My Charity System made me too OP-Chapter 411: Note VII

His fourth mark appeared—a silver-blue crest flowing around his ribs.

[Element of Water Acquired]

Elemental Affinity (Water): 70%

Skill Gained: Mirror Veil – Briefly reflect projected attacks or illusions

Passive Gained: Flowstep – Movement becomes silent and harder to track

Emotional Sync: Achieved

Elemental Balance Now: Flame | Wind | Earth | Water

Roselia breathed in sharply. "You passed it."

Kael still looked rattled. "What was that place?"

Leon looked at his hand. Water clung to it—even after he shook it off. It moved when he moved. Flowed when he focused.

"The Water Core wasn’t testing power," he said. "It was testing who we are when we’re drowning."

Aris stepped beside him. "And you didn’t."

"No," Leon said. "I didn’t."

They rested for only twenty minutes.

The Hollow was shifting again.

And the path forward was no longer stone or water—

But stormcloud and sparks.

Lightning waited next.

And Leon, now wielding four elements, would have to master the most violent Core of them all.

They didn’t walk far before they heard it.

A low, constant hum.

Like the growl of a sleeping engine stretched across a canyon. It pulsed through the walls, into their bones, into their teeth. And it only got louder the deeper they went.

Roselia clutched her head. "My seals are fuzzing."

Kael checked his tablet—only to find the screen flickering wildly.

Leon raised a hand. "Stop here."

The corridor ahead was black—but not empty. Streaks of white-blue light ran like veins through the stone, arcing from wall to wall. Static danced across the floor in thin, twitching lines.

He could already feel it on his skin.

The Lightning Core wasn’t waiting to be claimed.

It was warning them to stay out.

Aris moved beside him. "How do we cross this without being fried?"

Kael tossed a rock forward.

It didn’t even reach the middle.

A fork of lightning speared down and incinerated it instantly.

The hum grew louder.

Leon stared forward. Something about the rhythm of the current—the way it pulsed—was almost... deliberate.

Then he heard it.

Voices.

But not words.

Laughter.

Mocking. Echoing inside his head.

Roselia blinked. "Is it... sentient?"

"No," Leon said. "It’s reacting to us. Like it’s remembering something."

The stone under their feet vibrated—and a sharp crack rang out.

From the far end of the corridor, a figure stepped through the lightning.

It was a tall man, draped in white and blue robes. Sparks traced across his arms like veins. His eyes glowed faint gold. His presence distorted the air.

He didn’t walk.

He glided. freewebnøvel.coɱ

And the moment he raised his hand, lightning shattered the ceiling above them.

Leon threw up a flame-wall. Aris tackled Kael down. Roselia raised a last-second glyph dome.

The man didn’t speak. He simply pointed at Leon.

And then vanished in a bolt of light.

Straight down the corridor.

Leon stood slowly.

"That’s our guardian."

Kael grunted. "The Lightning Warden?"

Leon nodded. "Let’s go."

The corridor narrowed into a suspended platform chamber—walled in on all sides by writhing arcs of living electricity. Dozens of broken constructs hovered in the air, crackling, twitching, some still sparking with residual charge.

The Warden stood at the center.

And when it moved—

It moved like lightning.

Leon barely had time to raise his sword before a bolt of raw current struck him square in the chest.

He flew back, slammed into the wall, smoke rising from his armor.

"LEON!" Roselia shouted.

He staggered upright, coughing—his shirt burned through, skin scorched—but alive.

The fire mark on his arm flickered.

The wind mark surged.

And the water flowed instinctively, spreading across his skin to cool the burn.

He stood, slower this time.

"This one’s faster than anything we’ve faced," he muttered.

Kael shouted from behind a crumbled pillar, "This whole place is grounded to react to sudden movement! He’s using it like a circuit!"

Leon focused.

If lightning moved in straight lines...

He would bend.

He inhaled, grounded himself in Earth.

Exhaled with Wind.

Let Flame push him forward.

And let Water smooth his reflexes.

Then he charged.

The Warden met him in a blink.

Their clash sent a shockwave through the chamber. Sparks flew. Stone cracked. Leon’s blade screeched against the Warden’s hand, which was more like a conductor rod than flesh.

Leon spun.

Gale Step.

The Warden countered with a blink-speed slash.

Leon ducked.

Terra Grasp—raised a pillar of stone to shield him.

Lightning shattered it instantly—but it bought him the second he needed.

He slashed upward—fire flaring with wind—and caught the Warden across the side.

The enemy staggered.

Then retaliated with a full-body lightning burst.

Leon collapsed, twitching—barely holding consciousness.

The Core itself pulsed now—hanging above the Warden like a second sun. Radiant. Untouchable.

Then Leon felt the spark in his chest.

A small, faint hum that didn’t come from the Hollow.

But from within him.

A fifth brand lit across his spine—crackling yellow.

Lightning didn’t come to him slowly.

It exploded.

Leon’s body seized—

Then straightened.

Arcs of energy danced around his arms, traced his legs, sparked across his blade.

And when he moved next—

He was already at the Warden’s back.

One cut.

Blinding.

The Warden froze.

Its chest arced outward, overloaded.

Then it collapsed—falling in slow motion, its power spilling out like a short-circuited storm.

Leon stood still as sparks flared around his body.

Then, like always, the Core descended.

And when he touched it—

The lightning didn’t fight him.

It became his.

[Element of Lightning Acquired]

Elemental Affinity: Lightning – 66%

Skill Gained: Flash Arc – Move in a blink of light within a 10-meter radius

Passive Gained: Charge Field – Brief stuns are automatically reflected on contact

Elemental Configuration: Flame | Wind | Earth | Water | Lightning

Status: Core Network at 83% Sync

Next Detected: Final Element – Void (Sector F: The Null Spiral)

Leon turned back to the team—his eyes now faintly glowing gold-blue.

Kael let out a low whistle. "You’re basically a walking weather event now."

Roselia raised an eyebrow. "I’m surprised the Tower hasn’t collapsed around you yet."

Aris stepped closer. "One left."

Leon nodded, still catching his breath.

"The last one isn’t an element."

"No?" Aris asked.

Leon looked ahead. His tone was quiet.

"It’s the absence of all of them."

They all stared down the corridor.

Dark.

Lightless.

Silent.

Void.

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