Dark Matter Ascension

Shhiv woke up with Jace wrapped around her. She wiggled around in his grip and faced him as his eyes fluttered open. "Morning, handsome," she said as she hugged him tight.

"Morning, beautiful," he replied.

Shhiv stretched and slowly extricated herself from her beloved, stepping out of their water-cube bed and instantly drying before slipping on some lounge-about clothing. She went to the System interface panel to replicate some food – but paused as she read a metal plate above the console.

She glanced over to Jace who had a slight frown on his face as he pulled his clothes on, "My mom visited," he stated. "Left me a present from my dad."

Shhiv went over to him and immediately hugged him, "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Jace ran a hand along her back, "I'm good," he replied. He slipped from her grip and began fiddling with the panel, and the kitchen table filled up with several plates of food. She joined him there, and the two had their fill. He stood up and tapped the button on the wall that caused the plates and food detritus to vanish before glancing back at her, "Give me a minute and we can check out this Rune Carving thing."

Shhiv nodded and checked her Astral System interface as Jace dipped into the restroom. One thousand Essence, she thought. Enough for a level up. I should specialize if this is going to be my focus.

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[You have leveled up!]

[You have chosen Specialization of Existing Talent!]

[Talent Name: Rune Carving.]

[Specialization Name: Enduring.]

[Effect: The user's Runes are treated as being 1 Potency higher for determining duration.]

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Jace came back over while she focused on her Cosmic System interface, using Shaper's Implements (Rank 1) to create the gloves that seemed appropriate to Rune Carving. "Okay then," she said as she looked over at Jace.

He tapped his bracelet and manifested his armor over his whole body, standing upright next to her. He unsheathed his sword and set it down on the table.

Okay…so how does this work? Shhiv thought as she looked over the sword. There was nothing on it. No words, no etching. Just a very fancy piece of metal. Maybe first I should figure out what it is. Using Planetary Transmutation (Rank 10), she was able to determine the general qualities of the material. "It is harder than Starheart Steel by several measures. It cannot rust or pit, will always hold an edge, and…I think I can Rune Carve onto it."

As she said the words, with the gloves on, and the sword in her grip, an Astral System interface appeared.

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[Welcome to your Rune Carving tutorial!]

[As a first-time user, this guide will assist you in your first Talent use!]

[Please utilize something that is not valuable, as if you fail, you could damage the material!]

[Practice makes perfect.]

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Shhiv set the sword down and looked at Jace who balked slightly, "What?" she asked.

"Your eyes are completely blue," he said.

Shhiv shrugged, "Take off that armor – I'm going to need to look at all of it piece by piece. In the meantime-" she went to the couch, grabbed a pillow, and used Planetary Transmutation to turn the pillow into a block of steel.

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[The next step is to hold out your {index finger} of your {dominant hand} and use that as a stylus.]

[The Rune Carving tool you are utilizing requires full concentration.]

[Here is the list of Runes available to a Potency 1 Rune Carver!]

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She saw a variety of symbols appear. Ten in total. Each had a unique design and shape and glowed with a slightly different color. All extremely subtle and barely a dull gleam. An effect was listed next to each of them, along with the final set of instructions at the very bottom.

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[Barrier 1 - Creates a field of Psykinetic energy that absorbs all harm. Strength is determined by the Rune Carver's Potency times their depth of emotion. When the damage threshold is met, the Barrier ceases until the next cycle begins.]

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

[Interaction - Enables the object to be affected by Psykinetics.]

[Stability - Prevents cycle-shifts in the environment from being applied to anything in a one-hundred-foot radius.]

[Detection - Notifies the Rune Carver when anything passes within a ten-foot radius.]

[Penetrating - Enables bypassing of Barrier Runes of lower Potency.]

[Fortify 1 - Increases resilience by 10%.]

[Ruination 1 - Increases damage by 10%.]

[Acceleration 1 - Increases speed by 10%.]

[Accuracy 1 - Increases accuracy by 10%.]

[Explosive 1 - Only applicable to projectiles: the object explodes, inflicting 50% harm in a 5 foot radius.]

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[Once you have selected your chosen Rune, it will appear in your vision overlaying the object.]

[You must then perfectly carve the symbol into the object.]

[The stronger your emotion source, the more effective your Rune will be.]

[By default, Runes last for a number of cycles equal to your Potency times ten.]

[New Runes can only be applied if the old one has fully faded.]

[If you have the Erase Rune Talent, then you can artificially reset an object.]

[Remember, no matter the size of the object, only one Rune may affect it at a time!]

[Runes can be destroyed by damage, which makes their effects inert!]

[Thank you for using this tutorial!]

[At any time, you may pull this up again and access your database of unlocked Runes!]

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Shhiv took a deep breath, "That's a lot of screens," she muttered.

Jace finished taking off his armor and setting it out on the table. "Oh? Lots of choices?"

