I quickly continued my search for Lorgs. The situation in the city seemed worse, but my family’s safety came first. The further I moved from the refuge, the more Lorgs I encountered, but they were not a problem. It seemed that the increase in stats was not very high for the first minor advancement.
When I had moved 800 meters away from the bunker, clearing the surroundings of the refuge, at least within an area with an 800-meter radius, I decided to head to the nearest Gate, which was only 200 meters from my position. For that reason, I started encountering various groups of Lorgs.
However, nothing was too complicated, even when I encountered a stealth Lorg and other types of Lorgs, like elite and detection Lorgs.
Despite having a minor advancement more than those in the war zone, they seemed stronger than the Lorgs enhanced by the Buff Lorg, which explained why they gave 20 coins, at least in stage one, lower.
But things started to get really annoying when I had to face groups of 20 or 30, and from 100 meters from the Gate, Buff Lorgs began to appear.
The first few times I saw them, I managed to ambush them, so they couldn’t enhance the Lorgs, but eventually, there were more than one per group. Even if I sometimes managed to ambush them all, there came a time when one of them protected itself with its annoying sacred energy shields.
So I had to face stage one, low, enhanced Lorgs, and it wasn’t the same enhancement as the Buff Lorgs in the war zone. These enhancements were stronger, probably because they were Buff Lorgs with an additional minor advancement.
Even with explosive arrows, the enhanced Lorgs took significant damage but not lethal for most, allowing the Buff Lorgs to heal them and get them ready to fight in about four to 20 seconds, depending on the damage.
For that reason, I was forced to engage in close combat. My defense was high, and although their claws and fangs couldn’t harm me, it was annoying to be surrounded by so many. Their attacks bounced off my hardened skin, but the constant battering and pushing began to be irritating.
In the midst of the battle, I realized something I didn’t know I could do—not because I had some kind of enlightenment during the fight, but because I hadn’t let the Buff Lorgs enhance the Lorgs before.
Using {Absorption of Vitality and Path Energy}, I could absorb any of the path energies I had, and because of this, I could absorb the sacred energy that the Buff Lorgs used to enhance and heal the Lorgs. Therefore, I could absorb the sacred energy enhancing the Lorgs, weakening or even eliminating the enhancement over time, while simultaneously replenishing my sacred energy.
Thanks to this, the difficulty of the fight fluctuated, decreasing as I absorbed the sacred energy and increasing when the Buff Lorgs enhanced the Lorgs again. Even so, I knew it was only a matter of time before the Buff Lorgs ran out of sacred energy.
A group of enhanced Lorgs lunged at me. I spun on my heels, swinging a wide arc with my axe, but I only managed to take down a few. The mass of bodies quickly closed in around me.
I launched myself at the nearest one, receiving claws and fangs trying to stop me, killing two or three Lorgs with each attack. At this point, I could use my techniques constantly. After all, the amount of energy I was absorbing was enough to keep me from running out of energy for now.
After a few more minutes, I noticed that the Buff Lorgs were running out of energy, making the fight significantly easier once the enhancements disappeared. A few minutes later, I had finished off all the Lorgs.
Only after the fight ended did I decide to do something I hadn’t attempted since evolving my talent. After moving away from the Gate and ensuring the area was clear of Lorgs, I decided to give it a try.
I started by replenishing my energy without meditating. Before evolving my talent, I couldn’t exceed 10% efficiency, but now I had resistance against all types of wounds and damage caused by energy deviation, so theoretically, the damage should be reduced. Thinking about this theory, I decided to start increasing the efficiency. Upon reaching 10%, I didn’t notice any damage, so it seemed to be working.
Increasing the efficiency to 11%, then to 12%, I continued until I found I couldn’t increase the efficiency beyond 15%. Not because the damage was too high—in fact, at 15%, tiny wounds began to appear, which didn’t even last an instant due to my regeneration—but because of my lack of practice, I couldn’t increase it further.
This demonstrated two things to me: first, the higher this percentage, the energy deviation increases significantly, so much so that I suspect it’s an exponential growth. Second, Emily was right—my future self had a skill that reduced the damage caused by energy deviation, and now I had it too.
After this first experiment, it was time for the second: trying to use two different types of energy simultaneously. The only problem I could foresee before starting was that doing this not only caused energy deviation but also caused both types of energy to become uncontrollable.
Even so, I decided to proceed with the experiment. I prepared mentally and began using two techniques to strengthen my body. Instantly, both energies started clashing, but it seemed there was no significant damage. What worried me was that it became increasingly difficult to control them, especially as I activated both techniques more, until I reached a point where I couldn’t control them any longer.
It was then that I stopped. The experiment was partially successful. The problem of energy deviation was gone, but the issue of energy control remained. Even so, I was satisfied.
Not only because it was less dangerous, but because before, as soon as I activated the techniques, the energy became uncontrollable. But now I managed to control the energy for a moment at the beginning when the techniques hadn’t fully activated.
This showed that my control over the energies had improved and that if I kept improving my control, I could use both energies simultaneously.
