I gave the stone hemisphere inside the totem a final once-over using Spin to create a wall of circuting currents. Moving them all around the entire room, it appears to be completely sealed. The marking on the ceiling, while allowing light to pass through, didn’t let air pass through. Nor was there an outlet within the strange water basin. Not a crack or a tunnel, the water was just mysteriously there, even refilling after I emptied it and gave the totem another hour in the editor.
To put it into words, I don’t know what it was about the totem that bothered me. Be it the strange faces, the freakish internal space, or the smooth stone reminiscent of the dungeon I found it in, just having come to its conclusion on the inside. It tickled my brain just the right way to make me question everything, despite my inability to find anything.
Shelving the totem for now, I returned to the operating room for a breather, sitting in the chair by the cart.
(Nightbringer might be the final option.) I thought, but after everything else I’ve tried; I didn’t think whatever it was was physical.
(Perhaps it's an effect that only occurs with the right conditions.) Whatever those might be.
Throwing my hands up in defeat, “I guess I’ll move on to transtion items.” Seeing as nothing I did worked; I should move on to something else. Maybe I'll think of something after stewing on it.
Off the top of my head, Lucy’s gsses, and I don’t know the name, but there was a magic monocle in the Overlord anime that could transte written words. Since it’s more of a game item, it might work better than the gsses.
There's bound to be some universal transtors in Sci-Fi; there has to be at least one in Star Wars and Star Trek. But I'm not exactly expecting anything to excel in the looks department, a random prop or two that got picked up when they needed it. Thanks to my ability, they'll become complete devices after I remove them, so they'll at least function.
“Doesn’t Ben-10 have some?” (Didn’t the Plumber Badges work as transtors?) That or the Omnitrix itself, how else would you be able to speak English with alien physiology?
And the st one off the top of my head is the Babel Fish. I vaguely knew how they worked. Putting it in your ear allows you to understand any nguage spoken by anyone nearby. There were probably some other effects that came with it, but this was about as much as I knew. I’m not too keen on having a voice inside my head that isn’t my own, that is, if a psychic fish capable of thought transtion can also speak with its user.
Since they're not like a brain slug or have any way to control their user, it wouldn’t hurt to try it out, at least once. It might help further my psychic progress.
However, there were some issues with these, one of the major ones being the need to wear or have them on my person. In the case of an item like the Omnitrix, I don’t think I’m going to be able to run around with tech of that level in a cultivation world. If they send their senses into it, that would lead to massive problems.
Another issue is, there's a high likelihood that any of the transtors weren't going to help get the magic cultivation slips to work. The reason being that the information transmitted would go directly into my head. Ergo, a middle step where that information can be read and deciphered is skipped. I guess, it can be analyzed once it's in there, but it could be another situation like the Lost Immortal Sutra.
They would help transte comics, and it’s becoming a bit of a pain to double-check the source whenever I get an announcement message in the game or when reading the stats page.
Now that I'm thinking about it, in cultivation stories, they had a special technique that worked as a universal transtor. By telepathically sending thoughts/intentions to one another, you can understand what the other person is saying even if either party can't speak the same nguage. Somewhat simir to the Babel Fish, just with Ki magic and not Science Fiction.
“Let’s start with the gsses.”
Gale-Force Reading Gsses - Fairy Tail: It's more of a mass-produced product with various functions and settings, primarily used to increase reading speed. Known speed settings are 2x, 18x, 32x, and 64x reading speed. (120x requires a special item)
Lucy’s are a pair of red reading gsses with wing-shaped features jutting out from the sides.
Spoiler
[colpse]As for their transtion function, it's not listed in the Wiki, but I swear I remember it from somewhere. Maybe in a manga panel?
If they come with different functions, there might be some with a transtion feature. If not, I guess it's up to the user's mental capacity, they'd be able to learn a nguage dozens of times faster. But how does 64x reading speed affect the brain? I know magic's involved, but at that speed, isn't it melting?
“Why they jump straight from 2x speed to 18x, I will probably only know if I spend some time in the series.” Maybe I can ask the salesmen? I guess it's up to the user's capacity, otherwise, you’re risking it with the higher-end models.
(I can probably do 2x easily, maybe up to 8x to 10x without my brain giving out, but 18x… Maybe once I finish the Body Refinement level? Even then, I think my brain might deep fry).
