Part 759: Champion of Creation

Far-Future Era. Day 21, AJR. Chrona.

Timothy, Fiona, Rebecca, and Paimon all made their way deeper into Chrona, leaving behind Blinker and the others to deal with Calanthra. Timothy felt guilty about what he’d accidentally done to her, but there was nothing more he could do to resolve the situation now.

It took him less than a minute to put Calanthra out of sight and out of mind, because once he saw what his mother had been up to, his imagination was immediately captivated.

Ferral had opened a Dungeon portal outside the east side of Chrona, which was an under-developed area with lots of grass and flowers. Thus, Timothy’s companions had only managed to spot the tall buildings on that side of the main city, and those structures had obscured the dramatic changes inside the city itself.

It didn’t take long before Timothy and Paimon were completely lost. They didn’t recognize anything. The Spynet Sphere wasn’t in the center of the city anymore, and neither was Timothy’s old house. The crocodile population appeared to have doubled in the last ten months, which was quite ridiculous considering they’d been increasing slowly and steadily over the last 200 years. Everywhere Timothy looked, crocodiles were roaming here and there. He spotted hundreds of hatchlings roaming the streets, cute little waddling babies that still crawled around on four limbs much quicker than a human child would.

The city felt alive in a way it didn’t before. It was as if Timothy were looking at a living organism, and the conveyor belts around the city were Chrona’s veins. Conveyor belts were scattered across the skies, with large boxes and crates of items zipping around, left and right. Timothy didn’t know what their purpose was, but they weren’t scattered haphazardly. They actually seemed somewhat artistic in how they had been placed with great care so as to not look hideous and ugly. They were also surprisingly silent, not constantly drumming up unpleasant noise throughout the air like one might expect.

"I made a lot of changes while you were gone." Fiona explained. "Probably 70% of those changes happened in the last couple of months. The more my abilities have improved, the faster I’ve been able to solve the problems I faced."

Paimon gestured to the conveyor belts in the sky. "What is the purpose of those?"

"I originally started putting conveyors on the ground, but I quickly found that they got in people’s way, especially when I increased the number and speed of shipments transferring between my warehouses." Fiona explained. "I moved them into the sky a few months ago so we’d have more walking space throughout the city. See, I unlocked the Automated Factory and Crafting systems before you guys even left, but it took me a while to figure out how synergistic the two of them were. Ever since I did, I’ve been able to turn Chrona into a large scale automated factory that accomplishes a lot of strategic objectives all at once."

"Over there to the north, that’s one of the three main Sorting Warehouses." Fiona explained. You can’t see it, but I built a bunch of sorting arms to process package deliveries and other such things quickly and efficiently. With Rebecca’s help, and some of my new abilities, we recently added digitized pseudo-Cybernites to the warehouse to sort packages. They aren’t sentient, but they’re intelligent enough to get the work done quickly and efficiently."

"We haven’t solved the Energy Crisis fully," Rebecca chimed in, "but we’ve reduced the energy deficit a lot. We also haven’t solved the problem of Chrona’s time dilation speeding up, but I think we might be able to do so in due time."

Timothy gave Rebecca and his mother a long glance. "Mom, when my Eye of Yredelemnul leveled up, I gained the ability to look at your stats in greater detail. Why is your class called ‘Techmancer’?"

"I promoted at level 25." Fiona said. "When you reach level 25, I’ll explain everything to you."

"I’m level 25 now." Timothy replied, causing his mother to jump slightly, then turn and look at him with surprise.

"You are?!" Fiona exclaimed. "But… how? Weren’t you only inside that Dungeon for a week? It took me eight months to climb to level 25!"

"I, ah… I leveled up quickly thanks to some good luck." Timothy said, dodging the question on how he’d amassed so much experience so quickly. He still felt deeply guilty about murdering potentially hundreds of lifeforms inside the Dark Forest. "I have a lot of gains I haven’t had time to process yet. I leveled up a bunch of times, but we were in such a rush to get out of the Forest, I never really looked at everything I picked up. I have a ton of lootboxes, new items, new skill choices to make… it’s been quite hectic. And until I choose a Promotion, I won’t be able to level up anymore."

