With Su'ong's warning weighing heavily on the forefront of his mind, Alan huffed out a breath, placed a single clawed foot on the first step and began to climb towards the clifftop. When he reached the second stair, a powerful burst of wind suddenly gusted down the stairway.
With his [Warden's Wardrobe] Class Armor billowing and snapping behind him, Alan squinted his eyes down to narrow slits and leaned forward. Bracing his arms against the stone walls to either side, he had to fight back against a strong urge to close his watering eyes. Peering through a film of annoying tears, Alan looked around cautiously, searching for any sign that there was trance inducing mist gathering in his area. If whatever strange phenomenon that had so thoroughly affected Su'ong was going to strike at his senses, he knew it would likely happen soon.
A casual glance upwards revealed that the clouds had only continued to gather around the island. They were now packed so densely that a churning inverse funnel of ash gray haze blocked out the false sky that he knew to be somewhere above the tower. A tooth rattling boom echoed out so suddenly that Alan nearly pissed himself as blinding streaks of crackling lightning spiderwebbed through the clouds. Their neon purple and red hues made the cliffs and stairs around Alan appear to be coated in blood.
The island-spanning, upside down tornado was ominous. As were the intermittent peals of thunder and lightning. Surprisingly, those weren't Alan's biggest concerns. Well, that fucking storm is enormous, so maybe it is quite literally the biggest problem… but. It isn't the most unsettling.
The tower was absorbing any errant bolts of lightning that came in his direction, yet as far as Alan was concerned, it needn't have bothered. By the time the jagged lines of energy reached beyond the clouds, they were so far from their source that they retained less destructive force than a single one of his basic, unenhanced [Lightning Strike]'s. Unless a dozen or more hit him at once, Alan wasn't all that concerned about getting fried.
What was really bothering him was the realization that something seemed to have changed with the ambient Celestial Energy. The wind was laced with an abundance of it, but it felt… Different. Knowing as little as he did about this all encompassing energy source made it tricky to put a thumb on what he was feeling, but he was sure that it had undergone some alterations since his previous visit. Certain aspects had been strengthened while others had simultaneously dissipated. Almost to the point of being nonexistent.
The outcome felt overbearing, yet at the same time, protective. It reminded him of Uncle Alex when he became angry. Strangest of all, Alan couldn't shake the feeling that there was once again a presence suffusing the environment. It was as if the tower, or perhaps the island itself, had a will all its own. It might've been all of the above. Whatever it was, it felt ancient, vast, and dangerous. Like a glimpse into the bottom of the sea.
Although Alan couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched, the stairway remained clear of any strange cloud bubbles. Just as he thought he was safe to proceed, a wave of the tower's overwhelming energy surged down the steps like an iridescent waterfall and hit him like a runaway train.
Before Alan could even think to react, he was surrounded by an orb of raw power that dwarfed anything he'd ever encountered. The pressure caused his eyes to bulge. It felt like he was little more than a helpless bug clutched in a curious giant's hand. There was no doubt in his mind he was about to find out exactly what caused Su'ong's inability to reach the tower.
“Fuck… off…” Alan snarled out through his clenched teeth and straightened his spine defiantly. Although outclassed by an obscene margin, he was nonetheless unwilling to give up so easily.
With a grunt of effort, Alan mustered up what little Celestial Energy his depleted Core could create on such short notice and put all of his attention into channeling it through his Fire Tributaries as quickly as possible. By the time the energy reached his Deltas, nothing remained but pure, untainted, fire-aspected Essence.
As it passed through Alan's Fire Deltas, the Essence ignited with a ferocity that he was ill-prepared to handle. An unstable column of smokeless, crimson-tinted fire surged out of his body and blasted skyward like a localized volcano blowing its top. Enveloped from head to toe, Alan tried not to panic as the all consuming flames cut off his sight of the surroundings while licking ineffectually at both his armor and exposed scales.
While it didn't affect his armor at all, and only felt mildly warm to his flesh, the stairs beneath his feet weren't faring nearly as well.
The stone for three feet in all directions was already charred beyond recognition and beginning to sag into itself. As he watched streamers of ash being carried away by the powerful updraft created by his personal inferno, Alan realized that he needed to change tactics, and fast. There was no telling how long he would have the necessary energy remaining to do so. Even though the ambient Celestial Energy was slowly being pulled through his pores and cycled through various pathways on its way to begin refilling his Core drip by painfully slow drip, there was no mistaking that it simply wasn't enough.
It was immediately apparent that the trickle of inflow couldn't keep up with how quickly Alan was burning through his meager energy reserves. Not only were his personal stores in drastically short supply but his Tributaries and Deltas were already beginning to feel raw and overtaxed. But at the same time, Alan felt that he was close to a breakthrough.
Refusing to relent, he focused on the flames and nothing else, willing them to take on a more suitable shape. Holding nothing back, Alan crouched down and dug his clawed toes into the alarmingly porous stone steps.
Having just been given freedom, the enhanced flames wanted nothing more than to consume the world. They were out of control, blatantly refusing to comply with the urgings of such an inexperienced Cultivator. Growing weary in more ways than he could put words to, Alan acted on a sudden impulse. He released his hold on the walls and brought his hands up to his chest and used them as a point of focus to attempt to regain control of the unruly flames.
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Palms touching, Alan concentrated on the spot where they met and slowly clenched his fists. Peering through the hole created by his knuckles and wrists touching, Alan saw that his fists were glowing with a crimson brilliance that far outshone the lightning above, while somehow leaving his eyes unaffected. His fingers were still on fire, but at the same time, there was a small space between his fists that was wholly devoid of flames.
