Chapter 114: The Move.
A week ago...
Levi could be seen at the bottom of a deep pit, ranging between a kilometer to two kilometers. He was lying on his back, his chest rising and falling in short bursts... he was exhausted, completely spent, and in immense pain.
Yet, he stood, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and walked to the nearest wall.
Unlike the Wailing Bone Pit, Levi’s iteration was much more challenging... the walls barely had any visible ridges or steps, resembling a normal cliff.
Still, Levi used his echolocation to detect the tiniest cracks and bumps. Then he used them to climb, appearing in his vision as though he climbed an illusionary gray wall in total darkness.
With his ability to turn deaf, Levi was fully concentrated on the climb, feeling like he crawled on a surface.
No noise, no distraction, no fear of death... just pure athleticism on display.
Levi didn’t stop until he reached the upper-pit tiers, taking multiple breaks on his journey. It took him a while since he used no shortcuts or his staff to assist him. He wanted to climb it solo.
After he made it to his first dirt platform, which was connected to a wall, he sat, his arms and legs shaking nonstop.
"Your body is giving in; it’s best if you use a recovery totem," Ash’Kral advised.
Levi did as he was told, understanding that exhaustion wasn’t allowed in those twenty precious hours.
After drinking a recovery totem to ease his pain, exhaustion, and boost his energy back to something like normal, he stood again.
Only this time, his echolocation reflected a maze of platforms, broken beams, and steps waiting for him above.
"My climbing speed can be improved immensely if I use my staff as a grappling hook. But I don’t think it’s enough..." Levi murmured.
He was reminded of what he had seen during his long research on the game. He watched up to a hundred videos, analyzing each thoroughly and rapidly.
In all those games, he picked up multiple patterns... first, there was always a metallic beam connecting one wall to another in the middle of the upper-pit tiers.
The platforms, ridges, steps, and such might change, but the beam was always there... a constant reassurance for anyone wanting to fight on top of it.
Secondly, the winner was consistently someone with a genetic advantage related to climbing.
This drove Levi to realize that no matter how much he improved his climbing speed, there was no way in hell he would catch up to a Rifter with such talents.
"I need something that only I can do...a plan, a move, that can blow apart those genetic advantages." Levi kept murmuring; his mind had been working for a couple of hours now on a solution...Yet, he always drew a blank.
Soon, Levi restarted his training, but this time, he used his chained staff as a grappling hook, practicing jumping from one area to another.
He failed most of the time, putting him on a free fall to his death. Sometimes, he saved himself using the same technique, and other times, Ash’Kral’s omnipotence saved him.
As Levi kept training like this, he found himself using the central metallic pole to swing himself into higher platforms almost every time...It was a guaranteed success due to the metallic pole’s position, allowing him to swing much wider.
However, he felt that it wasn’t enough.
’I am not getting the best value out of it...Is there another way to launch myself much higher?’
Levi pondered, sitting on top of his staff while it was affixed in a tight crack, getting himself comfortable with heights.
’The obvious answer is to increase the number of spins before launching myself, but it might not work...’
Levi understood that the laws of physics wouldn’t make it happen... friction, mass, structural limits, g-forces, collision losses, and release timing.
Each problem needed its solution, or else Levi wouldn’t have what it took for the preferred results.
’Friction might be solved due to the metallic pole being rugged and coated in a durable dry lubricant to help the Rifters stay on top easily...Though it isn’t enough for what I have in mind.’
Levi kept tapping his finger, using the sound waves to manifest his desired imaginative scene. As he gazed at his humanoid gray aura swinging on the pole, the mentioned problem kept collapsing the scene before his replica was thrown a few meters into the air.
’I need something heavy on the other side to help with the initial accelerating. I can even add more acceleration by jumping from above the pole instead of coming from the bottom like I used to.’
Levi recreated this scene in his world of darkness, but he found out that it wasn’t easy in the slightest...He had to time their fall perfectly, which required precise calculations.
But, calculations never fazed Levi...He quite enjoyed them.
With an eager smile, Levi stood up and requested that Ash’Kral help him with the setup. A short while later, Levi was standing on top of a platform right above the center of the pole.
Ten meters more or less separated them.
He was holding onto his staff tightly while using a crown to tighten around a weighty rectangular boulder. Then, Levi did a brief calculation.
