F-Rank Frank: Chapter 43 Polarity (Patreon)

Chapter 43

Polarity

Now that he was here, all he had to do was place his hand upon the pillar, receive the blessing and be on his way.

There was of course just one problem.

It was a rather big problem, for once Frank drained the central pillar of its highly purified earth Qi, Frank would weaken the barrier around him that had thus far kept the surging worker insects at bay.

But once he consumed the energy, he would likely be surged by a wave of monsters that would no longer suffer from radiation poisoning, or whatever issues the larger ones faced before their slow agonizing deaths.

Realizing this, Frank paused as he debated on a plan.

At the moment, Frank felt that he was at an impasse.

Before him stood a pillar of Earth Energy that would give him both a direct physical boost to his Attributes.

This momentary pause led Frank to his second realization.

Or rather this was not a true realization, but it was something that he just now had a moment to fully comprehend.

By draining this pillar, he would gain a marking, likely of earth energy. Meaning that the other pillars likely also had similar blessings for the different elements and forces. Meaning that somewhere in these pillars was a Life affinity pillar that was ready for him to access.

Similarly, Frank also realized that the seven natural pillars were not alone. As he could feel the corruptive pull of the dark pillars of corruption even now.

Realizing that for the moment he was safe here, both from the corrupted monsters, and from any would be assassins trying to kill him in the main set of pillars that these insects let the seven other cultivators access and drain, Frank paused.

This was when he realized that his unique constitution let him do things that others would not dare.

What was it that the Dark Queen had called him, while using his apparent permanent connection with Constance? A Realm Walker?

Yes, that sounded about right, he was a realm walker, one who was able to travel both paths of life and death equally.

Frank had no illusions to him being truly special. He was far too socially aware for that.

At most he was seen as an interesting project or side piece, one to push out and test, but would just as easily be given up by either side.

This was the impression that he got from his conversations with his current leadership, who seemed to treat him as an annoying bug.

Of course, the irony of the situation also just hit Frank. Where here he was, a bug for his society sent here in an attempt to regain some power and hopefully be somewhat relevant to any future units with additional attributes. While he was literally fighting against mutated bugs. Not just any bugs, but ones who had been left here with a form of intelligent design to their layout and operations, but bugs nonetheless, and ones who much like Frank were seen as an acceptable loss.

Realizing this, Frank felt... well to be honest, he didn’t know how he felt about the situation.

Humanity was being pushed to the brink of extinction. Corruption and perceived biases existed everywhere in human society, but that wasn’t all. In a world where Luther could be seen as a martyr, and someone who still needed to be avenged even from beyond the grave, that caused Frank to realize that this was one of the last few times when he might otherwise be able to fully take advantage of his realm walker status.

What he meant by this, was the fact that he was the only one who could not just get seven blessings from the pillars, but he could if he tried, get all fourteen.

While he wasn’t exactly certain what gaining the bonuses from all fourteen pillars would offer, he knew that it was definitely worth trying.

The reason was simple, as a perfect tier increase from one tier to the next would offer a total of +3 to all physical Attributes.

Meaning that the bonuses offered from this experience were equivalent to going up two full Tier Levels in any realm of cultivation. That is, if he didn’t take into account the bonuses from the darkness attributed pillars. Pillars that he thought would be able to also increase his attributes in meaningful ways.

Potentially, Frank was looking at a possible increase in attributes that would be equivalent to three or more tiers of progress. This wouldn’t be much compared to some of the truly grand monsters of society, the absolute monsters of the battlefield, but for someone like Frank who was just staring their evolutionary journey into the realm of cultivation, this was huge.

Also, just looking at this first earthen pillar, Frank couldn’t help but think that there was more to this pillar in particular.

After having a moment to process everything, Frank came up with what he thought would be a fool proof plan.

For the moment, he would leave this stationary earth pillar alone. Partly due to its ability to fend off the warrior insects that were all but champing at the bit to come near him without essentially committing suppuku to get at him.

This led Frank to his first task, namely for him to go lower and see where the corrupting jelly that the guardians had been feeding the larva of the hive came from.

From what Frank could sense, he felt he already knew the answer for this, as deep down below was so much corruption that it almost made his skin tingle and teeth chatter from the possible increase.

Going down, Frank was almost surprised to find that a few of the larger guardians were still down below, apparently their older bodies were either too large to go through the tunnels that Frank could now walk in while standing fully upright. Or these creatures were so degraded from prolonged exposure to the dark pillar, that even their bodies were finally breaking down. There could also be the fact that this was what the hive did with the elderly, those who were still seen as useful, but were otherwise unable to further contribute to the hive as a whole.

