Book 2/ 22 - Power

The undulating mass of black, red, and purple sea that was the Primordial Sphere amazed her. Two Millennials into existence and she'd not even as much as peeked at what lay beyond the nothingness. The white mists of Aether flowed around her like gentle streams. Her lips remained shut in silence, her body absorbing the mists around her like a drug.

Blue orbs that held a vacant gaze stared into the Sphere. It'd been merely a day since the Elders began their march through the realms. It was exciting to watch, exciting to see their expression when they figured out one thing or the other. She'd spent the entire day observing their progress. Had seen their battles, and the monsters, beasts, and kin killed. Yet it had opened her eyes, reminding her of a fact.

The Creator Players were like the Elders. Kin, siblings, blood. Granted and formed by the game to create a universe. While they had no idea what lay ahead, they would do anything to get there. Be it kill or maim or cheat their way through. A day in the realms was a lot of years for the mortal realm and barely nothing within the sphere. She wasn't sure if time even applied in the spheres or if it was frozen.

'Eight. Eight ticks and yet I'm no closer to the secrets of power'. I giggled like a child, the sound escaping into the aether and vanishing, becoming 'more'. She didn't think much about it. The game was just weird and she'd gotten over that fact. What mattered now was simple. Her.

Seeing the Elder Demons' trail of destruction had momentarily reduced whatever sympathy she'd felt for their death at Munoron's hand. None of it mattered to her anymore. A day of observing Elders slaughter themselves and all who stood in their way for the power of the realms was a good reminder of her task.

Golden sparkles danced around the delicate golden fingers of her godform before fading to reveal a tiny chest of unknown material. It floated unaided while she tipped its lid open to stare at the treasure it held. For a split second her mind went back to when she'd opened it first. A scoff escaped her at the thought of her hope of it being some weapon to replace the Sword of Murre.

Poking her left hand in she gripped the palm-sized black orb and took it out of its resting place. 'I wonder what you hold'.



[DUNGEON CORE - PRIMORDIAL GATES]



Unlike her self-made dungeons or those The Will had crafted templates for, this one held back information. She vanished, reappearing right at the edge of the Primordial Sphere. The dark energy burned through her palm in just a second as she set the orb. A hum and a pulse of purple energy was emitted

Returning to her former spot she glared at her palm. Even out of there the flickering remains of the energy burned her hand and fought to extinguish it. "Quench". Her body didn't need to generate aether as her command utilized the energy around to complete the task. Golden mist flowed up from her palm drifting to her eye level. Gripping it with manipulation she returned it to the scarred and burned Gollden skeleton. The mist attached back rebuilding her palm quickly.



[DUNGEON - PRIMORDIAL GATES - Opened]



She reappeared back at her spot this time keeping her hands to herself. Hildelith didn't know what she was expecting from the dungeon. But it was a gate. It was large, huge, with no edge in sight. And yet when she looked through the network she could see the gate floating on its own in a sea of black.

Getting close enough to touch the gate showed a prompt.




[SYSTEM DUNGEON - PRIMORDIAL GATES]
[Enter]
[Refresh]
[Proceed To Last Checkpoint]
[Select Checkpoint]



The last three options were grayed out since she'd never been in the dungeon and it gave her no more information. Annoyed she shook her head. Before floating back.

"First". She did plan on entering. That was the entire reason she brought the orb out now. But first, she had to use the items she'd bought for herself."Akasha show me the skills the Elders have learned". Her eyes glowed as the force filled her mind and record with the skills. She didn't care to look them over though. She'd seen all of them and knew what each could do. After all, they were more minute and spliced parts of her children's powers.

Hildelith was more interested in the items she'd purchased from the game market. Items she specifically chose to use with the Destroyer in mind. The smirk that stretched her face was devious as she took in the tomes of insight floating before her. It was the ones that had caught her eye. Tomes, she'd been sure others would pick before she could buy them. And now she would see what the tomes would let her do.

"Trying to master all of them in so little time frame would be hard. I'll have to concentrate on them and my previous insights before getting more".



[TOME - The Deep's Pull]
[Primordial Element Detected - Primordial Ice]
[Origin Element Detected - Star River]
[TOME Upgraded]

[Deep's Pull -> Source Eternal]
The three that roll continuously. That is one in the faces of the other. The [Mellifluent], Unbeholden, yet calm. The [Immortal Frost], wild and untethered. The [Unbound Mists], free yet seeks a guide.



