“It always starts with two and ends with more.”

“Much. Much more.”

#16 Quote - Book of Races and Species.

*

Dream Realm - Goldy

Grand Observer and Librarian of Dreams observed The Honey Badgers.

Seasons passed out there in Reality since it had started observing them, and one particular Honey Badger stood out amongst them.

His name was Maximus.

He was named Maximus for his effort at staying with a female Honey Badger in the Second Stage of Ascension.

Therefore that made her much bigger than him.

In the beginning, Magi, the female Honey Badger, had taken on the dominant role.

It was as if her motherly instinct had taken over, and in Maximus' case, he reverted to an adolescent mentality when accompanying this bigger female.

However, there was only so much that Maximus could take before his hormones told him to become a man.

Therefore, he either leaves Magi or mates with her.

The problem was that the biggest indicator of those actions depended on his own growth in size.

Maximus is a fully grown adult. And as is common among Honey Badgers, once one’s progeny grew to rival the mother's size, they are usually kicked out into the wild.

In this case, that could not happen, as Maximus was not her progeny. So in Maximus' case, all those bottled-up male feelings had to find a way to escape his system.

What followed when Maximus followed his own instincts were the consequences of Magi rejecting Maximus came, as her instincts denied him.

They denied him because her instinct demanded a bigger, stronger male for good offspring.

With lots of hisses and growling, plus a scuffle between the two, Magi successfully drove off Maximus.

When the rejection came, it didn't hurt him that much. After all, it wasn't the first time he had been shoved away by a mother, even if this case was unique where Magi wasn't his mother, and neither was she anything related to him.

Nevertheless, when time passed in his second exile, and his freedom as a male returned again, it bothered him quite a lot.

It bothered him even after he made a drive-by to visit another female.

After meeting her, a clear feeling of disinterest overcame him.

If he'd had a way to understand his own feelings, then Maximus would have realized that the apparent lack of challenge bothered him. Although, the fact that those females could not produce the White Flame got included in his feelings, as being able to do it made Magi special in his mind.

So Maximus did what every male did when deprived of sex, he returned to a certain female, and Maximus began stalking this bigger female.

However, this time was different. This time his innate stubbornness had manifested.

It filled his little mind with purpose like nothing before.

Nonetheless, just stalking was not enough to win the approval of this big female.

Maximus had to compensate for his size by skill. So with every opportunity he found, he hunted down a creature bigger than him. That commitment became two things.

The prized opportunity to improve himself and his skill.

All while being a chance to deliver a gift to Magi.

However, there was one ulterior motive that superseded all that.

The first time he had delivered a gift for Magi, he spewed his own White Flame on the carcass, but unlike Magi's, his Flame did nothing. It just stayed on the remains for a while before sputtering out.

After enough proddings, every time Maximus brought forth a gift, Magi would light the carcass on fire so both would feast on the White Flame.

Over time, Maximus succeeded in his ambition of returning to Magi’s good graces, but he still was not allowed the most intimate bond between a male and female.

Magi’s instinct just would not lower their standards.

Once again, the unique stubbornness inside Maximus showed itself, and he did not give up.

With many battles and multiple scars under his belt, especially after eating all those White Flames, Maximus finally achieved the minimum necessary achievement of a strong enough Consciousness to trigger a special event.

And as if he was not lucky enough already, Magi was by his side when Maximus stopped munching on the White Flame.

With an instinct triggering inside her, she too stopped munching on the Flame, and her beady eyes stared deeply at Maximus.

No doubt she could sense something was about to happen, and she was not the only one.

Goldy, in his frequent observations of Maximus and Magi, had long since glimpsed that Maximus was due to achieving the Second Stage of Ascension.

When it saw the event unfolding, it flared a message to its Master.

A moment later, Mir, the Master of the Dream Realm, appeared from nowhere.

His beady Honey Badger eyes immediately locked on everything Goldy projected on the backside of his Mirror body.

A moment later, Mir placed his paws on Goldy’s Mirror form and poured more Auril inside it. Instantly the clarity of the central projection increased. While at the same time, multiple more projections appeared beside the main one in the center.

All of them circled the main one, and all of those side projections contained the same target, but what they projected was entirely different.

Some had different colors.

Some had different spectrums of vision, like seeing through the body of Maximus.

Some had entirely different projections of various fields around and inside Maximus’s body.

All in all. These projections contained what Mir had known from his memories and the things he discovered with Goldy’s help. And now, all of them were observing the same target and what he was about to undergo.