Regardless of the reason why there were a few larger guardians down here, their existence was short lived, as they all carried and were coated in thick layers of dark energy.

If Frank had more time, he would try to understand what it was that these elder guardian insects were doing to process the dark material that they were seemingly harvesting straight from the bottom portion of the pillar.

Mentally, he mapped out the entire pillar and found that unlike what he originally thought, there were not two distinct pillars, but rather one continuous pillar.

From deep below the ground, the pillar slanted in at an angle away from the center mass of pillars. Then snaking upwards, the pillar turned and eventually changed to be able to provide pure earth Qi energy.

The entire thing made no sense to Frank, at least not yet.

For the more he tried to comprehend what he was sensing, the less it seemed to make sense.

In fact, there almost seemed to be a symmetry between the two halves of the pillar, both lower and upper portions were both in harmony and seemingly exact opposites of each other.

However, first thing was first. Before Frank could go any further down, he needed to remove any obstacles and with his newfound distance, finding and targeting the insects that were covered in unclaimed dark energy was a breeze.

From there, it was just a matter of agitating the dark energy from its current restful but corrupting state to a more active state, and…

BOOM!

Shatter.

The ground shook, and once again Frank could all but sense the dark crystalline structures that also lined these larger hallways break free as well.

Though rather than the bright ambient brown energy of earth that he saw and felt above, this was a slightly darker tint of brown.

As he made his way down further, the brown hues slowly faded away further and further, until he was once again in complete darkness.

This was when Frank wondered if these elderly guardians were also blind? Or if they were blind would they be forced down here? Also, did this mean that the further down the warriors got, the larger in size they would get?

So many questions arose in Frank’s mind as he tried to process what he was now experiencing around him.

His primitive mind told him to be weary of monsters that might lurk in the darkness. However, Frank felt his own rational mind fighting against these impulses, as he knew for a fact that the meanest thing down here was him, especially at this layer.

A layer so deep that even the insects left to fend for themselves had a hard time coping.

Tingling.

There was a slight burning sensation that began to affect the outside of his skin. Almost like a deep residual heat that almost threatened to burn away his bones.

This was all psychological, but Frank could feel it. Only after a moment or two, did Frank wonder if this was the lingering traces of his own attack, where he violently shifted the stability of the dark energy.

Before he could get too lost in yet another useless thought, Frank decided to press forward quickly. Partially due to the heat, but most of this newfound impulse to get out and leave here quickly was due to the rotting bug stench that now filled his nostrils.

Squish.

Even walking through the scrambled and broken remains of the giant insects created unnerving sounds that seemed to echo and pulse wildly down here.

He found himself having to climb on top of and then over the last and largest of the insects. One who was so large and who had apparently been here for so long that it apparently had part of its body melt and merge into the ground around it.

Pulling his shirt over his face to help avoid the putrid smell of rot, Frank pressed on and quickly found himself at his final destination when he made it to the downward sloping side of the giant insect’s body.

Sparkling Darkness.

Even in complete darkness the pillar before him glowed.

It took Frank a moment to realize that part of the glowing darkness around him was due to his suddenly bright and vibrant hair.

As if his hair knew just how much latent power resided before him.

For a moment, Frank paused, wondering if he should press forward. This process, the whole thing, even coming down here to the dark pillars, this was nearly suicide.

Yet, staring at the dark energy before him, Frank knew he would survive. That or he would die very quickly, as was seemingly testified by the giant insect below him that seemed to have melted after coming into contact with the pillar.

Of course, there were a few things that were different between Frank and the dead creature below him. First, Frank knew about cultivation, at least he thought he did. He understood the way the dark energy before him needed to move constantly, that to pause, hesitate, or momentarily lose your focus with such energy was death. 

Frank also knew that none of these insects were marked with any of the blessings he had received. Blessings that seemed to both help and have faint fragments of understanding embedded within them.

Pausing for a moment, Frank considered his options.

He even contemplated heading back up and taking the sure thing with just the earth energy pillar above. But then pausing, he could see that there was also earth energy here, well what had to be the polar opposite in terms of energy charge of the earth energy above.

Finally, Frank found himself calling out his own nature, his own purpose that had somehow gotten him here.

“You’re already a dead man walking.” Frank stated, then reaching up, he felt for his badge of Exoneration, the one that noted he had walked Death Row and survived.

Then he remembered his mad dive to take down the giant serpent of his home. One that nearly killed him and like would have, had he not been such an unrelenting bastard.

Smiling, Frank even remembered the look of shock on Luther Camello’s face, when he refused to die and instead took down Luther before passing out.

“You only die once, everything else is just the matinee to the main event.” Frank said, quoting a phrase he heard, or maybe read during his studies. With that last thought, Frank reached forward and placed his hand on the dark pillar that glowed with corrupted earth essence.

