CHAPTER 45: CHAPTER 45 - SHEER POWER

The axe-head stayed planted in the dirt, pivoting as I rose.

What struck me first was that I was taller. Just a little. Enough that the world seemed subtly shorter, the trees slightly closer, the horizon a fraction lower. It wasn’t much, but the difference made everything feel...well, different. New.

I flexed my fingers, nerves firing with a speed and sharpness that made me shiver. Each tiny muscle fiber responded instantly, perfectly, as if my body had been rewritten from the ground up...and I was starting believe it had been.

Every movement felt magnified, every sensation amplified, and yet somehow, all of it came with a clarity I had never known. A sense of...precision.

I looked down at the greataxe. Its leather grip felt familiar as my hand tightened around it. I didn’t put too much thought into hefting its heavy blade onto my shoulder.

Except that the weight...wasn’t there.

The massive black-steel greataxe rose in my hands like a feathered sword, absurdly light, absurdly balanced.

Gerard’s words came unbidden to me:

"Black-Steel, Silver-Ranked. I made sure it’d be on the lighter side so you could still wield it as you are now, but you’ll really only find her balance once you breakthrough."

Now, the very same weapon in my hands felt like a construction entirely different.

Was I really so...weak?

The weapon had never been a heavy one, despite my struggles to deal with its weight.

My grip tightened further, raising the axe over my head with ease, and letting it drop down in a testing swing.

whoosh.

Downward, clean, precise. No effort, no strain. The blade cut through empty air as if guided by a wire. That simple movement had prompted my body to automatically execute tens of micro-adjustments all on its own.

I tried a horizontal cut next, the blade tracing a perfect line. Diagonal, upward, overhead---each movement precise to the millimeter. My own expectations faltered under that smoothness. I had never felt this kind of control.

And then it hit me: efficiency. How often could I execute a perfect swing now? Pre-ascension, one in three attempts was the best I could manage. Then during it, when I’d spent all my Mastery Points, the memories I’d gained had nudged that slightly higher. Maybe twice every five swings.

Now, standing here, swinging deliberately, I could tell those numbers were no longer the same. They’d jumped up yet again.

Only one way to find that number.

The Daily Quest flashed before me, a reminder I had deliberately ignored while training. Time had been short, and I hadn’t wanted distraction. But now...now I needed it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

[Daily Quest #2]

Standard Axemanship Practice (0/5)

-500 Downward Chops (0/500)

-500 Horizontal Slashes (0/500)

-500 Downward-Diagonal Slashes (0/500)

-500 Upward-Diagonal Slashes (0/500)

-500 Tail-End Stabs (0/500)

Mana-Channeled Axemanship Practice (0/5)

-5 Downward Chop (0/5)

-5 Horizontal Slash (0/5)

-5 Downward-Diagonal Slash (0/5)

-5 Upward-Diagonal Slash (0/5)

-5 Tail-End Stab (0/5)

Resource Directive (REDACTED)

-Host has acquired a Mana Pool large enough to support Mana-Channeled Axemanship Practice. Training Support for Mana Usage has also been redacted.

Hunting Objectives (RE-CALCULATED)

-1 Beast Core at a rank higher than the Host’s. (0/1)

OR

-Equivalent EXP.

Current EXP Requirement : 10,000EXP.

Time Remaining: 18 hours 49 minutes

Reward: 100 Mastery Points

Failure: Attribute Seal (–15%)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There weren’t any changes to the exercises, but the resource directive had been completely removed, and the hunting objectives looked simpler...on the surface.

One rank higher than mine...would mean I had to fight Disaster Class beasts in the Gold Rank.

Whether I would be able to accomplish such a feat, only time would tell.

19 hours, give or take. Just as I estimated.

I exhaled sharply, tilting my head back as I observed the clearing.

The morning sunlight of my fifth day in this world poured into the battle-carved clearing, the sky a clear light blue, overlapped shadows shifting with the wind near the tree-lines---everything seemed sharper, more immediate. I flexed my knees, shoulder, fingers, and then...let the swings flow.

Clean, full-power downward chops. The axe whistled through the air, faster than I ever imagined, an absolute breeze to handle now that I was strong enough to wield it as it was meant to be.

[Downward Chops: 1/500]

[Invalid.]

[Downward Chops: 2/500]

[Invalid.]

[Downward Chops: 3/500]

[Invalid.]

The reps poured in with ease, and the count revealed itself as the arc of the blade aligned with the blue pathing from the System.

Perfection came once every two swings without fail, each of those strikes landing exactly as my mind had projected.

I exhaled, letting the weight of realization sink in. All my Attributes had all amplified, yes---but this went beyond raw numbers. This was the embodiment of Silver Rank itself. Precision. Inhuman reflexes and control, all turned up to the maximum.

The thoughts and calculations I once had to perform deliberately were not instinctive. The lattice of chaotic mana that ran alongside my nerves enhanced every motion, each impulse racing through my body faster than thought. My reaction times were a far-cry beyond what they had been. There was no travel time. Only processing time. My reaction time would be as fast as I could think. My body would never be a limitation.

A smile tugged at my lips. 2500 perfect swings would be a breeze at this rate. And considering my Mastery would only continue to grow with every Daily Quest, these tasks would only become easier.

The Daily Quest’s real challenge would be the Hunting Directive.

Am I strong enough to fight Crisis-Ranks now?

I was unsure. The fight between the four Shadestalkers haunted me. Even as a simple spectator, my eyes hadn’t been able to keep up. And when I jumped in on pure instinct and actually channeled mana for an attack, it only barely pierced their flesh.

Would my current attributes be boosted enough by the Channeling to match those monsters?

I had to know.

My gaze fell inward, eyes closed, hand going to my chest. The chaotic mana pulsed within, raw and unbridled, flowing into every nerve of the synchronized lattice of nerves. They were fast. Twitching with power that yearned to be used.

It was time.

I focused. The destructive intent flared in my mind, commanding the continually shifting core. And it listened.

Destruction and Chaos. I knew right then that they went hand-in-hand.

The mana flooded into my bloodstream, pouring into every vessel, but that wasn’t all it funneled into.

The Bimodal Nerve Matrix. Nerves were in everything. Smaller tubing, yes, but far, far more numerous in number. Point was, the second layer of this system was constructed from pure chaotic mana.

And because of this unique construction, it was also a delivery system...one that couldn’t be burned.

Red-black energy funneled in like a flood through every square inch of my body in an instant, coursing through my bloodstream and burning the walls of those organic tubes, but the rest...almost felt good.

No. It felt really fucking good.

Explosive energy coiled in my muscles, tightening tendons, rippling fibers, as my veins glowed crimson from the burn.

I lifted the greataxe over my shoulder, that red-black energy pouring out of my veins and into my weapon, coating its blade with such thick volume it was harrowing.

My eyes narrowed, grip tightened, core flexed. And then I brought it down with everything I had.

The ground exploded.

Blade crashed into stone, debris thrown like shrapnel as a shockwave radiated outward from the point of impact. The clearing quaked, the campfire extinguished completely, and the distant tree-line shook in place, sweeping leaves into turbulent spirals.

I landed in a smooth crouch, muscles trembling ever so slightly from the sheer power they had just produced.

I stood in a cloud of dust.

A swing with the flat of my blade cleared it instantly, revealing my work.

The ground was a miniature crater.

Shock. Exhilaration. Adrenaline.

My mind went blank for just a moment, unable to fully come to terms with the damage I had caused.

A Crisis-Class Beast...just might not survive me.