AA. 204

“Any powerful sanity or Mind Magic-reliant Void Lord would have a much higher Danger Level,” Iris explained once they all settled in the rest area.

It was a palatial space with a lounge, individual rooms, a hot bath, and a fully stocked kitchen. Either the arena construct had teleported in a construction crew, or they were in a pocket dimension prior to the final showdown. 

“Typically, Gold Gauntlet or higher take on such targets.”

“You mean the arena construct doesn’t just throw bodies at problems until they’re solved?” Selia asked, chuckling. Her coat and shirt sleeves had giant patches missing, and her bottoms also suffered similar damage. The rips, tears, holes, and injuries made her look even more like a vengeful spirit, fitting the title of Specter. “We're just power seeds to help purge the corruption, aren’t we?”

“Despite what one might assume when looking at Death Gauntlet, the arena intelligence considers us valuable assets,” Iris stated. She had just finished in the bath and ran a comb shaped from the Source through her hair. “Each death needs to mean something. Your power seeds are of little value unless they’ve grown and developed enough. The Death Gauntlet is necessary to help reclaim worlds that the Control Worlds can’t enter or don’t have enough time for.” She frowned. “You should know this. The announcers are reminding people all the time, and unnecessarily so.”

“I suppose in a world like yours where the Nexus and Apocalypse Arena have been around for several generations, things like this are more obvious, better understood, and discussed,” Nil stated. “Our governments keep a lot of these things out of the public eye. We believe every registered Summoned is a valuable resource to the world, and letting them get killed in Death Gauntlet is a massive waste of resources. Despite Death Gauntlet’s purpose, I tend to agree.”

“I suppose perspectives of newly inducted worlds and veterans differ.” Iris shrugged, tying her hair up in a neat bun.  “My people started off living clusters of nomadic warrior clans. We graduated to warrior kingdoms. Now, we’re warriors for the Nexus. Our view on death and its value probably starkly differs from yours.”

“I’m done,” Shawn announced, exiting the bath. The last fight had ruined his outfit. Now, he only wore light grey sweatpants and a white t-shirt. His shoes were still intact. “Who's next?”

“You go ahead,” Selia told Nil. “I’m enjoying talking to Iris.”

“And she still needs to recover energy.” Iris waved him away.

Nil hesitantly looked between the two women, shrugged, and moved on. The bath area was big enough for four multiple people to use at once. He had hoped to get in with Selia, but there would be plenty of time for that after the Cleansing. The energy in the room was extra dense and pure. So, he sat in the warm water and circulated the energy through himself. It was far more nourishing than doing the same with everything the Cursed Ones emitted. His aether channels felt wider, and his core didn’t just contain more; the energy within also rotated faster. 

Nil’s core swelled, and the walls threatened to warp. It was like trying to contain a maelstrom in a delicate bubble. First, he smoothed the flow, making it consistent, and slowly worked out the turbulence. The tiger swam gracefully in the whirlpool, moving with it instead of thrashing about. The storm's chaos eventually balanced its order. The energy that Nil previously struggled to keep from diffusing gradually accumulated along the core's border and solidified, reinforcing it. Now, even when eddies and inconsistencies pushed against the core's walls, it didn't warp. The bubble held.

Spark has progressed to Bronze 8!

Nil grinned. It was the first time he had such control over a breakthrough. He still didn't know how to achieve a power seed or body ascension without tokens, but the accomplishment gave him hope. If he could figure something so simple out, the rest would come to him eventually.

For the time being, Nil opened the Schema interface to Watcher's scroll and looked over the first two techniques. He was happy with the tail's progress. Despite the seemingly simple appearance on the outside, it was a complicated piece of shaping and manipulation. 

The appendage started with a skeletal extension to his spine. Intent played a large role, and it wasn't biologically accurate. He couldn't get his head around how to control a tentacle growing out of his butt, so he relied on the extension to his spine instead. It made a lot more sense when connecting to his nervous system. Nil had wrapped the skeleton in coiling bands, and how he imagined nerves would weave through all of them before connecting the structure to his spinal column. Padding followed to give the appendage the necessary girth and weight.

During creation and practice, it had felt awkward and alien. The Glimmer helped Nil get over his mental block. Now it felt as natural as ever, and he looked forward to expanding everything he had learned and realized thanks to One With The Source and My Body Is My Domain. Arms felt within reach. He intended to start with one pair and stop at two. Six like Iris's felt like more than he could handle. Nil also worried that they would get in each other's way. 

The second technique—which involved creating a field of attacking and detonating Source constructs—still felt well out of his reach and beyond Nil's intended approach to contact but felt necessary for improving his manipulation. Currently, connecting the tail to his nervous system reduced demands on the fundamental skill, but he needed to improve to make the arms work.

I'm going to need a second brain. A Source brain.

The scroll's third technique, which culminated in the creation of Source clones, started with the creation of simple secondary brain templates that linked to him to form a weak hivemind of sorts. They couldn't think for themselves but needed a brain to operate something as complex as a Source body and follow instructions.

