Chapter 222: To Create and Destroy

The sensation encompassed me as if I was standing in some tropical paradise. When I reached out with Event Horizon, it was a siphoning, choking kind of energy. It strangled the life around me, and that only made me stronger. This new aura lacked the same selfish intention, a subtle, blue tint covering the air. It was light and fluffy, a gentle sensation compared to Event Horizon.

Some of that came from the difference in raw power. Event Horizon was just stronger in general than this new aura. Still, this different feeling had merit in its own way. It imbued a wild growth around me. The visualization turned real as sand spawned beneath me. Water filled the chamber, generating a genuine pool around me. A palm tree spawned behind me, fish filling the pool along with various predators. I lifted a hand, and a wall of origin mana coalesced in a pillar in front of me covered in moss. I raised my eyebrows, thinking crabs should be on it.

Low and behold, crabs spawned onto its surface.

Too many crabs in fact. It was a veritable swelling mass of the crusty crustaceans. Hermit crabs, spider crabs, coconut crabs, crabs I saw on the Discovery channel but didn't know the name of, you name it and that kind of crab was there. It scared me a bit due to the sheer rate of crab generation. I'd used the word crab so much in the past couple seconds that it didn't even sound like a word at this point.

Either way, the spring of crabs needed to stop. I raised a palm to it, willing it to cease. Instead, more mana siphoned into the spot. The spring of random crabs evolved into a geyser of them, turning the pillar into a crater of crustaceans. They spewed forth from solid stone, defying all logic.

Flabbergasted and befuddled, I stood and watched as the mountain of crabs turned into an incoming tidal wave. Transient would be pissed when he came back in the morning and there were water and sand everywhere. The plethora of crabs wouldn't exactly put a smile on his face either. If anything, it might tip him over the edge.

I shifted mental gears, covering the aura of growth to one of destruction. Event Horizon passed over the expanse around me, and I kept careful of moving the aura out of my own cubicle. I didn't want to melt someone else in one of the other cubicles if that was even possible. I wasn't about to take that chance regardless.

The crabs disintegrated into mana the moment Event Horizon passed over them. It was like turning my mana into crabs then back into usable mana as they disappeared without a trace. The moss on the pillar evaporated as well, leaving several tons worth of water and sand.

Great. Just great.

I sat down on real sand, the visualization already eliminated. I lifted sand up in my hands, squishing it in my palms. The grit crunched like cereal under a hydraulic press. I melted it in my hands with a potent burst of heat. It globbed into a glowing ball before I stretched it out into an ugly ass panel. I cooled it, bubbles interlacing the clear crystal.

I raised my eyebrows at it, the ugly, dirty, and bubbly glass looking terrible. I was messing around at this point, just enjoying my new powers. I dropped it into the water letting out a splash in the pool. I glanced at the notifications of my status though, and they surprised me.

Skill gained! Life Creation(lvl 10) - While others aim to take life, you aim to give it. +10% to duration of created life forms. +10% power of created life forms.

Skill gained! Matter generation(lvl 10) - Those that create will always live in abundance. +10% to efficiency of creating matter. +10% to the stability of created matters.

Skill gained! Glassmaking(lvl 10) - Though brittle, glass holds many useful properties. You take those properties as your own. +10% to ease of making glass. +10% to glass's clarity

I gained three skills, just like that. The first two sounded like high tier skills, but after reading their descriptions, their basic status made sense. These skills didn't allow me to create any matter or life on command. They just let me create those things period. That meant anytime I channeled those skills, it would be like releasing entropy. There was no rhyme or reason to what was being created. It was dangerous and not very useful either.

I had a few ideas on what to do with them, though.

I tapped my chin as I dived into thought. Creating this many skills was a big deal, especially if it was this damn easy. In fact, while Transient was letting me 'rest,' I could focus on just making random skills with this mana type. If I gained enough of them, I might even be able to make something for fun. At this point, the sky was the limit.

Before I got to grinding out that plan, I opened my status. After a while, I opened up my multiverse menu and glanced at my skills. Event Horizon was still in it. After clearing my mind and changing my mana into Origin, I looked at it once more. As I expected, the ability shifted.

Dimensional Wake - Your reach as a dimension is manifested by an aura, currently known as Event Horizon. Depending on your current mana type, this aura can be altered to one of six mana types: Origin, Dominion, Augmentation, Ascendant, Quintessence, and Primordial.

Edge of Arcadia(Origin) - This aura enhances your ability to create life, matter, and energy sources. It also promotes a sensation of peace in those within it as well.

Current Radius: 501 ft/152 m | Size of the aura can be increased by your mass

Maker - Enhances the ability to create in all its forms. +100% to matter creation.

Giver - This aura makes the efficiency of origin mana higher than usual. +100% to the potency of origin mana.

Arcadia - Created objects, energies, and lifeforms are closer to their original forms than usual. -20% to imperfections during the creation process.

An Originator's Domain - Within the Edge of Arcadia, Origin mana's effects are enhanced. This is a general enhancement to the mana type.

I knew something was awe-inspiring about this whole multiverse thing. It let me have this wave of control over this new mana type. Considering my ridiculous output of energy and this general buff, my origin abilities far exceeded my experience with them.

That lead to the plague of crabs. I shivered at the thought of it, the wall of legs and claws coming at me. It posed no harm, but something about it just creeped me out. They were just the spiders of the sea, after all. One was to be squished while the other was delicious. Life worked out like that sometimes.