Despite my criticisms, I removed the gsses from the image and pced them nearby on the cart.
Magic Gsses – Overlord: Once worn, they instantly transte any written foreign nguage. Specifically, allowing the user to read any foreign text, as if it were their own. In the anime, it’s a monocle, while in the manga, it’s a pair of reading gsses.
Pulling out both items from the page, they did look suave. The monocle had a faint teal tint to the lens with thin etching around its outer circumference. The handle at its side slides out and folds into the piece. It makes a suave decorative addition to any butler.
Spoiler
[colpse]The gsses had a very simple, thin silver frame. Like the monocle, the lenses have a faint blue tint with simir thin etchings across the surface.
Spoiler
[colpse]While being limited to written formats as long as these work, I see no issues. However, there is an issue that both gsses will be subjected to.
For whatever reason, magic items seem to break down in the real world. Perhaps these magic gsses might st longer than the reading gsses due to them being a game item, but if either of them requires mana and magic, they're either not going to work or have a time limit for how long they're going to be functional. While this in itself isn’t a problem, since I can always take out another pair. I don’t know how they’re going to react once they run out of mana.
Some items become inert, some just snap, or shatter. I’ve seen a few that have popped, and one that went out in a final small burst. Having to wear them next to my face to use them...
"They should be mostly fine, so long as I don't take them outside," and using them in small bursts before switching out a new pair.
But I'm kinda expecting something to explode in my face today.
Stepping out for a second to grab the phone from the table, I made sure not to disturb the Beldum, who were in the middle of stock trading, continuing to release a constant hum. Once back inside, I pricked my finger with a stitching needle to get the two drops of blood to spawn inside a dungeon. Spawning outside the Ant Nest, I pulled up the stats page.
Putting on Lucy's red reading gsses first, the lenses twinkled for a second before faltering, fizzing out. "Looks like they were made around the constant ambient mana.” Meaning these weren’t going to function at all. Folding them up, I removed the thin silver pair from their case.
Looking at the screen, the pale blue lenses shimmered, my eyes following as it danced between the etching, left, right, up, down, right, left... The pattern continued before,
Name: James Dewitt
Age: 22 years
Lifeform level: Mortal
Strength: 9
Speed: 9
Constitution: 13
Primordial Energy: 9
Primordial Energy Art: Lost Immortal Sutra
Primordial Energy Skills: Penetrating Pierce R1,
Primordial Energy Pet: Blood Infant (Mortal),
"Ah," it did work. Honestly, I'm a little surprised.
Reading the newly transted information, everything was as I had figured using the comic. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, other than my Bloodborn being referred to as a ‘Blood Infant’. Spawning my Bloodborn in-game, I finally got a look at its page.
Name: Blood Infant
Lifeform Level: Mortal
Symbiotic Form: Blood Spirit
Strength: 4 > 6
Speed: 6 > 8
Constitution: 1 > 6
Primordial Energy: 1
Innate Skills: Blood Bond R7, Spirit Drain R3, Blood Manipution R2, Regeneration R1 (New),
Skills: N/A
Looking over the page, the formatting was a little different from mine. Besides that, my Bloodborn’s stats had increased. Since I took the Super Soldier Serum st night, a small boost to its stats was to be expected, since we were connected. But the boost to its constitution, I thought its constitution might sit a 1 forever. There wasn't much to say about the name or symbiotic form either, but the new skill was unbelievable.
“Looks like letting you sit and mature inside high-grade healing potions was worth it. But you're still not done?” I turned around to see the red eyes gleaming inside a new bottle, shaking back and forth.
There wasn’t any harm in letting it continue if it gave him a new skill, and he seemed to enjoy it; might as well let him continue.
Tapping back onto my page, selecting my only skill, I could finally read the description.
Penetrating Pierce Rank 1 – Launch a piercing strike in a targeted direction. Requires a spear-type weapon to deliver maximum force.Cost 4 Primordial Energy.
That was about what I was expecting, it was close enough to what I had found from the story. Clicking onto my Bloodborn’s stats page, I could also read what its skills did as well.
Blood Bond Rank 7 – Bound with its owner’s blood and soul. This bond is unbreakable. Its death is your death. Its heart is your true heart.
Spirit Drain Rank 3 – Drains a target's spirit. Absorbing Ki and Vitality.
Blood Manipution Rank 2 – Manipute and control blood.
