Path of Stars, Ch 5: Wild Currents (Patreon)

The energy of the border washed over Sam’s shoulders like a cool and burning river. It was a mix of things—hot and dark, light and cold. Things that should not have been next to one another were held in stasis, forced to coexist as the currents of the galaxy balanced them precisely at that single point. He didn’t understand how it worked, but he could feel the truth of it.

Something in the border spoke to him on an instinctive level, whispering of stars and the dark Void, and of how they could change. It was the other side, however, that really pulled at his attention.

As soon as he was through the border, the vastness of the Chaos Wild stretched out before him. It was darker than the half of the galaxy behind him. The Void swirled away into the distance, sparkling here and there with the heat of stars and burning gasses, but they were pinpricks of light in the expanse that called to his soul.

As soon as he was through, a wave of raw essence and starlight struck him from the side, pushing him like an ocean current away from the border. He let it draw him away as he instinctively shifted his essence to balance. So, instead of tumbling wildly away from the force, he floated in the Void, bobbing lightly as the current continued to sweep past.

A wash of energy burned against his skin as it roared across the area, leaving him energized.

A moment later, another current came in at an angle, pushing him back down and to the side, closer to the border. It was a completely different type of energy from the first, its signature marked by crumbling stone and gas. This time, adjusting to the force took a little longer, but it was still instinctive.

He shifted his essence and pushed away from it, walking on the current like he was stepping on a boulder. The force lifted him upward, pushing him along in an instant until he was even farther away from the border than the first current had taken him.

The Void here was raw, unformed, hot and dark.

He could feel something in himself rising upward to meet it. His bones and blood, heart and sinews were opening, expanding to draw in the energy all around. Raw and unfiltered essence raged as it poured into him. Explosions like crackling suns coming to life flared throughout his meridians and everywhere else.

He could feel himself growing taller, his bones crackling as they expanded to fill the emptiness. The sensation was like ants crawling across his nerves, but with each one that passed, a sense of pressure that he hadn’t known was there released with it.

If it had only happened once, it would have been an annoying itch, but it continued until it became maddening. He rolled his shoulders, growling as he tried to push it faster, to do whatever it was doing, but the sensation continued to explode in pinpricks across his bones until he snarled, his fangs flashing in the dark. Something was changing, but he wasn’t sure what it was.

The crackling explosions continued to build, like water reaching a boil. Astral energy and raw essence boiled around him, twisting across his skin like arcs from a sun as they dove into his skin and flared back out again like a physician’s needles.

He tilted his head back with a growl, his mouth opening as he took in a deep breath of the energy in the void. Then he let it all out in an instinctive roar!

The crackling force from the roar tore through the void like a hurricane, more energy than sound. The Void was filled with a mix of very thin gasses, so thin that it could barely be called air. If Sam’s roar had been just air from his lungs, it would have been barely enough to carry the echo away, but his voice was a wave of raw essence expanding from its constraints.

All of the little explosions in his body were points where his essence had been compressed under the powerful forces of Aster Fall and the stable energy of the galaxy.

Now, it was breaking free.

The expanding force threw aside currents of energy in front of it, making them swirl away in whirlwind spirals that turned into eruptions of clashing elements that collided with other forces in the Void, causing a destructive wave that stretched outward. It continued to spread as Sam’s head stayed tilted back.

When the last crackling explosion in his body finally released itself, he took a deep breath of the thin air of the Void and looked down at his body. His height had increased by at least three times, and he could feel his essence flowing more easily than ever before. It felt free and unrestrained.

The shimmer of astral energy burning along his skin was still there, brighter than ever. It was flickering still, reaching outward to burn in little eddies and waves, as the currents of essence here met it, like a fire licking at the energy trapped in wood.

He’d never realized that his essence had been so compressed before, but sensing himself now, he could tell what had happened. As soon as he’d entered the less constrained area of the Chaos Wild, his body had adjusted to the pressure of the energy here.

He’d never noticed it before, but it felt like an obstruction had been removed, like a weight on his shoulders. His essence was flowing faster and brighter than ever before, as if it had finally found the right home. The currents of energy washing over him now were softer, like breezes instead of ocean waves, and he stood among them without trouble.

