I have no way of knowing how long I was out cold; it could have been minutes, or it could have been hours, but what I do know is that when I finally opened my eyes and saw that I was not only alone but still wearing my utterly destroyed Armor, I breathed a sigh of relief.
Not because I had lost my Armor but because I was fully healed and feeling better than ever, so much so that I instantly brought up my Status display because I noticed a drastic change in something.
[Status]
{Taylor Lawrence Jörgensen}
{Particle Grade: Beta} *
{Race: Prymordyal Hyumun}
{Race Rank: Sixth Classification}
{Talent: (Prymordyal) Primitive Psy-Kinesis}
{Sub-Talent: Primitive Geomancy} *
{Talent Rank: Beta}
{Sub-Talent Rank: Beta} *
{Talent Potential Grade: Omega *Upgradable*}
{Sub-Talent Potential Grade: Omega *Upgradable*}
{Currency: 81,2356 High Alpha, 332,779 Low Alpha, 280 Low Beta}
[Statistics]
{Level:3}
{Level Progress: 38%}
{Talent Growth Rate: 85%} *6x Modifier*
{Sub-Talent Growth Rate: 22%} *6x Modifier*
{Beta Particle Count: 35/206.25} *+100*
{Physical Offense: 61.25} *+5*
{Physical Defense: 58.25} *+2*
{Intellect: 66.25} *+10*
{Meta Physical Offense: 59.25} *+3*
{Meta Physical Defense: 61.25} *+5*
{Stat Points: 12}
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that I had gotten some massive gains from the Beta-Grade Elixir. Still, even more than that, EVERYTHING got boosted in one way or another, be it because of the large amount of damage I recovered from or the Elixir’s effects.
’Good shit, I got an added 100 PC, 5 and 2 in Physical stats, 3 and 5 in Meta Physical, then 10 in my Intellect stat. Not to mention, the XP modifiers for my two talents increased to 6X.
’Then there’s the fact that I seemed to have killed quite a decent chunk of undead, enough to give me three levels and 12 stat points…hm, it looks like my Geomancy also Ranked up, well I’ll be damned; I should almost die more often if it’s going to be this fruitful.’
’Almost dying has its perks, though I’d rather not run that whole thing back a second time, especially since it will take a week for my Armor to repair itself,’ I thought with a frown.
Slowly getting to my feet, I quickly stored away my Armor in its unknown location where it would be able to recover itself, and stood there in the empty cavern, alone, and…
"Ah, particle suppression…that was the annoying sensation I was feeling; my stats are rapidly returning to Non-Rank with the absence of particles." Flexing my fingers and popping my neck, I looked around for any sign of my brother and Father, but it seemed they had made it significantly further into the tunnels than I had, even with me flying at break-neck speeds, either that or they veered off down a different path.
"I told them to head toward the safezone, so I suppose I should make my way back in that direction too; the only question is, how far out does the Particle Dispersion reach? If it’s too far out…then ima be hoofing it on foot as an Alpha-Rank thanks to the suppression." Pulling out several bottles of particle water, I chugged them down to top my deprived-of-particle content body, and soon enough, my stats rose back to what they were before I ranked up to Beta.
Without further ado, I wasted no more time and began sprinting in the direction I knew the safezone and gate to be located. Given my current stats and strength, unless I hit ambient Beta Particles and removed the suppression on my Rank, it would take me roughly a day to reach it, and in the back of my mind, I was worried about my Father.
His time was limited, and to make matters worse, he was only a Non-Ranker; there was no way he could have survived an impact against the wall as I had, but even if he was injured, so long as Brenden was nearby, he had that Elixir I gave him, which would heal Dad back up in no time.
Speaking of Brenden, I didn’t doubt he made it quite close to the safezone.
"Tsk, even after all these years, I still get annoyed that his Talent is so useful in certain situations; even with me flying through the air, all he has to do is use his Talent, and he could easily outrun that gust that swept me up."
"The boost he gets far surpassed my Augmentation at this Rank, so I don’t doubt they got relatively close to the Safezone, maybe even all the way." Rolling my eyes and pushing my legs as fast as they would go, I ran…and ran…and ran some more.
This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.
Yet the further I got, the more concerned I became because not only were there ZERO undead, which to some extent wasn’t THAT surprising, but I still couldn’t feel even a trace of Particles in the air.
The last thing I wanted or even expected was to nuke all the particles inside the Instance, and as I covered a sizeable chunk of distance, it became more obvious that I may have done just that.
---
After a day and a half of running at my top speed in Alpha-Rank, I was finally getting close to the Safezone, but with my proximity, I began noticing signs of battle, which caused my facial expression to harden.
For well over 2 miles, I found corpses littering the tunnels, and I couldn’t help but wonder if I had really been out cold for only a few hours.
It wasn’t until I got about half a mile from the Safezone that I picked up on the faint sounds of combat, a loud smashing sound, no doubt coming from my Father’s weapon and the clinking of swords from most likely Brenden.
Eventually, I came to a standstill because between me and the safezone was a massive blockade of bodies, all moving; thousands of undead were shoulder to shoulder trying to get at something…my brother and Father.
"LOOK, SEE, DAD; I TOLD YOU TAYLOR’S A FUCKING UNKILLABLE COCKROACH!" I heard Brenden scream over the sounds of combat.
"I Never doubted it for a minute; a LITTLE HELP HERE SON!" My Father replied, causing me to grin and equip my Claws before jumping into the heat of battle.