The refreshing feeling was good, but his ancestor, living rent-free in his mind, shot him back to reality. There was not much time, and he needed to finish absorbing this power to open up another meridian before the big boss made its return.

There was no time to waste. He needed to get this done.

With a determined breath, he sat cross-legged and closed his eyes. But after a few moments of trying, he frowned. The power wasn’t flowing into him the way it should. It was as if an invisible barrier was keeping him from absorbing it.

Just as he was about to ask for guidance, the voice of his ancestor rang in his mind again, dripping with annoyance.

"Boy, you're not proficient enough yet. You need to touch the damn thing."

Alexander could almost hear the face palm in his ancestor’s tone.

Flushing with embarrassment, Alexander let out an awkward laugh, muttering, "Right, right," as he moved to touch the crystal again.

This time, as his fingers made contact, a surge of energy flowed into him. The power rushed in like a torrent, and at that moment, a strange technique appeared in his mind—his ancestor's gift.

With his heart pounding, Alexander began to guide the qi according to the path laid out in the technique. It wasn’t long before he hit a couple of snags, fumbling as his mind struggled to understand the flow. But after a few failed attempts, he finally started to get it right. The technique wasn’t as complex as he’d feared.

He knew which meridian he would open first—there was no doubt in his mind

It took almost two hours for Alexander to get accustomed to the technique.

At this point, his ancestor's voice rang out, "Do as I say," echoing in Alexander’s mind—clear and commanding. Without hesitation, Alexander followed the instructions.

Almost instantly, his absorption rate increased dramatically.

According to his ancestor’s teachings, Alexander first adjusted his position. Instead of drawing energy in the usual way, he aimed at hitting the crystal at specific points. When the energy began to flow inside him, Alexander carefully followed the method his ancestor had outlined.

However, the ancestor didn’t forget to jab at Alexander, reminding him just how awesome he was. According to the ancestor, there were far better techniques available at his disposal, but they were beyond his current strength and constitution. Those techniques required a sturdier foundation to handle.

Once the energy coursed through him, the rest came easily. Although the meridian he was forging didn’t follow the exact blueprint for strength, it was close—over 70% similar. Surprisingly, it was easy for him to replicate, and the process continued smoothly.

As time dragged on, Alexander delved deeper into his focus, though at first it felt like wading through thick fog. Slowly, he sank into the rhythm of it, a faint sense of clarity emerging from the haze. But even then, his concentration was still fragmented, a tenuous grip that never quite allowed him to dive fully into the depths. Energy poured out of him, a constant drain he couldn't control, as the source wasn’t coming from within like before, when he was making the strength meridian.

But there was something else gnawing at him—something he hadn’t noticed during the chaos of the fight. Now that things had calmed, he felt it. The ground beneath him quivered, faint but undeniable. It wasn't a constant rumble, but a series of intermittent tremors that shook the earth from time to time. The deeper he was, the more intense it felt, and that was when it hit him—the source of the shaking had to be above. Alexander had burrowed far underground, and whatever was causing this movement above was powerful enough to rattle even this place. He could feel his focus slipping, every vibration a tug on his concentration.

But Alexander didn’t have the luxury of thinking about what was happening above. His focus was already fraying, the tremors below sending waves of distraction through his mind. And now He couldn't afford to let his mind wander. If he let himself think about anything else, he knew it would shatter his focus completely.

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Time trickled by, and Alexander wasn’t sure how long he had been down here, but if he had to guess, it was probably more than a day.

The one silver lining was that he was almost at the finish line—his next meridian was within reach. But just as he was about to acknowledge his rotten luck for finally taking a break, his ancestor’s voice sliced through his thoughts.

“Something’s coming. Something big.”

And like a bad joke, Alexander’s rotten luck slapped him right in the face.

He didn’t need to guess what it was. It had to be the queen of those worms, or whatever nightmare he had encountered before. He was surprised it had taken this long for it to find him.

Alexander shook his head, trying to shake the thought away. He was so close. He had to finish. Closing off his mind from everything else, he focused with single-minded intensity. There was one thing Alexander was good at, well all lazy people to be exact, and it wasn’t hard work—it was focusing when deadlines loomed. And right now, his deadline was more than a reminder—it was knocking at his door, giving him all the reason he needed to focus like his life depended on it.

After what felt like an eternity, Alexander let out a triumphant yell as another meridian formed within him. A surge of power flooded through every cell in his body, making him feel as if he were being electrified from the inside out. He didn’t see it, but a golden shockwave erupted from him, rippling outward from the center of his being.

But that victory was short-lived.