Regeneration Rank 1 – Slowly restore health and Blood to a possessed target over time.
Blood Bond was information, I kinda already knew, just spelled out for me.
Spirit Drain was how I've been using it in-game so far, just never had the chance to see it restore Ki as well.
Blood Manipution might be a skill we obtained from when I used the Nameless Worm, which now infects my blood (luckily, it's not transmissible). But it is a little odd the system recognizes my Bloodborn possessing the skill, while I don't.
Regeneration seems to offer the effects of a healing potion to a desired target, my blood now acts as a healing potion? (What's going to happen when you return?)
Folding up the silver gsses, I put them away in their case. Before continuing my research.
On the Sci-fi side, Star Wars and Star Trek also have their own universal transtors, and as expected, they cked in the looks department. The Star Wars one looked like an old CD pyer with an equally old wire headset. My ability wouldn’t even work with the image since it's an inked sketch of the device. If there was at least a little more shading and detail, then it might work. The Star Trek page had several versions of a Universal Transtor device as it was upgraded throughout the series.
(One’s a pager. One’s a flip phone. One is actually just a tube.) “They really did just use whatever prop was lying around.”
Continuing to browse the long page, I eventually came across a death nail for the device:
“The universal transtor's capabilities were focused on interpreting the brain patterns of humanoid lifeforms.”
Remembering a small tidbit of lore, “Weren’t all the species in Star Trek seeded?” This might make the devices useless outside their home universe. If all humanoid life in the series shared an original blueprint, so too could their brain patterns. Even if they developed differently, there might be enough commonality for the device to analyze.
What if I needed to use it on something completely alien? Like a crab, or something that sits halfway between a rat and a human. In such a situation, the device might still be useful, but to a lesser degree. I might be able to salvage the tech, but that’s another problem.
I’d need an engineer and a scientist to do that, one who's leagues above modern humans.
"Throwing a bunch of transtors into a Galvanic Mechamorph and seeing what it comes up with?" That's probably in the direction I'm headed.
Universal Transtor – Ben 10: According to the Wiki, these are a cheap common level 3 technology and can transte ALMOST any nguage written or spoken, in real time. All the user needs to do is wear it somewhere on their body, and it will start transting. They're usually built into more advanced tech, the page goes on to list a few items known to contain a built-in Universal Transtor.
Items include:
Omnitrix/Prototype/Ultimatrix
Plumber Badges
Pryiatosian-B Containment Suit.
Annoyingly, at the end of the page, there was another small section that hurt the usefulness.
"It appears that Universal Transtors don't automatically transte nguages from outside of the Milky Way Gaxy."
Taking out a plumber badge anyway, it's a green hourgss design, a symbol of peace, that glowed like an LED and had a smooth metallic finish.
Spoiler
[colpse]Holding it up towards the phone, a strange beam shot out, spreading out into a triangle, passing over the phone, scanning the screen. After a few moments, the beam receded, and the characters on the screen started to shimmer.
Watching the characters warp and shimmer before my eyes, I thought, "Well, it worked, but..." (Is this what dyslexia looks like?) The device seemed to be transting things slowly. It might take a few minutes before any one word becomes legible English, and in the meantime, it was shifting through the possible options. If I gave it some more words and characters, it might speed up the progress.
Seeing that it was at least trying to figure out what each odd character meant, I guess I'll move on and check in on it ter.
Pcing the badge down, the characters returned to normal, while it continued processing.
After putting down the badge, I spent some time looking around for other transtion items and eventually stumbled upon an item from Doraemon.
Transtion Tool/Transtion Gummy – Doraemon: “If one eats it, the user will be able to speak and understand other nguages even alien nguages, has the external effect of the user sounding fluent in the other nguages. This edible gadget can also be used to communicate with animals as well.”
(It looks like a sb of tofu, but I guess it’s a gummy).
Spoiler
[colpse]Its effect was good, but I'm a bit skeptical due to its origins. If it didn't come from a gag manga, it might be my preferred choice. The page doesn't say anything about a time limit or side effects. But given its origin, it would most likely stop working at the least appropriate moment. And the ability to communicate with animals, all the time... If it's anything like their thoughts, it’s definitely a demerit.
Pulling the 4-inch sb of getin from the screen, it bounced and shook in my hand. Giving it a sniff first, it didn't really smell like anything. Taking a bite out of the brick, it was thick and chewy, also melon fvored. Swallowing it down, I didn't feel any different.
