Dark Matter Ascension-Chapter 64B2 - : Escaping the wurm and a culling

“Alright, it feels like we’re coming to a stop,” Greg said as the undulating body around them began to still and slowly pulsate. He was still siting on top of Dee’s chitinous shell and had been for a few hours now. Priam was sitting on his shoulders, and Dee’s goop form was standing in the acidic slurry of the wurm’s stomach.

“Well, then we reach the hard part,” Priam stated. “We have to have Dee blast holes out, and you fortify them right behind. Exarch’s Ward (Rank 1) [Multi-Target].” The prismatic barrier popped into existence around each of them, and the warm, golden glow dominated the color spectrum. “Ready?”

Greg got up, still letting Priam stay on his shoulders to lessen the impact on his barrier and stepped into the acid. He saw the barrier begin to slowly melt. Dee slipped back into her chitinous shell and stood up. She led the group over to the side of the creature. “Alright, ready?” she asked as she put her hand up.

“Yeah. Let’s get out of here!”

She nodded, “Demolisher’s Devastation (Rank 3) [Blast]!” A bead of energy formed in her palms, and it blasted outward before exploding with a tremendous roar: whether it was a roar of pain from the creature they were inside of, or the actual explosion, Greg had no idea. The focused blast of ice cut an enormous hole in the side of the creature and it began wriggling. Sand began pouring into the gap, and Dee shouted the Skill once more, blowing the sand aside.

Greg ran forward, “Planetary Palisade (Rank 10)!” he shouted. The sand hardened on the outside edges of the blast area, creating a small room that he ran into with Dee a step behind. And not a moment too soon, as the fleshy form of the creature raced past them, revealing more sand that began to pour in. “Go up!” he shouted as he pointed at the top-corner of the temporarily safe space.

Dee nodded and pointed up, blasting Greg’s construction apart in that top corner, and gouging another huge section of sand. Greg immediately followed up with another Planetary Palisade: and they run up the sharply-angled tube until they reached the ‘cap’ at the end. Repeating the process another two times, they worked their way out of the treacherous depths of the desert sands.

And when their energy began to flag and falter, Priam put his hands up, one gripping his small, metal tube. “Fount of Energy (Rank 5).” Greg felt the warmth suffuse his body as Priam slouched against the back of his head with a groan. “That’s…a lot…of energy.”

Dee kept up her blasting with renewed vigor, and Greg kept throwing up hardened walls of sandstone until, finally, after a tense, three-minutes of climbing up the artificial tube, the harsh light of the sun greeted them.

Greg heaved a sigh of relief as he got his bearings. They were still in the Big Dry, but between two enormous mesas. On the top of each mesa was an enormous temple, not unlike the ones he saw in his history lessons from the ancient Aztec empire. A long, stone, arching bridge connected the two, with a supporting tower in the center.

In front of them, farther off on another mesa, was an even bigger temple, but this one had an enormous spire; and two more bridges connected the two temple-mesas to the largest one. Priam sucked in a breath and pointed, “That’s…that’s where he is. We’re in at the Trifold Mesas.”

Greg looked around and saw enormous gouts of sand as more of these wurms seemed to patrol this area below the mesas. Looking up, he saw that the bridge was only a few hundred feet off of the ground. A couple uses of Planetary Palisade, making it into a vertical tube again. I’ll be draining a lot of energy. But, we have to get to higher ground. “Hang on,” he said as he grabbed Dee. “Planetary Palisade (Rank 10).”

The ground beneath him hardened to stone and shot up in a tight pillar just wide enough for his feet to keep a solid stance. It got them fifty feet up, and he repeated the process another few times until they were able to step onto the bridge. Greg collapsed forward onto his knee. Priam hopped off his shoulders, and Dee extricated herself from his embrace.

“Good job,” Dee said as she looked in both directions. “Anything worth stealing in those temples?”

“This is where the different gods and goddesses live,” Priam replied. “Stealing from them would be blasphemous. We should focus on getting to Wricen.”

“I wouldn’t mind a breather,” Greg said as he pushed himself to his feet.

