Path to Transcendence

Chapter 341: Chaotic Space

It took him several more hours, a couple of pints of blood, and a hell of a headache before he finally managed to connect the third one. However, once it was established, it wasn’t too hard to maintain.

And when he did, he sat back and laughed to himself. He knew he must have accomplished something because he got another notification on top of the ones he had gotten during the last several hours.

He didn’t know how many since he was too concentrated on forging the connection. But grinned even wider when he finally read them.

[Spatial Crack lvl 7 -> lvl 10]

It was way more than he had been expecting, but he certainly wasn’t going to be complaining. He would gladly take them.

Feeling a bit impatient, he quickly took out more pebbles from his storage ring and threw them through the newly formed three way connection. The other crack was placed just several feet away from the first one.

Not even a second afterward, a puff of dust exited from the other side. He frowned and realized that he hadn’t used any aura to protect the pebbles. However, he also couldn’t hide the excited cheer that came from his chest.

Because no matter what condition the rocks came out in, the fact remained that they had teleported. He grabbed another handful of pebbles and made sure to surround them with aura this time. Then hucked them into the void with a silly smile.

He pumped his hand through the air when he saw that they came out the other side in more or less one piece. Sure, some had been cut apart, but at least they weren’t just a pile of dust.

He then proceeded to test various objects. All of which were teleported through without any problems.

While examining the distortions, he sensed some weird fluctuations. The blue light pulsed gently each time an object passed through, and he felt something ripple outward. It felt similar to what he felt whenever he entered a rift, just more... chaotic.

Which made him wonder if rifts used a similar method to transport people into it. Of course, it was probably much more refined, but perhaps there was something to investigate there.

He probably spent more time than he needed to test out teleporting various objects. He even sent a few pieces of cake through. He wasn’t stupid, though, and made sure to test it on the cakes he didn’t mind losing.

However, to his joy, they survived. They even tasted the same, thankfully, the teleportation process didn’t alter anything. Funnily enough, it was something he was weirdly scared of happening.

After almost an hour of various testing, he was unable to resist the temptation any longer. He walked closer to the crack and extended his hand. He made sure to be extra cautious though and wrapped his entire body tightly with aura. Then slowly pushed his fingers into the spatial distortion.

When they entered, he immediately felt a bit of panic because it wasn’t like it had been before, where he could just leave his hand in there. This time, there was a kind of suction force that was pulling his hand deeper into the void.

He swiftly supercharged his body and did his best to rip his hand out of the crack. However, even that didn’t let him remove it. The suction force increased, and he had to create chains all around his body, stabbing them into the ground to keep him from falling in.

It was like he was falling off a building and getting sucked into a vortex. There was nothing he could do to stop it. He could only delay it. No matter what he did, nothing helped.

Eventually, he had to face the truth that there was no fighting it and changed his plans. He reinforced his protection and used every ability he had. If he was going to get sucked into it, he was at least going to be prepared.

So with one last check to make sure he was ready, he let himself get pulled in.

***

He was somewhat relieved when he felt the familiar sensation of space wrapping around him. It was very similar to what he experienced when transported by a rift portal. The big difference was that it felt much more rugged and less controlled.

If the rift portal felt like a warm blanket, this felt like a blanket that had more holes than actual fabric. And that also meant the spatial environment around him was able to attack him. Thankfully, his defenses were as strong as he could make them. He had even added his Force Concept and Sharpness Concept to supplement them.

It was much harder than holding two Concepts, but he had a feeling that he needed all the help he could get. Furthermore, with his entire body within the space, he was able to feel the ripples of the void much more clearly.

[Spatial Perception] worked now as well. That helped a lot with him sensing these waves of space. Just like how the wind blew throughout the countryside, the space also had something similar. The only difference was that this wind would shear him in half if he didn’t keep himself protected.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

He couldn’t help but wonder how long he would stay in this space. The objects he had sent through seemed to be teleported instantaneously.

Was he stuck? That was a terrifying thought, because he was still being barraged by spatial ripples, and he didn’t know if he could keep up his protections for very long. He needed to figure out a way out of here before that happened.

Thankfully, since [Spatial Perception] worked, he was able to sense what he believed to be the exit. It was just in front of him, but there was a slight problem. From his best guess, the connection almost seemed to be too weak.

He didn’t know if it was because he was much larger than a piece of cake or if it was because he was a living creature, but the connection wasn’t strong enough to make it through.

However, that was also a good thing in a weird way. That meant he had an idea how he could fix this. He just needed to strengthen the connection to allow him passage.

