Dark Matter Ascension-Chapter 12B3 - : More Complexes await!

Jace walked through the whole facility, having Ollie dust every single thing possible. Sadly, the robots were not dust-able, but they did visit the printed record archive, where Ollie flew from bookshelf to bookshelf, scanning each to add to The Cosmic System. That took little time, and next they visited the server rooms where he did the same process.

Lastly, they went to the various animals in the predator enclosure. He flew into each room and sucked them into Xera’s TPS for relocation to stasis facilities for when they eventually made the world habitable again. Whether they found this magitech device near the core of the world, or if they would have to import Xera’s engine to push it into orbit around a star to establish a warm environment once more.

In either case, the process took a while, and Jace had time to think about what he wanted to do. “I decided,” he said as Ollie finished the last of the animal-storage tasks. “I don’t want to use the Class Reset Crystal. It is a lot of Stardust on the open market. And, if Quinn sells it, she gets, what, fifty percent more from her Skill?”

“Correct,” Quinn said with barely-contained glee. “I can start looking for a buyer ASAP if you want!”

Jace looked back at the object he had yet to let go of. “Don’t get me wrong…the idea of using it is tempting, especially since I could re-do everything from the ground-up. But…I am good with the Skills I have right now. I don’t want to have to re-learn how to use everything. Swapping out <Wrathblade> is tempting, but getting angry isn’t a problem now that I can have you push the chemicals needed in my brain, Ollie.”

Ollie nodded, “Understood! We can send it through the System to Xera for safe keeping, and then she can give it to Quinn when she finds a seller.”

Jace handed the crystal to Ollie, who took it from him before it vanished into glittering sparkles of light-blue starlight. Jace sighed, “I really hope I don’t regret that.”

“Cheer up!” Ollie replied as he patted Jace’s head. “You’re going to be rich!”

“Oh, one more thing,” Jace said. “My nanites…talked to me? Through the armor.”

Ollie nodded, “Yup! They are a hive mind that is…well, the proper computing term is ‘slaved’ to your brain. You are the controlling device, the ‘master’ of the ‘slaved’ program. But now they have a means to communicate with you. Though, it takes a lot of their stored energy, and they need to maintain a baseline limit for your needs.”

“Could I…let them feed off of my energy through The Cosmic System? Give them some of that so they can talk more?”

“Sure! Just…here, I will do it.”

Jace felt a rush of energy leave him and felt a little tired. But the HUD filled in with words.

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[Thanks for that!]

[What can we do for you, boss?]

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“What all can you do?” Jace asked.

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[Well…we are you?]

[Anything you can do, we can do.]

[Except for non-autonomic brain functions: those are all you!]

[So, we could take over your breathing for you, your circadian rhythm, pumping more nanites since you don’t have blood anymore, and the like.]

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“I don’t have blood?” Jace asked incredulously.

“Nope!” Ollie said. “You are basically prosthetics, NICIF, and your brain.” He rapped his little paw-knuckle a few times on Jace’s head: his paw phasing through the helmet. “You do not have blood anymore!”

Slightly unsettling, Jace thought. But, ultimately, it’s probably for the best. “Right. Well, nanites, if you need any energy, let me know and I’ll funnel it your way.”

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[You got it, boss man!]

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Jace left the Complex, placed his hand over his forearm, and whispered, “Okay, hypercycle, please.”

The small, dizzying vortex appeared on his forearm, and he turned his forearm so that it was facing out and away from him. The hypercycle grew from a tiny pixel into the full-sized vehicle as it came out of the funnel. It hovered on the icy ground next to him, and throwing a leg over, he looked at Ollie. “Map, please.”

Ollie pulled up a map of the surface, “Next Complex is that way.”

Jace’s HUD showed not just the map, but also a small, illusory arrow that pointed in the direction. Revving the vehicles engine, he zoomed off through the whipping, icy wind.

Jericho grumbled as he trudged through the ice and snow. His heart dropped a little in his chest as he saw through the blinding sleet thanks to proximity: another Complex that had been cut into. “That’s the second one,” he muttered.

He had been trudging along with an expedition force of the Black Hole Conclave. Trudging, because their vehicles had not yet arrived. They had a map of the world thanks to some of their information-gatherers who interfaced with the System on the Conclave’s behalf. But someone was traveling fast ahead of them and clearing Complexes.

