Chapter 123: Craving Power
The next morning, Hugo was sitting calmly in his office in the government headquarters, looking at his computer screen with a lost expression on his face.
The events of yesterday were still heavy on his mind.
And yet, Hugo did not find himself ashamed of the cowardice he had displayed. In fact, he was not even worried about the fact that he almost died yesterday.
What terrified him the most was the power of a Supreme, Anvil of Valor.
Back in the second nightmare, Hugo was too weak to comprehend the powers of the beings he had seen there, such as Dagon, paradox, Max Tennyson, and even Ben Tennyson.
But now, as a true Ascended Titan, he could briefly comprehend the scope of Anvil's powers, even if he could not understand it entirely.
More than that, his interactions with the Saints of the waking world—Wake of Ruin, the Dream Merchant, Lightslayer, and Saint Jest—made him realize how weak he was when compared to Saints.
Transcendence... He needed it.
It was the rank where one would become truly powerful, beyond belief. A qualitative and quantitative evolution in power to all beings, forever elevating their nature and taking the first step towards Divinity.
He looked at his Omnitrix carefully, it's glow reflecting in his azure eyes.
Unlike most Masters, who could only Transcend through the Nightmare Spell of natural cultivation, Hugo had another choice.
He could experience Transcendence through a Transcendent rank imprint.
In fact, he had already done so once in the second nightmare when he transformed into Alien x.
The Omnitrix used the imprint's power to ascend him—Transcend, attain Supremacy, Apotheosis, and finally Divinity all at once.
It ascended him in rank while transforming him into the species of Alien x.
Transcendence was the rank he craved the most, naturally due to the fact that he was one step away from it.
Cultivating naturally was an option, but that was a problem.
Cultivating his human form—the anchor of his existence—was the only way he could truly Transcend, making all of his other aliens who could advance in the path of ascension Transcendent.
If he transformed into an alien and then cultivated it to the Transcendent rank somehow, then only that imprint would be counted as Transcendent.
Hugo was a strange existence right now. He was the Omnitrix, yes, but he was also still deeply human. His human form was more connected to the Omnitrix than his other forms were, making it the baseline for his existence—in other words, his anchor.
If he removed this small distinction, then the power he would receive as the Omnitrix would be unimaginable...
'...'
With an exhale, Hugo closed his eyes and entered his soul sea.
He appeared within the vast blue maze. In the sky, there were seven blue stars forming a majestic circle.
He had been here a few times after the second nightmare, but he had never explored the maze again.
After all, Hugo was still struggling to contain his Ascended powers, so he would not be looking for the third DNA room this early. But now... That changed.
He walked through the ever-shifting maze calmly, not using XLR8 or Fasttrack—just calmly moving through the ever-changing walls.
He saw the first DNA room, manifesting as a blue ethereal door.
Walking ahead, he soon saw the second DNA room—this one was bigger than the first, being larger and more imposing.
He walked past it as well, after all both the first and second DNA rooms were [100%] cleaned from corruption.
The search for the third DNA room took a while, with Hugo spending hours inside, but finally, after tedious searching, he found it.
It was locked by a metallic door with an Omnitrix symbol on it.
The presence it was emitting... Was dangerous and vastly more powerful then the previous DNA rooms.
He put his hand on the door, and then a sudden clicking sound was made.
The lock opened, and the metal disappeared completely, revealing a blue door within existence.
With a sigh, Hugo walked through it.
The sight inside was nothing like the first and second DNA chambers, as this one was way bigger...
'1, 2, 3...'
Hugo counted how many DNA pods there were in the chamber, and after a while, he stopped at thirty.
He whistled, both terrified and mesmerized.
"Omnitrix, are they all Transcendent?"
[Yes] the artificial intelligence answered him calmly.
'Wonderful...'
Each pod was filled with sickly corruption, waiting to be challenged.
Hugo stood before one, almost enthralled by the promise of power it could give him...
All he needed to do was touch it once... One simple touch and he would start a pseudo-trial.
With his current power, he could defeat a corrupted creature... Perhaps.
He had Zed, his shadow, his Spirit Body, and himself.
But still, the corrupted creatures within the DNA rooms had proven to be more powerful than regular corrupted abominations.
And the Omnitrix couldn't determine their classes as well.
For all he knew, he could end up facing a Corrupted Terror or Titan.
As of now, Hugo could barely kill a Corrupted Tyrant, let alone a higher class being.
Eventually, he ended up turning around and leaving.
Risking his life like this... It wasn't worth it, even if his craving for power was strong.
Hugo opened his eyes, finding himself in his office once again.
'This sucks...'
He really wanted to punch something right now, preferably a Nightmare Creature while in his Humungousaur form.
He had noticed himself craving more animalistic tendencies a lot these days, no doubt a side effect from constantly changing races.
Still...It was unfortunate that he had to remain civilized for now.
'Working with Saint Thane is boring...'
More than that, the government was acting strange these days. They were sending much of the Awakened military somewhere and preparing larger boats than usual to transport Awakened.
Awakeneds were needed in the sea, yes—it's infested with Nightmare Creatures after all—but the House of Night should take care of such things so why are all of those awakeneds being sent?
'Maybe something is happening?'
He should have been informed if something big was about to happen, considering he was a high-ranking government agent now.
Just as he was thinking that, Hugo heard a peeping sound on his Omnitrix.
'Please be a Nightmare Creature report...'
Unfortunately, it wasn't. Instead, it was a message sent through the group chat he and the cohort had.
It was sent by Cassie, surprisingly enough.
Cassie78: "Reminder: Clan Valor is holding an annual ball in about a few days. We are all invited to attend… which is usually considered a great honor. Not every Master receives the privilege to brush sides with the most powerful representatives of the great clans and actual Saints."
Nightingale: "I've prepared the best outfits for you guys!"
Raised by Wolves69: "Hehe, imagine all the food that would be there! I heard the Valor chefs have an Awakened with a cooking Aspect. We're in for a treat!"
Sunless: "ok"
Nightingale Fan: "Alright..."
The cohort's usernames were... Uncreative, to say the least, but currently Hugo wasn't focusing on that.
Alien 10:" WHAT?! THERE'S A VALOR BALL?! WHY DIDN'T YOU GUYS TELL ME?!"
...
Cassie78: "I did tell you but you just didn't care because you were transformed into Grey Matter."
Alien 10: "oh..."
Hugo put a hand on his face, exhaling deeply.
Not only was there a Valor Ball a few days from now, but his friends were going as well.
He really did not want to go, and attendance was not obligatory anyway.
'the last thing I want is to be seen by that thing...'
He shivered...
Suddenly, another message appeared on his communicator. It was from Wake of Ruin.
Hugo had spoken to the old Saint after the Corrupted Tyrant incident, but the old man was clearly dissatisfied with him.
Jet told him he was like that with everyone, but Hugo had a feeling he was grumpier with him specifically.
His message was simple and short:
Cor: "Make sure to attend the Valor Ball, you did get an invitation. You are going to represent us as an envoy of the government, do not fail us."
...
The Saint didn't even wait for Hugo to respond and instead went offline immediately.
Hugo really wanted not to go just to spite the Saint, but he simply sighed and decided that he should go. It would be good for him to see the political nature of Valor without fully entering it.
He turned to the group chat:
Alien 10: "... Kai, the outfit you picked for me better not be ridiculous."