Formless Ascension: My Affinity Is Limitless

He had drawn in ambient essence and beast core energy, compacting it as tightly as his technique allowed. His core and his sub-cores were filled to the brim, unable to hold a single additional drop of cosmic essence. He had reached the ceiling of the Mortal Realm.

All that remained was to break through the barrier, and Uhtred did not hesitate.

There was no written guide on how to advance to the Nascent Realm, nor was there any System prompt explaining the process. He simply moved forward with what felt most natural, forcing his cosmic essence to push against the internal limits of his core.

At this crucial junction, Uhtred could instinctively tell something vital: assuming he didn’t already possess sub-cores, this would have been the exact moment where creating one became mandatory.

The threshold to the Nascent Realm was something that could not be crossed without distributing one’s essence.

For a standard ascender, this moment of maximum core density was the only natural opportunity to form a sub-core. They would be forced to split their brimming core to create a new, separate space for essence to compact, separating their attunements.

Uhtred’s early creation of sub-cores back in the previous trial had been a total anomaly; normal ascenders could never pull off such a feat until reaching this particular ceiling.

And it was for this reason that Uhtred faced no bottlenecks as he broke through.

The transition was as smooth as water. He simply commanded his main core and his sub-cores to push past their physical limits simultaneously.

He felt a strange, metaphorical pop inside his chest. There was no physical sound, but it felt as though his core structure had suddenly opened up to a vast, boundless expanse, creating immediate room for way more cosmic essence to flood through his pathways.

However, in that exact microsecond — the precise moment the breakthrough occurred, before Uhtred could even process his success or check for System notifications — his perception was violently yanked away from his physical body.

His vision went pitch black.

When his senses stabilized, Uhtred found himself in a familiar, pitch-black void, the same dark space he had appeared in during the initial integration on Earth.

What the hell? What’s going on? Uhtred thought, his mind instantly snapping into a sharp vigilance.

Before he could process the shift, a single System notification materialized in the center of the dark void, its glowing text illuminating him in his current form against the endless blackness.

Uhtred had expected some form of explanation, or even a task, anything at all, but instead, the message from the System was a simple question that left him confused:

[What are you?]

Huh? What am I...? What kind of a question is that?

Uhtred was taken off guard and confused at first, but his confusion gave way to a sense of trepidation right after. He briefly considered whether the System had realized his anomalous nature — the weirdness of his class, of his essence core, and of his talent grade altogether.

Perhaps his act of trying to cross into the next realm of cultivation had triggered an inspection from the System, and it had finally recognized his abnormality.

But his logic kicked in, and he calmly deduced that there was no way the System would be as calm as it currently was with its question if it were so.

He had seen for himself how the System responded when an error was spotted. The notices from his initial integration were still clear in his mind. No, this had to be something else, perhaps some sort of test, one that correlated to his act of crossing into the Nascent Realm.

If that was the case, then it would simply mean that this question was more like a trial of identity. The System was asking him who he was as he was about to enter into the Nascent Realm.

Uhtred opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. It felt like he had been talking, yet he realized he was not speaking at all. He had no mouth or physical body in this strange metaphysical space.

Even so, it was not the lack of a body that stopped him. It was the sudden realization that he did not actually have an answer.

When posed with the question of who he really was, Uhtred hesitated in replying, even though he knew his answers would reach the System directly. First, there was doubt. Doubt whether his formless core and his primordial grade were things the System would flag as an anomaly and strip him of, or rectify.

A significant part of him still recognized that what had occurred during his integration was an error — an error that was ninety percent tied to the pendant and the orb that had merged with him.

Uhtred still didn’t know the full depth of what had occurred during his integration, but all of those errors and recalibrations by the System left him with an instinctive wariness about revealing his class.

But then again, the System had been the one to give him the class in the end. There was the possibility that he was just being extremely paranoid.

Aside from that doubt, there was also the second layer to his hesitation, which went to the crux of the question itself:

What did it mean to be formless? What exactly was he as a formless ascender?

There was the obvious deduction. To be formless meant to be without shape, unbound, and limitless compared to other ascenders who were tied to their specific attunements.

But that was just a generic answer, and Uhtred had an inkling that wasn’t what the System was asking him.

He needed a personal understanding, a conviction even, of what he was, and that was something he hadn’t figured out yet.

