First order of business, throwing myself into a star.

  "Alright Jimmy, I don't know how tough you are but we're going to enter that big ball of fire. We'll slowly take on more and more damage, until we are unfazed by it. You ready?" I asked the living metal in the shape of a space suit, and got a simple message as a response.

  Feeling out that weird connection I had with him, I felt his slight hunger and nothing else. Something told me Jimmy didn't actually understand what was happening.

  I chuckled to myself at that thought, as Jimmy would either hate this or not feel anything at all.

  As I floated closer to the star, I turned to look at my planet. It wouldn't be the last time I saw it, nor did I have any real reason to look at it, but as I observed the ball that is my planet get smaller and smaller I remembered something.

  'The scan I did of the planet said there was a large quantity of three ores, Adamantium, Mithril, and the unknown metal. Jimmy. Wait a fucking second...' I had gotten a mountain of Adamantium and a cube of the odd metal. I still had a humongous fucking earth cube of raw Jimmy!

  "I'm such an idiot." I groaned as I remembered the completely unused Jimmy reserves.

  If I began a process of getting more and more Jimmy, which is literally the name of the metal because I'm an idiot, then how strong can my Jimmy get? I'd have to think about it later, because I was rapidly approaching the star and it was getting bright.

  Turning around to look back at the star, I was met with my eyes being completely blinded by the sheer amount of light. Even with the visor trying to shade my eyes from the brightness, I was met with nothing but white.

  Then the pain came. Not much, but it was the annoying kind of eye strain that doesn't go away. Since I'm a little bitch when it comes to pain, I slowed my flight and let my body begin it's magical evolution to adapt.

  It took longer than I thought it would for my vision to come back, and the pain was still there just lesser than before. My Skill also evolved Jimmy, as the visor adapted at the same rate as my eyes. It tinted itself in such a way that I could see the surface of the sun. All of it. The roiling ocean of plasma, beams of nuclear fire reaching up into the cosmos like crashing waves.

  And there I was, slowly falling toward the all consuming fire. I couldn't even feel the heat, nor did I sense any pain on Jimmy's side.

  'Maybe Jimmy is just straight up invulnerable? If a level 9999 douchebag couldn't harm him, why did I think a sun could?' I pondered it for a moment, but I was quickly brought back to the present as my body slammed into the plasma.

  I was still adapting, so instead of melting away into nothing like I should have a long time ago, it merely felt... pleasantly warm. Like a slept in bed in the winter, one that retained all the body heat from the previous night.

  As my body was pulled beneath the plasma, my eyes watched on in amazement. I had called it an ocean of plasma, but being beneath the surface proved how right I was. I saw the bright orange and yellow nuclear fire and energy flow with a current. It was chaotic, but it was just like a regular ocean of water during a storm.

  The only difference from what I could feel was that instead of being limited by water, I felt resistance from the sheer gravity. It made sense, as the sun was made of plasma which isn't like solid or liquid matter. It was not like water, it merely acted like it when it interacted with itself and the electronic fields in the sun.

  Something that became blatantly obvious soon after is that I cannot actually see through the plasma. What I thought was currents of plasma, was actually distortion from it flowing over my visor. Having brought my hand up to my face, I could not see it.

  The plasma was still very pretty, but I was wrong about how I saw it. I'm sure there are currents flowing all around me, but plasma isn't something you could see through like water.

  I accelerated my descent into the core as I stopped feeling any strain and pain at all, which meant I was adapting too fast for this pace to be efficient.

  I found some kind of balance again, and kept the pace equal with the amount of discomfort I was willing to have. There's not a way for me to know how fast I was going, as whatever software the HUD used for such calculations were unable to compute. This was either due to the lack of visibility, the electromagnetic pulses constantly emitting from the sun, or a mix of both.

  Maybe this will help Jimmy develop some kind of immunity to EMP's. I still didn't know how he perfectly mimicked a computer, but I wasn't about to question the magical living metal.

  Now all I had to do was just wait until I reached the core of the sun and it does little more than block my view.

