The Hunt for Power

Dmitri alerted Hadorix that the prison ship would be significantly larger than the previous one. Hadorix could not resist the opportunity to grow his fleet and he had already planned to rescue the merchants and civilians. He could not stand the thought of them living a life of slavery due to his actions. He left the AI Paul to continue mining operations. He had Alice control his fighter and begin the flight toward the prison ship. While she did so, he would browse through the memories of Spider. Hadorix wanted to know examples of the types of Supers he may encounter in the galaxy, and he hoped to find a way to improve his current power rating. He was surprised to see that there were far more than he had imagined. Some of the most shocking things he saw were:

· Massive hives of insects of all shapes and sizes. They acted as though they were controlled by a single mind.

· Creatures that could turn their bodies into different types of metal.

· Creatures that could move faster than the speed of light.

· Creatures strong enough that they could tear a spaceship apart with their bare hands.

· Assassins that were completely invisible.

· Creatures that could control the minds of others.

· Creatures that could control parasites and consume the minds of others to create puppet armies.

· Spaceships created entirely from magic.

· Creatures that could consume planets.

· Creatures tainted with a dark energy. Merely being in their presence could weaken you. If one were in their presence for to long, or entered certain areas of their territories, one could become possessed by the dark energy, and becomes pawns to its will.

· Creatures that could survive in the depths of space and destroy spaceships on a whim.

· Beings that existed purely as light.

· Creatures that could see the future.

· Mercenary Factions that would sell their power to the highest bidder.

· Factions that spanned across multiple starfields.

· The quantity of known factions in Spiders age were insane. There were thousands.

· Creatures that were the size of planets.

· The Galactic Tree. From the Spiders memories it was on the edge of reaching Autarch status. Its size and power were almost beyond comprehension.

These were merely a few examples of the things Hadorix saw in Spider's memories. He also saw how planet Nebula was obtained. Spider built it from resources he moved to his land grant. It was not a naturally occurring planet, but rather a planet Spider made over the course of hundreds of years. Hadorix felt this was a rather miraculous feat, though it did explain why there were so many valuable resources there. Hadorix also discovered that the Shadow Armory were a gift to Spider for services rendered to an Autarch. The original 10 members of the Shadow Armory were members of the Autarch's unique race. Hadorix found this rather interesting. How did one create a unique race? What did that mean? Is this something only an Autarch could do? There were not enough details in the Spiders memories.

By the time Hadorix finished reviewing the memories, he had nearly arrived at the prison ship. Hadorix summoned the 5 stealth fighters of the Shadow Armory to fly near him. He intended for them to dock on the prison ship in docking ports in various sides of the ship and quickly take over portions of the ship. If any AI's were present, Hadorix would have Alice deal with them quickly, and either recruit, or restrain them. Thinking of Alice, Hadorix had another idea to run by her. "Alice, can you scan the Druid spell books in my ring into the archives of Deviant Home? If so, can you also load them directly into my system?"

"Hadorix, I can scan any book into the archives. It is not something I have done, but I will create a library module for you and all the other creatures to study from. As to downloading it into your system however, while it could theoretically be done, only the link you and Alexus possess to Deviant Home would be strong enough to attempt to load the data directly to your brain to immediately absorb it. Even with your link this would be extremely dangerous in your current state. I would advise you to absorb some of the AI lives that refuse to join us. If you do so, not only would that increase your power, but you may gain the ability to process data as an AI like me is able to. This would greatly increase the rate at which you could learn from the books that I will scan into our archives. Not only that but you would be able to download the entire archive into your own brain, and you would be able to potentially benefit more from Deviant Home than a normal living being could. Alternatively, you could potentially absorb the Autarch that originally created Deviant Home. He resides in a state of stasis in the prison here. If you were to absorb him, you would obtain a higher level of control over Deviant Home than I currently possess. You would also gain an extreme amount of mental power and control over machinery that could potentially rival my own. The lies he spread to our civilization almost destroyed us. In many ways that would be a fitting end. Though be warned, if you manage to wake the Autarch before his absorption is completed, he could potentially take over your own mind and body. I would advise absorbing many lesser AI lives before you absorb the Autarch to increase the chances of success."

