LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 343 - Lilly's Evolution - Part 2
Lilly's eyes snapped open and she began looking for a girl who was no longer there before it struck her, exactly what had happened. “Shit, that was weird. I just evolved… reforged myself? Yet continuity of awareness was maintained, even if all the trauma suffered by the rushed level-ups feels like, well, like it happened to someone else.”
“That’s because it did,” said the calmly smiling figure dressed in pristine white cultivator’s robes with a golden pin of a snake eating its tail who was suddenly before her once more.
Lilly shivered, so many suspicions easily cloaked in uncertainty brought to strange, chilled clarity with that casual pronouncement.
“So, was that me? Or am I me? Am I my own replacement? And more to the point… Arcane Pool and Spiritual potential are both at 288, Psionic Potential is not that far behind, And Soul Reserves are a whopping 318! How the fuck are my points so high?”
Conceptio’s eyes twinkled with fatherly warmth. “It’s good to see you have your priorities in order as always, Lillian Silver. To answer your questions in order… Yes.”
“Yes?”
Conceptio nodded.
“Um… I’m not sure I understand?”
The man… deity? Raised a bemused eyebrow. “Yes, Lilly, that was you. And a memory of you as well. You are your own worst fear and greatest hope. You have replaced your earlier self utterly, but no different than how every mortal replaces themselves, renews themselves, after ever period of rest.”
Lilly’s heart skipped a beat. Both horrified and strangely reassured by those words. “So, I did replace me. But not really. Because I was aware of myself the whole time, and her memories… my memories… are still mine.”
Her counterpart flashed a brilliant ivory-white smile. “Not only that, Lillian Silver, but you also have the rare opportunity to lock in multiple territory boons in a territory with no competition for elite characteristic titles at all! Which means that all four of your potency pools have achieved the 200 point mark, and your Soul Reserves topped out at over three.”
Lillian blinked. “But um…” Her cheeks flushed. “Even if the bonus went into effect when I hit those numbers…”
Conceptio gave an airy wave of his hand. “I made all your characteristic boons retroactive. You wouldn’t believe what a pain spiritual excel sheets are to manage otherwise. And your Perception will also lock in a 30% bonus to all future points invested just as soon as you invest a single point in said attribute. But since that does not appear to be integral to your build…”
Lilly blinked at this. “Somehow I don’t think… but okay, YES! I agree 100%. And thank you, thank you! For the points, the class opportunities, and for the friendly nice silver worms that buffered my brain when I downloaded WAY too much elite Master-tier insights and spiritual bullshit, and they didn’t even turn me into a Cthulian horror, or at least I don’t think so, and I don’t think I really want to know even if they did, and anyway I’m rambling but I’m super, super grateful!”
Conceptio flashed another of his trademark enigmatic smiles that made Lilly feel like she was being an idiot, again, and maybe overlooking the obvious. She immediately clamped her lips shut.
“Lilly?”
“Yes, revered System god who I totally absolutely want to stay on the good side of?”
This earned a snort. “Is there something you should be doing besides buttering me up with surprising praise, considering your father’s predilections?”
“Um… kowtowing before you like a good little cultivating aspirant?”
“That’s not really necessary, Lilly.”
Lilly immediately sprung back to her feat. “Then um…” Lilly froze. Because of course it was obvious. “You’re letting me know that if I have questions, now’s the right time to ask, without saying it outright because that’s not how this works and you don’t want me to feel like a complete horses ass!”
Conceptio winked, carefully saying nothing.
Lilly flushed. “Oh, yeah. Um… you had mentioned something or maybe it was my reflection who is now actually me so my memory? My memory of my twin who was me? Mentioned something about another twenty levels?”
Conceptio solemnly nodded. “Your rather clever use of Hell Vines backed by thirty levels of Runic Spell Forging managed to summon a great number of exceedingly powerful eldritch summons that were able to feast their heart out on not dozens but a full hundred goblins who had brilliantly constructed a dome so resilient not even they could break out of it. Not when the first dozen struck by your vine were the summoners themselves, their very deaths tying their souls to the working until their souls were ground to dust, just as Sloth had intended, though not even he had the foresight to predict that you would smash through the floor and from there the ceiling once more, transforming borderline Bronze-tier defenses into a trap from which none of your enemies, save Sloth himself, could flee. And how fortuitous it was that your vines struck that dozen first.”
Conceptio’s smile didn’t quite reach his icy gaze. “From there it was little more than plucking ripe fruit bursting with potency, potential, and thirty eight additional levels worth of advancement for even a Legendary Class, such as your own.”
