Starlight shimmered in dazzling bands as it radiated from the hefty red star he cradled in between both of his palms. Light and radiation blazed from the unstable star while he strained his powers to keep it from collapsing while he pushed them both. Warlock's Sanctum buzzed all around him as the power bucked against his control.
Eli sat in the middle of a barren room he'd scrapped his other rooms to create. It was nothing but reinforced stone and darkness. Starlight Conjuration had glazed sections of the room from when it had ripped out of his grasp and glassed the ground into molten stone pock-marked with char.
Body of Light's protection was a fragile shield as he drained all his light to infuse it into Starlight Conjuration before he drained the wasted light to heal his burns while the cycle continued. Bolts of light flashed in between the cage of his fingers while tension shuddered through the muscles of his aching arms. Pain sawed along his jaw and gritted teeth while sparks of starlight burst as the star churned around the nascent core.
Scorching air sizzled in Eli's throat as he drained his radiance into the red star with a crunch as he compressed it further with Photon Shot. Pure light ignited with blinding incandescence as he forced the stat power to nudge Starlight Conjuration closer to charging the barely there star up. He had done more research on his enchanting spree and learned how to progress his stat power to and force it to evolve.
Eli also learned how to corrupt powers for some interesting results.
It wasn't recommended, even in the old guides and other books he had copied into Warlock's Sanctum, but it was almost safe if done with a specific goal. Slotting a stat power turned them into an integral part of someone and removed it from the System's administration. Normally, the System monitored the progress people made with their powers and it’ll award level ups as they improve their understanding of it. Evolutions were when the System gave it a significant push forward as it rose to new heights.
Stat powers and corrupted powers required taking matters into your own hands. But any corruptions were permanent changes to the power as it was. If he fucked up, that'd be it for Starlight Conjuration as it was. But if he succeeded, he'd be able to skip a whole round of power engineering to make it fit his needs a bit better.
In order for Eli to force Photon Shot to evolve, he had to push it on its own and force it to grow. He had already been doing that naturally by using it with his body every day, taking in more of the light spectrum with the absorption of lumencloud, and even his experiments with infrared and ultraviolet light. But that wasn't enough.
He had to push it farther.
Fortunately, Starlight Conjuration gave him endless amounts of starlight packed full of radiation and crashing electrons to mess around with. He already had some natural control of the generated starlight, but he was pushing it to the extreme as he molded it with the superior Photon Shot. By the time it was done, he'd have it able to create, charge, and fire starlight all by itself.
He felt the System react accordingly to his goals as it withheld a level. If he wanted it to pump out vast amounts of starlight without end or try to use it to control starlight more in-depth he knew it would've leveled already.
That wasn't all, though.
Photon Shot was remarkably lackluster and underutilized as it was. He had done more research both with the poorly lacking scientific knowledge available in this dimension and in the textbooks and notebooks he had stored in Warlock's Sanctum. The power wasn't Light Shot or even Luminescent Shot, but Photon Shot. When he used it he literally gathered, charged, and fired heaps of photons at a target. He'd gotten a lot of practice with it since he got it two months ago after he Initialized.
There were a lot of different angles he could pursue with his efforts to push Photon Shot forward, but he knew he needed to improve every aspect of the power. Such as the photoelectric effect, where electrons were produced and discharged when photons made contact. Apparently, this was a huge principle in how solar panels convert sunlight into electricity.
So when he created and gathered starlight, he refracted it through a sort of shell on the outer layer to create and then charge electrons along with the rest of light into the inner core. Sometimes sparks of electricity arced out of the red star as it grounded on the stone.
Eli's jaw creaked as he pushed both powers harder.
Photon Shot remained resolute, but Starlight Conjuration's resistance proved meager as the red star shrank to the size of a dot as it charged with loads of hyperactive photons and electrons before it exploded. Thunder cracked as light and lightning tore the air asunder. Warlock's Sanctum whimpered from the impact.
He pushed himself up on his elbows as he studied the desolation of the room. Oozing burns ravaged his body, but his hands were uneven blackened lumps with nubs where his fingers used to be. Starlight formed around him with a crackle of electricity as he pushed Body of Light to gather, charge, and release the collected light to heal himself faster. Anguished nerves vibrated with agony as growths of spindly white bone jutted out of charred flesh while his fingers slowly regrew.
