True to his word, upon recovery, Mike used the daily buildup of energy from the cosmic water to swiftly level Energy Sense, with mixed results. One of the major bonuses was that he believed he had figured out where he went wrong with his attempt at Rock Sucking. As far as he could tell, he hadn’t fully differentiated the “energy” portion of the Energy Sucking symbol, making his explosive attempt something along the lines of Rock-Energy Sucking. He wasn’t sure why that had led to the backlash that it had, but it made him feel better having some explanation for the near-death experience. Though he was unwilling to try again, he was fairly confident that he had distilled the true symbol for energy between Energy Sucking and Energy Sense. So much so that he was able to turn Quicksilver into cosmic energy.
His first attempt at doing so resulted in the rock simply disappearing. It was only when he was on his second attempt that he realized he wouldn’t be able to see the resulting energy from the transmutation unless he was looking with Energy Sense. Sure enough, the metal turned into pure cosmic energy, but at a rate that was far from worthwhile. He estimated that it took nearly twice the amount of cosmic energy to complete the transmutation than it actually yielded. So good for learning and maybe as a cool party trick, but bad for stockpiling the energy.
Another result of leveling Energy Sense that he was firmly placing in the “Pro” side of his pro-con list, was that he could now sense energy well outside of his body. At Level 1, he was able to see his own channels and some of the foxes, as well as seeing the energy inside Pristine Solar-Lunar Water, but that was it. At Level 2, he began to see the energy in the air around him, which was surprisingly present, although lacking density. Small pinpricks of light floated all around him, trace amounts even found in the rocks. By Level 3 he could see the cores from worms he fought and also see the cosmic energy in Blasting Stone, which was flush with it. At Level 4 he had a mild panic attack when he could suddenly see all of the energy passively, no longer needing to meditate or look with his eye–which was terribly distracting. As with most System related things, there was a switch to turn it off. Although after a few days, he found himself keeping it on more often than not. His mind was becoming used to seeing the energy as a part of everything and it wasn’t distracting.
Levels 5 through 7 all simply increased the range and depth of what he could see, making the few hundred feet of rock between himself and the thousands of bright blobs of energy which were the birds above him seem like a much more flimsy protection. He reckoned that he had only survived this long because the birds must not have energy sense at all. By tracking the energy of others, he found that each being had a feel to their energy. This held true even for Autumn and Ash, who were born at the same time, to the same parent, and had identical stats. They felt different. At Level 8, the System finally gave him a name for this phenomenon, energy signatures. Level 8 also made it much easier to identify the energy signatures much more quickly.
Sometime around Level 6 or 7, he began to notice that very fine chords of energy were connected to him. There were 2 that both headed below him and to the right, no matter where he moved. At Level 8, he was able to sense that on the other end of those chords were Creeanth and Creenchez. He wasn’t sure what the cords did, but he was positive it was connected to the hobgoblins based on the aura he felt from them. It made a strange sort of sense that he would be connected them, since both of them had gained their power through his intervention.
On the “Con” side of the list, was the cord he could now see, which was connected to that strange pinprick of System influence which seemed to watch him at all times. The cord ran directly up into the sky. While, creepy, he was grateful for two pieces of insight that cord provided. The first was that he hadn't imagined the System watching him. The second was that whatever controlled the System must be above him somewhere–this piece of information was more theoretically helpful than anything, knowing your enemy and all that.
Increased Energy Sense allowed him to better understand how the System implemented Stat Bonuses and Level Ups. He had plenty of time to see Stat Bonuses within himself, and even after doing so, he wasn’t sure he was up to the task. The level of complexity was more than he could understand. Level Ups were another matter–after watching Ash and Autumn both grow to Level 78 during one of their visits, he was confident he could replicate the process. It was simple really–all of this time he had been so focused on how the energy was pushed around the core, that he had failed to notice how the energy also needed to upgrade the channels. Essentially, both the core and the channels needed to be reinforced simultaneously.