Anyways, I honed my mind back onto the task at hand - creating skills. I brainstormed for a bit and came up with a list of prioritized skills. The elements came first because controlling lightning, water, etc. would be useful. After that, I intended on making certain kinds of life instead of just random creatures. Once that was done, different materials were next.

With that in mind, I aimed to create water. I already made some on accident when I first used Edge of Arcadia, so I hoped it would be simple to create some. After several hours of practice, it proved to be the opposite.

At first, I worked with enormous volumes of mana at once. Why? It was my normal amount at this point. Turns out, controlling the mana required to make a mountain wasn't easy. Years of experience let me do so with my ascendant mana, but that wasn't the case with this new origin kind. It didn't make sense to me in the slightest how someone even used it in combat to begin with.

Origin was all about letting go of control and just focusing on creation. Well, if I spawned an inferno, having no control of it was worse than no magic at all. In the case of water, it was a particular kind of material with a set chemical composition. Generating that wasn't easy even in the slightest. As I worked with origin mana, I was more impressed by Helios and Torix.

Helios wielded this as if it was nothing all while using a source of mana that wasn't his own with his gauntlets. Torix exceeded that even, being able to wield all three types of mana fluently. Though he lacked the raw oomph of Helios or me, Torix made up for it with his deft control. That might be why he preferred taking over existing creatures to creating them on their own though.

He was a dominion mage through and through with a very high affinity for that mana type. Using advanced origin magic would prove difficult if not outright impossible. He circumvented that need by controlling things that already existed. In a way, he avoided two of his limitations, both his smallish mana pool and his inexperience with origin mana.

It also played more to his strengths in controlling. The more I thought about it, the more ingenious it seemed. At the same time, it made me wonder why Torix was so dead set on being a summoner/necromancer. I'd ask him next time we met after he interrogated me about my evolution. It would be one piece of information for another.

As I pondered all of that, a virtual sun rose in the distance, indistinguishable from the real sun. As the orange light sheened off the water, Transient popped out of nothing. It spoke in a monotone,

"Good morning, Daniel. Training will resume."

I nodded, "Good. What's next on the menu?"

"Sand, water, and a palm tree. The training area must be cleaned before we can continue."

My shoulders drooped, "Fuck."

I swear there was a smugness in Transient's voice, but maybe I was just hearing things.

"Fuck, indeed."

I ended up just chucking it all into a single location using a gravity well and shoving it into my dimensional storage. Emptying that out later would be vital if I wanted to keep using it, but I was still barely touching the surface of its potential. Several tons of water and sand were nothing to me now.

With the cleanup handled, Transient said, "Create origin mana. Begin by-"

I raised my hand and released a plume of the cyan colored energy.

Transient continued, "Excellent work! You will now fuse together augmentation and origin mana, creating quintessence."

I scratched my cheek, "So why not fuse dominion and origin into primordial mana instead?"

"That mana type is unsuitable for your needs and will prove very difficult to create. It will be the most difficult to curate since it doesn't utilize your natural affinity for augmentation. It is similar to a short, overweight human attempting to play professional basketball."

I nodded, "It's an uphill battle. Gotcha. What will quintessence take?"

"It requires a shift in mentality, combining the sensation of both origin and augmentation magics. Begin by channeling augmentation mana."

I did as commanded, a flood of orange rushing over me. My motivation was high as I reached out with Event Horizon. Once more, the aura was different. Unlike Edge of Arcadia, this aura was like a watered down version of Event Horizon, lacking many of its features. It just wasn't as strong in general, and that made it little more than a novelty at this point.

As I flailed around with the aura, Transient spoke aloud, "Now attempt to achieve Serenity while doing so."

I blinked, "What? How's that even possible? They're polar opposites."

"They are not. The desire to improve is not opposed to the desire to create. Your mind is orienting towards ambition in a selfish light. Direct your thoughts to the growth of all things, excluding the necessity of doing so with only yourself. You must learn to give. Try again."

I let out a long sigh. This was going to feel like a lot more than just three weeks at this rate.

It would feel like an eternity.

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My arms crossed, I stared outside while tapping the edge of my gauntlets. Uncle's craftsmanship was always something worthy of admiration, but my thoughts dwelled elsewhere at the moment. I stared out, inspecting the workings of my galactic city. I did so without the aid of sight, my eyes left blind since birth.

I see into the vast voids of other dimensions, but sight of the realm I exist in eludes me. It was a necessary sacrifice. The sights I see cannot be easily gained. A few simple pulses with my mana gives me an excellent view of my surroundings. By utilizing a nigh photographic memory, I view all that is around me like a general viewing a battlefield.

As I did so, the Empire's citizens bustled about, beneath my notice yet somehow calming me. Glancing at the rabble reminded me of simpler times when managing planets wasn't required of me.

Commoners knew nothing of this responsibility. They pittered and pattered about, their worlds the size of a city at most. I closed my eyes. I wish that my world was the same. Pity. I was born into this, and that, like many things, would never change.

I opened my eyes and sighed. The trade negotiations between Belka-623 and Orba were going well, perhaps better than expected. Exceeding expectations was a given when I involved myself in a matter, however. I reached out a hand, tapping the glass. Yes, I did exceed expectations on almost every account.

Every account but the battle against Lehesion.

