Acclimatization Sickness

Ding Shi used a Facility Scratch Card, adding an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant to his island. Spending 10 dao allowed one to order anything at will, from China's eight major culinary traditions to cuisines from across the globe. Dining was limited to two hours, with complimentary drinks and beer. Whether you gorged on lobster until you threw up or stuffed yourself with steamed buns until you vomited, the meal fee was always 10 dao. Whenever a friend used this facility, they were charged 25 dao each time—10 dao covered the meal, and 15 dao went toward the facility fee. As the facility's owner, Ding Shi got to pocket that 15 dao. The restaurant's monthly upkeep cost was 50 dao. For that reason alone, Ding Shi wanted to make plenty more friends. The Seven of Hearts: a skill card for the body lightening technique. Duration: 1 minute. Cooldown: 10 minutes. For the duration, body weight was halved. A great card, truly a great card. On the stone table before Ding Shi, the Seven of Spades with the Water Substitution Technique sat on the left, the Seven of Hearts with the body lightening technique sat on the right, and a Fusion Card rested in the center. To fuse or not to fuse? Reason dictated that a fused skill ought to be more powerful. But the system was sometimes entirely unreasonable. Ding Shi examined the Seven of Spades; its base pattern was blue ripples. He looked at the Seven of Hearts; its base was an earthy yellow ripple. Ding Shi's three existing skills and his dual Origin Force-enhanced attributes were all utility abilities. His only offensive asset was the combination of Five Thunders Talismans and throwing knives, which had little power; its sole highlight was the paralysis effect, making it essentially an auxiliary skill as well. Look at how dashing Su Su was with that little flying stick of hers, capable of knocking a Bloodthirsty Eagle right out of the sky. Having brought her emotions under control, Little Tangtang reappeared. Ding Shi eyed her from the corner of his vision; this little thing was full of wicked ideas. Little Tangtang offered a rare smile. "Want to hear my advice?" Guarded, Ding Shi asked, "What do you want?" "I don't want anything," Little Tangtang said. "Scram," Ding Shi said. Little Tangtang's forehead filled with black lines. When she asked for something, he refused; when she asked for nothing, he told her to scram? Well, she was definitely not leaving! Little Tangtang maintained her smile. "I can give you a piece of information: fusing these two skill cards will yield an attack skill card. A very vicious attack skill, applicable to any target." Ding Shi asked, "Including you?" Little Tangtang nodded. "If you attack me, I get to zap you." Ding Shi had already experienced the love of her lightning; it was the sort of love that shattered one's soul. Ding Shi called out, "Xiao Ji." Ji Guan immediately arrived at his side. "Master, what are your orders?" Ding Shi asked, "Do you think she's up to no good?" Ji Guan replied, "My Master, I cannot be certain." Ding Shi said, "I'm certain of it. Since she's egging me on to fuse them, I shouldn't. But her attitude is strange. Should I engage in reverse psychology?" Ji Guan said earnestly, "Master, that line of reasoning will not lead to a correct conclusion." Little Tangtang chimed in, "Once you fuse them, someone with your brilliance will be able to deduce the underlying fusion mechanics." Ding Shi remained skeptical. Deciding to lay out more bait, Little Tangtang said, "Skill cards have a hidden stat: rarity. If you fuse an A-rank and a B-rank skill card, the card's rank drops to C-rank. For example, your Water Substitution Technique has a five-second lead-up time. After dropping a rank, the lead-up time might become ten seconds, and the area of effect and cooldown would worsen as well." Little Tangtang continued, "The reason I support your fusion is because both of these skill cards come with Truth Hints, meaning they are A-rank skill cards. Fusing skill cards of the same rank has a chance to raise their rarity." Ding Shi smiled. "You're trying awfully hard to push me into fusing them." Little Tangtang spread her wings: *That's right.* Ding Shi maintained his smile. "But I don't trust you, so I shouldn't fuse them." Little Tangtang spread her wings again: *See for yourself, then.