Formless Ascension: My Affinity Is Limitless

Even with the clear threat, the boy still offered no coherent response. All he did was stutter and stammer, his demeanor remaining oddly playful.

Uhtred’s expression eased into a cold, flat mask.

He flicked his hand suddenly, sending a razor-sharp streak of air magic whizzing straight for the kid’s arm.

The attack was lightning-fast — faster than a kid of his level could possibly process. Yet, at the exact second before his arm should have been severed, something absurd occurred.

Right from the point Uhtred made the move to wave his hand and cast the air blade spell, the kid began falling to the ground, his eyes going wide as his arms flailed dramatically.

The slice missed his arm by just the slightest of margins, slicing harmlessly through the empty space above him.

Uhtred stilled.

He watched the boy land flat on his bottom, groaning in an exaggerated, theatrical manner.

What just happened...? He dodged it?

He could clearly see that the kid had stumbled at the exact moment he moved his hand, but the timing was far too miraculous to be accidental.

As he stared at the boy rubbing his backside and rolling on the ground without a care in the world, Uhtred grew certain that this wasn’t just a coincidence. The kid had known, on some level, that he wouldn’t be harmed.

Uhtred raised his hand again, and this time, he was ruthless with his spell. He conjured another air blade — less lethal, but woven into a dense net. He blocked all possible paths for the kid to escape.

He wanted to see how the kid would ”fall out” of this one.

For good measure, he brought the net down slowly, spreading his senses to catch every micro-movement or hidden technique the kid might use to slip through.

The kid in question simply continued rolling side to side on the ground, clutching his rear like a cartoon character. He didn’t seem to care in the slightest that a dangerous net of razor-sharp wind was closing in on him.

Suddenly, just as the spell was about to make contact, a terrifying bolt of lightning thundered down out of the clear, cloudless midday sky!

It struck straight at Uhtred like a homing missile. Even with his godlike reflexes, he wasn’t able to dodge it cleanly in time.

He had been so focused on his immediate surroundings — specifically the kid on the ground — that he had picked up the atmospheric shift a fraction of a second too late. Expecting a lightning strike in broad midday was a level of paranoia even he hadn’t achieved yet.

Uhtred stifled a heavy groan as the current surged through his body. Had it not been for his Level 47 Nascent Realm physique, that single strike would have caused severe internal damage.

His gaze snapped to the boy, who was now sitting up and staring at him with a smug, playful grin — as if silently asking: Do you understand what I am now?

A brief beat of silence fell as Uhtred processed that look and reached an undeniable conclusion regarding the kid’s mysterious power.

Luck!

The kid was either the cherished offspring of some overprotective god who watched his every step and intervened at every turn...

...Or his luck attribute was so high it defied all common sense.

Uhtred leaned heavily toward the second theory.

The kid pushed himself up, his expression smug and triumphant.

”Can you see how I can be of help to you now, Mighty Sir—”

By the time he stood up and looked around, Uhtred was nowhere to be found.

.

.

Nah! I’m not getting involved in that shit!

Uhtred shot straight toward the cave to grab Nayu An and get the hell out.

​At a glance, the kid’s ability was insanely useful. If he could recruit him, the kid could be an incredible asset. Finding the other human champions and tracking down every hidden anomaly in this scenario world would become so much easier.

All he would need to do was set a target, and the kid’s ridiculous luck would guide them straight to it.

...But that was a very dangerous if.

Exposing himself as an otherworlder searching for his own kind — an otherworlder who was also hunting for anomalies in the kid’s world — was way too dangerous.

That was too much sensitive information and leverage to hand over to a complete stranger.

Uhtred moved fast, and with every rapid step he took toward the cave, his eyes kept flitting to his multiversal chat window.

He was mentally crossing his fingers, desperately hoping a Mandatory Interaction Choice wouldn’t pop up. He just wanted to put as much distance as possible between himself and that boy. Something had guided the kid straight to his location — his luck, without a doubt. But that provided Uhtred with a critical realization.

There had to be a range limit to how the kid’s luck functioned. The Demonic Cult cultivators had originally been pursuing him in an entirely different direction before his luck redirected his path straight toward the cave.

It had worked out fine for Uhtred this time, since he had slaughtered the demonic cultivators anyway. But now, he needed to leave before getting dragged into any more of the kid’s mess.

​He wanted the kid’s lucky streak to end with the help he had just provided. Any further nudge from fate keeping them together was definitely not welcome.

However, when he reached the cave, an entirely new disaster presented itself.

Nayu An was nowhere to be found.

He had rigged the entrance shut in such a way that a rockslide would trigger if it were forcibly opened from the inside, creating a loud noise that would have instantly alerted him from where he was.

Yet the cave was wide open, and Nayu An was gone without a trace.

Fuck me! I knew it couldn’t just be smooth sailing! I can’t even have one easy win... Something always has to fuck me over!

Uhtred spread his senses out to try and track Nayu An down. He rushed deeper into the cave to look for any trails she might have left. Then rushed back outside to do the same.

She was in a weakened state from his lethal blow. Someone like her who just came to her bearings would have a hard time getting far.

He burst into motion and began to scour the surroundings — the East, West, South and North of the cave. But it was all to no avail. It was as if Nayu An had suddenly disappeared into thin air.

This has to be the work of a third party, Uhtred cursed silently as he blurred through the surrounding forest. There’s no way she escaped this cleanly on her own.

Aside from the trap he had set at the entrance, he should have found something — a footprint, broken branches... something, at least, as she pushed through the surrounding forest.

Even if Nayu An had been conscious the entire time — which he was certain she hadn’t — she couldn’t have pulled off such an immaculate escape.

The only logical explanation was that someone else had arrived and taken her while he was distracted outside.

Was it the An Clan Elders...?

No.

Uhtred shook his head immediately. Even if they had managed to track him this far, they couldn’t have reached this area so quickly.

So is it another faction I failed to account for...? Was I being trailed by a demonic cultivator...? How did I fail to detect them?

His expression turned cold all of a sudden as another thought crossed his mind.

Does that kid have something to do with this?!