Silver Stars, Ch 19: Changes (Patreon)

Ahead of Sam, there was a dark-scaled monster that twisted as it bared shadowy fangs, which swept down to bite him.

Each of the fangs was a dark spike a hundred feet long, but compared to his current height, it was on the smaller side.

He seized the upper and lower jaws in his hands, setting off a cascade of silver sparks as the fangs rebounded from his skin.

As powerful as this thing was, his Constitution was too high for it to harm him.

He gripped hard, locking the beast in place. Then he began to pry its jaws apart. 

Slowly, the jaws separated, showing off a dark grey throat that blurred as it stretched out into the edge of another dimension.

That was where the rest of its body was. 

The thing wasn’t a shadow beast, but it was similar to one. Its body was partly in a lower dimension. It only showed its mouth to attack, keeping the rest safely hidden, like some type of trapdoor spider.

He analyzed it, focusing on an abbreviated version of its full information.

Void Stalker (Dimensional Horror, Void Beast). Level 580. 

Immunities: Cold, Shadow, Wind.

Strengths: Dimensional Ambush, Phase, Corrosive Venom, Spatial Trap.

Astral Binding wrapped around it, preventing it from phasing away, and his muscles swelled as he pulled it jaws apart, accompanied by the slow cracking of bone and cartilage.

A moment later, he tore its body out of the lower dimension and let out a low growl as he ripped it in half. 

He tossed the pieces to the side, where they hissed in the flux of the chaos winds.

It wasn’t the first one he’d killed. 

The beasts out here on the edge were strange, barely contained by the familiar presence of the stars he knew. There were a number of Void Stalkers, as well as smaller beasts that they preyed on.

These were at the top of the food chain, mostly in the higher levels of the Fifth Evolution.

When its death throes faded, he harvested the useful materials, including its scales, a beast core, tendons, and fangs. Then he gathered its aura.

Congratulations!

You have reclaimed an Aura of Dimensional Stealth (Heroic). 

Sam tossed the aura into his storage with the others he’d collected and then he focused on the experience and essence from the beast’s remains.

This one had quite a bit.

It was almost enough to push him over the edge.

A couple more should do it.

He studied the Void as he searched for a target and then he disappeared in a streak of silver light, heading for another area.

He was only hunting the oldest and strongest of these things. 

It was more efficient. The weaker ones wouldn’t give him much experience and this way he didn’t upset the balance here.

Stars streamed past as he arrived in a new area and located his target. 

A golden hand reached out across the distance, blurring as it moved between dimensions. It wrapped around a massive Void Stalker with serrated limbs like a spider, which was hiding between the folds of the dimensions.

He ripped the beast out of its hiding spot. 

Then his bracer flared with power. Points of ancient starlight spread across the surface, forming runes that turned into stars and back again. Essence and the force of Sam’s law swept outward.

Then it transformed into Stellar Bombardment.

The runes transformed into hurtling meteors like asteroids, their edges burning with astral light as they headed for the Void Stalker. They looked rougher than the past, with scorch marks and cracks across their surfaces, and cracks showed flames that escaped from within. 

Each of them was as large as a house, and there were over a thousand of them.

The Void Stalker was held immobile in Sam’s grasp, but the golden hand around it was formed of his aura. As the meteors arrived, they passed through his hand like it was an illusion, not even making the image ripple.

Meteors tore it apart in an explosion of scales and burning blood.

It hadn’t stood a chance.

Sam gathered the useful parts of the beast and its aura, and then he let the remains drift in the chaos winds, where they would feed some of the local predators.

Then he was gone.

His steps carried him across the stars. The passing darkness and light created a backdrop of moving shadows that was like a twilight sea, washing constantly against his mind. 

He was at home out here in the midst of chaos, where everything felt slightly unformed. The greater darkness nearby called to him, making him wonder what was out there and if other things lived inside of it.