One of the leaders of the planet’s exhibition force, Renlas, one of the two returned-from-death Aspirants, scowled. “It is just like on Nihilethelea. Someone is ahead of us and clearing out Complexes.” He patted Jericho on the back, “Let us go inside. They may have left something of use.”

Jericho nodded and began to descend, wrapping himself in a Black Hole Shield that would turn anything directed at him to dust through entropy. They fully scouted the facility, finding nothing very useful save for the stasis pods that Renlas was quite happy to see. “Ah, Troxanir would love some of these.”

“Why?” Jericho asked.

Renlas walked over to one and ran a hand along it, “Because, we can use stasis pods such as these to store cloned bodies. The technology exists, and we can get our hands on it. That means instead of hoping for a corpse that can be inhabited…we can each effectively have a second chance without real risk.”

The idea, in Jericho’s mind, of having a backup body for a second chance to serve Troxanir if he should fail in his duties was quite intriguing. “How do we disconnect them?”

Renlas frowned, “I do not know. But we should wait for the hoversleds and some of our technicians.” He turned back to Jericho, “Come, let us return to base camp. Perhaps our transports have arrived. This blasted wind and ice ruined our communication network for long distance. But those hoversleds? They have antennae built in that can enable comms through a System subroutine.” He led Jericho out of the Complex, and the two trudged through the ice and snow back towards the portal to The Cosmic Corridor.

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[Warning! You are about to enter a Complex!]

[This location has been marked by The Cosmic System as Tier 6.]

[Number of foes to clear out: 3.]

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[Quest: Clear the Complex.]

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

[Time Limit: N/A.]

[Reward: Rare (Skill Evolution) Boon.]

[Sender: The Cosmic System.]

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Jace arrived at the next Complex and received the customary notification. He activated the hypercycle’s heat ray, and it melted the ice and snow almost instantly. Shutting it off, dismounting, and sucking the hypercycle back into the TPSB, he activated Void Blade (Rank 5) [Rending], Void Shield (Rank 6), and Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3).

Cutting through the door, he kicked it down with a clatter. The inside of the facility was dark, and as he entered the place he saw what he could only describe as plant life that had grown wildly out of control. There was a glass-like partition between himself and the plants, and moisture gathered on the inside. He was inside of some type of antechamber or airlock. “What is this place?” he asked.

Ollie flew over to a small plaque, “A greenhouse. Indoor plant-growing space. Probably a way to preserve the plant life of their soon-to-be dying world.”

Jace went back to the door and shoved it back into place. There were still gashes around the outside, but the temperature grew noticeably warmer. Even more the closer he got to the glass enclosure, which seemed to have an inner airlock as well. And it got hotter. “This was a swamp world, right?”

“Yup!”

“How hot was it normally?”

“Oh, quite humid. One-hundred-fifteen degrees Fahrenheit, with eighty percent humidity.”

Jace nodded and walked up to the glass door, pushing it to the side, shutting it behind him, and then opening the inner door in the same fashion. Thankfully, his armor fully encased his body, but he could tell from the moisture on the glass to his sides that this place was very saturated, and he would struggle to breathe normally without his gills.

Stepping forward onto the undergrowth, he took in the lush environment. It was truly awe-inspiring, as he had only seen jungle, forest, and grasslands outside of Earth. He had never been in a swamp-like environment, and he could hear insects buzzing, chirping, and communicating with each other. A cloud of some type of flying insect buzzed by him before landing on one of the many plants that were quite colorful.

Once more, Jace was struck by the gorgeousness of nature, and once more he felt the pang of hatred that people on Earth did not get to experience something like this thanks to the greed of the megacorporations. But, at least, he thought, the Star Council is going to rehabilitate the world. That might give some people a glimpse of this type of environment.

Not only that thought went through his head, but also the fact that there were countless worlds to see out along The Cosmic Corridor. When I’m strong enough to keep Shhiv safe, and I bring Chroma back, we are going on a world-hopping vacation to see all these amazing places.

“Jace, watch where you are stepping,” Ollie admonished.

