Dark Matter Ascension
Chapter 29 – Shops and Stardust

Xera was at her wits end. She was scrolling through the logs and reports as fast as she could. Josie was behind her, doing the same. He dealt with the drill, but what happened after? The Cosmic System blacked out all Jace's activities while he was under the effects of Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3). Not even she could track him while it was active.

And right now, she was racking her brain, going through every file possible on those Black Hole Conclave members to try and figure out which Ascendant exactly he had dealt with. Ollie was on one of the screens, with a look of worry on his face as his whiskers twitched constantly. One indicator of his unease was his stillness – he was always moving around, even when not an otter and in his original blob-esque shape. But he was floating in the Starlit Sea, near-still, save for his whiskers.

"And you're sure he had a big sword."

"Yup," Ollie muttered. "I think he was a Dervkork. He had a big build and a snout under the helmet. Or a Goyduk."

Cross-reference that species with the descriptor and-

"I got him!" Josie shouted from behind her. Xera turned in her chair and slid over to the other half of her command center. Josie read out the displayed information, "Brom Farkonen. Tier 3 Ascendant. Cosmic Power, Black Hole. Ascended Power, Supermassive. Member of the Black Hole Conclave."

Xera read through his action reports that were automatically logged by Ollie. He was injured, took Jace's arm and then chased…but he kept getting injured? "Ollie, give me access to Jace's current readout."

The otter nodded and waved his paws. Xera's screen filled with Jace's information. [Rending] Evolution? That's one I haven't heard of before. She opened a System search engine and looked for that same Skill Evolution name. It's not in the System from prior use, so it must be newly created. The logs showed that this Brom was heavily weakened after his injury, constantly suffering and being weakened from the relatively minor blow. This…this…okay, calm down.

Xera leaned back and took a deep breath. "Dark Matter Blade (Rank 5) combined with [Rending] means that even if he barely nicks a target, they'll expire eventually. Why didn't he keep running?"

Ollie's face screwed up and he buried his face in his paws. "It is my fault. I told him to stay and fight. He would not have been able to outrun this Brom Ascendant."

Josie turned to that screen, phased into it, and went into the Starlit Sea, embracing Ollie with her gelatinous mass. The otter hugged her in response. "He is fine. Just unconscious," the gelatinous Wayreplaceer said.

In a place known for predators. With an injury that was bleeding. Xera groaned and rubbed her temples. At least he achieved Tier 2. That's a huge milestone. So even if he is attacked in his sleep by a Brontasp or Vyrknadine, he won't be as heavily injured by their bites. She looked up at the display console at the two Wayreplaceers. "It'll be okay, Ollie. But I can't keep giving Quests out of the blue like that. I'm running short on resources here. I'm going to have to make a deal with some of the merchants to get more Boons ready-to-go."

Ollie nodded and looked at the screen, "I want him to get to The Eternal City. He needs to get some better equipment."

Xera nodded, "More defensive gear, I agree. He's my only shot. No other worlds seem close to Cosmogenic Merging, so he's my only Signer for the foreseeable future." She turned away from the panel and went to her living room, sinking down onto the couch and covering her eyes with her palms, using her other set of arms to manipulate a small touchpad that fabricated a cup of warm tea. She had taken a liking to the Earth beverage.

I've got less than a month to get him up to Tier 3 so that he will actually be able to do what I need him to do on Earth. She let her face go and used her upper set of arms to pick up a tablet and began scrolling through The Cosmic Corridor's world log.

A place that affords lots of Stardust that can be easily accessed…maybe… She grinned. A world with lots of Complexes. Looks like I'll be recommending a magic-oriented world. I wonder if Double-A is still conducting his event…

Jace let out a hacking cough as he roused. Immediately, pain set in, and he groaned as he writhed in the dirt. Damnit! He thought as the pulsing from his missing arm raced down his body. Fishing around inside his pouch, he grabbed one of the bottles of painkillers, popped the maximum dose into his mouth, and then fumbled for a canteen to wash it down.

Laying back on the ground, he waited for the pills to kick in. What the hell did you do that for? Jace thought. You got close to a guy who can control gravity. Stupid, stupid decision. You should've triggered a mine on yourself before going in to prevent his effects.

The ability to be detected by changes in localized gravity was shocking. Dark Matter Cloak at (Rank 3) was supposed to make him undetectable. He didn't detect me or my weapon, then. He detected the sudden…absence of something and reacted to that.

There was a pop as Ollie appeared above him. "Are you okay?" Ollie asked as he floated above Jace, bobbing in place.

"Just waiting for the pills to kick in," Jace muttered. "And thinking about what I could've done differently."

Ollie breathed a sigh of relief and spun in a circle. "Well, I don't see anyone. And the Ascendant's corpse is still over there."

Jace forced himself to sit up and felt the dull pain of his severed limb acutely; a pulsing, throbbing, dull ache. Pushing to his feet, he staggered over to the corpse. "Dust him."

Ollie nodded and did so, flying over the body as it vanished into glimmering starlight.

<<<<<>>>>>

[Stardust Acquired: 50.]

