cerim
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Chapter 559 - I don’t know how to do it any other way
🕑 Added 2025-02-19 09:44:09 +0000 UTCI use the following 12 hours to get a handle on my abilities. Without the Mental Attunement Loop, the pressure I can put on my mind is severely limited, restricting my use of [Focus] and making it more difficult to maintain my Mana Cycling. Right away, I notice the mana I’m used to hiding begins to leak as I redirect my brainpower to different tasks, leaving less available.
The protection against mental attacks also drops immediately. There is also no longer a passive that absorbs blunt attacks on me and feeds my reservoir with mana. In fact, the reservoir is gone, reducing me to my body’s mana only.
As I handle everything, I think about her reason for it all.
When I limit my resources, I tend to be pushed harder. I fight more desperately and with more cold cruelty. In these situations, my mind becomes sharper, having no choice but to compensate for the lack of extra resources I sometimes lazily rely on.
From one point of view, I think I’m more dangerous when limitations are imposed and when I’m forced to use fewer resources more effectively.
That might be why.
So, as the hours tick by and I prepare, no one bothers me, and I don’t connect to the link they made. The plans were already discussed and are being carried out by people far better and more reasonable than I am.
Finally, the timer reaches zero, and the 12-hour clash begins.
I boost myself into the air and exit the area of our fort now that the barriers are gone. As I land on the water, I stand on the surface, mimicking the way of doing so that I already saw plenty of natives using. Each of my steps sends small ripples through the water, and the tops of the waves wash against my legs.
Disliking the feeling of wet shoes, I kick them off, pull down the socks, and continue barefoot.
When something plops into the water in front of me, I reach out and pick it up before it sinks and put it in my pocket.
Our fort empties as well, with everyone splitting into two groups. One is led by Gareth and Samuel supported by Sophie, Izzy, and Maya. The other is a smaller group with Lily, the twins, and likely Tacita, heading in the opposite direction. I have long noticed how much Tacita stays around us. The reason is simple: Lily.
Even though Tacita dislikes Lily’s attempts to befriend her so aggressively, she doesn’t attack her. And damn, she could. Instead, Tacita runs away.
I’ve seen her kill dozens of people during this tournament who got too close or tried to touch her. She doesn’t do that to Lily, likely because Lily saved her life after Tacita dueled Savant and nearly died, with her last breath crawling into her hideout.
I would call it a silly strategy to befriend that catlike assassin girl. I even mentioned it to Lily.
Back then, Lily just smiled at me and said, "I know how it looks. Grumpy used to be just like Tacita, and I did the same thing then as I’m doing now. Back then, I was young, and my father told me to give him space, and he would come then and open up to me slowly. But I didn’t. I did it my own way, and I think Grumpy appreciated the effort. Even though he kept hissing and scratching or biting me, gradually, he accepted it and started enjoying my presence. I got hurt a lot by him, but I think he liked that someone showed they wanted to be with him and that they showed so much effort."
She looked straight into my eyes. "I know many people would find me annoying. They’d call me childish, tell me to grow up, and say I bother others and do everything wrong. I tried to change, but I don’t know how to do it any other way. This is me. Stupid, annoying, naive, and, as you like to say, bulldozer-like me. Me, Lily."
And I asked, "As far as I can see, Tacita isn’t, in fact, a cat. It might not work on her."
Her smile changed with confidence shining through. "It will work."
I remember how those words gave me goosebumps back then, along with the way she looked at me. For a moment, you think you know people. Who they are and why they do what they do, and then they surprise you. Over and over again.
With that fascinating memory, I speed up into a sprint and head toward the fortress on the left while sliding deeper into [Focus]. To focus more, I filter out useless emotions and extraneous visual details like most colors and some sounds. I also suppress pain and smell.
A lot of information that my upgraded, far more powerful, and sensitive body usually collects is removed to free up brain capacity for the fight.
In a flash, I spring to the right, dodging a barrage of fire projectiles trailing me, each one piercing the air and heating it up. When they hit the water, they explode and sizzle, evaporating into mist. A few domains expand and collide, their clashes seemingly wasteful as they oppose each other, even though their main objective is simply to hit me.
I jump into the air, attracting even more projectiles. A water stream, an arrow, orbs, stone-like missiles, pure telekinesis. I boost myself again back toward the water. As I land, no ripple is sent through the surface when I perfectly absorb the impact. Whitey would be proud.
More kinetic energy flows through my body, and I use Wraith Dance repeatedly to avoid more powerful attacks, each one sending a shockwave behind me that propels my body further ahead.
