Chapter 102: Balance Mode and Quality Mode

Similarly analyzing information, mastering the corresponding "technique" through reverse engineering —

the situation is vastly different.

Because Noble Phantasm information analysis and Skill interpretation differ fundamentally in nature, their complexity and difficulty are likewise completely two different things.

As things stand, standardized Noble Phantasms are easier to analyze and replicate than personalized Skills... like the "Ship of Light" Vimana, the Key Sword of the Golden Capital — these Noble Phantasms are essentially Item-form existences.

As long as one penetrates their structure and mysteries, it is like obtaining the most critical core detailed Blueprints, and with sufficient Magical Resources, one can Materialize these dream Items, recreating the Miracle of materialization.

However, the Characteristic of Skills is entirely different.

They are often not physical objects in Item form, but rather the fruits of practical experience, Memory brands, and honed techniques — unique expressions of personal style, and sparks of wisdom tempered from accumulated Knowledge.

If they are universal Skills like "Territory Creation", "Item Construction", "Independent Action", and so on, because they are standardized, regulated, and systematized, analyzing and replicating them is also quite easy and Smooth.

But when facing non-standardized exclusive Skills, those unique abilities deeply branded with a Heroic Spirit's individual character, analysis becomes quite troublesome.

Even when facing analysis work, Xia Zhi still displays a near-innate familiarity and ease, as if he was born knowing how to complete such work.

However —

The trouble manifests directly in the time consumed.

No matter how adept he is, the undeniable fact is that in the process of analyzing personalized abilities, compared to analyzing those standardized Noble Phantasms, the time required is undoubtedly far longer. This is an indisputable fact.

And what's most troublesome is that a Heroic Spirit's Noble Phantasms and Skills have never been clearly distinct, nor are they always two concepts with clear boundaries.

A Noble Phantasm is the armament, symbol, and ultimate move a Heroic Spirit possesses, meaning it may be a physical object, but equally may be a personalized ability...

The reverse is also true —

In certain cases, existences that should be regarded as physical Items are instead classified as Skills. Take Medea's "Golden Fleece: EX" for example — clearly a tangible object, yet treated as a Skill to be used and interpreted...

As for the present...

The Thunder Emperor's Noble Phantasm is clearly Skill-natured rather than Item-natured.

So even analyzing Skill intelligence non-stop, it still cost Xia Zhi most of the night, and only near Dawn did he barely grasp this Rank B Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm.

He gently exhaled, and couldn't help rubbing his temples, feeling his brain slightly swollen.

Researching the Holy Sword, revising plans, analyzing Noble Phantasms...

From daytime until now, it has been non-stop continuous operation, and the series of matters has also been quite mentally taxing. He cannot claim to be not tired at all, forever spirited and radiant.

【23】 "Just right, let's try it..."

"Perfect, let's give it a try..."

Moving his arm, Xia Zhi leisurely pulled over a nearby pillow, casually arranged it, and lay down on the sofa; simultaneously, the Living Room's light fixture went *Thud*, and the lights automatically went out.

Only the light from outside the balcony Faintly shone in, and the entire space fell into dim darkness.

Under conscious regulation, Xia Zhi quickly entered a Sleep state.

After all, he had only just grasped the Noble Phantasm's power; personal customization was temporarily out of the question, so meeting the usage Condition was the most basic Premise — following procedure step by step was the only way to activate this Noble Phantasm's power.

And this automatic Defense Art, suppression Noble Phantasm, can only be activated when the User falls into deep sleep.

— "The Black Dog That Stalks Forth From My Dream Path"...

The Noble Phantasm's True Name has already been revealed clearly: the black dog will stalk forth from the dream path; if so, without falling asleep, how could it be activated?

The Living Room quieted down.

It seemed that as the light turned dark, sound also fell silent along with it.

Time passed second by second, as if nothing had happened at all.

————

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The night was deep, thick as ink.

Yet the City remained full of vitality, neon lights and red wine, dissipated in luxury...

Some were restless, eager to try, who knows how many people heard the earlier Movement, hailing taxis or driving cars wanting to leave the city to see what was happening.

Some didn't care at all, even falling asleep early, completely immersed in Dreams, not even conscious that anything had happened.

All manner of beings, a thousand faces for a thousand people.

And the official response and Reaction were also extraordinarily swift; after all, they had been monitoring this area all along, and had mobilized considerable power and Resources for it — now that there was Movement, they could naturally respond immediately.

"Sorry, a natural gas pipeline leak Accident occurred ahead; for your Safety, please do not proceed further..."

Police cars blocked the road one after another, and together with those guardrails, warning signs, etc., completely sealed off the road ahead; patrol officers stood on the road, waving hand signals while brandishing flashlights.

Flashlight beams continuously swept through the night, accompanied by the flashing police lights on the patrol cars, creating a tense atmosphere.

"What joke is this, this place is sealed too?!"

The many people who had just driven over were stopped just as they were about to leave the city, and could no longer bear their anger, stepping forward to argue heatedly.

"That side is the same! This side is the same! What pipeline explosion, this is clearly an excuse! You're definitely trying to hide the truth!!"

"Right! Right! We want to pass!!"

"Yes! Pass through!"

