Nux Valtorin was in an immense amount of pain. He landed flat on his back from the fall a few minutes ago, and he could feel everything inside of him was broken. The only reason why his insides weren’t spilling out was because his armor was holding himself together.

  The same could not be said for the plan’s grand architect laying a few meters away with the contents of his skull spilling out onto a rock.

  “Good riddance,” Nux muttered before he was interrupted by a violent coughing fit.

  Nux was full of regret for what he did. It was his fault that Arden did what he did. Nux set him off.

  But Nux wasn't too mournful to feel that Arden was undeserving of death. Despite all the wrongs that Nux had committed, he knew that Arden committed worse with his act of swallowing the Godstone.

  He already accepted his death. The distant roaring of the Stonelord above him on the cliff let him know that he would die sooner or later, either due to his injuries or the Stonelord making its way down the cliff.

  It pained him that he could do nothing but wait for death to embrace him. He felt like he let his parents down, his sister down, Bellum down, and the world down. More than that, he let himself down.

  He was supposed to save the world, and now because of his paranoia, he incited a madman to doom him and the world. He knew that it was his fault, but he still cursed Arden for following through with his plan.

  The world would have no hero. He was supposed to rid the world of evil, but one had gotten the better of him.

  Because of that one demon, the world would come to an end.

  At least the demon’s actions had gotten the better of himself too. The demon showed a frightening tenacity. It was starved, cut, and stabbed, but still continued. For a while, Nux was horrified that that Arden was an immortal form of evil come to haunt the world.

  Like the Blight itself.

  Nux felt immense relief when he saw the Arden unable to get up from its fall. He could rest a lot more easily if he knew that the beast was slain.

  Nux started taking deep breaths, waiting for death.

  The demon’s body twitched, snapping Nux from his stupor. Fear painted Nux’s face a shade of ghostly white.

  Nux watched in horror as the brain matter and skull fragments slowly started moving back to the demon’s head. It was healing.

  The demon was still alive.

  “No…”

  ***

  Arden’s mood couldn’t be ruined by anything at the moment. He would be riding the high of his accomplishment for a long time. How many other people created a Stellar Core and functionally became a Starborn during their first trial, and not after?

  Absolutely none. Arden believed that. His Vera would most likely back him up on this claim, and the Status would probably say something about it before his second trial.

  But Arden was getting ahead of himself. He wasn't even done with his first trial, and here he was thinking about his second briefing with the Status.

  Arden moved around the now completely empty void. There was no Stellar Essence flying around, no reformed trauma, just Arden.

  That didn’t mean nothing was happening.

  Arden looked up to the top of the void that he could see. It was a slightly different color than the rest of the black void. Everywhere else was black, but up there was dark grey. Arden took it as a sign that he was healing. Very slowly, but it was progress.

  He couldn’t wait to see the look on Nux’s face.

  Arden stood looking up at the brightening void with a pleased face. Soon he would be out.

  A strange thought crossed his mind.

  “So the Godstone is the equivalent of a star core. But where did it come from? If the legends are true, it was given to humanity by the god of the Helios Church. It didn’t come from the death of the god like with other Celestials, though.”

  Arden had no answers. Realistically speaking though, he didn't need them. Survival was what he needed.

  “It’s probably something different. The stellar essence it gave was gold. There is no gold-tier. Blue is as high as it goes.”

  Arden’s thought jumped back to the Forge of the Imaginarium and Satellites in general.

  “Right, I have a core and essence! That means I can access my Soul Cluster! How many Satellites do I have again?”

  Arden thought about the loot he’d acquired and made a tally.

  “Let’s see here. Bone Talons obviously. The Forge of the Imaginarium…Oath of Blood.”

  Turns out, he was wrong to think that nothing could ruin his mood. Just thinking about this world’s Vera tugged at his heartstrings. He did his best to push the memory of her bleeding out on top of him out of his head.

  Arden stayed silent and closed his eyes. He didn’t know how to access his Soul Cluster, but that didn’t stop him from trying to figure it out. It worked before, after all.

  ‘Soul Cluster.’

  Nothing.

  “Soul Cluster.”

  Still nothing.

  Arden opened his eyes and was surprised to see what looked like crimson sun floating just ahead of him.

  “I guess it did work…”

  The small sun in front of him was slowly rotating and giving off a dark warmth.