"Regarding that last part, you don’t have to worry." Fiona said. "The King Network will track all the experience you earn, so even if you earn enough to level up, it won’t be wasted. Once you choose your promotion, you’ll gain a bunch of levels quickly."

"Still, I want to do my promotion soon…" Timothy said. "How does it work, mom?"

Fiona gestured toward one particular skyscraper with a conspicuous dome planted on its top.

"Let’s go inside first, and then I’ll explain everything you need to know." She said.

…

Twenty minutes later, Timothy and the rest had arrived inside his new home. The Spynet Sphere had been moved to the top of the central skyscraper inside Chrona, a building which was thirty stories tall. While it was the tallest building in Chrona by a couple of stories, as far as skyscrapers on ancient Earth went, it actually wasn’t even close to as tall as the heights those buildings reached. Still, Chrona was a tiny fraction of the size of Earth, so the new Spynet Tower was proportionally far bigger relative to its planet.

Fiona and the rest exited an elevator at the penthouse suite on the 30th floor, with the Spynet Sphere being positioned directly above them.

"Unfortunately," Fiona said, "the Spynet itself doesn’t work anymore. Due to dilation acceleration, all the monitors have stopped showing anything happening across the Milky Way. Until I solve the issue, it’ll have to remain a decoration atop this building. It doesn’t really matter though, seeing as without Jason, Chrona can’t materially affect realspace. We need to focus on our internal crisis before the dimension implodes on itself from temporal and spatial stress."

Timothy felt his stomach tighten at his mother’s words. Her emotions were calm, but he could sense that a terrible weight was growing on her shoulders. If things continued to progress as they had been, Chrona would spin faster and faster out of control until it collapsed, killing everyone inside.

Naturally, the young man did not want to see that happen.

Everyone sat down in the penthouse living room, except for Paimon, who sauntered off to cook some food. He didn’t have much to add to the discussion, and he enjoyed cooking, so it was a good way for him to pass the time. That left Timothy alone with his mother and Rebecca.

"So, tell me about promotions." Timothy said. "Not to be melodramatic, but I’m dying to know."

"When you choose to promote, you will be offered three options." Fiona said, her expression solemn. "I was offered four as a result of my passive skill. I always get an additional choice, whereas you do not."

She continued. "The four choices I was offered all related to who I ‘am’ as a person. I needed several days to choose who I wanted to become. They were deeply personal, and not at all simple to decide between. I might have been paralyzed forever, if I didn’t finagle an important detail out of Umi first."

Timothy raised his eyebrow. "An important detail?"

"In due time." Fiona said, refusing to answer until it became pertinent. "Here’s a paper I wrote some time back, showing the choices I was offered. I wrote it to give to you when you were ready to promote, but it seems that day arrived far sooner than I could have imagined…"

…

You have reached Level 25. Congratulations. You are now eligible to promote to a higher state of existence.

Class Promotion: TRUEBORN HERO.

Once upon a time, you were a human known as Phoebe Hiro. You were a singular entity, one and the same. That was until the Wordsmith split your essence from hers and turned you into a unique life form capable of growing beyond your original intent. But what if you could go back in time and reform yourself as a fully corporeal human? What if Phoebe Hiro had become Phoebe the Hero?

As a Trueborn, you will cease to be an ethereal entity. You will become a fully flesh and blood human, with all the upsides and downsides of such a transition. You will gain incredible Heroic power, making you a powerhouse in your own right. The abilities you obtain will closely align with your interests and personality. How exactly those will manifest depend on the choices you make inside the King Network, but you will become a living weapon all your enemies fear and your allies adore. This power may even unlock the secret to saving Chrona from its inevitable collapse.

Class Promotion: TECHMANCER.

