Chapter 248: Chapter 249 – Jenny Rants Against The System

As Jason pushes the stamina out, he loses some power like last time, though at a much slower rate. In fact, slow enough that he manages to push some of it out. Only about a pinky tip’s worth, but enough to count. Overall, this took half an hour to complete the task, so he stands up and stretches while yawning.

Off to the side, Jenny nods, “Good job. While not the quickest I’ve seen, it was far from the slowest. Anyway, now that you’ve finished the first step, time for more step-by-step stupidity! Since you’ve just grabbed the power and shoved it out, I want you to do the same thing except push the power out of your hand. Then the third step is to push it out your foot. I expect this to take about the same time. If you finish and I’m not here, just wait. I will be back soon after. You aren’t the only one I am training and now that I know you can take the first step, I don’t need to be hovering over you.”

Jason shrugs and settles in. His Energy is as easy to move as ever. Stamina on the other hand is more annoying. With a longer distance to push the power, there is no chance of any being left over. 

He struggles for a while before hitting on a solution. While his stamina pool has a limited density that isn’t the limit of stamina itself. It is just that his body’s generation of stamina has a limit. To get around this all, he has to do is move the power to the side. Jason might not be able to hold on to stamina without losing some. He can however hold on to the power tight enough that his body generates it quicker than he loses it. With that figured out, it reduces the task to a waiting game.

Once finished, he has to wait a few minutes for Jenny to show up. “Ah, good! You’ve finished about when I expected. Now, since you jumped through the hoops without questioning it too much, let me explain why you did those three steps. Why I didn’t explain it before now and what the next thing is.”

“I’ll start with that middle one because of how simple it is. If I explained why you needed to do those things, they wouldn’t work anymore. Everyone has their own way of pushing their power out. Some grab it like they had a spectral hand, others scoop it up with pure mental force, and some even convince the power to just move for them. None of these methods are better than any of the others. It all comes down to your own personal abilities. What matters is that you do this most basic level of power manipulation multiple times with multiple powers.”

“After years of teaching foundational skills like this, I’ve found one thing to be true. The less you know about why, the more likely you are to gain the skill. Three times is the optimal number of repetitions. And unless the skill calls for more powers, a second power used provides as much boost to learning a skill as three or more.”

Jason frowns, “Wouldn’t telling me this make it harder for me to learn future skills like this?”

Jenny shrugs, “Don’t ask me why the System works the way it does, but it only needs ignorance for the first time you learn a skill like this. In fact, check your status. You’ll find a discovery bonus for it has been added, so it isn’t even hidden.”

Jason scrunches his brow and asks the System to show him his last discovery bonus.

{Increased chance to learn power manipulation skills}

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Jason nods, “A little vague, but it is there.”

Jenny smiles, “Of course it’s vague. Otherwise it wouldn’t have taken me years and the help of many other skill trainers to figure out the optimal numbers. Anyway, now that you have the foundation, things will be easier to explain. Especially since you already know a system for manipulating power.”

“At this point all we have to do is work on making your system cover all the power types you use and to respond automatically when you need the power. With that first one, I assume your system is only working for Energy. Honestly, I will not be able to help you with it anymore. If you hadn’t had a system, I would now be teaching you a basic method, but you are past that. Later on you will just have to set it up yourself. The second part is what will get you the skill. At this point, I assume you’ve only ever used your powers by actively pulling on them?”

Jason frowns, “Well yes, but how did you now?”

Jenny rolls her eyes, “If you had been able to set up an automatic system, you’d have the skill already.”

Jason shakes his head, “If all it took was to set up an automatic system, the skill wouldn’t be that hard to get.”

Jenny shrugs, “You aren’t the first traveller to say that. This should be simple enough. Your system might even technically be able to do it. Except it won’t. The System won’t let it work for,” And she does air quotes, “Balance. Apparently the System doesn’t think it is fair if someone can just set up an automatic power system. So instead we get to jump through some arbitrary hoops to get a skill.”

“Not only that, but the skill doesn’t even do all that much. Sure, it removes the limits placed by the System, but does that really count as gaining a thing? After all, if someone ties your hand behind your back, you don’t gain a new hand when they untie it. Of course not! You always had the hand. Anyway, life isn’t fair to begin with. Why bother with this one specific ability? It very well doesn’t prevent people with money from boosting their children.”

“And here I am with a horrible race. If my parents had the money, it would have been possible to change early on. But no, have to pay out the nose for the fix. Sure, I understand. The ritual magic to make the change costs a fearsome amount. And yes, I could afford it now, but it’s no good. I needed the ritual when I was young enough that my soul would reshape itself to the new bloodline. Now all a race change would do is make a deep one hybrid soul in a fancy new skin suit. I would still have to use the seals or my body would slowly turn into a deep one spawn.”