Thankfully his clothes had expanded with him. He’d spent some effort in improving their enchantments over the last years until they were spatial items on their own. The new fabric had been condensed from astral ice and some beast hides he’d had in his pouches. It had an upper limit, but it looked like he hadn’t reached it yet.

“Ahh, I was wondering if that was the case.” The Will’s voice drifted to Sam’s mind from the edge of the border. As Sam turned to look back, he saw the starlight shape of the Titan standing on the other side. The being’s hand was raised, parting the curtain of energy that made up the border around it to give him a clear view.

“What just happened?” Sam asked as he looked down at himself and then at the Will. “Were you expecting that?”

“It was a possibility,” the Will agreed simply. “In a way, your essence has been under pressure until now due to the compression of being on a world, which is what resulted in your difficulty in changing size. Your height kept increasing as your essence grew, but it was happening by force, like forcing a set of clothing to grow larger as your muscles expand beneath it.

“The stable energy of this half of the galaxy was too peaceful to trigger a change, but once you entered the Chaos Wild, the wild currents and different energy of the Void here helped to release that pressure. The problem solved itself. It should be finished soon and the difficulty in changing your size shouldn’t occur again. You’ll just need some practice in compressing and expanding your essence and your size will follow.

“Now, this is the last I’ll speak to you for a while,” the Will added as he bid Sam farewell. “My last words of advice to you are this: Your class is tied to the stars. Look for ways to develop it here, as well as insights that will help you in the future. An Astral Artificer is a craftsman of the Void.

“Also, you should infuse some essence into that dimensional bracelet that has your things in it. It’s a temporary enchantment that you’ll need to sustain on your own, but it will serve you better than the spatial items you came with. Those bags would quickly disintegrate in the Chaos Wild.”

The words from the Will of the Path floated in Sam’s mind, growing more distant as the starform raised its hand. The curtain of energy at the border poured back together, sealing itself slowly as the currents of energy wove back across the space where they had parted.

And then he was alone, standing in the dark of the Void as the heated currents of the Chaos Wild tousled his hair and sent flames leaping across his skin. In the border, from some of the brighter fragments, he saw his reflection cast back at him.

He looked unearthly, a true being of the Void.

His muscles flowed in powerful lines, his horns curled back high above his head, and his entire body was burning like a star. Arcs of flame were curling around him more powerfully than they ever had before. His eyes were so bright that it was hard to see his features.

He studied his reflection for a moment and then he waved it away, turning his attention inward. He could feel surges of wild emotion coursing through him, but they were unfocused and raw, similar to the energy currents he was standing in. They were pulling him in every direction, telling him to fight and hunt, to travel and build, to freeze and burn.

His thoughts surged as impulses to run, dive, and spin flooded him all at once, so he did, one after the other, twisting around in the Void as he stretched his limbs. Then he let out another roar, his voice echoing with a wild laughter as he felt his essence bubbling and he followed its demands.

He kicked off a current of energy and jumped to another. Then he spun down from that one in a leaping twist and landed on another, where he kicked off again. This time, he let himself drift backward, watching the border slowly grow more distant.

It was so large that it barely changed, even as he could feel himself moving away from it. It was taller than any mountain that had ever existed, its presence so great that it would probably only be blocked if something else crossed in front of it.

He leaned back, drifting away on the currents for a while. Essence was roaring through him, more wild than it had been since he’d left Aster Fall, except that here it changed moment by moment, reacting to whichever type of energy was touching him. He’d forgotten what it was like to have it tugging him in every direction.

He let out a deep breath again, breathing easily of the energy in the Void. It wasn’t the air of Aster Fall, but his lungs weren’t human either. It felt like he was breathing in clouds of essence and stardust, more energy than anything else. He sifted through it to take what he wanted and exhaled the rest. The process distracted him for a while as the border grew more distant.

Eventually, he remembered what the Will had said about his class and the bracelet, and a driving pulse of curiosity pulled his attention to the item, as well as a flare of possessiveness. He’d spent a lot of work on those things and he didn’t want to lose them. The impulse helped him to focus on the bracelet, and he studied the path of its energy as he looked for a way to support it.