Finally, near the fortress, I shoot [Empyrean Lance].
The spherical barrier, composed of hexagonal pieces, each a slightly different shade of blue, is pierced. The lance passes through it, striking several people in its path before crashing into the buildings. It pierces through them and exits the barrier on the other side.
This barrier is different from the one in our first clash. A damaged segment disappears, the surrounding segments weaken slightly, and a new one forms in its place.
Before that happens, my [Ley Line] passes through, and even though the barrier closes, I know I can still use it.
First, I send a tricolored orb through to let it form at the end of the line.
Noname (Beyond, King) → llllllllllllllll (Hard) +10 pts
Noname (Beyond, King) → DoorOfStoneWhen (Hard) +10 pts
Noname (Beyond, King) → Aidan(Normal) +5 pts
…
Then I teleport inside, appearing in the middle of the crater, surrounded by molten stones from an explosion and compressed material caused by a nearby implosion. Using Wraith Dance, I move to avoid the attack and actively defend my mind against a series of stun attacks crashing into me. There are attempts to seize control of my mana, but they cannot.
It is my mana.
Two men by the nearby wall fire ranged projectiles at me. To avoid wasting mana, I don’t defend against them, only dodging by tracking their trajectory.
Wraith Dance brings me to them.
They react too slowly, noticing me too late. One tries to flee while the other turns to attack, but with a strike from Needle Point, both vanish into fine blue particles.
Noname (Beyond, King) → NotGristletock (Hard) +10 pts
Noname (Beyond, King) → Monsieur (Hard) +10 pts
Ley Lines stretch through the area, where some of the people, likely Beyond attendees, have sensed them. They attempt to tear the lines apart but to no avail. I detect the most impressive attempt and teleport through a closed [Ley Line], using Wraith Dance to cover the remaining distance.
I come upon a young woman surrounded by a barrier. Another man with a shield and sword stands beside her.
For a moment, I activate my eyes, adjust my frequency, and then pass through her barrier as if it wasn’t there.
The man jumps into my path, slashing his sword at me, but I duck under and throw him off with my movement. Absorbing my inertia, I shift in an unexpected way and reach the woman.
She is painfully slow but with a remarkably powerful mana signature, one of the strongest I’ve felt from an Earthling. Yet despite her mana talent, her body movement and instincts are lacking.
I don’t waste mana creating weapons; I simply slam my hand against her head, exploding it and turning her into blue particles.
Noname (Beyond, King) → Eliana Yankova (Beyond) +100 pts
Ducking under the sword, I teleport somewhere else, sensing too many signatures converging on my location.
A group of people appears, screaming as they turn to attack, and I teleport once more, leaving a tricolored orb behind.
Notifications ring.
A group of five rushes my way. I dodge the awkward attack of the first one and kick his chest, sending him crashing against the wall.
Noname (Beyond, King) → Woojoe (Normal) +5 pts
I grab another one's axe, breaking his hand in the process, and swing it against him.
Noname (Beyond, King) → Ellimist (Hard) +10 pts
The woman charging at me screams and tries to pierce me with her spear. I duck to the side, and as she staggers past, I strike the back of her head.
Noname (Beyond, King) → Kirin (Easy) +1 pts
The last two nearby try to synchronize and attack me at once, but I dodge both. Each vanishes after a short burst of kinetic energy.
Noname (Beyond, King) → Jtscuba (Normal) +5 pts
Noname (Beyond, King) → Monkeh (Hard) +10 pts
Spotting another Beyond attendee, I head his way before more of them rush me. There are hundreds of people around.
The Beyonder is a man standing atop the tower on the roof, the same one I sat on while watching the other fortresses. He stands alone, with two daggers in his hands: one radiating a blood-red light and the other black with a hint of purple, infused with void primordial energy.
My senses narrow, with kinetic awareness dominating. I sense the vibrations of his steps and the beating of his heart; I even feel the air reacting as his body moves. Then I duck and sidestep, avoiding two stabs aimed at me. A third strike comes unexpectedly from an invisible third arm, but I dodge it as well.
His void energy pulses in a disruption attempt, unlike anything I’ve sensed before, aimed at disturbing my mana and kinetic energy. It partially succeeds, making my energy more difficult to control.
He stabs at me again. Once at my head, once slashing my neck, and once toward my heart, and I continue to evade. He displays incredible speed; every movement is deadly.
But he cannot compare to Tacita.
