Chapter 362 - Colossal Body (Patreon)

Zeke was only out for a couple of hours, and by the time he awoke, he was back in the tower. When his eyes fluttered open, he was confronted with a vision of Kianma hovering over him like an overprotective mother. He tried to sit up, but she put one clawed hand on his chest, stopping him before he even got started. Perhaps he could have pushed upright regardless, but the moment he’d moved, he’d felt an overwhelming sense of exhaustion crash over him.

“Stop,” Kianma hissed, looking down on him with disapproval. “You are not well.”

Zeke barely heard her. Instead, he cast his awareness inward. Ever since his ascension, he’d discovered that he could sense the state of his body, mind, and soul – at least to some degree. It had started as a vague awareness, but throughout his time in Hell, it had sharpened considerably. Now, he used that sense to take stock of his injuries.

And it wasn’t great.

Not only was he exhausted, but even if he’d been well-rested, he suspected that he would struggle to exert the full potential of his strength. More, when he tried to circulate his mana, it moved sluggishly – almost as if it was partially frozen.

“Apt,” said Eveline.

“What was that?” he asked.

“You didn’t think you could come into contact with such a powerful natural treasure and there not be consequences, did you?” she responded. “You’re going to be weak for a few more days, and unless you figure something out with your mana, it’ll move slowly for some time yet. It was an ice treasure, after all. Of course it would freeze your mana.”

That was a little alarming, but it made sense. He’d always known that gathering the treasures would have consequences. That was just how strong sources of mana worked. In the past, the effect presented itself as simple pressure. Zeke had felt suffocated in the presence of Mikaena, the extremely powerful mother of the kobolds, and he suspected that it could have been much worse if she hadn’t had years of practice keeping her aura in check. The same could have been said about Aja, the tree goddess he’d encountered back in the Radiant Isles. Or the warlock he’d fought beneath the desert.

So, it was wholly expected that a powerful natural treasure could have a detrimental effect.

However, even if it was somewhat expected, that didn’t mean it wasn’t alarming.

“You probably would have been fine if you hadn’t pushed yourself so hard,” Eveline went on. “And I think that if you were to circulate a bit of demonic mana, it would counteract some of the effects. Of course, then you’d have to deal with the consequences. You really did a number on your body that time, by the way. You should be more careful.”

It was all Zeke could do not to groan. Eveline had pushed him forward every step of the way, so hearing her advising caution was a bit frustrating. Certainly, it was disingenuous. But that wasn’t all that abnormal, either. She was quick to give advice. However, when that advice bore consequences, she was just as quick to berate him for lack of caution. The inconsistency would have been infuriating if Zeke wasn’t so used to it. More, he knew it was just a result of her fractured personality and fear of being cast aside.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you that psychoanalyzing people is rude?” she huffed.

“As rude as eavesdropping on someone else’s private thoughts?”

“Uh…you know what? Psychoanalyze away. In any case, I’m an open book.”

“Sure you are,” Zeke groaned inwardly.

After that, Zeke spent a few long minutes just lying still. As he did so, he recognized his surroundings as belonging to the Lord’s Manor within the Crimson Tower. He could also sense Pudge brooding somewhere within the house. Their connection wasn’t nearly as solid as it had been before their ascension, but strong emotions still leaked through from time to time.

Finally, after another half hour, Zeke had had enough lying about, and he pushed himself upright. Kianma protested, but she didn’t try to stop him. Instead, she just glared at him disapprovingly, which prompted Eveline to say, “Oh, I like her. We need to keep her around, too. I wonder what would happen if we combined her ritual magic with the pig girl’s spells. Can we find out? I think we should find out.”

“No,” Zeke said, but in the back of his mind, he had to admit that it was an interesting thought. Already, Sasha’s spells had proven to be extraordinarily powerful, albeit with the downside of needing extra materials as well as casting time. The same issues were represented in Kianma’s and the other spiritweavers’ rituals. But if the two could be somehow combined? The effects might prove even more powerful.

“Or it’ll probably just fizzle,” Eveline pointed out. “Combining two different disciplines – even if they seem similar – is extraordinarily difficult. Even in the event that it works, it might prove more trouble than it’s worth. Still, the possibilities are more than a little intriguing.”

They were, but Zeke wasn’t in the mood to ponder such things. So, he pushed the idea out of his mind and focused on remaining upright. It wasn’t as easy as he’d hoped; in fact, with every passing second, he felt more on the verge of falling over. The problem wasn’t the fatigue that had overtaken his body. He could push through that. Rather, it was his frozen mana, which made him feel almost like he wasn’t getting enough oxygen with every breath. He could survive, but every passing moment left him feeling a little more lightheaded than before.

“Do you think the springs will help?” he asked Eveline.

She responded, “I have no idea. Worth a shot, though.”

“You’re such a huge help,” he grunted.

With that, Zeke climbed to his feet and, after telling Kianma that he intended to visit the Crimson Spring, he embarked on an arduous journey to do just that. Making his way through the manor, then the grounds, and eventually through the caves that housed the springs themselves, was an exercise in frustration that required more than a few stops along the way. But when he finally sank into the scalding waters, he got a surprise.

It felt like someone had poured molten lava through his veins. It wasn’t just physical pain, though there was that in abundance; rather, it was a metaphysical agony that made him feel as if his very soul was being charred. But after enduring that for a few seconds, he recognized it for the necessity it was. Because, as painful as it was, it also left his mana feeling a little less sluggish.

“Better,” he muttered.

But he knew it would take weeks to get back to normal.

