Now that everything was underway, and Adam had time to think about it, he was wondering how a nuclear device destroyed him. His current hit points were sitting at over 73 billion. Most low-yield nuclear devices only did about 400 hit points of damage in the initial blast which he could withstand easily. He had, in fact. The one that had been detonated by the Snelith Emperor had been a little bigger but there was no way it did 73 billion hit points in damage, so how had he been atomized.? He should have taken blast damage. Also, if he couldn’t just take the damage his Adaptable ability should have let him weather the other effects of the nuke, unless….

Adam pulled up his combat log and scrolled through the log until he found the moment the nuclear device had been detonated.

A 100,000 Kiloton Nuclear Device has detonated within 100 feet of you.

Unshielded objects within 100 feet take 100% Instantaneous damage.

Adam focused on Instantaneous and thought, Define.

Instantaneous damage – This type of damage comes from very powerful weapons or cataclysmic natural events; volcanic eruptions, nuclear explosions, etc. Creatures caught within the blast take percentage-based damage instead of point-based damage. As an example, if a nuclear device were to detonate a mile away from a creature and the blast wave hit them with debris that debris would do point-based damage. If the creature were at ground zero it would lose 100% of its hit points, no matter how many hit points the creature has. Instantaneous damage also bypasses any abilities that might prevent a creature from resisting the damage. Only active shielding and innate, or intrinsic, immunity provide any defense against Instantaneous damage

Whatever the Multitude was, it was changing the rules so that certain damage was percentage based. If there were melee weapons that started doing percentage-based damage, that would definitely give an advantage to those with skill, instead of those with a lot of hit points and a high healing rate. Such weapons would even be able to kill him. Vorpal Swords from one of the role-playing games he’d played came to mind. No matter how strong something was, one lucky hit and “Off with their head!” Those had been the good ole days. Adam considered the possibility that such weapons could exist. Of course, there had to be magical or technological melee weapons out there that did percentage-based damage.

Adam thought about it for a bit and couldn’t decide if he liked the idea or not. It would work against him from lower-powered individuals, but it would work for him if he was going against anything even more powerful than he was. Adam had a thought and then giggled. The idiots that put that rule in place probably didn’t have a lot of creatures that could get back up from being completely destroyed. Well, if he absolutely had to destroy something, he now had a way to do it at least. It would probably hurt them more than it would hurt him. Traveling at light speed into any object did things like that.

Adam put those thoughts to the back of his mind and started paying attention to the deployment of his armies and ships as they began their conquest of the last Solar System for this Sector.

***

The Supervisor sat at his desk and looked around. He should have been overseeing the struggle for this sector for the foreseeable future. He’d been here for just over 500 years, and he should have had at least another 500 – 1,000 years before he’d need to think about what was next. Now it looked like that would be tomorrow after Adam had only been a System Lord for 102 days.

The Supervisor still couldn’t understand how Adam’s forces could have moved so efficiently that the entire Sector was conquered in only 102 days. He knew this was not something the majority of those paying attention to this Sectors Trial for Supremacy had counted on as only three individuals had made wagers estimating that this Sector would be done that quickly. The next wager after 102 days was 183 days and there were no wagers for earlier than 102 days. A majority of the wagers were in the 1,200-to-1,300-year range, which was average for this type of Trial.

What was interesting was the races of the individuals that had made the wager. One was from Prelixar, a race of people that could forecast the future with uncanny accuracy. The second winner was a human. Though, as old as this human was, it was doubtful he was from the same realm as Adam. The third winner was one of the machine-intelligent species that bet based on a probability matrix. One of their kind was bound to win as so many were placing wagers, though only one had wagered on such a quick conclusion. The Machine Intelligence and Prelixar having a lucky break was understandable. The Human, human, however, was not.