Somewhere out there, the Outsider galaxy existed, along with all the Voidborn and monsters that made it up.

He wasn’t sure what direction it was in, but it was somewhere in the same Void. 

The Nexus had collapsed distance into a single point, twisting who knew how many dimensions together, but it was still part of this same vastness.

That meant there should be other places as well with other Primordials and younger races, filling that darkness with lanterns of life.

Perhaps one day he would be able to explore it.

That was the call that all the Titans felt.

Now that he was able to travel across the galaxy so quickly, it felt like everything was smaller than it used to be.

Rays of crystalline light shot through the Void ahead of him in a waterfall of chaotic energy, pulling his attention away. They were formed of a shower of elemental Ice meeting the chaos winds, creating rainbows of ethereal light and a vivid aurora.

It was a beautiful sight, a reminder to keep himself focused on the present, and he dismissed the thought with a quick smile.

Someday he might sail out on that inky ocean.

But not today.

He located another Void Stalker and yanked it out of its dimensional hole. Then he tore it in half with his bare hands and moved on. He’d already tested out his abilities, so he didn’t bother with anything special. 

Runes streamed past him as studied the laws out here, but a little while later, he finished hunting the last of the beasts he needed.

He ripped it apart and gathered the experience and essence. Then he turned his attention to the Titan Star as it tallied up his gains.

Congratulations, Lord of Silver Stars! 

You have gained 8 Class and General Levels!

You have sufficient experience to reach Level 500.

You gain 240 Strength, 240 Constitution, 160 Agility, 160 Wisdom, 800 Intelligence, 800 Aura, +1200 Charisma, and have 16 free attribute points to assign.

He ignored the essence gains for the moment. 

They were accumulating quickly, but it wasn’t enough for him to reach the next racial ability yet. He planned to finish that one next.

There was a pause and then the Titan Star continued.

You meet the requirements for the Fifth Evolution.

No Evolutionary Node detected nearby, but your connection to the Path of Stars is confirmed.

Do you wish to Evolve here?

Sam smiled as he heard the words he’d been waiting for. The Fifth Star was more important overall, but this Evolution was still critical.

It was an opportunity to forge another unique ability and to define his path forward.

It was time.

He looked into the distance, connecting with one of his avatars on Silverguard and another on Aster Fall. Then he opened a conduit of astral energy between himself and them.

The world dissolved into starlight as the connection to the World Core and the Path of Stars swept his awareness away. 

All around him, the Void was bathed in an ocean of astral flame and his body ignited, turning into a true star. 

At the center of that flame, he burned.

Asteroids and everything else nearby were incinerated, turning to molten energy that swept outward in great arcs, forming new chaos winds full of vitality.

***

The world around Sam resolved into a familiar starscape. Thousands upon thousands of multi-colored stars hung in the Void above.

Around him, there was a familiar stone gate that looked as massive as ever, but its architecture was more complex now. Ancient runes were engraved on its stones, spiraling around the columns to create a great enchantment.

He knew that the gate was a concept drawn from his own being, a representation of his potential. As he changed, so would it. That it was taller than him was the promise of his new Evolution, waiting for him to step through.

The runes on it were ones he knew, each of them echoing with primal force. He spent a few minutes studying them, studying the potential they held.

Then he turned as he sensed a presence appear.

She was standing there as calm and bright as ever with her long blue-silver hair and bright emerald eyes.

“Sam Hastern,” Asenya said with a smile. “It’s always a surprise when this memory fragment awakens and sees you again, and especially because I can sense how little time has passed. Is it already the Fifth Evolution?”

“It is,” Sam said as he smiled back at her. “I can’t spend too long this time, but I wanted to tell you that I’ve found you. I’ll rescue you soon. There’s only one old enemy in the way and I’ll deal with him. Then, I’ll finally meet you for real.”

“Thank you then,” she said with a laugh. “I hope my real self is not too much trouble. It sounds like I had a hard time after the Titans went through the Nexus. But I can see that you’re in a hurry, so what would you like to do?”