Blood wept from his burns before he equipped Lumencloud Transfiguration with a gasp. Melted skin, gashes, and smoldering holes reformed as his physiology transformed into lumencloud before revealing unblemished skin.
System notifications flashed in front his eyes with frantic urgency.
Nullspace Horizon Ev. 0 Warlock's Sanctum Ev. 0 Starshock Conjuration Ev. 0 You may now select from one of the following options: Evolve Power Merge Power Slot Power into Stat Obtain New Power> "Yes! I did it!" Eli cheered as he leaped to his feet and allowed the barren room to fade as he used the blueprints he'd drawn and stored of the old layout to guide Warlock's Sanctum to recreate his private home. He plopped into his mattress enchanted for maximum comfort after he stitched lumencloud into its material. It was literally like laying on a cloud, but it was a bit discomforting since the lines between lumencloud and his physiology blurred every time he used Lumencloud Transfiguration. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. He checked his paired enchantment hooked up to his phone that he left both in the outermost boundary of Warlock's Sanctum, where the demispace jutted into nothingness and the real world. No new text notifications or anything pressing, but it was almost six in the morning. Eli grimaced at the loss of another night's sleep and the looming practice for the Tri-Delve Cup. In his rush to grind out levels and research, he had avoided almost everyone since his string of confrontations Wednesday night. He thought about skipping it, but he knew nothing would be more suspicious than Herbert not showing up to delve practice. But he didn't want to go or deal with lying to anyone else. This wasn't his life, and Maeve had thoroughly crushed the dream he had lived for a few days. Why should he pretend and keep up appearances while dealing with the worst of someone else's life without getting to enjoy the benefits of it? Besides, now that Lacey and Hazel knew about his status he was on thin ice. All it would take is Lacey demanding he participate in a 'study' with her for someone else to overhear that he was beyond a simple foreigner to the country, but to the entire dimension. And he didn't want to think about Hazel. "I guess I have a few hours left." Eli sighed while he talked to himself as he decided to glance at the new power and merge options out of curiosity. He had originally planned to just do a three-way merge off the bat, but he would need to level and relearn the new power entirely. Not to mention that he'd have a few empty spots available in his loadout once he got closer to slotting his powers into stats. It made sense to create or buy the powers he wanted now before they figured out how to get back home. Plus, his new power options were substantially helpful. He glanced over them and the individual merge options for each power out of curiosity while he considered his choices. If he merged them all together as it was, he'd get Warlock's Nullstar. Otherwise, Nullspace Horizon with Starshock Conjuration created Stellavoltaic Nullspace. Warlock's Sanctum with Starshock Conjuration turned into Starry Sanctum. But Nullspace Horizon with Warlock's Sanctum created Warlock's Expanse. But the real doozy was his new power options. Matter Reconstruction Warpspeed Refinery's Alteration Dreamspace Coldstar Ray BACK> Eli laughed as he read through the vastly improved power options the System offered to him. Each of them were better than any new power options offered to him without having to slot a stat or kill for it. The books and websites said that new selections were better when multiple powers were maxed out as well as when someone crafted multiple powers of an specific evolution. He knew that was why he could level evo-0 powers far more rapidly than he could before. After a few more rounds, he'd be able to sell some of the less suspicious power offerings the System gave him or he could hold onto them and see what he liked the most. He immediately narrowed in on Refinery's Alteration, Dreamspace, and Coldstar Ray as the most interesting. While the others were good, they were powers he would rather get later, if ever. Matter Reconstruction could be incredible for him, but it felt like it would be slow and unwieldy. Whatever he reconstructed with it would be of inferior quality too. Besides, Warlock's Sanctum and both Warlock's Nullstar and Starry Sanctum enabled him to create copies of anything he stored already. Warpspeed would activate like a switch where it would speed up anything he chose tremendously. Whether it was him, objects, or someone else. It provided a lot of opportunities, but it seemed like it would be very unstable and difficult to master. It'd be worth taking if it was offered later, but he'd feel a lot better about it if he had something in place to control the amount it sped up whatever he chose. But the other three were all good or interesting in different ways. Refinery's