— — — — — —
Even though spirit rank itself could technically be considered a type of Gift, after personally experiencing the difference between his own spirit rank and the energy produced by a Gift-enhanced trait, Veyron preferred to view them as two distinct things.
If you think of the Little Garden as a kind of game, then spirit rank would be like your character's level.
The higher the spirit rank, the better the character's base stats across the board.
Gifts, on the other hand, function more like skills. They interact with your spirit rank, multiplying its effect.
A powerful Gift in the hands of someone with high spirit rank can unleash devastating force. And conversely, a high-level spirit rank can massively amplify even a modest Gift.
Put simply—
His current "maximum output formula" just got a new buff: the energy known as "Ki" now benefited from the amplifying effect of spirit rank...
"Does it help?"
Watching Veyron go quiet after absorbing the Battle Aura crystal, then casually crush the ones containing magic, Chakra, and so on—basically burning through every energy-based Gift she'd prepared for him—Shiroyasha finally asked.
"It does. A lot, actually."
Veyron smiled, genuinely thankful. "I appreciate it. Thanks for going out of your way."
"No need to be so formal."
Shiroyasha hid the lower half of her face behind her folding fan. "Those things aren't exactly rare or hard to come by for someone like me."
After a brief pause, Veyron said, "Tell you what. As a thank-you, I'll give you something in return. It's nothing special to me now, but I think it'll be useful to you."
"Oh?"
Her amber-gold eyes lit up, clearly intrigued.
As a newcomer to the group chat, her original plan had been simple: earn the affection of the long-time members—who already had tight-knit circles—within a year.
And within ten years, score at least one meaningful item from the group store, the Gacha, or ideally from someone like Veyron, who was clearly operating on a completely different level than the rest.
But now… it looked like she might be ticking off goal #2 a lot sooner than expected?
Under her curious gaze, a small glass vial floated toward her, suspended in midair by Veyron's invisible will. Inside, a vivid liquid swirled in a spiral tube.
"You can either inject it—just make sure you use something that can pierce your body's natural defenses—or drink it."
Veyron added, "If you're unsure, you can have the Central core analyze it first... though I'm not sure it can decipher the internal rules without a proper sample."
"No need. I trust you at least that much, Vey."
Shiroyasha twisted open the vial, downed the blue liquid in one gulp, and smacked her lips with mild curiosity.
A few seconds later, her eyes widened slightly. She glanced down at her own hands.
Across from her, Veyron could clearly feel it—within less than half a minute, the gene lock that had only just reached Tier 1 when she consumed the T-virus suddenly surged straight through Tier 2, blew past Tier 3, and landed firmly in Tier 4 territory.
Not only that, but she didn't even pause at the psychological bottleneck that usually formed between early and mid-fourth stage. She powered right through it, smooth as silk.
"...Yep. Knew you wouldn't need a Stage 4 advanced serum."
Veyron mused to himself, not the least bit surprised. Given her level, that kind of breakthrough speed was completely within expectations.
The "gift" he gave Shiroyasha was, of course, his own unique rule—The Gene Lock. Or more accurately, what he really gave her was a version of the Gene Lock that had been optimized by his Trait System.
Even if someone like The One Above All got it, the Gene Lock would still treat them like a basic fourth-stage rookie—and then hand them a buff that started at a hundredfold increase in output.
And now that he'd gotten a spirit rank from the Little Garden's central system and had also figured out the nature of Gifts thanks to the crystals Shiroyasha provided, Veyron was confident of one thing:
Within the "Spirit Rank × Gift" system of the Little Garden, the Gene Lock's final multiplier was still valid.
"Incredible… seriously, this is unbelievable."
Her spirit rank hadn't changed at all, and yet—whether she was casually waving her hand or going full power—her attacks were now putting out hundreds of times the force they did just minutes ago.
Feeling the potential surge from the liquid she'd downed—something she initially assumed was just a standard biotech virus—Shiroyasha couldn't stop muttering to herself.
So this was the power of a world outside the Little Garden?
"What's it called?" she asked.
"Gene Lock," Veyron replied, not even considering that she might've meant the T-Virus instead. He gave her the real name of the power.
Then he added one important detail—something she needed to be aware of: 'If he wanted to, he could take the power back from her at any time… even across dimensions.'
"No problem!"
Shiroyasha thumped her chest confidently. "Even if you end up going to war with the entire Little Garden, I'll be right there on your side!"
"…Why would I go to war with the whole Little Garden?" Veyron blinked.
"Doesn't matter! You get the idea!" she quickly coughed, realizing she might've gotten way too hyped up.
"What I mean is—no matter what you decide to do in the future, I'll be your most loyal ally!"
An absolutely unreasonable, logic-defying power boost that multiplied combat strength by literal hundreds…And judging by how it felt right now, if she really pushed it, the multiplier could probably go even higher.
If she'd gotten this kind of power back during the dawn era of the Little Garden…
She would've made sure everyone learned to treat her with the proper respect!
…Although.
Now might still be a good time to start changing the game.
"Wait a sec… that thing you said just now—"
Veyron gave her a wary look as the pint-sized powerhouse in front of him started grinning like she'd just come up with a brilliant scheme.
"…Don't tell me you really do plan on going to war with the whole Little Garden now?"
.
.
.