Path to Transcendence

Chapter 772: Bad Bunny

Upon entering the second floor, he was greeted with quite a sight. The sky opened up, and he found himself staring up at it. Or what he thought was the sky. Considering it was blood red and flashing with bolts of blue light, he didn’t know if this could technically be called the sky.

He turned back around, and to his confusion, the stairs had vanished. The only thing remaining was the door. He reached out and opened the door and found a descending staircase back down to what he assumed was the first floor.

He frowned and slowly shut the door as he examined the second floor a little more closely.

If not for the sky, the actual contents of the floor were pretty similar. A bunch of ruins and debris lay scattered all around him. However, the feeling of death mana was even more potent than before. There was also a faint vibration of kinetic energy.

He immediately turned around to see what appeared to be a large animal of some kind. He furrowed his brows as the monster continued to approach. It wasn’t that large, only around the size of a large dog or a wolf. It was similar too, with its canine features. Its rotten flesh hung off its corpse like a stubborn old rag, and he could feel its death aura all the way from where he stood.

The kinetic energy rippling from its body was powerful, too. Unlike the monsters from the previous floor, this beast was a Tier 4, and Julius immediately became a little more wary. A Tier 3 wasn’t something he worried about all that much. But a Tier 4 could hurt him.

Just because he was able to beat Tier 5s didn’t make him believe that there wasn’t anything out there that could give him a good fight in Tier 4. After all, one of the most dangerous near-death experiences had been from someone at his same tier.

Not to mention that this creature’s aura seemed quite impressive at first glance. He felt his heart begin to race and wrapped himself in void energy again. He didn’t bother to restrict himself with kinetic energy this time around, not when he was facing an opponent at the same tier. But he didn’t activate [Lord of the Dying Sun] either; he wanted to have some fun.

Thanks to his relentless practice, the void energy wrapped around his body quite swiftly. Compared to a couple of days ago, the difference was night and day. Then, with the void energy protecting his body, he stepped forward, meeting the monster head-on.

He could feel the surges of kinetic energy in each of the monster’s steps, but he didn’t really care. He leaned in with his shoulder and crashed into the monster with an ear-shattering bang. The kinetic energy tried to tear through him, but the void energy did a surprisingly good job at dissipating the impact.

The passive effects of [Lord of the Dying Sun] also siphoned much of the force that made it through. And because his body had become so tough since he advanced to Tier 4, as well as the evolution of [Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin], the monster had a better chance of breaking through a six-inch wall of mana-enchanted steel.

A large portion of the force was redistributed due to his skill and went straight back into the beast. He could feel its bones shatter as the kinetic reflection overwhelmed its natural defenses. He took another step forward, lifted his knee up, and delivered a kick straight at the monster’s chest.

He tried to have the void energy enhance his strike, but it was only somewhat effective. That being said, it didn’t really matter. The monster was blasted twenty feet away and crashed into a nearby broken building. Julius felt it trying to move, but its entire body was badly damaged. It didn’t matter if it didn’t feel pain or need the same functions of a living creature; it wouldn’t be able to move without having something to keep it together.

Julius took another step forward, this time trying to combine some of [Void Step] into his technique. To his shock, it actually worked. He vanished from his position and reappeared a few feet away from where he had been trying to go.

Unlike his usual [Void Step], this teleportation had been instant. It didn’t require any charge period. He also didn’t have to go through the void, which probably helped.

Unfortunately, that didn’t mean he came out unscathed. While most of his body was uninjured, he quickly realized that he had left an entire arm behind. His left and second favorite arm was missing. That wasn’t even the biggest shock, though.

For some reason, he didn’t feel any pain from the missing limb. There was no blood or damaged tissue either. It was like someone had cut his arm clean off and cauterized it so cleanly that there was no blood whatsoever.

He looked at it with a curious frown. He tried to think about what had gone wrong, but he couldn’t figure out why his arm hadn’t made it. He also didn’t really know how he had teleported either. As he mentioned, it wasn’t like his standard [Void Step].

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The only thing that might have happened was that his membrane of void energy wasn’t able to stay intact during the entire teleportation process. He had felt something flex during that brief moment, but couldn’t be sure. The membrane seemed fine now, but with his arm missing, it was hard to tell.

He tapped his regrowing limb against his side with a puzzled expression on his face. If that was the case, then what caused his void membrane to fail?

