I noticed a pattern as we watched more of Solomon’s life, especially as he advanced into Tier 5; he somehow had more Skills than he had Tiers. I had noticed some of the people watching Solomon’s training say as much, but it hadn’t clicked for me until I watched a memory of Solomon meditating and churning essence into his core. Once he had hit Tier 5, he received a Skill that allowed him to read the essence used by someone Tier 6 or below when casting a spell. Once having read the essence, Solomon’s Skill allowed him to replicate said Skill and use it himself, with a cooldown time of only five minutes.
So, that meant he could find any Skill belonging to anyone else Tier 6 and below and use it. That was massive, insurmountable power. His Skill technically allowed him to use multiple Skills–of his choosing! Had he had something similar already during the memory of 18-year-old Solomon in that training arena? But in that memory, it seemed he’d used multiple Skills in quick succession…. How had he done that?
But, no matter how Solomon had done the things he did, excitement coursed through my veins.
This could be me.
If all of this “clone” stuff was indeed true, and I did share identical DNA with this Solomon, I could get stronger, too! And possibly have the capability to use others’ Skills and cast others’ spells!
But I had to actually advance to Tier 1 first.
Is the Lord Solomon AI ever planning on telling me how to do that?
The AI continued to show me an entire lifetime’s worth of memories and then some. I watched the real Solomon grow stronger and stronger, surpassing Tier 5, Tier 6, Tier 7…. At Tier 7, when he was around 35 years old, his aging had started to slow. I didn’t even know that was possible! Then he advanced to Tier 10, 13, 15…. I’d never known the Tiers climbed so high!
And as his aging continued to slow so much that it nearly brought him to the brink of immortality, I watched Solomon lose many people he loved. All of his siblings and a majority of his friends died either from old age for not having passed Tier 6 or during different battles. And let me tell you, there were a lot of battles in Lord Solomon’s lifetime. No, he lived more than just one lifetime. By the time he’d reached Tier 18, he was a few hundred years old! I had lost track of his age and could not recall the exact number. But even several hundred years old, Solomon never looked more than a man in his mid-40s, just as the AI version of himself looked.
The memories became more and more real to me as I felt I was beginning to know who this man had been. After many deaths of his family and friends, and after the deaths of three separate women he had fallen in love with and even had children with, it seemed Solomon had grown colder. His one goal was to get stronger, and he got to a point where he wouldn’t allow himself to get close to anyone ever again.
Tier 19, then Tier 20 passed, and he traveled and explored thousands of different worlds and hundreds of different universes. My brain couldn’t comprehend the vastness of a never-ending existence, not just as Solomon continued to age slower and grow older than I’d ever thought possible but also with how much there was out there.
The next memory showed something similar to so many others the AI had already shown me; Solomon sat with legs crossed underneath him and arms laid out loosely at his sides. His eyes fluttered gently as he dug into his mind and core and prepared to break past Tier 20.
He sat atop the peak of a snowy mountain, but the cold wind and heavy flurries of snow didn’t seem to bother him. He didn’t even move to tighten the bundle of fur clothing wrapped around his torso. I didn’t feel the chill, either, but I also wasn’t physically there, as the Lord Solomon AI had explained to me.
“I want to take you into Lord Solomon’s mind for a moment, Number 52.”
I turned to the AI. “Are we not already in his mind?”
“We are in his memories. I want to show you firsthand what he is about to see.”
Darkness swirled in my vision, then the darkness was quickly replaced by a floating orb glowing a hot white. It looked familiar…. Yes! It looked similar to when Drayek had guided me in imagining my core, when he’d tried to assist me in advancing to Tier 1. But this floating ball looked huge, like it could take up the space of someone’s entire Soul. Is that what happened to a core when it grew in strength? If so, mine was obviously a baby in comparison.
Lines of iridescent blue essence flowed into the core, and the ball welcomed them with outstretched rays of white, then it quickly absorbed the streams. The core burned hotter as each stream of essence entered. After a few more moments of meditation, a separate image replaced the one of Solomon’s core.
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A transparent slate with hints of gold-yellow hues filled my vision. On its surface were long lines of words. I moved my head about, but the slate followed my eyes. Was this image also in Solomon’s mind? I began studying the words:
STATUS
NAME: SOLOMON ROHN
CELESTIAL TIER: 1
CELESTIAL TIER 1 SKILL:
OMNISCIENT INSIGHT
-THIS SKILL GRANTS THE USER THE ABILITY TO READ THE PAST AND PRESENT EVENTS OF ALL ESSENCE.