  “My core?”

  It slowly rose into the middle of the space, whereupon the black background changed. He was no longer in an expanse of the void. He was now in a serene spot or other space.

  Far in the distance, countless stars twinkled, shedding their celestial light throughout Arden’s Soul Cluster. Much like in the space where he had talked to his Status before the trial, each of the stars gave off red, orange, yellow, white, and blue light.

  Celestial clouds of stardust floated around the stars in every direction in every place, except for the walkable area of the Soul Cluster, which Arden realized was a box about 20 meters in every direction with his crimson core right in the middle.

  “Do all Soul Clusters look like this from the inside?” He asked aloud.

  Just like when he was in this space before the trial, Arden marveled at the splendor at the beautiful scene. Arden’s favorite part was how the stars slowly moved through space.

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  “No matter how many times I see them, I'll never get tired of seeing stars.”

  A bright light shined somewhere far off in the distance, but otherwise everything remained the same. Arden felt no need to make a comment and ruin the ambience.

  After a few minutes of stargazing, Arden returned to his core. He had an objective here, after all.

  He touched his core and felt his heartbeat from it. It was a little unsettling to hear a heartbeat from a marble, but more than anything it was soothing, like this was where he was always meant to be.

  He took his hand away from the core and watched with interest as several motes of light started orbiting the core.

  “Six of them.”

  Four of them were red, one was white, and the last one was grey. Arden was convinced that the first four were Satellites based off of their colors, but the grey one threw him for a loop.

  Arden focused on the grey mote, and it took the form of a large white token with an arrow emblazoned on it. When Arden looked at it, his Status appeared for the first time in a long time.

  Transplantation Boon

  Satellite Tier: Red

  Satellite Rank: Main Sequence

  Satellite Type: Consumable (2/2)

  Satellite Description: Allows the User to transplant up to two Satellite Aspects to another Satellite.

  “That seems like it can come in handy. But where did it come from? And why is it’s mote grey if it's red-tier?”

  His question hung in the air when he looked at the next mote, which was red. The red light dimmed and revealed Arden’s first Satellite which he had missed so dearly. It looked like an off-white claw made of bone.

  “Bone Talons, my beloved.”

  They were with him again. More than that, the damage done to them by his doppelganger had been repaired.

  The Status appeared in front of him, and for the first time he was able to read the description of the Satellite that had been by his side the longest.

  Bone Talons

  Satellite Tier: Red

  Satellite Rank: Protostar

  Satellite Type: Weapon (Gauntlets)

  Satellite Description: For most, death is the end of their journey. For the species whom these claws belonged to, it was only the next step.

  Satellite Aspects: Rigor Mortis

  Rigor Mortis: Satellite becomes sturdier the more undead are slain.

  “Note to self, avoid whatever calls death the next step of its life.”

  Arden ignored the irony of that being said by himself, an undying individual. He touched the gauntlets, and the mote of red light disappeared into red sparks which rushed to surround Arden’s hands.

  The sparks faded and Arden found himself staring at the Bone Talons covering his hands with delight. He opened and closed his fists, reveling in the feeling of his first Satellite.

  “Oh I missed you.”

  Arden tapped the core again and his Bone Talons vanished, turning into a mote of red light once more. As it started orbiting the core, Arden moved on to the next red mote.

  The mote changed into a familiar looking great spear. Its lacquered wood shaft juxtaposed against the tangled mess of roots resting at the end of the shaft just below the tip. Arden gave a low whistle upon seeing the Maverick’s weapon of choice in his Soul Cluster.

  Again, the Status appeared.

  Rogier’s Tree

  Satellite Tier: Red

  Satellite Rank: Main Sequence

  Satellite Type: Weapon (Spear)

  Satellite Description: The Paladins of the Great Grave Archwood all used weapons with handles made of the gravewood that the Archwood shed every season. To them, it signified a closeness with their deity.

  When Rogier became a Maverick, madness controlled him. The only thing that kept him losing all rationale was his great spear, gifted to him by the Great Grave Archwood in life.

  In death, he wields it to honor the Great Grave Archwood.

  Satellite Aspects: Spear Shift, Great Grave Veneration

  Spear Shift: This Satellite can modify its appearance into any spear-type weapon.

  Great Grave Veneration: Greater rewards are given for returning souls to the roots.

