Silver Stars, Ch 3: Early Access

When Asperio came back, it was on the following day. 

The same bolt of violet lightning streaked across the sky before he appeared on the mountain next to Sam. He looked tired, but there was an ornate silver medallion in his hand, one engraved on both sides with a detailed enchantment. Sam sensed the runes on it as they fell under the command of his Sovereign of Primal Runes ability that was part of his domain.
He set down his fishing pole as he turned to look at the headmaster. He was sticking to his human appearance, which should be interesting for a while.

“Is that...a supreme lightning elemental stone?” Asperio had clearly been planning to say something else, but he froze in shock as he saw the stone Sam was using as bait, his attention scattering. “Its essence is unfragmented?”

“This?” Sam held up the stone that had been on his fishing line and analyzed it.

Supreme Lightning Elemental Stone. 

Rarity: Legendary.

Quality: Flawless.

“I suppose it is,” he agreed. He wasn’t concerned with the stone, since he’d formed it out of pure elemental energy, like he did with most of his materials.

“Do you know how insanely rare those are?” Asperio was in disbelief. His attention was locked on it and it looked like he was struggling to hold himself back. “You’re using it as bait?!

“With a few of those, I could create a pure Lightning bloodline even for the Sixth Evolution, or at least I’ve theorized that I could. I’ve been searching for a pure one for over a thousand years to try. I’ve only found lesser fragments, which aren’t good enough. They don’t have the necessary resonance with the element. That stone is enough to buy half of the academy at least.”

“You have to know where to find them, I suppose,” Sam said calmly as he tossed the stone at Asperio, who nearly fumbled as he caught it. “Keep it. Part of our deal.”

He wondered what Asperio would think about the far more expensive things he’d used to create his golems. 

Artificing had a staggering cost, one that was enough to bankrupt entire civilizations, unless you could create the materials yourself like he did by compressing pure elemental energy.  

It was a reminder that he had plenty of ways to make money. 

He could sell a few elemental crystals or create pure gold, although that was a less desirable commodity on Council than mana or essence stones, the latter of which only came from the Chaos Wild.

If this one was enough to impress the headmaster, teaching here was going to be interesting. It was a reminder of the difference between the Titans and the younger races. His attention turned to the medallion in the headmaster’s hand. 

“Success?” he asked.

“What...?” Asperio asked. His hair stood straight up, crackling with energy from the aura of lightning around him.
It gave him a perpetual look of being crazed and astonished, although perhaps that had more to do with the lightning stone at the moment. He was staring at it in his hand as if he couldn’t believe what he was holding. 

“The admission,” Sam reminded him, pointing at the medallion.

“Oh...yes, finally,” Asperio replied, shaking his head as he stored the lightning stone away. A moment later, he pulled it back out again and stared at it, as if to double check its existence, but a cough from Sam brought him back to reality.

“This was difficult to get,” he said as he held out the medallion to Sam. “It’s an anonymous entry to the academy for whoever shows up with it. Make sure the student doesn’t lose it, or whoever gets it will be able to use it instead. I won’t be able to get another one for a while.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Sam said as he took the medallion and studied it. 

A web of runes sprang into being as his hands touched it, glowing brightly in recognition. The back of the medallion had three aura signatures engraved into it, something like a magical thumbprint, which had come from the High Councilors who sat on the academy’s board. Most of Asperio’s time must have been taken up by finding them. 

Their auras said one was a Winged Fury, another was a Mountain Dwarf, and the third was a Lifeweaver. Their signatures were between Levels 620-640, just a bit higher than Asperio, but their presence was stronger.

He examined the enchantments on the medallion and then wove a new one into it that was tuned to Altey’s aura, so that only she would be able to activate it. He also disabled a couple of tracking enchantments and other things that weren’t necessary, although he made sure no one would notice.

Then he added a return enchantment so that if she lost it, it would come back to her, teleporting to her hand whenever she looked for it. 