The moment he did, a message flashed before his eyes. Something so quick that he didn’t have time to fully read the entire message. Instead, the only reason he knew there was a message provided at all, was the way that the words seemed to burn their way into his retinas, after being blinded for so long.

Negative Polarity: Earth Energy Pillar Identified.

Extracting energy now…

After that, Frank felt his entire status screen flash to life before his eyes.

Name: Frank Fotos

Status: Re-Awakened.

MOS: Combat Medic

Body Cultivation Level XII. Core Value XV.

Talent: F-Rank Energy Eyes**, Regeneration**, Poison Resistance**, Death Resistance**

S-Rank: (Unknown**), (Unknown**)

Strength: 12 (Above Average) + 36 = 47

Dexterity: 13 (Above Average) + 36 = 48

Agility: 13 (Above Average) + 36 = 48

Mind: 11 (Average) + 36 = 47

Power: 57 (Way Above Average)

Willpower: 19 (Above Average)

Hidden Primary Power Rating: 24 / 100.

Hidden Auxiliary Power Rating: 37 / 100.

Markings:

Greater Healing Mark: +15% Power, +15% Efficacy

Dark Warlock Marking: +15% Control 

Dark Queen Marking: +15% Power

That was it, everything he already knew he had accomplished up until this point. Then he saw the new message.

There was of course more, as Frank felt waves of energy enter his body. Waves that instantly burned and pushed as his meridians the way a burger laced with bacon grease would push at his arteries.

Grumble.

Just the thought of food, caused Frank’s stomach to rumble to consciousness. He had been pushed for so long while out here that it was almost like he was back at home, in the deep dark slums. Being one of the final bastions of civilization, Frank knew that food was scarce. Though he had an easier time adapting to the meager conditions than many of the other seemingly pampered cultivators who had spent their entire lifetimes up here on the surface where facilities like the Golden Arches were seemingly available everywhere.

Frank was just about to wonder why he was suddenly thinking about food? He knew there was something that he was avoiding trying to think about, as his mind had created this secret alcove. This was the same mental escape point he went to when he was being abused by Luther and his cronies. So automatic was the impulse to get here, that Frank often lost track of what was happening to him on the outside.

Here he was free.

Here he would never face the true pain of life, or so he thought.

Increased Surge.

There was an intense increase in both the amplitude and frequency of the energy entering Frank’s body. This violent spike was enough to shatter even his mental cave of relief. A sign that even his own mind saw just how dire the situation was now becoming.

He was foolish, this was stupid.

Then he felt yet another burst of energy, as he felt markers being burned into his body. This was similar to, but different from his previous breakthrough where he got a specialization.

If he had to put into account the new state of his being, it would have to be raw.

Almost like he was being branded with a hot iron poker from the underside of his skin.

He felt the marking flare up in his right arm, the arm he used to touch the pillar.

On his arm, he saw and felt a dark outline of a mountain appear, just under his skin.

The pain was almost unbearable.

Panting.

Only now did Frank realize that he was cultivating quickly, far more quickly than he ever had in his life. Just keeping up this frenetic pace made him feel exhausted.

Then finally, he got the message he had been expecting.

Well not the one he had expected, but a message letting him know that his time here was finally done.

Polarity Markers: Negative Earth Energy

Effect: Missing other half. Collect other half to gain full resonance

With that, Frank felt the burning in his arm subside, as his aching body collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

Trembling.

Frank felt his whole body shiver and convulse violently, as he felt his body shake and slowly get more wedge in between melted layers of guardian insect exoskeleton that had been molded and formed to the shape of the dark pillar.

Exhaling, Frank, let his mind finally relax, no longer needing to shelter the rest of his consciousness from the pain he was experiencing.   

Then taking a moment to collect himself, he closed his eyes and rested.

Darkness.

The world was dark and completely devoid of any shades of light now. Even the lingering traces of corrupted earth energy, or as his new marker seemed to indicate the Negative Earth Energy that had flooded this chamber a moment ago was now gone. Leaving behind only darkness, and the lingering residue of corrupted energy.

Struggling to get up and get out of the wedged body and the wall, Frank fought clawed and scrambled his way forward. Knowing that pausing for even a moment would likely mean his death.

This was the moment he had been preparing for, the moment all the instructors had said would come. The moment he drained the ambient energy of the pillar, the nearby monsters would immediately surge towards him and attempt to bury him.

While he had been underpowered, and not fully capable of handling the power provided, Frank was adamant that he would not die from lack of effort on his part.

Climbing forward until he was at the top part of the dead guardian’s carapace, he waited for death to come.