CHAPTER 27: Architecture of Pain, Sapphire Point, and Hard Reset

Crossing the blue portal left a taste of copper in the mouth. Space folded with a hiss. We landed in the cold of the third floor. I blocked my weaves. My organism quickly digested the dwarven moonshine. I yawned.

Shnee walked behind me. My senses caught a microscopic asymmetry in her movements. Her Vessel was still burning the murderous alcohol. She filtered it through cold mana. We passed the altar. We went down the wide stairs.

The fourth floor hit us with a drastic change. The chamber resembled a ruined courtyard. A green light of mushrooms illuminated it. The dungeon stopped sending single fry. Organized cavalry waited here. Three swollen ghouls drooled in the dark. Two armored skeletons held the flanks. A rotting construct stood in the middle. It was a classic tank, I thought. It measured over two meters. It wielded a two-handed axe.

"Shnee," I threw calmly. "Rip open the stinkers on the sides. I will take the middle.".

I did not wait for an answer. I moved straight at the monster. The beast roared. It blew a cloud of dust from its lungs. The construct took a powerful swing. The attack was predictable. However, it carried massive kinetic energy. I did not use a shield. I applied pure logic. I threw a wave of telekinesis forward. I did not strike the body. I focused my will solely on the handle of the falling weapon. The space around the axe hardened. I caught it in an invisible vise. The opponent braced his boots. He tried to tear his weapon away. His dead eyes filled with consternation. That was a critical mistake.

A purple stone dropped from the commander. Nice drop, I assessed in my thoughts. I kicked it towards the girl. Shnee was shaking the gore off her rapier. She stood over the frozen ghouls. Her empty eyes stopped on my back. I sensed minimal surprise in her. Combat optimization worked perfectly.

"Gather this. We are moving on," I threw.

I dismissed the sapphire sword.

The passage through the next floors turned into a brutal marathon. We ignored caution. The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth levels collapsed under our boots. This was pure Trash Cleaning. I struck with Brazen chill. I fired raw telekinesis. I crushed monsters to a pulp. Skeletons snapped under the push of force. Shnee walked right behind me. Her rapier cut everything. Combat optimization allowed us to save resources.

The pace was murderous. I noticed it immediately. The elf's breath became ragged. Her steps lost their former lightness. Fighting at such speed sucked the oxygen out of her. Her organism accumulated massive fatigue. She lacked the vitality to repair micro-injuries. Sweat beaded on her face. She clenched her teeth. She did not let out a single sound of complaint. She pushed forward with fanatical stubbornness.

Finally, we reached the ninth floor. The environment underwent a drastic transformation. Stone gave way to walls of black resin. The material resembled petrified meat. The air hardened. Gravity suddenly increased. I felt like I was wearing a lead coat on my shoulders. Breathing caused pain. Oxygen became scarce. Footsteps carried a hollow echo. The structure of the dungeon muffled sounds.

Shnee dropped to one knee. She leaned on her rapier. She gasped for air with a loud whistle. Her lungs could not process this environment. I frowned. Pure logic suggested simple math. We were in the antechamber before the bottom of this zone. The ground under our boots trembled slightly.

"Get up," I threw calmly. "We have the last stretch left.".

The girl rose with enormous difficulty. We moved forward. Resin walls absorbed the light. Gigantic doors loomed at the end of the wide corridor. Two silhouettes guarded the descent. The finale of this marathon was approaching.

Large doors closed off the chamber. Two powerful golems guarded their surface. They were built of black resin. They emanated thick mana. The air vibrated from this force. I assessed their posture with a cold gaze. The armor looked extremely hard. Pure logic suggested simple math. I decided to end this with one strike.

"Stay back, Shnee. My target," I threw calmly.

I clenched my right hand. Instead of evenly distributing energy over the entire blade, I chose optimization. I pumped a massive dose of mana straight into my arm. I directed this charge exclusively into the tip of the crystallizing weapon. I formed the Sapphire Point. This was absolute focus on a microscopic surface.

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The golems moved heavily. Granite shook under their feet. I jumped to the first opponent. I bypassed his clumsy blow and thrust.

I encountered no resistance. The concentrated density of my point pierced the resin like wet paper. The blade went in smoothly. It found the hidden core. I blew it up from the inside in a fountain of black gore. The monster fell to pieces. A wave of force knocked down the second guard. I finished him off with a lightning-fast cut before he managed to raise his massive arms.

The victory was absolute. A second later, my body issued a bill.

