Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

The technique Rain was developing utilized the body's natural response to stress or danger also known as adrenaline. Adrenaline is a hormone that triggers the body's "fight or flight" response, providing a surge of energy and strength in times of stress or urgency. It increases heart rate, boosts blood flow to muscles, heightens awareness, and temporarily enhances physical abilities.

Rain aimed to harness this innate response intentionally, seeking to create situations that could trigger the release of adrenaline at will. By designing combat scenarios or techniques that induced stress or urgency, he intended to prompt the body to produce this hormone, thus granting him heightened physical capabilities when needed.

The goal was to optimize this phenomenon strategically during battles or critical moments. Rain's understanding of adrenaline's effects meant that if he could manipulate its release in calculated instances, he could potentially push himself beyond his normal limits, gaining enhanced strength, speed, reflexes, and endurance.

"At the max level and after ten minutes, this technique will increase my parameters by ten thousand points…" Rain thought. "It is hard to imagine that I will find such an incompetent opponent that will last this long, though."

In any case, the skill and the theory behind it worked, so Rain couldn't ask for more. It was really useful to come up with techniques that didn't actually have any costs, but he still could bet a lot on it.

Although Rain couldn't activate the skill by himself, he was still able to make it level up a fair bit with Endurance Sacrifice and he was happy to confirm what it was increasing.

The skill A Matter of Skill leveled up. Vitality + 02.

The skill A Matter of Skill leveled up. Vitality + 02.

The skill A Matter of Skill leveled up. Vitality + 02.

…

Although Rain didn't think that he spent a lot of time thinking on those techniques, he soon saw that outside was starting to get brighter… morning had arrived and Rain could hear the sound of everyone moving in their beds.

Despite their rigorous training inside the dungeons, the group in the shelter wasn't particularly keen on early mornings. Despite the physically demanding and relentless battles they faced against dungeon creatures, the group seemed to take their time rising from their beds.

As they gradually woke up, some members of the group still wore frowns on their faces, their expressions hinting at residual confusion and perplexity. It was evident that not everyone was entirely certain of what was going on, and a few individuals still harbored concerns, while looking toward Rain.

"I thought that all that was just a dream thanks to the exhaustion…" Roan said while rubbing his eyes trying to wake up his body.

"It must be, seeing someone as good looking as me must be a dream for men and women alike," Rain said and then laughed.

"Wow… he really says this kind of thing, huh?" Annie said while blinking several times. "Your patience must have be tested so many times, Mom."

"You get used to these unfunny jokes eventually," Terra shrugged.

Everyone didn't move that much from their beds, they just cleaned their faces a bit while Gila was working on the breakfast. Everyone had brought a bunch of monsters meat to eat, but Gila still had some condiments to make the food taste better. Rain wondered where she got that, but she had pepper, onions, and even oil.

"Do you want help?" Rain asked.

"I wouldn't mind, but I maxed out all the paths related to cooking, if I let anyone help, the food will taste not as good as it could be," Gila replied. "To think that even my little sisters want to point out my inadequacies…"

"This isn't something worth getting depressed over," Gila said. "Thanks to the discoveries that we made before splitting up with Branden and the others, I can produce these kinds of things on my own. I want to be able to make bread daily, but it is hard in this kind of environment and it takes time too."

"Having a different kind of breakfast now and then is nice, and if that makes you relax, then it is also good enough reason to do so," Rain said. "I bet that everyone leaves nothing behind when you cook for them."

"That is because they are too lazy to make anything decent and they don't want to develop those skills," Gila said. "Terra, Danny and Annie are even more guilty of this since you spoiled them."

"Hahaha, I guess I can't say anything in my defense," Rain said. Continue reading on My Virtual Library Empire

Rain found a lot of joy and comfort in engaging in a conversation with one of his younger sisters. He cherished these moments, relishing the chance to reconnect and share a few words in a quieter setting, away from the general group.

However, despite his desire to get into more personal matters and ask about his younger sisters' lives during the past century, Rain held back. He reasoned that given the circumstances and the prolonged time they spent in the dungeons, there might not have been much room for personal lives or individual experiences.

Aware of the intense training and focus on survival during their time in the last one hundred years, Rain speculated that his little sisters, like everyone else, might not have had the opportunity or space to cultivate personal lives or engage in activities beyond training and battling monsters.

As a result, he refrained from getting into personal matters, choosing to steer the conversation toward less intimate topics to ensure a more comfortable interaction for both of them.

"So… are you going to rally everyone together and make us fight the dragons?" Jori finally asked when he grew tired of the mystery.

"I probably won't, I can't say for sure about the future like that, but that isn't my intermediate goal considering the end of the war," Rain said. "I am still planning my next steps and for now, I just want to help you guys with a little something that I am coming up with."