Long ago, you were an individual known as Phoebe Hiro, but your conscious mind has been Fiona Hiro for longer than even Phoebe Hiro existed as Phoebe Hiro. Why do you cling to your old identity when the man you loved has passed into memory along with your former self? Embrace who you are now. Empower yourself to become an incorporeal lifeform possessing incredible power. Abandon the concept of a fleshly body and obtain power overwhelming.

As a Techmancer, you will cast aside flesh and bone to interface with the Imaginary Realm, becoming something not quite human. You will be capable of phasing through solid objects at will, passing between dimensions, and no longer remaining tethered to the realm of Chrona. You will attune yourself technology in grand ways. You will become capable of interfacing with technology at a whim. You will be able to construct grand technological marvels with relative ease. You will be able to research novel inventions that make even the Volgrim gasp in awe. With this power, you may even be able to solve the time dilation crisis looming over your domain.

Class Promotion: DIVINE ARTISAN.

Aside from Phoebe Hiro, there was one other person you admired more than anyone else. That person was Jason Hiro. As the Wordsmith, he was capable of reshaping reality with a single word. You don’t have the same interests in him, but what if you were a little closer to him in terms of potential? What could you accomplish?

As a Divine Artisan, you will become highly attuned to the spiritual and magical side of reality. You will remain a phantasmal life form, but you will become more spiritually impressive, allowing you to craft divine artifacts on par with legendary weapons like Excalibur and Solomon’s Crown. You will gain the ability to create weapons of war and tools capable of progressing your own abilities, and the abilities of others with great ease. Perhaps by using this power, you can solve the time dilation crisis approaching Chrona?

Class Promotion: CYBERNITE.

Corporeality. Flesh and bone. Incorporeality. Spiritual consciousness. Why choose either of these when a superior option is available? Abandon the concept of a ‘soul’ entirely. Become a Cybernite, like your close friend Rebecca. Obtain a modular body with power and customizability. Change who you ‘are’ at a whim. Manufacture different body variants and jump between them at will. One body for science, one body for construction, one body for war. All these bodies are still ‘you’, but better, superior, perfected over time.

As a Cybernite, your mind will become tremendously efficient, your thinking speed will accelerate a hundredfold, and you will gain all sorts of novel abilities to enhance who ‘you’ are on a fundamental level. Not a spirit, not a ghost, not a human, you will become a machine with her own thoughts and desires capable of infinite improvement. Perhaps by becoming a superior life form, you will be able to save everyone you love from the terrible fate of a dimensional collapse.

…

Timothy read over his mother’s four promotion options. He felt a mixture of emotions.

Two throughlines were clear. Fiona thought a lot about Phoebe, and it was clear she always felt envious of her corporeal self. She also feared the impending doom facing Chrona, and hungered to solve the problem and save the lives of her friends and family.

Each of the four classes offered were deeply appealing in their own way. Timothy thought the Cybernite option was a bit odd, but maybe his mother actually did have an interest in becoming one? Timothy and Fiona were very different people, so just because he thought becoming a Cybernite sounded offputting, that didn’t mean his mother did.

"Why didn’t you choose the Trueborn Hero option?" Timothy asked. "It seems like the best one to me."

He looked at his mom. Even though she had chosen the Techmancer promotion, she seemed just as corporeal as when he left. Had she truly become a spiritual lifeform?

Fiona lowered her eyes. It seemed she had already guessed her son’s thoughts.

"This… is not my real body." Fiona said hesitantly. "I wasn’t sure how to break the news to you, Timothy. I’m not actually- this isn’t really… me. This body you’re looking at."

"It’s not??" Timothy asked, bewildered. "Wait wait, mom, you’re not… then what am I looking at?"

Rebecca grimaced. "Your mother has become a fully spiritual lifeform. The body before you is one of her avatars. It’s a robotic body, similar to a Cybernite. Not quite as advanced, more human in design. She made it just so she could maintain a ‘physical presence’ among Chrona’s people."

