Ascension

One of the three healing potions popped up and fell to the ground.

Varian's eyes were still closed, but he heard the sound of its landing and felt it press against his arm.

There was a problem, however.

It wasn't open.

'Just move once…' He tried to move his arm and break open the healing potion.

His body refused. It was like someone else's body. He had no control over it. Meanwhile, his lower abdomen was also going cold.

'I need to hurry up!' He urged himself.

'Wait!'

'System logs'

[+5 Xp

+5 Xp

+5 Xp

…

+5 Xp]

'Status'

[Body Path Level 3: 400/400

Space Path Level 2: 100/200

Lightning Path Level 3: 300/400]

His mana continued to rise during his fall. He used every bit of new mana right after gaining it to block against the lightning bolts.

However, the mana increased after the final lightning hit wasn't used and he crashed to the ground the next moment.

So there was still a bit of lightning mana left in his body.

He weakly extended his lightning sense and tried to control it

But like an incredibly sick person trying to lift weights, he felt weak and heavy.

'Just once.' He persisted and the lightning mana in his body finally shook.

Z..ap!

With the last of his will, he pushed the lightning small lightning arc to the healing potion.

Crack.

There was a cracking sound, and Varian fell into darkness.

Everything went blank. After an indefinite period, when the potion was still healing his body, a blue screen appeared in front of the unconscious Varian.

[Advancement can be carried out.]

[Congratulations. You are about to step into Level 4 in Body Path. There are two paths ahead.

First is the Enhancer Path. It is similar to Body Path so far. Your stats will undergo an overall increase as you progress on this path.

Second is Controller Path. Your overall stats at any level are slightly lower than Enhancer Path. However, you could freely increase one stat to be higher than Enhancer.]

The System continued.

[Since Host hasn't trained to control stats, Host would enter Enhancer Path.]

A brilliant red light flashed, and the chi in Varian's body roared.

The aura crystals in his body disappeared at a rapid rate and the temperature increased.

Varian's chi spiked and instead of just covering his blood, bones and organs, this time, it mixed with them.

On a microscopic level, instead of existing separately and reinforcing his body, Chi started to surround his cells.

A fundamental shift was beginning to take place.

At the same time, Varian's body was continuously strengthened.

A few hours later,

"Ha!" Varian's eyes snapped open.

Before he knew it, he was on his feet.

Varian looked at his body. His combat uniform was already in tatters. The blood on the blue soil dried up.

As he raised his arm to rub his chin, Varian froze.

'What…' His body felt incredibly light. It was as if he lost 90% of his weight.

Varian looked around and was surprised once again.

He could see with an incredible clarity. It was like going from 1080p to 4k. His line of sight also extended much longer.

As he focused on his senses, he heard the rustling of leaves and flow of water.

Water?

Varian tapped his feet, and the next moment, he shot towards the sound.

Whoosh!

'Shit!' Varian's speed was much higher. It was a qualitative change.

Even though he was still at some distance, he was approaching the speed Sarah's team took.

In no time, he crossed hundreds of meters of greenery and reached a stream flowing down a small mountain.

Varian took a deep breath and clenched his fist.

Even though he felt light, there was an incredible power flowing in his fist. This level of strength was nothing like what he had before.

He dashed to the mountain and threw a punch.

Boom!

Bang!

The rocks in direct contact with his fist and ones in vicinity were broken to pieces.

Rumble!

The whole mountain, as big as a two-storey building, shook violently.

Varian checked his fist and realized there were no injuries.

'What the fuck!' His brain started to cool down.

He smiled deeply. 'I survived. Not only that.'

[Body Path (Enhanced) Level 4: 0/1000]

"Yes!" He pumped his fist.

The air around his arm shook a little from the sheer force and only enforced him that he was now on a higher level.

Then he recalled something and said with a light grudge.

'System, why didn't you announce it sooner? I thought I was going to die.'

[Even if you advanced, you'd be dead without the healing potion.] It replied curtly.

'Tch.' Varian's face twitched.

He then left it behind and assessed his own combat power.

'On absolute scale, I can now hold off against Mid Level 4. I could fight high Level 4, but I'm not sure of winning.'

Of course, he still needed to familiarize himself with the power level. Varian's combat experience would enable him to remain unrivalled at the same level of strength.

'For lightning beasts,' he glanced at the status.

[Lightning Path Level 3: 300/400]

'I can win against High Level 4. Peak ones are going to be tough.'

The difference between each sub-level increased with the level itself. The disparity between a Low Level 4 and Mid Level 4 was much higher than a Low Level 3 and mid Level 3.

So going from Mid Level 4 to High Level 4 was a considerable increase in strength.

"Hey, are you there?" He yelled out loud, his voice reverberating across the mountains.

'W… ait. I made a calculation error and asked you to jump 1 second earlier. How did you survive?' The cute voice said.

But Varian felt it wasn't cute anymore.

'And you fucking expect me to help you?' He was enraged.

If this person couldn't even care enough to keep him alive, then he was not to be trusted.

'Bohoo. I tried my best. You'll know when you meet me.' It pleaded.

Varian didn't feel a sliver of sympathy.

But if this person was his only way out, then he had to compromise for now.

Varian took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Now tell me everything."