Chapter 20: Sovereign’s Reign

Trint was blasted by the boldest system intrusion yet. It came across in ancient text made up of the characters on his spiritual grid. Trint became aware that the System was downloading an understanding of the runes and their language. He now knew they were one of the original languages of the System. The system messages were a written language but what he saw on his grid were just individual characters. They were each radiating tremendous power.

He now knew they were a language beyond Spirit and bordered on the highest ends of Soul. The highest known power system obtainable in the Iterations, or so the information download informed him. The system message that first appeared as just a stream of characters became legible to him.

The text was not English, yet now he understood the messages like they were his native language. The last time the system message seemed nearly so insistent, and the message so significant was when he was adopted. But this message was an order of magnitude greater. It appeared laser-etched into stone tablets before his eyes, and he translated the system messages with his new understanding of the language. They seemed even more intense.

Sovereign Kingdom Status Acknowledged.

- Systems Unlocked:

- Maker Archetype Class Unlocked: Please choose one from the following classes:

Trint had just enough time to get excited about choosing a class. Not knowing what Maker Archetypes were, he assumed it had to be like a category of classes. He was honestly excited, even if Maker meant a crafting class. ‘What kind of magical things could I make?’ Trint wondered. But before he could consider this for more than a moment, the messages continued.

Sovereign Privileges Acknowledged: Maker Archetype Sovereign Evolution: Creator Class Assigned

‘What?’ Trint was shocked. ‘I don’t even get to choose. What does Sovereign mean?’

- Creator Class granted Hierarchy Status: Subclasses available

- Unique Sub-Class unlocked: Keeper Class

- Sub-Classes Available for unlock: Governor, Controller

Sovereign Status Confirmed: May Your Reign be Eternal. For What is Created, is Kept, What is Kept is Governed, what is Governed is to be Controlled.

Privileges Unlocked

End System Message

‘That should not be possible!’ Pneuma interrupted Trint’s speechless moment of wonder with his own confused wonder. ‘I was watching you, but then I stepped out of viewing your spirit and looked around the physical area. Then I found I was locked out and couldn’t observe what was happening. What did you do? You were in there for three days.’

Trint took the time to explain what had happened from his point of view. Based on their conversation, they concluded somehow Trint had accessed and tapped into something more than just Spirit, and Pneuma confirmed the symbols were Soul Runes.

‘So what do you make of the whole Sovereign message?’ Trint asked with excited expectations. Whatever it was, this seemed like a big deal. All the text, and he could only guess what the message meant. Trint pulled up the message and reread it to Pneuma.

‘Well, the first part is confusing.’ Pneuma began. I know what Orders of Power are. But I’ve never heard of Sovereign Kingdoms. You see, the lowest users of Spirit are what many call cultivators. They cultivate their Spirit and deepen their connection to their power and the power of all of existence. Eventually, cultivation leads to the unlocking of access to the Soul. Soul Masters, is their self-given title, also progress down a path. The lowest Soul masters are called Peasants. Although that sounds weak, they could destroy the most powerful cultivators who don’t have access to Soul. But along the path of those who wield Soul, those in the same Order can control or command those lower in their Order.

Anyone along the same path, say Fire, is one of many examples. For a Fire Peasant, their power over Fire would allow them to overpower and seize the fire under any cultivator’s control. The same can happen if another in a similar path from a higher Order encounters a Peasant. The ranks of Orders from lowest to most powerful are Peasant, Knight, Noble, and Ruler.’

‘My only guess is that since you accessed your Soul through finger painting your Spirit, then shifting the pieces around, you now unlocked an Order. I can only guess where a Sovereign sits in the rank of Orders. But it doesn’t seem like it falls below the rank of Peasant. If the system-given naming convention follows logically, you somehow unlocked a higher Order than any I have heard of. Now what that means for you and me, I don’t know. My assumptions could be completely wrong. My experience with Soul Runes is that they are not understood but are treated as the highest forms of system power. A few highly controlled and periodically contested places in i1 house system access. Not just wireless connections but places where an individual can access the system’s inner workings with great authority. As far as I know, no one has been able to interact with these places. But all of them are covered with these Soul Runes, and everyone agrees that the first to figure them out will be uncontested in ruling all of the iterations.’ Pneuma was silent after that and considered the ramifications of what this could mean. Trint, too, sat and thought about what he had just learned.

‘Wait, this is all happening too fast, you just recently got me through the basics of Spirit, and now you’re saying I’m some super powerful Soul Master? And now I can read this ultra-powerful and mysterious system language.’ Trint challenged.

