Chapter 25 - Deduction

Chapter 25: Chapter 25 - Deduction

System...this is too much...can you just show me the most recent upgrades to my skills, relative to the point in time when Impact Resistance evolved to the Silver Rank?

[Request acknowledged.]

[The skill [Enhanced Impact Resistance I] has been upgraded to [Enhanced Impact Resistance III] ]

[The skill [Enhanced Pierce Resistance I] has been upgraded to [Enhanced Pierce Resistance III] ]

[The skill [Enhanced Slash Resistance I] has been upgraded to [Enhanced Slash Resistance III] ]

[The skill [Ice Resistance VII] has been upgraded to [Ice Resistance X] ]

[The skill [Decay Resistance VII] has been upgraded to [Decay Resistance X] ]

Enhanced...Resistances...huh.

I knew the skill names had new prefixes to them, but I had chosen to ignore everything when they first came up mid-battle.

First things first...

I pulled up the skill description for [Enhanced Impact Resistance III] to understand what kind of changes the evolution might have brought about.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

[Enhanced Impact Resistance III] (Silver)

Per Level of Impact Resistance, gain 10% Damage Negation against all Impact Damage classified within the Silver Rank.

Current Damage Negation: 30%

Immune to Impact Damage classified at the Bronze Rank and below.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pretty much as expected then...

My Goal was slowly taking form. I was inching closer with every battle. Already, I was virtually immune to most damage in the Bronze Rank, and it had only been two days since I arrived in this world.

But I couldn’t become complacent. A single Tremor Class beast could maintain enough damage output to keep up with my healing. That meant my previous estimations still stood true. At most, I would only survive Wave 6, and that too, because I knew my resistances would continue to grow.

But if I even attempted to go up against a Crisis-Class beast with my current Rank and Stats, I would be killed far faster than I could regenerate, because my resistance skills were currently useless against anything higher ranked than me.

That is indeed problematic. I can’t expect to always be matched against people or beasts that are strictly in my rank...in fact that’s where my gift will always give me an edge...the real problem would be fighting above my weight-class...

There was a good chance a future evolution would address that particular issue, because they would be pointless otherwise. The nature of this world was that the strong preyed on the weak. What use was resistance if you had none against the strong?

But I couldn’t just leave it up to chance.

Yet another reason to figure out how to channel Mana.

I could tell whatever I was doing was producing strength beyond the Gold Rank. No matter how I looked at it, even Freya, who was at the peak of the Gold Rank, couldn’t have killed that centipede in a single strike. Unlike the gorge wolves, this beast’s carapace was rock-solid.

I hadn’t used a weapon. I hadn’t used a technique. Just raw strength, through a punch. One could argue that Freya was a speed-based fighter, but looking at my own Attributes...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

[Details]

Name: Axel Vorous

Titles: Professional Crash-Tester (Legendary)

Species: Human

Stage: Bronze | Level 3 (300/750)

Health: 47/63

Stamina: 21/63

Mana: 63/73

Gift: Adaptive Regeneration (????)

[Attributes | AP: 0]

Strength: 12 (13.56)

Speed: 12

Mind: 7 (7.35)

Constitution: 5 (6.3)

[Skills]

(Unique) : Mana Strain Resistance I

(Silver) : Enhanced Pierce Resistance III - Enhanced Impact Resistance III - Enhanced Slash Resistance III

(Bronze

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

These stats weren’t particularly biased towards strength either. The difference was only 13%. Regardless, I could leave the semantics for later. I quickly looked through the changes, noting how my skills were all neatly separated in descending order, and how my stats had changed just barely due to the increased level of [Impact Resistance].

Alright. System-related things have been caught up with.

I stared up at the ceiling, lost in contemplation, trying to remember how I channeled Mana. I didn’t remember exactly how it felt, only that it burned... and that I was angry.

Anger...could that be the driver?

Anything was possible, but it still didn’t fully slot in. I had been angry long before the Mana flared. I had been punching and roaring for so long I completely lost track of time, and even then I continued to fail.

