Infinitium

While Adaline’s eyes remain unfocused, Adam designated a portion of his consciousness to keep track of their surroundings while he retreated into his Mindspace. His Shape Reality Skill was powerful but limited. His Polymath class skill Fount of Knowledge increased the skill level of Shape Reality to Epic 1 which allowed him to Shape Reality up to 400 miles away from himself. That base range was increased by a bonus from his Luck Attribute modifier in feet. That bonus increased the range to a much further distance than he currently needed. With Sense Chaos, he could use either Mold Chaos or Shape Reality to make changes anywhere within that range which was easily anywhere on, or in, the planet.

His actual range? The visible Universe he’d grown up in was thought to be just over 93 billion light years in diameter. His maximum range could include a universe that could hold 8.04E+32 of his original universes in it. Adam stuck with plan A and just ignored and archived everything outside of 1 light second, 186,300 miles away from him. Though if he wanted to, he could probably tweak his Sense Chaos ability so that the chaos was interlinked and the distance between points was considered zero which would allow his Sense Chaos to be useful out to its full range instantly. Something to think about anyway. Actually, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that something like that setup must be What the SYSTEM was doing to monitor everything within its domain instantly.

Why not have that kind of instantaneous information control? Adam dropped into his Soul Core found the node for Sense Chaos and opened it up with Shape Reality. When he did so, he found that the Universal limits based on the physical laws of the Universe were indeed limiting his skill and he tweaked them. Not a lot but enough so that with Sense Chaos anything within his range in the dimension he was currently in was immediately known to him. With Chaos Step that meant that Adam could jump anywhere within the dimension or Universe he was in.

One thing that took him a moment to overcome was the deluge of information as sensory input flooded into his mind. It took a moment for him to compartmentalize and categorize the important information from the unimportant information, unlike any time before when he’d absorbed this much knowledge, there was no pain and he was done in less than a second because the Universe he was in was not infinite. There was a barrier at its edges which were approximately 187 billion light years in diameter. He could feel the constant stream of data entering his mind but ignored everything that was outside of the one-light-second range.

That part of himself, that was watching over Adaline, noted that she’d moved and was looking at him. With a thought, he connected to her with Telepathy and drew her into his Mindspace while their bodies sat in her small garden.

Adaline took stock of herself and looked around, “That was quite smooth, I didn’t even get the chance to resist?”

“It’s either because my attributes are so high, or it had something to do with one of my new classes,” Adam said with a smile.

“You’ve become even more powerful?”

“I did. I also learned some things. But, enough about me for now. So, you’re the Queen?” Adam asked.

“I am.”

“That must be a hell of a story,” Adam said.

“Not much of one. When the SYSTEM put me on this planet, I knew where some of the secret powerful items were hidden on my version of Primore so I checked to see if the same was true for this world. When I checked there were different powerful magical items that no one had claimed, so instant power, plus I’m a dragon,” Adaline explained with a smile.

“No issues with the mages or assassin's guilds?” Adam asked.

“None. No one can utilize shadows to sneak up on me. My senses allow me to detect anyone stupid enough to try,” Adaline said.

Adam noted that the Assassin’s Guild was meeting as they spoke to figure out how to deal with her. In his Mindspace he created a holographic monitor and allowed Adaline to watch the conversation as he said, “Oh really, seems like they’re dead set on coming after you.”

“You can see what they're doing, from here?”

“I can see everything on the planet, all the planets and moons in this SYSTEM and much further out if I wish. I’m just focusing on us at the moment while everything else is monitored by another part of my mind,” Adam said, as he waved his hand and his Mindspace shifted from the pleasant environment they had been into that of a bustling city where traffic was moving over the ground and through the air while shadows of himself walked to and fro.

“Do you have nanites all over the planet already?”

“It’s not nanites this time. Just an ability related to my chaotic nature,” Adam said.

“Well, if you were wondering if I could come with you, I’d say I could, but then a lot of innocent people here will probably die,” Adaline said.

“Look at you, Black Dragon turned Umbral Dragon worrying about the welfare of others, I think I might have a tear in my eye,” Adam said with a laugh as Adaline lightly punched him on the arm.

“Well, I did have a good mentor, friend, and lover,” Adaline said with a mischievous smile.

Just then Adam felt a tearing sensation as The SYSTEM lost track of his link to Racoon City on his Earth.

“What was that?” Adaline asked as the environment around them flashed red.

“It looks like someone back on Earth, the Earth I was on for a bit after we were separated, just did something incredibly stupid,” Adam said.

