Jack felt the black liquid flow towards him, but there was no place to run towards in an enclosed cave with no exits. It made contact with his back, but Jack was surprised when it simply passed through him as if it had no mass.

The first conclusion he reached was that they were simply shadows of some kind, or some sort of illusion messing with his sensory perception. That was ruled out the next instant, because Jack could feel that he was somehow moving while remaining stationary at the same time- perhaps he was moving so fast that his senses could no longer keep track?

Jack wasn’t sure, but the next instant he felt the ground under himself disappear, yet he somehow remained standing without any structure to support him.

“What the….,” Jack gaped with a half open mouth, his hands trembling, but not from fear or terror this time, but marvel. A sense of euphoria awoke from the bottom of his heart, as he felt that he was bearing witness to something truly extraordinary- even though he couldn’t understand it.

Jack was not flying, but floating instead- he realized that there was no gravity to hold him down in this place. It was a sight Jack found difficult to describe with words- no, it felt wrong to describe it with mere words. It was something greater than that- it was a truly otherworldly experience.

In front of him were small landmasses dotted across the landscape in every direction, somehow fixed in space without any apparent tethers. The enclosure he found himself in seemed as if it were constructed by someone, as Jack could see a light blue halo at the edge of the small, spherical enclosure- as if a massive Qi shield had been cast outside to maintain this space-like phenomenon.

The landscape was easily the length of a few football fields, the most relatable metric Jack had in mind on the spot. At its center, were two ‘forces’, on a massive crimson platform- looking directly at them sent a pang of pain down Jack’s eyes, but he’d managed to get a glimpse- they were small diamond shaped objects or entities that glowed with a radiance that could be spotted from kilometers away.

The one on his left exuded a brilliant golden radiance, projecting a bright aura. The one of the right was a dark, deep mix between crimson and black- seeming to oscillate between the two colors, projecting a dark aura that seemed to obscure everything it touched upon. Hundreds of thin tendrils of energy had been projected from those two objects, wildly swaying around the landscape without any discernible pattern. Each time a golden tendril met a red tendril, or vice-versa, a… life would be born.

Jack didn’t know why he felt amazement and wonder when he should feel horror- perhaps it was because he knew that this was an extraordinary sight even after he’d seen the miracles the system could perform, or if it was some sort of influence the object at the center was exerting.

He watched as two tendrils collided not far from him, and with the horror finally seeping in as a misshapen creature was born. What terrified Jack even more was that the creature bore a resemblance to a tiger, if it were intentionally genetically deformedr - it was a red furred creature with an oversized head, thin neck and a bloated feline abdomen, with six legs instead of four. The creature opened its black eyes, only for them to remain eerily still as it floated in space with a hollow expression on its face.

Jack’s senses and instincts only reached one conclusion- it had died almost as soon as it was born, and the next second a gravitational pull suddenly weighed down its dead body. He watched as the poor creature was yanked downwards at a frightening speed- pulled below the level of the lowest island in his sight. Before it could make contact with the Qi barrier, a wave of pure blue flames that were tangible this time around, washed over it and not even ashes remained of his body.

Danger signs went off in Jack’s mind, and the next second a gravitational pull locked on to him, and he screamed in terror hoping he wasn’t next in line for the incinerator. His worries were only partly unfounded, as he accelerated forward to uncomfortable levels before abruptly stopping- the remaining momentum enough to send him crashing down to one of the small landmasses, managing to barely turn in time and crash on his back, insulating Luna from the damage.

Jack found that the air had been knocked out of his lungs, but due to his improved stats he didn’t feel as if he’d broken anything. Luna leapt out from his arms, meowing loudly in alarm. Jack didn’t need a second warning, and he got back up to his feet while panting for air- trying to assess for threats.

“Meeeeow!” Luna shrilly cried, and this time she was truly terrified. Jack felt his heart palpitate as well, when he saw what she was looking at.

Jack could feel it. The system had thrown all kinds of monsters at him, but it had never felt this wrong. If what the system did was a forced evolution of natural life, then the monstrosity in front of him was a perversion. From the very core of his being, he knew that this was wrong.

Staring back at him was a humanoid creature- except there was nothing human about it. It’s bright red eyes stared back at Jack, sending shivers down his spine. It’s skin was an eerie pitch black, with long, thin and extremely sharp looking black claws protruding out from its nails. The creature’s chest and abdomen were completely exposed, a robust set of black bones forming a ribcage with no heart to guard. The creature was completely hollow from inside, and all Jack could see was a black ribcage and spinal cord connecting to the waist. Its forearms and legs still retained the fleshly form, and somehow turned to be extremely muscular. The creature's head was much like a human, except for its pitch black skin, red eyes and the third, unopened eye slit on its forehead.

A cloud of black mist had formed a halo around him, and Jack’s instincts told him that it was a form of power much like the Qi he felt pumping through his veins.

‘Huh,’ thought Jack, as the creature took a step forward, leaving a trail of black miasma behind him. Since when could he feel Qi again? And what was with the absurd quantity of Qi he had access to? His previous reserves were like a trickle, but now it was as if his body was absorbing a torrent of Qi from the surroundings, a never ending flow of power energizing him.

He didn’t know how to channel it into the form of a Qi shield, but with this much power did he even need to? He had used the Qi before, so he somewhat understood the feeling of channeling it. If he could release only five percent of the power flowing through him, he had a chance.

The dead man walking took a second step, and then a third, before breaking out in a charge. Jack took a deep breath, as he tried to feel the Qi that was concentrated slightly below his navel, and nudged it to move, to head in the direction of his right arm. Jack felt only a portion of the Qi obeying the command, while the other Qi went haywire in all directions. The Qi in his body could not do him any harm.

Jack didn’t know it, but his eyes had turned light blue from the sheer amount of Qi he was channeling. His reflexes felt sharper, body lighter, and eyes clearer. He saw the trajectory the creature’s sharp claws were taking, and sidestepped towards the right.Jack saw the claws raking the empty air around him, knowing that if they had landed they’d most likely take his face off.

The creature had extended itself, but Jack was yet to make a move. In one quick, clean jerk, Jack punched the creature’s right jaw, releasing all the Qi he managed to gather in one hand at that very moment.

A loud boom echoed out, and Jack cried in pain when his hand met the creature’s metal like jaw- but the creature still took the brunt of the damage, and the Qi insulated Jack from most on the other hand. The creature was blasted away with such force that even Jack was surprised by his borrowed strength, leaving a trail of blue Qi in its wake before smashing into a large boulder near the edge of the island, and kicking up a trail of orangeish dust in the air.

“It felt good to be doing the punching, for once,” Jack said in amazement of his own prowess, as he saw the creature embedded within the rock.

“Meooow!” Luna cried out, causing Jack, who was examining the extent of his hand injuries to be surprised.

He gazed in the direction of the creature, only to see its red eyes looking back right at him.

“Krrrrrrr!” The creature started growling in what was unmistakable anger, before pulling it’s right arm out of the bolder, followed by its left leg, and then its entire body.

Jack’s heart dropped, when he realized that what he thought would have left grievous wounds of the creature had not even managed to leave a single damn mark on its body, except bolder dust.

“Well shit.”