Chương 65: A Good Base Point

Now that she was back in her Homeworld, why was she feeling this sense of dissonance? For a moment she thought it was caused by the (truly objectionable) process of teleportation. However, she hadn't felt this way when she'd been transferred from the Training World back to the Portal World. Probing her surroundings with her senses, revealed the problem. Mana density. The mana on Earth was thin. In fact, the density of every esoteric energy was just, less.

She could already feel how her own increase in power gave her more presence in the world than she otherwise would have had. She was processing more ambient energy, taking up more metaphysical weight than the average being. She understood now what the assimilation period was for, and why the System protected its newest worlds. Earth as it was now simply wouldn't support a being of the Historian's power. It would be the equivalent of trying to carry a stone with wet tissue.

She wondered what it would feel like when she was Tier 1. She supposed she'd be finding out soon. At PER 25, her mana psionic senses spread passively through a radius of roughly two and a half kilometres. She hadn't realised it when she'd been there, but the Training World had been unnaturally quiet. No plant life, no bugs, no animals. Just the Trial, and those there to challenge it. The sun was gone, and with a bunch of services shutting down, the stars were out in full brilliance.

She looked up and saw the sky for the first time in what felt like forever, marvelling at the splendour of reality. Of her world. Of her galaxy. Now, her physical senses picked up on the noise, the feel the taste of life. Each breath reinforced the vibrancy the forest around her. Her mana sense traced ecosystem, from the visible bugs and plants, to the birds, and critters. If she focused, she could even sense the invisible organisms in the soil, and on the plants; breaking down biomatter and churning out new earth.

They were a little mana mutated, but nothing worrisome. Her psionic senses told her even more. They told her not just that the forest was alive, but that it was healthy. The spatial distortion around the portal had gone from repelling creatures to actively attracting them to the higher density mana region. There was a lightness, and balance to the environment that told her that the surrounding ecosystem was actually better off than when she'd left. Everything was– She closed her eyes in realisation.

Everything was in alignment. Shaking her own head at the instincts she'd subsumed she began to make her way to the bunker. Unfortunately, she couldn't revel in the moment for long as the mounting pressure inside her demanded attention. She needed to Tier up. Now, and take advantage of the mounting energy, and stored potential. to ensure a superlative transformation. Her jog to the property was at the pace of what her motorbike might have managed at a steady clip.

Legs pumped, muscles flexed, and she almost automatically used kinetics to both cushion her impact and propel her forward. It took her less than a minute to get back, and less than another minute to reach the bunker. She felt as though dust motes should be floating through the room when she entered it again, or that the air should be stale, and the place feel unlived in. But it was simply as it had always been. That was when it truly sank in what time dilation meant. It had been, what, a day and a half?

The Portal Worlds were a remarkable and terrifying tool; one Scarlet planned to take full advantage of. She groaned at the idea of more Portal time, and prayed to whichever sufficiently powerful entity was amenable that the next one was less melee and murder, more intrigue and intelligence. Now inside the bunker, Scarlet sent Maus to Blink around the perimeter with pre-prepared formation beads, while she set up some basic security enchantments around the bunker. When Maus returned she activated the defensive array.

Reaching out with her mana senses, she tested the barrier, and concluded that it would be a sufficient deterrent to anything that might try to take advantage of her moment of weakness. She brought her trusty bag and cane into the bathroom with her, both within reach, just in case. Then she stripped down and lay in the empty tub. [Advancement Available: Tier 1] This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. [Advance?] [Yes | No] It was a notification that had slowly become more insistent the longer she'd delayed it. Now it was finally time. [Yes] The Historian had described the advancement process as messy and painful. Unfortunately for Scarlet, this was one of the few times the mercurial vulpian had been entirely truthful. It hurt so badly that despite speaking several languages, including some not even found on Earth, she simply did not have the vocabulary to describe how much it hurt.

The best she could do was describe what she was experiencing as being simultaneously butchered, flayed, and wrung like a wet rag, bones and all. She wondered what it said about her that this was not even the most extreme pain she had experienced. No, that had been the Pool. Then again, the fact that her soul being shredded part was her closest comparison said enough about the experience already.

She could feel as her joints popped out of their sockets, as her muscles detached from her body, as her skin crackled and tore open, while her blood oozed out of every available orifice and some newly created. It wasn't just the complete fragmentation of everything in her body. It was more. Her soul was expanding, reinforcing, only to expand again. It was like she'd metaphysically swallowed a pill that was too big for her throat, that feeling of an airway being blocked.