A long silence followed. Timothy felt a pit opening in his stomach. He reached over and touched his mother’s face, and only now did he realize she wasn’t instinctively reacting to his touch the way she usually would. Fiona smiled at him, but there was a ‘delay’ as if she was acting the way she thought she should.

It was as if his mother was watching from afar, piloting the body before him like a drone.

"Mom… where are you?" Timothy asked. He looked around the room and squinted, then activated Yredelemnul’s Eye.

At that moment, Timothy noticed trails of spiritual energy in the air. Some of those trails were close to his left side, opposite where his mother’s ‘body’ was seated. Timothy turned to his left and frowned.

"Mom?"

The spiritual energy in the air vibrated slightly.

"Yes. It’s me." Fiona said, her voice now coming from that cluster of energy. "I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. It all happened so fast, you returning, Marigold’s accusations, all of that."

Timothy looked at his ‘mother’ stonily. He felt like he wanted to cry, but he couldn’t. The Mind of Logic prevented such a strong emotion from manifesting. Instead, he had to look at her stoically, as if he wasn’t about to break in half from the trauma.

"Why?" Timothy asked quietly. "Why would you choose this path over becoming a Trueborn?"

"Because." Fiona said, her tone steady. "I spent several days weighing the pros and cons. Ultimately, I realized the ability to travel in and out of Chrona would be extremely beneficial to saving Chrona. I am currently an immortal lifeform. But, if I chose to become a Trueborn, I would become a powerful human, but a human nonetheless. I would have a ticking biological clock."

"Dad made you immortal." Timothy argued. "You told me he did."

"There’s no way to know if the King Network would maintain that immortality once I transitioned into a flesh and blood body." Fiona replied. "And besides. I told you there was an important detail I managed to coax out of Umi, remember? It ultimately gave me the courage to make this choice."

She paused.

"Timothy, I found out that the King Network has a limit. When you reach Level 100, you will stop growing any further."

"What?" Timothy asked. "There’s such a thing?"

"That wasn’t the detail that made me change my mind." Fiona explained. "Actually, that was just an interesting tidbit I learned by accident. When I was choosing my promotion, Umi inadvertently let it slip that a Player can choose multiple promotions. They can only choose a new promotion once they reach Level 100. At that point, the new Promotion will reset to Level 25, and they will start gaining experience once again."

Timothy took a few seconds to digest this information.

"So… so this isn’t permanent?" Timothy asked. "You chose the Techmancer option in order to gain the power to save Chrona, and then once you reached Level 100, you would be able to choose the Trueborn option as well?"

"That’s right. But there’s a caveat." Rebecca jumped in. "If your mother and I have understood the situation properly, a Player with multiple promotions would be able to switch between them. The skills and abilities of one promotion would only function when they are actively in that ‘state’ of existence. So, if your mother has unique abilities as a Techmancer, then she won’t have access to those abilities as a Trueborn, not unless she switches to that promotion tree… and vice-versa."

Timothy’s eyes brightened. With this new information, the fog in his heart lifted, and his anguish was alleviated somewhat.

"That- that’s great, mom." Timothy said, breathing a sigh of relief. "But how long will it take you to reach Level 100? The amount of experience required increases over time."

"I don’t know." Fiona answered honestly. "I reached Level 32 somewhat quickly… but that was mainly due to being able to complete a bunch of Quests from before my promotion using my Promotion’s unique abilities. Once those quests were completed, the new ones… have proven to be a lot harder. I think my growth is going to slow down quite a lot."

This additional information only made Timothy feel worse.

"How long before I can hug my real mom again?" Timothy asked quietly.

"I… I don’t know, Timothy. I’m sorry." Fiona answered, her voice as low as his. "I can’t revert back to a corporeal lifeform until I promote again… unless I obtain a skill that says otherwise."

"Oh."

That was all Timothy managed to say. His Mind of Logic was being pushed to the limit. Even if 95% of his emotions were removed, he’d gone through so much that the remaining 5% was still putting him in extreme distress.

