Chapter 30: Essence absorption technique.

Adam’s POV

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I knelt atop a towering tree, one hand resting on the thick branch beneath me. The moonlight gleamed off my pristine white armor, while my silky red scarf fluttered in the wind like a hero’s cape.

"Nove," I mused, gazing down at my armor before glancing up at the full moon. "Do you know why they call me Batman?" I paused dramatically, then frowned. "Actually… in hindsight, I should've said I was Moon Knight."

“…Host, you’re wasting NEP.”

Nove's immediate shutdown barely fazed me. Honestly, I was just glad she actually responded—it had been rare to hear her say anything lately. Hopefully, that would change after her evolution.

But you know what’s even better? After making that vow earlier and facing my faults head-on, I’d somehow become more honest with myself. I could do whatever I wanted now—no restrictions, no second-guessing. Just me, my choices, and an unlimited supply of dumb ideas.

Only death could stop me from doing stupid shit now, baby.

"Hmmm," I muttered to myself. "I'm Batman."

“…”

“…Sorry.”

Even without a physical body, I could feel Nove’s judgmental stare boring into me. Sighing, I relented and deactivated my armor.

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Now, the reason I was out here at night? Simple.

I’d been on the run all day.

I initially thought that escaping to the wilderness would make it easier to hide. Turns out, I grossly underestimated the lengths people would go to catch me. The moment I stepped outside the city, I was chased with vehicles. Vehicles. Like I was in a high-speed pursuit or something. It took me hours to finally shake them off, and before I knew it—boom.

Nightfall.

Not that it really mattered. Day or night, I’d still be hunting monsters. If anything, nighttime was better—certain monsters only came out after dark.

The Golden Meadow didn’t have many trees, but the ones that did exist were massive. That meant monsters couldn’t easily hide in them, but instead lurked in other ways. There were occasional giant patches of grass where smaller creatures could take cover, but the real problem?

According to Nove, most of the real threats here either hid in plain sight—like the giant tortoise I fought before—or burrowed underground, waiting to ambush their prey.

Now, whether this was a blessing or a curse, I wasn’t sure, but according to Nove, most monsters in this area came out at night.

“Alright, time to grind. Nove, how many brains do you need?”

“Many.”

“…That doesn’t answer my question, but sure.” I sighed, shifting my focus back to surveying the golden fields from my perch high in the tree.

You’d think the world would be swallowed in darkness, given that there were no streetlights or lanterns around. But surprisingly, it wasn’t. Everything was bright enough for me to see—definitely way better than the pitch-black hellscape of the cave I escaped from. Still, if something wanted to hide, I wouldn’t be able to spot it easily.

I glanced back toward the kingdom, its lights shining like a distant beacon. Every now and then, I saw vehicles moving in and out of the city, but I had made sure to put enough distance between us. No way was I getting followed again.

At this point, it was probably best to return to the Midnight Prowlers tomorrow.

For now, I was perched on my tree—still dramatically posing without armor—watching as different monsters roamed the fields below. Most were too obscured by the night for me to make out clearly, but surprisingly, I spotted humanoid creatures among them. Zombies, maybe?

But the real creatures that piqued my curiosity?

Giant, glowing moth-like monsters.

Each one was about the size of my body, softly illuminating the darkness with a red or blue glow. But that wasn’t the weirdest part.

They were leading small squads of other monsters.

It wasn’t just one type, either—some were guiding beast-type creatures, others were mixed with different variants, some even had humanoid forms. It was like each moth was acting as a commander, organizing a diverse little army of monsters.

That… probably wasn’t good news for me.

"Hmm… how should I go about thi—?"

“Pii.”

“Huh?” I turned to the side and locked eyes with… a floating monster.

It was small, about the size of my head, with bat-like wings and tiny legs. Just an oversized eyeball with wings.

We both stared at each other for a second, unmoving.

“…Oh. My bad, are you waiting for me to—?”

I didn’t even get to finish my sentence before it suddenly screamed.

“PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII—!”

“OW! SON OF A—”

I clutched my ears instinctively. Holy hell, how was something without a mouth making that much noise?!