* Ding Shi said, "Still, you're clever. You suddenly put on a pleasant face just hoping I'd reverse-engineer your motives." Ji Guan advised, "Master, this will lead nowhere. Spare your brain cells." Ding Shi declared, "I'm fusing them." With that, he confirmed the fusion. The two playing cards emitted golden light, floated up, and touched. Then, amidst a dazzling flash of golden radiance, a new playing card appeared and slowly drifted down onto the table. The new playing card featured a two-tone blue and yellow background. The spade had turned half spade and half heart—spade-heart for short. What was most absurd wasn't the seven, but that it was a fourteen. Seeing the fourteen densely packed spade-hearts across the Fourteen of Spades and Hearts, Ding Shi was momentarily stunned. He couldn't help but look at Little Tangtang. Little Tangtang asked crossly, "What, did you want forty-nine spade-hearts?" Those words woke him from his daze. The key wasn't the number; the key was the skill. Ding Shi picked up the Fourteen of Spades and Hearts. Skill: Acclimatization Sickness. Type: Spell. Preconditions: None. Use the skill on a target to afflict them with 1–5 debuffs lasting 1–12 hours. Cannot be used on the same target within 24 hours. Cooldown: 1 hour. For a moment, Ding Shi didn't know what to make of it, but regret set in. Sacrificing two powerful utility skills in exchange for a skill that merely inflicted status ailments seemed like a losing trade no matter how he looked at it. Why Acclimatization Sickness? Ding Shi flipped through the Fourteen of Spades and Hearts. The Seven of Spades had blue ripples—water, the Water Substitution Technique. The Seven of Hearts had earthy yellow ripples—earth, the body lightening technique. Combined, they made water and earth. The idiom for water and earth was *shuitu bufu*—Acclimatization Sickness! The skill manifested based on the literal meaning. Little Tangtang hadn't lied; Ding Shi had indeed deduced the fusion system's mechanics. But wasn't this system a bit too arbitrary? Little Tangtang sighed. "Fusion is meant to combine two unwanted cards into a new, unknown card. I'm delighted you fused two practical utility cards." Ding Shi asked, "Then why are you sighing?" "I didn't expect the fused skill card to still turn out to be a practical one," Little Tangtang said. Puzzled, Ding Shi asked, "Besides 'acclimatization sickness' and 'countering water with earth,' are there even other idioms?" Little Tangtang said, "Who told you it had to be an idiom? It's just that idiom-based skills have their own unique effects. Fusing water and earth could have turned into a Depression Card that turns a plot of land into a swampy hollow, or a Mud Card that lets you throw mud at a target." To have such luck with just 1 point of Luck was downright infuriating! Ding Shi finally understood the situation. Little Tangtang only knew the general direction the fusion would take. Jealous that his two original cards were both practical utility cards, she had tricked him into fusing them. However, even with only 1 point of Luck, Ding Shi had managed to fuse an idiom skill card. To use Acclimatization Sickness, he first needed to set an activation trigger—a hand seal, an eye movement, or whatever gesture he preferred. He could set it to twitching the corners of his mouth twice, or even releasing the skill by burping or farting. The trigger couldn't be a common movement; if he set it to trigger whenever he spoke, it would definitely spiral out of control. At the same time, the gesture needed to be as covert as possible. After weighing his options back and forth, Ding Shi chose to dig his big toe against the ground—either foot worked—and pressing it down twice in succession would release the skill. Once he had the toe trigger configured, Ding Shi's first target for the spell was Little Tangtang. Simply put, there was nothing else living on the island. What about Ji Guan? Attacking him would result in a fine. Little Tangtang instantly received four debuffs: dizziness, abdominal pain, stomachache, and sneezing. For a moment, both Ding Shi and Little Tangtang were dumbfounded. Ding Shi hadn't expected 'acclimatization sickness' to be so literal—it genuinely produced the physical ailments of failing to acclimatize to a new environment, rather than potent negative status effects like poison, bleeding, or vulnerability. Little Tangtang was stunned because she hadn't expected Ding Shi to turn on her without the slightest hesitation. Even facing Ding Shi, who was already crying and fainting from regret, Little Tangtang still raised her little wand and summoned a bolt of divine thunder to blast down onto him, shattering his soul once more. Little Tangtang put away her little wand. Rubbing her temple with one hand and her abdomen with the other, sneezing continuously, she flew off with a hunched, wobbly gait. She wanted to go home.