Lilly blinked, having absolutely no memory whatsoever of giving her vines any sort of command to that effect, but very deliberately not informing Conceptio of that niggling detail.
“So yes, Lilly. You have another twenty levels with which to blossom into your own potential.”
Lillian shivered when Conceptio’s enigmatic sky-blue eyes seemed to take up her entire world… a world she was falling into, hurtling through stormy gray skies parting to reveal a massive crystal blue sea below. A see she was rapidly falling into, screaming into, as the water revealed itself to be thousands upon thousands of silvery blue serpents, writhing across the endless seas of its own existence.
Then the skies crackled and boomed with thunder and lightning, and Lillian’s silent screams were drowned under a very real voice.
“Ask, and I shall answer.”
Lilly gasped, lurching back, not knowing why she was breaking out in a cold sweat, her breath coming in wheezing gasps, when Conceptio was standing their so meekly, so politely, simply waiting for a question or two before they continued.
Lilly swallowed her parched throat. “If someone far smarter than me were in my shoes, can you hazard a guess as to what question they might ask you?”
Conceptio gazed at Lilly for long thoughtful moments.
Her heart started to race.
Had she asked something monumentally stupid? Had she stretched rules she wasn’t supposed to, once more?
Strangely, Conceptio’s lips curved into a thoughtful smile. “Your grandmother once asked me the same thing.”
Lillian froze. Gazing at Conceptio in awed disbelief as so many things clicked together at once. “Aurelia… she also… how? But wait, she’s strong, very strong, able to get her fingers into so many pies, find backdoors to places she otherwise wouldn’t be permitted entrance as a Silver, and if there’s one common theme to it all…”
She gasped, stiffening as it all clicked in a single word. “Family.”
“And what is it you would like to know about families and Classers, Lillian Silver?”
Lillian blinked. Because that hadn’t been the question she was going to ask. But for the System to have volunteered a different question instead…
Family. Even thinking of it filled her heart with a bittersweet poignant mix of emotions. For her own broken family she had once wanted to heal so badly. To her own hope to one day meet a prince charming and have the perfect family of her dreams. To give that gift of happiness and serenity to her future little ones that she struggled so hard to find for herself... remembering the warmth of Eric’s smile, so joyfully glad the he actually loved her. Flawed little fuck up Lilly. Loved her enough to declare her his daughter and raise her above so many Classers, Contenders, and would be champions.
Maybe, someday, that was a gift she could give to another.
And for all that Lilly was almost positive that Aurelia’s question had been on how she could use offspring and progeny to fuel her own ascension, Lilly’s question was quite different.
“Is there… Is there any way… Me and Eric deduced that one of the greatest gifts powerful clans spanning numerous worlds can give their progeny is the knowledge and wisdom to unlock feats and traits and accomplishments, to achieve certain thresholds with various skills and achievements to unlock classes beyond Basic Conscript and Standard Everyman.”
Conceptio gazed at Lillian for long seconds, before finally saying: “Is this the question you would ask me, Lillian Silver?”
Her heart lurched in sudden panic. Why did she keep doing that? Starting querries with inane trifles? When everyone knew that when dealing with magical genies and powers… you asked for what you needed in one concise, upfront question that covered everything!
“Is there a way I can grant any future progeny I might have the boons of my class in terms of abilities, level-up points, affinities, nodes, and the potential for painless Silver-tier ascension themselves?”
Even as the words left her lips, she flushed for shame. Knowing she was asking for the world with the arrogance of a dragon… when even dragons could be smacked flat on their backs if they smacked the hands that fed them hard enough.
Lilly lowered her gaze, desperately trying to formulate a far more reasonable question.
But the intense pressure in the air that Conceptio was now radiating made it clear that her temerity had gone to far, and that she had already run out of time.
“Lilly Hendrix Silver. Is this truly the question you want to ask me?”
She bit her lip. “Can you give my progeny the opportunity to choose that path without having to jump through a bunch of terrifying hoops? Will you give my children that opportunity?”
“What the fuck, Lilly?”
Her cheeks blazed. Gamer’s greed betraying her! Foul mouth, asking for the world when the System deity already wishes our comeuppance for asking for anything half so bold!
Conceptio’s gaze held Lilly’s for long, endless seconds. “Is this the Silver-tier boon you would ask of me, Lillian Hendrix Silver? That the blood of Champion’s Descendants, strong and pure, perpetually flows through their veins, along with all the perks and privileges such entails, mirroring your own, until they choose otherwise?”
