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BII: Chapter Twenty-eight
🕑 Added 2023-04-05 03:16:25 +0000 UTC“So, what do you want to talk about? I thought what happened was pretty clear.” Maeve asked, as Eli blipped into space beside her. She dropped into a chair of solidified lightning reinforced with sonomantic crystal.
“I mean, I’m pretty nervous about what’s going to happen.” Eli paced while he rolled the power gem between his hands. It pulsed with its own heartbeat, but instead of feeling disturbing, it felt soothing. Peaceful. “I really don’t want the police or the DRC to come after me.”
“Pfft. They won’t.” Maeve scoffed. “Between our powers and Mom’s, we’ll be back home in Rockford once we meet them.”
“Your government really doesn’t have a way to track people cross-country?” Eli squinted at her.
“Obviously they do, but as far as anyone knows, you’re Herbert. Nothing is connecting your identity to Pulsar’s, either. Worst case scenario, if it’s found out that you’re not Herbert, you lean on your persona as Pulsar.” She shrugged. “Or we can try to pretend you’re a Human spawn from a dungeon.”
“Wait. People spawn in dungeons too?” Eli blinked in shock. How did that work? Were they born or just created wholesale by the System?
“Oh yeah, but it’s pretty uncommon. Dungeons usually populate with spawn that are nearly extinct and that will do well in the nearby environment. Most of those dungeons are cleared out for the power gems and given to the people inside of it to help them fund their way into modern society. Otherwise, they’re left alone if they have the madness.”
“Won’t people ask questions or wonder where I came from?”
“They will, but it’ll give you a bit of a pass. Plus you already have a legal identity with the DRC.” Maeve glanced out at the sprawling city beneath them. “It’s really not that big of a deal.”
“If you say so.” He frowned while he did his best to accept that. Back home, the System creating people would have never been trusted like that. What if they had malicious intentions? What if that did happen back home?
“Anything else, or are you ready to take a crack at the gem?”
“I’m still curious about some things the DD people mentioned.” Eli blinked as Vigilant Muse converged its split mental processes. Multiple level ups prodded at his consciousness, but he ignored them. “Like what are Mem-Dreams, serums, and Ghosts? I haven’t been able to find any info on it.”
“Ah. That.” Maeve shoved her hands into a different flavor of planar space, something similar to his own sanctum. In her hands she held two vials and a lump of heavily enchanted crystal. She tossed him the crystal.
Eli tried to lock it down with Astral Starspace but it continued to sail forward until he caught it.
<Would you like to view the memory stored in the Mem-Dream? Y/N
Memory Title: m_newton_log520>
“A log?” Eli asked as he rolled it around in his left hand.
“Yeah. It should be pretty obvious, but Mem-Dreams can store memories and play them later. Some people use them for learning, for passing on skills, and for the process or feeling of using certain powers so others can make the same one. That’s from the day before I met you if you want to watch or hold on to it.”
Eli slipped it into his vault with a nod. A glimpse of understanding threatened to swell up as he felt it and its enchantments store inside of Astral Starspace.
Maeve held up the two vials. One of them frothed from the motion as bubbles of color writhed inside of it. The other shone an even silver-blue glow.
“Serums are basically distilled perks or powers that can be drunk. They’re like artificial stats. Some can last forever while others will fade with use.” She tilted the prismatic vial in her hand. “This is one I’ve been too afraid and sad to take. It’s personal, but… Grandma Beth left it for me in her will.”
“What does it do?” Eli frowned at it. Whatever it was, he couldn’t sense any details about it through his spatial field. Also, wasn’t Beth the name of his paternal grandma?
“Bilbliopathic Scribe. Dad has a similar power, but grandma’s would also allow me to store anything I’ve read along as do some other things.” Her brow furrowed while she stared at the vial for a second longer before she planeshifted it. “She taught me to love reading and she was so sad when I stopped after college. Anyway. That’s a serum.”
Eli winced at that. He felt remarkably awkward and uncomfortable about that. He’d had more of a relationship with his grandparents when he was really young, but it had dwindled once his parents moved them all to the west coast to live in Farbrook.