But that wasn’t even the worst part.

The moment it screamed, an overwhelming sense of dread crawled up my spine like a parasite sinking its claws into my brain. Every shadow stretched longer. The wind whispered threats. The very air around me became suffocating.

Inflicted with “Fear” Debuff.

A notification flashed in my vision—thankfully, Nove was quick on the uptake.

Oh. Great.

Before I could even process it, my balance wobbled, and next thing I knew—

I was falling.

“OH, COME ON—!”

With some quick thinking, I activated my Soul Frame.

Shiny silver armor engulfed my body in an instant, forming a protective suit and at the end, the helmet snapped into place, its visor lighting up.

Valorous Echoes!

I thought as I plummeted, my armor emitting a powerful shockwave. The air trembled around me, the Fear Debuff dissolving like mist in the wind.

And then—

BOOM!

I crashed into the ground with a loud, earth-shaking thud. A cloud of dust exploded outward, leaving a small crater where I landed.

-12 HP

“…Ugh.”

I groaned, my head spinning. But all things considered, that could’ve been a lot worse. The combination of my armor’s damage reduction and insane endurance stats absorbed most of the impact.

No time to waste—I quickly disengaged my armor and pulled out a Lesser NEP Potion, chugging it in a few gulps.

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10 NEP regeneration over 6 seconds.

I needed to keep my energy topped off—especially since Nove had already warned me…

The process to evolve her was going to consume a hell of a lot of NEP.

Unfortunately, my Soul Frame didn’t allow NEP regeneration while it was active. I had tested it before—otherwise, I’d just drink a potion and reactivate the armor in an endless cycle.

On the bright side, it only consumed 2 NEP per second, and with the leftover materials I had, I managed to craft five more NEP potions. That brought my total up to twelve.

So, all in all—not too bad.

“Well… that was a great start…”

I barely finished my sentence when I looked ahead—and froze.

A group of glowing moth monsters were scattered across the field, their eerie lights illuminating the dark landscape. They were far apart, but all of them—and their entire legions of followers—were now staring directly at me.

“…Well.” I sighed, cracking my neck. “At least I won’t have to go looking for monsters now.”

“…”

“DIIIIII—!”

I barely had time to react before the glowing moths screeched, their entourage of undead minions surging forward.

The closest glowing moth had three skeleton warriors trailing behind it. Each one wore rusted, broken armor and clutched equally broken down swords, their hollow eye sockets glowing with an ominous blue light.

The moth hovered behind them, acting as some kind of commander, while its skeletal pawns charged at me.

“Slingshot!”

My shockwave slingshot materialized in my hand, along with an arrow.

I had already drunk an NEP potion, so there was no point in activating my Soul Frame—not unless I wanted to cancel the regeneration effect.

Also… maybe it was because I defeated Hector without my armor, but I was feeling way too confident for my own good.

I took aim at the moth.

It didn’t try to dodge, change course, or defend itself. Perfect. These monsters weren’t exactly tactical geniuses.

“Here’s a present for ya.”

I released the arrow—a small whirlwind forming around it as the slingshot’s shockwave ability kicked in, accelerating the projectile with even greater force and precision.

The moth didn’t even get a chance to react.

The arrow buried itself deep into its body, and it tumbled down—dead.

One down.

I pumped my fist in a small victory—but I wasn’t done yet.

“Rock Skewer!”

The ground beside me trembled as two sharp, thick rock spikes erupted from the earth—lancing straight through two of the closest skeletons.

Their rusted armor shattered on impact, and they were sent flying backward from the sheer force.

-62

-64

With 20% health left, I was a little disappointed that my attack didn’t leave two giant holes in the skeletons. Maybe it was because of their armor, their undead nature, or some other factor I hadn’t figured out yet.

But that was a problem for later.

Right now, I had a third skeleton sprinting straight at me, its broken blade raised high, its jaw unhinged like it was about to unleash a battle cry.

“Host! Advising immediate use of armor!” Nove suddenly warned.