The next moment, Alexander collapsed. His body felt like it was tearing itself apart, every muscle and bone fighting against each other in a brutal process of regeneration. Blood poured from his nose, mouth, and ears in a torrential flood.

"FUCK!"

"FUCK!"

"SHIT!"

"FUCKKKK!"

The screams tore out of him as golden energy—pure, unrelenting—ripped through his body. It was agony unlike anything he had ever felt.

But then, the pain slowly ebbed away, leaving him trembling on the ground, covered in sweat and blood. Alexander didn’t know how long it had taken for the excruciating process to subside. All he knew was that he was alive, and somehow, he was still standing. He forced himself up, pushing against the cold ground with his hands, wiping the mixture of saliva and blood from his mouth.

His body screamed in protest, but Alexander knew he couldn’t stop now. Looking around, he saw that the creature hadn’t made it this far yet, so he figured not much time had passed. It was time to go, to make his escape before things got worse. The moment that thing saw him, his chances of fleeing would drop by more than half.

But just as he was about to rise and head toward the exit, an idea so wild, so dangerous, struck him like lightning. He tried to push it down, tried to ignore it, but it kept gnawing at him, urging him closer to the crystal.

“What the hell are you doing?” the voice in his mind roared, a harsh demand that echoed inside him

"I need to do this," Alexander muttered, almost in a trance, as his fingers brushed against the crystal.

His right hand met the surface, and the absorption began once more, a familiar rush of energy flooding through him. Soon, his left hand followed, and Alexander leaned in closer, almost merging with the crystal.

With laser focus, he pulled the power in, drawing it into himself like a lifeline. The energy surged through him, a tidal wave of force, and Alexander instinctively funneled it into his body, desperate to form another meridian. The crystal still pulsed with far too much power, an irresistible temptation he could not ignore.

"What are you...?" The question barely formed in his mind before his thoughts were consumed with a single command: Just give me another blueprint now.

And to his astonishment, it came. The formula appeared in his mind, clear and precise. But there was no time for surprise. The world around him shook, the tremors growing stronger as the pressure mounted.

Alexander barely registered it. With all his concentration, he funneled the immense energy into the structure of the next meridian. His body trembled with the effort as he guided the raw power, pulling it, shaping it with every ounce of his will.

But just as the final strand began to form, the ground beneath him trembled violently. Alexander’s focus wavered for a split second. He knew it wasn’t just the crystal’s energy; the thing was coming. He could feel it, the queen will burst through at any moment.

But Alexander refused to give up. Even in the face of overwhelming odds, he couldn't bring himself to walk away. The reality, however, was harsh: even with all his focus, even with every ounce of determination, he still needed at least six hours to create another meridian—at best, if everything went perfectly. Time, however, was not something he had.

The tremors beneath him grew stronger, turning into actual shaking, and Alexander could feel the weight of it pressing down on him. He was certain the queen was nearby, and that certainty made the situation clear—staying here would lead to certain death. But to leave, without using this energy, felt like a sin, a waste too unbearable to bear.

Then, as if struck by a lightning bolt of desperation, an idea shot through him. Without hesitation, he redirected the energy he had been gathering into forming the new meridian. But the backlash was instant and brutal. Blood poured from his mouth as the force of the energy slammed back into him, making him feel as though a small explosion had detonated inside his stomach.

Pain lanced through him like a jagged, burning firework, but he didn't care. He couldn't afford to care. With grim determination, he focused harder, the urgency flooding him like a tide. He stopped trying to form another meridian and instead channeled every ounce of energy into one singular focus: his strength meridian.

There was no energy buildup, no compacted force; he simply poured everything directly into that one point, driving it with ruthless precision. Was it painful? Of course. Did he mind? Not in the slightest. His mind had narrowed down to a single, desperate objective—getting every last drop of energy into his strength meridian. He didn’t know if it would even work, or if the meridian would burst under the strain, but in that moment, he didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was making full use of this opportunity before it was too late.

Crash.

The deafening sound echoed through the chamber, a resounding crash that split the air. Alexander whirled around, his body tensed for whatever was coming next, and there, emerging from the wreckage, was the queen. Well, at least her head was.

The creature didn’t even waste a moment. Without hesitation, it seemed to tear open another passage entirely, its immense power cracking the walls around it.

It was clear—something had set it off. A surge of rage pulsed through it, and in that moment, Alexander realized with cold clarity that the queen had figured out what had been happening. The siphoning of her precious crystal, it seemed, had been noticed. And she wasn’t going to wait for it to be finished. She was coming for him, fast.

As she burst through the walls, the two of them locked eyes. The intensity of that gaze was suffocating, and Alexander’s breath caught in his throat.

“Fuck,” he muttered, his mind scrambling.