Beyond The System
Chapter 112: Restoration

When Marcus climbed up, I explained the situation to him briefly. “I don’t know how long it’ll last, or how often I can use it, but this should speed up our progress way more.”

He nodded. “Good. Now I just need to start building my foundation. With Perfect Conversion, I’ll only need to spar once per energy cycle.”

I probably had a few more rounds left myself before hitting another transformation. “Let’s get to it then. For me, even after multiple rounds, I filled up almost instantly. Shouldn’t take long, then we fight.”

“What about the violet energy?” he asked.

“Just don’t go over your max,” I said, brushing it off. “It only interferes during Body Refinement.”

I wanted to move fast and maximize the Voidseed while it lasted.

A big mistake.

He sat next to me and closed his eyes, he was taking his usual time, a few minuets gathering energy, but then, one second he looked normal… and the next, he was bright pink.

Panic slammed through me. I grabbed him, shook him hard. “MARCUS!”

His eyes opened but they were glazed.

I exhaled shakily, heart still racing. One second later and he might’ve been gone. Turning full red and boiled from the inside out. “I didn’t think it would happen so fast…”

At first, I’d assumed it would take him a few minutes to gather enough energy since he was taking a while, but then I remembered something Thea once told me. That I may have talent in sensing energy.

Had Marcus even started when I thought he did? Was he working on sensing the force, and the moment he did, it flooded into him like a tidal wave?

Now I was second-guessing everything, so I asked, “How long does it usually take you to sense World Force before you start cultivating?”

Marcus glanced around, a little out of it, before his eyes cleared. “Faster lately. Just a few minutes now. Purification has helped a ton, but before?” He scratched his head. “Half an hour, maybe more.”

Maybe… I was actually good at something.

Then again, that probably meant that Sia, Elrich, Lyra, and my girlfriend were all quite talented in that aspect as well.

Ooor, Marcus here was a dud.

“You alright?” I asked, already regretting how fast I’d pushed things. Worst case, I could’ve just waited a few days for the Voidseed to reset, but I didn’t.

He stood, stretching until a series of pops echoed from his back. “Just surprised,” he muttered. “Weird to think something could have that much influence over you.”

“Yeah.” I agreed. Hearing it was one thing, feeling it was something else entirely. It’s like being told you can be hypnotized by some random guy on the street, and laughing it off until you’re suddenly on all fours, barking at traffic.

Speaking of four-legged chaos, the siblings were getting restless, chasing each other, pouncing on tails, full chaos mode engaged.

Six of the tamed beast blocked my way refusing to let me pass. I looked at Marcus. “Uhhh, help?”

“I think they want to join.” He reasoned, walking over to the chair and table he made, picking them up, and heading outside.

And now more room existed, his furniture was safe, and my combatants multiplied. When Marcus walked in again I gazed nervously. “They won’t use anything lethal right?”

He smiled, cold, and empty. “Of course not.”

What proceeded was the total destruction of every drop of confidence I had gained over my journey.

With Marcus alone, I could justify the gap easily; he had years of battle experience in war, and a high-ranked system on top of that. But I’d been catching up, reading his tricks, and reacting faster.

But this?

A shard of ice whipped toward my leg from the left, followed a blink later by a golden needle from the right. I barely dodged both, only to find one of the ‘cuddly’ beasts mid-air, a blur of fur and teeth headed straight for me. I took a step to jump away.

Bad idea.

My feet slipped out from under me as Marcus’s friction-nullifying pulse swept through the floor. I twisted in midair, momentum carrying me toward another dog launching upward, eyes locked like I was a favorite chew toy.

I twisted enough to avoid a full collision, but something grabbed my ankle mid-fall. Another dog.

Three dogs pinned me down after I fell. One licking furiously at my ear with intense focus. Another gently chewing my sleeve. The last one sitting triumphantly on my stomach like it had just established a new den.

Marcus crouched beside me. “Want me to go easy on you next round?”

“Only if you're willing to adopt a sense of fairness,” I grunted, still pinned under a wagging tail.

“Anything’s fair on the battlefield.” He justified seriously.

“This is a treehouse.” I mocked.

The other three pets gathered around Marcus as he sat. “If you have an idea, I want to get rid of that influence over me.”

I understood and agreed, but there weren't exactly a ton of people here. “I have a couple ideas, but no idea if it’ll work.”

“Go ahead.” He gestured for me to continue curiously putting his fist under his chin, balancing it on his knee.

“One second.”

‘Luna, Wyrem. Either of you think you can insert energy into someone else?’ I asked.

Wyrem answered first. ‘I can put myself in them, but why would I do that?’ He scoffed, almost offended.

‘In what way?’ Luna more helpfully added.

‘I want you to create a very fragile core and help trap something in it?’ I explained.

‘In Marcus?’ She continued.

‘Yep.’

‘Peter…’ Luna spoke with pity which confused me.

I waited for elaboration before another voice rang out. ‘She isn’t exactly going to create a human-sized core. Her energy may be more pure, but in that form, it still lacks volume.’ Wyrem explained buzzing his corporeal form with what I could tell was laughter.

‘I’m working on it! Master!’ Luna snapped in frustration.

