Using his hands like precise surgical tools, he took the gorilla arm in his embrace, and with his whole body supporting him, he did a classic shoulder-throw and returned the monster on its back.

He never directly countered a tier 3 before, but now he could, he didn’t know what reached tier 3, but it enabled for now, and for probably the next few minutes, a tier 3 reaction speed.

In total silence, he then punched the downed gorilla on its face, invoking its primal instinct to protect it, then did a grounding kick, bending the gorilla’s body in two and creating a crater in the blood-soaked earth.

Then he went on on his journey to use his boosted body reaction speed to his greatest pleasure.

The last time he had time dissonance it ended with his death after his ether soul stopped regenerating energy and health, he didn’t reach this state today, but Rune was sure he wasn’t far from it.

His hearing sense wasn’t back for a reason.

It was night and he started the fight at day, but a night already happened, so he had fought for an entire day and a half, everything was so clear now but last time, while he also felt so, his body just stopped responding at some points and his avatar was then killed.

But having pushed his limit so much already, was it a good choice to not reach his true limit for once?

‘I want to know,’ so he continued.

He still had revenge to take on the lightning tiger, even a simple punch would be enough, he had to do it, and while he was still in this state, he had to take advantage of it and do it now.

Locating it 600 meters away, Rune crossed the crowd of monsters like an ice skater, and once he arrived within 50 meters, he didn’t hide his intention of challenging this peak tier 3 monster.

He wasn’t going the sneaky way, he was a challenger here.

The tiger swatted away the tier 3 snake before it and turned its attention to Rune.

It then watched as he took a step towards it, confidently staring down at the tiger.

The reaction was immediate, as it instantly appeared before Rune in a flash of light, but Rune punched where the tiger appeared, forcing it to relocate to the side, it activated its lightning power immediately and did a spin with his back legs kicking at Rune, sending him flying.

Rune wasn’t completely destabilized and was only propelled into the air for a moment, immediately landing with a momentum focus he charged again.

He had thousands of armor to burn, and if it was what he needed then he wouldn’t hesitate.

Nevertheless, a peak tier 3 wasn’t a joke, bites, claws, legs, even tail-strikes and body-weight, Rune was now sure it was a peak tier 3, one who already had a perfectly coherent build, and once it became a tier 4, it would become a formidable and scary predator.

It answered everything, it was completely so above what Rune expected.

This near to tier 4, Rune learned that monsters were literally masters of themselves, beyond any limit, it also filled him with a sense of wonder, when he reached peak tier 3 he would be the same, better even.

After 10 exchanges he had no choice but to admit defeat, and he would not reduce himself to a petty losing exchange of sacrificing 2 000 armor just to punch the tiger, his pride was non-existent from the start after all.

So he just tried to exceed himself, surpass his past self from 10 seconds ago, but 5 minutes later his energy pool and armor reached their limit.

His only strike was when he freed himself from its bite back then, in the end, he was too far, he reached tier 3 in some masteries but not the tiger’s true tier 3.

With only around 100 energy left and his armor crumbling, Rune could only retreat, his body wasn’t at its limit yet, but he was at his limit in another domain.

Fortunately, the monsters were mindless, so he diverted the tiger’s attention to a passing spider, letting it play with another weaker being while Rune escaped far from all the tigers present.

Since their arrival, the tigers kept reaping lives without stopping, if even one of them decided to go to the camp in the tier 2 zone it would be unmatched.

If the whole squad got there, even Rune would have to “temporarily forget his principles” and immediately sacrifice the others to escape.

It was a little pessimistic, but even if he could resist one for 10 seconds, nobody would exchange places with him after those 10 seconds, so he had better make his choice now than when the crisis came to be.

‘Well,’ looking for his next target or his next battle zone, Rune used his reduced perception to know where those invincible tigers were fighting.

10 minutes after his 3 minutes tiger fight ended, his ether soul stopped having a time dissonance, making everything become faster around him, no more could he evade, block and counter at the same time.

The number of monsters continued to reduce and as the gigantic sun was starting to deliver its first light, it was like Rune’s body told him that it was time.

It didn’t shut down like when he was tier 1, but his reactions were delayed automatically, even his punches had their strength disappear.

‘I’m so numb…’

Rune was fighting back as best as he could, but his ether soul, his spirit, didn’t have the strength to back his being anymore.

He couldn’t enter meditation now to see his inner space but his spirit, which was represented by his inner infinite black space, must be in a miserable state.

‘If only I could listen to some good music… Oh I know, now would be the perfect time for Good Riddance, the solo from Eurydice was so perfect.’

The gorilla he was facing was now an insurmountable wall, so the time had come.

“What was it? I think it was… Atlas can rest his weary bones…” Smiling despite his pitiful state, Rune hummed the song a little, the rhythm he had in mind was completely in dissociation with the situation.

His choice was already done, and in such a complex but silent battlefield, he chose to not continue.

