Adrian’s mind churned as he tried to piece together the chaos of what he had just witnessed, but the System’s notifications snapped him back to reality.
[Soul Harvested Successfully!]
[Impractical Conditions For Assimilation]
[Quest Completed: Heart Of The Abyss. 30,000 TP rewarded!]
Adrian nodded in satisfaction with the reward, as he could finally complete the Factory upgrade.
But before he could savor the mont, the System blared again, its urgent alerts flashing violently across his vision.
[Warning! UNSTABLE MANA DETECTED]
[WARNING! INCOMING MANA EXPLOSION DETECTED]
[Calculated ti to explosion: 31:57.98]
The countdown was stuck into his mind, each digit a hamr striking his nerves.
’Oh, no.’
He wanted to yell at the System, to demand answers, but he forced himself to stay calm.
Panic wouldn’t help. His mind kicked into overdrive, thoughts racing as he analyzed his options.
The mana explosion was inevitable, likely triggered by the residual mana that made everywhere so potent.
Doing so quick ntal math, Adrian estimated he could escape underground entirely in under fifteen minutes if he pushed himself to the limit and used the System’s Map to guide him.
But that didn’t account for the blast radius, which was anyone’s guess.
The safest move was to bolt now, to put as much distance as possible between himself and this ticking ti bomb.
His eyes, however, drifted to the walls, glittering with magic crystals. They were a fortune and it was a resource he couldn’t afford to leave behind.
"It’s not greed. If I play this right, I can get out with enough ti and take what I can."
The tir lood, but Adrian shoved the fear aside.
He summoned a massive drill from his [Inventory].
Plucking the crystals one by one would take too long, and ti was a luxury he didn’t have.
Instead, he’d carve out entire sections of the wall and store them in his [Inventory]’s boundless depths.
Gripping the drill, Adrian activated it and moved with purpose, slicing into the cave walls with surgical precision.
Chunks of crystal-laden stone broke free, and with a thought, he sent them into his [Inventory].
His enhanced strength made the task almost trivial, and he wove through the tunnels using his Phantom Flow Technique, his body a blur as he dodged falling debris and navigated the uneven terrain.
The cave groaned under his assault. Tunnels shuddered, and sections of the walls gave way, collapsing in clouds of dust and rubble.
[Omnisense] kept him one step ahead of danger.
He leaped over crumbling stone, sidestepped cascading boulders, and ducked under jagged outcroppings, all while the drill roared in his hands.
The tir ticked down relentlessly, but Adrian’s focus was unshakable as he turned himself into a machine of precision and speed.
Fifteen minutes passed in a blur of destruction.
Adrian had carved through countless tunnels, leaving a trail of devastation.
His [Inventory] was brimming with walls of magic crystals, and he knew he had pushed his luck far enough.
With a final drill in a wall, he stored one last slab of crystal and turned his attention to escape.
[15:12.34]
The countdown was unforgiving. Adrian dismissed the drill and sprinted, his Map flaring to life in his vision.
The glowing paths guided him through the labyrinth of tunnels he had already traversed, letting him zip through the narrow passages at breakneck speed.
His boots pounded against the stone, kicking up dust as he retraced his steps with unerring accuracy.
The cave’s oppressive air grew lighter as he neared his starting point, his heart pounding not from fear but from the thrill of the race against ti.
Finally, he reached the cavernous chamber where he had a cut a hole through.
The grappling hook he had left embedded on the ground above was a lifeline he was now imnsely grateful for.
[6:16.78]
Adrian didn’t need the System to tell him ti was running out.
He crouched and launched himself upward with every ounce of strength in his legs.
His gloved fingers closed around the rope’s upper end, and he hauled himself up with desperate speed, climbing hand over hand until he breached the surface and collapsed onto the bare, rocky ground outside.
He spared a glance back at the hole he had created. The cave and its design was still a mystery to him, but there was no ti to dwell on it.
Adrian summoned his Rover imdiately, and leaped inside.
He drew a rune on the panel to activate a mode he hadn’t used since building the Rover.
It was a last resort, designed for ergencies like this. The Rover’s engine began to roar, burning through magic crystals at an alarming rate to unleash blistering speed.
The vehicle roared to life, and Adrian slamd the yoke forward, the Rover surging ahead at over 400 kiloters per hour.
The landscape blurred as he activated [Omnisense].
The ability let him process the chaotic rush of speed, his reflexes keeping the Rover steady as it tore across the uneven terrain.
Trees, rocks, and jagged outcrops flashed by, so too close to avoid.
The Rover smashed through smaller obstacles, its reinforced fra shrugging off the impacts as Adrian pushed it to its limits.
His only goal was distance... putting as much space as possible between himself and the impending explosion.
Over five minutes of relentless driving carried him into the Volcanic Wastelands.
As the air grew thick with heat, Adrian’s eyes flicked to the countdown.
[00:03.19]
[00:02.03]
[00:01.55]
His heart pounded, but he kept his focus razor-sharp on the driving faster. And soon, the tir hit zero.
A pulse of raw, untad energy erupted behind him, a wave so potent it seed to warp reality itself.
The air crackled, the ground shook, and a blinding light swallowed the horizon. The sound was cataclysmic, a deafening roar that drowned out all thought.
~KRRRAAAAA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!~
The shockwave hit like a tidal wave, a force of pure destruction that ripped through the wastelands.
Adrian reacted instantly, sending the Rover into his [Inventory] to keep it from crushing him.
The blast flung him forward, his armored suit absorbing the worst of the impact as he tumbled through the air.
He hit the ground hard, skidding across the scorched earth. By so stroke of luck, he landed on a patch of bare ground, just at the boundary where the Volcanic Wastelands t the frozen region beyond so there were no geysers, nor volcanoes.
Adrian lay there, gasping as his body scread in protest.
The pain was imnse and his bones likely fractured. But as the dust settled and the echoes of the explosion faded, one truth stood clear: he was alive.
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