Chapter 48: Chapter 48: Risk and Desperation After several more minutes, Rhian sat hunched near the cave entrance.
His fingers were tense, holding the third core. His breathing was shallow, and his eyes kept drifting between Nia’s still body and the yellow glow on his watch.
He had already used two cores. One to stabilize his injuries. The other for a small, barely noticeable gain. When he checked his system again, it hadn’t even cracked 4%.
The E-rank core sat untouched. He didn’t dare use it.
Rhian leaned back against the cave wall, hands shaking. His clothes were still damp. His body was tired. But it wasn’t the exhaustion that kept pressing down on him, it was the feeling of helplessness.
Nia hadn’t moved.
She was still breathing, but her skin had lost its color. Her pulse was faint. Her core must have taken damage in the fall.
She couldn’t wake up on her own. And he couldn’t help her like this.
He looked at the dull cores on the ground. Useless now. Used up. Then back at the glowing one in his hand.
He needed more.
Rhian stared at it, his grip tightening. His thoughts circled faster. There had to be a way to draw more from it, faster, stronger. Some way to force it into his body quicker.
He thought of the lectures again. The warnings.
A few reckless students in the past had tried shortcuts, placing the core directly in their mouths, letting the divine energy flow through the throat and into the system all at once.
It worked.
But it wasn’t clean.
The instructors had shown pictures, melted vessels in the chest, broken bloodlines, burnt-out cores. Some never recovered. Others went mad. And a few just dropped dead on the spot, their bodies unable to handle the surge.
It was stupid.
It was dangerous.
But Rhian looked down at Nia again, and he didn’t hesitate.
He raised the core to his lips. His thumb brushed over its surface, still warm, still pulsing. He opened his mouth slowly, resting the orb on his tongue.
He didn’t bite. He didn’t swallow. He just held it there.
It buzzed immediately.
A sharp sting hit the roof of his mouth. Then his chest. Then his eyes rolled slightly as the energy surged down his throat without warning. His back slammed against the wall. His teeth clenched.
It felt like boiling liquid sliding through dry pipes.
His nerves spasmed. His right eye twitched. The energy didn’t trickle in, it punched its way through. Straight down his throat, into his chest, and then scattered wildly across his system.
Rhian dropped to his knees, coughing violently. His arms bent inward. His stomach twisted.
He grabbed at his ribs. One of the deeper bruises flared, then vanished as heat rushed through the area. The core wasn’t following a clean path. It was healing damage first, burning its way through soft tissue to do it.
His vision blurred.
Every muscle in his body tensed. His back curved as if bracing against impact. Sweat poured down his temple. His mouth went dry, even though he was surrounded by moisture.
The energy didn’t spread evenly. It clustered near his heart, spun for a second, and then burst outward. His legs shook. His right hand went numb.
Finally, after what felt like a minute of full-body pressure, the sensation stopped.
𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦 He gasped, his palms hitting the stone beneath him.
The core in his mouth had cracked apart. All that was left was a dry, tasteless powder on his tongue. He spit it out and fell back again, chest rising and falling in sharp waves.
He didn’t check his system right away. He didn’t move. His body needed a moment.
But even through the pain, he felt it. The pressure inside him had changed. Stronger.
He turned his head slowly, looking at Nia again.
He sat up and pulled another core from the pile. His fingers trembled, but this time, they didn’t hesitate.
He brought the next one to his mouth.
He put the second core in his mouth.
It was cold at first, then it pulsed once, and the reaction hit harder than before.
His back snapped upright. The veins in his neck bulged as a sharp jolt ran straight through his jaw and into his chest. This time, there was no slow adjustment.
The energy forced its way in, wild and unfiltered.
Rhian’s chest heaved. His arms shook. He clenched his teeth too late, the core had already begun melting inside his mouth, turning to pure divine pressure.
A second later, he coughed. Then again.
A line of blood sprayed out.
He bent over, one hand gripping his side. Blood dripped from his nose now too. His body wasn’t keeping up. His internal core was still F-rank. This was pushing against his natural limits, and the damage was real.
He felt it in his lungs, tight and sore, like something had scraped them raw.
The core cracked between his teeth, the final bit of energy shooting into his system. It wasn’t healing this time. It was powering. Forcefully. Like someone had shoved a current through a flooded wire.
He dropped to his side, holding his ribs.
It burned.
But when the pressure eased again, and his vision settled, he sat up slowly. He didn’t speak. He just looked down at his hands.
They were shaking.
But they were stronger. He could feel it. Not by much,bbut enough.
He looked toward the final cores. His mouth was still wet with blood.
His eyes didn’t blink. His hand moved. He reached for the next one.
He looked at the system again.
[7%]
He wanted to smile, but he couldn’t. His lips were cracked, his breathing sharp, and his hand wouldn’t stop shaking.
But he still reached for another core.
His fingers were slick with blood and sweat, but he picked it up without hesitation. He didn’t waste time thinking. There was no room left for caution or fear. Just a narrow path forward.
He raised it to his mouth and bit down.
The taste was bitter. The same sharp surge hit, stronger than the last. His vision darkened for a second, his ears rang.
Blood came up again, this time from his gums. He pressed his palm against the wall beside him to stop himself from falling sideways.
He swallowed what was left of the core and forced his body to endure.
He couldn’t stop now.