"Let’s start with a chain that reaches out three meters. One full spin will sweep me around twelve meters of arc. If I turn once every second, I’ll be cutting through the air at roughly forty-five kilometers per hour when I let go. But, with the addition of a lever like this boulder, the acceleration might double or triple."
He paused, picturing the beam beneath him.
"That speed will press me into the beam like ten times my weight or maybe more. My frame can handle such G force for a few heartbeats...just enough for five or six rotations."
Ash’Kral watched without a word as Levi counted in his mind. He spent time with dozens of very talented individuals, yet Levi was the first one to use actual calculations to ensure the validity of his move.
For an entity used to solving most of its problems with supernatural powers, this was a first.
"One... two... three."
In an instant, Levi pushed the boulder down and swiftly followed after it, keeping some loose chain between them. Levi kept his hands tightened on the staff, knowing that the moment the chain hit the beam, he was in for a powerful jolt.
Alas, he still underestimated it.
Ting!
The moment the chains were caught, the boulder flung on the opposite side, while Levi was flung into the wall, his hands incapable of surviving the intense jolt.
Fortunately, Ash’Kral teleported him back on top of the platform before he smashed his face.
"Damn...That hurts like hell."
Levi held his buzzing red hand, feeling as if he didn’t let go, it would have broken in an instant.
But he knew that it was the only way. He couldn’t roll the chains on his wrists since they would be crushed. Also, it removed the idea of putting in more theoretical swings by pushing out more of the stored excess chains.
If he broke the staff into sections and held them, it would ruin the chains’ smooth exit, affecting his calculations.
"I have to catch it with my bare hands and eat the jolt," Levi said calmly while shaking his hands.
Levi decided to halve the thrown weight, which would affect his acceleration, but ease the force on his grip.
After he tried it, his grip was a lot stronger than before, but Levi met another issue. He swung in the opposite direction of the boulder with a similar force, ending him almost kissing it after the first swing.
Levi soon patched it by timing his fall away from the boulder’s swinging direction while also reducing the amount of its swing it could pull...It should never be equal to him since the energy would disperse equally too.
Just like this, Levi kept trying this move over and over again...Each failure was caused by a different problem. Yet, Levi kept patching them one by one, not giving up on it.
He could see the vision, and in a realistic world, it might never provide the satisfactory results he wanted.
But Levi was no ordinary person...He was a Daywalker with actual abilities and an enhanced body.
Once Levi integrated it into his move, the vision started to become clearer.
He still failed, not succeeded even once in his practice. But it was now an execution issue, not theoretical.
’I will get it right, even if I risk it all.’ Levi knitted his eyebrows sternly, his mind refusing to let go.
Meanwhile, Ash’Kral couldn’t help but smile faintly, pleased with Levi’s obsession. His progress was nothing short of explosive due to this obsessive mindset.
He had been training him for less than three months now. Yet, Levi’s obsession with everything being taught matched with his hunger for success, athletic build, and intellect made him a force to reckon with.
He had the perfect formula for greatness, and Ash’Kral believed that Levi’s first game would be the stage to showcase it.
***
Back to the Present...
’I am going to die...’
Before Ssek-Varr’s heart could chill at the sight, Levi bashed his face in with a kick, doing not much damage, but enough to push him down.
Aaaaaaaaaaa!!!
Ssek-Varr screamed in horror as he fell rapidly to the abyss, his legs were tightly held together, while his arms flailed everywhere with no result.
But, as he tried to get rid of the chains again, his terrified eyes met with another stunning sight.
Levi jumped widely after him, separated by close to seven meters of chain and also distance, leaving the chain to appear kinda a bit stretched in midair.
"Huh..."
-What is he doing!-
-Has he gone mad? Or was he already there?!-
-Is he suicidal!-
The Gamemaster Gadget, the watchers, and the Rifters...None of them had a clue what Levi was going for, leaving them staring at his falling spear-like form in stunned disbelief.
But for Levi? Everything appeared as clear as crystal.
The targeted middle silver metallic beam, Ssek-Varr’s tightened body going past it by a few meters, and the chain between them being mere inches from touching the beam...In a flow state, everything appeared in slow motion, unlike in his training sessions.
He was in perfect control...