Chapter 46: Creating Superpowers

Chapter 46: Creating Superpowers

Chapter 46 Creating Superpowers

Wonder Woman was the first to speak up and directly asked, "How would you get Superman's powers using Nen?"

Rayleigh considered it for a few moments before answering, "Well, Superman can be considered an Enhancer with Emitter leanings. As for how to get that much power, you'd have to be creative. Maybe you could use Transmutation to turn your aura into sunlight. Then if you master this, you could do the reverse and turn sunlight into aura." Rayleigh knew Killua could charge himself using external electricity, so the theory was viable.

The conference room turned classroom had a nice big blackboard which Rayleigh walked up to and drew a stick figure with a cape and then drew a circle around him. "I can only imagine it working conditionally. First, it would only work while holding Ren," he gestured to the circle around the stick figure which represented Ren. "Ren dissipates on its own, but if you could turn sunlight into aura, then your Ren would not dissipate, but continually get stronger under the sunlight. The stronger the Ren, the greater the defense and offense of the user, so as long as you could hold it, you could theoretically reach a terrifying level of strength. And since you could also turn your aura into sunlight, you could use that aura to create energy beams, like Superman's Laser Vision, from concentrated sunlight beams. You might even be able to emit your aura behind yourself to propel yourself forward to reach superspeed and fly."

Several of the Players already had shining eyes. A blueprint on how to become superman was in front of them. Who wouldn't want to achieve it?

But unfortunately for them, Rayleigh continued, "However, you likely would not be able to achieve such power without a lot of restrictions."

Rayleigh had already explained limitations, restrictions, and vows. He explained how placing conditions on your Hatsu granted it greater strength in exchange for restraints. Rayleigh asked, "What kind of restrictions do you think you'd need for this to work?"

Justice answered first, "Well, like you said, you'd have to use Ren, so it would not grant a base increase in physical stats, only boost Ren. And maybe it can't be used unless exposed to sunlight."

Rayleigh wrote the suggestions down and underlined the second one, "Yes, only working in sunlight is a harsh requirement, but such a requirement would definitely boost the effectiveness. What else?"

Several other suggestions came and were written down. The end result could theoretically work to make one as strong as Superman but it would be much easier to counter. If anyone thought to use this build, everyone in the room would know exactly how to beat them.

Other characters from Anime, Mangas, TV shows, and DC comics were brought up one after another. Figuring out how to obtain the power wasn't that hard. The tricky part was figuring out the restrictions needed to boost the power without crippling it.

One of the best examples ended up being the Fullmetal Alchemist. Such a power would work by emitting your aura into an object and then manipulating it to change into another form.

The first restriction was that you needed to clap your hands first to form a circle before each use. Next, you had to inject your aura into the material to be changed through physical contact with both hands, and do so right after the clapping motion. Changing the form and structure of the material consumes aura present in the material. Changing the composition or element consumes some aura but also causes some aura to be stored within. The stored aura would slowly deplete itself and the composition or element will change back upon full depletion. Changes are only possible with matter that contains the user's aura. And as an optional restriction, the user cannot make changes to biological materials, only inanimate materials.

Next, the greater the change from the starting material to the ending material, the more aura would be consumed. And last, the less your understanding of the starting material and ending material, the more aura would be consumed.

When listed, the conditions for activation were actually incredibly harsh, but those harsh conditions would greatly strengthen the Hatsu's power. The best part was that the harshest limitations could be removed by gaining a thorough understanding of the material you intended to use. A geologist would easily be able to change any rock into any form as long as the mass didn't have to be changed. A metallurgist would be able to easily manipulate metal.

Of course, none of them were geologists, metallurgists, chemists, or physicists, and Rayleigh doubted any of them would use this build that had such a high requirement of theoretical data to use properly, especially because it wasn't that strong compared to some other possibilities. But still, it was a good example of how to get a great power with reasonable restrictions.

The next few weeks consisted mostly of theoretical lessons with question and answer sessions, followed by more lessons on the Force.

Once a student was able to use Ren and started on the Hatsu training, the rest of it was just knowledge and application. Although none of them could use it yet, Rayleigh introduced the advanced applications of Nen and the theory behind how each of them worked. He taught In; how to make your aura invisible to others not using Gy. He taught En; how to create a large but thin Ren which acted as radar to sense any and all presences. He taught Sh; how to apply Ten to external items. And he taught K, Ken, and Ry and gave demonstrations on them all to show how Hunters battled.

