Chapter 548 - My way

Warning! The 10th wave is now in progress.

At the same time as I get a notification, an aftershock is sent through our area. A mushroom-like purple and white cloud explodes far in the distance. So far away, a part of me wonders how tall that mushroom cloud must be.

Most of the horizon gains that shimmering purple and white color before another explosion ensues. As if someone drew a dark blue line high from the sky and connected it to the ground where the mushroom formed. A high-pitched noise rings out, followed by three shockwaves in quick succession as three more blue lines are drawn into the same area.

From my spot next to the heart, I look into the sky.

Lissandra hovers there, pale blue mana flickering around her feet and hands. She looks toward the explosion.

She observes as more effects of the explosion are about to reach our “territory,” only for them to be stopped by an enormous barrier—either Lumorans or Mimics set it up quickly so the attack doesn’t reach this place.

Even so, I don’t think she is satisfied judging by the expression she is making.

She lifts her arm toward the sky, and her Mana Heart beats. A monstrous amount of mana floods from her, compressed and still under her control, as it doesn’t even touch us or the surroundings. She grabs that mana, molds it, shifts it, controls it.

A single pulse in all directions is sent from her in the epicenter, expanding at an incredible speed that keeps increasing the farther it goes. It passes through our territory without affecting it at all, and when it exits, the mountain range nearby crumbles.

The tall, rocky mountains at that moment remind me more of a sandy castle blown away by a hurricane.

And the shockwave continues.

The nearby forest.

Another mountain range.

The huge lake.

All crumbling, blown away.

Then Lissandra, in one quick movement, puts her arm down and it all stops—the shockwave that was sent outward now gets pulled back at a much higher speed with a loud thump and a feeling of implosion.

My ears ring, and my body tumbles, the returning shockwave throws me off balance.

Lissandra doesn’t float there anymore. The warning was delivered.

I take my eyes off the sky and turn back to the heart, continuing to build on the base Lissandra left on it.

A few days longer and I will be ready.

***

Within my mind’s space, I appear in another place I recognize, the 4th floor.

This time Whitey is wearing clothes only people shouting “You can’t arrest me, my dad is a lawyer” would wear.

The desert is covered by the bodies of bus-sized ants, and in the distance, the First One, the pitch-black ant whose carapace seems to absorb the light, dukes it out with the Fallen Hero. The armor powered by the damaged heart of the Champion is in a stance that causes each of his strikes and punches to send shockwaves through the area. Dozens, hundreds of ant bodies are all around him.

The First One, through his skill, absorbs vitality and strength from the Colony and is able to face him.

Somewhere in the distance, another huge army of ants surrounds a group of demons. Multiple hearts beat and generate primordial energies some of them possess. In between them, there is also a younger Whitey. Unlike on the 1st floor, he stands tall, and his power surrounds him, even now clearly surpassing the remaining demons.

The monster bodies freeze in the air around him, Needle Point snipes ranged-attacking ants, and a seemingly undeveloped Wraith Step takes him all over the battlefield where he faces the most dangerous ants.

“We made the First One fight the Fallen Hero.” Whitey, sitting next to me, smirks. “Fucking ant followed us to wipe us out before heading to Virelia, and he thought the Fallen Hero was far away. Try to guess how we did it.”

His red eyes gleam in dark satisfaction, and his clothes emphasize the darkness of his demonic soul further.

“Whatever, I already have a lot of things to deal with and no mental capacity for this. Let’s just fight.”

“True human: I swing stick. I punch. I bite. Ugh ugh.”

“True demon, better at shit-talking than fighting.”

The desert around us explodes as we charge each other.

***

The lumoran Champion with the crystal arm now comes more often and seems more desperate.

We already opened the box she brought previously, using brute force, and it was empty.

I should have expected that, but in the same way as I feel amused, I feel frustrated.

As for the Cockroach, she met with the lumoran Champion only once, while surrounding them with a field that made listening or seeing through impossible. It took only a few seconds, but when the field disappeared, the Champion seemed in a better mood. Bowing to Lissandra, she then left. Something tells me that the show of power our Cockroach did, not that long ago, put her up higher in danger level than they expected.

I want to ask what the meeting was about, but I don’t think I will get an answer, so I just curse her in my head. Quietly, in case she can listen somehow.

***

Warning! The 11th wave is now in progress.

***

Warning! The 12th wave is now in progress.

***

The waves don’t have a schedule; sometimes there is a longer time in between them. We theorize it’s because a bigger group of Mimics is brought in.