The Supervisor pulled up the file on the Human. A single name, Strifeth. What kind of name was Strifeth? Regardless, the wagers had been made and it looked like they would collect quite a sum. With odds at 6 million to 1, they were going to receive a huge payday. There had been a lot of interest in this Sector when Adam had his Armada go forth and started conquering a system each day. After 3 days wagers had been locked when the analysts locked down all bets on the Sectors until the updated odds were calculated. The three big winners had made their wagers the very first day and the sums they had leveraged were not low. Each was trying to increase their personal Contribution Points so they could continue their personal growth as the cost to progress for them was so high and opportunities were quite scarce. Sector lords in their own right, they needed a lot of Contribution Points to improve their current Class and Quintessence Abilities.

The Supervisor reviewed Adam’s campaign. He had started with 47 fleets which all descended on a single solar system, moved into position around each planet, and demanded obedience. No shot’s had been fired and no one was killed. His armada simply went in, surrounded all the worlds within the system, and boarded any stations. The weapons they were using were more powerful than anything those that went against them could bring to bear and their defenses were powerful enough to defend against their weapons which made them invincible to anything the Planetary Emperors and System Lords he subjugated could bring to bear against him.

That’s not to say there weren’t a few deaths when some individuals went kamikaze but Adam’s ship and personnel shielding easily warded off any such attacks. One idiot had taken a ship at light speed into an administrator station. None of Adam’s fleet had been hurt in the attack. Whatever shielding he was using surrounded the ships in a shield that modified the quantum state of the ships and personnel within which caused the damage and shockwave to treat them like they weren’t even there. How such a field was even allowing the individual to walk in the stations was a mystery until the Supervisor realized that they weren’t walking, they were floating and bypassing all barriers, walls, and even shields.

When he pulled up the specs on the ships, weapons, and personal armor he’d been so surprised he’d exclaimed, “What in the name of all that is holy?” He’d been loud enough for everyone to hear within earshot of his office door, which was open. Just then he thought he heard one of the agents working in the main room say, “And there it is.”

The Supervisor ignored the mumblings from the main room and quickly looked over the specs of the ships again.

Shield Class: Unknown.

Weapon Class: Unknown.

Power Class: Unknown.

Maximum Sublight Speed: 99.99%

FTL Class: Unknown

He continued to look through the specs and then pulled up the materials that the ships were made of which made absolutely no sense to him. There were exotic metals and composites, some of which seemed to have Quantum designations. It wasn’t that the Multitude couldn’t designate them. It could. It was simply that he didn’t understand what the designations meant. He also couldn’t understand how someone from a world that was considered less than a Class 1 would know the exotic materials that the equipment utilized.

The Supervisor returned to reviewing the tactics Adam’s Armada utilized. The Fleet would enter through the wormhole. Ignore all resistance and then set out to encompass every major planet with backup fleets staged in strategic locations throughout the solar system. Once everyone was in place, the boarding parties would take the Administrator Stations that were occupied without a shot fired. The few times a station had been set up as a trap, they’d detonated, and the personnel were recovered, unhurt. The armor they wore had shielded them from everything. The armada had waited for the Multitude to reconstitute its Administrator station, which only took about an hour and then they’d moved in and claimed it.

Emperors and military commanders that resorted to methods that killed their support personnel were systematically hunted and killed within minutes as part of the Armada’s tool set where miniature Sensor satellites that transport ships brought from the Capital System before each invasion. A few of his scouts were loaded with the sensor satellites and then they would enter a system and drop the sensors around the planets to establish a digital net through which all political and military leaders were identified, targeted, and watched.

The Supervisor shook his head. Adam was thorough. As the Supervisor walked out into the command center for the Sector he moved toward the agent that was personally tracking and monitoring Adam and his empire.

“Yes, Supervisor,” The agent said as the Supervisor walked up.

“I was wondering, where is Adam getting all of this equipment from? The ships just seem to keep coming. With the specs I’m seeing on his ships, I don’t understand how he has the Contribution Points to keep acquiring ships with those capabilities?” The Supervisor asked.

