Jake charged forward to the updated rhythm of Minaga’s boss theme. It had once more shifted in this so-called final hidden phase, and the stars also seemed to pulse with the beat. The number of attacks descending from above was staggering, and only Jake had a chance to even approach the Unique Lifeform without having to take several hits on the way.Vaulting over a meteor, Jake got closer yet didn’t dare use One Step due to how warped space was; the meteors clearly had some kind of strong gravitational pull. Minaga raised a hand and released a large beam toward Jake, forcing him to dodge the energy as well as a meteor headed straight for his new position. Before it had a chance to hit, a crescent wave of water cut it apart, allowing Jake to keep going without slowing down too much.Jake focused on what was inside of his mouth as he got closer. He was swishing the liquid around, letting it burn his throat while it mixed and created a truly unstable amalgamation. Necrotic Poison… Hemoto

Soulflames were something Jake had pushed to the back of his mind ever since he first learned about them. Primarily because in learning about them, he’d learned how screwed he was if he wanted a Soulflame that fit him, and since replacing one was incredibly difficult, he had just resigned himself to do without for the foreseeable future.He was aware that having a Soulflame that fit you was strictly better than not having one. However, having a Soulflame not suited for your Path was worse than none at all. The issue with Jake was his arcane affinity. Soulflames were created from freak accidents where mana of a certain affinity gathered in an area and an elemental was about to be born, but for some reason, this process failed and mutated, resulting in a half-born elemental only retaining a bit of spirituality. This effectively made a Soulflame a half-elemental, half-natural treasure.This meant Jake’s only option if he wanted a Soulflame was to artificially create an environment for on

Jake and company spent a touch over two weeks just relaxing in the in-between room, having exerted themselves perhaps a bit too much during the Minaga fight. The fact that they’d just gotten cool new items they wanted to either absorb or experiment with was certainly also a factor.During this time, the Sword Saint managed to set up the Sword Formation within one of the bedrooms and even had a light spar with the Minaga clone. Testing revealed that only the Sword Saint could use the formation, so that was a bit of a bummer, but probably a necessary limitation for Minaga to even give it out. If not, it could maybe even have been used as a defensive formation, as it quickly became clear the Minaga clone in the formation could pretty much exert whatever force it deemed necessary.Dina was enamored with her wooden branch and instantly got to work on a formation that would allow her to properly absorb it, though it didn’t seem like that would be a small project. Absorbing any kind of high-

One had to skip back a few weeks to find out why Jake and company had chosen violence.They had traveled with the Caravan Guard Captain and the caravan for around a week, and had learned a lot more about the world. They had even entered the territories of two factions and traded with small local villages. The caravan they were on transported primarily people, but it also had foodstuffs, herbs, and metals. All in all, everything seemed pretty normal. At least when they were on the road.Sure, every person other than the Guard Captain didn’t say anything of substance and generally gave off powerful NPC energy. They just made small talk with each other, with the Guard Captain more than happy to only talk to the five of them. Clearly, he didn’t even view the people he traveled with as people worth interacting with.One thing they did discover was that teleportation circles did not work on the planet. One Step worked as normal, and none of the others noticed anything either, but upon furth

Jake was pushed back by a wave of dense space mana, but he quickly stabilized himself. The entire tower had erupted, sending stones to the ground below from the Lord Protector’s implosion of the expanded space.The Lord Protector had an oddly empty, yet enraged, look in his eyes. His body was burning with power as a sword appeared in his hand. Still, he seemed to hesitate, as if the gravity of his situation only hit him now that he had actually gone and attacked. His mind was clearly still a mess, and he genuinely looked confused, as if unsure why he’d had such an emotional outburst.“Alright… it is confirmed now,” Jake communicated through their mark. “The Otherworlders are quite heavily affected, too, though the effect is slightly different. I guess this settles it.”Rather than making them lose all ability to question anything, it just made them… what was the word?… accepting of the status quo. They didn’t see the need to say no. Like with the natives, it was an insidious kind of m