“You’ve upheld your half of the bargain,” he said as he made the medallion disappear and stood up. “Now, it’s my turn. You asked me to teach, so where is the class roster for new students? Who runs the academy library, and all the other details I should know to teach there?”

“This is a teacher’s medallion,” Asperio said as he took out another medallion and handed it to Sam. This one was even more ornate than the student one, forged from gold with an emerald at the center. 

“It has all the necessary information and authority you’ll need inside. It’ll give you access to the appropriate places, schedules, and so on, as well as access to the student information. It links into the academy’s core artifacts that maintain everything. This way, I won’t need to accompany you back there to set things up. It’ll show you the way and we can keep our meeting confidential.” 

It looked like Asperio didn’t want to go back to the academy unless he had to, which made Sam smile for a moment.

“That works,” he said as he took the medallion and scanned the information inside. It was an interesting example of an information artifact, but not on par with his fortress of Silverguard or some of his other creations.

He rewrote the enchantments on it like he’d done to the other, but even more intensively, copied the information and access keys into the Titan Star on the back of his hand, and then stored the medallion away.

“I don’t see any students assigned to me,” he said. “How will that work?”

“The admission ceremony is next week,” Asperio explained. “The students will be able to see your roster is empty during their orientation and they can apply to work with you. I’ve registered your classes as Artifice and Enchanting, as well as a note that all students require your approval. 

“You’ll have to agree to take each student,” he added. “It’s how all the more specific classes work. It’s a sort of apprenticeship, although not quite as formal as the old traditions. You can take up to 20 personal students and an unlimited number of casual ones if you’re doing larger lectures. 

“Those are a good way to get attention for your limited classes. Some of the students might see you there and then want to switch over to you once they know your specialties. It’s a bit late for them to change all of their plans, but most students save the majority of slots in their schedule until they arrive. They want to see what’s here first and get recommendations from the faculty.”

It took a little while as Asperio filled him in on everything else important, but eventually Sam nodded at him. 

It was fairly straightforward. Most of the details would be sorted out during admissions, and that would give him a chance to keep an eye on Altey at the same time, since she would be there too.

“A few of the faculty might be hostile if they lose too many students to you,” Asperio said. “Being in demand is a status symbol and duels have been fought over it before. The faculty has an entire system in place to settle disagreements like that, usually by fighting in the arena. You could get pulled into it.”

“That will be amusing,” Sam chuckled, shaking his head as he dismissed the idea. “But I won’t stop the students from visiting me if they want to learn something.”

“Try not to hurt anyone too badly,” Asperio said when he saw the glint in Sam’s eyes. “They are some of the brightest and best in the entire galaxy and there’s always a shortage of good teachers. They take pride in their work, just sometimes too much.”

“I’ll deal with it,” Sam said as he waved the words away.

The gesture did not reassure the headmaster, but Sam wasn’t concerned over whether the other teachers were comfortable. The trouble they could cause him was limited.

If they tried, they would find more than they bargained for.

He could always use it as an example to demonstrate his golems and prove why humans shouldn’t ignore artificing. He would just have to keep it from interfering with Altey’s studies.

“I’ll leave it to you then,” Asperio agreed. “It will be good for them to be shaken up a bit. There are a few who give my assistant headaches.”

Then he waved away the details of administration and focused on Sam.

“But more importantly, when will you start teaching me what you know?” he asked intently. “The Titans have long been known for raising up the younger races, but they were gone before humans rose to prominence. I’ve always wondered exactly what you did back then.”

“We taught them the basics of Classes and civilization,” he added. “We set up the earliest Evolutionary Nodes, connected the worlds with teleportation gates, and looked for ways to enhance their abilities so they could survive traveling the Void. It was strange to my people to find races who could only survive on planets.”

He hadn’t been there, but he had many memories of those years that came from the stars. They echoed in his mind as he traveled the Void. 

