That was when Kyle noticed something.
His hammer was changing shape on its own.
'The Core of the first Metal Elemental isn't fully digested yet! It's trying to regain its form and control!'
When Kyle saw that, a new idea took hold.
He quickly grabbed the hammer and manipulated the Core inside.
He was helping the Metal Elemental, feeding it the last bits of Metal Ether he had access to.
At that point, the third Metal Elemental charged forward.
Its greed had taken hold of it, and it wanted to consume Kyle and his huge hammer.
Kyle let go of his hammer.
Then, he kicked it towards the third Metal Elemental.
While he couldn't swing it, he could still move it.
The hammer slowly moved towards the third Metal Elemental.
The Metal Elemental wasn't very intelligent.
It saw metal. It consumed metal.
It turned liquid and engulfed the hammer.
But then, it noticed that this was not just metal.
This was another Metal Elemental!
And even worse, this one was made of two Mid Metal Elementals!
Luckily, it was still weakened.
Maybe the third Metal Elemental could consume this Metal Elemental before it regained full control over itself!
A battle of wills took place as the huge hammer and the liquid metal started to engulf each other.
Over the next second, the third Metal Elemental gained some ground.
It looked like it was about to win.
But then, Kyle appeared behind it, a new hammer in his hand.
He had once more grabbed one of these crystals to make a hammer.
Kyle had no idea if his plan would work.
His plan was to destroy the Metal Elemental's Core.
After watching it for a while, Kyle could tell where it was.
However, a Metal Elemental was still a Metal Elemental, and Kyle was severely weakened.
Would this random hammer made of Rank B Materials be strong enough to destroy the Core, or would it just burst into pieces?
'Who am I kidding?' Kyle thought helplessly. 'Of course this hammer isn't strong enough.'
'It's not dense enough.'
'There's not enough power behind it.'
At that moment, the situation from earlier shot through Kyle's head.
The time the Metal Elemental had been crushing him.
That was when Kyle remembered all his experiments with different kinds of metals.
Density.
Density was a big part of metals and matter in general.
Finally, Kyle realized something.
As he swung his hammer at the Core, it started to shrink.
The hammer shrank to a third of its size, becoming much denser.
However, it also started to shake at the same time.
This material was not stable under so much pressure.
It desperately wanted to expand.
'Density!' Kyle thought in realization.
Kyle's hammer hit the Core of the third Metal Elemental.
A moment later, Kyle's hammer explosively expanded.
BOOOOOOOM!
The expansion was much more violent than expected, tearing the metal from the Metal Elemental's Core.
Kyle hadn't realized it yet, but he had just comprehended another Fragment.
The Fragment of Metal Density.
The Core of the Metal Elemental was exposed.
Kyle grabbed it.
He put it into his mouth.
And then, the ground it between his teeth.
The body of the third Metal Elemental lost its will, and the other Metal Elemental quickly started to absorb it.
At that moment, Kyle swung his hammer again and hit the other Metal Elemental.
The hit was weak, but that was not the point.
A physical connection was established between Kyle and the Metal Elemental.
Kyle's senses entered the Metal Elemental, and he could feel its body and Core.
BOOOOM!
The metal around the other Core transformed into individual plates, which then expanded violently.
The expansion pushed the other Core out of the body, and Kyle grabbed that as well.
He put that Core into his mouth as well and kept grinding away.
Since his body was similar to a beast's, anything that entered his mouth would have its Ether pulled out of it.
The two Cores summoned tiny spikes, which broke some of Kyle's teeth, but the spikes were quickly turned into Ether.
Eventually, over the next couple of seconds, the Cores ran out of Ether, and Kyle consumed them.
The mixed bodies of the three Metal Elementals fell to the ground.
A moment later, Kyle also landed on the ground, breathing heavily.
He was still alive!
The Metal Elementals were all dead!
After the last stones of the destroyed surroundings fell to the ground, silence returned to the cave.
Kyle was still bleeding, but his wounds were slowly closing.
His mind was still in battle mode, and he constantly looked at his surroundings, hoping not to find a fourth Metal Elemental.
But there were none.
Kyle could also finally properly look at his surroundings.
He was in a gigantic cave, almost three kilometers wide.
Several ancient and broken buildings were in the cave.
It was some kind of underground city.
Eight pedestals surrounded the city. Five of them had crystals on them, while three of them didn't. There were no beasts, and except for these crystals, there was also no ore.
'An ancient ruin?' Kyle thought.
For a couple more seconds, he looked around.
His Ether was recovering.
His injuries were healing.
Nothing moved.
Slowly, Kyle's jittery mind calmed down.
'I'm safe.'
'I won.'
'I…'
At that moment, Kyle's Ether was going wild.
Metal Elementals had a lot of Ether in them, and a big chunk of their Ether was stored in their Cores.
Kyle had eaten two of those, and he had also eaten a lot of metal.
The amount of Ether he had consumed during the fight was immense.
There was no stopping it anymore.
Whether he wanted to or not, he would become an Expert today.
Kyle quickly sat down and focused on his Ether.
He realized that he couldn't stop the advancement and focused on finishing it as quickly as possible.
People were vulnerable during advancements, which was why they usually advanced in safe locations.
Under normal circumstances, Kyle would take all the time he needed to advance to make sure that nothing went wrong.
But he didn't have that luxury right now.
He was not safe.
He had to rush through the advancement.
'I can only hope that nothing goes wrong.'
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