“Nah, I’m gonna do my own thing.” I grinned. “Dagger!”

My slingshot vanished, replaced by the familiar weight of my iron dagger in my hand.

Here’s the thing—when I have my Soul Frame equipped, my movements feel different. Almost like I become some martial arts prodigy overnight.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to fight without it.

I was nicknamed The Reaper, after all.

The skeleton’s rusty blade came down hard, aiming to cleave me in half.

At the last second, I angled my dagger, redirecting the blow so that it slammed harmlessly into the ground beside me.

I might be small now, but size doesn’t matter when you know how to use your enemy’s weight against them.

As its blade lodged itself into the soft grass, I immediately countered—activating Petrifying Strike and slamming my fist into its kidney’s.

…Oops.

That would’ve been devastating to a normal human.

To a skeleton? Protected by armor and lacking any vital organs?

Not so much.

Its armor started turning gray, petrification spreading across the metal, as the skeleton’s empty sockets locked onto mine.

A cold shiver ran down my spine.

“Hey, I’m just a little guy! Just a small kid! You wouldn’t hurt a kid now, would ya?”

“AAAAUGHHH!”

It shrieked right in my face—the kind of sound that could make a grown man wet his pants—and tried to yank its sword back up.

Luckily for me, its rusted blade was stuck deep in the ground.

I acted fast, pressing a hand against its corroded chest plate.

Time for some Metalweaving.

Over the past few days, Nove had been teaching me the ins and outs of manipulating metal, and I hadn’t been slacking off. And since that part was corroded with petrification, it was easier to metal weave that part.

I yanked my hand back—and the skeleton’s armor ripped apart in an instant, melting and reforming into a jagged, rusted spike in my palm.

I slashed at its arm, trying to disarm it before slamming the rusted metal spike deep into its skull.

-14

-22

Then, with all the strength I could muster, I spun and delivered the meanest roundhouse kick of my life—launching the skeleton backward, leaving its broken sword buried in the ground.

-8

I frowned.

"I really need to raise my Strength stat."

Before I could enjoy my small victory, the other two skeletons were already charging at me, their rusted weapons glinting under the moonlight.

Rock Skewer is still on cooldown.

"Reminding host to activate armor!" Nove urged again.

"Trust me, Nove. I'm not like Alpe—" I caught myself mid-sentence, nearly slipping up. "I mean… You’re underestimating me."

As I braced myself to face the skeltons, Nove suddenly said something.

"…Cannot compute."

My eyes narrowed. That was the same phrase she had said earlier when I left the kingdom.

But her next words sent an actual chill down my spine.

"Everything will be solved once I evolve."

…What the hell did that mean?

I didn't have time to dwell on it—both skeletons raised their blades high, ready to strike me down.

I yanked the broken sword out of the dirt, gripping it tightly as I activated my Stone Shield ability just in time to block their simultaneous strikes.

-2

-3

Even with the shield, the impact sent a jolt through my arm, forcing me to stagger back.

For creatures with no muscles, these skeletons hit like a truck.

And they weren’t giving me a chance to recover.

They raised their weapons again, going in for another barrage of swings.

I rolled to the side, barely dodging, and shouted—

“Slingshot!”

The broken sword vanished, replaced by my trusty slingshot and an arrow already nocked.

I didn’t hesitate.

I took aim and fired, the enhanced arrow whistling through the air before striking one skeleton clean in the head, sending its entire skull flying off its shoulders.

-32

Its body keeled over and collapsed, finally dead.

The other skeleton didn’t even flinch.

It lunged at me, blade raised high.

I braced myself, raising my shield to block.

“Sword!”

In an instant, the slingshot vanished, replaced by the broken blade once more.

As the skeleton swung down, I thrust my sword forward, aiming straight for its exposed neck.

-28 (Crit!)

The neck snapped like a twig.

Its skull rolled off with a dull thud, leaving the body to stumble before collapsing—finally lifeless.

I was about to head toward the moth's corpse, but a chilling blue light flickered from the bushes.

I tensed, ready for another fight.

But as the glow grew brighter, I realized—it was the skeleton I had kicked away earlier.

