Path of Stars, Ch 24: Aura Transformation (Patreon)

He traveled deeper into the red sun system, but there were no more lizards to be seen in the middle regions. Eventually, he followed the traces of essence they’d left behind and headed to the center, where he could sense a massive concentration of energy. It was strong enough to send a crackle of alarm down his spine, so he proceeded carefully and with one of his metallic escape scrolls close at hand.

Near the core of the system, there was a massive red world that was bubbling with magma. Its surface was continually heated by the red suns until it was half molten. He studied the world as he stood in the Void far above.

Great cracks in the earth surged and flowed, constantly reforming the surface. As far as he could tell, all of the lizards were gathered on it. The sense of essence was coming from below the surface, which meant the lizards had probably found some sort of cave system to inhabit. Still, he frowned as he considered the risk.

There was almost certainly a Fourth Evolution lizard down there, and possibly more than one.

Venturing into the world would be foolish, especially since they had that fire net ability that could interfere with spatial magic. The best thing to do would be to draw some out and face them on his own terms with a clear escape route. With that in mind, he shifted his position, placing himself right next to an astral thread that led back to the Blue Star system.

A dozen artifacts and scrolls flew out of his cloak and began to spiral around him as they made concentric rings in his aura. There were scrolls for attacks, shields, and more. Once that was done, he glanced down at his lunar bracer and his cloak. He’d preserved their charges until now and he was looking forward to testing out the upgrades to the bracer.

“Now, the trick is to lure some out.” He frowned as he considered the options. It wasn’t going to be easy.

The lizards were inclined to anger easily, which fit with their Fire affinity, but they were also cunning. That loud and powerful roar that had called them all here was also cautious, since it had withdrawn them rather than let him pick them off in small groups.

He needed something that would make them temporarily ignore that caution, but ideally only a small group. After a bit of thought, an idea occurred to him and he chuckled. There was a tactic he’d used once by the relic to lure wyverns away. Perhaps it would work again.

He was fairly concealed at the moment by the massive Fire current flowing through the system, but he wasn’t sure how sensitive the lizards’ awareness of essence was, so he gathered his items back up and teleported away. Not long after, he returned to the middle region of the system. Hopefully, this was well out of the lizards’ current detection range. Then he began to pull items from his cloak.

After a moment, there was a pile of things in front of him, starting with a dozen red gems from Fireshadow Stalkers. There was also some hide and auras from the same beasts, along with some other scroll material. They all floated around him as he grabbed them in his aura and prepared to refine them, but then he hesitated as he looked at the sapphire flames that he’d summoned.

The crystal flame in his aura brought all the thoughts of changing his subclass to the forefront of his mind. It felt like he was at a decision point, where he could either push forward with it as it was or put the effort into changing it. It was a distraction that pulled his attention away from the lizards for a moment.

Concepts from the Astral Fire ability for his class and for astral energy in general drifted through his awareness as he began to evaluate the flames, studying how they sprang from his body and formed in his aura. The new patterns from Astral Construct gave him more awareness of what he was looking at than he’d ever had before and a vague sense of discontent became more obvious the longer he looked at it.

Crystal flame was not a Titan ability and the longer he studied it, the more discontent he became. It felt like the disapproval was coming both from him and from the Void around him. It made him grimace.

There was a silver layer of astral energy flowing through the sapphire flames as well, which had been there since his race changed to a Titan, and when he looked at that, he felt like it belonged much better. It was a deeper layer that wrapped around the crystal flame at the center and at the edges, outlining it. He tapped his fingers idly on the flames, letting them roll and twist.

His overall aura was generated by the Aura of Crystal Flame, his racial ability that had been formed so long ago when he received his subclass from the Astral Guardian. It had been recreated at the time from his innate Fire affinity, and the World Core had helped him merge the two. As he looked at the flames now, he couldn’t help but think that if it could change once, it could change again.

Complex calculations flickered through his mind as he evaluated the strength of the aura, the components of astral energy in it, the presence of crystal flame, and his innate Fire affinity. He was searching for clarity on how they were all connected.

All around him, the Fire current from the Chaos Wild was raging. He normally didn’t pay attention to it, but at the moment it was a huge and pure force of elemental Fire. The contrast between his aura and it helped him to see the differences between them, and he felt even more clearly how the astral energy resonated with that flame and the Void, but the crystal flame did not. There was a deep connection between it and his astral energy.

He could also feel the fluctuations in his aura where his essence changed to crystal flame, the moment where it transformed. It looked like his innate Fire affinity was still there, but it had been attuned to a different concept, like a path it had taken.

He rubbed his chin as he let the sense of dissatisfaction guide him to look at the most significant parts of that transformation. If this moment when it transformed was the critical point, perhaps he could realign it and change it to astral energy instead. If it worked, he had the feeling his aura would be much stronger.

It was impulsive to consider it right now when he’d been planning a longer process, but that same sense of disapproval pushed him onward. Perhaps it was his increased essence and attunement to the Void, but he could feel more keenly than ever that crystal flame wasn’t a good fit for him.