The enchantment was a web of starry points strung together and folded inward. It looped a dozen times, twisting like an endless ribbon that curved again and again. With each bend, the space at the center somehow became larger than what was outside. It was a form of dimensional folding that he’d never seen before, one that was very different than the bubble of a spatial bag, but it tickled a memory in his bones, a new one that had only been there for a little while.

It was the memory of voices sharing ideas, commenting on the folds in the Void that they could sense all around. The early Titans were speaking to each other in flashes of meaning and rumbling thoughts.

This enchantment didn’t fit exactly with what those voices were saying, but it had some similarities. They were discussing the underlying laws of the dimensions, where this was a specific and refined item, but it was enough to give him an idea.

Sam’s fingertip traced the edge of the bracelet, sensing for the first dimensional fold. He could sense the bending of space there, as well as the edge where the enchantment was forcing the space to change. He ignored the dimensional space as he focused on the enchantment that created it, pushing a thread of astral energy and essence into it.

The energy merged into the enchantment and the bracelet glowed slightly in response. The structure was ethereal and nearly translucent, more the illusion of a bracelet than a real one, and a ripple like starlight on water moved through it as the energy stabilized.

It was just a tiny bit brighter than before.

More essence flowed out of him, this time in a torrent, as he channeled over a thousand points into the enchantment. Rippling waves washed through the bracelet as the dimensional bend twisted more tightly. Eventually, the bracelet stabilized again, this time much brighter than before, and he reached out to tap it with one finger.

Its surface wavered in response, like a cloud of stardust, and then it settled down again in the same form, undisturbed. He tried a few more times, yanking on it impulsively as he forgot about his desire to keep it intact. He tried to pull it off, but his fingers only slid away from the band, which thinned to nothing and resettled itself around his wrist.

He did it a few more times for fun, since it was an interesting toy, and then he tried to burn it away with a thin line of astral fire. When that didn’t work, he tried to freeze it off with astral ice, testing to see if he could lock it down into a form that he could damage.

When none of that worked, he laughed at it and decided to leave it alone. As far as he could tell, no physical damage would harm it at all. It was a good enchantment.

It had no difficulty absorbing new energy to support itself, which made it easy to charge, but he wasn’t sure how long it would last. After his attempts to break it, it was a little dimmer than before, so he channeled another thousand points into it, restoring it to a brilliant stardust shine.

There might be an upper limit to what it could hold, but it didn’t seem like he’d reached it yet. As best as he could tell, the essence he’d poured in would last for a while, but that could be a few months or a hundred years. It might depend on how much damage it took, since the enchantment had to work harder to stabilize the interior space.

The advantage was obvious here in the Chaos Wild, especially compared to a physical bag. Nothing here should be able to damage it much, whether it was a chaotic flow of energy or something hitting him.

He could sense all of his items in the folded space at the interior, including his old spatial bags. As a test, he pulled out an empty one and held it up, letting it rest on his palm as he watched the currents of the Chaos Wild brush across it. He also pulled back his aura that usually extended around him so that it wouldn’t protect the bag.

The currents of the Chaos Wild were a constant breeze of energy. They felt like a wind against his skin now, gentle and refreshing airs that were unable to disturb him. They were already becoming a pleasant background that faded out of his conscious awareness.

For the spatial bag, however, it was a different matter.

The base material was a high-quality First Evolution beast hide and the enchantment was just a bit weaker than that, around the middle of the First Evolution. The space inside the bag stretched for about five feet in each direction, creating a spatial bubble.

Bags like this were standard among adventurers and anyone wealthy, and this one was near the upper end of what could be commonly acquired. Most adventurers had several of them, since it was more efficient than buying a large one. Those took a much more significant investment.

As Sam watched, the wind of the Chaos Wild brushed across the surface of the bag and stripped away a flake of leather. A moment later, another flake drifted away from the other side.

Then a gust carrying a trace of Fire in it left a line of scorched leather where it touched, its path a meandering spiral. A handful of leather flakes fell away, crisping to ash and hardening again as they curled away on a current of energy that tasted like iron.

