I stood still inside my wind barrier, though at this point, it had become more of a fiery cage, flames roaring and twisting around its spinning currents.
Every second, fire lashed outward, struggling to expand, but I kept it in check, stopping it from erupting uncontrollably. The effort it took to hold everything together weighed on my mind, but I focused.
Outside, the battlefield had changed.
The sudden chain of random explosions had stopped, probably because they had all gone off at once, burning through the pressure pockets I had targeted.
The heat in the air climbed bit by bit, making the space inside my barrier feel heavy and suffocating.
"Not bad for a combination skill," I muttered.
It was time to check the notifications.
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level 35 -> Level 37]
[Skill Level Up!]
[Essence Shaping Level 3 → Level 4]
[Skill Evolved]
[Blazing Sfera → Havoc Sfera]
[Havoc Sfera Level 1]
[Havoc Sfera]: Havoc Sfera is an evolved form of Blazing Sfera, no longer limited to fire but capable of manifesting in any element the user commands. It spins at extreme speeds, condensing raw energy into a destructive, high-impact sphere. Its nature shifts based on the element infused.
As soon as I read the notification, information drilled into my head, details of the skill's mechanics flowing through my mind. Control, manipulation, the requirements to shape it properly, it all settled in like I had always known it.
I nodded.
This wasn't part of my plan when I made the wind sphere. I just wanted to cause destruction. But I wasn't going to complain about a free skill evolution.
I opened my status to check my progress. I needed about 150 more stat points to push every attribute past the 200 mark.
This was harder than I thought.
The Generator Core worked nonstop, absorbing energy and converting it into Essence, but the rate of absorption wasn't fast enough.
That was the real issue. No matter how much energy was around me, I couldn't take it in any faster.
A flaw in the talent. A bug.
I exhaled slowly, my eyes drifting back to the swirling firestorm outside my barrier. I needed to push further.
Extending my perception, I scanned the battlefield outside. Moments like these made me wish I were more like Steve.
"Now, how do I get out of this?"
The situation looked bad. Even the floating dust seemed to be on fire. The wind howled, and instead of dying down, the number of tornadoes, both small and massive, had increased.
I pulled out my staff, gripping it firmly as I adjusted its weight with Essence. There was no point in overcomplicating things. I decided to just walk straight through.
My fiery wind barrier raged around me, shielding me from the inferno.
But with every step, maintaining control became harder. The storm outside pushed against me, testing my will.
More than once, I had to stop, focusing entirely on keeping my barrier from breaking apart or worse getting dragged into one of those massive flaming tornadoes.
The Generator Core filled up, and without hesitation, I dumped all the energy into Strength. Then, I set the core to keep absorbing, pushing it to its limits.
The relentless march burned through my focus, but it also did something else, it sharpened my control.
Every second in this chaos forced me to refine my grip over Essence and the elements, making my will even stronger.
I decided to train my control over Essence a little more. Extending my perception, I commanded the Essence around me to take shape.
First, I formed a circular shield. The Essence obeyed, and within moments, a glowing, translucent disc about two feet wide appeared in front of me.
I activated [Essence Shaping] and started refining it. Bit by bit, I fed more Essence into the shield, compressing and solidifying it until it felt dense and stable.
Once I was satisfied, I created another layer in front of it, repeating the process. More Essence, more compression—matching the first shield's density. My focus split between the two shields and the wind barrier surrounding me, pushing my control to its limits.
Feeling the strain but pleased with the progress, I dispersed the shields and reshaped their Essence into arrows. Four in total.
They hovered in front of me, sharp and solid. Each one was 30 inches long, 2 inches thick, packed with compressed power.
I moved through the firestorm at a slow, steady pace, experimenting with different Essence constructs as I walked.
Sometimes, I used atmospheric Essence, but most of the time, I relied on the Essence I generated. Since I had more control over it, manipulating it was much easier.
I wasn't sure how much time had passed, but then the sound of the howling wind suddenly dipped. My eyes narrowed as I extended my perception, scanning the area.
I was nearing the edge of the storm.
Exhaling, I dispersed the scythe I had been shaping and pressed forward. Another 15 to 20 minutes passed before I finally stepped out of the chaos.
With a single thought, I pressed my hold over the barrier, and with a sharp whoosh, the swirling fire and wind vanished.
I took a moment to look around. The sight before me wasn't just ruins, it was the remains of a military base.
Towering walls stood in the distance, broken and scarred from past battles. Craters pockmarked the land in front of them, deep and jagged. The ground was cracked and burned, the scent of ash thick in the air.
Sword marks. Scorch marks. A battlefield frozen in time.
The Essence here was even denser than in the previous area, and judging by the sky, it was almost evening.
Keeping my senses sharp, I stepped over the broken wall and entered the base.
Beyond the walls, the remains of massive structures loomed, torn-open barracks, collapsed watchtowers, and buildings split in half, their upper floors now nothing more than wreckage scattered across the ground.
Large craters dotted the landscape, some filled with debris, others clean like open wounds in the earth.
Faint traces of lingering energy flickered in the air, remnants of whatever battle had once taken place here.
I walked deeper into the ruins, stepping over broken weapons, shattered armor, and abandoned fortifications.
The pathways were cracked and uneven, split apart by the sheer force of destruction.
I turned my head, scanning the ruins, when something strange flickered at the edge of my perception.
A deep, unsettling imprint that felt too structured to be random destruction. My brows furrowed.
I needed to take a closer look.
Stepping forward, I moved carefully over the uneven terrain, my boots crunching against shattered stone and charred debris. As I drew closer, the sight before me became more clear, and I came to a stop at the edge of a massive crater.
The crater itself wasn't the problem.
The real issue was its shape.
Fifty feet long, almost ten feet deep, the gouge in the earth wasn't some random explosion or a collapsed structure.
It was shaped like a claw. A massive, monstrous claw.
I stared, my mind struggling to process the sheer size of whatever had caused this. The grooves were sharp and defined, as if something had pressed its talons deep into the ground and dragged them through solid stone like it was nothing.
I exhaled slowly, my fingers tightening around my staff.
This was a scar left behind by something powerful enough to carve through the battlefield like it was clay.
My thoughts drifted to the soldiers who had once fought here.
The commanders who had stood their ground against whatever monstrosity had left this behind. What had they faced? How had they even fought against something this massive? Had they won? Or had this place fallen because they couldn't stop it?
As I studied the massive claw marks, my perception suddenly flared. A ripple in the Essence. A disturbance.
My head snapped to the right. Instinct took over, I shifted my stance, raising my staff in front of me, ready to block whatever was coming.
But my eyes saw nothing.
Yet, I could feel it.
Something was moving toward me.
The Essence around me reacted like water when a stone is thrown into it, waves spreading outward from an unseen presence.
But there was no one.
My grip tightened on the staff.