Dark Matter Ascension

Jace felt great. His whole body was full of energy, and glancing at the now-floating-next-to-him Ollie, he could see a more vibrant luster to the Wayfinder's fur. "We did it," Jace replied. "I couldn't be here without Ollie's help."

Ollie put his paws to his cheeks and surely would have blushed if he could, "You are too kind."

Xera smiled and began tapping her wrist pad, "Now we need to go even further beyond. Are you ready to see what the Astral System is like?"

Jace shook his head and crossed his arms. "Not yet. What exactly happens now that I'm an Ascendant?"

"You are never going to die to aging. The Cosmic System and all your Class, Advanced Class, Cosmic, and Ascended Power goes with you no matter where you go across any layer of reality. You can never be "separated" like in a glitched location. Ollie can interact with you and others freely if he chooses to – or he can phase as he has done. His tether still exists, but it is one-hundred feet instead of ten. You can still be killed through damage, poison, disease, and the like. But you have so many Skills at your disposal, the NICIF, and other advantages…I don't see it as an issue."

Jace smiled, "Then what is this Astral System going to entail?"

"You won't leave this place," Xera replied. "I've backdoored it using subspace probes that I've slipped through the tears from Astral Incursions and got the…code of that layer of reality, for lack of a better term, when other Incursions happened. I've been doing this for millennia whenever an incursion happens. We are more than ready to interface with the Astral System. But we will be limited in the amount of Essence that can be gathered."

Jace nodded, "Essence is what I get from killing Astral Demons, and is the level up currency?"

"Correct. Just like Stardust, but for the Astral Verge. Souls and Universal Matter are only useable by Astral Demons. Other species from other universes, or non-Astral Demons in that Realm probably use Essence as a currency as well. Ollie can store it for you."

She tapped a few buttons on her wrist pad, and screens appeared with various tables, charts, and graphs. She pointed to one in particular, "I converted that complex System to a more familiar layout."

She then pointed a graphic, "Instead of Tiers, to avoid confusing you and others, I'm using the term Potency. Again, other species who have entered the Verge and have access to the System may call it something else, but I wanted a differentiation from our Cosmic System to prevent miscommunication. Potency is split into ten categories, from one to ten. Each Potency category carries with it a level range of ten. Potency 1 is levels one through ten, Potency 2 is levels eleven through twenty, and onward."

"Is there a cap to progression?" Jace asked.

"Not that I know of right now. That may change once we defeat Troxanir and get more reliable access to our reality funnel. Once we get you into the Astral System, Ollie can try to gather more data. You should obtain the equivalent to a Class, just like with The Cosmic System. I do not know what power sources may exist – The Architects framed ours off solar objects that encompassed subsets of elements of creation…but I do not know who or what designed the Astral System. As such, you will be going in blind."

"Let's do it. Start it up." Jace looked to Ollie, "Mind doing that Verge Protocol thing just to be safe?"

"You got it!" Ollie flew into Jace's head, and his voice echoed through Jace's thoughts, Verge Protocol Activated!

Xera vanished as she warped away, and her voice came over the comms; "Just to be safe, I'm in a different location. Here we go."

Jace saw Cosmic System screens pop into his vision. They were empty boxes with nothing but scrolling lines of numbers, symbols, letters, and it was all absolute nonsense. Then the shapes began to morph and twist to the type of stylized writing that the one message he had received from Troxanir in the past had used. The whole white room darkened to an inky black, streaked through with dark pink.

Xera's voice came over the comms, "You still there? All my equipment inside the room went dark."

"I'm here," Jace replied. As he spoke, the words in front of him shifted and became readable. Black boxes with bright pink text.

-----

[Welcome to the Astral System.]

[You have entered via a backdoor.]

[This is not uncommon with species who are afraid of entering the Astral Verge proper.]

[Proper protocols are underway for the backdoor access.]

[Initiating Scan.]

-----

Ollie spoke in his mind, There is some type of automated scan that is trying to look through…everything. I am blocking it right now. Want me to keep doing that?

Unless our access is blocked entirely, Jace thought back. Keep it blocked.

-----

[Error. You have an advanced AI blocking the scans.]

[Initializing new user protocol.]

[…]

[Hi there! Welcome to the Astral System. You, your species, or another species has either punched a hole through your layer of reality or has entered the singularity at the center of your universe and found the Astral Verge!]

[As part of this experience, existing System interfaces will be scanned for. Then, that System will be compressed and streamlined.]

[Please stand by…]

-----

The boxes all vanished, and Jace saw the usual Cosmic System boxes that he was familiar with, the gold text on black screens.