They all became Fanatical, plus they'd been driving around for most of the night yet never neared their destination — forget going to the Scene to see for themselves, they couldn't even leave the city; no matter how they drove around, official personnel would ultimately appear ahead.

Information Curfew, personnel evacuation, traffic blockade...

Centered on the incident location, a very large surrounding area had temporarily become a forbidden zone.

Encountering this three-pronged Curfew, though simple and crude, it was indeed flawless.

Just a group of people desperate to pursue truth, or simply wanting to Join Fun, were very displeased. Having wasted a whole night for nothing, and convinced the government was definitely hiding some truth, their Emotions naturally flared up.

"Back up! Back up! Don't come forward any further!"

The patrol officers also tensed up, one hand on their service pistols, continuously issuing Warnings.

They were also suffering bitterly; when temporarily summoned in urgent haste, they knew this definitely wouldn't be anything good.

And the higher-ups' Attitude was equally intriguing — not only strictly ordering the road blockade, forbidding any Unrelated personnel from forcing through, but even saying live fire was permitted... this gave the officers no Awe-inspiring Composure, instead making them feel this matter was even more Terrifying.

Just as both sides were at sword's point, the situation tense and on the verge of explosion, none of them noticed that directly above the distant streetlight's glow, in the shadows, there was a "person" watching this scene coldly, without any Emotion.

Wearing a thick military greatcoat……

On his head sat a matching beret……

His face was a bird-beak mask like that of a medieval plague doctor……

This was a soldier wrapped up tight, his features completely obscured; on the surface he looked about the same as an adult, a cleaver in his left hand and a dangerous-looking repeating crossbow gripped in his right.

This bizarre figure simply hid atop a streetlamp pole, coldly monitoring what was happening not far away.

And in fact——

This scene was not an isolated case, but was occurring all around the city, spreading outward from a certain residential compound.

Killing Hunters kept emerging from the shadows of the compound, swiftly merging into the city's dark underbelly, then vanishing outright…… they were extraordinarily agile, their movements swift and startling, almost only a fleeting silhouette could be seen.

In the night——

Black hounds stealthily emerging from the Dream Path infiltrated the entire city, and continued spreading to the surroundings.

Although their number could not be called endless, reaching the exaggerated level of the Thunder Emperor back then, capable of casually suppressing all of Russia, one could even say the quantity was extremely limited, but if one did not aim for a full lockdown, full surveillance……

As long as one did not intend to achieve total control over every single corner of a vast city.

Then merely assigning them to a few comparatively key projects should still be sufficient.

Xia Zhi thought this way; his current state was also rather peculiar, like he was having a lucid dream, the thoughts in the dream splitting into Killing Hunters that stealthed into reality, while his consciousness — or rather his perspective — followed the Killing Hunters as they roamed.

It was a very wondrous experience.

However, his mental processing ability had not improved; his attention remained limited, he could only consciously follow the perspectives of a few Killing Hunters; as for the rest, he could only let them act on instinct.

Saying they act on instinct, it seemed they were also following Xia Zhi's own subconscious instinct.

Because he had roughly cycled through the perspectives once and soon discovered that those black hounds swiftly scattering into the shadows, infiltrating the city, were not chaotically running amok without pattern, but were faintly acting according to some regularity.

Those were precisely the directions and locations Xia Zhi himself wanted to investigate.

And the subsequent tests also corroborated this well; as soon as a thought shifted, the nearest Killing Hunter would seemingly receive a command, respond instantly, and head for a new destination.

For an auto-defense, suppression Noble Phantasm——

This level of intelligence was still fairly satisfactory.

Xia Zhi had no major objections; he carefully sensed and perceived that the number of Killing Hunters currently split off seemed to have approached the limit; although they could split further, it would inevitably weaken each individual's strength.

Because of objectively existing limiting factors, the numerical value he could currently dominate was only this much.

The more were split off, the less numerical value each individual could receive; in short the result was already constant.

The current state counted as the Noble Phantasm's balance mode——

Balancing quantity and performance as much as possible.

Xia Zhi pondered slightly, deciding to first test the Killing Hunters' specific parameters, then consider whether to switch to a quality mode or the like.

First was individual combat power——

Even if they could not match a low-tier Servant, they also could not be too frail……

Then was the Noble Phantasm's deployment range——

Centered on himself as the releaser, just how far could the Killing Hunters explore……

These two values were the comparatively core points, determining what level of high-pressure environment the Killing Hunters could operate in, how heavy a mission they could shoulder, and also determining what degree of convenience they could bring.

As for quantity, there was no need to worry too much; he already had a relevant technical solution. As long as "All the World's Evil" could serve as reinforcement material and combine with this Noble Phantasm, the problem would probably be solved readily.

Just a bit regrettable……

If Mr. Jin's King's Treasure really was as he claimed, possessing countless Noble Phantasms, then perhaps there truly would be the possibility of arming a massive Legion……

What King of Heroes, isn't he just an old thing; since he's an old thing, he should cough up more Gold Coins……

Thinking of this, Xia Zhi felt quite regretful.

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(PS: Thank you all, for now I can only do my best and leave the rest to Providence, let's see if there's any good targeted medicine…… only one chapter today, I'll strive to stabilize soon, sorry……)

(Chapter End)