Cosmic Peak

[First Objective: Kill ten ancient creatures has been completed. You can leave the dungeon by returning to the hall and entering through a portal.]

Aren had no time to focus on notification as he was seriously panicking right now.

He was about to drink a Health potion as he summoned it in his hand from inventory but stopped before it reached his mouth.

Amidst the pain and panic, Aren also tried to stay calm as he believed that calmness was required in any situation or mental state a person experiences.

He didn't drink the potion in the end because he felt that it might also fuel the umbra wind.

'What do I do? I need to destroy this energy inside me before it reaches my core or my heart...'

"Arghhhhhhhhh......"

A scream left Aren's mouth as he suddenly felt very painful.

[Your meridians are getting destroyed by the Umbra wind. You have 25 seconds until you die.]

'I DON'T NEED YOUR REMINDER!...calm...calm down.'

'Should I use that Celestial Ichor Prototype thing?...No! I-I shouldn't use it in my current state. It already displays a 50% chance of survival, but with my current state that is near death, the chances of survival might decrease if I use it.'

'Spirit energy....can I use my spirit energ-NOO! The spirit energy might fuel it.'

Aren was rapidly thinking while feeling pain. He has to think of a way to survive. HE HAS TO.

'I need something more powerful...to destroy this umbra wind,' Aren thought as he suddenly got an idea, but an intense pain once again assaulted him as he screamed painfully.

After a second, he tried to focus and calmed down as he worked on his idea.

'Combine...I need to combine both spirit energy and Armalist force with my Aember of Eturnia's mutant magic energy,' while thinking this, Aren started to work on it as he consumed all of his soul energy to invoke the strongest mutant magic energy he could produce from the Aember core and also used his Armalist force from Armalist Driver and spirit energy before combing two of them with the main force, Aember mutant magic energy that has the nature of mutating with any energy.

He started circulating this energy in his body. He first surrounded his heart with this energy before circulating them towards the areas where Umbra wind energy was wreaking havoc.

Umbra wind was in his meridian channels as well and had already destroyed quite a lot of meridians. The pain was immense, but it still didn't reach the pain level he had felt four times before. Two times while using <Painful Glory> ability and two other times when he implemented his eyes and upgraded his eyes.

'It's...it's working,' Aren thought with joy amidst pain as he managed to destroy the Umbra Wind from his body by using the combined energy he created.

The death was avoided, at least.

Aren hurriedly started eliminating the umbra wind energy in his body and finally completely erased them after a minute. Afterward, he started drinking health potions to increase his health.

[Your meridians are damaged, and some meridian paths are broken. You won't be able to circulate spirit energy in them until they are fixed. This means that you won't be able to refine your spirit core anymore and won't be able to break through. You also won't be able to level up.]

[You won't be able to use your normal skills. However, you will be able to use your abilities. Naturally, you can crudely use your spirit energy but don't circulate it through your meridian for the risk of further damage. But you won't be able to recover your spirit energy through any means. ]

[Your path powers will still work, and your Armalist force will still recover. Your gears and their trait abilities will work as well. Same with your Aember Core of Eturnia power as it will continue to work without trouble.]

"What?!"

Aren was shocked hearing this bad news, "no way, right?"

He then sighed before thinking, 'Hmm...since the voice said this status will continue until meridians are fixed, then there should be a way to fix them.'

The two minutes duration of <Demonic Overlord> was gone a short while ago as his bonus body health decreased as well.

"However...unable to use spirit energy."

Aren looked at his status and shook his head.

-----

-Name: Aren Azrael

-Level: 25 [ 0/43,000 ] ( Stored Exp: 595,240).

-Path: Emporio Armalist: Level: 10 [202,134/512,000 Exp.]

-Mutant Magic: [Aember core of Eturnia]

-Spinergy Method: Demon Yakum's Spinergy Method.

-Body Health: [7412/9000]

-Soul Health: [216/216]

-Life Stage: Mortal-5

-Spirit Energy Pool: [7,350/13,350]

-Soul Energy: [0/1160]

-Mutant Magic Energy: [0/1000] (18/min).

-----

'For now, I will wait until my Armalist force fully recovers and then return to the hall,' Aren thought as he closed his eyes to rest.

...

"Oh my, how reckless..., hahaha."

A chuckle resounded behind Tarrox, who was sitting amidst the red clouds in the sky somewhere in the Wild Expanse.

The red clouds were crackling with red lightning, but Tarrox was unbothered. Instead, his bare upper body was perfectly fine even after getting hit by those powerful lightning bolts.

Tarrox shot opened his eyes and stood up before he turned around and bowed, "Lord, what brings you here?"

"aren't you curious about the one you chose?" Lord asked. An amusing smile was stretched across her face.

Tarrox smiled helplessly and nodded, "Indeed I am; however, I dare not observe him anymore since you have banned me from doing that because I went to that Witch and interfered more by requesting to erase the truth from Aren's mind."

The Lord smiled as she waved her hand and spoke, "I allow you to watch him from now on for the next two months. Let's see what decision he makes. He might use your dragon clan's bloodline orb soon, hehe."

"Thank you very much," Tarrox bowed with a smile.

However, his face changed after a second, and he frowned while speaking, "this...he is severally injured. Wait, he is crippled!"

"Indeed," the Lord nodded with a smile, "and whenever he goes to ask for the treatment, he will receive the same answer as there are only two ways to restore and rebuild the meridians."

"Bloodline orb...," Tarrox muttered as his frown eased, "however, will he use it?"

"By using it, he will waste a greater opportunity," the Lord suddenly spoke, her words confusing Tarrox.