At this point, it’s safe to say the war is in full swing. The lumorans still have the advantage thanks to it being their planet and their Absolute having some defensive mechanisms he can use, but the Mimics have bigger forces now.

Part of me wonders if being the Absolute of your planet gives you some advantage while you are on that planet. Maybe some boost. Maybe making a planet your domain through your connection to it as its Absolute.

It’s one of the things we often theorize about with the twins and Sophie while we work on preparations for me, which are close to being done.

Myrra is also somewhere away, together with Lily and Maya. Lissandra got bored, so she trains them. I can tell it’s not easy by how they look when they return to the house once every few days. As if the soul has been sucked out of their bodies. A tired expression that almost makes no sense considering how powerful their bodies are.

I think it’s safe to say everyone sparred with everyone. Izzy with Myrra, Sophie against Min-Jae, the twins against Maya, me against Tess, Tess against Izzy, Sophie against me. Etc. etc.

The improvements can be seen, as everyone gives feedback and learns to react to different types of attacks.

Lily cosplaying as a bulldozer.

Sophie’s mental warfare.

The twins’ illusions.

Maya’s ever-changing battle style.

My bombardments and flying.

And no one holds back, so there are wounds. Terrible ones and even death is not that far away—just a single mistake on either side would be fatal. But it’s not something we stop from happening. Tess pushes for it the same as I do.

I know I say it often, but group 4 is scary. Each and every single member of it. Even Izzy, who would be expected to be the weakest because of her age and [Empathy] skill.

But that same skill allows her to partially predict attacks of her opponents to the level where it is comparable to my kinetic senses that allow me to feel the slightest movements. Sometimes even better, as kinetic senses are easier to trick than whatever she is doing.

And her purple, green, and blue flame is comparable to my golden thermal energy.

Then there is also Noodle, who counts as her bond. Noodle is very durable and can absorb mana from some attacks. He can expand in size or shrink. He also has a storage of mana which he eats. That mana he can share with Izzy. Plus, he possesses the same flame.

I could go on in a similar way about everyone in the group, but the point should be clear.

Like that, just a few days remain. Until the second tournament where all 10 of Earth’s rounds will meet. All the people from Easy, Normal, Hard, and Hell difficulty. All the Beyonders.

Myrra is now one of our round’s Beyonders. The 10th one, the last spot.

She refuses to type in the Community, to the point that I wonder what alias she inherited from that Easy difficulty murderer’s status.

***

Later that night, the process starts. The preparations are done. We have trained for the process itself and even planned for errors. There are only a few people around me. Lily, Dennis, Aaron, and Sophie. I would say that Cockroach probably watching from somewhere too.

I plop down and slide deep into [Focus]. This time I power it with black mana. I “whiff” enough of it to last me probably the entire procedure, as I don’t think I will be so free to do it again once we start. My mid-Arcane passive helps me to endure it, and there are probably a hundred of Lily’s healing marks placed all over my body.

There are also two dozen of my left arms on a pile next to Lily. That amount of shit should be able to outheal an atomic bomb to the face.

Actually, would it?

I quickly shake my head and turn to my part in all of this, starting to finish the last touches, connecting it all, and kni…weaving Ley Lines.

The vortex core is gone. The Thermal part of the Thermokinetic Mana heart was removed the day before, now it is only a Kinetic Mana Heart, again. But an improved one with greater output, obviously.

Minion will be happy.

I close my eyes and nod while reducing my defenses and turning off passives.

Lily starts right away, and part of my chest disappears, opening it up and revealing my raw, beating heart.

Just for that short moment, a thought flashes in my mind.

How easy it would be to kill me now or cripple my Mana Heart for years.

Then Lily gets to work.

The new heart will be placed laterally to the original one and to the right of it. For that, Lily is using space between the ribs and existing organs. It will also allow it to be separated from critical structures. This heart won’t be connected to my veins at all.

Of course, there isn’t that much space, so Lily is compressing one of my lungs slightly. Apparently, it should be fine as they have excess capacity, and probably even more now with all these stats. She also has to remove a portion of the spleen on the left or the liver on the right. I leave that up to her.

When she is halfway done, I get into deploying structures I have prepared and stored in my mind. Using threads, I shield the area around where a new heart is going to go. I use [Knitting] and Mana Weaving to create something strongly inspired by my Mana Circuit, but this time for thermal energy.

This new system isn’t even close to being as well integrated as my circuit. There is much less of it, which will make fine control a bit more difficult, but these pathways are strong and will allow for the delivery of thermal energy. I also make sure they go through my body, head, limbs.