She turned and waved her hand at the sky.

“All of your possibilities await.” “Let’s limit them to just Lord-tier classes first,” Sam said. 

At the Fourth Evolution, he’d created a new class concept, the Lord of the Silver Void, so his options here were direct upgrades of that, not a complete revision. 

He didn’t need to build a new class from scratch again.

With a flick of Asenya’s finger, the majority of the stars faded, leaving only a few dozen that were bright.

“There are 37 possibilities for Lord-tier classes,” she offered. “Some are similar to your current path, and others are different.” “Let me see them,” Sam said with a nod.

At his words, the stars began to fall in a slow rain, each of them a shimmering streak that headed toward him. 

He reached out to them one by one, assessing the differences, and then he tossed some to the side. When he was done, there were only three stars left.

They were the best of those available. 

The abilities were linked to the core concepts, but he had some influence in which to choose, so they were only described in general terms for now. 

He looked at each of them in more depth.

Lord of Silver Realms.

You have walked the Path of Dimensions. This class will let you take that a step farther, giving you the ability to create new dimensional realms and to oversee them with ease. Spatial enchantments will come more easily to you, and the energy you spend to maintain them is less. At your command, your realms will be filled with palaces and fountains or mountains and rivers. 

Abilities for this class focus on dimensional manipulation, communication, and travel.

Lord of the Silver Army.

You have command over millions of troops, following the Path of the Commander. This class will allow you to communicate with your forces, to organize them, and to ensure high morale. Your direct presence on the battlefield motivates your troops, inspiring them to new heights. 

Abilities include communication, inspiration, and troop organization.

Lord of the Bright Void.

You have walked the Path of the Void, seeing it in light and in darkness, and you have chosen to burn with brilliant light. This class offers you a way to continue that path, to brighten the Void around you, spur growth, and encourage life from the mixture of elements. No matter how many follow you, they will have your blessing.

Abilities focus on fostering potential, protection, and healing.

He rubbed his chin as he studied the three options, debating the value of the different paths. 

His core strength came from being an Astral Titan, so what he wanted out of this class was the strong new ability and the best chance to help Aster Fall. 

“Dimensions, troops, or support,” he said as he summarized the three options. “But they have some similarities to one another.”

“The abilities for the three classes all share some traits,” Asenya agreed. “You could choose one and then create a new ability for it that is close to another, but it couldn’t depart too far from the primary concept.”

With Lord of the Silver Army, the forces inside the World Seal would gain more of an advantage, but they already had the Blessing of Silver Stars as long as he or his avatars were with them. 

It would make them stronger, which was useful, and that was why he gave the class a long look.

With Lord of the Bright Void, he would enhance the support qualities of his aura, ensuring better healing and defense for the troops. That would also make them stronger.

Both of them were strong options with a clear advantage, one that would be widespread in its effects, but Lord of Silver Realms was more focused on the World Seal itself, and that was what he needed to repair.

He already had an ability to control dimensional energy, but this was offering an upgrade to that, perhaps one that would bring him closer to Asenya’s abilities. She had shuffled entire dimensions to create the World Seal.

He wasn’t at that level yet, but this class offered him a chance to close the distance, at least part of the way.

He considered the three options, as well as the abilities that would come from them, and his attention fell on the description of the Lord of Silver Realms.

Abilities for this class focus on dimensional manipulation, communication, and travel.

Communication and travel were key to troop movements. 

Teleportation completely changed a battle strategy when you or your enemy could send troops in directly. It was a force multiplier. That was one reason he’d built Portal, since it let him open a gate to any part of the World Seal.

This class offered to make that even easier. The description suggested a lot more than just opening a new teleportation gate.

His current class had given him Stellar Conversion, which let him create astral quintessence and power all of his creations, and Stellar Infusion, which let those creations level up. 

Like the Void itself, it was a foundation that provided energy and potential. 

