Seventy-seven: Ascending

Hyades City, Exterior Ward

Spring Court, Hidden World

Terra, Gaea Solar system

Milky Way Galaxy,

Neutral Free Zone

Emily observed in silence as Sam meticulously arranged the tools for her ascension into the next stage of cultivation. Dressed in a simple white long-sleeve shirt and track pants, Sam moved with deliberate precision, her fingers carefully placing each shard in its designated position. The greenish essence stones glowed faintly in her grasp, their energies humming in harmony with the surrounding air.

She knelt on the floor, arranging the shards into a geometric formation—a perfect hexagon, each stone aligned with an unseen force, an intricate weave of power that only an adept cultivator could perceive. The faint luminescence of the stones pulsed rhythmically, resonating with the natural frequencies of the world around them.

Emily could sense the shift in the atmosphere, a quiet reverence settling over the space. Sam's posture remained steady, her expression one of quiet focus, as if she were attuned to something beyond the physical realm. Each placement of the essence stones was not merely an arrangement—it was an invocation, a silent call to the unseen energies that would guide her transformation.

Emily watched in quiet contemplation, her gaze flickering between Sam and the intricate formation of essence stones now glowing with a faint, rhythmic pulse. She couldn't shake the lingering question in her mind—how had Sam known how to do this? Neither she, Leon, nor Emanu had ever taught her the intricate steps required for ascension once a Soul Core reached full saturation.

Perhaps Sophia had taught her. It would make sense—after all, Sophia had trained Sam in the Magic Arts. Still, Emily found it unsettling how effortlessly Sam had arranged the ritual, as if she had always known the process, as if it had been etched into her very being.

Sam, now finished with her preparations, turned to face Emily. There was a quiet relief in her expression, a silent acknowledgment of the weight of what she was about to undertake. More than anything, she was grateful Emily had agreed to help. She didn't want to do this alone.

Stepping into the center of the hexagonal formation, Sam lowered herself into a lotus position. The energy in the air thickened, charged with an unseen force, as the stones began to faintly resonate with the ambient currents of the world around them.

"Thanks for doing this," Sam said, her voice steady but tinged with something softer—gratitude, maybe even vulnerability.

"It's no problem," Emily replied, folding her arms as she studied Sam carefully. "But I have to ask—why me? Why not Sophia? Or Rex? Why ask me?"

Sam lifted her gaze, meeting Emily's with quiet conviction. "Because you're my friend," she said simply. Then, after a brief pause, she added, "At least, I think we are… aren't we?"

Emily blinked. The words caught her off guard, stirring something unfamiliar in her chest.

A friend?

She had never considered the possibility. Growing up in the Ascendant Academy, friendship had been a foreign concept, an unnecessary distraction. She had always been cold, distant—indifferent to the struggles of others, never seeing the need to bond with anyone. Leon and Rex had somehow managed to slip past her walls, the only ones she could even remotely call friends.

But now Sam was looking at her with open sincerity, offering something Emily had never truly experienced before. A friendship freely given.

"Yes," Emily said without thinking, the word slipping past her lips before she could fully process it. Sam's expression remained unreadable for a moment before she gave a small nod as if she had expected that answer.

"Besides," Sam continued, her voice steady, "I don't trust Sophia as much as I'd like to." She hesitated before adding, "And as for Rex… I don't know him that well. I appreciate what he did for Stella, but I wouldn't feel as comfortable doing this with him as I do with you."

Emily understood the part about Rex. He was reliable, but still somewhat of an enigma. Yet, the mention of Sophia—the casual yet deliberate way Sam admitted her distrust—struck Emily as odd.

"You don't trust Sophia?" Emily asked, her gaze sharpening.

Sam exhaled, glancing at the glowing essence stones surrounding her. The faint green luminescence cast shadows across her face, making her hesitation all the more pronounced.

"I feel like there's something she's not telling me," Sam admitted.

Emily narrowed her eyes. "Not telling you? Why would you say that?"

Sam swallowed, her fingers tightening slightly around the fabric of her track pants. "I... I think I have a sister."

Emily blinked. The words settled into the air like a dropped stone in still water, creating ripples in the quiet tension between them.

"A sister?" she repeated, the weight of the revelation sinking in. "What makes you think that?" Emily asked, her voice carefully measured.

