Fruit of Evolution

The anime above is what made me think of this topic.  Specifically, a scene where the main character (guy) starts accidentally absorbing knowledge.  Not going to get into the plot, but he gains the ability to rapidly grow in powers, knowledge, etc.  In the comical scene, he is in a library and the voice in his head keeps announcing different spells he is mastering simply by touching books.  He is kind of freaked out, which made me think of other ways characters have rapidly gained knowledge.

1. Touch– All they do is make contact with a person, creature, or source of information.  Then everything is absorbed.  Sometimes, the physical object/person is taken along with the information.  It doesn’t always result in mastery, but I’m seeing sudden expertise be the norm in certain genres.
2. Ingestion– This one is pretty self-explanatory and I think it’s mostly found in fantasy Isekai.  Basically, a person arrives in another world and ends up eating monsters to gain their abilities.  It can end up being people too if the person such as in ‘Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime’.  Either way, they devour the target and gain both knowledge and abilities.
3. Sight– I’ve seen this one with a lot of written knowledge, but also with spells and fighting styles.  The character merely has to see these things once and they have completely mastery over it.  With the knowledge, this could be seen as eidetic memory, which is fine.  Spells and combat are tougher because it bypasses the necessity to train for such things.  Clearly, it’s a cheat.
4. Matrix Download– Just like with Neo, a character has everything they need downloaded into their brain.  The thing with the Matrix is that there seemed to be limits such as it being skills or simply knowing the martial arts form doesn’t mean you will win.  Yet, many people create a download system where it comes with god-like mastery and no weak points.
5. Telepath– Self-explanatory in that one steals the knowledge and skills right out of a target’s brain.

I’m sure there are more, but these feel like the main ones.  In general, I’m not a big fan of how these trick is used.  People make it run too smoothly with no downsides.  I would like it better if new skills were gained at the sacrifice of others or they had to be crafted with what you get.  Otherwise, the character becomes too powerful and you start to wonder how they will ever lose.  Not to mention the issue of having multiple ways to solve a problem, so how would they choose in a pinch?  There’s never any doubt in these characters when they come up with a solution, so they reach a level of ‘perfection’.

Maybe I’m being nitpicky though.  Anybody know of a way to make this power work without it going too far?  Can you do it without mentioning Rogue, Taskmaster, and other comic book characters?  😀