“So, you have to go?” Adaline said.

“I do, for now.”

Adaline gave him a quick kiss and then left his Mindspace as he also exited his Mindspace and stood from the bench. “I love you and I’ll see you soon,” Adam said as he wrapped her in his arms and gave her a quick kiss. He stepped back and tried to Chaos Step back to Racoon City to see what had happened.

Chaos Step activated but instead of stepping into the base, he ended up stepping onto an ocean of water under pleasant skies. With a thought he solidified the water under him so he could remain standing while he reached out with Sense Chaos. There was nothing within one light second of him that could even remotely be considered intelligent life. There were monsters and natural creatures on the planet but everything else was different. The sea level was 1,000 feet higher than it had been and the continental plates were all different as well. As his mind took in and sorted the information he was collecting from the planet and surrounding Solar System, it seemed that the Xeli Corporation was present and had set up a mining operation on the moon of Europa. It also seemed that there was a mining outfit that was transporting the ice to Earth to increase the size of the planetary ocean. If they’d moved some of the water to Earth that would explain the higher sea levels. The main question was, where was the rest of Earth's Population?

Through the geological data Adam was collecting he determined in short order that a calamity befell the planet over one million years in the past. The change in water levels was more recent, only having started about 100 years earlier. So, the Xeli Corporation had gone back in time and tried to make sure that he was taken care of. How quaint.

Adam Chaos Stepped to the Moon’s surface and used Shape Reality to force a City Node into existence. As long as he didn’t go crazy with that skill he didn’t believe the SYSTEM would try to stop him. He didn’t know what the rules were toward temporal shenanigans but had an idea and before he acted he wanted to make sure the SYSTEM wasn’t going to try to stop him. He placed his hand on the City Node, activated Technomancy, and requested help from the SYSTEM. If a couple of his guesses were correct The SYSTEM should respond to him.

Adam’s consciousness was drawn into the node and he appeared on a flat neon-blue plain that stretched out into infinity in all directions. A nondescript man-shaped energy form appeared before Adam. It had the outline of a human male body but contained no features. Adam felt as if it was staring at him as it asked, “Johnathan Bennard, Adamantadine, Limit Breaker, Why have you contacted me in this manner?”

“It would seem that one of your users has recently utilized time travel to rewrite history for this Universe,” Adam said.

“Impossible, I would have detected such a blatant violation of our temporal code,” the SYSTEM avatar said.

“Regardless, it is true,” Adam said as he parsed the information he knew of the universe they were in from the previous timeline and sent it to the SYSTEM Avatar.

“Is there a possibility you were moved to a different reality?” the avatar asked.

“It is possible, I guess,” Adam agreed,” But, you would know wouldn’t you?”

“I would,” the avatar said as a window with Adam’s data appeared between them and the Avatar examined it before he closed the window and said, “You have not. Then how…” The Avatar started to say before it paused and then asked, “What exactly do you need help with?”

Adam smiled, “I have come to ask if I can return this timeline to its original course without increasing animosity between us.”

“You are asking?” The Avatar asked.

“I am asking because to do so I will need to delve into time magic which historically every SYSTEM-type entity I’ve encountered has been very touchy about.”

“As I would like to know who has altered this timeline in their failed attempt to destroy you, I see no reason to bar you from this path or retaliate. Please take this and hand it to my Avatar when you encounter me again on the other side of the change,” the Avatar said as temporal mana was exuded from the Avatar and solidified into a crystal which was then inscribed at the subatomic level. Adam was able to determine the type of mana and witness the encryption with Sense Chaos.

The Avatar handed the crystal to Adam, which Adam promptly placed in his Personal Storage, “I take it that you have encrypted a message to yourself in that time crystal?” Adam asked.

“Yes, it will survive any changes to the timeline, much like your nature as an Adamantium Dragon and your Perfect Memory ability allow you to.”

“Wait, the SYSTEM, You, oversee multiple dimensions and Universes. How is changing the timeline in this one timeline going to affect your memory of this timeline?” Adam asked.

“As you sometimes create multiple copies of your consciousness, I am but a copy of the SYSTEM’s consciousness it has placed within this Universe. If you make the changes and I do not know why, my alternate self will flag that information for further review which will then be sent up to my primary consciousness which will raise even more questions that you will need to answer again. If, however, you show my alternate self the Crystal when it appears to ask you what you have done, it will realize that it had already permitted you to take the actions you have and those actions will become a footnote in a normal update to my primary consciousness. What did you think? Did you believe the SYSTEM paid attention to everything all of the time?”

