"Newbie, wasn't your power only to create monsters?"
Tiona eyed the metal-sheen bracelets, puzzled. When she'd seen that zipper with such a strong metallic feel earlier, it had already struck her as strange—none of this looked like a "monster."
"Monsters aren't the key. 'Monster' is just the vessel for my imagination. Whether it's a living thing doesn't matter. As long as I define it as a monster, it's a metal-type monster."
So dirty. That was the only thought in Tiona's head after Tsunayoshi's explanation. The ability was already over-tuned, and now even the carrier called a "monster" could be defined however he liked. That was dirty beyond belief.
"How do you use it?"
Ais's eyes had been glued to the pair of bracelets. She didn't care about the production details—only that they'd help her as much as possible.
"Flip the little lever on the side to set the gravity multiplier. Lock them on both wrists and the effect will target only you. It goes up to ten times gravity."
Once she understood, Ais put them on immediately—left, right, fast and precise.
"Don't start high. Cranking the multiplier too far can hurt your body. Begin at one times and acclimate."
"Mm."
Ais nodded and clicked the lever to 1×. An invisible weight pressed over her whole body. Her eyes widened—the pressure was completely unfamiliar. A few simple movements took several times her usual effort.
"Heavy."
Her body no longer felt light. She couldn't move as freely as normal. Even as Ais registered how off she felt, her eyes were shining. The unusual sensation put a clear strain on her.
"Good for training."
After just a few awkward motions under the unfamiliar load, she was short of breath. She tried to steady herself, but the pressure didn't budge. It reminded her of the time she'd stubbornly carried everyone's packs back up to the surface—she'd needed three days to recover.
This was worse than that—worse than carrying everyone's packs; even her breathing felt weighed down.
Tsuna stepped up and flicked the bracelet back. The weight vanished at once, but Ais's breathing stayed ragged from the experience.
She had felt a pressure beyond the usual—greater than facing strong, numerous monsters. The sense that her body could be crushed at any moment only made her more excited. Panting, yet pleased, she looked up.
"This… is useful. More pressure than fighting Dungeon monsters."
"Gravity hits your whole body. Not just the muscles—your organs feel it, too. Breathing gets harder, fatigue ramps up faster, and you reach your limits more quickly. Under that load, even ordinary drills will push you hard."
It was definitely pressure. Ais could feel her breath laboring, like something sat on her chest. Just standing there burned stamina.
"Ais looks tighter than usual already. After only moments it's this effective… Newbie, let me try one."
"Sure."
Tsuna created a small pile of identical gravity bracelets without further comment.
Tiona slipped a pair on and set them to 1×. The invisible weight clamped down at once. Even someone as strong as Tiona widened her eyes at the intensity.
So this is what Ais felt. Tiona understood why Ais had said the tool was amazing. The strain was extraordinary—and she also grasped how easily it could drain stamina. Even her breathing grew labored.
After a bit of testing, Tiona reset the multiplier and hopped back to Tsuna.
"Newbie, newbie—this is super useful. I get what Ais meant about more pressure than Dungeon fights. Wearing these, the strain beats even swinging Ulgā when I'm at my limit. How long do they last? I want one."
"I don't actually know yet. I'm not sure how long a created monster persists. That may be something I can extend by adding more imagination into the build."
Tsuna was curious about duration, too.
If he didn't specify a requirement, the monster defaulted that parameter to a minimum value—he was sure of at least that much. As for what that minimum actually was, they'd need time to test.
"I also don't know whether monsters I create can keep functioning once they're out of my direct control. Besides duration, I want to 'fix' certain support-type monsters—so I can summon pre-configured builds on demand."
"Figure out the duration. Confirm we can fix templates. With those two, we can do a lot—that's exactly the direction I want to push."
Developing his monster-creation power had to be priority one. Tsuna had always put digging into this ability first: it was the key to finding a way home, and, once he got there, the power to steer his own fate.
He'd craft as many kinds as possible, gather as much intel as possible, and complete a "diversified" toolkit. That was what he needed to pursue after clearing his current hurdles.
"With the rest area solved, I'll report to Finn in a bit. For anything else we need, I'll confirm with him too."
"Perfect. Tiona, Ais, Tione—help me test how long the monsters hold up."
(End of Chapter)
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