AWACS - An American With A Chinese System
Copyright© 2025 by PT Brainum
Appendix 1
Active Skill Compendium
Skills are listed by category. Those used in this book are in bold.
Category 1: Points, all about the points
千虑一得 thousand tries one success (1/1)
- if the odds are less than 1000 to 1 you will achieve success when you gamble, cost 500000 points, can be used once per day, if odds are greater than 1000 to 1 then odds are reduced by a factor of 1000, must spend before making attempt, if you lose get back 1 point for every Yuan of loss
破釜沉舟 break pots, sink boats (4/4)
- when odds are less than 50%, stake everything (all banked points) on victory, if you win: receive 10 times karmic points wagered, if you lose: karmic points wagered are lost, limited to once per calendar week
- limit wager to only all your positive points or all negative points, stacks with above
- limit wager to 50% of either positive or negative points in your bank, stacks with above
- jackpot increased to 100 times, loss limited to 50%, stacks with above
半斤八两 half a jīn, eight liǎngs (4/4)
- convert negative or positive karmic points into neutral karmic points, cost 5% of the amount converted, neutral points may be used where either negative or positive points are required, may not be mixed with positive or negative points
- there is no limit to your neutral point balance
- convert for free if you convert equal amounts of negative and positive points at the same time
- get a 25% discount when paying with neutral points
Category 2: Abilities/Super powers
画蛇添足 draw snake add feet (4/4)
- reduce any object eliminating anything superfluous, cost variable 200 points times weight in jīn, can not be used on living things, must be touching the item
- reduce any object in size and weight by 90%, cost variable 500 points times initial weight in jīn, lasts until canceled, can not be used on living things, must be touching the item
- reduce any object to its constituent elements, cost variable 1000 points times initial weight in jīn, can not be used on living things, must be touching the item
- reduce any unpaid debt by 50%, cost variable 50 points per yuan of total debt, must be touching a bill, IOU, or statement showing the debt, can only use once on any debt
A万水千山 ten thousand waters, thousand mountains (0/4)
- instant and complete refreshment after travel, lasts six hours, cost 5000 points, must have traveled farther than 500 li
- instant and complete refreshment after hard work, lasts six hours, cost 5000 points, must have sweated while working
- instant and complete refreshment after working out, lasts six hours, cost 5000 points, must have burned more than 100 calories while working out
- cost of all above reduced to 50 points each
A九牛一毛 nine cows one cow hair (0/3)
- massive injuries only produce a tiny scratch, cost 50000 negative points per event, injury must be sufficient to risk death, only works on you, only works if sufficient negative points are available prior to injury
- prepay prior to massive injury with 50000 positive points, no max prepay credit
- minor injuries reduced to a tiny scratch, cost 5000 points, only works for non life threatening injuries, can be prepaid with any type of points
一路平安 whole journey quiet and safe (1/1)
- when making a planned trip longer than 1000 lǐ there are no lines, your luggage is always safe, there are never delays, you always arrive early, and you get free upgrades during your entire journey, active until you return to your home, return to your starting point, or two weeks whichever comes first, cost 10000 positive points 10000 negative points, must be paid before trip begins, includes up to four travel companions
按图索骥 to check a picture to search for a horse (4/4)
- using a photo instantly know the location of a person living or dead shown in the photo, cost 100,000 points, must be holding the photo
- can also be used to find items or any other living creatures, stacks with above
- can also be used with a drawing or other picture type, must be a drawing of a specific item or person to be effective, stacks with above
- cost reduced to 1000 points
百发百中 100 shots 100 hits (0/3)
- perform a task with perfect precision at high speed, cost 100 points per minute, maximum 100 minutes per day
- maximum raised to 1000 minutes per day, stacks with above
- cost reduced to 25 points per minute, stacks with above
骑虎难下 riding tiger difficult dismount (1/1)
- immediately escape any situation or place regardless of danger or difficulty to a place of safety, cost 1,000,000 points
对牛弹琴 playing the quin to a cow (0/4)
- you can play any musical instrument very well, as long as someone in the audience doesn’t appreciate your music, cost 50 positive points per second
- play any musical instrument very well, as long as someone in the audience doesn’t play that instrument, cost 50 negative points per second
- gain rapid experience playing music when using above, learned ability with that instrument is permanent after skill stops
