Formless Ascension: My Affinity Is Limitless

The Insight Adept class holder wasn’t built for combat or physical exertion. He was moving purely with the base level of evolved durability his body had gained after being able to use cosmic essence.

So now that his cosmic essence was leaking, the toll on his body was even more pronounced.

He began to lag behind, with Diya moving ahead of him to keep up with Zara. Uhtred slowed his pace for the scholar as the man huffed, tiredness evident in his eyes.

With a grunt, Uhtred grabbed him by the wrist and continued to run.

”Fess up Dennis! This is just the first trial! There’s no way you’re falling here!”

He waved his battleaxe just as he sensed the blurring form of one of the jackals coming in from Dennis’s side.

The reach of his axe put the jackal at bay, but they had already sensed Dennis’s weakness. They began to pester both Uhtred and Dennis with more urgency, their attacks coming in quicker intervals compared to before.

Dennis yelped and staggered, nearly falling to the ground if not for Uhtred’s grip on his hand keeping him upright.

A large gash had cut across one of his tendons, essentially putting that leg out of commission.

Uhtred growled under his breath and hefted Dennis onto his shoulder immediately, charging forward with more speed now that he didn’t have to limit himself to Dennis’ pace.

He began to eat up the distance, closing in on Zara and Diya, who had pushed far ahead already.

They were more than halfway toward the rocky formations, but the distance was still far enough that Uhtred was well aware he would get pestered several more times before reaching the destination.

He was going to have to use an area-of-effect spell, one that he could keep active while he ran at full speed, but was also powerful enough to keep the jackals at bay.

He considered using the Winter Court spell, but as quickly as he considered it, he discarded the idea immediately. Winter Court required significant concentration.

Even using it in a battle, he needed to be aware of what exactly he was doing, not to mention a situation where he was running at full speed. Making rapid modifications to the spell to keep up with such a pace was practically impossible for him right now.

Maybe when he got better with his use of the spell, it would become possible, but for now the Winter Court spell was discarded.

He quickly moved on to the next spell he had in his arsenal, the opposite end of Frost Magic, which was Heat Manipulation.

This one also had its limitations. He was currently holding Dennis on his shoulder, and the scholar did not have the same level of resistance his body inherently had to a spell he was creating.

Of course, at this point Uhtred had improved on his proficiency with the spell. He could spread the effects a bit further from the immediate surrounding of his skin compared to before. But still, it wasn’t by a significant amount. Perhaps a foot around him at most.

He would have to micro-manage and be well aware of what area the heat surrounded so as not to harm Dennis.

Damn it! What about earth? Can I use it in any manner to keep these fucking beasts away?

Just as Uhtred was wracking his brain to think of a spell within his arsenal he could use in an area-of-effect manner, from the corner of his eyes he spotted several figures appear out of nowhere and begin to close in from his front left.

As Uhtred readied himself for anything, he saw several balls of fire speed in from the direction of the new figures, surprisingly heading for the jackals instead of him.

Who are these guys?

Uhtred’s eyes narrowed slightly as he continued to run, taking in the newcomers. It was a team made up of six individuals: four men and two women, all of them human.

The highest-leveled among them was sitting at Level 10, while the others ranged between Level 8 and 9.

Did they just arrive? Uhtred was puzzled at how close they had been to his position before suddenly appearing. They were literally less than fifty meters away from him to his front left, closing in by the second.

The only explanation that made sense for how they had suddenly appeared within his perception without him noticing their presence or seeing anything at all, was that they had just been teleported to the trial grounds themselves.

But there was no flash of light...

Perhaps Uhtred was being paranoid, but he had significant trust in his own senses to be able to tell when six individuals more than ten levels below him were within fifty meters of his location.

Yet he hadn’t sensed anything at all.

And aside from the fact that he hadn’t sensed them beforehand or seen any flash of light of their recent arrival, there was also their reaction.

The six of them had quickly rushed in to help, attacking immediately.

