Chapter 13: Chapter 11

About 30 minutes have passed since I’ve begun climbing, and I was about 320 meters high away from the ground.

I knew this because there was a checkpoint platform every 100 meters used for resting and for admiring the view.

I could’ve just practice at the checkpoint, but a more suitable environment awaited me if I continued on to the 500-meter mark, which was the final checkpoint for non-Mavens.

Of course, they can go even further but only at their own risk, since there were no longer any checkpoints.

Nearly eight minutes had passed by even further, and I reached the fourth checkpoint.

Panting heavily, I laid on the cold, hard floor of the platform.

Another 100 meters to go.

With my current speed, it should take about 10 minutes before I reach it.

But goddamn it’s tiring.

With only my hands as my firm supports when climbing, thoughts of me slipping and falling into my doom would plague my mind.

I wish I could use <Ikilux> on my feet so that I have more reassurance, but it’s hard to control and sense mana down there. It was the case even for Mavens.

After I’ve caught my breath, I was about to get into position to climb again, until a passing thought came in my head.

It was a feasible idea to get to the last checkpoint much faster, however I needed to make even more progress with <Ikilux>, especially in the material property changes.

So, I sat down once again in a lotus position and began meditating.

I was now more or less familiar with the sensation of mana and how they operate, thanks to the past few days. So, going on a small trip to acquire <Ikilux> gave me more benefits than I initially expected.

Anyway, with me being in such a close proximity to the World Tree, I was quickly able to progress <Ikilux>.

After an hour, I got up as I stretched my back.

I casted <Ikilux> on my hands, creating red sparks, then transformed it into a rope with a spear head on its end.

I then gave it a whirl before whipping them onto the trunk, which penetrated through and stuck to it.

After pulling them forcibly to see if they truly are firm, in which they are, I then moved back, stretching the rope.

The checkpoint platform wasn’t small but it definitely wasn’t big either. It just had enough space to fit 20 people moving around. So, I had more than enough space to do what I wanted to do.

Once I was at the edge of the platform, the rope was thinned out, so I let got of my footing by slightly jumping, in which the rope returned to its original form with so much force that my body went along with it and propelled up tens of meters into the air when I let go.

In just a matter of seconds, I was nearly halfway to the checkpoint. Once I began to descend, I immediately casted <Ikilux> on my hands, changed its properties to be highly adhesive, and planted them to the trunk, stopping me from descending even further.

“Hah, hah, hah, I can’t believe that actually worked!” I said as I panted heavily.

What I made was a makeshift slingshot, which was possible by changing the properties of the rope to be very elastic and have a strong tensile strength.

After catching my breath, I changed the construct properties of my hands to be semi-elastic and semi-adhesive as I planted my foot horizontal to the trunk and began walking backwards.

Once I feel that the elastic force is enough, I jumped slightly and it propelled me into the air again.

Once my speed has decreased again, I did the same process as before: casted <Ikilux> on my hands and stuck to the trunk.

In just a few meters above me was a huge tree hollow, the final checkpoint for non-Maven climbers.

Instead of using the makeshift slingshot, I climbed my way up since the checkpoint was close.

After a minute or two, I had finally arrived at the final checkpoint!

The entrance to the tree hollow was about 10 meters wide and 20 meters high.

The interior was pretty wide, and it didn’t seem decorated or altered in any way aside from the polished flooring and the lights.

Stepping in the tree hollow, I looked around to see if there were any people here but there were none, which was not surprising since most people would give up by the 300-meter checkpoint.

Well, it worked in my favor since I didn’t want anyone to disturb me while I finally complete the acquisition of <Ikilux>.

I removed the harness and mask, then left it on the floor as I made my way towards the center of the room.

Then, I sat down once again in a lotus position. Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes as I started to feel the surrounding mana.

The mana here was strong and had a distinct flow unlike before.

Every breath I take would refresh my entire system.

With a peaceful and refreshing environment like this, my mind soon relaxed and entered the state of meditation.

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Everything was silent except for the sounds of the occasional wind that breezes in and the faint rustles of leaves.

Arthur was already in the state of meditation, proof is how his breathing was constant and steady, and how he remained unmoved when the cold breeze grazes his skin.

It was like he was one with nature.

The scene was peaceful overall.

Until, about 15 minutes later, it started to change.

A gust of wind blasted through him. His clothes and hair fluttered to the back, however Arthur didn’t react to it; not even a flinch.

Slowly, a small cyclone formed around Arthur as leaves danced in the wind.

It started out as gentle, but it grew stronger with every couple of minutes Arthur spent meditating.

Soon, the lights began flickering as orange sparks started to come out of his hands.

Cracks soon appeared on the floor as the orange sparks became more and more prominent, and began rampaging about like electric sparks.

Sweat trickled down Arthur’s forehead as he began breathing heavily.

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The cyclone grew stronger as more cracks formed and lights started shattering.

The sparks the came out of his hands rampaged even further and stronger, grazing his skin and slightly scorching everything it touches.

