His mind raced at the possibilities. There were thousands of meditation techniques with countless effects on the body. His exhaustion had completely disappeared. Not only that but his mind had become clear, his focus sharper. Then he remembered, the clock was ticking, the Razorfang surely did not waste time celebrating. He assumed he still had at least an entire hour at the pace he estimated the snake would have to take. He entered into his meditative state once again, allowing his mind to clear and he used this state to formulate a plan.

The information he had received on spatial manipulation earlier had come in three parts, one being the use of an anchor to use his Spatial Tethering ability, the other two he had not used. One was on how to create pockets of space that he could use to store things, the other simply giving him insight into his new abilities. This would play a part in his plan but first, he needed to make use of his other abilities. In those ten minutes due to his meditative state, he was able to formulate a plan that he'd estimated would have taken him hours otherwise.

Indra focused all of his attention on one thought, fire. His body temperature rose and another info dump occurred, this one not giving him techniques but loads of information. Indra's mood also changed he became angry, furious at the snake that hunted him, he wanted to destroy, he wanted to consume, he was...hungry? His stomach literally hurt from the emptiness. It growled but he ignored the gnawing sensation and began the next phase of his plan.

First, he tested his abilities, he generated a small flame in his palm that extinguished almost immediately, he tried again and again over the course of ten more minutes, burning up more of his time. This was necessary. Now he could generate a stable flame and even increase or decrease its size by controlling how much oxygen it took in. Just like before he felt like he had become disconnected from something like he had lost a part of himself. His mind was directly connected to the flame, he could command it, in simple terms, control its hunger.

This way it would consume more oxygen or he could lessen the hunger so that the flame was stable or halt it so that it extinguished. This would work perfectly. He began the next phase. Indra began generating pockets of space from the open air above him that were filled with oxygen, to him they looked like minuscule spheres of water, each one the size of a teardrop but each one was a sphere filled with oxygen about one meter in diameter. In the centre of each one, Indra placed a small flame that took in the oxygen at a slow but steady rate so as to not use it up quickly.

Over the course of twenty more minutes he alternated between meditating and enacting his plan, he needed to mediate after each action because every time he created a sphere it was extremely taxing on his body. It took all of his concentration for each individual sphere. Each time he completed one he placed them underneath one of the leaves that surrounded him, by the end, there were over two dozen spheres. Each one was extremely unstable, so much so that if touched by anything other than a light breeze the pocket of space containing the flame would disperse.

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He had twenty minutes left hence he once again climbed to the top of the tree and leapt, landing in the same position as before. This time when he began meditating, he practised mindful meditation completely clearing his mind of ailments and forgetting his entire situation completely. Just as he did in the nest. Again the position was off for this form of meditation but his control over the qi flows in his body made up for it. His eyes remained open just as before and in moments the sphere just like before appeared before him, it was just as he left it. A hard layer of stone. He continued his concentration on the sphere and it changed again.

This time a layer of metal encased the stone next. His mood shifted and he felt destructive, but different from fire, the anger was... sharper, more precise if that made any sense. He expected it to change again but after five minutes of waiting it did not. He waited for two more before something finally happened but not what he suspected. The sphere turned white and separated into five balls of shimmering light. four of them orbited around a single one that remained stagnant in the middle. Soon the lights faded and each one took its own form. Fire, water, metal, and earth, all hovered around what he assumed was space/time hovering in the middle, it looked like a semi-translucent unstable liquid. There was something wrong here, where was the sphere that represented spirit or wood? Indra was convinced that his theory was correct. He only had about five minutes left so he checked his stats again.

Username: Genesis

Level: 2

Class: Samsara Breaker

Energy type: Qi

Points: 100

Race: Human

Titles: Qinggong apprentice, Qigong novice.

Skills:

Minor water manipulation (passive), fire manipulation (passive), minor earth manipulation (passive), minor metal manipulation (passive), space/time manipulation (passive), Taiji enlightenment (passive), Elemental enlightenment (passive). Body enlightenment (passive)

Stats-

Endurance:11

Agility: 12

Strength: 10

Wisdom: 12

Intelligence: 11

'What?'

Indra didn't know what to think. Somehow he had levelled up, and his space/time and fire manipulation had changed from minor skills to what seemed like just regular ones. The biggest shock was the fact that wood and spirit manipulation had completely disappeared. Indra's temper rose and he longed for what now seemed to be lost to him. He couldn't understand what had happened, why he had lost them. He dwelled on the thought until something completely unexpected happened. Something had entered the five-meter radius in which he could sense all movement. Indra was completely taken aback. He had spent so much time dwelling on his abilities he completely forgot the task at hand, the snake. His greatest strength was also his greatest weakness, his mind.

'No matter. I'm prepared.'

Indra was taken by surprise but that didn't mean his plan wouldn't work. A wicked smile crept onto his face as he activated his Spatial Tethering ability, he definitely didn't want to be here for this. His plan would still work but instead of getting out clean like he had hoped, due to him getting distracted he wasn't ready for the Razorfang. Its bite caught him right in the side before he was able to disappear but before he did Indra muttered a single word.

"Shāoshāng." Then he vanished

His right side leaked blood profusely. Indra ignored the pain for now and watched his plan take effect. From his perch atop another tree he crouched in the foliage, his eyes reflected the colors of orange and yellow, and the smile upon his face was that of a man who had tasted true power for the first time... and he loved it.