Chương 19: R&R Ch. 19 — The Second Stage

"Together?" Jasmine asked as the two sat down. Just a few minutes ago they had both felt the completion of the doorways, and while both itched to ascend to the next stage, they wanted to wait to at least talk about it between each other, if only for a moment.

"Together." Nicholas paused as he thought about it. Both times he had tried to break through, he had said ascend, but when he tried to bring that power forth, it bucked against him. It was as if the world was telling him he couldn't use that word. No, not the word; his visualization. That was a problem he hadn't even intended to make that word and now he had changed it. That was not a good sign, and he wasn't sure how he was supposed to fix it.

There weren't instruction manuals for visualizations he had looked, and since Jasmine hadn't known he hadn't bothered asking anyone else.

"Let's do this." With the final words that needed to be said, they both delved into their soul spaces to behold the door. Nicholas, having seen it already, stepped right through unconcerned. Unlike the last time, there was no weight holding him or the door together. Opening it was as easy as breathing. Jasmine instead stared. Unlike last time, she had earned this one.

It was a rule in her family that you had to walk through the door on your own; she hadn't been given nearly enough resources to overpower the entrance. She had started higher than her peers, but not all of them. And she had formed this naturally. Jasmine put her hands on the door reverently as she pushed it open. The entire world fell away as she stepped inside the fractured space where only two existences remained. Her and Hero. Jasmine looked down at herself.

"My toes are crystals!" She cried out, looking at her feet. And indeed part of her boot and her feet were slowly being turned into crystal.

"It is a natural part of the process. Your outer self has to manifest to continue," Hero said quietly. Nobody in her family had told her this, but she wasn't against her outer self turning into sparkly crystal. For one, she didn't even know she had an outer self, so what was the problem with it becoming crystal? And it was pretty so really she didn't have any problems with it.

"So I made it right?" Jasmine asked Hero.

"You did. You have taken the first steps on your own path, even if your Grandmother's teeth are still embedded." Jasmine could only agree with that. Until she broke through to D-Rank there wouldn't be any power she had in her choices. That's why she had been so bad at the soul recovery art. Her body was literally built for only one method of power and soul manipulation. The one Grandma Darlene had designed. Her fortifications next tier are what Jasmine would want, and her soul art was good most of the time.

It just rankled her that all of this had been decided before she was even born. Jasmine sat on the air as she listened to the sounds of the universe. She knew she was supposed to do something now that she was here, she just wasn't sure what kind of something. This was the closest thing their world had to a god, and it was having a private conversation with her! She just didn't know what to ask. Well, she had one thing.

"Why do you not stop my grandma and her peers?"

"Why do you not stop ants from fighting?" Hero asked, the crystal pulsing. Jasmine didn't like that answer. Though she guessed for a magic space crystal, it made as much sense as anything else.

"Well, I am going to change it. We are, I mean. Nicholas isn't here, but he'll change it with me too." Jasmine claimed.

"So sure to put your future on the weight of another?"

"He wants to change it, too. It's not my future or his. It's us for both of ours." Jasmine was getting annoyed at the magical soul crystal. This was her dream, and why did it care?

"Do you have any advice for the next stage?" Jasmine asked, moving to the subject actually at hand. She knew the basics of what happened next, but she didn't know for sure, and the source would be the best place to learn.

"Even now in the realm of your outer self you can't see. Your eyes will open and awareness will bring you to new heights." Jasmine resisted the urge to roll her eyes. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Everyone knew you got eyes at the second level up. That's why it was important you could finally feel other supers so you weren't defenseless. And more than that, your awareness lets you control your power better.

The most complicated devices she could make now would be effortless with her full senses. … once she got used to them. She would probably be worse for a while. But something about steps and backwards.

"I am excited to see," Jasmine finally said. And she really was. The world would be a whole new place to explore once she got her new senses. Though that wouldn't happen till later. First she had to make sure their mentor wasn't sent by her grandma. Initially, she had agreed with Nicholas to just tell them to pound sand, but she had realized that wasn't her. She wanted to learn from others. More than that, she needed to be around others. Jasmine had recently realized the world she knew was small.

Nicholas was her only real companion. And even then she wasn't sure he actually counted. Could she really consider him her actual friend if she couldn't even convince herself to tell him who her family was? She wasn't sure. She wanted to be sure. That decided it. Jasmine was going to ask if he wanted to know tomorrow. It was the right thing to do. And if he wanted to know? She would tell him. But she hoped he wouldn't want to know. He probably wouldn't, right? Why would he?

