Theon's eyes snapped open, his breath sharp as consciousness rushed back. The dim glow of ambient light filtered through the canyon's canopy, painting the world in muted hues. With a groan, he pushed himself upright, muscles protesting the sudden movement. His body ached—yet beneath the soreness, a newfound vitality hummed within him.
Beneath his feet, the remnants of the dual formation lay etched into the earth, its once-precise lines now mere indentations in the dirt. But the real transformation was inside him.
The chaotic storm of electricity that had once raged through his meridians had settled into a harmonious flow. No longer did the currents clash and rebel—now, they moved with refined precision, a symphony of power coursing through pathways that had been reforged. The pain was gone. In its place, strength.
Balance.
His meridians had evolved. Where before they had been simple, linear channels, now they sprawled like a neural network, branching across his chest, shoulders, ribs, and forearms in intricate, three-dimensional patterns. If his old meridians had been narrow streams, these were roaring rivers.
Before, he had barely tapped into 20% of their potential.
Now? He could tap into it's full 100%.
The difference was staggering. Five times the power. No—even more than that! With his Lu circulating naturally, effortlessly, his combat strength would skyrocket beyond mere multiplication.
He willed his Lu to flow, and the response was immediate. The sheer volume of energy he could now hold was incomparable—like upgrading from an ink cartridge to the entire pen. And the speed? Faster. Smoother. More efficient.
But that wasn't all.
A second type of lightning Lu now intertwined with the first. Voltaic Blaze Lu. Where his original Formless Lightning Lu had been pure electricity, this new energy carried a fiery essence—azure streaks laced with crimson embers, crackling with explosive potential.
He flexed his fingers. Lightning arced between them, thinner than before but infinitely more controlled. If his previous output could charge a phone, this could power a Bitcoin rig for a full day.
And with this heightened sensitivity, the world around him came alive in ways he'd never perceived. The canyon thrummed with latent energy—herbs, minerals, even the air itself pulsed with traces of power.
Without hesitation, Theon moved, scavenging the canyon and plucking herbs that resonated with energy—Emberleaf, Sparkroot, Voltgrass, Embermoss—low-tier materials, but valuable nonetheless.
As he worked, he absorbed stray lightning from the environment, letting it fortify his reserves and amplify both the Formless and Voltaic Blaze Lightning Lu. Every spark added to his strength.
An hour passed before he found it—the source of the deep, rhythmic pulsations he'd sensed earlier. Nestled within the canyon's rocky embrace was a cavern entrance, its maw shimmering with residual Lu.
'If this much is leaking out… what's waiting inside?'
But more than curiosity drove him forward; he was adrift now. He had ransacked the main Slyivan inheritance, leaving him to scour the minor ones scattered around. So a variable like this….it might just have been the best chance he had. No path home. No greater purpose. Just the slow, desperate scrape for remnants of power.
This anomaly... this thrumming cavern of concentrated energy... it might be the opportunity he needed. A variable outside the calculated inheritances. A wild card in his hopeless situation. And now with his newfound strength, there wasn't anything that could contest him.
After a moment's deliberation, Theon entered the cavern with cautious steps. The air inside hummed against his skin, charged with unseen currents. Veins of luminescent crystals threaded the walls, their glow painting the tunnel in erie blues and violets. Yet as he ventured deeper, the light faded, swallowed by an oppressive dark. Only the thickening Lu guided him—a pulsing rhythm beneath his feet, a whisper in his meridians.
Paths split. Again. And again.
At every fork, Theon followed the energy's pull, choosing the route where the Lu pooled heaviest. Minutes bled into an hour, the cavern's labyrinthine depths twisting around him like a living thing.
Then—a clearing.
Skeletal remains of what seemed to be an industrial base, its structures twisted and shattered by the passage of time. Abandoned and ravaged, the underground complex held an air of desolation. There was minimal light, seemingly natural, piercing the ceiling and illuminating the scattered remains of the compound. Theon's keen senses detected the remnants of Lu, the residual energy of the long-dead and the smell of rust and ozone.
