Ascender 2

His mind, still floating on the sea of bliss, had only one thought. ‘More, more… I need more of this. I need to put these beauties inside me.’

Even while he was in a state of disorienting euphoria, bits and pieces of his original intent still influenced his thoughts.

But how? How was he even supposed to put this haze inside his soul-body connection?

“Heheh, what was it? Ritual? Chanting? Those are ‌the norm. But for me? Look! I can even hold this precious haze in my hands!”

*thump*

The jolt from his UA activating sent a moment of clarity.

At this point, the throbbing had already been replaced by a warm, strong current in his chest area, and an idea occurred to him.

‘Perhaps…’

He looked down, slowly ‘grabbing’ a handful of the haze. He twisted it, spun it like he crumpled used clothes into a small ball.

And he threw it. He threw the haze ball straight onto his own chest while thinking he wanted to store it inside the deepest part of his existence.

It sank straight into his body; he could feel it flowing straight through a channel he never knew he had.

“Hah… Haha! It works! Damn it! It actually worked! I must be a—! Oh, oh, almost. Lucky I didn’t say that or I’d explode… that was close.”

Right after, his mind descended back to his manic, high state.

Riding his euphoric state, he ran around the edge of the lake like a madman, grabbing a handful of blue haze, and he quickly threw it to his chest.

There were red hazes, blue hazes, green hazes, black hazes, and even colorless haze. He didn’t really care what color it was; everything was beautiful!

He wanted everything!

By the time the surrounding haze thinned enough for him to have a clear look at the colossal tesseract, he could feel something inside him packed to the brim.

It feels like something from inside was trying to rush out; it pushes him from a place he cannot see.

This stuffy feeling helped him to clear his mind.

He was thankful that throughout his manic silk-grabbing frenzy, he didn’t say anything more and just laughed like a madman.

If he continued to spout truthful nonsense, perhaps he wouldn’t ever feel full at all.

Then, as if in agreement with his opinion, something was forming in him— deep inside his existence.

With his mind now practically as clear as the lake before him, he quickly yanked out the coin-shaped crystal and crushed it.

Just as he thought nothing had happened, he felt the familiar tugging force pulling at him. He didn’t fight it and just let it happen.

In an instant, the strange state of existence from before returned. This time, he didn’t even need to think before he turned his vision straight to the string connected to his body.

With a mental command, he ordered the thread to bring him to his core’s plot of land.

Another familiar force pulled at him, causing his ‘body’ to collapse inward.

He was back. The pond and the tree were the same, but the background had changed.

The endless emptiness had vanished, and now a colorful haze filled the entire place, swirling around the tree to form a giant, colorful blob of haze.

***

The scroll stirred.

The sudden drop in N-Energy concentration in the plains had roused it from its dormant state.

It was as if a sudden vacuum had formed in a pressurized room.

“What in heaven’s name is that kid doing now?” it wondered in exasperation.

The scroll hurriedly summoned an energy projection to look outside.

Hovering just above the vast lake, it finally found the unconscious body of the boy.

Shattered remains of a broken crystal were still clenched in his right hand, proof that the kid had used the makeshift soul-banisher.

‘He’s probably trying to observe the core’s creation process. Even so, the N-Energy concentration in this area shouldn’t drop that much. Wait a minute, perhaps…’

The scroll extended a feeler of flame to James’ chest area, peering straight to the boy’s soul-body connection.

“Well, that’s certainly not the amount you would expect from a grade H’s core creation process…”

It jumped straight to James’ core plot of land, using its privilege as a high-grade spiritual being, and what it saw unfurled its lower roll.

There, James was moving around, trying to stop the surrounding haze from merging with the gigantic, colorful blob of haze in the center of the lake.

Before the scroll could collect itself, James turned around.

“Ooh~ is that you, Teacher Scroll? Come, come, help me split it up so it has a proportional amount of each color. Oh, by the way, is that how you literally express jaw-drop?”

Without answering him, the scroll simply burned brighter until its fire enveloped it entirely.

When the flame settled, the scroll was no more; in its place, a humanoid with flaming dark purple hair and a muscular body appeared.

In a few swift strides, the now humanoid ‘Scroll’ appeared before James.

James opened his mouth, but before he could utter any words, the scroll’s flaming fist smacked his head like a thunderclap.

“Ow! What was that for?!” He winced and rubbed his temple where he had been hit.

“Now, have you sobered up?”

The scroll didn’t just silently wait for James to answer.

It summoned a rope made of flame that shot out and snared the blob of haze.

The fiery rope tensed, and with a single powerful pull, the blob was ripped away from the tree in the center of the lake.

After it finished ‌yanking away the haze from the tree, the now humanoid scroll turned around and looked at James straight in the eye.

