NOVEL NEXT Chapter 39 – Ascension
A few hours later, Emily and Juliana leave the dorms to head to dinner. Emily’s heart feels a little lighter, relieved to have finally talked to someone about her pent-up rage. Juliana is wrapped around Emily’s right arm, the left hanging in a makeshift sling Juliana made her while Emily was icing her various bruises.
As they walk through the cafeteria, they quickly spot Tom and Hester sitting together and make their way over to join them.
“What on Ulea happened to you, and why does Juliana seem so happy about it?” Tom asks incredulously as they sit down.
“Haha, two different questions,” Emily responds with a grin. “I got into a fight before my class.”
“Wow, they really did a number on you,” Hester comments dryly, focusing on the sling.
“You should see the other guys.”
The twins both laugh before Hester turns her attention to Juliana.
“And why are you so happy then? I would have thought you’d be upset about Emily getting battered, even if she’s not.”
“We’re dating!” Juliana chirps with a grin, ignoring Hester’s second comment.
Tom looks slightly shocked, glancing between the two of them seeking confirmation; whereas Hester nods sagely.
“About damn time. You’ve been all over each other since we met.”
“Hey! It’s not my fault Emi’s so oblivious!” Juliana cries.
“I’m not oblivious.”
Emily’s words are met with three unimpressed stares. Thinking back on it briefly, Emily remembers Juliana’s incessant need for physical contact and repeated use of any excuse to spend time with her. She decides not to comment further.
“Anyway,” she says with a slight embarrassment. “Are you guys ready for the test tomorrow?”
Her question is met with three groans.
“You can’t seriously expect us to pass basic maths after only six lessons, right?” Tom asks while dropping his head onto the table.
“Why not? I’m pretty confident I can pass it after only four lessons, so it should be fine for you,” Emily says with a sly grin before settling her gaze on Juliana. “As for you, you should have passed ages ago! Don’t think I didn’t know that you were skipping classes before I came here.”
Juliana blushes and looks away, refusing to comment. Rolling her eyes, Emily makes a suggestion.
“Why don’t you guys come over to my room tonight and I’ll help you revise?”
Everyone at the table perks up immediately, looking at Emily with gratitude.
***
Following Emily’s tuition, she and Juliana are the only two to pass basic maths. Tom fails miserably, and Hester narrowly misses the mark. Juliana scrapes by, doing justice to her several-month advantage. Emily achieves a perfect grade, adding to her reputation as a prodigy within The Dome.
Given the state of Jeremy, Kyle, and their friends after their fight, nobody else is inclined to challenge Emily. It takes a full week of recuperation before they return to class, where they give Emily a wide berth, not even daring to glare at her across the room. As a result, two months pass without incident, and Emily relaxes into her new relationship and spends her free time inventing spells, weapons, and armour.
Sitting in her room one morning after an intermediate maths class, Emily stares at a newly finished creation before her, along with a series of system windows. She grins.
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[Claws {Gen.1}]
[Rank:] E
[Stats:] +2 Str, +2 Dex, +3 Agil
[Description:] A set of magical steam-powered wrist blades.
[Effect:] Provides armour to the forearms and extends blades from the wrist when activated.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
[Status]
[Name:] Emily Coldstone
[Race:] Human
[Age:] 16
[Magic Circle:] First Circle
[Machina Cortex:] First Stage
[Attributes:] Strength 7 > 8, Dexterity 17 > 19, Agility 13 > 16, Vitality 8, Intelligence 27 > 34
[Health:] 120/120
[Stamina:] 200/200
[Mana:] 510/510
[Machina:] 510/510
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Skills:
[Intrinsic] Magic Network (passive)
[Intrinsic] Technomancer's Breath (active)
-Parkour (passive)
-Basic Machine Construction (passive)
-Intermediate Melee Combat (passive)
-Basic Spellweave (active)
-Mental Fortitude (passive)
-Overdrive (active)
-Basic Metalworking (passive)
-Basic Mana Manipulation (passive)
-Basic Runesmithing (passive)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Knowledge:
-Basic Clockwork
-Basic Steampower
-Basic Electrical Theory
-Basic Mana Formation
-Basic Particle Physics
-Basic Material Science
-Basic Kinematics
-Basic Waves
-Basic Thermodynamics
-Basic Elemental Theory
-Internal Energy Collection
-Basic Alchemy
-Basic Array Formation
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
[Progression]
[Circle/Stage:] First
Requirements:
-Intelligence 34/35 (Not Complete)
-Create 5/5 unique F rank machines (Complete)
-Create 1/1 E rank machine (Complete)
-Learn 5/5 first circle spells (Complete)
-Learn 3/3 basic magic knowledges (Complete)
_____
So close, all I have left now is meditating till my intelligence reaches 35!
