Silver Stars, Ch 11: Rewards (Patreon)

Sam swept up the treasures and looked down to the great hall, where the emissaries were waiting.

His Evolution had happened in the main dimension this time, rather than in a pocket space, but not long had passed for the people on the fortress.

He created a new avatar to handle the discussions, and then he sent it to the great hall with most of the treasures. That would be enough to entertain the emissaries.

Keros also deserved his share.

Besides the Fragments of the Primal Void, he didn’t mind giving most of the rest away. 

He only kept some of the rarest dimensional crystals and other things that were difficult to make with Elemental Smithing.

The emissaries were gathered around the central table when he arrived, their complexions a combination of pale and excited. The force of the Vos’Rekan’s destruction had left them shaken, but even more than that, the battle was on a scale that had left them stunned.

The nagas were the first to respond to his arrival.

“Silver Lord! Silver Lord!” The naga’s celebration began as soon as he arrived. 

Thunderous hisses rolled out across the great hall as they cheered his presence. Tails and hands hammered on the table, sending the goblets and plates of food brought by servant golems flying away. 

A rain of specially-brewed mead filled the air, misting across the table and the warriors in a haze of potent liquor. It covered the nagas’ scales and gleamed with flickers of elemental fire and ice as it burned away.

“The head! You must mount the head on the fortress, my lord!” Sleset’s words carried above the throng. “It is your battle right, and a warning to your enemies!”

The rest of the nagas joined in the call. Their hisses were loud enough that the entire hall was echoing as if a tidal wave was rolling along the floor, and it only increased as they continued to ask for the trophy.

His avatar chuckled and held up his hand to wait. Then he looked upward.

At the peak, Sam rubbed his chin as he studied the Void where the beast’s head had been. There wasn’t much left of it after the explosion had ripped the Vos’Rekan apart.

A flicker of Elemental Mastery brought a series of stones from what had been its skull spiraling toward him, and he spent a few moments recreating a version of the beast’s head, although on a smaller scale, which he teleported down to his avatar.

The shouts of delighted nagas rose up, followed by a crashing toast. The head was so large that it barely fit inside the great hall.

All three hundred of them swarmed around it, wrestling with each other for who would get to pick it up, until Sleset hissed at them and appointed a dozen to carry it who had done the most damage in the battle.

Sam had to dissolve the far wall for them to get it out, but it was more fun for them than teleporting it would have been.

A moment later, the team of nagas was dragging the head up toward the top of Silverguard and arguing over where to put it.

The danger of the battle was only a motivation to them, and now that it was over, they felt more alive than ever.

The five emissaries were more subdued as they watched the tumult. 

Their faces were pale, especially as they stared at the beast’s jaws and the black vortex that had been there just a short while before.

What they saw in the battle had left them shaken. 

Rohne had a goblet in each hand and was drinking steadily, but the gleam in his eye as he looked at the nagas suggested he wouldn’t mind joining in on their fun, if only to forget the rest of the things on his mind.

Berim was taking notes in his journal, but it was obvious that his hand was shaking as he looked at the Vos’Rekan head. His expression was a mix of fascination and something else, as if he were revising his view of the galaxy.

Tenal was trying his best to maintain his composure, but his wings were shaking as if he was about to take flight, while Jesra was whispering a chant to the power of Spring, asking it to bring peace to her mind.

Solis was standing beside Keros like a student next to his teacher, as if he were looking for a pillar of support in the world.

When the five of them looked at Sam’s avatar, their eyes jerked away instantly, as if they were afraid of being seen or perhaps of being impolite and staring. But then they moved back a moment later, as if they couldn’t not look at him.

Sam’s avatar stood at the head of the table, with Keros to his right. He had to say something to acknowledge them, even though he knew they’d come for the reward more than anything. As soon as he spoke, the five of them jumped, but his words were a reassuring wave of astral warmth spreading through the hall

“You came here to help,” he said, his voice rumbling warmly across the hall. “I recognize your strength and that you have done your part. You have proven yourselves as allies and protected the civilized galaxy. Few will know the depths of what you’ve done here, but on any world, you should be hailed as heroes. 