Instead of dodging the next attack, I let his void dagger pierce my palm and grab his hand holding the dagger.
This disrupts my mana and kinetic energy, giving him an opening to move quickly and finish me off before I can counter. Then, I release the thermal energy I had been hiding. It passes through his hand and into his body, with golden flames melting through everything in their path.
He reacts quickly, attempting to escape as his effort shifts from disrupting me to saving himself. As he does so, I use kinetic energy to keep pace and release a stronger burst of thermal energy.
Just a tiny bit, I open the seal on my Ignition Heart, and he turns to ashes even though he tries to resist and escape.
Noname (Beyond, King) → Georgiadis (Beyond) +100 pts
I pull the Ley Lines back to me and hurl them out again to counter the traps they've already started setting.
Releasing kinetic energy through my bare feet, I stomp and break a hole through the roof to reappear in the throne room I jump into.
Immediately, an arrow made of compressed red and white lightning crashes against the tricolored barrier I form, breaking it and slicing my cheek, drawing blood.
Someone tries to enter through the hole I just made, but I shoot a mana projectile that pierces his head and kills him instantly. When another attempts the same, I repeat the action.
Noname (Beyond, King) → Kiara (Hard) +10 pts
Noname (Beyond, King) → William Fairfax (Hard) +10 pts
Then, I turn back to my opponents.
"You are bleeding," says the 8th round’s [King] from the throne.
I follow his gaze to my palm, which was pierced by that assassin’s void dagger. Even now, it continues to bleed and heals more slowly than it should.
There are no healing marks on me this time; even my healing passive is deactivated.
For a short moment later, I watch a droplet of red blood flow down my palm, onto my finger and fingertip, before dropping onto the white marble floor.
"Just a flesh wound," I answer to Derick Kelley. His wife, Noelle, stands beside him with her bow drawn, its mana string stretched, and an arrow made of primordial lightning nocked.
Then I charge at both of them.
***
Comments
Yshua
I missed this reference, what is it?
Leyphelio
Whatchu mean? Only thing worse than childhood friend debuff is short blue hair
Johnny
Disagree. It’s showing rather than telling all the kills, the names are fun, the levels are good info, and it jives with the fact that there’s an omniscient system constantly updating things
Kevin McGuire
Thanks for the chapter. The chapter name seems to be missing "how"
Madje Tobi Marc'Avent Tchona
Notifications are great. I don't understand how they would be jarring, or take out of the immersion, but to each their own, I guess
Madje Tobi Marc'Avent Tchona
@monsieurTNT251 You had me dying for a quick minute there haha
Madje Tobi Marc'Avent Tchona
good catch. The "something that plopped into the water" is probably Vic's fingers or something. That didn't even cross my mind, until now.
Madje Tobi Marc'Avent Tchona
The man whose motto is "If this causes this much damage to me, imagine how much damage to my opponent"
Madje Tobi Marc'Avent Tchona
How about "Ah, Way more comfortable this way"? lol
Sedjet
Same.
Memelord Steambath
Why worry about that when the round won't even last 1 hour....
RingoSeto
probably .. this time use only thermal... and next round only kinetic... then only mana and so on
RingoSeto
scary thing is nat knows hes being treated like tacita... anf he cant stop it
P K
Fine I'll read the first two books in the stonewall series
Johnny
Man not a cliff per se but what a brutal way to leave off. Chapters release at like 1 am here I may have to stay up
Johnny
I thought it was innuendo at first…stone when hard. Woops
Ansordia
Acceptable... What should he say when he is only a torso and head? Probably only in the last event but still... My suggestion: "Finally you have unleashed my full pontential, no more pesky limbs"
WhiteLeeopard
True, although they can still get 10k points from the throne room, can the throne rooms be reconquered? That could make some throne rooms swaps between round 5 and 4 for a few hours after the rest are dead!
P K
We're reading the same story about the guy that didn't have one of his arms for a time right right?
P K
No no. That's when he says tis but a scratch
Woojoe
Or he’s acting as a courier. Direct delivery to the king she’s going to kill.
Bob
WhatIsNotWrittenIsNotWritten (Beyond)
Ansordia
HE REALLY should have only used that "it's but a flesh wound" when he loses a limb... or something, Monthy Python would be disappointed... :(
WhiteLeeopard
I don't know, Beyond had many parties of 20-50 people. Eventually people have to show themselves to be trustworthy and stay even when things are tough, otherwise they will loose access to the stronger groups and harder dungeons, as who wants an unreliable partner at their back. As good as savant and tacita are, could they even fish while solo? Beyond seems like a place where it's hard to trust, but have to learn to do it to get access to the best parts of it. But I could be wrong, after all we haven't seen how the top guilds really work!
