GLOBAL AWAKENING: My 10,000x Exp Multiplier-Chapter 29: []Condensed Experience, Birth of the Devourer
Aria spun around. Her staff flared with pink and gold light as she unleashed the spell into the empty mist.
Three seconds later, a Wraith lunged forward. It ran perfectly into the glowing chains and immobilized itself.
Vahn casually stepped forward. He drove a single reinforced kick into the creature’s core, shattering it into blue pixels.
"This is incredibly efficient," Vahn murmured.
A genuine smile returned to his face as he watched the glowing streams of data outline every single enemy in the immediate vicinity.
"But the data processing is severely taxing the hardware."
A sharp throbbing ache bloomed at the base of his skull. The human brain was never meant to simultaneously process the present reality and the immediate future.
The neural strain was immense and caused his digital avatar to flicker slightly.
"We need to establish a secure perimeter," Vahn announced.
He rubbed his temples as he deactivated the Chronos Sight. The circuit lines faded from his eyes and returned them to their deep purple hue.
"There is a completely dormant cavern system exactly four hundred meters to the north. We will camp there."
"I need to log out and regulate my biological vitals before my real world body enters a comatose state."
"Are you okay?" Aria asked instantly.
The teasing was completely forgotten as she rushed to his side. Her hands were already glowing with restorative magic.
"I am fine, Aria. I just need to reboot the system," Vahn assured her gently and led the way through the fog.
Twenty minutes later, Vahn was safely logged out of Aetheria.
The transition back to reality was always a heavy physical shock.
Vahn’s eyes snapped open inside the sleek metallic confines of his VR pod.
The hydraulic hiss of the canopy opening sounded impossibly loud compared to the eerie silence of the Mist Zone.
He sat up and his chest heaved. He drew in a ragged breath of the stale synthetic air of their cramped Sovereign City apartment.
His entire body was drenched in sweat. His muscles trembled from the sheer phantom exertion of processing a Mythic tier ocular skill.
He climbed out of the pod and his bare feet hit the cold floorboards.
He felt different.
The Dataization process was accelerating. His in-game stats were bleeding into his physical body!
He felt a terrifying coiled strength in his limbs. It was a kinetic energy that belonged to a god, not a slum dwelling commoner.
He walked into the small living room and paused at the sight before him.
Hana was standing by the kitchenette.
She was casually humming a pop song as she stirred a pot of synthetic noodles.
Her wooden cane was leaning forgotten against the far wall. She had relied on that medical device for the past five years.
Now she was standing perfectly straight. Her breathing was deep and unobstructed!
The Elixir of Primal Vitality had worked flawlessly. Her physical code had been entirely rewritten.
Vahn leaned against the doorframe. A heavy sense of relief washed over him.
The cold and calculating System Administrator vanished. He was replaced by an older brother who had finally managed to fix the one thing that mattered.
"You are standing," Vahn said softly.
Hana spun around. A massive brilliant grin broke across her face.
"Vahn! Look at me! I did a jumping jack earlier! An actual jumping jack!"
"I have not been able to do that since I was ten!"
She practically skipped across the room and threw her arms around his waist in a tight hug.
Vahn hugged her back and rested his chin on her head.
"I told you the patch notes were favorable."
But as he looked over her shoulder and out the small grimy window of their apartment, the warmth in his chest instantly froze.
Without his permission, the [Verdant Chronos Sight] violently engaged in the real world!
The faint green circuits flared across his physical irises.
He did not just see the towering skyscrapers of Sovereign City. He saw the underlying fabric of reality straining and pulling apart at the seams!
High above the financial district, a massive swirling vortex of dark energy was beginning to form in the clouds.
It was invisible to the naked eye. It was a localized data anomaly that the world governments would not detect for another three weeks.
The Convergence was not just accelerating.
It was already here. The lifeboat was leaking and the abyss was looking right back at him.
...
When Vahn Ryker logged back into Aetheria, he materialized inside the secure cavern they had claimed as their temporary camp on the fourteenth floor.
The cool and damp air of the Spire immediately replaced the stale oxygen of his apartment.
