Chapter 14 #4
Even as it spun, Alex sensed the faint discordant notes within his cable, within himself, that desperately needed to be harmonized.
So he paid no attention to his body now surrounded by impossibly thick thorn-covered brambles somehow filling the entire warehouse, as if the forest or the memory of that ancient woodland knew he needed safety and shelter.
He was now utterly and completely vulnerable to his foes.
Should Nili fail to eliminate any final fleeing agent, should any hidden foe successfully traverse the blooming warehouse and find his prone form…
And it didn’t matter one iota as Alex did his best not to be swept away by the massive singularity he sensed was just a single nightmare away from forming, struggling not to be consumed by his own mad daring, refusing to see any path forward save ascension, right here and now, just days after his first Silver-tier breakthrough, upon the pyre of his recently slaughtered foes.
And if he failed to harmonize his super cable in time…
A cold chill wracked his soul. Suddenly, for the first time, the very first time, he had a tiny bit of sympathy for the gods that were so utterly opposed to his very existence as he sensed the nature of the streams of endless potential flooding his super cable with such potency.
A flood that only grew as he continued to forge and hone his abilities and himself.
It was a truth he tried so hard to push away, yet was reminded of every time his third eye was pointed inward.
Countless millions of souls.
Each one to have fallen when an infernally tainted gate was destroyed, a malicious god critically maimed, and nearly two hundred million lives, many of them exceedingly powerful cultivators, lost in a battle between Fox and General that was just one of innumerable battles they had fought through countless ages.
Souls that were inexorably drawn to the pristine dream of his core.
Souls that had given him the power to break free of a trap worthy of the gods.
Power that he must now do all he could to channel into pristine advancement, lest he be destroyed by his own daring and take a sizable chunk of this desert realm with what would be a shockingly violent exit.
And that final flickering thought more than any other forced Alex to focus on his own growth, his own forced evolution, to review the flow of combat and his growing mastery over the storm that was now incorporating ever more elements of his being as discordant notes shifted to pristine perfection once more, his soul stabilized, his potency harmonized.
Even as his mind flickered with awful visions of Nili on a desperate, futile quest to sniff out all the rats before they could warn the nest, only to be trapped and cut down by Dongfang Hong’s forces at the last possible second, just before they flooded countless underground tunnels and took over the entire city by storm.
Thousands dead as the night air rang with the screams of the vanquished and the fires of the fallen.
All his friends shrieking for mercy, Sunlay looking the furthest thing from a noblewoman and very much like a panicked girl as she gazed his way with panicked eyes before she was ritually disemboweled, her head stuck on a pike before her remains were thrown on a pyre.
It was a nightmare he desperately pushed aside, focused only on maintaining inner harmony, channeling the furious surges of potency he had catalyzed by walking the Path of Peril yet again…
Until at last he received the notification he had become increasingly desperate for, struggling to harmonize his cable, fearing his hunger for advancement had just doomed an entire city—a single mistake costing him absolutely everything—when the pressure left as abruptly as pulling himself free of nightmare.
Dread became wonder in the blink of an eye as he locked in all his gains with a super cable that was now stronger and more harmonious than ever before. A cable that would now be far less likely to erupt with absolutely catastrophic results…
And he was one step closer to achieving the glorious heights of Gold and finally being strong enough to protect all his friends.
Or so he desperately hoped.
You have dared to push yourself to unfathomable heights, just days after breaking through to Silver.
Congratulations! Absolute annihilation has been avoided!
You have successfully achieved Rank 2 Silver as a Disciple of the Boundless Path!
He could sense it then, the flood of endless potential to shape and redefine himself and his abilities as his massive silver super cable spun faster and more harmoniously than ever before, the physical manifestation of the boon his soul had already claimed.
His mind flashed over the battles he had so recently fought, reviewing every strike, counter, and riposte.
Feeling the flow of every Qi discipline he had used to survive the increasingly perilous encounters.
Until the final battle where he had truly been forced to push his foundational abilities to the utmost.
