Chapter 15: Limitations

The next morning, after breakfast, and starting at seven in the morning, Jono started training in his gym. He trains his physical abilities, his mind, breathing techniques, control of his ape puppet movements, and control of the super ability of his ape puppet itself.

He quit the gym three hours later because he planned to go to the Commerce and Business District again to buy live beasts. Jono did this shopping activity the same as yesterday. He left for the Commerce and Business District using the bus, and went straight to the Bolo Beast Market, choosing the beast he wanted to buy and paying cash to have it delivered to his apartment directly. After that, Jono went straight home.

When he arrived at the apartment, he waited for the package. After the beast package arrived, Jono brought the packages one by one into his apartment room.

With a happy smile, Jono opened the package and read the description of the beasts he had purchased earlier in his apartment's mini gym. Jono purchased these three beasts to see if absorbing them would increase the power of his ape puppet.

--------------------------------------------------

Name: Coffee Hedgehog

Power Level: First Stage of First Phase

Ability: Shoots poisonous thorns

Element Type: Gravity and Death

Price: 720 Rc

--------------------------------------------------

Name: Black pangolin

Power Level: First Stage of First Phase

Ability: It has very strong scales and a thin protective layer that covers the body.

Element Type: Gravity and Earth

Price: 690 Rc

--------------------------------------------------

Name: Rice snake

Power Level: First Stage of First Phase

Ability: It has strong twisting strength and hard scales.

Element Type: Gravity and Plant

Price: 700 Rc

--------------------------------------------------

After inspecting the three beasts, Jono wanted to begin his experiments for today. But before that, he wanted to practice swordsmanship first. He took his newly acquired Gravat Sword and began attempting to lift the 3.2 kg sword. The sword was actually a one-handed sword, but he could only lift it with both hands at the moment.

Jono started to try several basic swordsmanship offense movements, such as stabbing, vertical slashing, horizontal slashing, diagonal slashing, and so on. He practiced while watching sword training videos available on the internet. The sword training videos that are distributed on the internet are free of charge as a series of basic training techniques and not a specific or special technique.

He practiced swordsmanship until he felt exhausted, at which point he continued with the breathing technique to restore his stamina. After repeating the sword practice and the breathing technique, he began to turn his attention toward the beast cages.

With a smile, Jono then took his other weapon, the Sribit dagger. The dagger did have a lower level than the Gravat sword, but the Sribit dagger had a sharp side. This was different from the Gravat sword, whose two sides were supposed to be sharp; instead, it was made blunt. The shape of the Gravat sword resembled a kendo sword with a rectangular shape, so the Gravat sword has less damage compared to the Sribit dagger.

"Your time has come," Jono said to the beast in its cage, grinning. He felt confident in the face of the caged and bound beast with his dagger.

Jono opens the cage of one of the beasts. The beast is a coffee hedgehog. The hedgehog is of the same species as the beast he killed the day before. He opened the cage lid, and even though the hedgehog was moving aggressively like yesterday, he was no longer surprised. He then slashed the hedgehog several times, twice hitting the hedgehog's vital organs, and the hedgehog died on the spot.

After confirming that the beast was no longer alive, he began swinging his dagger once more. He noticed that his dagger was lighter than it had been the day before.

"So, this is what it feels like to be in the first stage," he said as he fiddled with his dagger. He felt his proficiency in using a dagger had improved.

"Perhaps this is also the result of my training with the gravat sword," he muttered.

Jono then turned to face the ape puppet in the gym's corner. When not controlled, the ape puppet resembled a puppet or a statue.

"Hey, come here; it's time to work," he smirked.

He began to command his ape puppet in order to absorb the magic energy from the hedgehog's carcass. When the ape puppet is controlled, it appears like a living creature. If he doesn't know that this ape is his creation, he will mistake it for a real beast. Sure enough, after the ape puppet had been in the cage and attempted to absorb the magic energy from the beast hedgehog earlier, the ape was able to absorb the hedgehog's magic energy. This demonstrates that some of his assumptions from yesterday were correct. The ape puppet required a beast with at least the same level of power as it to absorb in order to increase its power level.

After that, Jono immediately planned to kill the two remaining beasts, the Black Pangolin and the Rice Snake. A pangolin-like beast with deep black scales measures more than thirty centimeters in length. The snake-like beast is quite large and long, measuring more than one meter in length. The snake's body is positioned in a circle in the cage so that the snake can fit inside.

The first beast that Jono killed was a beast in the shape of a pangolin. With his ape puppet, he immediately absorbed the beast's magic energy and the carcass. Furthermore, he killed the snake beast and absorbed its magic energy and carcass. Even though a lot of magic energy and a few carcasses were absorbed by the ape puppet, the ape's power had yet to break through to a higher level.

"Yeah, it's not that easy to increase my ape puppet's power level."

"My ape puppet will undoubtedly require a large amount of magic energy and carcasses."

"For the time being, I'm just gradually increasing the strength of my ape puppet; otherwise, I might go bankrupt."

"I already have less than 100,000 Rc."

"I have to save my money from now on."

"Social funds for orphans like me are only given once a month, and it's only about 5.000 Rc per month," he reflected, a bitter smile on his face.

Jono is listed as an orphan in government records, so he will receive 5.000 Rc in social assistance funds each month, as well as free school fees until he graduates from high school. The majority of his savings are left over from his grandfather, which he has used for a variety of purposes, including the purchase of an apartment and daily necessities, as well as his experiments to explore his super abilities. If this money-spending activity continues without any income, he'll be broke soon.

"I need to figure out how to get money to improve my super abilities," he thought, a little grimacing. He also started to think about all the things that could make money, but half an hour later, he still hadn't found the best solution.

Jono then examined the pile of bamens he had purchased a few days before. He purchased approximately 32 first-stage and 40 second-stage bamens.

He remembered how he used his super ability to make ape puppets back then. First, join or melt all the bamens together to form a ball. Second, he transforms bamens into the form of living things and supplies magic energy from himself to the puppet until it undergoes the first evolution. Third, absorb magic energy and the carcass of the beast so that the puppet looks alive and awakens its super abilities. This is the second stage of evolution.

"I can shape the bamen into the form of a living thing."

"Other people will say that this product is a work of art in the form of basir."

"The first stage of basic grade bamen costs between 5 and 10 Rc, while the first stage of basic grade basir costs between 100 and 200 Rc."

"If I can make some basir from bamens that have a cheap price, I might be able to profit a lot," he thought carefully, with a thin smile.

The reason why the price of basir is much higher than that of bamen is that during the process of making basir, bamen is very easily destroyed or damaged if you are not extra careful. A basir artist can produce a single basir by combining various bamens with low success. An experienced basir artist can successfully create a basir with a minimum of five tries with many bamen combinations in each.

"Yep, that's a great idea, but that's for later when I have more time."

"Now understanding more of my super ability is more important," he said with burning enthusiasm.

Jono is curious about the limitations of his super ability; whether there is a limit to the number of puppets or whether there is a limit to the puppet's power level.