I Can Assimilate Everything

She gazed at the details of these abilities, knowing that with them, she had the potential to do many things. For Aunty, and even...

She turned her head toward Uncle Adras, and the area in front of her instantly bloomed with droplets of water that formed into another body of hers.

This second Rose, identical to the first but composed entirely of stellar water, floated over to where Achilles and his father worked.

"I can help," the water-Rose said simply, and without waiting for permission, began her own work. Through her liquid form, she could see the genetic patterns being reconstructed, the cellular memories being awakened.

Her Genetic Weaving Sight revealed optimization paths that pure energy alone might miss, and she began threading them into the restoration.

Lilian watched this casual display of impossible ability with wonder. "All of this is surreal," she said, shaking her head. "But I cannot stop thinking about my supposed granddaughter in outer space right now. Can you bring her here? I want to see if she got the same fluffy cheeks Achilles had when he was young..."

Lilian Maxwell had made a request, and Rose moved immediately to make it happen.

Through the connection she maintained with the Sea of Thalassara, she could feel Arya's presence- bright, fierce, probably in the middle of terrifying some poor soul.

It was a day of momentous wonder and possibilities.

In Ethemia, something was happening that other entities could not even imagine. Families were reunited. Previous Emperor Kings returned. And a Primordial Genome Empress began to alter genetic sequences for the first time.

Like this, hours passed by.

---

Time!

Time was the only currency that could not be earned, only spent.

Used well, time meant unfathomable progress and glory- civilizations rising from dust to transcendence, individuals growing from weakness to world-shaping power.

Wasted, time led only to a feeling of inadequacy, the bitter knowledge that existence had passed by while nothing of meaning was accomplished.

Achilles used his time unfathomably well!

A Day Later.

In the vast emptiness of outer space, where stars provided the only reference points in an ocean of darkness, Achilles's stellar body floated with serene purpose.

His recent edits to his own genetic code- refinements that pushed his already impossible biology toward perfection…had kept his Existence Corruption Value remarkably low.

This stability had allowed him to continue what should have been a fatal amount of assimilation.

The Regulations of Spatial Tension, Quantum, and Inevitable Entropy had each been elevated to the Fourth Echelon.

His body seemed to phase in and out of space itself, not disappearing but becoming indistinguishable from the medium through which everything else moved.

He could become a particle of space anytime he wished, transform into a flicker of starlight so perfectly that no consciousness in existence would be able to tell him apart from any other photon traveling through the void.

It was a glorious sense of power that transcended everything!

He didn't just move through space…he was space, when he chose to be. He didn't just manipulate quantum probability, he existed as probability until he decided to collapse into certainty.

And Inevitable Entropy, that fundamental force that drove all things toward endings, had become another tool in his arsenal rather than a limitation to overcome.

The Fourth Echelon out of Nine Echelons. Each level had brought exponential growth in capability, but also exponential drain on his existence. The only reason he had stopped was because his Existence Corruption Value had begun creeping upward again, a slow but inexorable rise that warned of consequences if he pushed further without pause.

But what he could do with these Fourth Echelon Regulations had become absolutely insane.

His manipulation of Spatial Tension now allowed him to fold space seamlessly, creating pockets of existence that technically didn't exist, stepping across galactic distances as easily as crossing a room.

His mastery of Quantum mechanics let him exist in multiple states simultaneously until observation forced him to choose- he could be in a thousand places at once until someone looked, at which point he would be wherever was most advantageous!

And Inevitable Entropy... that was perhaps the most terrifying. He could accelerate or decelerate the rate of entropy in localized areas. Make stars age millennia in seconds or preserve something in perfect stasis despite existence's demand that it decay.

His current goal had been to elevate Quantum more, because he needed to go further back across the distance of time.

He had smoothly gone back to Neon years before, prevented his parents' deaths, and brought them to the present. The same was done for Rose's parents in the last day!

But those were recent events, mere years of temporal distance.

What he truly wanted required going much further back.

The Seventh Adrastia Emperor King.

To reach him would require traversing dozens of years or centuries of temporal distance.

That was his goal for the past day- pushing Quantum higher, gathering the capability to tunnel through truly vast stretches of time.

After hitting the Fourth Echelon in Quantum, he wondered: how much more did he need?

The distance between his current time and the Seventh Emperor King's era was like comparing a step to a marathon.

The energy requirements grew exponentially with temporal distance. The probability of maintaining coherence across such vast stretches of causality became increasingly uncertain.

But he was the Last Adrastia Emperor King- or had been, before making that title technically incorrect. He was someone who had already broken the fundamental rules of existence multiple times before.

If anyone could traverse the impossible distance to meet an ancestor centuries dead, it would be him!

The question wasn't whether he could do it, but what the cost would be.

And whether the Star Seas would survive his attempts to find out!

His eyes flashed coldly as his body remained suspended in space.

Over the past day, his mind had gradually adjusted.

With his father back, with his mother back…the burning feeling of vengeance and revenge was not something overwhelming.

It was just there. His mind now thought of everything from a much larger picture!

The vast Star Seas. The Outsiders who seemed to be looking at thr Star Seas as a place of butchering and entertainment.

His vision was currently spreading out far and wide as he wanted to ensure that as he brought his Lineage into this era…it could be happy and protected without worry!