“Adam has created portal technology, luckily it is still limited to within System only, so the dampening field is still working between solar systems,” the Agent said.

“I understand that he has had the use of local portals almost since he arrived. What does that have to do with acquiring the ships?” The Supervisor asked.

“Yes, we’ll, Adam has created matter conversion facilities where he is taking matter and energy from the solar system with the portal, transferring it to the matter converter facility, and then creating the equipment and supplies he needs.”

“Where is all that matter coming from, the habitable planets aren’t showing any signs of massive mining?”

“And they won’t. The matter is being converted from the uninhabited gas giants, moons, and asteroid belts.” The Agent said with a shrug.

The Supervisor thought about it for a moment. Adam must be using microscopic machines. That or magic. Something the Agent had just said resonated and he quickly asked, “Asteroid Belts, as in plural? He’s doing this in multiple systems?”

“Yes, He has created one facility in each system he conquered and spread the matter consumption among all the gas giants and asteroid belts. In some cases, moons though it looks like he is also harnessing the solar winds of the stars.”

` “How long until he’s claimed the last System?”

“We estimate that he will claim that last System within the hour.”

“Then I better get ready to greet our newest Sector Lord,” The Supervisor said as he made his way down to the greeting chamber that had been created for this purpose.

***

Adam made his way into the last Administrator Station and walked beside Vytrix Saljihar, Duke of the Trilax System, his first and most loyal Duke thus far.

“Sire, are you sure? This is the last system the honor should be yours,” The Duke said.

“Don’t you worry about me Vytrix, I’m sure something interesting is about to happen. I just want to make sure everyone has an opportunity to claim some Contribution Points and as I recall, you have not claimed a single planet or system since becoming my Duke, yet you’ve remained loyal,” Adam said.

“Sire, we both know I had no choice or chance against you. How else was I to progress than to serve?” Vytrix said.

“Many rulers would have balked at being relegated to 2nd place, you did not. I reward Loyalty. This Honor is yours Duke Saljihar,” Adam said as he gave the Duke a slight nod.

“As you wish, Sire, and thank you.”

They made their way to the Control Crystal Chamber for the Planet, which was the last Control Crystal for this system. Adam watched as Duke Saljihar placed his hand on the Crystal and claimed the System for the Adamantium Autocracy. A notification popped into his vision as he was suddenly teleported away.

Adam opened the Notification.

Congratulations! Your rank has been increased to Sector Lord. You are now the Sector Lord for this Sector which has been classified as 416e6f6d616c793030310d0a.

Adam immediately recognized that designation as “Anamoly001” in hexadecimal. So, it looked like the Multitude didn’t understand what was going on in his Sector at some level. That was good to know. Adam looked back at the Notification and wondered if there were going to be any more as he materialized in a large entry hall.

Before him was a marbled hallway at least 50 feet wide and over a hundred feet high made out of gold-laced marble, though the patterns of gold swirls within the marble seemed to form patterns. A few feet in front of him a crystalline, or would it be better to say a humanoid with skin that resembled diamonds, person in very comfortable-looking clothing stood. The clothing looked to be this creature’s version of a suit which highlighted the golden eyes that sparkled with an internal light. Adam felt as if he was being assessed before the creature spoke.

“Congratulations Adam! I am the Supervisor for this Sector. Welcome to the Champions Hall for this Region.

“Thank You, May I ask what is happening in my Sector at this moment?”

“You may. Zorvan has received instructions and is conveying those instructions to your Dukes. The next month the Dukes will allow the citizens of your empire to rest and relax before the next phase begins.”

“What is that next phase?” Adam asked.

“You need not worry about that at the moment. You have been brought here because you have achieved something, that our records indicate has never been accomplished before,” The Supervisor said.

“Would you care to elaborate?” Adam asked.

