ACC Chapter 45 Intense Situation

"Lad! Lad! Lad! What the hell are you fuckin' doing? I asked you to get a piece of diamond steel, not fuckin' lightning bronze! Are you somehow tired of life? If you are, we aren't yet tired of living! So, get down from there and go get the correct metal!"

The man chasitising the youth above a railing on the vertical pillar with a massive and thick ring trapping it, was bald, and dressed like the typical scientists. The long white garb and the various tools within his hands. His back was to me, but with the aura he was projecting, coupled with the way he was simply supervising everything, he was the leader.

He was a Core Formation expert, one with an attunement I had just recently come into contact with; Lightning.

The gigantic pillar and equally gigantic ring were both parts of the fusion reactor. It was something that had been built in the hopes of mimicking the Sun's production of pure spiritual energy.

My attention which had been in awe of the technological prowess put on display by humanity, went back to the bald man. The way he was barking orders to the other cultivators had already made it clear to me that he was a people person.

Social animals like him were the kinds of people that I least wanted to interact with. And then there was the fact that we had never met. Strangers were even harder to break the ice with.

But I still steeled myself since the reactor was clearly about to have a meltdown.

With a step, distance shrunk and I appeared beside him, only to instinctively conjure a ward of green when tendrils of lightning from his shoulder almost shocked me. Though, they did manage to create holes within my ward.

(Mr. Nascent Soul. It isn't a great thing to sneak up on people.)

The man transmitted via divine sense as sound would clearly be too slow. Even when commanding the others, I had noticed some sort of micro devices within their ears, making it so, that no matter how fast his lips moved, they could pick up every single word.

(What brings your venerable self here, Mr. Mumaso Reed?)

(You know me.)

I stated the fact. But there was something within his voice that made me certain there was more to his acknowledgement of my existence.

(In fields related to array technology, there is absolutely no one that hasn't heard of you, unless of course, they live under a rock, literally.)

(Well... I don't sense any happiness from you. Is there some enmity between me and you?)

(Mmmm...that's a question with a truly lengthy answer. And as you can see, we lack the time for small talk. So, I will ask once again, what are you doing here?)

(I was sent here to help. Simple as that.) I tried to project some dissatisfaction at the bald man through my divine sense. But he didn't even flinch upon sensing it.

(Multiple runic keys making up the arrays responsible for cooling the walls of the centrifuge that's housing the rotating plasma have failed. My guys are well-versed in arrays to handle them, but the problem is the high temperature. And as you can see, I am supervising, so the task of repairing the critical ones falls on your shoulders.)

(Where are the other Core Formations? I doubt that this experimental facility would be left to just you alone.)

(Those sect fuckers hightailed out of here when summoned by their mates.)

I didnt linger with chatting up the man, instead moving towards the position he had indicated within the divine sense communication.

The whole circular area had been split up into individual quadrants, named after the positions of the compass, with North being my destination.

Barely a second after setting off, I reached the location, taking in the curved metal of the ring, which was sparking a bluish white, with the tendrils leaping off, while some sunk back into the metal.

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It was an articficial alloy. When the superheated plasma(millions of degrees) transferred its heat towards the surface of the metal, the atoms became charged, releasing electrons. Its bearing load was high, that even a few hundred thousand volts shouldn't have been able to cause this visual spectacle of electric arcs. So, this scene only meant one simple thing, the arrays that were supposed to make certain that the metal didn't surpass the limits imposed upon it had failed.

With a step, my velocity increased and I alighted the steps of the stairs as if I was flying, making it up to the railing, where I was close to the metal, with my eyes now capable of seeing the runic keys within the array, inscribed upon the metal

They were beyond repair. Maybe if the reactor had been stable, it would have been possible.

Multiple cracks ran through the array, fragmenting the runic keys and causing the channeled spiritual energy within them to go haywire, adding to the woes of the already overloaded alloy.

