I sat cross-legged inside a crater filled with water, about ninety feet deep. But this wasn't calm water. It spun like a whirlpool, with a single vortex swirling right at the center.
The movement wasn't natural either. It was caused by a strange mixture of wind and space elements infused into the water. These forces kept the entire crater alive and churning, never letting the surface go still for even a second.
The real challenge, though, was down below, beneath the ninety-foot mark. The pressure there was brutal, far more intense than in normal water.
The space element compressed and expanded constantly, folding in on itself like the inside of a collapsing tunnel. Even with my adaptive body, I could feel the strain.
It had been five days since I'd encountered the invisible man, Dante. And since then, I'd gone deeper and deeper into the sealed zone Arkas had mentioned.
I came across some strange elemental regions along the way, each more bizarre than the last.
One zone was completely filled with fire. Not just heat, but raw, pulsing fire energy. What made it special was the way its concentration kept changing.
Sometimes it was faint, then suddenly thick and suffocating, then flaring into extremes without warning. It shifted like a living creature. I stayed there for a while to train my fire control, pushing myself to adapt to the unpredictable flow.
Then came the earth zone. This was one of the most dangerous areas I encountered. The terrain constantly shifted, one moment it was soft soil, the next, sharp metal, then loose sand, and then into materials I didn't even recognize.
It wasn't just the ground that changed. The Abominations that lived there were masters of their environment, twisting the terrain itself into weapons. Every step I took had to be careful.
After that, I stumbled into a place soaked in pure darkness.
That zone was like walking into the lair of assassins.
The Abominations there moved in total silence, hiding within shadows, striking with precision.
Even with my Essence sensing, it was hard to pinpoint them. They blended perfectly into the dark element around them.
But the worst one, the zone that made my skin crawl, was something I named the Erosion Zone. Time itself was distorted there. I watched broken ruins reverse back into fully built structures, only for them to crumble again seconds later. It was like everything was trapped in a loop.
I didn't waste time. I ran.
It reminded me too much of the last time I encountered time-based zones. I tried to control the time element again, just to see if I had improved.
I could feel it, hidden in the Essence I commanded. But making it obey? Still far out of reach. It was like trying to grab something that did not exist.
So I did the smart thing, I got out. I forced my way through by scattering massive amounts of Essence around me, disrupting the surrounding energy and keeping the time element from getting too close.
While I traveled through these zones, I kept focusing on two of my key skills: [Psynapse Boost] and [Essence Shaping].
I needed both for the plan I had in mind. Something big. Something risky.
My skill with the staff had gotten better too.
Day by day, through every battle with the Abominations and each encounter with strange elemental zones, I kept using the staff.
Whether I was blocking, striking, or simply trying to stay alive, the staff was always in my hands. I didn't just swing it anymore, I moved with it.
But the real growth didn't come from my weapon.
It came from my Essence control.
Thanks to my class, the way I used Essence had changed completely.
Every time I leveled up, I could feel my connection to it getting stronger, sharper. It wasn't just about sensing it around me anymore, I was learning how to shape it, bend it, even push it in ways that felt natural now.
And it wasn't just the class. My Psynapse attribute was going through the roof. I hadn't even been focusing on it directly, but it kept rising like crazy. My legendary class gave a huge boost to it with every level up, and I was definitely feeling the effects.
So I began experimenting.
I spent hours working with the Essence I generated through my talent.
I wanted to understand it better, to see what made it different from the Essence in the air around me. That's when I noticed something important.
At first, I thought the Sovereign's Mark only changed the color of my Essence and gave me more control over it compared to natural Essence. It had that purple glow, making it look more powerful. But the more I used it, the more I realized it went deeper than that.
It wasn't just a visual change. It was altering the very nature of the Essence itself.
It was mine.
The Essence I generated felt different.
It obeyed me faster. It responded with more precision. It was smoother, more refined, like it was made just for me. I could do more with it than with the wild Essence in the world around me. That wasn't just a coincidence, it was a sign.
That led me to a big conclusion.
I wasn't just a user of Essence anymore.
I was becoming a source. A generator of something unique, something that didn't belong to the world, to the elements, or even to any law.
It belonged to me.
My own Essence.
That realization gave birth to some wild ideas, ideas that made my heart race with excitement.
The biggest one of them all was this: what if I could replace the natural Essence around me with my own generated Essence? What if the entire space around me was filled only with the Essence I created?
If I could pull that off, I'd be the only one in control of it. No one else would be able to use it, because it wouldn't belong to the world anymore. It would belong to me. I would be like an uncrowned Emperor, ruling over my own energy. A true Noblesse in every sense of the word.
I opened my status and talent panel to check the progress I had made over the past five days.
[Status]
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Name : Billion Ironhart
Race : Human
Class : Essence Noblesse
Laws : N/A
Rank: Mortal
Level : 40
Talent :
- Generator 4
- Essence : 35/35
Attributes :
- Strength: 201
- Constitution: 194
- Dexterity: 203
- Psynapse : 244
Skills:
- Essence Shaping (Innate) Level 8
- Psynapse Boost (Innate) Level 8
- Essence Shift (Innate) Level 5
- Seismic Burst Level 4
- Havoc Sfera Level 2
- Blitz Hakai Level 3
Abilities:
- Apex Body – I (Passive)
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[Talent]
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Talent Name: Generator
Function: Generates Essence from absorbed energy
Level: 4
Essence: 35/35 units
Level Up Requirement: 700 units of Essence generated
Progress: 689/700
Talent Upgrade Requirement: Talent Level 5
Generator Activation Command: Power Up!
Recharge Sources: Any form of energy
Abilities:-
Essence Transfer – Can transfer stored Essence to an attribute. After use, 40% of the transferred Essence unit remains as a permanent boost
Essence Infusion – Can infuse stored Essence.
Particle Absorption – Can directly absorb energy particles from the environment.
Sovereign's Mark – Generated Essence bears your unique signature, bending only to your will.
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A small smile crept onto my face as I looked at my progress. In just five days, I had come a long way. All of my stats, except Constitution, had passed the 200-point mark.
And every time a stat crossed that line, I could feel my body changing, becoming stronger, faster, more refined. It wasn't just numbers going up, it was real, physical growth.
I had hit Level 40 on the very first day.
After that, I made a conscious choice to hold back. I fought Abominations, broke them down, but didn't finish them off.
I wanted to stop leveling up for now, and instead, focused on executing my plan. That decision turned out to be the right one, especially for practicing with my staff. Every battle helped sharpen my form, my footwork, and my timing.
My skills [Psynapse Boost] and [Essence Shaping] had both leveled up multiple times. I'd put a lot of time and effort into them, knowing how important they were for what I was planning next.
And the biggest thing? I was getting close, really close, to upgrading my talent.
I had stopped activating the Generator Core completely to avoid producing more Essence. I wasn't ready for that step yet. But the thought of finally evolving my talent….it excited me. I could feel it right around the corner.
If everything went well, in the next couple of days, I would unlock the first upgrade of my talent and I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last.