Suddenly, he finally felt what he’d been waiting for. His right fist connected, and with a loud crack, the rib buckled. His next blow shattered it completely, forcing the crocodile to let go of his side, and the one after that drove cleanly into its side. Roy let out a triumphant cry and threw another punch. This one would finish it off.
His Essence ran out. Roy’s fist smacked into the crocodile’s bloody side, but it had about as much effect as throwing a handful of sand into its face. He started for a moment, blinking in confusion at his no longer glowing fist, then the heavy tail thrummed through the air and caught him in the side of the head.
Roy was sent to the ground - hard - his head swimming as stars danced before his eyes. He didn’t know how, but he somehow managed to roll to the side, avoiding its jaws once more and staggered back to his feet. The crocodile hissed at him, limping slightly, the injury on its side quite apparent.
His breathing was ragged, his core depleted and his body on the verge of collapse, but he faced the crocodile down anyway. He wasn’t going to give up, not while he was still alive. Gritting his teeth, Roy attempted to draw in more Essence from his surroundings.
It was then that he felt a sudden thrumming from his chest, and then, as though drawn by a magnet, all the Power Essence that had been created from their fight suddenly flew towards him. It flooded into his body, cycling through his channels and filling his core to bursting within seconds. Roy gasped, feeling his core stretching to its maximum capacity even as the crocodile launched itself at him, its mouth gaping wide.
Roy reached inside himself and pushed against the boundary of his core with all his might. His core held for a long moment, stubborn and unbending, then it shattered. Power Essence exploded out of him in a rush, sending a bubble of force outward in all directions. It caught the crocodile mid-leap, throwing it back and sending it tumbling end over end.
The Essence flooded his body, repairing all the damage that had been done during the fight, and strengthening it to a level he couldn’t have imagined. Then, just as quickly, all the Essence in his body retracted, forming into his core once again.
Roy staggered as the process finished, and he flexed his fingers experimentally. They felt…fine. He felt amazing! His entire body felt refreshed and stronger than ever. His injuries were all gone, and the black lines that had been creeping along his skin had vanished along with them. He was safe, at least for now.
Taking a second to examine his core, Roy could see that it wasn’t much different than before, if a bit larger, and it appeared that it was completely full of Essence once again. He opened his eyes and looked down. He felt a grin spreading across his face as a line of yellow formed at the tip of one side of his Belt.
“Congratulations on your first advancement. I know it felt intense, but you won’t have nearly the same result when advancing again unless it’s to the next tier. Now, stop staring at yourself and finish that crocodile!”
Roy’s eyes snapped toward the Beast, which was getting back to its feet and shaking itself off. Now they would be fighting on even ground, so he didn’t feel the same fear as he had before. Taking in a deep breath, he began cycling his Essence to his hands and feet.
“I never did tell you what you helped me figure out earlier,” he said as he began walking toward the still injured Beast.
“Oh. Does that mean you’re going to tell me now?”
“You helped me complete my first Physical technique,” Roy answered with a wide grin. “Up until then, all I’d been focusing on was one aspect of Power Essence: force. But when you mentioned that only my sixth blow had done any damage, it got me thinking.”
Roy lunged forward, throwing a heavy punch into the crocodile’s side, and this time, it was unable to dodge. His fist impacted with the expected boom of displaced air, knocking the crocodile back a step.
“Got you thinking about what? Stop teasing me and tell me already!” Geon complained as Roy’s second punch again impacted with the Beast, sending it staggering back two more steps.
“Momentum!” Roy shouted, throwing one more punch and splintering the Beast’s ribcage.
He ducked a swing of its tail, then threw another punch, the force of which blew a hole clean through the crocodile’s body. It hissed one more time, feebly attempting to turn its head to bite him, before it finally gave up and died.
Roy straightened, staring down at his glowing golden fists, reveling in the feeling of having defeated a powerful enemy, while also perfecting his first technique.
“Ah. So what you’re saying is that the more times you attack in succession, the more powerful your attacks become. How interesting. So, are you going to change the name of the technique now?”
Roy thought about it for a few moments, before shaking his head. He allowed his essence to calm and cycle back into his core.
“I think I’ll leave the name. I prefer the Exploding Fist to the Consecutive Fist or something like that.”
“If that’s what you want. Now there was something else I wanted to tell you…” Geon trailed off for a few seconds before he seemed to remember what it was he’d wanted to say.
“Right! You now have sixty-seven days left to live. Advance before then, and you should be fine, though.”
Roy sighed. It had been nice to revel in his feelings of accomplishment while they’d lasted.
18
Roy left the Dungeon after he’d cultivated all of the Power Essence in the area. Just from that single session, he could tell that he wouldn’t be able to stay here. It would take a lot more power to move from 1st Dan to 2nd, and even more to advance to Yellow. So he’d decided that it was time to pack up and head for the village that Geon said was nearby.
He was hoping to find some Power Essence there that he could trade for. After all, he had seven Base White level Water Essence Beast cores and one White 1st Dan Beast core. He was hoping that he’d be able to trade for cores of equal value, or if not, at least get a decent profit from it. This would be along with collecting his finder’s fee from the Diadei clan, who would undoubtedly have people in the village.
Along with that, he was hoping to replace some supplies, as well as finally get some new clothes. After all the fighting he’d been doing, his outer robe was shredded, filthy and bloodstained, and the rest of his clothes weren’t doing too much better. He was happy to know that he would be able to spend a bit extra on a robe since he no longer needed to buy boots. He didn’t know why, but he found that he no longer needed to wear them, and since Power Essence would blast the offending clothes away, he would only be wasting his money.
If, however, he couldn’t find any large sources of Power Essence, he would have no choice but to head directly for The Crater. It was a three weeks journey from here to the edge of the Waterwood, and another four days from there to The Crater. That would give him roughly forty-two days to reach 2nd Dan.
Geon had assured him that in the Essence-rich environment of The Crater, he should have no problem reaching his goal in that time. This was provided that no one tried to kill him in the meantime and that he could spend his time peacefully cycling. There was also the matter of wild Beasts to contend with, since Geon said that Ferry’s presence wouldn’t scare off the Beasts in The Crater.
It was safe to say that he was really hoping that the village, which Geon had told him was called Diadei San, would have some Essence for him to trade. According to Geon, he would need at least two Orange level Beast cores to push directly into the next Dan. Since they were unlikely to have those, he would just have to hope that they had some Yellow level cores. If they had those, then he could use them in conjunction with cycling in the Dungeon. If they had enough Yellow level cores, he’d be keeping the knowledge of the Dungeon to himself until he’d broken through to the next Dan.