It had been a mix of introducing the younger races to higher principles of Evolution and crafting stronger Classes, along with helping them to cultivate their natural talents like bloodlines or a particular racial energy.

Many of the Titans had taken one race or another as a special project and focused on them. All of those who made up the high council had benefited from one or more guides.

It shouldn’t be too hard to do the same with Asperio. 

He already had a significant talent for lightning, so it was just a matter of finding out where his abilities were lacking. 

Asperio was powerful, but only for a human. He wasn’t Primordial. He was nowhere close to the level of a Vos’Rekan or a Voidborn, much less an Astral Titan.  

Sam had a clear view of the man’s attributes as part of his Heroic-tier Analysis, and he silently shook his head at the difference.

Asperio’s highest attributes were Intelligence and Wisdom. The first was just over 75,000, while the second was 45,000. His Constitution and Aura came next at around 40,000 and 35,000, while his Strength, Agility, and Charisma were below 20,000.

In total, he had about 250,000 in his attributes.

Sam had over a million. He glanced at his own attributes for comparison.

STR: 155,329

CON: 173,958

AGI: 72,278

WIS: 38,716

INT: 274,380

AUR: 274,380

CHA: 54,804 

It was just over 1,043,000, more than four times what Asperio had. 

Attributes weren’t perfectly linear. Having a strength four times higher than your opponents was enough to cut through a horde of them. Their blows would be like a child’s compared to yours.

He did another quick calculation and subtracted all of the attributes he’d gained from essence, giving an estimate of what he would have with just his classes at Level 577.

STR: 61,785

CON: 64,823

AGI: 44,994

WIS: 38,716

INT: 110,678

AUR: 110,678

CHA: 54,804

It was still over 486,000, about twice as strong as Asperio, so he subtracted the benefit of the Blessing of Silver Stars from his Lord-tier class, which gave half of his Charisma value to all of his other attributes, and looked at the result.

STR: 34,383

CON: 37,421

AGI: 17,592

WIS: 11,314

INT: 83,276

AUR: 83,276

CHA: 54,804 

That was just over 322,000, about what a top-tier mage with a Heroic class would have. The Charisma was higher than they would normally have, but it could be split up into the other attributes for comparison.

It was still above Asperio by a significant margin, even when the man had 33 levels on him and the Sixth Evolution. The Truth of that Evolution was the only thing that would give the man a chance to survive if they fought.

That was the strength of a Primordial race.
He got about three times more raw attributes from being a Titan than he did from his Class. Once he added his Charisma bonus, it was still over two thirds.

That wasn’t even counting the racial abilities, which was where the real power of a Titan came from, like the ability to transform into a sun, walk across the astral paths, and call down the force  of the stars to attack, or the Vos’Rekan’s voidfire and dimensional shield.

Sam shook his head as he pushed the comparison away.

It made him pity Asperio.

The man couldn’t walk through the Void unhindered. 

He wouldn’t feel the chaos winds stir his blood or the sudden violence of an explosion as a Void beast tried to hurl you into a sun. 

The Primordial races flourished in battle and violence, clashing in the stars to claim a territory and rule it. That was how the entire settled half of the galaxy had been founded. 

It was protected by the Titans.

The high races generally had more powerful bodies than humans, bringing them closer to the Lord-tier rank, as well as some racial abilities of their own, like the Dragon Spirits’ transformation into a dragon image.

Asperio didn’t have that advantage.

Perhaps he would help the headmaster cultivate a bloodline, a lightning one like he’d mentioned. It would close some of the distance.

Humans were adaptable, but they needed to adjust their physiques to reach higher levels. 

Bloodlines were one of the best methods. They merged what was human with something else, retaining the best of both origins.

Helping Asperio would let him test out some theories, which he could then use to help his family, so it was a good opportunity.

Runes floated through Sam’s eyes as he studied the headmaster, stripping him down to essentials as he analyzed his meridians, the structure of his abilities, the lightning essence woven into his class, and more.