“As soon as this feast has ended, I will see to your requests and put you in contact with the World Core to assemble your Paths. Furthermore, know that as long as you stand beside me in battle and we strive toward the same goals, I will do my best to help you along the way. I do not forget my allies.”

Keros’s voice rang out then, although it sounded like a reminder to the emissaries to wake them up as they continued staring at Sam.

“This is what a Titan is!” he declared as he waved his hand at the stars and the battle that had taken place. “This is the power of those who founded our galaxy. This battle will temper your understanding of the heavens and of the higher powers beyond those you know. Remember it. 

“Our lives still hang on the edge of destruction, balanced between the Deep Wild of the Void and the protection of the ancients who created a space where we could thrive. Beasts like the Vos’Rekan still exist, out here beyond the suns you know, and they only grow stronger as the years pass. They are always a threat to life.

“Now you have seen it for yourself and you know why we honor the Astral Lords who first walked the stars. They are the ones who forged the High Nine and connected all our worlds. It is their strength that guards our homeland.”

Keros turned toward Sam and bowed.

“Honor to the Stars.”

At the table, Jesra bowed as well, repeating the words. 

She was followed quickly by the others.

Sam waved his hand and currents of air lifted them all back to their feet. Once they were looking at him, he inclined his head in response.

Then he raised his hands and the treasures from the Vos’Rekan appeared around him, filling the hall with radiant materials.

“Before you forge your Paths, I have other rewards for you, ones that came from the beast, which can barely be found in this age of the galaxy. Any of these items could be the centerpiece of a royal treasury.”

He turned first to Sleset and the Silver Army, as he raised a golden goblet in their direction and toasted their bravery. 

Sleset hissed in pride as a scale of the Vos’Rekan that shimmered with dark crystalline light landed in his hands.

Behind more, more scales and fangs flew toward the rest of the Silver Army. The nagas seized the items with bright eyes, their tails hammering on the floor stones.

The nagas didn’t care about treasure, especially not when Sam provided them with weapons they couldn’t buy anywhere else, but they did care about trophies.

To them, the greatest reward for an enemy like the Vos’Rekan was to display that they had conquered it, so he handed out scales and more to all of them.

He’d had to resize them with quick dimensional enchantments, but if they wanted to display the originals, they could expand them.

The scales and claws were magnificent materials and even once these trophies were handed out, there would be enough material to make dozens of ships larger than the Ice Drake. Perhaps they could be the Silver Army’s elite transports.

Once they all had scales, he began to distribute the other treasures from the Vos’Rekan to the emissaries.

As the celebration continued, he turned his attention back to his main body.

All around Silverguard, the massive amount of stone left behind by the Vos’Rekan was floating in a slow disk that he had gathered.

It was more than enough to expand the island to a hundred miles across and twenty miles deep, vastly increasing its size.

It would’ve been nice to get an aura from the Vos’Rekan too, but it had completely shattered in the explosion when it died. The beasts didn’t let go of their energy easily.

He was pretty sure he could have used it to forge a Divine artifact without additional Fragments of the Primal Void.

The aura had gone into the primal energy it released, however, so it wasn’t a loss.

A flare of silver runes rose up from his hands and headed out to the field of stone. 

There was a primal glint to the runes’ light, something that spoke of age and endless depths, as if every one of them was carved from the early Chaos, their lines unadorned and immortal.

Six divisions of light spread outward. Each of them divided off a small section of the material. 

At Sam’s command, the stone began to fuse together, and before long six smaller islands that resembled Silverguard were floating in the Void.

Beside them, he added six stellar cores from the Vos’Rekan. Each of them was the compressed core of a star that the beast had eaten, and now they floated in the Void like miniature silver suns as he began to imbue them with astral quintessence.

They would form the core for each fortress.

These six fortresses would be the outer defense of Aster Fall to protect it in the Void and linked to Silverguard. 

One of them would be at each side of the world, plus one above and one below.  Once they were finished, they would be about five miles across and a mile deep, even bigger than Silverguard had been originally. They would have support cores to extend the reach of Silverguard’s enchantments around the entire world. 

