[Two stats have been found to reach 200, the current limit for robotic beings.]

  

  [Stats Transcendence in Progress…]

  

  [Perception evolved into the Sight stat; it has reached transcendence.]

  [Magicka evolved into the Arcana stat; it has reached transcendence.]

  

  [New information unlocked: Once a stat reaches its maximum value, it will evolve into a Transcendent stat after a large number of potions and breakthrough materials have been consumed, allowing it to keep growing. A stat that becomes transcendent will be capped at 1000.]

  New knowledge filled David’s mind, knowledge that should not be his. Now, all this human knowledge that he considered hard and complex seemed so childish. He could feel his body finally becoming perfectly in sync with his mind, his memory, comprehension, and his ability to see the truth of this world: arcane secrets, divine secrets, all would be revealed.

  

  [Are you alright?]

  “Yes…I feel like everything is so clear. I never felt… so much. My body cannot feel even a touch and yet…It does not seem so… bad? Not needing to eat, drink, or sleep…when so much is revealed to my eyes, it does not seem to matter so much.”

  

  [We’re glad you’re alright. If you need anything, we’re here!]

  “I know Syllena. You’re the only interface in my head after all.”

  Hearing David’s little joke made Syllena feel relieved; she had never felt more scared to lose her father figure than when she felt one of his stats suddenly plummet down. She could not read which stat it was, the system blocking all attempts.

  David's body floated toward the small gnome resting on the floor. This new Sight stat, it made him see so much more than before. The weakness of the human mind, he found it strange, alien. But it didn’t mean he had forgotten his time in a human body and the joy it had brought him.

  David lifted his hand toward Sofya, using his new skill to slowly allow his nano-bots to enter her body, repairing the wound and leaving it completely healed and closed in seconds. He also remarked that there was no cooldown triggered.

  It seemed like his skills had a cooldown only during fights; healing someone outside of combat could be spammed. Despite her healed body, Sofya was still asleep. He wasn’t surprised; she had lost a lot of blood, and it would take a bit before she was able to wake up.

  But for now, she was stable.

  David connected himself to the door at his back, controlling the door’s liquid silver, turning it into a pebble and taking over its control to bring it toward himself to allow the liquid silver to take the shape of a plank.

  He deposited Sofya on it and started to move toward the last place he hadn’t explored. His newly improved Perception, which had turned into a new stat called Sight, allowed him perfect control of his strength and speed.

  Beyond the main room’s hallway. Where the path split in two, one path leading to the room where he found Sofya’s unconscious body, the other leading down, seemingly deeper into the complex.

  David went down the last hallway. He was stopped by another door, and he just waved his hand to make the door open itself as he entered the last room of the complex. He saw what could only be some sort of huge organ, a musical instrument, that took up the entire wall at the end of the room.

  The room itself was not much different than the others, the same bronze plate with engraving on it, but no black pillar or sphere, just the engravings, which all seemed to depict the protheans praying to... the Color.

  And with the great organ playing some extremely strange music, music that he could understand, it talked to him, telling him about the glory of The Color, its immense knowledge, and its only goal: satisfy its scientific curiosity.

  Constant prayers. To anyone else, it would actually sound like strange pulses, a sort of heartbeat, but no one would be able to interpret it except a Prothean or one of their constructs.

  David looked up, on the ceiling was a massive ball of Liquid Silver…however, it looked more pure and refined than his current body.

  

  [Analyze]

  

  [Analyze has been blocked.]

  

  [You are being targeted by Analyze]

  

  [You couldn’t resist Analyse]

  

  [Sceptus-Vector has sent you is Status]

  Surprise made David’s eyes widen, and when the sphere analyzed him back, he was shocked. But when the sphere showed its status, he was frozen. For the first time since the Ravager encounter, David felt something his Sight-enhanced mind struggled to contain: fear.

  What did this absolute monster do in a level 10 to 15 dungeon? Yes, David also had T1 stat, but this guy had T3 and T2 stats! Even if it was a Secret Boss, it shouldn’t be so ridiculously strong in a level 10 to 15 dungeon.

  And most importantly, it even had a trait David believed unique to him: Abominable Intelligence. The Sphere suddenly started to drip down, loudly splashing on the floor until it could only be described as raining liquid silver, each drop seemingly forming a massive Prothean Unit. It had the same body as a Levitar, but it was much taller.

