Terror Infinity Side B

Chapter 6, Real World I

Real World Day 11/30 -

It still wasn't the day for Team Japan to meet up just yet. It also wasn't possible to meet up with Aqua, Saki, and especially Kampa as they didn't live nearby, so Shin together with Hikari spent this time training their abilities.

Shin brought Hikari to an abandoned factory where he used to play in as a kid, pretended to be the heros of his favorite Mangas and Light Novels. The place was well away from any residential areas or shops, so there was little to no chance of begin interrupted making it an ideal location for the two of them to train. This was especially important to Shin who wanted to practice using the Ghoul's Kagune, and for Hikari to practice her Persona abilities.

Hikari: Hey Shin, are you sure that it is okay to keep disappearing like this? Won't your family get worried about you? You have only just got back after all and you disappear every other day.

Shin: It should be fine, right? My Uncle and Aunt are still working and Chika has school. Unless we are spending the night here they won't be worried about us going out everyday. Also, after lecturing Misaki before I can't neglect my own training when I havd the time... Unless you do want to stay the night and do some-

Hikari: Shut up and get back to your training! Can't you think of anything other then sex?

Shin: I can, but I can't help it when I am in the same space as such a cute girl like you, Hikari.

Hikari: Baka!

Then having ignored Shin's advances, Hikari proceeded to work on training her own abilities and to not worry about Shin for the moment. Hikari wanted to lengthen the duration and the accuracy that she can use her Persona, Adrasteia. If she could have used her powers longer then she believes that Shin wouldn't have been blasted out a window by a flamethrower wielding man, twenty plus floors above the ground.

Shin: Hikari doesn't say it out loud, but she was probably worried about me. Really, how blessed am with such a caring and cute girl by my side. Having such a cute and hardworking girlfriend is so satisfying. I wish Aqua would show more of her 'Dere' side, but at least she isn't too much of a Tsun... Anyways, lets start out with Ki. At my current stage of ability, in combat I rely on two Ki techniques, the offensive Soul Crushing Strike and the foot technique dfor increased speed Instant Movement.

Soul Crushing Strike -

Rating 71.

Matching physical moment and Ki circulation to create an exceptional powerful Ki strike. A ki strike that can deal internal damage as well as crush bones. A proper SCS cause a small sonic boom when unleashed, an explosion directly in front of the extended fist. 1500 Points and C rank reward. SKILL MASTERY CONFIRMED. NEW COST 150 POINTS AND D RANK REWARD!

Soul Crushing Strike is my strongest offensive Ki skill at this time. Soul Crushing Strike not only increase the power of a punch empowered by Ki, but also deliveries internal as well as external damage. I don't know how far it will go against supernatural or magical opponents, but against regular and Sci-fi enemies, those wearing armor like the Btooom Soldiers it was a very lethal technique.

Also, I could imagine that even against monsters, long as they are more biological then mythical then I would be able to damage them. And back to mythical otherworldly opponents, if Ki and Soul Crushing Strike isn't enough then I can add in the offensive properties of the Na Ring magic weapon to improve its power.

Shin: Soul Crushing Strike!

- *BOOM*!

The power of Soul Crushing Strike was indeed powerful as it caused a sonic boom when preformed correctly. Also, during the attack I activated the forcefield of the Na Ring as well and as I hoped, this proved that the two could work together.

Shin: Still, I know the power of Soul Crushing Strike, but I haven't had the chance to test out the effectiveness of the Na Ring against ghost or magic creatures, and I don't think Shuai's ghost friends count since they are so weak. I can only geuss how effective this new combination of the Soul Crushing Strike and Na Ring will be till I try it out in the next mission.

I could only wait for a mission that either has ghost or magic, so leaving this aside for now I moved on to trying to improve another skill. The first thing I did was to take off my shoes and finding a clear path without anything that was going to stab into my flesh... Although nothing could since my body after going over 400 stat points in Muscle Density made me immune to such things.

Shin: Grasp the earth, grasp the world.

Channeling Ki in front of my feet I was able to jump a good good fifteen meters in the blick of an eye and came to a stop without skidding away. Not only had the distance that I could jump outside Unlocked Mode increased a bit, but so had the speed I could move at.

Shin: ...Still, it isn't good enough.

That was what I confirmed when I looked back to the large dust cloud behind me where I kicked the ground. The Ki skill that I had just used to move so fast was Instant Movement.

Instant Movement -

Rating 78.

Is a basic foot technique to move from one place to the next with high-speed movement. Ki or magic power is used to jump from point A to point B as quickly as possible. 1700 points and two C rank rewards. SKILL MASTERY CONFIRMED. NEW COST 170 POINTS AND D RANK REWARD!

Instsnt Movement, it is a speed technique that allows me to jump forward distances by kicking the ground with Ki or magic, and having as much as Advance Level Ki allowed me access to this amazing skill.

