Dark Matter Ascension-Chapter 13B3 - : This seems too easy

“It is a five-hundred-foot-tall mobile fortress,” Ollie stated. “A vehicle that can house a population for years upon years if managed properly. Xera looked through the purchase log; seems like they have hoverbikes: like your hypercycle but not quite as fast: and a bunch of drones for scouting. Plus, the vehicle itself is covered in all manner of sensor arrays and turrets. I would not be surprised if you started to encounter more gravitic sensors being standardized since your arrival and actions upon Earth.”

“Even though they think I’m dead,” Jace commented as he pushed the engine to eighty percent of its top speed and took off across the ice and snow once more.

“Correct. Why settle for anything less? Other Aspirants have, doubtless, been acquiring similar Skills. It is the nature of The Cosmic System. An Aspirant or Ascendant either creates or comes up with a Skill no one has thought of, becomes prolific with it, and then new measures are developed to counter it. An endless cycle.”

“In other words,” Jace said, “You’re telling me that my Dark Matter Cloak is not going to be coming in handy.”

“It will still be quite handy in many situations. But against people who are prepared? Possibly not feasible. For instance, based on Xera’s tracking of the purchase logs, that mobile fortress is outfitted with gravitic sensors that can detect any anomaly in gravitational forces for a mile out. They would see anything coming from that far off. Dark Matter may be invisible, and in your stealth-Skill’s higher Rank versions, undetectable and untraceable. But you still leave that void in gravity fields which can be detected. It’s how Black Hole Conclave members have figured out your location within close proximity in the past.”

Jace nodded as he recalled how every time he fought against a Black Hole user, even if they weren’t part of the Conclave, they were able to detect him within a close radius. “It’ll be useful in clearing out these Complexes quickly, since this is a frozen, forgotten world.”

“Yup!”

He looked forward and glanced up at his HUD, seeing his energy was back to full. “Quinn, mind filling me in on how the others are doing?”

Greg was tired. He had been hacking away at a Void Incursion for what felt like hours, but in reality, was probably less than five minutes. Fighting was intensive, and he knew that better than most as he stood in the sea of Astral Demons, slashing in all directions with his dual blades.

Priam was right next to him, keeping barriers active on the group, while Dee was blasting through groups of the creatures as the trio tried to get into range of Quinn’s rift-closing Skill.

“How much farther!” Greg shouted as he hacked through another three of the Astral Demons with a single swing. These ones were small creatures that were child-sized, but were hunched over and had wicked, slashing claws. Their flesh was deep grey and pulsated with a sickly, green energy. When pierced, the pustules exploded into a foul ichor that he sadly was coated with. He wanted to lean over and barf, but he could not do so without opening himself up to attack.

“You are almost there,” Quinn said. Her voice was calm, and she sounded practically placid despite the environment surrounding the trio. “Just a little bit farther. Twenty feet closer.”

Dee yelled, “I’m tired of this crap!” she raised her hand in front of Greg, “Incoming! Demolisher’s Devastation (Rank 14) [Cone]!”

The world in front of Greg exploded with miasmic, green energy that melted down the creatures. He ran forward with the other two right on his heels; getting into range as Quinn’s voice came over the comms, “Activating Reality’s Order!”

The rift sealed shut, and the Astral Demons swarmed the trio once more. Hundreds of them. But they were easy to dispatch. None of them were the same strength as the creature Quinn had shown them a recording of Jace fighting. She explained it was because these were like aftershocks following a major earthquake. The first Astral Demon that Jace fought was a specific individual called forth by the cult, and then the one that Jace fought was the ‘big one’ akin to the main earthquake.

Now, Greg, Priam, and Dee were just the cleanup crew. This was the second incursion in twenty-four hours. “Push on!” Greg shouted as he saw the numbers thinning and felt a second wind of energy. “We are almost done!”

“Then I can shower!” Priam shouted as he smiled. “Dee, can you finish them off.”

“Leave it to me!” she slammed her hands onto the ground, “Demolisher’s Devastation (Rank 14) [Cloud]!”

The miasma of acid rose up from the ground and surrounded the trio, leaving them unharmed but melting the Astral Demons. All three were huffing and sucking in air as best they could, but the Demons lay slain. Greg finally took off his helmet and let himself retch at the horrific stench that, thankfully, Dee’s acid seemed to melt away. “Gah,” he said as spittle hung from his lips. “This sucks.”

Xera’s voice came over the comms, “You three did good. I think you are in the clear to return. Just remember to have your Wayfinders gather up the Essence!”

The trio split up and went around the battlefield, their Wayfinders sucking up the weird, spectral, white goop from the corpses. At the same time, the silhouettes that looked like phantoms shot up into the sky: Souls being released from the creatures that had feasted upon them: and towards the black hole at the center of their universe.

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“Have you figured out how this Essence stuff works?” Priam asked.

“Close,” Xera replied. “I think that we can use it as a currency. Astral Demons use Souls and Universal Matter as their currency within the Astral System to level up, just as you use Stardust within The Cosmic System. Essence, I think, is something I can use as a currency for anyone not native to the Astral Verge. I just have to finish up these sub-programs and figure out how to incorporate other-reality-layer Systems into a framework that is compatible with my System. It’s a process that will take some time.”

Greg groaned as he felt the soreness start to hit his muscles. “Let’s go home. I need a nice, long soak in a tub.”

“Oooh! That sounds great!” Dee shouted as the trio returned to the flying vessel that had brought them to their destination on this technology-focused world. The trio lifted off, and Dee sat at the helm as the vehicle rocketed through the sky towards The Cosmic Corridor.

