(Johnathan’s Earth, December 24th,2046)

I felt myself stepping out of a portal onto a familiar footpad. Before I could catch my bearing my Chaotic Nanites were assaulted by a much older, unmodified version of nanites. I provided the correct hand-shaking protocols and was immediately contacted by a mental presence, that while now part of me, was different.

“Johnathan, you’re back and have changed quantumly in some way that I cannot quantify. Are you okay?” Thor asked.

“I’m fine Thor, it’s been a bit of a ride. Why don’t we skip the 20 questions and I’ll just download what has happened while I’ve been gone.”

“As you wish,” Thor replied.

I was confused to find Thor, yet I had started to assume that the Universe I came back into after my fundamental changes had not been ‘My’ Universe. I would know soon enough, I put that out of my mind for a moment. I checked my quantum links and noted that every link that I had had to the nanites in the Cosmos I’d come from and the ones to this place were inactive. Even my links to the copies of myself that I’d made were inactive. I also put that out of my mind and reconnected quantumly to Thor. The first thing I checked was the time stamp. It was December 24th, 12:01 p.m. Mountain Standard Time in 2046. I reviewed my memory. The next thing I checked was the last time Thor and I had spoken. The last time Thor had seen me was when Desirae and I had appeared in the Bahamas together ten years ago. So our merging and my releasing humanity had not happened here…yet.

I established the link with Thor and then started the synchronization. The part of me that was Thor reconnected to what I was considering the original Thor. As I downloaded my experiences I reviewed the events of the last 10 years here. Thor had analyzed and cataloged every star system within the Milky Way. Because I had not been back to this Universe, Thor had never investigated Black Holes or discovered what I had in the Universe we’d explored them in. Instead, I looked at his expansion rate and realized that for the last ten years he'd been quite busy. It seemed that he’d spread throughout the Milky Way and the Local Group. Though he was having energy and coverage problems. Space was vast and by its very nature empty for the most part. Thor would portal into a new system and spread Nanites there. Those nanites would spread through the system until the solar winds themselves carried the nanites out into the gulf between the stars. This meant that the Milky Way wasn’t fully covered. Instead, Nanite coverage only existed out to a maximum of 10 light-years from any stars. This was true for every area more than 10,000 light-years from Earth. Thor had decided on this approach to ensure enough mass and energy was available for conversion without damaging the star systems themselves. While this expansion technique would be slower it would be the least destructive. Stars were going to send off their mass as photons regardless. Thor converted 1% of that mass into nanites which then traveled with those photons out into the Universe.

I paused for a second and tried to bring up my Personal Interface. As I suspected I did not have access to it. While I didn’t feel different there was no way for me to know if I had access to my fundamental abilities or not. Or was there. Now that I was back in charge I opened a portal from my location in the Portal room to the surface of this station in the vacuum of space. I stepped onto the surface trusting in my nanites to keep me safe if I was wrong.

One thing that I’d been noticing lately was that I hadn’t been reviewing my prompts as often nor had I needed to or consciously activating a mental switch through my interface to utilize the various abilities I’d acquired. With that in mind, I willed myself to move away from the surface and increase my speed up and away from the Nu Draconis system as fast as I could.

That was a mistake. One second I was in Nu Draconis, the next I was traveling along the Y-axis of the Milky way at a velocity that was so high that I watched as the disc of the Milky Way came into view and started to fall away from me.

“Johnathan, where are you going?” Thor asked.

“First, I’ve been Adam, far longer than I’ve ever been Johnathan so prefer that name. Second, I was testing something.”

“Understood Adam. Your test has placed you approximately 54.8 thousand light-years above the Milky Way and if my estimates are correct you traveled that far in 3 seconds,” he stated.

“Three seconds?” I asked rhetorically. “That would be, well if we were using the Star Trek Warp system for the Next Generation that would be around warp 225 or 576.6 billion times the speed of light.” I willed myself to slow, as I asked. “Can you still reach me with Portal out here?” I asked.

“Easily, as you have reviewed, I’ve spread throughout the Local Group. While I might not have nanites in every single centimeter of space in this area our Portals have a range of approximately 5 million light-years.” Thor said.

“Where is the closest black hole to me from here?”