“A Ghost is…” She cleared her throat with a cough. “Ghosts act basically as a secondary System linked to you. They’re apparently really hard to make. I won this one off a bet with Zach two years ago.”
Maeve tossed it to him.
Space clamped around it, arresting its momentum as he brought it up to eye level so he could get a good look at the shining silvery liquid.
“I stopped using it after I got my Class Power, but you can have it, if you want it. It’s not the best if you push it, but it’ll work.”
Eli studied it as he uncorked it. Astral Starspace slipped whenever he tried to get a feeling for the actual liquid inside of it. He lifted it up to his mouth to drink.
“Whoa, what the hell? Don’t drink it! Just push your System at it.” Maeve’s chuckle broke into laughter as he glared at her. “Sorry. It’s a tradition. Zach played the same prank on me when I got it.”
He brought his System up.
<Congratulations, Elias Newton! You have leveled up the following power: Vigilant Muse Ev. 0/Lv. 4 -> Vigilant Muse Ev. 0/Lv. 5>
<Congratulations, Elias Newton! You have leveled up the following power: Astral Starspace Ev. 1/Lv. 0 -> Astral Starspace Ev. 1/Lv. 1>
<Congratulations, Elias Newton! You have leveled up the following power: Astral Starspace Ev. 1/Lv. 1 -> Astral Starspace Ev. 1/Lv. 2>
<Congratulations, Elias Newton! You have maxed out the following power:
Vigilant Muse Ev. 0
You may now select from one of the following options:
Evolve Power
Obtain New Power
N/A
N/A>
[Stats:
Body: Light (Photon Shot)
Mind: None
Will: None
]
[Equipped Power List:
Slot One -- Astral Starspace Ev. 1/Lv. 2
Slot Two -- Lumencloud Transfiguration Ev. 1/Lv. 3
Slot Three -- Vigilant Muse Ev. 0/Lv. 5 (Maxed)
]
[Unequipped Powers:
Hunter’s Bounty Ev. 0/Lv. 0
Cybermancer’s Tech Ev. 3/Lv. 0
Phytomancer’s Regency Ev. 3/Lv. 0
]
[Unequipped Perks:
Blight
Double
Control Light
Control Water
Control Air
Cloud
Farsense
Mirage
Warp
Glow
Reflect
Perception
]
<Power Gem detected. Would you like to make modifications to your System? Y/N>
<Unclaimed Ghost detected. Would you like to synchronize with [Feral Steel]? Y/N>
“Oh. The power gem came up too.” Eli confirmed both prompts. The vial with the silver liquid vanished at the same time the power gem shattered. Motes of glitter and dust sank into his palm.
Possibilities opened up to him from the gem at the same time the Ghost processed itself into his System. The last thing he saw before he was whisked away into the void of the System was the Ghost’s details.
[Feral Steel Ev. 2 (On/Off):
Slot One — Ferrosteel Forge
(Description: All iron or steel in your range becomes your domain. Forge it—and yourself—as you see fit.)
Slot Two — Unrelenting Hunt
(Description: Chase down a task to its completion. No matter the cost.)
]
<Welcome and congratulations, Elias Newton! A number of System modifications are available. Due to having an Uncommon fragment you can choose to make:
3 Poor modifications
OR
1 Common && 2 Poor modifications
OR
2 Common modifications
OR
1 Uncommon modification
What sort of System modifications would you like to make?>
“Get anything good?” Maeve asked with a wry smile.
“Yeah, the Ghost seems like it’ll be very useful. I’m kind of surprised you’re giving it up. Plus, I can potentially make some nice System modifications, but I’m running into a bit of a blank on what to do other than maybe being able to see power rarity.
<You have selected 1 Common modification. You have one more Common selection or two Poor selections left.>
“I mean, what do you wish the System could do better?” She raised her eyebrow for a second before she continued. “And yeah, that Ghost is nice. It saved my life more than once on a delve. You can use Ferrosteel Forge almost indefinitely, but Unrelenting Hunt overclocks the Ghost and you by a fuckton. If you use both together, you’ll have about a minute or two of use.”
“Hm, okay.” He nodded at that while he resolved to play around with the Ghost later. Making a serum or two also sounded interesting if he could figure it out.
Eli paced.
Alright. So what did he think the System could do better other than showing rarities of powers?
