Defiance of the Fall: A LitRPG Adventure

by TheFirstDefier

  He was even more dismayed when he noticed that the hole he had created in his hand was continuously leaking Cosmic Energy and draining him of power.

  Zac could only reluctantly change his circulation pattern back, bringing forth another wave of torment.

  He sat for a full thirty minutes, feeling lost at what to do. He was afraid that he had somehow crippled his future prospects. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was extremely important to be able to project energy. The skills the demons had used all had projected energy in different ways. The mysterious mist, the black arcs of lightning, and the root control. They all relied on manipulating Cosmic Energy outside the body.

  If he was stuck with this defective system where all the energy was stuck inside his body, would he even be able to use the skills he got in the future?

  He needed to find a way to rectify this, even if he had to take the torture of rewriting his pathing. However, the hole he had made didn’t work, and even if it did, he was hesitant to use that method anymore. He didn’t want to haphazardly get himself deeper and deeper in the hole by making a crappy patchwork circulation method.

  He went over to the Nexus Node once more to scour through the skills, in case one of them actually was a circulation skill or something similar. Of course, he subconsciously knew that wasn’t the case; he had looked those skills over many times by now and knew there was no such thing there.

  The skills available generally could be categorized into offensive, defensive, movement, and support, as far as he could tell. The [Eye of Discernment] would fall into the support skill.

  But as he moved his hand away from the crystal, he suddenly froze, struck with a realization. All things connected to the System had one thing in common: the fractals. He still had no idea how to make sense of them, but they were present on the array flags, the weapons, and even the skills used them.

  And it just so happened, he knew a pattern that was the exact size of his body. It was the fractal pattern that he had seen when he chose his class. Many details of it had been muddled at the time, but the parts he could make out made a full circuit.

  When he got the idea, he couldn’t let it go. The more he thought it over, the more it made sense. He could still remember the pattern clearly, and it flowed through every part of his body. It was a far more complicated system compared to the one he had devised himself, but he saw no reason that it wouldn’t work.

  As for the parts that were hazy and blurred, they might show themselves at a later point when he leveled up or completed quests, at which point Zac could use the new information to improve on the existing pattern.

  The only problem was the massive undertaking to change the circulation. Just adding and removing a small hole in his hand had felt like putting the palm in an imp’s fire. He wasn’t even sure he’d survive such an undertaking.

  But at the same time, he didn’t dare wait. When he first devised the energy circulation, he’d made some small revisions quickly after. At that time, he hadn’t felt any pain whatsoever and assumed that the circulation pattern was just a mental aid for using Cosmic Energy.

  Zac was afraid that it might mean that the pattern became harder and harder to change, as though it was fusing with his very being. It was still possible for him to change it, but judging from the pain, it might be impossible soon.

  Zac was no stranger to pain by now and wasted no time. Ideally, he would have wanted to wait until all his wounds were healed, but he had a sense of urgency. He started with his left hand to try if it even was viable to reform the patterns.

  A blazing pain far worse than when he’d opened the hole engulfed his hand. It felt like his whole arm was dipped in burning acid. His whole body was covered in sweat in just seconds, and his eyes were completely bloodshot. Still, he pushed through and kept imagining the crude system in his hand slowly transforming into the fractal he had been given by the Hatchetman class.

  After what felt like an eternity, the transformation was done. His hand was a mess, almost looking as if it had been pushed down into a blender. But where there once was a simple pathway for Cosmic Energy was now a sophisticated pattern that had substituted it.

  Zac tried moving his fingers, and while it hurt, it seemed there was no permanent damage. He then tried to circulate Cosmic Energy through his arm and into his rewritten pathways.

  It was a weird feeling. He had thought his circulation had been smooth all this while. But after pushing the energy into his hand, it felt like the energy came from cramped pipes in his arms into the open ocean in his hand. The level of smoothness of handling the energy was incomparable.

  Zac knew he had guessed correctly by now. The class change had provided him with a complete pattern to utilize his Cosmic Energy. It would likely tie in with his skills as well, he reckoned.

  He also knew what that meant and, with a shudder, started converting the rest of his body.

  31

  Infusion

  The suns were starting to rise over the small campsite.

  Zac sat naked except for a pair of ragged underpants, in a cross-legged position by the now died out fire. The ground all around him was red with his blood. There was not one spot on Zac’s body that wasn’t damaged and bloody.

  He had relentlessly continued to improve his circulation pattern the whole night, and he was almost completed by now. It had felt like he had been thrown into hell and had been tortured for an eternity. He had wanted to stop so many times, but had summoned willpower he didn’t know he had to keep going.

  Of course, that didn’t mean that he had stoically endured the pain like some battle-hardened warrior. Luckily, there had been no one around to see him scream himself hoarse, roll around on the ground, and cry until snot ran down his face.

  Right now, only the part around his brain remained to be changed. In the class pattern, it was a dense web of fractals that covered his whole head.