“Absolutely, please follow me. This place was chosen to facilitate this distribution of knowledge,” The Supervisor said as he began walking down the long hallway. Adam followed behind as the scenery to his left and right adjusted and a Mobius Strip appeared before and above them before it faded.

“What has been, will be. What is, has been. And thus the cycle repeats,” The Supervisor stated with some reverence as he bowed his head.

“Do you mean to say that you believe that time is cyclic?” Adam asked.

“What is time?” the Supervisor asked in return.

“Time is a measurement of moments in a linear line leading toward entropy?” Adam responded.

“Part of your definition is correct,” The Supervisor said as the image of the Mobius Strip reappeared and unwound, then circulated until a point lit up on the strip. Then the point of view shifted as the image zoomed in until Adam could see that the wide strip of the Mobius strip was made up of an infinite number of threads that branched and branched again as they wound their way around.

As the image continued to zoom in, it zeroed in on one thread and continued to get closer and closer as other threads disappeared from view as they fell out of the field of vision. Eventually, a rainbow-colored growth appeared on the thread in front of the progression of a thread with a blinking dot. The rainbow-colored growth seemed to be spreading to other threads. Adam intuitively knew that the thread he was looking at was the Multitude, which still consisted of many more threads within it though the image had ceased zooming in.

The Supervisor looked at the rainbow-colored growth that was spreading from a point on the thread and pointed at it, “To answer your question, that is why there is a Unification, Classification, and Trial,” the Supervisor said.

“If that is some future point, why not change what causes the problem?” Adam asked.

The Supervisor laughed, “Of course, we thought of that, except that the ability that allows us to see this overall forecast does not allow us to pinpoint what causes it. Additionally, any form of time travel into the past is dangerous, and moving into the future is pointless as they would have to come back to enact the change, which would be dangerous.”

“Why?” Adam asked.

While it is true that energy cannot be destroyed and only changes forms, it is also true that the realities that have formed can be unraveled and the energy that all matter and life is made up of can be reset. Those that mess with time run the risk of unraveling everything. Moving forward along the timeline is not an issue, everyone does this normally, and some just chose to do it more quickly. What is forbidden is moving backward in time. Such actions almost always cause unintended consequences,” The Supervisor said.

“So, what, the individuals that become your Sector Lords go fight whatever this is?” Adam asked

“Not exactly. That point on this timeline is in the predicted future,” the Supervisor said.

“Okay, then what am I here for?” Adam asked.

“You are here to receive your reward and also to receive instructions on what you need to do to prepare your sector for the upcoming conflict?”

“And my family and friends?” Adam said, pausing for a moment before he continued, “For that matter, what happened to Earth and everyone on it?” Adam asked.

“What you knew of as Earth, that entire Universe, has been incorporated into the Multitude. Sentients were rounded up, categorized, and either tested or planted within the Sectors we are using to test and prepare everyone for the coming conflict. All energy and matter from those locations have been absorbed as well,” the Supervisor said.

“The Multitude destroyed an entire Universe to fuel its obsession with a future problem?” Adam said angrily as his temper started to flair. “In fact, you are telling me that multiple Universes have been snuffed out to fuel this impending war?”

“Adam, you must calm down, The Multitude does what it will, those that question its magnificent plan usually find themselves serving as fuel for…”

“Oh shut up! I’ve been putting up with his charade because I wanted to see what kind of creatures or creatures this Multitude is. I believe I now have a very good idea. I also have a very good idea of what that disruption in the timeline is going to be…”

Adam’s body froze as the Supervisor snaped his crystalline fingers.

“You are NOTHING! You are an ant…

Adam ignored the supervisor and dropped into his Mindspace and then down to his soul core. He had not done what he was about to do because he truly wanted to see what kind of beings he was dealing with. He had been pretty sure when he saw the link to his soul that squeezed and siphoned off his quintessence energy but it was always best to double-check. That siphon had just been a more sophisticated version of the ring Apolyn had created. Stealing from everyone to give what was stolen to something or someone, or a group of beings. What these morons didn’t understand was that he was a creature of chaos. Something he had accepted when his consciousness had been scattered across the many realms, realities, and Universes that existed within the System Matrix. It may have been inside an electronic matrix but his exposure to chaos had been real and he was truly changed forever.

