Book 2 - Chapter 83 (Patreon)

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A little over fifteen minutes had passed.

Fifteen more before the penalty for [Force Multiplier] is no longer in play. A crucial point so he could use the skill without getting crippled by the penalty. Getting the penalty wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it would involve ingesting pills to keep himself alive.

It was not a situation he wanted to be in this early. It would not bode well to increase his impurity this early… and the Elders who helped to heal him did mention that a repeat of his pill-popping spree in the Shard would leave him genuinely crippled.

Apparently, repeatedly introducing impurities to his body makes it more susceptible to the effects—a reverse tolerance.

William stiffened when the egg started to ping him. He instantly sent it back to the spatial stone and strained his senses to try and pinpoint where the movement was happening.

The problem was he couldn’t see or hear anything out of place. It was dead silence, other than his own heartbeat.

A few seconds later, William heard it. The faintest of thumps, heavy footsteps that were at the edge of his hearing range.

He stared at the massive hole he accidentally made in the wall. Something would be coming through that.

William pushed himself off the corner and walked to the center of the hall. There would be a fight, there was no doubt about that. He needed to find out what he was fighting to create a plan of action.

He peered into the hole, only seeing darkness. However, the footsteps were getting louder. His mind formed an image of a lumbering giant.

William saw its eyes before anything else. Green. Flaming green. Literally.

The next thing he saw was the basic status.

[Species: Stone Puppet | Level: 148]

It looked like a bunch of rocks put together. No, that did a disservice to whoever created this puppet.

The stones that made up its body were smoothened and shaped to look vaguely humanoid. A glow came from what looked like veins of jade inlaid across its body, a soft green that made the puppet’s body visible.

The green flames where the eyes should be were connected to all the veins, which were at their densest on the featureless face.

[Force Multiplier] would be unnecessary, and the Elemental Gauntlet likely wouldn’t be too effective. His Strength should be enough to take care of this, with Qi-reinforced fists, of course.

“Are you alone?” William asked, because why not. It might be helpful to find out if it could understand human speech.

The Stone Puppet let out a low, rumbling growl that sounded like boulders grinding against each other. It was fitting.

William kept track of the mental timer as it broke the wall further to enter the hall. Around thirteen minutes until [Force Multiplier] was free to use without penalty.

“I assume you are,” William spoke again. The puppet's reply was the jade veins lighting up a brilliant green.

“Fuck!” He grunted as he leaped in the air, just in time to avoid getting skewered by the spikes that shot up below him.

It was the stone that made up the floor, but it had a green tint, making it obvious what the cause was.

The puppet growled as the jade veins dimmed, the spikes retreating at the same time.

William landed softly a little further away from his previous spot and stared at the puppet warily. This wouldn’t be a melee like he would have preferred. He would have had an advantage if that was the case with his speed, and that was how he planned to take the puppet down.

Thankfully, the attack it had just used had a telltale sign that would be impossible to miss. The delay was enough that he could avoid it while being completely unprepared. He was still confident, even if it was capable of being a bit faster.

Now, figure out its stats— mainly health— with [Observe].

[Observe not available on automatons]

William cursed under his breath. The system had only allowed [Observe] on living beings before. Still, he thought the Stone Puppet qualified since it had a basic status.

The green veins started to glow again. He was more than prepared to jump to avoid the spikes, but that would have been a terrible mistake.

Four green, foot-long spears shot toward him from the puppet. His eyes widened briefly before he darted to the side, yelping when he had to make a sudden change, stomp his foot onto the floor, and shoot backward toward the edge of the hall.

Stone spikes pierced upwards where his body had been. He had gotten away mostly unharmed, but his foot was left with a deep cut.

[-40 HP]

He had pushed off the floor so hard that he couldn’t stop himself from crashing into the wall at full speed. Unlike when he punched a hole in the wall, he currently didn’t have the strength that [Force Multiplier] gave him.

The wall won the clash.

[-50 HP]

William didn’t allow himself to linger on the sharp pain and moved away from the wall to avoid being an easy target. The Stone Puppet had multiple ranged attacks and could combine them. The spears would be an issue, to say the least.

It was much faster than the floor spikes, and that would be a headache to avoid if he was too close to it. The problem was that there was no doubt he would have to close the gap to damage it in any way.

The Stone Puppet made a rumbling sound, its shoulders shaking slightly. William realized that it was laughing.

It honestly made him wary, even more than he already was. If this was it having some fun, what would it be like when it stopped playing games.

Spiritual Energy: 1002/1130 (20% per Hour)

There were about ten minutes left before [Force Multiplier] was penalty-free. Before that, he needed to test the Stone Puppet to see if it was necessary. Another option was the Elemental Gauntlet, but he had no idea if that would be useful.

The Stone Puppet stopped its rumbling laugh and slowly moved toward him.

William made up his mind. He needed the puppet to show what it was truly capable of, which meant putting himself in harm's way.

The floor cracked beneath his feet as he sprinted to the Stone Puppet. The green veins started to glow brightly immediately, more than either of the times before, so he expected more than just two attacks.

William shifted his body slightly, barely avoiding the spears shot at him with speeds far, far faster than before. Still, it avoided all eight that the puppet created. He ticked that off as two attacks.

His assumption of expecting more was correct.

William jumped well before the floor spike could ever hope to make contact, putting him directly above the Stone Puppet. His attention was on two spots.

There was a cluster of jade veins near the puppet’s neck and an area that was entirely devoid of it. He wanted to find out if either was a weakness.

William turned to his ‘weak’ martial skills—the basic ones he had disparaged so much recently: [Thunderous Palm], [Thunderous Kick], and [Earth-Shaking Stomp].

His hope was for them to be enough so he wouldn’t have to resort to anything more taxing on his Spiritual Energy.

His Qi-reinforced foot stomped on the puppet’s shoulder. Chips of rock fell off its body as it let out an annoyed growl, but it didn’t make to attack; it only defended poorly with a slow-moving arm.

William gritted his teeth as he avoided the arm and descended to the floor, slamming his palm with every ounce of his strength into the cluster of nerves at the edge of its neck. That was far more effective.

The Stone Puppet roared as the right side of its body went limp, the previously glowing veins turning grey in color as if they were dead.

He shoved his surprise away and went on a frenzy. His speed allowed him to literally circle around the Stone Puppet while easily avoiding its slow, pathetic attempts at defense.

William’s palm struck at every jade vein cluster exposed on the puppet’s body. With each destruction, the Stone Puppet became more lethargic.

It eventually deteriorated to the point where all it could go was glare at him as if it could murder him with its fiery green eyes. That might be possible for all he knew, so he was watchful of that.

“This is what you have to offer and you were that confident?” William asked rhetorically, as he warily eyed the last cluster of the puppet, right on its face. He fully expected a desperate last-ditch attempt.

William slammed his palm into its featureless face—other than the green flame eyes—and blinked in shock at the result.

The green flames died immediately.

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