World Seal, Ch 7: Ice and Flame (Patreon)

In the Void.

Sam and the nagas appeared in a flare of brilliant silver light as he stepped off the astral path and looked toward the next set of enemies.

This time, he’d brought them farther out in the Void, both to take advantage of the time difference away from Aster Fall and to find another large group of enemies.

This was a strange system, one full of wild life, and it was split into two opposing camps.

At the center of the system, there were hot blue twin suns, and right next to them a massive current of icy chaos wind blew past, blocking the heat from passing through in that direction.

The result divided the system into two distinct halves.

One side was filled with boiling heat from the suns, and on the other it was freezing cold where the chaos wind held sway but the sunlight still shone through. The result meant some of the suns’ energy was still present there, stirring life even in the ice.

In the middle where the sunlight met the chaos wind, there was a river of boiling energy that varied between hot and cold. It was filled with threads of solar flame that fought against the blowing frost.

Understanding of the system came to him as he studied the arrangement, as well as from an echo in the suns’ energy. They had witnessed the rise and fall of time here, creating an imprint in the Void that he could read as easily as a book.

The mix of elements brought many wandering beasts here in search of natural treasures that resulted from the elemental conflict, but the two most powerful forces here were the natural ones that had developed in the system and constantly fought over the resources at the center.

On the hot side where the sunlight held a seething intensity, nearly a quarter of the system was occupied by a widespread hive of Molten Sun Beetles, a Fire-aligned species.

On the cold side, living among the freezing chaos winds, there was an opposing camp of Frostblade Mantises, an Ice-aligned species.

Due to the mixed elements in the system, both species were able to evolve by consuming their own element and the other, and so were constantly fighting each other.

To the Molten Sun Beetles, there was nothing as nutritious as a higher-level Frostblade Mantis. The mantises held a similar view and seemed to like building their nests out of beetle shells.

On top of that, both species were extremely territorial and as soon as they saw an invader of a different type, they would swarm toward it to eliminate it.

To the wandering beasts that came to the system for resources, these two races were absolute terrors. All the other native life in this system had been wiped out by them early in their history. Now they preyed on each other and anything else that came near.

If these species had been on a planet, there probably would have been millions or more of them, but in the Void, things were fierce and nothing weak could survive. That said, there were still tens of thousands of them and each of them was a danger.

Most of them were at the First and Second Evolution, but there were still hundreds at the Third Evolution and dozens at the Fourth. Each group also had a queen at the early Fifth Evolution.

After fighting the Vos’Rekan and now quite a few Fourth Evolution beasts, he felt confident in defending himself against the queens’ attacks. They would be his personal targets.

If he needed to, he could redirect the queens’ attention onto each other, since they would quickly take the chance to fight their ancestral enemy, but that would be a waste. The Fire and Ice materials from them would be useful in rebuilding his bracers.

His intent was clear as he studied the system, looking for the best place to begin.

He hadn’t intended to come here before the nagas reached the Fourth Evolution, but they had been doing admirably so far, and this was the best place for them to level up.

The beetle nests were small hives scattered across their sector in a honeycomb pattern. Colonies made up of a few dozen beetles occupied stone hives the size of a small moon, around which there was a large empty space that marked out their territory.

In that open area, they spread their wings and basked in the molten heat of the twin suns. Their bodies were made of a bright gold chitin and their wings were streaked with colorful patterns in ruby and gold. Sharp mandibles and claws were their main weapons.

He analyzed a Fourth Evolution one for the insights it provided.

Molten Sun Beetle. Level 412.

Abilities:  Heat Aura, Flame Absorption, Solar Wings, Molten Bite, Hive Link, Flame Lance.

It was a mix of abilities, some short range and others longer, like the Flame Lance, but mostly what he’d expected. The Hive Link was the most problematic, since as soon as it was attacked, the rest of the beetles would probably be stirred up.

He turned to look at the opposing force on the cold side, comparing the two.

Frostblade Mantis. Level 415.

Abilities: Icy Aura, Ice Absorption, Consume Flame, Frozen Wings, Ice Storm, Frost Blade, Group Mind.

The mantises were more individualistic, living in pairs and trios that were connected by their Group Mind ability rather than a hive mind, but they still maintained a linked colony for mutual defense.

Their nests were carved from frigid stone and massive chunks of ice, some of which floated in clusters next to one another.

Their groups were smaller than those of the beetles, but they were about three times larger and they had a slightly higher average level, which made up for it. Overall, the two forces were well balanced.

His attention turned to the queens, which he picked out from the background energy easily. Their Fifth Evolution auras were difficult to hide, even when they were concealed by the others.

Molten Beetle Queen. Level 504.

She was resting on top of the largest hive, her wings spread out to absorb the solar heat. She was about twenty times larger than any of the other beetles, but her body shape was nearly the same.