The new class had to build on it in the right way to make the most of it.

After a moment, he made his decision.

Lord of the Silver Army and Lord of the Bright Void were strong options, but what held more potential for the Void than giving rise to new realms?

The stars above began to spin as the World Core’s energy flooded the area. 

All of the stars dimmed but one, a bright silver star directly in front of him. It shimmered with a thousand upon a  thousand possibilities, its surface changing in response to his attention.

He spent an endless moment speaking with the World Core and Asenya about possible abilities for the class and some small modifications that he could make to it, including in its attributes.

Then he started to work on his subclass choice, but that one was a little simpler. 

Now that he had a class in mind, he was able to focus his attention on the right ability for it. 

After a little while, he was done.

Then he nodded.

Asenya and the stone gate disappeared, leaving only Sam in the Void. 

The sky above him began to spiral, the stars burning brighter as they turned to pure silver flame, which covered all of existence in arcs of astral energy. 

They poured downward, engulfing the entire area in a blazing inferno. 

It was the same heart of the star that he’d become in the Void, represented here as a moment of change.

The core’s enormous voice resonated in his mind. Its power was as great as ever, but it was more comfortable now, like someone was just speaking a little loudly in his ears.

Congratulations, Lord of Silver Realms!

May your rule be long and bright.

As this is a Unique and Legendary Class, you gain +50 Strength, +50 Constitution, +100 Agility, +100 Wisdom, +300 Intelligence, +300 Aura, and +450 Charisma per level. Total: 1,350 attribute points.

As you have reached the Fifth Evolution, more experience is required for each advancement. This results in additional energy to improve your form. You now gain +5 free attribute points per General Level.

There was a pause as the silver star burned around him and the changes took place in his spirit. 

Then the World Core continued.

You have gained a new Class Ability: Realm Manipulation (Special). 

[You are the Lord of Silver Realms. New worlds stretch out before you, waiting for your touch. This Ability is a higher-tier variant of Dimensional Manipulation, allowing you to more freely manipulate the underlying structure of realms. It is an energy-intensive process that takes time, but once you begin the process, it is able to continue on its own. ]

You have gained a new Subclass Ability: Astral Transfer (Special).

[A Lord needs to be in many places at once. Through your connection to the Heart of the Void, this ability allows you to instantly change places with one of your avatars, no matter the distance, or to swap the location of two avatars. At a higher cost, it also allows you to open a teleportation gate between yourself and your avatars, or between two avatars, for your forces to pass through.]

The other classes had been good, but this one had the most potential. 

Perhaps it would even let him remodel the realms inside the World Seal and understand the Nexus better.

He’d also done what he could to increase his Charisma as much as possible, which would boost his Blessing of Silver Stars and support his followers. 

With 450 in Charisma, plus the 5 free points, when it applied half of that to his other attributes, it was worth another 1365 attributes, more than doubling his gains per level.

He’d kept the same name for his Subclass as Guardian of Aster Fall while evolving it, and then he’d used the influence of his Law to create an ability that he’d been after for a while.

He was able to send his avatars anywhere, but getting them back or traveling to their location had been difficult sometimes.

This would fix that.

It would also drastically improve his combat abilities and his presence as the Lord of Silver Stars. Wherever one of his avatars was, he could instantly travel there with his real body and bring reinforcements along.

Each avatar would be a private teleportation gate of his own across the galaxy. 

Perhaps outside the galaxy, one day.

With a thought, he wrapped up the evolution and returned to the true Void, where he burned as a sun. He let his body change and within moments, he was standing there in his usual form.

The new ability for Realm Manipulation hummed in his awareness, along with Astral Transfer.

He examined both of them, studying the intricacies they contained.

Then he reached out and shaped dimensional energy in his hand. 

A silver bubble of astral energy appeared. It quickly gathered other elements from the chaos winds, streaking the sphere with colors from red, to yellow, black, white, blue, and more.