Pneuma continued in silence for a full minute before responding. ‘Trint, I don’t know that to be the case, but it seems something significant happened.’ Pneuma defended. ‘What I said is only my best guess. You only have your Soul scribbling and curiosity to blame for this. But I also didn’t want to stop you. You were clearly doing something correctly as I only felt your Spirit grow in power and density the more you scribbled around with your circuits. I haven’t felt any Spirit with that density since joining you, and I didn’t expect to see you interact with Soul for quite a while. It might be that what you did jumpstart your Soul. I don’t know what happened. I can tell you that I know what Maker Class is because I, too, have that class. It will be helpful for me to assist you in learning the basics of what you can do. But again, you did something extra when you got the evolution to Creator class and one with a hierarchy. Hierarchies allow for greater growth in a class. Classes are limited in the number anyone can take. But hierarchies will enable you to have more classes. They are tied to the primary class as subclasses. The parent class will evolve all subclasses in that group. You get access to more classes without taking up any more of your class slots. The only question is what changes the hierarchy will make. They should all work well together.’

‘For now, I don’t know whether Creator will be more general or specific in its use than my Maker class.’ Pneuma continued.‘Class evolutions are good, and those with hierarchies are always good. I’ve been looking at your stats, and the information has changed. The only thing the system is giving me is your basic Body and Mind stats. Soul and Spirit are gone or hidden. I’m not sure if that is a good thing. We are going to need to figure this out ourselves as we go.

‘The plans don’t change then,’ Pneuma gathered confidence as he reaffirmed their plans. ‘We level and get to i8 as fast as possible. You work on your Spirit control and the Beta forms. When you grasp how to augment your body with great control using the new Spirit density you unlocked and absorbed, you will be ready for greater forms. You still need more control, even if you are some kind of accidental genius with unlocking potentially powerful classes and power. We can’t assume you will always be able to stumble upon this stuff. And we will focus on your class after you get the Beta and Spirit control figured out.

Trint needed a minute to rest. Although he felt great, he also felt like part of him was weak. Not his body, mind, or spirit, so maybe his soul. While he just continued to sit and rest where he was, Pneuma kept watch, but nothing approached during his rest. After 15 minutes, Trint felt a lot better.

‘Ok, I’m ready, Pneuma.’ Trint signed. ‘Let’s get some more levels. I want to get to an iteration where I can take a breather and figure out what’s happened, but I think i9 is not the place. Having 1,000 years in i7 sounds like a long time to figure some things out.’

‘I agree,’ Pneuma confirmed. ‘You are level 21 and need to hit 31 to ascend to i8. That is our goal, and I want you there as fast as possible. There should be an instance somewhere close. Just pick one even if it’s lower than what you wanted. I assume you would go for a 25 or 26 since I suggested no higher than 24? I know you are impatient and only half-listened to my advice,’ Pneuma assumed.

‘Yeah, I wanted to get through this iteration fast again.’ Trint admitted. ‘But I think testing what I can do sooner than later would be wise.’

Running ahead, he found a level 22 instance with the help of Pneuma’s spiritual scouting.

‘Pneuma, I sensed that instance with my Spirit sense right before you told me,’ Trint confessed. ‘I think whatever happened increased my Spirit and is making this easier for me.’

‘Trint, I am having more trouble sensing what you are doing with Spirit, and your thoughts are not projecting to me unfiltered. Your thoughts went quiet after the explosion of light and Spirit,’ Pneuma stated. ‘I only heard a few things and didn’t know what to think. Something there changed too. If you could stop breaking things for at least the rest of i9, I’d appreciate that. With your Spirit sense increasing, we need to see if that also impacts the abilities I share with you. Their most basic sources of strength come from Spirit, and if you can now wield, store and use it better, then maybe you are ready for more advanced training.’

‘When you started saying ‘more advanced,’ I thought you would say something cool, not ’training,’ Trint Complained. ‘That sounds like a lot of work, and I’m already starting to get past the basics, right?’

‘Trint, you are progressing quickly, but please remember I have seen entities above and beyond level 7000.’ Pneuma calmly lectured. ‘In comparison, everything you do is still basic. There is so much to learn and teach, and although we have nearly an eternity to learn it, our mission and purpose are to get to your family and to do that quickly. You wouldn’t know, but those in higher iterations call anything lower than i7 the Children’s Realms. This is where children learn the basics. It is patronizing, but everyone here knows so little that it is very appropriate. Let us begin today’s training. Now you are only delaying. So would you step into the instance, please?’ Pneuma ended with a more pleading tone, hoping Trint would know he only meant to help him, despite his impatience and desire to distract them both from the most recent system-breaking events.

Trint showed his agreement by taking a few quick steps into the instance. Unfortunately, the plan to keep things simple did not go as Pneuma had hoped.