-----

[Astral System detected.]

[Processing power required – accessing existing power sources.]

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

-----

Once more, the Astral System screens appeared.

-----

[ERROR. IMPOSSIBLE POWER SOURCE DETECTED.]

[Astral System Integration canceled.]

-----

"Oh no you don't!" Xera replied with a frustrated growl. "I've wrangled Void into the System framework, I can wrangle a stupid, ancient System. Jace, get ready! I'm overriding in 3…2…1…Now!"

-----

[Astral System integration engaged.]

-----

The black room turned white once more, and Jace could see the exterior of the space and not just screens from the System messages. A single, pink-on-black panel of the Astral System was in his vision. But the black and gold of the Cosmic System was overlaid on top of it. Xera's voice came over the comms again, "Done. Took a ton of processing power, but you're integrated. Now just go through the setup."

Jace nodded, "Right. Just follow the directions."

-----

[Choose an emotion.]

-----

"Really?"

Ollie replied in his head, The Astral Verge is a realm that seems to have come from the cumulative emotions of everything in existence, with the Soul being the ultimate expression of the true emotional center of a person's being.

"Any advice?" Jace asked Xera.

"There are a lot of good options," she replied. "Emotional forces are powerful. But you should go with something that you are experienced with."

Jace chuckled, "Is determination or resolve an emotion?"

"I would argue that Valiant is a better descriptor," Xera replied.

"Then we go with that," Jace stated as he willed the word to appear.

-----

[Confirmed. The emotion descriptor of "Valiant" has been registered.]

[Next, choose a Class.]

[Please scroll through the list below.]

-----

Jace saw a huge list appear in front of him, with a scroll bar that he could look at and manipulate with vision alone. "Ollie, mind helping me narrow this down?"

Already on it. Let us see…hmm…oooh! Here is something neat we could do. Crusader. Here, let me pull up the description.

-----

[The Crusader Class focuses on all aspects of combat – offense, defense, and self-support-only Talents.]

[Starting Talent.]

[Crusader's Might = amplifies all offensive capabilities based upon the user's current depth of emotion.]

-----

"What does it mean by depth of emotion?" Jace asked.

Ollie replied, That means how much you feel in that moment. Being valiant is showing courage and/or determination. The more valiant you are, the more multiplicative the Talent would be.

"Is everything going to be passive and augment existing Skills?"

No. Just this first Talent.

"Okay…let's do it. Crusader."

-----

[Confirmed.]

[Valiant Crusader.]

[Finalizing Astral System integration.]

-----

Jace's vision flashed a deep silver for a moment before his vision snapped back to normal. "Okay…are we done?" He looked down at his left hand and saw the Cosmic Power symbol of Dark Matter still with its slow, dance of shapes. And within, the nothingness of Void in a tight circle. "And there's no external sign of this Astral System?"

Yup and yup! Let me pull up the new status screen. This is just the Astral System status screen, mind you. I can still pull up The Cosmic System screen when needed. But you have access to everything from The Cosmic System. Here, I'll show the two side-by-side.

-----

Name: Jace Seren (Ascendant, Tier 10)

Power [Class Level]: Dark Matter [Swordmage <Wrathblade> 100] / Void [Edge <Eidolon> 100]

Skill Name (Rank) [Evolutions]: Universal Translation, Environmental Adaptation, Swordmage Stance (Rank 3) [Astral Annihilator], Dark Matter Dart (Rank 4) [Exploding], Dark Energy Mine (Rank 3) [Distant], Cosmic Infusion (Rank 10) [Innervating], Dark Matter Mending (Rank 4) [Vampiric], Energy Cost Reduction (Rank 10) [Siphoning], Void Brand (Rank 1), Shattered Limits (Rank 19) [Single-Minded Fury], Ruination Razor (Rank 3) [Wrecking], Raging Cleave (Rank 10) [Echoing Cleave], Aura of Wrath (Rank 11) [Voidflame Vestment], Void Blade (Rank 17) [Rending], Void Shield (Rank 6) [Reflecting][Wall][Sphere], Void Beam (Rank 3) [Limited Range][Horizon-Splitter][Piercing], Edge's Intuition (Rank 5) [Danger-Sense], Edge of Possibility (Rank 3), Void Counter (Rank 10) [Storing], Void Step (Rank 17) [Burst], Symbol Shift (Rank 1), Void Removal (Rank 10), Voidsoul (Rank 3), Void Stalker (Rank 1) [Group], The Architect's Gate (Rank 1), Eidolon's Persistence (Rank 5), Power Through (Rank 2), Arbiter's Anathema (5/day), Hope's Edge (1/day), Steel Gale Stride (1/day), Primalist's Command (1/day), Reaper's Shadowstep (1/day), Archmage's Admixture (1/day)

