a fellow Reality Manipulation ability user, Damon knew the biggest plague for people with powers like he and Marshal was the energy cost for warping reality. The more outrageous your actions, the more the cost, and Reality Warping cost A LOT.

Even with abilities being able to mitigate the cost by a great degree, more than 99%, the remainder alone is enough to cripple even a nuclear reactor.

The dangerous part was that Reality Manipulations did not come with a guideline or even an intuitive feeling. You had no idea how much energy any reality warping choice would drain, so you could only make a rough guess based on previous warps of a smaller degree.

That was not even the worst part. The worst part was that the deduction of energy - starting from physical energy to vitality, life force, etc - was instant and not gradual, so if you did not have enough, there was no time to utilize any live saving measures to had to mitigate the cost.

It was either you could pay or you would be drained into a husk, your reality warp not even coming to fruition.

Otherwise, why do you think Damon doest use Probability Manipulation for grander things minus doing detective work or minor adjustments in battle?

Naturally, Marshal had the same worries and decided to fortify his physical energy in case of anything. Technically, whether he or Damon, they could even mimic Xela and bring the dead back to life using their power... if they could bear the cost.

As for investing in Mentality, Damon guessed that Marshal feared instant death scenarios.

As an ’overpowered’ ability holder who could war reality, Marshal was akin to a miniature protagonist. As long as he steadily grew stronger and increased his energy, warping reality would only cost less and less and he could do bigger and bigger things.

But all of that would be for naught if he was walking down the street and someone with 100 Mobility flashed past him, cutting his head off before he could even react. At that point, no matter how much reality he could warp, he would be dead.

To counter that, he needed time to react and that was the case with Mentality, which increased reaction and perception. That was, if he had 100 Mentality and a fellow had 100 Mobility was coming to cut his head off, he would at least either have time to dodge or use his reality warp power to save himself.

Damon did not let the group comment this time because he did not want the others to understand too much about Reality Manipulation abilities, otherwise they would not easily trust him or Marshal.

"Kyle, do the honors." Damon requested just as Henry was about to make a snide comment, shutting the fellow up.

"I’m a bit luckier than Connor and Marshal, since I started with half their unit requirements. I was level 5 and went up 22 levels, to level 27 and gained 22 points, which I allocated mostly equally." Kyle explained boredly.

[Name: Kyle Greer || Race: Homo Sapien (Pure) || Faction: None]

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

[Abilities: Vibration Manipulation (SSS).]

[Vibration Manipulation - Element Manipulation Type]

[Grade: SSS || Stage: D]

[Effect: The owner of this Ability has the power to control all sound and vibratory effects within his eyesight and sensory range. This also includes the various forms of matter that move or can be moved in the universe.

At the D-Stage, the owner can suitably control vibrational matter in the universe that weighs less than 10kg.]

"So... can you really pop our hearts in our chests or make our brains mush?" Xela directly asked the question in her heart.

Kyle blinked slowly at Xela’s blunt question. "...Probably?"

"But I’d need to be trying. Most of you are too reinforced for a casual pulse to liquefy anything important." He replied flatly.

"’Too reinforced’? Just say you love me and move on." Henry muttered, mock-offended.

"Not even hypothetically," Kyle replied.

That earned a quick chuckle from Protizen, who clapped his enormous metal-clad hands once. "Dude’s built like a microwave with a mute button."

Nicholas adjusted his collar with a sigh. "He’s downplaying it. With 15 Mentality and control over sound, he could rupture the structural balance of your body from three rooms away. Ironically without making a sound."

"Vibration is just pressure by another name, and pressure crushes all." Bane added, arms still folded.

Kyle shrugged like someone who didn’t care to explain further. "Exactly."

Felicia gave him a small, amused look. "How fortunate that you’re on our side then."

"That’s assuming I stay that way," Kyle said dryly, eyes half-lidded.

Everyone turned to look at him, the silence was immediate and slightly dangerous.

Then Kyle cracked a grin. "Kidding. Chill. I’m way too lazy to betray anybody."

Henry pointed a finger at him. "That’s not comforting."

"Wasn’t trying to be." Kyle snorted and folded his arms.

Xela gave a thumbs-up, as if impressed. "Edgelord with a decibel meter. Noted!"

Damon exhaled faintly, almost a scoff. "He’s not wrong though. An ability like that can technically cause organ shutdown, structural collapse, or even weaponize heartbeat resonance. Kyle’s just... too casual to bother."

