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BII: Chapter Twenty-nine
🕑 Added 2023-04-09 23:34:49 +0000 UTC<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)>
Eli read over his options again while he paced in the bedroom of his sanctum. As always, visions buzzed directly into his mind. He was pretty certain that he would pick Celestial Embodiment for the rarity and the simple fact that it fit into the theme of the rest of his powers.
But there were other points to consider.
Nova Lance was a sheer upscaling of Photon Shot. Before, the power had been lackluster and weak. It had required him to devote half of his build since then to make it not only viable, but strong. Now it would be a true powerhouse.
He’d be able to shape it into constructs far easier, too. It’d turn what had been weak bullets and lasers of light that took a lot of effort to empower into devastation. Light would charge and transform into stellar blasts.
Unfortunately, it was the worst option for improving his Body stat. It’d make him stronger, but in the end, it would be just a better version of Photon Shot. A straight evolution.
Eli had already been radiant with Photon Shot. No reason to just take the next step forward when he had mostly made it there himself.
Truly, it was between Photonomancer’s Flare and Celestial Embodiment.
Photonomancer’s Flare would vastly improve his control over light and turn it into more than a weapon. It would be a limb. A part of him. Him simply controlling light would transcend it into something far greater. Visions filled Eli of him wielding light with the same ease he breathed. He’d have the same control and connection to light as he did with space.
More, even.
It would synergize incredibly well with Lumencloud Transfiguration. That was its largest benefit. On top of that, he knew it would give him direct control over his own body and biological matter on par of a biomancer. Maybe it would even line up with Lumencloud Transfiguration when he slotted it into his Mind stat so that it would constantly improve his physical and mental faculties.
Eli was more than tempted to take it for that reason alone. Originally, Photonomancer had been mediocre and unworthy of evolution back when he slotted Photon Shot into his Body stat. But this was a direct merge and improvement over that alone.
His tricks with flight and reflection would improve by leaps and bounds.
But Celestial Embodiment…
It was just as strong as the other two, if not more so, but instead of focusing on light, it was geared toward stars. Not only that, but it was like his lumencloud. It wasn’t a direct control or enhancement power, but a hybrid that would let him create and transform into stars or other celestial objects.
With Astral Starspace, it would elevate him to new heights.
Plus, with it in his Body stat, the improvements to his body would increase exponentially. He already needed little sleep or sustenance, but this would take it to an all new level.
New questions arose if he took it too.
If Eli created stars or even starmetal, would he be able to refine and improve them with enchantments before he absorbed and embodied them? Improve his capabilities across the board as his other powers grew?
Celestial Embodiment felt like it was as infinite as he was willing to put the work in to expand it.
Eli flopped into his bed while he read them over again and again.
Both Nova Lance, and Photonomancer’s Flare had room to grow. Photonomancer’s Flare would let him turn his second-rate budding talent and abilities with light into a true trump card. He would be light in the truest sense.
It wouldn’t just fit with his plans for a new power with the perks he won in Delver’s Dive, it would capitalize on them. All his hard work would finally pay off.
But he had only ever slotted Photon Shot out of fear.
Not out of love for it—or himself—but because of loss. He put himself and others in harm’s way for no other reason but because he couldn’t bear it if something happened to his family. It represented his burden since those two home invaders broke in.
All this time, it had been an oppressive weight on his shoulders.
It was nothing more than the responsibility to bear arms because his parents had refused to listen and improve themselves and their powers. But he had barely lived since then.
Had it really only been a bit over three months since the Initialization?
Fuck. He hadn’t felt ‘light’ at all with Photon Shot in his status. Nails dug harmlessly into his palm as he clenched his fists. One thing after another had haunted him since the attack on the mall.
Endlessly.
And he had let those events and his fear, his lack of control, rule him and his actions almost the entire time since then.
Despair threatened to tow him into a gloomy rut. But small memories of joy flickered across his mind with the assistance of Vigilant Revelation.