He had learned several elements. He had even gained that Esoteric blood magic after battling the Homo erectus general in that weird resonance state — though mastering it was something he hadn’t begun yet, and a different matter on its own — but those weren’t what defined him.

Stumped, Uhtred had no choice but to answer generically. He replied to the System, his thoughts spreading as intent, carrying over the words ”limitless,” ”unbound,” and ”without form.”

The System received his answer and processed for a few seconds. Uhtred felt tense in those few seconds, partly because the System had gone silent and he thought he had provided a wrong answer, and partly because the paranoid part of him was still waiting to see if the System would flag him as an abnormality for revealing such a thing.

However, the System’s next response stumped Uhtred for an umpteenth time.

[Error! Unable to ascertain depth of attunement understanding. Cannot find any records of a formless core or class in any known records]

[Browsing Multiversal Insight Legacy archives for next comparable attunement]

[Browsing for (Limitless)...]

[Error! No records found]

[Browsing for (Unbound)...]

[Error! No records found]

[Browsing for (Shapeless)...]

[Error! No records found]

The System kept searching for comparable attunements to ”Formless,” stepping down each time in its interpretation, yet for several more entries it couldn’t find any records.

Until finally...

[Browsing for (Versatile)]

[Success! (3) records found in multiversal history]

[Comparing subject (Uhtred) against the requirements set in place by the three holders of these records]

Uhtred felt a deep perusal for a brief second. It felt like his entire being had just been molested on a metaphysical level, scanned thoroughly by the System and judged against whatever requirements the three holders of those records had set in place.

Uhtred had no damn clue what those records were. He simply waited to see what the System would say.

[Requirements bypassed]

[Congratulations! You have met the requirements for all three holders. You may choose only one Insight Legacy to witness]

[Note: Insight Legacies are historical memories of beings across the vast multiverse who have walked a similar path to yours. You will only be allowed to witness thirty seconds of the memory, during which the insights gained are entirely up to your understanding]

[Due to the fact that no insight legacy was found for your specific attunement across the broad history of the multiverse, a stop-gap measure has been implemented. A comparable attunement legacy will be shown to you]

[To compensate for this stop-gap improvisation, the requirements of these three legacy holders have been bypassed, and you will be allowed to choose which memory to witness out of the available three]

[Available Insight Legacies encapsulating the class (Versatile)]

1. Alyn the Unbound: Wielder of a thousand Elemental magics. Wielder of a hundred Esoteric guiles. Wielder of one fundamental law.

Memory : Battle at Elyris’ tomb. (Witness Alyn the Unbound’s truth of what it means to be versatile at a multitude of magics)

Uhtred was in utter shock. This hadn’t gone the way he’d pictured at all. Out of nowhere, the System brought up something called an Insight Legacy, and now it was giving him options for legacies to witness.

Who the hell was Alyn the Unbound? Just from her name alone, she sounded like someone extremely powerful. And her titles too. There were people out there in the multiverse who had such feats?

Wielder of a thousand Elemental magics. Wielder of a hundred Esoteric guiles. Wielder of one Fundamental law!

What the hell was even a fundamental law? A law of the universe? Whoever this person was, she not only controlled such a terrifying power, but she had that along with other thousands and hundreds of attunements!

Excitement bubbled up within Uhtred. He was both curious and in awe at the same time. These were powers he never would have come in contact with at all. Yet now he had the chance to witness one of them himself.

He didn’t know why the System had chosen to show him an Insight Legacy. Perhaps it was something fundamental to the Nascent Realm crossing, particularly in relation to the question he had been asked before.

Just like it was happening for him, perhaps it also happened to every other person when they were crossing the Mortal-Nascent Realm barrier.

However, Uhtred knew his own experience was beyond the norm by far.

He hadn’t even had the time to settle from Alyn the Unbound’s titles and powers, when the second and third names followed:

2. Paragon of Sin, Undav: Versatile Demon. Wielder of a thousand Elemental magics. Wielder of a thousand Esoteric guiles. Wielder of two Fundamental laws.

Memory : Battle of the Abyss. (Witness Paragon of Sin, Undav’s truth of what it means to be versatile at a myriad of magics)

3. Sovereign of Chaos, Drakgon: Chaos Walker. Wielder of all elements. Wielder of two Fundamental magics.

Memory : Battle for [REDACTED]. (Witness Sovereign of Chaos, Drakgon’s truth of what it means to be versatile)

[You may make your choice]