I quickly continued my search for Lorgs. The situation in the city seemed worse, but my family’s safety came first. The further I moved from the refuge, the more Lorgs I encountered, but they were not a problem. It seemed that the increase in stats was not very high for the first minor advancement.
When I had moved 800 meters away from the bunker, clearing the surroundings of the refuge, at least within an area with an 800-meter radius, I decided to head to the nearest Gate, which was only 200 meters from my position. For that reason, I started encountering various groups of Lorgs.
However, nothing was too complicated, even when I encountered a stealth Lorg and other types of Lorgs, like elite and detection Lorgs.
Despite having a minor advancement more than those in the war zone, they seemed stronger than the Lorgs enhanced by the Buff Lorg, which explained why they gave 20 coins, at least in stage one, lower.
But things started to get really annoying when I had to face groups of 20 or 30, and from 100 meters from the Gate, Buff Lorgs began to appear.
The first few times I saw them, I managed to ambush them, so they couldn’t enhance the Lorgs, but eventually, there were more than one per group. Even if I sometimes managed to ambush them all, there came a time when one of them protected itself with its annoying sacred energy shields.
So I had to face stage one, low, enhanced Lorgs, and it wasn’t the same enhancement as the Buff Lorgs in the war zone. These enhancements were stronger, probably because they were Buff Lorgs with an additional minor advancement.
Even with explosive arrows, the enhanced Lorgs took significant damage but not lethal for most, allowing the Buff Lorgs to heal them and get them ready to fight in about four to 20 seconds, depending on the damage.
For that reason, I was forced to engage in close combat. My defense was high, and although their claws and fangs couldn’t harm me, it was annoying to be surrounded by so many. Their attacks bounced off my hardened skin, but the constant battering and pushing began to be irritating.
In the midst of the battle, I realized something I didn’t know I could do—not because I had some kind of enlightenment during the fight, but because I hadn’t let the Buff Lorgs enhance the Lorgs before.
Using {Absorption of Vitality and Path Energy}, I could absorb any of the path energies I had, and because of this, I could absorb the sacred energy that the Buff Lorgs used to enhance and heal the Lorgs. Therefore, I could absorb the sacred energy enhancing the Lorgs, weakening or even eliminating the enhancement over time, while simultaneously replenishing my sacred energy.
Thanks to this, the difficulty of the fight fluctuated, decreasing as I absorbed the sacred energy and increasing when the Buff Lorgs enhanced the Lorgs again. Even so, I knew it was only a matter of time before the Buff Lorgs ran out of sacred energy.
A group of enhanced Lorgs lunged at me. I spun on my heels, swinging a wide arc with my axe, but I only managed to take down a few. The mass of bodies quickly closed in around me.
I launched myself at the nearest one, receiving claws and fangs trying to stop me, killing two or three Lorgs with each attack. At this point, I could use my techniques constantly. After all, the amount of energy I was absorbing was enough to keep me from running out of energy for now.
After a few more minutes, I noticed that the Buff Lorgs were running out of energy, making the fight significantly easier once the enhancements disappeared. A few minutes later, I had finished off all the Lorgs.
Only after the fight ended did I decide to do something I hadn’t attempted since evolving my talent. After moving away from the Gate and ensuring the area was clear of Lorgs, I decided to give it a try.
I started by replenishing my energy without meditating. Before evolving my talent, I couldn’t exceed 10% efficiency, but now I had resistance against all types of wounds and damage caused by energy deviation, so theoretically, the damage should be reduced. Thinking about this theory, I decided to start increasing the efficiency. Upon reaching 10%, I didn’t notice any damage, so it seemed to be working.
Increasing the efficiency to 11%, then to 12%, I continued until I found I couldn’t increase the efficiency beyond 15%. Not because the damage was too high—in fact, at 15%, tiny wounds began to appear, which didn’t even last an instant due to my regeneration—but because of my lack of practice, I couldn’t increase it further.
This demonstrated two things to me: first, the higher this percentage, the energy deviation increases significantly, so much so that I suspect it’s an exponential growth. Second, Emily was right—my future self had a skill that reduced the damage caused by energy deviation, and now I had it too.
After this first experiment, it was time for the second: trying to use two different types of energy simultaneously. The only problem I could foresee before starting was that doing this not only caused energy deviation but also caused both types of energy to become uncontrollable.
Even so, I decided to proceed with the experiment. I prepared mentally and began using two techniques to strengthen my body. Instantly, both energies started clashing, but it seemed there was no significant damage. What worried me was that it became increasingly difficult to control them, especially as I activated both techniques more, until I reached a point where I couldn’t control them any longer.
It was then that I stopped. The experiment was partially successful. The problem of energy deviation was gone, but the issue of energy control remained. Even so, I was satisfied.
Not only because it was less dangerous, but because before, as soon as I activated the techniques, the energy became uncontrollable. But now I managed to control the energy for a moment at the beginning when the techniques hadn’t fully activated.
This showed that my control over the energies had improved and that if I kept improving my control, I could use both energies simultaneously.