It would be so easy to enhance and strengthen his connection to the storm, the flow of wind, water, and so many other elements in blows and counters he had embraced while fighting for his life against the foul predator whose beauty had faded so quickly to reveal the twisted ugliness hiding within.
So, too, his communion with the endless forests of a lifetime ago had proven vital.
Who knew what glorious breakthrough awaited at Rank 10 of what was now effectively Forest Flight and Bullrush linked together?
And Black Swan. So close! A Rank 10 epiphany would have profound effects on just how far he could push that gloriously deadly skill, he was sure of it!
And Wind Walking at Rank 8… With two more ranks, would he fly as fast as the phoenix?
Then there was Doom Blade, his enhanced Wind Blade, capable of fifteen feet of bone-shearing deadliness in Dark Qi–rich environments.
Not to mention Lightning Blast… so many skills begging for the next evolution.
So many worthy places to put his points.
All it would take was just a couple points carefully placed in a few choice skills that would allow him to achieve borderline transcendent breakthroughs.
And yet somehow he found it within himself to avoid plucking free the delicious fruit begging to be harvested, no matter how sweet those bounties would be.
He turned his focus instead to what truly mattered.
Nurturing the roots and foundation of his abilities, strengthening them in ways that might make all the difference in the battles to come.
Because as unspeakably deadly an edge as Rank 10 in Doom Blade might grant him, skills, unlike Silver-tier attribute gains, could be learned and honed with time and patience.
Even if it took closer to months or years than the days or weeks he had needed to first ascend those increasingly challenging ranks.
The wisdom that had stayed his hand upon achieving Rank 1 in Silver was just as true now as it had been then.
He had absolutely no idea how much Gold- or Jade-tier ranks might cost him.
It might require every point he had banked.
So, best to strengthen his foundation and increase his Attributes right now as best he could, so he didn’t end up stunting his growth, unable to meet the requirements for Rank 5 in the next tier of attributes when he finally broke through. Assuming he could ever break through.
Yet regardless of the uncertainties of Gold, his next move was clear.
Draconic Ancestry boon in effect! You continue to embrace your heritage.
You have achieved Rank 3 Silver Strength for 2 points.
You have achieved Rank 3 Silver Vitality for 2 points.
Peril’s Path has given you added insights into the nature of speed!
You have achieved Rank 3 Silver Quickness for 4 points.
8 of 16 Ascension Points spent.
And much as before, he received an additional welcome message.
Finesse has gone up in sync with the other 3 major physical attributes!
Alex ignored the pounding of his heart, as much soul as physical body, all his focus on the final eight points rattling like dice, eager to be released into the world.
Exactly what he needed if he were to embrace yet another ascension that hinted at such glorious possibilities, assuming he wasn’t playing the fool yet again.
Yet the possibility of doubling his power in a single level was a prize so tempting that he just couldn’t resist plucking that golden apple of possibility free of prudence’s bowers and taking a single glorious bite.
Praying to the ultimate wise fool that it wouldn’t be his last.
You are attempting to ascend your physical attributes a second time in a single level-up!
Alex gasped, overcome by a shiver of wonder quickly transformed to sheer exhilaration.
Because far from the fierce struggle of resistance he had feared—wondering if he’d risked a fool’s ultimate folly to force that growth—his spiritual body and the shell housing his soul greedily drank in the potency.
Filling him out, his potential out, exactly as it had before.
You have achieved Rank 4 Silver Strength!
You have achieved Rank 4 Silver Vitality!
You have achieved Rank 4 Silver Quickness!
Symmetry has been achieved. Finesse has increased one additional rank.
You have achieved Rank 3 Silver Finesse!
Yet even as the messages washed over him, Alex saw it all so clearly. Felt it all so clearly. Reliving his duel with Mongoose, now seeing firsthand the striking difference his enhanced attributes made.
What had seemed devastatingly fast the last time he had replayed the frenetic pace of combat now slowed in his mind’s eye.
His foe’s imperfect form and minute overextensions were suddenly plain as day to spot.
Alex was able to pivot his fangtian ji past his foe’s guard with surprising ease, lashing out with a devastating barrage of cleaving blows, his weapon effortlessly dancing about his foe’s desperately flailing blades.