Savage Awakening 248. Nascent Soul (II) (Patreon)

Zane could feel a new vitality coursing through him. A new life borne on his new essence. An energy distinctly his own. Toughening him. Strengthening him wherever it went. His soul lending its traits to his body. 

He had to fight to squeeze every bit of his soul through. He used Emperor’s Soul to help with the effort. But his bulk still made things a slog.

He gritted his teeth. He was sweating up a storm—he threw himself headlong into the effort. 

By now he'd gotten a good third of the way in.

Soul Grade Increased! 

Earth -> Sky

The aura blasting out of him had grown bigger than any Nascent Soul creature he'd fought—bigger than even Thalrex.

A new sense was opening up to him. A new awareness of the Astral Plane, layered on the physical. Even as he closed his eyes he could feel deeply the world around him. He no longer needed light as a guide. He could sense essence for hundreds of feet around. A new world of bright sensations. 

He felt a difference in his own essence too. Growing more corporeal, more real. If it had been like mist before now it was flowing like water, coursing fast and dense, flowing at a new level of power. A far more potent fuel.

Zane was still nowhere close to done.

This was still not enough for him.

What he had been through on this floor was still stuck in his mind.

When he told Reina he would have the strength to fight the world—he meant it. 

His soul kept pouring in, suffusing his Core. Driven faster and faster by sheer force of will. 

Now it was halfway through.

Soul Grade Increased! 

Sky -> Profound

He could feel the world around him in high resolution now. Mapped bright in essence-senses… 

His aura just kept growing. 

"More," Zane growled.

He could feel the world starting to fight him even harder now. It wanted to cut him off. The more Zane got through, the fiercer he felt it—some omnipresent force dragging at his soul, trying to force him back to the Astral Plane. Trying to restrain him. To limit his power. 

Zane fought back hard. Put his will there like a wedge, and held it. Refused to give in. Even as the pressure intensified, and strange lights started to flash in his eyes, darkening to gaping black spots… 

His soul felt very strange. He started feeling woozy. Like he was being slowly crushed under the weight of some unseen mountain. 

He must’ve been at least 60% of the way through now, though. Then 70%—

Soul Grade Increased! 

Profound -> Heaven

Now the pressure was starting to peak.

Zane groaned. Brow creased. Face totally red, dripping sweat all over, his hands clenched to fists, drawing blood in his own palms. His heart hammered away, BOOM-BOOM-ing in his ears. His veins stood out stark purple against his skin.

The weight was starting to grow unbearable. 

Zane bore it, bellowing with the effort. 

80%.

Blood exploded in his mouth. Blood gushed down his nose. His teeth were gnashed so tight he could feel his gums flaring in white-hot pain. 

He had been confused at first—but this far in things had become quite simple for Zane. It was him against the world. He was used to that. 

The world would not defeat him.

90%. 91%. 92%… 

Blood vessels popped in Zane's head. And he was beginning to get to the point where thinking grew fiendishly difficult; thoughts started flattening in his head. Crushed under the pressure. 

But he was still able to hold onto one conviction. The conviction that made him himself. 

He would not give in. He was not that kind of man. 

93%…

94%…

He started dragging in ragged heaving breaths, his chest rising and falling, slick with a sheen of sweat. 

No. Thought Zane. 

95%... 96%…

It was no longer a mountain pressing down on him. It was something higher than that. A continent. Then a world.

Zane wobbled for the first time. 

97%

98%...

He felt the weight of space and time. Felt thousands, tens of thousands, millions—billions of souls, the vastness of the cosmos stacked together, all compressing—

All that weight fell on his shoulders.

He held it snarling. 

His vision went all-white. Then all-black. He heard a distant rushing, vast and endless… 

The pain. The strain. Was like nothing he had ever felt. Was something very few living creatures had ever felt—was something nothing had lived to survive. 

99%— 

Zane gave one last defiant roar, blood leaking from his cracked lips. He gave it his all.

He did not see 100%.

He blacked out.

***

He woke to a notification.

Soul Grade Increased! 

Heaven -> Primordial

He blinked. Still feeling woozy. 

Hey. Nice.

Then he groaned. 

His head was still pounding. Something of a migraine. He shook his head, tried clearing things up…

That sixth sense—that essence-sense—was still there. He could feel the essence all around him like a light mist on the air. Feel the spots where it brightened against the background, where it dimmed… feel some big clumps of it coming toward him. 

Reina and Avery and Evan were pattering back. Looking a little bewildered. He blinked, looked down at himself.

Lots of blood.

But he felt okay, physically speaking. A faint ache, a phantom pain in his jaw—that was all.

Then he felt the aura rolling off him. Like heat waves off the sun.

“…Zane?” gasped Reina, wide-eyed.

He scratched his head. “I got it done,” he informed them. They still seemed a bit dumbfounded. Then he realized.

He had to reel his aura back in—he seemed to be literally glowing. His soul, his body, was exerting such a pressure they were having trouble coming close to him.

He felt his soul viscerally then. He could wield it as easily as he could move any other limb—it was quite natural.

He pulled it back until it was just a little glow coming off his skin. That aura… it really did feel like him.

He inspected his hand, turned it over. Clenched it to a fist, opened it again, curious. Just to feel the power running through it.

