The summit of the central Thunder Island felt like standing on the tip of a plugged-in power grid.
The entire mountain—really just a needle of black magnetite pointing into a violent sky—was being hammered by crimson lightning every few seconds. The air stank of ozone, burnt minerals, and something metallic, like blood heated until it shimmered.
Su Chen sat cross-legged at the peak, stripped to the waist. His breathing was steady, but his body was trembling under the assault.
Every three seconds:
KABOOM.
A bolt as thick as an ancient pine slammed into him.
His skin didn't char. Instead, it responded—Silver light rippled across his surface, vibrating like molten metal. Underneath that silver glow, something uglier throbbed: a toxic Green pulse twisting through his veins, and a cold Gray mist leaking off his bones like frostbite turned spiritual.
He exhaled slowly.
"Hold it together… fuse. Don't fight."
It was a mechanic's approach to divinity: the lightning was the hammer; his body was the ore; his will was the furnace.
He forced the Gamma energy deeper, grinding it into his marrow until it stopped behaving like poison and started behaving like fuel. He wrapped the Asgardian vitality around his organs like armor plates. He dragged the Lich's necrotic essence along his nerves to kill the pain.
And through it all, he threaded the Indestructible Diamond Body technique as the core framework.
Every bolt reforged him.
Every bolt demanded a price.
Every bolt brought him closer.
---
Below the Summit
Natasha Romanoff crouched in a natural crevice halfway down the peak. The static field was so intense her hair floated around her face like a red halo.
She watched him in disbelief.
"He's actually eating it," she whispered. "He's eating lightning."
Beside her, Esdeath was completely at ease, letting sparks hop across her fingers like playful insects.
"It's the purity of force," Esdeath murmured, eyes fixed on the summit. "Lightning takes the shortest path. It never hesitates. If you want to become faster, watch it. Learn from it."
Natasha didn't roll her eyes—for once.
She tried it.
Her shadow flickered.
[Shadow Walk] pulsed.
And she reappeared three meters away. Small, but real.
She blinked.
"…okay. That felt different."
Esdeath smirked. "Good. Again."
---
The Guardian of the Storm
Above them, Su Chen's Silver sheen began cracking—literally peeling—revealing a Gold radiance burning underneath.
The sky reacted first.
A shriek ripped through the storm, sharp enough to silence thunder itself.
Something enormous detached from the vortex.
A creature descended—no, fell—with purpose.
A bird the size of a warship glowed in the stormlight. Its feathers weren't feathers at all but condensed plasma, frozen into shape by pure electrical force. Its eyes were miniature suns, burning white-hot.
[Target: Storm Roc (Divine Beast Descendant)]
[Level: 38 – Lord Class]
[Attribute: Pure Thunder]
[Note: You are sitting on its feeding ground.]
The Roc folded its wings and dropped.
Speed: Mach 4.
Too fast for Natasha.
Too fast for Esdeath.
Too fast for anything human.
Esdeath shouted—"Master!"—but she knew she wouldn't reach him.
Su Chen opened his eyes.
Gold pupils.
No fear.
"I'm busy."
He didn't rise.
Didn't dodge.
Didn't even tense.
He just lifted his right arm.
[Flesh Manipulation: Muscle Compression]
[Hulk Rage: Spike]
[Telekinesis: High-Density Shield]
The Roc's talons slammed into his forearm.
CLAAAAANG.
The peak disintegrated beneath him.
Clouds exploded outward from the impact.
Su Chen remained seated.
The Roc pushed harder, talons sparking, trying to penetrate the Semi-Gold layer. The island trembled under the force.
Su Chen looked at the creature like it was a noisy child.
"That's all? This island hits harder than you."
The Roc screeched in fury and opened its beak.
"Thunder Breath!"
A beam of blue-white plasma engulfed him at point-blank range.
Natasha screamed—
Esdeath's face lit with murderous excitement—
Su Chen inhaled.
"Asgardian Physiology: Absorb."
"Lich Bloodline: Devour."
He opened his mouth and drank the attack.
The plasma howled down his throat, incinerating the last impurities inside him.