- ability with one instrument carries to another, learned ability with a type of musical instrument applies equally to all of that type (strings, woodwind, brass, keyboards, and percussion)
读万卷书不如行万里路 reading a thousand books is not worth traveling a thousand miles (0/1)
- read a how to book, master the skills on the first try, cost 10000 points per book, must spend points before reading, must read entire book (every word, every page)
东张西望 looking in all directions (4/4)
- when distracted by pain, injury, or sickness spend points to rapidly heal, cost variable 1-50000 points plus 1-50000 minutes, each point spent reduces healing time by one minute, total will equal 50000, must face east or west while you recover, facing a different direction will pause rapid recovery, can add more points at anytime to shorten healing process, not stackable with other actives
- cost variable 1-12500 neutral points plus 1-50000 minutes, each neutral point spent reduces healing time by four minutes, can add more points of any kind at anytime to shorten healing process, stacks with above
- when distracted by pain, injury, or sickness spend points to instantly heal any minor pain, injury, or sickness, cost 20000 points, minor healing only effective on things that get better on their own in less than a month, partial payment heals partially, can add more points at any time
- all healing, paid healing is ten times cheaper, and unpaid healing is ten times faster, includes traditional medical care from health care workers, stacks with all above
全力以赴 all effort achieve goal (0/4)
- finish any task that you’ve started at 10 times normal speed, cost 5 points per second, can only be activated while doing a task, if stopped skill can not be reactivated on that task
- can pause and restart skill as often as you wish, stacks with above
- cost lowers to 5 points per minute, stacks with above
- speed increases to 50 times normal speed, stacks with above
一五一十 one five one ten (0/1)
- recall any event with perfect clarity, cost 500 points per minute while recalling, recalled memory stays significantly stronger after recall
半途而废 half way and waste (0/4)
- when 50% of a task is completed, the remainder finishes instantly, cost variable 10 points per second saved, points calculated before beginning the task, can be paid anytime before reaching the halfway point
- can pay anytime, cost prorated if more than half of the task is complete, stacks with above
- activates when 25% of the task is done at the same price, stacks with above
- cost reduced to 10 points per minute, stacks with above
自作聪明 pretend to be smart (0/4)
- have moderate proficiency at any ability or task, cost 5000 points per hour, must spend while performing the task, true ability will not increase while using skill, can use for an unlimited amount of time once per week, can not pause
- your true ability increases rapidly while you use this skill, stacks with above
- can use for an unlimited amount of time on a single task each day, can pause and restart, stacks with above
- if your true ability level is better than the moderate proficiency of the skill, you generate karmic points instead of spending them, work quality remains limited to moderate proficiency, gain varies 1-5000 points per hour, dependent on difference between higher true ability and moderate proficiency
维妙维肖 maintain wonderful maintain resemblance (1/1)
- you can make art, spend multiples of 50 points per second, each increase doubles your artistic ability, applies to all aspects physical art and all mediums, if points reach zero you will return to your normal fumble fingered finger painting
飞黄腾达 to fly to soar to gallop to reach (1/1)
- you can fly, spend multiples of 50 points per second, each increase doubles your speed, base speed 5 lǐ per hour, direction controlled by thought, if points reach zero or you stop you will return to your normal leaden self
九牛二虎之力 strength of nine ox and two tigers (1/1)
- you are super strong, spend multiples of 50 points per second, each increase doubles your strength, applies to power exerted and physical resilience, if points reach zero or you stop your strength will return to your normal weakling self
龙飞凤舞 dragon flies phoenix dances (0/1)
- you are super graceful, spend multiples of 50 points per second, each increase doubles your grace, applies to awareness of body and surroundings, if points reach zero or you stop your grace will return to your normal clumsy self
臭不可当 smell very bad never good (0/3)
- you can smell, spend multiples of 50 negative points per minute, each increase doubles your smell sensitivity, spend multiples of 50 positive points per minute, each increase halves your smell sensitivity, if points reach zero or you stop your nose will return to your normal smelly self
- identify that smell, spend additional multiples of 50 points per minute to identify a specific smell, can be used to identify people, animals, objects, higher rate identifies faster, must increase smell sensitivity first