On the other side, where the icy chaos winds were the strongest, he found her opposite.

Frostblade Mantis Domina. Level 507.

She was asleep on top of a massive chunk of ice. Her chitinous body was long planes of icy blue armor and spikes and her forearms were two massive scythe blades that looked like frozen crystal.

The beetle queen was large, but she was even larger than usual for her race, easily five times the size of her old enemy. From head to tail, she was over a thousand feet long.

Even compared to him, she was big....taller by about four times. Her size didn’t necessarily equal power, but it certainly suggested it.

Her entire body glowed with chill light, enough that it felt like the area around her was freezing just from her presence.

He studied both of them for a moment, getting a feel for their strength, and then he turned to Sleset.

“I’ll bring the enemies to us, but the size of the groups might be small or large, depending on if they swarm. Prepare to fight a hundred or more at once. If too many come, stay together and I’ll teleport us away. Avoid Fire and Ice abilities here. They will be able to chew through both of them.”

“As you command!” Sleset released a booming hiss that carried his determination with it. Then he began to arrange the Silver Army into a better defensive formation.

Silver light began to shine around all of them as they prepared the group defensive shield that came from his aura.

Sam looked across the system, searching for the best enemy to start. The swarms were a danger, but not as much as they would have been to others.

With his strength, eliminating large groups of weaker enemies was not a problem. It would only be difficult if all the Fourth Evolution ones or thousands of Third Evolution ones attacked at once.

Even for him, dealing with that many would be hard, especially if he was protecting the nagas.

But that’s what teleporting was for.

He already knew that the insects here hadn’t developed the ability to teleport. If they had, they’d have killed each other. Their forays into the other’s territory were by flight.

If things went well, there were enough enemies here to get everyone to the Fourth Evolution and to stock up on a huge amount of fire and ice crafting materials, which were his own primary elements, as well as auras.

If things went badly, they would have to go somewhere else and get stronger before coming back.

As soon as the nagas were ready, he picked out a target from the closest mantises. There were three of them exploring the edge of the system. Then he raised his hand and sent a wave of silver starlight across the army.

A moment later, they were just a few miles away from the void insects. The nagas let out a deep, challenging hiss as they raised their weapons. A streak of golden light from Sam shot across the distance and slammed into the first mantis, getting its attention.

The mantises’ wings flicked open and began to vibrate, releasing a storm of frozen shards as they spun toward the attack. Their eyes glittered with frozen malice and their mandibles snapped with violent clacks.

As soon as they saw the army, they let out a high pitched shriek that sounded like a saw cutting through ice and leapt into the air, heading directly for them.

These three were only at the peak of the Third Evolution, so as they closed in, Sam kept his attention on the rest of the enemies. The nagas could deal with these. He would get plenty of experience on his own once things heated up.

As for the two queens, he planned to save them for last, after he dealt with their Fourth Evolution followers. They shouldn’t be bothered by these smaller fights, but if they came out early, he’d have to change his tactics.

The mantises’ flight was quick, almost a dozen times faster than most Third Evolution beasts could travel, but the nagas were ready. A moment later, they crashed into the front lines.

The insects were about thirty feet tall, but that was only a few feet more than the nagas, which made them a fairly even match.

With three against three hundred, the mantises were ripped into pieces before they could even attack a second time.

As the nagas quickly gathered the materials, Sam looked for the next target, considering both this battle and the future, particularly his upcoming evolution.

There were many concepts he could use for the Fourth Evolution, but he wanted to make sure that it increased his ability to fight the Vos’Rekan. To kill one, he needed something to directly defeat its dimensional abilities, both its voidfire and its devouring.

That would be difficult since the abilities were a core feature of a Primordial race and very powerful, but he was going to try. It wasn’t the first time a Titan had encountered this problem. Their entire early history was based around fighting the devourers and many potential class abilities were recorded in the Path of Stars.

He had spent quite a bit of time searching through those records, debating what would work best for him. He needed to evolve his main class as well as his subclass, so there were two things to plan for.

Up until the Third Evolution, his main class had been crafting based, while his subclass was his combat abilities. That had merged a little with the Blessing of Silver Stars and Avatar of Stars abilities. Both of those were useful for either one.

The blessing increased his crafted items by a tier and gave them a unique astral trait, while also supporting the Silver Army. His avatars could also craft or fight on their own.

Given how useful it was so far, he planned to keep his Lord-tier class moving forward. That meant his options for the Fourth Evolution had to follow in the same line that had given it to him.

Ideally, it would also be one with high Charisma, to take advantage of the 50% boost that it gave to all his other attributes. A pure Charisma class wasn’t possible, since it wouldn’t fit his meridians, but there were some other options that might fit.

Plans flowed through his mind as he targeted another set of mantises and drew them toward the Silver Army.