Lilly swallowed in surprise. Wait, didn’t she already get that Silver-tier boon? Was Eric sacrificing a Lesser boon or two on her behalf really worth her hero class? Or was Conceptio, or the System itself, giving her lots of rope to hang herself… or fruits for her labors after taking care of that aberration?
Ears roaring, she forced her head to tilt back and forth. Knowing that she was taking a terrible, terrible risk. But if the offer was genuine… and she were to let fear ruin a priceless opportunity for herself, and all her future descendants…
No. She’d show some fucking courage.
Just like she had on behalf of countless thousands of hostages and millions of tormented spirits… she would show some courage on her own behalf as well.
“Yes. Yes it is,” she whispered at last.
Conceptio gazed at Lillian for long moments, before flashing a brilliant smile. “So be it.”
And this time when his finger stretched into a long, silvery rope, spooling into her brain as ice picks flowed into her skull, down her spine, and into her ovaries, she didn’t fight it. Even if she did crumple to the ground in unspeakable pain.
“Your descendants shall have the blood of heroes flowing through their veins. Forever known as descendants of a Sytem Hero, a class option forever available to them, should they hear even a whisper of such a possibility or of any of their ancestors that have become immortalized in historical accounts, myth, or legend.”
Conceptio’s gaze was almost fond as he stared down at Lillian’s writhing, spasming form.
“As to how powerful that class might be, that’s up to you.”
Lilly’s eyes widened through her spasms and pain. “What do you mean?”
“Consistency is key, Lilly. Any point that you consistently put in a given stat for a span of twenty levels at a minimum will lock in a potential class with that baseline stat as well. Should you lock in a dozen stats with a given pattern, a class offering a dozen points per level under a Hero’s Mantel will be offered as well.
“But what about Spell Masteries and Node specializations?”
Conceptio raised a bemused eyebrow. “That’s the privilege you will enjoy for yourself. At a cost you now understand, as wisdom equates a mother’s burden that you must be willing to pay, even now.” He raised one finger in thoughtful consideration. “However, any spell or Nodal power you’ve enhanced to a certain degree will show in a predilection or affinity for your descendants, should they choose to walk the path that you have.”
“But any further points I put into skills or powers… since I only have twenty levels where we’ll be forging me together…”
Conceptio chuckled softly. “That’s right, Lilly. The pattern you establish now will be yours for life. And the stronger you wish your children’s future to be, the more rigid your own pattern must become.”
Lilly groaned. “Fuck. So that means…” She shook her head, smiling ruefully as she daydreamed of absolutely adorable little girls and boys that looked an awful lot like their grandfather, with the cutest bunny ears imaginable.
She flinched, eyes widening at how casually she had taken her own mutation as a given. “Conceptio, my ears…”
“Are a dominant trait all your descendants shall have.”
She felt her cheeks flush, though she couldn’t exactly say why. “And if I were to actually check if that nub I feel under my robes is anything but a sore coccyx bone..”
“You can explore your own anatomy to your hearts content another time, Lillian Silver.”
She winced, pretending her cheeks weren’t blazing as she immediately did her best to focus on what Conceptio clearly wanted her to focus on. How exactly she wanted to invest her twenty five level up points for the next twenty levels, and how much she was actually going to invest in such a way that future bunny-girl generations would have a class to be proud of.
And the answer was, of course, every last point.
Thanks to her synergistic duplicate node purchased, her ability to lash out with psionic shouts and blood lightning wasn’t just enhanced in terms of power, but her understanding of runic magic, and seeing the seeds of her art in all magic, had improved. And thank goodness she had by pure serendipity gotten at least one perk to help her thick head with the learning thing, because sure as fuck, she hadn’t gotten any other perks to that effect, and she wouldn’t be using points for flash insights ever again.
Lilly clenched her jaw, resisting her most immediate impulse. Because sure, the LEET mage build was leet for a reason. But what if her future little boys wanted to play at being badass warriors who threw spells as an afterthought… like their grandpoppy? OR spell swords, or any other hybrid, or just be a caster who wasn’t a glass cannon.
Even though she had to fight down the urge to groan, she couldn’t deny the utility and advantage of an even distribution of her stats. Simply put, if it was a choice between 5 in Arcane Reserves and 1 in Vitality, or 4 in Arcane reserves and 2 in Vitality, the latter was SO much better. Vitality, relatively speaking, doubled, while Arcane Reserves was only a fourth lower than it otherwise would be.
