Where a human might have 10 points in defense as an arbitrary reference value, the natural shell of a low-level creature already started at 100 points or higher. It was a fundantal difference in starting point that made beasts so superior to unfused humans in direct combat.
A human punching a Stone Lurker would break their hand before cracking it. That was the reality of the gulf between mana born and non mana born species.
But their cooperation was mutually beneficial…
The % bonuses affected the beast too.
And upon fusing sothing new was born, when a human combined their essence with a beast the power base was lower, the factors applied to that new base. You get half the beast base but didn't just obtain the beast's skills and bonus benefits...
A human with 10 defense fusing with a beast with 100 defense didn't get 110 defense. They got sothing closer to 60, depending on compatibility and cultivation thod. The more "Yino" de thod, the more power you could extract… But the "dumber" you get.
Still… It didn't matter if you valued the mind more or the raw power.
The whole beca greater than the sum of its parts.
Layer upon layer of multiplicative bonuses creating final values that bore almost no resemblance to the starting point.
Because power like that compounded.
That was what people failed to understand when they looked at Ren's wolverine and tried to calculate its capabilities using simple multiplication. They saw "almost double the elental control of the hydra" and thought "just double the effectiveness".
But double the "points" in elental control ant double range, double elental density, double precision, double speed, double sustained output, double resistance to disruption, etc. And all those factors together didn't add up either… they multiplied together, creating compound effectiveness that far exceeded the base doubling.
An area attack with double control had 8× volu. That sa attack with doubled energy density within that volu could an 16× total damage output. Add in 2× penetration against defenses and you may be looking at 32× effectiveness against armored targets compared to the baseline.
Thirty-two tis as effective in the perfect situation from "just" doubling the control points.
And that still didn't account for the real tactical flexibility added, for being able to execute techniques others couldn't even attempt, for having reached the ability to develop new skills as backup options when primary approaches failed.
Selphira's smile widened slightly as she watched the confusion ripple through the more mathematically inclined observers. They were trying to calculate the wolverine's displayed power using linear models, and the numbers kept refusing to make sense.
Good.
Let them struggle with it. Let them confront the reality that their intuitions were flawed.
Perhaps a few of them would actually learn sothing from the experience instead of just dismissing it as "Ren Patinder is special" and moving on. Perhaps they'd sit down with the formulas and actually work through the implications of compound multiplication instead of treating all power scaling as simple addition.
Though she doubted it.
People preferred comfortable ignorance to any uncomfortable truth.
♢♢♢♢
Selphira finished her line of thought with the satisfaction of having re-clarified concepts in her own mind even if nobody else would hear this particular lesson. After 100 years ideas got dusty… let alone 400.
She'd taught for long enough to know that understanding didn't transfer easily. You could explain these principles a hundred tis and people would still make the sa mistakes, still underestimate the sa multipliers, still lose battles they should have won because they failed to properly calculate the amount of power needed.
But at least she understood. At least her own mind remained sharp enough to appreciate the mathematics of combat even as her body grew old.
She looked at her dear granddaughter Liora, who was now preparing to manifest her final beast after having lost the wisp despite heroic efforts.
The girl's breathing had steadied. The pain from the severed bond was still there, Selphira could see it in the slight hitch in her posture, but Liora had pushed it aside with the discipline Selphira had drilled into her over years of training.
Good. Pain was temporary. Defeat was permanent. Better to hurt and continue than to surrender to discomfort.
Liora only had the Bashe now.
A great beast certainly, with very fascinating abilities that Selphira had observed develop over years of cultivation under Ren's guidance. And although Selphira had initially been sowhat annoyed and sad that Liora had taken Ren's beast as her second creature instead of requesting again the black turtle Selphira had been trying to acquire for her, she'd co to appreciate the choice in retrospect.
The Bashe had proven to be a fascinating addition to Liora's repertoire, a creature that defied easy categorization and promised extraordinary developnt as it continued growing.
Most tars at Liora's level wanted beasts that fit into predictable boxes. Fire damage dealers. Water controllers. Earth tanks. The Lesser Royal Demonic Bashe was none of those things and all of them simultaneously, its spiritual nature allowing applications that conventional beasts simply couldn't replicate.
And Liora had demonstrated capacity to handle the beast with control that justified the confidence Ren had placed in her by facilitating access to the serpent. She'd cultivated it carefully, developed its unique talents and learned to work well with its skills.
Selphira wondered now, watching Liora concentrate on the manifestation while breathing deeply to center her mind after the pain of the broken bond with the wisp, if her granddaughter had any "interesting" multipliers in that beast Ren had given her.
So particular harmony between Liora and the Bashe that could give her the needed advantage against the rainbow-haired wolverine now waiting patiently on the field.
Because Ren had ntioned casually during one of their discussions about cultivation theory that certain combinations of beasts produced results that exceeded predictions based on simple analysis of physical or elental compatibility. He'd hinted at hidden factors, spiritual resonances that the standard formulas didn't account for.
And Ren rarely ntioned things casually. Every word from that boy carried weight, held aning beyond surface interpretation.
If he'd gone out of his way to ntion unusual synergies, then the Bashe probably had at least one such hidden advantage. Just as the Wisp had taken a bit from the Serpent…
The question was whether Liora knew how to exploit it to win.
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