Triton's irises shrunk to a fraction of their size as he gazed upon Aldred's status panel… His status panel. His near-glowing, perfectly sculpted face instantly paled as he attempted to register the projected information.
"It couldn't be, it shouldn't be."
Triton felt his throat go dry and his scalp go numb as he gawked at the holographic window reflected in his retina, but even after staring viciously enough to bare holes into the status panel, the screen's contents refused to budge.
Triton raised his arm and used the sleeve of his pristine uniform to wipe away the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead despite the coolness of the bathroom. After doing so, he dismissed the status panel with a wave of his hand.
"N-no way, right? [Status.]" Triton called out once again, his smooth and deep voice shaking at the sheer absurdity of the situation. "It can't be."
Regardless of how many times Triton waved away the panel and resummoned it, wallowing in disbelief and shock, the text remained unchanged, unbothered, and uncaring. What was being displayed was the reality of Aldred Allister, or more accurately, Zarion Vorlan-Blackcrest.
Triton swallowed hard, swiped his palm across the sensor on the sink, forcefully threw water at his face, and rubbed his eyes to the point they reddened. He inadvertently soaked his hair, shirt, and shoes, but couldn't care to be bothered about it. His labored breathing eased in time, his dilated pupils returned to normalcy as he finally began to accept the situation for what it was.
"The panel is the one used in the game, so that must mean I am in the game world?" Triton frowned as those words left his mouth, his eyes inspected the bathroom. "I doubt that. Though, I don't have enough information."
Triton decided to shelf that particular problem and focused on the ridiculousness in front of him, especially his stats.
"But how… When they fought for the first time, Aelric's stats were in the mid-to-high hundreds, and that was considered prodigious talent, but this…" Triton scanned the attributes displayed. "If I remember correctly, Aelric's highest combat stat should be around six hundred right now..."
Triton wiped his sweat once again as he marveled at the insanity that was the attribute section in his information panel. "Such high numbers at such a low level." He just couldn't wrap his head around how this had come about, so he decided against overexerting his limited intellect and moved his eyes to the other sections.
"These bloodlines and classes… Aelric didn't assimilate a Primordial-level bloodline until that event, let alone Mythborn-level bloodlines, two of them too, and what is with the unknown?"
Triton began panic-walking in circles, the sound of his nervous footsteps reverberating inside the bathroom.
"Aelric had a Sovereign, Transcendent, and Heroic class at this point, which is already an absurd prospect considering the majority don't even have one class before the first ascension, but…" Triton glanced at the class section of his status. "An Empyrean class, fully unlocked too… It shouldn't be possible according to the rules... Was Aldred truly just a minor antagonist?"
Triton felt his world crumbling for the second time in a day. He sighed in defeat and moved to the concluding text on his status panel, to the information that had stunned him the most despite the lunacy of it all, the equipment section.
"An ancient artifact... A spatial one as well. If we go by the lore, I bet a whole planet could fit in here."
Triton's eyes wandered to the unassuming piece of jewelry adorning the ring finger of his right hand. It was a grey metallic ring with an inlaid gem that seemed fake considering its color appeared to be washed out. The surface of the ring was covered in scratches and carried multiple signs of damage, and the texture of the ring against his finger was somehow prickly and made his finger itch. In no way, shape, or form did this ring radiate the magnificence of one of the strongest artifacts in all of existence.
"I had to grind for over a thousand hours just for an incomplete ancient item."
Triton inspected the ring to glean any sort of understanding of this ancient artifact, but all he could see was a simple ring that seemed out of place on his extraordinary visage. He then opted to check out the rest of the crazily overbearing equipment he was clad in. He fiddled with the bracelet hidden within his right sleeve, then proceeded to enjoy the lush texture and regal feel of the divine garb he wore underneath his uniform, and finally jumped around to get a feel for the legendary footwear sitting snugly on his feet.
"All of this... And who knows how much more." Triton's eyes lingered on the ring that seemed to hold unknown horrors within. "Simple wealth doesn't explain this... You can't just buy divine and ancient artifacts."
Triton wished to access the ring, to explore its contents to learn more about its owner, but he didn't know how to mobilize his power just yet, and he didn't dare to try either, for he was sure to destroy something given his attributes.
The narrative of The Vow of Interstellar Supremacy unfolded in a universe in which humanity had, over the course of a million or so years, developed from a surface civilization struggling to manage its population and participating in meaningless squabbles into a renowned intergalactic force, one that commanded respect and awe all across the cosmos, with figures amidst its ranks that could stand toe-to-toe with the foremost combat power in the universe.
The possibility of extraterrestrial existence had always been a debate of significant importance among humanity's greatest minds, and this discourse had given birth to the Lamine Paradox, the discrepancy between the lack of conclusive evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life and the high likelihood of its existence, so once humanity finally made contact with an actual extraterrestrial civilization, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it had completely changed the course of the species as a whole.