“And two points in all them fighting stats for my little boys and girls is twice as powerful as one. And as daddy pointed out so many times before, speed truly is everything. So let’s hear it for my little scamps being fast as fuck. Too fast for any goddamn goblin or orc to ever threaten or hurt again.”
Endless moments passed as she wrestled with her own personal hopes and dreams, and what might be the hopes and dreams of countless descendants when she was long gone.
In the end, it was her free node affinity, and the sweet, sweet, powerful secret she had latched on to about the powerful synergistic boon of replication that prevented her from choosing a perfectly even distribution of 3 into each the physical and magical stats she truly valued.
Like it or not, she was a specialized creature with an extremely powerful edge. And even embracing her specialization, she would do her best to make sure that her descendants weren’t hopeless slowpokes or unable to dabble in the glories of melee builds, with ten whole points devoted to the physical, far more than most classes, even physical classes Adept tier or lower, would ever have available to them.
But still, her build was primarily specced for magical power, with the knowledge that Vitality was a universal necessity, and the stats that allowed for battle-time were good for warriors and mages alike.
“Two points Strength, Vitality, Finesse, Quickness, and Perception,” she said to the enigmatic avatar before her. “Four points in Arcane Potential, Spiritual Energy, Psionic Potential… and three in Soul Reserves, which is it’s own awesome path to power. But unless they’re going the necromancer route which I get the feeling is tolerated less the farther a world advances… I think it’s use will be primarily for enhancing spells like blood lightning and such. Still, considering all the shit my father soul-bound, I’m not neglecting that stat for anything.”
Conceptio gazed at Lillian for long moments. “This is how you wish to distribute your points for the next twenty levels?”
Lilly gave a rueful chuckle. “Yup! No more power-leveling my skills, I’m afraid. It will be good old study and practice, just like daddy dearest would no doubt advise.”
Conceptio nodded. “And you will have two additional nodes liberated with your ascent. I would ask if you have any question regarding them, yet we both know how you will choose to ascend those bastions of potency, don’t we, Lillian Silver?”
Lilly’s chuckle resonated with a force that could shatter mountains. “Your damn right we do, honored and beloved sensei. Runic Spell Forger all the way! Let’s supercharge these overclocked puppies to the point that causality screams under the pressure.”
This expression earned the slightest reproof. “There I fear you would be wading firmly in Gold territory, Lillian Silver. For all those of deepest Silver or humbler rank, it is expected that you won’t deliberately attempt to rupture or mutate the forces and fields of your newly improved and enhanced reality, no matter how hungry you are for power.”
Lilly’s cocky grin faded to an apologetic grimace as she flowed into a kowtow faster than any Xianxia protagonist. “This unworthy disciple humbly begs forgive—”
Her words cut off with a shriek when silvery tendrils pierced her skull for perhaps the final time, her apology met with an oddly masculine chuckle.
“Power is what you seek and that you most certainly can find. You need merely look up at the heavens to see countless millions of balls of furiously blazing potency to appreciate just how far you can go, even in the depths of Silver, Lillian.”
Lilly would have nodded her head if she could twitch, would have immediately agreed to everything her enigmatic savior offered or suggested, if she could speak over the silvery worms filling her head. All she could do was scream as her mind and body were forced evolved in ways that should have shattered any lesser mortal even as her mind was lost once more in the leviathan seas filled with monstrous horrors that had flooded countless worlds, desperately reliving the memories of glorious destruction obliterating countless foes even as her mind reshaped itself to harness the most extreme intensities of magic any Bronze of any rank could have conceived, until her gifts began to kiss the cusp of Silver itself.
Congratulations! Your third node has ascended! You have chosen the perk: Runic Spell Forger!
Congratulations! Your fourth node has ascended! You have chosen the perk: Runic Spell Forger!
Blood Lightning now enjoys a 36-Fold multiplier over baseline damage inflicted by a Master Evoker with over 360 points in all underlying stats!
Psionic Rupture now enjoys a 54-Fold multiplier over baseline damage inflicted by a Master Psionicist with over 360 points in all underlying stats!
All other Runic Spells cast will enjoy 16-Fold increase in power over what you could otherwise unleash!
The words echoed in her head that left her feeling so light she felt like she could effortlessly float on air, and simultaneously so grounded that no mortal bully, challenger, or would be Contender would ever be able to cow or intimidate her ever again.