Staring at the reflective glass, I glared at myself. My black mask was formed from the most beautiful woods on our home planet. They ingrained wood that smelled of a deep forest and crisp breeze. Those natural oils never left, the trees farmed for the task highly evolved for just that purpose.

My mask represented the merit of my achievements. Few obtained my status, but this did not sate me. I always told my inferiors that success was not a history but a state of mind. If your last attempt at anything was a failure, then you were a failure until you redeemed yourself.

My own words echoed in my ears as my face deformed into a grimace. It was deep scowl, the kind of reaction one has to the piercing screech of nails on a chalkboard. Something infuriated me as of late, yet I didn't comprehend the exact reasoning behind it. I was called into a battlefield with no time nor resources to prepare. I fought until I fell from mental exhaustion, my responsibility to my favor fulfilled. It didn't matter. I failed.

I tapped the glass before lowering my hand. At this rate, I'd shatter the panel. The trouble involved with fixing it wasn't worth venting my irritation. As that deep-seated fury rose from my chest, that armored idiot popped in my thoughts once more. As he passed, Lehesion crossed my vision as well. The fight on Giess flashed across my eyes along with my genocide of the gialgathens in Rivaria. I killed them so that we could fail the battle. The more I dwelled on it, the more mistakes I made during the conflict.

I misused my portals from the beginning. If I had simply used them well enough, then the damage to that monstrosity would've been infinitely higher. Managing my mental stamina would've changed the outcome of the fight as well. I exhausted myself casting imposing but ineffective void ice magic. Sitting behind the other combatants and assisting with portals might have turned the tide.

My thoughts devolved further as I returned to tapping the glass in front of me. That pitiful attempt at battle was my favor to Daniel for saving my sister's life. It was a disgrace to the empire and the royal family to repay meaningful assistance with that display of incompetence. My incompetence.

My tapping turned to thudding on the transparent panel. I even lost a Sentinel since I didn't evade Lehesion's strikes. My combat skills devolved to such an extent that sacrifices were needed to simply keep me alive. Pathetic. Imbecilic. Inept.

My tapping strengthened, cracks spreading through the panel of glass. Despite this complete and utter failure, I received no consequences. My position was absolute; my past actions ensured that I was untouchable. My deficiencies merely resulted in that Harbinger's guild suffering severe losses. I grimaced at my fractured reflection.

If there were no consequences for me, then why did that event haunt me so?

I turned back to my AI, Eva, while rolling my head to alleviate the tension in my neck. My duties would distract me from the wandering thoughts that plagued me as of late. I snapped my fingers, several orange screens appearing. I found the tint easier on my eyes.

Considering I stared at these mindless numbers and charts more than I stared at the physical world, minutia like the tint of a screen took precedence all of a sudden. It reminded me that I focused more on trifles like this than my own abilities in battle.

Eva spoke up, interrupting that string of thought,

"Helios, it's good to see you. What do you need assistance with?"

"I wish to speak with my father. I need his guidance."

Eva answered, her voice easy on my ears. Of course, if her voice weren't natural to hear, I would've long ago gone insane standing in this office.

"He is currently busy suppressing a rebellion on his world."

I glanced up, peeved but undeterred. Of course he was preoccupied with his own mismanagement of his own affairs. This must be the sixth rebellion within the last decade. A few changes in his enactment of imperial policy would rectify the issue in an instant. Instead, my father wallows in incompetence. Typical.

His softness would be his undoing. If a leader grants his underlings an ounce of independence, then those underlings shall starve for more. Repression is often times freedom in these instances. It prevents the imbeciles and ignorant masses from causing their own undoing. Rebellions cannot be tolerated after all, and those that commit treason will be treated as traitors.

And traitors are to be crushed under the Empire's heel. Their blood paves the way to a brighter future.

I silenced that rush of thoughts, however. More pressing matters were at hand. I said,

"Then call Caprika instead."

"You seem disappointed. Would you rather I call the Emperor?"

I raised a palm, snapping my words like a whip. "No. I will not waste his time on my emotions. He's more important tasks to indulge in, as do I." I clenched a hand into a fist,

"But focusing on my responsibilities is difficult when my judgment is impaired. This must be dealt with despite my own misgivings."

Eva replied after a pause, "Of course, Helios."

As Eva called Caprika, I took my mask off for a moment. I pinched the bridge of bone between my eyes, attempting to silence the sea of thoughts rushing to the surface. It was all so tiresome, so I suppressed them while dragging my hand down my face. I put my mask back upon my face as Caprika appeared in a video chat.

She tilted her head, her red mask still being worn. Unusual.

"Oh, this is new. My older brother is asking me for assistance? How quaint."

"Quaint indeed. Perhaps I should ask someone else then? They may mock me less and offer better counsel."

Caprika leaned back, "Wait, you're serious about this? I-I'm sorry. I thought you were calling to scold me."

"No. I'm asking for your viewpoint. Nothing more."

Caprika gulped before sitting up, straighter, "Then what is it, brother?"

I stared at the claws of my hand, a bit of shame welling from my chest from directly speaking out my thoughts,

"I've found my emotions difficult to handle as of late. I'm quick to anger and slow to contentment. It's a bother. Perhaps you may understand it better than I." I glanced down to her,

"After all, you've more experience in regards to handling difficult emotions."