“There is a black hole traveling at a high velocity away from the center of the Galaxy about 30,000 light-years above the galactic plane and about 75,000 light-years from your current position. I’m updating your navigational functions. You should see a Heads Up Display (HUD) in your vision with the location highlighted by a green box.”

“Okay, we’ll test that in a minute.” I opened a portal from my location to the surface of Venus and stepped through. I needed to do a few more tests before I’d go tackle a black hole. Ptah hadn’t said he’d make any changes to me, but he hadn’t said he wouldn’t either. I stepped onto the surface of Venus. One of the upgrades Thor had discovered while I was gone. Permeable airfields. By charging the air, he could make a barrier so the atmosphere wouldn’t go through the portals, making it a lot easier to enter and exit an atmosphere from space. A very useful upgrade.

I stepped onto the surface of Venus and waited for the acidic environment to start burning my skin. I had nanites, which could repair my skin of course but I wanted to see if I was still Adaptable. I waited a full five minutes, even taking a breath of the atmosphere into myself to see if that provoked a reaction. Nothing happened. Next, I opened another portal and stepped onto the surface of Pluto to check my tolerance for cold. At 44 degrees Kelvin, -222 C or -376.6 F. It was one of the coldest environments in the Solar System. That didn’t phase me either.

I willed myself off Pluto, checked the planetary locations, and moved at a respectable clip to Jupiter. I entered the Atmosphere with almost no problems. It didn’t matter if you are invulnerable, fire in your eyes during re-entry still blocks your vision. Once I was through the re-entry phase I allowed myself to drop through the atmosphere until I floated above the metallic Hydrogen layer. Metallic Hydrogen is thought to be able to exist as a partial liquid rather than a solid. It sure behaved like a liquid. Flowing with the tidal forces of the various moon. It looked like a silver metallic ocean with waves traveling in all directions. The pressure down here was incredible as well. It was 3.2 e6 (or 3,200,000) atmospheres. I looked around, took in the sights that few would ever see, and took a deep breath. Yeah, my body was handling this just fine as well.

I willed myself to rise through the atmosphere until I exited into space then headed towards the Sun. This would be my last test. If I could approach and even touch the surface of the Sun then I knew my Adaptable ability was still in play and I would be able to take the next step in my plan. What was that plan? Well, right now it was fluid and completely relied on my ability to access both the Universal and Cosmic Interfaces which I could only do from one place in this Universe.

I headed towards Mercury and willed myself to hold position in direct sunlight. I also noticed that my eyes had automatically adjusted to the brightness of the Sun as I’d drawn closer, I wasn’t even squinting. I double-checked my nanite interface to make sure the nanites weren’t protecting my eyes. I noted that Thor had started creating a backup copy of my body in case something happened to me. Ye of little faith. I started heading towards the star. I wasn’t surprised at all as I came right up to the surface of the star and touched it. I even took the time to dip my hand into it to see if that generated any reaction. Nothing. I felt normal. Not too hot, not too cold.

“Adam, I have finished our synchronization,” Thor’s voice called in my mind shacking me out of thoughts. “I now understand why you have been traveling to inhospitable environments to test your adaptability to those locations. Can I assume that your next stop will be to travel to ‘The Unicorn?” Thor asked.

“Yep, I plan to dip below the Event Horizon and see if I can activate my Personal Interface.”

“Is it your intention to revert this Universe back to its settings prior to the Great Enemy?”

“Yes, though If possible I intend to allow for magic to seep back into this Universe slowly. Rapidly adding it would have much the same effect that The Cultivations did. I do not plan to put this Universe through that kind of hell.” I said.

“Very good. Will, you also be releasing humanity as you did in your previous timeline?”

“No. I do not intend to add Chaotic Nanites to this Universe. I believe them to be a unique manifestation and as such, I think we should keep it that way. In the Previous Universe, they were necessary. I don’t think they will be necessary here. The other reason I won’t be doing so is that eventually, the ambient magic level will rise so much that technological nanites will no longer function here. When that happens humanity should have all the tools they need to learn how to adapt and overcome the introduction of monsters, Dungeons, and even The Labyrinth.”

“How will that be possible? If my review of the information you provided me is correct, you plan to move on when your work here is done?”

