Silver Stars, Ch 10: Astral Lord (Patreon)

Silver flames consumed everything as the Fifth Star ignited. 

A brilliant sun burned at the peak of Silverguard as energy poured outward, igniting the Void around him. 

Massive currents of essence, astral energy, and wild elements roared around him, twisting into great rivers that burned among the stars.

He leapt off the fortress and stepped into the distance, away from those who wouldn’t be able to handle the intensity.

Behind him, Silverguard’s wards flared as they absorbed the wave of heat and essence he let off. But instead of weakening under the onslaught, they became stronger and hummed with force.

Sam paused on the far side of the system, which was enough distance to protect his followers. 

The Titan Star connected with the Will of the Path and the powerful voice of the Will rang in his mind.

Congratulations, Lord of Silver Stars. 

You have reached your full growth as an Astral Titan.

Know that this is only the beginning of your road. The Sixth Star and the Truth of Chaos await you, as well as horizons beyond those you know.

For now, I will help you to Evolve.

A wave of astral energy from the Will of the Path hummed through Sam’s awareness, arranging the Fifth Evolution into a series of necessary steps, which it displayed to him.

The Fifth Star is called the Battle Star, and it is different from the previous ones. 

It is more individual and has more elements of choice in it, by which you can determine your own Path forward.

These choices form your unique strengths.

When you reached the Fourth Star, you Evolved to become an Astral Battle Lord. Now that you have reached the Fifth Star, you have proven the truth of that title.

That title will remain with you if you wish to use it, but the Fifth Star focuses on broader aspects of your personality. 

You have become an Astral Lord, a title that represents the more expansive power you have earned. 

While forming your Fifth Star, a Titan normally focuses on two things: enhancing your domain and then forming a personal Ability that stems from it. 

These will be a core strength for you going forward and proof of your power. 

Some Titans choose to take a name that matches the Ability they form at the Fifth Star. Since you already have your title as the Lord of Silver Stars, you can choose to keep it or to change it.

Thanks to the insight you absorbed during your battle with the Vos’Rekan, your Domain of Primal Runes has improved beyond the realm of the Fifth Star, reaching the edge of the Sixth Star.

This will vastly benefit your Path in the future.

For now, the power of the Fifth Star still remains and it presents you with an opportunity. 

Since you do not need to use that power on your domain, you can form two personal Abilities instead of one.

This is an extreme advantage. 

The Abilities of the Fifth Star are usually the strongest ones a Titan ever forms, a core part of your domain and strength. 

I will do my best to assist you with creating the strongest ones possible, but before that you should examine the Racial Abilities you unlocked from the battle. 

They will help you to make your choice.

Keep in mind that once you have reached 100,000 in an attribute, there are no more standard Abilities to unlock. 

When I was created to stabilize Paths, attributes were one of the areas I was assigned to oversee.

After surveying the Titans at the time, 100,000 was set as the standard. 

Reaching it in any attribute is considered to be the average strength of an adult Astral Titan.

You have already passed that mark in Intelligence and Aura, thanks to how your essence settles into your core attributes, but you should look at the others now. 

All Titans have their own essence distribution that dictates what core attributes they gain as they grow.  Your distribution makes you more magically inclined than those who are Strength or Agility-focused.

Most importantly, however, your Battle Aura is very powerful. 

While all Titans have a version of it, it is rare to see one that boosts your other attributes so well.

The Will of the Path paused, giving Sam a chance to look at the changes from the battle with the Vos’rekan. 

The Titan Star calculated his recent gains as a series of notifications rang in his mind. The first one he looked at was his total essence.

Essence Constellation (Fifth Star): 37,914,712 / 100,000,000.

He’d gained 15,792,105 essence from the Vos’Rekan, as well as 397,202 from other recent battles.

30,000,000 was the point to reach the Fifth Star, so he had gained more than enough. 

It looked like the Sixth Star was set at 100,000,000 essence, but that would take a while.

The strength of the new essence was surging through him as he turned his attention to his attributes.

You have gained 23,127 Strength, 26,982 Constitution, 6,746 Agility, 40,473 Intelligence, and 40,473 Aura. 

