Chapter 141: Trying to solve Black Lightning’s problems.
Victor advanced through the forest at a steady pace while maintaining his heightened perception.
The red lines representing living creatures continued to appear in all directions within his reach.
Normally, he would simply create a Black Ice stake, pierce the target’s skull, and move on. It was quick, efficient, and required virtually no effort.
However, at that moment, he had a different objective.
To learn.
More specifically, to understand the Black Rays.
Of all the abilities he had awakened after receiving the Primordial Blood, this was probably the least developed.
Not because it was weaker.
In fact, Victor suspected the exact opposite. The problem was that he still didn’t understand how it worked.
The Black Ice was simple: it created a structure, compressed energy, gave it shape, and launched it.
The process was straightforward and intuitive.
The White Fire was also relatively simple to understand. The flame consumed practically anything it touched.
The more energy he supplied, the more destructive the fire became. There were still many details to discover, but the main concept was clear.
The Black Lightning wasn’t like that.
It seemed to possess its own logic.
A different nature.
Victor had realized this during his previous battles.
Whenever he tried to use that energy, his body reacted strangely. His muscles felt lighter. His reflexes seemed faster. His perception of time changed slightly. Therefore, he gave up applying it in real combat, at least against the prodigies.
Initially he believed it was just a common physical amplification.
Now he wasn’t so sure.
A creature resembling a giant wolf emerged from the trees ahead of him. The monster lunged immediately upon seeing him.
Victor didn’t even slow down.
Instead, he concentrated a small amount of Black Lightning in his right leg.
His body shot forward.
Too fast.
Much faster than he intended.
Victor passed the monster.
He passed the tree behind it... He passed another tree and almost collided with a third before regaining his balance.
The wolf remained still, confused, then its head fell.
Separated from its body by the blow Victor had delivered without even fully realizing it.
Victor observed this.
Then he looked at his own hand.
"Right." That confirmed a suspicion.
The lightning didn’t just function as destructive energy.
It amplified movement.
Perhaps more specifically, acceleration.
Victor resumed walking while mentally organizing the information.
Maximum speed and acceleration were different things.
Many people confused the two.
Maximum speed was how fast someone could move.
Acceleration was how quickly that speed was achieved.
The lightning seemed to primarily influence the second part.
This explained why his movements exploded so abruptly when he used that energy.
Another creature appeared.
A kind of boar covered in bony plates.
Victor repeated the test.
This time he used less energy.
Much less.
The impulse was more controlled.
Still fast.
But manageable.
He traversed the distance to the target in a single movement and pierced its head with a small ice stake.
Better.
Much better.
Victor continued advancing while conducting new tests.
Little by little, a conclusion began to emerge.
The Lightning Bolts didn’t like to remain still.
It was a strange observation.
But it seemed correct.
When he tried to store the energy in a single region of the body, it quickly became unstable. However, when he allowed it to circulate freely through the muscles and blood vessels, the control improved considerably.
This explained why his first experiments had been so inconsistent.
He was treating Lightning the same way he treated Ice.
And clearly that was a mistake.
Each ability possessed its own characteristics.
Ice valued stability.
Fire valued expansion.
Lightning valued flow.
Victor continued reflecting on this as he eliminated monsters along the way.
Another creature appeared.
This time a gigantic serpent hidden among roots.
Victor concentrated energy in his legs.
But instead of accumulating it in a single point, he allowed the Lightning to travel throughout the entire muscular path.
The result changed immediately.
The movement became smoother.
More predictable.
Less explosive.
Still absurdly fast.
But now he could control the trajectory.
The serpent didn’t even notice his approach.
It died before understanding what had happened.
Victor nodded slowly.
That seemed to be the right path.
The Lightning worked best when in constant motion.
The very nature of the ability seemed to favor circulation rather than concentration.
As he walked, he began to test something new. If the Lightning Bolts improved acceleration.
And the Mist Steps depended precisely on explosive movement.
Perhaps it was possible to combine the two.
The idea seemed simple.
In practice, it wasn’t.
The Mist Steps demanded extremely precise body control. A minimal error could completely compromise the technique. The Lightning Bolts, on the other hand, introduced a variable that was difficult to control.
Even so.
Victor decided to try.
A sequence of monsters appeared ahead.
Four creatures resembling large felines.
Perfect.
He activated the Mist Steps.
At the same time, he allowed the Lightning Bolts to circulate through his legs.
The result was immediate.
Victor disappeared.
Literally.
For a moment, even he himself was surprised.
The distance he would normally cover in several movements was traversed in just one.
The four creatures died almost simultaneously.
Black Ice Spikes pierced their skulls before their bodies even registered his presence.
Victor reappeared a few meters ahead.
Then he stood still for a few seconds.
Thinking.
This had potential.
A lot of potential.
But it also presented problems.
Energy consumption increased significantly.
Furthermore, accuracy decreased as more Rays were used.
It was a trade-off.
More speed.
Less control.
At least for now.
Victor continued walking while mentally analyzing all this information.
That was exactly how he learned.
Not through theory.
But through application.
Test.
Error.
Correction.
New test.
With each attempt he understood a little more about that ability.
With each combat, new information emerged. The more he understood the Black Lightning, the more he began to believe that this might be his most dangerous ability.
Not because it caused more destruction.