Having an actual description of his powers would be pretty nice. It would be better for new powers, but if he had a way to identify or see the statuses of others, then that’d be incredible.
<Common and Rare selections requested. Identify Others denied. Would you like to switch from Display Rarity to Basic Description? Y/N>
He ignored it.
Being able to see the different categories of his powers would also be nice. Everyone in this dimension loved categorizing them, but it’d be nice to take the guesswork out of it.
<Additional Poor selection—>
Eli skipped it.
He stopped as he smiled. Some video games had loadouts. What if he could switch between different sets of equipped powers? Right now, it wouldn’t be as helpful, but if he got a few more powers, it could be.
<Additional Rare selection—>
Fuck.
Eli continued to pace while he tried to see what else he could push the System to do. Could he have traits like in video games? Favor a type of power to make it better? Maybe have more of a progression bar or experience points for his levels and where he was at with Body of Light?
The last one brought up a notification.
<Additional Common selection—>
So he could get two of the three he wanted the most. He could see the rarity of his powers, which would be nice knowing if he needed to keep refining a power before evolving. Having a progress indicator for his powers would be nice for upgrading Body of Light. Or he could have a Basic Description.
Eli thought about it for a second before he selected and confirmed Display Rarity and Display Progress. Both would be the most useful to him now and in the future, with his current and any future powers he got. While a description would be nice, it was mostly useless to him now, depending on how ‘basic’ the description was.
If he had a better power gem, maybe he could get a better version of power descriptions.
<Congratulations, Elias Newton. You have selected 2 Common modifications:
Display Rarity
Display Progress>
<Processing…>
Eli blinked as he felt the modification take effect as the System adjusted and revealed some of the hidden values in his status. Neither worked on his perks or the powers in his Ghost. Otherwise, he was very interested in what he saw.
[Stats:
Body: Light (Photon Shot) (Common)
Progress to Evolve: 90%
Mind: None
Will: None
]
[Equipped Power List:
Slot One -- Astral Starspace Ev. 1/Lv. 2 (Legendary)
Progress to level: 5%
Slot Two -- Lumencloud Transfiguration Ev. 1/Lv. 3 (Epic)
Progress to level: 50%
Slot Three -- Vigilant Muse Ev. 0/Lv. 5 (Maxed) (Rare)
Progress to level: 100%
]
[Unequipped Powers:
Hunter’s Bounty Ev. 0/Lv. 0 (Common)
Progress to level: 0%
Cybermancer’s Tech Ev. 3/Lv. 0 (Uncommon)
Progress to level: 0%
Phytomancer’s Regency Ev. 3/Lv. 0 (Rare)
Progress to level: 0%
]
Eli winced at the rarity for Photon Shot. It was literally the second worst rarity. He had really fucked himself over when he let the panic and trauma from the mall push him into slotting it. A thrill shot through him at how close it was to evolving it, though.
Only 10% left.
Astral Starspace being Legendary felt incredibly satisfying and validating. He was disappointed though that Lumencloud Transfiguration and Vigilant Muse were only Epic and Rare though.
“What did you get?” Maeve stood up with a stretch. “And are you ready to push your Body stat?”
“I can see the rarity of powers and different progress indicators. I only have 10% left until Body of Light is ready to evolve.” He smiled as the world turned black and white.
Maeve’s neck rolled with a sharp crack spreading sheets of sonomantic crystal around her body in time with her heartbeat. A shield, armor, and sword appeared with flickers of solidified lightning.
Eli’s smile turned into a smirk. Astral Starspace wasn’t nearly as hindered as it had been in this planar space as it had been when it was Voidspace Horizon.
“Only use light. See where and how it connects to your other powers. To you. Why is Elias Newton the physical embodiment of light? I’m coming at you as hard as I can without using my Class Power.” Her grin turned wicked. “I know you can take it since you beat Dorian.”
“I wouldn’t have been able to without Roman’s help…” Eli grimaced.
“Light is unyielding. Isn’t it? It’ll bend, but never break.” Maeve tutted as bundles of lightning spears appeared in a halo around her. “So why do you?”
Thunder crystallized as it clapped.
