~~~
This plan is going to get us both killed.
Jin pressed the hastily crafted vials into Rudy's hands. His Reader's Dominion flared to life automatically, analyzing their crude composition in stark detail.
o______________o
DUBIOUS POTION OF HEAT RESISTANCE
SUCCESS RATE: 82%
FAILURE RESULT: NO EFFECT
SIDE EFFECTS: MINOR NAUSEA, POSSIBLE ESSENCE DISRUPTION
O______________o
Eighty-two percent. Not great odds when your life depends on it.
"Fire resistance potions," he said, forcing confidence into his voice. "Should help with the flame attacks."
Should. The qualifier hung in the air between them like a death sentence.
"Should is good enough for me," Rudy replied, downing both vials without hesitation.
Jin watched his friend's face contort as the liquid hit his tongue. The potion looked like liquid copper and probably tasted worse, but warmth immediately spread across Rudy's skin.
"Ten seconds," Jin reminded him. "Give me ten seconds, then run."
"Got it. Don't take too long with whatever magical bullshit you're planning."
"Hmm, I hope."
Here we go.
The chamber exploded into chaos.
Jin sprinted toward the blue tile, weaving between pillars as concentrated flames carved molten scars through ancient stone. His Zephyr Striders carried him in impossible leaps that defied physics, wind-walking across gaps that should have been suicide.
A targeting laser painted his chest. Two seconds to lock, then it would fire.
Left, roll, up—
He launched himself onto a floating platform, using it as a springboard toward the next piece of cover. Behind him, superheated air hissed where the laser had carved through empty space.
Twenty meters to the tile. Just twenty meters.
Another laser found him from a different angle. Multiple drones were coordinating now, learning his movement patterns with mechanical precision.
They're adapting…
The blue tile blazed before him like salvation made manifest, its surface covered in geometric patterns that hurt to look at directly. Ancient magic thrummed through it, waiting to be unleashed.
A targeting laser locked onto his position.
I'm not going to make it.
Then Rudy's roar exploded across the chamber. "Hey! You stupid collection of metal and rocks!"
Every targeting system in the room snapped toward Rudy's position like compass needles finding magnetic north. The drone's lock on Jin dissolved instantly.
Thank you, brother.
Jin hit the blue tile at a dead sprint, skidding to a stop on his knees.
o_______________o
[TILE ACTIVATION IN PROCESS]
[PROCESSING TIME REMAINING: 10 SECONDS]
o_______________o
No time for caution. Rudy's buying me seconds, not minutes.
Jin yanked an essence recovery potion from his spatial pendant, the silver liquid catching the chamber's amber light like captured starlight. But instead of drinking it immediately, he activated The Reader's dominion to quickly go through this spatial storage to find something that would boost the effects of the potions.
C'mon, C'mon… I brought almost 60K worth of raw materials: Miran petals, Sargoma root, and crushed Astral Salt.
He crushed the herbs between his teeth, the bitter taste flooding his mouth like liquid medicine, then downed the potion in one gulp.
This is going to hurt.
The reaction was immediate and overwhelming.
Power exploded through Jin's essence channels like liquid lightning poured directly into his bloodstream. His dagger's 200% efficiency boost turned the already potent potion into something far beyond safe parameters. Essence flooded his system faster than his body could process it.
"Gah!" Jin doubled over, blood erupting from his nose as his overloaded essence core struggled to contain the magical tsunami he'd unleashed within himself. His vision swam red, and every muscle convulsed as raw power tore through him like a hurricane made of pure energy.
Too much. This is too much. I'm going to burn out my own essence channels.
But Jin gritted his teeth and forced himself to stay conscious. He grabbed the excess energy destroying him from within and channeled it into Essence's Edge.
The dagger drank his power greedily, its crystal core blazing like a captive star as it absorbed essence far beyond what any weapon should contain.
o_______________o
TILE ACTIVATION IN PROCESS
[PROCESSING TIME REMAINING: 4 SECONDS]
o_______________o
Through the haze of pain, Jin assessed the battlefield. Rudy was holding under the
concentrated assault of every hostile entity in the chamber. His friend's armor blazed with golden light as it struggled to mitigate damage that should have reduced him to ash.
Three seconds until the tile activates. Then ten seconds of vulnerability before...
Jin's perception, boosted by the power surge and Reader's Dominion, suddenly showed him combat analysis that chilled his blood. The golem's likely responses once its protective systems failed flooded his mind.
Phase III. There's going to be a Phase III, and when this thing's shield drops, it's going to take flight.
Fucking piece of shit…
Time seemed to slow as Overdrive activated in synergy with Reader's Dominion. Reality took on crystalline clarity. Information from every volume he'd read, every forum discussion, every theory about golem combat mechanics flooded his mind.
Two-verse sorcery was the plan. Channel everything into a devastating spell.