In a state of stunned disbelief she pulled up her character sheet, to look at the numbers and totals that somehow comprised the sum total of the miraculous transformation that had changed her in so many unspeakable ways.
Lillian Silver Level 48 System Champion
Level 1 Speaker for the Fallen
Physical Characteristics
Strength – 122
Vitality – 125
Finesse – 107
Quickness – 153
Appearance – 16
Mental Characteristics
Scholarship – 18
Perception – 358
Willpower – 20
Charisma – 16
Potency Pools
Arcane Potential – 420
Mana Pool – 5043
Spiritual Energy – 420
Qi Pool – 5043
Psionic Potential – 367
Psion Pool – 4409
Soul Reserves – 402
Stamina – 1227
Health – 1855
Resistances & Recovery
Physical Resistance – 22
Physical Regeneration – 12.5
Elemental Resistance – 81
Qi Resistance – 81
Mental Resistance – 78
Psionic Resistance – 70
Primal Adventurer Powers
1. Runic Spell Forger – Rank 40 – Mastery I (Appetite For Destruction IV)
NOTE Runic Spell Forger Rank 1 is an inherited Gift. You have filled 4 additional nodes with duplicate resonating gifts! Each one = easier comprehension, faster learning, 50% bonus runic spell potency, multiplicative with everything else!
Spells Known
- Inevitable Doom (105 Mana & Qi) - Rank 1
- Hell Vines (140 Mana & Qi) (You can direct this spell!) – Rank 1
- Lightning Bolt – Fulmen - (30 Mana & Qi) – Rank 12
- Blood Lightning – Sanguis Fulmen - (15 Mana & Qi, 1.5 SR) – Rank 40! Mastery I (Efficiency, Chain Lightning – skill check = no friendlies hit - & Appetite for Crimson Destruction II.
(This spell dispels/abjures/& can cut through soul wards & partially heal.(X2 heal baseline Bloodmastery Synergism!)
- Fire Bolt - Ignes Pilum - (15 Mana & Qi) – Rank 1
- Psionic Rupture – Fragor - (30 Mana & Qi & 4 Psion) – Rank 40 – Mastery I – (Appetite for Psionic Destruction III / Controlled Destruction (extremely focused or spread out!)
- You have earned the free perk: Hit Them Where It Hurts! You have a chance to score a Critical Success with Find Weakness skill checks when using Psionic Rupture… if you’re willing to hit them where it hurts! (Note. This perk effects biological males only (for obvious reasons!)
Force Ward – (Scutum sized shield. Shape how you like with RSF Check. Blacks all Physical & Elemental (electromagnetic) damage. Pay mana cost of damage/(RSF Rank + Force Ward Rank) +1/(RSF+FW) mana/min) – Rank 3
Skills
Find Weakness – Rank 26 – (Spell Cleave, Qi Perception, Additional Magus/Cultivator Bonus, +5 Vs Dragons)
Unified Perception – Rank 24 – (Sense Heat, Spiritual Energy, Magic, & Qi Flow.)
Ballet (subset of formal dancing) – Rank 5
Gymnastics – Rank 5
Profession Powers: (Don’t worry about this now, Lilly. Plot-twists incoming!)
Unspent Potency Points: 22
_________________________________
Lilly couldn’t wipe the goofy grin off her face, blinking back the tears in her eyes as she breathed deep, every muscle tingling with strength she never could have imagined before. Her plies and demi-plies were absolutely effortless, and when she winked at a bemused-looking Conceptio and immediately went en point before doing a dozen pirouettes, then flipping into an effortless handstand that became walking on her fingertips then doing what should have been a grueling serious of back and front flips… yet she found it all to be shockingly easy.
She burst out in laughter. “Oh my god, this is too much!”
“Lillian?”
She positively beamed at a patiently waiting Conceptio. “This is easier than floating in a swimming pool. My every movement is so dreamy and perfect! And look at that, my Interface sheet says that both ballet and gymnastics were quantized at Rank 5! Which means I’m, what, a highly skilled professional?”
The politely smiling figure dipped his head. “Congratulations on your most remarkable personal ascension, Lilly. I suspect you will find all sorts of pleasing notifications blinking across your interface in the new future as your home worlds seek to incorporate your power and potential for their benefit… and your own.”
Lilly blinked at this. “Okay, there’s a lot to unpack there. But first… home worlds?”
But the easy-going Conceptio of moments before had been replaced by a figure cool and remote.
Lillian’s playful demeanor immediately became one of deferential respect.
“Our time together draws to its natural close, Lillian Silver. The boon you have been granted is to do with as you see fit.”