He also made sure to explain, "Every single Hatsu requires a lot of training, so under no circumstances should you make multiple Hatsus that can't be used together. It's best to have only two or at absolute max, three Hatsus, and if you have three, one of them had better revolve around basic combat. A good Hatsu is simplistic in form but versatile in use."

Rayleigh spent a whole day on that lesson to make sure they didn't go crazy with Hatsu creation. That was also when he started working with individual Players on their Hatsu concepts.

Rayleigh explained, "The most important thing about a Hatsu is for you to have a strong image for it and a strong connection to it. If you like something, you can incorporate it when making a Hatsu. If you try to make a Hatsu associated with something you have no strong connection to, expect mediocre results. Like if you are not actually a fan of Superman, I doubt you'll be able to use his build."

One of his funnier lessons was the class he called, "Naming your Special Moves!" In that class he emphasized how shouting the name of a skill when using it would absolutely increase the power of the Hatsu. You could even make the act of shouting the special move a restriction for the Hatsu since that would strengthen it even further.

At the moment, Rayleigh had one Hatsu, Overdrive. It was a overall speed enhancing Hatsu that would allow him to physically move and react faster. Although it was just a prototype, the foundation was laid and it would grow stronger over time as he practiced more and more.

He had an idea for two more Hatsus, and unsurprisingly, both would further enhance his combat abilities. Rayleigh didn't believe in rounding his character. What was the point of spending so long to create a strong foundation if he didn't intend to build something on it worthy of that foundation? Instead of building a shopping mall with a hundred stores, he'd rather build a massive tower with a hundred floors, piercing into the sky to reach a height no one else could match.

During the following few weeks, the training became more personalized, but there would still be a meeting in the conference room every day to discuss various subjects like the Hunter World, Jedi Galaxy, and Pirate World.

Everyone was naturally shocked when Rayleigh explained that they were essentially in a fishbowl in this world.

"What the hell does that mean? How could this world be contained like that?"

Rayleigh shrugged, but answered, "No idea. But every continent has the same time zone, remember? Some Players thought it was because this world is flat, but the truth is, this world is massive. I have no idea how massive, but if every continent is in the same time zone, then this planet's circumference must be at least twenty four times larger than Earth's. We would be less than insects out there." The Chimera Ant that was tossed into the fishbowl from the outside was just a weak and puny ant in the outside world. How strong would the real powers outside the fishbowl be? It gave everyone the feeling of a Cultivation Light Novel, where after the world was explored, it would be revealed that the previously known world was just a tiny prefecture of something larger.

The Pirates gave Rayleigh some useful information in exchange for this, but it was mostly common knowledge in the Pirate World. Apparently in the Pirate World, there is a Mad Scientist called Vegapunk. He was said to once have a student who was crazier than he was. This student successfully replicated several Devil Fruits in a way that no one had ever done before. But a group came and stole these copies and destroyed the lab, killing the student. Even Vegapunk was unable to perfectly copy his student's process without the notes and lab, so what he did could not be done again.

This was the backstory for why the Players had copies of Devil Fruits when only one of each should exist. There were even instances where the owner of the original fruit found out and became very antagonistic toward the unlucky player who shared the same fruit. But there were also lucky players taken under the wing of the original fruit holder and taught how to use it firsthand.

Even without Rayleigh, there were plenty of interesting conversations between the Jedi and the Pirates.

Pacifist asked, "Have you gotten in trouble with the Tavern for any crimes you've committed?"

Titan, a brown haired, light skinned teen that looked European answered, "I haven't, though I know of some Players who came close. One of them said they were about to kill some random villager or something that was cowering in a corner and he got a warning from the Tavern. So he let her go. I've fought and killed, but I've never gotten a warning, and the fact that I can come and go from the Tavern as I please means it's fine. I think it only matters if you are going to harm some defenseless innocent."

Justice nodded thoughtfully, "Basically, don't harm people you have no good reason to harm."

Dragon Chef replied, "That's right. If a Player robs a house and the inhabitants run away, the Tavern doesn't care. If a Player robs a house and an occupant picks up a weapon and attacks you, the Tavern doesn't care if you kill him. But if you kill someone who has no blood on their hands and is not a threat to you without a reason, the Tavern won't let it slide."

Divine Script was something Rayleigh covered in a lesson, but he could not teach it since that would take far too long. Book worm approached him later and bribed him. She said if he cannot teach her, he should write down how to use it in a book and give it to her in the MCU. In exchange, she will make sure he gets training from the best swordsman in the MCU using her family's money and connections, no matter how long it takes. Rayleigh said he'd consider it.