It clutched its hands together, an eerie blue orb forming between them.

A second later, a rusted, broken sword started materializing from the glow.

Unfortunately for the skeleton, it never got the chance to finish.

Thunk!

An arrow pierced clean through its skull, cutting off the summoning process instantly.

It collapsed, finally lifeless.

“As if I’d let it do whatever it wants.”

I quickly turned my attention to the fallen moth, wasting no time.

More of those glowing creatures were heading my way from the distance. I could see their soft, flickering lights, slowly growing closer and closer.

They’d be here in about a minute.

The moth vanished into my inventory, and I felt Nove immediately start working.

“Activating Essence Absorption Alchemical Technique. Brace for large NEP consumption.”

I pulled up my stats window and watched in horror as my NEP gauge plummeted.

80% → 60% NEP remaining.

I clenched my fists.

This was bad.

If just one use of the technique drained me by 20%, and if Nove meant 100 brains when she said “Many.”, then I was royally screwed.

“Host, I recommend also using Essence Absorption on the spine. It’s a high-source NEP material, and it will instantly restore a large portion of your NEP.”

I blinked. “Wait, I can absorb NEP too?”

“Yes. I’ll handle the process.”

Before I could even process what she meant, something blue, sticky, and slimy plopped into my hands.

I glanced down.

It was a freshly extracted, glowing moth spine.

…

"Ew."

"If you break it apart, I will initiate the technique."

I nodded, gripping the glowing moth spine with both hands.

The moment I tore it apart, a dense blue gas erupted from within.

I barely had time to react before the energy surged into my body, instantly replenishing me.

I glanced at my NEP gauge—fully topped off.

"So, Nove, you're telling me as long as I keep breaking their spines, I'll never run out of NEP?"

"Affirmative."

I smirked.

This was starting to feel eerily similar to a certain game I used to play.

With renewed energy, I pulled out the broken blade I had picked up earlier.

Time to make it better.

I activated Metalweaving, refining the jagged, rusted edges, thinning it down, sharpening it, reinforcing its structure.

The broad, chipped sword slowly transformed into a sleek, deadly katana.

I exhaled, feeling its weight in my grip.

40% NEP drained just from reforging it.

But now, I had something worth wielding.

By the time I finished, I wasn’t alone anymore.

Five monsters stood before me.

Some were brandishing rusted swords, their soulless eyes locked onto me.

Others were wolf-like creatures, low to the ground, their claws digging into the dirt, ready to pounce.

Above them, a cluster of glowing moths hovered, their eerie red and blue lights flickering ominously.

I rolled my shoulders, gripping my katana tightly.

"Nove."

"Yes, Host?"

I bent my knees, lowering my stance, katana raised and pointed forward.

A grin formed on my face.

"I think it’s time for Jack… TO LET ‘ER RIP!"

“Huh?”

The soul armor activated, encasing me in gleaming silver plates.

The world slowed for just a second.

Then—chaos.

The beasts lunged first.

I rolled to the side, barely evading a swipe of claws that tore into the foliage behind me.

The skeletons followed, their blades flashing down in synchronized strikes.

But this time, I was stronger.

The impact clashed against my blade, sparks flying as I parried with ease.

One skeleton stumbled from the force, leaving its neck completely exposed—

One clean strike.

Its skull detached, rolling across the dirt.

Before the body even hit the ground, I snatched its broken blade midair and hurled it—

Straight into the moth that tried to escape.

The creature faltered, struggling to stay airborne.

I didn’t let it recover.

I moved.

A blur of motion.

One vertical slash.

Blood rained down as the moth split open, mid-air.

Before it even collapsed down, I reached in—digging my hand into its corpse.

Nove took the brain.

I took the spine.

I stared at it for just a second before crushing it in my fist.

Blue gas erupted.

NEP fully restored.

As I landed, surrounded by beasts, undead, and some flying monsters. I only had one thought in my mind.

“NOVE! TURN OFF MY PAIN INHIBITORS!”

“… Inquiring host about the meaning of pain inhibitors.”