Chương 51: Chapter 44 – Lightning Laced

Cade stared at his hands, the dim light from the sap painting them in warm amber and murky shadow. They looked so thin—too thin. Skin stretched over tendon and knuckle, more bone than flesh. He flexed his fingers, felt the subtle tremor in the joints. Reforging his bones had left him stronger, more stable, more grounded in a way he hadn't expected. But now that the ache had faded, it only made what remained of him feel... lacking. The hunger he felt never truly left. It still lurked inside of his body.

It clawed from the inside of his skin like a second heartbeat. The crucible had fed it briefly, but not fully. He still felt that primal ache at the edge of every breath. It wasn't just in his bones. It was everywhere. Every cell, every part of him hungered for more. His gaze lifted to the Stormsap Crucible. It pulsed with familiar rhythm, the amber drop of sap above already swelling again. Another cycle was coming. Another opportunity. He couldn't stop wondering—could he use the other lightning colors too?

Not just absorb them as raw energy to feed the hunger, but use them the way he had the red lightning. To reforge something deeper. His muscles, perhaps. His nerves. Maybe more. Each color had gone somewhere. The orange had rushed through his ligaments and muscles, invigorating and quickening everything it touched. The yellow had darted like quicksilver, elusive and electric. But the green and the blue he couldn't quite figure out, not yet at least. Was it insane to try again? Part of him said yes.

His bones had shattered inside of his flesh. He had screamed and nearly lost consciousness more than once. What if next time it was his heart that failed? Or his brain? He had no healer here or anyone but himself to rely on. But the other part—the part shaped by his ever growing hunger—was louder. This crucible was the best thing he'd found since landing in this hellhole of a dungeon. It offered him power, and not just in some vague, magical sense.

Tangible power that he hadn't felt since that weird space the System brought him to during his race evolution from [H] to [G]. With it, he could reforge his body into one that could handle the storm. A body that could earn a System Core, not just be given one like the other Tutorial participants. He looked down at himself again—at his skeletal limbs, his gaunt chest, the hollow frame hollowed further by the ash during the impromptu baptism. This wasn't a body that would survive what was coming.

It was a shell of what he was. He clenched his fists, watching the light from the crucible flicker across pale skin.

"No," he whispered.

"This isn't enough." He couldn't walk away. Not yet. The Stormsap Crucible completed another cycle in a wash of violet light before plunging the chamber back into darkness. Cade reached forward, both hands settling onto the crucible's jagged form. His palms planted along the familiar ridges where he remembered the orange veins lighting up. He didn't need to wrap himself around the whole thing. Instead, his aim was to focus on absorbing and utilizing one at a time.

He had learned that lesson with red, that he could absorb all of the energy from the Stormsap Crucible before it moved onto the next stage. A bead of amber sap formed above. Cade exhaled slowly and triggered [Hyperfocused Meditation]. Time thickened. He felt his mind stretch, felt the world slow to a crawl. The growing droplet shimmered in the dim chamber like liquid gold hanging in stillness. It was almost beautiful. Almost peaceful. But Cade had no time for wonder. He had work to do.

He recalled the feeling of the orange lightning. The way it had flowed through his arms and legs, coiling into the cords of muscles, ligaments, and tendons. If the red lightning had reforged his bones and enhanced his Endurance, then this was the key to his Strength. He would use this energy to rebuild the very tissue that the ash had devoured. The sap fell. It struck the basin of the crucible and red ignited, just above where his palms rested.

He ignored it and let it pass without letting his body's natural resonance draw in any of the energy. Red faded and orange light bloomed underneath his hands. Immediately Cade felt the familiar buzzing, the specific hum that had always been just slightly out of tune with red. He focused, tuning his will toward the vibration in his palms and fingers, willing his own internal frequency to match the crucible's. Orange lightning flowed into him. It wasn't a flood but a steady stream of vibrant, thrumming energy.

Cade didn't waste it. In his mind's eye, he saw his body in layers. Muscle groups arranged in their complex networks. Fascicles bundled within each muscle, each one containing myofibrils. Each myofibril composed of thousands of filaments—actin and myosin chains. Movement distilled into microscopic links that contracted and relaxed. And he imagined the orange lightning weaving through those chains—strengthening the filaments, reinforcing the connections.

He pictured it lacing through his ligaments, binding them tighter, giving them spring and resilience. Through every tendon, down to the very fibers anchoring muscle to bone. Cade held the image like a buddhist priest holds a mantra. Then he wrapped his will around the trickle of orange lightning and pulled. Not recklessly. Not like with the red. This time, he shaped his will into a funnel and guided the lightning into the framework of his muscles. He didn't let it rampage.

Instead he directed it, threaded it through the image in his mind until the power followed his design. The crucible went dark and Cade's body spasmed. Every muscle in him seized, locking up in an instant. His hands clenched involuntarily, toes curling, chest spasming. For a moment he couldn't breathe. Couldn't blink. His whole body twitched as if struck by an invisible force. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

Then he gasped, drawing air into lungs that ached with effort. Orange lightning had poured into him. His muscles burned as if they'd been rewoven and left taut, vibrating with power just beneath the skin. He could feel that he was on the right track this time but one cycle wasn't nearly enough to sate his hunger. Good thing the crucible was already preparing the next drop. Cade rode out the spasms, jaw clenched as his body trembled and twitched.

