Chapter 182

  Hours later, Alexander left the comfort of his workshop and the pleasant, if repetitive, work of drone repair, hunger finally getting the best of him.

  Voices drifted from the living room. Laughter. The warmth of genuine conversation between old friends. Familiar.

  Alexander followed the sound up the stairs and froze.

  Frank sat on the couch beside Augustus, looking younger than Alexander remembered. Not necessarily young, but healthier. Fit. His wife Helena occupied the chair across from them, her posture relaxed, also looking as if she’d dropped a couple of decades since he last saw her.

  Not that he’d ever actually met this version of her before today.

  Frank spotted him first. “Well, there he is. The big man himself.”

  Alexander smiled. He crossed the room, pulling Frank into a hug before stepping back. “Been thinking about you. I was planning to track you down soon.”

  “Beat you to it,” Frank said with a grin. “Though I can’t take credit. Spencer sent me a birthday card saying it was time to reach out to Augustus.” He shrugged. “Wasn’t even my bloody birthday.”

  Alexander frowned. From the limited understanding he had of Spencer’s power, he knew his cousin couldn’t afford to make timing mistakes. It didn’t work that way. And he was still on the Nexus.

  “Hello, Alex. It’s good to see you again,” Helena said, before squinting and leaning forward slightly. “You have a core. And you’re cultivating while walking around, I can feel it.”

  Alexander glanced down at his own chest. She was half right. He’d taken to cycling Electrokinesis through his Core at increasingly higher thresholds during downtime, when he wasn’t worried about maintaining his reserves. It was just another form of training his Endurance and the power’s stats.

  He looked back up. “Not exactly. I don’t really have a core, and I can’t sense qi. Instead, it does what I thought a cultivator’s core would do for me. And more. I’m still discovering its secrets.”

  She looked at Frank, something unspoken passing between them.

  “Wait. How can you tell?” Alexander asked, surprised.

  Frank’s grin widened. “Spencer delivered us some serum back during your big ‘Machine God’ announcement fight. Bloody good work, by the way. Glad you didn’t die. Always kill the other guy first, I say.”

  The words sounded casual, but the old man wasn’t great at hiding his own emotions. A trace of concern appeared in his eyes.

  Then it was gone. Frank continued. “Anyway, instead of using them to become dumb superheroes, we became cultivators.” He laughed. “Just like the guy you were fighting. Seemed more useful.”

  The world stopped.

  Frank was talking about awakening. Spencer provided the serum. Step one. But step two…

  Alexander’s senses reached out before he could rein them in. And answered his fears.

  Frank and Helena were… more whole than the human baseline. Their bioelectric signatures also carried the intensity of ascended attributes. Physical, certainly. Their body signatures were intense, stronger than his own in some ways.

  A second thread of thought spun off, avoiding the truth the first was realizing. He really needed to learn how to differentiate bioelectric signatures and properly determine which attributes were presenting more powerfully.

  That would be a very useful skill.

  Augustus’s expression shifted rapidly. Surprise. Followed by concern. His gaze found Alexander’s across the room.

  Frank’s smile faded. “You alright? You’ve gone pale, lad.”

  One part of Alexander’s mind captured the emotion, the problem, the spiral of thoughts threatening to drag him under. Frank and Helena had awakened. And the only way he could have completed step two, reinforcing his soul, was by taking it from his origin.

  Which meant the Frank of his original reality was dead. Helena too.

  The other part of his mind took a breath.

  He gave the smallest shake of his head. Augustus’s eyes tightened with understanding, but he didn’t say anything.

  Frank didn’t need to know. He’d been the first to accept Alexander despite his own fears, taking in stride the almost impossible fact that the Alexander he’d known was dead. Replaced by a version of him from another reality. He owed the old man the same courtesy.

  If Frank could do it, and Julia could live with it, then so could he.

  Grief would come later.

  He forced a smile. “That’s quite the surprise. But you mean you have superpowers that mimic cultivation, right?”

