I woke up after who knows how long, not like Arkas thought it would be nice to provide us with a watch or anything.
My stomach growled, and the urge to pee hit me like a sudden revelation.
I glanced down at myself….bare chest with just a necklace, ragged pants and barefoot.
"That's a beautiful look, Billion," I muttered.
My injuries had dulled a lot. My ankle felt normal again, and my shoulder didn't ache anymore. My right arm and leg, the ones I nearly blew up with Essence, still throbbed a little, but it was manageable.
I pushed myself up and walked toward the entrance. Shifting the rock covering it just enough to peek outside, I squinted against the daylight.
"What? How long was I asleep?"
Stepping out, I covered the entrance again and scanned my surroundings. Nothing in sight. No Abominations, no weird noises.
I exhaled, relaxing just a little until another pressing question hit me.
"Okay… where the hell am I supposed to go to shit?"
Arkas really left out the important details.
After a serious and stealthy search, I took care of some essential business and moved on with my day.
I sat in my cave, eating some of the stored food. It wasn't tasty at all, but it was nutritious—artificial stuff, smaller in quantity but packed with energy.
After finishing my food, I removed the bandages and wiped myself with a wet cloth. That reminded me, I'd need to find a water source in a day or two. But before that, I had to do some serious introspection on how I was going to move forward and get the best class for myself.
I wanted a class that complemented my talent, something that would help with Essence utilization and control. Using it directly was a double-edged sword.
To move in a direction where I'd be offered anything related to Essence, I needed to understand it better and start using it more and more in fights.
I checked my Essence store.
3/5.
One more unit had increased by the end of the fight.
I sat cross-legged and closed my eyes, trying to calm my thoughts.
The thing with me was that it was always difficult to quiet my mind. My brain just couldn't stay still.
I let my thoughts drift for a minute or two before focusing on my heart, tuning in to its steady rhythm.
I was trying to find where the heat I felt was building up. I recalled the sensation of Essence traveling from my heart to my arm and leg when I used it.
I kept my focus on my heartbeat. Some time passed, and I started to sense… something. Something other than the beat, but I couldn't quite place it. I held on, pushing through for another ten, maybe fifteen minutes, but it led nowhere.
With a heavy exhale, I opened my eyes. This was proving more difficult than I thought.
So, I did the next best thing, I dumped all my unused stats into Psynapse, bringing it up to 10.5.
The moment my Psynapse hit 10.5, my mind felt... clearer. Not overwhelmingly so, but like a fog had thinned just enough to let me see further. I hadn't even closed my eyes, yet I could tell something was different.
I glanced around the cave. Everything looked the same, but my awareness of it felt sharper. The subtle details, the rough texture of the rock, the way light seeped through the cracks stood out just a little more.
My thoughts, which usually bounced around like an untrained beast, felt little more ordered, easier to follow.
I closed my eyes and tried again.
This time, it was clearer. I could feel the Essence stored there, like a tiny ember hidden in the center of my heart, glowing faintly but not yet strong enough to ignite.
I kept my focus on it, observing. It flickered and rolled around, restless yet contained within my heart.
I decided to see if I could control it. I mentally tried to nudge it, to move it around, but I couldn't get a hold of it. I tried multiple times, but nothing worked.
So, I switched tactics. I added one unit of stored Essence to Psynapse while keeping my focus on the Essence in my heart, trying to figure out what would happen. I watched as the Essence roiled once, then a chunk of it separated and shot out of my heart, completely escaping my senses.
'That was... fast.'
I barely felt the increased effect of Psynapse, but I decided to give it another shot. Again, I added one more unit of Essence to Psynapse and observed as the Essence roiled, separated, and zoomed out once more. Still, I couldn't track it.
'I guess there's only one option left.'
Gritting my teeth, I activated Essence Infusion and infused the last remaining unit of Essence into my right leg. I braced for the pain and focused, watching the Essence surge toward my leg.
I watched as the Essence forcefully pushed its way through my blood, rushing toward my leg like an uncontrolled flood. Along the way, several veins burst, sending sharp jolts of pain through me.
But despite that, I could feel it, my right leg was stronger now.
That gave me some ideas on how I might be able to control it, but for now, I was out of Essence to experiment with.
Still, this experiment confirmed one thing for me, I wanted to be a strength-based fighter, and since I had to rely on Essence, Strength and Psynapse would be the primary attributes I needed to focus on.
Every day, I needed to set aside some time to experiment with Essence. No excuses.
I exhaled and got up, wrapping some bandages around my leg to stop the bleeding. It was already aching, but nothing I couldn't handle. After securing it, I decided it was time to explore the area around my new home.
Arkas had only given us one directive, we needed to reach at least Level 12.
That meant the race was on. How far we could push ourselves depended entirely on our ability to survive and create opportunities for ourselves. Sitting around and hoping for progress wasn't an option.
So, I needed a routine.
I walked over to the cave wall, picked up a stone, and began engraving a plan into the rock.
- One hour of punching and kicking.
- Two hour of Essence training
- One hour of combat drills
- Leveling up and exploration
I paused, looking at my list. It wasn't perfect, but it was a start. If I wanted to get stronger, I needed to be disciplined.
"Alright," I muttered to myself, tossing the stone aside. "Time to get to work."
I rolled my shoulder, stretched a little, and stood in front of the wall in nothing but my torn military pants.
Getting into position, I started punching, making sure to control the force behind each strike. Leveling up was great, but getting used to my increased strength and using it efficiently was even more important.
My fists smashed into the wall over and over, creating a neat row of dents. After about half an hour, I switched to practicing kicks, feeling out my balance and power.
And just like that, I lost myself in the routine.