Chapter 184: Growth Booster

Words : 1069 Updated : Sep 21st, 2025

Chapter 184: Growth Booster Ethan kept moving through the forest, his pace steady but never rushed. He didn’t have a map, and he wasn’t following a trail, but something inside him kept pointing him forward. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t even curiosity. It was more like his gut knew something was waiting, and the only way to understand it was to keep walking. The trees here were taller than before, packed a little tighter together. Their branches reached out like quiet hands, heavy with moss and age. The deeper he went, the less sunlight made it through the canopy. But he didn’t need it. His eyes had already adjusted, and he trusted his instincts more than the light. The air smelled different here—more damp, more earthy, like the ground had been untouched for a long time. He heard no birds. No bugs. Not even the usual rustling of small animals. Everything felt still. But not dead. Just waiting. Ethan stopped for a second, taking in the silence. He wasn’t afraid, but he knew this wasn’t normal. His eyes scanned the trees, then the ground, then the gaps between trunks, but nothing moved. Yet that quiet pressure in his chest was still there, pushing gently, reminding him that something wasn’t right. He took a breath and looked to the side. The system pinged quietly. [Bronze Rank Progression – 91%] Ethan blinked the message away and crouched down beside a wide tree root, brushing aside some leaves before settling in. He reached into his pack and pulled out a small glass bottle filled with a dark gold liquid. The glow was faint—easy to miss unless you looked closely. This was something only he could get. Most superpower users had to either spend hours meditating without moving or throw themselves into dangerous fights just to push their limits. There weren’t any real shortcuts—just patience or pain. That was how it worked for most people. But Ethan had the system. And with it came potions that helped cut down the time others spent training. One of them was the Growth Booster—a small bottle made to match his current state. Nothing magical or overpowered. Just a steady, well-made formula designed to push him forward. Like a slow push forward in a bottle. Not strong enough to break through a wall, but enough to help him keep walking without stalling. Growth Booster (System-Crafted) Helps accelerate rank advancement based on user condition. Cost: 120 Coins (A/N: He earned the coins during his time with the girls. The quests weren’t new, so I didn’t include them earlier.) He uncapped the bottle and drank it in one go. The taste was bitter and earthy, but he didn’t flinch. He’d had worse. After a few seconds, a low heat spread through his stomach and chest—not hot, just warm enough to feel like something was moving inside him. He leaned back against the root and let his body settle. His breathing slowed a little. His shoulders relaxed. The mix didn’t cause pain or dislodge anything; it simply helped things shift inside. Like his muscles were getting packed tighter, his energy flow getting smoother, his frame slowly adjusting itself toward the next level. Muscles tightened, bones felt heavier, but everything stayed quiet. There were no sparks, no bursts of power. Just small, silent changes stacking on top of each other. He stayed there for maybe twenty minutes, eyes half-open, watching the way the mist moved between the trees. It didn’t drift randomly like fog usually did. It moved around him, like it was avoiding his spot. He noticed a few birds flutter past in the distance, but none of them came close. Even the bugs seemed to give him space. Eventually, he stood again, slipping the empty bottle back into his bag. He stretched his arms, rolled his shoulders once, and continued walking. His steps were light, not because he was trying to be stealthy, but because the ground here was soft, layered with fallen leaves and roots that had woven into a sort of natural carpet. He didn’t trip or stumble. Every step found solid footing. Not long after, a noise caught his attention. It wasn’t loud, just the snap of a twig or the shift of a branch, but it was enough to make him pause. He turned his head slowly, eyes narrowing, and spotted a low shape moving between the trees. A beast. Its back was low and wide, its body built for power rather than speed. It hadn’t seen him yet. He waited and watched. The beast stopped near a rock, sniffing the air. Then it turned his way. They locked eyes. It didn’t hesitate. The beast charged, claws digging into the dirt, head down like a battering ram. Ethan didn’t panic. He didn’t shout. He just stepped slightly to the side, lowered his stance, and let the beast come to him. Right before impact, he moved. One clean motion—ducking under the charge, driving his elbow into the joint where the beast’s leg met its chest. There was a crunch, a wheeze, and then the beast collapsed in a heap. It didn’t roar. Didn’t thrash. It just twitched once, then went still. Ethan stood over it for a moment, checking that it was truly down. Then he stepped back and kept walking. No celebration or look back. The fight had lasted three seconds, and that was enough. As he walked, his thoughts stayed quiet, but the wristband chimed softly as it recorded the kill. But he completely ignored that he wasn’t overthinking the fight or the points. He wasn’t thinking about how many more there’d be. He was just focused on what was next. The system pinged again. [Bronze Rank Progression – 94%] Closer. The forest started changing again the further he went. The trees got thicker, but the spaces between them widened. The ground sloped down into a gentle basin, and soft blue moss covered almost everything—rocks, roots, even parts of the trees. It gave the area a strange glow, but not in a way that felt magical. It just looked... natural, like it had always been this way. Ethan slowed his pace, not out of caution, but because something about this place made him want to take his time. He crouched again near the edge of the basin and waited. He didn’t know what for. He just knew the air here felt different.

Chapter 184: Growth Booster

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