I sprinted deeper into the zone, my legs carrying me with tremendous force.
The moment I built up enough speed, I launched into the air. And my focus shifted to the channel running along my spine.
Essence twisted in motion, one command, and it shifted into fire.
A violent burst erupted from my back. Not just heat, pressure. Raw force blasted downward and behind me.
"Ah—!"
The flames didn't burn, but the impact slammed into me like a punch from the gods. My body surged forward like an arrow loosed from a bow. I flew straight, parallel to the ground.
The wind screamed in my ears. My arms whipped back. My hair lashed across my face.
I leaned into the momentum, adjusting my tilt, controlling the outflow with micro-adjustments.
"It worked...it actually worked. Hahahah—!"
I was a living projectile with no gear, no wings, no tricks. Just raw Essence turned into thrust.
I grinned like a madman.
The fire flickered out as I cut the flow. My feet hit the dirt hard and skidded, sparks bursting around me. I stumbled but caught my balance.
And laughed.
"That was insane…"
But I wasn't done.
I took a breath and focused again, this time on the channel running through my arms.
Essence surged.
I shifted it to wind.
A sharp whoosh escaped my fingertips. Twin currents wrapped around my arms like coiled whirlwinds.
I aimed forward.
The compressed air launched like a focused jet. A tree ahead shuddered, branches cracking under the force.
I flexed my fingers. The air responded.
Then I moved.
My legs burned with potential. I tapped into the channels, shifting Essence once more, this time, into lightning.
My muscles tensed. Sparks raced down my thighs and calves. Then, flash.
I vanished, reappearing five meters ahead, a smoking trail left behind.
My heart pounded in my chest.
One element at a time. One channel at a time.
I rolled my shoulders back, still riding the high from my last stunt. My body buzzed with energy, Essence flowing through every channel like liquid fire.
My thoughts drifted back to the new passive stage I had unlocked—Stage II of the Apex Body.
[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 nodded to myself, clenching and relaxing my fists. The fibers were real. I could feel them shifting beneath my skin, like wound-up cables waiting to snap. I extended my perception, searching for any Abomination that might be lurking nearby so that i could test some punches.
Nothing.
The entire zone felt oddly quiet. No movement. No pulse of hostile energy. Just wind and the faint tremor of my own footsteps echoing back.
"Power up."
I muttered under my breath and activated my core.
I'd used up quite a bit experimenting with the thrusts and bursts, I needed to refuel on the move.
I started jogging deeper into the zone. My pace picked up quickly. Within seconds, I was sprinting, then blurring past trees and jagged stone outcroppings, my body slicing through the landscape like a bullet.
Then I pushed it even further.
Fire erupted from my legs, the burst coming sharp and controlled, sending me rocketing forward in a zigzag trail of heat and smoke. The ground behind me cracked under the explosive force, flames licking the dirt.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Each step sounded like a detonation, the rhythm chaotic but exhilarating.
That's when I felt it, something strange brushing the edge of my perception. A ripple. An anomaly in the flow of Essence, unnatural and strong. Elemental.
My eyes narrowed.
I changed direction without slowing down. The feeling grew stronger as I closed in and finally stopped just outside the area.
In front of me stood a broken mountain range.
Broken, because not a single mountain I could see was whole.
Every peak had been sliced off, some missing half, others nearly their entire tops. Boulders and jagged rock lay scattered across the land like a battlefield frozen in time.
I stepped forward, eyes narrowing as I extended my perception. The Elements here were unstable—Earth and Wind. But something about the layout felt... wrong.
I bent my knees and launched myself forward, sprinting up a shattered hill. As soon as I reached the top, I jumped, straight into the air.
Boom.
The ground shrank beneath me as I soared higher and higher. I turned my gaze across the landscape and finally saw it.
My eyes widened.
This wasn't natural.
The mountain range was artificial. Each row of hills was placed deliberately, three by three. The first three rows were evenly spaced in perfect parallels, then the next set shifted slightly, and the next again. The pattern repeated. I counted twenty-one rows total.
I landed back on the hill.
"Looks like an artificial battlefield. " I muttered, then dropped down and started moving deeper into the range.
The Earth element here was strong, but calm and stable. The Wind was wilder, erratic, but too faint to be dangerous. I moved forward without resistance.
It was only when I reached the seventh row that the shift happened.
I felt it immediately. A faint tremor beneath my feet. My senses sharpened. Something was burrowing toward me but I didn't move. I wanted to see what it was.
Suddenly, a claw burst from the ground and grabbed my ankle.
"Oh?"
Before I could say anything more, it yanked downward, trying to pull me underground. I didn't resist. In fact, I allowed.
But, the pull was too weak for my increased strength.
I chuckled.
"Alright. Let me help you."
I let it pull me down. The ground caved in like a whirlpool, and I was sucked into a tunnel of pure black.
No light.
But with Essence flowing through me, I could see just fine. The tunnel stretched ahead and standing right in front of me was an Abomination.
A bat-type again. But this one was different. Its level read 53.
I grinned and cracked my knuckles.
It was taller, bulkier, with blade-like wings and glowing white eyes. But it didn't attack. It just stood there, watching me.
I didn't move either.
This was a perfect chance to test my new passive.
I clenched my right fist and focused. The ability said I could tighten my muscle fibers, store strength, and release it all at once. So I did.
I felt the tension rise as the fibers in my arm began to twist and harden. A quiet creak followed, like stretching metal. My bicep swelled, followed by my forearm, then my entire arm, thicker now by at least two inches.
It wasn't new muscle. Just my own fibers tightening, storing, coiling like springs.
I exhaled slowly, eyes fixed on the bat.
"I'm not sure what you're waiting for, but I don't like the dark. So I'll go first."
I shot forward.
The bat screeched as I closed the distance in a blink, its cry echoing through the tunnel. It flared its wings and opened its jaw wide to counter.
I reached it first, waist twisting, and let the punch go.
My fist tore through the air and smashed into its gut.
Boom.
The bat exploded.
Not just died, exploded. Blood and pieces splattered across the tunnel walls. And behind the creature, a compressed jet of air blasted out from the force, punching a hole through the far end of the tunnel.
Light spilled in.
I smiled.
Now that was a proper test.