Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] Chapter 210: Book 3: Chapter 61: Heavenly Tribulation

Read chapter 210 of Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] by TTReynolds on NovelPedia.

Book 3: Chapter 61: Heavenly Tribulation Chapter 61: Heavenly Tribulation It wasn’t thunderclouds rolling in, not the standard ones anyway. As Alex ticked his stat over the next threshold the sky itself seemed to unzip, torn seams revealed bleeding wisps of gray and oily vapor that coalesced into a single, roiling mass directly above him. Sparks crawled about in its depths, thick and yellow, like fangs gnashing against the night. Alex tilted his head back. He felt his heart kick into overdrive just at first sight of the thing, but he refused to look away. The storm wasn’t just weather, not the coming change of a season, not the drifting whim of mother nature. No, the growing cloud was judgment. The first lightning strike came faster than he could brace himself. A lance of electricity slammed straight into his chest, dropping him to one knee. His vision went white-hot and his nerves felt flayed as a torrent of hostile aether surged through his veins. The energy didn’t only burn, it as if it searched about inside him, prodding and prying, hunting for weakness in him. It poked about everywhere, his soul aperture, his essence gate, the fragile seams of his body. Somehow Alex knew that if it found a crack, it would tear him apart. No. Not happening. Alex shoved back with his own aether, forcing it against the invasive surge and clawing for dominance. For a heartbeat he felt in control, but then the second bolt hit. The world shattered into pain. His control over the first lightningbolt splintered, balance thrown into chaos as if the storm itself laughed at his defiance. His body convulsed, his muscles jerking and spasming beyond his command. The third strike came before he could even breathe. His spine arched, teeth grinding until his jaw almost cracked, every nerve fired off like an exposed electrical wire. He dropped to both knees, his hands clawing trenches in the dirt. Through the ordeal, a voice cut urgently into his awareness, “Don’t! He must endure it. Interfering with a Heavenly Tribulation brings your own stormcloud down on your head. You think you can handle that?” It was Myrae’s voice that he heard. Alex didn’t have to see who she was talking to. He knew it was Holly. A flicker of warmth cut through the storm’s fury in his chest, a spark of gratitude. Gratitude at both that Holly cared enough to try helping him, and that Myrae had stopped her. If anyone else drew the storm’s attention and was assaulted by these bolts, they’d be nothing but ash. Lightning growled above him again, another charge coiling about in the clouds. Alex dragged in a shakey breath, his vision focusing down on the boiling storm. His body was breaking, but his will refused to give in. Come on then, he thought, baring his teeth in a grimace. Let’s see who cracks first. Another bolt ripped through him, but this time Alex noticed something, something inside himself answering back against the assault. His veins boiled and his heart hammered as his body frantically tried fighting back. Inside him, his blood itself reacted, the latent Wyrm-toxin woven into it stirring like a cornered beast. Every surge of lightning that entered his body, his Wyrm-blood chewed at it and dissolved it, devoured it. For every spike of pain, there was a counter-flash of corrosive rebellion. And it worked, ever so slowly. The conquered fragments of lightning didn’t just vanish or disappear, they seeped into him, lodging themselves into the make-up of his being. His bones vibrated like hammered steel, thickening and hardening with each impact. His muscles shuddered, then swelled under the strain, the fibers reforging in the crucible of the tribulation. His aether channels drank deeply too, widening to handle the storm’s invasion. While his Soul Aperture expanded in breadth as the energy pushed against its bolstered resilience. He knew this added resilience to be his new imprint, and that alone made him happy with the choice he had made. It’s working. Gods, it’s actually working.