Tatehan stared at himself in surprise, dazed with confusion at this point. How was this possible? It seemed like something out of a fantasy.
The armor from the corpses of the dead brutenecks—rusty, battered, and looking like something sure to decay now that they were dead, was now sleek on him.
His face was covered in a futuristic helmet, like the ones Daft Punk wore, sleek and chrome-like, shining with a faint glow.
The rock sword in his hands gleamed with a bright light, shining under the Martian sky.
Tatehan looked at the corpses of the knight brutenecks. Their armor was still on them, but only partially, many pieces from all of them were now on him.
He had been scared before, scared of what the knight brutenecks would give him, of what would become of him. But now, standing with the sleek chrome-like visor on his face and the rock sword in his hands, he felt like a god.
Words now appeared across his retina:
[Congratulations host, you have gained armor.]
[Congratulations host, you have gained a weapon: rock sword]
Tatehan smirked, but then that turned into a slight frown. Although the visor was cool and made him look badass, he couldn't help but realize that it wasn't so comfortable.
He tried taking it off with his hands, but it was stuck. He panicked now and wondered if he would ever get this thing off his head.
And could he even see properly in this thing?
He looked at the sky, and to his surprise saw that it was much clearer and more visible than with his normal eyes.
He squinted, expecting his vision to worsen, but it stayed almost the same.
Tatehan grinned. He should be panicking, paranoid about how to get this off his face, but instead he was relaxed, seeing the wonders that it could do.
He placed his hands on his face and felt the surface. It was smooth and sleek and felt really great to touch.
He waved his sword forward, slashing the air.
But then, he had a subconscious thought. He thought about removing the helmet, and suddenly a sleek, rainbow-like explosion occurred in front of him, making the helmet explode into wisps of colorful dust.
His face was now bare. He quickly thought about wearing the helmet again. The same reaction happened and boom!, the helmet was back on his face.
Tatehan was astonished. There had to be at least some scientific explanation for this. He tried taking the armor off by thinking about it. The same little explosion happened, and it was off.
Tatehan wanted to shout out in joy.
Imagine, he could literally aura farm with this if he wanted. He could appear normal, then a few seconds before reaching the battlefield, he would just transform into this suit, giving him instant aura.
He wondered what the suit could do, what the helmet was capable of.
This was literally the best thing he had received since coming to this planet. And standing there, the sword in his hands, looking at the dead bodies of the brutenecks, he felt like he had accomplished something.
Because to him, if he was to boast in the future, he would say he killed all of them. Technically he did, while they did all the hard work for him.
And so Tatehan decided to be on his way since he had gained what was to be given by the knight cores.
He summoned the armor back on and decided it was time to move on to the next progression, since he still had a long way ahead of him before he met the Hexapod mauler.
But then, before he took a single step, he saw words flash across his retina:
…..
At first he expected them to be his system showing his stats. He was about to roll his eyes and move on when he saw:
[The armor has granted you an ability!]
Tatehan couldn't believe his eyes. What was he seeing?
Another ability?
[New Ability Unlocked: Kinetic Absorption]
[Kinetic Absorption - Level 1]
[Description: Armor absorbs kinetic energy from physical impacts and stores it temporarily. Stored energy can be released through physical contact or projectiles, amplifying attack power proportional to damage absorbed.]
[Current Capacity: Can store energy from up to 3 impacts before automatic discharge.]
[Energy Retention: Stored energy dissipates after 30 seconds if not released.]
[Absorption Rate: 70% of incoming kinetic force is absorbed and converted. 30% still affects the user.]
[Note: Higher levels increase storage capacity, retention time, absorption rate, and allow for more controlled energy release.]
What was happening?
Was today his lucky day? The day that he would finally become a godlike being?
Kinetic Absorption was an ability that had never crossed his mind since he came to this planet. Not that he knew much about it. On Earth, he hadn't read any specific superhero comic featuring this power, and he was an avid fan.
What he knew were flight, speed, and all the common abilities. He thought about the Hexapod mauler.
Maybe the spaceship's AI knew what it was doing sending him on this mission when he was very weak. This territory of Mars was inhabited by brutenecks, and many didn't know the benefits of killing monsters and gaining their cores in this part of the planet.
This was only a thought, but perhaps the AI knew what he would face and what he would gain? But then, why wasn't he told?
He decided he'd ask later.
He was still healing though. He wasn't fully recovered, his walk was still limpy and parts of his body still ached. The partial regeneration was working, and even though it was a bit high in level, it was still slow.
That was probably why it was called 'partial' in the first place.
He thought about the kinetic absorption ability again.
That was going to be sick when he fights the Hexapod mauler.
Imagine:
Gets slammed by the mauler.
Armor glows, absorbing the impact.
Redirects all that force back with gravity manipulation.
Absolute destruction.
Tatehan smiled. He couldn't wait to meet the beast.