  Zac hadn’t stopped due to changing his mind, but the pain in his head had made him pass out for a few minutes after he tried it the first time. He was currently steadying himself for another try.

  He shakily got up and snatched all the remaining dried meat he had left over. He felt severely drained and needed some energy before trying again. He also filled his water bottle from his array and poured it over himself to clean away some of the blood. The sting of cold water over his countless cuts jolted him properly awake.

  Finally, he sat down again to complete the fractal. He was afraid if he didn’t complete it now, he wouldn’t dare to sit down and do it in the future. The pain was to the point of creating a mental scar, and he needed to do it immediately to get it done.

  He started changing the pattern a small bit at a time, afraid that he’d pass out again if he improved too large a chunk in one go. Still, the pain was barely within the realm he could tolerate. It felt like a spike was stabbed through his eye right into his head and then started grinding around in there for good measure.

  Zac arduously pressed on, tears flowing like a waterfall. Finally, after an hour, the last piece was changed, and the fractal was whole and connected. Zac suddenly puked out a mouthful of blood, but immediately after felt very refreshed.

  He still had acute blood loss and was hurting all over, but his body felt lighter and better. He tried circulating some Cosmic Energy and was shocked at the improvement. To compare it with before, it felt like previously he had breathed and blinked manually when pushing Cosmic Energy through his body, and now it was an automatic and natural process.

  It was if the energy knew what he wanted to do, and followed his will automatically. It also seemed that he absorbed energy from the surroundings faster, and not by a small margin. It wouldn’t help with his level, but it would help him to heal and restore his energy reserves faster.

  Finally done with the fractal, he closed his eyes and had a dreamless sleep.

  Zac woke up again roughly three hours later. While he felt drained and still hurting, he wasn’t bleeding anymore.
With his improved stats, he only needed to sleep a few hours a day to feel rested, and he had no problems skipping sleep entirely for a night or two. The combination of high Endurance and Vitality showed its value once again.

  He had initially planned on scouting out the actual incursion today, but decided against it. He wanted to be in optimal condition for whatever waited for him at the end of the rainbow. He needed to find something to eat as well, and it felt safer to grind out some lower beasts while he was incapacitated.

  His wounds from yesterday’s battle had also improved significantly, with only the leg still smarting.

  There was one thing he had to do before setting out, though. An important reason why he had tortured himself during the night was the inscribed gear.

  Zac was relieved to notice that he could project energy easily now from his upgrade. He couldn’t actually see the Cosmic Energy with his eyes, but he could sense it. It was a weird feeling; it was as though he had gotten a new sense since starting to use Cosmic Energy, and with his upgraded pathways, the sense only seemed stronger. The Cosmic Energy was floating like an invisible mist above his hand that projected it, not showing any signs of dissipating.

  His first goal was to check the pouch, as it contained the most mystery for him. He picked up the small pouch and carefully infused some energy into it. He was shocked to notice that the pouch actually suddenly absorbed all the dried blood on his hand.

  He didn’t have time to think it over, though, as he suddenly saw a large space in his mind. The space was roughly three by three meters and was filled with an assortment of items.

  There was another sword inside, also with inscriptions. But this one was a far more normal size compared to its monstrous brother. There were some random tools, a water bottle and a flagon made in silver in one corner. The flagon seemed to have similar fractals as the water bottle, albeit a bit more intricate.

  There was also a large reserve of luxurious dishes and fruits in another corner.

  More surprisingly, there was an actual table, a parasol, a rug, and two ornate chairs in the space. Zac dumbly stared at the furniture, not knowing how to react. Was the demon invading another world, or was he out on a picnic?

  He didn’t dare take any of the food, as he had no idea whether the food demons ate was edible for humans. While it looked perfectly normal, who knew if they used cyanide as a spice?

  The final items in the corner were a few books and a small pile of crystals. Each crystal was uniform in shape and roughly the size of his palm. He couldn’t understand the language in the books at all and could only put them aside for now.

  The crystals were more interesting, and he tried to mentally extract one from the pouch. Suddenly, the crystal appeared next to the pouch. Zac grabbed it in the air and started to examine it. It wasn’t translucent, but rather a milky white, and cool to the touch. It seemed to emit a faint white light as well.

  More interestingly, Zac could feel that the small stone was packed with Cosmic Energy. It was as if his senses were telling him that he wasn’t holding a small shiny crystal, but a shining sun of energy.

  He remembered that his quests had something called Nexus Crystals as a reward for completing, and guessed he was holding one right now. More impressively, he had roughly one hundred of them in his pouch.

  Of course, Zac knew that there was a distinct possibility that this was an F-grade Nexus Crystal rather than an E-grade crystal like the ones that the quests rewarded. It would be odd if he got a hundred crystals from just one enemy if he only received ten for conquering a whole incursion by himself.

  He tried absorbing some energy from the crystal, and a pure stream of energy quickly entered his body and energized him. His slightly depleted body was quickly energized, and he was happy to notice that the absorption continued even after his body was “satiated.” That meant that absorbing the crystals would work toward gaining levels and not only be a tool for recuperating after a draining battle.

