Seated on the cold floor, Triton's gaze lingered on the intricate interior of the bathroom. The sophisticated lights, the smart mirrors, the huge sinks, the glittering walls, and the scattered artwork, everything radiated a sense of opulence and luxury, words that wouldn't normally be associated with a bathroom in an educational facility.
Triton sighed and slumped further down, now practically sprawled on the floor.
"A dream? A manifestation of my delusions? I did drink at that party." Triton tried to pinch his thigh but couldn't get hold of any flesh so he scratched his neck. "Ack, not a dream then. Could it be that the cab got into an accident? The last thing I remember is that I was busy reading the comments on the last chapter."
Triton raised his legs and jumped in one smooth motion, but fumbled the landing, almost tipped over, and fell face first, for he wasn't used to this new athletic body he had found himself in. He walked over to the mirror again, staring at his reflection, the reflection of Aldred Allister.
"Aldred Allister, was it?" Triton stroked his glistening raven-black hair that would make any man over thirty drool with envy and rubbed his sharp jawline. "But why him? A cliche-ridden minor antagonist in the second and third arcs, whose existence was only meant to curb the protagonist's arrogance. He then disappeared sometime in the capital arc just before the thing... So why?"
Aldred Allister was a man of ambiguity and enigma. One couldn't discern his background from the context provided, only that he was cold, strong, and filthy rich. Aldred was a character who always distinguished his presence in every form that 'The Vow of Interstellar Supremacy' took, but he never stuck around for long. In the game, he was somewhat like an unbeatable tutorial boss, that was never meant to be beaten.
"If anything, at least make me the protagonist." Triton sighed in abject disappointment. "Well, I didn't wake up in an alien body at the very least, now that would've been rough."
The lore of 'The Vow of Interstellar Supremacy' spanned an extensive amount of time, with arcs centered around multiple galaxies and sometimes even encroaching upon divergent realities, justifying the title of the book. As such, there were some rather grotesque species introduced in the story, so transmigrating as a human, an antagonist he may be, was better than most of the alternatives.
"Haa~ Mom would be devastated. Selene and I broke up two weeks ago, so she probably wouldn't find out what happened... I just hope Dad takes care of Mom instead of working."
Triton was a single child, and so were his parents, so they lacked close relatives, maybe a distant cousin or two. His family wasn't exactly economically secure, so moving around in rental houses and adhering to financial constraints was the norm for him. Triton was an understanding boy, he had adapted to the circumstances, worked extremely hard to help his family, and scaled back his desires for most of his life, well, except for his favorite property, which was the only thing he allowed himself to indulge in.
It wasn't until he embarked on his journey of The Vow of Interstellar Supremacy and started his career as a streamer that circumstances changed for the better. Triton was one of the first ones to stream the soon-to-be global phenomenon, and he did a damn good job at it, so it was only a matter of time before the money started rolling in. His popularity soared as the game gained traction, alleviating the Bancroft family's predicament.
"I didn't draft a will..." Triton winced in regret. "I am sure Samantha and Benett would take care of it."
Triton had amassed nothing short of a small fortune throughout his streaming career, which had become one of the most lucrative jobs in the era of online entertainment. Most of his money was invested in various ventures, and his bank account was very secure, but he was hopeful that his two lovely managers would do their utmost best to make sure that all the money made its way to his aging parents.
"Well, no use sobbing and snotting, let's see what we're working with."
Triton retrieved the terminal from his pocket and took the time to properly inspect it. It was a sleek black device about three millimeters thin and a couple of inches across.
"It's from Luminary Labs, and seems to be one of the better ones, I guess that's expected?"
While Triton was intimately familiar with the narrative, he hadn't visited the story's beginning in forever, so he was a little foggy on the minute details. Not to mention that Aldred was considered an insignificant minor antagonist, so not much was known to the audience except for his name, wealth, and some of the abilities he had displayed.
Triton fiddled with the device, but the lack of physical buttons on the periphery of the terminal angered him. The screen suddenly lit up just as he was about to get rough with the device, which made Triton jump.
The device required no passcode which made Triton sigh in relief. The terminal prompted Triton for a retinal scan, which took him an embarrassingly long time to figure out how to get right as there were no visible cameras on the device.
"The date is the 15th of the month of Apendia, I'm glad the author at least kept the time and date system."
The subsequent realms and planets introduced in the story had varying concepts of time, but the planet that acted as the origin of the protagonist and harbored the first couple of arcs, Lyraxia Prime, retained the same sense of time as that of Earth's with 24-hour days and 365 days in a year, only the calendar was called Calyndoria calendar, after the great scholar Calyndoria who designed it about 1.6 million years ago.
"And the year is 5148 of the Valthor Era."
With the history of humanity being as overwhelmingly rich as it was, with preserved records dating back over 1.6 million years, it wasn't a surprise that nations and planets had their unique ways of labeling the passage of time. Solaris Empire in particular used the reigning royal family's name as the moniker for the era.
The Valthors were originally a military household under the Zephyrius family, a family of noble scholars that birthed generations of political leaders and policymakers. The Valthor ancestor had aided the Zephyrius patriarch in claiming the throne from the Solaris Empire's previous rulers, the Marcheians.
