Redy sat cross-legged in her room, her body still, her breathing slow and controlled. Her awareness sank inward, deep into her soul space, examining every fluctuation carefully. But within seconds, her calm broke.
A faint distortion pulsed through her soul.
Her eyes snapped open, a frown forming imdiately. The sensation hadn’t been subtle. It was aggressive, unstable, and growing worse with each passing mont. She could feel it clearly now.
"It’s mutating... faster again."
The words left her lips quietly, but her tone carried weight. She didn’t want to believe it, yet the truth was impossible to ignore. Her soul was changing at a rate she could barely keep up with.
Each regression had left fragnts behind.
Each restart, each death, each return... pieces of her past selves had rged into her current existence. At first, it had been manageable. Even useful. But over ti, those fragnts had begun to clash.
Now, they were evolving.
Her fingers tightened slightly against her knees as she focused inward again, tracing the unstable areas. The structure of her soul no longer followed a natural pattern. It was sothing else entirely.
Sothing abnormal.
mories surfaced without warning.
Not just one or two, but entire tilines overlapping, decisions she hadn’t made yet, battles she hadn’t fought in this life, deaths she had already experienced elsewhere. The weight of it pressed down on her mind.
This wasn’t new.
She had seen this before.
In past regressions, there had been monts when the mutations spiraled out of control. Tis when her soul had nearly collapsed under the strain of its own contradictions.
But this ti...
"It’s accelerating."
Her voice was lower now, more serious.
"This one is progressing faster than usual."
That was the real problem. She wasn’t just mutating. She was losing ti. The instability was reaching critical levels far earlier than expected, cutting into her preparation window.
If this continued unchecked, she wouldn’t have the luxury of gradual adaptation.
She would break.
Redy exhaled slowly, forcing her breathing back into rhythm. Panic wouldn’t help. It never had. She needed control, precision, and a solution.
Her gaze shifted toward the table beside her.
There, resting quietly, was the flash drive.
The sa one Ivy had given her on the night of the Reliance launch.
Her expression hardened slightly as she reached for it, fingers closing around the small device. It felt heavier than it should have, as if it carried more than just information.
"It seems I’ll need it sooner than later."
She hadn’t planned to use it this early.
That data... whatever Ivy had stored inside... was ant for a later stage.
But the situation had changed. Her soul wasn’t giving her ti to wait.
Redy steadied herself again, placing the flash drive within reach before closing her eyes once more.
Her focus shifted.
For now, she couldn’t afford distractions. She began consolidating her current realm, pulling scattered energy back into alignnt, reinforcing her internal structure piece by piece.
The process was slow but necessary.
Every correction she made reduced the instability slightly, buying her ti. Not enough to solve the problem, but enough to delay the inevitable collapse creeping toward her.
At the sa ti, her mind moved ahead.
She needed techniques.
To reach the Lord rank, she would have to construct supre techniques of her own.
But that path wouldn’t be easy.
But not now.
Right now, survival ca first.
Her breathing deepened as she sank further into her inner world, suppressing the chaotic fragnts, forcing temporary harmony where there was none. Sweat ford lightly on her skin despite her still posture.
This was a battle.
It was silent... but just as dangerous as any external fight.
After a long mont, her thoughts flickered to Adam...
A faint trace of concern passed through her otherwise controlled expression.
I hope you’re having it easier than this.
****
Back in Adam’s room, the essence in him twisted violently as the structure began to stabilize. The enlightennt he had just consud was still active, guiding every change. This process wasn’t simple experintation. It was the foundation of power for every martial artist who had ever risen beyond the ordinary. Creating a technique ant defining how essence obeyed your will.
And once defined... it could change everything.
Five hundred years ago, when essence first appeared on Erdes, things had been very different. Martial artists had no martial techniques. They relied on raw fighting styles, crude conduits, and instinct.
It wasn’t enough.
Monsters dominated the land back then. Their natural strength far exceeded humans, and without proper systems to harness essence, most martial artists couldn’t even close the gap. Survival depended on rare individuals.
Those with special talents.
Bloodlines. Unique physiques. Abnormal affinity.
They carried humanity on their backs, holding the line while everyone else struggled just to keep up. Without them, the martial era might have ended before it truly began.
But then... everything changed.
The first martial artist reached the Master rank.
That breakthrough didn’t just increase strength. It unlocked enlightennt, a state where understanding could directly shape power. And from that understanding, the first true martial technique was born.
A turning point.
Once that happened, the entire system of combat evolved. Techniques allowed essence to be used with precision, efficiency, and devastating effect. The gap between humans and monsters began to close.
Then it flipped.
More martial artists reached the Master rank. More techniques were created. Each one refined, optimized, and passed down. Power was no longer random. It beca structured, repeatable, and scalable.
Humanity adapted.
And now, Adam was standing at that exact threshold.
His jaw tightened slightly as he focused, forcing the last fragnts of instability into alignnt. The death affinity in him compressed further.
The technique responded to his will perfectly, every shift in thought reflected instantly in the energy’s structure. The violent resistance from earlier had disappeared, replaced by sothing far more dangerous.
Obedience.
Adam exhaled slowly, but his eyes remained sharp. He could feel it clearly now. The concept he had held since awakening his death affinity had finally taken form.
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