A New Star Chapter 21

I could feel it, ripping my flesh apart and tearing my body asunder. I had never felt such a thing, in either of my lives, and it. Was. Glorious.

I had spent a thousand years in battle, a thousand years as a warrior scholar, ruling an interstellar polity while growing my strength and wisdom. Growing strong enough to unite a thousand disparate species under a single banner. Growing strong enough to brutally slaughter a god.

I had never felt or done anything like this.

I guided the mana as it scoured my body clean, cleaning and purifying my marrow before laying down the foundation. Breaking and melting my bones, I recast them, once, twice, and three times, forging them stronger than I ever thought I would get the chance. I let the power flow through me, tearing and melting my muscles, controlling it as it scoured away all my imperfections. Every part of me, every bone, muscle, organ, every tissue, every cell, was broken down and rebuilt.

I had taken some of the medicine I had prepared in the beginning, but that was not long after activating the false dragon vein and the energy modulation array. I was glad for my preparations, as I burned through the potions and pills as I broke and rebuilt my body. At some point, I ran out of the medicine, but I had expected that, and soldiered on, knowing I would need to use all this energy or fail.

And failure meant death.

I had a vague notion, as my flesh was burnt away and rebuilt, the last of my fat cells and skin transformed, that the door was opened, but I was a little busy at the moment. I felt the surge of power continuing to flow through me, growing a little worried as it hadn't really abated at all. I grabbed the threads of mana and forced them through my body again, not destructively rebuilding my physical shell again but strengthening it, empowering it to be greater. I still found I had excess mana flowing into me, and turned to that space in my mind, the space where I could see my affinities and attributes hovering. I pumped the remaining mana into the space, even as the formation started to dim and the air in the room still. I waited a moment before crushing down the mana, bending the huge mass of power to my will, forcing it to do as I wished. Some of it escaped, though it didn't get very far, as it was drawn into my others affinities, empowering them as I focused on my last work.

Finally, I fell to the ground, landing on my knees, gasping as I caught myself from going face-first into the ground with my arms. I panted, drawing in great breaths before reaching out and grabbing one of the potions in front of me, trying to flick the cap off but accidentally flicking off the whole top of the bottle. I shrugged and downed the potion, feeling its effects as I sat back on my haunches, looking toward the door to see my parents both crowding the doorway but still not daring to enter the room. I sighed, grabbing several pills and popping them before standing slowly, stretching my muscles as I did so. I also checked all the little alerts that had popped into my vision during that time, clearing them away so I could see again.

Great Feat Accomplished.

The remolding of the body through mana has forever changed you.

NOTICE:

Body Affinity has undergone a radical change.

Body Affinity 'Body of the Godslayer' has transformed into 'Body of Heaven's Calamity'

Current Tier: 7

Current Grade: E

First Affinity upgraded.  

Affinity: The Dark   

Grade: E

Compatibility: 125%   

Second Affinity upgraded.  

Affinity: Gravity   

Grade: E  

Compatibility: 150%   

Third Affinity upgraded.  

Affinity: Time   

Grade: E  

Compatibility: 125%   

Seventh Affinity Unlocked

Affinity: Soul Resonance

Grade: C

Compatibility: 100%

Well, that was certainly a bit more than I expected. I don't know if there was anyone else on this world who had a tier six body, though there likely was, but a tier seven body was likely even rarer. I genuinely doubted whether anyone could match the tier of my body or even my current physical strength. I shook out my limbs before walking forward, heedless of my nudity as I approached the doorway. My mother made to say something but stopped when I turned to the side and flexed my arm. Desiring a small test, I struck out before she could recover from her shock, though I drove my fist into the wall, of course, and not her.

My right arm penetrated the large stone block that made up the basement walls as if it was made of paper or loosely packed sawdust. The blocks weren't quite thick enough, so I knew my father and the other captains, who had all assembled by that point, could see my fist on the other side of the wall. It was quite an impressive show of strength, if the wide-eyed, open-mouthed looks of shock, awe, and a touch of horror on everyone's faces were to be believed. I withdrew my arm from the block, or the powder that was all that remained of it, shaking it free of dust once I was fully back in the room.

"An improvement," I grunted coldly.

"Young Lady," my mother said in a warning tone, taking off her large jacket and wrapping it around me. "We are going to have a serious talk."

"I wouldn't have done that," I said calmly.

"You shouldn't have, is what you mean. Punching the wall like that," she said with a sigh.

"No, your jacket," I replied. "My body is still ejecting the last of the impurities. I doubt the maids will be able to get this out."

"Forget the jacket!" she snapped, scooping me up, though it was a little bit more of a hassle for her now, considering I was more the height of a tall fourteen-year-old rather than someone who was six. "You are going to bathe, then we are going to have a long, serious talk."

She made good on her word right away, taking me to my room, trailed by everyone else, who were stopped at the door. She told them all to gather in their office, and father escorted them away while mother came into the suite and the bathroom with me. It was as if she expected me to simply vanish into thin air, or as if she thought I would have another overcharged artificial dragon vein hidden under the tub. I washed and suffered the indignity of having her help me dress and then insist on carrying me to the office.

There were a half dozen captains present in the room, including the lord commander, as well as my father. There were no secretaries or others present, and my mother and I completed the complement of nine. I was in training clothes, or what I thought of as such, thick trousers with leather pieces on the knees, a light silk shirt under a heavy cotton shirt, and thick leather knee-boots. My mother set me in a chair in the center of the seating arrangement and the rest of them gathered in a semicircle facing me. I sat straight, crossing my right leg over my left while I glanced around at everyone.

