I stare up at the large green glowing fruit for a few minutes in awe as vitality streams back into me.
A large aura of vibrant green tendrils of divine energy flows off the fruit itself and begins seeping into the atmosphere.
Only now can I visualize how much of that green aura I really absorbed while falling through the sky.
I hear movement in the trees above as some of the yellow-cored lizards hiding high in the trees start to move downward toward my vicinity.
At the same time, buzzing in the trees and nearby islands also signifies the fact that hundreds of insects are flying my way, attracted to this energy-rich divine fruit.
While they all creep, jump, and fly through the trees toward me, I stand to my feet feeling both immensely sore head to toe, but also oddly rejuvenated and refreshed.
Those few hours of sleep I had while falling were the first shuteye I've had in weeks. Even though I was battling for my life during that rest, it still invigorates me and makes me feel as though I'm even stronger than I was before challenging that serpent in the sky to notice me.
I expand my perception as dozens of creatures close in, and pick up quite a few readings that are rather shocking to see.
The first and most noticeable is the fact that high above the construct where the curious eyes of the overseer used to watch, there is now nothing but endless open sky.
It's gone. Meaning, whatever Ember managed to do with his mysterious silver and golden energy combined with the attack I threw definitely got this beast's attention.
Even after it's left, there is still a thick green aura left in its place that blocks any lower life forms from crossing its threshold in the sky.
I grin with excitement, as it was not all in vain.
The second thing I notice is that when the lizards and insects that creep toward me collide with the glowing green aura of divine threads coming off the newly grown fruit, they're completely unaffected.
The creatures' bodies react just like mine, showing the threads of shimmering green light phase through them like they're trying to touch holograms.
I easily jump upward and pull out my blade to cut through them all in single slashes.
Now, not even using my greater form, my aura feels so much more refined and capable of weaving itself into my fire magic and soul energy.
I'm unsure if it's just the fact that I've had some quality rest, or if filtering that green divine energy increased my energy control output to an alarming degree.
As the corpses of hundreds of insects and dozens of lizards pile around the glowing green fruit, I come to the conclusion that it's most likely a bit of both.
The longer I stay here, the more creatures become attracted to the green aura protruding from the fruit.
It's like moths all coming toward a lone flame. All I have to do is sit back and wait for more prey to arrive.
While testing out my new heightened reflexes, energy output, and easy use of my fully awakened yellow core, hours pass and hundreds of fragments are farmed.
Some of the corpses fall and make contact with the trees, having them absorb their energy while I'm busy fighting other monsters.
Many yellow and orange fruits begin to form on the branches nearby too. It only creates more chain reactions of the beacon of energy getting larger and more monsters coming by to try and get their fill.
Their fragments all pile up in a circle and I collect them into my item storage occasionally.
It isn't until a few hours in that I realize a third and most important difference.
Every time I get within range of the green fruit's aura, instead of the divine threads passing through me like a hologram or disappearing from existence; they're absorbed into my body just like red, orange, and yellow threads.
It's a very minimal amount, so there isn't much more pain than pinpricks, and the rate at which it slows my regeneration speed is negligible.
I only really notice after a while when it builds up enough for me to have to press my hand against the trunk of the same tree to rid myself of these dangerous fibers.
The infinite darkness of the void happily takes my green threads from me, and seconds later starts to devour even my yellow divine energy too; but I tear my hand away from the tree before it goes too far.
The green fruit slightly grows, and a tiny yellow fruit starts to form on a new branch nearby.
My mind races at what the meaning of all this can be.
My body has definitely changed.
For some reason after withstanding that hiss and total body destruction from the serpent's aura, I'm now able to physically touch these green threads.
None of the other yellow-cored creatures in the forest can do the same.
The thought that rises to the height of my mind is that my Absorption skill weaving itself with divine energy during a near-death experience has allowed me to alter my being, adapting to the environment in order to mutate and survive.
Another option could just be the fact that I was saturated with such a high purity of divine energy up close to a higher life form.
The last thought that comes to mind is the serpent's hiss and image it imprinted on my psyche wasn't just a result of stress in the situation, but an actual technique created to allow my core or mind to now process its energy.
None of my theories are provable or more likely than the others, for now they're just random thoughts in my mind as I stare up at the sky.
Even if I'm able to use this energy now, I'm not prepared to give up my physical body in order to wield it.
Still, given the opportunity I have now, it would be in my best interest to collect as much of this energy as I can for a later date once I'm able to control it.
I smirk and cut the green fruit from the branch to let it fall into my item storage.
In a swift upward motion, I open more storage portals while sending yellow wind blades all through the nearby forest to collect all of the remaining fruits and fragments ready for harvest.
Then, I fly high into the sky on a single mission.
I soar past the tops of the trees, and back into the thick green aura of divine threads.
Immediately, I activate plunderer and absorption just as I did before while keeping my self-regeneration skill at full blast while airstepping further and further into the dense aura left behind by the mighty serpent.
I don't fly quite as high this time.
The bone-crushing pressure isn't necessary to follow out the procedure I'm attempting. All I really need is to be present inside dense pockets of green divine energy to let it seep into my body just as it did before.