So without wasting any more time, he started to feed his willpower into the connection, using his skill to aid the process. He grunted as it was challenging to maintain all of his protections while doing this. He felt some of his abilities and control flickering out.

Unfortunately, this caused him to be injured by the waves of space, but he cranked up [Sage of Savagery] and ignored it.

He focused on pushing all of his willpower to widen the connection. He had a healing skill, and he could heal himself later. What he couldn’t afford was to be stuck in here. [Phoenix Renewal] probably wouldnʼt work if his body was reduced to atoms.

However, thanks to his focus, he could slowly feel his willpower working. Of course, he could still feel his body being ripped apart, but he sent the occasional burst of mana through his skill to heal the worst of the damage.

The messed-up part of this was that he was learning more about the intricacies of space the more he subjected his body to this torture. He was understanding the subtle ways the ripples and folds of space from an entirely new perspective.

He had been injured by space before, and had been silly enough to think that if he injured himself with it, he could acquire a Concept this way. Sadly, this idea hadnʼt worked like he thought it might.

However, this was working. Perhaps, it was because he was stuck in the void and was enveloped by it completely. Or if his [Spatial Perception] was helping more than he knew. But the fact remained, that he was making more progress in these few minutes than he had in several months of training.

It was for that particular reason that he took a risk. He slowed down the infusion of his willpower into the connection and balanced it out with protecting his body. He let the defenses down just enough that he could experience the ripples of space, but put a lot more focus on [Phoenix Renewal].

His skill let him constantly be damaged but regenerated his flesh fast enough to allow him to experience it again. The pain wasn’t too bad, all things considered. The tears of space were so sharp that they just cut through his skin.

The passage of time flew by. His focus skill made the experience of time irrelevant. He just made sure to keep his attention on grabbing onto everything the void had to offer. It didnʼt matter how small or inconsequential, he gobbled up all of the knowledge he could.

He didn’t know how long he had spent there, but eventually, he managed to strengthen the connection enough with his willpower. He could tell it was ready because he felt the same tugging sensation he had felt when he first entered.

However, he funnily enough didn’t want to leave just yet. He was on the precipice of understanding something massive. So he held back from getting pulled in.

Eventually, he felt something click. His entire worldview suddenly shifted. He didn’t know how to quite explain it, but if he had to make a comparison, it was like the difference between eating cake for your entire life, only to find out that all of those cakes did not have any sugar in them. It was that life-changing.

The moment he felt this, he let himself get sucked through. The ragged blanket surrounding him was barely able to warp him through the crack, and he popped out the other side feeling like he had been torn apart by a blender.

Which, to be fair, was a pretty accurate depiction of what he experienced.

However, he was glad that he had chosen to leave immediately, because the second he got back and focused on that feeling he felt his entire mind and soul shift. Like falling into a dark pit and everything around him disappeared into nothingness.

He knew his body was safe, which relieved him, but he was also nervous about the sudden experience. He was once again trapped in the void, but this time, it was much different from the one he had just been in.

This one seemed more in line with the one he had experienced in his soul space, which was a good sign for several reasons.

He put those thoughts on hold for the moment, though, and concentrated on the feeling he had inside the void.

What did space mean to him? What did he want to do with it? What was his purpose of acquiring a Space Concept?

He meditated on those questions and eventually came to a conclusion. He wanted to use space because he wanted to be untethered. He didn’t want to be bogged down by everyday things such as logic or distance.

He also wanted to explore and experience more of this world, including rifts and other spatial phenomena he had experienced so far. He also wondered whether it was possible to visit Earth again.

He didn’t know what he would do there, but it was still an interesting idea to entertain.

As he sorted through these thoughts, he slowly began to realize that there was a small orb of light hovering in front of him. He knew exactly what it was the moment he saw it. Everything in his gut was screaming at him that this was his Space Concept.

He didn’t hesitate to reach out and touch it. The moment he did, an incredible, profound wave of energy rushed through his soul. Unlike many of his other Concepts, this one felt different.

It was like it was cleansing his soul. The only problem was that it didn’t seem to end. He didn’t know how long it lasted, but it felt like an eternity.

It reached the point where he felt his soul was being overwhelmed by the power of this process. It wasn’t quite like his previous soul injury, but it was starting to reach that point.

However, he closed his eyes and kept calm. Eventually, it ended, and it was an immense relief. Although his soul, mind, and body all felt sore, he couldn’t help but laugh in jubilation. At last, he had managed to do it, as proven by the notification he received.

Congratulations, you have acquired the Concept of Space: Chaotic Space