Inertia: Beneath the Starlit Veil

Cyrus POV

It has been several days since Adam took my father and me to see the celestium caves in the astral realm. The townspeople have welcomed us as if we were their own. We were given a roof over our heads and comfortable beds to sleep in. It took a while for my body to fully relax and rest instead of being on guard all the time, wondering what threat I would have to face next. I used this time to meditate and work on fortifying my new core. Every time I visualized myself absorbing cosmic energy, the process became easier, as I had noticed during our encounter with the beetles. The fortification process, on the other hand, was much harder, to be frank.

With my old core, I could feel the different layers of cosmic energy wrapping around each other, creating an ever-expanding protective container to hold my constellation's power. Now my core feels like it doesn't even have structure, making it harder to find its edges to strengthen and expand it. "So much for this innate ability. I wonder if Dox has any insight as to why it feels so different," I muttered to myself.

My father had mentioned that I needed to carefully plan my trips into the nexus, and I felt he wanted to stay in this town a little longer to give me time to do just that. Ensuring the door was locked to avoid interruptions, I closed my eyes and visualized the same steps my father had taught me on the boat. Once in my astral body, I recognized the swirling portal that resembled a galaxy and dove straight in.

When I appeared in the nexus, the sight of shifting starfields and islands of stardust brought a level of calmness I hadn't felt in a long time. I let my astral body float freely in the expanse, enjoying the respite from external forces. Some time passed before I found myself floating next to Dox, who appeared to brim with life.

"So, are you ever going to get to work, Cyrus?" Dox asked, shaking me out of my daze.

"Yeah, of course. I just got a little sidetracked. But I do have a question."

"Go on," Dox said, humming with cosmic energy.

"I've been having trouble fortifying this core. The same steps I used to create and strengthen my old core don't seem to apply here. Do you know why?"

"That is to be expected. Your core acts and functions on a different level compared to the normal celestial core of a starbound. I take it you've figured out what the Pardoxen constellation represents at its simplest form?"

"Yeah, it's a dead star, correct?"

"Yes. Right now, you possess a black hole celestial core. To fortify and strengthen it, you must absorb other cosmic or celestial bodies to increase its mass. Creating a stronger outer shell won't work because the gravitational force it generates would destroy it."

"So I essentially have to build it from the inside?" I asked, seeking clarification.

"Correct, Cyrus. Otherwise, your core will shrink due to the cosmic energy it leaks. If you ever deplete your energy reserves entirely, your core will start feeding on itself until there's nothing left. So, you need to increase the mass of the black hole so that your capacity of cosmic energy will be larger, thus slowing down the effect of the leak"

"So, it's basically the opposite of the Solaris constellation," I concluded.

"Correct," Dox confirmed.

"That explains why I feel like I have poor control over my cosmic energy. It's not the control—it's that my reservoir isn't large enough," I said, coming to a realization. With this understanding, I decided to head to my stellar pathway. The crystalline pathway appeared unchanged from the last time. I placed my hand on the bottom node, activating it to reveal the rune once again. The faint glowing rune emitted a cold, desolate feeling, almost begging me to improve my proficiency.

I planned to do exactly that. Imbuing cosmic energy into the small, faintly glowing node attached to the rune, I prepared to attempt the resonance trial again. Before I knew it, I was transported back to the Pool of Reflection. Shortly after, Dox appeared beside me. The stardust in the pool began to rise, glowing brighter as it ascended—just like before. "Your trial will begin shortly," Dox announced as the stardust transformed into humanoid shapes.

The figures arranged themselves in a line, as they had before. The first stood five meters away, the second around fifteen meters, and the third at thirty meters. Previously, the farthest I could project was one meter in a single attempt, using half of my cosmic energy. I was curious to see how much further I could go using my full reserves. Besides, I had nothing to lose since we were in a safe environment for now.

Standing in the Pool of Reflection, I emptied almost all my reserves into my astral tattoo, keeping a small amount to return to my physical body. Activating the tattoo, I visualized my sphere of influence expanding toward the first humanoid stardust figure. Expanding my field of control further required immense focus, as it demanded a substantial output and control of cosmic energy. The strain on my mind and astral body was exhausting. Despite using nearly all my energy, I couldn't even reach the first target.

My field expanded to about three and a half meters with my current energy. To pass this resonance trial, I needed a much larger capacity. Fortunately, I had an idea. "It's probably time to handle that rift Adam mentioned," I thought. "I need fresh cores to absorb since the beetle cores are surely depleted by now."

I allowed my astral body to rest while formulating a plan to close the rift and defeat the astral behemoths inside. First, I had to locate the rift and gather information about the type and number of creatures within it. With this in mind, I knew I needed to find my father and Adam to get a better understanding of the area.

Once I recovered from the strain of the resonance trial, I bid farewell to Dox and floated toward the portal to leave my nexus.