Godspawn Ascendant [LitRPG, Epic Progression Fantasy]

The intense focus required to continue a constant flow of essence enhancement through my body began to ebb. I aggressively blinked away the droplets of sweat that fell into my eyes and attempted to breathe deeply into my gut, but our hurried march out of the rift and back to the underground city grew more and more strenuous.

And I kept finding myself distracted.

One of Cinthara's slender arms bounced as Gareth ran, looking as listless and lifeless as her loose hair. She showed no signs of waking from her coma-like state.

Once our party reached the stone columned entryway of the academy building, the star of the city residing at the end of the massive cave, Gareth dismissed us without slowing his run at all.

My fellow Elite Group #1 members' torsos fell over their knees as they wheezed and groaned, but I didn't hesitate even one second as I matched Gareth's pace step for step.

"Leave, Rayden! You need your rest," Gareth snapped at me, bypassing the spiral staircase in the grand entryway of the academy and barreling straight toward the lifts.

I ignored him, pushing past the lollygagging students and instructors to catch up.

Gareth flashed intense, dark eyes at me with a quick turn of his head, but didn't stop for one second.

"That's an order, Rayden. Check on her tomorrow. For now, you need your rest just as much as your comrades."

I seriously considered disobeying the order, but the seriousness in Gareth's already gruff voice brought me to a pause. What sort of consequences would I meet for defying someone as powerful as him; powerful physically but also in terms of status here at the academy, as well?

I caught a glimpse of Cinthara's pale face. Her shuddering eyelids and trembling lips had begun to turn blue. What was happening to her?

In my moment of thinking, an all-consuming surge of exhaustion pummeled into me like someone had swung an unexpected, giant hammer and smashed it into every inch of my body. I suddenly felt cold. I shrank within myself and wrapped tight arms around my shoulders, shivering.

I had forgotten to continue the flow of essence in my body.

Immediately, I tried to call back the streams that had begun to slip away from me and into the air of the room, but I only had the strength to capture 20 or so stragglers. As the streams reentered my veins, Soul, and wiggled around my core, it felt like I'd received a breath of renewed life. A very short-lived breath, but a refreshing feeling all the same.

Still shaking from the not as intense but still present cold, I looked back to where Gareth and Cinthara had been, but they had already disappeared. I grumbled to myself, half tempted to take a lift to the infirmary floor by myself anyway. But any part of me that could convince myself to do that became overpowered by the wrenching feeling in my gut as waves of exhaustion continued to tear through me.

I can't last much longer before a crash.

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My blurry vision and woozy imbalance in my mind and body made it nearly impossible to find and call upon any essence to aid me. I had to get somewhere safer–I'd prefer to collapse on my bed instead of the hard tile floor of the academy entryway.

Surprisingly, I actually made it into one of the lifts made from transparent glass. I'd grown accustomed to standing on the clear floor and feeling almost like I floated through the air on these machines since my time here. Still, the dizzying feeling I had from the impending crash of a lack of essence coursing through me made it difficult to keep the nausea at bay as I shot upward.

And even more surprisingly, I somehow managed to stumble back to my dormitory, threw my sack and spear to the floor, and gently removed the belt pouch containing Eira, setting her on the desk. I finally landed on my springy mattress just seconds before I would've dropped to the floor. I groaned into my pillow, finding it hard to adjust my limbs by just a fraction of an inch, let alone make the attempt to remove my armor in order to lie more comfortably.

I couldn't even move my head enough to find out the time with the digital clock over my desk. All I knew was that it was late Saturday night. My eyelids felt like someone had strapped bricks to them–I could barely keep them open. At least I could find comfort in the fact that I didn't have any classes to attend the next day.

I don't remember it happening, but I quickly ended up unconscious within a dreamless, much-needed sleep.

***

Waking myself up took much longer than usual. The grogginess in my eyes and stiffness in my limbs had achieved an entirely new level that I'd never experienced before. I barely mustered the strength to glance at the time–it was nearly four in the afternoon.

A groan rumbled at the bottom of my throat, but I could barely accomplish much sound from it due to the extreme dryness in my throat and mouth. I had slept almost an entire day away! Well, hopefully…. I could only assume it was Sunday afternoon, the day after I'd crashed from too much essence enhancement use on my body. If I had slept through until Monday and missed some classes, that wouldn't be good. But I doubted I'd passed out for that long.

I sat up slowly, all the while trying not to shout out in shock from the achiness. It felt like it did when I'd contract a fever and chills. The restricting armor still clinging to my sweaty, clammy body didn't help much as I tried to regain all the feeling in my extremities and stand.

How am I supposed to keep doing this?! How am I supposed to continue to pump essence through my body if it just sends me into a crash like this?

I peeled the metal pieces of armor off my arms and rubbed my stiff biceps for a minute before moving to take off the rest of the equipment.

Enhancing my body did bring numerous benefits, both in battle and in any physically arduous scenario. But was it worth it? Even after nearly a full day of sleep, I felt like death.

I made a mental note to discuss it with Nic–I'd already suspected he might have a never-ending flow of streams that he cycled through, even if only a small amount. And perhaps for certain occasions, he added to that stash when need be. If that were the case, maybe I could learn to do the same.

Either way, it felt like a dangerous game. What if I maintained bodily essence enhancement for days, weeks, or even years and suddenly had a momentary lapse in focus? Could that sort of crash kill me?

I exhaled heavily through my nose and trudged to the tall wardrobe to retrieve a fresh student jumpsuit. I didn't want to think about it anymore, at least not for now. My rumbling stomach demanded my attention anyway. The mess hall would open for dinner soon, and I felt like I needed to eat two or three feasts before I could think about or do anything else.

"And then I'll visit Cinthara," I whispered, determined.

My worry for her had not gone away in the slightest. In fact, I was almost tempted to visit her first. However, I felt as if my recovery from the recent crash wouldn't even begin without refueling myself. Ideally, I'd shower myself off before eating, but I didn't think I could stand in one of the academy's advanced shower stalls for even five minutes without eating.

My stomach growled so loud that I felt as if passersby outside my closed door could hear it.

"All right, all right," I said to my stomach, feeling a little insane by doing so. "I'm going."