You know, I hadn't noticed that, but it doesn't say GAIN the point of Stat you steal, so I just assumed it was an Ability Drain effect.
So, does this mean the wielder permanently or temporarily gains the Stat point he drains? You really should add that on there.
If so, that's a huge power-up mechanic, indeed, as all the vampiric stuff without counters always is...

My assumption is that he permanently gains the stats.

It seems like a backup plan for when Mister Fiscer Gaia decides to dump him in another setting without any of his toys, he can pull out the sword and start swatting mosquitos until he's strong enough to tear a hole in the dimensions and make his way back.
It's the ultimate side-story skipping tool!

It's mostly a matter of emphasis.
If you say "Kill enemies to gain stats" that is focusing on the benefit to the user.
If you say "permanently steal stats with poison" it's focusing on the long-term strategic use.

Saying "steal stats from someone by killing them" sounds weird because you're kinda taking all their stats. They're dead.
"And now with one swipe of my sword, all your stats are zero!"
 
My assumption is that he permanently gains the stats.

It seems like a backup plan for when Mister Fiscer Gaia decides to dump him in another setting without any of his toys, he can pull out the sword and start swatting mosquitos until he's strong enough to tear a hole in the dimensions and make his way back.
It's the ultimate side-story skipping tool!

It's mostly a matter of emphasis.
If you say "Kill enemies to gain stats" that is focusing on the benefit to the user.
If you say "permanently steal stats with poison" it's focusing on the long-term strategic use.

Saying "steal stats from someone by killing them" sounds weird because you're kinda taking all their stats. They're dead.
"And now with one swipe of my sword, all your stats are zero!"
Being honest, I thought he was making cursed knives. Like, it says permanently steal 1 point of [Stat] upon slaying an enemy, which my mind took to mean that the wielder lost a point every time they killed something (barring undead) and the names (Ebony Dagger of Weakening/Clumsiness/The Snail) didn't really help dissuade the idea of cursed daggers.
 
Being honest, I thought he was making cursed knives. Like, it says permanently steal 1 point of [Stat] upon slaying an enemy, which my mind took to mean that the wielder lost a point every time they killed something (barring undead) and the names (Ebony Dagger of Weakening/Clumsiness/The Snail) didn't really help dissuade the idea of cursed daggers.
Even if that was the case, he has a perk that reverses the effects of curses when they hit him.
 
The Absorption effect has had its wording expanded slightly to better encompass what it does.

The spells for it were first used during the initial Water Crystal run and both the list and use of them has expanded throughout the story but remained strictly within the Item World until now.
 
And you know, being in this situation to begin with? He didn't ask to be originally thrown into a kids body in DC. And then Terra* keeps fucking with him. So…

*said Gaia at first. My bad
He very explicitly didn't want either situation and told her so, but she did it anyway.

She even agreed that Earth Bet was absolute shit and one of the worst places to go before throwing him at it.
 
Law imposes Order. Not being bound by law is Chaotic.
Anti-law is outside the box thinking.
"Here are the laws I will specifically and intentionally be breaking."
Opposing law is still somewhat orderly because it takes its direction from the law.

Chaos is no box thinking.
"Laws, no laws? Don't know, don't care. I'm gonna do what I want."
Chaos may break laws, follow them or just do something no one expected because it doesn't even bother to be influenced by them and any actions' relation to the law will be unintentional.
 
Saying "steal stats from someone by killing them" sounds weird because you're kinda taking all their stats. They're dead.
"And now with one swipe of my sword, all your stats are zero!"
Thanks to your turn of phrase, I Now understand what the real purpose of the methodology being used here is: it's about creating a permanent sympathetic link for enemies that have no death to be continously bound back into the very same moment they were killed by this blade.

It's perfect for killing paradox existences, overgod avatars, etc. Compare-and-contrast with: how the Primordials of Exalted RPG are killed by the Exalted, or how the Nobles of Nobilis RPG are killed by Excrucian Shards.
 
Perhaps Alchemist should borrow the Culture ship style of naming (from Iain M Banks).

He could name it something like SIZE ISN'T EVERYTHING, or THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT, or LASTING DAMAGE . . .
 
Never played anything in that series, but the wiki says Persona 2 has a lot of ways to defend against it, and there are a lot more enemies than just those two with Almighty resistances.

Double checking, I did forget about Satan.

And Noah (Not the biblical one) goes down like a bitch even in hard mode. He's weak to Vicious Mockery (This part is a joke). Almighty resistance isn't enough to make this sad boi matter.