That was not a human reaction for six individuals who had just been teleported into an unknown location. Even the disorientation of landing alone was significant enough to make them pause for several seconds.

As they closed in, Uhtred said nothing and only kept pushing forward, even as the guy leading the six yelled:

”Hey man, are you okay?!” He released several more fireballs at the blurring figures of the jackals.

The beasts scattered, seeing that more humans had arrived and Uhtred was no longer isolated. They spread out further, reorienting themselves to find a new means to tackle the greater numbers that left less room for them to probe.

Uhtred still did not respond. He continued to speed away, reaching close proximity with the six-man team at his front and bypassing them entirely.

The guy in question, the one who had just helped chase away the jackals with his long-range fireball attacks, looked surprised but turned and tried to keep up with Uhtred, who was charging forward ahead of them.

”Hey! What the fuck man?! I literally just saved your ass!”

The three other guys on his team also let out loud curses, surprised by how Uhtred had entirely snubbed them.

They chased after him, keeping a tight formation and watching their surroundings, until finally, they saw both Uhtred and the two girls far ahead of him begin to slow down after reaching the rocky regions where there were small hills and tall formations.

Zara and Diya only glanced back briefly, noting Uhtred’s position, before disappearing into the rocky formations, which were made up of narrow ravines and crooks where they could defend themselves better against the fast jackals.

Uhtred reached the formation several seconds after, disappearing into the crooked, narrow paths with Dennis on his shoulder.

By the time the six-man team that had been chasing after him finally reached the formations, more than a minute had passed.

Uhtred had widened the gap significantly between him and the fastest of them. The level difference, even with Dennis’ weight on his shoulder, was significant enough that they were not even in his league in terms of speed.

The unknown team huffed, breathing heavily and trying to catch their breaths as they reached the entrance of the rocky formation region.

”That fucking guy!” one of the girls seethed angrily. ”This is why you don’t fucking help strangers, Bradley!”

”Calm down, Bianca,” the guy called Bradley, the Level 10 individual among them, calmly said.

He observed the rocky formations before him, then turned and looked back towards the sandy region they had just run across. The jackals that had been hard to spot revealed themselves now: a pack of them standing on the sand, watching the humans from a distance.

An unreadable glint crossed Bradley’s eyes, before he turned and smiled, raising his voice slightly as he spoke:

”You have to understand that they don’t know who we are. Choosing not to stop when they were being pursued was logical.”

Bianca seemed about to say something, but she changed her mind after glancing up at Bradley. Still, an evident dissatisfied look remained in her eyes as she crossed her arms across her chest begrudgingly.

”Well, we’re safe now,” one of the other guys in the team said, observing the jackals before facing forward and looking across the tall rocky structures and formations.

He held his hands to his mouth to project his voice as he yelled, ”The beasts cannot come in here! You guys can be rest assured!”

He paused and waited, expecting a response, but all he received was a dead silence, his voice echoing across the narrow paths and crevices between all the rocky formations.

”Are these guys just gonna hide? Isn’t it common logic that the more numbers we have, the better our chances at survival?” another guy muttered with a scornful expression on his face.

He was just about to say something else when his senses suddenly flared, and not just him alone, but the entire six-man team jumped into a fright, dashing to the side as two figures suddenly appeared out of nowhere, creeping up on them without their notice.

Uhtred stood in their midst with his back to them, his battleaxe on his shoulder in a lazy, relaxed pose as he looked across the distance toward the jackals watching the rocky formations.

Zara was right next to the head of the six-man group. She was sitting on a large rock not far from Bradley. Her bright blue eyes locked onto him with her signature flat expression.

”Why would we need to hide?” Uhtred asked out of the blue.

”W—What?” The male team member who had had an air of confidence and scorn just seconds ago, stuttered.

Uhtred turned to face him, his eyes devoid of any particular emotion.

”You asked earlier whether we were hiding...” he shrugged. ”Why would we need to hide from just you guys?”