Kiran's Overview
After 8 hours, Kiran wakes up to the familiar ceiling of the cave. He looks at the timer and finds that he still has 14 hours left. Kiran stands up and starts collecting energy stones from the ground.
After a while, Kiran sits down in front of a collection of 100 low-level stones and one slightly better stone. Kiran thinks, "What will happen if I absorb them all at once?" He then puts them all in his chamber, thinking, "It doesn't matter, I've died so many times already," and begins absorbing them all.
After 4 hours, Kiran opens his eyes to find that the energy stones have completely disappeared. He examines his energy core and finds it unaffected. Kiran wonders, "Why didn't anything happen?" The answer comes instantly as all the veins in his body swell and he screams from the pain he feels.
After 6 hours of pain, Kiran finally calms down and notices something new in his core. Gasping, Kiran wonders, "What... are these chains?" as he sees a small Qi core resembling his old one, bound by chains inside the new Qi core, with a sealed scroll attached to it.
Kiran, like a child who found his mother's hidden cookies, exclaims, "My core!" He starts jumping with joy, which quickly fades when he tries to connect with it. Kiran, sadly, says, "Why doesn't it respond?" He looks closely at the core and notices a small crack in the seal chain, which brings a wide smile to his face.
He then looks at the energy stone from the goblin champion and begins absorbing it. After another half hour, the energy stone disappears, and Kiran notices that the new core has grown in size, but the seal remains intact. Kiran racks his brain to find an answer to this question.
After 3 hours, Kiran's head is almost smoking from overthinking. Suddenly, he exclaims, "I found it!" but then pauses and says, "I wish I could say that, but I didn't find any solution."
After a while, the timer ends, and Kiran faces a group of 150 ordinary goblins, 3 goblin champions riding spirit wolves with gray fur and a horn on their foreheads, and one shaman. Kiran thinks, "I'm halfway to breaking through to Apprentice, and this huge number is more than enough for me."
The ordinary goblins charge at him, supported by a fire spell from the shaman. Kiran dodges the spell by hiding behind a large rock in the cave. He forms a small Qi ball above, attracting all the goblins' attention before it explodes, creating a bright light that temporarily blinds them.
Kiran seizes this opportunity, gathers all his Qi, and says, "Starry Sword Storm," forming 6 swords of pure Qi targeting the goblin champions and the shaman. Kiran manages to hit two champions and their wolves, causing them to explode into smoke and disappear. The shaman protects himself by summoning a shield.
Kiran mutters, "Tsk, I didn't succeed completely, and now I have less than half of my Qi left." He ducks to avoid an attack from a goblin rider and rushes towards the remaining goblins, cutting through them like shawarma while dodging the shaman's spells occasionally.
After a while, Kiran finishes off the minions, leaving only the goblin rider and the shaman. Kiran looks at them and says, "Now it's just you two."
The goblin rider steps between Kiran and the shaman. The shaman raises his staff and chants a spell, enveloping the rider in a faint red light. The rider smiles at Kiran and charges towards him. Kiran raises his sword towards the rider, gathers Qi at the tip of the blade, forming a Qi orb. He then raises his sword and says, "Qi Seeker Orb: Miniature Sun," sending the orb to the ceiling.
Kiran rushes towards the rider, who swings his massive staff at Kiran's head. Kiran dodges to the side, meeting the wolf's jaws trying to bite him. He punches the wolf's jaw, stabs its eye, and retreats before the rider's next attack reaches him.
Kiran smirks at his enemy, only to be met with two fire spells from the sides. Kiran jumps up, meeting the rider's staff, who has leaped off his wolf to strike Kiran. Kiran raises his sword, supporting it with his other arm, to receive the heaviest blow of his short life. He crashes into the ground and bounces several times. The goblin rider emits a laugh-like sound and walks towards the unconscious Kiran.
The goblin rider stops moving suddenly because the Qi orb Kiran threw earlier expands in size and starts emitting beams of concentrated Qi, killing the shaman, the goblin rider, and the spirit wolf.
To be continued in the next chapters...
Give me your power stones.