  Helena shook her head. “No. We thought so at first, too, but we couldn’t make our abilities work at all initially…” She glanced at her husband. “So we had the big idea to try learning martial arts. It was a lot of fun, but nothing changed for a long time.”

  “Shoulda seen us. Well, mostly me. All flabby and sweaty and trying to wrestle with men half my age!” Frank guffawed. “And of course, my beautiful Helena here was as graceful as a cat from the start.”

  Helena blushed.

  “But nothing worked, and we had no one to ask because we were keeping it a secret that we’d used the serum. Ain’t registered and all that.” Frank shrugged. “Then, suddenly, a bit more than a month ago, we both felt qi for the first time. The System even told us we now had access to it and could cultivate properly!”

  He scratched the back of his head. “No idea what changed, but once we could feel it, we began cultivating a core and all that fancy stuff. Then we had our first breakthrough just a week ago, and look at us now! We look fitter than you!”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Alexander ignored the old man’s weak attempt at an insult. He frowned, instead focusing on the timing.

  “Augustus…” he started, glancing at him.

  “Yeah, I’m thinking the same,” Augustus said slowly. “Perhaps that’s why the gateways are permanent now.”

  “But why bother?” Alexander shook his head. “Or is it an unintended side effect of forcing us all into conflict?”

  Augustus shrugged. “Seems like quite an oversight if—.”

  Alexander’s eyes widened. “It’s the only way they can survive in other realities. Cultivators need qi. Mages need mana. That’s why your runes were draining power from my generators, because there’s no mana. And your ability is a superpower that performs magic rather than natural magic. If such a thing is even natural.”

  Augustus mirrored his look. His mouth opened. Closed. “I want to disagree, but… it adds up. We might be completely off the mark, but it makes a lot of sense.”

  Frank grunted, crossing his arms. “You two gonna fill us in, or are we just decoration? Can’t follow anything you’re saying.”

  Helena’s lips twitched at her husband’s behavior.

  Augustus straightened, visibly pulling himself back to the present conversation. “Right. Sorry. The sixth invasion gave out gateways as rewards to the winners. They’re permanent, leaving one-way connections between our worlds. The timing matches when you both suddenly sensed qi for the first time.” He paused, searching for simpler words. “Alexander and I suspect the System is bleeding the realities together. Or something along those lines.”

  Silence settled over the room.

  Frank and Helena exchanged a look.

  Alexander could see it in their expressions. Neither quite grasped the full implications.

  He wasn’t entirely sure he did either. The theory made sense on the surface, but the deeper consequences remained murky. What it might mean for people who couldn’t access qi and mana. What would change when the realities finished bleeding their unique environments together.

  But they were questions for later. Right now, he was more interested in the timing behind his cousin’s not-so-subtle manipulation.

  “I think I know why Spencer sent you that birthday card,” he said, turning toward the coffee table between the couches.

  With a thought, he focused power into the ring.

  Willed it to release its contents. Junk he’d placed back in the ring until he could dump them on someone else.

  Cultivation manuals bound in weathered leather tumbled onto the surface. Jade slips clattered against wooden boxes. Painted paper slips scattered. Vials rolled. The pile of roughly shaped glowing rocks settled beside the smooth, colored orbs.

  He kept the cultivator’s personal effects in the ring this time. It felt wrong to pass them on like the rest.

  Everyone else froze.

  Augustus studied Alexander for a long moment, likely recognizing what he was doing. But he didn’t push. “So you finally cracked the ring. How’d you manage it?”

  Alexander exhaled, grateful for the lifeline. “Yeah. It’s tied to my power signature now. That happened mostly accidentally while I was trying to unlock it.” He paused. “There’s enough space for well over a thousand drones.”

  Augustus’s eyes widened.

  Alexander’s smirk felt almost genuine. “Or other fun toys that would be too difficult to carry around in public. Just need to build them first.”

  Frank and Helena were already reaching for the scrolls and books, their excitement palpable as they examined each piece with the reverence of scholars discovering lost texts.