Excitedly, she stands up and leaves her dorm room, heading to the training rooms.
I haven’t earned many points recently; I may have to burn the rest of them to progress quickly. I guess it’s time to start looking at taking some missions after this.
Arriving in the B-grade training hall, she finds an unoccupied room and selects a five times density gathering array. Entering the room, she sits down in the centre of the large array and activates the Technomancer’s Breath. She slowly draws in mana and cycles it through her system, feeling a mounting pressure build in her magic circle and cortex.
A few hours later, she feels something click, and a strange sense of completion fills her. Opening her eyes, still in a trance-like state, she reads the system notifications before her.
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Progression requirements met.
Would you like to begin stage ascension? [Yes]/[No]
(Warning, it is recommended that User finds a safe area with a high mana density to ensure the best results of ascension)
_____
The moment she selects yes, the pressure inside her bursts and the mana in the array rushes into her. Violent tendrils of searing lightning tear through the air around her as she begins to levitate. Focusing on the internal movement of her energies, she watches as mana gathers in a vortex around her first circle, slowly condensing. Her saturated cortex starts to vibrate before a burning pain hits her as it begins to compress.
The only thing preventing a scream from leaving her mouth is the machina that spreads through her body, immobilising her and distributing the pain as her Magic Network changes as well. Her vision changes, the room around her falling away to reveal a cosmic stream of energy, similar yet different from the Spellweave. Glistening constellations surround her, some pulsing with power, others shattering into scattered remnants. She feels her connection with the mana around her deepening, and two conflicting senses of control and helplessness fill her at the same time.
The vision fades as her ascension enters its final phase. The pain slowly starts to diminish as her cortex settles, and the vortex around her heart solidifies into a rotating circle of pure mana. The two link their cycles again, sending a wave of relief and pleasure through her body. The mana around her settles, and the lightning fades, leaving her sitting on the floor with her eyes shut, twitching as she acclimates to the changes in her body.
That was intense.
She stretches her fingers and slowly moves her arms, feeling a deeper connection with her body and a finer control over her movements. The energy saturating her body feels far more powerful than before as if it’s undergone a qualitative change in density and purity at the same time.
Opening her eyes, she grins at the changes, about to look at her system’s notifications.
I think I could get addicted to this.
Then she freezes as she notices the oddity of two perfectly synced voices in her head.
Why am I thinking double?
Taking a deep breath to prevent herself from panicking, she closes her eyes again and gathers her focus on her cortex. Watching tiny streams of machina run through folds of organic matter, an instinctual understanding of her current state quickly comes to her.
Disable internal monologue of core two. Set core two to assistive processing.
Opening her eyes again, she looks at the system windows before her.
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Congratulations! Ascension successful.
[Status]
[Name:] Emily Coldstone
[Race:] Human
[Age:] 16
[Magic Circle:] First > Second Circle
[Machina Cortex:] First > Second Stage
[Attributes:] Strength 8 > 12, Dexterity 19 > 32, Agility 16 > 25, Vitality 8 > 13, Intelligence 35 > 54
[Health:] 190/190
[Stamina:] 315/315
[Mana:] 3240/3240
[Machina:] 3240/3240
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Sub-system updated: Progression
[Progression]
[Circle/Stage:] Second
Requirements:
-Intelligence 54/75 (Not Complete)
-Create 1/5 unique E rank machines (Not Complete)
-Learn internal casting (Not Complete)
-Create 0/3 second circle spells (Not Complete)
-Slay 0/1 third circle beast (Not Complete)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Hidden-Quest completed: Ahead of the Times
[Ahead of the Times]
[Rank:] E
[Description:] Ascend to the second circle significantly faster than the norm on your planet.
Requirements:
-Ascend within three months of awakening (Complete)
Rewards:
-Sub-System: Notebook
_____
Woah, that’s a lot of stats. And a new sub-system?
Navigating her system, she quickly pulls up the new notebook tab. The window shimmers and turns a darker shade of blue, becoming slightly harder to see through, as a blank space labelled ‘Notebook’ appears.
Well, that’s disappointing. At least I can move my important notes out of my notebook and remove the security devices from my room.
A new thought occurs to her.
Actually, since this is part of the system it shouldn’t reset with time-travel, right? I take it back – not disappointing at all.
