Chapter 61: A Great Step

CLATTER!

The sound of dull metal falling to the ground permeated the air as Alex arched his bloody-hand.

"At last, I've finally...finished..."

He spoke in a coarse tone, his breath ragged and his baggy eyes betraying a hint of madness.

"hihihihi...Hahaha", he let out a crazed laugh and then suddenly switched to a serious almost bloodthirsty demeanor,

"It is time..."

His meticulous preparation and planning had finally bore fruit after several days.

The hundreds of crumpled, torn and shredded sheets of old paper with deranged scribbles on them.

The scatterings of damaged tools.

The mildly dented wooden chest,

And the broken lantern.

All laid around him, telling the grieving tale of his drive of trial and error.

And after all his failures...

He now finally wielded the means to escape.

"Ah..."

He flexed his left hand, the pain from the engraved Teleportation circle burning into his flesh with an almost electric sting. The engraving looked strangely gruesome and impressionistic.

Alex had alighted the blade of the Kriss dagger and used it to brutally inscribe the magic circle onto his left hand, enduring the searing pain in the process, making sure he made no mistakes.

It was his only choice after coming to the conclusion that nothing he had could handle the strain of the Teleportation Effect.

So, he took a mad gamble.

What about his body?

Could it withstand it?

"It's do or die after all.", he chuckled as he groggily rose to his feet, nearly stumbling to the ground – the several sleepless nights he had endured were apparent in his erratic movements.

Yet, he forced himself to remain stalwart, stomping his foot onto the ground to stabilize himself.

Blood trickled down his hand and dropped to the ground, forming tiny poodles of red liquid.

He glanced down from the quarry's elevated position and observed the raging war.

"This...this is it...", Alex muttered, his voice hoarse from overexertion.

ROAR!

CREE! CREE!!

EEE!! EEE!!

CRASH!!

A horrible cacophony of disturbing sounds continued to echo across the quarry – the gruesome war was growing even more and more repugnant with each passing moment. The war had grown so much in vehemence that it could even be said that the amount of gore in the quarry could fill the surface of Pluto – a statement that truly attested to the maleficent level of violence occurring in the quarry.

A large volume of blood, viscera and guts could be seen in the quarry, which were formerly invisible from Alex's vantage point.

He wiped a bead of sweat from his brow, feeling the gritty residue of dust and sand scrape against his skin. The air was thick, heavy with tension and the repulsive tang of blood. Below him, the Fomorians continued their mindless struggle, oblivious to his presence.

The Breathing Giant, however, was a different matter entirely. Its rhythmic exhalations continued to buffet the quarry with waves of sand and air, but Alex had noticed something peculiar in the last few hours. The breaths were growing irregular, as if the colossal creature was somehow becoming aware of the disturbance around it.

It seemed the Fomorians struggle wasn't mindless after all.

BWHOOSH!

The Giant exhaled once again, sending a powerful wave of dust and gale through the air. The blast caused Alex's hair and cloak to billow in the air. The action would have given him a cool vibe if not for the deranged expression on his face.

"HAHAAHAH! Yes! Kill each other! Slaughter each other! You cancers!", He laughed as he slicked his long hair back, forming a streak of thick red blood on it.

He then arched back dramatically, taking a deep breath and then speaking,

"Store."

With one command, every item around him vanished into his inventory through a scattering of sparks.

He then fell back to his hind and immediately crossed his legs, taking a lotus seating position.

FWOO...

He let out a soft exhale before suddenly inhaling sharply, his chest rapidly expanding.

The World Energy rushed into his body, through his nostrils, down his trachea, into his lungs before settling in his core but if one could adopt a different manner of sight, they would notice that the World Energy in his core was swirling, like a whirlpool.

A vortex!

"Hihihihi..."

Throughout the week, Alex had been preparing to escape from the harrowing quarry – observing the creatures and inscribing the Teleportation circle in his hand had only been parts of his plan. The true crux had been to learn how to manipulate the World Energy in his body; without this aspect, his plan would have ultimately failed.

SWOO...

Alex was controlling the World Energy in his core, making it rotate around an imaginary axis like it were a hurricane but of course, he was still a tenderfoot.

After all due to the shortage of time, Alex had used a hasty method to learn it.

As a result, he's control was shaky and crude, he could only keep it as a whirlpool for less than 3 seconds and to top that, he couldn't control all of the World Energy in his core. There were still some that would linger at the edges, moving beyond the boundary of his authority.

But for what he needed to accomplish, he didn't need full control.

He just needed enough.

BWHOOSH!!

The Breathing Giant let out another powerful exhalation again, causing Alex to lose focus and nearly his bearings.

"Tsk...damn...so close..."

He glanced at the Giant with his crazed eyes and rolled them back, turning his focus back inward.

...

[Name:] Alex

[Title:]???

[Level:] 6

[EXP:] 33/200

[Skills:] Oversaturation, Mind Palace, Reverb Mapping, Art of Learning, Body Constitution, Battle Arts, Anti-Lip Sync, Invisibility, Manipulation, Vast Knowledge Base, Pickpocket, Panoramic Vision, Resistance, Fear Inducement, Thousand Tongues, Death Darting Eyes, Bodily Awareness

[Aliases:] The Mastermind, The Fool, Skeleton Horror, Feral Connoisseur

[Debuffs:] Partial Hearing, Myopic Vision, Anti-Lip Sync, Rizzless

[HP:] 92/100

[Achievements:] Flash of Power, Combat Novice, Beat the Odds, Wild Chef

FWOO...

I exhaled again before rapidly inhaling.

Focus~...damnit...

My chest expanded several times again, pushing the borders of the Veil of the Moon, as the World Energy once again rushed into my core.

My left hand had long stopped bleeding but the pain had never gone away.

FWOO...

I let out another exhale before taking in another breath, repeating the cycle of respiration.

[Skill: Bodily Awareness has been activated.]

The World Energy in my core continued to spin around itself, like a whirlpool, growing denser with each revolution while also scattering for several seconds before connecting once more.

With each failure, my focus and dark determination only increased; forcing a mad grin to reach my lips as my eyeballs remained rolled back.

SWO...

SWOO...

SWOO...!

SWOOSH...

SWOOSH...!!

The whirlpool in my core had finally reached a state of equilibrium.

"At long last...", I opened my mouth, releasing a dry sound, the light of madness in my eyes dimming subtly.

[Skill: Oversaturation is active.]

[You have gained 10 EXP.]

The system's monotonous voice resounded in my ears, yet I ignored it.

Now...

Without wasting even one more breath, I turned my focus back inward and concentrated on the World Energy.

Fly...fly...upward...

I reached out to the World Energy in my core and grasped it, guiding it out of my core.

Move.

I visualized the World Energy flow out of my core, through my left arm and towards my hand.

SHEEN!

Just like last time, the Teleportation circle emanated a bright white light.

But suddenly at that moment, several memories flashed through my eyes.

From my first fight with the Lost Skeleton to my nihilistic life in the dark chasm and now my encounter with the Warring Fomorians.

I suddenly had a thought.

My life feels like a dream.

With that, I vanished.

But not before the system spoke,

[You have completed the Achievement – A Great Step.]