The effectiveness of Instant Movement lied in allowing me to move short and long distances, and possibly escape danger quickly spoke of itself. In fact, it wouldn't be much of an argument to say that it was my best skill. Not just in speed, it increased by attack speed as well since I could jump at a enemy and smash my fist into them. Even without a Ki skill such an attack would send them flying across a room and into a wall, but combined with Soul Crushing Strike I could easily punch through the chest of an enemy.

This speed technique was amazing, yet to my disappointment I knew that I wasn't using it effectively enough. In the new manga and sequel to one of my favorite manga and it itself is my new favorite manga, UQ Holder, a character and martial artists by the name of Kaito revealed the secrets and inner working of Instant Movement. Kaito explained that there were tricks and secrets to Instant Movement beyond just focusing Ki to one's feet and kicking the ground.

1. The first is the arch of the foot. With the arch of your foot you grasp the ground under you and supplement your physical body with the power of the earth. I have been doing that since I learned the technique, but it isn't at a level anywhere close to being acceptable.

2. Then there are the toes. In Instant Movement their is the Entrance ( The kick off the ground ) and the Grip ( Then landing ). When you touch the ground you need have flexible toes that can bend to converge all the vectors. Doing so allows one to not waste any oppower and not have it spread out.

3. Next is to leave everything behind you to achieve the fastest speed possible. My best guess is that the mindset os important. To not hesitate to jump forward without any cares since at the speed which you move at using foot technique can be scary. I myself am not confident that I could be fine if people are shooting at me while I am moving so fast, so a good example of what not to do would be worrying about stray bullets and hesitating to use Instant Movements.

4. The last is returning the power that you borrowed from the ground and return it to the world. Now my best geuss as to what this is means that Instant Movement performs better when no excess energy is left after each step you take. Ideally, if performed perfectly the end result is a Instant Movement that makes no sound or dig up the ground when you kick it, and being able to move much farther then ten meters with one step.

Shin: But really, how do they expect me to master this skill. Half of it is nothing less than some crazy logic from Manga and the other half is philosophical. Also, do I really have to brush me teeth using my feet like them?

And though I said that, following those instructions really did help to improve the speed and distance that I could move with Instant Movement. As I am now it has improved by more the 50% from when I initially exchanged for the skill, and if I was in Unlocked Mode the improvement would be over 300%.

Shin: Well, practice makes perfect I geuss. I won't see any immediate improvement since I am no genius, but I should keep at it. I'll focus on improving Soul Crushing Strike and Instant Movement later today, yet for now my main priority is to improve the Ghoul's Kagune from the One-eyed Ghoul Mutation and also that.

After saying so I began my attempts to master my Kagune.

After the first time in BTOOOM!, bringing out the Kagune has become almost second nature to me. From the back of my waist four blood red tentacles emerged and wrapped around me. Having more limbs should freak a normal person out, yet they really felt natural and better yet empowering ( Maybe that means that I am not normal anymore... Whatever ).

Maybe more so when when I strengthen my body with just Ki, my physical strength spiked greatly. Being a Ghoul didn't allow me any skills like Ki did, but the physical reinforcement could be called a skill as it is. A punch from me could crush the skull of another person and I could climb up walls and jump from building to building swiftly.

Then there was the Kagune and its four tentacles themselves. To demonstrate, I ordered my Kagune to pick up random pieces of discarded electronics that I found early and began stacking them like a tower. It was one among many exercises that I have been doing to increase the control that I had over them, and one similar to what Naruto did to master his Nine Tails's Chakra limbs.

Other excersises that I did included juggling and at the very limits of my Kagune's length range I would have them pick up large yet easily damaged objects.. Stacking things was to have a better grasp of my control, juggling was to practice multitasking and reflexes, and and picking up was to practice to move more delicate things without breaking them like human one day so that I do not squeezing them to death like a tomato... But with far more gore.

Shin: It's hard, but kinda fun too.

I lost myself in these task because it turned out to be more fun then you would imagine. It was like downloading pacman onto your phone for the hell of it and end up playing the game for hours, yet one person here didn't understand my sense of entertainment.

When Hikari was done practicing with her Persona she looked over at me smiling as my Kagune tentacles were juggling over a dozen objects and looked towards me in disgust. I found nothing wrong with it, but I wasn't a young girl watching a tentacle monster/boyfriend mess around instead of being serious.

Hikari: Gross! How can you have so much fun with those red things?

Shin: What is gross? This is cool. Look what I can do.

I then ordered my Kagune to coil around Hikari who was over twenty meters away from me and bring her over to me. Hikarii struggled at little, but she didn't have the Muscle Density to break even a Shining Scales type Kagune known for their brittleness. Once she was in arms reach I brought her in for a kiss which she accepted, but quickly started badmouthing me.

