Chapter 12: Diluted Element, Blessing Or A Curse

‘He stopped following me?’ After the short barrage of flickering light bullets ended, Zax managed to catch a break and gaze up to confirm. Slowly, while riddled with seven bullet holes, grazed by twenty something strays and suffering the corrosiveness of the seawater, a smile of relief stretched across his face. ‘This was probably the most dangerous situation I’ve ever got myself into’. He had to admit. ‘Although the Horned Eel and Four Wings Stork were the same as fifth level Martial Mortal, at least they stopped chasing outside of their territories. If he could, this geezer would have continued to pursue me to the end of the world. Luckily, luckily there are places like the Down Ocean on our planet to run to, where even Peak experts have to be cautious’.

Still, Zax was not naïve enough to think he was in the clear. ‘He is probably waiting outside ... He said nothing about the Galactic Communicator when we talked. If he had known that I stole it, he would not have sent back the four Bishops. I have a short window before of most likely minutes before someone will inform him, and then, imagining the consequences of the connection to the three Immortal powerhouses being jeopardized, all five powers might unite to hunt me’.

He made the calculation in his mind, the most probable scenarios that could unfold every minute now.

“Argh!” He suddenly uttered as all the muscles in his body convulsed. His condition was worsening while he did not have the energy to heal or shelter himself from the seawater.

‘Oh no!’ His eyes widened in shock. As he was thinking the drop of Diluted Element in his mouth slid the direction of his throat. As it happened he unconsciously shifted his tongue to hold it at bay, since he was not ready to absorb it, however the drop, almost like it had a life of its own and a purpose that could not be obstructed, still slid down from his mouth.

Afraid of what might happen, should he consume the drop, without finding a secluded place for safety from interruptions, like the elderly green mustached guard of the two prizes recommended in his explanation, with madness in his eyes Zax dashed down and back the direction of the Eastern Continent in search for somewhere solid he could dig a hideout in.

‘Why can’t I block it?!’ He contracted his throat muscles to halt the drop of Diluted Element, but the thing just slipped through in the same relaxed pace.

‘Dammit! I’m should be already forty five hundred meters deep, the Eastern Continent isn’t that far, and I still can’t reach the bottom!’ Worse than that, the deeper he got, the harder it was to see in the turbid water, the more corrosive they were, too.

‘Right, I can do that... !’

Drawing his arms back in the initial motion of a punch, he threw them forward and discharged long range Kinetic Force rays.

Kinetic Orb could not withstand the seawater and pressure.

Unlike dark attribute energy, his body could generate kinetic energy and, even injured, Kinetic Force was no longer something that could hurt him whether used correctly or not.

BANG!

One of the rays hit something tough and the undulation in the water indicated the direction.

Zax hastened toward where the undulation ensued, simultaneously keeping track on the drop that was about to enter his stomach.

‘It’s dispersing’. When the drop landed in his stomach and made contact with the gastric juices it finally responded to a bodily function, though not in the way Zax had hoped.

The drop turned to gas that channeled, again by itself, up his body.

‘It’s heading for my sea of consciousness!’ Zax scowled. He already comprehended five bottlenecks of insight; the drop could not assist him with the sixth. Using it for its common purpose was a waste of rare resource he might never encounter again, unless he will achieve Evolutionary Ascension, and by then it will be useless to him.

‘Move!’ He commanded as he tried to redirect it while proceeding downwards. ‘Move!’ He concentrated on each particle separately, since as a whole despite being gaseous they felt heavier than the entire planet!

Gradually, one particle after another started moving in accordance of Zax will. ‘Go!’ He pushed them into the vortexes of the Three Stages Of Hyper Physique.

BANG!

His head rang from the collision. He finally reached solid something. A rock, perhaps, since it was flat but there was no sand but it was simply too hard, so much that he nearly got concussions and barely could dig through with his cultivated physique that on its own was as strong as an Advanced or Peak second level Martial Mortal.

The particles were sucked by the vortexes to the creeks, which then carried them to the almost dried pond physique he had, where merely scarce drops of dark attribute’s essence worth of energy were left.

CRACK!

CRACK!

Zax ignored the two broken fingers, not even wondering how come the rock is so hard, or if it is actually the bottom of the Down Ocean. Once a cavity large enough to accommodate him was forged he entered inside and began to seal it while expelling the seawater with veils of Kinetic Force that by a whisker did the job.

‘The first particle enters the pond’. The long awaited moment has arrived.

He did not want to do it like this. In fact, despite weighing the Diluted Element’s suitability for cultivating the first stage of the Three Stages Of Hyper Physique from when he initially heard about it, he still deliberated on what he would do if he will really get it. He had a lover, Master, Grandmaster, sister and others he cared for who strode the path of Martial cultivation and could better use it, especially those whose souls had yet broken through the third realm and had bottlenecks of insight still to perceive.