Sam hesitated, her gaze flickering as if sorting through a whirlwind of thoughts. She took a slow breath before speaking.

"I... I didn't remember at first," she admitted. "But after reaching Ascension, my childhood memories have fully surfaced. Now, I remember everything. And ever since I was a child, I've always had this feeling… this strange sense of incompleteness. Like a part of me was missing, like something—someone—was supposed to be there but wasn't."

Emily remained silent, watching the way Sam's fingers twitched slightly against her knee, betraying the deep uncertainty simmering beneath her composed exterior.

"And then there were the dreams," Sam continued, her voice dropping to a near whisper. "Dreams of another me, somewhere out there. Waiting for me. Searching for me."

"Really?" Emily asked, skeptical yet intrigued.

"Yeah." Sam let out a soft, humorless laugh. "I could never understand why I had them. I was just a kid." She shook her head. "But then… on my tenth birthday—the day my father died. The first day I met Sophia. I remember overhearing their conversation. At the time, I didn't understand it, didn't know what they were talking about."

She exhaled sharply. "But now, after everything that's resurfaced, I think… I know… they were talking about her. My sister. Seraphina."

Emily's breath hitched slightly. "Seraphina?" she echoed.

Sam ran a frustrated hand through her hair, her fingers tangling in the strands. "Aaargh… there are so many things that don't make sense," she muttered, shaking her head. "If the Fallen Star wasn't responsible for the Uprising… then why did my father run from Sophia? Why did he take me away from her? Keep me from my mother without ever telling me the truth?"

She swallowed hard, her voice thick with unspoken turmoil. "He said he wanted to give me a better life. A different life… one different from Seraphina's. But what does that even mean?"

"And then there's the room Sophia gave me," Sam said, her voice laced with uncertainty. "It's not just any room—it's fully furnished, completely equipped as if someone used to live there. Someone who wasn't just me."

Emily considered that for a moment before offering a measured response. "Maybe she just set it up that way because she missed you," she suggested.

"Maybe…" Sam murmured, but doubt flickered in her eyes. "But I can't shake the feeling that she's keeping something huge from me."

Sam's fingers curled slightly against her knee, a subtle indication of the tension coiling inside her. As an Empath, she had always been sensitive to the emotional states of those around her. Her mind had never been strong enough to comprehend what that meant fully—to separate vague impressions from reality. But now, after reaching Ascension, her mental power has evolved. The fog of uncertainty had lifted, sharpening her intuition into something undeniable. And right now, every instinct, every finely tuned sense told her that Sophia was hiding something from her.

Something big.

"Anyway," Sam continued, her voice quieter now but firm, "I'm more comfortable with you. And I trust you to watch my back."

Emily's heart gave an unexpected shudder at the words. A foreign warmth curled in her chest, unsettling yet… not unwelcome. Trust was not something she had ever sought or expected from others. And yet, here Sam was—offering it freely, without hesitation. She exhaled softly, a quiet sigh escaping her lips. Somehow, the weight of those words settled deeper than she anticipated.

Sam straightened her posture, taking a steadying breath. "Okay. It's time."

With that, she closed her eyes, shutting out the world around her. Emily watched as Sam delved inward, her presence shifting, as if she were slipping into another state of being. A stillness settled over her, but beneath that surface, something vast stirred.

The moment Sam reached for her Odic Force, the air around them shifted. An invisible pulse radiated outward, like the echo of a heartbeat too deep to be heard, yet powerful enough to be felt. The mental energy within her surged to life, fueled by the luminous Star Core nestled deep within her consciousness. It flared—bright and untamed—like a distant sun awakening after centuries of slumber.

And then, like a thread pulling taut, Sam reached for the Odyllic—the great, unseen force that governed the very fabric of existence. Emily felt it. A ripple in the atmosphere. A hum in the bones of reality itself.

The Ascension had begun.

With her eyes closed, Sam's awareness withdrew from the physical world, sinking into the vast expanse of her inner consciousness. She no longer felt the weight of her body, nor the cool air brushing against her skin. Instead, she stood at the precipice of something immense—a threshold between what she was and what she was about to become.

Her internal sight sharpened, focusing on the Gaea Spell Interface, a luminous construct of arcane sequences and celestial glyphs woven seamlessly into the depths of her soul. Its presence was vast, infinite, humming with power that pulsed in perfect synchrony with her Star Core.