Priam nodded, “Inside one of the temples. We can beseech the protection of a god for a short rest interval.” He began leading the trio across the metal expanse.

Wricen was pleased. Quite satisfied with life. He got out of his dust bath and shook himself free of the excess, putting on a sumptuous robe as one of his servitor golems handed him his staff. Heading to the kitchens, he sat down to have a delicious meal produced by yet more servitor golems built to the express purpose of being the best chefs possible.

As he took a bite of grilled meat with a delicious sauce, he giggled with glee. This Priam and his group had been devoured by one of his wurms. I knew they would be no challenge for my machinations, he thought. And now my whole blasted lineage is finally dead and gone.

Now, he would continue his work. Slowly killing and consuming the remaining gods. Oh, sure, some of them were still holed up in their temples across the mesas, but eventually their power would wane as the people worshipped Wricen, and the gods lost their source of strength. Belief from the people.

He pulled out his journal and began writing. “Dear diary. Today marks the five-year anniversary of my taking control of Fernaid. It has been an excellent venture, and more and more I feel closer and closer to obtaining divinity. Becoming not just an Ascendant, but a true god; a singular ruler of the world who is unchallengeable and indisputable.” He chuckled as he jotted down a few ideas for how he would change the world once he had full control.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Technically, he could manipulate the planet through World Control: a Skill only granted to those who were part of the Planetary Independence Pact. But, he was having to ‘share’ the System with the ‘local administrators’ that were these still-remaining gods and goddesses. Unlike his good friend, Yholl on Nihilethelea, who did not have to deal with deities. Lucky bastard with his World Pillars. I should send him a message, see if he wants to come visit.

Wricen pulled up his System interface and tried to message Yholl. But he received an error message.

Foll𝑜w current novℯls on ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm.

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[ERROR.]

[User no longer exists.]

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Wricen stood up with a shout, “How?! He was so powerful! System Inquiry (Rank 5).”

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[Video playback beginning…]

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He watched as Yholl Tristrus, one of his good friends he met at a faction get-together, fought a figure blazing with crimson fury. They had a heated battle that looked intense, but Yholl was not slain by the Aspirant with the blade. The killing blow came from an Oslia with one arm, laying on the ground, who was the spitting image of Wricen’s brother.

Good riddance you’re dead, he thought. Killing my friend. Wricen spat on the ground and left the dining area. I wouldn’t mind killing that other fellow though. This ‘Flicker’.

Jace got out of the lake whilst under the effects of Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3). The death of this water monstrosity must have signaled something to the wildlife: that the water source was safe. He saw the moss along the edges had been eaten away by some type of herbivores, and they along with some of the Darcurls were drinking from the water source on opposite sides of the lake.

Jace could hear, and almost feel, the life of the jungle around him. It was vibrant and alive, unlike the hard, concrete world he grew up in. For just a few moments, he took in all the sights of these enormous creatures living in coexistence with their surroundings.

Ollie pointed at the herbivores, “Those are called Grastodons. Herd animals. Dartcurls don’t hunt them due to the size difference.”

Jace nodded as he realized just how big these Grastodons were. Easily the size of two big-rig trucks stacked on top of each other. “I’m guessing killing these would not be good for the balance of the System?”

“Let me scan…” Ollie’s eyes went black for a moment before snapping back. “Actually, these herbivores are overpopulous. Culling their numbers would help keep the balance in check. The Dartcurls are at good population numbers, as are the Scale Scions. The biggest issue are the Grastodon numbers.”

Jace unsheathed his blade, “Void Blade (Rank 1).” The sword thrummed with grey-silver energy. “This should be easy enough.” He ran forward, coiled his legs under himself, and jumped up as he brought the blade across one of the creature’s bent-over heads. He lopped it clean off in a single strike.

That sent the rest of the herbivores into a panic, and they began scattering. Damnit, didn’t think of that. “Ollie, dust them as I go! But hold the notifications until I’m done!”