Caprika fumbled for a moment, composing herself. I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes, granting her a few moments to think. She raised her hands, gesturing like salesmen giving a pitch as she spoke,

"I don't fully understand why, but it could be resentment to your failure in regards to Lehesion. If you're ashamed of your performance, I assure you, no one imagined that beast would live up to the legends told about-"

I seethed, "That is not what angers me. It would never."

Caprika trembled, a shiver racing up her spine. I winced at my lack of self-control. Scolding her felt like whipping a child. She was still my little sister, after all. One victory did not shift the long history between us, one where I succeeded, and she failed. In my eyes, however, none of that history mattered. To me, she was my superior at this point in time.

I leaned back from my screen, shaking my head, "I...excuse my outburst. That may well be what's infuriating me considering my reaction just now. Perhaps your insight was worthwhile as a verification of sorts."

Caprika took a deep breath before leaning towards her screen, "Are...are you alright? It's not like you to ask me for help, and it's even more unlike you to lash out like that."

I scoffed, "That is precisely why I called you. You're supposed to assist me in the matter, not point out the obvious to me."

She stayed silent, keeping eye contact though I couldn't see it behind her mask. From all the years I'd known her, I built up a vague understanding of her facial gestures despite the veils between us. Right now, she showed genuine concern to the extent that it oozed from her like juice from a smashed fruit.

It was humiliating.

I composed myself before answering. Showing more weakness would only exacerbate the issue.

"Your insight has been more than enough to rectify the issue. I'm merely optimizing my mental state for my continued performance. Nothing more."

I stared at my palm as I spoke, inspecting the runic work of the Emperor. It calmed me as Caprika nodded,

"Of course. You assisted me in more ways than I care to mention, and returning your backing means quite a bit to me. If that requires being a shoulder for you to lean on or an ear that listens to you, I'm at your beckoning call. Simply ask."

I let my hand down, peering back down to her, "I see. Thank you for the sentiment. I must go now. Thank you for your time and consideration."

Caprika leaned back, "That's rather formal of you. It isn't as if we're merely business associates."

I raised a hand over the exiting command for the chat, "I'm an ice mage. What else would you expect? Goodbye."

I closed the call, glancing back at my daily duties. They involved the maintenance of Belka and Meliton, the planets I ruled. Every bit of it bored me, but finding another competent soul to manage these affairs was far more complicated than merely completing the tasks myself. The Emperor was fortunate to find me. I lacked the same luck.

A few hours passed as I found myself fumbling with the simplest of tasks. Managing planetary interest rates, ending geopolitical disputes, even planning various educational reforms, they all eluded me. After a few minutes of work, I closed the holograms along with Eva. I turned back to the city and gave my situation some thought.

Considering my coarse reaction to Caprika's suggestion, she was correct even if I attempted denying it outright. Now that the source my malaise was known, aligning my actions to remedy the situation was simple.

Ending Lehesion took priority. The question was thus:

How do you kill the unkillable?

An interesting question. I steepled my fingers.

I had interesting answers.

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With my eyes closed, I sat with my legs crossed. For the thousandth time, tranquility washed over me, keeping me calm. As I opened my eyes, I imagined Althea in my mind. I wanted her to succeed on her own terms. I remembered the bit of joy I got from watching Kessiah finding her way. I envisioned a weakened Torix needing my help.

With all those thoughts driving me, I channeled my mana into my palm. I honed in on that sensation of warmth and comfort from their company. I focused on helping them with whatever it was they needed. As I took a deep breath, a mental image of Althea stuck out in my mind. Every time I thought about her, I wanted to protect her.

These thoughts even carried some guilt. I focused so much on my own progress that I seldom helped them with their own. The only glory I could claim from helping them was leading by example. That only got me so far in my book. Healing techniques, utility magic, even defensive auras, I never even attempted to gain any of that.

With relentless perseverance, I kept the single-minded pursuit of self-empowerment. It hasn't failed me yet, but it might have failed those around me. That might of been why Torix ended up being consumed by the Hybrid. After the lengths he took to help me, I resolved to make the same lengths in assisting him. After all, he was the main reason we killed Yawm. He saved my damn home planet and then some. The guy deserved my respect for sure, and I owed it to the guy to help him out a bit more than I had.

Despite this wave of remorse, I quashed any guilt in my mind. Feeling wrong about my past never helped me or anybody for that matter. Doing something about it, on the other hand, could help out quite a bit. Those thoughts inspired me. I could remake Torix’s armor better than before, make it more foolproof. Who knows, maybe I could even get Chrona to teach him primordial mana. His summoning would be even better then.

In a way, his victory would be my triumph, just as his failure was my defeat. If I was going to run an organization, that’s how I had to think about everyone under me. Focusing on only myself wasn’t an option anymore.

As those thoughts welled in my mind, the blue mana in my palm shivered before reforming into a transparent, white orb. It swirled over my hand, mirroring a tiny hurricane. It carried the same potent volatility of ascendant mana, but it didn’t spark outward with arcs of electricity. It radiated out air, enough to blow my hair back.

Unique Skill gained! The normal skills, Augmentation, Augmentation Manipulation, Origin, Origin Manipulation, and Serenity combine into the unique skill Quintessence! 118 tree points rewarded!

Quintessence(lvl 10) - Most divert their attention to themselves, pursuing narcissistic endeavors. You divert outward, avoiding the pitfalls of ego. +10% to ease of Quintessence creation. +10% to the potency of Quintessence mana.