A golden prompt materialized before her:

[Enlightened has reached the threshold of Ascension.][Soul Core saturation has reached its limit.][Begin Ascension.]

There was no hesitation.

"Yes."

Her answer echoed through the ether, resonating like a struck bell.

The interface responded immediately.

[Enlightened has confirmed the process of Ascension.][The Gaea Spell System shall now guide the Enlightened through the Breaking Point.]

A shift occurred.

The luminous interface expanded, unraveling like an ancient cosmic tapestry, its intricate threads of divine energy weaving a pattern beyond mortal comprehension. Symbols of forgotten knowledge swirled around her, pulsing with an ethereal glow, each one a sigil representing the laws of transformation.

Then, it began.

A tidal surge of Odic Force erupted from her Star Core, cascading through her being like a celestial inferno. It burned—not in pain, but in revelation. Every fiber of her existence resonated with the unfathomable energy, stretching, shifting, evolving. Sam could feel it—the limits of her current state fracturing, the barriers of her consciousness cracking open as the raw Odyllic Essence poured into her.

Her Soul Core, once stable yet finite, began to expand. It wasn't destruction. It was reforging. The dense, concentrated energy of her core began to unravel, spreading out like the birth of a star, forming intricate lattices of power within her being. It was reshaping, realigning, ascending.

The world around her fell away, leaving only the endless vastness of the Odyllic Realm—a place beyond space, beyond time, where the very essence of existence was laid bare.

Here, in this state, she was no longer just Sam. She was becoming.

The Gaea Spell System's voice resonated once more:

[First Phase of Ascension: Core Expansion—Initiated.][Enlightened must withstand the transformation.][Commencing synchronization with the Odyllic Force.]

The process had begun. And there was no turning back.

****

Watching Sam begin the process of Ascension, Emily felt a rare, unsettling sense of awe. What was unfolding before her defied everything she knew—everything she had been taught about what a true Ascension should be. She could feel it. The shift. The sheer wrongness of it. Sam's Soul Core was expanding—unraveling—not condensing as it should have been. The dense, concentrated energy within it was being released rather than refined, spreading outward in a way that sent the Odyllic into an unnatural frenzy. The very essence of the world around them seemed to tremble, space itself buckling under the pressure of the raw power that had been unleashed.

Emily's instincts screamed at her to intervene. To stop Sam before she did something reckless. Something irreversible. But then—she hesitated. Despite the chaos, despite the sheer overwhelming force radiating from Sam, Emily sensed no danger. No instability. No imminent collapse. And that terrified her even more.

A proper Ascension never started this way. It was supposed to be a slow, controlled refinement—a gradual compression of the Soul Core, condensing and fortifying its energy until it reached a breaking point where the transition to the next realm could be safely achieved. But Sam…

Sam was doing the opposite. She was expanding her core, unleashing the dense energy contained within it like a supernova tearing itself apart. It shouldn't have been possible. It shouldn't have been stable.

Yet it was.

The released energy pulsed outward, resonating with the essence stones arranged in their intricate geometric formation. At first, the stones hummed, absorbing the influx of power. But the sheer magnitude of Sam's energy was too much—too raw, too vast. One by one, the stones shattered, unable to contain the torrent of force surging through them.

The Odyllic roared in response, like a primal force reacting to a disturbance in the fabric of reality itself. Odic energy erupted in waves, amplifying the remnants of the essence stones, their dissipating energy spiraling chaotically through the air. The very space around them seemed to warp, rippling as if struggling to accommodate the presence of something beyond its natural limits.

And then—Emily felt it.

Sam's Odic Force reached outward, pulling every fragment of unleashed energy back into herself. Emily's breath caught. No Adept should have been able to handle such an enormous influx of power. It would have ruptured their core, shattered their mind, and left them in ruin.

But Sam was different.

Her expanded core created an unfathomable void—a vast reservoir capable of containing the uncontainable. And once it was full, her Odic Force shifted again. Now, she was compressing it. Emily watched in stunned silence as Sam did something unheard of—something that rewrote the very principles of Ascension. And at that moment, Emily finally understood why this was possible.

It all came down to Sam's foundation.

Her cultivation base—the very core of her power—was the key to what was unfolding before Emily's eyes. The way Sam's Soul Core expanded instead of condensed, the way she could contain and control such an overwhelming influx of energy without shattering—it wasn't a mistake. It wasn't reckless. It was by design.