When humanity had just begun to claw its way outside its origin star system and into the galaxy beyond 1.5 million years ago, its presence was noticed by an advanced civilization inhabiting the same galaxy quadrant, a civilization that was way beyond the limits of human comprehension. Humans were, in a way, too primitive for any extraterrestrial species' bother, for any race incapable of intra-galactic travel wasn't acknowledged by the galactic overlords as one worthy of contact, regardless of the length of species' existence.
Initially, there was contact, as gentle as it could be. Humanity was inducted into the sphere as a species worthy of investment, one that carried the potential to develop quickly given the flexibility of the human mind and body. During this period, humanity's rapid advancement, versatile skillset, low pride, and vulnerability to intra-species hostility aroused the interest of multiple civilizations from the local galaxy cluster.
Then came peace, numerous societies, species, and civilizations extended arms of harmony and relations towards humanity, for humans were truly a unique species, one so adaptable, one so dispensable. Then there was aid, the more advanced civilizations helped humanity develop, granted their resources and knowledge to the fledgling species, and protected them against the dark side of the universe.
Then entered politics, with humans being as keen as they were, humanity progressed at a rapid pace and climbed the ranks of complexity and technological prowess among civilizations in record time, which prompted even more advanced civilizations to invest their resources and interest into the up-and-coming stars, and so the water got quite muddy with all the different parties vying for the right to call humanity theirs, which also aroused envy and jealousy from many other civilizations.
Finally, everything culminated in war, as it always does. However, this time it was not a mere scuffle on the border or a skirmish with terrorists, it was an all-out inter-species war, the consequences of which were complete human extinction, or much worse. The war was against a civilization that was way beyond humanity in terms of personal and technological strength, commanding individuals capable of eviscerating entire human fleets on their own.
When weapon advancements hit a plateau and couldn't keep up with the worsening circumstances of the conflict. When no friendly civilizations would offer aid or step in to keep away the enemies. When humanity was left alone for dead, they got desperate for survival and looked for any way to reverse the situation. The great minds took inspiration from the enemies and began exploring the potential of the fragile human flesh. It was a risky gamble, one that had caused numerous human casualties during research and trials, but with global annihilation looming on the horizon, there was simply no other way.
The genesis of it all was a simple yet dangerous experiment, an experiment to help humans break through their natural limits through enhancements using the flesh and blood of the opposing species. After multiple failures, nanobots were added to regulate and monitor said enhancements which provided little results, but enough for a flicker of hope to light amongst the anguished human leaders.
All in all, after immense experimentation, the gamble paid off in a big way. Mankind gained a fighting chance and retaliated against its enemies, and finally, after centuries of warfare, death, and destitution, triumphed in battle.
Ninety-eight percent of humanity, over three hundred billion humans, were eradicated. Five planets, which included the planet where the human species had originated, were obliterated, and the entire star system was left uninhabitable. It took humanity thousands of years to get back on their feet, and once they did, there was no stopping them.
Through the war and the following experiments and research, humanity discovered the true potential of human genes and their infinite versatility and transformability. Humans were one of the only species across the known universe that could assimilate the abilities and traits of various organisms, using their bodies as a sort of conduit for the powers of the cosmos. Humans continued to break through their limits in the following wars and conflicts. They grew stronger by devouring other civilizations, and all of it culminated in what humanity has become today, a well-respected and feared civilization amongst the stars.
Over the 1.35 million years and countless generations following the first war, the numerous enhancements and abilities derived from various bloodlines and species had accumulated, saturated, and scattered over the vast human population. The bloodlines had embedded themselves deeply into the human genome, where children with particularly high compatibility with such extraordinary bloodlines could awaken without any external stimulus. However, only a percentage of the human populace was born with such talents and were known as awakeners, enlightened, bloodline warriors, or the many other monikers the universe had for them.
If a child fails to awaken naturally, there are procedures in place to provide an artificial stimulus to trigger the bloodlines, however, in most such cases the process fails as the concentration of bloodlines or the compatibility itself leaves much to be desired, and even if the operation succeeds, more often than not the awakened bloodline and the subsequent class one acquires is inadequate in terms of potential, prowess, and investment-to-result ratio.
The dissemination of powerful bloodlines and the depletion of their potency over the million years of wanton human reproduction were to be expected. As such, a mere one to three percent of the human population were natural awakeners, who, without any external stimulus and relying solely on their talent and the energies in the atmosphere, managed to trigger a response from the microbots in lying dormant in the system. They were regarded as the most talented individuals who would carry the hope of the entire species.
Of course, there were some exceptions when it came to the artificial awakening process, with multiple prestigious names amongst the vast and grand annal of human history carrying the moniker of artificial awakeners. However, those cases were few and far between, so the general consensus regarding artificial awakeners was one of pity and sympathy, for they were neither the celebrated and loved natural awakeners, nor were they normal humans who had accepted their fate and locked in for a life of mediocrity and servitude to the upper echelon.