Chapter 2017 - 1 Octillion Nuclear Energy

Ning stared at Crownus for a long while before sighing slightly. "So, that’s started, huh?"

He had no way of stopping a Will from reading his thoughts since all Energy that wasn’t connected to a Soul belonged to the Galactic Will. Constellation Wills were never in their own systems, so they could never read his mind, but Planetary Wills and Galactic Wills could do so rather easily.

"Anyway, yeah, we should make the System have Quests," Ning said.

That was one of the most familiar parts of a System, and it fit their needs perfectly.

The System could provide objectives, and completing those objectives could increase how much repair or upgrade work the user was allowed to perform each week. The reward would not simply appear from nowhere. It would expand access to knowledge and functionality already contained within the System.

Crownus nodded slowly.

"What sort of Quests?"

Ning thought about the state of the galaxy.

They could eventually create many different kinds of objectives, but there was one problem large enough to serve as the foundation for the first version.

"The war."

Crownus remained silent.

"For now, make the Quests revolve around ending it," Ning continued. "The user could repair something important, prevent an attack, uncover a way for humans and Mekharans to cooperate, or do anything else that actually moves things toward stopping the war."

Crownus considered the suggestion carefully.

That also gave the System a larger purpose.

It would not simply make one person better at repairing machines. It would encourage that person to use those abilities in ways that affected the conflict Crownus had accidentally helped create.

After some time, Crownus agreed.

"That is acceptable."

Ning nodded.

They now had the general structure.

A helmet bonded to a single user. A second artifact bonded to Crownus that could provide support when necessary. A System focused on understanding, repairing, and upgrading technology, with weekly limits that could be expanded by completing Quests.

For the first time since they began discussing the idea, the design felt complete enough to actually build.

Crownus’s smoky body shifted as he focused on the task ahead.

"I am ready to form the System."

Ning looked at him and smiled slightly.

"Then make it."

Crownus left to create the System somewhere else.

Ning did not ask where he was going. Crownus had spent one hundred and thirty thousand years studying him and now understood enough to build the thing on his own. Hovering over his shoulder while he worked would not accomplish much, so Ning remained behind on Valkora and turned his attention toward something he had ignored for far too long.

"System, how much Nuclear Energy have I gathered?"

<You have currently experienced approximately 912 septillion units of Nuclear Energy.>

Ning stared at the number for a moment.

"That much, huh? And here I wasn’t even trying that hard."

He had known he was close to completing the requirement, but he had not realized just how close. One octillion units had seemed absurdly distant when he first began, especially when most of what he encountered only provided small amounts compared to the total.

Now he was already more than nine-tenths of the way there.

"Only eighty-eight septillion left."

That was still an enormous quantity by any normal standard, but Ning was no longer interested in gathering it slowly. He had spent one hundred and thirty thousand years sitting on a radioactive planet while Crownus examined him. If he was going to finish this, he might as well find the best source available and be done with it.

"System, find me the most radioactive location in Crownus’s galaxy that I can safely reach."

Information came to him almost immediately. Ning examined the result and smiled.

"That should do."

He used a tiny shard of a Space Stone he had and portaled away.

When he reappeared, there was no planet beneath his feet and no nearby star giving the region any meaningful warmth. He floated in open space with only distant points of light around him, while far beyond what ordinary eyes could have resolved, a pulsar rotated at incredible speed.

Ning had wanted to make use of something like this for a long time.

Pulsars were hardly convenient destinations, though. Whenever he had found one before, reaching it had meant traveling far out of whatever path he had already chosen, and there had always been something more immediate demanding his attention.

Now, for once, he had no reason not to bother.

He positioned himself in the path of the radiation pouring from the distant object and waited.

The first concentrated burst struck him almost immediately.

The amount of Energy entering him was so far beyond what he had grown accustomed to collecting that the remaining requirement disappeared before he had even properly settled in.

Ning blinked.

"That’s it?"

<Yes.>

He checked the total and found that he had finally crossed the threshold.

One octillion units of Nuclear Energy.

After all the worlds he had visited, all the radioactive materials he had absorbed, and all the time he had spent slowly accumulating more, the final stretch had taken almost no time at all.

Ning laughed quietly.

"I really should’ve done this sooner."

There was little point regretting it now. The requirement was complete, which meant one more obstacle between him and his larger goal had disappeared.

Nuclear Energy was nearly unlocked now.

Unfortunately, it was not the final obstacle.

Ning remained in space for some time after that, allowing himself to drift while thinking about what came next.

He needed enough Energy to open a portal into another universe.

That was the real problem.

The amount required was not something he could casually gather from a few radioactive planets or by standing in front of a pulsar. Crossing between universes operated on an entirely different scale, and Ning still did not have a reliable answer for where he was supposed to acquire enough Energy to make it possible.

The only available option was to kill a Galactic Will, and that wasn’t as easy as it sounded. Galactic Wills were far too strong for him at the moment.