Chapter 304: Gravity Press

Jin started again at eight, after breakfast and Glitch’s walk. The revival contest was two days away. The ape was still alive after two full days of this.

Attempt two hundred and thirty-two ended beside the pillar.

On the next, he kept the ape away from it and lost Flicker to a cast he should have anticipated. He watched that passage again before restarting.

He reached the damaged patch twice, but both runs failed. So did the others, through attempt two hundred and forty-one.

That made the last mistake particularly irritating. Both fists rose for the slam, and Jin sent Glitch forward because the hardening was dulling. He’d seen the fists rise. That was the part that made him want to throw the phone.

He locked the phone and went upstairs.

Ten minutes by the window, a drink, and something other than grey stone to look at helped. When he returned, he read the notes before opening the encounter.

Two hundred and forty-one. Don’t make the next one that stupid.

Attempt two hundred and forty-two began with the ape rising beside its pillar, unhurt and ready.

Flicker crossed the chamber first. Her low pass brought her close enough to threaten its face, then carried her toward the open floor. The ape followed for a few steps.

Jin watched the shoulder draw back.

She broke across the line. The fist dropped, and loose stones settled inside a patch behind her.

Glitch advanced from the other side, staying clear of the affected ground. He stopped short of the ape’s reach and made it turn away from the pillar to face him.

The crust was solid.

Jin withdrew him. A swinging forearm clipped his shoulder as he left, Harden taking part of the impact without making it harmless. His stride stayed even, but the warning was clear.

His thumb hovered over the next command. He took it away and waited for Flicker to circle.

Flicker came around again. This time the ape held its cast and reached for her instead. She climbed beyond the swat, and Glitch moved across its rear quarter without committing to a strike.

That brought it another step into the chamber.

Jin waited through the next cast. He wanted the ape further from the pillar before he began working on the left side, and it was already trying to turn back toward it.

A threatening pass across the face brought its attention outward again.

Then the crust dulled.

"Left side. In."

Glitch struck behind the forearm. The blow opened the hide beneath the renewing armor, and he was moving away before the ape’s returning fist hit the slab.

Jin breathed out and kept watching.

He nearly sent Glitch straight back in. The ape’s fist was still coming out of the floor when he caught himself.

The next few minutes were harder.

The ape stopped casting at Flicker whenever she passed. It watched Glitch’s approach and placed gravity in the ground ahead of him instead. Jin abandoned that line, took him wider, and waited for the field to fade before using that part of the chamber again.

Flicker had to come closer to draw its attention. Once her talons scraped near an eye, the ape followed her with a furious swat and committed the cast Jin needed.

Glitch reached the damaged side a second time.

The ape answered with both fists. Jin called him out as the arms rose, and the shockwave struck behind his retreating feet.

On the following exchange, he wasn’t quite far enough away.

The tremor took Glitch’s footing. He rolled onto one shoulder as the ape stepped toward him, and Jin felt the familiar urge to give three commands at once.

"Up. Out."

Flicker cut across the ape’s face. It jerked its head away and swatted, clipping the edge of her wing as she climbed. The interruption gave Glitch time to regain his feet and scramble beyond the next punch.

Jin brought both avatars clear before attempting anything else.

Flicker could still hold height and turn, but her next climbing pass was uneven. He shortened the route and gave her more space after each approach. She could keep working. She couldn’t afford another contact like that.

Glitch’s next opening came later than Jin wanted. He let two unsuitable ones pass, then struck the same damaged area during a renewal and withdrew along the line he’d kept clear.

The ape guarded that side more closely now. Its crust still formed, but unevenly over the split hide. Each accurate hit disturbed the patch before it could set firmly again.

Jin kept it away from the pillar by changing the direction of the threat before it reached the sheltering stone. Sometimes that meant sacrificing an attack. Once it meant retreating halfway across the chamber and drawing the ape after Flicker again.

It was slower than the runs he’d imagined. It was also still going.

By the time the final opening came, Glitch was favoring his bruised shoulder and Flicker’s passes had grown shorter.

Jin had saved Rush and the claw. That would mean nothing if he used them from the wrong position.

He brought Glitch around the outer edge of a fading gravity patch while Flicker rested her wings in a brief glide. Between him and the ape lay twelve meters of clear slab, including the stretch he needed for braking. The damaged side would be within reach at the end if the ape turned toward her next pass.

She went low again.

This time Jin sent her across a shorter, slanting line, leaving room for a level escape instead of demanding another hard climb. She approached the face closely enough that the ape tracked her.

Its shoulder drew back.

Flicker held until the commitment, then cut away. The gravity patch settled behind her as the crust along the ape’s left side began to dull.

"Straight. Now."

Glitch launched.

Jin watched the gap close along the committed line. Glitch finished the burst before reaching the ape; his hind claws dug in to brake.

He slid through the space Jin had allowed and stopped just short of the wounded side. The ape was turning toward him, its casting arm returning from the downward motion.

Glitch braced on his left foreleg.

"Once."

Rending Dragon Claw struck the damaged patch before the ape could bring its guard across.

The crust broke, and the blow drove through the wound they’d opened in the preceding exchanges.

The ape dropped onto one knee. Glitch pulled clear as it tried to rise, and Jin held him back rather than risking a final unnecessary exchange.

It slumped onto the slab.

[Chamber cleared: Third Descent — Side Chamber]

[First clear]

[Attempts: 242]

Jin stared until the reward panel opened. His hands were shaking.

[Compatible Astral Skill Book: Gravity Press]

[Briefly increases downward gravity within a small targeted area at medium range. Disrupts movement and balance.]

[Compatibility — Glitch: High]

[Added to Inventory]

He opened Inventory, closed it, and opened it again. The book remained where the reward panel had put it.

"Oh, thank God."

He hadn’t meant to say it aloud. From downstairs came a scraping sound: Glitch, apparently interested in any announcement made in that tone.

For a moment he imagined the kestrel’s low approach, the point where her wings opened, and what might happen if Glitch could interfere before she reached his ribs.

The ape had caught Flicker in flight. Glitch’s version would need its own tests of height, duration, and cost.

Learning came first. Then Sync, and practice in a real body.

There was also the capacity problem. Glitch already had eight Astral skills, Silver’s ordinary soft limit. A ninth wasn’t impossible; it did mean Jin couldn’t treat the book’s high compatibility as permission to ignore strain.

He wanted to press the learning option immediately. Instead he left the book selected while he checked the revival date again. Two days. He could spare a few minutes to stop shaking before deciding anything.

Jin closed the Engine without using the book and went down to the stall. Morning light still reached across the yard, where Glitch lay watching the feed trolley being unloaded.

"I found you something," Jin said, crouching beside him.

Glitch lifted his head. Flicker flew from the rail to Jin’s shoulder, brushed his cheek with one wing, and settled.

He looked from her to the larger beast and laughed quietly.

"Both of you earned it."

Glitch nudged the hand that wasn’t scratching him. Jin obliged, leaving the phone in his pocket for a few minutes longer.