In just a few minutes, as I'm actively allowing and forcing this energy into myself, I start to watch my skin, muscles, and bones fade away just like they did before.
The portions that are unable to regenerate back are left with just a bright green aura version of my body.
It feels extremely hot, and the pinpricks evolve into scorching pain just like before.
This time however, I'm in control.
Once it gets to be too much, I start my descent down, airstepping out of the denser portion of aura and back down toward the black tree.
It isn't as slow as free falling, but it still takes quite a while to make my way back down to the tip of the tallest tree.
I take a deep breath, then grab onto the highest branch, letting it absorb all of the extra accumulated green threads.
Just like before, they're ripped from my body and I'm able to regenerate my flesh once again.
The same wave of exhaustion yet rejuvenation hits me as I watch another massive green glowing fruit form from an extremely fast-growing black branch.
It rockets upward over 20 meters higher into the air in less than a minute.
I cut the fully formed fruit from its branch and let it fall into my inventory.
As I fly back upward toward the cloud of divine energy again, its fluttering glossy leaves look like they're waving a thank you to me as they continue to grow.
Over the next three days, I repeat this process over and over.
I saturate my body with as many green threads as I possibly can before the pain becomes too unbearable and they don't get too critically close to my core, then airstep down to let the hungry tree take the energy out of my body with ease.
It grows dozens of meters higher every time I come back, and in exchange, I receive another enormous energy-packed glowing fruit.
I collect over 60 green fruits in total.
Every time I go through the process of nearly turning into an energy form and having its threads torn out of me; it feels as if I'm doing billions of MP worth of mana control training.
I'm covered with sweat once every process is done, and the fatigue that comes with it builds up more and more overtime.
At the same time, my connection with divine energy gets greater and greater, making my efficiency at wielding the yellow energy intertwined with my skills grow significantly as well.
I feel multiple times more efficient than I did when I first awakened my core. Possibly even at a magnitude of 10.
With all this constant training, my body and mind does tire; but it's just another day of work for me.
I only have a few days left in this construct, so every hour that I put in counts.
I'll rest once I'm done farming at maximum efficiency.
As my eyes threaten to close and all I want to do is lie down and sleep, this motto continues to repeat in my head while I let another green fruit fall into my item storage.
Once I airstep upward to make my way toward the sky again, following the same routine, I feel a massive shift in the air pressure.
It feels as if the temperature in the entire construct rises a few degrees.
A long ringing sound begins to vibrate through the air, and from the outer reaches of my perception, I notice an impossibly fast orb of cyan-colored light rushing my way.
I don't even get a full heartbeat to process everything, and try to move out of the way before the light blue flash of light grows larger and larger then is right in front of me.
It's a massive orb of light blue energy, the exact same color as the cyan crystal that opened the rift into this construct.
Before I can even blink, the orb splits in half, opening itself up and then closing again around me.
The orb itself is maybe 30 meters in diameter, and its walls are no more than a meter thick. The moment it shuts around me, it stops moving entirely.
Inside, the air feels exactly the same as it did moments ago outside, unaffected by the blue divine energy making contact with it other than some visual ripples in space.
The light blue energy pulses once, then starts to float upward slowly.
To my utter surprise, I move upward with it as well.
I'm not airstepping to change my direction, and it doesn't even feel like I'm moving at all.
To all my senses other than sight, it feels as if I'm stationary, just floating naturally in the sky.
However, the island of black trees below me is getting further away, so I'm positive I'm moving...
As my eyes dart around the orb and I activate my greater form to get even more enhanced perception buffs, I try to find a weakness to this contraption, or at the very least figure out what exactly is going on.
Less than three seconds later, the eyes of the green serpent appear high above in the sky.
It slithers downward, getting larger and larger every second that passes.
On its back, there are two cyan-colored armored knights with long shields and spears.
They're impossibly massive as well, dozens of kilometers tall, effortlessly riding the serpent downward, emotionlessly staring forward as they plummet toward me.
I can visually see their light blue auras being condensed around their bodies, and the green serpent brings its own cloud of divine threads down with it too as it hisses loudly again, and it doesn't stop its descent toward me.
Another few seconds pass, and I float upward high enough that it appears I'm going to be right above the serpent's flight path, but it looks like it doesn't have any plan to stop or change direction.
The massive snake's head passes below me, less than 10 kilometers away, and a dense wave of its green divine threads fills the air.
I'm too shocked at everything going on around me to even be scared of the pressure that I'd be under if I were to come in contact with these threads.
I just gently continue to float upward, and the green threads are pushed away by the cyan barrier that surrounds me on all sides.
My eyes do widen as the two knights on the serpent's back raise their spears and their blue aura connects with the orb I'm held floating in, and my momentum changes to bring me along for the ride like a tractor beam.
The serpent's nose crashes head first into the base of the highest floating island in the sky as if it didn't even notice it was there.
Like a speck of dirt being hit by an airplane, it's obliterated instantly.
Rock fractures into dust, its chain falls down into the depths of the endless sky, and countless black obsidian trees are uprooted and scattered through the air.
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Author's Note:
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