Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster’s Power

The bright flash of light fades on the other side of the solar system where Kelfar once was.

Maria's enormous Angelic Form cycles Soul Energy and True Core threads through the Destroyer Class Soul Weapon that houses the child-like soul of a planet.

At the peak of the blast, when both halves of Kelfar were obliterated in a shockwave, a connection was formed between Maria and the blade. She accepted it and fueled this lost energy with enough pure power, giving it a vessel in her sword to call home, and a new center of gravity to latch onto, enabling it to stay rooted in reality.

Unknown to her, this is a similar amount of energy released in the activation of a world connecting to the system in the first place.

Doing so is an extremely cathartic, awe-inspiring, and satisfyingly blissful experience for both parties involved; however, it is also very stressful and energy-extensive.

The bright flare that appears as a second sun on the other side of the solar system flickers out just as fast as it went ablaze.

While Maria's Soul Energy Core does not stop fueling the oscillating rainbow blade with more ice-imbued Soul Energy to complete the bond, her body and mind still have physical limitations.

She is struck with a fatigue so sharp and out of nowhere that, for a moment, Maria considers the possibility of if this is what death feels like. However, even at the peak of the blast, her grip on the sword only tightens and more Soul Energy floods out to maintain control.

The pain and aches that vibrate through every cell of her being pulse in succession with her heartbeat, and for a moment, once the flash stops, she's able to look at herself from above her body for a frame captured outside of time.

Her gaze is mixed with a crystallized structure, as not only is her Soul Energy being pushed into the sword in her grasp, but its energy is flowing back into her and being filtered to fully complete the bond.

In order to pair with her Soul Energy and Divine Core, portions of this pure Source Resin begin to flow through her as well.

None stay within her body, but as they flow through her, understandings and depths of strange knowledge tickle the back of her mind. Every time they do, she gains a far greater control over the blade she's making her own.

It isn't clear that this is happening until the bond is complete, and her vision returns back to her after having an out-of-body experience with far more senses than she usually does...

–

Her greater forms instantly deactivate, and her body and mind are so filled with fatigue that she cannot move, and her vision is a blur.

The sword in her grasp shrinks from the 20 kilometers in height it was just moments ago, glowing bright blue and reflecting rainbow-crystallized designs, back down to just about 1.5 meters from handle to its sharpest tip.

The flow of Soul Energy falls back into her body and core as well, and the blade in her grasp becomes crystal clear, though it does reflect light from the star that still shines from the center of this system.

It reflects in beautiful patterns, like the blade is made out of a unique flawless diamond. It gives off the dense feeling of having its own gravity field, similar to the entire mass of Kelfar. Though, to any person looking in, it gives off no sensible energy waves.

–

She floats in the vast, empty, cold silence of space as energy from the blast travels through the solar system, and the other generals and commanders finally see it.

In this time, her natural healing properties and passive use of self-regeneration as a borrowed skill have begun to neutralize her fatigue and horrific pain all over. However, the worst of it is gone.

Right now, she smiles and is happy with her results, as she's completed her True Core Compression and full saturation over two days early, and with that, she has even gained a new weapon that can stand up to her power.

On instinct, to allow all of her muscles to rest, especially those in her fingers and forearms, she releases the grip on the clear crystalline sword.

Instead of floating right next to her in zero-gravity space or floating away from the inertia of her release, the sword instead begins orbiting around Maria in a slow and beautifully perfect circle.

The Ice Mage grins and closes her eyes.

Though, not too long after, she's woken up from her peaceful meditative state with pings in her system from Abby, sending over a trade offer for a teleport crystal to where they are.

She accepts, using a borrowed item storage to let her soul weapon fall into it, then crushes the white gem.

–

When she opens her eyes again and real gravity returns to her environment, Maria slowly stands to her feet yet is still completely riddled with fatigue and sharp pain all over.

While one would assume she's been brought to the other side of the solar system to the small desolate base Alveron arranged for them, this is not the case.

When Maria looks around, she finds herself in what looks like a personalized hotel suite specially made for True Cores.

It has labeled rooms and sections for standard flesh rejuvenation, mana infusions, divine energy restocks; a bed, and even all kinds of labeled food for varying races.

There is an enormous bed, large enough for a being twenty times her size, and the walls and floor are made of extremely strong material that feels very similar to the outer walls of the moon base she recently destroyed.

It would not take much to destroy this base too, but Maria has kept her power suppressed in case she was teleported close to the commanders or even the generals who may not be able to handle it.

However, there is no one else here with her right now.

She would normally feel quite confined from being sent into a closed space out of nowhere, but there is a transparent ceiling in this base, and she can see outside into deep space where she really is.

A dull red star is visible in front of her, and over 40 planets all orbit around it on the same exact path, creating what looks like a solid ring.

In between the planets, massive rock fragments and asteroids connect all of the worlds.

Each one of these planets is heavily populated, and light streaks of white and yellow blip all over this strange system, showing teleport crystals activating as well as spacecraft transporting beings and goods between worlds.

All of the asteroids, hundreds of thousands of them, appear to have infrastructure built on them as well.

A group spectate call is connected between everyone that left Kelfar, and even the Silver Knight's persona attends.

Maria's eyes widen as she looks at her surroundings more and compares her general vicinity and star patterns to the views of everyone else in the call. She realizes she's standing on one of these asteroids right now, and so is everyone else in their own private bases nearby.

Alveron's voice echoes through their minds.

"Unfortunately, considering the fact that the planet no longer exists, our stay on Kelfar has been cut short. Please do not think you owe me anything. The information I managed to gather during your break throughs, soul bonds, and the corpses of the Kings are far more than enough to satisfy my greed. I know you all have an important ascension to prepare for in less than three days, so make yourselves at home here."

Not only is Maria surprised, but the commanders and generals are still in quite the shock too. It's been less than half an hour since they all arrived here, and they are still trying to wrap their brains around the massive infrastructure and interactions of so many races and neighboring star systems.

It's a mini, and far slower, less technologically advanced version of the Worldwide Connectivity System playing out in front of their eyes in real time.

This is one of the reasons Alveron was so quick to network and scour the forums when it first gained access, as this ancient creature knows the unlimited possibilities of such a system already. It's spent its entire life gathering data and connecting just a fraction of the lifeforms as the Rising Emperor has in a matter of months.

"I own every planet and asteroid in this system. While it is most often used for trading and information gathering within the worlds in the nearby systems that I own, many allied forces and connections I've made in my lifetime come by as well. Believe it or not, demons come through here occasionally too. Any race's wealth is all the same to me. This is neutral ground. There is absolutely no fighting or killing allowed. Think of it as what you humans call a rest stop. Many come here to relax for a while before they continue their journeys through the stars."

The Silver Knight takes an overly dramatic pause, pointing with both hands up into its dome to show off the entire structure in all its glory, placing the red sun in this system in the center of its view, and all of the populated satellites in a perfect ring on the outer edges of its vision.

"Welcome to the Great Belt of Brymia. I hope you can all rest and recover in time. Please take advantage of all my facilities and enjoy your stay."