But even as the words began to form on his lips, another piece of knowledge surfaced—something from the novels' appendix that made his blood turn cold.
Golems. Technomagic faction constructs. Inherent resistance to magical attacks scales with its base power level.
This thing is Peak Order III suppressed to Peak Order II. Its magic resistance would be...
Jin's mind raced through calculations. The probability of a two-verse sorcery penetrating the golem's defenses wasn't zero, but it was close enough to make betting their lives on it suicide.
Change of plans. Iron Howl with one-verse sorcery for guaranteed penetration, then...
His gaze fell on his dagger, still blazing with absorbed essence.
Then I force my Mantle to evolve. Right here, right now.
o_______________o
TILE ACTIVATION IN PROCESS
[PROCESSING TIME REMAINING: 1 SECONDS]
o_______________o
The blue tile reached critical resonance beneath his hands, ancient mechanisms clicking into place. Jin felt the golem's protective shield begin to destabilize.
o_______________o
[PROCESSING COMPLETE]
[VULNERABLE AND WEAKENED DEBUFF APPLIED]
[ATTACK NOW TO DEAL MASSIVE DAMAGE]
o_______________o
Now.
Jin poured half his massively enhanced essence reserves into Iron Howl, feeling the weapon respond like a starving predator. But instead of just channeling raw power, he spoke the words that would shape that energy:
« O Force that moves the unmovable, grant my strike the weight of falling mountains! »
The one-verse sorcery wrapped around the armor-piercing bullet like a cocoon of compressed potential. When Jin squeezed the trigger, reality briefly tore.
The projectile left Iron Howl's barrel with enough kinetic energy to shatter the sound barrier. The bullet struck the golem's right shoulder at the exact moment its defensive shield collapsed.
The impact was spectacular. Ancient stone and metal exploded outward as the golem's entire arm was severed at the shoulder joint. Dark fluid sprayed from the wound, and the massive construct staggered backward with a sound like a building collapsing.
"Rudy!" Jin screamed. "Hit it with everything! Now!"
But even as he shouted commands, Jin's attention was turning inward. To the deepest part of himself, where his Essence Heart pulsed with crystalline light. To his Mantle, waiting to be shaped by will and understanding.
Time to harvest.
Jin reached for the raw, primal concept that lay at the heart of his power—not the gentle reaping of crops, but the fundamental truth that all growth came through consumption. That power came from taking what was needed without hesitation or mercy.
I will harvest this golem's strength. Its power. Its very existence.
He poured everything—every drop of remaining essence, every fragment of will he possessed—into forcing his Mantle to evolve beyond its current limitations.
His Mantle fought him like a living thing, ancient protections activating in desperate self-defense. Pain beyond description tore through Jin's essence channels as competing forces warred within his spiritual core.
Not enough. I need more leverage.
That's when Reader's Dominion and Overdrive combined in a way Jin had never experienced. His unique perspective as someone who saw this world as a story, combined with his ability to push beyond normal limits, created something unprecedented.
Jin's will stopped being merely human will. For a crucial heartbeat, it became the will of someone who understood the fundamental narrative structures that governed reality.
The connection formed like lightning finding ground.
Jin was falling.
Not physically—his body remained on the blue tile. But his consciousness was torn free and tumbling through layers of reality like leaves caught in a cosmic hurricane.
He fell through mirror-image worlds—versions where the calamity had never happened, where he had never been reborn at all. In one reflection, he saw Ren weeping over a hospital bed. In another, he watched himself living a peaceful life, never knowing the weight of future knowledge.
No.
Jin's will reasserted itself as his past life flashed before his eyes—every moment of pain, every small victory, every person he'd failed to save, and everyone he'd managed to protect. Those experiences weren't weights dragging him down. They were fuel, burning bright with the understanding of what it truly meant to harvest.
Harvest isn't just taking. It's the transformation of potential. The conversion of what was into what must be.
He touched the primal truth of his Mantle's concept, and the universe exploded around him.
For an instant—less than a heartbeat, but longer than eternity—Jin felt the attention of something vast and ancient focus on him. A presence so old and powerful that his human mind could barely comprehend its edges, much less its totality. It regarded him with what might have been curiosity, or amusement, or perhaps hunger.
Then that impossible gaze moved on, dismissing him as something too small to matter, and Jin snapped back into his body like a rubber band released.
He was glowing.
Silver light poured from his skin like captured moonbeams, and his Mantle resonated with power that sang in harmonies his ears couldn't quite process. The Reader's Dominion activated without conscious command, showing him what he had become.
Jin's grin was bloodied and crooked as understanding flooded through him.
And right now, there's a very large, very powerful golem that I intend to harvest completely.
Jin reached out with his Mantle's essence, and for the first time in its existence, the boss golem felt something it had never been programmed to experience.
Fear.
~~~