As he focused on distributing the essence throughout his constellation, his height steadily increased, his limbs burned with stellar flame, and his aura was a blazing corona in the dark.

His height surged past the 1500-foot mark that was the limit of the Fourth Star and then exploded upward. 

His mass increased at the same time, making the chaos winds spin around him. The force of the Fifth Star was massive, pressing his body to expand until it met its standard. His height continued to increase until he was over 5,000 feet tall.

That seemed to be the beginning of the Fifth Star, since it slowed down after that.

He eventually stabilized at 5,550 feet.

He was over a mile tall.

It looked like the Fifth Star started at 5,000 feet, and based on the rate of growth, the Sixth Star would be an even 15,000.

It was a massive increase in height, but in the Void that was endlessly vast, it felt natural, just a small improvement.

When the essence settled in, he looked at the experience he’d gained from the fight. 

After being split with over 300 others, it was enough to give him 11 more levels, bringing him up to Level 492.

The attributes were much less than the essence, but the boost to Charisma and Wisdom was welcome.

You gain 330 Strength, 330 Constitution, 220 Agility, 220 Wisdom, 1100 Intelligence, 1100 Aura, 1650 Charisma, and 22 free attribute points. 

It was clear now that the Titans had developed Classes primarily for the Abilities that came with them, while the attributes were minimal and only useful to cover gaps in his natural essence distribution.

The Charisma boost raised everything else by half its value, and when he tossed the 22 free points into it, it added 836 to all the others.

He looked at the new totals.

STR: 93,707

CON: 105,772

AGI: 34,780

WIS: 12,704

INT: 163,413

AUR: 163,413

CHA: 18,497

He was well past 100,000 in Intelligence and Aura, and now his Constitution had passed it and his Strength was almost there.

He could feel a new ability from Constitution.

Flame of the First Age (100,000 Constitution)

You were born from the Flame of the First Age and your vitality burns brighter as the ages pass.

You have grown strong enough to release that flame into a true sun around you, changing your size and radiance at will. 

You can use the Flame of the First Age to incinerate your enemies, or you can make the area around you calm and beneficial for life. It will harm only those you wish to harm. 

Even at rest, your presence warps dimensional space and time, which are as much a part of you as your blood. It is difficult to wound you unless your enemy has the strength to shatter the dimensional layers around you. 

Your resistance to most forms of energy has reached the peak. Unless a force is able to disturb a sun in the heavens, it will not trouble you.

Combined with your Aura of Stellar Beginnings, your aura is capable of covering an entire system. Your presence brings life to the Void, encouraging the vitality of all things around you, while improving the quality and tier of materials within your aura. 

The potential of living beings near you will be fostered by your presence. Their wounds will heal more quickly, curses will fade, and their health will improve. If you teach them directly, this benefit will be even greater. They will have a greater chance to achieve sudden insight and for their Abilities to experience growth. 

May your flame burn forever. 

He’d always known that an Astral Titan was a sun of their own, but now he could feel the reality of it.

It was similar to the abilities he already had to regenerate in the form of a sun and to protect those within his aura, but at the same time, it was much bigger. 

This was the capstone, the other half of the Aura of Stellar Beginning. 

Only with both of them, did it really come to life.

There was only the Void around him, so he didn’t hesitate to release the Flame of the First Age. 

Massive arcs of silver and white flame leapt up, turning into a corona that spread outward as he turned to fire. 

The flames expanded until they filled tens of thousands of miles of space, and then they stretched farther. 

When it halted, he was a brilliant silver-white sun, burning even brighter than the old sun of this system. 

Flares of elemental energy from the chaos winds flowed into him, feeding the flame, and arcs of other colors coruscated at the edge of the corona.

His presence was everywhere, radiating outward as fire rose from within and flowed out.

It reminded him of the first dream he’d had of evolving as a Titan, of breathing in the Void as a sleeping sun.

There was an inexhaustible well of strength at his heart that was tied to the Void itself, a spark of the first chaos. Energy from the Void poured into him, sustaining him and the power that burned everywhere.

Flames rose and fell with his breath.

He could feel time beginning to lose its meaning as he burned and as his thoughts merged with the Void. 