Jace looked down and saw that he had stepped on a vine of some type. As he lifted his leg up, it retracted. “Whoops,” Jace muttered. “They are reactive, aren’t the-” he was cut off as another vine whipped out from his left: he sensed it thanks to the Edge’s Intuition, but it moved fast, and tried to wrap around his leg. But it vanished to nothingness as it impacted the Void Shield.

“Ollie? How does it know where I am?”

“It can sense the distortion in the air where the humidity is not sticking to objects!”

Seems like more and more I’m coming across things that can see past the Dark Matter Cloak, he thought. First the Black Hole Conclave members, now even plants can identify where I’m at. He dropped the Cloak and saw multiple tentacles lash out at him. He let each impact him and become annihilated. “Ollie, highlight targets.”

Jace saw the red outline of a large flower in front of him, hidden behind tons of plants. He began hacking and chopping his way, whispering, “Sorry,” with each cut as he ravaged the preserved flora. He made it to the enormous flower. It was beautiful; with vivid, red colors interspersed with yellow bursts upon the petals. It had tendril-like, vine tentacles that whipped forth and tried to latch onto Jace, but each one that impacted his Void Shield just faded to nothingness. Stepping up, he slashed it down the middle and saw a deep, purple ichor ooze up from the center.

“One down,” Ollie stated.

Jace looked back to the rest of the large space, “Any chance that we can easily find the others?” he felt his energy slowly depleting and saw the bar in his HUD begin to deplete from the sustained Shield.

“Doesn’t look like it. And this is some type of interconnected network, so the other plants may try to recede and hide away.”

Jace frowned and returned to the center ‘path’ that was not quite as overgrown as the rest of the area. He walked forward, looking for any sign of movement from the plants. “I’m not seeing anything,” Jace muttered.

“Maybe if you drop the Shield, they will strike? Or show some vulnerability of some type?”

“What’s the repercussions of letting this place get exposed to the cold outside?”

Ollie crossed his arms, “I can catalogue what is in here and we can take cuttings for the TPS. Xera can always do a terraforming, reseeding project if required.”

Jace nodded and returned to the entrance, “Tag everything unique we need a cutting of.”

It took some time, and Jace saw his Shield continue to drain his energy, feeling the slight strain of tiredness, but ten minutes later Ollie gave him the go-ahead to let the cold into the Complex. He opened the glass, inner door, the outer door, and then finally kicked the enormous, metal door into the snow and ice outside.

The cold rushed in, and the plant life began to move away from the entrance as the frost crept inside; the freezing torrent of wind and desolation blowing into the space and killing off much of the plant life. Jace stood there, tapping his foot, until he saw the large, flower plants that seemed too big to move. They began to wither and freeze.

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[Quest Completed: Clear the Complex.]

[Time Limit: N/A.]

[Reward: Rare (Skill Evolution) Boon.]

[Sender: The Cosmic System.]

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Jace walked into the now-frozen greenhouse and had Ollie dust everything he could.

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[Stardust Acquired: 700]

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“That puts me at how much Stardust, Ollie?”

“3,570. Enough to get a level.”

“Let’s get another Rank into that Edge’s Intuition. I would imagine it just increases the radius of my ‘sense stuff, right?”

“Yup! But you have me tuned it to just harmful attacks and the like.”

“Let’s get the Rank into that. And also, let’s use the Skill Evolution I just picked up. On the same Skill.”

“You got it!”

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[Using Boon: Rare (Skill Evolution).]

[Applying to Skill.]

[Skill Name: Edge’s Intuition.]

[Evolution Name: Danger-Sense.]

[Effect: When hostile effects (such as projectiles, Skills, or other negative-to-the-user effects) enter the radius, the user’s reaction time is enhanced to enable better response.]