Ollie tapped his head, “Roger!” and dusted the one Jace had just slain. Jace began sprinting after the herd, using his Ghostlight grapnel to attach to one of them, pull himself to the enormous beast, and then run up the back of the creature; the hide thick enough that he could easily get purchase with his bladed feet. With a single stab through the skull, the slew the creature with as little pain as possible. Ollie dust it right as Jace jumped off of it, launched the grapnel at the next one, and pulled himself to it.

Repeating the process a few dozen times, he had thinned the herd down to ten. “Good enough?” Jace asked Ollie.

“Yup! That should help a lot with the local flora.”

Jace grappled up to one of the large branches overhead and let the herd pass under him. “How much Stardust did we get?”

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[Stardust Acquired: 15000]

[Stardust Split: 3000]

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He pulled himself to the top of the branch and sat down as he sheathed his blade. “Not a bad haul.”

“Not at all,” Ollie replied.

Jace tapped his comms, “Hey, Quinn. You there?”

There was silence for a few moments, but then her voice came on. “Yeah, what can I do for you?”

“Any way you can exchange my Stardust for Boons? Having a (Variable) one or two on hand is always good in a pinch.”

“I can facilitate that. Ollie, do I have permission to access Jace’s Stardust for withdrawals? Oh, and the market rate fluctuates.”

“Yup,” Ollie replied as he moved himself out of Jace’s hood and floated next to him. “He’s at 13,354 right now.”

“How much you wanna spend?”

2,500 Stardust per level, Jace thought. “3,354,” Jace replied. “I want to keep 10,000 to get 4 levels.”

“Okay, withdrawing now…and it will take me a little bit to get the Boons. Gotta get to some bids on the open market. Beep me if you need me!”

“Thanks,” Jace said as he looked at Ollie. “Four level ups. I want to dump Skill Ranks into Void Blade.”

“Coming right up!”

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Name: Jace Seren (Aspirant, Tier 6)

Power [Class Level]: Dark Matter [Swordmage <Wrathblade> 100] / Void [Edge 5]

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 1) [Reflecting], Void Beam (Rank 1) [Limited Range], Arbiter's Anathema (3/day), Archmage Geomancy (1/day) Archmage Hydromancy (1/day) Archmage Pyromancy (1/day), Shadow Nebula Smokescreen (1/day), Hope's Edge (1/day), Steel Gale Stride (1/day)

Stardust: 0

Equipment: (Returning / Adaptable) Nethaldrim, (Medium / Snowguard / Burnguard) Aegisleather, Ghostlight Grapnel Arm, (Thrice Judged) Anathema Arm, (Overclocked / Lightfoot) Steelstalker Sabatons, (Terrifying) All-Seeing Dragon's Eyes, Leviathan's Skin, Adamantine Skeleton, (Reactive) NICIF, Mind's Eye Amulet, (Heavy) Venture Pack, survival meals (x40), enhanced canteen, optimized medical kit, (Restful) Wildercloth tent, Devilsram wool bedroll, Blood-Infused Holy Water (x3)

Boons: Common (Equipment)

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Void Blade (Rank 2): As Rank 1, but the damage over time increases.

Void Blade (Rank 3): As Rank 2, but the slowing effect increases.

Void Blade (Rank 4): As Rank 3, but the damage over time increases.

Void Blade (Rank 5): As Rank 4, but the slowing effect increases.

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“Ouch. That, combined with [Rending] means that if you just damage someone with a single cut, they will be hurting for a good while.”

Jace nodded, “But the Void Blade damage over time effect fades, doesn’t it?”

“Once it eats away a set amount of matter, yes.”

“I didn’t notice the slowing effect when I was fighting that cog-sword guy, either.”

“It was affecting him, but the slowing effect has always been pretty small. Even when it was Dark Matter Blade.”

“True,” Jace said as he stood up. “Now, get that map up, and let’s keep heading back to the capital.”

“It will be a longer journey, unless you plan on flinging yourself through the skies.”

“We could do that…but…are there more dinosaurs that could be culled to help keep the System balanced?”

Ollie nodded, “Yup. Just follow the map!”