Asperio was actually fairly weak for the Sixth Evolution, which was how he’d been pushed into this position, but once he crossed that barrier, things would change for him. 

If he could manage it.

Although the man had reached the Sixth Evolution, Sam could sense that he only had one aspect of lightning that he focused on. There was a significant gap between him and the true element. 

“Now is as good as any other time,” Sam said. “An assistant should be helpful.” 

He reached out to the clouds above the lava field. When he drew his hand back, he held a crackling form made from lightning in it. 

His fishing hadn’t been in vain. 

Elder Lightning Elemental. Level 420. 

Native to this world. Dangerous and highly destructive. 

The elemental had been as interested in the lightning stone as Asperio was. He’d already caught it once and it had been hanging out here ever since, waiting to see if it could get the stone for itself.

A pool of lightning gathered in his hand to support the elemental’s presence and sparkling clouds formed above it, each of them made of blue-white bolts. The elemental’s presence stirred them to a higher intensity, ready to unleash a storm across the area, but they dissipated again with a flick of Sam’s will. 

Instead of lashing out, which it would have usually done at being captured, the elemental was content to float in Sam’s grip. It was relaxed as motes of lightning floated around it, sparking against his hand with violent but contained explosions.

“This is what you were fishing for?” he asked Asperio, although he already knew the answer. “It’s the one who burned half the island down there.”

Asperio stared at him and then at the elemental, before he looked upward at the sky. 

“I’ve been looking for that fellow for two years,” he said determinedly before he turned away, refusing to look at Sam. “Just put him back. I can’t accept that you caught him that quickly. I’ll get him myself.”

“As you like,” Sam said as he opened his hand. 

The elemental shot out of his grip and disappeared back into the clouds, leaving a sizzling trail of blue-tinted lightning behind. It would have been a helpful guide for Asperio in integrating more fully with Lightning, but he wasn’t going to insist. 

There were other methods.

“Let’s start with your law,” he said as he turned to Asperio. 

Silver runes appeared in the air around him, swiftly tracing out detection and other patterns, until they covered the mountain top in an intricate web. 

Most of them crackled with lightning. 

Within a few moments, an entire domain formed around them, turning the mountain peak into its own realm. Dimensional space twisted around the edges and the space inside expanded massively until it stretched for hundreds of miles, while the outside was barely a mile across.

Sam floated in the sky, fused invisibly into the structure of the realm. Lightning ran through him, stirring a massive storm that continued to build its force until it was strong enough to shred anything under Level 500 in an instant.

Then he connected the storm to an elemental realm of Lightning that was in the lower layers of the Void, allowing its power to flood everything.

He watched Asperio’s expression as the man strained to protect himself from the sudden change. A field of lightning sprang up around him, channeling some of the energy to his will and deflecting the rest, but it wasn’t completely integrated with the power all around.

“Show me what you know of Lightning.” Sam’s voice crackled through the realm, one with the storm striking everywhere. “And try not to die.”

***

Hastern Residence

Some time later, Sam reappeared at the island where he’d left his family. 

The medallion for Altey was in his hand.

He’d set up Asperio with an enchantment to help him absorb lightning essence, paving the way for an eventual change of his bloodline, but it would take a while. Once he was done, he would share some traits with the lightning elemental. 

Until then, Sam didn’t expect to see the headmaster much. 

The focus on bloodlines reminded him to spend some time looking into the Outsider bloodline information he’d gained for the Path of Elements from that outpost the Lord of Wind and Water had been in. 

It had granted him access keys and memories of how to train with elements the Outsider way. It mostly focused on absorbing energy from the elements to swiftly gain levels, which was why they liked this galaxy so much. 

It was full of unclaimed essence.

The absorption techniques weren’t useful, but they had some interesting control methods that he could study. He would add it to his research plan.

He found his family on the beach. They were playing near the waves with a nice assortment of chilled drinks, fruit, and some newly woven straw hats his mother must have made. 