I shook my head at the futility of trying to keep the thing working before moving at Nascent Soul speeds, that made everything within my eyes appear to be in partial stasis, except for the flickers of electricity and the photons.

Once again, my form appeared beside the man, with my green ward at the ready, but it seems that the first reaction had been more of a danger reflex. So I wasn't targeted by his lightning.

(This thing has gone far beyond the rails. Even I can't repair anything.)

"Lads! Don't panic! I am going to help you evacuate! As along as you feel my power run as fast as your legs can carry you!"

With those words, multiple bolts of lightning appeared around his body before snaking away and precisely connecting everyone within my gaze. Then his form flickered as he ran around the fusion reactor.

My eyes went to those the lightning had made contact with to find that a bluish aura was burning along the surface of their bodies before they took steps to evacuate, their bodies moving at speeds matching an early stage Core Formation.

The bald man had the capability to buff people. It was a very rare ability because of the fact that many cultivators cared more about themselves than others. Even someone with family members would rather spend resources to raise their strength than travel the path of buffing. It was in the same vein that cultivators with the power of healing were rare.

By the time the man stood beside me, the last of the buffed Foundation Establishment assistants was making it out of the entrance.

(So, what now? Unless those brats can get out of the city, they won't survive the explosion. What do you have in mind?)

The man transmitted, his voice grave. It seemed that he cared a lot for others, even with his abrasive personality.

(How long can this reactor hold off on exploding if I were to move it?)

(That is a hard question, Mr. Reed. Their are so many variables that even the most powerful quantum computer would take a few minutes to come up with an answer.)

(All I want is an estimate. The plan I have involves rapid movement.)

(Between 5 to 10 seconds.)

I considered that timeframe. If I pumped enough energy into the wood, maybe it could grow fast enough to do what I wanted.

With a step, and a signal to the bald man, whom I still didn't know the names of, we once again appeared in the Northern quadrant, where I proceeded to crouch down and place my open palm onto the concrete floor.

With a simple scan of my divine sense, I picked up on its meter thick status. Good thing no arrays had been embedded as that would have made what I was about to do harder.

An emerald aura sputtered to life around my body, concentrating mostly around my palm, cracking the concrete, and digging into the soil, making its way right underneath the reactor.

(I need you to buff me!)

I transmitted to the bald man, having already taken his powers into my calculations.

I felt a pair of palms press into my back, bringing me intense discomfort because of my aversion to being touched, but I bore with it, focusing on the task at hand.

A light bluish aura, with minor sparks within it enveloped my green, following it underneath the soil until it reached the designated place, where it was feeding a piece of wood.

(Are you ready? This next step is going to be intensely fast!)

(I am always motherfuckin' ready!)

His words rumbled like thunder within my mind.

"RISE!"

I shouted even as the sound rippled to transmit my roar, green vines burst out of the ground far faster, wrapping around the reactor, while severing any connection that led outside it, causing spillage of attuned spiritual energy.

When the entire thing was wrapped in green, a massive stem diagonally burst out from underneath, tilting the reactor towards the south, with a massive sphere cresting the ground underneath the stem, connecting everything to the brown roots which were below ground.

The sphere took a second to enlarge while I manifested multiple thick wooden walls between us and the reactor.

Before the shockwave could even make impact with one of my shields, the sphere's explosion sent the wooden base through the roof with the reactor, at an angle where it would head to my previous location down south, even surpassing it.

The shockwave from the exploded sphere destroyed multiple of my wooden walls, before failing to take out the last three, allowing me a breath of relief.

That barely lasted before another sun appeared in the direction where the reactor had been hurled, releasing a light so bright, that I had no choice but to close my eyes.

The ground tremored for a brief moment before the light faded, giving me a glimpse of the intact shield around the city, allowing me a breath of relief.

(That was fuckin' awesome! Though that sort of excitement is bad for the heart if indulged too much.)

The bald man transmitted even as his back hit the ground behind me. He had been exhausted, with his core probably wrung dry, just like mine, which was now spinning faster in order to replenish my body.