Chapter 270 - One second (Patreon)

Flashbacks - Earth, 1 week before Nathaniel got into the tutorial

"Yes, as I said. Lower security prisoners have disappeared, around 15 women as well as a similar amount of men. Guards, a doctor, and some visitors. An entire block of the building is gone."

"Explosion?"

"If it was an explosion, it's the weirdest one I've heard about. We already had someone here, telling us… no, ordering us to blame it on a gas leak and declare them dead."

"FBI?"

"Most likely, the director told us not to ask questions and just listen."

"I'm not getting paid enough to stick my nose into this so let's do that. Did you start contacting family members of the people that disappeared?"

"Yes, we did, we contacted some of them, but there were a few that we couldn't find any contact for."

"Continue trying."

***

"We lost one of our Typhoon class submarines, sir."

"Come again."

"I don't know how to tell it otherwise, sir, we lost contact with it, sir."

"Did ASW not find anything? Is there a chance of a secret mission from higher-ups?"

"That's a low chance, they were supposed to return to dock to restock and change crew."

"Their equipment?"

"Intercontinental ballistic missiles, each armed with multiple nuclear warheads. They did have a hundred of them."

"How sure are we of their disappearance?"

"They were on the surface having a direct line to one of our warships and got cut off in the middle. We already sent a few ships to their last location."

"Let me know as soon as you get more information. Anything."

"Yes, sir."

***

"Did you hear? The train Matus was on crashed just this morning!"

"What the hell, really? How is he? Is he fine?"

"We don't know," the boy takes a few more steps and opens the door for a group of friends.

They enter the shop and quickly start picking up some snacks before they go to school.

"I heard the train didn't crash but disappeared." one of the friends says.

"Bullshit, how can a train disappear?" another of the boys waves his hand. "I tried to call Matus multiple times but he is not answering, I hope he is fine."

***

Two men stand and stare at the car. Well, what's left of that car. The entire front of the red pickup is torn, the engine destroyed, and smashed.

"Did someone crash it and run away?"

"Yes, most likely in his tank and while hiding tread tracks."

"How the fuck do you then explain this?" one of the men screams, his car was new, barely used.

The other man points at the tracks in the mud.

"There is no way it was a bear!"

The man then grabs the screaming man and leads him to the side of the car where a few deep gouges are made into the door, "Do you still think it wasn't a bear?"

"This has to be a prank!" the man screams again and both of them start arguing again.

***

Two boys high in the tree shake, phones in their hands, both of them calling anyone they can. Parents, police, firefighters.

The tree they are on is massive, yet it constantly shakes.

Howl.

The reason for that is the wolf down under the tree. The wolf is bigger than it should have any right to be. Its skin is brown and its eyes demonic-like, seemingly glowing in the dimming day.

Once again the tree shakes and the wolf howls while the boys scream.

***

Flashback - ???, 1 week before Nathaniel got into the tutorial

"My lord, we got a message from the Palace. It's about the planet we got Paired with."

"That's an unexpectedly quick reaction."

"Yes, my lord, they wanted me to point out that that planet has Beyond explorers. The exact number is something we don't know yet, but most likely between ten to thirty."

"That's quite a bit for a planet that just entered its non-attack phase."

"I agree, my lord. Would you like me to find out more?"

"There is no need to; for more information about their tutorial, we would need to ask one of the Rulers, and we don't need to waste our resources like that."

"As you order, I will try to find out what other planets got into the same instance of the tutorial; maybe we can use them during the last tournament."

"Good idea, you can do that."

***

I observe as my newest epic item, Aqua Arcanum Vial, absorbs water from the lake I have reached. It's going on for a few minutes already, a stream of water continuously gets pulled into the air and then towards the vial where it enters. At this point, there is an amount of water that surely shouldn't fit into this thing.

How interesting. How fascinating.

Spatial storage? Some system fuckery? Can I replicate it? Can I use it to store... mana? Well, I have batteries for that, but it won't hurt to have more mana, right?

Huhu. I don't have a problem.

At some point, the stream cancels out, and I move the vial around. It still weighs the same, and when I use it, water bursts from it. Holding the item gives me control over that water, and I swirl it around me, creating some sort of barrier.

I try to shoot that water too, and it does that. Unfortunately, the damage is weak, more like splashing water at someone. The only advantage is quite a big amount of water it holds.

While examining it, I try to condense the water and turn it into a thinner and more pressurized stream, similar to the ones they use to cut through metals.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work, and I don't have much control over the item. Well, not exactly, more the item itself lacking control; it feels like a limitation of the item itself that is not made to be a powerful weapon.

Still, it's not that bad, so I once again start filling it while looking around.

