Formless Ascension: My Affinity Is Limitless

”Wait, wait...” Not only Uhtred, but all four human ascenders cut in sharply, trying to understand exactly what the Heavenly Demon had just said so casually.

”Are you saying that before the fifth era, core grades and attunement limits never existed?” Uhtred asked, his eyes wider than the others. This news was more shocking and much more significant to him than to the others by far.

”No. I’m saying that before the end of the fifth era, core grades and attunement limits didn’t exist. There’s a difference. The change began during the fifth era, and was only finalized by the end of it,” the Heavenly Demon clarified. ”It is the same as the era that I lived in, only that the change that occurred was...”

The Heavenly Demon continued to speak, and a part of Uhtred still listened. He could hear what the Heavenly Demon was saying, but at the same time, his mind was thoroughly preoccupied with rapid thoughts.

This information put a new and very terrifying perspective on his Formless core and limitless nature.

Carrying the Heavenly Demon’s train of thought forward, could one also say that the previous eras that existed before the fifth era also had new limitations placed on every being in existence by the System?

Could one go as far as to entertain the thought that perhaps, at a very distant point in time, there had once existed a multiverse where there were no core limits, where there were no attunement limits... were no limits of any kind?

It seemed like a preposterous thought... but why was it so preposterous?

The Heavenly Demon had no idea what eras existed before the fifth era of the multiverse. In that case, was it so far-fetched to fill in the blanks with logic, carrying the same idea of progressive limitations with each era?

Uhtred looked around the table. The others were clearly shocked, but they only continued to listen to the Heavenly Demon as he explained further. It was only Zara who offered him a glance, noticing his wide-eyed expression.

She raised her brow in concern, and he shook his head lightly, trying to play it off as if nothing were wrong.

But in truth, his mind only continued to fire off threads of thoughts and questions.

No wonder the Towermaster had said he was destined for a life without peace. Right now, his core bore the attributes of something that defied the changes that had been happening to the System over several eras that preceded the existence of even Earth itself.

Why the need for these eras? Why were these changes happening to the System? Was this the System itself, or was there some outside force forcing it toward a specific outcome?

These questions remained a mystery that Uhtred couldn’t answer, but now that he knew about it, he was struck with a sense of dread.

He was literally the embodiment of defiance against forces greater than he could understand.

The Heavenly Demon who was explaining the history of eras to them... what would he think if he realized that the person sitting right before him was someone who defied the very System — the very limits — that he was speaking about?

Uhtred tried to listen as the Heavenly Demon continued to tell his tale. He had redirected his explanation back to the sixth era in which he lived.

Apparently, the ”Lesser Limitation” that occurred in his era was targeted at Esoteric magic types.

During his era and during the eras before that, those with Esoteric attunements and affinities dominated the Grand Multiverse.

According to him, unlike Elemental magics that followed a clear structure of rules and physical laws, Esoteric magic was... esoteric. It was unconventional — things like blood magic, precognition, shamanic magics, curses... abstract concepts that, while they had some sort of logic guiding their usage, were still very unconventional and nonstandard.

Those with affinities for them were much more powerful than their peers who bore only elemental magics and sometimes even fundamental laws.

During the sixth era — even before the end of it — a hard cap was placed on the maximum core grade an Esoteric-type ascender could get integrated with.

Unique Grade. That was the new hard limit set by the System across the entire multiverse.

As the Heavenly Demon explained this part, Uhtred couldn’t help but draw an immediate correlation again.

His eyes widened as he remembered the titles of the powerful figures whose names he had seen during his Mortal-Nascent Realm crossing:

Alyn the Unbound: Wielder of a thousand Elemental magics. Wielder of a hundred Esoteric guiles. Wielder of one fundamental law...

Paragon of Sin, Undav: Versatile Demon. Wielder of a thousand Elemental magics. Wielder of a thousand Esoteric guiles. Wielder of two Fundamental laws.

Sovereign of Chaos, Drakgon: Chaos Walker. Wielder of all elements. Wielder of two Fundamental magics...

Did that mean all these powerhouses lived in an era before the sixth era? Was that why they bore so many magics — particularly Esoteric magics?

The threads began to connect in Uhtred’s mind, painting a grander and grander picture.

He remembered that all those mighty figures had also been fighting in some grand battle or another.

Of course, while Alyn the Unbound and Paragon of Sin, Undav, could have been fighting some other battle that wasn’t necessarily an era-ending Great War like the Heavenly Demon had said... there was still the Sovereign of Chaos, Drakgon.

The title of his battle had been redacted by the System itself, preventing Uhtred from seeing the name of said battle...

...But Uhtred had still witnessed it — only thirty seconds of it, yes, but he had seen a glimpse of that battle with his own eyes. He had seen the mind-boggling scale of it. The terrifying grandeur and principal powers at play in that battle.

Which Grand War had that been? Was it even a Grand War? Had he actually witnessed one of these era-ending battles himself? And if so, which era was it?

It was surely not the sixth era. The Heavenly Demon here was powerful, but he couldn’t even be spoken of in the same breath as the Sovereign of Chaos. That was a being beyond comprehension at Uhtred’s and even the Heavenly Demon’s current level of strength.

No. That battle has to be at least from the fifth era or before...

Uhtred tried hard to rein his roiling thoughts in. He refocused on what the Heavenly Demon was saying — something about the creation of Levels at the end of the sixth era — but another thought popped up in his mind... a question, really.

”What about this era?” Uhtred asked loudly, cutting off the Heavenly Demon mid-explanation and drawing all eyes to himself.

He looked at everyone around the table and watched their expressions change as understanding dawned in their eyes.

”You just spoke of a limit to all Esoteric-type ascenders across the multiverse during your era. There was also a change adding Levels to everyone’s progression...”

He paused and looked at the Heavenly Demon, his eyes serious.

”What about the current era? Did limitations end with your era...? Or is there another limitation currently ongoing? Is that why we’re here in the Tower...? To learn about this and figure out a way to stop it?”