It was a tempting thing, to rest until he felt like moving again, but it was no trouble to pull himself back.

It would be easy to lose track of time as a sun. 

Perhaps one day he would let himself rest like this, but for now, there was no need. The only fatigue he felt these days was on his spirit. 

He stretched out his aura and he felt his form expand around him, becoming a larger sun. Waves of energy washed over the rubble of the system, making it shine more brightly.

In the distance, he could feel his aura touching Silverguard, as well as the familiar sense of the fortress’s artifact spirit as it turned toward him.

Silverguard grumbled as he retracted the aura.

It made him chuckle, but there were other things to do, so he continued to pull the flames back. 

The silver-white sun burned brightly as it shrank, reforming into his body at the center. 

Silver flames burned along his skin, the same aura that was always there, and his clothes and artifacts were the same as before. They’d been displaced into a pocket dimension while he changed forms.

He studied the ability for a bit longer and then he moved on to the next. At 75,000 Strength, he had unlocked another ability. There would be only one more after it, once it reached 100,000.

Force of the Stars (75,000 Strength) 

You are a star of the Void and when you attack the force of a star descends.

You have gained the Ability to channel the intensity of a star into your grasp, using it as a weapon against your enemies, either in the shape of a ray or as a passive boost to another form of attack.

At the higher end, this Ability is strong enough to shatter worlds. 

When used passively, this Ability is flexible and will infuse all of your strikes, both physical and magical. 

There wasn’t a long description for the ability, but he could see the potential it held. 

It was a significant upgrade.

He turned to the side, where he could see a large chunk of stone floating in the distance. 

Currents of stellar force swirled around him, condensing from the Void into power that radiated out like the sun he had just been.

Then he pointed at the stone.

A blinding ray that was mixed with silver flame and dark light shot forward, reaching the asteroid in an instance. 

It tore straight through the rock like it wasn’t even there and continued on to the far side.

The residual heat of the attack caused the stone to shudder in the path of the strike. Molten lava ran along the channel that was drilled through it, but only for an instance as the force of the attack spread outward.

The center of the asteroid collapsed inward, where it dissolved into a crackling sphere of silver light. Threads of energy left behind from the attack poured into it, making the sphere grow larger.

Then it erupted.

The asteroid exploded and chunks hurled themselves across the Void.

The rubble left behind continued to disintegrate as it flew away, quickly crumbling to dust that spread out on the chaos winds.

The attack took almost no energy from him. It was all condensed from the Void. The only downside was that it took him a moment to gather it.

Astral Rift had been his strongest racial attack, but this outclassed it by a good margin.

It was a massively powerful ray attack.

“That’ll work,” he said approvingly, as he considered the best way to use it.

He let those thoughts float in the back of his mind as he turned to the last racial ability he’d gained.

Spirit of the Void (30,000 Agility)

Your movement is in tune with the Void, allowing you to harness the energy of the Void as you walk silently across the heavens. 

You now have the ability to conceal your presence by blending into the Void and your speed has improved. This is a natural ability that does not take energy from you. 

The ability allowed him to partially fuse into the Void to hide his presence, making him indistinguishable from it. It was a natural concealing ability that didn’t require him to bend dimensional space.

It would be very useful to an Agility-based fighter, allowing them to be silent and deadly, but for him it was mostly a passive speed boost. 

He nodded as he finished studying the ability.

In a little over 6000 more attribute points, he would reach 100,000 in Strength, but that would be the last of his racial abilities for a while.

He should be able to reach 50,000 in Agility and get one more ability in that line later in the Fifth Star, but it would take a while. 

It was unlikely he would get to 75,000 or 100,000 until sometime after the Sixth Star, if ever.

As for Wisdom and Charisma, unless his Classes gave him the attributes for those, their growth would be slow.

But it would come in time. 

For now, he turned his attention back to what the Will of the Path had said.

He needed to decide on two abilities for the Fifth Star.

He could feel the potential energy swirling around the star. He’d ignited it, but it wasn’t fully formed yet. 

His choices would shape it.

The Will of the Path noticed the shift in his attention and it spoke again in his mind.

Essence settles into Strength and Constitution for all Titans, but the other attributes are based on your unique nature. 