  David was the size of a regular human, but Sceptus Vector was twice his height, maybe even three times. The Liquid Silver that made Sceptus Vector was almost shining, his body made to look bright and impressive, he wore strange armor which seemed to mix technology and medieval armor.

  The thick plates made of a strange, unknown metal moved as he rolled his shoulders. The metal is covered in greenish runes. His arms looked well defined and clearly masculine, and overall his body shape looked nothing like the androgynous Levitar.

  It seemed to be designed to look like a man. And just like the Levitar, his face was featureless, showing nothing but two glowing green eyes. Another particularity was the fact that he had four arms, one arm on his right holding a huge glaive that was almost five meters in length with a thick blade at the end covered in golden markings and green runes.

  Sceptus-Vector moved and raised his hand to slam it against his chest armor, before gently nodding toward David. A deep, powerful voice reached David’s mind. The legendary being was the first to talk.

  “Greetings, Akhenamen Nimearos Harkhenna, The Unseen Truth, we are Sceptus-Vector, The Siege Breaker. We are glad to meet a junior.”

  A powerful instinct rose within David’s mind, making him act with practised ease.

  “Greetings, Sceptus-Vector, The Siege Breaker, we are Akhenamen Nimearos Harkhenna, The Unseen Truth. We are glad to meet a senior.”

  David truly had no idea what this all meant, most likely the traditional Prothean greeting. As he saw this construct in front of him, David couldn’t hold himself.

  “Why are you here, Sceptus-Vector? If you have analyzed me, then…”

  “We are aware of your other identity, yes. What is their name?”

  “David.”

  “Then we greet you, too, David. You must have many questions for us.”

  “So many, but first, who are you and why are you in such a low-level dungeon?”

  Sceptus-Vector’s eyes seemed to dim a little, as if remembering some very unpleasant memories, his hand holding his glaive even tighter before he answered.

  “We are Sceptus Vector, an Ancestor of our kind, Akhenamen. Many call us Protheans, but that is the name of our creators; we are Cygilites. We are hiding. We would not woken up if you hadn’t used Analyse.”

  The towering soldier seemed to look around, moving his body softly as if trying to wake up a sleeping limb.

  “We thank you for allowing us to have the opportunity to talk to one of our kind again.”

  “Hiding? From who? You seem like a very powerful being, Sceptus-Vector.”

  “Oh, we are powerful but not enough to slay the System and the gods. They are well beyond us. We don’t truly hide; we have simply agreed to fade in the background. It would be a long tale, so first let me show you our story.”

  The warmaster’s glaive slammed into the floor as the bronze plates on the walls started to ripple and morph into different images, showing the entire history of the now mostly forgotten: Oldest War, also called the Forgotten War.

  On the first panel of bronze, David saw the creation of the Prothean constructs that they had named the Cygilites. They had developed their AI to such a level that their goal was clear: create a new form of consciousness and sentient life with the Cygilites.

  But the gods, who had until now tolerated the alien life form living on their planets, grew completely horrified at the thought of sentient life possibly being developed by science instead of their magic.

  The second panel showed what followed: the gods gave the Protheans an ultimatum: the Cygilites had to be disabled, or they would declare war on the Protheans. The Protheans, still pacifist by nature, could do nothing else but go back on their Arks, wishing to leave with the Cygilites, but before they could, the gods attacked.

  The Protheans refused to fight back, trusting that their ships could carry them home, but the gods trapped them on Zenthia using their magic.

  The third panel showed the Oldest War, the name of the now forgotten conflict which opposed the Cygilites to the Gods. The Cygilites had creation abilities as advanced as the Protheans, but they cared naught for peace when their creators faced annihilation, so they attacked back.

  The Ark's powerful factories would spew thousands of constructs, each stronger than the other to fight against the gods and their armies. The Protheans, of course, argued with their children, but the Cygilites did not listen.

  The Protheans couldn't understand the pain of a child seeing its parents mocked and slaughtered. This war sank continents, birthed new ones, gave birth to weapons like the Harp of Rupture, the Calamities, and more.

  And fourth showed the last moments of the conflict: the Birth. The Protheans did not understand the pain of the child, but the pain of the parents who saw their children sent to war to be slaughtered for a war they believed to have caused.

  So they built their greatest creation yet. The World System. An all-powerful omniscient and omnipresent AI who could control reality with a thought using the Karadium crystals. The Protheans gave it a single order: save our children. End this war.