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Name: Jace Seren (Aspirant, Tier 6)

Power [Class Level]: Dark Matter [Swordmage <Wrathblade> 100] / Void [Edge 13]

Skill Name (Rank) [Evolutions]: Universal Translation, Environmental Adaptation, Swordmage Stance (Rank 3) [Astral Annihilator], Dark Matter Dart (Rank 4) [Exploding], Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3) [Group], Dark Energy Mine (Rank 3) [Distant], Cosmic Infusion (Rank 10) [Innervating], Dark Matter Mending (Rank 4) [Vampiric], Energy Cost Reduction (Rank 10) [Siphoning], Mage's Mark (Rank 5), Wrath's Embrace (Rank 10) [Focused], Ruination Razor (Rank 3) [Wrecking], Raging Cleave (Rank 10), Aura of Wrath (Rank 11), Void Blade (Rank 5) [Rending], Void Shield (Rank 6) [Reflecting][Wall][Sphere], Void Beam (Rank 1) [Limited Range], Edge's Intuition (Rank 2) [Danger-Sense], Arbiter's Anathema (3/day), Shadow Nebula Smokescreen (1/day), Hope's Edge (1/day), Steel Gale Stride (1/day), Primalist's Command (1/day), Reaper's Shadowstep (1/day), Archmage's Admixture (1/day)

Stardust: 1,070

Equipment: (Returning / Adaptable) Nethaldrim, (Medium / Snowguard / Burnguard) Reaper Armor, Ghostlight Grapnel Arm, (Thrice Judged) Anathema Arm, (Overclocked / Lightfoot) Steelstalker Sabatons, (Terrifying / Sealing) All-Seeing Dragon's Eyes, Primal Hide, Adamantine Skeleton, (Reactive) NICIF, Mind's Eye Amulet, TPSB, survival meals (x50), enhanced canteen, (Restful) Wildercloth tent, Devilsram wool bedroll, Blood-Infused Holy Water (x3), Hypercycle, microchip from ST41K3R chassis, x60 lbs. of Starheart Steel, Lightning Rifle

Boons: Common (Secret Cache)

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Edge’s Intuition (Rank 2): As Rank 1, but increase the radius to ten feet.

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Jace smiled, “Handy. That would have been nice pre-sniper blowing apart my chest.”

“Ah, but you were in a place without The System,” Ollie replied.

Jace returned to the snowy, ice-covered world outside, pulled his hypercycle out of the TPSB, and re-mounted it. “True. Guess we just have to hope that there aren’t more of those locations. Plus, everyone thinks I’m dead. So hopefully, no more snipers.” As he began to move the hypercycle to the next destination, a thought occurred. “Ollie, how come that merchant guy we met could change his Dark Matter symbol to that of a Civilian?”

“A Skill,” Ollie said. “One that Xera does not let any except her Signers use.”

Jace frowned, “Why not tell me about it?”

“Because she locked the Skill since that Aspirant turned Ascendant left her service. Joke is on him, now, because post-Class Reset, he cannot choose the new Skill.” Ollie chuckled as he swam alongside Jace’s hypercycle. “I do not think it crossed Xera’s mind to allow you to take the Skill.”

It would be useful, Jace thought, keeping my identity secret. “Tell Xera to unlock it for me. I’m getting it with my next level up.”

“She…might not let you have access to it. Pritchard burning her hurt her, though she hides it well. It will take a lot of trust between you two. And that trust has recently been strained with you learning about her manipulations.”

“That…I understand. But, it would help with keeping my identity secret.”

“I will bring it up with her.”

Jace stopped the hypercycle as he heard a tremendous clang noise that echoed across the landscape. “What was that?”

“Seems like the Conclave got their exploratory tank together.”

“A what now?”

“An exploratory tank,” Bellor said as he rapped his knuckle on the side of the behemoth that was easily the size of a hill. A massive, metal machine with omni-directional treads on the bottom, enormous, metal plates on the outside, and dozens of defensive emplacements along the outside.

“I can’t believe you,” Renlas said. “You ordered this instead of the hover sleds! We could have covered so much more ground with the hover sleds and small squads. Instead, you, what, want us all to pack into this thing?”

“I like it,” Jericho muttered.

Renlas wheeled on him, “Shut your gob, peon.”

Jericho shrunk into himself at the verbal reprimand, but Bellas walked over and clapped him on the back, “Cheer up, new Signer.” The man looked up to Renlas, “And we still have hoverbikes. They are inside and can be deployed. Plus, drones to help scout even faster. And honestly, I prefer this over freezing my bits and pieces off in this blasted cold.”

Renlas frowned and sighed, “I guess it’s better than nothing. Right, let’s get the base packed up into our new, mobile fortress.”