Cal wasn’t sure how long he stared at the gems growing on the branch. Benan told him they were found in mines in some distant territory, but this was neither a mine, nor was it a distant territory.

His knowledge about the gems and their ‘benefits’ made this horror-show of a farm make logical sense, even if it was twisted. The gems are grown from the corpses of people with mana reserves, but whatever boost they provided was tainted and eventually led to the user’s downfall.

Cal had never been one to believe in superstitions, so the sadistic method of the gem’s creation had no meaning to him other than the general disgust at the horror. The side effect of the gems must be the cost of having such an unnatural boost, and there wasn’t yet a way to eliminate it.

He kept track of the seconds ticking by and turned his attention back to the tree. It would need to be destroyed since it enabled the creation of the gems, but he wasn’t sure if he was capable of it.

Cal flexed his fingers, making the lightning spark across his hand for a moment. He lifted his arm and tried to focus on his rage, thinking of the multitude of corpses he had to pass.

[Lightning Aura] reacted to his attempt, but the small bolt that splashed against the massive tree trunk was less than useful for his goals.

He knew [Lightning Aura] was capable of much more, as evidenced by what he did to Tarn. However, his anger at discovering the corpses was nebulous, not as focused as it should be to truly make him lose his composure.

He tried to imagine seeing someone he cherished in one of those nooses, but his mind rejected even thinking of that possibility. The closest he got was with Tavia since she was in the sinkhole, but it still failed. He refused that thought. Denied it.

With how eager this area was to get rid of his presence, Tavia would have safely entered the next with little issue.

Cal sighed at another minute wasted. It looked like the potion would need to be used.

I hope I trained enough to maintain my awareness while under the influence.

He pulled the rage potion from the storage pouch and tipped its contents into his mouth and swallowed in a single gulp.

***

The way Cal viewed the world pivoted—clicked—as though he had accepted some twisted understanding into his reality.

He stared into the fog in the distance. Hiding the dead within. Thinking it had any right to. His molars met with a quiet crack.

Cal heard an animal close by, realizing that it was his own growl not long after.

He tore his eyes from the fog and trailed his gaze up the frayed ropes. Every frayed fiber of the rope became an insult. He wanted to obliterate it. End it.

Flash from lightning blocked Cal’s vision, muting his increasing rage, if only for a second.

No! Not the ropes. The tree! Turn around!

Cal scowled before tearing his eyes away. His pulse rose dangerously when the ground under his boots felt unhelpful, dragging at him as he tried to turn. And then—there. He faced a massive trunk that filled his vision, a tower that was too large to exist here. He should help it go away.

This was the source of the branches that sprouted those frayed ropes.

He wanted to kill it.

Had to!

He had to kill it.

Cal growled as his anger spiked at the gall the tree possessed to exist before him.

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It tried to twist my mind.

A red haze fell down his vision as he roared, [Lightning Aura] lighting up the surroundings like a storm waking.

The first arcs sparked free—thin, searching filaments snapping from his body into the trunk. It did nothing, and that only spiked his rage to a level that blinded him.

***

Well, this is interesting.

Cal found himself an observer in his own body. It wasn’t difficult to note the similarities between now and his fall into a rage state against Tarn.

He watched—impressed—at the crackle of lightning surrounding his body. With a snap of his hand, a massive bolt shot forward, striking the tree and burrowing inside with ease.

The lightning continued with no stop in sight.

I have to do this without external aids.

Cal tracked his mana reserves, and if he could, his eyebrows would have shot into his hair at how unaffected it was. He was proud of his mana reserves, but he didn’t fool himself into thinking he could fuel such an attack without exhausting them quickly.

I wonder… [Lightning Aura] isn’t a spell, but a [Trait]. It seems there is much for me to learn about them.

He widened his metaphorical eyes when his other arm joined in on the overwhelming attack on the tree, adding a second lightning bolt into the barrage.

Blue tongues crawled across the bark, flared, dug in. The tree took the barrage with surprising vitality, but that was to be expected with its size. The lightning struck the tree deeply and spread inside, visible in lines on the trunk’s exterior.

Excellent. Let’s see if I can direct some of this damage.

Cal tried to enforce his will on his body, but it was the same as getting blood from a stone. That didn’t deter him. This was his body, and even his instincts would have to fall in line if he demanded it.

He poured his intention into his unresponsive body for nearly a minute before he finally got a response.

The hands directing the sustained lightning shifted. Not far, but far enough to notice.

The success emboldened Cal. He eventually got what he wanted several seconds later, his hands moving down and the lightning concentrating all the damage that could be directed into the roots.

Something deep in the tree snapped like wet ice.

Branches above rustled all at once, ropes snapping, and faint sounds of bodies falling behind him in dull collisions with the ground. Cal grinned—metaphorically—but the glee must have transferred into his body since the lightning sparked dangerously, disturbing the constant flow for a moment.

It didn’t change the fate of the tree.

He heard a thunderous crash somewhere in the area. A branch must have broken off, but the tree wasn’t dead yet, so he continued.

Cal hated it. The rage potion caused him to hate it even more in the strange state he was in, and he wouldn’t be satisfied until it was deader than dead.

He chuckled when he felt the roots die, but yet satisfaction eluded him. He directed the lightning to spread higher, and his body reacted to his wishes instantly.

It was almost as if he were back in control, but that wasn’t quite the case. A slight separation still existed, but he at least had regained control of his actions… mostly.

The charge climbed like a tide up the trunk, burning its interior to ash along the way. He directed it into the massive branches, slammed into twigs, delved down the few remaining ropes, and into the hanging dead. He burned it all.

Tavia isn’t there.

Cal felt immense satisfaction when the tree’s vitality died under his barrage and laughed with glee. Not metaphorically. It sounded wrong. Choked.

He grinned through the pain as the tree withered before his eyes, the crumbling ash of dead branches falling on his body.

The roar of lightning stopped as the duration of [Lightning Aura] passed without his knowing. He felt unsatisfied. His grin faded as he glared at the charred tree trunk. He was going to break it with his bare hands and—

No! The potion!

Cal’s hands twitched, and he froze. He clumsily reached for his storage pouch and, after several attempts, pulled out the calming potion before downing it, not leaving a moment to waste.

He groaned in pain when an intense migraine slammed into him with the rage gone. A level of exhaustion accompanied it he didn’t think was possible.

Cal looked at the items he had pulled out of his storage pouch by mistake and moved to put them back in. His limbs twitched like they didn’t know how to function, and it was several seconds later when the pain hit.

He bit his tongue to stop the cry from leaving his mouth as he collapsed to the ground. With his nerves flared to their maximum, pain was the only message they were sending, and he had no way of stopping it.

There were no healing potions left.

Cal lay limp, vulnerable to whatever might deem him of interest. Even that cute crystal crab could probably cause serious damage at this point.

He twitched after a few minutes as he forced himself to move, gathering the items into the storage pouch before stumbling to his feet.

Channeling that much lightning wasn’t wise, with how terrible his affinity was. Who knew?

Cal shuffled through the ash floating from the sky and approached the void. He still had one trump card to play if needed, but he was happy when there were no surprises on the way to his target.

He stepped into the void and hoped to meet Tavia in the next area. And he hoped she was carrying a healing potion.