The Tome crumbled and the wisdom it held flooded her mind. For a second the blue of her eyes seemed to swim and churn like the top of a disturbed lake. Her golden locks gained white roots.

"The three stages of one element are bound in it". She flicked through the knowledge she could see and feel. "Makes sense I guess. Understanding all three states of the given element broadens my view on its entirety and increases proficiency in controlling i".

The insight was straightforward yet staged.

First was the knowledge for Mellifleunt. It was easier to glean as in a way it felt like her divine purity. A large trickle of liquid within her bones. It was a rush, rolling around fast like a downhill stream.

She found herself drawing on the description of Mellifluent while attempting to grasp at the rush of waves within. The words proved to be literal. Water was not beholden, a master of itself. Unwilling to be tamed or controlled. Yet it was calm.

She felt its movement sweeping around following the different paths that were noted and unblocked.

Source water didn't wish to be stopped, it didn't want to be withheld. But It was calm. Approving to be guided. Coaxed about in a flow but not ordered. Her eyes pulsed with the glow of power as her will went to work. It wasn't just her will. She realized that while Will was indeed working to bring out the energy. It was not creating it. She looked deeper into herself searching for tbe hidden reaction going on.

Insight made it clear how exactly to use energy but up till now there was no source of the very energy. Divine purity came from controlling and using her blood, earthen grace used the masses around her.

Now with Meliifluent, she saw something new. The rushing stream of energy within her left a distinct path that the other insights hadn't. Like a cord leading back to the beginning. Slowly she followed it. Feeling about with her will she mentally held the string and pulled herself along the rope following while still making sure to keep the energy activated.

The journey was long and frustrating. At times the cord flickered off eliciting a grumble of annoyance from me since I started afresh. At times the cord grew so thin I had to slowly navigate it to stop it from erupting.

It was painfully slow but alas she succeeded. A buzz in her mind almost made her focus drop but her concentration stuck. The end of the cord stopped at what she saw as a weirdly shaped symbol. 'Possibly a rune. It looked like something Tora had made. It was a white triangle with runes of three colors at its three points.

The first rune that the cord slipped into was of eight dark blue tentacles. The next rune was an ice-blue snowflake. Then there was the last rune made of wavy lines.

Her will refocused on the Rune of the Meliifluent as new questions hammered her mind. 'What was a rune doing within my body? Was it powered by my will? Were all tomes just runes attached within creator gods when used? Did this mean that gods too could use the tomes? What were the requirements?'

For a minute she felt annoyed she'd taken a break to sleep and watch other players when she still had things to figure out. She sighed focusing and trying to learn anything new from this rune. It gave her nothing to tell of its source. She looked at the other runes

A pulse jerked from the rune of the Immortal Frost. Before her very eyes, she saw it turn a shade of purple and black.

She was hit with new thoughts and insight. The Mellifluemt couldn't be held or controlled. But it could be guided its form could be changed, and when the guidance it received failed its form could return to the original. But only as long as these were carried out by the Immortal Frost.

'The Black Ice'.

It clicked instantly. But she refrained. She remained unsure. Still, she could sense that something was missing with the Immortal Frost. The Third Rune was the worst though. Where the first and the second gave her an idea and wisdom it was like a strict homeroom teacher. All she got was the feeling of freedom.

'Not much help when you're called Unbound'.

She withdrew her will and while making sure to still stay tethered to the Mellifluent cord she spread her awareness.
The ripples in her gaze calmed and her hand stretched for the next tome.



[TOME - Embers of the Flame]
[Primordial Element Detected - P4imordiak Fire]
[TOME Upgraded]

[Embers of the Flame -> Eternal Flame]
Heat, warmth, energy. Qn unstoppable Force, Life Bringer, a boisterous inferno, the cull, and the ebb of destruction.



The rush of knowledge was intense. Blue eyes turned orange with power and the space around her seemed to boil. The cord she hoped to see was there just as expected and she followed it to the runes. The rune was not clear to her but she knew it was the Eternal Flame rune nonetheless. It gave her a feeling of energy, destruction, and power. It was unstoppable, unquenchable, and powerful. Unlike with the Source Eternal, she tried spreading her awareness within the space she was in and not leaving. The change revealed a vast dark cavern. The runes were still here with her.

'Is this inside me?'.