By instinct, he felt that his spirit would sleep for days to recuperate from what he had done.

The tier 3 jungle would also have this anomaly for some time, but it would dissipate soon enough, the ether would flow and the remaining blood and monster’s bodies would finally disintegrate and return to the ether, perpetuating the cycle.

Techniques to keep a monster’s body from disintegrating existed, he read about famous chefs from the board and monster’s meat was a very fine meal for the majority of those who tasted it, it was a purely recreational activity but eating good food always put one in a good mood.

The way he chose to retreat was one he considered to be the safest, it would take around 30 minutes to disengage from the main battleground, so he started.

The gorilla he was currently fighting was left behind as Rune turned around and ran for the path where he had the least chance of catching a tiger’s attention.

‘That’s what I’ll soon be doing all the time.’

Weaving through an entire army of monsters was part of his adventuring plan, he would enter a tier 3 zone and ignore the majority of the fight he stumbled upon, he was in for discovering floating islands and regions with 9 suns, not to kill dumb gorillas.

Thinking about floating islands, the absolute dream of every true adventurer, Rune wanted to go to sleep now and just come here again just to bypass the area with impunity.

The more he advanced, the more his safety was at risk, he was going to enter the point the nearest to where the tigers were battling, only 206 meters from each one.

The best in this situation was not to put on an act, he just had to execute his plan, showing weakness or confidence would change nothing if one of them decided he was worth too much to let go.

But it seemed that they were too berserk to give particular care to Rune, so he passed through this point and then continued weaving through all the fights, and once he was out, he adopted a steady pace.

His escape direction was more towards the inside of the tier 3 zone than towards the tier 2 zone, he’d have to make a turn once he escaped more than 10 kilometers.

It was only when he started to take a more important pace that his body started to fail him, and as those 10 kilometers weren’t the last he had to run through, Rune slowed down to a very moderate speed of 20 meters per second.

A minute later, his perception felt nothing around him in a radius of 1 000 meters, nothing was actively chasing him down, so he just continued with this speed and 5 minutes later he successfully escaped.

Now he only has to take a large detour and he would arrive at the camp.

A safe camp.

…

What Rune was living was something he could only compare to some monumental events of his life, like when he did an intense sports session after not doing anything for 2 years, his legs felt like they could collapse anytime.

But it was something that put a smile on his face, it was a sensation that filled him with a sense of fulfillment, he had given everything, so much in fact that an ether lifeform wouldn’t have this sensation appear even after months of what he considered to be intense fighting.

By the time he arrived back at the camp, he had to reduce his perception range to 500 meters, the peak of tier 1, as he came back only 3 days after leaving, no Undecided group’s members were there, like when he departed.

Some who saw him leaving, including the rululu officer, gave him a glance seeing this weird timing of coming back, but Rune couldn’t care anymore, so he walked to his previous sleeping spot, and crashed into it after creating his favorite energy mattress.

Then everything went black, it was a true KO as Rune was knocked out by his own spirit.

…

Rune made a choice long ago about what mastery to take once he became tier 3, the only change he made after all this time was hesitating between purging his reinforcement mastery now or later.

As for the mastery that would help him resist the monster’s ability, it never changed, what he was going for was a mastery called “Cohesion Infusion”, among tier 3 specialization it was a stat-related manipulation.

Elemental energy worked by “converting” the element with one’s energy by adding more of one’s own energy, but without a mastery to back this process, creating an amount useful for combat was impossible.

When a mastery was created, however, someone could literally will the element to appear and their energy would transform into this element.

Stat manipulation masteries followed the same line of thoughts, every stat could be manipulated, all with the fundamental masteries, and some, like the energy stat, were so versatile that not only was it the origin of elemental masteries, it was also the source for a lot of stat manipulation specializations.

A perception sphere could be distorted, but at tier 3, with enough practice, it was also possible to compress and expand it, but it was so minor that a mastery was required to go beyond a 10 meters compression or expansion.

Rune needed something that increased his defense and survivability, even more, he wanted nothing else, so once he found on the board that it was possible to link the cohesion stat, responsible for the major damage differential between compressed energy defensive value and health defensive value, he knew he found what he wanted.

Purity was the equal of strength in the energy domain, it could of course be used to defend against incoming attack, but it wasn’t its primary use, and the unbelievable manipulation one could do with energy due to the affinity stat was counterbalanced by health having the cohesion stat.

There was no build above all the others, Nelo for example wanted to not only take a very offensive element, but he also wanted to infuse strength into his energy, the power behind his energy would then become another thing entirely when he got those masteries.

Others even infused their health with energy purity, establishing new paths by which the Ether Law could be used, and Rune was similar to this fashion in that he wanted to take a physical stat to infuse in his energy.

The only requirement for it was body control mastery at tier 3 and successfully doing the wanted stat infusion, a minor effect that everyone could do with enough practice, but was useless in battle, like all other stat manipulation without a mastery behind them.

