Endless Evolution: Last Star

Chapter 1951: The Unsolvable Problem

It was unclear how much time had passed since Adam entered the dark space. But he was still in no hurry to return to the inner space or to the real world.

Here, he had plenty of time to think about how to destroy the Grand Barrier.

Where should he start? Which methods were the most effective? What did he need to do to inflict the first blow?

A multitude of questions raced through his mind, and unfortunately for him, he had no answers to any of them, only random ideas with no guarantee of success.

At this point, Adam had learned two things:

1) Energy was useless here. There was no energy at all, neither his own nor that of this space. He couldn’t use his abilities or harness energy to make his strikes stronger.

2) It was impossible to destroy the Grand Barrier using only physical force.

Adam was convinced of the second point because he realized that his physical strength wouldn’t increase significantly in the future.

Sure, he could work on his technique and fully recover his strength after the battle against Midgar. But Adam realized that he had already nearly reached his limit.

In his peak form as a K4-Phantom, he could make his punches 20–30% stronger, but no more than that.

Several dozen punches delivered at full speed and power didn’t even leave a scratch on the Grand Barrier.

Thus, he realized that even if it were theoretically possible to destroy the Grand Abyss with physical punches, he didn’t possess that kind of might, and there was no way he could ever acquire it.

“Agh…”

Adam took a deep breath before lying down in the darkness, spreading his arms out to the sides.

“Yeah… If I were already a Second-Rank Phantom, I’d probably be able to break this barrier with just a few punches, but… Right now, that’s impossible for me.”

It didn’t matter how many times an ordinary person struck a steel wall. Even after ten thousand punches, nothing would change, since the durability of the wall and the force of the blows were worlds apart.

Still, Adam wasn’t going to give up.

He had learned only two things about the Grand Abyss, and gradually new ideas were coming to mind.

Adam stood up, crossing his legs as he placed his hands on his knees, stretching his palms forward.

“Hmm… I can’t use my energy, but what about something else?”

Right now, Adam had three types of energy: his own, the Ancient Energy, and Dark Energy.

Each of the three types was different, but the Ancient Energy and Dark Energy were more similar to each other than to his own energy. These were distinct types that a Phantom had to discover and acquire.

Crunch.

Adam cracked his neck as his eyes flashed.

He concentrated, trying to harness the Ancient Energy and Dark Energy, and soon…

SPARK!

A purple flame flared above his left palm and a dark flame above his right.

A satisfied smile spread across Adam’s face.

“I see… So I can use these types of energy here, but my power is still limited.”

Sure, Adam was still exhausted after his long battle, but he could see that this wasn’t even 10% of what he was capable of in the real world.

Only a small fraction of the Ancient and Dark energy was available to him.

“Well, even if that’s all I can do right now, I have to give it a try, right?”

With a slight nod, Adam stood up as he approached the Grand Barrier.

“Gha…”

He took a deep breath as the purple flame engulfed his fist. At first, he decided to use the Ancient Energy, since this type of energy usually provided raw power.

BAM!

Adam struck again with all his might, as a shockwave rippled through the Grand Abyss.

Unfortunately, there was still no damage, not even a tiny crack.

But something else caught Adam’s eye.

Tremble!

The ripples didn’t run through the darkness or space, but through the Grand Barrier itself, causing its glass surface to tremble.

“Huh…” Adam smirked.

He hadn’t been able to achieve such a result even with dozens of his usual punches.

“I see. Well, if I had my energy, I could probably do the same thing with regular punches, but for some reason, I’m under a lot of restrictions here.”

He sighed and assumed an attacking stance again as the black flame enveloped his right fist.

The Dark Energy didn’t possess the same destructive power as the Ancient Energy, but it had the unique ability to pierce through barriers and ignore other energy types due to its special properties.

“I don’t have my needle here, so let’s see what the energy of the First Star is capable of!”

Deep down, Adam had high hopes for this punch.

BAM!

He struck with even greater force than before as a new wave of ripples ran across the Grand Barrier.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

Unlike his punches or the Ancient Energy, which dissipated immediately after impact, the Dark Energy was about to continue its attack.

The Dark Energy, in the form of a flame, remained on the barrier, gradually destroying that small spot.

“What the…?”

At first, Adam couldn’t believe what was actually happening, but with every passing moment, the glass layer of the Grand Barrier grew thinner and thinner, as if a drop of acid capable of corroding anything had fallen on it.

Blink.

Adam blinked in shock as he stared at a hole right in the Grand Barrier. It was the size of a palm, even smaller, but it was there.

Before Adam could do anything, another tremor ran through the Grand Barrier, but this time it didn’t come from Adam’s punches, it came from the very center.

“Wait… That’s it! “

Adam whipped his head around just in time to see an energy pulse shoot from the Path Construct straight toward the hole.

In the blink of an eye, the energy sealed the breach in the barrier, and a bright ray burst outward – plunging straight at Adam.

The ray was the same size as the hole, but as hard and heavy as a spear shaft.

BAM!

The ray slammed into Adam’s stomach, knocking him aside and contorting his face in pain.

For him, as a K4-Phantom, this was only the beginning.

But he had already made more progress than many others, though he didn’t know it yet.