So far, I have met no monster nor detected any presence. When I flew high into the air, I saw some ruins far in the distance but have decided to not go there right away.

I need to upgrade my construct, test my passives, and then wait for my disciple. The disciple... such a weird thing. The Floor quest here is unlike any before, but up until now, there was some intention between all of them.

The first one was to separate the weeds and introduce us to some parts of the system and skills while gradually increasing the difficulty.

The second one was to show us civilization that is at its peak, with Champions and an Absolute. The floor ending as a warning and show of what we could be capable of reaching. All of it shown to us while we are weaker rather than on later floors.

The third one showed us once again what could be the consequences of misuse of our powers, and we had to rely on ourselves to survive, find out information, and come up with a plan to deal with the Saint.

The fourth was the most freehand one. Plenty of options from hiring the natives, to turning calamities against each other, and a lot of ways to clear it. Fallen Hero for people stronger against a single target, the Colony for some strong against a lot of enemies, Lynthari with the possibility to start a war between them and humans. The tree as an unmoving static target for those adept at channeling or preparation.

The fifth floor is to raise and protect a disciple. This all being a tutorial most likely means that we might be training people when we get on earth and this is preparation? The title of disciple is somewhat important for the system. We met the corpse of a Champion's disciple on the 4th floor and heard it mentioned multiple times. I also met Ruby on the second floor, her being a disciple of a cockroach-like Absolute.

It all makes me curious—disciple, candidate, Champions, and Absolute. It might take a while, but I'll get to all this.

The bottle is filled once again, and I put it into my pocket and look at the pile of items I brought here with me. At least I won't be bored with so much work to be done.

But now, the most important part!

I have Mana Overload Absorption and Arcane Resilience, plus an improved healing passive. All three are epic skills that should be capable of helping me with black mana and with my new trait. So let's try it.

Deep breath in, and I activate my [Focus] and consolidate it, [Mana Manipulation] immediately activating at stronger power. The two skills I got as my starting ones. The ones I'm somewhat fond of.

I let mana reach my eyes, and the trait slowly activates, and the world around me changes.

Beautiful waves of mana are all around, the ones I can't even sense nor see without the trait. I don't even know what they're called.

Then everywhere, particles of mana float gently, swirling and filling everything. Ever-present and beautiful like tiny light stolen from the sky. The ambient mana.

Gradually, I feel the pressure on my eyes and brain increase, but I hold on and continue to take it all in. The longer I do so, the more information flows into me, and the deeper I see into this beautiful invisible world.

When I feel like it's enough, I deactivate my trait and, with my head screaming, the information overload stops.

That was good, much longer than without Mana Overload Absorption. I was worried that it wouldn't affect my eyes, but it does and I'm grateful for that.

After a short break, I start another test, this time generating and storing a lot of thermal energy inside my body, as much as I can handle. It works nicely and Phoenix Embrace activates, healing and supporting me.

Then I activate my trait again and try it with my healing passive activated.

It starts similarly, but when I start feeling pain in my head and eyes, a healing thermal power rushes there, alleviating a lot of pressure and fighting against it. Not all of it, but plenty. The only disadvantage is the amount of focus I need to keep it activated while focusing on my eyes, but that much is fine, and the amount of time I can keep my eyes up increases.

While at the peak of it, I reach out my hand and create an orb there.

Blue turns dark blue with streaks of light blue and purple, then white as if about to explode, and with a stronger push, it turns black, with tiny sparks of white light inside the pitch-black orb.

The way mana waves and ambient mana move around the black orb is fascinating, unlike any reaction I have seen in my limited experience.

Carefully, while using my trait and my skills, I try to control the orb, to force my will on it. To do so, a big amount of mana is required, but it's an amount I'm capable of paying, and a thin stream of my mana connects to the orb, constantly supplying it with mana.

Not willing to take it into my body again, for now, I instead use [Focus] and manipulate it into changing shape.

It turns into a beautiful enigmatic black dagger, but even this doesn't feel like its optimal form.

Still, I'm still happy, even though there's constant pressure.

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 43 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 44]

[Focus - lvl 42 > Focus - lvl 43]

Feeling I'm getting close to my limits, I cut off the connection to my mana and, unable to cancel it, I throw it nearby where it floats in the air, absorbing the mana that reaches it.

For the next hour, I continue to observe it, and at some point, I create a barrier around it, similar to the one the ants did before to store my black mana orbs.

Then for the next few hours, I observe as the orb gradually crumbles, not being made from that much mana to sustain itself as I didn't use much on purpose.

Overall, I'm really happy with the result. Sure, the black mana thing is at the moment best to be used defensively, capable of absorbing huge amounts of mana and stopping attacks that are way over my head. So that's what I will do for now, learn to use it for defense.