Figuring out how to teleport in the basement while Dad and Lyra tried out their own powers. He smiled as he remembered how unfamiliar and uncomfortable it had been.
Euphoria as he fucked around teleporting in little zig zags as he bounced around his line of sight. When he got Telekinesis and experimented with it every chance he got.
The first time he ‘flew’ across the sky in a chain of horizontal forceful teleports.
Or when he…
Eli frowned. After that, the memories turned darker except for specks of brightness.
Blips of happiness.
Roman making him a prosthetic arm even though Eli had abandoned him and continued to do so after his family’s drama dragged Roman here. Their time playing with the water summoning gauntlets Roman made.
Shadows of trauma threatened to break through the dam of Vigilant Revelation’s protection.
Because of powers, he came to a whole new dimension. Sure, the circumstances hadn’t been great. Still. He met Hazel. Memories of their run, texting, and hanging out flickered across his mind.
He learned about the true potential for good this world had and what his home could become. It could be even better since he had this dimension and potentially more to learn from.
Meeting Maeve had also been nice. She was like the older sister and mentor he never had. Maybe they’d never be family, but she almost felt like she was. Herbert’s life wasn’t his, but that didn’t mean Eli couldn’t build one of his own here once he fixed things.
Eli had his first true flight as he perfected lumencloud and evolved it into Lumencloud Transfiguration.
Delver’s Dive had been a blast.
So many more moments of pure joy and wonder.
Eli inhaled a deep, shaky breath.
Powers were meant for more than combat. Especially stat powers. They needed to last for his entire life. He already knew old conventions for life expectancy went straight out the window with the arrival of powers, but he suspected no matter which he chose, he would live a long time.
He wanted a bit more of a fresh start.
Light was wonderful. Wielding it and reveling in its simplicity was great. But Celestial Embodiment would always remind him of how he himself had grown and changed from the aimless teenager he had been three months ago.
Nova Lance was only meant to fight and kill. To harm and throw his weight and might around.
Photonomancer’s Flare was a little better, but was still meant to turn light into a limb for him to inflict it upon others and the world.
But Celestial Embodiment would let him grow into something more. He already knew that any power or tool could be used in a fight, but no weapon could be brandished for true peace. Not for long.
<You have selected:
Body of Stellar (Celestial Embodiment)
<WARNING: This is a permanent selection. Confirm: Y/N>
Yes.
Eli beamed as waves of power, and warmth washed over him. Cells—
He passed out.
While Eli slept for the first time in weeks, his body transformed. Space. Outer space stitched itself into the seams of who and what he was. Stars stamped themselves into the fabric of his cells. Vectors of force and gravity forded through the weave of his muscles. Nebula churned throughout the canals of his veins and imprinted into his organs.
Eli became a star all his own.
Personified the vacuum of the expansive void.
Asteroids and planets on the scale of the atom seeded themselves throughout his being.
He was no longer light.
He was celestial.
Dreams of simpler times passed through his mind as his body reforged itself. What-ifs full of joy as he lived his life with his friends and family without the shadow of adversity hanging over his head.
At last, all was not only right, it was good.
***
“He’s been asleep for a long time.” Roman said idly while he sat across the small heavily scarred table in Maeve’s hotel room. They had been awake for six hours and it was well into the afternoon, but Eli hadn’t shown up.
“I bet he needs it.” Maeve snorted as she took a long pull from her third cup of coffee. Roman found it strangely comforting as well as frightening how it seemed that even here the Newton family had a bizarre addiction to coffee. “Did you see the shadows under his eyes? He was dead on his feet.”
“His powers cover exhaustion and more though.” Roman hid his frown while he poked at the useless mess of scrap he had been tinkering with. Frustration mounted in his gut. He was getting tired of holding on while others constantly passed him by. Ignored and forgotten. “Aren’t your parents coming today?”