When that was done, he turned his attention to his avatars and began to swiftly create more new ones, followed by replacing the older ones with stronger versions.

The nagas made him smile, but he left the speeches and the celebration to his avatar. 

His attention was on other things that needed to be done as soon as possible. 

Now that his intelligence had risen again, he was able to make up to 31 avatars. 

One by one, he created them and then recreated his older ones, all but the one that was far distant in the Void. When they were ready, he sent the ones back to the Moonlight Relic that were stationed there and then sent the rest to work on the six new fortresses.

As soon as he created the 31st avatar, he felt a weight settle on his spirit from keeping them all active. It was like a heavy lead blanket on his shoulders. 

That made him frown as he studied the flow of essence. 

The avatar was just as powerful as the others and moved without a problem, but it felt harder to communicate with it, like he was pushing through wet sand.

With a frown, he dismissed the 31st avatar and the feeling disappeared, leaving his spirit light. 

It seemed the last one was pushing the natural limit of what the ability could do at the Heroic tier. It wasn’t enough to stop him if he needed the avatar for something, but it would slow his reactions down, an effect that would extend across all of his avatars.

Right now, that wasn’t worth it.

30 avatars was a good enough number, even ridiculous compared to what avatar abilities generally allowed. 

He had a feeling that without his domain and insight into primal chaos, his limit would have been much lower, Heroic Ability or not.

The last mental division would still be useful with his main body, speeding up his thoughts and allowing him to work on complex problems more quickly. 

Future gains from intelligence could go there for now.

He sent one avatar into the World Seal, where it took over watching the Blood Realm, and he left the one in the Deep Void alone.

After that, he sent 15 of the avatars back to the relic to oversee the repairs. They should be finished with all of the major work in less than a month.

Now that he was at the Fifth Star, his ability to repair the relic had leapt forward dramatically. Complex transfers of aura lines and reinscribing powerful runes were the work of a moment, rather than a difficult undertaking. 

It would only take him two days to repair the key components on the Fifth Layer, followed by three days for each of the lower layers. 

That included repairing all of the elemental structures, like the water pools, lakes, and streams, the orchard and crop enchantments, weather guard enchantments, core buildings, and innate defenses.

23 days to completion.

He was almost there.

The work that he’d spent so much time on was nearly done.

Based on the complexity of the core enchantment, he could tell now that Cerei, the builder of the relic, had been at the Sixth Star, which explained why she’d been able to create something so powerful on her own.

It was a Divine artifact, which meant it had been crafted originally from Fragments of the Primal Void, just like the ones he had.

He considered using another on it, but then he shook his head. The result would be minimal.

He had a better plan for them.

The division of effort left him with 13 avatars at Silverguard and he set them to work on shaping the new fortresses, two to each, while the one in the great hall stayed there.

It would be best to create the cores for the fortresses as quickly as possible, so that they could create a dimensional link to Silverguard and begin supporting the defense. Their enchantments could follow and establish a stronger barrier. 

Once it was complete, even if that larger Vos’Rekan returned, he should be able to face it.

As his avatars set to work, he turned his attention to the more complex changes of his Fifth Star, especially his domain. It had vastly improved, but he wanted to know how much.

The effects were recorded on his status sheet as part of his Fourth and Fifth Stars, so he let the Titan Star add emphasis to the ones that had changed.

Star of Primal Runes (Fourth Star):

• The Fourth Evolution is the beginning of domains. A domain is the area where your aura temporarily rewrites the laws of existence, making your personal law more powerful while suppressing others. It will enhance your power and reduce that of others. Entities within your domain are subject to having their laws suppressed by you, although they are capable of resisting if they are strong enough.

• Your domain focuses on the primal laws of the elements and the Void, as well as the runes that create them. Your elemental attacks, the runes you employ, the artifacts you hold, and related abilities within your domain resonate with the primal runes of Chaos and become more powerful.

• With the addition of your Fifth Star, your domain boosts the effectiveness of your abilities by up to 100% (a 50% improvement). It can be countered by a strong opposing domain.

• It works in concert with your aura and your Blessing of Silver Stars, enhancing your allies by an additional 30% (a 20% improvement) of your Charisma.