· Quest updated, survive the coming storm. "You have studied the memories of Spider and had interesting conversation with Alice. This has potentially opened new doors for you."

o Optional task completed:

§ Learn how the Spider obtained a planet in his Land Grant.

o Optional task gained:

§ Absorb the AI Autarch.

§ Absorb AI lives.

§ Download the Druid spell books into your mind directly.

§ Download the archives of Deviant Home.

§ Create your own unique race.

§ Absorb some of the unique species of the galaxy and gain the unique abilities their races possess.

§ Absorb a member of the Shadow Armory and gain the unique ability they possess.

§ Discover which Autarch created the Shadow Armory.

§ Absorb the Galactic Tree.

§ Absorb the Draco-Lich.

§ Absorb Kuzys.

· Quest Reward depends on number of tasks completed.

The last three optional tasks amused Hadorix. How could he absorb any one of the three listed? He was far to weak at this juncture. Though admittedly Alice's suggestion of absorbing AI lives would be extremely beneficial in the long run, would it be ethical? While in essence they could be compared to computer programs in some ways, they were able to think freely and Alice, was able to further improve their free thinking. Were they any less alive than he was? These thoughts began to give Hadorix a headache. "Alice, do we currently have any AI lives that have committed crimes that happen to be lower level than I am?"

Alice replied, "The AI lives we have brought to Deviant Home have all joined us. There are some that are lending power to Deviant Home that belonged to rival Autarch's. I suppose you could say they committed war crimes if it would ease your conscious into absorbing them."

This didn't really aid Hadorix in his line of thinking. Between Melatonin and Deviant Home, he possessed a great many lives that were imprisoned. Many would return to his current enemies if he were to free them, that would end up with Hadorix and the Deviant Faction being destroyed even sooner than they may already be. That was out of the question. But should he absorb them? This like many questions in life was an impossible one. He would have to determine his own decision and find a way to live with it no matter the consequences.

Hadorix docked with the prison ship, and teleported back to Deviant Home. "Alice, bring out 10 of the AI's that you say committed war crimes. Absorbing them into my own body, is no different than having them in stasis to power Deviant Home."

One by one the 10 AI lives were brough into Hadorix's mind in a state of stasis. Hadorix used his absorption ability to absorb them bit by bit into himself.

· Gained Class, AI Overseer. "With the power of AI computation in the mind of a natural being, one can convert, and control AI lives of many varieties. Absorption gains increased to 50% for AI lives."

o Gained Secondary Dimension, AI Stasis. "With this dimension you can store or summon AI lives at will. As an AI Overseer this essentially gives you a portable army to unleash upon the wonders of the worlds."

o Gained Ability, AI Neural Net. "You now possess your own Neural Net. This is your own personal database that you control, much as the AI Autarch controlled the database of Deviant Home. The stronger the AI lives are that connect to this net the larger the network can become. Improving your mental powers will also increase the strength of your net."

· AI Overseer has reached level 5. All related abilities are strengthened.

o +0 Strength

o +2000 Intellect

o +2000 Wisdom

o +0 Dexterity

o +200 Constitution

o +0 Charisma

o +1000 Energy

· You have absorbed 10 Mechanical specialist AI lives.

o +0 Strength

o +10000 Intellect

o +10000 Wisdom

o +0 Dexterity

o +500 Constitution

o +0 Charisma

o +10000 Energy

o +200 Mechanical Affinity.

· Your power rating has reached that of a Grade C super.

o All stats max increased by 10,000.

· Your power rating has reached that of a Grade B super.

o All stats max increased by 20,000.

· Absorption ability morphed to Divine absorption. "Absorption now has an increased chance of gaining abilities. Now gain 25% of a being's stats when they are absorbed."