Picking the phone back up, the nguage had turned into pin English. I rubbed my eyes and blinked several times, looking over everything again. There were some slight wording differences, otherwise, everything was the same as I read it with the gsses.
Putting the phone back down, "If it works on animals and aliens, does it work on Pokemon?" Sticking my head out of the screen, a torrent of equations assaulted my ears and mind, it was a never-ending stream of math. It seems it also transted the electromagnetic communication method that the Beldum used. Given their task of stock trading, and the speed at which they did it, being bombarded makes sense, but now I can't leave until they either stop or the effect wears off.
"It's also going to make the next one very weird."
Babel Fish – A Hitchhiker's Guide to The Gaxy: "The Babel fish is small, yellow, leech-like, and probably the oddest thing in the universe. It feeds on brainwave energy received not from its own carrier, but from those around it. It absorbs all unconscious mental frequencies from this brainwave energy to nourish itself with. It then excretes into the mind of its carrier a telepathic matrix formed by combining the conscious thought frequencies with nerve signals picked up from the speech centres of the brain which has supplied them. The practical upshot of all this is that if you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of nguage. The speech patterns you actually hear decode the brainwave matrix which has been fed into your mind by your Babel fish."
Spoiler
[colpse]Reading the page, they weren't as bad as I thought they were. Its use is symbiotic, allowing the user to understand the nguages of those around them. However, the Babel Fish consumes the brainwaves of those around it for sustenance. The ability to understand thoughts is a byproduct, making it a parasite. But a useful one.
Excusing the Sci-Fi technobabble, the fish would also impact the user before the connection is established. Only after the link would the fish no longer consume their thoughts, instead allowing them to understand the thoughts of those nearby by transting them.
"Guess I'll talk to a fish now."
Bringing the fishbowl up on the TV. Pulling it out, the cartoony fish had changed. Now, it was a somewhat normal looking yellow sucker fish/loach ~2 inches in length, about the size of my pinky. It also kept its rge lips and wide V-shaped tailfin.
Bringing the bowl out and over to the gurney where I could set it down, I tapped the gss. “Testing. Testing. Check, 1, 2. Do you understand me?” I asked looking at the yellow fish. Seconds ter, I heard a scream inside my head.
{AHHH!!!!!!}
"Hey, I know that's a normal reaction to what's going on, but use your words," I told the fish watching it swim around erratically inside the bowl. Soon enough, the small fish came to a stop before looking up at me.
{What in the bloody hell is up with your mind!}
(Why does it sound British?) “Uhh… you're going to have to be more specific than that. I recently had a small psychic awakening, now I'm sensing everything around me. I was thinking about training it a little ter. But you could also be referring to how we can communicate, in which case," I quickly moved over to the cart and held up the brick of Transtion Gummy. "This might be causing it."
{No, no, no. This doesn't make any sense! It's completely illogical.}
"Look, I've learned it's better to turn that part of the brain off. It helps a lot." (Especially when you start messing with things that don't make a lick of sense.)
{NO! Your mind is both everywhere around us and in every matrix I have stored. It's impossible. You cannot be telling me that brick is causing this?}
"Yep. Magic items pulled from nowhere. In much the same way, I pulled you out. All I needed to do was eat some of it, and voi, I can understand any nguage and even communicate with animals." Pcing my arm inside the TV screen once again, I demonstrated the complete illogical reality.
The fish went quiet for a moment, swimming around its bowl, looking around the room before asking, {If that brick can let you understand any nguage, then why do you need me?}
"It's not perfect, it has a time limit before the effect wears off, and I'm not too attached to the understanding animals part. I've got two supercomputers outside trading stock options at lightning speed. Worst of all, it's all in equations."
{Outside?} The fish gave me a look that I can only interpret as a side eye.
Holding up my other hand, I touched the screen, making it and the view from the other side visible. "Anyway, I wanted to see if you could transte some nguages for me."
{And that's why you pulled me out?} The fish asked as I nodded in response.
{As long as you can put me near someone who can understand that nguage, I can start processing a matrix. You're going to have to put me in your ear if you want to understand it.}
"I can just take you out of the bowl?"
{I can breathe air just fine.}
"Ok then, give me a minute to pull something up."