  “Ah that's right. The Maverick’s god died or was replaced or something, and when the Maverick denied the new god it became a Maverick.”

  Arden looked at the first Aspect and touched the weapon. Red sparks took on the shape of the spear in Arden’s hands. Arden gauged that it was taller than him. When they fully materialized, Arden almost dropped the weapon due to its weight, just like he had done shortly after receiving it back in the Mausoleum.

  “Well, it is a giant spear.”

  Arden thought of the great spear taking on the form of a more manageable size, which it did. It now was the size of a normal spear, but still maintained several features, namely the material and the gnarled roots below the tip.

  Arden gave it a few test swings and nodded to himself. It felt good in his hands.

  He looked at the second Aspect and wondered what it meant by “returning souls to the roots.” He wasn’t sure if he had to do anything special, or if it just activated on a kill. It could have even been only activated when fighting undead.

  “It's not like I can learn about it in here.”

  He tapped the core to dismiss the spear and moved on to the next red mote. The one he had completely forgotten about. The one he was given by Podren.

  A thick hardcover book appeared in Arden’s hand. With the comforting heft of the book and the ornately designed hourglass on the front cover that seemed to have sand trickle down, it seemed more worthy of the word tome than book.

  Codex Momenti Proximi

  Satellite Tier: Red

  Satellite Rank: Protostar

  Satellite Type: Tool

  Satellite Description: Your next line is, “This seems a bit too strong for a red-tier.”

  Satellite Aspects: The Next Moment

  The Next Moment: The pages tell what will happen next.

  “This seems a bit too strong for a red-tier,” Arden muttered, before gasping in surprise that the Codex had read his future.

  “That’s pretty nifty,” he said, returning the Codex to its orbit around his core.

  Arden knew what the next Satellite would be, so he hesitated. He didn’t want to have it, considering where it came from, but he also knew that ignoring it would be completely insensitive.

  Arden swallowed and focused on the mote, which revealed itself to be an amulet. A ruby red gemstone a few centimeters across was attached to a silver band meant to be worn around the neck.

  Oath of Blood

  Satellite Tier: Red

  Satellite Rank: Protostar

  Satellite Type: Charm

  Satellite Description: A lost soul waited for eons to see someone one last time. She made a promise, an oath, to always stand beside that person. As she finally fulfilled her promise, she was ripped from that person’s arms. An oath of blood is not something so easily severed, even in death. She will always stand beside him.

  Satellite Aspects: Blood Bond

  Blood Bond: You grow stronger when alongside the person who made the oath.

  Arden didn’t say anything. What could he say? He reached out to touch it, and it manifested already around his neck. He wrapped his hand around it and felt it beat like a heart. His eyes turned to the description.

  “How long were you waiting?” he asked in a whisper.

  He didn’t know how long he stood there before finally moving on to the white mote, with the Oath of Blood still dangling around his neck.

  The anvil with lines of lava coursing through it appeared before Arden. He touched it and it materialized on the ground in front of him. He was thankful it didn’t drop from the mote itself. He didn't think his Soul Cluster would survive if a white-tier anvil fell through it.

  Forge of the Imaginarium

  Satellite Tier: White

  Satellite Rank: Protostar (Current)

  Satellite Type: Tool (Anvil)

  Satellite Description: It is not unheard of for an artisan to pour their heart into making a masterpiece. However, one reclusive master instead poured his mind into the creation of a forge itself. It was said that should one master their mind, they shall also master this forge.

  Satellite Aspect: Harvest

  Harvest: Automatically harvests useful materials from slain creatures and adds them to inventory.

  “Very interesting. Does the ‘current’ on its rank mean it can increase? Does that mean it can get more Aspects?”

  If that were the case, Arden would be very pleased. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t slightly disappointed in the Satellite. It was white-tier, but it was utility based. And while the automatic looting sounded helpful, it wouldn’t help out much when a giant crow with six eyes was rummaging around his insides with its beak.

  “Also, what counts as a useful material?”

  Arden unsummoned the anvil. Overall, the session of taking stock was fairly productive. He found out a lot about his Satellites, and while he was in his Soul Cluster, his body was healing.

  “How do I leave the Soul Cluster?”

  Arden was whisked away back to the void.

  “I guess that's how.”

  Arden looked around and smiled. The void, while still empty, was now completely white.

  He was fully healed. It was time to leave.