Within moments, a self-contained dimensional sphere that was capable of supporting air and life spun within his grasp. The outline shimmered with dimensional energy. 

If he wanted to, he could displace it from the main Void and put it in the gap outside of dimensions. It would create a miniature pocket dimension that could turn into a realm of its own. 

It would take a lot of power to expand it, but this was the seed.

If he left it like this...it was possible to create a true world here.

He could also take a dead world and bring it back to life. He could create the same sort of bubble around it, fill it with the elements of life, and use Elemental Mastery to heat its core.

It was a sphere of pure potential, one that promised a change for Aster Fall.

He was on the path to rebuilding the world in a better way.

Like the half of the world that was only a contained dimensional storm...he would have to examine it, but he could probably find a way to take control of it and turn it into a true part of the world.

He brought the sphere up to his mouth and blew on it, dissipating the energy across the Void.

Then he turned to his other ability.

Realm Manipulation would be useful in many ways in the future, but Astral Transfer was useful now.

He could feel the resonance of the Heart of the Void in it. 

The insight he’d gained from seeing Caerlon’s law in the Titan Gates and meditating out here on the edge of things was what made it possible. It was like a miniature gate all of his own.

Caerlon had needed the Sixth Evolution to create those gates, but Sam had seen the core rune. With his law, he only needed to see it once. The same rune for Origin was present in this ability, bridging the gap.

After that, it was a lot like his personal teleportation abilities.

25,000 essence and the force of his domain to change reality poured out of him. It turned into a vortex of silver light.

It hung in the Void like a portal, as tall as Sam.

Then an avatar that had been on Silverguard stepped out of it.

The avatar waved at him and looked around before walking back into the vortex, which swirled as it disappeared.

He continued testing out the two abilities for a bit and then he glanced at his status sheet.

He was still a little short of the goal he’d set for himself, so he stepped on another astral path and headed off into the stars.

***

Time passed in a blur as he hunted and gathered resources.

Enemies out here were far between and now and then he let his thoughts wander. 

Months passed by like days, one following the next in an endless stream, but eventually a warning from his avatar on Celeste and the ones on Aster Fall brought his attention back to the present.

It had been a few years already.

He stretched as he let himself fall back into the main flow of time and focused his attention on the present. A check of his status page showed that he had reached the goal he set for himself, and a little extra besides.

The Titan Star’s words rang in his mind as it announced the result.

Congratulations, Lord of Silver Realms!

You have gained 16 Class and General Levels. 

You are now Level 516.

You gain 800 Strength, 800 Constitution, 1,600 Agility, 1,600 Wisdom, 4,800 Intelligence, 4,800 Aura, 7,200 Charisma, and have 80 free attribute points to assign.

Now that he was at the Fifth Evolution, he was getting a decent number of attributes, but it was still less than he got from essence. 

The free points went immediately into Charisma, giving it a bit more of a boost, and then he looked at his essence gains.

You have gained 6,159,912 essence.

You gain 8,800 Strength, 10,267 Constitution, 2,567 Agility, 15,400 Intelligence, and 15,400 Aura.

Essence Constellation (Fifth Star): 44,074,624 / 100,000,000.

He had started at 30,000,000, so he was 20% of the way through the Sixth Star. 

In total terms, it was also easy to think of it as 44%, but that included the essence for every racial evolution leading up to this point.

He glanced at his attributes, which had risen nicely, and then he focused on the racial ability he’d unlocked.

He’d finally gotten to 100,000 Strength.

Strength of the Celestial:

You are a Lord of the Void. Your shoulders hold up the vault of stars and your hands resonate with its energy. No object born of the Void can resist your grasp. 

You now have the innate ability to move the celestial bodies of the Void, from worlds to stars, that would otherwise be beyond your strength. 

Build the world you want to see.

No barrier can stand against a Titan.