Stardust: 0

Equipment: (Returning / Adaptable) Nethaldrim, (Medium / Snowguard / Burnguard / Repairing) Reaper Armor, (Thrice Judged / Soul Tether) Anathema Arms, (Overclocked / Lightfoot) Anathema Legs, (Terrifying / Sealing) All-Seeing Dragon's Eyes, (Anathema) Primal Hide, (Flexible) Adamantine Skeleton, (Reactive) NICIF, TPSB, survival meals (x100), enhanced canteen, (Restful) Wildercloth tent, Devilsram wool bedroll, Blood-Infused Holy Water (x3), Guatch Grappler (Unequipped)

Boons: None

-----

Name: Jace Seren (Potency 1)

Emotion [Class Level]: Valiant [Crusader 1]

Talent [Specialization]: Astral Adaptation, Astral Translation, Valiant Crusader's Might

Essence: 0

Infusions: None

-----

Astral Adaptation – The user may survive in the Astral Verge, regardless of protective encasement.

Astral Translation – The user may speak, read, write, and communicate any language that enters the Astral Verge

Valiant Crusader's Might – amplifies all offensive capabilities based upon the user's current depth of emotion.

-----

Just to test out, Jace drew Nethaldrim and activated Void Blade (Rank 6) [Rending]. The blade dripped the viscous, crimson miasmic nebula as the white-grey energy shot along its length. "I still have everything from before," he stated bluntly.

"It worked!" Xera shouted. She warped in front of Jace and was quite excited, her face showing authentic, sheer joy. "The first ever Astral System integration! I learned so much! Okay, let's go down the list…ah, so this depth of emotion refers to how strongly you feel the selected emotional power source. Specialization is what happens when you level up in the Astral System – you choose a new way for that existing Talent to manifest. Infusions are like Boons from what I can glean."

"How does stuff like Void Counter or Arbiter's Anathema work?"

"Against your Potency or lower. For instance, if you came up against a Potency 3 Astral Demon, you would not be able to use Void Counter on it because you are Potency 1. Arbiter's Anathema is the same – it is just an energy free means of doing the same thing and is a full "cycle" – not day. Astral Verge time runs on cycles."

"What powers the Talents?"

"Same energy as before that comes from your body. But your emotional state improves efficiency in some way. Here, let's do the run-down of existing Skills and their [Evolutions] and how they function with the Astral System…Oh! But first, when Troxanir is defeated and you get access to the Astral Verge, it is very feasible that you will come across other "Universe Systems"."

"People from other universes have their own type of Systems. Since Universes are limited by the energy they can utilize, you being Tier 10 in our Cosmic System would be the equivalent of their highest possible achievement in their System. Anything that relies upon your Tier being the equivalent or higher – such as Void Counter – should be able to negate anything from their System, regardless of their Potency."

Jace nodded, "That makes sense. I can use my Cosmic System Skills against anything from another Universe-specific System, but the "my Tier or lower" effects can only be used if they are my Potency or lower in the Astral System."

Xera was practically buzzing with excitement as she stood there before him, "That is correct."

Jace looked over the Astral System status screen again, "I don't see Equipment. Does that mean it stays when I kill something?"

"That is correct," Xera replied. "Your Equipment is still being tracked by your innate Cosmic System, and in our universe it functions as it should – if you were to perish, Ollie would return to The Cosmic System…in time…and the Equipment would be lost to anyone else. But out in the Astral Verge? It is different."

"What about the TPSB?"

"That's part of your armor. It is not something that can be accessed except by someone who has knowledge of how tetradimensional space works."

Jace took a deep breath, "That is a lot of information all at once," he stated.

"I know," Xera replied with that grin plastered on her face. "But now you are strong enough to take out Troxanir, and we have a foothold in the Astral System. Which means we are ever closer to my ultimate goal, and you saving your sister." She tapped her wrist pad, "Want to go and help out your friends on Regnum Mortis?"

Jace nodded, "I can help them get Stardust. Send me over." The world warped around Jace, and he was standing in front of the inactivate portal.

Good job, Ollie said in his mind. You are the first Tier 10 Ascendant in the whole Cosmic System's historical database. We made it.

But the journey is not over yet, Jace thought back. Let's get the others to Tier 10, and then we can end Troxanir.