The powerful recoil of condensed mana retracted along the blade. It struck directly into my hand. My Vessel was not ready for such a load. I felt crackling under my skin. The makeshift weaves painfully tore. They ignited with a pulsating fire.

I clenched my teeth. I ignored the pain and dismissed the weapon. I felt a metallic taste on my tongue. I swallowed my saliva. It tasted of blood mixed with raw mana.

I am riding on a makeshift repair, I assessed in my thoughts, massaging my aching arm. I looked at the gigantic doors. They led to the tenth floor. They were beginning to cover with cracks from my unstable aura. I felt enormous power on the other side. Fighting with such a defect would be stupidity. The physics of error in this state meant immediate death.

"We are returning," I threw shortly to the girl. "The machine needs repair.".

We turned back towards the portal. I had to perform a hard reset.

We crossed the threshold of the tavern. The interior smelled of burned wood. Elena immediately tore herself from work. She looked at my bloody arm. Her face paled.

"Lock the doors," I threw calmly. My Brazen chill masked the tearing pain. "We are starting a quarantine".

The girl nodded. She asked no questions. I went up the stairs. Shnee walked right behind me. Her boots hit the steps. I stopped before the bedroom. I turned to the elf.

"You stay here," I ordered. "No one has the right to enter inside". "If someone presses the handle, just kill them". "Zero exceptions".

The white-haired girl nodded. She drew her rapier from the scabbard. The steel hissed. Her eyes burned with loyalty. She stood before the doors like a statue. I knew she would sooner die than let anyone through.

I entered the room. I slid the bolt. The metal hit the frame with a crash. I threw off my coat. I sat on the floor. I crossed my legs. My organism demanded immediate repair. The makeshift fix stopped working. The last fight proved my flaws. Pure logic suggested simple math. Narrow pipes will never withstand brutal force. Condensed mana will eventually tear me to shreds. I had to deliberately destroy the old weaves. I had to build a new capacity from absolute zero.

I closed my eyes. I focused energy in my chest. I struck inside myself.

The pain was unimaginable. It resembled swallowing liquid lead. My muscles bent in convulsions. Sapphire power tore the natural channels. It tore tissues to shreds with a quiet hiss. Blood squirted from my nose. The drops hit the boards. I clenched my teeth. The enamel ground. I did not let out a sound. I forced the mana. I brutally expanded my veins. Agony consumed my mind. Sapphire burned the destroyed cells. It replaced human weakness with a hard foundation. The channels underwent expansion. Pure pain management. It was engineering on living meat.

Sweat flooded my forehead. The air stank of ozone. My body trembled from the massive load. I did not interrupt the process. With every heartbeat, the new structure became thicker. The ruined weaves were covered with scarred matter. I was building the machine anew. I intended to maintain this state until achieving complete stability. The foundation for the future slaughter was taking final shape.

I focused the rest of the mana in my chest. I forced compression on my organism. The air in the bedroom hardened. A beam of blue light shot from my solar plexus. It pierced my shirt, casting unnatural shadows on the walls. A sapphire Core materialized in the center of my chest.

Raw mana poured out of my pores. It was not a mist. It was a roaring cyclone of blue energy. It began to circle around my body, making the bed tremble. I visualized every thread of the vortex. I pushed them back into my veins. I formed thicker highways out of them along my spine.

Hurried steps echoed in the corridor. The light beating from under the doors alarmed the downstairs. Pounding on the boards resounded.

"Dave?! What is burning in there?!" Elena's voice was soaked in panic.

The tavern keeper ran onto the floor. She froze. Shnee stood in her way. The white-haired girl blocked the corridor with her own body.

"Be silent and watch," the elf ordered.

Thick mana billowed through the gaps in the floor. The force was gigantic. It choked the breath of the girls outside.

My process was coming to an end. I rebuilt the engine from zero. The ruined pipes were replaced by stable capacity. I felt that I could form a weapon with a single twitch of thought. I prepared the foundation for the nearest boss, I assessed in my mind.

The price of evolution struck in the next second. My body was squeezed of calories. I was drenched in sweat. My stomach twisted in a murderous cramp. The pain disappeared, but an animal hunger replaced it.

I opened my eyes. The cyclone absorbed under my skin. I stood up from the floor. I slid back the bolt. The doors opened with a creak. I stood in the doorway. My Brazen chill returned to its place. The shirt stuck to my back. Elena stared at me in stupor. Shnee lowered her guard.

I leaned against the doorframe. "Elena," I rasped. "Bring everything from the kitchen here". "Make sure there is a ton of meat in it". "I pay in gold".