Eli reflected away from himself as he turned radiant twice with Body of Light and Lumencloud Transfiguration. Fields and spectrums of light crashed into the lightning spears with a crack. Towers of sonomantic crystal exploded in a hail of silent death.
If Eli wasn’t already behind Maeve.
Stars and lumencloud splashed forward in a wave of heat. He punched through the light straight into her spine with a thud. She stumbled forward as the lightning armor discharged straight into him. Bolts of silent electricity threw him across the roof into the railing with a crack of radiant bone.
Sonomantic crystal crusted over his back and arm before it burst.
Eli teleported away from the shockwave.
Maeve tracked him with a blank, expressionless face. She had done nothing after she had loosed her spears at him. Everything else had been him and the reaction from her powers.
“You’re supposed to be attacking me, not trying to tickle me.” Maeve yawned with a smirk and a mischievous glint in her eyes.
“Ha ha.” Eli rolled his eyes while he drew on Vigilant Muse for inspiration. Guidance. A tide of information roared through the floodgates. She was clearly playing with him.
This wasn’t a straight fight at all. He wasn’t supposed to beat her, but to refine himself, his powers, and most important of all Body of Light. Eli realized he was under-utilizing his powers.
Light. Lumencloud. Space. Stars.
Eli was all of them, so how did they fit together?
Astral Starspace swept across the rooftop. The next salvo of lightning spears drew closer to him. Planar space locked everything down. They weren’t truly in another plane, she just used her power to restrict spacetime.
Radiant muscles flexed. Tendons drew taut. Nerves flashed. He leaned to the side as the spears rammed into the planar space reinforced roof behind him. Electricity and shards of crystal swept toward him.
He contorted himself as his balanced radiance softened. With Vigilant Muse to help him track the lightning and debris, he shaped his light around every threat.
Annihilation passed, and he didn’t take a single step or teleport.
“Better.” Maeve nodded.
Planar space rolled from her.
Black and white static clapped around him. Canyon walls crushed against his shoulders. It restricted regular space. Too bad he had already mastered nullspace. He sidestepped through the press as he nullified a tiny hairline fracture and slipped through.
Volleys of lightning spears buzzed around her monolithic planar space. Sonomantic crystal shed from the spears in a trailing carpet. Spikes grew from the crystal with every pass of the spears.
Eli compressed himself further into a ray of light. He streaked toward Maeve like a laser.
Like a comet.
Astral Starspace fused with Photon Shot as he created and stored a literal star in his personal void. Light flooded his body with beams of power. Another.
And another.
She lifted her shield.
***
Maeve suppressed a smile as she punched her shield into Eli’s path. Blasts of light and stellar radiation pierced through her shield, armor, and straight into her. Storm Regalia flickered from the stat enhanced blow.
Tumors grew with a creak of distended bone. No pain bothered her through the comfort of her Luxurious Domain. Even the slick of her blood felt peacefully warm. Just like a bath.
Eli was the monster Herbert always pretended he was.
Maeve couldn’t wait until they met.
Storm Regalia spat out a thunderstorm of lightning spears and swords that she launched in a whirlwind around him. He vanished like a ghost, a specter. If the DRC knew of his true capabilities, they would trap him in so many domains he would never see sunlight again.
All true savants and prodigies were kept under lock and key. Even the Savior himself.
Eli dodged every attack as he flickered and strobed around every blade and spear. She released wave after wave and still he dodged.
He appeared above her this time. A flurry of stars orbited him as he beamed into her from above.
She let her armor break and reform.
Body of Transcendence stockpiled her pain and torment while she let it heal her wounds before they became threatening. Each time he hurt her, she adapted as the wounds heaped themselves into her stockpile. Mind of Clarity let her gauge the slight uptick in heat from his attack. He was improving.
Maeve almost laughed while she unmade all her Storm Regalia constructs into a furious tempest. Lightning seized through her Planar Will as she used both to claw at him with unerring accuracy. She kept the wind and thunder clouds out of it.
No use in strengthening him further.
Eli tumbled as the spools of electricity cracked against him. Sonomantic Cryst activated as she hammered the thunderclaps into him again and again.
He was already healed by the time he landed on his feet. His sheer tenacity impressed her. His recovery and mobility were just shy of flawless.
