AA. 195

A long list of notifications awaited Nil when he came to his senses. He felt lighter, stronger, and better than ever. But his heart also took off, beating far faster than normal as concerns for his friends flooded him. He had pushed his mind and control over internal energies and the Source to the limit, trying to stop the Glimmer. Nil had no choice but to use a technique he had put together for the fun of it and was nowhere near ready. He remembered stopping his puppeteered body from decapitating Selia, but everything had gone dark afterward.

He hastily sat up and scanned his surroundings. Nil’s shoulders relaxed, and he sighed. They were in a rest area—the finest they had seen thus far. Everyone lay on cots in the dormitory-like room, fast asleep. Sunmetal chains bound him to the bed. They clinked as he moved.

Selia’s eyes shot open. They locked with him, and she smiled. The woman reached across the gaps between her cots and grazed the chains. They melted away. She nodded to the foot of the bed where a bowl of fruit and veg sat, then Selia rolled to face away from him and returned to her slumber.

Nil wanted to thank her, hold her, and kiss her. But large dark circles marked her face. Several cuts and scratches marked her body, too. Except for Zora, all of the team members’ outfits had fresh cuts, rips, burns, and some disintegrated areas. Nil expelled Meatball from his core. The drakeling understood what he wanted and cast Regenerate. Meanwhile, he dug into the now cold stew and checked the jumble of notifications.

You have ascended to Silver Realm without the use of a Silver Ascension Token. The resident of a barren realm rarely achieves the feat. You absorbed, cultivated, and destroyed an entity of pure Source. It irreversibly altered one of your abilities. Please check your Schema Interface for details. You may also pick a new ability to go with your Silver Ascension.

Mind has progressed to Bronze 3!

Might has progressed to Silver 1!

Spark has progressed to Silver 7!

Toggled Supercharging has progressed to Bronze 3!

Wield The Source has progressed to Bronze 3!

Absorb has progressed to Silver 0!

Expend has progressed to Silver 0!

Brutal Battery has progressed to Silver 0!
Your capacity has grown. Whenever you empty your stores, energy regenerates to twenty percent. The restoration occurs over one second twice every half an hour. Otherwise, it takes a minute.

Energy Instinct no longer has a visual element, but the sixth sense is strengthened. You may now take the Source in non-corrosive and volatile forms into your body and directly cultivate it instead of the more broken-down forms like Qi or Mana. All purified energy may be used to restore Brutal Battery’s stores. You may also tap into the Source separating your current universe from others to recover Brutal Battery’s energy. The rate of absorption will depend on the universe’s stability, Spark, and your understanding of the local Source. The ability is now called One With The Source.

Not all of the concepts surrounding One With The Source made sense to Nil. However, he liked the idea of recovering Brutal Battery’s energy without having to rely on Absorb. His rapidly growing capacity made it challenging to fill the seemingly endless well. The energy recovery’s combat utility was yet to be seen. However, he could already feel the upgraded sixth sense’s new potency. 

The range hadn’t increased despite the jump to Silver Realm. However, it felt more acute. The details were sharper and more straightforward to decipher. As Nil sat with his eyes closed, he could almost feel all of his companions’ cores and energy channels. Things got blurrier farther away. However, despite several dense, arcane signatures, he had an easier time pinpointing things in the rest area. One With The Source would prove infinitely useful on quests similar to his last.

It wasn’t all good news. He was glad about his ascension to Silver Realm. It was unexpected but welcome. Watcher had said that he’d eventually be able to break through the bottlenecks without the assistance of ascension tokens but didn’t think it would happen until Nil reached Gold Realm. Somehow, breaking down and absorbing the Glimmer into his core expanded it and pushed him past Bronze. However, it also meant that Nil was no longer eligible for the Bronze Gauntlet. If Team Forge didn’t make it to at least second place in the Cleansing, his Apocalypse Arena career was as good as over.

However, Nil had hope. Unless other cultivator challengers achieved the same, he was currently the strongest person in the arena and had the option of a new ability to give him even more of an edge. Only people like Lily posed a threat. There was also the danger of running into the Glimmer again. Nil had thought supercharging psychic fortitude enough. Either the ability had failed, or it wasn’t as potent as he had hoped. He turned to his new ability options, hoping for a counter or survival tool.

Please pick one of the following:

• My Body Is My Temple: Foreign substances and forces capable of negatively affecting your body will struggle to achieve their full effect. You will gain better control over your inner workings—physical and metaphysical—and may also achieve limited control of otherwise unconscious functions. Your control will primarily scale with Spark and Finesse to a lesser extent.

• Lightning In My Veins: The energy flowing through your body permanently improves your conscious and subconscious reflexes, significantly improving reaction time. The longer you push, the faster you seem to get and the more precise your movements become. The boost will scale with Finesse first and Spark second. 

• Kinetic Coating: Wrap an object or organism in energy, protecting it from harm. Your target will accelerate faster and harder while moving, burning the coating to reduce the effects of environmental resistance. Items in flight will benefit from the coating’s protection until the moment of impact, regardless of whether the kinetic infusion was burned during flight. Leftover energy can be set to detonate.

• Juggernaut’s Shroud: Turn momentum into a shroud, becoming unstoppable and significantly improving defenses. The shroud may be detonated for an explosive blast of concussive force. The power of the shroud scales with velocity and directional change will weaken the shroud. 