She nodded and chose the [Detection] Rune. The object hovered in her vision as the screens snapped off, over the metal cube in her hands. Taking her right hand and pointing out her index finger, still covered in the gloves, she set her fingertip to the surface.

It sparked a brilliant cerulean, and she immediately had to activate Crafter's Trance (Rank 10) – not for the sake of speed, but rather because the moment her finger began carving the shape, she felt some type of external force pushing and pulling on her hand. Through grit teeth, she completed the Rune with a few jagged lines before setting it down on the table.

"I think I did it?" she said, looking up at Jace. "Try leaving the room and walking back in."

Jace turned and went to the bedroom, returning a moment later. "Anything?" he asked.

Shhiv cursed and shook her head, "No. This is tough. That rune should have detected you being here. I have to get the lines perfect." She flipped the cube over and tried again, focusing even harder as she tried her best to keep her finger straight. "Okay, try again."

Jace left and when he returned, Shhiv felt a tingling at the edge of her vision, pulling her gaze to him almost against her will. "Did it work?" he asked.

"Yes!" Shhiv said excitedly as her tail thwapped back and forth. "I think I've got it. But I bet the higher Potency I get, the more intricate these Runes are going to be."

"Looks like I need to start setting aside half my Essence for you," he said with a smile.

She looked down at his Gear. "We can do the sword and the armor." She glanced up at his prosthetic arms, legs, skin, and even his eyes. "We could do those prosthetics also, but I don't want to risk hurting you."

"Thanks, sweetie," Jace said with a soft smile. "Now, what are our options?"

She quickly rattled off the list of Runes and their effects, ending with, "I think the best thing to do is [Interaction] on your armor so it can actually take hits from Psykinetics."

Jace nodded, "Agreed. That will definitely up my survivability."

"Speaking of that," she shifted her Omnitool and activated all of her Skills. Within seconds she had transmuted the armor to Starheart Steel, reduced its weight and density, fortified the molecular bonds to make it even harder, customized it to Jace's build, and increase the efficiency – aka the defensive qualities – of the armor. She took a deep breath as her energy was drained to half by the effort. "Done."

Jace was flabbergasted, his jaw open in shock. "You moved…so fast…and the whole thing is so much shinier!"

It was a dull silver compared to its prior black. Much brighter than before, but the quality had been improved to the utmost degree of potential. Shhiv smiled and grabbed the sword, "I can't do anything to this with my Skills, but I can use my Talents on it," she stated. "I think for this Rune we should do [Ruination 1] to increase how hard it hits."

"Sounds like a plan," Jace replied with a smile. "Anything I can do to help?"

She opened the armor's chest plate and began manifesting the appropriate rune in her vision, "Nope. I'm good. This won't take long." She focused all of her attention and filled her mind with purpose. I will make this the best possible. To keep Jace safe. This is going to be perfect. The cerulean glow filled her hands, and she was unwavering despite the phantasmal forces pulling and pushing on her hands. Applying [Interaction] to the armor, then [Ruination 1] to the blade, she sat back as her energy was nearly tapped.

Jace hugged her around the shoulders, "That is amazing!" he said softly but with excitement. "You rock, you know that?"

She smiled and gave his arm a little lick-kiss. "Yeah, I know."

"So thoughtful," Jace said with a smile. "Oh! What about throwing knives? Can you carve those Explosive Runes on those?"

Shhiv shook her head as the Astral System immediately replied to her. "Nope, it won't work. The objects have to be…wait…" she smiled as the answer dawned on her. "I have a great idea. Since I can make Equipment, and high enough Tier Equipment counts as a viable Rune Carving target…I can get around the Universal Matter restriction." The words that tumbled out of her mouth made sense, but at the same time she didn't quite understand all the intricacies. Just knowing that certain objects were viable targets for Rune Carving, and some were not.

Jace squeezed her once more, "I should treat you."

She nodded and hummed slightly in agreement. "Oh! Your surprise is tonight!"

He groaned in response, and she just giggled.

Jace was surprised, but thankfully it was not a bad surprise. Priam and Dee had scouted out a fantastic oceanside resort and it was just a small dinner party. Jace, Shhiv, Dee, Priam, Greg, Missy – that was it. Just a small group enjoying the high life. Something Jace had never expected when he lived on the streets.

He was living beyond his wildest dreams, eating some type of lobster-crustacean-thing from an alien planet, with a gorgeous ocean sunset and glittering, red-sand beaches with biofluorescent cyan waves.

Greg and Missy both looked more rugged, and Missy in particular had become quite the Amazonian warrior woman. She and Greg looked like the perfect complement to each other with their broad physiques. The two put away pounds of the lobster-thing, and Jace was so happy that his friends were enjoying life.

Later that night, walking along the beach with Shhiv, he looked up at the stars in the sky. Just wait, Chroma. When I get you back, you'll be able to see a whole universe with us.