49 Capabilities

While Status was extremely important, it wasn't the deciding factor when it came to obtaining victory or suffering defeat. This was something Linnaeus had learned long ago and, if simply having higher attributes guaranteed victory, he would have died when he turned ten years old.

More than raw attributes, it was knowledge, experience, and willpower that ultimately determined whether or not a person could break through their limits and secure victory. So long as you had a proper understanding of your capabilities, those of your opponent, and the resolve to do whatever it took to overcome adversity, there was nothing that could stand in your way.

With this in mind, Linnaeus decided that the first thing his nascent Party would do was familiarize themselves with each other's capabilities. He needed to know what every member of the Pary was capable of as, when it came to proper decision making, this could be the difference between life and death for the entire team.

After a relatively tense night, Linnaeus showed the group to a plateau a few kilometers away from the den as they already had plenty of supplies stocked up for a few days.

Upon reaching their destination, Linnaeus turned to the group and explained, "In order to increase our chances of reaching the top of the Crucible, I'll need to understand just where each of us stands. For the time being, it seems like it is impossible to increase our base Level so we'll need to exercise proper judgment if we want to avoid losing our lives a second time."

Krone immediately frowned when he heard Linnaeus' words, crossing his arms as he asked, "So you want us to reveal all our secrets and techniques to each other...?"

Hearing the hostile undertones in Krone's voice, Linnaeus gave him a deadpan stare as he plainly stated, "We will be fighting to protect each other's lives from this moment onward. What sense is there in keeping secrets when we're supposed to trust our backs to each other? Sharing knowledge amongst ourselves will increase the overall capabilities of the entire Party. Tell me, Krone, what sense is there in being secretive when we've all already died once...?"

Before Krone could think of a retort, Eliza nodded her head, adopting a far icier expression as she added in a cold tone, "Lin is right. We have already lost everything once. From the perspective of the rest of the world, we no longer even exist. By the time we reach the top of the Crucible, who knows what kind of challenges we'll have faced? The time for keeping secrets ended when we died the first time. If you keep thinking like you have something to lose after you've already died, you are just a liability to those of us who seek to make the most of the present."

While Krone could refute Linnaeus' words, he was predisposed to obey Eliza's so, after hearing what she said, he ultimately chose to remain silent. As for Emilia, she hailed from a tribe that freely shared everything from food to knowledge so she didn't even question the veracity of Linnaeus' words.

Without further argument, Linnaeus set the example by demonstrating his Blessing and explaining his fighting style. He showed them that he could create both static and dynamic barriers and, much like how he had been open to Emilia's input the prior day, he asked them to be frank if they thought there were any ways in which he could improve.

Emilia wasn't shy when it came to stating her opinion so she immediately asked, "Do you think you could make something like a mechanical crossbow or a pile bunker? Your barriers work a lot like an ability I'm familiar with called [Hardlight Projection]. The person I knew was able to make things like traps and other complex objects to make hunting a lot easier."

Linnaeus knew it wouldn't be impossible for him to do what Emilia hinted at but, as complex shapes took up a considerable amount of SP, he knew it would take him a long time to reach that point. He also had no idea how crossbows and pile-bunkers were structured and, as Emilia had no idea how they worked, he could only shelve the matter until later.

Fortunately, while Emilia's complex idea was beyond him, Eliza brought Linnaeus to a stunned silence by asking, "How small can you make your barriers? If you can make them small and dense, couldn't you use them like projectiles by just placing them in the trajectory of your opponent? Even if that doesn't work, you could always make a very thin and sharp barrier like a platform, exploiting your opponent's speed against them. Unless they are able to change direction very quickly, it would be like running directly into a sword or spear, right?"

Since he often used his [Barrier] to make daggers and pointed rods for stabbing, Linnaeus knew that Eliza's suggestion was more than possible. In fact, he had experimented with something similar in the past and, though it took a lot of mental focus, he could even make barriers as small as a grain of sand. These were very fragile but, if used properly, he could easily blind his opponent if they weren't paying close attention.

After deciding to practice making static hazards in the future, Linnaeus moved to the side so that Emilia could demonstrate her abilities next. She was very excited after seeing his display so, without any hesitation at all, she began performing a rather strange martial art that often required her to crouch down on all fours.

As could be seen from their initial encounter, Emilia specialized in using a spear and, while she did not have the [Throwing] Skill, she could easily pin a target from several tens of meters with very high accuracy. Linnaeus felt it was strange that more people didn't have the [Throwing] Skill but, after a bit of discussion, he learned that most Skills were obtained because the person was intent on trying to develop them, not by accident.

While Emilia's skill with the spear was impressive, especially with her incredible Agility, it was the versatility of her Blessing that caused Linnaeus to turn contemplative.

Rather than simply produce water, Emilia was able to change the state of water into four different states, albeit with the final state being beyond her current capabilities. This meant she could turn the water flowing around her spear into steam or ice in an instant, creating small explosions that could easily burn skin or instantaneously freezing parts of her opponent and drastically decreasing their mobility.

What was truly terrifying about Emilia's Blessing was that she could manipulate external water as well, so long as it was natural. This allowed her to swing her spear around, gathering water from the air and, while it cost a considerable amount of SP to do so, she could even influence the water that comprised the majority of a person's body. Though this only allowed her to momentarily stun an opponent, it was an incredible ability that had infinite potential so long as her SP reserves held out.

