I Can Assimilate Everything

In The Void, on the Trail of the Magi heading towards the Foldless Testing Grounds of Life.

A dark humanoid figure of Achilles- a manifestation of himself in the Void, spoke to himself calmly.

"Many weeks have passed since I established our isolation," he reflected,"I am many times stronger than before…exponentially more capable of protecting myself and responding to unexpected complications. The risk of approaching their Testing Grounds, of potentially revealing my existence to entities who serve the Civilization of Life..."

He paused, purple-gold eyes blazing with determination.

"No harm in taking action and accepting slight risk now," he concluded with finality.

"The potential wonders gained from experiencing their evaluation process…."

His smile was a deadly one.

"That knowledge is worth the exposure."

With such words settling into his consciousness as immutable intention, Achilles continued following the path of the Magi with heightened focus.

After another two days of patient navigation, during which Archmagus Solleth provided additional lectures about what his disciples might encounter and how they should conduct themselves if granted entry...

Achilles's vastly expanded awareness sensed exactly the area toward which they were heading.

At this moment, he rapidly retracted that awareness and pulled back the extended perception that had been monitoring distances of several Gigaparsecs in every direction.

Because what he'd just detected in the far distance demanded caution!

A few Gigaparsecs away, he perceived something that made even his elevated consciousness pause.

A massive green cube domain.

The structure was Gigaparsecs in size…a geometric form so vast that entire Star Seas could have fit within its boundaries with room remaining for many more.

Its surfaces pulsed with luminescence that suggested the green coloration wasn't a mere aesthetic choice.

That it was a fundamental property of whatever principles comprised its construction.

And surrounding this colossal domain, terrific auras of brilliance blazed with intensity that made the Existential Lineages he'd encountered seem preliminary by comparison.

These were presences that felt immensely more powerful, operating at tiers within the Level Zero Scale that he hadn't yet reached!

He…had found a Domain of the Foldless Ones.

Achilles's consciousness processed this discovery with caution.

His eyes, still invisible within the Void, flashed with calculation as plans began forming with rapidity.

He would need to create an identity for himself…something plausible enough to withstand casual scrutiny- who he was and what Lineage he was from, if it mattered anyways.

The story didn't need to be elaborate, merely sufficient to explain how a lone entity had stumbled upon this location, if he even needed to as all of this was him being overly cautiohs!

He wanted to experience these Testing Grounds firsthand, to understand what criteria the Foldless Ones employed in selecting candidates, to gauge whether entry into the Civilization of Life was actually achievable.

His consciousness organized final preparations as the Magi continued their approach toward the massive green cube domain.

After he was ready, Achilles ceased following the group of Magi he'd been shadowing for weeks.

His figure, which had been a humanoid perfectly integrated with the Void's fundamental emptiness, finally began to materialize in space.

The transformation was gradual but inexorable…darkness coalescing into form, emptiness remembering how to possess substance, nothingness deciding it preferred to be something after all.

When the manifestation completed, what emerged was glorious!

His brilliant purple-gold eyes blazed with authority. Surrounding those remarkable eyes, barely visible unless one looked with enhanced perception, was a hidden platinum-colored light.

His robes shone with purple hues that shifted subtly as he moved.

His hair pulsed with the same purple-gold radiance as his eyes, each strand seeming to contain condensed stellar authority that had been refined until it could pass for something as mundane as hair.

His body appeared sculpted by existence itself, every muscle toned to optimal performance without crossing into excessive bulk.

He looked approximately twenty-five years of age, though entities at his scale could maintain whatever apparent age they preferred regardless of actual duration since emergence.

The intense light within his eyes carried an imposing quality…as if one was being observed by a young Emperor from forgotten ages, by royalty that had ruled during eras of glory!

With decisive light flashing in those remarkable eyes, Achilles took a single step.

He instantly overtook the group of Magi he had been following throughout these past weeks, arriving far ahead of them and rapidly nearing the massive green cuboidal structure that dominated the region.

He maintained an expression of studied calmness as he floated closer.