Nil’s decision was easy. Only Lightning In My Veins tempted him away from the main prize. The ability would’ve helped him to push harder and go faster, taking his speed to new heights, but nothing compared to My Body Is My Temple. It was precisely what Nil needed. The wording suggested that Spark wouldn’t just help him resist future attacks from the Glimmer but would also, hopefully, reduce the effects of Lucy’s gravity. An extra handful of seconds close enough to launch a ranged attack would make a world of difference.

The control over inner workings suggested that his mastery over energy flow and fundamental techniques would also gain the Schema’s reinforcement. Nil hoped the ability would make mastering everything listed in Watcher’s scroll significantly easier. He locked in the decision excitedly. 

Ascending to Silver Realm felt magnificent. He didn’t expect it to happen so soon and abruptly. Nil felt stronger and smarter and had a closer connection to the energy running through his channels and circulating through his core. His attention returned to the party. 

I owe them an apology.

Nil felt responsible for everything that had happened. Falling victim to the Glimmer happened because of his carelessness. The situation wouldn’t have come to be in the first place if he stayed firm and followed Zora’s instructions. He owed them an apology but acknowledged that it wouldn’t be enough. So, Nil did what he knew best. He cooked a meal for the party. 

The rest area was far better equipped than the two they passed before. It had a separate kitchen, a steaming bath, and an entire pantry. Nil heard movement through the open archways. They weren’t alone. In fact, he didn’t know how long had passed since he lost consciousness or what they had spent in the rest area. The arena construct seemed to read his mind, and a notification appeared.

Team Forge has one hour and twenty-three minutes left in the rest area and was the first to complete the gate challenge. All third sectors have closed. Ten teams remain.

“Thank you,” Shawn said, accepting a bowl of the freshly made congee. 

The group had awakened half an hour after Nil. Selia had kissed him, but the other two seemed withdrawn and distant. He saw a hint of fear in Zora’s eyes when she looked at him. Nil didn’t blame her. The Glimmer had turned him into a terrifying force that was more beast than monster. There was also the possibility of him still being under the entity’s control.

“The pantry had broken rice, dried scallops, dried shrimp, and dried shiitake mushrooms,” Nil said. “I thought a savory rice porridge would set us up perfectly for the day. Spring onion or soy sauce would’ve made it better, but I had to make do with what we have.”

“The chili oil is more than enough,” Selia said. She leaned over the gap between the chairs and kissed his cheek. “It's comforting and hits all the right spots. You did well.”

Silence fell over the group as everyone ate. Shawn remained relaxed, but his sword sat close by his right foot. Zora also watched all of Nil’s moves. His stomach gurgled, and his chest felt tight. He had lost everyone’s trust.

“I think we need to address the elephant in the room—”

“Why the hell do you hold back so much?” Zora asked, interrupting him. “Do you have any idea how powerful and scary you can be?”

“I think he gets in his own head too much,” Shawn said. “It's not restraint. Nil overthinks and second-guesses himself too much. The Glimmer took all the hesitation away.”

“Nil running on pure instinct and using all the techniques that aren’t ready—” Selia’s last couple of words carried an almost mocking tone. “—is fucking terrifying.” She turned on him. “You know how much psychological damage you can do to our foes if you whip some of those moves out? The terror will make them surrender almost instantly, and I won’t have to get all hot and sweaty.”

“And what was with the arms?!” Zora exclaimed. “Those were bloody incredible. Why haven’t you made them into something more?”

“I need to master the tail before I get good enough to use those,” Nil replied sheepishly. “They’re not part of any manual or anything. I’m trying to copy someone else’s family secret that was perfected over countless generations.” He paused, looking over his team. “You guys don’t hate me for what happened, do you? I’m sorry I—”

“You got taken by the one thing you’re terrified of?” Selia interrupted. “It's not your fault, Nil. I take responsibility for putting you in that situation and going along with the whole thing, moving on alone. Both of us made bad decisions.”

“I should’ve also cracked the whip harder.” Zora smiled. Nil still saw a hint of hesitation and fear in her. It was in the eyes and shoulders. “No more stupid risks, alright? I hope everyone learned their lessons.”

“We did.” Nil nodded. “I’m still sorry.” He looked between Shawn and Selia. “I could’ve seriously hurt the pair of you.”

“Well, you succeeded at lighting a fire under my ass.” Shawn sighed. “You overtook me somewhere along the way, and I’ll just have to work harder to keep up and get past you. Seriously, Nil. The Source stuff is incredible and terrifying. You should nurture it more. Use it more freely. Things don’t have to be perfect. They just need to work.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Nil knew they were all trying to make him feel better, and he appreciated it after everything. “You’re not worried that the Glimmer still has me?”

Selia shook her head. “I knew the second you woke up. It took me a bit, but I know when you’re you. That might sound ridiculous, but it's true. Besides, the arena construct detected the Glimmer in you and refused to let us finish the gate challenge until it was gone. Most importantly, I believe you. I know you defeated the thing.”

“And achieved it with a pitiful Mind potential and score,” Zora added. “Kudos. Now, we just have to push harder and at least make it to second place. We can’t afford to have Team Forge’s most destructive member get knocked out of Apocalypse Arena.”

I like these people.