She could now see the other rune of Source Eternal too. The light from the triangle only illuminated the direct space she noted. No matter how she tried she couldn't push past the darkness. But spreading awareness let her step back and see both runes. Nothing more.

Grumbling she gave up and focused on prodding the cord. 'There had to be more to using this' She followed the cord back to the surface until I was at a point where the rushing stream passed my palms.

Then she prodded at the cord just like she did with it within the Dark Cavern. With each poke, she noted a sliver of energy leave the cord and filter out of her palm.

'So that's how it works'.

She tried more and more. Poking more until a huge hole in her cord was made.

'My use of the Primordial Ice didn't work like this'. She frowned as she kept poking to create a moderate finger-sized hole in the cord. She grabbed the escaping energy with her will letting none escape before she sealed tbe hole in the cord trapping the escaping energy back. The already captured energy felt like it would fight her harshly and unrelentingly, obviously not liking that she had stopped it.

'But Primordial Ice never acted this way'. Given she had never used the Primordial Fire itself she wondered if it was just its way. "Wait. Unstoppable Force". Raising a brow she released the energy and urged it to move. There was no hesitation as the energy rushed in the direction shown. I. This time she could feel the energy feeling better and less rebellious.

She stretched her will borders and watched the red and golden flame spread while its force moved from the beginning to the end. Imagining a Trident the flame side suddenly rolled back and forth forming threw prongs and a shaft.

'Tighten'. She condensed her Will till there was nothing but a thin and strong-looking Trident pulsing and flowing with fire within it.

"When I made my Primordial Trident with Ice I didn't sense anything I just made with. Now it feels like my Will is what keeps the element together". She touched on the other rune of Immortal Frost to search and shook her head.

'Ice can be shaped and formed. Unlike it, Fire can't...". Insight kicked out the thought she had and showed her something else.

"Of course. Why did I think otherwise?". She focused on the Trident and urged the Flame to change. To stop being Unstoppable and become something else. The fire thickened and tightened shrinking and thinning till it was half its length and width.

She knew it was done. 'So easy. Too easy'. Drawing the Trident to her she looked it over. It shone with a golden hue like Solis stones. Red accents and pulses flowed from the base along the shaft, to the prongs and back.



[You have Unlocked Dome Rune of the Eternal Flame]
[Finding Done runes will increase mastery of insights and as such proficiency by 10%]



'I was right. It increases proficiency. That's a whole lot more than what I got while learning how to use Divine purity". The game notification continued.



[Mastery of Eternal Flame increased by 5%]
[You have increased proficiency of Eternal Flame by 20%]
[You have unlocked Flame Maker]



"Weird". Letting the Trident float away she returned to the Dark Cavern to grip the cord of the Source Eternal. Repeating what she'd done with the Eternal Flames she opened her eyes slowly, careful to not release the swirling energy from her grasp. The sight of a large ball of water rotating in a clockwise direction over her outstretched right hand made her smile. Enamored she slowly increased the pace of the revolving water ball.

With each test she made on the ball she realized different things about the water. It could be guided, instructed, and told where to go, but never stopped. Motion was its very state of being. Like a racial perk, it could not be changed or gone against.

Hildelith poured her will into the ball of water. Right now she wasn't interested in studying its attack potency. She was more interested in finding out how it related to the other two runes.

Searching intently she slipped through several tinier water balls within it. With each ball she went past she realized something different about the water. 'The balls are uncontrolled, ever in motion. My attempts to move the water ball is moving them and in turn, moving the water ball'.

She willed the balls to react swiftly. Instead of pushing all in a particular direction, she had them enter a frenzied haphazard motion of inconclusive direction.

Slowly she noted that while the balls were obedient to her will she was slowly losing control. The balls moved faster and faster, striking each other and then rebounding harshly to hit the membrane of the water ball they were all cooped in.

She watched both with sight and will as the chaos increased. The water ball shook and quivered as the internal onslaught grew.

Slowly the signs of chaos reached outside as the ball began simmering and bubbling. She pushed the balls to continue eager to see what would happen.

The pop that came was not a surprise. The water blew up into white steam that warmed the air. The feeling was quick to shift, her will spread even denser as she tried to keep a hold of this exposed steam. It was harder than she thought and she could only watch as its hold drifted from her grasp.

