The world spun in his vision with a high-pitched hum as Alaric hauled himself up from beneath the rubble.
Ughh! It got good. Gripping his chin, he yanked it with a crack, resetting his dislocated jaw. Aside from that, he had suffered no considerable injuries. The previous attack had hurt his pride more than his body.
The new creature - whatever it was - approached him with a slow, confident gait. Its 7 ft massive body was clad in tight black, leather jackets and jeans - muscles bursting at the seams.
What surprised Alaric was the twinkle in its black eyes, peeking through the ss of black hair. Sohow, they seed a little more alive, more human.
An expression of concern was etched onto its face. If he didn’t know better, he would’ve thought that the creature wasn’t a mindless husk.
Alaric inspected his new opponent with mana pulses before reading the description.
Subject Beta - #91 - The product of countless experints, Subject Beta represents the next stage of twisted evolution—a grotesque fusion of dead flesh and cold machinery. Though still lifeless husks, their advanced cybernetic augntations grant them enhanced awareness, intelligence, and combat proficiency, setting them apart from mindless abominations.
Stronger, faster, and more adaptive, these creatures are built for efficiency, their chanical enhancents allowing them to analyze threats, react with precision, and endure devastating damage. No longer re zombies, they are ruthless cybernetic predators—the first step toward a perfect synthetic lifeform.
It was just as the description had stated - he could detect complex, chanical parts interwoven with biological flesh. Parts of its limbs, in particular - were reinforced with an unrecognizable tal alloy that thrud with power.
Alaric smiled. He had encountered his first cyborg.
Looks like it’s ti for the real challenge to begin! Alaric empowered his body with mana and launched himself at the cyborg, exchanging blows of devastating power.
For every strike he delivered, the cyborg retaliated with two more. Within minutes, he realized it wasn’t possible for him to physically overpower the entity - at least not yet.
The blend of muscles and bones that ford its fra had a mana potency of over 60 percent - comparable to a high-grade reforged body. The presence of tal alloy in its body further boosted its strength, agility, and endurance.
Having assessed its physical capabilities, he concluded it would take him over 6 months of body reforging training to surpass it. Sooner if he only focused on reforging his bones and muscles.
Alaric had to expend mana for healing the wounds he suffered during their brawl. Cyborg #91 seed impassive, shrugging off the minor wounds marring its body.
No, it wasn’t completely indifferent. The flicker of concern flashed in its human face from ti to ti as it glanced in the direction of the delta zombies it had protected from him. Why does it look so human? Could it be a trap?
The system was playing mind gas, and he didn’t appreciate it. He wasn’t about to show rcy just because it looked more human than the typical zombies.
Just like all the other enemies he had encountered in this zone, the cyborg was made from dead flesh too. It wasn’t alive.
Surprisingly, there wasn’t a trace of the vile, corrupt energy that fueled the Delta and Z variants. Instead, the killing machine was driven by a completely different energy - the sa energy that powered the system replica created by Anu-Khepra-Ra.
With the knowledge he had gleaned from reading the books in the Codex Vault, he understood, now, what it ant.
The engineered energy was a feat of technological advancent - powered by sothing known as a quantum processor. Although he hadn’t fully grasped the principles that made it possible, he was awed by it.
Electricity was the closest energy it resembled, yet not without its distinctions. Due to this, the cyborg was immune to his mana control as well. It easily evaded his mana blasts and retaliated with faster, more powerful physical strikes.
It was astonishing how this machine-flesh hybrid managed to rival his power and then so, without a trace of mana in it.
Tired of the prolonged fight, Alaric forged a dense mana sword, hoping to wield it to finally end the fight. The cyborg burned more energy, further augnting its physical capabilities, effortlessly dodging his sword swings.
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So, that’s how you want to play it? He cycled a drop of root chakra to even the playing field.
With only one chance to surprise the engineered fusion of flesh and machine, he waited, swallowing the hits the creature rained on his body.
His ribs cracked, flesh sheared, and bones cracked under the savage assault. An opportunity presented itself - the cyborg lingered too long within his range, getting overconfident.
He slashed through the air, sparks erupting as his mana sword clashed with the cyborg’s limbs. The mana sword sank halfway into the outer flesh of its forearm, stopping only when it contacted the tal alloy.
Just how resilient is this creature? Alaric didn’t yield, driving more force into the attack. The cyborg grimaced, resolved to break free. He clutched its other arm before deflecting a kick with his leg.
“You are going nowhere,” he declared, grinning. Now, within his range, he discharged a mana-scrambling wave, aiming to cause so interference in its energy system.
