He was quite sure that the new fractal was the axe mastery skill that he had received , but he had no idea how to utilize it as of yet . He had initially planned on heading back to camp to finish his Chop quest as well , but he changed his mind .
He believed he saw those scenes for a reason and wanted to go over it while the memories were still fresh . So instead he rested his back against the tree trunk and once again closed his eyes .
Chapter 38 - Insight
Zac’s instincts told him that what he had seen had been important . So he tried to burn every feeling and impression to his memory .
The immense pressure that emanated from the axe and the terrifying sharpness of its edge . The world-ending power of the seemingly casual strike by the barefooted man . He had just swung once , but somehow everything he had wished to cut was cut , and nothing could escape him . Even the people who fled through portals hadn’t been spared and were somehow killed in another space .
He tried to figure out why he was shown this vision . He could only assume it came from the System , as he couldn’t imagine who else would , and could , show him such a thing .
He did not believe it was something as fantastical as a glimpse into his own future or a prophecy , rather felt it was far more likely the System was trying to show him something else . The only thing he could come up with was that it was sort of a training video . The illusion showed him what axe-mastery at a great , or maybe even the highest , proficiency looked like .
If that was the truth he wasn’t disappointed anymore that he didn’t get a rare or epic mage class . That army had even called upon the gates of heaven to attack , but it couldn’t even withstand one chop . That axe master had also conquered the disadvantage of being a melee class . Everything in his vision was chopped and dismembered , no matter how far or fast they fled .
Of course , Zac knew that even if that was a real event that had happened , it had nothing to do with him . The power levels of those warriors did not seem as simple as having an E-grade or even D-grade class . It felt like a level so far off that it might just as well be a dream .
But still if he could glean some sort of truth or secret from the vision he’d likely benefit greatly from it . It also gave him a wake-up call about how formidable the forces out in the multi-verse were . He had known that there would be powerful people out there , but he hadn’t imagined it being to this degree . That axe wielder would be able to cleave his whole island in two . That was not something that should be possible for a human being . That was the realm of the gods .
So it seemed actual beings with the powers of gods were out there . If one of them got angered with him or someone else from earth there might be irrevocable repercussions . There were already demons on his island , and there might be other forces on the planet as well . It seemed the restrictions were weakening as well , and sooner or later any old monster might be able to waltz through one of the incursions .
If he wanted to keep himself and his close ones safe he had to keep pushing forward until he himself was one of those gods .
Of course , he had to survive this island first before starting fantasizing about deifying himself . He refocused and started looking at the new fractal in his mind . He didn’t really understand how it worked , but it felt like it was housed in an actual space in his mind , rather than it being just a memory .
It was a very weird feeling , as it was akin to noticing your body had secret compartments .
Unfortunately , no matter how he looked at the fractal he couldn’t glean anything from it . He tried driving cosmic energy through it but it had no effect . Since it had entered his mind its heavy aura was gone , and it seemed dead or deactivated .
Zac sighed , feeling slightly disappointed . He had essentially been shown a pretty cool action scene , and was left with a pattern he couldn’t use . He knew he was likely missing something , but could only return to his camp for now .
As he walked back he kept pondering about the vision he had seen . He wondered if he’d ever get to the point of that man in his vision .
He looked down on his axe and with a half-smile he swung it down just like the man in the illusion . Of course , no earth-shattering wave of destruction erupted from the swing . Only a slight swooshing sound was the result of the swing .
But after he performed the swing he stopped . The attack just felt wrong . He couldn’t put it to words , but it was as though the attack was bland and flat compared to the one in the illusion . And he wasn’t talking about the earth-shattering power , but something else .
Even though his swing and the axe-man’s had the same trajectory it felt like man’s swing was real and his the illusion rather than the opposite . Like the man’s swing was a forest and Zac’s just a picture of one .
His swing was missing something , and it was not form or technique , but something more intrinsic . If he hadn’t seen that scene he never would have figured it out . He would think that a swing was just a swing .
He imagined the intense pressure he had felt when standing in front of the huge axe , and tried to incorporate it into the axe . It was easier said than done of course , and Zac kept swinging away while walking back . He even used some demon beasts as practice targets to try to get the feel .
He also tried incorporating cosmic energy into the fractal while swinging , but it also didn’t do anything . He was still missing that feeling that would make his swings feel full instead of empty .
He tried to discern what made the axe-man so strong and made him effortlessly defeat the army . It wasn’t speed . His swing had been slow to the point of almost feeling lazy . It hadn’t been sophisticated or complicated either , but simple and unadorned , just like his axe .
But the swing was sharp . Anything it attacked was cut . It didn’t matter if it were the huge titans , the awe-inspiring defenses of the top cultivators in the army , or even the gates of heaven . Everything that the axe waves hit was split in two .
However , what had made the largest impression on Zac was the heaviness the swing had contained . By that he didn’t mean that the axe grew heavy like the great sword , but it felt like the axe had contained an unstoppable force when falling down . It had felt that the weight of a world was contained in that swing , and it had an unbending determination and intractability contained in it . Anything that tried to impede its path would be destroyed .
Zac didn’t understand how he could know these things . They should be subjective opinions and personal impressions , but it felt like those impressions were rather inviolable truths . That the man’s attack contained these abstruse elements felt as true and real as that the sky was blue .
Zac also somehow knew there was a multitude of other aspects hidden in that seemingly simple swing , but they seemed too far away and elusive for him to grasp onto . He decided to focus on the power and forcefulness for now rather than the sharpness as he felt the heaviness the most clearly in his mind . He was afraid of trying to study both aspects at the same time would be too hard for him to handle .
Zac tried to bring this sense of force and weight into his swing and started to bring more and more cosmic energy into it . His energy started to naturally flow along his pathways , and the whirling sounds from the axe started to sound slightly deeper .
Just as he started to feel that he started to grasp something a blue box suddenly popped up by itself .
Dao seed gained - Heaviness]
Confused , Zac stopped swinging and brought up his status page .
Name
Zachary Atwood
Level
28
Class
Hatchetman (F)
Race