The unexpected demise of the heirless Emperor Marcheian had left the throne vulnerable to the greed of the nobles and the ambitions of surrounding nations. The ensuing chaos left some room for the shrewd and cunning Zephyrius family to maneuver. They eventually triumphed in the game of hegemony that lasted over a decade and obtained the throne, culling all the other competitors to snuff out any chance of rebellion.
The family full of combat prodigies and bloodline marvels served as their vassals for all of the seven thousand or so years that the Zephyrius family reigned, and what a reign it was. The onset was of course amazing, with tax relaxations, innovative policies, generous investments, and much more. Emperor Zephyrius was hailed as a benevolent and wise ruler who passed policies that uplifted the poor and promoted healthy competition amongst the enlightened. However, the peace and prosperity didn't last long.
The subsequent rulers of the Zephyrius lineage led the Solaris Empire to poverty, corruption, poor infrastructure, economic and cultural decline, civil unrest, and who knows what else, prompting the Valthor Dynasty head at the time to organize a coup d'état. The coup was supported by the masses and the nobles alike considering the dissatisfaction of all parties with the ruling regime.
Thus the darkness that had shrouded Solaris Empire for thousands of years was dispelled with the dawn of the Valthor Era, an age of immense military and scientific prosperity. In just over 5000 years, the Valthor lineage led the Solaris Empire to rise through the complex hierarchy of power and revolutionized the feeble and vulnerable nation into a force carrying considerable might, one that couldn't be reckoned with by the surrounding nations.
The Valthor matriarch had valiantly led her forces into battle, recaptured all the territories lost by previous dynasties and more, utilized their vast resources without reservation to develop an unparalleled economic and military structure, provided the youth with education and employment, and granted the people what they most desired, peace.
"The glorious and righteous house full of valor and chivalry, heh?"
Triton clicked his tongue in amusement.
"Still… That would mean that he should've already arrived in the city, and would be joining the class tomorrow." He frowned, his sleek eyebrows knitted together in worry. "My class."
Triton's eyebrows jumped as soon as the words left his mouth.
"Speaking of class..."
Triton stowed away the phone in his pocket, forgoing looking through it more thoroughly, for a much bigger issue needed his immediate attention.
"Aldred has already awakened, so I should be able to view my panel, right?"
The Vow of Interstellar Supremacy was, at its core, a transmigration story. The protagonist was a citizen of Earth, an orphan who was bullied and mistreated by everyone around him, so much so that all of it culminated in him taking that last step at the young age of nineteen. However, it would seem that destiny had something completely different in store for him. A certain entity took pity on the fate of the poor human and reincarnated him into a world of swords, magic, and interstellar adventures.
So went the story of Aelric Drakonis, the protagonist of The Vow of Interstellar Supremacy. A man who, with the support of his handy and witty sentient system, rose from the rubbles of a countryside village in Solaris Empire and made a name for himself in the stars beyond. It was a plot as generic as could be, however, what made the property special was the writing style, the rich world, the depth of the characters, and the enchanting lore masterfully interwoven by the author to be one where the readers found themselves spellbound, a truly magnificent work, or so Triton thought.
"Since I have somehow wound up in this world, I think I deserve to enjoy some of its local amusements, right? If I somehow end up returning, I can at least brag about this experience to them, though nobody will believe me."
Triton chuckled to himself as he remembered the endearing community he had nurtured on Earth.
"But which one would it be? Will it be the panel of the game or the story since there were some minor differences?"
Triton crossed his arms and began contemplating. Though the attribute panel in the novel was simpler and easier to navigate, the status window that the game used was an innovation of the story's structure. As such, it was suitable for player interaction and provided a much more intuitive and customizable experience. And since Triton had spent a large chunk of his life embroidered in the virtual world of The Vow of Interstellar Supremacy, it would be easier for him to plan his subsequent actions if the attribute window, and by extension the bloodline awakener power system was one he was familiar with.
"Eh, we'll make it work either way. What was the call word again?" Triton walked over to the center of the bathroom and braced himself for the cringe he was about to spout out of his mouth. "[Status.]"
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[Name: Zarion Vorlan-Blackcrest]
[Age: Seventeen]
[Bloodline: Human (Zenith), Xelthari (Mythborn), Trevaryn (Mythborn), Unknown]
[Level: 14 (Initiate)]
[Class: Sovereign Omni-Warlock, Eldritch Spectral Marauder, Celestial Primal Warden, Celestial Veilborn Paragon, Empyrean Arcana Adjudicator]
[Vitality: 30700/30700]
[Magic Points: 48350/48350]
[Strength: 665 (+1020)]
[Agility: 1340 (+710)]
[Dexterity: 890 (+370)]
[Constitution: 1750 (+1320)]
[Intelligence: 2880 (+1440)]
[Magic: 3100 (+1735)]
[Mysticism: 1980 (+410)]
[Willpower: 1615 (+300)]
[Stat Points: 4200]
[Skill Points: 280]
[Class Skills: Shield of Aegis, Temporal Slash, Phantom Veil, Nightfall Ambush, Primal Awakening, Nature's Guardian, Dreamweaver's Embrace, Veilborn Blade, Ethereal Ascendance, Empyrean Cataclysm]
[Equipment: Stellar Dimension Ring (Ancient), Voidstar Pathfinders (Legendary), Pothrian Sorcerer's Bracelet (Divine), Sentinel's Wardweave Vest (Divine), Sentinel's Wardweave Leggings (Divine), Singularity Uniform Set (Enchanted)]
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