Utopian System

Elio contemplated the spike barrier before him.

The elemental reactions hadn't worked, and the constant pain from the pricks was beginning to accumulate.

'Fathoran's effects,' he thought, remembering the genesis book.

Among its pages, the former leader's techniques waited to be used. He channeled the necessary mana for increased defense, feeling his body strengthen.

The next spikes he touched didn't penetrate his skin.

A small victory that lasted exactly five minutes before the effect vanished, leaving him in the same situation but with less mana.

Grunting in frustration, he tried the direct approach.

Elio wielded his spear strengthened with the weapon enhancement buff. The unknown metal resonated with a tinkle when the weapon impacted against the spikes. One hit, two, three... 9 impacts, apparently a resistance of around 160 points or more, a single spike.

There were thousands of them blocking his path.

Sweat began forming on his forehead, each impact requiring too much energy for such little result.

The daggers weren't better. Even with one in each hand and the weapon enhancement buff, which consumed precious additional mana, the formations barely yielded. His arms were beginning to feel the fatigue from repeated impacts.

'There has to be another way,' he thought while stopping to catch his breath.

Next plan…

The process of cooling and heating the spikes made them more fragile, but again, the cost was too high.

Mentally tired, Elio decided to clear his mind by trying again to make a resistant layer to avoid being constantly stabbed.

Since nickel and carbon hadn't served well enough alone, he decided to combine them.

The result was a more resistant alloy, but still not effective enough.

It was during one of these experiments, while adjusting his armor's composition to better resist penetration, when he noticed something peculiar. One of the spikes he had been trying to destroy looked different where his modified armor had touched it.

Elio moved closer, squinting to better examine the contact point. The unknown metal hadn't weakened at that point; it seemed to have... fused with his armor's material.

'An alloy,' he suddenly realized. As in previous challenges, the chamber's element was available to be used, manipulated, combined.

Of course, he could also experiment with the unknown metal.

The discovery of the new alloy was almost accidental. While experimenting with the chamber's metallic element, Elio noticed how carbon not only combined with it but formed something new, stronger.

Carbon, which normally formed solid but brittle barriers, seemed to behave differently when combining with the spike metal.

"Interesting," he murmured while manipulating a small amount of carbon over one of the formations.

Instead of simply covering the metal, the elements seemed to fuse, creating something new. The resulting alloy was more resistant than either of its components separately.

Gradually, Elio began covering his armor with this new composition. Each layer required precise attention, too much carbon and the alloy became brittle, too little and it lost its superior resistance.

But the improved protection only solved part of the problem.

The spikes still blocked his advance, and breaking them one by one would consume too much time and energy.

He wasn't hurting anymore, but…

He needed something more effective.

The experimentation with compounds began systematically.

Each combination was tested first on a small scale, observing the reactions. Some were disappointingly weak, others dangerously violent.

After testing every compound and explosion in his arsenal, Elio reached a conclusion that made him uncomfortable: hydrogen fluoride was his best option. And when he added water...

Each day Elio had more fear and reverence for water... To think he drank it all the time.

The resulting acid, which Elio had unknowingly generated as hydrofluoric acid, devoured the metallic formations with terrifying efficiency.

During the process, just a touch of oxygen or a bit of lithium at the wrong moment was enough to create a devastating explosion. Each test had cost him injuries and burns, reminding him how dangerous it was to play with these combinations.

The first time a drop of water fell on the hydrogen fluoride during his tests, Elio barely had time to protect himself. The resulting acid not only devoured the metal, it created vapors that made his eyes burn.

'Too dangerous,' he thought while stepping back.

But part of his mind was already calculating the possibilities. If he could control the reaction, direct it...

The following hours were a dangerous dance with chemistry. Each test was a calculated risk, each error cost him a burn. If not for the oxygen stone in his mouth preventing him from breathing the gasses or the system's armor regeneration, he would have succumbed long ago.

It was painful, but...

Micah's image rose in his mind, and with it, his determination hardened. 'Whatever necessary,' he reminded himself while adding a layer of nickel over his new armor and his head.

'I can't doubt now,' he told himself while preparing another test. 'Not when he gave everything.'

♢♢♢♢

The first controlled explosion was more violent than he expected.

Even with neon's help.

Despite his protection, the blast wave threw him several meters back, leaving him momentarily stunned. But when the dust settled, the result was undeniable... a wide section of the tunnel lay cleared before him.

The cost was high: all seven maximum mana points he could control, simultaneously.

He needed 5 to generate the most powerful explosive he could control, and 2 for the impulse that his Roseline-shark's help gave him to direct the explosion forward, away from himself.

'If I could use more mana in the explosion...' he thought while observing the results. But he couldn't risk reducing the two impulse points, without them, the explosion would leave him unconscious, or worse.

Maybe if he gave more mana to his new summon...

But Elio needed to control neon more naturally if he wanted to move as fast as the Artromus, so he decided to control everything alone for now.

The advance was frustratingly slow.

Each explosion cleared a considerable stretch, but the mana cost forced Elio to stop and recover before continuing.

The impatient part of his being, the one burning with desire for revenge, screamed at him to take more risks, use more mana, advance faster.

'The monster could find the builders,' that voice whispered. 'The barrier could fail at any moment.'

But his more calculating side, equally determined to avenge Micah but with methodical coldness, insisted on caution. The warnings about level 10, both from God and the Artromus, couldn't be coincidental.

So Elio listened to the second one and maintained his rhythm: explosion, recovery, advance. Explosion, recovery, advance.

A slow but sure pattern that brought him closer to his goal meter by meter.

That decision saved him.

It was after one of these explosions, when the dust had barely begun to settle, that the tunnel came alive.

At first it was barely perceptible, a subtle movement in the cleared walls behind him. But soon the metallic formations began sprouting again from the floor and walls, like teeth emerging from stone gums.

They weren't just being reborn... they moved with a sinister purpose.

Elio watched in horror as all his progress unraveled.

The tunnel he had cleared with such effort filled again with spikes, but these were no longer static obstacles. They undulated like metallic tentacles, clashing against each other producing a screeching sound that made his skin crawl.

The decision he faced was brutal: retreat, knowing he would have to cross a field of mobile spikes that would turn his flesh to mincemeat, or advance into the unknown, where more than 30 monsters waited and his mana would be far from full.

The metallic formations behind him began moving more aggressively, as if anticipating the feast of flesh he represented. The sound of metal against metal intensified, creating a cacophony that resonated in his bones.

'The real challenge,' Elio understood, 'is just beginning.'