Bab 16: Electrical Dilemma
I dashed onto the platform filled with large steel rods. These steel rods were placed orderly on the vertices of many hexagon tiles in a grid like map. Electricity surged into each of these rods, emitting loud crackling sounds of lightning. These arcs of crackling lightning then connected the rods, creating a barrier of electric energy that would shock you to the very core. Hell, a normal human might even be instantly vaporized by this electrifying wall. 'Let's hope this new grunt body of mine isn't!' I thought to myself with grim hope.
I continued my charge through the field of steel rods and realized how tall they were, looming over me at a uniform height of two stories. Initially, I thought they were simple steel rods, but up close, I noticed each had a thick, plated bottom part—most likely housing the machinery that helped them conduct electricity.
I knew for a fact the "barrier" itself was not permanent and would go down periodically. There should be a timing or a pattern for when these "barriers" erected between the rods, but...
"Let's see if I can just brute force this!" I shouted with gusto. I timed my charge into the steel rods field just in time when the lightning barrier went down. I managed to pass through one of the hexagon tiles and the lightning steel rods that had their lightning barrier down just in time. I could even see the other side of the obstacle straight ahead of me! I would just need to dash forward with all my might.
I exerted more pressure on my legs, feeling the muscles contracting and responding to my will. I could feel my body accelerating at my command as I focused my vision forward. Having this almost superhuman-level body was something else!
I already imagined myself passing through this lightning steel rods field... or so I thought.
"Wait... what...?" I was quite sure that I had accelerated faster as I passed through the many steel rods. But... my body felt sluggish all of a sudden. Not only that, my body was starting to feel... tingly. I was quite confused about what was happening to my body. I was pretty sure that I had been doing fantastic with it, but now it felt like it was rejecting my will. Was... was my new grunt body starting to reject me...?
Unfortunately, any further thought of this now had to be halted because I realized that just as I was about to cross another hexagon tiles grid, the lightning barrier was starting to activate again! I had to put all my willpower into my legs so that they would brake my charge toward the slowly materializing barrier. I managed to gain control of my legs again, and I did a quick emergency brake into a slide. I felt the burning sensation of friction on my rear, but... I managed to stop my body just a few centimeters from the lightning barrier. The tip of my toes almost reached the lightning barrier, and I could feel the tingling from just being close to it.
Wait... 'tingling'? I just realized my body felt strange when I entered this field filled with lightning steel rods. Right now, my legs felt the worst of it. I looked down at them, only to find that the mysterious dark material of my skin-tight suit had turned volatile. It was shifting and bubbling like the surface of boiling water, the smooth fabric now writhing and pulsing erratically. Previously, this skin-tight suit had been covering my entire body without any problem whatsoever, but now it was acting quite volatile. Then I realized that the part of my suit closer to the lightning barrier—my feet—was the most volatile as that part was all goopy-looking.
It wasn't my body that was acting strange... it was this suit of mine reacting to the lightning barrier!
"My, what's wrong, Grunt No. 703?" came the voice of the mad scientist woman, Victoria. It was coming from the sky as I looked up and found the drone with her display casually flying high above the Lightning Grid field. I could see her mischievous and smug face quite clearly even from a distance.
I quickly got up and back-stepped away from the lightning barrier, in particular, toward the middle of the hexagon shape. As soon as I was away from it, my dark material suit stopped acting volatile and returned to its skin-tight condition, but... the sensation of the tingling didn't fully disappear.
I was quite sure that I did not get shocked by the surge of electricity from any of these lightning steel rods, so why was my body and dark suit acting strange? I looked back again at the drone that was still displaying the smug-looking scientist Victoria.
"Boss! What's wrong with my suit here? Why is it acting weird?" I shouted to the displayed Victoria, asking for an explanation. I hoped that I could get an immediate answer from the one I assumed to be responsible for applying these mysterious dark material suits to all of us grunts.
Wait... now I just realized that I didn't even know what this suit was... what the hell was this dark material anyway?
The drone then got a bit closer to the Lightning Grid field, but not close enough that it would get zapped by these lightning steel rods. I could see her mischievous expression a little bit closer now.
"Oh? You want to know why your grunt suit is acting strange, you say?" She teasingly repeated my question.
"Yeah, boss! What's wrong with this thing? Hell, what the hell is this thing anyway?!" I shouted back with another question.
She giggled at hearing my many questions. "Ah, yes. I haven't explained yet to any of you newly recruited grunts about your suit, have I?" She made a fake realization expression. I could only stare blankly at her attempt to look guilty and forgetful. "Well, since you have kindly reminded me about it, I would gladly elaborate on it, but first..." she suddenly paused her explanation. Then... I could see inside the display that she raised her finger and then casually pointed at me... or not exactly at me, but what was underneath me.
"Don't stay too long inside the hexagons or you'll trigger their pressure plate~," she briefly warned me.
"Huh?" I was confused, but then I looked down at the platform surface that I had been sitting on and realized that the hexagon tile I was standing on was slowly glowing blue... and I could see small crackles coming from it.
I quickly realized that this hexagon tile was also about to surge with electricity!
HIATUS
HIATUS. Not much to say here other than it's not working out.
Hadiah
-- Hadiah diterima Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone