Chapter 1368 (1/2)

At this point, Randidly didn't have the spare attention to try and control his heart rate. Besides, he felt the demands of his body growing steadily as the battle progressed. As the engine of the body, the heart was needed to rejuvenate his muscles. Blood circulated through him, steadily being baptized by the waves of pressure that Randidly was struggling to contain. A lot of the blood vessels ruptured, but some survived. Those survivors continued to circulate, gradually thinning out the substance of Randidly's body until only the superior blood cells remained.

A forced evolution began to occur within Randidly. Along his skin, weaker cells ruptured and stronger ones divided and took their place. Within his body, the weak or damaged muscles were eviscerated by the waves of polarity, allowing stronger ones to quickly grow in their place.

Honestly, Randidly couldn't keep track of all the changes going on in his body. He could distantly sense that his physique was improving physically in a way that he couldn’t quite understand. But his attention was limited. With gritted teeth, all his effort was condensed to continue to push back the energy of the Aether Mines. The pain was increasing sharply as more and more of Randidly’s body toughened and steeled itself against the polarity.

BA-DUM....BA-DUM....BA-DUM....

Just as the Aether Mines released periodic pulses of polarity, Randidly's heart began to explode with force with each of its beat. It severed as an unexpected blow against the source of the polarity, as his heart was situated right in the central area where all of the Aether Mines were congregated. The sudden muscle contractions of the heart were powerful enough to eradicate the radiating waves of polarity, quickly reducing the strain on the rest of Randidly’s body.

In that opening, Randidly rapidly solidified his control of his muscles. With the extra breathing room, he didn’t push deeper toward the central area of his body, which was the approximate physical location of his Soulspace. The pain was intense, but Randidly knew that he wouldn’t be able to simply rely on grit and his physical body for what came next. So in that quiet suspension of corn starch and water, Randidly began to experiment.

Under his tight control, his muscles began to flex individually in vast waves, starting from the tips of his fingers and toes, running up the limbs and then unleashing the built-up muscular momentum to smash toward his core right as the polarity erupted from the massed Aether Mines.

Congratulations! Your Skill the Yyrwood Flesh of Yggdrasil (L) has grown to Level 258!

At first, his timing was slightly off, but Randidly quickly grew more capable of manipulating his body to resist the Aether Mines directly. The pain from Aether Mines might only target his non-System Aether, but Randidly’s body began to suppress the effect of the polarity on his physical body. Through brute force, he gradually quieted the Aether Mines.

BA-DUM, BA-DUM, BA-DUM, BA-DUM

Randidly’s heart rate continued to climb back toward normal levels. But after the period of time where he had slowed down to establish a baseline, the normal heart rate was completely transformed. Perhaps part of the improvement was the baptism of power that his blood and veins had endured as muscle fought polarity across his body, but each beat of his heart generated a surge of familiar warmth throughout his person. He was ignited by his own physical capabilities.

Rather belatedly, the image of the Stillborn Phoenix released a wave of its chilling influence to keep Randidly’s brain from nearing dangerous temperatures.

While the stalemate between the muscular effect and the Aether Mine’s polarity continued raging in Randidly’s core, Randidly hesitated as he felt gravity pressing against his skin. Then he shook his head. Around his physical body, Randidly’s own rumbling waves of physical force echoed outward and caused the surrounding mixture to rapidly harden. But compared the polarity, the mixture around Randidly was relatively weak; very quickly the hardened liquid shattered and cracked, allowing more liquid to flow down around him and harden once more.

Gradually, Randidly began to slowly move his body, straightening his limbs so that all the muscle fibers were elongated. And after his body was stretched out, he carefully examined his situation. Releasing a breath, Randidly began to gradually improve the efficiency and Control with which he utilized his muscles. Within about ten minutes, the mixture around Randidly ceased hardening; the waves of force radiating from his body were greatly diminished as he controlled himself more directly.

Of course, this process also had the effect of suppressing the Aether Mines further. More and more of Randidly’s muscular potential was driven inward to rage across his body. Less of the energy was wasted by exploding outward.

And at the core of it all, his heart continued its acceleration.

BADUM, BADUM, BADUM, BADUM, BADUM, BADUM

The heat had once more risen in his body toward an unbearable level. As he released low breaths, steam escaped his nose. Randidly felt the mixture around him becoming runnier as it was heated by the presence of his body.

Which meant it was probably time to stop stalling. Randidly released his Hallucination of the Bloodless Phoenix, no longer using gravity to keep his skin entirely still. Instead, the image was entirely focused on keeping his head cool. For a few seconds afterward, Randidly’s skin buzzed with some of the ambient polarity energy that was transferred through. But he quickly and systematically used his quiet warmed up muscles to flex and constrict those reverberations. Soon, the Aether Mines were rather painfully contained in only Randidly’s Soulspace.

Perhaps due to the tight space, the Aether Mines began to shift and rotate; it seemed that they weren’t suppressed just yet. The pain radiated out in new in unpredictable ways. Unfortunately for this new array of Aether Mines, Randidly’s body was only too happy to rise to the challenge. His heart continued to accelerate.