1289: "Force" bond

"Force" bond

Even Baracus was curious about it, "The system is interested in the functionality of each ability. Does the host instinctively know what the ability does?" 1

Hao Xuan tilted his head to the side with a pondering expression, "Not really. I can feel it is there and have a general idea of what it is about, but nothing is certain until I use the ability myself. There is a sense of 'fullness' when I think about it like there is more to discover. Let me use it and see for myself."

All he had to do was think about it to activate the ability. It did not require spiritual energy to activate but there was a drain on his mental faculties. Using it for too long or overworking it would cause severe mental strain.

The insignia on the podium came to life with the same dark purple lights following Hao Xuan's thoughts.

"Huh?"

He inspected himself in confusion, "Did it work? I can feel it's active but...nothing happened? Baracus, run a scan."

"No changes detected."

"What the hell is going on?"

Hao Xuan stood up in hurry irritated at the thought of it, "Did I get scammed?! Or is this thing broken?"

But then he noticed the strange movements of the 'Death Moss' spiritual herb. It was standing in front of him bending left and right.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked suspiciously.

But the herb could not relay its thoughts or...rather, it did not know how to interpret what was going on. It simply faced him with proverbial question marks popping over its head.

"It's not me...the ability does not affect me but others around me? But what did it do?"

*beep*

"The system cannot detect any changes either."

"Maybe because you are connected to me? So it only affects others? But in what way?"

"The system can create an autonomous recording device to observe the changes from an independent objective."

"Yea that might work, do it."

A few seconds later Hao Xuan took out a small 2x2-inch square metal piece with a glass lens in the middle. He placed it in front of him and stood back.

"Can you see it now?"

"Negative. No changes detected."

"But the herb is still acting the same."

"Perhaps the ability does not work on inanimate objects."

"So I need a living being to experiment with? I don't think the shadow beasts will be very happy about that."

"There is already one such specimen here."

"What...the herb?"

"Yes. It is under the ability's effect."

"Yea, but it can't tell me what's going on, can it?"

"The host can make a spiritual contract with the specimen and communicate with it through the soul-bond."

"!!!"

"You're right! But I have an even better idea."

Hao Xuan canceled the ability and walked up to the herb. It stared in his direction in much the same manner as before, signaling that everything had returned to normal.

"I know you can't understand it but would you like to come with me?"

He extended a hand while reciting the words for the soul contract. A white light accompanied him and surrounded the Death Moss. It could not comprehend what was happening since it wasn't developed to such a degree yet but it could feel that Hao Xuan did not mean any harm.

One of its young leaves unfurled from the stem and met him halfway, effectively completing the contract.

Hao Xuan took in a deep breath and felt the changes inside of him. He could feel the herb's presence as if it was a part of him, even sense what it was feeling to a degree like all the other soul bonds.

"Okay, now let's try this again."

He backed away and activated the newly acquired ability before closing his eyes. Then he activated [Arbiter] on top of it to be able to see from the herb's point of view. (Ch 1257)

The Death Moss stared at him again in confusion and this time Hao Xuan could see exactly why.

From the herb's point of view Hao Xuan's face was changing. Sometimes it looked like another person and sometimes he had leaves and branches growing out of them.

When he canceled it his face returned to normal.

There was something about watching it unfold from an external standpoint that quickly made him understand exactly what it was.

"I think I get it now. This ability can change how others view me but it depends on THEIR understanding. The herb cannot distinguish between human and plant so my face was changing every second according to its train of thought."

*beep*

"That would explain why neither the camera nor the scans could not detect any changes in the host's physique. If the ability relies on its victim's understanding then it would not work on inanimate objects."

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