--1st Anniversary Special (day 1/7, page 4/4)--
“Yes, sir,” said Jamal. By the look of him, he was in his late twenties and quite solidly built. Rather than a sword like Lynnette, however, the man wore a holstered gun on his hip. “I would be happy to lead the way for you.”
It struck Hector as more than a little odd to be called sir by this person. Still, he nodded gratefully. “Th-thank you. Please do.”
The three of them piled into the adjacent SUV and pulled out of the palace’s garage while Hector followed on his motorcycle. Ms. Carthrace asked him if he would not prefer to simply ride with them so that they could discuss various things along the way, but Hector politely refused. There would be plenty of time for discussion after they arrived.
Slashes of pink and orange painted the evening sky as he rode out into the city. It would be a rather long trip to Gray Rock, he knew, which of course meant that Garovel would have plenty of time to keep bothering him. Even so, Hector recalled a particular something that he wanted to ask the reaper about.
‘So, um... I’ve got a question...’
‘Oh, imagine that.’
‘What did you call it? The thing that Harper did?’
‘Pan-rozum.’
‘Yeah. Could you explain that more, maybe?’
‘I could, maybe. If you tell me what made you run away from Lynnette, that is.’
Hector thought about it. ‘...I don’t wanna know that badly.’
‘Oh, come on! I have to tell you about pan-rozum!’
‘Oh well... I guess I’ll just be unprepared in the future. No big deal.’
‘Y’know, you can be a real dick sometimes.’
‘Ah... sorry.’
‘Tch.’ Garovel paused, perhaps gathering his thoughts. ‘Pan-rozum is a hyper state. It is achieved when the reaper and servant merge their souls together via a very high synchronization.’
‘Ah... so it’s not something that you and I can do.’
‘Of course not. It’s not even something that Harper should really be doing, and he has to be at least twenty-five years old as a servant by now.’
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
Yup, like I thought...this means that, no matter how gifted Hector is, we're looking at fifty to one hundred years before he can possible go head to head with the really big guys.
ReplyDeleteNot necessarily. Panrozum might be dependent on high synchronization, but does that mean that every reaper/servant duo will have the same sync growth rate? You never know, Hector and Garovel may just have a faster growth rate than Harper and Darsihm, who apparently are anomalies themselves
ReplyDeleteOh I just love when Hector annoys Garovel. Turnabout is fair play
ReplyDeleteI'm fairly certain it's been made clear the rate is fairly constant. Variation doubtless exists but I don't think it gets that big. In the end, it's been made pretty clear that true strength develops on a VERY long time line in this story. Harper and Darsihm's achievement was amazing but they also only barely pulled it off. They managed to push the limit but it was still premature. It's not in the style of this story for people to be amazing by just being special and breaking all the rules.
ReplyDeleteThe question is, does the rate work by set amounts, or by percentage of potential? If it's percentage, it might APPEAR as if Hector is developing faster because he has a larger base so he can do more at an earlier stage. If it's set amounts, it means it will take an extra few decades to find out how good he really is.
I'm horrible with names, so excuse me - lightning man's (Karkash?) case would suggest it is a percentage thing. Degree of potency affects how much they can do at each stage. Because he was about the same age as the one using sulfer.
That said...the really big guys wouldn't BE the really big guys if they weren't ALSO gifted. To take on the Emperors, who are six hundred years old and, we must assume, very very talented and gifted with either very strong abilities or abilities they've learned to use like nobody's business, no matter how talented Hector may be, will not happen in less than fifty years. Otherwise you cheapen the entire power structure, and Hector's own achievements will lose meaning and impact.
Hmm. You are of course farther ahead than I am, but I don't believe it's been made clear that the rate is the same for every reaper/servant duo. Not up to this specific page at least. Yes, true strength does come with time, no argument there, but I'm just saying it *might* not take as long as 100 years.
ReplyDeleteI'm confused by your second paragraph. You focus on Hector when it's supposed to the link between him and Garovel that should be examined, the bond between their two souls. Is that not what enables pan-rozum? You do the same thing with your third paragraph.