My hand wobbled beneath the mana, the energy threatening to ebb outward into my surroundings. I laughed at it before glancing back up at Transient,

“Aye, I did it...Finally.”

Transient made a satisfying bing noise, “It only took 242 hours of virtualized time to complete!”

The bing wasn’t quite so satisfying anymore. I frowned, “Thanks for reminding me.”

“There is still plenty of time left in your time dilation period; eight days remain.”

I scratched the side of my head, “I’m grateful and all for the help so far, but wasn’t this supposed to take like three days?

Transient bobbed in the air, “Yes. Your situation isn’t a normal one, however. Most compendium’s taught skills that are combinations of already learned skills. They borrow more from existing unique and mythical skills than your current virtualization is. Unlike their learned skillsets, yours is much more expansive in nature.”

I raised my eyebrows, “Why?”

“To utilize the most effective form of long term growth for you given your unique parameters. Tolerance to time dilation to this extent is exceedingly rare. We can achieve more than usual, given the circumstances. This means we will be incorporating the learning of skills that will enhance your long term potential.”

I nodded, “Ahhh, yeah, that makes sense.”

Transient dimmed, the ethereal energy ball fading, “We will continue this session tomorrow. Be ready.”

Transient disappeared while the island around me dimmed to dusk. I sat up and stretched a bit, my legs asleep from all the sitting. After rolling my shoulders, I raised a palm and channeled that mindset of victory for all. In my hand, the swirling piece of white mana returned, ebbing outward with air. I directed more of it before engulfing the training room in a windstorm.

My control of the new mana collapsed, converting into ascendant mana once more. Sparks of arcane lightning ripped out for a moment before I quashed the ball in my hand. I sighed, but learning a new mana type would take time. I was lucky I progressed this quick already. Without Transient’s tips and tricks, I'd never have broken through all the plateaus I faced in the same time frame.

Making progress in the new skills front was going far better for me, however. I learned water creation after a while by submerging myself in the fake ocean around me. Immersed in the element, I used the feeling, sensation, and weight of it to produce the same material. This method of placing myself within an element worked wonders.

Now, an average person probably would wince at setting themselves on fire to learn about it. For me, it was run of the mill though. Hell, I'd jump in a damn volcano if it helped me learn skills faster. At this point, I had a no-fucks-given attitude to a bit of discomfort.

That's why after discovering this new method, I talked with Transient about letting me manipulate the projection around me. The sardonic little orb had no problem with it even if he doubted my intelligence the entire time. Armed with some agency, I created an icy wasteland, burning hellscape, and a windy skyline.

Using origin mana, I composed each of these elements of ice, fire, and wind. Fire was the easiest since it was similar to my Star Forger skill sorta. Wind was quite tricky just because it was so light and airy. I couldn’t get a firm grasp of the concept, probably because I so far from it in composition now. Eh, I couldn’t know for sure.

What I did know was that I was a motherfucking, full-fledged sorcerer now. Hell yeah.

I wouldn’t be trapping souls or creating void ice anytime soon, but fire breath was in my grasp. It wasn’t nearly as powerful as my mythical or legendary skills though, and my control of the elements was rudimentary at the moment.

Still, it was pretty cool.

The next logical step was creating these elements using the better quintessence mana. That would take a bit of time, so I left that for tomorrow after Transient helped me with the odd energy. I decided on combining these elemental skills into a unique ability instead. In my mind, that revolved around the skill Energy Creation.

Energy Generation(lvl 21) - From your mind spawns the forces of nature. +21% to spawned energies. +21% to intensity of spawned energies.

This was the skill I gained before producing fire. At first, I attempted creating two materials that combust with each other, but that was impossible. My finesse with Matter Generation was nonexistent. I produced random stuff at random rates in random places. For now, It astonished me just how useless the skill turned out to be.

It enabled me to produce water and wind though, and that’s why I believed Energy Generation was key to an elementally inclined unique skill. Before I set to work, I chuckled at myself. My thoughts right now were nostalgic to me; it reminded me of when I first joined Schema’s system. Gaming the system, theorycrafting skills, it was all a lot of fun then and now.

This was different from before, though. Unlike my work with my other abilities, this was an endeavor of curiosity. I wasn’t forced to learn this to live. I was doing this for the sake of doing it. That lack of restriction was like a breath of fresh air, my responsibilities leaving my mind. After taking a literal deep breath, I relished in that feeling.

It made my mind wonder about other possibilities like what I would’ve done if I didn’t spawn in a dungeon. I might’ve just dicked around, discovering new skills to learn that were fun to practice. That’s probably what the average person was doing on Earth right now. I stared off in the distance as I envisioned a group of high school guys firing ice bolts at each other.

Sounded like fun.

I shook that out of my mind and refocused. With a practiced motion, I slid my hands outwards, taking a flowing pattern of movement. Two spheres of water appeared at the edge of my left palm before I transferred my right hand’s mana to ascendant. Using the violent force in right palm, I fired the water ball forward before freezing it into ice using my left hand.

It was like learning to write with my left hand. It flexed mental muscles I didn't know I had. I managed it though, a lance of ice piercing into the sand. I grabbed it, spinning it like a movie. It snapped in my hands as I swung too hard. Fuck. I let out a few more colorful curses before lifting the halves of an ice spear and melting the ice under a plume of fire. I kept doing so until it evaporated, turning into a ball of mist. I shot out my hand and launched a gust of wind.

