The cave's entrance was neither jagged nor smooth, but instead had a texture that was right in the middle.
It was a small enclosure, which made Luke have to lower his head a little to get past the beginning cavern.
His makeshift torch illuminated little to nothing of what remained in front of him. In fact, the smoke that emitted from it almost caused the visibility to actually decrease.
The sweet aroma that he had smelled a few days ago was more concentrated, and with him being nearer to the source, he could make out a sort of earthy sweetness.
Following a slightly narrow passageway not longer than a few feet, Luke could see what looked like an opening to a much larger part of the cave.
It took some contemplating, but he walked in with his torch out in front; he assumed the fact that he heard no new whisper as a good sign to continue.
Taking that final step, he found himself not in a large open cavern but instead in a small enclosed space.
Moving his torch around to get a better view, he noticed something that caused a shiver to go down his spine.
At the deepest part of the enclosure were the remains of a human skeleton. No, in actuality, he wasn't sure of its origin.
Even with the dim glow of his torch, he could see that the person's skeleton shimmered in a crystalline fashion.
It looked human, but something deep within his consciousness screamed at the fact it wasn't.
Luke stood there in a hunched stance for a few brief moments, wary of the dead man.
[You have found the celestial's remains. The inheritance that you seek is right in front of you. Be not afraid.]
The whisper spoke to him again, assuring him that his prize lay right in front of him.
He inched closer, only a few steps at a time. There stood a silent pressure emanating from the bones themselves.
His breath began to grow shallow, and his vision blurred little by little. He could feel his heart start to beat faster as his body began to heat up.
By the time he reached close enough to touch the skeleton, the buzzing that he felt inside his head felt close to erupting.
He cursed under his breath before making the daring task of looting what remained from the corpse.
His mind wanted to reject the idea entirely; the thought of even interacting with the thing seemed apocalyptic.
And it would indeed be correct, for when Luke grazed a single portion of the skeleton, he fainted to the ground.
***
Unknown to the unconscious Luke, the once indestructible skeleton began to turn into a malleable liquid.
Using the point of contact as its starting location, the seemingly sentient liquid began to infiltrate his body.
It first worked through his skin, reforming and reinforcing them into something new, something better.
Then it moved onto his muscles, altering them to make them more efficient, more durable, more dense, and more capable.
Next, it worked through his organs, making them not only more durable but also more efficient in their processes.
Finally satisfied with the work done on the organs, it focused its attention onto his bones. To the outer layer, it made it more dense and more resistant, but the real change happened deeper.
It completely overhauled the bone marrow, which produced his blood, altering it to instead produce a substance similar but perfectly efficient in ways his blood wasn't.
Having finally finished its reconstruction of Luke's body, the crystalline liquid spread throughout his body, rooting itself deeply into his very existence.
***
(On a distant planet several million light years away.)
[Due to the loss of connection from the Main system, I am unable to fully understand the unknown ambient energy.]
[However, the unknown energy is deemed non-hazardous in short-term exposure.]
[It is recommended for the user to lower as much exposure as deemed possible!]
It was yet another failure from the chip. Nova grimaced at the fact her cutting-edge implant was so useless in the situation in front of her.
Caught in a spacetime blip, she served as the only survivor of her 10-man scouting team.
She had originally thought she could contact a support channel, but the horror of it all came crashing down when the chip informed her that her location was currently unknown.
No, not just that the chip even claimed that from what it had gathered, it was actually very likely that she had ended on the outskirts of the known universe.
Despite having the greatest computational power in the universe, everything the chip calculated was simply off.
There was an unknown factor, an energy that remained omnipresent on the planet she had found herself on.
[Warning!!! Warning!!! An unknown entity is currently invading the user's body!!]
Nova's eyes widened in shock. Reaching towards her bag, she took out her last patch of nanites and stuck it into her body.
Awakening in an instant, the nanobots linked with her chip implant, intending to destroy whatever was invading their user's body.
[Alert!!! Nanites are decreasing at an alarming rate. The chip is unable to identify nor nullify the entity that has invaded the user!!]
In those immediate words, she cursed the manufacturers for having created such a defective device.
Both the nanites and the chip were meant to be the latest technology produced by the Black Star organization, and yet now they proved so defective.
An impending fear sank throughout her entire body; the pressure of it all started to crumble the hardened mindset she had cultivated.
[The ch- *^&*^*#%@!#]
[Undergoing physical alteration. Momentarily shutting down the user's mental function.]
Without even being able to comprehend the last sentence, Nova blacked out, falling into a deep slumber as an unknown swarm of nanobots began to reform her body.
***
(Another distance planet)
Inside the deepest crevices of the planet's crust lies the main base of the galaxy-wide Casaleia insectoid race.
"Matriarch, the preparations are complete. The farmers have acquired enough immortal tier biomass for the procedure."
"Bring out the nest's current stock. It's time I begin."
Under the Queen's instruction, workers began carrying mounds of preserved flesh towards the Queen's chambers.
If Luke had been there, the sweet aroma that leaked out of the immortal biomass would intoxicate him for hours.
"The time for your arrival is imminent, my Paragon." The queen whispered to herself.
Using the last of her lifespan and energy, she would consume the biomass of a thousand immortals to birth the new Queen.
She would be strong; she would be unbreakable, but more importantly, she would be their paragon.
***
(Another another distant planet)
Outside a government facility, families patiently waited outside to hear about their sons and daughters aptitude for cultivation.
Most of the time, however, the highest talent seen on any given planet was at most C rank.
Even then, a C rank was enough for a family's status and life to turn a complete 180, going from a mortal family to having enough potential to reach the heavens.
Who would've known that on this little backwater planet, an orphan would awaken aptitude unmatched in the current Vermilion empire.
[SSS rank. Potential limit: ??? Bloodline: Primordial void breaker.]