I opened my eyes slowly.
All I saw was blood.
It covered my skin, soaked into every inch of me. There was barely a single spot left that wasn't stained red. My body looked like it had been through a war.
A heavy wave of exhaustion slammed into me. My head swayed, and for a moment, I almost let my eyes close again.
But I didn't.
I clenched my jaw and forced myself to stay awake. This wasn't the time to rest, not yet. There was still one final thing I needed to do, the most important part to confirm whether everything I'd done had worked.
I took a deep breath or at least tried to and focused.
I pushed my senses inward, locking my mind onto the Generator Core inside my chest. It was still beating strong, still holding all the Essence I'd gathered. I summoned the Essence, purple and glowing, and slowly pushed it outward from the core.
This time, it wasn't just about creating or shaping.
It was about testing.
I wanted to see if the channels I had carved across my body could really carry the Essence like I planned.
Every important part of me, arms, legs, spine, shoulders, even the back of my neck, all of it was now connected by the channels. And every channel, directly or indirectly, led back to the Generator Core.
So I moved the Essence.
It churned gently at first as I pushed it out, like a slow river beginning to flow. I stayed focused, keeping my will tight, guiding it along the paths I'd made. From the top of my head, down my arms, into my fingertips. Then down my spine, through my legs, all the way to my toes.
I kept the flow steady, then began increasing the amount, little by little.
Faster.
Heavier.
More and more Essence ran through my body as I forced it to circulate. I kept it going for at least ten minutes, holding full control, making sure the current didn't slow down or break.
It worked.
But it also took a toll.
The blood loss hadn't stopped. My body was weakening fast. And the pressure of the thin film around me still pressed down from all sides like a heavy weight. It was hard to breathe. My muscles were twitching from stress. I knew if I kept going, I'd pass out.
So I shifted my focus again.
I turned my attention to the film around me, the layer of water Essence I had wrapped around my body to hold back the crushing pressure of the water and space element outside.
I reached out with my will and began expanding it outward.
Bit by bit, I pushed the film away from my body, forcing it to stretch and push the water back with it. The pressure around my chest eased, and I finally took in a full breath.
But doing that drained me again.
I groaned quietly and stabilized the bubble around me, making sure it didn't collapse. The space around me felt larger now. Lighter. My body could finally breathe.
But I still wasn't done.
I did one final thing, something I had saved for a moment like this.
I called out to the System and added 15 units of Essence directly into my Constitution stat.
My Constitution finally reached 200.
And as that number locked in, I felt a shift inside me.
A ripple of life.
And so, I waited.
The last time I felt something change was when I crossed 50 points in each of my stats. That was when I first got my passive ability, Apex Body. It had come suddenly, right after the breakthrough, like a reward.
So I thought the next big change would come when I crossed 100.
But nothing happened.
I waited again when I crossed 150. Still nothing. Just the usual growth, my body got stronger, faster, tougher, but no special upgrade. No system message. No transformation.
And now, finally, I had crossed 200 in all my stats. Every single one.
So I waited again.
A minute passed.
Then another.
Silence.
I almost gave up, thinking maybe I was wrong…maybe there was no second stage after all.
But just as that thought crossed my mind, something moved.
A deep shudder ran through my body, like a silent quake starting from my core and spreading outward.
My chest tightened. My skin tingled. Something was coming.
I felt the Essence around me begin to stir again. It started pulling in from every direction, through the water, the air, even the strange space around me. It wasn't slow this time. It rushed toward me like it had been waiting.
My body, weak and barely holding on, started to react.
My arms twitched first. Then my legs. Then my chest. Every part that had been torn, every muscle that had been shredded, began to move on its own.
And then—
Boom.
All my muscles exploded at once.
The pain hit me like a hammer.
My head went blank for a second from the shock, and when my thoughts came back, they came back sharper, too sharp. Every nerve in my body screamed, but I didn't move. I just breathed, slowly, and watched.
New muscle tissue started forming over my bones, like a slow wave rebuilding what had been destroyed.
Layer by layer, strand by strand, it all came back. But it wasn't the same. The fibers looked tighter, stronger, more alive.
I didn't say anything. I didn't even blink. I just watched.
Then the Essence moved again.
This time, it didn't rebuild right away. It broke down the muscles that were still holding on, the few that hadn't exploded earlier. Bit by bit, it broke them, tore them apart gently, and then rebuilt them with the same new fibers.
The process was slow. My breathing stayed shallow. I didn't dare move and interrupt whatever was happening.
Minutes passed.
Ten. Fifteen. Maybe twenty.
By the time it stopped, my entire body felt different. The pain was gone, but in my head, I could still feel it. The memory of everything blowing apart stayed behind, like an echo.
Then I heard it.
The notifications rang in my mind.
[Passive Ability Stage 2 Unlocked]
[Stage II Unlocked: Tensile Musculature]
[Your muscles are now formed with high-tension fibers. You can adjust their tightness, store strength, and release it when needed. Recovery speed increased.]
I grinned.
I opened the entire ability section to check the two stages.
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[Passive Ability : Apex Body - I]
[Stage I Unlocked: Adaptive Skeleton]
[Your bones can now adapt to any environment, granting increased durability, flexibility, and impact resistance. Damaged bones will reinforce upon healing, becoming stronger against similar injuries.]
[Stage II Unlocked: Tensile Musculature]
[Your muscles are now formed with high-tension fibers. You can adjust their tightness, store strength, and release it when needed. Recovery speed increased.]
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"Looks good."
'Tensile Musculature.'
I muttered the words under my breath, letting them echo in my head.
Tensile… something that could stretch. Something that didn't tear under force. Something that could pull back into shape.
I looked down at my arms. The muscles were different now. Leaner, maybe. Firmer. But the tension underneath, that was new. Like tightly wound ropes that could loosen or tighten depending on how I moved.
I thought back to the moment they exploded, then rebuilt themselves. The pain had been sharp, but the result… it felt right.
Stronger, yes. But more than that, controlled. Flexible, yet solid.
Maybe they could absorb force better. Or hold form under pressure.
Maybe they wouldn't snap when pushed too far.
"I can test them later."