“To be honest, they’ve been in Anchora for the last four days.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “They were worried about Herbert once he stopped talking to us, so they sent me to meet with him to figure out what was going on. After I met with Eli they came down using Mom’s power with a hotel room they booked. They can be a bit overbearing, so they’ve been trying to be respectful while we all try to figure everything out.”
“And they didn’t want to meet Eli or interrogate him?” Roman raised his eyebrows with a scoff. His parents wouldn’t have even come. Fuck, Romulus’s parents hadn’t spoken to him for almost a whole year. The last text was them asking if his reward for a mechanical convention came with any prize money.
“Of course they did.” Maeve chuckled. “They wanted to more after I told them about what happened back in your world. It took all I had to reassure them I was on it and watching over him. Over both of you.”
Roman winced at her sharp, inquisitive stare. He looked away.
“What’s wrong? I know there isn’t too many people you can talk to about this, but I know how hard it is to be separated from home. When I started delving after college I was trapped in a dungeon for two years,” Maeve said gently.
“Two years? How much older than Herbert are you?” Roman asked a bit more harshly than he intended. He hated it when people dug into the affairs of his family. They were fine. So what if it was on Roman to watch over them? To tuck Cyrus into bed at night and make sure both him and Theo brushed their teeth.
Visions of Theo standing in a clearing full of corpses that he revived and killed like a machine. Like he was Eli. It all blazed like a brand in his thoughts.
“I’m twenty-five and Herbert is nineteen.” She said flatly. “I answered your question. Now it’s my turn. What’s wrong?”
“Ugh. I’m frustrated.” Roman shoved himself out of his chair while he hurled the tablet he had tried to reconfigure into the bin full of other junk Maeve had brought. “I’ve followed Eli and Scott around for years. Always lagging behind while Scott led us. He encouraged Eli to join the swim team, to push himself. Sparked my love for engineering. Listened to us when we were upset. He was there for us in or out of school. But the second shit turned rough? The moment that fucking asshole started bullying us, Eli ran. Abandoned us without a word.” Just like my parents.
“When he finally comes crawling back, he says he’s sorry and that it was because he was afraid of making it worse because he was the target? Sure. Whatever. But the bullying never fucking stopped for us either. Scott’s parents moved them away after his dad got a new job because the bullying was incessant. Non-stop.”
Roman panted as he whirled to face Maeve, who watched him calmly despite his rampage.
“Then I follow him. Help protect him as that psychotic bitch tries to kill him and his family. And now I’ve been stuck here for a whole year? Shut out while I try to help, try to remind him he needs to help us find a way back home. I act like I can’t do anything to light a fire under his ass. Guess what he did? He ignores me. He flirts and studies, throws himself into delving. All while leaving me in the dust.”
Again.
Metal exosuit gauntlets scrape together as he pounds his fist into his side. Gearshift Constitution stirred as he partially transformed into a suit of war and destruction. All he wanted to do was create mecha suits and machines. How else was he going to come up with something big enough to save his brothers from his parents' poor decisions?
Making it big in tech would’ve saved them. Then the world changed and he wasn’t even there with them.
“Then he does what I labored over?” He snarled as enchantments activated the computers and processors in his suit. “After all of that? He makes it work. All I wanted was to be seen. To be respected as someone more than a tag along! After all that, we see his family bicker and fight like they always do. But no one leaves. No one slams the door or threatens to cut the gas line so we all suffocate on poison. No screaming, no excessive drinking and shoving their kids into their arguments. Just acceptance and love.”
Phantom tears burned in the lenses of his helm. Metal fingers rub at them with a creak of metal on carbonized glass.
“Still, he doesn’t realize how lucky he is to have parents who care. He’s so fucking oblivious.” Roman gasped as tears rolled down his very human face. He collapsed to his knees before Maeve caught him in a flicker of black and white. “It’s not fair.”
“I know, I know.” Maeve whispers as she pats his back reassuringly. Comfort filled him as the air he breathed soothed his raw throat. Warmth settles into the fabric of his clothes as if he put them on fresh from the dryer.