Taking one last breath of the dense mana in the gathering array, Emily stands up to disable it. As she rises, she feels an odd dissonance between her perception and her body. Frowning, she reaches for her breast pocket to check The Clock. Staring at the timepiece’s face, she watches the seconds hand tick and quickly realises the issue.
My perception of time is off. I’m processing things too quickly, so it feels like time is moving at half-speed.
Assistive processing off.
The moment she sends the mental command, the strange feeling disappears, and her perception returns to normal.
That will surely be helpful in the future.
With a slight skip in her step, she quickly moves to the internal control panel in the training room and disables the gathering array. She watches her point count on her crest decrease to ‘84’ with sadness, confirming her resolve to complete a mission soon.
Before I leave, I should check for any extra information the system will give me after my ascension. I still have ten minutes till Jules should be back from her trip to Threads. Why don’t I test what this second core can do?
Core two, search the system for any post-ascension changes.
Less than a second later, she feels a smooth flow of information transfer between her cores.
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[Machina Cortex]
The mechanic’s power organ.
A mechanic's brain, optimised and compartmentalised by machina, that displays a mechanic’s stage of development.
Generates [Machina] and allows a mechanic a connection to machines around them.
Split into two [Cores].
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
[Cores]
Each core that forms a mechanic’s cortex is an individual processing unit, capable of performing billions of microprocesses per second.
Each core carries a number of [Threads], equal to the number of cores currently formed.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
[Threads]
Individual parallel processes a core can use at once.
_____
Each core should have two threads then. Wait, does that mean I can do perfect silent casting now?
Excitedly, Emily raises her hands in front of her and begins trying to form the mental image and magic circle of burning hands at the same time. Unlike her failed past attempts, a glowing orange and white magic circle forms above her hands and soon begins to rotate, fading away as a sheen of flames appears across her palms.
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Skill created: Perfect Silent Casting (passive)
[Perfect Silent Casting (passive)]
User can proficiently form a mental image and magic circle simultaneously.
-Grants +10% casting speed when casting spells mentally.
_____
I guess gesture casting is kind of obsolete now. Wait, is it?
She tries silent casting again, this time while trying to perform a few basic martial forms Agnes taught her and finds herself tripping over her feet as her focus falters. The spell still forms, but much weaker than before. She tries it again, this time while weaving together gestures and trying to form a mental image, she finds herself able to perfectly follow her forms while casting the spell.
“So, one of core one’s threads is handling the mental image, and the other is handling body movements which includes the gestures,” she mumbles to herself while cutting off the mana flow to her hands, ending her spell early.
Gestures still have their uses then. Now to test out multicasting.
With a grin, she stands still and lifts her hands in front of her, palms facing away.
Core two cast air blast.
After giving the command, she quickly silent casts burning hands, watching the two magic circles form on top of each other. The constructs of mana meet but never join, and as they both start rotating, a layer of fire forms on her hands before being shot forward a few metres. Her eyes light up with joy and expectation.
“I can double cast! And it also looks like I can mix spells in the process.”
She proceeds to test mixing gesture casting and silent casting, managing to perfectly cast two spells while following her martial forms. With a grin, she moves on to mixing spells, finding a few intriguing combinations that she adds to a mental list for further investigation.
After finishing her tests, she checks her mana pool.
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[Mana:] 2916/3240
_____
I can cast so many spells now, but double-casting so many first-circle spells at the same time still adds up.
Happy with the results, she starts to leave while pulling out The Clock. Seeing twenty minutes have passed since she was meant to meet Juliana, she freezes on the spot, a chill running down her spine.
Shit, I got too engrossed in my testing. Actually, how would The Clock react to my ascension? If I reset, will I keep the skills I’ve gained since? I guess so because skills seemed to transfer with me… Only one way to find out.
With a choice made for the sake of research, and definitely not just to avoid upsetting her girlfriend, Emily presses the button on The Clock, watching as time slows to a halt. As time winds back, she feels more than she ever has before, yet still fails to glean any information from the gap between time.
Instead of a sudden jump to twenty-four hours prior, she finds herself shifted to the centre of the gathering array, having just finished her ascension.
I see, I guess my ascension marks a point of no return. I’ll have to make sure I’m careful when I progress in the future, I couldn’t bear getting stuck in another inescapable situation.
Emily shivers slightly at the thought while standing up. Checking the clock again as she deactivates and pays for the array, she confirms she still has ten minutes till Juliana returns.
“Better take no chances this time,” she mutters, leaving the training room to make her way back to the dorms.