With that shock out of the way, I pulled up my status screen in full to see what I was working with. A part of me was braced for ruin, but I found the opposite.
[ Name: Elric Voss ]
[ Age: 16 ]
[ Titles: Storm Bearer (Legendary) | Heaven Beast Tamer (Mythic) ]
[ Available Titles: Demon Slayer (Epic), Death-Touched, Lightning Adept ]
[ Anima Depth: 89 (Adept) — Broken-Celestial — Crystallization: 21% → 50% ]
Hmm, the crystallization of my core is proceeding faster than I believed it would. At least, the three months of near death were not a waste... I am getting close.
[ Disciplines: ]
Lightning Edict: 73 → 81 (Legendary) — Broken-Celestial
Loom of Lightning: 85 → 89 ( Epic) — Broken-Celestial
Lightning Tribunal: 76 → 88 (Legendary) — Broken-Celestial
Heaven’s Verdict: 0 → 40 (Epic) — Broken-Celestial
Stormstep: 0 → 38 (Epic) — Broken-Celestial
[ Attunement Skills: ]
Lightning Resonance: 92 → 101 (Arcanist) — Epic
Staff Resonance: 69 → 70 (Adept) — Rare
Force Resonance: 49 → 66 (Adept ) — Rare
[ Auxiliary Skills: ]
Endurance: 119 (Arcanist) — Broken-Celestial
Concentration: 87 → 92 (Arcanist) — Rare
Observation: 86 → 91 (Arcanist) — Rare
Anima Sensitivity: 82 → 90 (Arcanist) — Rare
Meditation: 73 → 88 (Adept) — Uncommon
Marksman: 74 → 75 (Adept) — Uncommon
Demonology: 83 → 95 (Arcanist) — Registered
Inscription: 26 → 27 (Initiate)
First Aid: 41 → 52 (Acolyte)
Cooking: 16 (Initiate)
Cartography: 6 (Initiate)
[ Celestial-tier Skills: ]
Mortal Shell: 99 → 103 (Arcanist) — Broken-Celestial
Hollow Avatar: 74 → 90 (Adept →Arcanist) — Broken-Celestial
Lightning Incarnate: 71 → 84 (Adept) — Broken-Celestial
Soul-Forge: 62 → 78 (Adept) — Broken-Celestial
Titan’s Marrow: 21 → 47 (Adept) — Unique — Broken-Celestial
[Soul-Vessel: Stone Origin Shell — Initiating ]
[ Laws: Lightning Law Shards (4 / 9) ]
[ Heavenly Bond: Moon Fox — 1% → 2% ]
[ Stored Essence: 45,000 → 71,000 / 500,000 — Fifth Earth Gate ]
[ Blessings: Anansi Web (Consumed) ]
[ Soul: Welded — Condition: Stable ]
∞
I wanted to spend more time deliberating on my status screen, understanding all the changes that have happened within it, but I had gotten used to getting most of the relevant information at a glance, and in all the progress I had made, three things stood out, the Hollow Avatar had reached the Arcanist level, Titan’s Marrow was now at the Adept level, and I had gained three more lightning law shards.
There were many changes, but I would let my instincts resolve all of that in the back of my head. I needed to understand where I was and what I needed to do.
Glancing at the black blood from the Soul Flayer that would soon reach me, I focused outside the vessel holding me. Seeing an empty space, I cast Stormstep, and for a moment nothing seemed to happen. Then my chest began to glow a furious blue, as did my eyes.
I could briefly see my entire body glow blue, and then a brief moment of disorientation, and a sound like a bubble popping, and I staggered as my feet touched a cold metallic floor.
Collapsing to the ground, I began to cough as a feeling of weakness filled my core.
"Finally! I am out..." the voice of the Moon Fox resounded beside me, and I hurriedly shuush the little critter as I glanced around me, then looked down at my body.
There were still various attachments pierced deep into my flesh, and I began to slowly pull them out, hissing in pain as I looked around. Most of these attachments had been pushed into my bones, and every single one I pulled out hurt more than the last.
I felt a gentle tug on my back as the fox assisted me in pulling out the attachments in my spine and the parts I could not reach. I had noticed that the more of these attachments I was pulling out of my body, the quicker my strength was returning, as if every single piercing was poison.
As I was doing all of this, my eyes kept scanning my surroundings.
I was in a strange place. At first, it looked like a gigantic laboratory, due to the glowing stele in front of every vessel, that held strange glowing screens, but as I kept looking at the hundreds of glowing vessels that stretched into the distance, this place looked more like a prison, however, as I looked at the overall architecture of this place, from the embellished columns, golden walls, and elaborate design, I was reminded of the temples of the old gods.
Where am I?
As I scanned around, I did not stop pulling out the attachments in my body, and then I switched my Storm Bearer Title to Death Touched, and I paused for a brief moment before I continued pulling out the needles in my body.
Finally, I was left with the last one, the massive bone spike in the center of my head. "This is going to hurt," I whispered, and without thinking about what I was about to do, I held the spike and began to pull.
Gritting my teeth not to scream, I felt the spike beginning to give, and inch by inch, I began to pull it out of my skull, trying not to cringe at the scraping sound it made when it scraped against my bones.
I did not know whether to thank my impossible endurance and physique, or the skills of whoever pushed this spike into my head, for the reason I could remain alive.
It took longer than I could have ever wanted to pull out this spike from my head, and in that instant, I did two things. I set my second Checkpoint here, at this moment, and the next thing I did was to become Lightning Incarnate, and then activate Stormstep, and I vanished from my position.
The instant I did this, a massive sword swept past the area where I had been standing a moment before, before the wielder of the sword, a knight wearing full-body armor, turned around to find me.
I waved at him with one hand, while the second poured lightning into his chest. The armor glowed red, and there was a brief scream before the armor fell on its back and scattered, revealing ash and the glowing remnants of bones that would soon be charcoal.
The instant I had switched to Death Touched a moment before, I had sensed a spot of cold on my back. Someone or something was watching me with killing intent.
I had not released my loom to look around because I was afraid that in this unknown place, someone may be able to detect my magic, but Death Touched functioned by alerting me to those who wanted to hurt me.
I did not give any sign that I detected this armored figure, and whoever they were, they were clearly waiting for me to let down my guard, and the best time for them to attack was when I had freed myself from the last attachment in my skull.
All of these were not just guesswork. With Death Touch, I could feel the intensity of danger, and the cold spot on my neck was becoming colder the more attachments that I removed from my body, and it became piercing, almost painful, the moment I took out the last spike from my head.
Perhaps I should have held back and not killed this person so I could interrogate him, but I was just too angry to think straight. Anyway, it would not matter, because I had just placed a second checkpoint, and if I died, I could always return to learn more about this mysterious figure.