Nil imagined creating a secondary brain that acted as a sub to his first, which would make operating the tail and extra arms much smoother. Iris claimed to have undergone severe mental exercises to master her arms. Strain limited how many pairs a person could operate at once. He lacked the necessary potential to push his mind to greater limits and survive significant mental strain. Watcher's scroll seemed to suggest a secondary brain construct would alleviate the issue. The process appeared long, and Nil would need to study a fair bit more than just scrolling. However, the process looked no different from creating a complex algorithmic program. His Mechanical Engineering degree involved a few modules that covered such concepts, and he spent a lot of time on robotics, but most of the knowledge left him over the last decade. He understood the basic principles but would need to start from scratch.

I need a little assistant brain strong enough to translate subconscious needs and control the extra limbs. But it's not so smart that it fights me.

For the time being, Nil worked on something he hadn't yet pulled out in live combat. He was glad the Glimmer hadn't figured it out since it could've seriously hurt his friends. The scroll containing Absolute Array appeared on the Schema interface before him. It centered around removing kinetic energy at a molecular level. Nil wished to achieve the opposite. It wasn't about superheated weapons or surfaces like Iris. Chaos's destructive power made it redundant. Nil hoped to create exploding ranged projectiles instead. He also liked the idea of lightning blasts and, eventually, remote detonations.

When Nil had experimented during training, he tried creating a Balance coating around Chaos spheres that agitated the energy within but only created something that broke down and diffused faster than the base construct. Now, he tried a different approach, relying on One With The Source and My Body Is My Domain to better understand and control the inner workings.

First, Nil created a ping-pong-ball-sized Chaos Sphere and coated it in a Balance shell, creating a stable, rigid shape. Next, he did the same but smaller and at the center of the larger construct. There were no issues at first. The rotational energy of the larger sphere pulled at the smaller’s shell, but it held. There was enough of an equilibrium, so things didn't spiral out of control. Things changed when Nil forced more energy into the smaller construct but didn't grow it or the larger container to accommodate. The pressure rapidly increased, and Nil could feel the inner Balance shell startling to swell and warp, struggling to contain the Chaos.

The inner shell’s agitation also disturbed the larger sphere’s contents. Its coating was held, but Nil could feel the cracks forming in it. The construct was just about stable at grapefruit size. He sought to destroy the harmony by building pressure. Before he could push the stability further, a Schema notification appeared.

Using explosive techniques in the rest area is forbidden, regardless of whether there are other teams or challengers around you. This is your first warning.

Wield The Source has progressed to Bronze 4!

Source Gauntlets have progressed to Bronze 4!

Nil grinned, absorbing all the energy. Just over a year ago—in relative time—he would’ve half the energy used for practicing and then need to rely on Isabella or his friends to hit to fuel further experimentation. What pleased him most wasn’t his efficiency but the fact that Nil had created his first technique. It was simple and mostly a product of experimentation, but still something he had come up with without any assistance using the fundamentals and knowledge gained through study.

It felt like Nil had endless options thanks to his two new passive abilities. Combined with the knowledge gained from Master Seer’s scroll, overcoming his poor manipulation talents felt possible. With enough time, experimentation, and a hint of creativity, creating anything felt possible. It explained why Watcher had initially believed that his chances of making it to the Cleansing were abysmally low. The primordial entity didn’t think Nil was incapable but believed he needed more time.

“Did you fall asleep, or are you waiting for me to join you?” Selia asked, sticking her head into the bath. 

“Can it be a bit of both?” Nil asked, waving her over.

“Give me a moment to just wash the grime out of my hair first,” Selia said, stripping and taking a seat by a side basin. “I’d rather not get the bath water all manky.”

“It might enchanted. I forgot to do either, and the water is still crystal clear.”

“I still want to wash my hair first. Iris is fun to talk to, and I like her. She invited me—more specifically, us—to visit her world and train. They have a few Control World privileges, apparently.”

“It's weird that you two are getting along.”

“Why?”Selia raised an eyebrow.

Nil shrugged, flashing his girlfriend a mischievous smile. “I didn’t think you were open to the concept of sister wives.”

“I don’t like her that much,” Selia replied, eyes narrowing. “Besides. You know that I don’t share.”

“I’m just kidding,” Nil laughed, splashing water at her. “I’m glad the pair of you are getting along. She ran the idea by me as well. It's not just us two. My family and ‘entourage’ are all welcome. Everyone except Shawn, of course.”

“Of course.” Selia sighed. “I hope he’ll wake up and be able to move past all of this. Shawn is a nice guy, and I want the best for him.”

“We can’t be there for him if he’s holding on to ghosts and stupid hopes.” Nil splashed water at Selia again. “Hurry up. I’m starting to get all pruney.”

“I don’t mind if you do. Udit isn’t a good enough sneak preview of what you’ll look like when you’re old.”

“If I figure out how to get a Body of Gold in the next year or two and then Platinum, Immortality won’t be too far away. You’ll never find out what old me would look like.”

“I suppose I can live with that.” Selia soaped her hair and worked the tangles out of her hair before joining Nil. They didn’t talk much afterward.