My brain raced at the new information I had just collected, as I tried to understand everything on a deeper level.
Limitless had immunity to Aether, but Ascendants don’t?
Then what’s the point of all the surgeries they go through?
"You an Ascendants don’t have immunity to Aether energy?" I asked again, and Jake nodded with a patient smile.
It seed this part made him happy, which was dark—but I guess he had personal reasons. It’s not like Ascendants were good people. In fact, I was certain they looked down on normal soldiers, considering themselves elite.
With that in mind, it was possible Jake had been bullied by them on nurous occasions. That must be the reason their limitations excited him.
"Of course they don’t," Jake replied, a flicker of excitent in his tone.
"The Biogenic surgery has four stages. Most of the Ascendants you’ve seen are Stage One. High-ranking ones, like the late Colonel Adin, were Stage Two."
Jake rubbed his chin, thoughtful. "I think Arica only has one Stage Three Ascendant. No one’s reached the fourth stage yet."
At the ntion of Colonel Adin, my brows narrowed.
Rembering how the man died in my world still annoyed . I never got the chance to use him as my Blood Thrall.
He would have been a great addition to my forces.
"What do these stages an?" I asked, unable to hide the interest in my voice. "What do they gain by upgrading to a new stage—and how do they do that?"
Now that I was with soone knowledgeable, I planned to milk out as much information as possible. Ascendants were bound to beco my enemies the day I decided to claim territory on this planet. Knowing everything about their strengths—and especially their weaknesses—was essential.
Thankfully, Jake seed excited to share.
It probably made him feel like he had sothing of value to offer a strong Limitless like .
"The process revolves around infusing raw Aether into the human body using biotech implants, nanomachines, and surgical enhancents to gradually fuse the energy into the person’s cellular structure," Jake explained in detail.
"This doesn’t just empower them—it rewrites their body at a molecular level, adapting the nervous system, muscles, and even bone density to handle and withstand the corrupting effects of Aether while strengthening the host. With each stage, the Ascendant is introduced to higher concentrations of raw Aether, and as long as they can endure it, they gain more strength and resistance."
Bam!
Suddenly, Jake’s heel hit a tree branch and he fell backward, but I stretched out and caught him by the shirt, effortlessly pulling him up.
"Thank you, Big Brother!" he said with an embarrassed look, but I paid him little attention.
My mind was still on the information he gave .
We stood there in silence as I rubbed my chin a bit, ignoring the drones hovering above us.
"What happens when a person is exposed to excessive Aether energy?" I finally spoke up after a minute of silence.
Jake didn’t respond imdiately. He glanced around, as if to make sure no one else could hear him—like it was top secret.
"Have you heard of Aether Scourge?"
Buzz!
I knew nothing about it, but the na alone made uncomfortable.
I opened my mouth to respond, only to hear approaching footsteps.
We both turned in that direction, only to see Kenza and so Ascendants erge from the thick forest.
She wore a look of relief when she arrived, her worried gaze falling on my torn and bloodied clothes.
Jake quickly saluted, but I just stood there and stared back at her.
"I heard what you did on the front lines," she said before I could speak. "I thought you died in your pocket dinsion after suffering so many injuries."
I shook my head, and a small smile played on my lips.
"My second talent grants insane regeneration... I’m not that easy to kill," I replied.
But I noticed her eyes still lingered on the tears in my clothes—especially the one around my belly area.
She was probably wondering how I survived having my stomach split open.
"You did good today..."
Saying that, she turned and began walking away. The Ascendants behind her saluted in my direction with respect in their eyes before following her, leaving slightly confused.
I could understand getting saluted by regular soldiers—but even Ascendants?
I didn’t expect them to be moved by what I did.
"Big Bro, you’re amazing!" Jake said enthusiastically, though he kept his voice low.
"Not just anyone gains the recognition of Ascendants... You must’ve done sothing huge!"
His excitent was t with silence, as I didn’t feel too great about the outco of that fight.
Yes, I won and earned their respect—but that didn’t change the fact that I would’ve lost if I didn’t cheat.
The only question in my mind was:
Would Dayvon have won that fight if he were in my place?
No matter how much I tried to deny it, my instincts whispered yes.
He would have secured a decisive victory—without much struggle.
I could lie to myself and say things would’ve been different if we fought inside my territory, which was true. But in this world, all that mattered was what strength I could use here and now.
If I couldn’t find a way to upgrade my abilities—or evolve them to work better in this world—I’d always be at a disadvantage.
Right now, I needed to find a way to enhance the power of my existing skills, or discover new subtle abilities I could use without anyone noticing.
One way or another, I had to increase my capabilities—
Be it through stealing abilities, developing new ones, or relying on powerful weapons...
I didn’t care.
As long as it gave the strength I needed to stand over everyone.
"Let’s go." I said to Jake, patting his shoulder as I walked forward.
Jake followed, and together we followed Kenza’s team to the new base.
We have achieved our goal today. Tomorrow, we invade Lake Charles!
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