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So.....
It's been 4 days since I started experimenting with my innate ability. I have no strength to joke around anymore. Its my way of lightening my own mood. However, this is beyond what I expected.
I don't know if there's ever been a superhero who's both overpowered and uselessly useless at the same time. If there isn't, then I'll write an application to DC or Marvel Comics once this is over. Oops I did again. Well who cares.
I want to be happy. My ability kinda makes sense according my motivations, but I guess Mother Earth wasn't kidding when she said the process wasn't perfect.
Gambling wasn't really in my nature. I hated betting on things that could lead to adverse effects on my pockets, not to mention my well-being.
To gamble, by definition, is to take part in a risky action in hopes for a beneficial desired effect. I remember these words even until now because when I made my decision back then, I thought deeply about it.
It wasn't a simply a matter of losing money if this went sideways. It was a matter of losing trust from my parents. Being potentially stranded in a distant country, making my parents squeeze their already strained budget to help me again, potentially affecting my two siblings whose expenses needed covering too.
The stakes were high for me, and that's why I called it a gamble. If I failed, I would leave my family worse off while continuing to do something I hated for a portion of my life. I would be slandered by distant family members. This scared the hell out of me.
If I succeeded, which I did, I could turn my life around. It was a special moment. I was proud of myself. In life people are often under the impression that we have to sacrifice our passions, dreams and hopes because 'Life is hard'. Its true, life can be hell, forcing out our optimism. However, that doesn't mean we just take it all lying down. There's no reason to not give it a big try. One of life's biggest regret after all is failing to give something a chance. It may work, it may not, its a game of chance.
It's a gamble.
Which brings us to my findings.
(A/N: Okay people lend me your eyes. This is not a complicated ability. It's just the dice.)
I have two die. One with 3 sides with the numbers 1,2 and 3 and the other 3 sides blank. The second one has all 6 sides with all 6 numbers aka holes.
The first one, with only 3 sides that have numbers, I call Dice A, for Administrator. It acts as a selector for options, like how in a video game you use the mouse pointer to select between campaign and free roam. It's just an example. To me it looks blank once I start to use my ability.
The second one with all 6 sides with their numbers, I call Dice O, for Options. These are the options I have.
For the broader mechanics, this ability uses my 3 favourite activities. Novel writing, Photography and Videography and lastly YouTubing as a base.
This was a horrifying discovery for me. This ability turned the activities I used to make a living into abilities.
I'll start with the advantages I get from this ability.
When I roll my dice, I activate the ability. When dice A, shows a 1 it means I am at the Novel Category.
From this category, the only options available for me are my three most famous books. Sundering Celestial, with the main character, Ping Wu who created the ability Celestial Sundering Rings.
The second book, Apocalypse Detective, with the super smart and observant detective, Allen Woods.
Lastly, my third book, I am Retired, with the ex-military top grade soldier, Conrad Jorgenson.
So, if Dice A rolls on 1, I get this category. Now Dice O decides which book I'll get. This is based on the most famous. If it rolls on 1, I get the Sundering Rings technique, on 2 I get Allen Woods' abilities and on 3 I get ex soldier, Conrad Jorgenson's military prowess. These abilities last for a minute.
In this category, I only have 3 options on Dice O. The 3 other spots vanish and are blanks, probably because all my other books were trash.
When Dice A rolls a 2, then I'm in the Photography and Videography category.
Sigh. I have all six options in this category.
When Dice O rolls a 1, I can capture a single target; object or living matter in time, like a camera does, for a maximum of 5 seconds. This means they remain where they are, without being able to think, speak or move.
When it rolls a 2, I can capture two targets for 2.5 seconds in time. When it rolls a 3, it's 3 targets for half of that time.
However, when Dice O rolls a 4, 5 or 6, I can fast forward or rewind a single target for the respective number. For example, I can fast forward a straggler by 4 seconds taking their current speed into account. The same applies to rewind, I can literally bring anything back to a few seconds before, as long as it was in motion prior to me using the ability.
This is basically photography for 1,2 and 3 and videography for 4,5 and 6.
Then there's the last category, YouTubing. It's extremely simple. My favourite channel was a reviewing channel where I analysed movies, series and animations.
I can guess you see where I am going with this.
If not then, when Dice A rolls a 3, I can give a person or object a review. This review can't be too unrealistic or I'll waste a chance. If Dice O rolls a number, that number is the number of words I can use for a review.
For instance, if Dice O rolls a 1, I can only review an object or person in one word. It must be a review and not a command. Like slow, smelly, weak etc. Then larger the number, the more words I get and the longer the effect lasts.
These are the benefits I can get, if I roll right. There is a 5 minute cool down between each use. If I make a successful roll that is. I can feel the countdown as long as I have the Dice. They always return to me.
Now, for the good old restrictions.
If I roll a blank on one dice, I get a penalty .. according to my own abilities.... for 30 minutes.
Yea... when I first rolled a blank, I was stuck, sitting on my bed for a full half an hour, like a disabled terminator.
If I roll a blank on both dice, I get two penalties for double the time.
However, please consider that this could lead to my death. I can suffer from an invisible impact from the Sundering Ring technique every minute for a half an hour, among other nasty effects.
The effect is random. I never know which it is. If I shoot a blank...ahem sorry... roll a blank, I can't roll again for another hour. If try to do so I may get another penalty.
By far the most terrible punishments are from the third category. The review category.
I can get reviewed..... by myself.
I hear a recording of me criticising a movie from my previous years and it gets applied to me.
So ..yeah. I got hit once, didn't like it. On this particular occasion, I heard how I trashed the movie ***** **** ****. I called it literal trash.
Then I spent 30 minutes vomiting garbage from my mouth. A whole pile.
As an Invigorated, I feel I'm more of a liability if I use my ability on the battlefield.
However, there is one saving grace. Every 24 hours, I get a one time chance to roll an ability of my choosing at its bare minimum. From the categories that is.
If its from category two, I only get Option 1. Freezing a target for 5 seconds.
From category 3, I get one word's worth of review.
From category 1, I can only use Conrad Jorgenson's military prowess for a minute, before the cool down. And then from there its gambling on chance.
This is my ability. An embodiment of my most cherished memory.
The innate ability, Gamble.