Chapter 558 - Taming the Fourth Year: Punishment Without Limits

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Chapter 558: Chapter 558 - Taming the Fourth Year: Punishment Without Limits Could the encysted seed be releasing some power when he became more emotionally intense? The possibility intrigued him. He canceled the partial fusion with the wolverine and concentrated completely on increasing the mana flow in his body. He closed his eyes and focused on internal sensations. He could feel something different, a subtle resonance that hadn’t been there during his previous training. It was as if emotional intensity was creating a stronger connection with whatever power remained available to him. He began to experiment, alternating with his memories of Liora, Luna, and his fungus, then his feelings of guilt and anger. Torturing himself, switching between calm and intense emotional states, monitoring how his mana control responded. The results were inconsistent but promising. During peaks of emotional intensity, he could clearly feel an increase in his capacity to feel and manipulate mana and the elements. But he also noticed something concerning... the intensity required to maintain this augmented state was mentally exhausting, and it uncomfortably reminded him of the behavior patterns that had caused problems with his friends. He wondered if he was discovering a legitimate new technique or simply finding ways to rationalize destructive impulses. The line between productive intensity and self-destructive behavior could be very thin, especially when dealing with frustrations that went beyond normal for him. But Ren couldn’t doubt anymore. No more questioning whether it was right or not... only action remained. Why? Because he was leaving. He would go get that thing, whatever it was, that Sirius needed to solve the crisis. His wolverine was full of resources, enough to last the necessary time. Quantities his old large backpack could never dream of carrying. Ten backpacks wouldn’t be enough to transport everything he now had stored in his beast’s dimensional space: weapons forged by Isaac, high-quality mana potions, emergency materials and food that could last weeks, specialized tools for excavation and survival even underground. Everything he had been accumulating, subconsciously preparing for something exactly like this. An expedition like this one. He began mentally reviewing his inventory while preparing his departure. The new weapons created with the Gold 3 materials he had obtained in his last nearly fatal expedition: a spear that could pierce the most resistant defenses, arrows designed specifically to penetrate high-rank creature armor, and a dagger that could cut through materials that without his fungus would have been indestructible to him. Isaac had exceeded expectations when working with those materials. He would have to thank him again, this time more seriously. He even had enough stimulating potions that could keep him alert and functional for days without sleep if necessary. He had spent a considerable amount obtaining it all, but now he was glad he had been so meticulous in his preparation. The tools included ropes made from monster materials that were resistant and reinforced with mana that could support enormous rocks or creatures, maps now that he didn’t have his fungus to navigate, and soft things for more comfortable camping with materials his elemental control couldn’t easily create. But... would he really do this when his descent had taught him not to overestimate himself? The memory of Luna shook him abruptly. The image of her crying, the desperation hidden in her voice, the way she had transformed her pain into a declaration of enmity she clearly didn’t really feel. He breathed deeply, feeling determination solidify in his chest like forged steel. There was no point losing more time questioning himself. He had already found a small part of the path toward the solution. The beginning... The rest he could learn on the way. He had survived worse odds before with less preparation. Now he had it in abundance. His boosts had dropped to half but his combat skills had improved during months of brutal training with Lin, Yang, Zhao, and Wei. And more importantly, he had a personal motivation that went beyond simple gain or glory. He began advancing toward the school’s limits, prepared to extract and activate his concealment artifacts to avoid detection by security guards. But when he had barely turned in the direction of his journey, someone called him. "Ren." Lin’s voice cut through the air like a sharp blade. He turned to see his teacher standing with a hood and at a relatively short distance that suggested she had been hiding her mana signature. "Zhao told me some things recently," Lin said, her voice carrying that particular tone she used when genuinely worried. "And when I didn’t find you in your room, I imagined something like this." Ren tensed, but didn’t respond. "According to the direction Zhao mentioned, I knew you had to come through this area," Lin continued, slowly approaching. "Why? I didn’t know for certain. According to Zhao, you shouldn’t be aware of Sirius’s situation. But knowing my mischievous little favorite student and his propensity for getting into trouble, you had to be around here." Lin paused, studying his expression. "When Selphira told me that Luna had gotten away from Sirius for a while, I suspected even more. And look... I hit the seed-nail on the head." Ren got into defensive position, feeling energy begin to accumulate in his body. "Give up... I won’t let you go," Lin declared firmly. "You barely went to the same depth level and they had to pull you out at your last. Haven’t you learned anything now that you’re much weaker?" "I have to do it," Ren responded, his voice loaded with a resolve that surprised even Lin. "It’s my fault and no one else’s, so I must do something to solve it." He thought of Luna again. The way she had tried to hide her pain behind an act completely out of character. The intensity of her crying again... "Luna isn’t like that," he murmured, more to himself than to Lin. "What’s pushing her so hard must hurt so much more than my mistakes are hurting me." He began to feel energy escape a bit more from the seed, the encysted layer was no longer enough to contain it all. The emotional pain, desperation, determination to help someone who cared about him, everything combined to create a resonance that amplified his access to some of his true power. He carried the energy flow throughout his body, partially transforming with his wolverine and hydra fused. The energy gave him more refined control than normal, allowing him to access part of those techniques that had been out of his reach since he lost his fungus. He got into guard position against Lin, his beasts partially materializing in his body as few small jade scales. Lin sighed deeply, recognizing the futility of trying to reason with him in this state. "I thought you couldn’t fuse like that anymore... But seems weak, and I can fuse completely," she reminded him aloud. "You’re the one who intends to travel far and needs to conserve energy. I don’t. I just have to defeat you once here, even if I have to spend my full fifteen minutes of maximum transformation." Lin activated her complete fusion. The transformation was spectacular and terrifying. Her body hardened and covered with black feathers hard like scales that shone with red patterns of fire and wind. Her limbs became longer and more powerful, with claws that seemed capable of cutting diamond. Her panther lizard with crane feathers also appeared at her side, separate like a clone created through fusion, obtaining triple the power that, ironically, Ren himself had given her. The mana pressure emanating from her transformed form was enough to make Ren understand she was in a new league. But Ren didn’t retreat or surrender. Lin launched toward him with combined explosions of wind and fire that propelled her at an insane speed, extremely difficult to follow with the eyes. Her objective was clear: deliver a devastating kick that would knock him out in one blow, ending the confrontation before it could even start. The combination of momentum and concentrated elemental power converted to speed made her practically an impossible attack to avoid even for high Gold Ranks. But Ren achieved the impossible. He avoided it completely. Just in time, he used simultaneous wind and earth control in a way he had never attempted before. The wind helped position his body faster, redirected him, while the earth sank into formations specifically designed to alter his trajectory.

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