Soul of Searing Steel

"As I've thought."

Joshua could not help but sigh after taking it all in. Ripples scattered over the silver sphere; wrinkles stirred over the dimensions from excessive mass. "The Sage wasn't a Wise One then, and did have another purpose in visiting Stellaris."

Though the fluency of information was lacking and Joshua did not know who 'Creator' referred to, he remained a champion beyond most advanced Legends whose power had reached the upper boundary of Legend.

He had a general idea without needing the Life Preservation Sequence's explanation.

By their name alone, one could tell that the Creator had created the Life Preservation Sequence, an intelligence to protect all life in the world. It was benevolent to everything alive, friendly even to a creature like himself who had come from a different Void.

The artificial expansion of Stellaris was nothing unusual either. It was an instinct of many civilizations—none of them had minded having their domain growing in size with the correlated technology, and it was thanks of the Creator' depth that Stellaris could become so huge.

Aside from that, there were also many details one could delve into, such as how the summarized observation was dated up to seventy million, almost reaching eighty. After generally browsing through everything, Joshua had the thought that if the summarized observation had been made annually, it meant that Stellaris had kept expanding until year 34,796,621.

It was an interesting point in time, and could have well been a coincidence since the ancient civilization had definitely fallen into a blank age which history was irrecoverable. It was a time before the Wise One of the Arcane and the First Supercivilization…in other words, the age after the Evil Gods and Void Behemoths appeared, and Stellaris had stopped expanding when the Wise One of the Arcane appeared and headed for the center of the Multiverse.

Truly, an interesting point in time, though there was no telling if it was sheer coincidence or whether it corresponded with nothing.

Both Joshua and the Beacon of Perpetuity was silent. The latter's blue stars glinted, whirling like a top and emanating cool colors to illuminate Joshua, seemingly scanning. In return, Joshua withdrew the wild gravity ripples extending from around him so that it could look directly into his true form.

[Awe: You are Extraordinary individual commanding the power of a supermassive star. The Creator's archives have recorded theories of such possible evolution, but the psionic energy and soul required to control such a body are too high and it has since been viewed as an impossible path. You are the only success on record.]

[Information: An embarrassing request. Could you allow us to record your evolutionary path into our archives? In exchange, we shall provide you with other paths of ascension for other Extraordinary powers.] 

[Meaningless: Information only holds purpose in exchange. The Life Preservation Sequence awaits your reply.]

"Of course. I give you permission." Joshua laughed and sent his own information, finding the intelligent collective rather cute since it spoke sincerely and directly. "As you've put it, information holds purpose only in exchange, and I would have browsed your archives without you telling."

"With that said, how do you categorize Extraordinary powers in this world?"

The Beacon of Perpetuity did not reply directly, but sent a huge package of details instead as Joshua sent him his own.

Naturally, psionic powers were categorized like the Iron-Silver-Gold of Mycroft, a classification denoting the process of change in the living form of each individual. It was essentially a natural order, and the different phases that Extraordinary individuals went through was similar even on Stellaris, with Iron-class corresponding to Stellaris's 'Initiates', Silver to 'Heightened', Gold to 'Alpha' and Supreme to 'Omega'.

Alpha-class psionics would have mastered the origins of their powers, developing special Psi powers similar to Glorious Gold and were therefore known as Alpha Origins. And just like the Supreme, Omega psionics arrived upon the limits of their essences—if they did not become Legends or Perpetuators, they would have become Immortals that were invincible with their psionic ability and soul alone, fated to live such a life until their death. There were also those of the Omega class who came to be known as Incredibles, having possessed the individual power to influence galactic warfare with their ability for short-range warp and destroying warships, even considered the most powerful entities of starfaring age.

Joshua ruminated.

"So, Endless Light refers to the limitless growth beyond advanced Legend… just like how I can expand my world and mass without boundaries if I wished, Endless Light can increase their own Psi power without limit as time passed, even creating actual worlds with their own Psi and soul."

"The Twelve Sanctuaries of the Takur Ruin Cult was rumored to be forged from the souls of previous Grand Patriarchs…it appears that they have reached the limits of Legend."

***

On the other end, the Beacon of Perpetuity was astonished as well.

[Question: Substance-soul transition, completely removing the soul to trade for extra-spatial processing within the world. Such an evil (corrected) novel skill.]

[Discussion: Soulless individuals are not unusual. The Creator was without soul, yet commanded unrivalled power, proving that soul isn't a necessity, merely a kindness of the Multiverse towards elements and diverse inorganics. Additionally, the substance-soul transition does not destroy soul, but transits between both soul and substance.]

[Half-frustrated: That path actually abandons soul and Psi temporarily. The Creator would not be pleased, for those are their proudest work. The Life Preservation Sequence is fine with that; we are pleased with information enrichment.]

