Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

As he focused on nudging his red scars with the world essence energy, Zach suddenly felt that the suffering he had gone through in the past at the Academy hadn't been so bad. Everything he had experienced after the Academy was worse.

On a purely physical level, what he was going through right now was at the top. Almost nonstop pain of his body telling him to stop aggravating its injuries. He wasn't just going through it, though. He was putting himself through it.

But it was because he had to figure out why the broken parts of his body rejected the world essence energy.

Eventually, he realized that the brute-force method wasn't working so well, even if it was the only one he could think of. He took a break from that and instead just looked at the red lines scarring the inside of his body. He looked as closely as possible to try to see what made the injuries so different from the rest of his body and other types of injuries.

However, he wasn't sure what exactly he was looking for. But just the attempt gave him an idea.

If he couldn't figure out why the red lines were rejecting the world essence energy by trying to force it, maybe he could figure it out by creating new ones to see what happened to his body when it couldn't endure the world essence energy anymore.

He needed to learn more about the red lines. This was one way to do it.

Zach gathered his world essence energy in one spot and pushed it into that spot of his body, strengthening and energizing it beyond normal. It was like he was using Surge on only one part of his body. It was a little strange since that part of his body ended up out of sync with the rest of him.

It felt hotter while the area around it felt colder and weaker. But he ignored the sensations and focused on the appearance and condition of his flesh and body.

At first and for a decent while, it just looked like that part of his body was superior and more energetic in every way to the point where the area around it couldn't keep up.

However, after a while, the area started returning to its original condition. It was a minuscule change that Zach only noticed because he was paying so close attention to it.

It was the first time he wasn't fighting for his life when using Surge. He could see more.

He was at a crossroads. He could either pull back the world essence energy and let it calm down again, or he could push it back in and force it to continue. He could stop now that the part of his body was starting to reach its limits, or he could ignore its wishes and break past those limits, squeezing out more strength and potential.

The choice was obvious.

Zach continued.

The chosen area of his body continued producing heat and strength. But its condition worsened. Appearance-wise, the tissue he had chosen started looking worse than the area around it. It twisted and paled before becoming pink and finally red. It was only at that point that it stopped producing the strength Zach expected from Surge.

The chosen part of his body and well and truly reached its limits, and now it was paying the price for it. It couldn't even hold onto the world essence energy anymore.

If his body were a glass, the world essence energy was turbulent water.

When the turbulent water was inside the glass, it shook and trembled, producing fits and bursts of strength. It was fine for shorter periods.

But the longer the turbulent water stayed in the glass, the more it shook and trembled. The more it hopped around.

It was only a matter of time before it broke and cracked or shattered.

When it reached that point, it couldn't hold the turbulent water, no matter how much Zach tried to force it.

That was the condition of the red lines inside Zach's body. They physically could not hold onto the world essence energy.

Technically, it wasn't because the world essence energy had broken them. It was because they were broken in a way that only Zach's world essence energy could do right now. He might encounter something similar in the future. But for now, the only thing Zach knew that could do that kind of damage to his body was his own world essence energy.

Other injuries didn't necessarily break the glass. Other injuries were like specks of dirt on the glass that the turbulent water could wash away.

Zach was happy to have found the cause. He finally understood the condition of his body.

But he wasn't satisfied yet. After all, he had no idea what to do to fix it. How was he supposed to mend the broken glass?

Glue?

Now, if only he had some metaphorical glass-repairing glue. Too bad the handicrafts store around the corner didn't sell it.

No, he probably wouldn't be able to fix it when he overdid it, at least not right now.

But he wasn't completely out of options.

He might only be able to wait for the broken glasses to piece themselves together. But he still had the rest of his body.

If he wasn't completely mistaken, the glass was made stronger as long as it could endure the turbulent water's assault. It was like any kind of training. It grew stronger by enduring stress and by breaking occasionally.

It was like his muscles.

Zach couldn't repair the broken glasses, but he could reinforce the intact ones and prevent them from breaking in the first place.

He already had an idea of how to do it.

His body broke because it could not handle the turbulent waves of the world essence energy for too long. But what if the world essence energy's turbulence was at a level that his body could just barely handle?

It was similar to when the world essence energy had been in its dormant state.

To be exact, he was going to keep the world essence energy at a level between activity and dormancy.

A small amount of turbulence at all times. It wouldn't be enough to break his body, but it would be enough to strengthen the glasses more quickly than it did when the world essence energy was dormant.

Zach was excited.

Maybe he could one day use Surge to its full potential all the time.