Normally, the Fourth Evolution was about redesigning your class and body around a concept. It was a bigger change than any of the earlier evolutions and many of the abilities that had brought you up to that point might not be useful.

For Sleset, for example, he could turn into a pure sorcery-based naga, a pure martial fighter, or something else, depending on which concept he chose.

If he chose one related to Venom, which was common for his people and that some of his spells used now, his entire build might change to be primarily focused around that concept.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if his main attack after evolving turned into a Venom Blade, his magical defense was a Corrosive Shield, and he gained the retributive ability to poison anyone who hit him, or something similar.

The Fourth Evolution could even remake abilities gained in earlier evolutions that didn’t fit, to some extent, by infusing them with the new concept.

The most critical aspect of the Fourth Evolution, however, was dimensional energy.

The same concept that remade your body and mana was strong enough that it exerted a pull on nearby dimensions. It was what allowed a Fourth Evolution being to draw mana from dimensional waves, to fly quickly, and more.

Nearly every Fourth Evolution being gained the ability to teleport, even if they didn’t have it before. These insects here were an aberration in that regard. It was one of the things that made it easier for Fourth Evolution people to cross the Void.

In the civilized galaxy, it was the evolution that marked the difference between common soldiers and elite warriors. It was also the mark of a planetary governor. They needed it in order to be taken seriously in that position and to travel easily around their world, but the real reason was to defend it from attacks in the Void.

The nagas had finished off the most recent set of mantises, so he gathered them up in another wave of starlight and teleported to the far side of the cold half of the system. The mantises here were still calm and it would give the far side some time to calm down before they returned.

His own evolution would be different from Sleset’s, especially since he planned to keep his Lord-tier class.

He could take the chance of letting his evolution happen the normal way and see how the Path of Stars could optimize it, once it combined all of his experiences and natural growth to find the strongest patterns, but there was no guarantee that he would get a Lord class again.

Evolutions were based on your actions and what had brought you to that point. They were a moment of natural potential meeting explosive growth.

Instead of that randomness, he preferred to craft his own path, one that he felt confident would have the ability to kill the Vos’Rekan the next time he met it.

The Path of Stars would ensure that his options remained open. If it wasn’t as strong as he thought, he could choose something else.

Evolving a Lord class was about creating a new layer on top of what was already there, reforging himself into a new concept while maintaining the core of the old one.

To do that, the new class had to stay aligned with his current class. It was why he couldn’t change himself into a pure Charisma class or depart too far from his current build.

It couldn’t change as widely as Sleset’s. It would also only work if his current foundation was strong enough to support the new concept.

That meant his current evolution needed to be able to handle the stress of the Fourth Evolution, from the design of his meridians to the interactions between his abilities.

The Evolutionary Path the World Core and Path of Stars had helped him create was what allowed it. If he’d evolved randomly or if he hadn’t spent those Marks in the past to ensure it was there, he would have been out of luck.

That was why having a powerful guide like the World Core or Asenya’s Wild Tree was so important in the galaxy, and why those Blood Hunters had attacked Alora’s world to try and seize the tree.

Without a guide, evolutions were risky.

If you tried to add a concept that didn’t fit, there was a chance you’d fail the evolution and your meridians might shatter completely, leaving you crippled. With the Path of Stars helping, that wouldn’t happen to him, but it was the standard risk.

His foundation was as solid as possible and able to support another evolution, so he wasn’t worried about that part. The other advantages that came with evolving a Lord class were powerful as well.

To start, it ensured that the next Evolution would also be a Lord-tier class. The abilities for those were a step above other classes, and usually ranked as “Special,” similar to some racial abilities. They were comprehensive in a way that other abilities weren’t.

The Blessing of Silver Stars and Avatar of the Stars had proven their strength, and the new ones would be similar in scope or better. Given how important they were, it was best to add more of the same, rather than risk getting something strange.

The abilities would be based on the concept he chose, but they would come into existence in their own way, as a natural progression. He wasn’t sure what they would be yet. He would only find out during his evolution.

Even the Path of Stars couldn’t predict every possible outcome, but it could guide him on how to create the strongest abilities.

Finally, it would also ensure that his next evolution wasn’t subject to randomness. Even the ancient Titans had occasionally needed to take strange classes during their evolutions. Evolving his current one ensured that wouldn’t happen.

It would be at least as good of a fit for his personality as his current class, which meant that all of the abilities would feel like second nature, and it would result in a maxed out attribute allotment from the beginning.

As he sent a new wave of a dozen mantises toward the Silver Army, his thoughts were on a shining concept in his mind’s eye, one of silver starlight stretching out endlessly across the galaxy.

Everywhere it touched, flames were born.

The next time he met the Vos’Rekan, he planned to see whose fire was stronger.