About the big guys, unless I'm mistaken, synchronization doesn't seem to have a limit like emergence does, vague though it is. The reaper and servant will become more and more in synch as time passes. If synchro growth rate is the same, or even just relatively similar, it presents quite a problem for Hector to EVER catch up to top tier fighters. It would be impossible. And that's aside from what I suspect are other ways to get stronger. That's why I propose that Hector and Garovel's souls will bond faster than any other reaper/servant team. Do I believe that they'll be able to take on top fighters in 20 years? I dunno how long it'd take, I'm just saying a theory I find plausible
And the Emperors are 600 years old? I thought it was half that?
First, yes, they are six hundred years old at least. Sermung is 600 for sure. Dozer might be younger, but I suspect that the amount of time required to make significant different increases dramatically as they hit the multi-century mark. That's if significant progress is possible anymore past, say, 150. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't.
ReplyDeleteSecond, you are definitely getting a few things mixed up. Soul Synchronization is not about how MUCH soul you have, it's about how much OF your soul you can use. The ultimate amount each Servant has is set, it just takes a long time to access it. They don't keep building up more soul - they develop more and more access TO their soul. So yes, catching up is possible - the Emperors probably haven't been increasing in soul power for centuries. They reached their max potential by the end of their first century, probably. The rest was getting better at applying it, and at their ability.
For example, Karkash and the sulfer servant are the same age. But we find out when Lynn tries to stop Karkash's lightning that Karkash's soul power is much stronger. Note the wording Garovel uses: he says Karkash's soul is more 'potent'. It's not that Karkash synchronized more, it's that the same amount of his soul DID more - his soul was stronger. That's how it works. Rate, it has been very strongly implied to this point, is fairly constant. Mostly in the way Garovel and others gauge, react, and predict things. What changes from servant to servant is how much they can do with what they have.
Hence, my focus on Hector. Yes, it's the bond between them but Garovel doesn't really have a lot to do with what variables there may be. Any variables would be due to Hector's potential, the potency of his soul.
The recent battles have made very clear that soul power changes everything - get past a certain level and Hector's skill with materialization just won't cut it anymore until his soul power catches up. Hector could fight Karkash because his metal was as much a counter as a handicap - the inherent nature of how their forces interacted allowed him to fight somewhat effectively. But against the sulfer user, who had a much weaker soul than Karkash, Hector was helpless - even that level of soul empowerment completely overwhelmed him.
We have to assume the Emperors have very, very potent souls. Until Hector can use all of his, they will curb stomp him.
All talks of one must factor in information on the other. Soul strengthening is dependent on soul synchronization, and soul synchronization is *directly gauged* by soul strengthening and other soul techniques. If I didn't bring in soul strengthening we'd be trying to talk with only a quarter of the picture. Bases on talk of soul strengthening, I deduce that soul synchronization has a distinct limit, because what it sets out to do, only goes so far. I also deduce, from all the talks about soul strengthening, that soul synchronization can only go so much faster. Synchronization most definitely has a ceiling - when you can access all of your soul easily, you're nearly finished. The rest is practice.
ReplyDeleteBesides - this in fact all started in response to how long I thought Hector would need before he could take on the Emperors. Pan-rozum, or rather, whichever hyper state he uses (I don't think Pan-rozum would work so well for him, I just don't think he would benefit) is just one new aspect of that picture, but it reinforces the timeline I suspected powers run on. Twenty to thirty years to even try a hyper state. To take on an Emperor? At least another twenty years experience with it.
Ok we just seem to have very different definitions of the term synchronization. For what it's worth, I was thinking around 50-60 years as well. 100 years is where I gave a slight pause...
ReplyDelete*sighs*
ReplyDeleteI'm not getting things mixed up. I'm not talking bout what you're talking. I'm talking bout what was explained on this very page. I'm talking bout pan-rozum and ONLY pan-rozum, which needs synchronization. Synchronization is defined on this very page. It is not what you're talking bout. You are talking bout the six servant abilities and soul power/soul-STRENGTHENING (not soul-synchronization). I'm not talking bout either of those cause they don't seem to factor into pan-rozum, which Garovel explains on this page.
If you are simply not factoring pan-rozum then I understand our miscommunication, but pan-rozum was the focus of this page, nothing else