Adam zeroed in on his Chaos Incarnate ability node and slipped through the invisible barrier that the Multitude had surrounded it with. He was the chaos within the node, the Chaos was him. The only reason it wasn’t not breaking free was because Adam had not willed it so. He reached out to ensure he wasn’t mistaken with a tendril of chaos that passed through the barrier as if it wasn’t there. Adam checked in on his Mindspace and reviewed that the Supervisor was continuing with his Evil Nazi speech. He should have just enough time to fix this.

During the last four months, Adam had been going over what he’d learned while he’d been to the underside of the Dragon Universe. While he didn’t understand what command structure was being used he had theorized that his innate structure would allow him to request those changes if he entered the realm in his Dual State and then funneled those instructions through his Chaos Incarnate and Technomancy abilities. If Quintessence was just a filter to allow a will to direct its form and function then his Quintessence which was Chaos could direct any form and any function.

Of course, then the Unification had happened, and then the Classification, and finally the Trial. He could have tried what he was about to do at any time up until now but he wanted to see where this was all going. Preparing for a future war while stealing the energy and power from all their subjects and then having them kill each other off so they could keep that energy because as sure as a fly loved to step in shit, Adam was betting that if someone could break free from the Multitude the energy that the Multitude was “borrowing” would have to be returned.

This left only one question that Adam was about to find out the answer to. What happened to the titles? If they were a product of the Multitude, he’d probably lose them, unless…. Better not to jinx that idea. Anyway, if he lost the titles he’d still be exactly where he was before the Unification with his Quintessence Abilities back to level 50. Though it looked like the one thing that the Multitude did do that seemed to be an improvement was removed Universal Density and Sustainment. Of course, he might run into that again if he left the area the Multitude controlled but he didn’t think so. Adam had a feeling that the Universes that were in the vicinity of Earth’s Universe were created like that to prepare the inhabitants for the Multitude. If the Universe was cyclic, then there was a very good chance they’d seen this before. Maybe someone like him had arisen before? He could ponder those ideas forever. No, it was time to get to work.

Adam had his tendrils of chaos reach out and attach to each of his other ability nodes. All eight of his Racial Abilities and his 16 Quintessence Abilities. He was glad to see that the changes that the Multitude had made had stuck and Scan and True Vision now replaced True Sight, Scrutinize, Aura Sight, and Identify. Truthfully he liked the functionality of the new abilities a lot better.

This next part was going to be fun. Now that he had access to all of his abilities and could access them at will he knew that he could also take control of his body again, Why not? Adam allowed a portion of his mind to move up to his body then reached up and brushed his hair back.

The Supervisor saw Adam move and was immediately shocked into silence.

Adam looked at him with the full disdain he felt and allowed his full anger to manifest through his aura as he whispered, “I thought I said to shut up!”

Adam wasn’t expecting what happened next. The Supervisor exploded. One second he was there, the next he was dust. Note to self, aura’s are a thing out here in the real world and mine can shatter crystal creatures if I’m not careful. In fact, as Adam looked around he noticed that the marble hallway he was in was disintegrating around him as well.

Adam refocused on his Soul Core, activated Dual State, and followed the invisible quintessence siphon. As he thought, the siphon entered the Astral Plane and then continued out of it into another quasi-Astral Plane. The journey felt as if it took forever but in a moment he entered a plane beneath the quasi-astral and found himself in the Multitude. His vision adjusted and converted the energies he was seeing around himself so he could interpret them and suddenly he was floating between the ground and sky of a mechanized city landscape. There were roads and buildings below and above him. Additionally, a technology that he was very familiar with was trying to infiltrate and command him to follow its orders as nanites tried to flood into him, only to burn to a crisp as they touched him and fell away. They did not like the taste of chaos.

