Chapter 124: Explosion Effects

Chapter 124: Explosion Effects"I don’t know," Adrian finally answered, his voice very level despite the jolt the question gave him.

Silence crackled on the other end. Karl clearly hadn’t expected that. Adrian was usually decisive, focused. Uncertainty wasn’t his style.

"What do you mean you don’t know?" Karl blurted out, confusion overriding his excitement. "Bro, it’s the Academy!"

Adrian navigated around another deep fissure, the Rover lurching slightly. He needed to steer this conversation elsewhere. "How’s Serena?" he asked, shifting the focus smoothly.

The question had an immediate effect. Karl’s nervousness was almost audible, a sudden intake of breath.

"Uh... she’s... she’s good! Yeah! She’s right here with me, actually," he stammered, clearly thrown off his pressing line of inquiry. "We only met up so we could try calling you together."

"Hmm, by this time?"

"It’s not that late," Karl protested quickly, his voice regaining a little confidence. "We’re okay. Really."

"Okay," Adrian acknowledged. He could practically hear the comm being passed. A moment later, Serena’s voice, warmer and calmer than Karl’s, came through.

"So, you finally decided to pick up your device."

"Sorry for that," Adrian replied genuinely. "I was dealing with something... significant recently."



Serena laughed softly. "You don’t need to say sorry. I understand you’re busy. I only wish for you to stay safe. That’s all."

"I’m safe," Adrian assured her. "Take care of yourself too."

After a brief pause, he decided to say something to lighten the moment, and a chuckle escaped him. "And don’t let Karl be a bother to you."

"Hey, bro! Not cool!" Karl’s indignant voice protested loudly in the background.

Serena’s laughter was clearer this time. "Thank you," she said to Adrian. "He’s not... for now."

"For now? What does for now mean?" Karl’s plaintive voice faded slightly as Serena likely moved the comm away.

Adrian smiled faintly.

"Take care, both of you. Bye."

He didn’t wait for further protests or questions, disconnecting the call with a mental command.

The comm vanished back into his [Inventory], and silence reclaimed the cockpit, filled only by the Rover’s engine and the crunch of rock under its tires.

It had been a long time since he had felt that simple lightness, that uncomplicated connection.

His mind flickered to Eli and Mara, their faces surfacing in his thoughts. ’I’ll have to visit them one day too,’ he promised himself silently.

Refreshed by the unexpected contact, he pushed the yoke forward decisively. The Rover surged ahead, headlights carving bright paths through the deepening night as he sped towards his destination.

***

Leaving the Volcanic Wastelands behind, the terrain became a brutal testament to his earlier desperation.

The Rover jolted and bounced over ground ravaged by his own hand. Massive craters, some large enough to swallow small buildings, pockmarked the landscape like grotesque wounds.

Jagged fissures snaked between them, revealing layers of shattered rock.

It was a scarred battlefield, the aftermath of the mana grenades used to obliterate the horde of beasts.



The Rover navigated the treacherous path with agility, Adrian steering it around the deepest holes or carefully driving through the shallower ones.

Despite the devastation, a subtle change permeated the air.

Mana was bleeding back into the Corrupted Lands. It wasn’t the overwhelming density of the former magic source, but this felt normal. The world was slowly healing.

Adrian pressed on, drawn towards the epicenter. As he crested a final rise, he brought the Rover to a halt, cutting the engine.

The headlights illuminated the scene beyond, and he simply stared.

The explosion site was impossible. It wasn’t a jagged crater or a chaotic collapse.

Instead, the land fell away in a vast, unnervingly smooth basin. It looked as if a colossal, impossibly precise spoon had scooped out a giant, shallow bowl from the earth.

The edges sloped downwards in a perfect, glassy curve, devoid of rubble or debris.

The sheer scale and the unnatural smoothness were staggering, a silent monument to the power unleashed.

Adrian climbed out of the Rover and stored it in his [Inventory], his boots crunching on the fused ground near the basin’s edge.

He walked closer, examining the seamless transition from fractured wasteland to this smooth, scooped out expanse.

He crouched, running a gloved hand over the surface. It wasn’t just a hole but it was a canyon, a vast and deliberate one, like the earth itself had been reshaped.

Part of him wondered if it needed fixing, but the thought felt absurd. It was too immense, and too final.

Besides, there was a strange beauty to it, a raw, untouched symmetry that felt almost intentional.

Satisfied, he retreated a few paces from the edge onto the relatively level ground within the basin’s vicinity.

He retrieved ten glittering 4-Star magic crystals from his [Inventory]. Moving with practiced efficiency, he placed them in a precise circle on the dark, smooth ground, and immediately began setting up the array.

The moment he was done, he activated the crystals and they flared up instantly, filling the air around Adrian with concentrated mana.

Adrian closed his eyes and began drawing the energy in.

This time, there was no resistance. The mana flowed smoothly into his Dantian, confirming Adrian’s guess on what it meant for his Dantian to be strengthened.



He could cultivate freely now, without fear of any need for regulations due to potential Dantian cracks.

He immersed himself in the process, drawing in the rich saturated mana into his Dantian.

Time blurred as mana cycled through him, until finally a pinge resonated through his awareness.

[Factory Access Cooldown Complete]

Adrian opened his eyes and the glow of the formation dimmed as he took away its components to deactivate it. The ten 4-Star crystals, though depleted of some energy, still held significant power.

He stored them carefully back in his [Inventory] for his next session.

A quick internal check confirmed his progress:

[Knight: ★ ★ ★]

[Mana: 4.02%]

Adrian nodded in satisfaction, before announcing.

"Visit Factory."

His surrounding all dissolved into shimmering particles as the System’s transition claimed him once more into the Factory.