The Powers Part 2

Since he couldn't use any powers Linri needed something to protect himself with. Obviously, he couldn't get a gun. I mean he could get a gun but, in this world, guns were mostly useless against people with abilities and those were the kind of people that Linri wanted to protect himself against.

In the Autumnfall, Linri's weapon of choice was a flame thrower gauntlet[1]. Linri, or rather Max, had chanced upon its picture when he was surfing the web. It was based on the famous concealed blades from the Assassin's Oath franchise. So, all in all, it was just a fan art that he found and decided to give his character since he couldn't create any kind of flames. Who was he kidding? He added the gauntlets just because they looked so cool. I mean to Linri even a small amount of fire was enough to create a giant Fire Tornado. To him, the volume of the flames was not important. The important part was if he had access to them or not. So once he saw the image of the gauntlets he threw them in there just because they looked cool and they would be kinda useful.

If possible Linri still wanted to get his hands on that gauntlet but there was a teeny tiny problem. In Linri's background, he didn't specify where he got that weapon from. It obviously can't be from his parents since he didn't tell them he had powers before attending Autumnfall and it obviously can't be from the school itself. So there was a blank space of time there. Just how can he get his hands on that sweet little murder machine.

Could it be possible Linri was supposed to create the weapon himself?

For now, that seemed like the most likely solution. In the background of the character, Max had specified that Linri was supposed to be a genius but obviously an RP character can only be as smart as its creator so Max was never able to show that side of Linri during Autumnfall. I mean yeah he could scream all day that he was as smart as Stephen Eaglekings but that wouldn't make it true now, would it? That was just a useless flavour so it didn't necessarily mean it was true.

There was also another thing, all the knowledge Max had about Linri was coming from his knowledge as his creator so he didn't have any memories of the life Linri lead till now. Though this was kind of in the air at the moment. It hasn't even been a day since he was forced into this body so he couldn't be sure if some memories wouldn't randomly pop out. Then again from all the 'reincarnated in another world' novels he had read until now it was highly unlikely that he would get them later. Usually, when a protagonist wakes in another person's body they would have a headache and random memories would pop out here and there. The authors of those books always give the reason that the protagonist's soul fused with the initial owner of the body and that's how they got them. That's where the problem was. The original Linri 'switched' places with him so he should be in Max's original body right? Wait!? That was wrong! The Linri that 'switched' with him was older but he was clearly in the body of the pre-Autumnfall Linri. Does that mean the young Linri occupied his body or the old one? The more he thought about it the more convoluted his thoughts started to become so Linri forced himself to stop thinking about it. That was a problem for his future self to solve for now he had to ensure his safety first.

After collecting his thoughts Linri tried to design the gauntlet he saw in the future. About 5 minutes in, he had drawn how the gauntlet looked but he couldn't understand how something like this would work in reality. This confirmed that he was still constricted by his knowledge from the real world and that was it. If he still wanted to create this thing that would mean he had to do research on how to create a flame thrower from scratch and work his way up from there. Of course, that was assuming he was a genius just like how he described Linri. There was also the fact he had designed Linri to be kind of genius that likes puzzles like Sherloque so even if he was a genius, he was probably not the scientist type.

At this point, Linri wasn't too keen on the idea that he was supposed to create this weapon himself. If so what other way was there?

No answer popped into his mind. So Linri started to think that maybe running would help him think more clearly. He was baffled by this thought. He was an indoor person so he didn't like any activity that would require him to go outside. Instead of running he would just rather stay at his room and read something. So why was it that he suddenly wanted to run?

Linri could guess the answer but some part of him didn't want to believe it. The reason why he wanted to run right now was because of this body or rather Linri himself.

Autumnfall had attributes like the common RPG games. He had given Linri 1.5x above-average speed and 1.5x above-average agility. Being a guy that only played assassin or rogue-like characters in games Max wanted to take these attributes when he had leftover character points after creating his ability. When he did that he was asked by the admins why his character would have these stats background wise and he had simply answered; it was Linri's hobby. In other words, something Linri would do when he wanted to clear his head.

That was the most likely answer but it didn't sit well with Max. Because it would mean that his own personality would be influenced by the 'original' Linri overtime. That would also explain how he could easily accept Lyra as his own mother and also his action of hugging her, but most importantly being reassured by her words. Currently, this was not such a big problem. After all, Linri was Max's first RP character so he had given him an identical personality aside from some minor differences. What scared Max the most was the future. Over the years he had RPed with Linri, his personality had developed and was influenced by the events that happened in the game. He knew what kinda personality Linri had at the end and it was not a good one. Basically, when the club was shut down abruptly Linri was kind of a mix between a pyromaniac and a homicidal murderer. He was also suffering from a mental breakdown and split personality all because of the game's events.

Truthfully even Max didn't know how Linri had gotten to that point exactly. The concept he started with was kind of a chosen one scenario but at the end, Linri was just some edge-lord who wanted to destroy the world because he was betrayed and hurt. Basically just another emo teenager. Also when talking about edge-lord, it wasn't just the normal kind, it was at the level of Underfell[2] edginess. The worst part was, it wasn't a change that was in the control of the Max currently. After the end of every event or something major Max would update Linri's personality with small changes and those changes were made according to how Max would react if he were in that situation and the end personality was the result of it. When he thought that he could go through the same changes Max's back was covered in cold sweat. I mean the club's concept was fighting as teenagers with superpowers. No matter who it was their personalities would change over time after so many life and death battles. Just look at the soldiers returning from the war.

The fact that his personality could warp was such a realistic possibility that he didn't know how he could prevent it. After all your girlfriend dying, being betrayed by your closest friends and your mentor, being put to an arena pit with your classmates where only a single survivor can get out of alive, constantly fighting for your life with people who were so much stronger than you where a single mistake could cost you your life. This would have an effect on every Tom Dick and Harry.

When you look at that as a concept for a game you would only think that it had somewhat mature content and that was it but when it becomes your reality it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a living nightmare. No wonder the 'original' Linri hated him so much.

Still, at least there was one thing that provided relief for him. He knew what was going to happen so he wouldn't be affected as much as he normally would. That was on the basis that he can create a distance with those people. If he lets those people affect his heart even if he knows the future it would still hit like a truck. A similar analogy would be knowing the death date of your own father. Even if you can prepare yourself mentally it is going to hit you hard.

After changing to his tracksuit Linri went out for a run. The reality was setting into him slowly and calling it a grim one would be an understatement. If running could clear his head he did not care if it was actually his hobby or not.