“Of course, Master Conceptio. It is a gift I shall always treasure and be grateful for. Thank you again for all you have done.”
Conceptio gestured to a patch of the misty fog now surrounding them both, and Lillian’s eyes widened before catching a glimpse of what she had never thought to see again. A mystical palatial wonder of of stately buildings and ivory white towers right out of the storybooks.
“That’s Queensland… Elonia’s castle!” Her smile froze right off her features when the view panned and she gazed at what was assembling before the castle.
“Heaven’s grace, those are the troops Eric bargained for!”
Conceptio nodded. “They are.”
Her brow furrowed. “But they’re not moving, all frozen frigid like statues?” She felt a cold chill with the observation. Was she already too late?
Even as she wondered the question, she heard the sibilant intonations and guttural chants of a dozen or so shamans evenly placed around a circle of what could only be blood, and what appeared to be hundreds of perfectly still elves within the circle.
“Do you understand what you see?”
Lilly swallowed, about to say she had no idea when suddenly she understood. Understood the flow of mystical and arcane energies and darker magics as well that were surrounding the soldiers bound to unspeakably vile oaths and entrapments even as Unified Perception and all the wisdom and insight that 4 nodes completely devoted to Runic Spell Forger in addition to her inherited aptitude, what was effectively a free node, told her.
“The summoning circle is bringing them in. The stasis is ostensibly to make transport easier with the added benefit that no logistics are needed until the shamans have finally fulfilled the 400,000 quota. I’m surmizing that the limited number of elves and Terran recruits in the background are serving as logistics and are doing their part to prepare for their reanimation and oh gosh… there’s a lot you’d need to prepare for 400,000 men!”
“Correct.”
She paled, her eyes never leaving the growing tragedy about to unfold. “But they’re also caught in the most vicious of spiderwebs. Absolutely infested with corrupt goblinoid contract laws. And the minute those goblins finish their quota…”
“As a final grace, I’m permitted to open a portal for you to any place upon the surface of Terra that you’ve ever been to before.” Conceptio flashed an enigmatic smile. “I’m permitted to tell you as well that should you choose to tie Greystone with any territory your father or aunt have themselves claimed or infused with their power, that a fresh gate between worlds may be safely forged.”
Lillian froze, instantly understanding so much without a word being said.
She swallowed her suddenly dry throat, only at that moment realizing much to her chagrin and horror, that she was wearing nothing at all.
“Look by your feet, Lilly Hendrix.”
Lilly did, eyes widening as she caught sight of several sets of attire, including wizardly robes complete with hat and an enchanted wand, all of which radiated modest arcane energies. Beside those were lilly white cultivator’s robes that were soft as cottony silk and would ward against most mortal blows, right beside an impressive set of chain mail and lamellar plate armor, complete with fine steel helmet, sword, shield, a pouch of holding and what Lillian suspected was typical adventurer gear. And finally, in a neatly organized set separate from the others was what looked like a very smart military uniform.
Her eyes widened, noting that the silvery lapels perfectly matched the ones a certain Commander Valorn had once worn. A uniform donned by those who would direct the fates and fortunes of entire armies.
Lillian froze, gazing at that uniform for long fateful moments.
Her heart was hammering.
She gazed up into Conceptio’s enigmatic gaze, a thousand questions flickering through her mind, yet knowing already that the time of questions was over. She had to make her decisions on the limited knowledge she had… and her increasingly troubled suspicions.
She bit her lip, sparing a single painful glance at the faces of so many fragile lives frozen between heartbeats… and how grave was the likelihood that they might wake up in oblivion, no matter all the steps she had already taken, if she wasn’t willing to take a few more.
She then flashed a relieved smile, thinking that just because she was willing to wear an outfit that might buy her a second’s pause before someone extremely powerful took drastic steps, irrevocable actions, nothing said she couldn’t take the delicious wand and comfy cultivator’s robe that also called out to her.
But of course, the minute she touched the perfectly pressed military uniform, it was on her exquisitely proportioned figure like a second skin. Had always been on her figure, and only now had she noticed it. As for the other outfits and the goodies that she absolutely without a doubt knew had been there just seconds before? Gone as if they had never existed at all.
Conceptio’s eyes fastened on her one final time and all thoughts fled her mind as she helplessly fell into what had been sky blue but were not ebony black orbs filled with all the wonder of the System, and all the horror of the depths of space and the void beyond.
“The gate beckons, Champion. It is time for you to step through.”