He was approaching the Second Star and for some reason he found it inappropriate to make that step with a misaligned aura, which was what it looked like to him now. What gave him some reassurance that a change was possible was the astral energy already present in his aura. He just needed to shift the main focus away from crystal flame and to it instead.

The problem was how.

His frown deepened and then his awareness turned inward, searching through his spirit as he looked for the source of crystal flame and astral energy.

After a bit, he looked up again with his brow furrowed. His spirit was filled with his essence constellation. It looked like a sprawling nebula of stars and misty gasses, all of which made up his essence. At the center, a single brilliant star was burning with strength, causing all the rest to rotate. All through it, there was a bright silver light from astral energy that touched everything.

Strangely, there was no sign of crystal flame in his spirit. Once upon a time, he’d seen crystal flame in his blood, but he hadn’t looked for it in a while, so he turned his attention there next. Eventually, he let out a quiet hum as he found it.

His blood was filled with astral energy that turned it silver, but there was some crystal flame there too. It wasn’t a lot in the overall picture. There were only small sapphire flames floating at various points, like sparkling gems scattered around. They were surrounded by astral energy, which looked like it was isolating them.

It almost seemed like his body was naturally refusing crystal flame. Perhaps that was why he’d had so little progress in developing his understanding of it. Despite how small they were, however, those little flames had a strong presence and there were over a thousand of them scattered around. They drew in essence and sent flickers of crystal flame away that fused into his aura. Together, they were what was focusing his innate fire affinity into the Aura of Crystal Flame.

If he wanted to change his subclass abilities to astral energy instead of crystal flame, it looked like he should start here, with these gems. After that, the next step would be to go through the core ability of the subclass, Crystal Focus, and convert it to Astral Focus or something similar. Then Flame Strike, Essence Shield, and Combust Aura would be next, followed by Crystal Passage and Form of Crystal Flame.

He had the feeling that once he altered the basic aura, the rest would follow almost in a cascade, since the energy infusing them would change. The only question was if the abilities would operate as well with astral energy as with crystal flame and if they would keep their current tiers.

For some of the abilities, he wasn’t overly concerned. Combust Aura had little to do with crystal flame in general and the basic principles of shielding and attacking should carry over. He should be able to use them with astral energy or any Fire element.

Crystal Passage and Form of Crystal Flame would be a little harder, but he was familiar enough with them and the concepts they relied on that he was fairly confident in changing them. Teleportation was already becoming second nature to him and he knew the key part to that ability was the spatial concept, not the crystal flame.

It felt impetuous and a bit risky to try and change his aura right now, but it was an itch under his skin now that the idea was on his mind. The more he looked at the bits of crystal flame, the more he felt like they didn’t belong.

On an impulse, he looked into the distance of the Void, searching for something. Then he stored away the crafting materials in front of him. A moment later, he was a silver streak heading into the current of elemental Fire, heading toward its strongest point.

It didn’t take him long to find its focus in the system. It was on the edge of the red sun’s reach, where a current blowing from the Deep Wild brought an ocean of power that felt like it would disintegrate anything it touched. It washed across his skin and through his body like the breath of a stellar god. He breathed it in, letting his lungs expand.

This was the breath of the Void.

It was powerful and it spoke to him, but he could tell it wasn’t quite right yet. He needed something made of Fire and astral energy both. He turned again, following the flows of energy in the area until he sensed a bright yellow star in the distance. It burned with raging flames of essence. He stepped onto the astral thread that led toward it, and then he was gone.

An hour later, he was floating in front of the yellow star. Its flames were reflected in his eyes. This was the radiance of the primal stars, carried on by the firstborn of the Void. It called to him with a voice that resonated in his bones. He wanted to jump into it, but he held back.

It wasn’t his star. The flows of energy in it were a little different than the one during his evolution, so at his current level of strength it wouldn’t be safe to go any further than this. Still, it should work.

“Here,” he murmured. He reached out, letting the energy in the star flood his mind. It poured into his spirit with a brilliant silver light. “It should be enough.”

He wasn’t entirely sure of what he was doing, but on some instinctive level, this place spoke to him and to his desire to change his aura. He spread his awareness as widely as possible, reaching out in every direction to connect with the star’s energy, and then he began to pull it toward him.

The Void around him shuddered as astral energy flooded into him, distorting like it had been struck by a gong. Silver flames raged through his blood and spirit like a crashing tide, sending crackling heat along his limbs. All around him, coiling flames began to leap into the air, burning brightly as they rose higher.

As the intensity of astral energy reached a level where he felt his body beginning to expand under the stress, he focused his attention inward and squeezed, sending the silver aura flooding through his blood toward the tiny sapphire gems of crystal flame. Then he activated Modify Aura on himself.

Crackling bursts of furious energy exploded upward from the gems, lashing back against the silver flames around them, but they were teardrops in an ocean. The astral energy around them swelled, crashing inward, and the gems began to melt at the edges.

Tiny explosions occurred around each gem, giving rise to a pain like burning spikes stabbing through his limbs. He let out a growl as he ignored it and pushed more astral energy toward them.