Aside from those four? Nothing else natively has the ability. And the transfer mechanic for skills is strictly a game thing. In later instances of the games, canon parties (Such as the demi-fiend boss battle in SMT V) have skills that would make sense for them to have gained if they could continue along a skill tree beyond their initial level limit but they don't have oddball skills that they would have needed fusion to get.

The games are pretty good, but they're also incredibly dense. A good point to jump in would be Persona 3, which explains the majority of the modern game mechanics without having a massive difficulty spike. If you do want the massive difficulty spike, SMT 3: Nocturne was where I started on the Playstation 2 but it's now available on Steam. You could expect to drop in excess of 100 hours if you do want to play either of them, though.
 
Something to keep in mind regarding these games - the original Persona games (P1-P3, NOT the remake) and damn near all of the Shin Megami Tensei games are both punishingly hard and very uninformative. If you play the originals, you WILL want to look things up regarding the systems or you'll just be hopelessly confused.

The remakes and P5 are more balanced and helpful. P4 falls into a weird spot where some of the systems are adequately explained ingame, while others expect you to derive the necessary knowledge out of thin air.
 
Persona 3 is a great way to start. It's a wonderful story and the mechanics are matured from what the first two started. 4 and 5 add new things but the base remains consistent and understandable.
 
It is a little off-putting to have this talking about "permanently steal" and "clumsiness" all behind the requirement of killing the enemy.

"You monster! You made me weak permanently. We were just sparring!"

"Well, you aren't going to be using it. You're dead now."

"A minor issue. But I'll be the clumsiest ghost in the afterlife!"
It does not says from whom the point is stolen, could be anyone
 
~~ Item Created: Lancet ~~
~~ Damage: Undefined ~~
~~ Permanently steal 1 point from all attributes from the enemy upon slaying them with this weapon (Ineffective against Undead)
This object is unaffected by all forms of Law (Divine, Infernal, Magical, etc...)
This weapon inflicts Almighty Damage
Error: Further Traits Undefined ~~
Oof. The weapon isn't affected by Law, but it says nothing about the wielder. That could backfire badly.

Unless the trait applied there at the end of the item dungeon fixed that? Does stapling it to absorbing it into his soul allow Alchemist to take on its traits?
 
I have to ask - this story is putting a lot of weight on Christian creation myth being the top guys in YJ - Lucifer, Michael, The God, etc. How does it incorporate other culture creation myths as on the same planet, there are people who know of different Gods with different personalities behind similar and both different concepts. Now in parts it can be explained by people coming up with different names for same God, but in most cases the God described is completely different except their domains. Each pantheon should have Gods on par with Lucifer and Michael and The God.

Also, here is a small complain of what I read in YJ. The people there seem static in their opinions in MC. Alchemist is constantly being there, doing good, helping and throughout the story none of the teens or adults, except for main cast and Captain Marvel, has changed how the view him (maybe Diana, but even then only waaay later). They still view him as that insane wierd guy that they need to be warry off. The best we got is some kind of distant work relationship between him and Batman that didn't really change even with the whole dead parents resurrection for the night thing. Every other hero has respect to each other, but when alchemist has done more good than some of the other heroes (and supported most of the teens emotionally), nothing really changes - people react for chapter or two and go back to old thinking. Only real change comes from canon events and are similar to canon YJ.

This has improved somewhat in TT universe with the teens there actually changing as he helps them, it's just sad to think he will have to go back to the bunch of asshats that are the YJ heroes. Judgements out on Tiffany tho, she keeps switching back and forth. For all the things MC has done for her, it still feels like she has barely changed her opinion of him and constantly regresses towards anger and mistrust. He has helped her more than Batman, but for some reason she only worships Batman's 1 time hug.

Now another small complain - MC has literally infinite time via instant missions. He knows there are holiday missions available (the screw up in ff7 doesn't count). Yet, he keeps saying he is low on time... Do you see the problem here? He can literally jump to another mission in less than a second. Even less if he stops time before clicking accept. He can just spend millions of years outside DC just relaxing.

Final minor complain - stats doesn't matter at all. They stopped mattering when he got 0 mana spell cost trinket. It's annoying that stats go up and have 0 impact on the story. Perks at least do something, but you can replace each stat number with "LoL dunno" and nothing would change.

All in all, besides these complains, I quite enjoyed this story 8.5/10. Thank you for creating this story.
 
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