<<<<<>>>>>

No gear remained as the body and all its parts turned to glimmering sparkles. Jace turned to the crater and trudged back, feeling a little better as the pills really took effect and the pain became negligible. Making it back to his arm took ten minutes, and he grimaced when he saw the limb holding the black sword. "I don't suppose there's a way to reattach it?" Jace asked.

Ollie frowned, "In The Eternal City? Sure. It needs to be fresh though."

Jace opened the messenger bag, shoved his arm into it, and then set the temperature to its coldest setting possible. He grabbed the sword, sheathed it, and then stood upright. "So, to Khrox, then. How far to the portal?"

Ollie pulled up a map of the world, "If you push yourself? 5 days."

Jace nodded and hefted his bags, cinching them down as best he could. "The…predators on this world won't be able to hurt me as easily, right? Since I'm a higher Tier?"

"Yup!"

Thank God for that. Something good out of this whole mess. The loss of his arm stung, but he knew that salvation and reattachment was not too far off. I can survive. I will survive.

The next few days passed quickly as Jace found out that, in addition to having these predators deal less damage, they were intimidated by him. As if they had some innate danger sense that his higher Tier made him a threat. He was never even accosted. They steered clear. The fact that these things viewed him as a danger to be avoided filled him with a sense of confidence despite his injury.

The portal was visible far before he reached it. An enormous, skyscraper-high aperture that was a hundred feet across. It thrummed with a calm, soothing, pastel-blue tone, and small arcs of white flashed across the expanse. "That's big," Jace commented.

"The Architects wanted to ensure that large populations could go through these portals. And take their personal effects with them." Ollie flew around Jace's neck; a starlit, furry scarf. Not actually touching him - just hovering there.

"We can still be attacked in The Cosmic Corridor and Khrox, right?" Jace asked.

"Yup. But Xera is going to cause some ruckus in Khrox. And, we have done a good job stopping any Wayreplaceer queries about you – so you are still unknown by most."

"Except General Logistics. They want their fluid stuff back."

"Yup."

Jace sighed and nodded, "Okay. Here we go." He continued walking and once he passed by a hill he saw a large series of wood-looking structures. Barricades and sharpened stakes. As he got closer, he could see that the woodgrain was stone. "What's this all for?"

"Ascendants setting up defenses. It is relatively common. They try to 'stake' their claim early." He chuckled, "Stake claim, get it? Because there's spiked stakes pointing out."

"Yes, very funny," Jace replied as he cracked the smallest smile he could to humor his Wayreplaceer.

There was no sign of life on or around the structures. Jace fired off the grapnel to the top of one of the walls and pulled himself up and over the barricade. Getting down the other side of the barricade was easy, and he got to the portal. Testing it with his hand, he felt a tingling feeling through the prosthetic integration. Okay. Here we go. He pushed his way through.

There was a bright flash of pastel-blue light that filled his vision, and then he found himself surrounded by thousands of people. Species of all different builds, forms, and shapes. Horned humanoids, literal blobs of slime, animalistic hybridized humanoids, a…floating gecko? Jace was awestruck at the sheer absurdity of what he was witnessing.

There are...countless different people here. He also made note of a dull-brown letter C that was over the vast majority of their hands or hand-like appendages. That must mark them as a Civilian, he thought. It wasn't a beacon like his symbol was, drawing attention to the glow. But he saw a handful of those symbols amongst the crowd.

"Welcome to The Cosmic Corridor," Ollie stated with a smile. He was clearly audible, but the tumult of voices and activity was like a constant buzz in the background. "Where you can get to any world connected to The Cosmic System."

Jace looked at his prosthetic hand and didn't see the Cosmic Power symbol. It was on my other hand. "Ollie? I don't have my symbol anymore."

Ollie looked back at him, "Huh, would you look at that. That is convenient for moving about unnoticed."

Jace looked around and took in the space itself. The Cosmic Corridor was an enormous…tunnel, for lack of a better term. The walls and ceiling looked like a hardened version of the Starlit Sea, and the enormous portals were spread at intervals of approximately one-hundred feet apart.

There were plaques on the walls that stated the world name. "I want to go to Quinn's shop. I have stuff to sell, and she can give us a lead on how to replace someone who can reattach my arm."

Ollie nodded, "Just think of where you want to go and begin walking. In a minute, you will get there."

Jace pictured Quinn in his mind and joined the crowd. He could feel the vibrant energy in the air, and the shock of seeing these countless unknown species filled him with a giddy excitement and sense of wonder. Never in his life had he ever imagined he would see something like this. It was stupefying.

There was a whole universe of different species and peoples – and he was walking among them. The feeling of being just a small cog in a much bigger machine imposed itself like it never had before, and Jace truly felt the enormity of The Cosmic System and how insignificant he was in the grand scheme of the universe itself.

The world seemingly warped around him, and Jace reflexively planted his feet into the ground. He was still in The Cosmic Corridor, but further down the road he saw enormous, towering skyscrapers that shot upward to a bright, clear, blue sky. In front of him was a storefront; seemingly built into the wall of the corridor itself.

