The thousand piercing punctures was a passive skill. It demanded piercing objects which would be used to pierce the victim at specific locations on the body.
And guiding essence…or mana in Haruto's case through the piercing objects, one could circulate that mana through the orifices to wherever the victim was affected in the body and heal it.
The only hindrance to this rule was the quality of objects used, one could not just use any. But something like a relic, one injected with essence or any other supernatural element. Which in Haruto's case, was mana.
Normally, people who mastered this skill, according to Haruto's guess, would have to carry something like needles around every time. But, wouldn't it be stressful to carry needles around all the time? That was what Haruto thought. More so, the thought of being stabbed by the needles in the pocket wasn't a pleasant one. So, one had to improvise.
'Not that I even have pockets now'
Unlike other sentinels, he had the advantage of just creating whatever puncturing material he wanted and it would be infused automatically with essence. The question was how?.
When he had first received the system, it'd said it would give him power to control atoms. For a while, it really didn't seem so, but he was starting to understand.
To create anything in the first place, he had to control atoms! Atoms were very fragile as well as convoluted entities. One couldn't just create another element from one.
In the air, the main components were Nitrogen which is a gas containing seven electrons and with a tendency to gain an additional electron to become stable. So he'd read in a book written by scientists in his former life.
Originally, creating another element from one was impossible. According to a man named Dalton, atoms could neither be created nor destroyed but could only change from one form to another. But with an exception. Which was Radiation.
There were two forms of radiation, one was fission which involved splitting atoms into smaller but, and fusion which involved combining atoms to form a better whole.
Haruto felt his head start to ache.
'This is going to b a long ride'
Lastly, he had to decide which type of piercing equipment he wanted to create. There were many he could create. But, he wasn't a walking library, so he could only do as much as remember three. One was Tungsten. Which he wouldn't even consider on his deathbed. Because, firstly, he would have to perform a large scale fission and fusion nuclear reaction to be able to create an element of that magnitude from air. Secondly, he believed being stabbed by those damn things was akin to being stabbed by jagged rods!.
'Not scary at all!'
The second was ice, which he also wouldn't consider as plugging shards of ice in his body for a long time could cause frostbite.
Lastly, he was back to the stainless steel needles he'd rejected originally.
Haruto scowled.
'Damn needles!'
He hated to admit it, but they were the safest he could afford presently.
Synthesizing stainless steel meant a chain of fissions and fusions—nothing short of a small reactor. He needed iron for the base, carbon for hardness, and a pinch of manganese for strength. Chromium (to prevent rust) and nickel (for toughness) could be skipped—he only needed a single-use needle, not a battlefield-grade sword.
In short: iron + carbon + a dash of manganese = stainless‐steel threads. The manual promised the precise atomic ratios and lattice structure—he just had to follow it.
He was going to create all these elements. And that too, enough for the stainless steel needle to be solidified as well as decipher the correct structure and make it just as tiny as it had to be! It was in the manual.
Sighing and preparing himself sitting cross-legged, he concentrated on sensing the foreign elements in the air. Then, he started to manipulate them. Oxygen, Nitrogen, Impurities. Separate the elements, remove the atoms.
Unlike normal chemical reactions, his wasn't violent even though it was a medium scale nuclear reaction, because it was controlled, unlike chemical reactions, he knew what and what he wanted from the surrounding space. Giving him a head start over chemists that didn't even know how to control the violent reactions. Maintaining his cross-legged sitting position, he started to manipulate the elements in the air slowly.
Then, the space around him started to change, given how small atoms were, it was completely impossible to see them.
But, right under the dwarf who had dropped his book and was now watching Haruto with keen interest's eyes, The atoms started to magnify, rings of elemental structures revolved around him, and the space around him was soon covered with a mess of beautiful colours. Along the multiple revolving rings, there were things dancing along the line. Some rings were even more than one in each other, each being even bigger and containing more electrons than the other.
The air fractured and heat started to build up. Then, everything came to a halt. And soon enough, they started to shrink again. Faster, and faster. Tiny bits of weirdly shaped things in rings got broken off their chain, joined another, switched positions with some, changed structures.
Haruto sat in the middle of it, trying his best to concentrate on what he was doing. Sweat had covered his whole forehead and even his body. His tunic was soon wet and sodden from waste body liquid.
Everytime, he was reshaping each and every structure of the atoms. A single mistake would've been at the cost of creating something entirely different from a stainless steel needle.
Soon, the chaotic air started to calm down, replaced by a cluster of needles about 15 using a rough eye guess, hovering behind Haruto.
Then, guided by essence, Haruto felt the needles prickle his skin with tiny stings.
'Ouch, that hurt'
Grinding his teeth, he endured. Then he guided essence from the needle into places where he was hurt. They were quite a number.
His upper torso, lower torso, limbs, spinal cord, a few joints and many bruises.
One by one, he located them.
Under the dwarf's gaze, the wound on Haruto's laps contracted quickly and closed quickly to reveal a new skin.
Subsequently, bruises from his ankles, his stomach, and all over his body disappeared swiftly.
Then the system whispered in his ears.
[You have mastered the second level of a silver utility technique, Astral Oracle.]
[You have mastered the second level of an epic combat technique, Quantum Malevolence.]
[You have mastered the second level of a gold utility technique, Thousand piercing punctures.]
Then the air calmed down, leaving residuals of smoke in it. Haruto opened his eyes and let out a satisfying sigh.
"Where'd you learn that?"
Haruto turned to look at the dwarf. He looked a little less surprised.
"I didn't learn it. It's an ability."
Silent for a moment, the dwarf brought the book back to his face and said from behind it.
"I didn't know you were chosen too, seems I made the right choice chosing you over the gargoyle and the elf"
Haruto frowned.
'Chosen?'
But seeing as he had a lot to do before the next day, he chose not to dwell on it.
Instead, he looked ahead into the pile of gigantic skulls and faint smoke constantly rising into the air with a frown.
'...Who knows. Maybe you made the wrong choice'