It was a chaotic scene overall.

Arthur furrowed his brows, clearly distressed as he sensed that things aren’t look too good.

Unfortunately, Arthur doesn’t have enough control to deal with the overflowing mana within the World Tree, hence the strong chaotic reaction.

However, he couldn’t stop because if he did, what happened on the hotel room will happen again but on a much dangerous level, potentially killing him.

He struggled to gain control of the main but to no avail, instead it made things worse.

‘Shit!’ Arthur cursed in his head. His body and mind was aching. It was like a thousand needles were piercing him. ‘Don’t tell me… this is the end…’

The chaos grew even stronger. Nearly every squared meter of the room was cracked and scorched, the lights were no longer present, and a violent cyclone took up the room until…

Arthur suddenly took a deep breath and slowly exhaled it out.

The moment he did that, the chaos had stopped and dissipated a little.

He repeated the process a few times until everything was normal again.

Then, Arthur calmly meditated once more, however the reaction this time was different.

An orange orb appeared out of thin air just above the ground and began circling around Arthur, leaving an orange trail.

It was calm and steady, unlike before. Although, it did crackle at times.

This went on for 30 minutes until Arthur opened his eyes, awakening himself from his meditation as the construct dissolved.

He had finally acquired the <Ikilux> ability!

Looking at Arthur, there was something different about him.

He was… composed for someone who could’ve died if the chaos went on for even a minute longer. His face had no trace of fear or the panic he initially felt, instead it radiated with confidence.

The other thing that was different was his eyes which oddly glowed to a bright emerald color. A clear contrast from the dim environment.

However it disappeared soon after Arthur blinked and the confidence that was on his face was immediately replaced with incredulity. “I… did this?”

He was shocked at the state of the room. He only sensed that things weren’t looking too good for him, but he didn’t knew that the room was also affected from him losing control.

However, he soon moved on from that since his main focus was that he had finally completely acquired the <Ikilux> ability.

“Let’s do this.” Arthur wanted to test out the full capabilities of the ability, so he extended his left arm out with his hand clenched.

Orange sparks came out of his hands before he willed it to transform into a broadsword, in which it did.

Although he did completely acquire <Ikilux>, mastery over it was an entirely different matter, so he couldn’t yet conjure a construct immediately out of thin air. All he can do for now is create sparks from his hands before he could will it to transform to his desired object.

Although, he could conjure simple objects like a rod or a rope.

Another thing was that he couldn’t yet change the visual properties of the construct, so the broadsword he conjured was entirely orange with a few sparks.

However, Arthur didn’t mind the visual details for as long as the conjured object works as it is supposed to, in which it did.

Arthur slashed the ground with the sword which easily cut through its surface.

“Huh, nice!” He nodded, satisfied at its sharpness.

This time, he tried willing the sword in his hand to transform into a handgun, in which it also did but when he pulled the trigger, the gun didn’t shoot.

“…What?” Arthur pulled the trigger a few more times but it just wouldn’t shoot out bullets.

He analyzed the reason behind the strange situation until he realized that he only willed it to transform into a gun in general; he didn’t think of the parts that would make the gun shoot.

“Don’t tell me… I also have to think of those parts just for it to shoot!” He said exasperatedly.

He was completely right. Although, the sword did transform into a gun, that was in form only. Inside was just hollow space. To make it function exactly like a gun, he needs to conjure the parts that made the gun shoot.

This was also the case for other objects that needs multiple parts for it to operate properly like a smartphone, clock, or laptop.

“Sigh, damn it.” Arthur dispersed the ability. Then, he closed his eyes and orange sparks came out soon after as he willed it to transform to a gun, this time with the necessary parts.

Fortunately, he was one of the biggest weapon manufacturer back on Earth, so he knew exactly what parts were needed and how the gun operates in relation to the parts.

However, it took him too much time and energy just to create a simple handgun.

If engaged in serious combat, the user would already be dead before the transformation was complete. What’s more is that mastery over <Ikilux> wouldn’t directly fix this, instead the user would have to train their mind to think of all those necessary parts in a single moment, which wouldn’t be possible for non-Mavens, especially when in combat.

It was no wonder <Ikilux> was mostly used for utility purposes than for combat.

However, Arthur wasn’t worried about that since a section of his tome ability will be able to help him deal with that problem.

Seconds later, the gun finally formed in Arthur’s hand.

He aimed the gun towards the entrance then pulled the trigger. This time, a bullet shot out the barrel as the gun recoiled back.

The recoil and power were as the same as you would expect from a normal handgun, however Arthur dropped to his knees immediately after.

“Hahh… hahh… hahh.” Arthur panted heavily as he felt his body turn heavy.

Unfortunately, the gun’s process of shooting took up most of his energy due to his lack of control over mana.

“I guess… one bullet… is all… I could manage…” he said in between pants.

“Hahh… so… sleepy…” With that, he closed his eyes and fell asleep soon after.

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