It shot across the sand. The mist sunk into the ground before I lifted my left hand, creating tiny shards of ice. For several hours I continued this melding of elements, attempting creative combinations. It was a great mental break from the mindless grind that Transient's exercises had become. Before that plasma ball arrived, I got what I was looking for.

Unique Skill gained! Fire Creation, Ice Creation, Water Creation, Wind Creation, and Energy creation fused together into the unique skill Elementalist! 215 tree points awarded. Elementalist is unique among unique skills. It can absorb other elements that weren’t involved in its creation, further strengthening the skill!

Elementalist(lvl 10) - You wield the elements with deadly intent. +10% to elements intensity. +10% to elements purity.

It was an excellent skill, albeit lacking in raw might. I was pretty sure that with time, it would become a force to reckon with. The tree points, in particular, were excellent. I opened my tree menu, finding 986 unused treepoints. I placed them into my Sovereign skill tree, but I didn’t get any bonuses from it. I tsked in disappointment before moving on.

I spent the rest of the night attempting to form earth magic. Despite getting numerous hot mud baths and getting stuck in quicksand pits later, the skill didn’t click. Oh well. The next day, I learned a bit more of the ins and outs of quintessence mana. It was the mana of victory from what Transient told me. Leaders used it for the enhancement of their armies more often than not.

Ascendant mana seemed capable of the same purpose, but I had already understood the drawbacks quite well involving that bloody mana. Ascendant mana did motivate troops to fight, but it also drove them to feed. Just as the wolfs and hornets devoured each other, so would a horde of my forces. Quintessence was altogether different, however.

Sheathing an army in armor, giving them swords of ice, or arming them with ammunition, quintessence did it all and more. The benevolent nature of the mana helped with keeping soldiers in the general’s repertoire as well. Primordial mana was potent as well for this purpose, though few enjoyed being controlled.

In a way, quintessence was the mana for getting and making an army. Ascendant mana was more for people that wanted to be a one-man army instead. To each his own.

I wanted both. With that in mind, I wrestled with quintessence all day. As the sun went down and Transient left me, I created a condensed sphere of quintessence in my hand. I dipped it into a pile of sand I made earlier. The sand shifted into limestone before standing upright. A tiny, sandstone golem walked up from the ground, about a foot tall.

It blew my mind. With ascendant mana, I enraged the beast, making it clobber a few buildings and trees apart in the simulator. I created a golem of wood minutes later, calling it Mini-Yawm, and I had them fight one another. The wooden one lived up to its predecessor’s name, throwing the sand golem aside after tearing its brother apart.

Mini-Yawm beat its chest for a moment before staring up at me. It lacked eyes, though it sensed its surroundings. The wood golem ran up and hit the side of my leg, doing nothing more than breaking its fists. I leaned over and reached out a hand to it. The crude, wooden puppet smushed its blunt hands against my fingers.

I frowned before waving Event Horizon over the tiny construct. It evaporated into the air as I took a breath. These were extraordinary, life-altering powers at my disposal now. It kind of creeped me out, but mastering them might prove vital further down the line. With that in mind, I tore strips of my armor off. Once I gained a large pile, I telekinetically lifted it into a humanoid.

After carving a variety of elementary runes onto the creature, I gained the rough approximation of a bodyguard. Well, at least in theory. It might end up like the plague of crabs earlier. I waved my hands back and forth before emptying my mind. As I filled it with thoughts of triumph, quintessence channeled through me. I directed it further, the mana encompassing my being in its entirety.

A rotating sphere of the pale aura generated around me, the pressure building. The runic markings over my armor glowed a bright white, contrasting my armor’s grim appearance. After maintaining this high octane amount of mana, I finally felt comfortable with the sensation.

I attempted to reach out with my aura. The white cloud expanded outward from me in a smooth expansion. As I did, a snowy sort of tint ebbed over my surroundings.

At the same time, it lived up to being the mana of victory. The energy invigorated me like liquid power. I trembled as my abilities extended. My eyes sharpened. My thoughts cleared. My body loosened. My skin hardened. I expanded in both mass and potential. Even my mana quaked in an uproar, bursting into the air with a crescendo of might.

I was no longer covered by a condensed ball of wind. I walked as a living hurricane, a boundless storm shifting around me. The energy filled and fueled me, giving me the urge to create. I wanted to paint, sing, even build a house brick by brick. It didn’t matter what it was, I needed to make something that would last through the epochs of time.

As the new sensation normalized to me, I glanced around. The sand island blew apart from around me. I lifted my hands, channeling quintessence to reform the island. The golem behind me absorbed the energy, its markings growing white. The rough joints straightened out, becoming straighter. The jagged edges smoothed, gaining a subtle sheen.

My eyes widened as the thin, wispy bodyguard gained life and an improved body. With the same white glow in its eyes, it glanced around, confused about what was happening. Before anything else, I analyzed the structure.

Dimensional Golem(lvl 500) - This dimensional golem is created by a living multiverse, acting as a fragment of its body given free will. Though unintelligent and weak, this being holds tremendous tenacity, proving difficult to kill even for those twice it's level. This comes down to the composition of its body.

The foreign matter is both stable and volatile, proving an adequate defense and offense all at once. The armor can infect any that touches it, slowly absorbing the life force of its would-be attacker. This allows this golem to become a robust and worthy competitor given time.

You can kill this with ease given your abilities.

