The rooftop football pitch surprised Winston upon exiting the elevator on the upper floor. The rooftop football pitch is renowned for its breathtaking setting at the Celestial Bridge hotel, where Winston resides. The hotel was situated on the coast of Hartford, with a beach to the left and downtown Hartford to the right. And most professional players book this hotel for private training when they are on vacation. The rooftop was 42 meters in length and 22 meters in width, surrounded by towering fences all around—the entrance to the rooftop had some luxury sofas and dining wares and few beverage vending machines.
Winston stepped onto the black marble floor, leaned on the railing of the balcony, and observed the two men engaged in a one-on-one match over the rooftop field. The match wasn't something that would amaze Winston. The match was just about two amateurs who were clumsily dribbling the ball between their feet. Folding his arms, his fingers rhythmically tapping his other arm, he looked at the half moon—for what seemed like hours of waiting. The two men, feeling thirsty, requested water from Winston. Upon receiving the bottles, they continued their conversation while gazing at the city skyline. Until one man received a phone call, he quickly packed his stuff and left. Leaving the other man to stand there, he glanced over at Winston and gestured for him to come over. "Hey do you know the girl who works at the receptionist desk?"
"No,"
"Oh, then never mind," the man replied, trying to dribble the empty bottle of water between his feet. But he missed, and the bottle trailed off the field; he turned around and said, "Pick that up for me," and walked over to the elevator.
While crouching to grab the water bottle, hearing the elevator doors close. He glanced at the closing elevator door and saw the man was now on his phone. Winston shook his head and carried the water bottle to the nearest trash bin.
Finally, I can now use the rooftop football field. The first thing I can do is run around the football field until that feeling comes in again.
With that being said, Winston started running around the rooftop field. As he kept on running, each time he came across the field entrance, he would increase his speed. For a couple of minutes of running, nothing happened, and when he opened the core system, nothing changed. He continued running this time like a madman, drenched in sweat. Winston wondered why the Core System wasn't counting the runs he'd been doing for the past two hours.
From the rooftop, as Winston gazed at the sea, he felt an unsettling sensation of ants moving inside his body's organs. In a panic, he rushed to the outdoor fridge for a water bottle, which he then chugged. The feeling spread rapidly through his body, fueling his panic. He wanted to scream—wanted to smash himself against the wall. It felt like swarms of ants were burrowing through his flesh, feasting inside him. What was happening to Winston was that the Nethen Essence was injecting mana flow into his body cells, hence the thousand ant feeling. The mana flow traveled through his body like wire tubes. Exhaustion was the first sensation that hit him. The Nethen Essence siphoned energy from his muscles through vein-like channels connected to his abdomen, then dispersed waves of essence throughout his internal body. The essence itself was condensed material energy that the Nethen Essence had accumulated. And it distributed the accumulated energy like ripples. Each ripple travels inside Winston's entire body; from the outside, Winston's body is covered in black veins. As the ripples spread, the veins became visible, and Winston, naturally in pain, experienced blurred vision. On his knees, his throat grew dry and breathing became difficult.
[Nethen Essence: 30%]
The ripple caused his heart to pound rapidly. Lying on his back, he gazed at the half-moon. I have to hang on, I can't die here. Winston tried to stand, but the multicolored tubes rippling beneath his skin numbed his legs, making it difficult to move.
[Nethen Essence: 60%]
He lost the feelings on his arms, now laying on the rooftop field, Winston chuckled to himself and thought, I am being killed by a system I thought I could rely on. I should have told someone that I would be on the rooftop. The sight of white, flowing tubes emanating from Winston's abdomen and spreading through his body, set against his multicolored veins, was reminiscent of LED light chase effects. Of course, Winston couldn't see this amazing sight because they were fading away bit by bit.
[Nethen Essence: 70%]
The multicolored veins that stuck out at his skin began to move slowly, then picked up speed. The pain was so intense that he couldn't help but groan. Agony coursed through him as the multicolored veins shot violently across his body. Each surge intensified the pain, forcing deeper groans from Winston as he clutched his abdomen. He rolled onto his stomach and slammed his head against the lush, perfectly trimmed grass, hoping to distract himself from the torment.
But nothing changed. Defeated, he rolled onto his back and slowly began accepting his fate.
[Nethen Essence: 80%]
"What was the point of all this if I'm just going to die in some famous Celestial Bridge Hotel? I crippled someone, only to end up broken myself.
Maybe the Core System finally got tired of watching me destroy my body.
I should've been with my family right now… I was supposed to surprise them tomorrow. Instead, I'll probably go home as a corpse," Winston thought.
[Nethen Essence: 90%]
Mana streamed through him in tube-like currents beneath his skin. The protruding veins gradually shrank, turning ghostly white as a freezing sensation spread from them. As his blood cells multiplied, the chilling atmosphere grew. A swirling effect from his abdominal Nethen essence caused the air nearby to oscillate. And then it started swirling around—Winston, hearing the noise he prepared for death—But.
Ding!
[Awakenings Complete]
[Nethen Essence: Wakening]
[Nethen Essence: Level 1]
[Voltage Core: wakening]
[Voltage core: Level 1]
[Congratulation to the user]
Winston quickly woke up and glanced at the core system notifications. Drenched in his sweat, he wondered if other awakenings were really this brutal. Winston touched and rubbed his abdomen; he scanned around and quickly left the rooftop. In a flash, he ran for the elevator, smacked his face into the door, and his nose bled as he glanced back at his previous spot.
As he looked at his reflection in the elevator doors, Winston felt a terrifying numbness spread to the back of his head. He was amazed, questioning if he had just used the Voltage Core awakening without fully exerting himself. As the elevator door opened, Winston glanced at the stairs across. Winston, positioned at the top of the stairs, took a breath and then rapidly descended, steering clear of the steel railings.
He dashed along the wall at a speed beyond that of normal humans—even faster than the world's top runners. In the blink of eye, he arrived in the middle of the building; Winston felt his lungs were becoming drier and his abdomen was giving him these sharp pains. Holding his shoulder and disoriented, Winston stumbled down the hotel hallway, his thudding steps and groans resonating throughout the open space.
The sharp pain in his abdomen made it impossible for him to walk. Unbeknownst to Winston, his Nethen essence served as a reservoir and generator of vital energy, allowing him to activate his speed, the voltage core, whenever he pleased. What stood out was Winston's ability to use Voltage core without fully understanding essence movement. In reality, he hadn't truly mastered or grasped the function of these awakenings. Upon reaching his room, he retrieved his keycard from his pocket. Winston felt relief that Oswin wasn't present. He carefully sat on his bed, then lay down. As Winston settled onto his bed, his whole body went numb, and he fell asleep.