The rest will be upgraded later, based on the things this early version will lack or according to my needs.

I make sure all of it is separated as much as possible from the previous systems. I also don’t forget about dissipation nodes in case I might need to get rid of stored thermal energy. Despite Sophie’s suggestion, I do not make one near my ass and instead create them on the palms of my hands, soles of my feet, and one bigger one on my back.

Throughout this process, the twins continue to help me make it well connected to my body, while Sophie, who also has the plans, continues to check the reaction of my body to all this. She also points out slight mistakes or ideas for improvement.

Obviously, my body is getting fucked up during all of this. Lily tries to suppress flashes of any pain as much as possible and whatever damage I can’t deal with, she heals instead. She follows what I’m doing, fixing up the damage I leave in its wake, and stops the bleeding.

Once in a while, she by herself activates some of the healing marks to “revitalize” me.

When this is all near done, I extend more Ley Lines toward the heart on the ground, now thankfully cleaned. The threads connect to the heart, and I reactivate the structure that seals it up and is built on the one Lissandra left on it.

The threads that touch the heart all burn, and I cut the thread before that heat reaches my body.

For a moment, I stare at it.

Then I try again.

It all burns once more.

And again.

We make modifications, but the same thing repeats.

When Sophie shares another idea, I cut off the conversation.

So that’s how it is.

I have tried to go about this smartly and with preparation, but fuck it and fuck you 3rd Floor Nathaniel.

More of my mana compresses turning black and seeping into my body, powering my mind and my body. My thoughts go into overdrive and the world turns black and white. Within it, not only mana but even the heart has its vibrant color. The color of an exploding volcano radiating around it with each heartbeat.

I reach out, grab the heart, and chuck it into my chest. Then I use three healing marks to close the wound immediately, leaving the heart inside. I also cut off the remains of my now burned off hand before the heat spreads further.

Lily screams and reaches to open my chest to take the heart out. The twins also say something, but it all becomes distant.

All my passives reactivate, especially my newest one, Mana Wavelength Tyrant.

I teleport right over the lake and start dropping down, as the water around me immediately starts sizzling and continues even as I reach the deep bottom of it and sit there.

My mind races and continues to deal with the damage. [Focus], [Redistribution], [Eclipse], [Mana Domain], my passive—all work together to suppress the new heart in my chest, and I continue to redirect all the heat out of my body.

Even underwater, the rock underneath me starts cracking and melting. The sheer pressure evaporates the water around me, creating a bubble of air, and continues to evaporate the water that rushes in.

And I do it MY way.

I reconnect, I weave, I suppress, I build upon.

I fucking Knit.

All while healing mark after healing mark activates, and my body barely keeps itself together, overheated and burned. My Mana Cycling stops too, and all my mana surrounds me, fighting against it all as well.

Slowly, step after step, I adapt, fix the mistakes I made, and improve on the structure.

I suppress that goddamned heart. With my teeth clenched, ignoring the pain and sizzling water, and even the ground melting around me.

It takes a few really long minutes that feel like hours.

When it all ends, the water of the lake is all gone. The bottom of it is covered in molten rock, and new water from the waterfall slowly starts filling it again.

I activate my last healing mark, perfectly calculated, and stand up.

Then I check the notifications.

[Focus - lvl 61 > Focus - lvl 62]

[Knitting - lvl 24 > Knitting - lvl 25]

[Knitting - lvl 25 > Knitting - lvl 26]

[Knitting - lvl 26 > Knitting - lvl 27]

[Knitting - lvl 27 > Knitting - lvl 28]

[Knitting - lvl 28 > Knitting - lvl 29]

[Redistribution - lvl 58 > Redistribution - lvl 59]

[Eclipse - lvl 19 > Eclipse - lvl 20]

[Eclipse - lvl 20 > Eclipse - lvl 21]

[Eclipse - lvl 21 > Eclipse - lvl 22]

[Eclipse - lvl 22 > Eclipse - lvl 23]

[Ley Line - lvl 47 > Ley Line - lvl 48]

Congratulations, you have created a new Construct. Well done!

You have acquired

Sealed Ignition Heart (Fully Sealed, 3/3) - The Ignition Heart is a furnace of raw Thermal energy, pulsating with a ferocity that threatens its host with every beat. Encased in a fortified cavity knitted with heat-resistant threads, its immense power is restrained by three intricately crafted seals. These seals greatly temper its destructive output, but their release will unlock a force capable of scorching anything in its path, including the body wielding it.

***

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