BOOOOOM!
A shockwave rippled through the air as Reign abruptly stopped in mid-air.
His once quickly moving wings froze, hovering in the sky.
'There's something out there,' he thought, eyes fixed on the horizon.
A hunch urged him to investigate.
He looked down at the track below, torn between continuing to the next city or following his instinct.
'Where there's danger, there are rewards,' he mused. If it was another crystallized negative energy, he couldn't afford to ignore it.
Crystallized Energy was one of the best resources for him. It allowed him to gain attribute and skill points without relying on the slow process of normal leveling up.
SWOOOOSH!
With a decisive flap of his wings, he sped toward the source of his odd feeling.
As he flew closer, the air grew colder and the landscape more barren, confirming his instincts.
'This is farther than I expected,' he thought, already over 10 kilometers in.
Soon, he spotted a hill, sensing something emanating from there.
After landing, he found only sand swept by the wind from his wings.
'I'm certain I sensed something,' he thought, kneeling to touch the cold darkened sand.
'It's underground,' he concluded .
With his discovery, he reshaped his hand into a rapidly spinning drill. He drove it into the sand, piercing through with ease.
He kept drilling, the ground giving way under the rotation of his makeshift drill.
Suddenly, a loud crack echoed through, followed by a rumble as the hillside collapsed.
Dust and debris flew as the ground gave in, revealing a massive hole beneath.
"What is this feeling?" Reign was stunned.
After the hole was exposed, he sensed a resonance deep within himself.
Shutting his eyes, he concentrated, trying to figure out what it was.
'My runes are reacting!'
He decided to investigate the hole further. With slow steps, he approached the edge where the hill had collapsed.
Peering down into the darkness, he sensed an unusual energy emanating from below getting stronger.
'Okay, bring it on... I'm ready,' he muttered confidently.
But to his surprise—and slight embarrassment—the shock-wave turned out to be even stronger than before.
Despite his efforts, he found himself flying backwards again
"Whoa, okay, maybe not that ready,' he exclaimed as he crashed into a nearby pile of rocks, sending them scattering in all directions.
He quickly stood up and shook off the debris from his body
'Third time's the charm,' he reassured himself with a determined nod.
This time, he came more prepared.
He created spikes on his feet for better grip and summoned hundreds of sharp tendrils that pierced into the cave walls, acting like cables to anchor himself firmly against the expected attack.
As the stone flashed and hummed with power again, he braced himself.
BOOOOOOM!
The shock wave hit with unexpected force, despite his preparations.
The spikes gripped the ground, and the tendrils strained against the walls, but he was still lifted off his feet, soaring through the air again.
'Seriously?' he exclaimed in disbelief as he landed with a thud, this time in a heap of loose rubble.
He shook his head , dusting himself off again.
'I don't think this rune wants to be taken away,' he clicked his tongue in annoyance. At this point, he was convinced that the shock-wave was not following the laws of physics at all.
He calculated the level of force each shock-wave had generated.
Despite their power, they shouldn't have been able to throw someone like him off balance.
This meant something strange was shielding the stone from his grasp.
'If I can't take it with my strong body, there's no way a human could. So how did the hunters get this things?,' he reasoned .
'There must be a way to get this stone.'
Unfortunately, he lacked the knowledge to figure out what it was, so trial and error looked to be his only option.
He paced around it, deep in thought. He knew brute force wouldn't work, so he began considering alternative approaches.
First, he tried to use his wind to blow the stone away. As the rune flashed again, he put more effort, but the stone didn't even flinch.
"If wind isn't enough, then how about this?" He materialized a railgun and shot it point-blank.
As the round left the barrel with a loud humming sound, it traveled at hypervelocity toward the stone.
However, just before impact, the projectile bent around the stone. It then ricocheted back towards him.
He was struck in the arm at close range, sending him flying and pinned against the wall.