- follow that smell, spend additional multiples of 50 points per minute, detect the faintest smell and know where it went, higher rates make the smell trail easier to follow, must identify the smell first
一顾之荣 one look honors (0/4)
- you can attract, spend multiples of 50 points per second, each increase doubles your attractiveness, applies to everyone who sees you or your image while active, if points reach zero you will return to normal, if that’s normal
- if you compliment something people who hear the compliment like it more, the more attractive you are the more they like it, stacks with above
- if you criticize something people who hear the criticism like it less, the more attractive you are the less they like it, stacks with above
- compliment something and if you are a attractive enough a bidding war will break out, you receive 20% of the final sale price
余音绕梁 lingering sounds spiral around the roof beam (1/1)
- you can sing pleasantly, spend multiples of 50 points per second, each increase doubles your singing ability, applies to tone, volume voice, lyrics, and timing, can only sing songs you have heard at least three bars of previously, if points reach zero or you stop you will return to your normal screechy self
不知肉味 to not know meat smell (1/1)
- you can cook good, spend multiples of 50 points per second, each increase doubles your cooking ability, applies to food and drink you make yourself, increases attractiveness and aroma of your cooking, if points reach zero or you stop you will return to your normal water burning
凿璧偷光 chisel a hole to steal light (0/1)
- you have a light, get a floating self directed task lighting, brightness automatically suitable to the situation, cost 50 points per second, light will move to light up whatever you are looking at, light will never shine in your eyes or cast your shadow, if points reach zero or you stop your light will disappear returning you to your normal dim self
马到成功 horse go to success (1/1)
- you are fast, spend multiples of 50 points per second, each increase doubles your speed, increases physical speed and mental speed including reaction times, if points reach zero or you stop your speed will return to your normal slug self
开卷有益 to open a book profitable (1/1)
- you can read faster, spend multiples of 50 points per minute, each increase doubles your reading speed, comprehension does not change as speed increases, must be reading a book to activate, if points reach zero or you stop your speed will return to your normal illiterate self
饮水思源 drink water to consider source (1/1)
- wine to water, purify any liquid into clean pure water, cost variable 50 points per second per sheng, until completely clean, must touch container or water to begin cleaning process, may run multiple times simultaneously
云消雾散 cloud disappears fog disperses (1/1)
- you can dry things out, reduce dampness, reduce humidity, make fog vanish, make the rain stop, cost variable 1 points per second per chǐ from your body, each second reduces moisture around you by 25%, stopping or running out of points will allow the moisture to return, does not work if submerged
来日方长 future direction long to grow (1/1)
- you can make things grow faster, spend multiples of 500 points for each 24 hours of doubled growth speed, must be touching growing item to spend points, may be used multiple times, does not apply to things that are not living, includes growing older
十全十美 perfectly complete ten beautiful (1/1)
- instantly restore any item to perfection and perfect working order, cost variable 1000 points per 50 yuan value of item before restoration times weight in jin, must be at least 90% whole, or have at least 90% of the pieces
念念不忘 study study don’t forget (1/1)
- recall with perfect clarity any book you have read, cost variable 500 points per minute of recall, remember the material better afterwards depending on how long you recalled it for, no limit in repeating what book you recall, no limit to length of time you recall, can recall only one book each day
温故而知新 review past understand future (0/4)
- predict the future when looking at charts showing change over time you can see accurate trend lines, predicting the future, the further back the chart shows the farther you can see into the future, cost 500000 points for seeing the future prediction of 1% of the time covered by the chart, maximum 700 days of recorded history, can use once per calendar month, chart must be hand drawn, chart must not be more than one week out of date
- see 10% instead of 1%, cost an additional 500000 points
- see 20% instead of 10%, cost an additional 50000 points
- costs of all above reduced by 75%
玉不琢不成器 jade not cut without tools (3/3)
- carve with your mind, cut using just your imagination of what you want it to be, cost 5000 points per minute of carving, can cut any solid material, any depth, can only work one piece at a time, no material will be lost in the process, can not use on living things, can pause and restart as needed