  Zac sat and absorbed the crystal for roughly thirty minutes before he stopped. After scrutinizing the crystal, it seemed that he had absorbed roughly a quarter of the stored energy. So completely absorbing it would take roughly two hours. Furthermore, absorbing just one crystal seemed equivalent to killing roughly ten barghest and absorbing their energy.

  That meant if he only sat down and used these stones to cultivate, it would actually be more effective compared to running all over the island, killing demon dogs with all his might.

  Of course, he wouldn’t get any Nexus Coins, but still.

  These crystals would be a huge asset for him. There were always times he couldn’t be killing beasts. Like when cooking, chopping wood, and even moving between the demons while out hunting. If he could keep absorbing these crystals during all this downtime, he could double his leveling speed.

  Next, he walked over to the great sword and tried infusing it with cosmic power as well. However, it was as though the energy was blocked when trying to enter, which stumped Zac. After a brief hesitation, he cut his finger and dripped a few drops of blood on the runes before trying again. He remembered the pouch absorbing his blood, and could only try the same method again.

  This time, he felt no resistance as the blood was absorbed into the sword. Information once again entered his mind, this time the usage of the sword. It seemed that the sword could increase and decrease its weight, albeit the effect was quite limited. That might have explained why he slammed into the ground so helplessly in the first clash between him and the leader; he might have maximized the weight for the overhead swing.

  Next, he did the same procedure on his axe. Infusing it with energy had no earth-shattering effect. It had a weak auto-repair and sharpen feature. As long as he infused some Cosmic Energy into it, it would gradually fix nicks in the edge and resharpen.

  It didn’t improve the lethality, but it was convenient for him, who didn’t have proper facilities for weapons maintenance.

  He finally turned to his last inscribed gear and with the same procedure tried to activate the bracers he had nabbed from the leader. To his surprise, nothing happened when he tried activating them.

  32

  Vanity

  Zac tried everything he could think of to activate the bracers, and by the end, they were completely drenched in his blood. Still, there simply was no response from the items. They might just as well have been normal iron hoops.

  Struck with realization, Zac had an odd expression as he turned his eyes toward the almost comically large sword. Then he summoned the furniture out of the pouch. They had an elaborate ostentatious design, and the two chairs almost felt like thrones.

  The bracers were fake. That was the most likely answer he could come up with. The demon had wanted to look impressive, bringing luxurious furniture and foods, a heroic great sword, and a dashing breastplate. Perhaps he had wanted to give an even more extravagant impression, so he’d equipped himself with these fake bracers.

  The female archer was a beauty… Zac reflected wryly. Had this demon tried to turn the scouting mission into a courtship outing?

  That would explain why he’d never used the bracers during the battle, even when they were in a bloody dogfight.

  It seemed crazy to Zac that the demon would be so indifferent to the dangers of invading an unknown world, but he also knew he himself was an anomaly. He both had the highest level in the world and a bunch of titles, making him extremely strong for only one month having passed since the integration into the Multiverse.

  Had a normal human, or even a group of humans, met the demon, they’d likely have been easily butchered. The demon leader hadn’t expected that his life was in jeopardy on this seemingly deserted island.

  Zac didn’t expect that the demons would underestimate him for long, though. Killing Vul could be explained by him tricking it into killing itself on the poles. But now seven demons had died in a short while, a few of which were pretty strong.

  He left the furniture where it was, as they wer
e pretty good-looking after all. He also needed to free up some space in his new pouch in any case.

  As half the day had already passed, he hurriedly set out. He was mostly decked in the demon leader’s gear now, not including the great sword, of course.

  He was starting to get quite hungry and needed to find some prey. Luckily for him, it seemed that the thick energy in the atmosphere was great for the animal population.

  The native animals grew much faster, and bigger, compared to before. From what he had seen in his hunts, some were already stronger than the barghest and used them as prey. Most didn’t seem to be quite there yet, however.

  It was a bit troubling, though, for the world in general. The animals seemed to grow strong faster than humans did. Either they were more suited for absorbing Cosmic Energy, or the System helped them somehow.

  Not long ago, he’d killed a human-sized rabbit. Would he have to fight a train-sized snake in the future?

  He soon found a small critter while walking, and tried throwing it into his pouch after catching it. He was surprised to see that it didn’t work. Nothing happened as he tried to put the struggling squirrel inside.

  Zac could only surmise that putting living beings inside didn’t work. He was a bit confused why the critter didn’t get zapped like the tip of his finger, but it didn’t feel like an important distinction.

  There was no need to kill the critter, as the demon had stored both beverage and food inside the pouch with no problems.

  When he was a good distance away from the camp, he found a hole created by a fallen tree. He threw in all the food and drink the demon had stored, and also the two bracers. He was pretty sure they were fake, but he didn’t want to keep them in the camp on the off chance their function was tracking their location, like a revenge-killing tool.