862 Bottlenecks & Growth

Usually, too much growth in too little time would result in bottlenecks. Especially when a path was advanced by the same method.

For instance, Varian could go to a water dungeon and increase his water power. But if he fought there continously, he'd progress first before hitting a bottleneck.

Just entering the Dungeon and reaching peak level 9 in a day or a week was just impossible.

He'd hit a bottleneck before that. And bottlenecks at level 8 were much tougher to crack.

For low levels and mid levels, Varian took a day at the least and a week at most. But high levels were another beast altogether. He might take months for this!

Still, even when he was training with Enigma, Varian could barely reach the limit which his body could bear.

He had seven paths and even if each of them progressed by 2,000 XP, it was a sum of 14,000 XP. That's almost half of a level 8 growth every day!

Of course, there wasn't just one method to progress. So, even if he hit a bottleneck, Varian was confident in using other methods, and breaking the bottleneck sooner than later.

But even that might take at least a week. So, he decided to grow 'organically'—grow as much as possible without hitting a bottleneck.

And now came a surprise in the form of the black energy, the so-called death energy. Even though there were numerous strands of this death energy and it's incredibly weak, there was something about it that made his body react differently.

To put it cheaply, it was like the diluted version of a very expensive wine. Diluted, but still sourced from an expensive source.

The way his body reacted to it was completely different from the normal. And until now, Varian didn't hit any bottleneck. Nor was there any growth fatigue.

So, compared to the beginning of the battle, Varian's strength had taken a great leap. Varian had grown quite strong quite fast on multiple occassions, but this was the greatest growth so far.

'Status'

[Superhuman L8: 24k/25k (+10k)

Space L8: 18k/25k (+10k)

Lightning L8: 22k/25k (+2k)

Plantae L8: 5/8 (+7k, +5)

Psychic L8: 18k/25k (+10k)

Macrokinetic L8: 15k/25k (+9k)

Water L8: 15k/25k (+7k)]

The improvements were simply monstrous. Varian's strength took a direct leap. He now posessed two peak level 8 paths, three high level 8 paths, and two mid level paths.

The combined strength of these paths crossed a threshold and broke a limitation.

"Come!" Varian's figure disappeared and appeared at the midpoint between their previous locations.

The Undead also disappeared from his previous location and arrived at the midpoint.

Shining with the power of seven paths, Varian threw a punch at the Undead.

The world flashed white for a moment before the ground under the two men broke apart as if someone was cleaving it with a huge axe.

Dust filled the air and a terrible shockwave, surpassing every shockwave until now spread out.

The fierce wind reached Sarah and Enigma. The two women were already finding it hard to hold the Undead back.

There was something they didn't expect. The suppression effect of their powers on the Undead was constantly decreasing.

Enigma guessed it must be because the Undead was 'assimilating' the death energies that their light and death powers were suppressing so far.

The Undead had previously occupied the energies from the crystals and reached the Sovereign state. But he hadn't digested all the power yet.

Perhaps they could still suppress him even after he assimilated all the energies, but it'd be far less effective.

In short, they're running out of time.

Enigma and Sarah both realized this and were thinking of informing Varian. Beacuse even with his best performance, Varian didn't seem like he could win. The two women decided to tell him to retreat.

But when the shockwaves hit them, Enigma's eyes widened and she immediately turned to Sarah who was also looking at her with an astonished and confused expression.

"Level 9…" Sarah muttered. "How?"

"Even a low level 9 can stand against fifty peak level 8s. So, how did Varian do this…?" Enigma gasped.

The fierce winds settled down and the ground stopped cracking as the exchange ended.

Varian stayed in place while the Undead took a step back before stablizing himself.

"What?!" The Undead shouted in horror as he felt his skin rupture and hand bones crack.

"How did you? You aren't even a level 9!" He roared at Varian while resisting the constant mental attacks by Varian.

To be honest, his situation was pretty embarassing.

He had to constantly look out for any sneak attacks from Varian's attacks. The space might crack around his neck and try to slit his throat. A lightning bolt might try to numb his arm and delay his defense. An invisible telekinetic knife might try to pierce through his ears. And many more.

Since Varian was significantly weak at the beginning, the Undead simply covered himself in a body armor of Chi. It wasn't expensive and blocked all the sneak attacks.

But with Varian's current strength, the body armor had to be thickened, and much more Chi had to be strength because the attack could come from anywhere.

For example—

"Die!" The Undead punched with both arms, shattering the wind and shaking the space. Varian responded in kind.

The Undead's focus was completely on the punches and just before their fists were about to connect, the space around his waist suddenly cracked apart. Like a shattered mirror, every piece of this space became sharp. These space blades pierced the chi armor all over his waist.

Even though they weren't able to pierce through, they created a small crack.

Usually, this wouldn't be an issue since the circulating Chi would restore the crack almost instantly. Even if multiple people were attacking the armor, they couldn't time the next attack right at the crack within that limited time. It's borderline impossible for two individuals to coordinate to that level.

But when it's only one person…

At the very moment the crack occured, an invisible telekinetic power took the shape of a sharp blade and struck the crack. The crack that was about to close up suddenly expanded and the armor around the area was thinned.

Maintaining a perfect timing, an ice blade struck the same area and pierced a small hole through the armor.

Then, as if it was waiting for it since the start, a very thin lightning bolt rushed into the hole and struck the Undead's waist.

All of these attacks happened without any delay and could be counted as a single attack due to little difference in their timings.

So, the Undead who was about to clash with Varian only felt a space fluctuation first and the next moment, he shriekd. "Wha—?!"

A jolt shot up his spine and the Undead's body stiffened for a moment. The chi in his body isntinctively resisted the lightning mana and neutralized its effects.

But as a result of this small delay in the critical delay, the Undead was unable to completely focus on the upcoming attack.

Varian's fist changed its trajectory at the final moment and aimed for his chest.

Even though the Undead's trained instinct tried to correct the posture, the numbed body was a bit slower.

As a result, the world flashed white once again before the Undead staggered back ten steps, clutching his chest that had now started to bleed.

Even though his chest bones weren't broken, he could feel them cracking even from the outside.

For the first time, the Undead had a terrible premonition. Rather than completing the conquest of Solar system, he might die here.

'I have to break this balance. If I can absorb the death energy from corpses, I can grow stronger. Even if not mid level 9, at least the strongest state of low level 9.' The Undead's eyes shone for a moment before they dimmed again.

He glared at Varian and glanced into the distance behind the young man. There was a few miles away. The pit where he gathered all the corpses to absorb.

But now, all these corpses were either dismembered, burnt to ashes, frozen or broken into pieces.

Varian being Varian, ensured their battle's aftermath hit these corpses and orchested their destruction.

'I didn't think this bastard would be this freak of a monster, so I didn't care much at that time. Dammit.'

Now that things had gotten so bad, the Undead started thinking.

'I need death energy, corpses…but where?' Suddenly, his eyes shone as his senses picked up the aroma of death a few hundred miles away.

It was exactly where the Human and Abyssal armies fought!