I eyed the creature, stepping closer to it. It peered back and mimicked my motions like a mirror. Staring down, I tapped my chest for a moment. Maybe I couldn’t use origin to make better material for golems, but I had the best golem material right here. An endless army of mindless subjects was at my fingertips. Before I carried out my evil laugh, the golem attempted taking a step.

It fell sideways, the ground quaking beneath it. Unharmed and undeterred, it attempted standing up. As it fell sideways, and I understood a simple yet profound fact - making golems was hard. Sure, its level wasn’t the worst in the world, but it was just about useless. The simple runes I composed on the creature barely let it move, let alone fight back.

I cupped my chin, thinking of more advanced algorithms to give it specific movements. After a few minutes of brainstorming, I cursed. This shit was impossible. There was a reason fully robotic guards weren’t possible for the most part. Programming combatants were often times much harder than just training real people instead.

Due to all the complications, I put off pursuing this kind of study until later. I waved Event Horizon over the creature, expecting it to just evaporate. It took a step back, its knees wobbling under strain. The white light dimmed before the golem crashed to the ground in pieces. It was a haunting sensation. Till now, I hadn't used the revamped Event Horizon on a creature that could withstand it whatsoever.

This one lasted a few seconds, and its health was actually high enough to withstand my aura for even longer. The reason it died was from the mana drain. It and I experienced the new mana drain on Event Horizon for the first time.

It was an absolute, destructive mind obliterator. It subjugated its victim by eliminating the ability to even think, let along fight back. It really did embody a physical manifestation of oppression, the pitiful golem's pure mind crumbling before its body did. To me, it was somewhat horrifying watching such an innocent intellect be dismantled under the heel of Event Horizon.

I stared at my hands. I was a monster.

Next time I would just kill the damn thing. Until I could control my creations, I'd stick with simple stuff instead of making golems. This was just too much for me right now, and that was saying something. After all, I'd put myself through grueling torture while training. Doing that to newly formed life though...It was different. That's all I'll say about it.

I was still driven, however. I shook off that guilt before moving on. There was no rest for the wicked after all. Before going back to my skills, I opened my status to investigate the new aura.

Dimensional Wake - Your reach as a dimension is manifested by an aura, currently known as Event Horizon. Depending on your current mana type, this aura can be altered to one of six mana types: Origin, Dominion, Augmentation, Ascendant, Quintessence, and Primordial.

The Rise of Eden(Quintessence) - This aura enhances your ability to create and augment all forms of life, matter, and energy. It also instills the urge and inspiration to create in all those within the aura, spurring them to action. This dimensional aura also enables the construction of various effects depending on the mutations used on oneself. This gives this version of Dimensional Wake tremendous versatility.

Current Radius: 501 ft/152 m | Size of the aura can be increased by your mass

Creator of All - This aura enhances all acts of creation, growth, and empowerment within its radius of any kind. Doubles experience gain. Skills level twice as quickly. Augmenting auras enhanced by 50%. Imperfections reduced. The potency of quintessence is enhanced.

Perfection - Augments the raw base stats of allies within the aura by 40%. Your own base stats are increased by 30%.

A Magnum Opus - Creates an aura of intense motivation and the desire to create in all its forms. This kind of creation can be immaterial, involving skills, ideas, and pursuits.

The descriptions were stunning but straightforward. The most apparent benefit involved the general stat enhancement. The sheer volume of mana was awe-inspiring from it. Including all my modifiers, it over doubled my mana regeneration. It was so potent, I would use quintessence as my new baseline mode. It would make my runes fill out even faster, which was always good.

It wouldn’t take that many enemies before Event Horizon exceeded the potential stat boost though. At the same time, this was a better solo strategy, giving me a bit of flexibility. The aura itself was also perfect for crafting in general. Using quintessence for Star Forger sounded like a recipe for unbelievable items.

If I wanted to become a one-man army though, Event Horizon was still my best bet. The new mana drain was particularly potent on it, muting enemy minds proving valuable. As for a charismatic general I needed to be, quintessence fit the bill for now.

Well, as charismatic as I could be at least. There was only so much that stats could fix after all.

I rolled my shoulders, getting back to work. I spent the rest of the night training Elementalist within The Rise of Eden. It added to the impact of elementalist quite a bit, turning fire into an inferno and waves into tsunamis. As the sun rose up again, Transient arrived along with a new task.

“You seem different.”

I glanced down at my palms, a white glow ebbing from the cipher on them, “Eh, it’s nothing much.”

“Noted. We will be moving on to the Mutagenesis skill line. This series of skills is far more geared towards your base nature, which will speed up the learning curve substantially. Outside of the formation of the mythical skill itself, the creation of quintessence was the largest hurdle involved during your stay here...Most likely.”

I let out a sigh of relief, “Thank god.”

“Don’t thank god. Thank Schema.”

I rolled my eyes as it continued,

“Mutagenesis is composed of five baseline skills, Mutation, Growth, Deconstruction, Auto-Cannibalism, and Anatomy. We will begin by learning the Auto-Cannibalism skill.”

I winced, “Sounds fun.”

“It isn’t as unpleasant as one might believe.”

“Please don’t tell me it involves eating myself.”

The AI bobbed up and down, “It does but in a practical manner. You won't be required to devour yourself. A longer, less direct method has been created for the learning of the skill. Allow me to explain-”

After a long lecture, I got the basic idea behind the skill. As I began mutating myself, the ability to degenerate the changes from mutagenesis was necessary for several reasons. Practicing alterations, eliminating changes, and restoring myself were several of them. The reason I didn’t learn Deconstruction instead was that Auto-Cannibalism had a recycling component to it.