Muscles locked, released, then locked again, firing in chaotic bursts as the last remnants of orange lightning burned through them. It wasn't pleasant—but it wasn't agony either. Compared to what the red lightning had done to his bones, this was tolerable. The next drop of sap fell and Cade waited until the red veins faded and orange lit up again. When it did he didn't hesitate. He reached for it, matching the frequency more smoothly this time.

The lightning poured into him, eager and hot, and once again he guided it into his muscles and connective tissue. His body spasmed, shoulders jerking, legs kicking against the stone floor, but he held the image steady in his mind. Cycle after cycle passed. Sap fell and orange channels flared to life before Cade drew it in and shaped it. Each time it became easier to harmonize, easier to pull more in quicker without losing control.

His muscles responded faster, spasms shortening, movements growing more coordinated even as the lightning surged through him. The pain dulled into a deep, constant ache, like the aftermath of an impossible workout stretched across his entire body. His hunger, once frantic and clawing, quieted as if each round of orange lightning filled in another missing piece, another hollow left behind by the ash. Time slipped past unnoticed as Cade focused on weaving his soft tissues with the orange lightning.

He was relentless in his pursuit and he refused to stop until the System provided another notification letting him know that he had managed another successful reforging. Ding! Body Tempering: Ash–Tempest Confluence (Unique) - Lightning-Laced Myofiber Enhancement complete. Evolve race to Human [E] to continue muscle enhancement. Your Title 'Partially Reforged Body' has been updated — Survive the first round of body tempering and reforge at least two component systems of your body before core formation.

+10 Strength +10 Endurance +5 Vitality +10% to Strength +10% to Endurance +5% to Vitality Effect of Strength +10% Effect of Endurance +10% Cade stared at the notification in the darkness, chest rising and falling rapidly. It had worked. The crucible had reforged his muscles and connective tissue the same way it had reforged his bones. Two systems of his body were reforged by this miraculous lightning. A shaky breath escaped him, half laugh, half disbelief.

"This thing is insane," he murmured. His title had changed again. His stats had jumped again. Strength had been layered onto his frame alongside the Endurance he'd already gained. He could stop now. Walk away stronger than he'd ever been. Stronger than he had any right to be. But as the amber glow began to form overhead once more, Cade felt it. The hunger. It was quiet when he was absorbing the lightning and reforging his body. But as soon as he was done it came roaring back to life.

It was quieter than before but still there. Still wanting to consume more. Cade closed the System notification with a thought. There would be time later to dissect every number and bonus. Right now, the crucible was still active, still offering him something no one else could. He didn't know how long this Stormsap Crucible would continue its cycles but he was determined not to waste a single one. Besides, compared to reforming his bones, enhancing his muscles had been a breeze.

If this trend continues, the next stage should be even easier. Cade lifted his hands and slid them down the wooden lightning bolt. Toward the channels that would soon glow yellow. Cade shifted his grip lower on the crucible's jagged frame, placing both hands firmly against the region where the yellow channels had flared to life during past cycles. His fingers traced along the notched edges of the wood until they found a section that felt right. He braced himself. Above, the next drop of amber sap began to swell.

Cade closed his eyes and reviewed everything he remembered about the yellow lightning. It hadn't been like the red, slow and resonant, or like the orange, vibrant and powerful. No, this one had been fast, thin, and precise. The trickles he had absorbed before had raced through his body in jittery arcs, refusing to be held or channeled. Every time before, he'd only managed to absorb it in part before it raced away again. This time would be different. The drop fell. Red lit up first.

Cade felt its hum but didn't reach for it. Orange followed, and again he ignored the pull. His hands were positioned for one purpose, and he would not stray. Then yellow struck. The note was high-pitched, urgent. Cade reached for it with his will, matching the frequency with as much precision as he could muster. The buzz snapped into sync, and lightning surged through him like a floodgate had been ripped open. Cade's body seized. His limbs jolted and his chest spasmed.

Every nerve fired at once, then again and again, as the yellow lightning shot through his system. It was too much. Too fast. The power wasn't rampaging like the red had—it was darting, sprinting, rebounding between neural pathways. Cade's mind reeled, trying to follow its path. The lightning refused to be still. Then the numbness started. It began in his fingertips and spread inward, his body gradually losing its ability to feel where the lightning had passed. Cade blinked rapidly, forcing himself to stay focused.

He wasn't being torn apart this time, he was being scrambled. It's my nerves, he thought, that's what this lightning is targeting. Not his muscles or his bones but the wires between them. The nervous system—the complex, fragile web that told his body how to move, when to breathe, and what to feel. And now it was being flooded. He called to mind everything he could remember about the nervous system. The basics were enough for now. Central and peripheral—brain and spinal cord, then everything else branching outward.

He remembered faint diagrams from class, nerve pathways that curled from the spine to the tips of the fingers, to the toes, across the jaw, down the neck. It wasn't much, but it gave him something to focus on. He turned his thoughts inward again, using his will not to fight the lightning, but to understand it. He tracked the pulses running through his spine, skipping across his limbs, bouncing chaotically from one point to the next. He reached out mentally to guide it—but the lightning slipped away each time.

Cade cursed silently. He wasn't fast enough. But something else caught his attention—something that made him pause. The lightning wasn't touching his brain. It reached up to the base of his skull, tickled the top of his spine, but never crossed the final threshold into his skull. His brain remained untouched. So this was peripheral, mostly. Some contact with the central nervous system, but nothing deeper. And that gave him hope. Cade clenched his teeth and pulled his will into tighter focus.

The yellow lightning was too fast to catch outright. How could he guide it if he couldn't keep up?