Before his avatar had even fully rendered, a pair of glowing hands pressed firmly against his chest.
"Your heart rate is elevated," Aria stated.
Her voice was a rapid professional clip as her emerald eyes scanned his face.
She was standing so close that the brim of her new Crimson Lotus hat nearly brushed his chin. The sweet scent of cherry blossoms was overwhelming.
"And your localized mana pathways are incredibly erratic. What happened in the real world? Did the neural strain cause biological damage?"
Vahn looked down at the Priestess. His deep purple eyes were calm and entirely unbothered.
He did not step back from her intense proximity. Instead, he tilted his head. A slow and teasing smile broke across his face.
"I was gone for exactly three hours, Aria," Vahn said smoothly. His voice dropped into a low conversational tone.
"Did you really miss me that much, or are you just using medical evaluations as an excuse to hold my hand?"
Aria froze.
Her glowing healing magic fizzled out instantly. Her face turned a brilliant shade of red again!
She yanked her hands off his chest as if he had suddenly caught fire. She stumbled backward and nearly tripped over her own robes.
"I... what?! No! I am performing my mandated duties as the party’s primary support unit!"
Aria stammered and her voice pitched up an octave. She frantically grabbed her wooden staff to ground herself.
"Do not confuse optimal party maintenance with... with human affection!"
From across the cavern, Hana burst into a fit of high pitched giggles.
She was sitting cross legged on a stone outcropping. Her Sun Silk Aegis glittered in the dim light.
"You are making this way too easy for him, Sister in Law."
"If you just admit you think he is handsome, he will not know how to compute the data and his brain will blue screen. It is the ultimate counter attack."
"I am not calling him handsome!" Aria shrieked. She hid her blushing face behind her staff.
Sia Vance stood rigidly by the cavern entrance.
She violently polished a nonexistent speck of dirt off her massive obsidian shield.
She did not say a word. But she thumped her heavily armored fist against the metal in a distinct rhythmic pattern that clearly communicated a deep brooding jealousy.
Vahn chuckled. The sound echoed warmly through the cave.
The banter was efficient. It kept their morale high and their stress levels low.
But the moment of levity was instantly shattered by a horrific high pitched screech echoing from the mist outside!
The cavern walls vibrated. The temperature plummeted.
"Formation," Vahn commanded.
The playful older brother vanished in a millisecond. He was replaced by the cold absolute authority of the Architect.
Sia instantly snapped to attention. She hefted her shield and stepped to the front of the cave entrance.
"Commander, we have a massive hostile convergence. The ambient radar is entirely red. We are surrounded."
Vahn walked to the mouth of the cave. His [Verdant Chronos Sight] flared to life.
The glowing green and azure circuits mapped the environment perfectly.
The Mist Zone was not just hiding a few monsters. It was a localized breeding ground.
Thousands of Mist Wraiths were swirling in the fog. They were drawn to the massive terrifying energy signature Vahn had emitted earlier.
"They are completely immune to physical kinetic force," Sia warned. Her knuckles were white as she gripped her shield.
"If I cannot strike them, I cannot hold their aggro. They will bypass the vanguard entirely." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶
"Physical strikes are irrelevant," Vahn observed calmly.
He analyzed the core data of the Wraiths.
They were not biological entities. They were raw corrupted data files. Essentially they were flying clouds of condensed experience points.
"They are pure energy. Therefore, we will simply consume them."
Vahn did not draw his Soul Bound Shadow Blade. Instead, he reached into his infinite storage ring.
With a flick of his wrist, a massive pulsating object materialized in his hands.
It was the Devouring Egg!
He had secured it from the hidden Developer Cache on the thirteenth floor.
It was a mythical item designed to eventually hatch an endgame companion for the player lucky enough to find it.
The egg was the size of a boulder. It was covered in jagged crimson scales that radiated an intense predatory heat.
"What is that?" Aria gasped. She stepped back as the sheer magical pressure of the egg washed over the cavern.
"This," Vahn smiled, "is our new localized vacuum cleaner."