“What does that mean exactly?” I asked the Lord Solomon AI.
“Essence makes up every person, every creature, every plant…. Essence is the basis of all existence. Essence is what chooses people’s Skills, even. Essence can read someone’s character and bestow a Skill in relation to who he or she is.”
My head hurt. I felt like this AI man was shoving an insurmountable amount of new information in my brain and trying to make my head explode.
The Lord Solomon AI closed his eyes as if recalling more memories of the life of his origin self. “If you remember what we’ve seen, all of Lord Solomon’s Skills further his ability to read essence and use it to his advantage. Because essence is the very core of everything, as a god, he was able to read all essence and know the past and present occurrences of every person, building, planet…. Really, he could know everything about anyone or anything you could think of.”
I whistled, impressed. If that didn’t prove to me that Solomon had reached a god-like level, I didn’t know what would.
The slate describing Solomon’s new Skill disappeared, and then the AI version of him changed our surroundings from cold mountaintops to a warmly decorated great hall. Tapestries painted every color of the rainbow spilled over the tall walls, and a thick red carpet stretched over the long floor all the way to a gold-encrusted semicircle of at least five or six hundred marble stone seats, each as large as the gray throne in Lord Solomon’s facility back in the cave in Edrona.
I shook my head. I was still in that cave, technically. We’d never left. I kept forgetting that.
Upon each seat at the end of the grand hall sat the most beautiful people I had ever seen. And by that, I mean they were perfect. No blemishes were to be found. Every hair was in place, and none of their robes displayed a single wrinkle. The thing I most marveled at, however, was the different colors each person had emanating from their robes. There was a robe representing every color in existence and some colors I had never even seen before.
These people were grand, giant, and… godly.
I felt like little more than a speck that one of these perfect beings could flick away without the blink of an eye.
Before them knelt Solomon with his head bowed. A long black cape on his shoulders splayed out behind him, adding a surprisingly nice detail to the red carpet below his feet.
“Congratulations on ascending to godhood, Solomon Rohn,” a man in the center of the group of hundreds bellowed. His voice carried effortlessly through the enormous space.
“Thank you, Lord Dhismir. I am pleased to join such an elite group,” Solomon replied. His voice carried just as well.
The lord in the center displayed a perfect row of teeth as he smiled. “Few ever make it to the Celestial Tiers. What you see before you are just a few hundred among trillions of people in existence. It is no easy feat, what you accomplished.”
Solomon tilted his head up from his feet and took in the people before him. “Thank you, Lord Dhismir.”
“And you are also a lord now–a god, just like those of us before you. Lord Solomon. How does that sound?” Lord Dhismir’s smile grew.
The newly appointed Lord Solomon rose from his knees. “It sounds amazing.”
I couldn’t see his face, but I could feel Solomon’s own smile in his words.
“What is your Celestial Tier 1 Skill, Lord Solomon?” another person spoke, a woman with golden curls cascading past the armrests of her chair. She sat just two rows behind Lord Dhismir.
“Omniscient Insight,” Solomon said. “I have the ability to access any knowledge from the past and present.”
Silence fell. Matching scowls drifted upon every face in front of Solomon. Had he said something wrong?
“That sounds quite similar to your Celestial Tier 1 Skill, Lady Euridice,” the same golden-haired woman directed to her left. “That is strange, don’t you think?”
All eyes moved to a woman tapping fidgety fingers along her armrests. My knees trembled once I recognized her; the Lady Euridice. The goddess–my goddess. My mouth went dry, and I fought the urge to drop to the floor in a humble bow.
Her hair was so blond it looked almost white. Half of her hair twisted in braids around her tan and line-free forehead. The rest fell over her shoulders in loose, immaculate waves. Her eyes seemed to blaze with a yellow fire, making her irises look almost golden. She curled her upper lip in distaste as she studied Lord Solomon.
“My Celestial Tier 1 Skill offers me omniscient knowledge in all things past and present.” Her eyes narrowed at Lord Solomon. “Just as you claim yours does.”
Solomon’s shoulders straightened. “That is my Skill, my lady. In fact, I can now read your essence and learn everything there is to know about you.”
He paused for a moment, his audience holding their breaths.
“Your Celestial Skills have nothing to do with knowledge and everything to do with deception and lies.”