Theon moved silently, boots crunching on debris. In a few rooms, he encountered dormant zombies and dispatched them with practiced efficiency. Yet, despite thorough searches, the rooms yielded nothing of significance.
At the complex's heart yawned a circular chamber, its floor etched with long-faded markings. Theon knelt, fingers brushing dust from the stone—
A growl shook the ruins.
Low. Hungry. Vibrating through the walls like thunder given voice.
Innumerable small arcs of electricity moved across Theon's meridians as he raised his vigilance another level up. A looming figure emerged from the far corner of the room, encased in shadow.
It stood at three meters tall, its physique too wide to fit through any of the doorways of the clearing. The figure moved forward, allowing Theon to finally see the monstrosity in its entirety forcing him to draw a sharp breath as shivers extended down his spine.
Its towering form, three times the size of a normal zombie, stitched together from various body parts, created a nightmarish mosaic of decayed flesh. Limbs of differing lengths jutted out at odd angles, and mismatched torsos formed a grotesque torso and an inconsistent six arms that swayed with an unsettling unsteadiness. A chorus of eerie moans emanated from the stitched-together monstrosity, each sound a haunting reminder of the lives that had once animated those now-lifeless limbs.
'Fast!'
The abomination blurred. One second it was across the chamber; the next, its fists cratered the ground where Theon had stood. He barely twisted aside, daggers flashing toward its skull—
Alas, his counter never connected.
[Serpentine Nature] flared.
A vision seared his mind—himself, back against slammed into the wall, his mouth tinged with copper as the abomination barreled towards him.
But it was of no use.
The vision shattered— just in time for Theon's own vision blurred as he flew across the desolate room, hitting one of the walls, [Serpentine Nature] coming true right before his eyes. He coughed out blood, his ribs fractured, yet his daggers still stood in his hands.
The creature didn't pause.
Theon rolled as the abomination smashed into the stone, splitting the rock like rotten wood, dust raining down as the entire underground structure shook.
Realizing the dire threat he faced, Theon didn't give himself a moment to recover. He sprang to his feet and immediately rushed through the abandoned compound and towards the tunnels from whence he came, his movements fueled by a combination of survival instinct and the knowledge that he wouldn't survive another direct encounter with the monstrous abomination.
Behind him, the monstrosity wrenched itself free, its six hands clawing at the earth—it gave chase. The cavern became a nightmare of echoes. The abomination's footsteps thundered, each stride shaking the ground. Theon wove through passages, his ribs screaming, the creature's moans slithering after him like living things.
His mind raced, assessing the situation and devising a strategy to outmaneuver the relentless foe. Every step held the weight of dread, and Theon's senses were heightened to the unnatural sounds that echoed in the cavern.
Despite the agony in his ribs, Theon's survival instincts kicked in, guiding him through the labyrinthine tunnels. He ducked, rolled, and leaped with uncanny agility, narrowly avoiding the grasping hands of the pursuing horror. The ground trembled with each of the abomination's monstrous steps, an unsettling reminder of the imminent threat.
As Theon darted through a particularly narrow passage, the abomination's outstretched limbs scraped against the walls, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. The cavern seemed to pulse with the same malevolent energy that fueled the creature's relentless pursuit. Theon's mind raced, desperately seeking an escape or a means to turn the tables.
Finally, Theon burst into a larger chamber and skidded to a stop, daggers at the ready, facing the pursuing horror. The abomination, sensing an opportunity, accelerated its pace, closing in for the final confrontation.
Theon's breaths came in ragged gasps as he braced for impact, his muscles tense and aching. Yet, at the last moment, the abomination halted, its limbs frozen mid-motion. A low, guttural grunt emanated from the stitched-together monstrosity, its fragmented statements revealing a struggle within.
"Ca….aaan….t... st..ray."
"Muuuuust…. staaa…..y…. n…ea…aar."
Theon, battered and breathless, cautiously observed the retreat of the abomination. The echoes of its grunts faded into the distance as it disappeared down one of the labyrinthine tunnels. As Theon collapsed onto the floor, the underground expanse, once a battleground, now held a surreal stillness.