With everything pointed at one target, it became no surprise when the World's awareness descended on this little being that it noticed somebody else observing it.

When the World, in this narrowed-down perception, recognized from where it came, again, it chose to take a peek inside.

Two Individuals and one World recognized immediately that all three were aware of each other.

It was as if Time stood still for all three before Mir broke it.

“Umm… Hi.” Mir stated as he felt the amorphous and distant presence lock onto him.

From it, Mir felt a tiny bit of recognition. But that was all, as no reply came from this overwhelming but distant presence.

No reply came from the World, and why should it bother with responses? It's not the first time somebody became aware of it when its perception narrowed down so much, but their existence simply could not be compared.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

All of them were but Tiny Bugs upon Its Skins.

Still, while it did not reply, it did take a good look around after examining Goldy for a moment.

The World saw three structures that took its fancy, but even those feelings only lasted one single moment for somebody as grand as it.

So when it had seen and examined everything, it retreated its perception to Maximus. Following the established procedure it had created for this species, The World helped it achieve what would have taken eons upon eons of typical and boring Evolution to happen.

Once that was done, the protocols giving it this narrowed-down perception vanished, and any existence below those standing at the apex no longer bothered it.

Maximus, on the other hand, was stuck in a strange trance. As his body, dosed with tons of Mana, began to grow.

Magi, the female Honey Badger, stood beside him and watched it all happen. And while she knew not why it happened, her excitement for finally finding a worthy male eclipsed anything else.

Mir and Goldy, on the other hand, recorded everything that was happening with the minds of the utmost focused state possible for both of them.

Mir did not want to miss any second of the valuable data being observed and projected for his convenience.

As he watched it all occur in real-time, in his mind, as he observed it, a very simple idea surfaced.

I wonder if I can take advantage of this process.

Once all was over, Mir watched Maximus flex his now bigger body.

*

Maximus coughed a few times, and as a response, a White Flame manifested on his white furred back and mouth, but despite the wonders of those things, once his eyes gazed at Magi, there was no going back.

Instantly, as he looked down on her, his thoughts got strung into one direction so hard that what happened next would no doubt be an exciting time for both of them.

Of course, that was after they entered the large burrow Magi had excavated for herself, as all the others out there in the ground were far too small for her.

Nonetheless, this burrow was tight for Maximus, as he exceeded Magi by quite a bit now.

And that was as it should be, as every instinct in both the male and the female agreed with that fact.

Plenty of nudging and biting and happy times later, Maximus left the burrow feeling like being the man amongst men.

The cream de la cream of Honey Badgers is in existence.

Yet, unlike what usually would happen after the deed was done, Maximus did not leave immediately.

Inside his mind, a strange Idea appeared.

The Idea was simple.

He had worked far too hard for this to be just a short little trippy trip.

So why should he leave? If he can have this, all the time, and whenever he wants.

*

Back in the Dream Realm, Mir sidetracked everything else in favor of going over the data Goldy had acquired for him.

He poured his attention over every tiny crack and crevice he could find.

From the various transformations happening to Maximus' growing body. To the diverse fields that have changed inside and around his body.

He studied their interactions and came to a simple conclusion.

There were few changes overall aside from the size increase and the innate change the White Flame had undergone.

All of that hinted at a possibility that had emerged in his mind.

However, Mir had no idea how it would interact with his Auril.

From what he had witnessed there was little interaction between Life Essence and Mana, if his observation was correct, during the growing process. However, that was only possible when the Life Essence that got diffused around Maximus' body was of the quantities he possessed.

The comparison between Maximus and Mir is very abysmal when every single cell in Mir’s body could produce as much as Maximus' whole body if he gave it some time.

Yet, that was not the worst, as he could shut down the production any time he wanted.

No, the worst was that every single cell contained a bit of his Consciousness regulating his whole body to any and all his wishes.

Mir was definitely sure he had not found all the practical things he could do with it, but he was sure of one thing. If he ever attempted to make use of this… Ascension process, he would be submitting his whole existence to that process. And although he had no fear of something untoward happening to him, his spontaneous reactions were a different game.

The Ascension would become an All in or Not at All process, as he had no doubt that any active use of his Auril would disrupt the Ascension because his Auril had a natural field or barrier type of state.

No, I can't risk agonizing that enormous presence by interrupting it. I need more data.

“Goldy.” Mir said. “Can you determine the next Individual who is the most likely Individual to undergo the same thing Maximus had?”