‘Speak again when you're a big tree, not a weed.’

I rolled my eyes. ‘Okay, seriously… What now?’

‘Did those little beasts show sentience? A strong will?’ Wyrem asked.

I shook my head slowly, drawing a confused look from Marcus.

‘So you want me to… what? Guide them to help?’

‘Command. They’ve already learned from you. They just need a push in the right direction.’

I didn’t ask for more details. Wyrem rarely gave them anyway. Instead, I laid my hand on the dog lounging across my chest like it owned the place. I sent a pulse of thought with clear intent. Not possession like before, but instructions. Enter Marcus' energy space, prepare an incomplete core, and complete it after I do.

One by one, I moved between the others, brushing my hand against each, sending the same idea. My head began to throb from the strain of the links, a limit showing itself.

Marcus shifted, watching me. “What are you doing?”

“Seeing if your crew can help.”

He raised an eyebrow but didn’t question it further. The dogs stirred, then began to circle him, paws lifted almost ceremonially before pressing down. Two perched near his shoulders. One straddled his legs. And one, naturally, decided the face was the best vantage point.

“Peter,” Marcus mumbled, nose fully smothered. “What the hell is this?”

I grinned. “Trust exercise. Now start gathering energy. Time for you to piss off a god... or whatever.”

No flashy explanation was needed. Just a breath, a shared effort, and instinct. It worked on the first try, the beast force solidifying its prowess over other species.

After Marcus had reached his limit, the evil will showed itself, I surrounded it, completed the core, followed by the others.

Marcus opened his eyes a smidge, “Done?”

At the almost certain result of ending up at the source of a dog pile, I begrudgingly shook my head. “Just like anything, gotta convert it.”

He grinned like a psycho. “Let’s fight then.” The fluffy siblings, as if knowing what lay ahead, started literally jumping up, running to one end of the room.

“Sure.”

When we finished, Marcus shattered the thin cores, went wide eyes. But no screaming, though his eyes were plastered with awe and fear, covered in sweat, he kept his cool. Witnessing whatever he was shown, before returning with a shaky breath. “He knew who I was, or at least that I was Sia’s father.”

“You alright?” 

He nodded, wiping his brow, “Fine. Let’s get out of this place.”

#

Over time, I began to test the effect of the Voidseed. Trying to feed it every few hours, then longer. It took a few sessions of cultivation, and with some help from Luna and Wyrem, though mostly Wyrem. Luna seemed locked in to completing her foundation, but with the help, I was reminded when the sun rose.

Every morning, it would take in a fresh round of energy and give a very brief round of absorption and repulsion, allowing me, Luna, Marcus, and the rest to instantly fill up.

Of course it was inevitable. After three mornings, my purification was complete.

It wasn’t warm like the first one. My body didn’t feel lighter as the transformation took hold. This time, as the last layers of root-skin sloughed off my arms and sides, everything around me simply… stilled.

My breath came easier. The dull ache from cultivation faded. Bruises from the last fight vanished without fanfare. No surge, no flash, just a quiet, steady restoration. Everything cleared.

But this wasn’t like the usual recovery from transformations in the past, I could feel something inherently different. It was my own body moving, restoring, not a surge of energy that traveled through.

If agility was increased from natural force regeneration, the whatever stat was something like restoration was the result of this one.

I smiled, maybe I’ll be able to put Elric out of a job.

I activated my void seed ready to give everyone another bout of steady and quick progress. We had a path forward, and lots to take care of, but something caused all ears to perk up.

A sound from below, not light, but hurried, a rampage of noise moving quickly, so vast that the rumbles could be felt from so high up.

“What’s going on?” I looked to Marcus who didn’t answer, instead walking out the door. I followed him.

I was astonished, there was movement alright.

‘Peter, there are a lot of colors flaring around down there and–’ Luna spoke, apparently shocked at the level of force moving below us. Plus… could she see that far before?

‘I’m aware, thanks.’ I responded.

It was a beast stampeding through the forest, the boars I had seen, roaming monsters covered in moss, ignoring what was probably their prey as they moved. Even the horrifying hooved homunculi spirited away in the rising sun.

I looked at Marcus again, but I was met with a man completely pale, sweat drenching his neck and brow.

Even the forest was moving, trees uprooting and slowly making their way with the beast , grass fleeing with them. Not toward us, but away from a single direction.

‘You didn’t let me finish. Get ready, something big, it… NOW!’ Luna cried out.

“It’s too early.” Marcus muttered under his breath.

I didn’t understand Luna’s urgency, but activated my domain, and true sight anway looking in the distance from the direction the beast were running from.

Nothing.

‘Where is it Luna?’

‘Peter I said now! It’s–’ She was cut off by a deeper rumble followed by creaking. The world began to tilt.

Marcus ran inside, coming back out in a moment with the dogs literally in hand, handing a couple to me to hold.

I knew what Luna was going to say, ‘She saw it in the distance, and a moment later… it had done something to cause the tree to start falling.

Something fast, powerful, had come.

And Marcus and I had no choice but to jump down, meeting it.

“Get ready.” I spoke, the message meant for everyone, as the whistle of the wind flew past me as I fell.

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