For Rune, it was the path he wanted to tread now, in the future he may completely change it, but for him, reducing an ambushing tiger bite from 1 000 armor to 800, or even 700 or 600 was largely enough to make this infusion a core mastery of his style.

Of course, he knew that he couldn’t theorize all his path now, the future tier 4 provided masteries would be a new beginning for everyone, and he wasn’t an exception...

…

His spirit was so exhausted that even his perception completely shut down.

When Rune felt his sphere reappear, it meant that his spirit finished its maintenance, it was waking up, and him with it.

It was a completely different sensation than what he remembered, be it before the battle or when he reduced its range to 500 meters before going to sleep.

It was like a natural sense, like when he opened his eyes, it was the feeling of 2 000 perception being completely mastered, so he immediately checked his masteries tab.

Masteries

Tier 1 Masteries

Physical Fundamental: Reinforcement: Tier 3 Level 0

Physical Fundamental: Fighting Instinct: Tier 3 Level 2

Physical Fundamental: Body Control: Tier 3 Level 2

Energy Fundamental: Fine Manipulation: Tier 2 Level 67

Energy Fundamental: Grand Manipulation: Tier 2 Level 68

Energy Fundamental: Energy Compression: Tier 3 Level 1

Spiritual Fundamental: Perception Control: Tier 2 Level 62

Spiritual Fundamental: Awareness Division: Tier 2 Level 52

Spiritual Fundamental: Momentum Manipulation: Tier 2 Level 65

Tier 2 Masteries

Energy Compression: Basic Energy Armor: Tier 2 Level 91

Energy Compression: Basic Defensive Energy: Tier 2 Level 91

Reinforcement: Basic Reinforced Armor: Tier 2 Level 77

Before going to sleep he didn’t have the will to look at them, for good reasons, the level of exhaustion he attained would have made even a demon lord lose his will to dominate the world, preferring to just go to sleep.

‘Maybe it’s just that I can now reach tier 3 naturally with perception control…’

It was the only explanation Rune could theorize as to why his perception sphere’s feedback felt so natural, not even needing to focus on it to see everything.

‘For fundamental masteries and pure slotted masteries, there is nothing new aside from more efficiency bonuses and longer description texts…’

Rune read it in the board, but he'd, of course, confirm it himself, he only had tier 3 fundamental masteries actually though, so pure slotted masteries would have to wait.

Physical Fundamental: Reinforcement

Fundamental Mastery (Tier 3)

The use of energy to affect the body, not only to answer its needs but also to go beyond its physical limits, largely beyond them.

You have mastered this fundamental, giving you a 100% efficiency rate with any reinforcement manipulation. You have mastered all that remains to see, reinforcement has no more secrets to you, every application is just a thought for you, increase your efficiency with reinforcement by an additional 100%. Increase efficiency of reinforcement by 0% (1% per level).

Physical Fundamental: Fighting Instinct

Fundamental Mastery (Tier 3)

Experience gathered fighting with your life on the line, the ability to make accurate judgments and plan ahead of time how to react, respond and plan for the worst, your ability to manage every aspect of a fight.

You have mastered this fundamental, giving you a 100% efficiency rate with any combat observation. You have mastered all that remains to see, your fighting instinct is an art that you endeavored to master beyond your limit, fighting is just a normal activity for you, like breathing, increase your efficiency with any combat observation by an additional 100%. Increase your ability to comprehend combat situations by 2% (1% per level).

Physical Fundamental: Body Control

Fundamental Mastery (Tier 3)

Your ability to control your own body, use only a fraction of your strength when the situation asks for it, but also instantly use all of it when required, your ability to perfectly transmit all your natural strength and even enhanced strength when intended.

You have mastered this fundamental, giving you a maximum of 100% efficiency rate with any body control. You have mastered all that remains to see, your own body holds no more secrets, every drop of potential can be used if you so desire, increase maximum body control limit by an additional 100%. Increase the maximum efficiency of your body control by 2% (1% per level).

Energy Fundamental: Energy Compression

Fundamental Mastery (Tier 3)

Compressing energy and using it for what is impossible to do with other forms of manipulation, use energy as matter to become the sharpest and hardest material.

You have mastered this fundamental to its limit, giving you a 100% efficiency rate with any energy compression. You have mastered all that remains to see, energy compression comes as naturally to you as knowing that you have energy, increase your efficiency with reinforcement by an additional 100%. Increase efficiency of energy compression by 1% (1% per level).

‘Thank you for the recognition Ether Law, I appreciate it, even if you say that to everyone that wants to read it.’

The fight didn’t advance his masteries as much as he expected, all the level up came more from his 2 weeks travel back to camp from the cliff more than the fight he just did, but if there was no need to train for months to advance in some of those masteries then it was all worth it.

Now there was only one thing to do.

‘What do I f*cking do now…’