Alteration would let him alter matter like Matter Reconstruction, but instead of fundamentally changing it, he could tweak it as long as it was only an alteration. But the more he altered it, the more refined and enhanced it'd become. It'd be a tremendous boon to Warlock's Sanctum, whether he kept it as is or merged it directly with Nullspace Horizon. Either way, it'd be an amazing power to improve his lumencloud, material copies, or enchantments. Dreamspace felt useful, but alarmingly frightening. It'd blur the boundaries between space and dream, but that was all he got from it. It'd be up to him to decide what exactly that meant. Dream powers horrified him, though, after the things he'd seen Lyra, Daniels, and that other government employee did with it. He didn't want to touch on an ability that would get close to influencing other people like that dreamlike simulation power. However, he felt like it could be possible to use it to teleport through dreams somehow. It might be exactly what he needed to teleport back to his home dimension. Even if Nullspace Horizon and whatever he merged it with would probably be enough, eventually. But it was slightly tempting, even if he knew in his heart he'd never take it. Coldstar Ray felt like an inverse Photon Shot. It'd let him create freezing stars he'd be able to fire off glacial beams and rays of power. It didn't really fit him, but it fit Herbert. Maybe it would be enough to continue the charade even if the secret was partially out. Coldstar Ray would be useful though in combat. Ultimately, it came down to Refinery's Alteration. Being able to alter materials and matter directly with the power while improving it would be a gamechanger for the durability of any copies he made. He felt like it'd work on enchantments eventually too. Eli frowned at Starshock Conjuration while he thought about which powers to merge first and which to use to obtain Refinery's Alteration. Warlock's Expanse would be a direct upgrade to both Nullspace Horizon and Warlock's Sanctum while Starshock Conjuration would be a wild card. It wouldn't mess with Nullspace Horizon if he merged it into Stellavoltaic Nullspace, but it'd ruin Warlock's Sanctum with Starry Sanctum. He'd lose the customization of the sanctum and a lot of the variety the power offered with storage and enchantments. It'd still be there, but it would be greatly lessened. So. It was between Stellavoltaic Nullspace which could create and control the electric stars anywhere in space while maintaining most of what Nullspace Horizon could already do. It felt like it'd mess with the clarity of his spatial field a bit, but that was more because it'd change to a sort of... starspace field. Or Warlock's Expanse which would be a bit lackluster, but upgrade both powers directly. He frowned at that a bit though. It felt so... basic. As if it were a part of a recipe. He had the feeling it would diminish the eventual merging of Starshock Conjuration and Refinery's Alteration if he decided to do a three-way merge. Sure, it’d be nice, but it wouldn’t be revolutionary. It’d be rote. Commonplace. Something Lacey or even Roman would do. Just because it made sense. Stellavoltaic Nullspace would boost his combat prowess greatly though. He'd be able to create and fire arcs and beams of starlight electricity anywhere he wanted through nullspace. Eli daydreamed about teleporting with blasts of starlight all over in his wake. It'd be incredible. Awe and wonder dazzled him with visions of what he would be capable of. It wasn’t like he was planning to never merge Stellavoltaic Nullspace with Warlock’s Sanctum… although, he did wonder what Lumencloud Transfiguration and Stellavoltaic Nullspace would create. Imagine that in his Will slot. It would undercut a lot of the point of making lumencloud enhance his body, but damn would it be incredible. Warlock’s Sanctum or whatever it became would fit in his Mind slot too… Nah, he’d stick with his original plans. Most likely. Notifications popped up at the same time his enchantments relayed the sound of Roman's alarm back in the dorm room. He equipped his Blight perk to Stellavoltaic Nullspace with a radiant grin as he stood up and stretched. Time to test out his new powers before practice. He had a colossal spider to kill without dying. After delve practice, Eli was going to go see the power trader Maeve introduced him to. Warlock's Sanctum rifled through notebook pages until a sheet with his name came up. That's right, it was Zach. It was time for him to get some perks and other powers. Maybe he'd bring Roman along too if they managed to patch up the awkwardness between them. [Stats: Body: Light (Photon Shot) Mind: None Will: None ] [Equipped Power List: Slot One -- Stellavoltaic Nullspace Ev. 0/Lv. 0 Perks Equipped: [Blight] Slot Two -- Lumencloud Transfiguration Ev. 1/Lv. 2 Slot Three -- Warlock's Sanctum Ev. 0/Lv. 5 (Maxed) ] [Unequipped Powers: Refinery's Alteration Ev. 0/Lv. 0 ]