Triton was sitting in a room that screamed flamboyance and abundance, with a massive bed that could fit a family of twelve, unfathomably advanced gadgets covering every inch of the room, lovely artwork on the walls, multiple pieces of opulent furniture, a pleasant paint that calmed people down, and much more. However, his solemn expression completely contrasted with the room's radiant magnificence.
Triton's right hand was tightly clenched around Aldred's terminal. He had spent the better part of the past hour browsing through the device and the Infinitum Omnipresent Data Collective, gathering all the knowledge he could about his identity, and things weren't looking good for him.
"Now I remember where I had heard the name Blackcrest." Triton's eyes were dull as if his soul had left his body, his entire frame trembling in trepidation. "They are one of the Nine Apotheosis..."
Triton gazed at the name displayed on his information panel once again. [Zarion Vorlan-Blackcrest.]
"Same with Vorlan..." Triton bit his lips in despair, his complexion paling by the second. "But how can this be!"
Triton violently threw the device on the mattress and shot up from the bed as the sleek contraption continued to bounce. This was the first time he had raised his voice or shown abject exasperation and violent tendencies ever since he had found himself in this world.
"These two families were adversaries, arch-enemies for fucks' sake!" Triton threw his hands in the air in vexation and sheer disbelief. "While the story didn't mention much about them since Aelric was mainly entangled with Alvaley and Drishlam families, Aldred shouldn't be from either of these households."
Triton moved around in the room, crashing into the chairs, couches, tables, and corner of the bed as he chewed on his pristinely clean nails and muttered unintelligible nonsense under his breath.
"Yep! That must be it! He must be someone with the same name. Humanity has reproduced into sextillions in this universe, so of course there must be multiple Blackcrests and Vorlans right?" Triton exclaimed and raised his balled fists in victory, but his words lacked any real conviction and substance, for he was well aware that using the last names of the Apotheosis households was prohibited under the United Civilization Law and was grounds for capital punishment, so there was almost zero possibility that he had no connection with these families.
Triton sighed heavily and once again slumped on the bed, but only after he bounced a few times. His circumstances were getting stickier and shadier by the second, for just a couple of hours ago he was a simple streamer who screamed and laughed on the internet to pay his bills, and now he was in the body of a book character with an enigmatic background.
"Okay, so let's assume that Aldred is connected to these two families." Just saying these words out loud made Triton pinch the middle of his eyes. "Why would he be here, out in the galactic countryside?"
The Lyraxia Star System was made up of four planets and the host star Lyraxia. The closest celestial body to the star, Lyraxia Null, was a dead burning planet in such proximity to the star that it couldn't even be exploited for resources, so residence was simply out of the question.
The second planet was called Lyraxia Lotus, that name came about because when the star system was discovered, this planet bore a huge lotus-shaped crater from a meteorite collision. Currently, this planet houses about five trillion humans and maintains an interdependent relationship with Lyraxia Prime, the third planet in the star system.
Lyraxia Prime, the planet that was the setting for the first couple of arcs of 'The Vow of Interstellar Supremacy,' was a celestial body on the bigger side of things. It sported a diameter about ten times wider than Lyraxia Lotus and accommodated about a hundred trillion humans. It was at the perfect distance from the host star to breed life and was one of the reasons this particular star system was subjugated by humanity among trillions of others.
Even before humanity had settled on Lyraxia Prime, it was teeming with primitive life forms and produced gases essential for human survival, which made the terraforming process even smoother. The fourth and final planet in the star system, Lyraxia Depot, was at a distance too tremendous from the host star to sustain life. The surface of the planet was covered in frozen gases and the storms on the planet's atmosphere reached incredible speeds, even the two celestial bodies orbiting Lyraxia Depot were little spheres of ice and hurricanes.
However, the peculiar weather on the planet and the intense heat generated by the core produced a certain kind of resource that lay dormant and untouched under the thick layer of ice. This particular resource was immensely useful for artifact research and creation. As such, Lyraxia Lotus and Lyraxia Prime were tasked with mining the planet, collecting the resource, and distributing it throughout the cosmos.
However, with all said and done, the Lyraxia wasn't a very prominent star system when the overarching human settlement was concerned. If one compared the entire human settlement scattered across the vast cosmos to a country, the Lyraxia Star System would be a backward countryside village, one without roads, toilets, a network, or even a post office, that was how isolated and primitive the Lyraxia Star System was.
There was no real merit in anybody from beyond the star system to choose to relocate here, unless, of course, it were an even more rural and rustic domain. The territories of this nature were rather limited in number since anything worse than a toilet-less village would be a literal cemetery.
The only people who would voluntarily visit the Lyraxia Star System from the universe beyond are students from star systems with inadequate education sectors who wish to study at the Singularity Institute or the Solaris Academy, the two foremost educational facilities in the local star cluster.
"However, if Aldred is somehow even remotely related to these families, he wouldn't have any need to attend this academy, right? He could study anywhere he wants, or rather, he doesn't even need a formal education. The Blackcrest family is wealthier than half of humanity combined."
Triton had a severe scowl etched on his visage. He was lying on his back enjoying the comfort of the mattress as he contemplated and attempted to figure out why would this person named Zarion change their name and attend an academy in an underdeveloped star system.
"Maybe he's a distant cousin? Completely unrelated to the main succession line of the family?" Triton pinched his chin, his eyes regaining some of its vitality. "Yeah, that makes so much sense!"
Triton felt as if a plausible theory was taking shape in his cranium.
"A distant, very distant member of the Blackcrest family falls in love with a woman of the Vorlan family, a very distant and unimportant member of course. However, since their families are in an antagonistic relationship, they can't pronounce and express their love openly, so they cultivate their love in secret and sire a child."