“No, but I thought that’s what you had Administrators for?” Adam said.

“Administrators handle almost everything else. Temporal Shenanigans, as you’ve described them are handled by The SYSTEM,” The Avatar said.

“Very well, what level am I allowed to take this to?” Adam asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you want the perpetrator alive or dead?” Adam asked.

“If it is a mortal, they can be rehabilitated, try to leave them alive if you can. If it is an Ascendant, which is most likely the case, destroy them if you can. They have broken the oath they took when they ascended, their life is forfeit.”

“Very well, and Thank You,” Adam said as he nodded and willed his consciousness back to his body.

Truth be told he’d been wanting to try this since he unlocked the skill Shape Reality but he knew that if he did so The SYSTEM would zero in on him like a bear looking for honey. Adam dropped into his Mindspace, down into his Soulcore, and found the node for Chaos Step. He’d had the idea that if it truly was a step that allowed him to utilize chaos for movement between points then the Perk should allow him to utilize the sphere of Time magic as well.

Adam activated, Shape Reality and willed the changes he wished into his Chaos Step Perk. First, he added the ability to step through dimensional barriers both near and far. This change caused him to pause for a moment and move over to Sense Chaos so he could modify it as well. He adjusted the perk so that he would be able to sense adjacent dimensions and links to other domains and universes. He made sure to put a limit on how far the skill would extend from his location so that he wouldn’t suddenly sense everything in every adjacent dimension. He did this by removing the modifier that extended the range of the skill when used to focus across the dimensional or universal barriers. He also added the stipulation that the ability to sense across the dimensional barrier could be activated and deactivated at will.

What that meant for Adam was that, when he focused on one of the adjacent dimensions or universes that touched the dimension or universe he was in, he would only be able to use Sense Chaos out to a range of 400 miles in the adjacent dimension. As the skill Fount of Knowledge increased the range would increase.

Adam returned his attention to his Chaos Step perk node and then added temporal movement to it. Unlike Sense Chaos there wasn’t much he could do with the perk. All he could learn from the change to the perk node was that if he attempted to step through time the cost was paid with Chaos and it was variable. Since he didn’t plan to utilize the perk all that often to travel through time, that was fine.

With the changes made to his perk nodes, Adam used Chaos Step to put himself in orbit 150,000 miles away from the planet so that he could keep track of the entire surface of the planet as he stepped backward through time. He would need that ability to zero in on the exact moment the change was made. Finally, ready to attempt his plan, he willed himself to Chaos Step 1 million years into the past while maintaining his relative position to the Earth.

Would you like to spend 2 million points of Chaos to travel back in time 1 million years, Yes or No?

Adam chose “Yes” and then also changed his settings so that only a cost in Chaos of 1 trillion points would flag him for approval, otherwise automatically approve all other uses. Then Adam took a step and the world flickered. Because of his Adamantium Dragon and Chaotic Nature the movement through time was neither disorienting nor shocking. He reappeared over Earth which looked a lot like it had previously except with less water.

Adam stepped back through time in 50,000-year increments until he found the point where the world was completely different. When he finally zeroed in on the year it was 1,349,505 years before he’d ever come to this Universe. He was also not surprised to find out that the Ascendent in question was Adrian Silas Xeli. It seemed that he had survived after all.

Before Adam acted he wanted to see what happened so he stepped back to before his arrival and activated Safe Haven. From within his dimensional pocket, he used Sense Chaos to reach through the barrier and watch the area where Adrian Silas Xeli appeared while he also watched the planet below with his normal vision. Sense Chaos would let him know what Adrian was trying to do while watching the planet below would allow him to witness what happened to the planet.

Adrian appeared a moment after Adam was ready and sterilized the planet. Adam had noticed that the farther back in time he’d come the less life had been present, now he knew why. Adrian had utilized a spell from both the life and putrescent spheres of magic that targeted and destroyed all life on Earth. Not just the higher life forms. The spell he released washed over the planet and wiped everything out, even the single-cell life forms. What an asshole.

Before he could take on Adrian, he needed to ensure that he could repair the damage if he failed to stop him. Adam waited for him to disappear into the future and then dropped out of his Safe Haven and utilized Chaos Step travel 10 years into the past. With Shape Reality he called for a SYSTEM Shop Node. He purchased Nanite Stabilizer and modified it with Shape Reality so that its radius of influence covered the whole planet. Then with Mold Chaos, he created nanites to reach out scan, and record the entire planet at this moment.