"Oh well. Nothing comes easy". She could sense the failure had something to do with the third stingy rune. Sighing she focused on the Immortal Frost rune. Creating another water ball in her hand she found the opposite of her actions was the way to go. The tiny balls of water stuck to each other firmly without moving. But it wasn't enough.

She could sense it had something to do with the stingy rune again. Only this time she had another option. Willing the water to change its rules created a splash and then creaked as the water froze into a ball of ice. The next attempt was harder as the ice shook and then broke down into water.



[You have Unlocked Dome Rune of the Source Eternal]
[Finding Done runes will increase mastery of insights and as such proficiency by 10%]

[Mastery of Mellifleunce increased by 5%]
[Mastery of Immortal Frost increased by 5%]

[You have increased proficiency of Mellifluent by 10%]
[You have unlocked Water Creation]

[You have increased proficiency of Immortal Frost by 15%]
[You have Unlocked Ice Creation]




She blinked in confusion. "Didn't I already create Ice and Fire on my?. I even formed water from my fingers back then". Confused as to why she was receiving skills she already had she frowned.

'Wait. I never actually had them.'. Thinking about it she realized that while Ice Creation should have fallen under Primordial Ice and Fire Maker under Primordial Fire. Water creation had nothing to fall under.

Confused she brought up her records to check. "Flame of Life, Primordial Fire, Primordial Ice. Nothing else here about water". Biting her lips she tried to understand. Failing she just turned away. Atleast she had two new skills now.

The next tome was one she felt would help with her Earthen Grace.



[TOME - Maternal Blight]
[Primordial Element Detected - Absolute Chaos]
[TOME Upgraded]

[Maternal Blight -> Matron's Primordial Blight]
The Wrath of the Earth, the peril of the foolish. Nature and Death's dance of love. Erase the Old and birth anew.



Hildelith marked two things. First, this Tome didn't help with her Earthen Insight. It was to be expected. Second, Earthen Grace needed an Elemental bond to create one of the cords Immortal Frost and Eternal Flame had. That in turn would have led her to the Dome Rune of her Tome. Luckily it seemed Absolute Chaos covered this. Either way, Maternal Blight sent a shiver through her. It was more the Tomes's knowledge and what it offered her as its capabilities than the effect of the power around her.
She refused to dwell on it. And something told her testing it here in the Aether wouldn't work. Holding back from testing it out she moved on

The next Tome was one she wanted to give her ideas on something.



[TOME - Dimensional Weaving]
[Origin Element - The Bands]
[TOME Upgraded]

[Tome of Dimensional Weaving]
One can be two. Reality can be Many. What is seen can be hidden.



'These descriptions". She shook her head as the Tome crumbled to nothing. She'd already figured out the descriptions were a way to summarize or tell what a Tome did or didn't do. There was no visible pulse of power or show of energy. Rather she gasped with surprise at the wisdom, meager as it was filled her mind. The cord was a colorless thread like water was pouring water from above. The rune was one of an inverted Bident. Retracting her awareness her eyes blazed with Akashic force and she looked into the 3rd realm.

"Finally. I know what to do with you".

The third tome she'd purchased was one she'd chosen for her templates. She sought more and more to learn how certain things were done.



[TOME - Life forge]
[Primordial Element Detected - Flame of Life]
[Origin Elements - Soulcrafting, Divine Manipulation]
[TOME Upgraded]

[Life Forger ->Cradle of Life]
The Start of a Being. The perfection of existence.



The cord snapped bright and blazing into her awareness. It was the weirdest of them all. The Cord sliced through the space and then suddenly split in three. From. the tip to the point it split was the pure gleam of a white thread. Past its split was a thread of golden and red glowing to the rune of the Eternal Flame. The second thread was a blue cord. Grasping at it led her to the rune she expected to see. The symbol was hard to understand. Moving back from the cord to the thicker part where both joined she traveled to the third cord. This one was golden without the red that made up the first cord. Heading back revealed something else.

"It feels like something should be here". She felt around in the space after the split. "Is it missing?". She spread her awareness around to take a look.

"No, not exactly missing". It felt like they were there but needed more to shine. 'More complications'. Like there should be something in place.

'Something I'm yet to reveal'.

She refused to let it throw her off. Accepting what she had currently Her right fingers snapped bringing a red and golden flame petal into existence above her hand. Opening the palm wide created a blue mist that grabbed the flame and then a finger twirl formed energy that surrounded the ball. Rubbing her fingers together created motes of golden light that cradled the ball and then green mist flowed into it. The golden ball slowly stretched and reformed its shape till a miniature horse was neighing on her palm.

