[NR] Tough Chair - Chapter 652 (Patreon)

Jason could only sigh. At least under the System, there would not be a solution to his Energy tools and armor not having effects. He wasn’t the only one to look into the issue, though he couldn’t find anything specific for Energy.

Rather, everyone has used everything to try and duplicate the effects of armor, weapons, and tools. Yet to this day, including the work of locals before NeoRealm even opened up, certain effects remain restricted to gear.

Jason suspected that while duplicating the effects might not be impossible, it wasn’t a matter of copying the “visible” effects. The special effects were likely the result of direct System manipulation. After all, there was a reason the chainmail bikini is such a joke.

Even if you were enchanting the armor to have protection that extended beyond the armor itself, you were working with less material. And with less material? Well, you had less space to enchant and less mass to sink energy into for said enchantment.

Maybe something that silly could be justified if you’re using a rare material and there is only so much to use. Though even then, it would be better to either make an alloy or use what you have as a part of a larger piece. Yet the effects that handle armor resistance to certain attack types do this exact sort of nonsense.

While Jason doubted the System was personally applying defensive buffs to everyone using the armor. It must have put some sort of enchantment or similar onto the gear in the background. If anything, it might even be Energy-based. Though he doubts it was that simple.

Though with this, it left Jason feeling a bit empty. He had accomplished his short-term goals. There weren’t any other things to begin right away for the first time in forever. Jason didn’t even have something else to build. Things to maintain? Sure, but that isn’t quite the same.

He returns to his house and sits down on a chair made from scrap wood. It isn’t the most comfortable, but the chair is certainly sturdy. An important factor when with his current strength. It isn’t quite at the level of the world being like it was made of clay, but a cheap chair certainly wouldn’t survive Jason accidentally jabbing it with his elbow.

People seldom consider how much self control you need past a certain level of strength before it becomes relevant to them. Even then, it tends to be focused on not hugging someone too hard and making sure every door handle you use doesn’t have an imprint of your hand afterwards.

Maybe they’ll consider what happens if they toss and turn in bed. At least, they certainly will after a bed or two. Strength goes beyond that, though. It includes things like, what happens if you’re sitting in a chair and sneeze? How hard do you stomp your foot in frustration? And every other moment in your life from the point when you got the strength onward.

Cultivation generally handled this by providing the practitioner precise control. Even the berserker types will gain a significant amount of unconscious self control. You have to when, at a certain point, you can make sonic booms if you carelessly snap your fingers.

In NeoRealm, Jason was pretty certain much of this task would be taken care of by the System. At least to a point. Besides, Jason wasn’t going to be able to take advantage of that anymore.

Jason sighs as he looks out over the clearing. While he wouldn’t call it permanent, they had managed to do something here. A mark on the area that he felt was worthwhile.

This was how Rosha and Courtney found him later that night when they returned. Rosha was worried at first, they hadn’t ever returned without him having been working on something.

Courtney though saw something. “We’re going to have to get you back out and about on the regular. I would think someone calling themselves a cultivator would be better when left alone with their own thoughts.”

Jason shrugs, “You would think that, but cultivation isn’t really meditation as many people picture it. You aren’t sorting out your thoughts or anything. It is more like trying to solve a maze by only looking at it or some such.

“All of your focus is on the technique or scripture you’re using, instead of personal thoughts. There is some of that classic soul searching stuff, but generally only when searching for your path, your Dao. Right now? I’m just sort of caught in between.”

Courtney nods, “I’ve seen that often enough. Whether it is someone who is used to freedom or a person who follows a tight schedule, occasionally they reach a point that just stops them. Of course, I saw it most often among the maids and butlers when their position or task goes through a major change.

“It can be a temporary bit of malaise, but I’ve also seen more than enough go through therapy to figure things out. The mind is a strange place. Whatever the case may be for you, though, I have a feeling that getting out and about will at least help.”

Jason nods, “I wouldn’t say I’m one of those people crazy about challenging themselves. However, most of my time has been spent in preparation for combat. Even in grade school, I worked on my body. Sure, I skipped the available martial arts and what not, but that stuff wasn’t really for combat, anyway. At best, you could say it was focused on duels.”

Rosha sticks her tongue out, “Blah, I know what you mean with that. Part of what resulted in me discovering my love of scifi was combat. Unlike other genres that minors are allowed to play, scifi actually has real fighting, if mostly ranged with guns. Well, scifi and cowboy stuff. But those are too dusty for my liking.”

Courtney raises an eyebrow, “And what about all those dusty planets you seemed to always end up on?”

Rosha, “Bah, I can’t help that my main stomping grounds were in a region light on planets with significant surface water. It was the region with the best resources and the devs tried to balance it by making the environment uncomfortable.”