“Right, thanks for filling me in,” Jace said as he arrived at the next Complex, turned on the heat ray, melted the ice crusting the door, and then deactivated the device. Dismounting and putting the vehicle away, he activated his Void Blade (Rank 5) [Rending], Void Shield (Rank 6), and Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3).

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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: 20.]

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[Quest: Clear the Complex.]

[Time Limit: N/A.]

[Reward: Rare (Augmentation) Boon.]

[Sender: The Cosmic System.]

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Jace cut through the door and kicked it in: and immediately had to backpedal as some type of humanoid figures rushed out towards him. He began cutting away: and they had no chance. Not a single hope of fighting against him, as they did not know where he was. Some froze after a few seconds, and he walked over to shatter them. “What are they?”

“Inhabitants of this world,” Ollie replied. “Relying on cybernetic augmentation to try and survive the death of their world. Perhaps they were put into a stasis of some type, but broke free? I cannot tell you more other than speculation.” Ollie crossed his arms, “On the plus side, this is easy to deal with for you.”

Jace almost felt disgusted by how easily he dispatched all of the foes, and when the message notifying him of his victory came a few seconds later, he was a little disappointed.

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[Quest Completed: Clear the Complex.]

[Time Limit: N/A.]

[Reward: Rare (Augmentation) Boon.]

[Sender: The Cosmic System.]

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Disappointing, he thought. I mean, I’m happy that I’m not really in any danger to this stuff, but there’s no challenge whatsoever here. The only challenge I had was that other Ascendant with the rifle. Maybe the Conclave people would-

He stopped that line of thinking. Idiot, he thought. Why would I want a challenge? This is easy Stardust, easy Boons, and practically no risk. This is the best I could ask for. Where did that come from? That desire to be challenged?

He shook his head as he walked into the facility, only to find vertical tubes that were open, liquid that was on the ground, already frozen from the brief exposure to the elements, and a few dormant terminals that he booted up for Ollie to peruse. Maybe its because I struggled for so long, and most of my life has been struggle, he thought. That now, having it so easy just feels…wrong.

Ollie finished sucking up the data from the computer, “Yup! Cybernetics project gone wrong.” He looked over to Jace and frowned, “Your brain’s chemicals show that you are feeling some depression.”

Jace shrugged, “Not really. Sort of?” he spent a minute explaining his thinking, ending with, “…and I just don’t know why it feels wrong to have it so easy for once.”

Ollie frowned and shrugged, “What could I say? This is how things are, now. You are on a world where you will find little challenge outside of places where you cannot use your Dark Matter Cloak.”

“Dust all of them,” Jace said as he walked outside and pulled the hypercycle back out of storage.

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[Stardust Acquired: 2000]

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“I’m going to hold off on that level until Xera gets back to us,” Jace softly said as he let his Skills lapse and began riding to the next Complex on the map. “I want to see if I can get that Power disguising Skill like what the merchant had. In the meantime, use the (Augmentation) on…my armor.”

“Right!”

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[Using Boon: Rare (Augmentation).]

[Target Equipment: (Medium / Snowguard / Burnguard) Reaper Armor.]

[Augmenting.]

[Result: (Medium / Snowguard / Burnguard / Repairing) Reaper Armor.]

[Description: The Repairing (Augmentation) enables the armor to use the repairing quality of NICIF, drawing upon the wearer’s extra calories to regenerate the fabric, armored plating, and other components.]

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“Handy,” Jace commented. “No need to replace it like with the Aegisleather.”

“Very handy,” Ollie added.

Jace kept racing across the snowy surface as he contemplated what could await at the next Complex. Part of him, a tiny part of him, hoped for a little bit of a challenge. But the more rational survival-focused part was glad to have a bunch of Complexes that seemed easy to clear, with good rewards, and would lead to more Stardust.

“My lord,” the Signer muttered as he knelt behind Troxanir.

The Astral Demon dragged into Oblivion looked back at his servant, “Yes? What is it?”

“Sir, that Flicker fellow that you wanted captured or killed: it seems that he has been slain.”

Troxanir smiled, “An unfortunate loss for the lack of capture, but a fortuitous outcome for his death. And tell me, is X with the Dark Between Stars still sending a squadron to seal Astral Incursions?”

“Astral what-nows?”

Troxanir chuckled, “Never you mind. Go, continue your work.”

The Signer bowed and departed Troxanir’s presence. He was pleased, all things considered. Not having Flicker would sadly mean his plans progressed at their present rate, instead of accelerating: but that was of little consequence. After all, he was immortal before generating an avatar to join The Cosmic System.

Glancing back at the singularity holding his true, Astral Demon form, he closed his eyes and felt the swarming sea of souls. A few hundred-trillion more, he thought. Then, I can level up once more.

Checking his Astral System interface, he smiled as he saw he almost had enough Universal Matter to gain yet another level with the alternate leveling currency for his kind. I suppose I should thank X, he thought, as she is preventing my lesser brethren from coming into his universe and taking what will eventually be mine.

He chuckled as he returned his consciousness to his avatar. Soon enough, I will grow in power. And once we have this ringworld created, I can begin the next phase of my plan. I should send a thank you to Deckard for facilitating my transactions: far better Stardust rates through his Nebula Alliance than with independent merchants.

He pulled up his System interface and began to generate the message, then paused. I should thank X, as well, for closing up those Astral Incursions. Soon enough, the sub-rifts will cease, and all will be calm and await my inexorable grasp.