Utopian System

Elio observed the new world with awe and mounting concern; time was slipping away like sand through an hourglass.

Boron transformed the landscape in a fundamentally different way from all previous elements. It wasn't violent like potassium, corrosive like sulfur, or time-bending like argon.

Instead, it seemed to absorb and redistribute the very energy of the world around it, creating a symphony of power transfer that defied conventional understanding.

The veins extending from the mountain neither glowed nor reacted...

They absorbed.

Where they touched potassium and sodium explosions, the violent reactions disappeared silently, only to resurface in unexpected locations with diminished intensity.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Even sulfur's corrosion found itself absorbed and transformed, its destructive nature dampened and redirected.

The very essence of each element seemed to bow before boron's consuming presence.

'Thirty-two thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight,' the number echoed in his mind as he contemplated the boron mountain.

The structure rose like a monument to energy absorption, its matte surface devouring every ray of light that touched it, only to release it at its bas.

One day.

They had just one day left, and the magnitude of the challenge before him was overwhelming.

The numbers didn't lie; each level had required approximately double the energy of its predecessor. If the progression held true, this final trial would demand more than two hundred mana points.

Without a metamorphosis potion, the chances of success were minimal at best.

But it wasn't just his personal challenge and the ticking clock that worried him.

Would each challenger need their own potion for this level?

The cost in mana and resources would be astronomical.

How could they prepare enough warriors to face the artromus when each new recruit required such a massive investment?

The god's words about increasing the population began to take on deeper meaning. It wasn't just a casual suggestion; it was a strategic necessity.

They needed more people, more resources, more available mana.

Each new level twenty warrior would require the combined effort of thousands of citizens to create.

The world around him seemed to resonate with this realization. It was as if the element itself was trying to demonstrate something fundamental about the nature of power and resource distribution.

But Elio refused to accept such a reality...

'If I could find a way to win without using it.'

The mountain loomed before him, its presence both a promise and a threat. Somewhere within, more than thirty thousand creatures waited. The greatest challenge he had faced thus far.

Elio touched the potions in his pocket. Three remained, enough for him, but what about the others?

The whisper of wind through the boron veins seemed to carry a message: power has a price, and that price only increases with each level.

The question was: were they prepared to pay it?

♢♢♢♢

The boron tunnel presented a fundamentally different challenge from the very first moment.

Where other elements had demanded strength, speed, or endurance, this one required surrender.

Traditional barriers were absent. Instead, energy absorption zones appeared.

Each mana point was extracted from his body and captured with increasing speed as he fell deeper and faster into the vertical shaft.

'Think,' he told himself as he continued his descent. 'It doesn't destroy energy; it redistributes it.'

Elio began studying these patterns as he fell, noting how each absorption zone had its corresponding release point. His mind raced to understand the underlying system, searching for patterns within the chaos.

It was like a giant circuit, he realized, the tunnel itself forming an interconnected network. Each barrier wasn't an independent obstacle but part of a larger system working in perfect harmony.

'I don't need to resist,' he understood. 'I need to cancel the system itself.'

He activated his perception to its maximum, until his eyes bled from the effort. Every detail, every subtle shift in energy patterns became clear to him through the haze of pain.

He released a small amount of power toward a specific absorption zone. As expected, the tunnel captured it immediately. But instead of trying to retain the energy when it was released, Elio pushed it, using the additional momentum to generate a bounce in the distribution.

Soon he found the rhythm.

Each absorption point became an opportunity for conservation, feeding the system with precise amounts of energy, letting the tunnel redistribute the rebound in ways that canceled the absorption.

When he finally emerged in the lower chamber, Elio was surprised to notice that while he had lost 40 points at the start, in the last section he had barely spent 10 mana points.

But the battle awaited.

Thirty-two thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight new challenges.

The 32,768 scorpions glowed with an unsettling fluorescence. Their bodies, covered in an exoskeleton that appeared made of crystallized boron, reflected light in hypnotic patterns that seemed designed to disorient and confuse.

Elio's first magical attack simply... did nothing.

The scorpions didn't even attempt to dodge the power; the mana seemed to flow over their bodies, dispersing among many beasts and reducing the damage to just a single point.

"Impossible," he muttered, launching another attack with more power.

The result remained the same.

After he had spent 100 mana points in different ways...

The sword was the only option left.

♢♢♢♢

The hours began to pass.

Elio's muscles burned from constant effort. Each eliminated scorpion was a small victory that required too much energy. His movements, initially precise and efficient, began to grow slower, heavier, the weight of exhaustion dragging at his limbs.

By midday, he had barely eliminated 8 thousand scorpions. Sweat soaked his clothes, his breathing becoming increasingly labored. The scorpions showed no signs of tiring, attacking in endless waves, their pincers and stingers seeking any opening in his defense.

Elio needed to find the sphere to reduce their damage... But within this infested hollow, success depended entirely on luck.

By mid-afternoon, fatigue had become overwhelming.

He had found the sphere, but being safe within his armor wasn't enough. He had only reached 15 thousand, and the day was ending.

As the sun began to set, with barely 20 thousand scorpions eliminated, reality struck him hard. His body trembled from exhaustion, every muscle protesting the sustained effort.

At this rate, he wouldn't finish before the artromus arrived.

Reluctantly... he had to make a decision.

The metamorphosis potion gave him instant relief.

His renewed strength allowed him to accelerate the pace, but even so, time was running out.

The sword moved with renewed determination. Conserving energy no longer mattered; every second counted.

The scorpions fell faster now, but the question came back to his mind: would magic be useful now?