Rayleigh applied Divine Script to the inner casing of the Lightsaber, the exterior of the Lightsaber, and the Kyber Crystal itself. The first layer of Divine Script was carved into the inner wall of the lightsaber around the kyber crystal. This was Transmuter attribute Hatsu that transformed aura into a blade, exactly like Gon's Scissors attack.

When used, Rayleigh's Lightsaber would draw his aura into the handle, pass it through the kyber crystal, then start circulating it. The circulating sword transformed aura worked like a chainsaw and looked a lot like a thinner version of Kuwabara's Spirit Sword, though blue in color. That wasn't a coincidence since Kuwabara's Spirit Sword was the inspiration for this change.

Technically, it was weaker than his lightsaber prior to modification because it completely lacked the insane heat of a normal Lightsaber, but there were three main reasons he changed it. The first was that he could manually adjust the strength and sharpness of the sword aura and speed of the aura rotation, so he could make it nonlethal at will. This would be important later. Next, in this form, it qualified as a sword. Proper swordsmanship would properly enhance his skill now. And finally, this form had the potential to be much, much stronger than a lightsaber. As his Nen grew in strength, he'd be able to transform his aura into an even sharper and sharper sword. Unlike physical weapons, this was a conceptual weapon and there was no limit on its theoretical sharpness. There were things that even a Lightsaber could not cut, but this weapon had the potential to cut anything.

The outside of the Lightsaber hilt was carved with a combination of Enhancer and Emitter attribute Divine Script. This part was the secret requirement of his new Hatsu.

His new Hatsu was something he was directly stealing from a manga called Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer. It was one of his favorite mangas, and the MC was definitely one of his all-time favorites. The MC was basically the minion of someone who secretly plotted to destroy the world, so he swore his loyalty to her. In order to protect her, he had to create a power that would allow him to defeat all the heroes. Rayleigh loved everything about that. A super skill created in order to defeat the heroes. It was also extremely appropriate. In this game, each of the one hundred Players considered themselves the main character. Each and everyone was the hero of their own story. So what could be better than a skill designed specifically to defeat main characters and heroes?

As he taught his students, the key to a good Hatsu was to have a strong image of it and a connection to it. Since it was something based off of something else, the image already existed, so creating the Hatsu was much easier. And since he was a huge fan of the origin of the idea itself, he had a strong connection to it.

Babylon. That was the name of his Hatsu. In the manga, Babylon was a weak form of telekinesis that controlled the air around the user. It was used to slow down opponents and speed up the user. That was the original idea, but Rayleigh intended to improve it.

Rayleigh's Babylon used the Emitter attribute Divine Script on his Lightsaber handle to create a special En field around his body that was a mix of aura and the Force. This only worked due to the presence of the kyber crystal which acted as a bridge between the Force and Aura. The effect of Babylon was actually very simple. Any Force skill Rayleigh used within the field was enhanced by the effect of the Enhancer attribute Divine Script, which was also on the exterior surface of the Lightsaber handle.

Creating the En Field did not use up much aura. The power behind the enhancement effect came from the restrictions placed on the Hatsu.

-Babylon can only be used while holding the specialized Lightsaber.

-The size and shape of Babylon cannot be changed after activation.

-The center of Babylon extends out from the Lightsaber.

-Babylon can only be used while meditating.

-Using a Force Skill within Babylon requires an entire force of Will.

-The user cannot purposefully kill or cripple targets within Babylon unless the user has sustained three injuries since the initiation of Babylon.

-If a target is purposefully killed or crippled by the user within Babylon before the prior condition is met, the Lightsaber's kyber crystal will destroy itself.

-Babylon cannot be initiated within five minutes of a prior deactivation of Babylon.

When written down, it was a mess. The first restriction came from the fact that this Hatsu could never be used with anything but that one item, the modified Lightsaber. Restricting a Hatsu to only be usable while holding a specific item didn't sound like much, but it was actually an incredibly harsh restriction. Rayleigh would never be able to use Babylon without holding it, even if it was a life and death situation.

The second and third restrictions would prevent him from manipulating the area of the Field, but taking away that flexibility would strengthen the image and allow him to make it larger for less aura.