Meowgrr
Oh dude, you called it. I think she's going to force him to use only one or a couple skills max next...
Jordan Jones
Noname (Beyond, King) → DoorOfStoneWhen (Hard) +10 pts Good question. Maybe never, unfortunately. Also, Ellimist?!?!? That is INCREDIBLY obscure at this point! Did you see the name on a forum, or is that reference fully legit? Blast from the past, so thanks for that and for the chapter!
David McCreight
Interesting that none of his kills were regular Hell difficulties. Only beyonders, and hard and below. I wonder if they went on a mission somewhere.
Nykyrion
Doorofstonewhen is Hilarious. Gratitude
JTP
If Nat isn't down at least a limb is he even really fighting?
Memelord Steambath
Even with no limbs I would still consider it barely any damage
Aoth the Arcane
XD I didn't even notice it...
jax rammus
A hole in a palm and a knick on the cheek? Bro that's no damage at all for him wtf
jax rammus
Derrick is gonna get violated in front of his wife 💀
Zaim İpek
If he takes this much damage before taking down the first fortress, things don't look good for the rest of this match. Liss won't approve if he only succeeds because of Victoria picking up the slack. Nat needs to fight smarter, but he has so many detrimental baked-in habits to overcome. It's too hard to overcome his bad instincts in the middle of a fight. At least he can rest his mind knowing their castle is well defended with Savant only needing to cover the whole thing with Dawn at max intensity. It's a really easy way for him to passively and (patiently) get a good kill count as many try and fail to get past it.
Andrew
Thank you!
Kirin
Thank you for the chappie!
Sofie
I think Liss would see is it as below her to fight a bunch of court ladies pets
ZaA
Trying to trust people in beyond is already difficult.. not including the fact that their first priority will always be eachother because they're married, they're basically never going to be able to be trusted as much as basically anyone who's not in a committed relationship, no? TrustWORTHY, maybe, but able to trust them in a life of death battle if they get the chance to escape?
13L00D13ANE
I guess ill weigh in on this; i actually like the kill notifications. It *is* a mildly jarring break from the action, but i think thats a plus, for the overall storyflow. It grounds us in the moment, it helps build the worldview (never wouldve gotten that easter egg otherwise), fleshes out the supporting cast and gives weight to each 'kill'. I feel like they add a certain amount of clinical psychopathy to the combat, cause thats how nat thinks. I like em. Edit: i like to 'place' myself in the action, and whenever Nat is described as making a kill and there *isnt* a kill notification, i get anxiety. Legit, like, 'oh shit theyre not dead'. For me it deepens the immersion(sp?).
mitchell kaiser
Didn’t even notice the door of stone reference, it’s too goddamn true. Can’t wait for that book. Love all the little references and Easter eggs you put in your books Cerim!❤️
TBONEMAN
It was supposed to come out 2015 so a decade
TBONEMAN
The fortress doesnt matter until Nat dies so defense is pointless
zoarian
Derick will 100% know something is up. Last time in Beyond, he saw Nat regenerate from a partial decapitation in a couple of seconds.
TBONEMAN
The name DoorsOfStoneWhen really resonated with me. I could get along with that guy.
Max Vidal
Amazing chapter, the tournaments rounds are so interesting!
Harrison Foster-Genin
I don't know if Savant is vindictive like that, he's a disciple of Patience not Envy
Sergei Hartwig
It also helps to see who he kills, easy hard or beyound player
Val the mysterious Jedi
Poor Lily, tess won nat over with childhood friend card
Oaktree
Thats a high possibility to
Wojciech Waleśkiewicz
Great fight. I can imagine it quite clearly 🙂👍
Joseph Serret
SHUT UP AND TAKE MORE OF MY MONEY CERIM
Michel Kommers
I'm up for a new subs level if cerim puts out
WhiteLeeopard
Round 5 not bothering to put up a shield and emptying their entire fortress (although I liked that suggestion that Savant stayed as defense) really shows their craziness and why they are the strongest. And their confidence in themselves XD. The best defense is a strong offense. Best strategy ever!
WhiteLeeopard
I think despite their wariness, Derick and Noelle may be some of the most solid allies to have in Beyond, both seem to be loyal and reasonable. Maybe that's part of beyonds purpose, to teach the same tutorials that their fellow rounds are their best allies, as they are still on the same team despite their competitiveness: their planet's team. Btw, Derick is observative enough that he may be able to see he isn't using passives and be either insulted or impressed.
