SL: Chapter 750 – Viewpoint 67 (Patreon)

The Avatar?

RECONSTRUCT

I gasped for air as my body came back. I had my arms and legs. I could see again. Looking around there was shimmering water as it fell from above and a sense of light and tranquility in the air. “Where am I?” I said slowly. There was a throne of white stone behind me and a I was on a white stone platform. I didn’t recall a place like this anywhere in the Systemic Lands.

Looking upwards, there were tiny waterfalls, that left droplets of water hanging in the air. On either side of me was a large pool of perfectly clear water that glimmered from unseen light sources. There was a single walkway leading from the edge of this massive building, over a large pool, between the various waterfalls, to a large dais that the throne was on in the middle of this building.

“Hello?” I called out, but there was no response as I looked around, unsure of what to do. My mind was trying to process everything after I had suffered so much.

My body was suddenly forced to move. It flew up into the air and spun about. I was slammed into a nearby throne by an unseen force. I tried to struggle but my entire body was held firmly in place.

“What?!” I screamed out with last breath as my very lungs froze in position.

RECONSTRUCT

Golden light surrounded me. I felt my very soul being ripped apart. I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out. I…

…opened my eyes and a glowing golden light spilled over everything.

“Ahhhhhhhh,” I inhaled deeply, feeling the shape of this human body. It was constraining and limited as expected. But the time for half measures was over. Saving up enough strength to recover the body I had been preparing was quite a hassle. A shame that the other candidates had either died or failed.

Turning my head slightly, my gaze focused on the towers that had been claimed. A remnant of what had been here before. They posed a slight threat with their administrative powers over certain aspects of this place, but it was not a major concern.

The great threat came from the beast that I had contained. Now that the seed of the Great Devourer had been destroyed, I was finally able to act with purpose. The risk was limited. But nothing was without risk. My energy reserves were low and were slowly decreasing.

My gaze shifted slightly. Someone was exploiting a tower in an annoying way, draining energy reserves more quickly than what I considered average. I considered my options on if I should wipe them out or leave them be. It was the same being who had killed the seed of the Great Devourer. They could prove useful against the beast when it finally broke free.

Accessing the memories of the soul I had devoured, the human’s name was Michael. An interesting designation I would not forget. He had been the focus of my attention before. Someone he continued to survive and be useful. As long as he remained useful, he would be allowed to exist.

Focusing slightly I began assessing everything to check for lingering damage. This place remained hidden. But the time bubble had issues and so did the storage. Any repairs were costly to make and would serve no purpose. They could be ignored. When they failed, they would fail, it mattered not. Saving energy would be the optimal choice at this point in time.

For now, I needed to slowly reshape this body. I had failed in the past to take all variables into account. Failed to understand things from the perspective of a lowly existence. But there was value in understanding, value in information, value in trying something completely different.

The beings that scurried around were capable in their own way. But as a complex machine there were limitations. Even with my immense power, calculative abilities, and control over energy, I was still limited. A great existence that could crush any mortal being and several immortal beings. But against other beings of true power, I was hopeless.

I would take several steps back, to allow my existence to reach greater heights. Being just machine was too constraining. Focusing on precision and the direct application of energy was a path that I had already explored to its conclusion. The best option now was to use my previous defeat to chart a new path forward to correct the mistakes I had made in the past. I took another breath and the body was limiting. I had expected such a thing, but it was painful. I would need to carefully reshape it to my will and find a way to transfer my mind into it.

Already the flesh was struggling to stay togeather from the sheer weight of a sliver of my presence. Cutting that connection to become an independent existence free of my former constraints, but with new constraints would take time. A lot of time. At least that was one thing this place would provide in abundance even as the energy slowly declined.

No new threats were nearby. I paused as another anomaly came to my attention.

It wasn’t a part of me, but it also was. How interesting. A weapon, but it was already straining under the sheer amount of energy contained within it. While it had a mind and a body, its soul was barely existent. I considered destroying it, but it posed no threat. I had no plans of expending energy, time, or cycles pointlessly dealing with minor concerns.

Instead, I would have to prepare for when this place finally broke apart and ceased to exist. It was situated in a dangerous location in the Firmament, but that was what made it the perfect hiding place. At least the spatial compression and environmental bubble was stable with no need for repairs in the slightest.

Looking into the future, there were a myriad of possibilities. Most of them were not good for me. I would have to ensure my safety and escape first and foremost. I was intertwined with this place in a way that was dangerous. That would slowly need to be corrected. While I would have less influence, I would have to take that risk. It would also help me preserve my energy as well.

My thoughts were less precise. My face frowned slightly. I could feel the muscles move. The blood shift its course. I adjusted my face back to neutral, but I couldn’t adjust my thoughts. I would have to be careful I wasn’t influenced in a negative direction while increasing my control of this body. While a physical body shouldn’t have mattered, I was forcing my very existence to conform and altering the body as well.

That was why I couldn’t immediately take control of it. While I would be weaker, I would be far more mobile. My attention drifted to my other body hidden away. A damaged vessel blocked most of my view, but beneath the hull there was my other body. A complex matrix of energy, constantly shifting, calculating, evaluating. I could see myself think.

While it was far superior to this lowly form, I could not remain immobile, prey for whatever strong being happened across me as a snack. The beast’s constraints would only hold for so long. Once it was free, others of its kind would notice and come. And then that would be the end of this place.

An impressive creation. One that showed up at an opportune moment that I could make use of. Its purpose both simple, terrifying, and enlightening all at the same time. The being who had created this place did not think in simple terms.

From the memories of the soul I had consumed, I could tell that these lesser beings worshiped me. An interesting possibility. Having forces at my command would be useful to either delay or fight on my behalf. I would be limited, constrained once I moved myself over fully. I would also be vulnerable.

I would need to prepare greater weapons and defenses. My core could not be moved. It was too damaged, too fragile after what had occurred. But once I did shift my mind fully, I could begin repairing the vessel for my departure. I adjusted my plans as new timelines, energy, and material reports were created and evaluated.

I would need to retain that part of myself, the ability to rapidly process data and whatever else I could. The optimal solution was to go backwards, something that would have confounded me ages ago. But defeat and my near annihilation had forced me to look at several underlying assumptions on how reality actually worked.

Precision was not a blessing, but a trap. If my body couldn’t support my power, things would become unbalanced. That is why I needed to cast aside a portion of my power and start over. I would have preferred to have another core. To rebuild it properly, but that was impossible. The materials that made up my core could not be easily sourced or substituted at the moment. And I wasn’t about to go looking for them outside this place. That would attract attention before I was ready.

Patience was something I had an endless amount of. As long as I was moving forwards and had a path of improvement all would be fine. I checked the various safeguards on this place again and toggled several switches. I needed to preserve energy as much as possible. While I didn’t control everything, I had enough control to alter some key parameters to avoid unnecessary expenditures and risks. I had avoided them before due to the risk of the seed of the Great Devourer taking advantage but it was gone.

Many things needed to be reevaluated with this change. The beast while powerful and skilled, was no master of the finer points of energy manipulation. Leaving my core for this body would leave me exposed, but it was a risk. It all came down to time and I was unsure of the precise time when it would break free.

Rushing things would only invite disaster but going too slowly would invite disaster as well. A problem with unknown information was annoying but one I encountered often. Trying to split the difference was foolish. Running from this place into a greater risk or this body collapsing was also foolish. I would have to take my time and deal with the beast in other ways. A shame it hadn’t killed the seed when it had the chance.