The fourth and fifth restrictions were beyond harsh and made the Hatsu impossible for anyone but Rayleigh to even think of using. Needing a constant connection to the Force through meditation was necessary to properly strengthen the effect of the Force skill, and requiring it for Babylon to work would make it more stable by ingraining the idea that it could not work without an active connection to the Force achieved through meditation. Having a full Will be needed to use any Force skill meant he could not multitask with each Will, but requiring a Will not to multitask would allow for each Will to focus on that one Force skill being used within Babylon, which would ensure it was strengthened to the maximum. This also meant that the Will using the Force Skill could not be the will controlling his body, so using Babylon required at least three Wills; one to move the body, one to maintain a strong connection to the Force through meditation, and one more for every Force Skill used within Babylon. Fortunately for Rayleigh, the act of sealing his Wills worked and he had recently broken through to forming a ninth Will, and it would not be too hard to form seven more. Using his multiple Wills, Rayleigh could use multiple Force Skills at the same time, with each receiving a massive power boost from Babylon.

He could boost his own abilities with Enhance Attribute, Force Valor, or Force Speed. He could boost his defense with Tutaminis or boost his battlefield awareness with Clairvoyance.

He could focus on a target and concentrate a full Will's usage of Battle Precognition or Shatterpoint to predict the target's next move and see the target's weakness.

He could use Force Stasis, Force Slow, Force Whirlwind, or Force Fear on targets to hamper their ability to fight back, and when he fought a single target, he could stack multiple effects on the same guy!

The last three restrictions were to further strengthen the Hatsu's power to the limit. Just like how Kurapika placed a Judgement Chain on his heart to enforce his conditions, Rayleigh wrote a bit of Divine Script onto the lightsaber's kyber crystal that would cause it to destroy itself under the condition that Rayleigh crippled or killed someone before Rayleigh was injured three times during Babylon's usage. The last restriction was placed so that Rayleigh could not just turn off Babylon, kill someone, and turn it back on right away. Rayleigh actually placed a flaw in the Divine Script on the Lightsaber to prevent it from working again after being turned off without a five minute cooldown, so he could not cheat. As for the reason for the restriction, it was simply something that the Force would approve of, so implementing a Force approved restriction would of course further boost the power of the Force within Babylon.

Although the last three restrictions seemed incredibly harsh, they were not harsh in the slightest. If Rayleigh could kill or cripple his target easily, then his Babylon strengthened Force skills could suppress or knock the target out without having to kill or cripple him anyway. If the target was so strong that Rayleigh could not survive three hits, then it would not be a target Rayleigh could kill or cripple anyways. And even if Rayleigh did break the restriction and the kyber crystal broke, he just had to turn off his Lightsaber's projection and turn it back on the next day, good as new.

Of course, that still meant going a day without his Lightsaber which meant a day without Babylon, so it was not a restriction he could easily break.

There were other possible restrictions, but only these would not actually harm his combat ability or lifestyle. Things like using lifeforce, causing self harm, putting himself in danger, or taking unusual risks were left out completely because they went against the spirit of his code. Such things were no different from using the Dark Side, tearing off his flesh to enhance his strength during the fight only to weaken him afterward, forcing him to tear off more flesh for the next fight. Such a fighting style was not his way.

The best part about this Hatsu was its potential. The range of Babylon would increase as his aura grew. The number of effects he could use at the same time would increase as he continued to split his mind. This Hatsu would be just as useful to him decades into the future as it would be today. It would stack well with any new technique or fighting style he came up with and as far as he could tell, it would stack perfectly with Haki in the future. One of the main reasons he was even willing to create a Hatsu now was simply because he now knew the details of the third Power System and could make plans for the future that included it.

Rayleigh finished on the last day of his lessons and bid everyone farewell. As he suspected, half of them looked down on him for helping them so much for free. Those same people also amassed a terrifying Room Service bill without the slightest bit of shame. Rayleigh didn't mind. It was a drop in the bucket for the billions in his bank account and the higher the debt they owed him, the better.

Rayleigh was not able to practice his new Hatsu much before he received an urgent call from Gon. Kite was captured by a powerful Chimera Ant and found recently, but he was in terrible condition. Gon asked if Rayleigh could heal him.

At the request, Rayleigh had a premonition, something of a Force Vision. He sighed at the outcome and replied over the phone, "I'm on my way. Don't do anything stupid before I arrive."

*Author's Note*

Figuring out how to 'define' the mechanism behind CPO's Geppo was harder than defining Haki, but I succeeded. To all those writing One Piece Fanfics, there, now you know how it 'works.' Praise me.

The description of canon Haki is very vague but I am quite satisfied with my definition since as far as I can tell, it matches all usages of Haki.

Rayleigh is finally going to check out the Chimera Ants! Reviews and Stones fuel my will to write.