Remarkable! Your Skill *UNIQUE*[Celestial Energy Manipulation] has grown to Level 2! +1 Wisdom.
Alan dismissed the notice and grimaced. His hands were beginning to throb. It was hard to explain, but as they pulsed again and again, it almost felt as if he had captured the beating heart of the flames. The crimson flames seemed to agree, because they immediately relented to his control. Alan released a long, slow sigh. Although he knew it was likely a temporary success at most, and understood that he wasn't out of the woods quite yet, that meaningful success made his heart skip a beat.
I'm actually doing it!
Before something happened to make him lose his control, Alan slowly pulled his fists apart. There was a slight resistance, like he was tearing a piece of old fabric, and then the flames parted around his hands and fled from his body as if he were simply shoving aside a pesky curtain. Alan staggered as the last fumes of fire Essence were pulled from his Deltas.
Deciding that enough was enough, he severed the flow of energy to his Tributaries and focused his full attention on maintaining control. Alan's body was no longer on fire. He had managed to create a little more than six inches of space around his body. Suddenly standing inside a calm void, Alan felt like he was in the eye of a storm. A storm with an alarming lack of oxygen.
Guided by instinct and little else, Alan turned his palms to face away from one another and thrust them out to his sides. The stairway trembled as the pillar of flames exploded outwards. The sudden conflagration destabilized and collapsed almost immediately but left the walls and stairs in the immediate vicinity blackened and smoking.
Remarkable! Your Skill *UNIQUE*[Celestial Energy Manipulation] has grown to Level 3! +1 Wisdom.
Although his efforts were enough to gain a couple of Skill Levels, they barely even provided him with enough breathing room to realize just how outmatched he really was. For a split-second Alan almost believed he would be able to burn away the unexpected assault, but his hopes were quashed as he felt the environment beginning to build a response less than a second later.
Alan gasped; his drained Core unable to maintain the protective veil of flames any longer. He gulped down a breath and watched his last measure of defense sputter and die just as another, far more concentrated torrent of energy cascaded down from above and brushed aside the remnants of his meager defenses. The force of the collision lifted Alan off of his feet and tried to toss him back down to the rocky beach, but an unshakably solid and comforting pressure in the middle of his back kept him from being blown away by the tower's overwhelming attack.
There was no mistaking that someone, or something, had placed a helping hand on his spine. At first Alan thought it was Su'ong, as she was the most likely candidate. However, even though he was unable to turn all the way around, no matter how he twisted his back, or craned his neck, there was nobody back there. Aside from the expected shimmer of condensed ambient Celestial Energy, Alan had an unobstructed view all the way to the lake and beyond.
Su'ong was standing at the base of the stairs. Her eyes were wide as saucers, and she was quite obviously yelling something. Alan tried to read her lips, but for some reason, they weren't moving. It was as if she was frozen in place.
Or maybe all this Celestial Energy being tossed around inside of a withering Dungeon is causing the time dilation to suffer from some kind of a glitch?
Just because Alan couldn't see what was supporting him against the tower's ferocious onslaught, it didn't change the fact that something was there. The last of his doubts melted away as a geyser of energy surged from within the point of contact on his back and rushed into his body without meeting the slightest resistance. Alan shivered as it explored the entirety of his being. From the surface of his skin, all the way to the depths of his Core. Nothing was left untouched.
The energy was so dense and pure that it almost felt like Alan was floating in cool liquid. Guided by the unseen presence, the viscous and mildly invasive energy signature that was now circulating within Alan's pathways began to consume his own remnant energy. Sluggishly at first, yet rapidly gaining speed, it traveled a circuitous and complex route through his body, chasing down and absorbing every shred of native energy it came across. It ran into multiple obstructions that Alan hadn't even known existed, but similar to shaking a wine bottle, the sheer build-up of internal pressure blasted any blockage out of the way and allowed the syrup-like energy to access pathways that he hadn't until this moment even know existed.
At first, the way the energy was circulating through his pathways felt random and forced. But once the second full revolution saw the remaining blockages broken down and filtered away, Alan started to grasp the edges of a pattern. With nothing impeding its progress, the condensed energy finally broke through the final restriction and flooded the apertures leading into his Core.
Each subsequent rotation through his body forced the energy in his core to condense further and further, while simultaneously improving the density of the energy which it released to a much higher degree. Alan felt an immediate increase to the strain on his many pathways, but didn't feel like it would pose much of an issue so long as he didn't let it get any worse. Besides, where the new energy met his own, a thin film was created and left behind as a byproduct. The walls of his strained pathways were absorbing that residue, and it was already starting to ease the discomfort.
As one cycle after another was completed, Alan felt a droplet of that same thick energy enter into his Realm Seed. Even though it was being extremely gentle, he began to get anxious. He didn't know how, but he knew without a doubt that the presence within the energy meant him no harm. But it was hard to stay relaxed when something that seemed to have a mind of its own was currently exploring his deepest secrets.
All at once, the torrent of energy flooding down from the top of the island stopped. It happened so suddenly that when Alan's feet unexpectedly returned to the floor he collapsed to his knees. The hand on his back disappeared, along with the feeling of being invaded. Left in its place, Alan found a powerful urge to ascend the rest of the stairs. He was unsure what to expect, yet he knew that something, or more accurately someone, was waiting for him up there. In fact, he had a strong feeling that the Dungeon itself was the one that had been denying him access to the tower.
And if that was the case, whomever was waiting up there had quite possibly just helped him to withstand the Dungeon's fury.