He sat on the edge of his bed, violet hair falling forward as exhaustion finally began winning over fury.
But there was something else. Something important that had been building in his awareness but that he had pushed aside until he was alone.
There was something that had appeared during the measurement attempt. Something only he had seen. Messages that had emerged in translucent blue text while the crystal sat dormant and the Elders hurled their insults.
Riven focused, bringing the memory into sharp clarity.
The text had appeared just after the Elders began their litany of his brothers' achievements, just as the hostile commentary reached its peak.
[Congratulations On Awakening. The Genesis Star Will Now Assimilate With The Host's Body]
That had been the first message. Confirmation that whatever bargain he had accepted was proceeding. That making the shard whole would involve more than simple awakening, required deeper integration between cosmic fragment and borrowed flesh.
Then came the note that had given him something to focus on besides the humiliation.
[Note: Assimilation Will Take Approximately Three Hours]
A timer had appeared below the note, showing progress in percentage form, slowly climbing as whatever process the shard required worked through his system. When Tesha had been explaining about Esme's choice and the Shadow selection, it had read five percent. By the time he had reached his chambers with Esme, it was at fifteen. Throughout their conversation it had climbed steadily.
This was why he had not immediately collapsed after dismissing Esme. Why he had forced himself to stay conscious despite exhaustion. He needed to be awake when the assimilation completed. Needed to witness whatever came next.
Currently the assimilation was about to conclude. He could feel it somehow, sense that the process was reaching its culmination. Whatever had been integrating itself into his biology over the past three hours was almost done.
He concentrated on the timer in his vision, the translucent blue screen that only he could perceive, watching the percentage climb toward completion.
[99.2%... 99.5%... 99.7%... 99.9%... 100%]
The moment it hit one hundred Riven heard it. A sound that was not really sound. More like sensation compressed into auditory form. A ding that resonated through his consciousness rather than his ears.
Then a new message appeared, text writing itself across his vision with that same blue luminance.
[Congratulations, The Genesis Star Has Fully Merged With The Host]
[Your Primordial Quest Begins Here…]
[Initializing System Interface…]
Another timer appeared but he noticed something. This one was faster, substantially faster than the three hour assimilation. It did not take time like the previous one but seemed to be happening almost instantaneously.
[2%... 12%... 30%... 60%... 90%... 100%]
[Now Booting System Interface…]
The translucent blue screen expanded suddenly, filling his vision with information organized in structured format that looked like something from the games he had played in his previous life.
[Name: Riven Astravar
Age: 15
Bloodline: [Astravar Bloodline (Elemental)] [Genesis Star (Primordial)]
Titles: [Seventh Star] [Youngest Heir] [Astravar Family's Disgrace] [History Maker (Mythic Talent)] [Vessel Of The Genesis Star]
Traits: —
Gate: Ignition
Realm: Awakening
Affinity: [Awakened - Space (Lv 1 - 1%)] [Unawakened - Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light, Dark, Lightning, Ice]
Strength - 14 → 28
Agility - 13 → 26
Vitality - 14 → 28
Perception - 7 → 14
Will - 5 → 10
(Note: Normal Stat cap for humans before awakening is 10, Astravar is 15)
System Inventory: Empty]
Riven stared at the interface in absolute amazement, his breath catching as he processed what he was seeing. Information about himself displayed like character sheet from games he had played as Levin. Quantified and organized and tracked in ways that should not exist in the cultivation world.
His eyes tracked across each line, absorbing implications.
'Bloodline 'shows both Astravar Elemental and Genesis Star Primordial. So the shard did integrate completely. I'm carrying both now.'
The titles made him pause. Seventh Star and Youngest Heir were obvious. Vessel Of The Genesis Star made sense given what had just happened.
But two of them cut deep.
'Astravar Family's Disgrace,' he read, the words confirming what the Elders had made clear. 'That's my official title in this family's eyes. Recorded by whatever system this is the fundamental truth about my position.'
'History Maker with Mythic Talent though,' he noted, focusing on the contradiction. 'The system recognizes something about me as mythic level. Something historic. Even if the measurement crystal could not process it.'
His affinity section drew his attention with magnetic force.
'Space. I have Space affinity awakened at level one. One of the two rarest elements. The one that's so rare, not more than two people have been recorded in history possessing it.'
'And all the other eight elements listed as unawakened. Not absent. Not impossible. Unawakened. Meaning I can potentially access all nine elements, not just one like a normal Astravar.'
The implications made his head spin. Normal Elemental bloodline granted one affinity. Fire or Water or Lightning or one of the nine. But his interface suggested he could access them all eventually.
'Is that what the Genesis Star provides? Access to all nine elements instead of just one? Is that why the crystal could not measure me? Because I fall so far outside normal parameters that the system has no category for what I am?'
His stats drew his attention next. The numbers had doubled across the board. Fourteen to twenty eight for Strength. Thirteen to twenty six for Agility. The note at the bottom provided context.
'Normal humans cap at ten. Astravar cap at fifteen before awakening. And I'm at double my previous scores. So awakening pushed me well beyond the normal Astravar baseline. The Invincible Physique they're so proud of, I have it enhanced beyond what they consider standard.'
