Chapter 356

By the Shimmer of Stars

The day had come--Cain felt it in his bones, at the strike of the midnight. Rather than undergoing whatever he was about to undergo inside the city, he left it swiftly and went back to the same volcano as the first time. Sitting down cross-legged, eyes glazed in the reflection of the roaring fires below, he settled his heart and began to touch the Mana within him. Soon enough, it exploded, burning into a sky-high pillar of multi-colored light.

He felt the surge of energy overwhelm his mind as he found himself pulled into the white, sprawling void--but there was something different. Instead of a statue, there was a little girl. She couldn’t have been older than eight or nine, Cain was certain. She wore a simple, white-woven dress, her shimmering, all-colored hair rolling backward like spiraling tentacles.

A pair of pitch-black eyes, iris and all else included, stared at him expressionlessly, her arms resting by her side. The white canvas, as before, suddenly shifted, unveiling the cosmos above--billions of stars and galaxies roaring in all their glory, unblemished still.

“Witness,” the girl spoke out in a soft yet eerily robotic tone, suddenly snapping her fingers together. The canvas above was abruptly erased, replaced by... nothing. Not even darkness--conceptually, Cain knew, it could not be worded. However, he understood, his expression collapsing. He’d ‘seen’ this ‘nothing’, felt it, experienced it, lived. Back before it all. Matter. Time. Thought. “The Genesis.”

As before, it played out the same--from the kindling fire, over time beyond comprehension, the cosmos was born.

“I already witnessed it,” Cain said somberly.

“You witnessed the gears and machinations of it,” the girl said. “The numbness and the coldness of it. The unrivaled apathy. However,” she added as the whole thing replayed once again. “You did not experience the most important thing.”

“... which is?” Cain prompted the girl after she fell silent.

“The beauty,” she replied simply as the stars began to shine even more brightly. It was beautiful, there was no question about it. However, it was difficult to admire the beauty of it... suffering through the voidage before it. “The Creator molded the beginning and breathed life into the cosmos. And till today, the machinations set in place are being upheld by those of noble hearts. But the Starbringers made the universe what it is, Inheritor. Amidst the pathetic carnage, unending wars, and all the pain cosmos bears down upon the mortal wounds--all of creation still looks up, or down, or right or left, out into the vastness. They recognize it is no different unto the many other worlds beyond--but hope, like an undying flame, persists.”

“...”

“The true living, one that embraces the coming of death, is not rooted in the gears of creation, Inheritor. It is found in the hearts that look at the stars and wonder.”

“Who are you?” Cain asked.

“All of us have used stars to fuel our petty wars,” she added. “And you will be no different. Our path may be romantic, but we are not naive, Inheritor. Beauty nary speaks to the greedy and wanting. So, use them--the stars. Use the entire cosmos as your tool of creation, and rise above all. We only have but one requirement.”

“Which is?”

“By the time you put your sword down,” she added, closing her eyes and lowering her head. “All we wish... is that you leave behind more stars than you’ve found. That is all.”

“... I’ll try,” Cain replied. “Again, though--who are you?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she replied, extending her arm forward and pointing her index finger at him. A ball of pure light coalesced at its tip, shining and shimmering beyond reproach, seeming to hold the weight of the creation within itself. “When the Past Fell, and He made the choice--thirteen followed. But time... time is cruel, and the hearts of men change. Now, He is alone. A wanderer, caught in a perpetual net of watching what He made decay and rot. We can see Him, parts of Him, within you--they have summoned me, after all. You are meant for more, Starbringer. A Witness to the Cycles. A man who touched the Divine. Look up, Conqueror,” the girl suddenly smiled as the ball of light exploded, its shining shimmers washing over Cain like rain. “For there the path of beauty shines everlasting. Help Him, Cain,” she added as Cain felt his soul being washed in the kind of primordial energy that was almost indescribable. “For I have failed, as have all those who swore to Him that we would never change. We changed, Cain. All of us. But His heart stayed true.”

“W-who are you?!” Cain managed to mumble, barely containing the energy burning within him.

“Help my father, Cain,” she added as the world around them began to collapse. Cracks akin to the shattering glass began to spread out like spiderweb, undoing the done. “Help him.”

Though Cain wanted to speak, he was unable to--the reality he was summoned to vanished and, as he opened his eyes, he found himself back on the top of the volcano, the pillar of light gone, the fire below him roaring quaintly. He had calmed, as did the storm within him. Rather than the storm of energy, however, what continued to echo was the storm of emotions--the last ‘Help him’ did not come from the voice of robotic melancholy. Instead, it sounded like the voice of a helpless little girl, begging. It triggered a string within his heart, reminding him of when Lana was young. It was almost the same, he felt.