"Let’s… let’s talk about your promotions. Okay, honey?" Fiona said gently. Her spiritual energy ‘sat’ beside him, but she was completely formless, like smoke on the wind. Timothy couldn’t see her if he didn’t keep Yredelemnul’s Eye activated constantly, and Rebecca couldn’t see her either.

Timothy stared forward at nothing in particular.

A few moment passed. He sighed.

"Okay."

Timothy activated his Character page. The Promotion option was lit up, and after a moment of hesitation, he tapped it, causing four brilliant options to appear before him.

…

You have reached Level 25. Congratulations. You are now eligible to promote to a higher state of existence.

Class Promotion: SUPERHUMAN.

You are your father’s son. Already a Trueborn, you have manifested the power of video games and begun to empower others, including your own mother. But are you satisfied with your own level of strength? You are not a deep thinker like your adoptive or biological mother. You do not have the interest or inclination to fix Chrona’s degrading time dilation. But what if that wasn’t your purpose anyway? Humanity lacks powerhouses and champions. Become formidable. Become humanity’s protector.

As a Superhuman, you will gain might and battle power beyond compare. Demon Emperors will fear your name. You will attract attention and notoriety as you grow in strength. Your ability to empower others will dramatically lessen, but you will become a force that makes the galaxy tremble. With this, others will respect you and bow to your interests. Even the mightiest Volgrim will become wary of offending you.

Class Promotion: YREDELEMNUL’S HEIR.

Already, you have begun to tap into the strength of a Ruler that is not your own. But what do you really know about Yredelemnul? Do you know who he was? Can you even comprehend what he accomplished? Your limited knowledge of Yredelemnul has shown you that the fairies may perhaps fear his power unfairly. Who says you have to become an evil psychopath just to wield the power of a dead Ruler? Harness his might and make it your own.

As Yredelemnul’s Heir, you will amass all the powers he once did, eventually surpassing him and becoming an entity the Dark Ones cower before in fear. You will become personally powerful, but also capable of building armies by influencing the minds of others. The Milky Way has more threats it must face someday beyond the Kolvaxians. Why not gain the strength to protect your home? Even if it costs you some of your humanity… isn’t that a small price worth paying?

Class Promotion: LORD OF CREATION.

Perhaps you are more similar to your mothers than you thought. You’ve never shown too much interest in creating technology or spiritual constructs, but who says that always has to be the case? With your mother teaching you from the side, you can become versatile, solving problems even she cannot. Wouldn’t it be nice to help your mother for once, rather than leeching off her hard work?

As the Lord of Creation, you will gain the ability to create weapons, tools, even life forms. Your ability to create objects and creatures will surpass even your father and mother, but you will not be very competent in battle. You will serve an auxiliary role, building up others so that they may take down the threats humanity faces. Perhaps this is for the best. Perhaps becoming a creator will serve the people around you better than becoming a mere muscle-brained lunkhead.

Class Promotion: HAREM KING.

You love women, but do women love you? It doesn’t matter what the others think, you should be true to yourself. Why limit yourself to just one mate or spouse when you can have them all? You are who you are. Do not deny your carnal urges. Using your powers, sweep away all the beauties of the world and gain power through them as well. Even alien empires stronger than yours will inevitably have powerful women you could seduce. Make their power yours.

As the Harem King, you would gain unparalleled ability to seduce females of all other species, and even males, if your desires ever inclined that way. Whatever powers they possessed would become yours to wield at will. Not merely a tool for selfish pleasure, you could pass on potent abilities to your harem, growing their strength and making their power, along with yours, even more potent as time went on. Could love truly become capable of conquering hatred?

…

Timothy was silent for a long while. He stared at the promotion screen while his mother and Rebecca waited patiently.

Eventually, Timothy took out a pen and paper. He wrote down every word, even if the final entry was extremely embarrassing. Were he not in the Mind of Logic, he might have hidden it from his mother, but that was not the case, so he didn’t. She had already shown him an embarrassing side of herself, revealing her true thoughts and desires. Why should he not do the same?

