SSS Awakening: Starting With Infinite Soul Copy

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

The sound of a heart rate monitor beeping could be heard through the room.

FLICKER!

A flicker of blue followed next, interrupting the beeping rhythm as a pair of eyes opened.

The clear white ceiling with lights diffusing off the drawn runic lines was the first thing White saw upon awakening.

"You’re awake."

The voice followed after, and he turned his head to the side where he saw an oddly familiar figure.

It took a second of brushing through his memories before he called out.

"Health Instructor Celestine?"

"You do well in remembering names, don’t you?"

She said, watching as he rose from the bed and to his feet.

White felt filled with energy even more than normal.

"You should be good to go now. You just had slight cuts and essence energy exhaustion from the fight."

She mentioned, and he paused, asking,

"Essence energy...exhaustion?"

"Yes."

"It’s what happens to most awakeners when they’re forced to squeeze every last bit of their essence energy to defend themselves."

"It’s like you ran out of energy, yet continued fighting, expending more energy than you normally have."

She explained, but it only left White in even more confusion.

’That...That makes no sense. I never expended much energy in the fight. I was already unconscious before it even got serious...’

[You actually did.]

The system panel flashed, confirming Celestine’s words, and while White still didn’t understand, he turned to her, saying,

"Thank you."

"You’re welcome."

She replied, walking him to the teleporter, and a few seconds later, he was out of the hospital, heading straight for his dorm room.

________

Swiping open the key card on the door, it made a beep, allowing him entrance, and he went in, falling quietly on the sofa.

"Activate System Interface."

White ordered, and the golden panel flashed, sending a rush of notifications.

[Congratulations on completing the quest: Fight a Top 10 2nd year!]

[Rewards:

1. +10,000 EXP!

2. +3 LEVEL UP CARDS

3. +5 Ability Upgrade Cards]

The rewards made White’s eyes gleam from excitement, but it didn’t last at all; his eyes returned to normal.

"What did Health Instructor Celestine mean by essence energy exhaustion?"

"You agreed with her saying I expended too much energy in the fight, but you and I both know that never happened."

"I need to know what’s going on."

White said, and the panel flashed.

[Okay, I’ll explain. Firstly, you can’t really control the amount of energy you put into activating a technique.]

"Yes. But there’s a limit, right? Activating Limitless Collapse only takes 20 energy points."

White said, but then froze, remembering something.

When he had tried to defend against Instructor Iritis’s attack back in the class, Limitless Collapse, which would have normally taken 20 points, had taken 50 at first, then 70 next, all beyond his control.

"Okay, you’re right. I don’t really control the energy. But still, I wasn’t exhausted and kept fighting."

[You were.]

The system said, continuing

[Each of Zera’s strikes should have been impossible for you to dodge at all, but you did for most of them]

[All of your actions to dodge his attacks needed to be more precise and thereby used more energy.]

[If dodging an attack would have taken 5 energy points, fighting a normal, strong opponent like Inumaki,]

[Then you dodging an attack from someone like Zeras easily takes 2x that.]

[But you weren’t just running and dodging, were you?]

[Every time you attacked him, trying to break through his Limitless Interval, your Limitless Body skill draws more power to try and break through, hence using more energy than normal.]

[As for what took all of your energy completely, it was when you activated Limitless Collapse.]

"But I only activated Limitless Collapse once, and it didn’t even work."

[Yes, and that’s what you’re missing.]

[When you activated Limitless Collapse, you used energy. When Zeras grabbed your Limitless Collapse and squeezed, the skill naturally reacted by drawing more energy from you to keep itself stable.]

[It became a fight that drew even more and more energy, though it was futile as Zeras still crushed it to pieces after, essentially when you ran out of every bit of essence energy in you]

[Truth was, you already ran out of energy the second he slammed you into the ground.]

[You activating Limitless Collapse draws on the stored energy in your cells and bones, and even they were completely drained when Zeras destroyed the skill.]

[It’s why you fell unconscious.]

"But how!? That doesn’t make any sense."

[He’s too strong, White.]

The system panel flashed, pausing his thoughts.

[That Zeras is too strong. You’re not just fighting an awakener; you’re fighting someone that your own essence energy favors more than you.]

[It’s a biased fight where even your own energy isn’t on your side.]

It said, and White remembered it this time.

The words Zeras had spoken:

_____

"When it’s a battle between a Limitless user with Infinity Eyes and any other ordinary Limitless Awakener, Limitless becomes partial, giving more power and authority to the Infinity Eyes holder."

"I can deactivate all of your techniques, and in extreme cases, even make you lose them forever."

_____

"Deactivate all my techniques? Lose them forever?"

He mused, his heart pounding loud in realization.

Imagine being in a life-and-death battle, only for your opponent’s eyes to suddenly glow, and before you know it, your own energy turns against you, your attacks are overridden, or worse, rendered unusable.

That was one of the easiest ways to die in a fight, and once again, it exposed another weakness of Limitless Awakening.

Those born with the Infinity Eyes held greater authority over the abilities than ordinary awakeners like him, and that wasn’t good news for White.

In fact, it was enough to make him feel fear.

A fear he had never known before.

In his past life, he had never worried about something like this.

His awakening, though B-grade, was one of a kind, and even when he encountered others with similar abilities, he was still able to defeat them without much trouble.

But seeing someone suppress his technique so effortlessly, simply because they were born different... it was unsettling.

"But how? How does one obtain the Infinity Eyes? What are they, exactly? An artifact? A special organ one is born with... or some kind of ritual?"

"Can I obtain them for myself... or copy them?"

At that final question, the system panel flashed, offering him an answer.

[...]