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A Suspicious Lack of Horses
Summary of Rewrite Changes

Summary of Rewrite Changes

I finally finished going through the first four books and making all the changes, so here's a summary of everything you need to know if you don't want to re-read anything, though I'd recommend at least reading Space and possibly Smoke. The new content should start going up November 11, MWF.

World > Space changes: Chris starts with a ~6.5 cubic meter space that he can grow by absorbing ability energy and the power of his space grows with its dimensions so that a 6.5 cubic meter space is the same as an ability 6.5 ability power. Connecting people to his space gives him direct control over them, no more of the weird ‘influence’ issues, but he can't connect anyone with a power greater than his space to it. He also can't connect objects to his space anymore, but he can absorb them, which gives his space material he can use to recreate anything he's absorbed or analyzed, but these objects are incapable of leaving his space, so no army of Chris's running around. In that same regard, the people connected to his space will still be drawn into it when they die, but their bodies will be made out of the space material, so they won't be able to leave the space afterwards. He can create portals within a radius equal to his space's power around him or within a tenth of that radius around those connected to his space, but he can't leave portal points anymore. These portals can act as barriers, but using them as such can tire him out and breaking them gives him a headache. Finally, he can borrow the abilities of anyone connected to and residing within his space.

Story wise,

Chris still met Beth during the Trial, during which he picked up Dyrdek, but also Jello this time. Everything after that was mostly the same as before until they joined the Scouts. I reduced the Squad size to just six people and included Derek in the squad, along with Carmen, Nadia, and Zack. Chris also picks up T'ka and Sidulpek during this time, along with a cave wyrm named Cabbage and another slime named Jam. He also learns how to borrow the slimes’ ability to mutate and grow his personal power and Jello reveals herself as his sister. At the end of boot camp, the squad went into the Maze and helped a veteran squad take down a tribe of imps for their graduation evaluation and picked up a handful for Chris.

At the graduation, Chris fights Daniel, wins, then gets headshotted again and loses all the ability energy he'd gained through mutation. The shooter displays multiple abilities much like what Chris is capable of due to the individuals connected to his space, so the City officials recruit him to help them create countermeasures for this individual, which puts him in contact with Salvador and Jo. In the meantime, Chris gets engaged to Beth and visits Earth, learning about the doppelgangers and the elves. He mutates again to regain his ability energy, and during this period Salvador and Jo reveal themselves as his parents and Alexander reveals himself as the shooter and a reincarnator from Earth. All of this makes it clear that the doppelgangers and elves would be invading soon, and they develop a plan to evacuate the City to Earth. However, the doppelgangers and the elves who've infiltrated the City catch wind of the plan and act to lock down the City, isolating the different levels to keep humanity from evacuating while their armies were in route from the surface.

Chris and company are driven into the Maze, where they endeavor to gather an army of their own, but the doppelgangers and elves begin hunting them on the lower levels, forcing them into the upper levels. They recruit Alexander and borrow his ability to help them get stronger, encounter a strange crystal that turns into a clone of Chris who takes the name Joseph, and encounter the foxkin, who reveal that the upper levels are controlled by four ‘Empires’, mid-level medieval societies that have flourished due to the weakness of humanity and disinterest of the surface races. In the process, Chris leaves evidence of his existence, so in order to avoid discovery by the Empires and yet another group hunting them down, Chris attempts to escape from the midst of the foxkin stronghold without using his abilities, which fails at the last minute as a foxkin delivers an attack that shakes his space violently as his vision goes dark.