“I can, Master.” Goldy replied.

“And?”

“If the current pace is kept, I believe it will take at least a few years for the process of Ascension to recur.” Goldy replied.

“And what about the next step?” Mir questioned.

Not replying immediately, Mir gave the Mirror and its golden-slitted iris a look before shaking his head and not interrupting Goldy.

Moments passed when Goldy replied to its Master's inquiry. “I am sorry, Master. But I simply do not have enough observational information to conclude. It could be anywhere from years to decades.”

“I see.” Mir murmured back. “And there being so few possible candidates only lessens those chances.”

Pondering upon his options, an obvious solution came to Mir. Yet he was not sure if he was ready to make it happen.

Considering it one more time, Mir gazed upon the Galaxy Core and the initial four Honey Badgers with the highest chances of achieving the next stage.

Then his eyes gazed upon the Core where Alexander slept.

He is a bit of a wild factor. Especially, after the last two years of his life and his fixation on Vengeance. Yet, even if that was not the problem, Alexander would still take longer than the current candidates as he would start from the beginning.

After Alexander, Mir’s gaze landed on the triple helix particle stream escaping the Galaxy Core.

The reward system isn't online yet, but that does not mean I can't use it manually.

Alright, manually, it is.

With a firm decision behind his next action, Mir settled his gaze upon the four candidates.

I should first do a test run. Let's pick Want, as he looks like the safest option right now.

One thought away, and Mir’s awareness settled on the bubble representing Wand.

He examined the Dream/Goal of this Honey Badger once more.

Mir concluded that nothing had changed since the last time he examined any of the four. And nothing would change for as long as their simple minds desired the most simplest of things.

A simple nudge from Mir and the bubble veered off its course into the Galaxy Core. It took a moment for it to arrive, but once it did, it popped just like any other bubble did once poked.

Once the bubble popped, nothing appeared visually, as Potential Momentum had no form or substance by itself. But that mattered not, as it still got sucked into the Galaxy Core as it was meant to be.

The Galaxy Core shattered that momentum and sucked everything inside it.

Realizing that fact, Mir sent one thought into the Galaxy Core to isolate Alexander from it.

Moments later, Mir and Goldy watched the Core grind the momentum into particles and stream it into the Nebulous Clouds at the top of the Dream Realm.

Once the particles reached the Nebulous Clouds, they attached themselves to different colors, and every color and every cloud represented a diverse function.

What those functions truly were, was yet to be set in stone, as that was for Mir to do, but there was one aspect of those Nebulous Clouds that Mir could not change.

He could not change it as it was the core of the Nebulous Clouds. If he got rid of it, the Nebulous Clouds would vanish as well.

I wonder what The Original Mir went through to make him implement a hardcoded D&D Alignment Chart.

Wondering it once more for a moment, Mir shook his Honey Badger head, and with Intent, he gathered the same amount of Potential Chaos from the Clouds that they received prior into one tiny ball.

Once this tiny bit of Potential Chaos was in his hands, Mir considered what to do with it.

In the future, the rewards would be tied to the momentum gathered, but these Honey Badgers were as general as they could be.

So Mir decided to just leave it as general as it could be.

With a flick of his right paw, the tiny ball flew to the Arching Portal. Once there, it entered into the star representing Wand.

Through the Portal connecting them, the tiny ball of Potential Chaos emerged inside the body of Wand. A moment later, with the instructions placed inside it, the Potential Chaos expanded and spread itself around the Honey Badger's body.

Once spread, it infused itself into the body. And moments later, there was nothing left.

Through Goldy, Mir observed it all. So when he noticed everything went well, he repeated the same procedure. Only this time, he narrowed down the instructions to suit Scar better.

With a flick of Mir’s right paw, it too reached a certain star on the Arched Portal.

That should narrow down his adaptability but increase his overall survival chance.

Repeating the same procedure and holding two tiny balls of Potential Chaos in his paws, Mir focused much more this time, as it concerned Magi and Maximus.

Narrowing down his instructions, Mir sent them forth.

Once he was done, all Mir needed to do was wait for the results.

However, in Mir’s mind, there was no doubt that all this had to be automated.

Especially, at the Dream/Goal establishment, as that part could only be done by the Individual in question.

Hmm, maybe I should think outside the box here.

.

.

.

Wait a second. I totally had plans for the Onion structure of a Consciousness.

Hmph, stupid Eldritch Eye Nightmare making me forget.