Kyle nodded. "You say ’casual,’ I say ’sane.’"

Marshal smirked from where he sat. "For now."

Felicia, steepling her fingers in her lap, added, "With 15 in Mentality, Kyle’s effectively immune to ambushes from anything below peak S-Rank. That, combined with sound perception... he’s basically a human sonar system with attitude."

Damon raised a brow slightly. "We’ll test that when we get to the Chaos Realm. If anyone’s going to hear the impossible first, it’ll be him."

Henry perked up. "Wait, what do you think the impossible sounds like?"

Kyle didn’t even look at him. "You."

That earned a choked snort from Connor and a snicker from Xela.

Bane shook his head slowly. "One day, someone’s going to kill him just to make the silence worth it."

"Won’t be me, but I might fund the operation." Marshal said calmly. ""

Kyle shrugged again, unbothered. "Takes a certain kind of man to be universally hated and still irreplaceable."

"You’re not hated, you’re just tolerated... loudly." Damon said with a smile.

Everyone laughed and even the gentlemanly Nicholas cracked a small grin.

Xela clapped her hands. "Okay okay, fun’s over! Who’s next?"

Felicia tilted her head toward the far side of the room. "I believe it’s Levi."

Damon nodded, but his tone was calm this time. "Levi. You’re up."

Levi nodded and said simply. "Similar to Connor and Marshal, I went up 20 levels and allocated as necessary."

[Name: Levi Thane|| Race: Homo Sapien (Pure) || Faction: None]

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

[Abilities: Liquid Manipulation (SS).]

[Liquid Manipulation - Element Manipulation Type]

[Grade: SS || Stage: D]

[Effect: The owner of this Ability has the power to control all forms of liquid within his sensory range. This also includes metallic liquids like mercury and organic liquids like blood.

At the D-Stage, the owner can suitably control 5kg the various liquids in the universe.]

Xela looked bored. "You basically invested the same way as Kyle! And why do none of you invest in Providence?!"

Her complaints made the usually silent Levi soften.

"For my ability, like Kyle, Mentality is a better fit for it. As for the Providence... I don’t find it very useful in the current situation." Levi explained.

Felicia gave Levi a sidelong glance. "You don’t believe in luck?"

"I don’t, I believe only in what I can control." Levi replied plainly.

"Control freaks unite," Nicholas murmured dryly.

Kyle gave a short laugh. "You say that like it’s a bad thing. I’ve seen him evaporate the water out of a guy’s spinal fluid mid-fight during a VR training session. Dude dropped like a puppet with the strings cut."

Xela pulled a face. "Gross."

Henry leaned back in his chair. "So basically, he’s what happens when a surgeon gets bored and takes up murder as a hobby."

Levi didn’t respond, but just gave Henry a cool, unreadable look.

Marshal leaned forward slightly, arms on his knees. "You know, controlling blood is one of those abilities that’s always two steps from war crime territory."

Felicia nodded in agreement. "If a pathogen carrier dies in a puddle, Levi could raise a plague."

"That’s not even counting how many liquids make up the human body. The brain, the lungs, the gut..." Connor added, glancing toward Levi thoughtfully.

"Still gross," Xela repeated, hiding behind her hands with exaggerated disgust.

Damon finally chuckled under his breath. "If it helps, I appreciate the Mentality investment."

Levi turned toward him with a calm expression. "Same logic as yours?"

"More or less. Mobility without awareness is just motion. Doesn’t matter how fast you are if you can’t see what’s coming." Damon replied.

Kyle nodded in agreement. "Mentality also scales with coordination. No point having pinpoint control over something fluid if your brain can’t track all the variables in real time."

"That, and I don’t want to end up boiling someone’s bladder by accident." Levi said.

Henry winced. "Okay, new rule: I never piss you off. Ever."

"Smart man." Bane grunted.

Xela sighed dramatically. "You guys are all way too composed. Like, where’s the chaos? The flair? The wild stat dumps in Providence or Power?"

Connor gestured toward Kyle with a deadpan face. "You want chaos? He’s right there."

"I’m a perfectly balanced citizen," Kyle said, feigning innocence.

"You’re a walking threat to the Geneva Convention," Nicholas replied.

Damon smiled lightly. "Alright, that’s enough. Levi’s not flashy, but he’s reliable. And that’s the kind of power that doesn’t make noise until everything around it starts drowning."

Levi gave a faint nod, quietly accepting the praise.

"Next up, Nicholas. Let’s hear it. " Damon said, glancing at the remaining members.