That pressure that gave way to pain and panic as you choked and everything within you seized. Coupled with the desperate burning pain, Scarlet wished she would just pass out. Unfortunately, her Willpower was too high. Then, just when she'd believed the pain had plateaued somewhere between 'terrible-pain' and 'horrific-agony'. Maus, who had originally been perched on her stomach, but had moved to the edge of the tub when the whole 'bone-shattering, orifice-bleeding, slow-erosion-of-sanity' began.

Maus, her best friend and partner. Maus who had done nothing but be a bulwark against the pain. Maus dissolved. No, it was more like he melted. She fought the rising panic with a desperation born of necessity and reached out instinctively for the bond. For a moment, she'd been back in that Pool, feeling her bond withering away. Her mind told her she was losing him all over again, and this time she wouldn't be able to save him.

That mix of wit and luck happened once in history; Scarlet had no delusions she'd be able to pull off such a miracle again. Desperately, she reached out for her Familiar. Okay, he wasn't dead. He wasn't dead. He wasn't– He was just in her soul. Temporarily inaccessible. He'd been recalled to wherever it was that he went while he was reconstituting. However, her soul wasn't exactly the safest place to be right now. So, despite how scattered it was, Scarlet still devoted a fragment of her mind to monitoring the bond.

She would not let him slip away again. In the haze of Advancement, time began to lose meaning. At some point, the pain had just abruptly ended, so had all other sensation. She had no sight, and whatever made up her ears ahad just sort of oozed out. She had no sense of smell, nor touch or taste. Nothing. A world full of nothing. Slowly, that which had been destroyed began to rebuild.

Torrents of energy were dragged from further and further out as the energy struggled to meet the ever-increasing demands of Scarlet's reconstituting body. Later, she'd applaud herself for putting up a concealment array along with the defensive one. It could not hide the absurd amounts of energy being drained from the immediate area; however, it did confuse the direction, flow and convergence points. Eventually, Scarlet had regained enough of her faculties to watch her own body reconstitute.

She mostly wished she hadn't. The whole experience was bizarre, excruciating, harrowing, and fascinating. However, the biggest upside was that Maus had reconstituted alongside her the same way he had when he became a Familiar. Quick and painless. Once the process was over, Scarlet took a moment to just… breathe.

"Hey, buddy," she said aloud.

"Why does everything always have to hurt with this System?"

'No pain no gain?' Maus asked.

"Perhaps," she replied. It made an annoying amount of sense when she considered how the System rewarded challenging experiences. The harder the challenge, the better the results.

"System logic," she groaned, and the sound that came out was more melodious than she remembered. Scarlet had expected her newly reconstructed voice to croak or rasp after her vocal cords had essentially dissolved and been magically reconstituted. Instead, it sounded... nice. Nicer than before. Clear. Resonant. Rich, with a clean timbre. Grimacing more from principle than discomfort, she levered her brand-new body out of the tub, turned on the shower and rinsed away the last traces of the experience.

"Is it strange to be glad I basically turned into goo?" She said as she cleaned up the tub. It would've been annoying trying to dispose of chunks, rather than just sort of rinsing away the residue, and wishing luck to whatever sanitation system was still functional. Maus chirped in laughter as amusement passed through the bond. Finally, Scarlet stood before a mirror. She stepped out of the shower and could feel the afro sitting atop her head.

She was glad she wasn't bald, and that her hair had returned thick, healthy, and long. She was less glad it had not come back braided. With resigned acceptance she stood before the mirror and set about braiding it into two neat rows that hung well past her shoulder blades. Then she twisted the ends into a bun at the base of her head. Not the most sophisticated style, but she couldn't justify spending the few hours it would take to redo it. Hair sorted, she tried to objectively evaluate herself.

She'd been attractive before, but Tiering up was a serious upgrade. She flexed every joint, stretching, twisting, and bending as she acclimatised herself to the unfamiliar familiarity of her new body.

'I think you look the best, Boss!' Maus sincerely praised her.

'You're still the most handsome, but thank you. This is a good base point,' she mused to a giddy Maus. Her thoughts already turning to the advantages greater beauty and charisma offered in leadership, negotiation, and persuasion as she picked out what she'd wear. For the first time in forever she didn't need to worry about mutant spiders, or magic-foxes, or territorial bats turning her wardrobe into shredded fabric. The three-piece suit she selected wasn't bespoke, but it was well tailored.

The coat and trousers were a deep royal purple with fine gold pinstripes, while the matching vest was a softer lavender carrying the same pattern. In probably the most optimistic decision she'd made since the System had appeared, she wore a pristine white undershirt beneath a crisp white button-up. Clean, neat, and in order. In control. Yes. This was Scarlet Bourne. Padding across the bunker in clean white socks, she settled onto the chaise lounge, in anticipation as she prepared to go through her notifications.