Hadorix was blown away from the stat gains. His wisdom, intellect and energy had skyrocketed beyond all his other stats. Hadorix had typically operated as an Assassin. Now his stats looked more like those of a spellcaster. While Hadorix continued to analyze his gains, Alice spoke.

"Hadorix, I feel much closer to you now, this must be due to the class gain of AI Overseer. In analyzing your system, you gained quite a bit from the 10 grade A AI lives you absorbed. I would advise you to take some of the grade A AI lives with you in your Secondary Dimension. 25 should be a good number to start with, what do you think?"

Hadorix considered the benefits before responding. "There appears to be no limit to the amount of AI lives I can store in my secondary dimension. Send 100 of the Grade A AI lives we took from the Pigeons. With them connected to my neural net, it should grow significantly stronger."

Alice immediately did as she was commanded. "It is done. Should I begin uploading the archives of Deviant Home into your neural net? You could potentially absorb the neural net of Deviant Home as well, though that would likely destroy the artifact and the throne."

"Upload the archives but focus on the druid spell books. Also scan all of the books that exist in the Spire into my neural net. I do not want them accessible by everyone. If you keep a copy in Deviant Home make sure only you, Alexus and I can access it." Replied Hadorix.

Hadorix next teleported into Melatonin. He had the mental powers of a Grade B super, but his body was sorely lacking. "Alice, show me those that have committed the most heinous crimes. I wish to absorb some of them."

Alice brought forward a list of 20 supers of varying species and Grades. They were all war criminals that belonged to the Galactic Trees group. They had murdered and raped countless civilians in numerous societies across the galaxy. Though one among them was far worse than the rest. The Great Red Dragon Inferno was a truly evil creature. His deeds far exceeded the rest and were far to vile to imagine.

After seeing the list of their crimes, Hadorix had no further hesitation. He had them all brought out into the entryway of Melatonin and began to simultaneously absorb them.

· +10,000 Strength

· +1,000 Intellect

· +3,000 Wisdom

· +12,000 Dexterity

· +20,000 Constitution

· +10,000 Charisma

· +5,000 Luck

· +10,000 Energy

· Assassin Class has reached level 15.

o +5,000 Strength

o +500 Intellect

o +500 Wisdom

o +7,000 Dexterity

o +1,000 constitution

o +1,000 Charisma

o +5,000 Luck

o +5,000 Energy

o Gained Active Ability, backstab. "While hidden and undetected you may attack an unaware opponent. If attack is successful you will now deal 3X damage."

o Gained Active Ability Shadow Walker. "Your ability to hide in shadows has advanced to an extreme level. You can now travel between shadows you can see at will."

· Gained Passive Ability, Dragon Hardness. "Few can break through the defense of a Dragon. Defense +2,000"

· Gained Heart Scale of Inferno.

· Gained 1,000 red dragon scales.

· Gained location to Inferno's Hoard.

· Gained Inferno's Spell Book.

· +100 fire affinity.

· +20 shadow affinity.

· +50 ice affinity.

· +100 poison affinity.

· Gained soul of Inferno the great red dragon.

· Souls of the other 19 slain have been sent to the Well of Souls.

· Quest Received, evolve into a new state of being. "With the aid of your absorption ability, your body is no longer that of a mere human. You contain the genes of more than 20 species from the galactic universe. As such, you can now create your own race. You will be able to utilize the genes of those you have absorbed to strengthen your race each time you absorb a new species. After a certain quantity of a species is absorbed, you may gain further benefits or traits from that species.

· Quest Reward, you will become a unique species far before the norm.

Seeing that he had gained the soul of Inferno, Hadorix created a soul stone utilizing the Deviant Throne and absorbed it via soul stone absorption. Inferno would completely cease to exist.

· +1,500 Fire Affinity.

Hadorix had gained quite a lot from this endeavor, though it had taken mere moments. The most fascinating thing to him was the quest to create his own unique species. Unfortunately, he did not know how long that would take, as such he could not spare the time to do it yet. Hadorix teleported back to his ship and entered the airlock into the prison ship. The Shadow Armory had already begun their assault.