  Alexander took a seat and waited patiently. They had a lot to catch up on.

  ***

  The elephant’s trunk wrapped around Annie’s leg. Lifted her into the air, then swung her downward.

  She hit the sand face-first. Hard enough to feel sand embedded between her teeth.

  The trunk lifted her. She spat sand. “Hey, that was a great—”

  She crashed down face-first again.

  Felix swung her like a weapon, hammering her into the beach over and over. Sand exploded with each impact.

  Annie grinned. The metal replacing her legs shifted, becoming thinner. The trunk’s grip loosened. She slipped free and rolled to her feet.

  To her left, Zara rushed her with hands outstretched. Vines and roots erupted from the young girl’s palms.

  Annie blocked them with one hand, using the momentum to flip sideways.

  Gilly’s webbed hands scooped sand and flung it at her face as she landed.

  Her wings snapped around from her back, shielding her eyes.

  She’d been practicing using MetaMetal Adaptation to form wings for weeks now. What initially required transforming her arms had, through sixteen-hour days filled with unrelenting practice, become limbs in their own right. Extending from the muscles in her back around the shoulder blades, she could now generate and absorb them at will.

  Controlling them was harder, but she knew the added difficulty would pay off in the end.

  She shifted her density and leapt forward into the air after the sand cloud passed. Her wings unfurled, snapping once to beat at the air and propel her faster toward the primary threat.

  It wasn’t quite flying, but practice made perfect.

  Felix tried to shift, but she was already inside his guard. Her right fist swung, bulging larger mid-attack. With a thought, she activated Nutcracker without announcing it, intentionally limiting its effects.

  The strike connected with the side of the elephant’s big head. Felix shot away from her, the force overwhelming him despite the ridiculous size difference. The four-ton elephant bounced and rolled across the beach, eliminated from the fight.

  Zara’s vines wrapped around Annie’s waist, holding her aloft for a heartbeat. Just long enough for Annie’s arms to morph into blades and slice through the conjured plant life, dropping her back to the ground.

  Gilly came at her low, arms outstretched.

  Smart. He was using his enhanced agility and strength to stay unpredictable, trying to use the wrestling move Augustus taught him.

  Not fast enough.

  Annie caught his wrists mid-lunge and pulled him down, bringing a knee up into his face. Gently. Just enough to end it. For the pain to convey the lesson.

  The three of them regrouped, breathing hard. The crew watched from the sidelines. Zane, Allie, and Bill sat with them.

  Annie retracted her wings and faced them all. “The coordination was excellent. Felix controlled my movements. Zara exploited my distraction twice. Gilly targeted a natural weak point using his surroundings.”

  She let the words settle.

  “You did everything right.”

  The implication hung in the air. She’d still won.

  Davis raised a hand. “Why’d you include Gilly for the demonstration? He doesn’t have powers yet, either.”

  “He’s already ascended three attributes,” Annie said. “His Strength, Endurance, and Agility were naturally high. We’re pushing him hard to see if training and ascension alone can trigger soul reinforcement before he uses the quest reward. He’s our guinea pig.”

  “Yes!” Gilly laughed, eyes blinking rapidly. “Gilly pig!”

  Annie’s expression shifted. Her gaze swept across the unpowered and unascended crew members.

  “This demonstration was to drive home something important. Numbers alone are not enough to overcome the gap between Tiers.” She smiled. “Between experience and mastery of one’s powers.”

  She Willed her Saurian hybrid transformation to begin, easing into it slowly. Controlling it.

  “And that’s why today’s lesson is on one of the most fundamental skills anyone can have.”

  Metal teeth began elongating from her grinning mouth. Jutting forward. Her spine stretched as she grew taller. Scales rippled down her arms and up her neck. Claws erupted from her toes.

  “Survival.”

  Everyone fell quiet, shifting uncomfortably.

  “You have thirty seconds to run and hide,” Annie said, voice shifting into a bassy growl.

  Her grin widened unnaturally around the metal fangs.

  “Begin.”

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