Milli-seconds after Sylas was teleported from the room he reappeared in another room.
The room he stepped into was unlike any he had seen before. The walls were made of a shifting silver material that pulsed faintly, as if it was breathing.
The ceiling arched high above, embedded with bioluminescent nodes that cast a gentle, star-like glow.
At the centre of the chamber stood Akashia, her form as regal as the first time he had seen her.
Beside her, perched delicately on a floating console, was Sera.
"Thankfully you survived," Sera chimed, her voice a mix of happiness and relief.
Sylas exhaled, rolling his shoulders. "Barely."
"How are you feeling?" Sera asked.
"Fine." Sylas replied.
There was a lot more they wanted to say but they decided this was not the time for that.
Akashia stepped forward, her movements fluid as if she was floating on clouds as she joined the conversation. "You have completed the trials. Now, you may ask of me three things. Within reason, I shall grant them."
Sylas didn't hesitate.
"My first wish is better materials to upgrade Sera. She's been with me through everything, but her current frame won't hold up against what's coming." Sylas paused for a second before saying,
"From what you told me about her evolution I am guessing that material should also play a special role."
Akashia nodded. "Indeed materials do play a special role and to be honest I was expecting such request."
"And?" Sylas asked with a frown.
"Relax, it is a simple request, the vaults holds a special material called Starcore, it is a self-repairing metal rarely formed from the heart of a collapsed neutron star. It will bond with her matrix, allowing her to evolve beyond her current limitations."
Sera's wings fluttered excitedly.
"Okay good, I also want a relic weapon. Something powerful and I would love if it was custom made, You should be able to do that right?"
Akashia's lips curled slightly. "That is fine. I will just give you the materials and put you through, you will do the building yourself so you can build what ever you want."
Sylas's pulse quickened, "That is perfect."
Not only would make something to his own liking but he would also get to learn how to make relics as well. As for the time it would take, honestly he didn't really care.
"As for my final wish... I want a way to bring back my family."
Silence.
Akashia's expression didn't change, but the air grew heavier.
"That," she said softly, "is beyond even my power. The dead are bound by laws even the Aetherians could not break. But…" She paused for a few minutes.
"There is a way but we will take about that later... when you are a lot stronger."
Sylas clenched his jaw but nodded. He hadn't expected a miracle.
Akashia gestured to a sleek, silver chair at the edge of the room. "Sit."
Sylas eyed it. "Why?"
"You haven't gone through any type of enhancement, Sylas. And I believe one from a much more advanced technology would be perfect and will bring out more of your talent compared to when you use the ones that is currently available in your galaxy."
Sylas agreed with her and moved towards the chair, it hummed as he approached, its surface rippling like mercury. He sat—
—and the world shifted.
The legs of the chair elongated, curving upward as the seat sank and expanded. The armrests folded inward, encasing his torso in a cocoon of metal. The headrest stretched over his skull, sealing him inside a Neo-Genesis Capsule—an ancient and more advanced augmentation pod.
Akashia's voice filtered through the interface.
"This will enhance everything. Your strength. Your reflexes. Your connection to aether. You will feel pain. But you will survive."
Sylas barely had time to brace himself before the bioliquid flood began—a glowing, silver fluid filling the capsule, seeping into his pores, his veins, his bones.
His scream was silent.
Outside, Sera skittered anxiously, her wings buzzing.
"Will he be alright?"
Akashia watched, unblinking.
"He will be more than alright."
"He will be stronger."
*******
The Neo-Genesis Capsule hummed softly, its bioliquid glow casting shifting silver patterns across the chamber. Inside, Sylas floated in stasis—his body being reforged and improved.
Akashia watched him for a moment before turning to Sera.
"Come," she said. "While he sleeps, we should get started on your upgrade as well."
Sera's delicate wings buzzed as she followed Akashia through an archway that hadn't been there a second before.
The walls rippled like liquid mercury, reshaping themselves to reveal a hidden chamber.
The room was vast, its ceiling lost in darkness. Floating orbs of blue fire illuminated worktables carved from black crystal, each etched with Aetherian runes. At the centre stood a massive ceramic like bowl, its surface alive with swirling Starcore.
Akashia gestured, and a stream of Starcore Alloy lifted from the crucible, twisting in midair like a silver serpent.
"Shapeshifting," she murmured. The metal flowed into a blade, then a sphere, then a perfect replica of Sera's spider form—down to the joints in her legs. "It learns. Adapts. Grows stronger and larger with every material it devours."
Sera skittered closer, fascinated. "And it can't be destroyed?"
"Not easily." Akashia let the metal splatter against the floor, where it immediately reassembled itself. "Unless reduced to atoms, it will always return."
She flicked her wrist, and the alloy surged toward Sera—not attacking, but curious, tendrils brushing against her chassis.
"It already likes you."
Sera looked at the metal cautiously, Akashia seeing her look chuckled, "Relax it not that dangerous only semi conscious and once you use it, you will devour the consciousness. I can confirm that, I also used the same material before."
"Oh really," Sera asked and they began casual conversation.
*******
{A few hours into making little conversations as Sera absorbed the metal}
Sera hesitated for a few secs, then spoke. "Akashia… is there a metal? One that's very strong? Not for me, but for… something else."
Akashia's eyes gleamed. "Oh?"
"A wristband communicator," Sera said quickly. "Water-resistant. Laser-proof. Thin, but adjustable sizing."
Akashia chuckled.
"A communicator." Her voice dripped with amused.
Sera's wings twitched.
Akashia sighed. "Very well. There is Obsidian Vein—a derivative of several metals I will send you the materials and ratios for your 'Wristband communicator'."