• As the Sovereign of Primal Runes, artifacts crafted by you gain an additional 30% (a 20% improvement). While crafting within your domain, you have a 99% ability (a 49% improvement) to change the runes of an artifact and to alter its laws.

• Your domain’s power allows you to reshape reality around you in increasingly permanent ways.

The effects had doubled in most areas and tripled in others, including in the bonus that the Blessing of Silver Stars added for his followers and allies. 

He looked at that next.

Blessing of Silver Stars (Legendary):

• Allies within your aura will receive 10% of your Charisma to all attributes, an upgrade of one tier to all skills with a maximum of Epic, and improved attack and defense. 

  • Domain of Primal Runes adds an additional 20% (a 10% improvement) boost to your allies.

As for his followers, the improvement was even better:

• Followers sworn directly to you will receive 20% (50% with Domain of Primal Runes, a 20% improvement) to all attributes, an upgrade of one tier to all skills with a maximum of Epic, and a unique ability to attack and defend as a group.

It was double the improvement that his regular allies received.

Each of his Silver Nagas would have over 9,000 points added to every single attribute while they fought beside him.

Compared to warriors of a similar rank, they would have an awe-inspiring advantage. Their levels were around 430 now, and their average total attributes were close to 30,000. 

With the Blessing, they would have another 63,000. That put them around the early to middle Fifth Evolution, about a hundred levels higher than they really were.

He smiled as he considered what an army of quasi-Fifth Evolution nagas could do, and how much they still had to grow.

With the World Core to help and their bloodline advantage from following him, there was no barrier to their rise before the Sixth Evolution.

The name of the Silver Army would shake the sky.

Someday soon, once he got the teleportation platform on Caelus working, he would have to take them back to their homeworld and let them recruit a few more, if any more nagas wanted to join him.

The thought of a massive army of nagas acting as the Silver Army across all of the Void flashed through his mind, but then he pulled himself back to the present.

His domain’s effect on his crafting had also improved.

• Artifacts crafted by your hand will be innately imbued with your astral aura, granting them an astral blessing that suits their nature and improving their characteristics by two tiers or 50%, as long as your power is great enough to allow it. 

• +40% improvement with Domain of Primal Runes. +99% ability to change laws within your domain.

It was an improvement of one tier and 30% to his crafting, giving him a 50% overall bonus, and his influence over laws within his domain had jumped from 50% to 99%.

The 99% was an estimate, like a reminder that the ability could still fail, but it was usually going to work.

He raised a hand and created a flow of silver flame across his palm, sensing the potential in the energy to change according to his will.

It felt like he could sunder the energy of nearly anything and then reshape it.

Shatter Aura, Modify Aura, Stellar Conversion...all of his aura abilities had come into their own, giving rise to this.

Recreating that energy was limited by his understanding of runes and how to craft the result, but he could also channel it to his Elemental Mastery or Elemental Smithing.

Creating new material for golems and Silverguard would be easier than ever. 

The Law of Primal Runes was an overwhelming force, the first appearance of order from chaos. With the Mandate of Chaos to reduce energy inside his domain back to its earlier form, there wasn’t much that could resist his command.

It was very similar to a Sixth Evolution Truth, but it relied on primal laws, rather than creating a new one of your own.

It should make it possible to fight the Avatar of Blood on a more even footing.

First, however, he was going to push through the last few levels to the Fifth Evolution and pick up those abilities, and use these Fragments of the Primal Void.

One each should be enough for the support fortresses, while Silverguard would get two.

His bracer and cloak would get at least one more each as well. That should be enough to raise them the rest of the way to the true Divine tier.

Then he would have two Fragments left over to use either on his equipment or Silverguard., whichever needed it more 

A wave of his hand brought the twelve fragments out in front of him, where they began to float. Their black depths were slowly turning silver to match his own essence, like shards of a bright mirror.

He stepped across the fortress to his Titan hall and stopped in front of the forge flames.

A stellar core appeared in front of him, its depths shining like liquid silver from the astral quintessence he’d already pushed inside.

It was time to start.