Squeezing her fist turned the horse into dust. Dust that she reshaped into a bird, crushed, and reformed into a whale.

"Insight increases one's skill, control, and manipulation of the given power. Life has the power to bring anything into existence. Given I know Haero's Flame of Life, Freyja's Soul Crafting, and others. I could even change the way life is created without affecting the rules of my universe". It was amazing to think of how she could do this. With one last crushing, she dissipated the life she'd made. It was like she felt an increase of something in her mind.

"Hmmh". Repeating the cycle of creating something, this time a fairy she felt it again. "So that's what's missing". She eyes the fairy seeing the pinging spot in its body. It was like an alert to tell. her what to do. She unraveled the fairy until just its soul and flame remained. IT was there, flashing dull. A spot in the soul ball. An empty spot.

"Where I can put the faint lines of a circle". A living thing needed a circle to cultivate essence. This lets the individual perform magic later in life. It was this faint thing that the Akashic Records formed in a mortal when they entered the records. Without it no magic and no leveling up.

Greyish-blue energy flowed from her fingertips into the space and formed a ring around the flame. Then she reformed the fairy's body. There was another blinking in its head. Tapping the tiny fairy head with a finger she slipped in a bit of Abstract.



[You have forged F Ranked lifeform]
[Flames of Life- Unranked]
[Soul - Unranked l]
[Magic - Ungraded]
[Body - Unranked]
[Will - Unranked]



The game notifications flashed into my mind throwing information of each line into my head. "It's using the rules of the universe to grade the life I formed. If it made the body special it would rare it according to the power of my universe entities".



[Congratulations Creator 79 you have learned to create life without the aid of any Templates]
[Reward - Life Ore]


[You have Unlocked Dome Rune of the Cradle of Life]
[Finding Done runes will increase mastery of insights and as such proficiency by 10%]

[Mastery of Cradle of Life increased by 10%]
[You have unlocked Life Creation]
[You have unlocked Soul Creation]
[You have unlocked Will Creation]



It was hard to not be awed even if most of the things were abilities her children and by extension, her could do. Still, it was a whole other matter to create life on her own. It was like she knew everything about it.

"What's a Life Ore?". The reward in her palm was a transparent crystal sphere the size of her fist. It had no light or glow that would make it seem otherworldly.


[iTEM - LIFE CORE]
[BASIC]
The heart of a life generator that holds the copy or soul schematic for one or more different life forms.
[QUOTA - 3]


Hildelith didn't get it. "Life generator". She blinked in confusion for a minute before sending the ore back to storage. "It can't be what I think it is". Denying the thought while also lamenting she pushed it about in her mind. There were too many things that were half down and this being one of them wouldn't matter.

"Let's get the last one over with". The final tome was one she had no clue how to use.



[TOME - Time Twists]
[Origin Element Detected - Star River,]
[TOME Upgraded]

[Time Twists -> Chronal Rips]
The expanse of existence. The numbers of life. The difference between Wisdom and the cure of ignorance.



"That one sounds like a riddle". The Tome crumbled away and for a split moment, she felt that nothing moved. Then it was gone. The wisdom that came with this one was scarce. Even more so than that of Dimensional Weaving.

Now that she possessed three elemental insights and two non-elemental there were still options to buy more tomes. It made Hildelith curious as to how exactly any of it would work. There was also the option that this was a race to learn as much about the insights as possible.

'After all with this Tomes, my arsenal improves'.

It was also an option that buying and using too many was a trap. A lure to put one into a state of scattered learning. Instead of focusing on mastering one insight, the creators would have their minds ans attention split amongst many, and then when important it would fail them due to their shared attention amongst many.

"Unless there's a crazy talent amongst us".

But still, she doubted the second option, mostly because of how earthen grace and divine purity had worked in the Tower. If combat helped to speed up proficiency then it scratched out the second option. Which meant this was a race to master and become proficient in whichever insight one got.

"The price tags for the tomes wouldn't necessarily show their difficulty or importance". She frowned thinking back to the price she'd bought her Tomes. Given that Maternal Blight wasn't bought but a reward it made her even more curious. With this discovery about the Dome runes, she couldn't help but wonder.

"Would my proficiency go up from finding their Primordial or Origin Elements too and getting their Dome Runes?".