They looked relaxed as they watched Roric take baby steps into the water, where he giggled before he turned and tried to run back. Most of the time, he fell over, but his agility was improving quickly.

Altey was helping, darting in to grab him whenever he went too far out.

He sat down beside them and then called up a swirl of water, which lifted Roric and Altey in a sparkling blue wave and brought them back to their seats. Both of them were laughing when he set them down.

That was when everyone noticed his new appearance, since he still looked human. They stared at him in surprise.

“You look good this way,” his mother said, her eyes sparkling. “I’d gotten used to the other way, but I think I like this more. This is what you would have looked like if you hadn’t become a Titan?”

“I think so,” Sam agreed. “I did my best to base it on my human appearance, just a bit more mature.”

“The girls are going to go crazy when they see you,” his father said with a laugh as he patted Sam on the shoulder. “Why don’t you bring Alora over here? She could keep you company on this vacation.”

“I should ask her,” Sam agreed. “She might be able to step away from Verdant for a while.”

It was a good idea. 

He’d been meaning to spend some more time with her, now that the major problems were dealt with on Aster Fall.

“You should,” Aemilia agreed as she picked Roric up and set him next to her, where she gave him some grapes to eat. “I’d like to meet her finally.”

“I’ll ask once everything here is settled then,” Sam said with a nod. Then he turned his attention to Altey, whose eyes were fixed on him and the medallion in his hand.

She knew why he’d gone to the academy.

He grinned at her as he held out the medallion.

“This is for you,” he said. “Don’t lose it. The admission ceremony is in a week and classes start the week after that.”

He explained the relevant details they needed to know, answering their questions easily. He had most of the answers now after seeing the academy and learning everything that was in the teacher’s medallion.

“It’s difficult to get in,” he added. “I made a deal with the headmaster or it wouldn’t have been possible. Try not to tell anyone that it happened just now. It would cause trouble. As far as they’re concerned, you had an invitation years ago from a competition on our world.” 

He paused as he considered what else she should tell people and then added a few more words.

“Feel free to say you’re from Aster Fall. Barely anyone will recognize the name, but those who do might be of interest. You can tell them the High Nine brought you here if you want. And don’t worry, no one knows who you are. You can create your own image.”

“Thank you, Sam!” Altey said as she hugged him. “I’m looking forward to it!”

He laughed as he patted her on the head, which made her scowl at him instead.

Saying the High Nine brought her here would be an interesting test for people. 

He would be amused if anyone disagreed.

“I made a deal with the headmaster,” he added as he pulled out his own medallion. “I’ll be teaching a few classes at the academy. I won’t point you out, but if you need me, I’ll be around.”

He ruffled Altey’s hair again, much to her displeasure, but it was his duty as her older brother, so he did it again.

“There’s some other information you should know,” he added. “Archaios Academy is one of the rare places among the settled worlds where they offer early unlocking of classes. You won’t have to wait for your 18th birthday. You can do it during admissions next week.”
Altey’s mouth dropped open and everyone’s eyes were instantly locked on Sam. 

“Really?” she asked when she recovered. “How is that even possible?” 

“I’ve never heard of anything like that before either,” Jeric said, just as surprised as his daughter. “It’s always been 18 on Aster Fall.”

“It’s due to the World Core,” Sam said with a nod. “18 is the prime age for unlocking a class, with the best guarantee of getting a good one. That’s when meridians are the most developed and can be augmented with a stronger pattern. However, it’s not the only way.”

He paused as he gathered his thoughts, considering all that he’d learned from the Path of Stars and then the academy’s methods. It had been a surprise to him too, so he’d researched the matter for a while after hearing about it.

“You know that the World Core is an Evolutionary Node,” he explained. “It helps with the process of gaining a class and evolving it. Most other worlds have one or several of them, of varying strengths, but the World Core is the greatest ever created. It can set a path to the Sixth Evolution and perhaps even the Seventh.