There had to be something else.

I thought about it logically. What was the natural progression of events after that shouting?

*Anger. Frustration. Hate. These were the main emotions driving my actions. They fed off of each other, and grew, but even then...

I deduced there had to have been something like a tipping point. A point where even that hate grew insufficient to hold whatever it is I that I wanted.

What I wanted...What was I trying to do..?

I had wanted to channel mana, yes, but...to what end?

To win? No...that didn’t match up with the events of the Third Wave...so what did I really want in those moments?

I kept turning the memories over until the shape of it snapped into focus.

To Vent. An outlet for the anger.

I see now.

Destruction.

That was the core want. The target didn’t matter. If it couldn’t be broken, then I would break myself trying.

The thought resonated.

What I wanted, at its core, was the complete and utter destruction of whatever stood in my way. And if it couldn’t be destroyed, then I would destroy myself trying. It was an odd amalgamation of emotion and instinct.

And yet...it aligns with who I was. With who I am.

The experiences of life constantly made me forget it, but the being that was myself, was one created for the sole purpose of diving into, and enduring destruction. My purpose was to be destroyed, or to survive it.

I knew for certain now. I could feel it in my core. The previously dormant strings of mana now danced about as if in applause. As if in recognition of my deduction.

That basal instinct, that repressed urge to destroy...that was the driver. The activator.

Now, all that was left was to master it, and I’d become capable of surviving things I wasn’t supposed to.

My eyes finally pulled away from the blank ceiling, and back to the Countdown timer.

[Time Remaining: 2 Minutes 12 seconds]

Not much time left.

A quick analysis of my body confirmed I was fully healed, save for my severed arm.

I bounced to my feet, and walked over to the dismembered left arm, picked it up, then went to find my axe that had been kicked a distance away.

The black-steel weapon felt just a little lighter now, but not enough to make much of a difference, functionally.

I looked down to my left shoulder--- the pauldron that should’ve been protecting it had been sliced to pieces somewhere along the way, only leaving a singular fragment of the reinforced hide that hung loose by the tip of a string.

I looked over at the other protective pieces, and unfortunately, the rest of the set wasn’t much better.

My apologies, Gerard. It was nice while it lasted.

There wasn’t much I could do about the armor’s state. This much was inevitable.

I lifted my axe, blade facing myself as it hovered above my left shoulder. I had to re-attach the limb or regeneration would take too long.

I braced myself, then let the axe’s weight do the work.

SHING!

It cut the re-growing stump clean off, and I immediately pressed the bloody stumps of my shoulder and the arm together. Within seconds, it was as good as new.

Next, I rushed back to my pack in a bid to recover my stamina, but I realized I only had about half my rations remaining. So despite my low stamina, I decided to hold out on eating for now.

I shot a glance back to the timer.

[Time Remaining: 45 seconds]

My thoughts returned to my discovery. To how the Mana had resonated.

My grip tightened around the axe as I fell into stance.

Let’s test this out, shall we?

I steadied my breath, eyes closed as I looked inward.

Destruction.

At first, there was nothing. Only silence and the beats of my heart. It took a few seconds as I pictured it. Visualized it.

My most destructive attacks. The sound of the impact. The cracks they created. The sheer satisfaction of it all.

The strings in my core stirred, faint vibrations running through like a plucked chord. They thrummed in rhythm with my heartbeat, hesitant but growing louder. I pressed harder into the thought, into the want. The need to break, to shatter, to destroy.

The axe in my grip went perfectly still.

And then my core came alive.

The strings vibrated, thrumming eagerly, pulling at me from inside. For a moment, I steeped in it. What had been immovable now begged to be called out. To be used, its desires fulfilled.

[Rest Period has ended.]

[Initializing the Fifth Wave...]

I knew then, control was possible. Given enough time to focus, I could call it.

And in ten seconds, when two Tremor-class beasts swarmed into this chamber...

I would wield it.