{Desolate Traversal Technique
A combination of traditional parkour and energy use. While considered a basic skill, it is highly ranked among them. Generally learned by rogues it is however open for anyone to learn. This skill has ranked up through comprehension of parkour being about efficiency of movement. A rare feat as it has been noted by an unnamed master that, “teaching a man parkour isn’t about how to jump over walls but rather beating into them that most of the time you should just walk through the gate”.
Apprentice Level 9 - 99.99%
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Passive, Movement
Effects:
- Traction Assist - Based on predicted goal the System will modify the friction between user and any surfaces they are in contact with
- Powered Grip - Through the use of energy a user is able to temporarily stick to surfaces
- Distanceless Step - A combination of efficient movement and unconscious Energy use makes each step travel just as far as it needs to, including farther than it visually should have}
Right away, the effects all set off alarms to Jason now that he has a clue in what to look for, especially with how the description even calls out the way in which he had ranked it up. All three of the effects, even traction assist that doesn’t specifically say it, likely use his Energy to work. For a skill that is supposedly built upon parkour, that seems off.
Though going back to Traction Assist, the fact that works entirely off of the System trying to predict what he is going to do makes all the other red flags look pink in comparison. For the System to think it needs to call out the fact it is adjusting the effect when that is the norm for most effects means what is being done must be egregious.
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Worse yet, at least from Jason’s point of view, he hadn’t noticed anything. Sure, he hasn’t exactly been stretching the bounds of what is possible, but no matter how good the System is at predicting, it should have been wrong enough to notice. That could only mean one of two things.
Either the System is a lot deeper into people’s minds than he thought or more likely, it just wasn’t trying unless it could be certain. The actual ability was amazing so if the System just wasn’t bothering to use, then Jason had been missing out. In fact, now that Jason looks at things closer, the second effect was basically just a more limited version of the first one except under his control.
Sure, powered grip did say that it allowed a person to stick to a surface while traction assist only modified the friction between the two, but at a certain level those were the same thing. So with that in mind, Jason begins to test the two effects.
Of course, since powered grip was an active effect it was a lot easier to observe and from that alone Jason learned a new way to use the skill. So far, he had only been putting in one of his Energy points into the effect. That wasn’t the limit even if the System added a feeling of the effect being full.
Oh, and the fact that powered grip was also basically the same effect as distanceless step as well. Whereas step involved grabbing the world’s power and pulling it through himself, grip simply grabbed the world’s power and held on. And traction assist? That was grip except using so little Energy that it didn’t even use a full point.
Jason was not happy with the System, but knew how to at least take a step towards fixing the skill. If the System was messing up by having control of the reins, Jason was just going to have to take control.
This started with traction assist as it was both the hardest, involving the handling of Energy in amounts less than what the System considers a full point and the easiest as Jason could see it quickly being reduced to a form of muscle memory. Sure, it wouldn’t involve actual muscles, but he had seen similar things in his last life. After all, what good is the subconscious if you can’t hack it to automate mental tasks for you?
So, with a mind full of plans, Jason begins to run around in a very predictable manner. Someone watching would soon be able to guess where the next three steps would land after having seen just one. Soon after, as if by miracle, he can feel traction assist begin to really play its part. With that, there was no longer any doubt on how the System had been handling the effect.
From there, Jason began to replace the System. Each step and a small part of the traction assist would be taken over by him. This was difficult to start with, but he soon got the hang of it and by the end of the second day could use the effect, even when moving in a way that the System couldn’t predict how best to use it.
This was mentally exhausting, but in the middle of combat the benefits would outweigh the penalties. That, however, was just the start. Jason still needed to figure out how to combine the assist and grip.