“That is a thought I’d had. I have reason to believe there is something beyond this existence. I can’t say why I feel that way, I just do.” I answered.

“Understood. I have uploaded ‘The Unicorn’s’ location into your HUD.”

“Thank you, Thor. Just so we’re clear, I do not plan to do anything hasty. I’d like to see how things work out here as well as make sure everyone here has the tools they need to succeed going forward. I do not want to leave this Universe to become a casualty of time travelers, like the one I just came from.”

Thor remained silent as I willed myself away from the Sun and headed out of the solar system towards ‘The Unicorn.’ At the speeds I was traveling at, it didn’t take long. As before I entered the stellar coordinates of the black hole and made my way to the edge of the black hole’s event horizon. I didn’t feel the pull of gravity or any force on me. In fact, until I looked around and analyzed my surroundings I hadn’t even noticed that I was being peppered by micro meteorites and not-so micro rocks traveling at a significant velocity that was just bouncing off of me. Any that came at the event horizon from directly behind me. Slammed into me, came to a stop and then the gravity of the black hole drew them into its grip again. My clothes were being destroyed and repaired by my nanites but my body wasn’t even affected. I had a very strong feeling that nothing had changed for me since being sent here.

Through our quantum link I said, “Thor, I’m going in.”

“Acknowledged”

With his response, I willed myself across the event horizon. As before I came into a region where everything was falling towards a pinpoint. Now that I knew what to look for though I could discern that everything wasn’t falling towards a point and stopping. It was falling into a hole through space-time to elsewhere. Unlike the hole I’d found in the Labyrinth, I wasn’t going to fit through this one unless I allowed myself to be spaghettified. Yeah, that didn’t sound fun at all. I did allow some of my nanites to detach from me and enter the microscopic vortex. Unlike before I lost contact with the nanites as soon as they passed through the vortex. The link wasn’t cut off. After I reviewed the incoming data from my quantum link with the nanites I understood that something had destroyed them.

That wasn’t why I was here anyway. I willed for my Personal Interface to open and was not surprised to find the messages that awaited me.

WARNING! You have moved into a Cosmos that does not have the leveling system of your previous Cosmos.

WARNING! Your experience exceeds the amount required to attain the maximum Character Level of 100,000

WARNING! Fundamental Ability Adaptable noted. Character Level Limit has been removed.

WARNING! Your Character Level far exceeds any Character Level of any creature or Divine in this Cosmos.

ERROR, no Divines Detected.

ERROR, no Higher or Lower Planes Detected.

ERROR, No Alternate Universes Detected within this Cosmos.

As the highest level Fundamental Being in this Singular Cosmos, you may claim this Cosmos as your own. NOTE: A Singular Cosmos is a Cosmos that contains only one Universe where all entities with Souls that perish only have one path of progression. Through ‘The Eye”.

NOTE: To Conserve Energy, the buffer function of Chaos has been removed from this Cosmos.

NOTE: Magic is only usable in designated gravimetric locations. Only creatures that have the ability to withstand severe gravimetric stress can access magic here. Access the Cosmic Interface to make adjustments to these settings.

Well, those warnings and notes were quite helpful. I scrolled back up to the question of claiming this Cosmos and chose “Yes”

You have claimed Cosmos SP-JB-001-IHABIWAB. As the only Fundamental Being in this Cosmos, you may adjust and set settings as you see fit. NOTE: Temporal Changes have been locked out by an Avatar of Time. See the Magic Tab, Subcategory “Time” to review changes and lockouts.

The limitations on Time tampering were expected. How could my history not be tampered with if someone could come here and change things? As I had believed, there was another level beyond the Cosmos and I wanted to see what it was. For now, though I paced myself and pulled up my personal Interface to check what another Conversion had done to me. I pulled up my information:

Name: Adamantadine

Identity: Adam

Age: 35

Weight: 170

Birthday, July 16th, 2001

Fundamental Abilities (Note Fundamental Abilities are Always Active and stay with you through any temporal shifts, changes, or paradoxes that occur.)

“Perfect Memory” - Like Photographic Memory except for all five senses with an automatic recall of desired information.

“That Was Easy” - Your Ability Guided Understanding, Jack of all trades, and Orb of Knowledge have combined into the Unique ability “That was Easy.” You may use any skill as if you had skill level 100 in it. Even if you have never seen the skill used before your skill level is 100.

