NOVEL WEB Chapter 4: Null zone
"Growl!", again it snarled heavily once again, as its unmistakable features basked into the lights.
Its body was veined with numerous fluid rays, and shelled onto its skin were dense stony carps with a silvery-blinding lustre, almost mirror-like.
As it made its slow approach, its trail was marked with deposits of ash and burnt vegetation, accompanied with a subtle smoky scent.
A magma jaguar.
The jaguar first attacked with an inferno fireball thrust out from its mouth. The attack was sharp and fast approaching.
Its blazing fury raged violently, rocketted with immense speed.
In those seconds, Max's world shifted. His senses grew sharper. His arms and legs, lighter and more fluid, now able to perform unpredictable movements in exceptional manners within split seconds.
His eyes and ears were sharper and more receptive.
His dumbfounded stare involuntarily peered into atomic buildups and molecular structures all arrayed in snail-like motion.
The roaring crackle of the inferno transitioned slowly in continuous wave stream progressions.
Everything dimmed down– the trees, rocks all lost their respective hue.
Everything except the fireball heading for him but even that wasn't immune to the depressed atmosphere that retarded all movements.
He simply side stepped and evaded the cataclysmic blast which exploded into the cliff side.
'What just happened?', Max wondered but didn't have much time to as the jaguar pounced towards him in a fierce retort.
Again, the earth seemed to pace down.
All colors were gone except the highlighted tint on his target. From Max's perspective, its paws danced in the air as if its entire body was suspended by some kind of invisible string and under water.
As its silvery exterior floated in the air, Max caught a glimpse of something unusual.
He wasn't affected by this sudden drop and better yet was quickly adapting to it.
Every second counted for about half the time in the real world, hence to the jaguar even the slightest of movements appeared as a lightning fast attack.
Max too had just figured out what was happening– it was a worldly reaction to his concept.
Mid-fight he was ecstatic about it and endlessly pondered on the possibilities and experiments he could try with this.
He had twice the time to do everything he ever wanted– that was if there wasn't any limitations to the skill.
But wait, if he was twice as fast, he wondered.
'Could it be that…'
He was experimenting. Risky for a newbie and at such high stakes but curiosity will always be the mother of innovation.
He tightened his fist and threw a punch at the beast.
His fist pierced with a comet-like blaze into the jaguar's torso and it coughed up some blood, dangerously flying backwards.
Strangely, the magma in Max's arm didn't seem to hurt at the moment but as the colours returned he felt a slow approaching burning sensation and briskly waved it off before any real damage could be done.
"Pain too, huh," he rightly inferred.
The jaguar bashed against a tree and fell down dead on the ground.
[Congratulations! You have slayed your first beast]
[Exp + 10]
[Exp: 10/100]
The energy he felt before was exhilarating and wondered how powerful he could get if he used it twenty four seven.
[Skill: Null zone]
[Period: 1min | Effectiveness: 2 | Cool down duration: 2hours]
So this power in all its glory could only be sustained by a mere minute and needed 120 times that period to recharge.
How impractical was that.
He was enraged at how great the limitation the skill was but remembered that skills grow more effective as you move up and so didn't bother much about that.
At least, thank God that he didn't encounter such limitations during his fight.
He walked up to the dead predator with it's shattered glossy fur and diminished crackle.
He wanted to assure what he spotted during the fight.
The black and white perspective of the Null zone may not have shown it well but now he wasn't color blind, he could see that…
His hair!
He combed his hands through his hair to ensure it wasn't just ash he had on him.
"What happened?"
His hair was bleached ghost white and his eyes…
They too had metamorphosed.
They now had a conspicuous but rare swirl of red and green controversial to his former black hair and red eyes.
He watched his reflection for a while and a light smile arched through his face.
"Kinda like it."
"Ya, the cores."
He got a bit carried away and almost forgot to pick up its dropping and core.
A rank C core and some other stuff.
After every awakening batch, the organization awards the strongest 3 with equipment and other materials that makes levelling up easier.
For him, getting those rewards was a necessity so he needed to absorb as much cores and just as he was about to do just that, it vanished.
The cores magically disappeared out of his palm.
He could no longer feel the core's grip in his arm but strangely he could still feel its presence near him.
Like some part of him still clenched to it.
He touched his chest to confirm his hypothesis.
"It's inside me."
He willed it out of the storage space with a mere mental command and it reappeared within his palm.
[Inventory: An infinite storage space]
Even though he had the core in his hands, he could still feel the presence of another item within him.
He willed it out as if pulling up an unknown prize from a hat.
And boy was that more relieving than any prize.
"Thank God."
His ability book.
He brushed over it's dog-eared corners and inwardly thanked some more.
He shelved the book back in and absorbed the core.
[Exp: 20/100]
Again the leaves warned in the bushes forecasting the attack of another deadlier presence who had been watching.
Too much for Max to handle.
– – –
NB:
….Next chapter spoiler
[Max Fenton has died]