"I suppose you're wondering why I've assembled you today?" I said before anyone could say anything just as my mother sat.

"That is not funny, Alexandra," my mother snapped, but I could see the rest of the room covering grins, or coughing to hide their laughs, in my father's case.

"Sure," I said calmly.

"Now, can you tell us what exactly you were doing down there?" mother asked.

I stared at the people in the room, waiting until she was about to open her mouth again before saying, "I was getting stronger."

"How, exactly?" my father cut in before mother could continue.

"I used an alchemical array to redirect the energies," I explained. "I have a very good understanding of the body and my body in particular. I was able to use the massive amount of energy in that artificial dragon vein to rebuild my body at a molecular level. It was quite helpful."

"I don't know what any of that means," the lord commander muttered as the rest of the group exchanged confused glances.

"Thusly, the explanation 'I got stronger,' more than suffices," I added sarcastically.

"You should consult with others before doing such dangerous things," my father reprimanded.

"And you understand false dragon veins? You understand molecular body reconstruction? You are able to consult on energy redistribution and transformation capabilities?" I asked him, though I glanced around the room with a frosty look, my eyebrows drawn down as I speared each captain present.

"One doesn't need to understand all the details to understand high risk," my mother cut in tartly. "If you had apprised us of what you were attempting, we could have been prepared for it. We could even have helped you, even if we had to call in an outside consultant."

"Please, don't patronize me," I said, holding up a hand. "I highly doubt there's anyone in the kingdom, nay, the Settled Lands that is more knowledgeable on body reconstruction than I am."

"You are an old soul," my father declared, a firm look in his eye.

"I don't know what you mean by that," I said, even though I could guess from the context.

"You have memories of a previous life," he said. "Such people are extremely rare, but they are born from time to time."

"And presage winds of great change," the lord commander muttered.

"I will say this and only this, and only this once. Yes, I remember more than my paltry years here and yes, I remember things that are now lost to you. More than that I will not say, not now, perhaps not ever," I said coldly.

"Well, we should think about a protection detail," the captain who was closest with my father, I believe he was named Redwind, said.

"I do not need a group of fumbling buffoons tripping all over me at every hour of the day and night," I said crisply. "I doubt many of the rank-and-file soldiers could even beat me in a duel. Little help they would be."

"Would you like to back that up?" the lord commander asked, sitting forward, a dangerous gleam in her eye.

"Give me an incentive, or forget it," I told her, not at all bothered by her clearly flexing her power in front of me.

"Beat three of my best recruits, and I'll take your side and argue you don't need a security detail," she said calmly, sitting back with a satisfied smile.

"Sweeten the pot or you can take the idea on a long walk off a short cliff," I said acerbically.

"Language," said my mother, even though I had not cursed.

"You win all three, I'll get a friend of mine to make you a custom suit of armor. It'll grow with you for at least a couple years. How about that?" the lord commander put forward after a minute.

"Deal," I said with a very small smile.

"Then, we have our own good news," my mother said, redirecting the conversation. "We have found an acceptable tutor for you, which should greatly curtail such expeditions and flights of fancy."

"Oh, indeed?" I asked, arching a single eyebrow just so.

"You shall meet them the day after tomorrow. It would have been tomorrow, but we shall give you a day to recover yourself after your…ordeal," she explained.

My parents spent a few more moments lecturing me, but the confirmation that I was an 'old soul' had put a damper on their ire. I returned to my room, more exhausted than I had let on during the little impromptu meeting, and now with a bunch of annoyances on my plate. The first day my tutor would show up officially was also the day we were going to handle the challenge against the new soldiers, which I was neither looking forward to nor dreading. I had no doubt that I would beat all three of them without trying; I was already a Journeyman in swords and had a tier seven body, for all that is holy. I could likely beat the sergeants and possibly come close to some of the captains at this point.

The next day I was to rest, but of course, I would not be listening to such sage advice. A night's sleep was all I needed to be fully rested and refreshed, and I was back down in my lab the next day after a light training regimen. The first thing I had to take care of was cleanup duty, as there were still piles of crates in my lab that needed to go back to collecting dust in the storage room. I took note that somebody had taken the stone block out of the wall and replaced it with a fresh-cut block that was a bit lighter in color than the surrounding blocks. I winced just slightly, thinking of how I had been so euphoric that I had not kept iron control of myself and tested my strength in a rather inappropriate manner. The good of being born into one of the richest and most powerful families on this continent if not in this world; I could make such mistakes, and it wouldn't even be a rounding error to the house maintenance budget, let alone the entire budget.

Finishing the last two crates, which would likely collect dust for another decade or two, I took another few minutes to clean my lab. I had not been very careful when moving the crates around and had gotten dust and dirt several places. Cleaning was tedious but it was important, doubly so for a laboratory that would be producing medicine and other important consumables that quite a few people would be using. My business with Pietr continued to boom, and the demand was outstripping supply, considering that more than just the local large town was involved now. Trying to supply for even just another large town was already getting to be a bit of a pain, but I didn’t have time to spend doing nothing but brewing pills for upper-middleclass people to give their kids a small boost.

That's what I set about doing for the rest of the day, brewing potions and concocting pills, trying to replenish the stocks I had used yesterday, other than the array that I only needed just for that specific task. I wanted a dozen potions of each type; mana, stamina, and health, though the stamina potions I brewed were more like energy drinks than anything else. Potions came first, then came hours of concocting pills, which passed in a flash before I did a cleanup for the day. I returned to my suite after I had taken care of everything and studied for an hour before turning in for the night, wanting to get a nice bit of sleep before the challenges, and meeting my tutor, the following day.

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