The only thing that prevented Emilia's Blessing from being peerless was the fact that she had to directly stab her spear into her opponent to manipulate their internal water and, depending on their

Wisdom and Spirit, people could resist her attempts to restrain them. This exponentially increased the amount of SP required to immobilize them but, just knowing she could stun them temporarily was a tremendous boon...

After finishing her demonstration, Emilia followed Linnaeus' example, smiling radiantly as she asked, "So, any advice? Come on, don't be shy. Even if you're harsh, I can take it~!"

Since he had been somewhat focused on how to use his own Blessing, Linnaeus was momentary at a loss as to how to answer Emilia's question but, without missing a beat, Eliza stated, "Rather than just focus water around your spear, you should learn how to gather it around your target directly. Even if it is a strong monster, they would struggle to fight at their full potential if you could wrap a bubble of water around their head. Since you can change the temperature, you could always boil them alive or try and suffocate them outright. You could also send your water inside their body and, instead of manipulating the minute amount in their cells, you can just make your own explode into a burst of steam after they inhale it."

Though Eliza gave the impression of a shy and demure woman, Linnaeus was quickly learning that she wasn't the defenseless and lonely girl he originally thought her to be. In fact, now that she was no longer alone, she seemed to become increasingly confident and, as a result of her education and the rather ruthless political climate between the Eight Families, she was no ignorant when it came to violence.

Despite being somewhat unnerved by Eliza's 'decisive' mentality, Linnaeus' expression was placid and calm. He might not be as creative as she was but, after killing over a thousand people alongside Saht, there wasn't much that could actually shake him. This was not the case for Emilia and Krone, however, as they had both paled slightly after hearing how nonchalantly the Evendoom princess talked about exploding a person from the inside.

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Having already decided to live how she wanted this time around, Eliza didn't try to put up a pretense and, while it did make her a little anxious to see the judgment in Emilia's and Krone's gazes, she was content with the fact that Linnaeus seemed unperturbed. Rather, instead of showing fear, he had a thoughtful look in his eyes, almost as if was thinking about other ways in which Emilia could use her Blessing to devastating effect...

With Emilia having a few ideas about how she could improve, Krone was the next to demonstrate his capabilities. He started off by crouching low to the stone and, after a few seconds passed, his entire body had taken on the appearance of smooth granite. This actually increased some of his attributes while, as could be expected, others were reduced slightly.

Due to absorbing the traits of granite, Krone's Strength and Constitution had gone up by eight and eleven points respectively. In exchange, his Agility decreased by a whopping twenty points, making him even slower than usual.

To compensate for his reduced Agility, Krone did something that had caught Linnaeus by surprise as, after closing his eyes for nearly a full minute, parts of Krone's body began to turn translucent. When he opened his eyes, his Agility had increased considerably and, after throwing a few punches, it was clear what trait he had absorbed by the wind pressure kicked up by his strikes.

Just as he could change his body into an element like water, Krone could adapt the traits of wind to significantly reduce his weight and increase his Agility. Though this reduced his Constitution by a great deal, he could project the wind compressed wind in his body outward, creating a strong gust that had enough force to knock people backward.

Unable to restrain his curiosity, Linnaeus asked, "Can you turn your entire body into wind...?" If that was the case, he couldn't see how Krone would ever be able to lose a fight.

Hearing Linnaeus' question, Krone snorted through his nose before answering, "Turning into a pure element takes a lot of time and focus. If I change completely, even thinking becomes difficult and, if I'm not careful, my body will just spread outward instead of sticking together. When my body begins to dissipate, my Health drops rapidly. Past users who tried to overcome this restriction usually ended up losing their lives..."

Linnaeus restrained a sigh when he heard Krone's explanation but, if his Blessing really had no limits, there really would be no way of stopping him. After all, how would you be able to fight a living mass of air that could infinitely just pull itself back together? What was to stop Krone from just ripping the body of a person apart after they breathed him in?

Fortunately, even if his body turned completely invisible, Krone still had to keep his form as he would quickly lose Health by trying to change shape. It also caused him an extreme amount of pain, despite him having no observable nerves and a seemingly intangible form. This was one of the reasons why he had LV54 [Pain Tolerance] as, if he was caught up in a strong current or pulled along by powerful winds, it would feel like he was constantly being torn apart.

Krone had been hesitant to reveal this fact but, after building up a fair amount of tension due to his past actions, he wanted to even things out by essentially revealing his biggest weakness. He didn't want Linnaeus thinking that he was some amorphous entity that could squeeze through gaps and perform impossible feats so, in order to prevent future misunderstands, he decided to be a make it very clear that he wasn't without limitations.

Linneaus knew Krone was trying to earn some good faith so, while he didn't even remotely humor the idea that the man had turned over a new leaf, he still respected his willingness to reveal such an important detail. Though there was a chance he was embellishing the facts, it would be too easy to ascertain whether or not he was lying the first time they encountered a strong enemy. Since Eliza's Blessing was essentially the ultimate counter to his, it would be very foolish of him to try and pull anything at this stage.

Just as before, everyone tried giving Krone advice on how he could better use his Blessing before, completing the set, Eliza gave a demonstration of her own capabilities. This included reducing the weight of everyone present, allowing them to leap high into the sky with considerable ease, and using her [Crush] Magic to completely flatten a few large boulders. Though some of them had been able to hold up relatively well against the increased gravitational forces, Eliza had a way to make the field rapidly change in intensity, essentially vibrating an object apart in an extremely violent and destructive manner...

As could be expected, Eliza was inarguably the strongest person in their Party.