Blue, magnetic arcs crackled around its body, electric tendrils surging around its joints, before the potent mana scrambling wave harmlessly dispersed over its body.
The attack hadn’t weakened the cyborg one bit. Shit! A complete waste.
The cyborg retaliated in kind, unleashing a massive surge of electricity that arced to his body, scorching his flesh and locking his joints.
He gritted his teeth and swallowed the pain, not letting go of its limb.
I will annihilate you! Everything else faded from his awareness; only man and machine remained - locked into a contest of strength.
Through his haze, he detected multiple presences materializing nearby with crackles of electricity.
“Aargh,” Alaric roared, driving more mana into his mana sword, enhancing its density and sharpness. Monts later, it cleaved through the forearm of cyborg #91, eliciting a roar from it.
Unfortunately, before he could deliver a follow-up attack, he was forced to evade the lunges of two new delta variants.
That’s when he noticed he had been surrounded by a horde of abominations - all delta variants ranked in the nine hundreds.
Weaving through the crowd of zombies, he searched for the fleeing cyborg, intent on finishing what he had started. A crackle of electricity later, he realized that the cyborg had escaped.
Alaric turned around and smashed through the block of Delta variants. Reaching the street where he had fought #987 and #764, he noticed that both of them had slipped away. Or more accurately, #91 had created an opening for them to escape.
His lips tightened into a thin smile. No matter. I will have another opportunity. He swallowed the frustration boiling inside him. And next ti, there will be no escape from .
The horde of delta variants finally caught up, having followed him. The fight with the cyborg had left him exhausted. But not enough that he couldn’t dispatch a couple of 900s.
He grinned, sizing up his new prey. With an outlet to release his frustration, he let loose - murdering the already dead monsters once more.
He littered the streets with mangled body parts - legs, arms, torsos, heads. The zombies were unrelenting, advancing towards him even with severed limbs, crushed bones, and gaping wounds.
The Delta variant was much more resilient than traditional zombies, but even these abominations stopped moving when their heads were crushed.
No matter how he analyzed them, these delta variants he killed lacked any semblance of humanity in them. There was sothing mysterious about the two delta variants and the beta variant he had encountered earlier - sohow, they felt more human.
Alaric longed to cross paths with them again and get so answers. But before that, he resolved to partially awaken his third-eye chakra so that he could attain the [True Vision] ability.
That would allow him to solve a lot of mysteries.
Fortunately, he knew the perfect thod to hone his willpower further and accelerate the purification of his third-eye chakra.
***
Throat-Chakra Island - Inside Cultivation Sanctuary
Alaric sat in the lotus position, focusing all his awareness in the throat chakra.
He had been pondering on what kind of oath to settle on. Oaths were double-edged swords—they could elevate a cultivator to the heavens but also drag them into ruin if they lacked sufficient willpower and wisdom.
Typical skills and abilities—accessible to everyone—were driven by mana and operated within the boundaries set by the system. Their structured nature limited their potential but also eliminated the risk of backlash.
Oaths were distinct and deeply personal. Their unstructured nature made them impossible to wield without imposing certain restrictions and conditions. Powered by both mana and willpower, they unlocked boundless potential in the form of chants.
However, breaking the terms of an oath could inflict catastrophic repercussions on cultivators.
Fighting the abominations inside the Grey Terminal had finally sparked the idea for a powerful oath that resonated with him. The stronger monsters inside the final zone had resisted his mana control due to the peculiar, vile energy coursing through their bodies.
The cyborg had been powered by technological energy, rendering it completely immune to his mana control. In fact, it had even managed to resist a powerful mana-scrambling wave - one of his most powerful attacks.
He scrutinized his mana core, perceiving the formation of mana crystals drifting in the thick, viscous liquid mana residing inside his core.
His potent reserve of mana was undoubtedly powerful, but it wasn’t the only advantage he wielded. He possessed another way to deal with the monstrosities - his unwavering willpower, sharpened through years of chakra training.
Harnessing the purified energy in his throat chakra, Alaric exerted his willpower to the limits, visualizing the new ability he sought to forge. In his mind’s eye, he imagined how the ability would manifest and function in different conditions, clearly specifying every parater.
Finally, he set the necessary restrictions and conditions in place - ones that would simultaneously enable him to exceed his limits while increasing the risk of severe backlash.
Congratulations! You have ford a new Self-Contractual Oath.
Alaric read the description of the ability and grinned. It was perfect. Now, it was ti to test his new ability.
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