Gently, inevitably, like the wings of time brushing against the sands of life, the bag began to crumble in the breeze. Small and then large flakes lifted away from the sides of the material. In only a few breaths, it began to look pockmarked as holes appeared that showed the Void on the other side.

As the material disappeared, the enchantment woven into it was no longer able to sustain itself. Even the self-repair features that were common to higher-level enchantments weren’t enough. As the holes became larger, the bag began to ripple as spatial distortions appeared.

The lines of the enchantment appeared, white and blue cords that were stretched thin as they bent, trying to contain the spatial bubble and pull the material back together. The breezes tugged at them, almost playfully, and they stretched farther until finally they snapped.

The bag warped as the spatial bubble escaped from its confinement and expanded into the space above Sam’s hand. A shockwave of force crackled outward. It tried to shove Sam away, but it wasn’t able to disturb him. It lacked the strength of even the breeze here. Fragments of leather blew outward from the bag as the rest of it disintegrated.

Some pieces were the size of his fingernail and others were larger and smaller, but before they passed more than a dozen feet away from him, they were already warping. Some burned, others froze, others turned to crystalline specks of sand and blew away.

Within less than two minutes, nothing remained of the spatial bag. Even the dust was swept free from his hand, blown on its way to some far corner of the Void.

“Interesting.” Sam raised an eyebrow as he watched. For some reason, he found the sight amusing, so he pulled out another spatial bag and watched it disintegrate too. A light chuckle floated in the Void.

It looked like the Chaos Wild was not kind to some materials, especially ones that weren’t accustomed to the Void. What he’d just seen forced him to reconsider the items he thought of as strong and weak, as well as what he’d brought from Aster Fall. His attention shifted to his clothing and the bracers on his arms as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

The Starforged Astral Bracer was made with flecks of Pristine Boreal Dust, also known as Shards of the Aurora, and its base material was starsteel. That was a blend of silver, mithril, and ebonsteel that he’d alloyed together with the boreal dust, which had taken the place of elemental crystals in the mix to give it a strong astral attunement.

As a result, it had some traces of the Void in it already. It was also one of the hardest metals that he knew how to forge and it was infused with his essence and astral energy. Still, he wasn’t sure if it would be able to endure here. He’d been a lot weaker when he made it.

So far, it wasn’t showing any signs of damage, but that might be due to his aura protecting it.

The same went for his Lunar Bracer, the one he’d given the somewhat poetic name the “Endless Night of the Full Moons,” since he’d made it during the alignment of the three moons above Aster Fall. It was forged with attuned gemstones and lunar auras, but overall it was the weaker of the two. The moons were part of the Void and gemstones were durable, but as he’d seen in the memory of the Titans who faced the Vos’Rekan, even suns could crumble.

Or be eaten.

The bracers were part of his connection to his home. He’d made them on Aster Fall so he would be stronger and better able to protect his family. He hesitated for a moment before he unclasped both of them and stored them away in the dimensional bracelet. He would take a chance with his clothing, which was heavily enchanted and protected by his aura, but he was more attached to the bracers.

He’d have to look for some materials in the Chaos Wild to improve them so he could use them again. The Will of the Path had said the area was rich, so there should be some metals or rare elemental crystals here that would work, things that had already survived for a long time in the wild currents and were naturally resistant.

Both bracers were aura artifacts and it wouldn’t be too hard to improve them as long as he merged new auras in correctly. Then the revised versions could take full advantage of the energy in the Chaos Wild to grow stronger and he wouldn’t have to worry about them any more.

His arms felt bare, but his spells and abilities with Astral Fire and Ice would have to be enough for now.

He turned his attention back to the Chaos Wild, looking into the darkness that slowly spiraled away and the flecks of stars that filled it. A thrumming pulse of energy beat in his chest in time with the movement of the Void, sending a rush of power through him.

This time it didn’t distract him as much. He was already becoming familiar with it and that was enough to make it less tempting. It looked like curiosity was a big factor in the fluctuation of his emotions.