“Most Evolutionary Nodes are limited to the Third or Fourth Evolution, very rarely the Fifth. Those only exist on the capital worlds of the High Nine, ancient gifts from the Titans that have endured through the ages. 

“Beside the World Core, there is no other artifact in the entire galaxy that can guide someone to the Sixth Evolution, but there are plenty of basic artifacts that just help with assigning a class and have no ability to oversee an evolution at all.

“Archaios Academy has access to one of those ancient nodes, which has different rules than the World Core. It is more willing to grant classes early, if it’s requested. The academy has put a great deal of research into them over the years, making sure that it doesn’t harm the students, and it’s become one of the great advantages of coming to this academy.”

He focused on Altey.

“During admissions, you’ll be able to access the node and get your first class. It will also help you to set a path for higher evolutions.” He paused for a moment, giving everyone a reassuring nod. 

“Three years early?” Aemilia asked with hesitation as she looked between Altey and Sam. “It won’t hurt her?”

“There will be no problem with it,” Sam confirmed. “I’ve spoken to the World Core and will interfere at that moment, making sure that what it offers you is the same as the World Core can grant. It will oversee your Evolutionary Path, just like if we were at home.

“This wouldn’t have worked as well for everyone,” he said as he smiled at Altey, “but you’ve been training your mana control for years with Siwaha and have a strong foundation in magic. It’s helped your meridians to develop early. You won’t have anything to worry about.”

Altey had been training for years in methods that were too advanced for someone of her age. 

Siwaha had taught her how to manage her innate Ice affinity and mana control, as well as many other things related to magic. She’d also trained in physical combat arts with the Ice Sylph hunting team and Sam had taught her a lot about runes and the elements. 

She was as well prepared to get a class as someone could be. 

More importantly, he’d already checked with the core to make sure that doing it early wouldn’t hurt her. He trusted it a lot more than he did the artifact on this world, no matter how often it did this.

“Many of the other students coming here were warned years in advance,” he added. “They’ve been preparing for this moment with training similar to yours. Plus, the node here will make sure no harm comes from it. Every once in a while, it still rejects an applicant who’s not ready. Their admission to the academy is delayed until they can get a class.

“It can happen as early as 14,” he added, “and you’re 15 now, so you’ll fit right in. Then as part of the ceremony, once all of the students have gone through, the academy will open the node to everyone, so that others can also take advantage of the early access. 

“It’s one of the draws that brings people to this world. The ceremony will be very large with tens of thousands of attendees, but we’ll avoid the crowd. The students are in their own special area first.” 

He’d discovered that there were some planets in the galaxy that traditionally gained classes earlier too, but they were usually limited to a select few options, classes that came from a family or clan tradition. 

Archaios Academy had the widest selection available.

Class selection was something they offered for free to everyone, as a lure for the best to come here, and come they did from all over the galaxy, making Council one of the most visited worlds in history. 

It benefited greatly from the traffic.  

“Every once in a while,” he explained, “the academy grants a scholarship to someone at the right age who has an interesting Unique or powerful Rare class. They always save a few spots for those students. Maybe you’ll run into one.”

The catch was that unless someone was well prepared beforehand, they were likely to get the most basic of classes. Only those who trained their skills and met the requirements for a better class really benefited from the early offer.

“Now, why don’t I show you around the academy, so you know where to go next week?” he offered as he stood up. He held his out to Altey. 

“I’ll be with the faculty during admissions, but I’ll keep an avatar with you too, until everything is arranged.”

“Thank you, Sam,” Altey said as she took his hand and stood up. She straightened her shoulders and let out a breath. Then she smiled. 

Aemilia gave Altey a careful look, making sure that she didn’t need more support, and then nodded. 

“You two have fun,” she said as she picked up Roric. “We’ll be here when you get back.”

“Let’s go explore,” Sam said as he gave his parents and Roric a grin.

Then a flare of silver light surrounded him and Altey as they disappeared.