Interestingly, he didn’t see the System increase the stats of the foxes when increasing their level. Rather, it seemed that when the core and channels were reinforced, increased cosmic energy was carried throughout the body, which made it stronger, faster, and denser–including the neurological pathways, allowing increased brain functionality.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
While he was eager to get stronger, he had a bad feeling about increasing his levels, which stemmed from the most major “Con” of increasing energy sense: the System’s influence. With each increase in Energy Senese, he was able to detect more and more cords which bound the beings around him, including himself. Each time the System came to improve a symbol in his body, he noticed another cord connected to him that followed the cord connected to the speck of space watching him. They were worrisome enough that he had stopped drinking cosmic water altogether, in addition to shutting off the Energy Sucking symbol in his stomach. He knew there was a limit to the amount of energy his body could handle at one time, and he didn’t want to be forced into upgrading an ability and increasing his connection with the System.
At one point, he began to wonder if the System was actually Satan, when he remembered a Bible verse describing Satan chaining men down with a “flaxen cord” and “leading them carefully down to hell”. This theory was given credence by the fact that the System seemed to encourage violence at every turn. However, he ultimately dismissed the idea, chalking it up to a wandering mind and isolation, both of which his mother had warned him about.
Without the extra time required to always stay up to date on his channels, he found himself making more progress than ever in reaching the pool of cosmic water. Thanks to Energy Sense, he could now clearly see the large well of energy that was the water and the slightly less large core of energy that was the 727 size bird. This made his tunnel straighter than ever, and were it not for him needing to mine blast stone to light his tunnels, he likely would have reached the pool of water in under two weeks, instead of nearly four weeks.
With the tunnel completed, he waited until the foxes went out on their next hunting trip before enacting the plan. In the middle of the night, he found himself positioned directly under the cosmic water, silently checking off his preparations and reviewing each step to the plan.
Step 0A: Removing blasting stone from tunnels other than immediate needs–this served the purpose of not tripping in Step 3.
Step 0B: Wait until night time so the birds don’t notice the water leaving.
Step 1: Mine a small hole into the bottom of the reservoir.
Step 2: Allow water to flow into the vessels he had prepared.
Step 3: Run like crazy back to his sleeping quarters, which were much deeper into the rock and would be harder for the bird to track.
Step 4: Enter hidden base number two whose entrance was located in said sleeping quarters. It was a small bunker down a decently long shaft. It had taken almost 3 days to carve it out.
Step 5: Dig a new home while figuring out how to circumvent the System’s influence in his life.
Step 6: Use all the water to make himself stronger and fight the System.
Admittedly, the plan had some gaps. But he was never one for extraneous details unless he was crafting something. With both parts of Step 0 already completed, the majority of the blasting stone stockpiled in the gorge, and only a single large bucket of Blasting Stone to see by, he began Step 1.
Gently scooping away the stone as quietly as he could, he managed to form a small hole, no larger than the tips of three of his fingers crammed together–it had to be small enough to not make noise and wake up the birds, yet big enough so that he cold drain the pool in one night as the guardian would know if water was missing. The water immediately began pouring down and he moved a bucket underneath it.
Step 1 done, Step 2 underway. He thought to himself.
He had already filled his three largest vessels, each the size of a 5 gallon bucket, when his plan went awry. His ever-present vision of cosmic energy allowed him to see as the giant bird above him began to stir. His prayers that it would go back to sleep remained unheard, as he rose to its feed and dipped its head towards the water.
Knowing his plan had been caught, he stowed vessel number 4 and skipped directly to Step 3, running towards his bedroom. He had taken less than one step, when his accursed Luck score took effect. Quicker than a blink, the highl-leveled bird struck forward, its beak tearing through the floor of the pool and directly into Mike’s tunnel. In the next instant, the beak retracted, allowing tens of gallons of water to rush in, directly onto the Blasting Stone. The bird then struck again, this time his beak penetrating further and smacking directly into the energy infused explosive rocks.
Mike only had enough time to activate Unflinching Meteor as all reality became a raging inferno. He flipped outwards, his rotations per minute exceeding that of a car tire. Another devastating explosion echoed through the desert as all of the blasting stone he had stockpiled in the gorge erupted. His momentum was arrested and for a brief moment he found himself held completely still, his face pointed towards the nightie sky, before his motion reversed, and he was sucked backwards at speeds too fast to process.