Hikari: Let go you pervert! Disgusting! I'm not into Japanese tentacle porn.

Shin: Neither am I as it's kinda out there, but...

Hikari: But?

Shin: But isn't grabbing cute girls from afar is cool ( Am I developing the mind set of a hentai villain? I've never liked those, but I never understood the pleasure and power of having tentacles. Really, what right do girls have to disobey me? I should just use my Kagune to have my fun and... ).

Hikari: Pervert! Criminal in the makings!

Shin: ...No comment. I may be unknowingly walking closer to the dark side, Hikari. How could this happen?

Hikari: Wasn't getting a Ghoul Mutation a sign that you weren't normal to begin with, Shin? Also, just let me go!

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After Hikari calmed down, realized their wasn't any point in resisting my advances ( I really am becoming a villain... I'll think about it if being an OP protagonist doesn't work out ). Then after being released from my Kagune and patting herself down, she asked about my progress.

Hikari: So how are your new Ki Energy attacks coming along.

Shin: It is going so-so. You can see for yourself.

Then after finding an appropriate target a distance away, a trash can, I raised my non dominant right arm and aimed the palm of my hand towards the trash can.

Shin: Ki Blast!

From the palm of my hands Ki gathered and became a fist sized ball of green light. That ball of light then quickly flew from my hand and hit the distant trash can.

- *EXPLOSION*!

The trash can on impact with the ball of Ki expanded and blew up the trash can in a fiery explosion. I still couldn't get enough that I could fire Ki like in Dragon Ball, yet...

Shin: ...It really isn't that practical, huh? What do you think Hikari?

Hikari: Well, it might have some worth against an otherworldly opponent, but to be honest it isn't that powerful of a technique. You might as well have saved the 1000 points and bought 1000 points worth of grenades or an assortment of BIMs. They would be more powerful and useful in a fight then what you just showed me.

Shin: I thought as much as well. I could make it stronger by adding in more K and having Advance Ki Energy helps, but to make it really powerful would consume a lot of Ki. I might as well have gotten a more powerful skill that would consume less Ki like Spirit Gun then just a regular Ki Blast.

Hikari: Then why did you get it then? Not enough points?

Shin: No. I purposely got the weakest skill that emits Ki I could find just so I could learn how to emit Ki. Destructive power wasn't in mind when I exchanged for this skill, but I am still a little disappointed that it's this weak when it was worth 1000 points and a D rank reward.

Hikari: For what purpose did you need to know how to emit Ki?

Shin: To take advantage of Skill Mastery.

I then began to explain to Hikari my thoughts of the matter Skill Mastery.

Skill Mastery, it was a loophole in the system to take advantage of the skill categorys in God's exchanges. All skills and techniques cost a lot of points, at least over 1000 for the most basic skills and rewards. With those that directly increase one's fighting potential like Soul Crushing Strike and Instant Movement will cost C rank rewards and higher to exchange from God.

If your enhancement path relies on skills like Martial Arts and Magic, one would need a large fortune of points and rewards to become powerful. That was why if not every mission was rewarding as the Btooom mission we just came back from or my first mission in H.O.T.D, it would take a long time and a lot of risk taking to gain even a handful of skills at your disposal. That is where Skill Mastery comes in.

Skill Mastery, after talking to Aqua and Saki, combined with my own experience with it, we found that it was a way to obtain skill exchanges a fraction of the price that it should be. As it turned out all skills, no matter how fictional that they were could actually be learned without exchanging them from God.

The best way to say it, is that if a normal person who has never been to God's Dimension but somehow was born with Ki, and if that person spent their lives working at it then they could learn Ki skills, or make their own Ki skill with enough experience. Also, if one studied the books or scroll that contain the knowledge of skills then one could learn them as well, though in that case effort and hard work would become a factor in it unlike how God would just downloads the information into a Players head.

The point that I was trying to make is that when a person happens upon a skill without making the exchange, and is within 70% accuracy of replicating the skill, God will reward that person for their efforts. The full skill that they almost perfected will be available to be exchanged from God at 1/10 the Point cost and a single D rank reward.

Hikari: So what you are saying is that it is a way to cheat God.

Shin: You don't have to phrase it like that, but yes that's right. Long as you can replicate the skill to about 70% you can go back to God and exchange the actual skill for 1/10 its price and D rank reward. Now, what I was trying to do with Ki Blast was to recreate actual Ki skills that fire Ki by using the skill as a base to start from since I didn't know how to actually emit Ki. I already found a few low level Ki attacks that emit Ki and strike opponents from a distance like Ki Blast, but or powerful and useful in a fight.

Ki Blast -

Rating 50.

A basic Ki blast shoot outward from the palm. Requires 1000 Points and a C rank reward.