"So is there anything you want to know?" Jasmine asked, shaking her head. The crystal laughed.

"You do not wish to ask for me?"

"Recently I've been learning how much fun it is to learn on my own and from others so I don't really have anything." Jasmine said with a smile. The crystal stared at her. Jasmine stared back.

Nicholas was enjoying his throat and tongue being crystal. It meant that they no longer hurt. He was less enthused about being near the giant space rock again. He didn't have a negative opinion of the space rock, but he definitely didn't like it. It had exploded him after all. Well, Nicholas had been part of that problem too.

"Are you not going to ask anything?"

"No." Nicholas was going to wait. The crystal stared at the young man before turning its attention to the manifestation behind him. Nicholas could feel his own will pressing down on him in this space, and it wasn't hard to figure out why. His playing board was close. The visualization was heavy, and it sought to push him to improve. Worse, one of his cards was screaming for attention. Ascend. A word he had said on accident twice. And yet it was complete. More than that, it resonated with this space.

What had he done? Maybe he should talk to the crystal. Nicholas crossed his arms as he focused; he would not falter. He had said he wouldn't ask anything, and he wouldn't. He had a theory anyway. Last time the crystal mentioned being lonely. On a cosmic scale, it had infinite practice to him. Not so much practice as Nicholas at ignoring conversation right in front of him.

"I won't fall for such petty tricks." Nicholas continued to stare off into the void, blanking his mind.

"Domains mean you have power over all things." Nicholas was a graceful winner; he wouldn't gloat. Verbally.

"I heard that."

"So are you saying I accidentally made power word extra-dimensional space?" Nicholas asked, breaking his silence.

"Not quite." Nicholas glowered at the crystal as it laughed at him.

"You aren't touching on this space. But the power contained within." Nicholas mulled that over. This was probably concerning. The question was it concerning concerning. Or concerning opportunity. Probably both. He could live with both.

"So what does that mean? I can just skip to the next step?" Nicholas asked, following the train of logic.

"Isn't kind of useless my commands only—" Nicholas cut himself off when he realized that wasn't true. If he lit something on fire with his power and then did a new command, it wouldn't instantly put the fire out. It would just stop supplying it the magical power to burn forever. So if he temporarily ascended, the power would remain until he ran out of the extra juice. But that sounded like only a net positive, wouldn't it be incredible to just temporarily level up for even a single attack?

There was another problem that Nicholas wasn't sure he could actually do that. A failed ascension had crippled him spiritually, and who knew how bad physically. So a temporary one that was just flooding his vessel with power? Nicholas had the sneaking suspicion that such a trigger would be unpleasant for him at best. He would need to figure out a way to reinforce himself first. Something that could help him take the strain off his mind and body. Though he wasn't sure what could do that yet.

If Jasmine was willing to make stuff with his soul, he bet that would work, but that was a solid no.

"So I have a maybe one-use trump card that could let me blow past anyone at my tier? Lovely," Nicholas grumbled.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road, magic me up and give me my awareness." Hero studied the young man for a long moment." Reveal" Nicholas shook as something crushed his domain and cast him back into darkness.

Nicholas and Jasmine both levered themselves back to their feet, one of them exploring their new senses to see what they could feel and the other just enjoying that nothing was on fire this time. It was usually safe to bet only the first ascension would be explosive, but they could always end up being destructive again. Hence why they had gone to a special reinforced room for it, but that seemed to have been unnecessary. Jasmine looked about the room.

She couldn't actually see anything new, but she could feel stuff. All around were glowing embers of power, but despite Nicholas being in front of her, there was nothing for her new senses to latch onto.

"Are you veiling yourself?"

"Yeah?"

"Why?"

"I didn't see a reason to stop it since I've learned it?" Nicholas said, casting his own perception around. This would make things so much easier. Being able to accurately perceive his power meant he could actually figure out how his abilities worked. And feeling when people tried to sneak up on him would be a nice benefit. He was practically salivating at the chance to be better equipped to avoid people. But Nicholas still released his hold on his power, letting it billow out of him wildly.

Jasmine leapt back as the source of power assaulted her new senses. Though it wasn't unpleasant, his power felt like the smell of a library.

"Your turn?" Nicholas asked. Jasmine had hoped he would ask. He could probably still feel her spirit; she wasn't bothering to veil it, just restrain and contain it. But with an excuse she released the full might of her existence, letting it crash over everything like a wave, nearly drowning out Nicholas's own power. Nicholas stared at her before laughing.