Once the recording was made and archived within his memory he reabsorbed the nanites and dismissed both the SYSTEM Shop Node and Nanite Stabilizer. Now it was time to take care of Adrian Silas Xeli. There were a lot of ways he could take care of the man but doing so could lead to all kinds of paradoxes so he was going to go with something he hadn’t tried yet. He’d helped both Ptah and Adaline improve their levels and attributes. If Karma and Balance were a thing then shouldn’t he try to maintain that balance by reducing someone? Adrian would be a perfect candidate to test this idea out.

Adam activated Chaos Step and traveled to the moment right before Adrian Xeli appeared. As Adrian appeared, Adam reached out and touched him as he activated Shape Reality. Adrian couldn’t dodge, he couldn’t sway. Only a look of shock filled his eyes as Adam touched him. A moment later all of Adrian's attributes were reduced to 10. A moment after that time froze as a SYSTEM Avatar appeared.

Adrian Xeli was frozen but Adam remained unaffected as the SYSTEM Avatar looked around, took in the situation, and then asked, “Adamantadine, What are you doing?”

Adam called forth the time crystal from his Personal Storage and held it out to the Avatar.

The Avatar reached out and touched the time crystal which dissolved into motes of light that were absorbed by the Avatar. The Avatar paused for a moment and then stated, “I see, what are your intentions?”

“I would prefer not to leave him here or in this timeline if possible,” Adam said.

“Very well,” The Avatar stated agreeably. Adam watched as the SYSTEM Avatar touched Adrian and even more changes took place within the man as divine energy was withdrawn from him. This action also released Adrian from being frozen in time.

“What have you done to me?” Adrian Silas Xeli asked terrified as he looked around and tried to figure out what was going on. Luckily for him, a sphere of force had surrounded them which contained a breathable atmosphere or he would have started suffocating.

Adam ignored the questions as a portal the SYSTEM created opened. Adam planted himself with Chaos Step to gain leverage and then pushed Adrian through the portal. A moment later the portal closed.

“Where did you send him?” Adam asked.

The Avatar focused on Adam, “Men like that will try to find a way to retaliate. Some day he might even succeed. To reduce that probability I sent him to a world I’ve been watching that currently doesn’t have a SYSTEM overseer or magic for that matter. Not yet at any rate. Just one of the many alternate versions of Earth that exist.”

Curious now, Adam asked, “Where and when exactly?”

I dropped him into the Gulf of Mexico near what will be the Port of Arkansas near Corpus Christi. Of course, the Earth I deposited him on is nothing like the Earth you grew up on or the ones you’ve encountered. I chose a timeline that is approximately 1,000 A.D. I noted that you set all of his base attributes to 10 so he will be stronger, faster, and more intelligent than anyone else on the planet but he doesn’t have an ungodly advantage over everyone else, like someone we both know.”

“I see. And me?” Adam asked.

“Everything here seems to have restored the timeline. You should be able to return to the timeline you know. Will you though?” The Avatar asked.

“I will and thank you for the assistance.”

“Before you leave, just so we’re clear. Time travel is frowned upon..”

Adam laughed, “As it should be, and I understand,” Adam said as he nodded to the Avatar and activated Chaos Step to return to his room in Racoon City at the moment he had tried to return to after returning from Entropy.

Congratulations! You have returned a Universal Timeline to its original Path. Karmic Luck gained 8.1 Billion.

Adam looked over the notification but wasn’t all that impressed by it. Karmic Luck seemed to be an attribute that was arbitrarily granted by the SYSTEM for doing something that helped it out. Also, as far as he could tell, Karmic Luck didn’t do anything so nice, he received a reward, but so what?

Adam put that reward out of his mind and double-checked the current state of Earth with Sense Chaos. With a liberal use of Mold Chaos, he replenished all food and water supplies for the communities around the globe and then considered his next step. A moment later a ship appeared in orbit and was vaporized by the satellites he’d left in the original timeline when it tried to bring weapons to bear on his Safe Zone. With everything back to the way it was before Adrian had tried to change things, Earth was protected once again.

As for what he was going to do next? It looked like his next course of action would be to visit Valeria Xeli. He could ignore the visitors as they continued to get wiped out. Let his satellites handle the problem but eventually, the SYSTEM would intervene to rebalance the issue. It would be better if he went to talk to her and took this Earth off her target list.