- shape with your hands, smooth, pull, push, squish and shape you can modify all solid materials with your hands, no matter how hard it is it will shape like soft clay, cost 5000 points per minute of shaping, item will not heat during shaping, can wear gloves, can work only one piece at a time in each hand, no material will be lost in the process, can not use on living things, can pause and restart as needed
- paint with your breath, breathe or blow on a solid material and it will change to any color you choose, cost 5000 points per minute of coloring, only material surface changes color, color is structural not pigment or paint, can use tools to direct breath, can work only one piece at a time, no material will be lost in the process, can not use on living things, can pause and restart as needed
引锥刺股 pull awl to pierce thigh (1/1)
- stay awake no matter what, exchange tiredness and exhaustion for pain, cost 50 negative points per minute, no maximum, ends when you choose or you run out of points, pain ends immediately when you stop, sleep begins immediately when you stop, pain has no effect on concentration, mental activity or mood, max use 48 hours, pain increases as exhaustion increases, no maximum to pain levels, no pain remedy including medication is effective on pain generated by exchange, must be tired to activate
孟母三迁 Mengs mother thrice moved (0/4)
- when packing boxes they fill themselves, cost 5000 points per box, touch the items you want packed, they will move into the box in the order touched if there is room, not recommended for delicate items
- items go into the box in the best order to fit, delicate items go on top and get automatically wrapped for protection, stacks with above
- a new empty box will appear if there are items that have not yet been packed, each extra packed box only costs 500 points, stacks with above
- when you start the process it can continue automatically until everything you want packed is packed and labeled with what is in the box, if it is items for sale then orders will be correctly boxed, including appropriate packing materials, invoice, labels and postage paid for only an additional cost of 1 point per box
我看见我忘记, 我听见我记住, 我做我了解 I see I forget, I hear I remember, I make I understand (1/1)
- when following directions to complete a task have someone read them out loud to you as you follow the directions, you will never forget the steps you followed, cost variable 50 points per minute, must activate before starting, must follow written directions exactly, can not be paused
入木三分 mark wood three deep (0/2)
- engrave any material with the text of your choice, the font and size of your choice, cost variable 50 points per letter multiplied by height of letters as measured in fēn, minimum cost of 50 points per letter, will not weaken material engraved, can only engrave solid materials, can not use on living creatures, depth variable maximum 3/10 fēn, can only engrave text you are holding
-engrave any material with the image of your choice, cost variable 50 points multiplied by height multiplied by width of image as measured in fēn, minimum cost of 50 points, will not weaken material engraved, can only engrave solid materials, can not use on living creatures, depth variable maximum 3/10 fēn, can only engrave images that you are holding, may resize image
金石为开 metal and stone to become opened (1/1)
- make a round hole in any solid material, cost variable 50 points multiplied by area of hole multiplied by depth of hole as measured in fēn, can not be used on living things, no maximum limit, hole forms in one second, hole must go thru to the opposite side, material removed is lost, must need able to see where hole will start to activate
学无止境 learning has no end (0/1)
- fully comprehend what you are reading, has no effect on speed, cost 50 points per page, can be combined with compatible skills
一分耕耘, 一分收获 one part plowing, one part harvesting (1/1)
- be a farmer, plow and plant a field by hand, when you finish planting it will be ready for harvesting, cost 5000 points per square chǐ planted, 50000 point minimum, no maximum, can not mix positive and negative points in the same field
亦步亦趋 also march also hurry (1/1)
- follow someone discreetly, you can not be shaken, or detected by the person you are following, you constantly move so they are unable to leave your direct sight, cost 50 points per minute, if they walk, you walk, if they run, you run, if they ride you ride
一字之师 one character makes expert (0/1)
- finish tasks instantly, results will be nearly perfect, cost variable 5000 points for every minute saved, can use at any time after starting a task before reaching the end, not compatible with other active skills
差强人意 inferior despite strong person’s intention (0/1)
- finish task instantly, results will be barely acceptable, cost variable 50 points for every minute saved, can use at any time after starting a task before reaching the halfway point, not compatible with other active skills
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