His senses remained focused primarily on himself…monitoring his own emanations to ensure he was projecting exactly the impression he intended, that no aspect of his true capability leaked through the constructed identity he wore like armor.

He continued looking around with a gaze that held veiled expectations.

The massive cube structure became increasingly apparent as he approached.

Achilles allowed his expression to shift toward shock and amazement, eyes widening with carefully calibrated surprise as if he had absolutely no idea what this structure was or what might surround it.

He floated closer with mounting caution that any observer would interpret as appropriate wariness before encountering unknown phenomena of tremendous scale.

His movements suggested he was an entity who had stumbled upon something unexpected rather than someone who had deliberately sought this location after weeks of preparation.

Because at this moment, multiple gazes had already landed on him.

He could feel them…attention from entities whose power made the Nar'Thyss he'd eliminated seem like children!

HUUM!

As he continued approaching, those stationed around the cube became increasingly apparent to perception that was supposedly discovering them for the first time rather than having detected them from Gigaparsecs away.

Achilles arrived before the massive structure that expanded in every direction his vision could track…a wall of organic geometry extending so far that curvature became impossible to detect, surfaces that seemed to stretch toward infinity despite his understanding that the cube possessed finite dimensions when viewed from sufficient distance.

In the region where he'd manifested, a humanoid entity could be seen floating with posture of patient observation.

Calling this being human would be inaccurate to the point of offense…while the basic architecture resembled humanity's form, everything else declared this was something else!

The Foldless One's body shone with green-gold radiance.

Radiant tattoos wrapped around every visible portion of his form…intricate patterns that weren't merely decorative but appeared to be encoding principles and authorities into his very flesh, making his body itself into text that declared truths about existence's fundamental nature.

A pair of massive verdant-gold wings expanded behind him with span that would have dwarfed small mountains, feathers that weren't biological material but seemed to be condensed life force made visible.

His eyes resembled vibrant black holes of verdant serenity…apertures through which one could glimpse depths containing more life than entire biospheres.

The pressure his body emanated passively, without any apparent effort to project intimidation, felt at least three or four times greater than Achilles's current power.

As Achilles arrived at respectful distance, the Foldless One merely glanced at him before returning his attention to staring outward into the Void's blankness, as if watching for something specific or simply maintaining vigil without particular expectation.

"Hello?" Achilles called out.

The Foldless One did not answer and didn't even acknowledge the greeting beyond that initial glance, maintaining silence that could have been deliberate disregard or simple apathy.

Achilles turned his attention from the unresponsive guardian to examine the structure itself.

The massive cube that felt less like construction and more like something that had grown into this configuration.

The surface appeared organic in quality, resembling compressed earth that had been refined.

It was surrounded by a halo of verdant brilliance that pulsed with the same life-affirming authority the Foldless One emanated.

The Foldless One he currently observed was merely one among several stationed around this massive cube…Achilles could sense others at different positions along the perimeter, each one maintaining similar vigil.

No other lifeforms were present in the immediate vicinity.

His eyes flashed with sharpness concealed behind continued expression of curious uncertainty.

Since the Foldless One remained determinedly silent, he floated slightly further inward…testing boundaries, assessing what response his advance might trigger.

This was when his body felt a glorious sense of heaviness descend upon him!

HUUM!

He was stopped.

Not through application of force but through encountering resistance that declared forward progress required something he didn't currently possess or hadn't yet demonstrated.

...!

Prompts materialized before his perception!

|You have arrived at the Peripheral Field of Life.|

|Only those attuned to the weavings of Life can pass through this threshold.|

|Those with high attunement will traverse this barrier with slight difficulty, their passage measured in moments or hours depending on depth of resonance.|

|Those with low attunement toward Life may never pass, or may require days of sustained effort to cross distances that others manage in heartbeats.|

|Those who successfully pass through and make physical contact with the outer surface of the distant structure will be wrapped in spatial mechanisms that transport them into the Foldless Testing Grounds of Life.|

|Proceed, if you are inclined toward Life's principles.|

...!