Shin: Ki Blast. That was the basic skill I started off from. By adjusting the shape, density, and weigh of the Ki blast, different types of Ki bullets can be created is my theory. By discovering these skill on my own, I can get the full skills for 1/10th of the price and D rank rewards once I return to God's Dimension with enough points. I had found four Ki skills that were similar to Ki Blast and low level enough within the exchanges that it was worth trying to see if I can recreate them. So far I had gotten two of the four down and I am making progress on the rest.

I then went on to explain to Hikari the skills I was attempting to learn with the Skill Mastery short cut.

Ki Bullet -

Rating 62.

A normal physical bullet of condensed Ki from the palm. Can strike both physical and non physical opponents. Requires 1500 Points and C rank reward. SKILL MASTERY CONFIRMED. NEW COST 150 POINTS AND D RANK REWARD!

Hollow Bullet -

Rating 77..

A Ki bullet that expands on impact, decreasing penetrating power for explosive power and causes more damage to flesh. Requires 1800 Points and C rank reward.

AP Bullet -

Rating 74..

A Ki bullet with high penetrating power and designed to break through the defenses of hard opponent. Requires 2000 Points and two C rank reward. SKILL MASTERY CONFIRMED. NEW COST 200 POINTS AND D RANK REWARD!

Far Bullet -

Rating 79.

A weightless Ki bullet designed to attack spirits and the soul. As a side of effect of hitting those with a physical body as well, they may be temporarily unable to move or use otherworldly powers like Ki and Magic. Requires 2200 Points and two C rank reward.

Hikari: That is amazing Shin, but I have one question. If you have already reached 70% completion to achieve Skill Mastery then why bother exchanging for the full skills from God?

Shin: Good question. From what I experienced with Soul Crushing Strike and Instant Movement is that even if the power and speed of the techniques themselves don't improve that greatly after exchanging the skill from God, the Ki consumption will go down by a lot.

I then told Hikari that it wasn't until recently did I come to understand how much Ki that I had with Advance Level Ki which needs a b rank reward to acquire, but during the Btooom mission where I had yet to exchange them yet those two Ki skills drained me like you couldn't believe. Even when my proficiency while using Ki improved leaps and bounds by the end of the mission, yet still I couldn't use those skills 10-20 times before running out of Ki. Now, the consumption is so low I can use them indefinitely with the regeneration speed of my Ki Energy as fast as it is.

Shin: That is why it is overall better to just exchange the skills after achieving Skill Mastery. Overall, that last 30% probably has to do with Ki consumption.

Hikari: This... Really is an amazing discovery and I wish you would have told be about them sooner. Maybe if I looked i to more support type skills before leaving for the real world I too could have tried learning them through Skill Mastery.

Shin: Sorry, but it wasn't till just recently that I made any progress here with Skill Mastery. Next time, when we return to the the Terminal Lobby I'll give you some pointers.

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Hikari happily agreed to Shin's suggestion for help, but he himself didn't think much would come from it.

The real reason Shin didn't tell her or the others much about Skill Mastery is because it was a fluke that he managed to discover and taka advantage of it. Shin only stumbled onto it because he was in Unlocked Mode and was incredibly desperate at the time.

Additionally, Shin's ability to grasp the way to control his Ki to the level that he can even attempt to manually learn skills without God's help was because his skills and knowledge improved every following time that he went into Unlocked Mode. Also, he was placed into one desperate battle after the next that forced him to improve quickly, or to die trying. Without those, evvn if Aqua knew about Skill Mastery and told Shin about it he would have made no progress at all.

Shin: It really was fortunate in a way that the difficulty of the BTOOOM mission was as high as it was. We all barely made it back, but because of that environment we all all grew to an incredible extent. Whether it was physically or mentally we had all improved. God's goal may very well be evolution... But unfortunately the path to evolution that he has set up for us is filled with nothing but death and despair. Well, I get to go into the worlds of Manga and Anime, so I shouldn't complain too much.

Shin was overall happy about his growth and so went back to training for the rest of the day and in until it was time to meet up with the rest of the team for the two week deadline. Shin planned to come back here every day to become stronger for himself and for his comrades.

Shin, he wanted to try mastering the more advance forms of of Instant Movement and Soul Crushing Strike, but his priority right now was to increase his mid and long range attacks against the supernatural and magical, so he didn't have time for additional assignments.

Chika: Shin Onii-chan?

It was one of those time that Shin was in the the factory training his Ki atrack and blasting things with Ki from a distance that his cousin Chika had saw what he was doing. Chika was always suspicious about where did Shin and Hikari, his possible girlfriend went to everyday, so she followed them from a distance, but never expected to find what she did.

Chika than ran away from the scene and whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, Hikari wasn't practicing with her Persona at that moment, so neither of them ever knew that they were seen by Shin's cousin.

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Authors Note:

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