Cultivation foundations came in many forms, each one determining the limits of an individual's growth and potential. The Mortal Foundation was the most common—used by Dormant Mystics and Mages alike. It was the default, the starting point for those who sought the path of power.

But above that, there existed stronger foundations. After mortal, there was the fragile foundation, then the Stable foundation. And finally the Perfected Foundation—the divine starting point possessed by all Pleiadians. Pleiadians, blessed by Gratia, were born with flawless cultivation bases, naturally perfected without ever needing to refine them. Their Odic Force flowed in harmony with the Odyllic, allowing them to surpass limitations that would cripple others.

And Sam…

Sam's foundation wasn't Mortal. It wasn't even Perfected. It was something beyond that. Something unprecedented. That was why her Ascension defied conventional wisdom. Why her Soul Core didn't need to compress—why it could expand, unravel, and reconstruct itself in a way no normal Adept could withstand. Sam wasn't just breaking through to the next realm. She was redefining what Ascension could be.

Even after successfully condensing her Soul Core, stabilizing it was another challenge entirely. The sheer volume of energy she had absorbed was immense, teetering on the edge of instability. Now, Sam had to purify and refine her core—to cleanse it of all impurities and forge it into something stronger, purer, and more complete.

This purification process required her to extend her Odic Force outward, weaving it into the greater flow of Odyllic Forces that surrounded her. It was like trying to grasp the current of an endless cosmic river—aligning, resonating, synchronizing with something far greater than herself. The moment her essence connected, she felt it.

The Odyllic surged through her, a vast, untamed force that existed beyond mortal comprehension. It was primal, boundless, yet within its chaotic tide lay the potential for perfect harmony. Sam's mind trembled under the pressure, every fiber of her being straining to contain the overwhelming connection. But she did not falter. She wielded her Odic Force like a sculptor's chisel, carving away the imperfections within herself, using the Odyllic's purity to burn away the unseen limitations that clung to her very existence.

As a half-human, Sam's level of impurity was far lower than most mortals. Her Pleiadian heritage, inherited from her father, had granted her a natural advantage. Unlike ordinary humans, whose cultivation was often hindered by the flaws of their mortal vessels, Sam's lineage had already provided her with a cleaner, stronger foundation. Still, no living being was without impurities. Even Daemons, creatures whose very essence was aligned with darkness and lifeforce absorption, carried impurities—though theirs were so minuscule that they were rarely ever affected.

And so, Sam continued the process.

The impurities within her core—traces of inefficiencies, lingering weaknesses—were drawn out, dissolved, and cast away into the swirling tide of the Odyllic. Her very essence refined, her core growing ever more stable, radiant, and powerful. She was no longer simply stabilizing her core.

She was ascending.

Sam was breaking through the final barrier—the mortal limits shackling her existence. She could feel it. The fragile constraints of her vessel—the invisible chains binding her to what she had once been—were shattering one by one. She was evolving, growing beyond her current state, pushing past the confines of what had once been possible.

This was the most dangerous moment of Ascension—the threshold where mind, body, and soul were torn apart and remade anew. The moment one shattered their limitations, the body was subjected to unimaginable strain. It was as if her very essence had been thrust into the crucible of creation, burning away all that was weak, all that was insufficient.

Her mind strained under the immense pressure, threatening to fracture. Her veins ignited, Odic energy coursing through them like a raging inferno, rupturing blood vessels, and sending bright crimson streaks cascading down her skin. Her bones cracked, their structure breaking under the force of the transformation, only to be rebuilt stronger than before. Her flesh tore apart, every fiber splitting as if she were being unraveled at the most fundamental level—her very existence deconstructed.

And yet—just as swiftly as she was destroyed, she was reborn. The cycle repeated. Break. Reconstruct. Break. Reconstruct. Each time, she emerged stronger, her body reinforced with each passing moment. Her cells reorganized, her muscles reforged, and her bones hardened beyond their former limits. She wasn't just enduring—she was becoming something greater.

Then, as if her very mind had crossed a threshold beyond comprehension, reality itself began to shift. Her perception warped, her senses extending beyond the confines of the physical realm. Time lost its meaning. Space became fluid, folding and twisting around her. She could feel the Odyllic, not just as an external force, but as a fundamental part of her.