*

Body > Smoke changes: Not as many changes here. Greg can still have multiple bodies, but he still only has the one mind, so he can't control them simultaneously without effort. His smoke has an innate power that he has to grow by absorbing ‘vitality’ from living beings. This power grants an innate ‘force’ to his smoke, but like Chris's barriers, it takes effort to use and it also now takes effort to dissolve objects into smoke. This power also determines the maximum density of objects created with his smoke. He can also change his mana type by copying the bodies of others.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Story wise,

things are mostly the same until right after the point where Greg and Tessa first get together. The aliens take them almost immediately after, but Greg doesn't get trapped in the transmutation chamber. He has enough smoke left with the mages that he could reform there, though he still witnesses the slaughter of all the non-mages. He decides to only inform Tessa of the incident, since trying to fight aliens who literally just proved they could kill everyone on the ship seemed like a bad idea, instead focusing on preparing for whatever the aliens have planned for them. Greg initially struggles with the fact that he doesn't have mana, but quickly learns how to make his body ‘real’, which allows him to awaken, and in the process he draws the attention of the Archmage due to the oddness of his smoke and she takes him as her apprentice. Jake blows up afterwards, due to jealousy over Greg and Tessa's burgeoning relationship and Greg's increasing status in the squad, and ends up leaving the squad.

Time passes as Greg focuses on exploring magic and the abilities granted by his smoke, while dealing with the fact that the ship is still split between the ferals and unformed. He joins a team on the feral side, which includes Bianca, Brutus, Gigi, Gregory, and Henrietta, the people involved in organizing the ferals back on Earth. Greg leverages his abilities to reach the top of the rankings in the unformed section, and is convinced to start his own faction, which he decides to use to bring the two sides together, merging the squad and the feral team. During a team building trip to the market, Greg encounters Jake in the company of Travis and his team, which Narita is a part of. Greg unwittingly facilitates the break up of Travis and Sophia, taking in her and the rest of the girls since she no longer felt comfortable living with Travis. Narita takes an interest in Greg's abilities and ends up discovering his connection to the essence of physicality, after which she reveals the existence of the Multiverse and what she calls travelers (Immortals from before).

They continue to build up their faction, focusing on avoiding conflict for the moment by taking advantage of having access to both sides of the ship, but after starting construction on a base for the faction, Greg finds himself in the midst of an attack by the United Technocracy. The aliens struggle to defend themselves from the Techno's assault, Greg attempting to assist but finding himself too weak to make a significant difference. Remembering Narita, he rushes to find her, hoping there's something she can do to help, and discovers her with Travis's team in the midst of a betrayal by Jake. After taking a short break to slaughter Jake and his accomplices, Greg insists Narita help him find a way to help the aliens defend the ship, but there's nothing she can do. Travis interjects and claims he might be able to do something, but it would likely kill him in the process. Greg then realizes his smoke can prevent the negative effects of Travis's ability, and the two rush to assist the aliens and succeed in stalling the Techno assault, only for a Techno in more advanced armor to break through and charge deeper into the ship, where the Archmage is preparing an emergency measure that will let them escape. Greg rushes after the Techno, arriving in time to prevent them from stopping the emergency measure, and even ends up saving the Archmage by somehow managing to dissolve the Techno's armor after they phased into his smoke. Unfortunately, the emergency measure still leaves them stranded on an untamed, mana warped world with an unprepared population, which is where the book ends.

*

Soul > Points changes: The only real change here is that Thomas/Victoria has a limit on the amount of effective points they can have, which they can grow by spending points, though it gets more and more expensive the higher they try to raise it. Additionally, they can't make new bodies for themselves.

Story wise

everything is pretty much the same except I made Victoria more dedicated to Beatrice and instead of making a second Victoria, she makes the original Victoria. Afterwards she decides to become a Hunter like before, to hide the fact that there are now two of them, and ends up getting drawn into an ancient cultivation trial where she is trapped for over a year, though the time is dilated so only four days pass for everyone else. She comes out at the peak of Core Strengthening and is a bit traumatized by the experience, though she starts to heal as she returns to Beatrice. Unfortunately, that's the moment Greg decides to wake her up in another timeless void, and she is not happy.

*

Spirit > Aura changes: Basically none. Andrew's aura strength doesn't grow as his power does and he can't just copy cores, but that's about it. The story is essentially the same too.

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