Looking around, I found the first chapter of the comic the phone came from. Scrolling down the page until I reached the panel, a cssroom filled with many students and a teacher, doing his job by teaching history and the basis of the story. Bringing it up on the TV, "Ok," I said, putting my right hand into the fishbowl. As I did, the yellow fish swam into my curled fingers. Pulling it from the water, the Babel Fish felt like a squishy, slimy gummy. Given its size and shape, it would be most appropriate to compare it to one of those gummy shark candies. Its body also became rigid once it was out of water. With the Fish in hand, I brought it along with my upper body into the comic panel.
I wasn't expecting anything to happen, after all, it's a comic—a collection of images that tell a story. It wasn't like a video. Standing there with the fish in hand, I waited for a few moments before asking, "How is it?" The fish didn't respond immediately instead, it was the old teacher standing at the front of the room who replied first.
"WHAT!? Who are you!?" The old man shouted, seeing James suddenly appear, his upper body floating in midair.
"..." I stood in shocked silence as heads started turning in my direction. I know I've never completely entered a comic before, but I wasn't expecting this. After every pair of eyes in the room had turned towards me, I quickly pulled myself back from the screen.
{I take it that wasn't supposed to happen?} The Babel asked seemingly unbothered by the event.
"Normally, images like photos remain static. Time doesn't pass, there isn't even any gravity. " Moving over to the ptop, scrolling down the comic, the entire scene had been recorded and drawn with several additional high-quality panels. It showed me appearing, the teacher yelling, and the students turning to look at me. Even a few small panels focusing on the yellow fish in my hand. After looking over the new panels, "So, did you get it?"
{With the many avaible subjects, I was able to construct a matrix.}
"I guess we'll see how this works," I said, raising the fish towards my right ear. Pcing the yellow fish in my right ear, it felt like a rubber earplug. Then it started moving, shimmying around as it moved deeper into my ear canal.
{Since I can, I must warn you, this will feel strange.}
"What do youuuu- ~ahhh~"
{You need to clean these more.} The Babel, chided as it moved deeper into my ear. Once it was close enough for its rge lips to touch my eardrum, it extended its long tongue or nerve signal sensor deeper into my ear. Worming its way deeper towards the closest connection to my brain, the cochlea.
"Hey! A little more warning next time!" I shouted after a minute to recover, only to be met with silence. The second thing I had noticed almost immediately. There was a noticeable ck of the surrounding area taking up space inside my mind. I wasn't feeling the room right now. "Is this a side effect?" In general, this might be considered a negative, but currently, I have no other way to turn it off.
After waiting another minute for the fish to respond, I was met with silence. Checking the text on the phone again, everything remained transted. Making sure to double-check, I looked up a few different nguages, they had remained transted. The gummy's effect had yet to wear off, yet the fish remained quiet.
"Don't tell me I fried him," I said reaching for the tail barely poking out from my ear canal. I attempted to grab it a few times before I got good traction. Once I did, I pulled it just enough to pinch the tail before slowly pulling it out.
As I pulled, its body began to stretch like estic. I felt its long tongue lodged deep within my ear uncouple. Slowly growing taut, to immediately scken as it reeled back into the Babel's mouth. As the link was severed, my senses had once again expanded around the edges of the room.
Looking at the fish between my fingers, it seemed to be in a strange state. Its eyes half open, and its body hung limply, but it was still breathing. "Hey? You still alive?" I asked but I didn't get any response.
END
Spoilerkidmonkey94
This one's te for several reasons, and I have some stuff happening in the coming weeks. So, I might skip next week.
Question should status pages look like this:
SpoilerName: Blood Infant
Lifeform Level: Mortal
Symbiotic Form: Blood Spirit
Strength: 4 > 6
Speed: 6 > 8
Constitution: 1 > 6
Primordial Energy: 1
Innate Skills: Blood Bond R7, Spirit Drain R3, Blood Manipution R2, Regeneration R1 (New),
[colpse]Or like this?
SpoilerName: Blood Infant
Lifeform Level: Mortal
Numerology: N/A
Symbiotic Form: Blood Spirit
Strength:
4 > 6
Constitution:
6 > 8
Speed:
1 > 6
Primordial Energy/KI:
1
Innate Skill: Blood Bond R7, Spirit Drain R3, Blood Manipution R2, Regeneration R1 (New),
Skills: N/A
[colpse][colpse]
