Adam entered the car as they left the Mission Hall compound and Redy rged onto the road, as he spoke.
"Why na the team Eden?"
He glanced at her.
"Coming from you, I wouldn’t have been surprised if you called it Team 69 or sothing."
She looked at him flatly.
"I’m not that crazy."
He didn’t comnt further.
After a mont, she shifted topics.
"By the way, how long will it take you to get back from the rift?"
"It shouldn’t take long, It’s just a Level 3 rift. I don’t plan on clearing it. I just need Existence and practical engagent."
Redy nodded slightly.
"That’s a good plan."
She paused.
"But if you want to improve your combat technique, fighting monsters isn’t optimal."
He looked at her.
"Monsters aren’t intelligent," she continued. "They follow instinctive patterns and predictable responses, to refine combat intelligence, you need opponents who adapt."
She glanced at him briefly.
"You should fight actual people."
He already knew where this was going.
"The best place for that," she said, "is Essence Online."
Adam was silent for a mont.
"That’s true."
Then a thought surfaced.
"But I already have an account. Wouldn’t that cause a problem?"
"Oh? You do?"
She seed mildly surprised.
"That won’t be an issue. Ivy can help with that."
Adam’s expression didn’t change.
Internally, he was less enthusiastic about involving Ivy.
But he didn’t argue.
Redy smirked slightly.
"What’s the account na, by the way?"
He pretended not to hear.
She tilted her head.
"Don’t tell you’re embarrassed about your userna."
His ego twitched.
"Ptsdaddy."
Redy nearly hit the brake, as she turned to him.
"That was you?"
He stared at her in silence.
"What a small world," she muttered.
Adam frowned slightly.
"You know it?"
"Of course I do. You shot up the rankings in Solo Hunt mode recently."
He blinked once.
I was that visible?
He hadn’t considered the audience scale.
He decided to say nothing, as the car slowed as they approached the rift enclosure.
A controlled periter surrounded the spatial distortion. Acolytes monitored entry logs. Essence density was noticeably higher near the tear.
The car stopped, as Adam stepped out.
Redy lowered the window slightly.
"Try to be back before 9 p.m. There’s a team eting."
He nodded once, as she drove off.
Adam turned toward the rift enclosure, before stepping forward, presenting his license and rift receipt at the checkpoint before heading toward the distortion.
****
The rift enclosure was crowded.
Martial artists moved in clusters, so armored heavily, others adjusting conduits or testing armants before entry. Essence fluctuations overlapped chaotically in the air.
Compared to them, Adam looked like soone out for a casual walk.
He didn’t put on any visible armant or conduit. Just a cap, shirt and jeans, which drew glances before dismissal.
With most assuming he was so reckless novice or suicidal fool, so their interest faded quickly.
Adam activated Analyze intermittently as he walked.
He scanned for cultivation talents worth noting.
Accidents happened in rifts.
Opportunity often followed chaos.
But the results were underwhelming.
Mostly E-rank cultivation talents and a few D-rank.
Which matched what he currently had equipped, there was no imdiate value, so he didn’t linger as he stepped through the mirage-like tear and the spatial distortion swallowed him.
Then...
Mountain range.
Jagged peaks stretched in layered ridges beneath a muted sky. Essence density was stable and their was no imdiate hostiles within visible range.
He was alone.
Adam exhaled once before activating bone generation.
A smooth, pale and contoured mask ford over his face to conceal his identity and a scythe extended from his hand, curved blade dense and balanced.
Then he triggered Rapid Charge.
Lightning coalesced around his limbs.
He didn’t hesitate as he launched forward.
The ground beneath him cracked as he accelerated, streaking across rocky terrain in a flash of electricity.
****
The rift Adam had entered was the Normal Level 3 rift- Infinity Worm Mountain.
He had chosen it deliberately.
Mission Hall regulations prohibited martial artists from engaging rifts more than two ranks above one’s current classification. He could bypass that restriction eventually but not yet with his current identity.
More importantly, this rift contained a specific target.
The Infinity Worm.
If he wanted to test Fuse on monster talents, he needed to confirm compatibility first.
As he moved across the rocky terrain, his senses sharpened.
Then the ground ruptured, as a massive worm erupted upward in a spray of dirt and stone. Its body was slick and segnted, coated in mucus-like secretion. At the front was a circular maw ringed with rotating rows of sharp teeth.
Adam pivoted backward instantly with no wasted motion, as he activated Mind Control E.
"Kill yourself."
The worm’s movent halted for half a second.
Then it complied.
It twisted violently and bit into its own body. But the flesh it tore regenerated imdiately and the wound sealed in seconds.
This was due to the monster’s talent Regeneration E.
The worm continued biting itself, tearing chunks free only for them to regrow in an endless loop.
Adam observed calmly.
This is going to be difficult.
He exhaled.
Mind Control alone wouldn’t bypass regeneration.
He summoned his martial spirit.
Wind gathered around him.
"Wind Cyclone Requiem."
A compressed wind slash tore forward.
The blade of air sliced cleanly through the worm’s body, splitting it in two and disrupting internal airflow.
For a mont, both halves convulsed violently.
Then regeneration began again.
Tissue reconnected and cells multiplied.
The worm struggled, still under command, still attempting self-destruction, but Regeneration E prevented fatality.
Adam inhaled slowly but advanced regardless.
Lightning from Rapid Charge surged into his scythe as he struck repeatedly. He encapsulated segnts of its body with Stone Cold, freezing internal sections before shattering them with impact.
Bone spikes erupted from beneath the worm’s body, piercing upward through softer tissue.
Wind slashes followed.
Again and again with no rcy or pause.
He varied attack types deliberately, elental, internal and structural, to test regeneration thresholds.
Over ti, the regenerative cycle slowed due to energy depletion.
Eventually, a final combined strike, wind compression paired with lightning discharge, ruptured the central core.
The worm spasd.
Then went still, as a notification appeared before him.
[ 3 Existence]
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