Perhaps that was why the Titans had gone through the Nexus, if their curiosity was still as strong as in their early years. The newness of it had probably tempted them, even with balanced essence.

Just then, a twisting current of dark energy that felt like devouring shadows brushed against his neck below his ear, tearing his attention back from his thoughts. It sent an unpleasant shiver across his skin and before he knew what he was doing, he was already spinning in place.

A blade of crackling astral fire flared into existence in his hand, stretching out for half his own height. It was a bright golden yellow with arcs of silver flame rising off the surface like stars escaping from a sun. The blade slashed through the air toward the thing he’d sensed, but it was an instant too slow to stop the attack that was already coming his way.

A slash of glistening, dark fangs cut through his shoulder, tearing four deep grooves into his skin. At the same time, the arc of astral fire bisected a shadowy shape that was lunging through the space beside him, but it was too late to stop the streams of burning, silver blood that exploded out from the wound. His blood floated in the Void like a rippling mist, spreading outward as thinned and was pulled away by the currents.

Just like had happened to him once on Aster Fall, the instant he was injured, his mind cleared. He’d been distracted while adjusting to the Chaos Wild and playing with the spatial bags, but this was no gentle area to laze around in.

As he gathered himself, the thing that had attacked him was snarling, thrashing in place as it tried to recover from the wound he’d dealt. It was dark and scaled, making it easy for it to hide in the ebon swirls of the Void. It was taking him a moment to decide what it was, but he didn’t let that slow him down.

Astral energy gathered around him as he pushed off a current below his feet and lunged forward. His first attack had driven the thing back and he needed to press the advantage. He wasn’t sure what it was yet, but it didn't matter.

As he chased it, a sphere of astral ice gathered in his left hand, swirling like a compressed winter storm. A moment later, half a dozen icy spears blasted outward. Their surface crackled as they continued to grow longer. Their passage through the Void left a humming song behind, like silver chimes resonating.

Around them, the currents of the Chaos Wild began to fight back, lashing at them with disparate energies that broke off chunks, except for one current of Ice energy that made them grow again, warping their shape into even longer icicles.

The ice spears tore through the shadows that made up the beast’s form, pinning it down until he could make out what it was. It looked like a long, serpentine wolf. It had four legs and a strangely elongated neck that ended in a triangular head with glistening dark eyes and long black fangs.

Each leg was nearly as long as its main body, and its neck was about the same length, giving it a strange appearance, but it still managed to look streamlined and deadly. It was covered in a dark fur that bristled as it turned to snap at the ice spikes impaling it, showing that while they were inconveniencing it, they definitely hadn’t killed it.

As it saw him coming closer, it locked its gaze on him and growled. Its voice was a rumbling warble that went from high to low, changing like the pitch of a saw that was hitting stone and wood at the same time.

The growl was more energy than sound and it became the visible wave of an attack as it streaked toward him. It was heavy with a strange type of essence that he’d never encountered before. It felt hot and cold at once, a little like the massive barrier separating the two halves of the galaxy. Perhaps the beast had evolved here on the edge of the Chaos Wild.

Sam locked eyes with the creature, his blade rising as he slashed through the wave. The energy of the growl crackled as he tore it apart and sent the remainder to either side. He closed in, raising his blade to finish the beast. Then he moved with a sudden impulse that struck through his spine like a burning spike, spinning to the side as he slashed out to his right instead.

A second set of fangs flashed beside his hip as he dodged, and his blade cut through the space where another beast had been. A dark snarl tore through the air as the new beast twisted away, its form a sinuous curl that mimicked the Void. Crystal Focus had warned him in time to move, but he hadn’t managed to hit this one.

Sam growled as he pushed energy into Crystal Focus, letting his senses expand to track both beasts. Distances here were vast, but Crystal Focus was at Heroic and that gave him a 2,000-foot radius. Even in that, these things were well hidden. They must have developed as stealth hunters.

He searched the area around him as a spiral of astral ice formed in his hand. This time, he was looking for even the smallest disturbance, but it was harder than he’d expected. It was difficult to sense small movements within the currents of the Chaos Wild. There were many things moving here. He pushed through as the clarity of mind from the battle helped.