The second step is to inscribe my arm again and use the orb to absorb mana and turn it mine in a carefully controlled manner.

The third step is to slowly get it to flow through my body while keeping the healing passive activated.

The last step is something I'm the most excited about. The black mana feels like mana+, or mana ultra, or maybe mana pro. The sheer quality of it is something else, and if I use it to power my skills, it will end up as a huge boost. So of course I will try to use it.

I'm about to turn around and go work on my construct, but then I hesitate in mid-step.

This doesn't feel right. Since when am I so careful? Didn't I already decide to make myself as strong as possible?

So what's with this tiptoeing, all the preparations, and careful testing?

My heart starts generating a huge amount of kinetic energy which I immediately transfer into thermal and compress it even further, golden flames blazing on my skin.

Then my eyes activate once more, a beautiful hidden world opening to me, and in that world, I create another black mana orb.

I reach out, grab this orb, and squeeze it.

The black mana fights against me, tries to suck on my mana, to dominate it all.

And I fight against it. My skills surround it, my mana surrounds it, and I force it into my body where it starts flowing through my circuits, the pain increasing, feeling as if burning iron is pulled through my muscles. But I push that to the back of my mind and let the entire orb be absorbed by me, constantly fighting against my own mana in my body.

I don't let it.

This thing is made of my own mana; there is no way I will let it constantly fight against me.

[Mana Domain - lvl 28 > Mana Domain - lvl 29]

[Mana Domain - lvl 29 > Mana Domain - lvl 30]

My domain activates, this time within my body, strengthening my control over it and all of my mana.

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 44 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 45]

[Resonance - lvl 40 > Resonance - lvl 41]

[Redistribution - lvl 40 > Redistribution - lvl 41]

[Resonance] activates, constantly shifting the frequency of my and black mana, making them match more closely, and [Redistribution] helps too.

I ignore the pain and the pressure and just send a bit more heat through my body, a wound that appears immediately healing under the influence of golden flames.

Then, finally, the black mana gives up and I seize control of it. I move it and I use it for a skill. I pick the one I rely on over and over again.

[Focus], powered by black mana, activates and all the healing that kept being sent through my body rushes to my head, my muscles immediately twitching, bones cracking. Yet even then, the passive skill only focuses on my head, trying to keep me alive and my brain from literally melting under the pressure.

For one second [Focus] activates. Just for one, one terribly short second that almost kills me. And in that short moment, I watch as the world around me slows down to a crawl and my mind feels as clear as never before.

My thoughts rush through with a speed that feels inhuman and it terrifies me.

The moment a feeling of fear pops out, my mind examines it, reads it, I feel a short amusement before it's pushed to the back, immediately turning to my situation and examining the effect of black mana on [Focus].

The wind blows nearby and in slow motion, the branch of the tree next to me moves.

Surprisingly, my body is capable of moving and even though the world feels slowed down, I move normally and touch the branch.

Then I watch as my muscles and tendons on my arm tear, bones crack, poking through the skin, and I pull my hand back, only for it to break even further.

Only then do I realize what's happening, all still within that short second.

The world did not slow down; just my [Focus] allowed me to take in all this information and process them at the speed that feels so inhuman. Then my dumb ass tried to move my body and without realizing that moving it at the current “normal speed”, I would need to move it dozens of times faster than what I usually do and what my low constitution is capable of handling.

Before the effect wears off, I realize how dangerous it is and move black mana inside my body, pushing it out and shooting it far away from me, tearing a few holes in my skin, and overloading my circuits.

Then the sounds come back to me and hit me like a tsunami. Someone groans in pain and only later do I realize it's me.

I fall to the ground, head thrashing, arm broken to pieces, eyes hurting as if someone stabbed them, circuits overloaded even with my new passive. Focusing all my attention on keeping thermal energy flowing through my body and on breathing, I lay there down in the grass near the lake.

For the following hours, I only examine my area and keep up healing that is mostly focused on my head and brain, hopefully not leaving any lasting effects. After that, I heal my body and examine my passive while it heals.

Then when it's all done, I lay there and try to take it all in. I spend hours and hours going over that single second when I felt so… so… I don't know how to name it. I just know I do not regret a thing.

Only when I hear rustling and feel a presence behind the trees do I realize that the 24 hours passed, my disciple got summoned, and my Floor Quest fully started.

I look up and there, poking from behind the tree, a small girl hides. She is around 6 years old looking. She has light brown hair that is messy and seems like it's cut by a knife, and she is wearing clothes that are more tatters than clothing.

But the most striking thing about her is her red eyes like rubies and two small horns that poke from under her hair near her forehead.

And over her head, there is a single word only.

[Disciple]

***

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