Triton's eyes shone and his hands moved as he spoke, forming a rather impressive narrative.
"And since the parents of the child can't stand by and watch as the heir is entangled in the family's conflict and caught in the crossfire, they decide to reluctantly and with tears in their eyes to ship their flesh and blood to an inconspicuous star system to increase his strength and come back as an elite warrior to help his parents break through the shackles of their families. Sounds like a rather plausible set of circumstances..."
Triton's eyes narrowed as he recalled the information related to the apotheosis families provided in the book.
Apotheosis was the moniker given to the nine households that had acted as humanity's guardian angels from the very genesis of the human race. These families were a crucial plot point in The Vow of Interstellar Supremacy for their influence and might enveloped every corner of the universe and their presence and contributions could be recognized throughout human history.
The ancestors of these lineages were at the forefront of the battle that started all of it, the war against the Velloreian race a little under 1.4 million years ago, the conflict that made humans realize their potential and strength.
Following the marginal victory of the human race over the Valloerians, fifteen families were worshipped and revered as the saviors of humanity, but six of those families fell over the next two hundred thousand years due to various wars and political strife. However, the nine that remained had maintained their sovereignty to the present day and represented the pinnacle of the human species across the universe in every form, be it combat prowess, influence, wealth, political power, and so on.
Although the book and the other iterations of the property hadn't explored the Blackcrest and Vorlan families specifically, Aelric had some conflicts with two of the apotheosis families during the later sections of the story. Even with all of Aelric's strength and the influence of his allies, they couldn't even scratch the surface of these households, which spoke of the sheer depth and dominance of these mighty rulers of humanity. In the end, he had no other option but to simply compromise, and he even had to do grunt work for one of them, the Drishlam family.
"Haa~ No use brooding over my identity right now. At least I have a comfortable bed and meals on the table, that's more than most."
"Though it's a pain that his terminal doesn't have anything, it's like he's an emotionless machine with zero personality. No pictures, no notes, not even music... All the sensitive information like contacts, call logs, account details, and everything else is hidden behind a passcode."
Triton sighed once again as he listlessly glanced at Aldred's terminal sitting on the bed. "Well, I guess if you have connections to those families, you have to be this secretive. At least now I know why Aldred was so fucking wealthy in the story. That's a victory in my book."
Triton chuckled as his expression eased. Since he couldn't do anything about his identity anyway, he decided to focus on more immediate concerns.
"These shoes..." Triton looked begrudgingly at the shoes still placed firmly on his feet. "I can't take it anymore."
The artifacts on his body were super high-tier and a couple of hours ago he would have killed to own these divine and legendary pieces of equipment. However, currently, all he wanted was to get rid of them and sleep the stress off on his legendarily divine bed.
"I took off the academy uniform like it was nothing even though it technically is a moderately decent artifact set, so why can't I do the same for the rest?"
The [Singularity Academy Uniform Set] was an enchanted artifact set provided to all students enrolled under the senior awakener program of Singularity Academy, which, for an academy located on the outskirts was a rather extravagant gesture.
"Looks like I have run out of options." Triton summoned his status panel once again.
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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: 30500/30500]
[Magic Points: 48150/48150]
[Strength: 665 (+1000)]
[Agility: 1340 (+690)]
[Dexterity: 890 (+350)]
[Constitution: 1750 (+1300)]
[Intelligence: 2880 (+1420)]
[Magic: 3100 (+1715)]
[Mysticism: 1980 (+390)]
[Willpower: 1615 (+280)]
[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)]
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Triton observed his attributes that had each reduced by twenty, for the [Singularity Uniform Set] provided the wearer with a couple of passive effects along with twenty attribute points in every stat, which was pretty amazing for enchanted artifacts, the set would be considered one of the better ones amongst the enchanted equipment segment.
"I can't run away from it anymore, I have to interact with aether energy, or I'll rot with these artifacts on."
Aether was, in simple terms, one of the foundational energies that supported the functioning and stability of the universe. It was a powerful and fierce force that pervaded the entire cosmos and kept many of the necessary universal processes from either having problems or stopping outright.
It was also a very concealed form of energy that wasn't easily discovered through normal methods, and very few civilizations were even aware of its existence, let alone have the capability to utilize it for the betterment of their species, and those that were able to do so were counted among the upper echelon of forces of the universe.
Humanity hadn't discovered this energy until they were on the brink of extinction. Aether Terrion, a researcher at the forefront of the human resistance force, was the one who had accidentally discovered this energy while looking for any sort of energy source they could use to deploy even more destructive weapons against the Velloreians.
This discovery and the subsequent research of this energy was the very reason that the bloodline transfusion and the acquisition of abilities was ever made possible, as such, the energy that saved humanity and led it to universal glory carried the name of a simple researcher who had given up his life in pursuit of knowledge, not for wealth or fame, but for the betterment of his people and the survival of his species.
"No time like the present."
Triton jumped off of the bed, found a cozy spot on the floor, sat down, and crossed his legs. Aldred's room was massive and the floor was completely covered in extremely tender and delicate carpet, the softness of which he could only now experience with his ass, and heavens did Triton feel good.
"I have seen so many characters meditate to interact with aether energy... I should be fine." Although he said that, the cold sweat forming on his forehead and chattering teeth clearly indicated that his belief in those words was wobbly at best.
"Alright, then." Triton placed his hands on his thighs and regulated his breathing. He closed his eyes and did his best to rid his mind of distracting thoughts, but with the circumstances being what they were, it was easier said than done.
'Now to sense the aether energy.'