Chapter 141: Leaving The Well Gradually

Adam chose to continue watching.

Something about their engagement pattern had caught his attention.

He had entered this rift as a mission because he knew he could handle it. His star power exceeded the Infinity Worm’s baseline. The risk-to-reward ratio was acceptable.

But he was curious.

How would an average Profound Expert deal with a creature whose star power was slightly higher than theirs?

An average Profound Expert hovered around fifteen star power.

The Infinity Worm stood at seventeen.

Add Regeneration E to that equation, and the advantage tilted toward the monster.

In theory, this group should struggle.

In practice?

Adam was stunned, although the expression didn’t show beneath his bone mask.

The team consisted of five Profound Experts. Four males and one female.

All wore defensive armaments and with Analyze Adam had confirmed the classification:

Type One — Tier Eight Armaments.

Their defensive output alone elevated their effective durability to match roughly seventeen star power.

But that was not all as each member wielded their own conduits as well.

One male wielded a mace conduit.

Another carried a hammer conduit.

Two held sword conduits.

The female stood at range with a bow.

All conduits were of the Pure Silver grade.

That grade alone boosted their offensive output enough to push their effective star power to seventeen.

They weren’t individually stronger than the worm.

They had engineered equality.

Adam had never seen something like this in the low-tier region.

There, equipment was supplementary, but here, it was structural.

The gap between martial artist and monster wasn’t left to talent alone.

It was bridged with resources.

The team rotated seamlessly.

When the worm lunged, the mace user absorbed the impact, armament glowing faintly. The hammer user crushed exposed segments. The swordsmen targeted structural weak points repeatedly to force regeneration cycles.

The archer fired precise shots into the maw whenever it opened, disrupting internal balance.

They didn’t panic when regeneration activated, rather they anticipated it, adjusted their positioning and managed their stamina ,with their Profound Spirits manifested several techniques were unleashed. Minutes passed and the pressure was still sustained and their pacing was still calculated.

Eventually, regeneration lagged, as energy depletion set in.

The final coordinated strike followed almost immediately, hammering downward, twin swords crossing through the central segment, arrow piercing from above, and collapsing the worm.

Adam watched from beginning to end.

And then he understood something fundamental.

It wasn’t just that better equipment closed the gap between martial artist and monster.

It was that as one climbed in rank and as martial spirits advanced in grade and star, the natural disparity shrank.

In the low-tier region, a single goblin could overwhelm poorly equipped martial artists.

Here, a star power disadvantage of two points was manageable.

The well he had lived in was real.

And he was climbing out of it.

One layer at a time.

****

The team’s execution had also confirmed the resource gap between regions.

Adam had seen enough and as he shifted his stance slightly preparing to leave, his death affinity suddenly flared.

A new presence entered his sensory field, as he turned toward the team below.

They had paused mid-harvest, as a lone figure approached from the ridge.

They had grey skin, unfocused eyes and each step carried a mechanical limp, as if their joints were misaligned.

It was not a monster it was a human but something was wrong about him.

The mace wielder raised his voice across the distance.

“Brother! Hope there’s no problem!”

The figure suddenly stopped, as the team tightened their grips on their conduits.

Then a violet aura began forming around the stranger’s body.

The team reacted instantly, weapons raised to attack but their expressions suddenly emptied and without formation or signal, they dropped their conduits before turning and running away, as Adam stepped into the space they had occupied.

His bone mask cover his face and his bone scythe was hung across his shoulder

“What in the world are you?”

He had already activated Analyze.

But the details the panel gave this time was more unusual than normal.

╭───────────╮

〖Name: William Fischer〗

〖Rank: Non〗

〖Cultivation Talent: Non〗

〖Affinity: ??〗

╰───────────╯

[Star Power: -10]

Adam had tried Mind Control on the man but it had already failed, it was as if the command had found no anchor.

But the name rang a bell in Adam’s head.

Fischer was a martial clan surname and Adam recognized this particular clan since one of the heirs had been trapped in Sector 418 with him.

Before Adam could reconstruct further…

The grey figure released a wail.

KREEEE!

The sound struck him physically and it passed through him like pressure and Adam felt an immediate anomaly, as he pulled up his own panel.

╭───────────╮

〖Name: Adam〗

〖Rank: Profound Apprentice〗

〖Cultivation Talent: G〗

〖Special Talent: Equip ❖ Connect ❖

Analyze ❖ Fuse〗

〖Affinity: Wind ❖ Death〗

〖SLOT〗

↳ SOUL (5): Rapid Charge D ❖

Cryogen D ❖ Cultivation D ❖

Mind Control E ❖ Bone Generation D

↳ BODY (6): Empty

╰───────────╯

[Star Power: 10]

[Existence: 3837]

[Martial Spirit: Profound — 3 Star]

His energy density felt thinned.

As for William he limped forward, then he accelerated. The speed wasn’t extraordinary. But at equalized star power, It was sufficient.

Adam shifted his weight, as William closed the distance abruptly and drove a fist into his gut.

The punch drove Adam back several steps, as dust scattered beneath his boots.

Then the bone plate across his abdomen cracked, revealing the impact point.

The density of the bone plate had been greatly reduced.

At thirty-one star power, that strike would not have fractured it, but at ten, it had.

Adam clicked his tongue softly.

He wasn’t panicked.

If I kill him my star power should go back to normal.

With his plan made he activated Rapid Charge.

Lightning surged across his limbs, they were not only thinner than before but they were also less violent, however it was still enough to compress his muscles and sharpen his acceleration slightly and with that small boost Adam stepped forward.

However William met him with another straight punch, but this time Adam shifted his torso, letting the fist cut past his ribs. In the same motion, bone extended from his arm, shaping into a scythe and he swung for the neck in a clean lethal arc.

Williams neck was almost severed but in the last second his spine bent unnaturally, his torso folding backward at an angle that should have dislocated vertebrae and the blade cut through empty air.

Adam’s eyes narrowed behind the mask.

His body felt heavier at ten star power and his reaction speed dulled compared to what he was used to but he adjusted immediately.

Instead of completing the swing, he rotated his grip mid-motion and reversed the blade’s direction toward William’s ribs.

But william dodged again with loose and erratic movements, resembling a drunkard swaying through blows.

Adam felt the tempo shift, as he stepped in again, compressing distance before William could fully reset his stance, and launched another calculated strike.

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