Goldy hid behind Damon’s back.
The kitten peeked over his hair like a general surveying the battlefield, eyes glowing, tail twitching in predatory rhythm. She spotted Goldy, pupils dilating with unholy glee and sprang off Damon’s head with enough enthusiasm to take a clump of hair from his head.
Once again, the chase resumed.
Damon watched the kitten pinball after Goldy across the cavern walls, the spark squeaking and zipping around like a terrified snack with wings.
Damon tried to intervene. "Hey! Hey! Behave! You both are brother and sister. Well, maybe sister and sister." He had no idea what the gender of the spark was. "Whatever. You are part of the same family. Stop fighting!"
Unfortunately, neither was listening to him. He let them go for a moment. They did not look like they were going to stop anytime now. The good thing was that the two somehow seemed to be evenly matched so atleast one was not going to end up killing the other.
"Atleast keep an eye on me when you are playing!" He exhaled slowly and shifted his focus back to the ominous lake of shadows.
This... was perfect. The pressure. The density. The sheer, oppressive nature of the essence. This environment was exactly the kind needed to force open the stubborn meridians he had been avoiding.
He settled near the edge, where the darkness lapped like living liquid. The oppressive force surged again, crushing into his ribs, trying to fold him inward. His bones screamed. His blood boiled. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚
But his body, his monstrous, evolving, poison-tempered body, answered back.
He crossed his legs, letting the lake’s pressure bear down on him, letting it sink into his cells. Damon closed his eyes and directed his energy inward. He focused on his neck where a set of ten meridians reached up all the way into his head.
In his last life, many players fucked up this step and ended up with their head getting exploded. It was insta death if one failed in this.
Damon had personally died twenty times before he finally got it right and he was not exactly sure how things would go this time around.
Damon inhaled once, feeling the pressure grind into him like invisible millstones. The ten meridians along his neck, thin, delicate conduits wrapped dangerously close to his skull, shivered in protest. Even touching them with intent sent a bolt of razor-edged pain up the back of his head, like a spike being hammered into his brainstem.
He tried to relax and continued to proceed onward. The little confidence he had came from his Nine Million Poison Body. Surely, a top-tier constitution shouldn’t explode on his face?
He steadied his breathing, drawing in the shadow essence and letting it pool at the base of his throat. The lake answered, its oppressive aura pressing harder, trying to crush his concentration. His vision trembled behind closed eyes. His teeth clenched.
This step had ended thousands of players in Earth Online.


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