“I have Always Been I will Always Be” - Your existence is now sacrosanct. You are no longer subject to a Grand Father Paradox and you gain a 100% resistance to harmful Time Magic.

“Creature of Raw Chaos” - Your body has been inundated with Chaos. During this process, your will was strong enough to hold your core identity together and permanent changes were made to your body. You may now enter and exit Chaos 100% resistant to any further changes.

“Adaptable” - Chaos has modified your body so that you may adapt to any environment. From Absolute Zero to the Gravity well of a Singularity your body can and will adapt to all environmental conditions. This includes the ability to survive in those environments. Example: the ability to breathe underwater if necessary.

“Willed-Movement” - As a being of Chaos, constantly connected to it so long as you are not in a region of ERROR, you have the ability to move through that Chaos as you desire at any rate you desire. As Chaos is present in all aspects of reality your will allows you to move as you desire. This is a sub-ability of the Fundamental Ability “Adaptable.”

“Undying” - You will reform at the nearest place of power containing Life Magic if killed. While you are not truly immortal, the powers that granted this ability have decreed that you will be resurrected and reformed a number of times equal to the souls you’ve spared from utter annihilation, this includes all souls across all Universes that were saved. What did you like to say? “A number of times best phrased as a Scientific Number.”

“Resistant” - You are 50% resistant to all Primal Magic and natural manifestations of those magics. Additionally, you are 100% resistant to all magic from the following spheres of power; "Chaos, Time, Space, and Gravity, and 50% resistant to Holy and Demonic Magic

“Godless” - The changes to your body have severed any clerical link to the divine you had. As you share a host of traits similar to the Divine you may not become the servant of any Divine again.

“Confluence” - Your Place of Power has merged with you. While you cannot access a Place of Power any longer Chaos seeps into from beyond the barrier of the Universe you’re in and converts it to primal magic of all spheres. You do not have control of this process. In any Multiverse, you have access to and can utilize any magical energy normally. Additionally, your Mana Regeneration is increased by Willpower + Endurance per minute. Finally, the process of converting raw Chaos into magic garners 1 XP per second.

“Spellweaver” - You neither memorize nor permanently add spells using spell slots. Instead, you may weave magic into any form of your desire so long as you have the skill and mana to do so.

“Personal Storage” - You now have the equivalent of 1,000' cubic feet of dimensional storage that reduces weight by 100%. It can be accessed at will. Items placed into or taken out of the space appear or disappear to the hand touching them. This space can be represented by slots if you prefer.

“Infinite Wealth” - Your Belt of Infinite Wealth has been transformed into a Fundamental Ability. You may pull forth any type of currency and have the ability to produce any amount of wealth you might need. As per the initial conditions of this item’s acquisition, any cost incurred for any wealth withdrawn is paid for by the Divine Detrik. Even through “The Change” this cost was maintained.

Character Level 104,879,885 Ascendant Human

Attributes

Strength 57,207,210

Agility 57,207,210

Dexterity 57,207,210

Endurance 57,207,210

Constitution 57,207,210

Intelligence 57,207,210

Wisdom 57,207,210

Willpower 57,207,210

Perception 57,207,210

Charisma 57,207,210

Luck 57,207,210

Primary Stats

Carrying Capacity 48,626,128,500 lbs.

Hit Points: 337,522,539

Base Health Regeneration

3,218,120,465 HP per second

Stamina 572,072,100

Base Stamina Regeneration

962,990 Stamina per second

Mana: 572,072,100

Base Mana Regeneration

3,851,955 MP per second

Movement

Normal Running Speed: 52.8 E12 mph, 77.5 E9 fps

Standing high Jump: 8,398,018 Feet.

Note. Falling Damage is not mitigated by maximum jumping Distance.

Base Attack

Unarmed Attack: 1,112,108,162

Critical Damage Maximum Damage x7

Skills: See Fundamental Ability “That Was Easy” above

I choked. I was floating inside the Event Horizon of a Black Hole, and I choked. I started coughing, which was impossible as I was in a vacuum but my body decided to do it anyway. As I coughed my level and attributes played through my mind again. Character Level 104,879,885 Ascendant Human? What in the actual fuck?