Taking a deep breath, he rubbed the bridge of his nose, countless thoughts swarming him. Him... him... him... judging by her words, I met him? Fucking when? No, no, even before that--did she imply that... they came from somewhere else? When the Past Fell... maybe survivors of some previous big cycles or something? No, it sounded bigger than that, sighing, Cain took out a bottle of beer and took a swig.

“She... she can’t be talkin’ about the big ol’ Creator, eh?” Cain mumbled, smiling bitterly. Thirteen followed... it doesn’t coincide with the current ranks. So it means... something, at some point, changed, and the structure was done differently. Haah... “I shoulda just taken Lana and Emma and Senna and got us a nice cottage somewhere far away. Too late for that shit now, though.”

[Congratulations, Cain Gregory!]

[You have completed the First Phase of Awakening!]

[Your Mana has been completely star-infused!]

[New Effect--Starlit Mana]

[Starlit Mana--every spell naturally carries a trace of the Stars, increasing the output by up to 15%.

Mana Consumption across the board has been increased by 50%

In turn, if a Skill successfully hits, restore 70% of the consumed Mana]

[You have formed your first Fetal Starcore!]

[Fetal Starcore--a bundle of pure Star Energy. Requires 3,000,000 Starlit Mana infused for the first Evolution into Immature Starcore]

[New Title Unlocked!--Creator of Stars]

[Creator of Stars--after killing an enemy, absorb up to 95% of their remaining Mana directly into any of the Starcores or Stars you have. Works on everyone and everything with Mana, but the killed need to be within 50 levels of you, up and down, and you need to have dealt the majority of damage to them]

[Second Phase of the Awakening Requirements:

Create your first Newborn Star

Obtain the title the of Star Lord

Absorb the energy of a fully Mature Star without dying]

“Ugh,” Cain groaned, leaning back and looking at the horizon. “Why is it all so complicated?”

He had plenty of tools at his disposal already, and he knew it was greedy to be in want of more. However, he had to be greedy--especially considering the future. Even though he was already way, way, way ahead of the curve to the point he suspected he ought to be fighting Guardians of 40th floor and above, that wasn’t his goal. His goal was equally way, way, way bigger than some middling guardians.

As such, though the slight power increase from the converted Mana was welcome, the delay in the complete Awakening frustrated him--especially the insane requirements. He could already predict that creating a Newborn Star will likely require billions of points of Mana. After all, just creating an Immature Starcore required three million. Furthermore, if he wanted Mana of others, he would have to kill them rather than just defeating them. It’s basically telling me to go hunt bosses and Guardians and greedily devour their Mana before they expend too much of it...

As for the last requirement, absorbing the energy of the Mature Star sounded... insane. Yap, that’s the word, after all--it was effectively telling him to go to the surface of the sun and sit on it and absorb the sun.

“Fuckin’ shit,” he grumbled, finishing off the beer. “Before that, couldn’t you have at least given me a way to survive in the fucking vacuum of space?”

Though he was complaining, he could actually survive within it already by simply using Mana. The issue was very simple, and something that other Conquerors in his past life had confirmed before--there was no Mana in open space. It was just like Earth before the Towers fell--fully dry. As such, there was no means of replenishing the Mana one was losing by shielding their body from the elements.

So, yes, he could go to space, but he’d die around fifty thousand times over before even remotely approaching the sun, let alone managing to land on its surface. Though he trusted his defenses greatly, there was no way he could survive even a second anywhere near the surface, let alone on top of it. Beyond that, he also had zero intentions of actually sucking the sun dry--if he did, the entire solar system would collapse. As such, he’d have to aim for another star, somewhere elsewhere in the universe.

“Fuckin’ bullshit,” he grumbled, realizing that this was a long, long-term plan for the semi-distant future. “No wonder there’s only ever one Starbringer. The entire cosmos only ever gives birth to one maniac insane enough to mantle the fuckin’ Class in a generation. If there were two, the entire reality would implode. Aah, let’s go back, I guess. There’s nothing within the first seventy floors that will enable me to survive and suck up a fuckin’ star. It means... it’s somewhere above that. Or we just didn’t discover it the last go-around. First goal... I need to expand my Mana pool even more. The Class is clearly the high-consumer-hard-hitter type. Fuck, that 50% increase in consumption just nuked my mobility. Do they want me to stay and shoot like a fuckin’ turret? Aaah... I hate this... sun of a bitch--pfft, ha ha ha, man, I’m goddamn hilarious, ha ha ha...”