Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] Chapter 212: Book 3: Chapter 63: Arrival

Read chapter 212 of Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] by TTReynolds on NovelPedia.

Book 3: Chapter 63: Arrival Chapter 63: Arrival Meridian Point Successfully Imprinted: Congrats! You picked [Draconic Aether Endurance], follow in the footsteps of the dragons, toward extinction! Don’t say you didn’t have a choice later. + 4,500 Vitality Experience + 2,000 Intelligence Experience Alex still felt like his veins were buzzing, every breath alive with the leftover sting of divine current. It wasn’t as painful anymore, but it left an internal itch that was impossible to ignore. Like being plugged into the electric socket of a storm that refused to die down. He sat there, sweat cooling on his skin, when Obby broke the moment, “ You should probably put pants on, meatboy. Hard to look dignified when the Heavens just spanked you bare-assed. ” Alex groaned, dragging a hand down his face. He scrambled for his robes and armor, fumbling through the buckles with half-numb fingers, the faint crackle of static sparking off the metal fittings. By the time he got himself dressed, the camp had erupted with cheers, laughter, congratulations, questions; his name was on everyone’s lips. Holly practically glided across the dirt on her one leg, the swirling winds beneath her carrying her forward, before she wrapped herself around him. He staggered, smiling despite the ache in his bones, holding her close for a breath before the barrage began. “What was that?” “Does it always look like that?” “Did you shove a spike in your spine? Are you insane?” He batted the questions away with short grunts, and deflections, anything to keep from explaining his half-suicidal cheat. Then a different voice boomed over the noise, “You angered the Heavens, human!” The chatter stopped. All eyes turned toward Ghrukk, the ork looming there with his firery-shadow energy billowing like a storm cloud himself. Alex raised a brow, unsure what the hell the ork was implying. Myrae stepped in, placing a hand on the Ork’s shoulder. When she spoke, her tone came out calm but her gaze was concerning. “Alex, Heaven Tribulations are important steps on a mage’s path. What you just faced wasn’t normal.” “Okay…” He tilted his head. “But... We are worldstriders, isn’t that the point? I survived, didn’t I?” The half-elf shook her head slightly before taking on a tone of speaking as if to a child learning the rules of a game, one that could kill him. “Tribulations are predictable, in their own way. They always begin the same, with yellow lightning, building steadily in strength depending on the one facing it. Most learn to guide it inward, letting it temper their channels and bones. Others…” her eyes flicked to Doran, “…contain it, forge it into themselves, or redirect it.” Doran grunted, arms crossed. “Aye. Dwarves bind da Heavens in steel, make da lightning ours instead a’ theirs. That’s da proper way.” “That is a way,” Myrae said pointedly. “But there’s also the most dangerous path. Attacking the storm itself. Dominating it or dispersing the tribulation by proving your will stronger than the Heavens.” Alex frowned. “…I could’ve done that?” “Yes. But it’s a path only fools or legends attempt. Because the Heavens will fight back.” Her voice dipped lower then. “That’s when yellow lightning can change. Darker and stronger... to orange.” He frowned. “But mine did turn orange. And I didn’t attack the cloud.” They all shifted at that statement. Myrae’s gaze swept to Doran, to Ghrukk, to Rynel, Sarson, Selka, their faces all set in grim seriousness. “Yes,” she said softly. “That is why we are worried.” She stepped closer, her eyes piercing. “So tell us, Alex… what did you do ?” He shifted uncomfortably under all their stares, rubbing at the tingling ache still crawling across his skin. “I wasn’t doing anything crazy,” he said finally. “At first I wasn’t anyway. I was just… fighting the energy inside me. The Wrym-Heart energy toxin in my blood was already reacting, so I leaned on that in the beginning. Then I thought maybe that my martial art’s caustic aura would help, too. And it