While deconstructing changes wasn’t the worst way of getting rid of mistakes, it wasn’t as efficient as auto-cannibalism. The only reason to learn deconstruction was to dismiss any life I happened to form with my origin mana once I was done with it. Having that level of control over another life kind of shocked me, but it wasn’t all that different from Event Horizon in effect.

It still felt like I shouldn't be given tools like this. I swallowed that unease and kept trucking on.

In fact, Event Horizon covered all the bases Auto-Cannibalism and Deconstruction attended to. That choking aura used ascendant mana as a battery, however, which made it unusable in The Rise of Eden. It was a quirky conundrum, making my life more complicated than it needed to be. Either way, I ignored Transient completely before tearing off my own limbs and devouring them. Boom, I gained the Auto-Cannibalism skill.

Transient said it was unconventional. Eh, maybe.

After gaining that in mere minutes, I created a couple dozen water elementals. Like tiny, uncultured children, they wandered the temporal dilation chamber. I practiced disconnecting the mana I placed within them from the materials composing their bodies. It was dark work, leaving quite an impression on me. There was something innately twisted about giving life then taking it, even if it was on a scale this small.

The more I did work like this, the more I understood how someone like Yawm came to be. This was corrupting as the eldritch. Creating and killing life reduced the sanctity of life itself. It numbed my basic sense of ethics and morality. As I took each of the little lives away, it didn't bother me as much as the last one did.

That bothered me more than an eldritch chewing my face.

Still, I did the work that had to be done. It wasn't like I would be doing this forever, and my mind was more stable than stone. I wouldn't let this series of exercises leave me warped.

I pushed through a sense of nausea from the spells. It took four or five hours to gain Deconstruction, mostly from my own misgivings with the skill. The progress was at light speed compared to gaining origin mana though. After that awful affair, Event Horizon would be my go-to for dismissing my creations. It was less...personal that way.

We moved on to Anatomy. It was one of the most effortless skills to gain since my first few skills back in Bloodhollow. After reading three hundred pages of an anatomy book in an hour, I learned the ability. Easy peasy. It surprised me how quickly it all came to me and how quickly I read as well.

I remembered taking anatomy back in high school. I got my ass kicked by that class. The memorization aspect of it was so simple now, it seemed like child’s play. Even more so, the more complex bits about how various systems worked together on a conceptual level, that just zipped into my brain. Of course, I wasn’t an expert. You wouldn't see me handling a tricky diagnosis like pulmonary embolus. I'd fuck that up with something more common like pneumonia. That kind of expertise would still take time, diligence, and experience, but I was on the road to that level of understanding.

My progress stuck out to me just because this was one of the subjects I studied from my previous life before Schema. It was difficult, arduous, and complicated once upon a time. It was so easy now by comparison.

I was no longer a troglodyte in regards to my smarts. Yay.

After finishing that anatomy booklet, I moved on to the skill Growth. Before Transient even attempted giving me a primer on the topic, I expanded myself using the skill Mass Manipulation. Transient chided,

“That isn’t growth. You’re simply expanding the distance between the atoms of your body. Growth is different. You don’t shift the density of your atomic structure. You add atoms to it.”

I raised my eyebrows, “Like getting fat?”

“No. This skill is a simple skill used by many to create a more imposing presence. You use origin or quintessence mana to create more of your own body. While very dangerous to learn for most, it should prove quite simple for you considering your circumstances.”

I cupped my chin, “Why is it dangerous?”

“Mold origin mana into your body. The answer shall present itself.”

I narrowed my eyes, “Huh...ok.”

I shifted my mode of mana, blue lines glowing across my helmet and runes. I saturated my blood a bit with origin mana before my vision blurred. Falling to my knees, a wave of nausea suffused me, and I wretched. The empty gag followed the vomiting of an eyeball a moment later. My own eyes widened with horror as I leaned back from the squirming eyeball. As it glanced at me, a far stronger urge to hurl deluged from my gut.

I upchucked a waterfall of eyeballs. They crashed into the ground, a massive pile forming beneath me. The fleshy spheres swelled from my eyes, under my skin, in every inch of my body. They soaked into my bones and blood, growing from my body in an abominable mass.

Before drowning in detatched eyeball, I shifted Event Horizon over my frame. The flesh dematerialized in an instant, the pressure dissipation from around me. As I gasped for unnecessary air, I glanced up at Transient. The AI chirped with a bit too much glee,

“That is why it's dangerous.”

I shook my head before banging my chin once. The whip sharpened my thoughts as I stood up. I glared down at the energy ball as ascendant mana coursed through my veins. Red mana leaked from my frame, my armor grinning with red leaking from it. I reached out, molding the lightest touch of Event Horizon over the little ball of aether.

It trembled, the mana composing its body draining. As Transient groaned in torment, I leaned over to it,

“Thank you for explaining why origin mana is dangerous...Do you feel that?”

It shivered, dimming as I seethed,

“That is why I’m dangerous.”

I stopped the aura and stood up again, "One lesson for another. Now, would you mind telling me what to do next. This time in detail?"

More subdued, the AI continued, "Of course. My apologies. Let's continue."

I raised a hand, channeling origin mana, "Let's."