As the pressure increased, tiny fluctuations appeared around each gem, like a spatial distortion. The crystal flame in their nature was fighting back. It felt like a war was raging in his veins as waves of tearing pain ripped in every direction. The gems were holding to their position like anchors and it felt like his own blood was rebelling against him as they pulled on it.

His mind was a wash of agony that stabbed in every direction, but his attributes were high enough that he could still keep his focus. He did his best to ignore the damage he might be doing to himself as he pulled more astral energy from the sun and sent it toward the gems, forcing the flames around them to burn higher.

Within minutes, the edges of the gems melted more swiftly and the sapphire color in them began to fade. They wavered in their positions as the force anchoring them weakened. When he saw that, he maintained the draw of the astral energy around him, keeping the pressure up.

An hour passed, or perhaps two, and then eventually one of the gems lost its sapphire color and turned silver white. It trembled, shaking in its place, and for a moment he thought it was going to explode as its structure began to distort. Rippling vertigo stabbed through his veins with each change of its position.

At that moment, however, the pressure of astral energy around the gem reached a critical point and the surface began to shine. It was the same color now as the astral energy around it and with each tremble, the distortions in its structure were giving rise to internal changes.

A tiny vortex appeared on the surface of the gem, pulling at the energy around it. The interior of the gem was empty and astral energy flooded in. It was like a hurricane exploding inward as it consumed the energy around it. A vast drawing force spread through his blood, pulling on it and on the astral energy all around him.

A few moments later, the draw stopped as the gem began to shine with its own astral light.

Seconds later, another gem lost its color and the same thing happened as the last remnants of crystal flame in it were expunged. The gem paled to silver white and then drew in the astral energy around it until it was full and shining.

Another followed, and then another, until one by one all of the sapphire gems in his blood were transformed. When the last one finally dissipated, there were over a thousand shimmering astral gems floating in his blood.

There was no longer any trace of crystal flame. All through his blood, the gems affecting his aura burned with pure silver energy that was the same as his eyes.

A cascade of notifications rang in his mind as the Titan Star on his hand glowed fiercely. Its color was a more intense silver than it had ever been before, and it seemed to radiate with a burning delight. When it spoke, its voice sounded pleased..

Congratulations, Astral Titan. By refining the flame gems in your blood with the astral energy of the Void, you have determined a more suitable Path for your future.

Transforming your energy is an important step in attuning yourself to the Void. For taking this key step and in accordance with the dictates of the Path, a small amount of additional assistance will be provided to help you stabilize the changes.

A wave of astral energy rose up from the Titan Star and flooded through Sam’s body. He could feel the consciousness of the Path like a vast and all-encompassing awareness as it pulled energy from the star around him and unleashed a wave of pressure through his spirit.

In the wake of that pulse, crackling changes took place as astral energy flooded through every part of his being, altering and balancing what was there. A few moments later, the star’s voice rang out again.

Your Racial Ability: Aura of Crystal Flame (Heroic) has changed to Aura of Astral Flame (Basic). The subclass abilities dependent on this aura have been preserved, but they will be altered and reset for future development according to your current nature.

Ability: Crystal Focus (Heroic) has changed. It is now Astral Focus (Basic).

Ability: Flame Strike (Epic) has changed. It is now Astral Strike (Basic).

The other two abilities of your subclass, Essence Shield and Combust Aura were not dependent on crystal flame for their operation, but you are no longer as familiar with their use. They have each lost one tier and are now Elite.

The name of your Subclass: Spirit of Crystal Flame has changed. It is renamed to Spirit of Astral Flame.

Your First Evolution Ability: Crystal Passage (Expert) has been altered and reset. It is now Astral Passage (Basic).

Your Second Evolution Ability: Spirit of Crystal Flame (Basic) has been altered and reset. It is now Spirit of Astral Flame (Basic).

Class Ability: Modify Aura is now Expert.

Your Class and Subclass are now both aligned with the core principles of astral energy.

With that, the star’s voice fell silent and its light on his hand dimmed, but its words lingered in his mind.

He’d been trying to change his aura, but he hadn’t expected everything to happen at once. It looked like that racial aura was more core to everything than he’d believed, or perhaps the Path had also been annoyed by the presence of crystal flame in his blood and was making up a reason to get rid of it.

Its purpose was to assist him in his progress, and apparently it had recognized what he’d done as a milestone, so it had helped to alter the abilities the rest of the way. Notably, however, it hadn’t preserved his ability tiers. That was on him, the cost for what he’d done on the spur of the moment, but it had stabilized the effect.

He could tell that the Path’s alterations had removed the negative potential from what he’d done while leaving the rest of the work to him. He’d definitely lost a bit of development, but it was something he could get back in time, and now his future potential was far greater than before.

Most notably, he looked at the new ability for Astral Strike with a slight grin. It looked like he’d gotten both class abilities after all. His body was aching like he’d been stabbed with a thousand needles and there were trails of silver blood across his skin, but overall, he was pleased with the result.

After he evaluated his condition, he activated a couple of healing scrolls and placed them on the most critical spots, and then he sat down to meditate. Before long, a wave of crafting materials flew out of his cloak and floated in front of him again as his eyes turned toward the lizard’s red world.

It was time to create a distraction.