The world froze.
[System Alert: Energy Threshold Surpassed]
[Indestructible Diamond Body: Evolving]
[Silver Body → Gold Body]
BOOM.
A pillar of divine, burning gold blasted upward, hurling the Roc back into the sky.
When the light faded, Su Chen stood.
---
The Golden Ascension
He was no longer silver.
He was a walking monument.
A figure sculpted from burnished gold, every muscle defined like chiseled art, every breath bending the air around him. His hair floated behind him, glowing with internal radiance.
[Cultivation: Indestructible Diamond Body – Stage 2: Gold Body (Complete)]
[Passive Resistances: Tier-3 Magic, Heat, Cold, Radiation – IMMUNE]
[Strength: 80 → 100 (Before Rage Scaling)]
He clenched his fist and the air snapped.
"Strength at 100… good. I can finally wield the Trident properly."
Above, the Storm Roc circled—confused, afraid.
Su Chen blurred upward.
Faster.
Cleaner.
Limitless.
Purple Cloud Wings ignited behind him with a metallic roar.
He appeared above the Roc.
"You interrupted my meditation."
He grabbed the Roc's wing in one hand.
Electricity poured into him—useless.
"Down."
He slammed the divine beast into the island.
CRASH.
The entire island cracked.
The Roc lay paralyzed.
[Target Defeated. Choose Reward.]
– Kill
– Tame
– Harvest
Su Chen placed his hand on its chest.
"I don't need a bird. I have a truck."
[Copying Attribute: Storm Flight]
[Copying Attribute: Thunder Core]
A faint flash.
A pulsing blue core materialized in his hand.
"System. Kill."
One punch.
Silence.
[EXP +4000]
[Level 10 Reached – Limit Break Approaching]
He stored the carcass.
(Roc meat sells high. Also tastes amazing roasted.)
---
The Titan's Spine
The defeat of the Roc didn't calm the island.
Instead, the ground shuddered.
Deep. Rhythmic. Wrong.
Su Chen hovered upward and activated [Spirit Sight].
His stomach tightened.
The "island chain" wasn't islands.
It was vertebrae.
Ancient. Massive. Fossilized.
Each island was a bone segment the size of a city.
"This… isn't a region," Su Chen whispered. "It's the spine of an Ancient Titan."
The "lightning storm"?
Not weather.
It was the Titan's residual bio-electricity.
A dead colossus trying to restart its own heart.
"This whole zone… it's a charging battery."
He dropped the Roc's Thunder Core into a fissure.
ZZZTTTT—
Energy surged upward.
A beam of blue plasma shot through the sky, linking every island in one pulse.
[Ancient Mechanism Activated]
[Titan's Spine Recharging]
[Energy Source: Planetary Grade]
Su Chen grinned.
Perfect.
He contacted the Black Behemoth.
"Saya, bring the truck above the beam."
Her terrified scream crackled through the comm:
"THAT IS A STAR-LEVEL LASER—ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR—"
"It's a charging station! Move!"
The truck descended. Hovered.
Then the beam engulfed it.
The Arc Reactor roared.
The Dungeon Core brightened until the walls glowed translucent.
[Ship Energy: 100% → 200% → 400% → 600%]
[Spatial Expansion: Level 2 Unlocked]
[New Feature: Dimensional Anchor]
The ship could now anchor outside time.
Su Chen exhaled, wiping soot from his golden chest.
Good haul.
---
Back on the Black Behemoth
Natasha stared at him when he reentered. Her expression was a blend of awe and existential crisis.
"You look like… an Oscar statue that learned how to kill people."
Su Chen let the golden shine fade, settling into a healthy bronze glow.
"Gold Body achieved," he said casually. "Anything under Level 50 can't scratch me now."
He sat on his throne.
"Jiang Rou. Set course for the Mariana Trench."
Jiang Rou jerked around in shock. "We're going to the Abyss?"
"Yes."
He rested an elbow on his knee.
"I have the Trident. I have the Gold Body. I have an overcharged fortress."
His eyes sharpened.
"It's time to open the Gate to the real world."