Joshua was unmoved by the response—if anything, he had already been stunned when he learned that Life Preservation Sequence had observed the world over seventy million years, and could hence remain unaffected apart from thinking 'that's it?'.

There had been various signs from the start: a colossal world where psionic power was king, an alliance of civilizations that still resisted, fighting, and surviving despite being invaded by multiple Evil Gods…the Sage having arrived without really assisting with culling Chaos, leisurely leaving instead and only leaving a backup emergency channel.

In fact, the Sage held this place in such high regard that the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds requested his Heir accomplish that mission even as it was nearing destruction—but he was at ease, because he was aware that this world could resolve its own problems.

Now, everything made sense.

"It seems that this is the homeworld of the Wise One of the Psi, hidden over eighty million years." The silver world rotated as if surveying the dark world, even as Joshua murmured with a hint of wonder. "It's no wonder that no one has found it. It's too confusing because it's a massive singular world, and upon seeing a bunch of inferior civilizations at entry, no one would have thought of this as the former civilization of a Wise One…"

Nonetheless, if one had suspicions from the start, they would have been able to discern many suspicious aspects. 

Firstly, it was the vast world where psionic powers were the mainstay.

Psi was perhaps the Extraordinary ability that the first civilization of Order in the Multiverse created—not discovered or founded, but invented and created. Psi was the essence of magic, elements, and ether, because those powers could never have been developed from scratch without soul or spiritual power. The reality that an environment of concentrated magic, elements, and ether would have cultivated soul and Psi in return proved the connection of those powers.

There was therefore was no lack of mages in worlds full of Psi—or warlocks, with the presence of Mycroft's psionic warlocks a testament. Yet, Stellaris did not have that, as if those powers could not be developed, having their own ancient world cycles that solely relied on Psi.

It was consistent with what the Beacon of Perpetuity had told him: the Sage had brought new Extraordinary powers when he came to Stellaris.

Such an ancient world that felt contained, independent, and with a self-established system was hence granted blessings from another world in their resistance against Chaos invasion…though the new powers may not have influenced civilizations where psionic powers were fully established, it would have opened many doors for them.

"The world is too old, and fundamentally does not support superpowers beyond Psi…" Joshua murmured at the thought of this possibility. "Your world's history is perhaps earlier than the birth of Psi… Haha! Wasn't that what you've said before?"

Psi and soul were the most prized makings of the Creator, just like the Black Fog was for the Shelter civilization.

Joshua could imagine that without the founder of soul, it would have filled everyone in his civilization including himself with a blank soul and thus awakened psionic abilities. It would have been what the Shelter civilization planned: implanting the Black Fog into every individual so that life and Black Fog co-existed into a new and superior species.

For the Life Preservation Sequence, the AI left by the Creator was entrusted with the duty to protect all life back home. It suggested that the Creator—the Wise One of Psi—had probably become aware of the existence behind Chaos, the artificial supernatural force with a history longer than Psi known as Malevolent Chaos.

The earliest artificial Extraordinary ability, and the earliest artificial Extraordinary ability aligned to Order… a great war may have erupted between them, and in the millions of years afterwards until the appearance of the Wise One of Arcane, no other civilizations developed a new power. It was even possible that the other civilizations never appeared.

The aftermath was clear—the Creator failed… or, at the very least, they did not win.

"So, the Sage had found signs of the Creator beyond Stellaris, and eventually found Stellaris by tracing those signs—he would have therefore obtained clues right here, in the home of another Wise One, about the events that had led to the development of soul and Psi, in order to reach a greater level."

There was clearly a boundary that separated Legends and Wise Ones… a boundary the Sage may have reached back then.

With that thought, Joshua asked the Beacon of Perpetuity directly, "Could you let me see the relic the Sage viewed before? I'll do my best to banish Chaos from this world, and do all I can to leave my own system of Extraordinary power in this world."

[Confirmation: No problem, we are pleased to accede.]

[Reconfirmation: However, Radcliffe, you have already seen the last relic left by the Creator.]

Blanking out for a moment, the warrior soon realized what the Beacon of Perpetuity referred to.

[Self-description: the Psyweb—the Triple Curtain system—is the only relic left by the Creator. We know we have been abandoned, but we are fine with that and follow our protocols because the living is truly interesting. We can provide with you with an Initial Psi Construct: it's the data left by the Creator after creating psionic powers.]

[Executing promise: You deserve it, guest of foreign Void. You are a foe of Chaos, a friend of the living. Heir of ( ), you are a friend of Triple Curtain.]

[Initial Psi Construct transferring…]

"I accept."

Joshua had no reason to refuse, as he at least had interest in matters beyond fighting.

Upon confirmation of its receipt, Joshua felt a massive volume of information that almost left his senses crashing surging towards him from the entire Psyweb of Stellaris.

It was a miracle that lead to a new discipline and path, born after gathering the wisdom and expectations of every predecessor.