Roman appreciated how she said nothing else. Didn’t pile platitudes on him about how his family actually cared. How they worked to support him and his brothers. About how it was natural for parents to blow off steam, he didn’t get how hard it was to be an adult. Or how he needed to be a good big brother and take care of his brothers.
She just hugged him.
Once he calmed down, she pulled back with a gentle pat on his back.
“Not to change the topic, but if you wanted guidance with your build, leveling any of your powers, or battle training in general, I would be more than happy to help you out.” She smiled gently.
“I’d like that.” Roman nodded while he activated Gearshift Constitution to push out his absorbed phone integrated into a port in his armor. He hadn’t gotten around to using either of his new powers from Delver’s Dive much, yet.
His screen flickered as he shoved Phantasmic Magitech into the air above his phone. Each pulse of his power acted as a pale imitation of his hand as he navigated it to the spreadsheet he had created for his build.
“This is my build.” Roman handed his phone over. “My plan is to slot Gearshift Constitution into my Body stat either once it maxes out at evo-1 or 2. Legion of One will be go in my Mind stat, probably at evo-1. My hope is that it’ll greatly expand my mind along with my other powers in general. And finally, Phantasmic Magitech will go into my Will slot as my most overbuilt power.”
Maeve took a few seconds to nod as he spoke while she read. After about a minute, she nodded.
“You have a solid build, but your levels are lagging a bit. What have you done to push your powers?” Maeve handed his phone back. Her expression vanished as her face smoothed.
“I’ve just been building new tech and using my powers?” Roman raised his eyebrow as he raised his eyebrow. He checked his status with a glance. “I had gotten some perks in DD, but I used most of them when I evolved Magitech Fabrication to Phantasmic Magitech.”
[Stats:
Body: None
Mind: None
Will: None
]
[Equipped Power List:
Slot One -- Gearshift Constitution Ev. 1/Lv. 5
Perk Equipped: [Technomind] [Expanded Inventory]
Slot Two -- Legion of One Ev. 1/Lv. 0
Perk Equipped: [Cascade]
Slot Three -- Phantasmic Magitech Ev. 2/Lv. 1
]
[Unequipped Powers:
N/A
]
“Roman. You have to do more than just use your powers regularly. You have to push them and yourself. Break yourself down as you make discoveries. A lot of people take the combat approach, but I noticed during the footage of Delver’s Dive that you aren’t much of a combatant?”
“Not particularly.” Roman frowned with a wince. “I’m fine with it. I understand the necessity, but it’s… uncomfortable. I only like it when there’s a reason and I have my weapons and tools. Otherwise, I don’t really get the point.”
“Want to try something?” Maeve stood up in a pulse of black-and-white so she towered over him next to the table.
“Um, sure?” Roman flinched as they vanished into that monochromatic facsimile of her hotel room that was Maeve’s domain. He was getting a bit annoyed with spatial powers. At least Eli changed his so he could enchant and do more with it than be spacey and withdrawn.
“We’re going to fight. Hold nothing back, but don’t use any of your tech. I feel like you’re not using Gearshift Constitution at nearly the level you could be.” Maeve lowered herself into a crouch with her hands held by her head. “If you summon anything, I’ll hurt you.”
“Isn’t that kind of barbaric?”
“Maybe to you. Some spawn are sentient, but so are some people. Things may seem nice here in Anchora, but outside of civ zones? People will hoard and kill for any power they think will give them an edge. You don’t have the luxury to not be brutal.”
Roman thought about it for a second.
Whenever they delved the Crucible or even ‘played’ at Delver’s Dive, everything fought with a surprising degree of ferocity. Sandra had used her domain and dimension swap to do everything she could to not only hurt Eli and his family, but to kill them.
