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Very Simple. Simple. Moderate. High. Super. Plus Ultra. Blessed Gone Insane…
These were the Complexities as quantified by the System of Bioalchemy.
The number of Spirit Points and Stamina Points required with an increase in Complexity wasn't exponentially higher than the previous one.
However, the core of these Quirks didn't lie in their Spirit and Stamina consumption.
It lay in the word — Complexity!
If Luke were to take an ordinary rat as the basis, and didn't bestow any Quirk upon it that was particularly suited to its biology, perhaps only then could one get the true depth of this word.
A Very Simple Quirk for the rat would be Fur Color, letting the rat change the color of its fur. Requiring only 5-10 Spirit Points, this Quirk would never harm the rat. Once the time ran out, or Luke canceled the Quirk, the rat would return to its usual daily life, without worrying about any repercussions of its temporary awesomeness.
A Simple Quirk, requiring 15-25 Spirit Points, would be Camouflage Fur.
Quite the same as Fur Color, but this time, the rat not only could change the color of its fur, but it could also use many colors at the same time, giving it a weak camouflage ability.
Now, depending upon the size of the rat, it would again survive this Quirk without succumbing to an ill fate, despite the Spirit Points consumption rising to 2–3 times for the Simple Quirk.
However, the 2-3 times Spirit Points consumption didn't truly reflect the difference in the Complexity itself.
When Luke bestowed the Quirk upon the rat, he combined his Spirit Points/Quirk Factors with those of the rat's before carefully arranging them inside the Rat, designing the Quirk.
Despite only a 2-3 times increase in Spirit Points consumption, the Complexity of such a task rose by more than 10 times.
And that's why Luke always disliked picking a random lifeform on the spot to bestow a Quirk upon it.
The same Camouflage Fur Quirk of Simple Complexity would consume the same Spirit Points, but, depending upon Luke's familiarity with the lifeform and its biology, its true Complexity could vary between 10 to 50 times!
And this all made one Quirk the most complex in Luke's arsenal.
Intelligence!
The last time Luke had bestowed it upon a lifeform was before the Hosu incident. Using an Elephant and combining it with Blood Creation, Luke had created labs for himself in an underground cave system.
However, by the end of it, and hearing the elephant's words, Luke had decided to never bestow it upon any lifeform.
It hadn't even been out of morals or ideals. The entire situation had just looked more than fucked up to Luke.
But that wasn't all of it.
Noticing the wisdom that the elephant had possessed, and baffling awareness of self, Luke had done extensive experiments upon other lifeforms to find the cause behind it.
Later, Luke found out that any Intelligence Quirk above Moderate Complexity drastically enhanced that lifeform's intelligence, regardless of how complex it was.
For example, an elephant was already quite an intelligent lifeform. So, a High Complexity Intelligence Quirk, for it was way-way less complex than if Luke had bestowed the same upon a fish.
So, this sudden birth of wisdom didn't fit the puzzle, becoming a great anomaly for Luke.
It did strengthen Luke's resolve to never bestow an Intelligence Quirk upon any lifeform. At least not above the Moderate Complexity. Because, till now, Quirks bestowed using Bioalchemy came with a pre-installed loyalty for the Quirk user, i.e., Luke. It wasn't guaranteed that the said intelligent and wise lifeform would always end up feeling loyalty toward him.
Yet, holding the mushroom in his hand, Luke couldn't help but curse as he did the same thing he had thought he wouldn't do anymore.
Because anything less than a High Complexity Intelligence Quirk wouldn't make the mushroom intelligent enough to follow even the simplest instructions.
As the five massive Spider Drones pounded on the Confinement Zone's invisible boundary, the second Quirk that Luke bestowed upon it was Enhanced Vitality, again of High Complexity.
The moment he would activate a Quirk within the mushroom, it would explode, because it wouldn't have enough body to mutate. This was one of the cases where Luke wanted the lifeform to mutate as much as it could without succumbing to it.
With that taken care of, Luke just needed to make sure that it wouldn't consume itself — to keep the mutation continue… on and on, until it stabilized itself.
Hoping to kill two birds with one stone, Luke bestowed the third Quirk upon it… of Super Complexity.
[
Quirk Bestowal Successful
…
Quirk: Myco-Machine Symbiosis
Complexity: S
Consumption:
— Spirit 120
— Stamina 30
Contact Time: 10 seconds
Activation Time: 5 minutes
]
As it had the lowest Activation Time, Luke instantly knew that he would have only 5 minutes to get his business done and leave this place.
By the time he finished bestowing the three Quirks upon the mushroom, thirty seconds had already passed.
The Judge Button, letting out the golden glow, suddenly dimmed.
Through Spirit Vision, Luke noticed that the Spirituality the Sealed Artifact was packed with before had lessened as well. It wouldn't be long before both Confinement Zone and Prohibition Zone lost their effect, then.
Taking a deep breath, Luke snapped his fingers, activating the first Quirk.
A shine coursed over the hand-sized mushroom, as if someone had cast a mirror upon it from afar.
In the next moment, it stirred — instantly swelling from odd places, taking a deformed appearance.
Luke couldn't tell if the mushroom had gained intelligence or not.
But, through the Spirit Vision, he could confirm that it had worked.
So, as the boundary of the Confinement Zone thinned even more, almost disappearing, Luke uttered his first instruction, before throwing it at the Spider Drones and activating Enhanced Vitality and Myco-Machine Symbiosis.
"Survive!"
The mushroom struck the Spider Drone's head, almost boiling from within, and… fell lifeless.
Luke's eyes widened, his heart giving out.
The heaviness suddenly returned to his shoulders.
The five AI-controlled Spider Drones sensed the change in parameters as well, instantly swiveling their weapons at the target.
And just before Luke used Flaming Jump to pointlessly run… it happened.
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