When attacking, your Strength applies the force of all your attributes to shatter opposing barriers. If a barrier does not fall on the first strike, your blows begin to resonate with the Void, gaining additional force that scales with each strike.

He let the meaning of the ability settle into his awareness.

Now he understood.

This was how the Titans had moved the moons.

He’d wondered what ability it was that had let them drag Caelus, Silvas, and Amaris to Aster Fall. It might have been possible with pure strength and astral energy, but this was the key.

He gripped his hand, feeling the strength crackling inside, and then he let out a punch at the Void.

Dimensional space and the chaos winds shattered, turning into a vortex of golden force that flew away into the distance, leaving a crackling wave of power in their wake. Where it passed, everything disintegrated.

He stretched as he let the new attributes settle in and then he glanced at the totals.

Sam Hastern.

Level: 516.

Class: Lord of Silver Realms.

Subclass: Guardian of Aster Fall. 

STR: 107,795

CON: 121,327

AGI: 43,355

WIS: 18,712

INT: 188,661

AUR: 188,661

CHA: 26,993

Thanks to his new class, he’d also gained another racial ability from Charisma.

Aura of Stellar Inspiration (25,000 Charisma):

You shine with starlight and inspire those around you, increasing their will, mental defenses, and sense of progress. Those who see you will understand your meaning more deeply, including what you leave unspoken. They will also find themselves more confident in your presence and more willing to speak their own minds, as well as finding it easier to generate new ideas and to work on shared projects. 

This ability does not inherently influence people to agree with you. Instead, it inspires them to improve.  

Like the earlier aura from Charisma, it was focused on the people around him, but both of the abilities also boosted his own sense of motivation and clarity of mind. Their influence was widespread and had great potential.

It made him chuckle to think that he’d once neglected Charisma. 

After that, he studied the rest of his sheet, but the main one that stood out to him was the one hundred million essence mark for the Sixth Star.

It was interesting that was the goal, exactly a thousand times greater than the 100,000 standard for attributes. 

The Titan standard anyway.

If a normal person from Aster Fall heard that 100,000 in an attribute was the standard adult strength, their head would probably explode.

A human started with around 10 in each attribute. By the time they reached Level 500, they might have around 50,000 or 60,000 when all seven were added together, with at most half of that in a core attribute. 

He had over 695,000. 

That was what it meant to be Primordial.

As for his relatively weaker attributes...he might not be the wisest or the most agile of Titans, but he was doing alright.

It was just good that Strength of the Sun let him use Strength as mental resistance instead of Wisdom. 

It would take a little while to get enough essence to qualify for the Sixth Star, but he would get there. Then he’d have to see about breaking through in his own way, and the Truth of the Void that came with it. 

Maybe calling it the Truth of Chaos would be more accurate, since it was related to the primordial energy of the beginning.

He wouldn’t mind killing a few more Vos’Rekan to help speed it along, especially that old one that had damaged the relic and the World Core.

That massive claw reaching through the sky was carved into his memory.

One day, he would make it pay for that.

Soon.

As he wrapped up his thoughts, he gathered his essence and created a new avatar that could stay out to continue hunting, swapping it with one that had been working on Silverguard.

Leaving one out here made the most sense. If needed, he could send more, but one would work for now. It would be able to keep a steady stream of essence and experience flowing back to him.

Then a vortex of silver light spun around him as he activated Astral Transfer and switched places with his researcher on Celeste. 

A moment later, he was standing on the Titan world in the exact spot where his avatar had been. The transfer was as smooth as ice, barely a ripple of ancient starlight as he passed through the Heart of the Void.

The avatar had left all of its things behind before they swapped, so he spent a moment creating a new one that was based on his current strength, which went back to work.

Then he disappeared again, heading to the Titan Gate just beyond the world.

He had to head back to Aster Fall soon, but there was enough time to see an old friend and to keep a promise.

It was time to check on Alora.

The Titan Gate locked onto Verdant, and then he was gone.