Maeve faked a yawn while she rubbed the back of her neck and stretched. He didn’t respond to her goading. Good.
Herbert always flew into a blind rage when she did that.
Soon Eli would be worthy enough for her to use Planar Ascension without fear of smiting him into an early grave.
He was already worthy enough for her to stop fucking around a little.
Maeve walked forward while Storm Regalia turned her sword and shield into the familiar weight of her greatsword. She flicked it up into a high guard as she blipped forward.
She did dull it, though. There was no point if she killed him.
***
Fear dimmed his radiance as Maeve moved for the first time. Frustration had spurred him to evolve Vigilant Muse. No matter what he did, it wasn’t enough.
She was practically invincible.
Eli ducked as she appeared with a slash. Her sword sheathed itself in sonomantic crystal before it burst out in a crescent that teleported into his side.
Radiance bled as the crystals cleaved inside of him. They burrowed deeper as they shattered. Each peppery bit burst into shockwaves.
He skid across the ground as he bounced up and over the railing. Molten blood and exposed gore sealed with a flash. Light couldn’t truly be harmed.
Maeve appeared above him as her greatsword turned into a cartoonishly large hammer. She flipped as she brought it down onto his chest.
He tried to reshape himself out of the way, but it clipped his rib. Lightning and thunderclaps blasted him down into the still street below.
The planar locked ground was unyielding as he pancaked against it. Light faded from him as his concentration wavered. Even his evolved version of Vigilant Muse, Vigilant Revelation, wasn’t enough to push through the pain.
Planar space folded in a crest between her and on top of him.
Astral Starspace converged to allow him to teleport away. Maeve’s planar space swatted his starspace before it could form.
Her boots slammed into his chest with a groan of split bone.
Eli coughed as he struggled to breathe.
“What happened? I thought you were light.” Maeve tilted her head as she reared her hammer back.
Oh.
Light didn’t need to breathe, did it?
Stars do though.
Plumes of copied hydrogen appeared around him. Jets of it and newly created stars ignited in the core of Photon Shot. Waves of starlightning crackled as he reformed his radiance. He launched himself up in an uppercut.
Photon Shot gathered stellar radiance. Charged it into a transcendent incandescence in his core. And released it through his fist as his punch tore through her breastplate like soggy paper.
Arcs of electricity nipped at his hand and arm harmlessly.
Pure power exploded from his fist as he sent her into the building of the rooftop they had fought on with a crash. Sheets of sonomantic crystal warped around her as it cradled her. Protected her from the harsh impact.
Blood dripped from her exposed torso, ravaged with burns. He blinked, and they were gone as if absorbed. Planar space plucked them back onto the roof where it deposited them into the balmy night air.
“Nice one.” Maeve grinned at him as she dismissed her weapons and armor.
Notifications droned into his vision with blaring intensity.
<Congratulations, Elias Newton! You have leveled up the following power: Vigilant Revelation Ev. 1/Lv. 0 -> Vigilant Revelation Ev. 1/Lv. 1>
<Congratulations, Elias Newton! You have leveled up the following power: Vigilant Revelation Ev. 1/Lv. 1 -> Vigilant Revelation Ev. 1/Lv. 2>
<Congratulations, Elias Newton! You have leveled up the following power: Lumencloud Transfiguration Ev. 1/Lv. 3 -> Lumencloud Transfiguration Ev. 1/Lv. 4>
<Congratulations, Elias Newton! You have leveled up the following power: Lumencloud Transfiguration Ev. 1/Lv. 4 -> Lumencloud Transfiguration Ev. 1/Lv. 5>
<Congratulations, Elias Newton! You have leveled up the following power: Astral Starspace Ev. 1/Lv. 2 -> Astral Starspace Ev. 1/Lv. 3>
<You have achieved unprecedented growth and understanding of your Body of Light (Photon Shot). You must upgrade it from one of the following options:
Radiance (Nova Lance) (Rare)
Incandescence (Photonomancer’s Flare) (Epic)
Stellar (Celestial Embodiment) (Legendary)>
Comments
Thanks for the chapter
QKelpFace
*Celestial Embodiment* Well at least we don’t have to guess which one he’s picking ;D
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