The Star Market, Jace read to himself. The building façade was just like one of the many shops that Jace boosted from back on Earth – shimmering chrome with geometric patterns etched and filled with a neon color. In this case – a pink that burned his retinas.

He put his prosthetic hand to the door and entered. The building was small. A couple of couches were set in a front vestibule, and those were in front of a counter. Jace heard movement to his right and reflexively took a step back, hand going for his sword. But he saw who it was and let the inevitable bear hug envelop him.

Greg let out a raucous laugh, "You're alive!" he shouted as he squeezed tightly before letting Jace go. "Good to see you. But, uh…you lost another arm?"

"Yup!" Ollie stated as he flew up. "But we are going to get that sorted."

Jace looked over and saw Quinn behind the counter. She had a dour expression, and Jace returned the look. Just keep it business professional, Jace thought as he walked over to the counter. "I have stuff to sell and want to buy information."

Quinn nodded, "Please place your items on the countertop for evaluation."

Jace set his bag up on the counter and pulled out the damaged Runner's Replacement prosthetics, his sliverscreen, three of the canteens leaving him with one, the forty arc reactor components, and the two hyperbike components. That'll make it easier to get around, he thought as he hefted the much lighter bag.

"Your sliverscreen? Do you plan on never visiting Earth again?"

Jace shook his head, "Eventually I'll be going back there. But I know General Logistics has a lock on them. Here's what I'm looking for. I want a sliverscreen that can't be tracked. And information on someone who can put my arm back on. Offset my Stardust by the amount." He smiled, "And don't forget the 25% Stardust I receive, and the 25% reduction for your services."

Quinn rolled her eyes and sighed but nodded curtly. "Fine. Give me a few minutes to evaluate all of this." She sat down in a chair behind the counter and went slack in the chair.

Greg walked up behind Jace, "Now that we have a moment alone…how'd you lose the arm?"

"Ascendant," Jace replied. "But he's dead now."

"No shit?"

Jace nodded, "It was a tough fight. But I got the better of him." He frowned slightly as Greg's eyes went wide. "What?"

The spider, Darrin, came out from where he was hiding behind Greg's back. "I examined your information but found a block on it. From X."

Ollie flew over and cleared his throat, waving his paws back and forth. "Nothing to see here, move along."

Greg spoke, "Did you get a favor from someone powerful?"

"You could say that" Jace replied. "I'm not supposed to talk about it."

"All right," Greg replied as he flashed a smile. "Well, it's good to see you alive and well. Mostly." He hiked his thumb back at himself, "I've got this nice gig getting me set up well. Level 4 already."

Jace chuckled, "Level 26 here."

"No shit?"

Jace nodded once more, "I'm Tier 2."

"But you didn't choose an Ascended Power or Advanced Class? Why?"

"I have to reach Tier 10 to get Chroma back. And your Class progression is locked when you choose your Ascended Power."

Greg nodded in understanding as Quinn took a deep breath and jolted up in her seat. "Well," she said as she stood up fully and smoothed out her clothes. "The total of all this stuff is 4,380. With your 25% bonus Stardust from our…deal, that comes out to 5475. An information search for Ascendants with the Skills to repair your injury is 100 Stardust, with your 25% discount on services and purchases becomes 75 Stardust."

"So, I get 5400," Jace summarized as he tracked the numbers with relative ease. He did not get much schooling, but numbers came to him easily.

"That is correct. I'll complete the transfer now." She looked up at Valerie, who flitted down from a small perch on the wall that Jace hadn't even noticed. She tapped Ollie with her wing, and there was a flash of blue light. The bird Wayreplaceer then flapped back up to her perch. "And that concludes that transaction. Your Wayreplaceer has the knowledge required to reach the appropriate Ascendant for your arm."

Ollie nodded and wrapped himself back around Jace's neck. "Yup! Got it."

She frowned, "As for a sliverscreen, I can't get you one at this time that is untraceable."

"One more thing," Jace replied. "I want to know if you have or can get ahold of some type of repair kit for my magitech prosthetics."

Quinn nodded, "I can acquire a repair kit for magitech, magic, and purely technological prosthetics. It is automated, so you just set it up, feed in raw resources, and give it time to work. The full kit will cost 500 Stardust."

"With my discount?"

Quinn sighed, "375 Stardust."

"Deal."

She nodded, "Come back in a day and I'll have it." Her hair flared with a golden glow, and her eyes took on the same hue as she manifested a Class Skill. A golden screen appeared above her, she signed something on it, and she flipped it around to Jace. He couldn't make out the legalese, but at Ollie's prodding, he signed it with his fingertip. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have business to deal with." Quinn left and went into a back room.

"After all that, you're at 5380 Stardust total," Ollie said.

Jace turned to Greg, "Well…It's good seeing you, man."

"Likewise. Come visit me sometime. I'll take you out for a beer."

Jace nodded and left The Star Market, heading into Khrox. Ollie pulled up a screen in front of him, "This is Jonsar Velicole. A freelance Ascendant with levels in the Doctor Class and Surgeon Advanced Class. Focus on their face, and you will reach them in a minute."

Okay. Focus on them. Jace affixed the face in his mind and began walking towards The Eternal City.