WhiteLeeopard
So, Nat has Vic in his pocket for an emergency, or a hidden ace.
zoarian
Lilly establishing dominance through maintained eye contact. Respect.
zoarian
I think he'll go ham at least once. It wouldn't surprise me if on the last event Liss trashed everyone and then it'd be Nat vs Liss.
monsieurTNT251
I shall wait till the day I die
WhiteLeeopard
Will they be able to find out in this tournament, considering even when without handicaps he doesn't use everything? Maybe if he has to do a crazy fight like Vs all the winners at the same time
monsieurTNT251
Finding a way to forfeit the match
zoarian
Kinda cool to see him fight in a "clean" way. Liss definitely has a point that he's got so many skills and passives that effectively let Nat underutilize each individual ability. I mean, Whitey got super far just using kinetic energy. It's not Nat's specialization but it'd be an interesting limitation to only use like 3-4 skills and see how much he can do. As an aside, I wanna see Nat interact with other mana/kinetic energy users. It'd be interesting to see how he compares against "standard" Beyonders.
Charles Simon
Loved ‘DoorOfStoneWhen’ - a question people will still ask even during an apocalypse….
Dr.Awkward
I understand your perspective, but I have a different opinion. I like the notifications as they give me a feeling of taking air in. This whole battle is like an anaerobic exercise for Nat. He is going ham on everything and he can only "take air in" before diving back so many times. He's restricted and I like how those notifications are like a small reprieve from the action and the strain on himself. But I get what you're saying. I just personally like this hacked rythm better as it conveys an underlying thing better for me.
JTP
I spit out my coffee when I read that one.
Oaktree
My guess is hes in the throne room using dawn to make it hard for anyone to take it.
Konrad Pagacz
That is such a nice idea.
BalerionTheGreat
You didn't play WoW, doing a mission, sending a fire projectile and seeing the notifications pop killing mobs.. They are the best, too bad there aren't more. Waiting for the king notification to be something stupid, like a slap on the bottom.
Gio
He can cauterize the bleeding wounds with heat.
zoarian
I agree that the notifications don't serve much of a purpose. I think it makes sense to track if people have been eliminated but if he's mostly focusing on kinetic, it'd be a nice detail to have him interpret people through that lens. Instead of notification he thinks "the vibrations of the heartbeat vanish" or something like that.
Funny guy
Danks fur da chappie!
frankie doerr
Nat has no chance go lily
mitchell kaiser
Disagree, I like the progression feel and really immersive LitRPG elements!
Joseph Serret
GOD THIS IS SO EPIC I NEED A MASS RELEASE OF THE TOURNAMENT PLEASE I BEG OF MIGHT CERIM, GOD OF MANA, ABSOLUTE OF ABSOLUTES HEAR MY PRAYER
Harrison Foster-Genin
Was Savant mentioned? Whats he up to
Oaktree
Oh when they find out how much he’s holding back it’s going to be glorious.
RadiantSpren
Noice.
Blooper
DoorOfStoneWhen goes HARD, I've also been waiting years (over a decade?) for that...
monsieurTNT251
TYFC!
Borbino the great
Yeah fr Nat shoukd just give in already😂
Konrad Pagacz
This was nice. You might want to consider omitting the kill notifications if they don't serve any purpose. Why? I read through the chapter with them and I was taken out of the action, taken out of the flow you created every time they appeared. Then I read through the chapter skipping the notifications entirely and the prose flowed so much smoother. The action was more tense, I could feel the rhythm and the fluidity behind Nat's movements so much better. I would really consider not showing the notifications at all. Another thing why you could do it - would Nat focus on them? Or would he consider the notifications an unnecessary distraction when fighting?
Nerø
Yes, Nat. Fuck them both up!
RingoSeto
awesome chapter! tyvm
Venno
Aww Lily! She’s doing the same thing to Nat 🤣 And love the fights!! It’s so awesome when Nat gets to dominate everyone.
Michael Sramek
Thanks for the chapter!
vEnviouz
TFTC!!
Keith
the smaller letter size in the patreon app leaves me unsatisfied.
Borbino the great
I just worked a 12 hour shift when my only co worker called out I definitely need this today thanks cerim!
Belmont Igneul
Fucking them up
Claro reyes
Tftc
Woojoe
Tyfc