After a moment, he was confident it was just the two beasts. They had probably been lurking near the border to find easy prey, and his distraction at the new environment had given them a chance to sneak up on him. The first one was still pinned down by the ice spikes and the second was hanging back now, snarling as it studied him. Its fangs were bared and it lunged at him before darting backward again. Its body seemed to move bonelessly, letting it shift momentum in an instant.

He analyzed the things, something he hadn’t done since leaving Aster Fall. He was a little surprised when it worked.

Darkscale Hunter. Beast. Level 240.

The first one was three levels higher, but other than that the two of them were the same. A moment later, the Guardian Star’s voice rang in his mind.

The records of the Path have infused your Analyze ability, taking the place of the World Core, it announced calmly. The ability will continue to function. I have also been given a large collection of memories from the Will of the Path, which might assist in identifying anything that is not already recorded.

At least we’ll know what we’re looking at, Sam replied with a thought, but his attention remained fixed on the Darkscale Hunters as a grim smile lit up the corners of his mouth. He was angry with them and with himself, annoyed that they had been able to surprise him. It made the arcs of flame on his skin burn brighter as he gripped the blade of astral fire in his hand.

Even with one of them trapped, the situation was dangerous, but it was a familiar danger. He’d faced enemies many times before. It didn’t matter if these were different from anything he’d seen. It was an old and comfortable balance.

“I am not food,” he said darkly as he looked at them. A bit of wild emotion had returned to his mind. He missed the easy use of his bracers, where he could unleash stored energy in a quick and devastating attack, but he still had plenty of spells to call on.

And now that he could see these things, they were not much of a threat. Their advantage lay in their ability to hide until they attacked. They felt stronger than any Level 240 beast on Aster Fall, but that wasn’t going to stop him.

As he finished speaking, the spiral of astral ice in his left hand flew outward, heading for the new beast. When it struck, an expanse of the Void a hundred feet wide turned into a hailstorm of jagged, icy shards. It surrounded the beast and cut off its escape.

At the same time, Sam channeled more astral fire into the blade in his hand, turning it into a conduit. He waited for the right moment as the beast tried to dodge away from the hailstorm, and then a line of fire slashed through the air, tearing through the thing’s neck as he sliced its head off.

Spinning, he shifted back to the first one, his blade burning again, and a moment later, a second arc of flame decapitated that beast as well. The severed pieces of the beasts’ corpses sizzled as they struck the cold currents of the void, crackling in the dark as wisps of flame burned out from the edges.

A sparkling wave of stars rose up from the corpses, glistening like the deep swirls of the Void that had hid the beasts. Most of them were as dark as the hunters’ fur, but the others were like bright stars that had been trapped inside. With an instinctive pull, Sam grabbed at them.

A wave of combined essence and experience flooded into his body, crackling like a wild fire as it coursed through his muscles and meridians. His body had just expanded in the Void here and he felt some areas hungrily drawing in the energy as they grew stronger.

There was something different about the essence this time. Before, he’d always gained it from Outsiders or trace amounts from the ambient energy of the galaxy. Now, it was like the ambient energy was pouring into him in a cascade of power.

It felt more familiar, like it was already his energy and it had just been trapped inside these beasts. As it fused into him, it tickled across his mind, bringing visions of the star-flung Void, things he’d never seen but that were somehow now a part of his memory. Perhaps it was something these hunters had seen in their lives, or a vision of where they had been.

You have gained 12,340 essence.

Total Essence: 620,747 / 2,000,000.

You have gained 25,750 experience.

Total Experience: 1,256,900 / 2,000,000

The World Core had announced his growth in the past, but this time, it was the star on his hand, speaking in place of the Path, like it was a conduit for something greater than itself. He’d always called it the Guardian Star, but perhaps the Titan Star was a better term for it now, after the Path had remade it.

You gain 17 Strength, 20 Constitution, 5 Agility, 30 Intelligence and 30 Aura.

