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A/N UPDATED : Chapter 78 and 79 are OUT! This one will be a little more ti. I’m catching up! Just give a little more ti! I swear, I’ll have everything back to normal by tomorrow.
DO NOT READ THIS Chapter, IT IS A PLACEHOLDER.
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I found myself laying back down on the grey grass, facing east and watching the starry night sky. My nose had long beco accustod to the unpleasant odor of death that pervaded The Whispering Cliffs. I thought deeply of many things as I laid there for hours on end, but the night would be a long one.
There was much to be done before I could avenge my family. I knew who had killed them, I knew where they were likely to be, and roughly how strong they were, but there were many other factors to consider before I could even think about making a move on them. It made my head hurt when I realized just how much I would have to prepare for what was to co.
I knew my physicality had seen imnse improvent, but I had no fra to compare my prowess to. I was not only a slum-dweller, but also likely the weakest to have ever existed. Everyone had always been stronger than , even fledgling children. For all I knew, I could still be below average for a kid my age, but sohow, I doubted that.
The Aethir had rebuilt this body just so I would beco capable of wielding it. It’s faint amber traces coursed through my veins even now, energizing my entire body. I knew it’s capabilities were far beyond that of Mana. Aethir was ingrained in everything, living or otherwise, and I could see it all as long as it was within range of my sense. But sensing and controlling were two very different things.
I observed the surrounding Aethir, which had beco completely unresponsive after my evolution. But then I realized that wasn’t the case at all. Even during my evolution, it hadn’t responded to . Rather, it acted on it’s own, breaking down and rebuilding as it saw fit.
’But why am I unable to control it even now, when it flows through my very flesh. I sense it’s presence so distinctly, yet it never responds.’
Frustration simred beneath the surface as I reached out to the night sky once more, trying to command the Aethir I sensed in the air above and the soil below , but to no avail. It slipped through my grasp, ignoring my will entirely. I could feel it, see it, almost taste it, yet it remained utterly untouchable.
Then, a thought struck . What if I had been focusing on the wrong thing? My efforts had been directed outward, but the Aethir had rebuilt from within. My senses turned inward, tracing the intricate web of amber light that pulsed within , flowing with my every breath and heartbeat, both of which slowly grew uneven as my hands lightly trembled in anticipation.
I exerted my will on the wisps of Aethir within, urging them to flow toward my fingers, and realization hit like a thunderclap.
The Aethir outside might remain beyond my control, but the Aethir within...it was mine alone, for the flowing amber essence abruptly changed it’s course, streaming into and out of my fingertips, leaving an itchy like sensation as it was released aimlessly into the surroundings.
I willed the wisps to take the shape of a sphere, and slowly, it did. They flew towards each other and combined, forming a small amber sphere, the size of a marble. It was all I could muster. Clearly my control of the energy was subpar, but I had to remind myself - this was only the beginning.
However, before I could completely push those thoughts aside, sothing else caught my attention. Sothing far more concerning.
It seed to have gone completely undetected all this while, blending in with the natural streams of Aethir, but the more I controlled the streams, the more I beca aware of an anomalous region where the Aethir seed to be frozen in place. Right at the center of my skull, between the two hemispheres of my brain. There seed to be a branching network of Aethir that remained static in it’s position. The web’s branches were connected in majority to the rear of my skull, but also connecting to the rear upper and rear bottom sections of my brain.
I had no clue what this ant, and in all honesty, I was dreadfully unwilling to ss with anything pertaining to my brain. Things could go very wrong. I had only just found a way forward and I didn’t want to risk this one chance I had gotten. But even in my steeped reluctance, my gut insisted that this unmoving web wasn’t ant to be there.
The realization I had co to just a minute prior steeled my resolve. The Aethir within was mine alone. If this web didn’t respond to my will, then it didn’t belong inside .
I focused on the swirling sphere of Aethir that floated in the air before , and it obediently dissipated, flowing back into my body and proceeding to rush up towards my skull. I commanded it to assault the resisting structures within the gap in my brain, and as soon as it struck, I clutched my temples, writhing, as an excruciating pain, that could possibly dwarf that of my evolution, pierced through my skull, rekindling the flas of doubt I had had previously. My logical mind vehently refused to continue what I was attempting, but every other fiber of my being scread at , urging to push past the agony and rectify the anomaly within.
I succumbed to that deep urgency in a heartbeat. It was impossible to ignore. Still gripping my skull in sheer tornt, I gathered every shred of will I could muster. And with a guttural roar, I bore down on all the Aethir within , forcing almost all of it to accumulate within my skull, and commanding an imnse onslaught.
I may have been rolling and sporadically convulsing on the ground in pain, but I felt almost at ho, pounding the alien web of Aethir, like tal to the forge, each strike producing more pain, but sharpening my determination, invigorating .
Every agonizing attack, chipped off parts of the web, their pieces disintegrating into nothing. With each successive strike, the tornt only grew further in intensity, but I didn’t falter. And slowly but surely, the webbed structure crumbled, it’s integrity compromised.
The mont the web completely dissipated, my vision was ripped out of my internals, and back to the night sky above The Whispering Cliffs, only for the world around to vanish in the next instant.
I was back in that strange yet familiar dark place, where none of my senses seed to function. I knew it wasn’t The Void, but that only made more curious as to why I seed to keep being
brought back here.
---
One thing had changed though. I had retained that sa ghastly form from that world. I floated through the unending darkness, my mind riddled with unanswered questions. But what I saw right then only reinforced the impression that I wouldn’t be graced with clarity any ti soon.
Those all-too-familiar grey, translucent rectangles I despised had appeared before once more.
The system. I detested it’s very existence.
It greeted in the sa nonchalant fashion it did all those years ago, before it abandoned and left to suffer in my weakness, a victim to my fate.
***[ Unregistered Existence detected ]***
***[ Initializing System Assimilation... ]***
***[ Assimilation Progress : 1% ]***
---
My mind was riddled with unanswered questions, and what I saw next only reinforced the impression that I wouldn’t be graced with clarity any ti soon.
Those all-too-familiar grey, translucent rectangles I despised had appeared before once more.
The system. I detested it’s very existence.
It greeted in the sa nonchalant fashion it did all those years ago, before it abandoned and left to suffer in my weakness, a victim to my fate.
***[ Unregistered Existence detected ]***
***[ Initializing System Assimilation... ]***
***[ Assimilation Progress : 1% ]***
’This...is different. Or is it feigning ignorance? Why is it even here? How is it connected to the Aethir web that I destroyed?’
***[ Extracting Karmic Data... ]***
***[ Karmic Data Extraction successful. ]***
***[ Assimilation Progress : 14% ]***
***[ Initializing Soul Karma Analysis... ]***
***[ Analysis Complete. Soul Signature created. ]***
***[ Assimilation Progress : 42% ]***
’Karmic data? Soul Signature? What is all this?’
There was nothing of the sort the last ti I had seen these grey screens. I felt like I was forgetting sothing.
Sothing important.
***[ Registering Soul Signature... ]***
***[ System Registration Complete. ]***
***[ Assimilation Progress : 67% ]***
Enveloped in that endless darkness, I could only watch the progress indicator tick up every few seconds. My inquisition was futile. I couldn’t even feel my mouth much less talk. And even if I could, would this thing even bother to respond? Would it even flinch at the ek entirety of my feeble strength?
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