You have reached 100,000 in three attributes, and you are nearly there in Strength. 

In particular, your Intelligence and Aura are impressive. 

Your domain is stronger than an average Titan, as are your enchanting, use of runes, and magical abilities, including Astral Rift and Force of the Stars.

Those abilities rely heavily on your Intelligence and Aura.

Your development of Stellar Conversion and Stellar Infusion have begun to set you apart as a craftsman.

Even Caerlon was not as advanced at this level, but he had more of a distribution to Charisma and Wisdom than you.

Although you were born long after the First Age, you have risen quickly to take your place among the stars.

Allow me to welcome you, Astral Lord, and to assign you full rights to administer the Path of Stars. A swirl of starlight flowed through Sam’s aura, and he suddenly became aware of new options with the Will of the Path, as well as a connection to key points established throughout the galaxy.

Along with it came an awareness of how the Path of Stars was formed from astral chaos, linked to the stars of the Void, and then merged into the very fabric of the dimensions.

It was anchored with vast enchantments that spread across the entire galaxy, their foundations laid on a level that was almost incomprehensible.

Even for him.

Entire dimensions were devoted to powering the Path, while others supported it with differing flows of time, elemental energy, and more.

Vast runic pools flowed like rivers through the dark, connecting it from stars in one wide-flung system to another.

All of that information flowed through his mind, but then it settled in.

Among the rights you’ve gained is the ability to establish Evolutionary Nodes connected to the Path, the Will continued. However, with the World Core here, there is little need to create another. 

It is one of the finest ever built.

Now, what Abilities do you wish to form?

Sam’s attention turned to the potential swirling around the Fifth Star, as well as all that he’d seen from the insight into primal chaos.

Then he shared his idea with the Will of the Path, his mind pouring out a complex mix of runic knowledge, future potential, and the outline of meridians and essence.

Layers of diagrams spun through his awareness, shining with astral energy and essence. 

The Will replied with its own designs, some more complex than his and others offering alternatives.

Quickly, they worked through the possibilities.

Sam followed the path he’d seen during that moment of insight, and the Will offered its aeons of experience to support him.

Some time later, it was done.

The essence around the Fifth Star swirled into the form of two new Abilities, as each of them settled into place. 

They were so large that they spread throughout his entire essence constellation.

The information on them sprang into his mind.

Fifth Star Domain Ability: Sovereign of Primal Runes

You are the Sovereign of Primal Runes and hold the chaotic nature of runes within your grasp. 

Just as they were born from chaos, so too can they be reduced to chaos, and at your command, they shape reality.

The energy required for you to form runes has been reduced to almost nothing. It is drawn from the Void and supported by natural laws and your domain.

By the same power, the enchantments you create echo with primal energy, gaining permanence within the Void. They will not fail unless you wish them to or they are broken by another force. 

Additionally, you can take control of lower-ranked enchantments based on runes and turn them to your own purpose. 

The first ability solidified the insight he’d gained from primal chaos. It also codified that power into his domain. Within his grasp, runes would follow his command, no matter their source.

The second was also related to the same primal force.

Fifth Star Domain Ability: Mandate of Chaos.

By your command, all will be reduced to chaos. 

This Ability infuses the area around you with an echo of primal energy that breaks bonds, shatters laws, and divides domains, ordering everything to return to the First Moment. 

The strength of this ability relies on the power of your domain and your understanding of chaos, as well as your ability to shatter the energy around you.

It was an ability based on the greatest strengths of Shatter Aura and his domain, as well as the insights he’d gained from the Vos’Rekan.

One ability to create.

One to destroy.

He was planning to use them both when he went to rescue Asenya.

He wasn’t sure what traps the Avatar of Blood had created or how it had bound Asenya, but hopefully he would be able to break them.

As the Fifth Star settled into its permanent form and the abilities fused into his essence constellation, he turned to look at Silverguard. 

A second later, he was standing on the peak, looking down at the pile of treasure he’d extracted from the Vos’Rekan.

Now that his Evolution was done, it was time to hand out the rewards of the fight and to congratulate his allies.

After that, he would put the Fragments of the Primal Void to good use.