Adam activated Technomancy to see if they were actually nanites and wasn’t surprised when the ability didn’t work. His mind was interpreting what he saw as a mechanized landscape but it wasn’t and the nanites were not nanites, they were just some form of magic that his mind interpreted as nanites. As they couldn’t affect him, he wasn’t going to worry about it.

Adam followed the siphon to a tank and looked around until he found a control panel. As he looked around he saw that there were pipes leading into the storage tank, which resembled a fuel tank. Everything here seemed automated. Just then a message appeared on the control panel,

Terminate!

Adam touched the control panel and channeled his Chaos through Technomancy to be able to override the panel and explore its functions. A moment later he thought he understood and sent the flowing command

Increase to Class S Supervisor, all abilities

Immediately, Quintessence started rushing into the tank and then through the siphon into Adam and his ability nodes. Adam watched through his tendrils of chaos as his Soul Core and each of his abilities was saturated with Quintessence as each ability rose from Class 1 through 10 and then to Class E, D, C, B, A, and finally, S. Adam looked at his teleport ability to get a feel for how many Quintessence levels each Class increased by and was amazed. Class 1 was levels 1-100, Class 2 was 101-200, and so on. This pattern remained until Class S, which was equivalent to 2,000 Quintessence levels.

Once the quintessence was done filling his Soul Core, Adam expanded the chaos that resided within that ability node and created a barrier that severed the siphon and shut down the tank he was looking at. A new message popped up in the Terminal when his connection was severed.

Subject Terminated.

Of course, things couldn’t be that easy as error messages started appearing on the screen. It looked like the tank was trying to recall all of the quintessence that had been given to him and was unable to determine his location. Adam activated Obscure and rose away as a flood of flying robots descended on the tank and started scanning the area as they looked for the siphon. One of the robots even made it to the location he’d just been sitting at and was scanning the area.

Adam left the area and went looking for a hub or control point. A moment later he found one where he was able to access the terminal with chaos and Technomancy and started searching for his family and friends. Unfortunately, individuals were not designated within the system by their names, races, or any other type of system that would allow him to find them.

So now it was time to start searching for a control point and find out if there was anyone with a classification higher than Class S. Additionally, he needed to put a spanner in the works here.

For the next little bit, and by a little bit, Adam figured it had been weeks, if not months, Adam searched the realm he was in. He searched until he had a fundamental understanding of what was going on. At specific locations, quintessence was drawn up from below this realm, be that the fundamental layer of energy that was magic or some other such realm. It was categorized, organized, and placed in storage containers that in turn shared that quintessence with every single being that the Multitude had. Adam watched as Quintessence flooded in from above continuously which meant that either a Unification or Classification was happening when there was a huge flood of quintessence. Only a small bit of quintessence was siphoned back when an individual or a couple of individuals died and the little bit of quintessence they’d been allowed to keep was also taken by the Multitude.

Once he had a good handle on how things were happening here he decided that the future needed to be now and found one of the central points where quintessence was being drawn from below. In those areas, his True Vision represented the devices doing the drilling as oil drills you might find on the plains in Texas.

Still, in his Dual State and Obscured, Adam flew down the drill point and followed it through to the realm of…

“Oh, my,” was the only thought that escaped Adam as Primal Chaos surrounded him, mutated slightly, and started making its way past the safeguards that had been put in place. Adam could do nothing as the Primal Chaos surrounded him, found him to be a kindred spirit, and began the process of trying to absorb him. Adam’s will was far too strong for that, but his memories and experiences were shared and distributed which kept Adam locked in place as a volcano of Primal Chaos rushed up into the realm of the Multitude.

Part of Adam could only watch helplessly as his existence turned into a cacophony of memories from every creature he’d ever absorbed or downloaded which the Primal Chaos absorbed greedily.