It seemed that he’d finally found the limits of the healing power of the Crimson Spring. For now. Like the rest of the tower, though, it would likely continue to evolve and grow stronger.

As he sat there, half-submerged in the healing waters of the spring, he finally consulted his status. After the fight with the false ice elemental, he’d gotten a couple of notifications. One was expected – he’d finally reached level forty-one. Given how much he’d fought since gaining level forty, it felt long overdue. After allocating his free points – one in agility and the other into dexterity – he looked at his status:

With every level, his strength and endurance continued to climb to new heights. He had no idea how he really compared to people with lower tiers of those stats, but he had to believe that he was already stronger than most. What was the limit? Would he one day be capable of splitting mountains, perhaps?

“If you survive, yes,” Eveline said. “At some point, your strength will become almost conceptual in nature. A bit like another expression of Will. But I can’t stress this enough – you have to survive to get to that point. So, I wish you would put every free point you have into endurance. That way –”

“That way, I’ll have every agility-focused warrior running circles around me,” he retorted.

“Let them. If you followed my stat-allocation strategy, they would never be able to hurt you,” she said.

That was probably true. In fact, Zeke knew it was. But still, he hesitated to go all-in on one stat, largely because he hated the idea of having weaknesses.

“Everyone has weaknesses. That’s life.”

He knew that, too. But that didn’t mean he had to accept it.

“Which probably highlights another one of your weaknesses,” Eveline stated.

“Was that a backhanded way of calling me stupid?” he asked.

“No. Stubborn. Sometimes too focused. But not stupid. Not really,” she said.

Zeke had no answer for that, so he focused on the other notification he’d received after the battle with the false ice elemental:

You have endured contact with a potent source of ice-attuned mana. Further exposure will fuel the evolution of your colossal body. Current Stage: Unmeasurable.

“What the…”

At the same time, Eveline said, “Uh…”

“That’s not normal, is it?” Zeke asked.

“I…I’ve never heard of that,” Eveline said. “What is a colossal body? Is that a skill you’ve been hiding from me?”

“No. I…I mean, I think it’s been mentioned at some point in one of my notifications, but…wait, I think it said something about it in the original description of [Metallurgical Repair],” he said, trying to remember. He’d never paid much attention to his skills’ descriptions, preferring instead to lean on the innate understanding that came with them. However, he did read them all, and he distinctly remembered being a little confused by the term. He said as much to Eveline, then asked, “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I can make some inferences, but…”

“But what?”

“They’re just guesses. I might be wrong…”

“Just tell me what you’re thinking, okay?” he said. “I mean, it sounds like it’s a good thing, right?”

“Maybe. But maybe not. You remember that incubus I told you about? The one who found that holy crown?” she asked.

“I remember. You said he was forced to descend,” Zeke answered.

“Well, he sort of forced himself to develop a holy attunement,” she said. “Similar to what was happening to Dáinn with demonic mana. It would have taken centuries of exposure, but he’d have eventually evolved. I think…no…I mean, that would just be unfair, wouldn’t it?”

“Spit it out, Eveline.”

“Fine. Okay. So, I’ve always thought it was a little weird how easily you developed your earth attunement,” she said.

“It really wasn’t easy,” Zeke said, remembering the agonizing process.

“Compared to what others have to go through, it was,” Eveline said. “Until now, I thought you were able to do it because of your class. Like it took you halfway there or something. But now…I think it might be possible for you to develop a multitude of attunements.”

“That’s…”

“I think you may be far more special than even I thought,” Eveline stated. “Imagine what could happen if you develop an ice attunement? Or a nature attunement? The possibilities…”

It wasn’t difficult to imagine how powerful such an ability could be, which was why Zeke was skeptical that that was how his colossal body might work.  Even having two attunements – earth and demonic – was extremely powerful. What would it be like to add another to the mix? Or a few more? The potential was staggering.

“How do I figure it out?” he asked.

“You’re not going to like it,” Eveline answered.

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“Well, that notification spells it out pretty well,” she said. “Continued exposure will fuel the evolution. So…if you want to progress, you’re going to have a painful road.”

“Ugh.”

Zeke wanted to unlock – if that was even the right term – new attunements and reach as high as his potential would allow. However, with the way he felt at that moment, he suspected that any continued exposure to the ice attuned natural treasure would kill him. So, it seemed as if he would have to walk a fine line between progression and death.

“That’s kind of how it always is, though,” he muttered aloud. Kianma, who was hovering nearby, looked up, but she didn’t respond. Apparently, he’d developed a habit of talking to himself – at least as far as his companions could tell – so they’d begun to ignore it. Perhaps he should be a little more careful to keep his conversations with Eveline confined to his thoughts; after all, he didn’t want people to start thinking he was going crazy. In any case, he was careful to keep his added comment in his mind as he said, “If I want to gain levels, I have to risk my life. This is the same thing. Just different.”

Indeed, it sounded like the Framework wanted him to torture himself in pursuit of power.

“That’s precisely what it wants,” Eveline said. “It’s sadism. Nothing more and nothing less.”

Zeke didn’t see it that way, but then again, her enmity toward the Framework – and the entity who’d created it – was well-documented. More, he couldn’t argue that it wasn’t justified. She had every right to be resentful and angry, given that she’d been sentenced to an afterlife in Hell. She had literally been tortured until she’d become a demoness. If that didn’t foster resentment, then nothing would.

Regardless, Zeke didn’t see it as sadism; rather, he saw it as just one more facet of training. Perhaps it would be more painful, but that was fine. He could handle that. But for now, he needed to rest and recover; otherwise, he’d never survive. To that end, he sank down into the healing waters and focused on his convalescence.