//Heat Resistance increased: 1 percent < 3 percent.//
The small amount of damage from the fire Alexander set healed slowly, adding to his defense and arsenal. The more damage he suffered the stronger he became.
'Will my resistance get so strong that I become invulnerable to attacks? It'll be dangerous to test potent poisions, or getting beheaded. If I could slowly build this up, I could be a match for any of the elites, possibly.'
Alexander went through the system he was given, searching any possible explanation for the powers he was given, especially the souls and resistance stat. He soon found a sort of explanation to the thought he had hidden underneath each stat.
His body stat consisted of what he believed to be his health, strength, and overall physic. Magic happened to coincided with his mana capacity, speed of absorption, and magical power. Stamina was speed, energy, and overall dexterity.
The substats where all blocked and he could not figure out how they worked, other than his first hand knowledge. He put Lunaris on the task of keeping track of the knowledge.
He was in the middle of the tropical forest, much like his last outing to train. Thick trees gave his cover from the sun, as well as the cool breeze of the ocean blasted through the forest.
Something caught his eye as the sun was supposed to be rising from the east, time felt strange aas the lazy light brushed past his skin. He checked his watch for the time, but despite the late morning, it was still twilight. Attributing it to the thick under brush and tree leaves, he focused on his way back.
A glow of green and smoke wafted from the corner of his eye, long after he should have reached his destination. The estate, in the distance, remained the same as he traveled further and further, with no signs of reaching home.
His black nanite blade formed in his right hand, prepared to fight at any sign of danger. His senses had increased to double that of a normal human. Through the humid fog of the forest, and the low light, it seemed like day had paused itself.
He moved slowly towards the green light, believing it to be a gate. His steps cruched through the dried leaves and twigs that clung to old roots, careful to not sound to noisy. If it was a chaos break of a high leveled dungeon nearby then he could be in trouble.
'Lunaris, are you getting anything from the scans? I dont want to walk into a mess I can't clean up.' He asked, her. Receiving no response but a feeling of static. 'Lunaris?'
A wet Squelch of ripping meat echoed through the canopy as Alexander cleared the last brush of leaves. A small dark figure stood over a large plie of creature carcasses eating and discarding stripped bones. It radiated a dark smoke and Alexander Gould see a bright green radiating from its body.
The sight of it sent a chill up his body, freezing him in place. His legs wouldn't move no matter how much he wanted to run, or crawl, only fall to his knees.
Fear was a power that transcended species to a degree of submission. A predator always exuded a presence towards its prey, like knowing you need to drink water, or eat, it captured one or the other. Prey knew when they came in contact with those who would kill them, and that was exactly what Alexander came face to face with.
The creature reared its head in a smooth and knowing fashion. Turning slowly to face Alexander with eyes of confusing red and yellow, that craved and hated him in one glare. It's body turned with it, as a sense of dread encapsulated Alexander even further.
//Emergency quest!! Defeat the Enemy!//
A message popped up above him, but his reaction to it was impossible. Awaiting his doom was all he could do as the shadowy form stood up to six plus feet, towering over him with dreadful hunger. It's body was hollow, with thick notted horns on each side of its head. The clothes it wore were in tatters at best, barely hanging on as it lumbered towards Alexander.
Alexander could feel a strange draining feeling coming from the creature, making him numb and dizzy. It worsened the closer it got, and instead of becoming clearer to see it became even more distorted and shaded.
A crackling, like static on an old TV buzzed in hismear at an intolerable pitch. Blood drained from his ears and nose from the intensity of the noise, something lunaris would have dealt with, but couldn't due to the interference of the horrific creature. He was left defenseless against an entity far beyond himself.
'F***! Move! I have to move my legs. If it gets any closer I'm going to die! What can I do? Think, Alexander, think! ' His mind raced for anything, a weapon, tool, or anyone. He thought of one way to cleare his senses of this thing, this parasite.
Alexander thought of one thing that could save him, absorbing the D ranked souls in his Dimension crystal. His mind worked before he actully wanted it to, adrenaline pumping through his body unfettered like a broken dam. The souls glittered like green flames roaring into the Ring of the Firstborne, absorbed, they filled Alexander with power, pure and frightening.
His body cracked with an ethereal light surging with power from withing that he could not contain. Breaking free from his fearful fetters he created his black blade, filling and setting the sword with green flames of power. It's blade was wider with a thicker blade and radiated energy.
The creature passed the last few steps to get to him, pain racking his body with seizures and numbing pain with ever second of proximity. He swung his flaming blade wildly with abandon, cutting shallow chunks of petrified flesh off the creatures arm. The shadowy monster shrieked at the nanite swords bite, afraid for the first time since it came to be in this world. It's mind was childlike and yet to form as it made its own world to feed and protect itself, now attacked by its food that usally laid down to be eaten.
The flesh that was carved away sizzled into dust once removed from its main body. Alexander kept this up with abandon, the power he acquired fading away rapidly. His senses were over loaded and his body could barely keep itself together. With each swing, the numbness of his body receded, and the creature shivered with anxiousness.
Alexanders swings stopped after the last of the creature dissapated Into dust but his hand kept twitching as steam wafted off his shoulders. The area around him turned to day light almost immediately after the creature lost its head.
Alexanders frenzied state declined along with his consciousness. A blurr of white, yellow, and ever growing darkness creeped into his sight, slowly blinding him.
'Host critical! Worry not, I will not lose you.'
Nanites, free from the disruptive effects of the shadow creature, sped to work. The damage done to him was severe, as his arms and legs were dessicated and his breathing shallow. The nanites had little to work with as they couldn't heal his tissue out of thin air, they needed materials.
Spreading out from his body the acquired as much protein and carbon materials as they could, slowly repairing their hosts body. Like a swarm of bees and ants, carcasses and organic materials were depleted and used to repair Alexanders broken body.
The (D) ranked souls that had been absorbed had overloaded his core, resulting in it expanding to nearly (C), and causing ruptures on his body. When he came back to consciousness his body had healed and he could finaly see his missed messages.
'I'm alive? But I'm exhausted. I can barely use my body or feel my legs. I need to use Accumulation and regain some strength. But I did it, I killed whatever that was. If it had put up even a little fight then it..it would have done the job. I lost all control of that situation, like a newbie. I'm ashamed of myself.'
Alexander rose on shakes knees with a grumbling stomach. He shuffled his way to the estate with Lunaris's help. Finding it harder and harder to move until he found himself in the team room. The abundant mana there rushed into him, deaf to the worrying questions of his teammates that looked on.
The Elder rushed there and looked over him while he sat crossed legendary absorbing the mana there.
"He's definitely been through something strange since last night. No one's seen him since last night, but he looks and smells like he's been through a gate. Regardless of all that, he's close to a breakthrough. His Core has gone through what feels like a year of training. He's near c rank in hours... what have you been up to son?"