“Did you know you almost advanced into an Esper instead of a Magician or a Fighter? Create your core now! If you’re going for Magician, create a construct beside the lake or anywhere not the lake or the tree. If you’re going for Fighter, just shove all of this haze straight to the lake. Remember! Don’t give the tree any N-Energy!”

When he heard the scroll’s instruction, James quickly snapped out of his daze.

“What about you, teacher? What are you going to do?”

“Me?! Of course, fixing up your mess! The amount of N-Energy itself is no problem; it’s the fact that you are advancing while under the effect of 100% of your buff! Whatever, I have no time to explain. Just focus on creating your core while I recalibrate your body’s bio-chemical production and senses.”

Then, it turned around, its hands weaving a complex pattern made from fire in the air before it vanished, leaving behind an endlessly stretched string of fire on the ground.

“Wh—what the hell?! How am I even supposed to create a construct from a freaking haze?!”

With James’ exasperated shout as the background, the scroll’s projection appeared once more on the vast plains. This time, it had already gone back to its scroll form.

It just didn't know why James's evolution process didn't deactivate his buff. And now it was left with the responsibility to make sure James didn’t lose his mind when he finally became an Ascender.

As an energy projection, the scroll’s control and precision were bad, and with how complicated the current situation had become, it could only call for help.

It remembered how the planewalker had left behind a way for it to contact them.

As it drew the ambient N-Energy available, a complex diagram materialized beneath its projection.

When the scroll finally set the catalyst given to him at certain sections of the circle, the originally white magic circle pulsed with a beautiful cobalt luminescence.

The light continued to intensify. When it peaked, the floating magic circle collapsed inward, coalescing into a dark, swirling portal.

From it, a young boy stepped out. He looked no older than an elementary schooler. He wore a black tuxedo, complete with the hat.

His hair was jet black, and his heterochromatic red and gold eyes swept over the vast plains. The presence he emanated was intense, like everything in this world was beneath him.

Finally, a meaningful smile played across his lips.

“Welcome, oh Plane Walker from beyond, as promised, I have taught the individual under the name of James the basics of Ascender. An oversight on my part has caused some… situation. Regarding the agreement, you have stated that it’s possible to ask for your help if some unforeseen circumstance happens.”

The scroll’s projection bent, seemingly in an act similar to a bow as its burning edges dimmed.

“At ease, little king. Even I didn’t expect his ability to be used this way; certainly, such a high-ranked Unique Ability shouldn’t be underestimated, it even rewrote reality to a certain extent.”

The planewalker’s smile seemed to grow wider as he talked. “For your part, I will grant you full freedom from your seal and absolute clarity of mind for a time. Just until this entire ordeal is done.”

*Pa*

With a snap of his fingers, the innermost cube inside the tesseract split open, leaving the burning scroll within to run free.

Not wasting any time, the burning scroll immediately went over to James’ side, beginning to move around his body, like a researcher prodding its test subject all over.

The scroll’s projection kept accompanying the planewalker, seemingly to reassure him that it hadn’t forgotten to pay its respects.

“Thank you, good sir. I apologize for not accompanying the good sir, for time is short, and I have to start helping the related party.”

The planewalker simply waved his right hand, urging the scroll to continue its work.

“Oh, don’t mind me, I’m just waiting for something for now. It shouldn’t take long…”

“Pardon?” Curious, the scroll couldn’t help but ask, “If I may ask… what are you waiting for, sir?”

The planewalker merely glanced at the little scroll beside him, “Any moment now…”

Not knowing what the planewalker was waiting for, the scroll’s projection just floated silently beside him.

When the planewalker’s smile grew wider, it was then that something happened. “...Here it comes~!”

With the sound of breaking glass, the sky shattered. Not just the sky, but reality as a whole seemed to turn gray and break into many smaller pieces.

Horrified, the scroll’s projection turned to look at the planewalker beside it. But it couldn’t find any traces of nervousness on his face.

In fact, it seems that this particular guest was quite excited.

“Don’t worry, that’s just the consequence when reality doesn’t like what’s happening here. I will just go ahead and fix this.”

When the scroll heard his explanation, its mind turned blank, ‘What? Reality? The little kid was just creating his core! What was that about? Reality doesn’t like it?’

With his right hand already in the posture to snap his fingers, the planewalker turned to the scroll’s projection one more time.

He pointed to the sun with his left and said, “Tell that little lizard that the head of the Vermillion family sends his regards.”

Then, with a snap of his fingers, he was gone.

The shattered sky seamlessly stitched itself back together, the graying reality also returned to its vibrant color, and the very air settled.

Left alone, the scroll's projection merely turns mum about what it just witnessed.