Back then, he had no problem shooting her in the head after he and Eli whittled her down. It was necessary. But the other fights didn’t have the same degree of casualty to them. They weren’t as momentous—
“You took too long.” Maeve jabbed her fist forward with a thunderclap of split bone and dented metal. Roman stumbled back with a gasp. Pincers of pain tore at his collarbone where she’d struck him, but it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as it should have.
“You hit me!” Roman rubbed his chest as he felt the AI of his exosuit go to work to self-repair his suit that had somehow gotten slightly damaged.
Roman’s eyes widened with possibility. His mental speed tripled as his brain buzzed with the voltage of his microprocessors. Circuits sparked as his AI ran multiple prompts through its subroutines based on his stimuli.
Irritation burned as his eyes clarified with the acuity of his lenses. Overlays glowed across his vision highlighting the weakness of Maeve’s spine and joints. Microscopic openings in her guard lit shone yellow. Muscles and tendons twitched as they had the strength of braided steel cables. The skeletal structure of his exosuit grafted itself onto the exact ratio of his own skeleton.
Maeve took a step.
Roman blinked as he watched her fist sail toward his face.
Message Log: Executed Assisted Combat Module.
Roman swatted her fist aside while he sidestepped. He swung his own fist right into her chest with a bubbling pop as his knuckles twisted from the impact.
<Congratulations, Roman Anders! You have leveled up the following power: Gearshift Constitution Ev. 1/Lv. 5 -> Gearshift Constitution Ev. 1/Lv. 6>
Maeve smiled.
“This will be fun.”
***
Eli woke with a smile on his face.
Splendor filled his body as he felt the best he ever had in his entire life. When he slotted Body of Light it had felt like he had been cured from a lifelong flu. Strength he had known should’ve been his all along finally was.
Stellar Body and Celestial Embodiment was a hundred times better.
Eli pushed himself off his bed with a sharp snap as the wood of his frame turned into powder beneath him. His landing crushed the wooden boards beneath his feet. Space wobbled around him as tension whined through his sanctum.
Scattered debris from his bed and floor mended with a flex of Astral Starspace while Eli took another step.
His foot plowed straight through the floorboards again. The carpet bunched up beneath his inflated strength.
“Is it really my strength, though?” Eli muttered to himself while he prodded at his connection to Stellar Body. Before with Body of Light he had only felt a more intimate connection to light and the ability to transform into radiance itself.
Stellar Body was different.
Inside of him was a red sun at the center of his core. Surrounding it was a micro-galaxy of potential that he could shape to fit his will. If he thought of Body of Light and Stellar Body as a phone or computer with multiple settings, then Stellar Body was a far more complex model.
Body of Light only had a couple of basic switches or buttons. He reached out with his new senses to adjust one of the ‘sliders’ of Stellar Body with a wry grin.
Queasiness flashed through him. A sense of lightening and buoyancy surged through him. It felt as if he had reduced his weight or gravity’s hold on him.
He took a step again and smiled at the lack of destruction.
Eli pulled it back to zero as he tried to take another step. He wondered why he wasn’t floating, but perhaps being in his sanctum had something to do with that?
His foot caught up on the air once he stopped exerting himself. Vigilant Revelation provided the answer. It wasn’t his gravity he was changing, but his density.
Laughter echoed in his sanctum as he experimented with his new stat. Vigilant Revelation alerted him to the fact that he had slept for almost twelve hours. He knew Maeve and Roman had probably been waiting for him, but he let himself enjoy the fruit of his labor.
Photon Shot hadn’t been him, but Celestial Embodiment was.
Comments
Corbin
It's two chapters Sunday/Monday and then Thursday/Friday. The former of each part is for Peerless Patrons who get 24 hour early access to chapters.
Somebody
hello I wanted to ask because I was not sure, but there is one, or two chapters per week?
weas97
Since he already has the [astral starspace] power that and his new power allows him to incarnate stars... what if he tries to incarnate an astral star himself? Would it enhance and perhaps better synchronize his powers or something else?