With his primary attributes already counting into the thousands, it was a small increase, but it was more than he’d received in the thirty years of travel to find the Path. He felt his muscles expanding and he stretched, the blade of astral fire rising in his hand as he pointed it upward. He twisted from one side to the other, adjusting to his new height here in the Chaos Wild as the essence began to settle down.

He wasn’t sure what the difference was in this essence yet, but he was sure that he would find out soon enough. That was what the Path was all about. As he finished stretching, he studied the area around him, a slight frown on his face.

It was then that he realized he hadn’t needed to touch the Void beasts to grab the experience from them. It had come to his call just like essence did. He rubbed his chin as he turned back to look at the dead hunters. Their dark black fur and claws sparkled in his vision, carrying a sense of the Void.

Without hesitating, he followed his impulse and went closer to them. With a touch, he placed his hand on the first corpse, searching for an aura. After a moment, a vibrant, burning shadow came to his mind, like the red edge of a lunar eclipse as the moon went into night.

It was fangs in the shadows, striking like they were just waiting in the dark for the light to fade. When it was gone, they would bring their own edge to bear, their shine drenched in blood and hunger. With an instinctive tug, he reached for it.

A swirling, inky black shadow with a faint red edge like the lunar eclipse came away in his hand, morphing as it turned into a sphere. It was much larger than any aura he’d ever gathered in the past. With that success, information on the aura flooded his mind, the Path once again speaking through the Titan Star.

Congratulations, Astral Artificer. You have reclaimed a Heroic Tier Aura.

Aura of the Dark Eclipse.

Sam looked down at the aura, still feeling the sense of fangs in the dark, and then he stored it away. It disappeared into his storage as a mark of progress. It was the only one he had now. He’d long ago used up the rest.

With Reclaim Aura at Heroic and his Wisdom at 460, he had a flat 50% chance to gather an unknown aura, which was what he’d just done. At least it meant that if he was being impulsive, like now, he would still get half of them.

If he wanted the slower but safer route, then Identify Aura at Heroic gave him a 75% chance to instantly identify an aura. Once that was done, he had a 95% chance to gather others of the same type.

With a flicker of energy, he moved over to the second beast and did the same, reclaiming its aura as well. The red-tinged black sphere joined the first in his aura storage like two eyes in the dark, reminding him of the hunters.

When that was done, he stood there for a moment studying the corpses, and then he bent down as he began to harvest them, the blade of astral fire shifting to a bright, stellar blue as it turned to ice. Their fur, fangs, and claws would be useful for crafting, or at least for testing out the quality of the beasts in the Void.

This time, he kept a careful watch on his surroundings as he worked. The nearness of the battle was still helping him to focus, and he’d learned his lesson now. He’d been distracted when he let these things sneak up on him, playing with the spatial bags and worried about his bracers.

The Chaos Wild wasn’t known for its mercy.

When he was finished with his work, he was surprised to find that the underside of the hunters’ fur was a layer of dark, shimmering scales like liquid obsidian, almost like an armored hide. He scraped the hides clean and purified them with astral flames and his aura to keep them supple before he stored them away in his dimensional bracelet. The fangs and claws followed.

Perhaps if his clothing wore out, he could fashion something from these, or even work on making a spatial bag that wouldn’t disintegrate, although that wasn’t on the top of his list. The bracelet would work for now.

As he stood up again, his thoughts were already starting to bubble and change, the pressure of the battle giving way to the wildness of the Path.

This time, however, he had the presence of mind to consider the purpose that had brought him here. The need to finish this as quickly as possible and get back to his family rushed through him. He had to protect them and Aster Fall from the invasion that was building there, and there was no time like the present to get started.

His eyes blazed as he cracked his knuckles and looked into the distance. A new blade of astral fire formed in his hand, roaring brightly against the darkness of the Void. Hunters had tried to attack him just now, but he’d carried that title as his own for a long time. Perhaps it was time to be the Astral Hunter again and to show them how it was done.

A fierce smile etched its way across his features as he made a decision. Stellar flames roared out around him as he pushed off a current of energy below his feet and strode ahead into the Chaos Wild. This time, instead of the Horned Hunter of the Moons, he would be the Horned Hunter of the Stars.

It was time to balance his essence.