Formless Ascension: My Affinity Is Limitless

Uhtred let out a quiet sigh, then shook his head clear of the distracting thoughts.

With the sheer volume of calculations that had run through his mind just now, it might have seemed to an onlooker like a long time had passed, but in reality, barely a few seconds had elapsed since his return to Jor-than’s body.

He locked his focus back onto the present situation.

The probing An Clan warriors had retreated and were now trying a different strategy.

Instead of leaving it entirely to the fire elementals, warriors of different elements were now working together. The fire elementals led the charge, while those controlling water tried to quench a path through the raging flames.

Even the air elementals were doing what little they could, though they seemed to be causing more harm than good by fanning the flames even further.

However, the most effective among the An Clan warriors were the earth elementals. Though few in number, they were clearing a path most efficiently alongside the water mages.

Uhtred glanced toward the clan elders, who stood far behind like sagely figures. Their gazes were locked on him with rapt attention, like predators monitoring trapped prey.

They have me surrounded, Uhtred mused.

The number of An Clan elders surrounding the Ancestor had thinned compared to when they had first arrived. Uhtred could sense them spread out in a wide perimeter, encircling him in every direction he was likely to escape from.

They hadn’t been standing still even though the Ancestor had warned them to remain cautious.

Nayu An was still by the Ancestor’s side, though. She stared at Uhtred with a pitying, hesitant look that weirded him out yet again.

What’s the deal with this damned girl?! He cursed internally.

Even with the tense standoff... even after he had utterly battered her clan’s ancestor, she still looked at him like some love-struck girl hoping her family wouldn’t kill her lover.

Suddenly, a thought struck Uhtred. His Gnostic Eye was clearly dormant, but it had been active when the Towermaster gifted it to him.

With a thought, he willed his intention to activate the Gnostic Eye — and to his pleasant surprise, it kicked into gear immediately.

A sudden surge of information flooded his brain: the properties of the flames raging around him, deeper truths about manipulating them, and exact methods to fuel them even further right then and there...

He could even perceive detailed information about the warriors pressing toward him. The leading Earth Elemental among them was a man, and somehow Uhtred could tell his stamina was severely depleted compared to the others.

He had definitely been involved in some ”high-intensity action” before the alarm was sounded to hunt me down...

Uhtred frowned slightly. It was a bizarre sensation, perceiving these details so clearly. He could even theorize the exact cause of the man’s stamina weakness relative to his peers.

And it wasn’t just the man alone... Uhtred could sense so much from every single warrior that it began to bombard his senses, just like the first time in the Tower.

He closed his eyes sharply to cut off the flood of information. Then, slowly, he opened them again, fixing his sight specifically on Nayu An while forcing his mind to tune out every piece of irrelevant information that didn’t pertain to his target.

It was a struggle, but slowly the background noise filtered away until Nayu An was the only one feeding information to his Gnostic Eye.

It’s so much clearer now! Uhtred cracked a faint smile.

By filtering out the noise of useless information, the insight he gained regarding Nayu An became far sharper than before...

However, as he probed her deeper, the smile on his face vanished, and his eyes widened.

What’s that?

Coming from Nayu An, he could sense the presence of... something.

Luck and misfortune...?

If Uhtred had to put it into words, that was the only way he could describe it. It felt as though something lay dormant inside Nayu An — a dense congregation of extreme good luck, but at the same time, dire misfortune...

Uhtred’s eyes narrowed.

A fortuitous encounter!

It was exactly as he had told Zara. All ten human champions had landed in separate regions of this scenario world for a reason.

And here I was about to escape without ever knowing about this!

Without the Gnostic Eye, Uhtred would never have realized that Nayu An possessed the exact anomaly he was meant to uncover by landing in this part of the scenario world.

Of course, he didn’t know exactly what it was, but he knew it was something important. He could even see something resembling a thread connecting him and Nayu An. Peering at it for too long caused his eye to begin to ache, so he quickly deactivated the Gnostic Eye.

He covered his left eye, clenching his jaw hard to suppress the wave of pain as the eye throbbed from exertion. It seemed his usage of the Gnostic Eye was still severely limited...

But that didn’t change the fact that he had just learned something very vital...

Now I definitely have to escape with her! No matter what, I have to take her with me!

If it had been a simple object on her person, he could have simply stolen it, but whatever this fortuitous or anomalous encounter was, it was buried deep within Nayu An’s body, suffused through her very being.

The Gnostic Eye hadn’t granted insight into how to extract it, so his only option was to take Nayu An along and figure it out later...

Which was going to be brutally difficult.

Uhtred began channeling his essence just like he had learned from his assimilation of the Slipstream Stride technique.

With the technique, he was confident in his ability to outrun the An Clan members, but carrying Nayu An would slow him down. She certainly wouldn’t come willingly either, meaning he would need to knock her out in a single, lethal blow.

The air around his body began to surge, and the surrounding An Clan elders immediately braced themselves. They could sense he was making a move.

As Uhtred continued to cycle the Slipstream Stride technique, he marveled at its terrifying efficiency. He could perceive every subtle change it made around his body.

His air magic was streamlining his form, acting as an exterior skin that shaved down aerodynamic drag until he was practically equivalent to a flying needle.

Beneath his feet, he felt his fire magic congregate and thrum in rhythmic pulses.

His water magic allowed his senses to pinpoint the remaining moisture molecules in the air, working in tandem with his air magic to eliminate all fluid resistance.

Simultaneously, his earth magic worked alongside his fire magic beneath his feet, preparing to drive every single step forward in controlled, explosive bursts.

His body thrummed violently with concentrated magic, eliciting shouts of warning from the surrounding elders and warriors.

Several of them charged forward, heedless of the inferno. They could already sense that whatever Uhtred was preparing would exceed their ability to handle, so some of them chose to strike first...

However, it was already too late.

With a single, terrifying step, Uhtred strode forward.