He was not the same man as he was a day ago.

If those Monsters sent waves like those in the Citadel at him now…

It would not end well for them. He was certain of that. It was usually pretty hard to tell just how much stronger he had gotten after a big upgrade. But this one felt pretty clear. Even just standing there.

He wanted to see what they thought could bring him down now.

If the next floor was anything like this one… he clenched his fist.

He was looking forward to it.

A pause. Then—“Awesome!” cried Evan.

*** 

Inner Faction  

The Azure Flame Faction

There was a similar silence in Sage Burnwater’s little hut. And in palaces and pagodas all through the neighboring planets.

They would soon be in uproar. 

“The strongest souls,” Burnwater said shakily. “We have on record in the history of the Dragonspire Galaxy—they all gave out well before 90%. Even the Heavenly Emperor himself barely crossed that threshold… the forces Zane Walker was just subjected to… Nine Hells…” 

Silence from Noughtfire.

Burnwater ran a hand through his frazzled hair. “Once he got near 100%... how much soul load would he have been bearing? It must be equivalent to the limits of several Patriarchs’ put together!” he choked.

More silence. Then—

“It is as though,” said Noughtfire slowly. “Zane Walker can make himself endure as long as he must. I must admit—this sort of willpower… I don’t quite understand it."  

It was the first time Burnwater had heard the old Sage so mystified. 

They watched in silence as Zane and Evan plopped down, and started enjoying some unusually large chocolate chip cookies. Zane got some chocolate smeared on his face. He tried wiping it, frowning. It made things worse. Evan tried wiping it too and got it on his hands. They both blinked at each other, stumped. 

Then—

“It makes no sense!” croaked Burnwater. “Nothing about this makes any sense. That simply isn’t how souls work—it flies in the face of all known theory! The man’s only human. Everyone’s got a breaking point!” 

“…”

“…Right?”

Whatever the case. The repercussions of what they had just seen were soon felt across the Galaxy.

*** 

Observatory  

Steelheart Conclave

Silence.

And then, a booming hearty laughter.

“HELL Yeah!” 

That day the Barbarian Sage marched all the way to the Platinum Palace—the residence of the Steelheart Patriarch himself. And there, he got what was widely rumored to be a ludicrous funding package pushed through.

They would secure the prospect Zane Walker—and spare no expense in doing so. Even a Heaven-grade treasure could be on the table, if the rumors were to be believed. 

At the same time, the higher-ups in the Azure Flame Faction were making similar preparations. Led by Sage Noughtfire himself. 

As far as they were concerned, if Zane survived this ordeal—and that was looking ever more likely… they could be bidding on a future Ancestor or Patriarch of the Faction. A pillar of the Faction.

News of Zane’s breakthrough spread far and wide, across the Nine Great Factions. Often it was met with consternation or shock. But there were other reactions too. Especially among some of the other top talents of the age. 

A redheaded woman was riding a Godbeast dragon through space when she heard the news. A giant bald monk in steel-thread garb, wielding a staff that weighed a planet. A boy sharpening a knife made of the void itself. And so on.

Whether out of jealousy, or suspicion, or plain curiosity… they wanted to see for themselves who this mystery upstart was. Whether he was all he was cracked up to be. 

Whatever the case—it was the first time most in the Dragonspire Galaxy heard the name Zane Walker. 

*** 

At the same time...

Evergreen Grove

World Tree Faction

The Ward set up around the Evergreen Grove was powered by the World Tree itself. Nigh unbreakable. And the privacy wards layered over them were inscrutable, carved by some of the finest artificers of the Steelheart Concave—they’d cost the World Tree Faction a fortune to procure. Strong enough to defend against even Fate Seers’ scrying. They were only meant to be used in times of utmost emergency.

Lan Arandor put out a message. He was not to be disturbed. Not even his son was allowed to see him right now.

There was only one other person present in the room. His Chief Inquisitor Thaele.

The two of them stared into a crack in space. A kind of scrying glass suspended in the void.

A scrying glass tunneling through a secret, forbidden connection. 

Lan Arandor was an ascended being, wielding Tier 6 Laws. And his Level was well over 600. But even he had to steel himself just to face the image of the creature before him. Its diluted aura, pouring through the gap… 

“Greetings, Gilgorath,” he said. Trying to keep his voice clear and firm. “I have a proposition for you.”

The creature on the other side let out a laugh. A sound like steel grating on glass. Its many, many red eyes glinted in the endless dark….

“We have a common enemy,” continued Lan, gritting his teeth. “And if things continue at this rate… we will not be able to stop him! The only way is if we work together. Combining your knowledge of your prison—and your influence over it—with our unique position as an Integration sponsor…” 

A moment. 

Speak.

//

A/N:

Read some of your comments last chapter! Good suggestions--I might put up a poll

I could go to a more consistent M-F schedule, 5x/week, where it's very rare I miss a day (would only happen if I run out of backlog).

In this scenario I'd take weekends to add backlog in case of emergency + devote more time to planning and brainstorming. Chapters would come out on a much more consistent basis--ie you could safely expect a chapter every weekday, with occasional bonus chapters on weekends

Or continue how things are, where missed days happen a few times a month but I shoot for daily chapters

Let me know!