'Perception and Will are interesting,' he thought, examining the lower numbers. 'Seven to fourteen for Perception, five to ten for Will. Those must measure something different than physical attributes. Maybe spiritual or mental capabilities that cultivation develops?'
The System Inventory listed as empty caught his attention but he had no frame of reference for what that meant. Storage space? Quest rewards? Something else entirely?
'This changes everything,' Riven thought, his exhaustion forgotten in the face of revelation. 'I'm not just an awakened cultivator. I'm not even just an Astravar with an Elemental bloodline. I have a system. A quantified interface that tracks my progress and displays information no one else can access. Advantages that transcend normal cultivation entirely.'
'The Elders called me good for nothing. Said I was too weak for the measurement crystal to register. They have no idea what that crystal's silence actually meant. No comprehension that I'm operating on completely different rules than they understand.'
'Space affinity,' he thought, returning to that line with growing excitement. 'One of the rarest elements in existence. The one Esme mentioned only two people in recorded history have possessed. And I have it awakened at level one. Meaning it will grow. Meaning I can develop it beyond what those legendary few achieved.'
'And eventually I'll awaken the other eight. All nine elements are under my control. Fire and Water and Earth and Air and Light and Dark and Lightning and Ice, every single one of them accessible, developable, masterable. I won't be limited to one path like my brothers. I'll have all of them.'
The exhaustion that had been pulling at him earlier transformed into something else. Energy born of possibility rather than rest. Understanding that despite the humiliation, despite the insults and mockery, despite the crystal's refusal to acknowledge him, he possessed advantages that would eventually eclipse everything those Elders valued.
'Let them think I'm worthless,' Riven thought, his lips curving into a smile that held no warmth. 'Let them spread stories about the Seventh Star who awakened dramatically but measured nothing. Let them laugh and celebrate and feel satisfied with their cruelty. Because while they're congratulating themselves on my failure, I'll be developing capabilities they cannot comprehend. Accessing elements they've never heard of anyone possessing simultaneously. Growing stronger according to a quantified system that tracks my progress with perfect precision.'
'And when I finally reveal what I've become, when I demonstrate power that makes their achievements look like children playing with candles while I command inferno, I'll make sure they remember this day. Make sure they understand exactly what their insults earned them. What their mockery produced.'
'The Genesis Star promised power to stand above the pinnacle of the cosmos. Looking at this system interface, at these bloodlines and affinities and potential for growth, I'm beginning to understand what that might actually mean.'
He laid back on his bed, the system interface still glowing in his vision, organized information hovering there with patient luminescence, waiting for him to explore further, to understand deeper, to begin the journey toward whatever standing above the pinnacle actually required.
Tomorrow would bring new challenges. The Shadow selection. Continued questions about the measurement failure. Whispers and rumors spreading through the estate about the Seventh Star's continued inadequacy.
But tonight, alone in his chambers with translucent blue text displaying information no one else could see, Riven felt something he had not expected after the humiliation in the Awakening Chamber.
Hope.
Not the desperate hope of someone grasping at straws. But the cold, certain hope of someone who had just discovered that the rules everyone else played by did not apply to him. That the game they thought they understood had changed in ways they could not perceive.
'I am Riven Astravar,' he thought, staring at his name displayed in glowing text. 'Seventh Star. Vessel Of The Genesis Star. Possessor of Space affinity and eight unawakened elements. Bearer of Mythic Talent that the measurement crystal could not process. Owner of a system that quantifies my growth in ways no cultivation manual could match.'
'You called me good for nothing. You called me disgrace. You mocked my dramatic awakening and laughed at my failure to be measured.'
'I will remember every word. Every face. Every moment of satisfaction you took in my humiliation.'
'And I will make you regret them all.'
The system interface glowed steady in his vision as exhaustion finally claimed him, pulling him down into sleep filled with dreams of elements swirling in impossible combinations, of statistics climbing toward heights no one had ever reached, of standing above the pinnacle and looking down at those who had dismissed him, making them understand exactly what their cruelty had cost.
The Seventh Star slept, and the Genesis Star integrated deeper, and tomorrow approached bearing new trials and opportunities and the beginning of a journey that would prove whether cosmic promises meant anything in a world that measured worth in colors and Gates and Realms.
But tonight, for the first time since drowning in the Meridian and waking in a borrowed body, Riven felt something approaching certainty.
Not certainty that he would succeed. Not confidence that the path ahead was clear. But certainty that he possessed tools no one else had. Advantages that transcended normal cultivation. Potential that the measurement crystal could not process because it fell so far outside normal parameters.
Whether that would be enough remained to be seen.
But it was something.
And after the humiliation in the Awakening Chamber, after the insults and mockery and casual cruelty, something was infinitely better than nothing.
The system waited in his consciousness, patient and immortal, ready to guide him toward whatever standing above the pinnacle actually meant.
Tomorrow would reveal the next steps.
Tonight, he rested.
And remembered.
And swore vengeance on those who had thought his failure gave them permission to mock.