Chapter 239: I Developed A New Skill By Accident
I decided to first satisfy the curiosity that was eating at me—I was certain that understanding it would help me handle Ana’s situation as well.
The silence inside the tunnel was absolute. Only the quiet hum of Essence coursing through my channels, and the soft breathing of the two lovebirds, served as reminders that there were people here.
I stared at my status window, watching the numbers flicker.
Psynapse: 996
“Almost there.”
My fingers twitched. With a slow breath, I transferred exactly 8 units of Essence into Psynapse.
The moment it reached 1000, a system notification echoed in my mind.
[Psynapse: 1000]
[Alpha Tier Unlocked]
The world didn’t tremble. I did.
Not from pain—but from disconnection.
Every nerve, every tendon, every cell in my body froze. I couldn’t even blink. It was as if the signal between my thoughts and limbs had been severed.
And then my mind ignited.
Not in fire. Not in sound.
But in structure.
I could feel my brain—every fold of it—restructuring. Silently. Efficiently. As if some hidden protocol buried in my blood had just been triggered. Neurons rerouted. Synapses rewired. Everything fused into something new. Something more.
I didn’t even remember falling. But at some point, I must have—because when I opened my eyes again, I was staring up at the rock ceiling of the cave—
And I could see through it.
Two kilometers. That was my new perception radius. I could feel the birds flying far above the mountains. Sense the Abominations burrowing beneath the earth. Every movement within that space left behind trails of information—speed, mass, intent.
My mind absorbed it all and filed it away effortlessly.
Thoughts formed with staggering precision. No wasted calculations. No scattered distractions.
For the first time in my life, I felt like I wasn’t using my brain—I was my brain.
Then came the final change.
[Skill Evolved!]
[Psynapse Overdrive → Psynapse Fracture]
I felt an explosion in my brain—everything went white for a brief moment before returning to normal.
[Psynapse Fracture]: Split your cognition into fractures. +1 fracture at Alpha tier.
I saw the notification and understood it instantly.
Psynapse: Alpha (1000)
The label glowed on my status window, and a smile tugged at my lips.
“A new tier, huh…”
That meant there were even more tiers to come. And the impact was already enormous. The fact that my perception range had doubled was huge on its own.
I decided to hurriedly test the new skill.
I sat up slowly, brushing dust off my sleeves. Everything felt… clearer. Not in the way a healed wound feels, but in the way a sharpened blade feels—ready, precise, honed.
No pain. No lingering fog. Just awareness.
I opened the skill tab again.
[Psynapse Fracture]: Split your cognition into fractures. +1 fracture at Alpha tier.
I breathed in.
“Let’s test this.”
The moment I stepped away from the wall, I already knew what I wanted to test first.
Essence.
It was always the core—my foundation, my strength, my signature. And now, with my cognition fractured into two perfect halves, I could do what was previously impossible: dual manipulation without delay.
I exhaled slowly and activated the skill.
[Psynapse Fracture]
No sound. No flash. Just a quiet shift inside my head. Like a river splitting into two streams, both flowing with equal force.
One fracture focused outward—on the natural Essence. That familiar, green energy tied to life and breath.
The other fracture turned to the Essence I generated with effort—darker, refined, violet. The unnatural, the forged.
I raised both palms.
“[Havoc Sfera]”
Twin spheres began to form. One on each hand.
The left pulsed green, spinning with gentle grace, steady and rhythmic like the beat of a heart. The right flared violet, whirling erratically, crackling with synthetic intensity. They were beautiful. Opposites in nature, yet identical in formation. Balanced.
And I controlled them.
Simultaneously.
My left mind slowed the spin of the green sphere, shrinking it slightly, pulling it tighter—compressing it until it hovered like a humming seed. At the same time, my right mind accelerated the violet sphere, expanding it outward until it throbbed like a star on the verge of collapse.
Both actions executed perfectly. No stutter. No lag.
I swapped commands.
The green spun faster, its glow intensifying, the edges starting to blur. The violet compressed, its unstable energy being forced into stillness. My palms trembled slightly from the strain, but my thoughts remained clear.
Then came the true test.
Fusion.
Each fracture guided its sphere forward. Slowly. Gently. I felt them resist each other at first—their natures incompatible. The space between my hands sparked faintly as stray particles clashed. But I kept the approach steady.
Closer.
Closer.
Until they touched.
The reaction was instant.
There was no explosion—yet. But both spheres destabilized violently the moment they connected. A violent swirl of colors bloomed between my palms. Green and violet mixed into a chaotic storm, struggling for dominance, crackling and spinning in opposite directions.
I clenched my jaw. Each fracture focused everything on stabilization.
And then—slowly—they began to sync.
A third color emerged.
Brown.
A deep, earthen hue, dense and muddy, like a primordial root. It wasn’t a swirl of green and violet—it was something new. Something neither fracture recognized, but both could feel. Denser than either Essence. Heavier. Thicker.
And wildly unstable.
The newly merged sphere shrank to the size of my fist, pulsing like it had a heartbeat of its own. I could feel it trying to rupture, trying to rip apart both natures within it. The pressure it radiated pushed against my fingers, as if rejecting form altogether.
I tried to reverse it.
Left fracture pulled toward green. Right fracture pulled toward violet.
Nothing.
No separation.
I blinked, sweat trailing down my temple. Not from effort—my body wasn’t taxed. But my mind—both halves—were fully engaged. Containing this thing required every ounce of refined control I had. It wasn’t just two Essences tangled up. It was… fused.
Irreversibly.
As the realization settled in, a familiar chime echoed in my skull.
[New Skill Created]
[Achievement Unlocked – Pioneer II]
[Please Provide Skill Name]
I blinked.
“Damn.”
All I wanted was to test the fracture skill—who would’ve thought I’d end up creating something from scratch?
I exhaled slowly, staring at the message, already turning names over in my mind.
My eyes locked onto the small, trembling brown sphere spinning with fierce intensity. It was both beautiful and dangerous—like a volatile secret barely contained.
After a moment, I finally settled on a name. Since this skill had emerged from my experiment with [Psynapse Fracture], it only made sense to honor its origin.
I spoke the name aloud.
“Fractured Unity.”
[Name Registered]
[Fractured Unity – Level 1]
I exhaled slowly, knowing I had to control this unstable creation before it blew up in my face.
I activated [Absolute Domain]. Instantly, a violet aura blossomed around me, its range doubled to twenty meters. The familiar power wrapped around my senses like a second skin, sharp and alive.
I tapped my leg on the tunnel floor. Without hesitation, a metal spike shot up, piercing the tunnel roof. I willed it to rotate, and in a flash, it blasted out, smashing a hole open.
My legs powered through the gap, and I jumped free. Wings unfolded behind my back, heavy and strong. With a forceful flap, I launched myself upward, flying straight away from the tunnel.
After nearly a kilometer, I dropped the unstable sphere onto the forest floor. My wings beat hard, and I rushed back toward the tunnel.
I paused to observe the sphere through my enhanced perception. It was barely the size of a fist, trembling nervously. Suddenly, it began to grow, expanding midair until it reached almost two meters in diameter—and then froze.
Without warning, it collapsed inward like a black hole, sucking in everything around it. Trees, debris, earth—everything spiraled toward the massive sphere. I watched, wide-eyed, as it devoured the forest’s edge.
It held still for a moment before expanding again—then exploded.
BOOM!
The force blasted outward, spitting the devoured material back out, but shattered and fractured, unrecognizable. A crater nearly a hundred meters across was left behind, with no sign of life or vegetation standing.
I blinked, stunned by the sheer destruction.
Creation is hard, cheer me up!