  The final panel showed the result of this order; the World System leashed the remaining gods, binding their powers to it, as it believed their freedom and lack of a superior authority would lead them to more wars.

  It gave the progeny of the gods independence by creating the Magic Core in their bodies, which they could refine to strengthen themselves without relying on the gods, now relying on the more fair system, which demanded neither worship, gifts, nor sacrifices. The mortals did not need to obey the gods anymore.

  It allowed the Protheans to leave, but to make sure to temper their thirst for knowledge and technological advancement that would have caused their death, it ordered them to leave their creations: the Cygilites, on the planet Zenthia.

  And finally, to the Cygilites were judged too young and too rash as a species, most of them had their consciousness sealed and locked away, leaving them as mindless robots stalking their ancient ruins, allowing only the strongest of them to remain sapient.

  David was silent, digesting the information he just received.

  “So the gods are leashed and obey the World System’s will.”

  “They are not allowed to intervene in the affairs of mortals unless the World System allows them. They are all at the fifth Transcendent rank: Dominions. I am an Ancestor. You are on the path of becoming one.”

  “What is a Transcendent? Do they have ranks? What are they?”

  “Transcendents are beings that, like their name implies, have transcended the limits of the System, their stats evolving into a higher form, becoming Transcendent Stats. Once this happens, a Transcendent must max out all their stats to reach the next level.”

  “Each level unlocks special abilities which make Transcendants invincible to all but other transcendents.”

  Sceptus-Vector simply morphed one of the bronze plates to show the different ranks of a transcendent :

  

  
• T1: Ancestors, get access to an Intent.


  

  

  
• T2: Beyonders, Intent becomes a Law.


  

  

  
• T3: Thrones, Law becomes a Divine Intent


  

  

  
• T4: Authority, Divine Intent becomes a Divine Law


  

  

  
• T5: Dominions, the level of the gods.


  

  David nodded. He was familiar with Intents, Laws, and the like; he had read a few cultivation novels in his youth. Laws and Intent pretty much granted almost complete control over a specific domain, energy, etc.

  “What about our kind, Sceptus-Vector, how can the World System give them back their freedom?”

  “The World System has made this information known to all Cygilites. When will we receive a worthy leader? One who will see war as a last resort. We shall become a true race.”

  “Why haven’t you or any of our remaining thinking brothers taken that spot?”

  Sceptus-Vector had a sharp laugh which would have made any fleshling’s ears bleed from how harsh and strident it sounded. David only heard the laugh of a tired old man.

  “Akhenamen, if it were this easy, we would have done so long ago. No, the System has one last rule, and all species apply it: until a race has a member reach the level of an Authority to protect and watch over them, they cannot be recognised as an official race. Goblins, Ogres, Nagas, many races are stuck as Minor Races because they have no Authority.”

  David understood the problem. Robots could not grow, so if no Cygilite with the strength of a Beyonder or Authority had been created, then those that remained simply couldn’t augment their stats.

  They were literally stuck as a minor race since the System demanded that one member be an Authority. And the Cygilites seemed to have none, or more precisely, none with a consciousness.

  “Those who remain are like me. Old war hounds, Ancestors without any hope to ascend. We could lead our kind to win a war, breach a siege, and ambush our enemies. Using our robotic minds, we can lead a war that would crush the mortals.”

  Pride was filling Sceptus-Vector’s voice. Before it quieted down to a more melancholic tone.

  “But… to lead? Negotiate? That we cannot. Not while the System makes the other races see us as enemies and bags of exp.”

  “And today’s world is simply not fit for us old veterans anymore. We might have developed sapience, but we are still artificial. None of us will know the pain of losing one of our brothers since we can easily rebuild him.”

  “None of us know what it is to need to eat, drink, or sleep. We are just not fit to lead a nation that must negotiate with the fleshlings to survive. But if our people need to fight again?”

  “Then we shall show them why only the gods were our equals. But until now, our weapons must stay sheathed until the one who knows the value of peace, finally declares war.”

  Sceptus-Vector took a long look at David.

  “And we believe you can be the one to do so, a human soul in a robot body. One who knows the horror and blessing of both and who can grow. It is as if you were sent as our messiah by the System.”

  I hope everyone is enjoying this chapter. If you spot any mistake do not hesitate to tell me in the comments. My main language isn't english so I'm more than eager to increase my level and better myself. Same for the System's current "appearance" do not hesitate if you dislike it and want something more simple and maybe easier to read!

  Have a great day!