I raised my hand, palm facing the lunging beast.
My mind focused, voice steady in my head.
[Spatial Shield]
Essence surged from within, forming a thin, transparent barrier just inches in front of my hand. It wasn't a glowing wall or some flashy dome. It was barely visible, like a ripple in the air, distorting everything behind it. But I could feel the tension in it, the pressure it held back.
The tiger crashed into the shield with full force.
For a second, it looked like it might break through.
Then, snap.
The force of its lunge rebounded off the shield. Its body twisted midair, and it landed awkwardly on all fours, sliding back with a heavy thud. The tiger let out a furious growl, stunned by the sudden stop.
I smirked and stood upright again.
"Nice try. But you're gonna have to do better than bad breath and a tackle."
The shield faded slowly, leaving no trace.
Spatial Shield didn't block everything. It warped space in front of me, disrupting momentum and force in that zone. Any direct attack would feel like it hit something solid, while ranged attacks would be bent or misaligned.
Perfect. Just what I needed for surprises like this.
[Skill Level Up!]
[Spatial Shield: Level 1 → Level 2]
The Recluse Tiger snarled, crouched low, and sprang at me again. Its pale green eyes burned with hunger, locked right onto my throat. It blurred forward like a nightmare made of fur, bone, and thrashing tendrils.
I didn't panic. I raised my palm and moved without hesitation.
"Absolute."
Essence rippled through my body. My Psynapse throbbed as the command rooted itself in the air around me. I focused hard, heart pounding, locking my will onto the space directly around me.
I whispered one word.
"Slow."
For just a flicker of a moment, it worked. The tiger's momentum hit a strange drag, like it pushed against invisible syrup, but then it snapped forward again, breaking through my shaky control.
It slammed into me.
The impact sent me flying back, hard. I rolled across the ground, once, twice—before landing on my feet, coughing and grimacing.
I'd failed. The command hadn't held.
I narrowed my eyes at the beast.
The tiger's steps were slow now, deliberate.
Its matted gray fur bristled with tension. Six writhing tendrils dangled from its ribs like twisted spider legs—thin, black, and twitching like they had minds of their own. One twitch, then another, and they began to rise… sharp, pointed, and aimed.
It was done playing.
I knew it wanted to trap me, cut off my escape and impale me with those freakish limbs.
So I responded.
[Psynapse Overdrive]
The world slowed. My breath sounded louder. Every rustle of grass, every twitch of a muscle became clear. My eyes glowed faint green as my will pressed into the space around me. I could feel the tiger resisting my presence. It trembled for a second… then growled, holding steady.
And then they lashed.
All six tendrils shot at once, arcing in from every direction, aiming at my head, legs, chest, nowhere left to run.
"[Absolute]"
This time, I didn't try to stop the world. I focused inward.
My mind, already accelerated by Psynapse Overdrive, reached higher. I poured my Essence into my body, locking it with the law. I didn't want strength—I wanted speed. Speed of thought. Speed of reaction.
I gave the command.
"Fast."
The world around me slowed even more. The tendrils now looked like snakes underwater, sluggish and predictable. I didn't run, I danced.
I stepped into the chaos.
One tendril came for my skull, I ducked. Another shot at my ribs, I twisted sideways. Two more curved toward my knees, I jumped, landing on them, pushing off. The last two came from below, I spun midair and landed clear on the right side, just beyond their reach.
It felt like walking through a storm in slow motion, each motion a decision, not a reflex.
But it came at a cost.
My head throbbed. The pressure in my skull built up as my Psynapse strained under the weight of it all. I could feel the threads of will slipping.
The moment the tendrils slowed and fell back, I dropped the command.
The world snapped back into normal speed. My breath heaved, and sweat rolled down my neck. My heart slammed against my ribs.
But in that brief instant of stillness, something inside me clicked.
The world didn't follow my commands blindly.
I couldn't just shout a word and expect reality to bend.
I had to understand it first. Not just its name, but its rules. How things moved, how they resisted, how they held shape.
Only by understanding… could I reshape.
The tiger roared again, this time with frustration. It took two steps back, its tail flicking. Then it did something different.
It only extended two tendrils, one from each side. But they weren't thin anymore. They thickened and pulsed with power, growing as sharp as spears. I could see them glisten with something, Essence.
And then it charged again.
Its massive jaws opened wide for my throat. One tendril aimed for my head. The other, my chest.
"Absolute."
This time, I reached into something deeper.
I recalled the silver particles I'd seen in the elemental zones. The ones that shimmered when space itself bent. The particles that represented Space itself.
I remembered how I'd made [Spatial Shield] by focusing on those space particles.
My eyes locked with the tiger's, and I pressed my will into the spatial Essence around me.
I focused on the tiger's tendrils and commanded, "Freeze."
My Psynapse had strained like stretched rubber after that command, but my will stayed embedded in the spatial Essence, reducing the strain.
The tendrils that had been rushing toward me halted in place while the tiger kept flying straight at me.
I twisted my waist and threw a punch aimed at the tiger's massive head.
I commanded again, "Fast."
My fist barreled through the air, and before the tiger could react, it smashed into its head. At the moment of impact, I activated [Seismic Burst].
Boom.
My fist collided with its skull, and I watched in slow motion as its head deformed, its eyes popped out, and with a loud bang, the tiger's head burst open as its body flew backward.
I dropped to one knee, clutching my head as pain exploded inside my skull.
My perception expanded, merging with the spatial Essence around me, and I lost myself in the vastness of space.
I could feel the empty gaps between atoms, the stillness between moments. Space wasn't just a void. It was structure. Distance held together by unseen threads. I reached with my thoughts and the Essence responded, outlining a structure of invisible lines connecting all things.
Space stretched endlessly around me, an infinite canvas where everything else felt like mere droplets in a vast ocean. I floated in that stillness for minutes, suspended in something far greater than myself, until my senses gradually returned.
I exhaled sharply and rose to my feet. Something felt different. Shifted. Changed at the core.
A chime echoed in my mind as I opened my eyes.
[Level Up!]
[Level 50 → Level 57]
[Law Comprehended]
[Minor Law of Absolute – 20%]
[Skill Level Up!]
[Absolute Level 1 -> Level 2]