Chapter 21: Destruction Sandbox – Phase Two: Weapons of Pure Efficiency
As the last rays of sunlight bled from the sky, casting long, stark shadows across the pockmarked Barren Wastes, Elias Vance prepared for the next stage of his self-imposed training. The physical conditioning was complete; his body was now a perfectly calibrated instrument of destruction. Now, it was time to unleash the weapons of pure efficiency—his offensive and defensive Qi techniques, refined and redefined by his scientific understanding.
His divine sense perimeter remained active, diligently recording every energy signature. The monitoring grid fed real-time data into his internal Battle Archive VR Engine, ready to simulate and optimize. He wanted to see how his scientifically engineered Qi arts performed in a real-world, albeit empty, environment.
He started with his most dangerous melee offensive art: Molecular Rift Edge. He extended his right hand, not clenching a fist, but subtly shifting the Qi within his palm. There was no visible blade, no glowing edge. But within his enhanced perception, he saw it: a localized field of Qi, vibrating at frequencies capable of splitting atoms and even the subtle Qi threads of spiritual constructs.
"This is why I don’t shake hands," he muttered, a sardonic smile on his face. He extended his invisible blade towards a massive, jagged rock spire that jutted from the plain, a formation that had likely stood for millennia, impervious to the harsh elements.
He didn’t swing. He didn’t thrust. He simply moved his hand, a mere inch of lateral displacement. A silent, invisible wave emanated from his palm.
The rock spire didn’t crumble. It didn’t explode. It simply separated. A perfectly clean cut appeared vertically through the center of the spire, as if an impossibly sharp laser had sliced through it. The two halves of the spire, momentarily defying gravity, remained standing for a breath-holding second before slowly, silently sliding apart and collapsing into massive, dust-raising ruins.
Elias analyzed the feedback. "Blade material destabilizing. Must reinforce with multi-phase alloys later. Energy cost acceptable. Effect... satisfactory." The weakness of the technique was its inherent danger to the user; maintaining such a localized sub-atomic vibration without affecting his own hand required immense precision and constant internal stabilization. It was a terrifyingly potent attack, but one to be used with extreme caution.
Next, he turned his attention to ranged combat. Inferno Converge, his "Thermal Lensing Beam." He focused Qi into his palm, but instead of forming a fireball, the spiritual energy coalesced into a shimmering, invisible lens. He compressed Qi-fire through this lens, allowing it to focus into a single, blindingly intense beam.
He pointed his palm at a distant, ancient rock outcropping, almost a kilometer away. "Also useful for instant tea," he quipped, then unleashed the beam.
A blazing white-hot beam, shimmering with converging rings of light, shot across the barren plain with the speed of thought. It hit the outcropping with a soundless flash. The rock, which was likely harder than steel, didn’t shatter; it instantly vaporized, leaving a perfectly circular, incandescent hole that glowed cherry-red for a moment before cooling into a smooth, blackened tunnel. The air shimmered with residual heat.