When he finished writing, Rebecca and Fiona took some time to read what he’d penned. They read the words out loud and looked at once another every so often. They gave Timothy several queer looks regarding the Harem King description, but Fiona was much more worried about the Yredelemnul’s Heir option. It went to show how deeply the Ruler had pressed his claws into Timothy’s psyche.

"Why are there four options?" Rebecca eventually asked Fiona. "I thought you only had the fourth option because of your passive skill."

"Well, come to think of it, my skill only mentioned lootboxes. Maybe I was wrong." Fiona replied. "More importantly… it seems Timothy has a serious decision to make. We can easily cross off the two weird options, leaving only the Superhuman and Lord of Creation promotions. Basically, he has the choice between personal empowerment, or empowerment of others. There’s no real middle ground here."

Timothy thought for a while.

"Why not the Yredelemnul’s Heir choice?" Timothy asked. "It served me well in the dungeon."

"Absolutely not!" Fiona exclaimed, a trace of panic in her voice. "Timothy Edward Hiro, don’t you even THINK of picking that horrible, horrible option! And the weird rapey-option, that’s definitely off the table too, got it?!"

"I wasn’t even thinking of the Harem King one." Timothy said, which was true, given that in his emotionless state, lust was not an emotion he was capable of feeling. Perhaps if he were in his normal mind-state, that might not be the case. "But I think ignoring Yredelemnul’s Eye is a bad idea. True, it once belonged to an evil Ruler who wiped out a galaxy. But so what? I’ve already established his power doesn’t come from hatred and megalomania. It comes from intense mental focus. In my Mind of Void, I can draw out extreme power from his Eye already. It could be a potent force equalizer."

Timothy continued. "Besides. You said there’s no in-between option, but that’s wrong. The Superhuman promotion makes me individually powerful. The Lord of Creation promotion allows me to empower others. Yredelemnul’s Heir allows me to do both."

"Much as I hate to say it, Timothy is correct." Paimon said, as he returned from the kitchen holding a plate with soup and sandwiches for his master. "Furthermore, I think the Harem King option is not as bad as you’re making it out to be. Timothy is, after all, a hot blooded young male human. It’s only natural he desires copulation with a harem of beautiful females."

Timothy might have broken out into a violent coughing fit if he weren’t in the Mind of Logic, but as it was, he simply stared stonily at Paimon’s side profile. "You were listening to our discussion?"

"Oh yes, my hearing is excellent." Paimon said, reminding everyone he was still a demon with extremely sharp senses. "I caught the major points of what your promotion entailed."

"I’m leaning toward Lord of Creation." Rebecca said. "We need all the artifact and technology creators we can get."

"I disagree." Fiona said. "I’m already capable of creating powerful weapons and tools. Timothy should fulfill a different niche. I think Superhuman is best. Humanity needs a champion to protect our interests. Relying on the Phoenix, Beelzebub, or even Melody is a ticking time bomb."

"I think Yredelemnul’s Eye is quite appealing." Paimon said. "I saw how much damage it did in the Dark Forest. He’s already converted Calanthra from an enemy into an ally. The Eye’s utility is demonstrably robust. I wouldn’t discount it."

Fiona gave Paimon an ugly glare, but she didn’t say anything. His logic was sound, even if it seemed painfully obvious Yredelemnul’s Eye would turn Timothy evil. She didn’t believe her son was stupid enough to choose it.

"I think my mother has the right idea." Timothy eventually said. "I’m going to disregard Yredelemnul’s Eye. I’m also going to set aside the Harem King option. The decision for me is going to be between Superhuman and Lord of Creation. I simply need to assess all the possibilities to determine which one makes the most sense."

And thus, the choice was laid out.

Would Timothy pick personal power, or would he choose to become a powerful creator, like his mothers and father before him?

It was a decision that would reshape the future of the galaxy.