He admitted it took him an embarrassing amount of time to figure it out. He laughed to himself and scratched his head sheepishly. While he had used his Authority to help form the membrane, he hadn’t really used it as much as he could have.

When he fought Caiden, he learned that he wasn’t using his Authority that well. The little technique he picked up during the fight was simply one thing out of a thousand that he needed to learn.

However, on the bright side, he figured that out now, rather than later. At least he could start working on it immediately and hopefully figure something out.

With a nod to himself and making sure that his arm had regenerated properly, he continued his march deeper into the rift, where he would hopefully find more monsters to test his skills on.

***

It took him about twice as long to make it through the second floor. He had also come across around three times as many monsters. He mainly used the monsters to test his stealth skill. This was because he was still working on how to properly incorporate his Authority into the void energy.

He could work on two things at once, so it was a good trade-off. He had the third floor monsters to look forward to anyway.

He did come across a few fruits on this floor. They were a lot harder to find, but he accidentally came across a few along his way. The fruits were typically around places with a high density of monsters. He didn’t know if they were protecting the fruits, but it was certainly a pattern.

When he reached the door leading to the third floor, he stopped and did a quick check-up of his condition. First, he made sure that his mana was at an appropriate level. Void energy wasn’t easy to use, and it consumed a lot of mana. That was another reason why he didn’t just throw himself at every monster he came across. As much as he wanted to, logic advised him that he needed to save his mana until he could actually use the new technique properly.

He also took stock of how much the death mana and death aura were affecting him. While the nasty energy was persistent, it had nothing on his own aura. His ruinous aura acted as a shield, wiping most of the death mana before it could worm its way into his skin.

Any leftover death mana that made it through was taken care of by his passive healing as well as his fortified body. It was quite nice to have a body that didn’t have to worry about getting sick or affected by other maladies.

If there was one thing he wanted to complain about, it was how the death mana affected the food he tried to eat. As much as his body was protected from the death mana, it didn’t mean his taste buds were as safe. The nasty energy tainted food in a way that should be a crime. It was so abhorrent and revolting that he found a newfound hatred for death mana.

Food was sacred, and to taint it was synonymous with tainting the divine.

However, other than his aggrieved taste buds, he was fine. Nothing out of the ordinary. His mind and soul were a little tired from his continuous training, but that was to be expected. He hadn’t stopped working on his skills since he entered. His relentless practice with his Authority only compounded that fatigue.

That being said, he was used to fatigue. Fatigue was his best friend by now.

Well, next to cookies, cake, and bodily harm, that is.

Much like the door to the second floor, this door opened up to another staircase. Only this time, the stairs were a lot nicer. They weren’t covered in as much gunk or grime. Still, he felt even more wary when he saw it.

He made his way up the staircase, and after about a minute of climbing, he found himself staring up at the third floor.

Unlike the second floor, the scary red sky was no more. He didn’t see any flashes of lightning either. Instead, he saw a beautiful, clear sky. The sun was shining brightly onto him as he stepped off the last stair.

He looked around and immediately noticed the changes to the ruins too. The structure was similar to the second floor, but instead of a bunch of ruins and debris, some of the buildings were actually intact. Instead of an entire building being knocked down, only a few walls were gone.

What was this? Why was it changing like this? He had gotten some information about the rift, but not everything. He didn’t know why each floor had these slight variations. Were they supposed to mean something?

He sighed. He didn’t know, and he supposed that was sort of the point.

He was about to start exploring this floor when he sensed a small object appear in his spatial senses. It was small enough that he almost missed it, but it was moving so quickly that it caught his eye.

He waited and watched as a small white bunny hopped around a corner. He was about to smile and admire how cute the creature was, but that was until he saw the other side of its body. One side was fluffy and adorable; the other was a mangled mess of rotten flesh and bones.

He grimaced, but quickly scolded himself for being so superficial. He shouldn’t judge this bunny for its looks. For all he knew, this little creature would be nice and adorable.

With a more optimistic smile, he examined the bunny once again. However, it was no longer where it had been a mere moment ago. He furrowed his brows as he looked around curiously.

Turns out he didn’t have to search very hard. Out of nowhere, he felt something unimaginably hard smash into his spine. He was sent staggering forward and fell face-first.

He cursed as he held his back in pain and looked at the perpetrator of this attack with a dull frown. He then staggered to his feet and began covering his body with void energy. Perhaps judging things based on their looks wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.