Nor because it possessed greater offensive power.
But because speed affected everything.
Attack.
Defense.
Movement.
Reaction.
Positioning.
Every aspect of combat became more efficient when someone was faster.
Victor looked at small black sparks racing between his fingers.
Then he smiled slightly.
For the first time since awakening that ability, he felt he was beginning to understand it.
He was still far from mastering it.
Very far.
But now he had a direction.
And for someone like Victor, that was more than enough.
The rest would come through practice.
As always.
Victor continued advancing through the forest while small black sparks ran erratically along his arms.
The sound of the Black Lightning was unlike any ordinary electricity. There wasn’t just the characteristic crackling of energy accumulating.
There was a deeper, hidden noise behind it, almost like something vibrating within reality itself. It was a strange sensation, and the more he used that ability, the more he realized it had its own behavior.
A new sequence of Mist Steps carried him through hundreds of meters in a few seconds. His body disappeared among the trees, reappeared on a distant branch, and then disappeared again.
The movement was natural. Simple. Fluid.
Victor sighed.
"Walking in the Mist is so easy..." The complaint came out in a low tone as he watched another small black discharge involuntarily escape his fingers.
That was precisely the problem.
The Mist Steps were already an extremely refined technique. His body naturally understood how to use it. He knew exactly how much momentum to apply, what posture to adopt, and which direction to follow. It was like walking.
The Black Lightning Bolts were the opposite.
Every time he tried to incorporate them into that movement, problems arose. Sometimes the momentum was excessive.
Other times the energy escaped prematurely. In some tests, the Bolts simply completely disrupted the flow of the technique.
Victor jumped to another branch while continuing to think.
Perhaps he was insisting on the wrong application.
Not every ability needed to be used in the same way.
Black Ice worked perfectly as a piercing weapon.
White Fire was excellent for area destruction.
Perhaps the Black Lightning Bolts simply weren’t made for movement.
Perhaps he was trying to fit a square peg into a round space.
The idea made him frown slightly.
"Should I give up for now?" It was a legitimate possibility.
Not a defeat.
Just an adaptation.
An ability didn’t need to fulfill every possible function to be useful.
Victor slowed down when his perception detected a creature approaching from the right.
It was large.
Heavy.
Probably one of the intermediate predators of that region.
The beast broke through the vegetation a few seconds later.
It looked like a grotesque mix between a rhinoceros and a giant lizard. Thick scales covered its body while bony plates protected its head. Its red eyes immediately locked onto Victor.
The creature roared.
Victor barely paid attention.
His mind was still occupied analyzing the Black Rays.
Then he had an idea.
"Let’s try something else."
Instead of directing the energy to his legs, he began to concentrate it in his right hand.
The process was much simpler.
Much more stable.
The Rays reacted almost instantly.
Black sparks began to accumulate around his fingers. Small electric arcs appeared between his palm and the surrounding air. Unlike previous experiments, the energy felt comfortable in that position.
Natural.
As if it had found the place it wanted to be.
Victor realized this immediately.
The rays weren’t resisting.
They weren’t escaping.
They weren’t trying to disperse.
For the first time, they obeyed without difficulty.
Interesting.
The beast seized that moment to advance.
The ground trembled beneath its paws.
Trees were felled as the creature accelerated directly toward him. The impact of that charge would probably be enough to destroy a small building.
Victor remained still.
Observing.
Analyzing.
Feeling the rays accumulate more and more.
The more energy he added, the more intense the sensation became. His muscles vibrated slightly. His nerves seemed more active. Even his vision seemed slightly sharper.
The creature approached. Fifty meters.
Thirty.
Ten.
Victor then took a step forward.
And punched.
The blow itself wasn’t particularly complex.
There was no elaborate technique.
No special movements.
Just a straight punch.
But the Black Lightning exploded at the exact instant of impact.
BOOOOOOM!
The sound was absurdly violent.
Much louder than Victor expected.
The creature’s head disappeared.
It wasn’t crushed.
It wasn’t pierced.
It wasn’t cut.
It simply exploded.
Fragments of flesh, bones, and scales were thrown in all directions as a shockwave swept through the forest.
The headless body continued advancing for several meters before finally collapsing to the ground.
Victor remained motionless.
He blinked once.
Then he looked at his own hand.
"..."
Silence lasted for a few seconds.
Then he looked at the corpse again.
The creature seemed to have been struck by a siege weapon.
The destruction was far too excessive for a simple physical blow.
Victor slowly flexed his fingers.
Small black sparks still ran across his skin.
Now he understood better.
Much better.
The Rays didn’t just increase speed.
They carried impact.
Energy transfer.
Explosion.
When used offensively, they seemed to release all their accumulated force at the instant of contact.
That explained the result.
It wasn’t just a stronger punch.
It was a punch accompanied by a brutal discharge of kinetic energy.
Victor looked at his hand again.
Then a smile slowly appeared.
It was the first time since awakening that ability that he felt he was truly using the Rays correctly.
Perhaps they could be applied to Walking in the Mist in the future.
Perhaps not.
But at that moment, one thing was clear.
As an offensive tool, the Black Bolts were absurdly dangerous.
Far more dangerous than he had initially imagined.
And considering what he had already seen of the Black Ice and the White Fire...
That was a rather worrying conclusion for anyone unfortunate enough to face him.
