Chapter 434: Repurpose (1/2)

The departure of the spectral warriors left only Zac and the remaining inside the cage, along with a hundred decaying bodies that slowly replenished his reserves with miasma. He was still uncomfortably low on energy though, so he bit down on a pitch-black pill that turned into a thick sludge that ran down his throat. A surge of miasma spread through his body, almost instantly restoring a fifth of his miasma reserves.

Zac tried to not to think of the foul taste of the [Warrior Pill] he just ate as he swapped out [Verun’s Bite] for one of his disposable axes. It was a pill that had a similar effect as Cosmic Water but without the downsides as long as you used them in moderation. The [Warrior Pill] was a lot weaker than the water though, and you could only eat one a day before side effects started to crop up.

Next he dispelled [Vanguard of Undeath] and shrunk back to his original size. He wanted to experiment with his Daos, and he had found that his control got even worse in his transformed body. Miasma kept churning around in his body to keep the miasmic armor and weaponry active, which might cause some interference.

Or it was just the fact that the spiritual energy needed to travel further when his body was bigger.

The air around Zac started to shudder as he unleashed his Dao field for his Axe Fragment to the utmost. The ant seemed to sense the threat and attempted to ambush him, but Zac kept dodging as he tried to regain the feeling he had during the Dao Discourse.

It was obviously harder to concentrate with a massive beast trying to skewer you, but Zac felt that it was far easier to make breakthroughs mid-battle compared to sitting alone in a courtyard meditating. The pressure and risk of death would stimulate his potential, and something new would hopefully be born from his struggle.

The atmosphere inside the cage kept changing as Zac switched back and forth between the Dao Fields for his two fragments, one moment containing invisible blades and the next second corrosive winds. He had kept trying to recreate the Dao Storm with the help of his aura over the past days, but he was simply not making any progress.

He did at least manage to superimpose the two Dao fields for a second by force. When he wanted to release a second Dao Field the other automatically receded into his body, but he was able to stop it by simply blocking it out. However, that caused a pretty hefty loss in spiritual energy as the energy simply dissipated instead of returning.

There were also no bronze flashes appearing in the brief seconds he managed to keep the two Dao Fields going simultaneously. Zac figured that the density of energies wasn’t enough to force a reaction when it came to Dao Fields. He could only sigh in disappointment at yet another failed experiment and move on.

If Dao Fields could be considered the gaseous form of the Dao, then directly infusing it into a weapon or skill would be the liquid equivalent, and allowed for a larger amount of spiritual energy.

The Dao Storm had contained most of his spiritual energy, and perhaps that kind of density is what was needed to summon the bronze flashes. But he couldn't just crank out half his soul in one attack, but rather recreate that amount of energy in a single point to force a fusion like before.

The problem was that Dao Infusion wasn't like a water faucet. He couldn't just increase the lever and have more Dao Energy flow out of his head. Until now things had been binary where he either chose to infuse something or not. The amount of energy it cost would depend on the skill or item getting infused, and it would regulate itself automatically.

This was the problem that he had struggled with over the past three days. Trying to control the amount of mental energy that ran down his arm into his axe was like trying to push more air into a bag with his bare hands. Zac kept trying various approaches he had thought up while resting as he ran between the ant's legs, but nothing worked.

Since he still couldn't figure out any way for him to control the amount of energy he could only try to fuse the two Daos once again. It felt like Zac’s mind would split apart as he forcibly pushed his two Dao Fragments along his arms before they streamed into the axe at the same time.

It was yesterday he had finally found a way to force both his Daos to converge. He used each of his arms like a conductor for one Fragment, only trying to push them together when they reached his axe. He only needed to use some Miasma as the method of delivery. However, there were still many problems to solve, and the first trial was the reason that he was using a temporary axe at the moment.

Verun had roared in Zac's mind the moment the two streams had entered the axe before it immediately rebuffed the two Dao Fragments. Zac first thought it was because it wasn't able to properly utilize both fragments at the same time due to its lacking materials, but his next experiment showed that there were other issues at play.

When Zac tried the same thing with a spare axe the two fragments had entered without a problem, but the whole axe exploded into scrap metals in an instant, maiming his hands and almost blinding him. Zac had first thought he managed a fusion at the first try, but he quickly realized he had overestimated himself.

The explosion came from the two untamed energies along with the miasma causing strain on the weapon rather than a fusion of the two. It was still an impressive outburst of energy though as the axe scraps had either been infused with the Fragment of the Axe or Fragment of the Coffin as they shot out like projectiles in every direction.

Zac figured there was an issue of speed. He would never be able to squeeze out half his mental energy for a single strike, as he had done during the Dao Discourse. He instead wanted to rely on smaller amounts of energies colliding at higher velocities. It was like the experiments on old earth where scientists shot electrons at each other with extremely high momentum to see what kind of energies were released by the collision.

He needed to turn himself into a particle collider.

Having a plan was one thing, but finding a solution was something else entirely. A minute later his axe couldn't take it any longer and turned into a bomb as well. Zac had learned to see the signs by this point though and threw it away in time, but he froze a second later.

What about [Cyclic Strike]? He had given up on the skill for his new path, but perhaps some parts could be repurposed. The two fractals from the skill were perfectly placed on his shoulders, and he would easily be able to push his two Dao Fragments there before they continued down his arms.

The correct usage of the skill was to infused his Daos into the two fractals, and sort of braid the energies in a way that allowed the two Daos to mesh together and combine. After that had been accomplished you could infuse whatever you wanted with this new combined energy.

Zac had never really gotten much further than infusing both fractals with their respective Daos. He hadn't even been close to finishing the type of mesh required, but that wasn't his goal at the moment. He felt like he was so close to the answer that he could taste it, and he gave the ant a quick punch to throw it away before he prepared to test his newest theory.

Zac immediately took out two daggers and stabbed one into each shoulder without as much as a grunt. Ichor started to drip down his arms and back, but he didn't care as he hurriedly activated the two maimed fractals with a smile that would no doubt look a bit deranged to an outsider.

The Dao Fragments entered the two fractals of [Cyclic Strike], but Zac didn't care at all about balance this time as he tried to force the energies to the center of the fractals as quickly as possible. Normally it wouldn't have been possible without properly following the winding pathways, but he had carved a new path for himself.