  ...

  It took a long time before I reached the core.

  The worst part?

  It was boring.

  Who would have thought that the center of a sun, a big fuck all ball of nuclear flame, just had some massive nuclear reactor in the middle?

  Not my dumbass, forgetting that the center would be nothing more than bright white nothing.

  There was so much energy here that there was nothing to see but a white fluctuating void. I still couldn't see my hands, and I could barely see the inside of my helmet.

  Waiting even longer after the minor aches and heat from the nuclear reactions constantly happening around me stopped bugging me, my HUD started working flawlessly again.

  My hunch about Jimmy becoming immune to the electromagnetic pulses was spot on, and now the clock tells me that I've been in here for 7 hours.

  I'd have called it a waste of time if I didn't become stronger for doing so.

  Well, not stronger but tougher. I could take a hit better now. Hopefully.

  It was glaringly obvious that the faker had not taken me seriously at all. He had used maybe 3 moves on me.

  Number 1, moving so fast that I couldn't even register him.

  Number 2, a fire ball of some sort that turned one of my attempts into a blazing pile of nothing.

  And number 3, was just sheer brute force.

  That's it.

  He had treated me like one would a smaller sibling trying to wrestle. Except in this case I was made of paper and glass, and he had a Ford F-150.

  I had to come up with some other ways of getting stronger, aside from my current plan of just being able to take a hit and live.

  Telekinesis was off the table. It hadn't done a single thing to him.

  Plasma Charge might do something, but no way was I fighting the faker on my planet again.

  For our next fight, location would be everything. I'd need to drag him into deep space.

  'Or I could lure him...' I thought about why he came to find me. He was looking for something, my core.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  I wouldn't need to drag him there by force, all I'd have to do is make a show of running away with my core. But how? I couldn't manifest my core into my hand and show it off, hell I'm pretty sure the thing is actually a part of my soul now and not in my body.

  I began the journey out of the star, using my Telekinesis to fly out of the core then out of the outer layers.

  There was a way to possibly trick the faker with a fake core. If I took a monster core of reasonable size, filled it to near breaking with that strange Energy I have access to, it should register to his senses as mine. Especially if I make it a big act. Treat it like something that needs to be protected at all costs.

  'That's not a bad idea... It might even work, if I'm lucky.' With another plan built in my mind, I started putting more and more Energy into my flight.

  I needed a way to process information at insane, physics breaking speeds. I hadn't given my new Energy limit a real test yet for how fast I could go, so this was a good chance to give it a whirl.

  Floating back in the blank expanse of space, I pondered about the rules of my speed.

  It had been so long that I had completely forgotten how fast certain amounts of Energy could make me go.

  "Okay, so I think it was 120 points for mach 1? Then it increased every 10 seconds? I have over 15 million points now though... How fast can I go now?" I asked myself nervously.

  I was nervous, but also very excited. Flying had become obsolete when my Dimensional Gate Skill became free to use because of some bug in the system, same with my space ship... Wow what a waste of money that thing turned out to be.

  Oh well, at least I had it for... whatever reason.

  "Fuck it, full throttle it is." I chuckled, and used all 15,728,640 of my Energy reserves for a burst of acceleration.

  I was only slightly startled when I died.

  Jimmy was still in the shape of my suit, approximately several hundred miles away. Maybe.

  I was just floating in the same spot I was when I used all the points into my Telekinesis, except now I was just a soul wearing my doggy pajamas.

  I sighed as my bones and flesh began to regrow quickly, fully regenerating in around 50ish seconds. Then to my amazement, my pajamas regenerated over my new body as well.

  "Huh. I didn't notice that the last time I died." I muttered frowning down at my hands and looking over my dumb ass dog onesie.

  I was super preoccupied with worrying about the faker to notice, so I cut myself some slack.

  Jimmy came barreling toward me, and slammed into place.

  Or he would have if the force hadn't crushed my torso completely. I regenerated fast enough that it didn't matter though.

  "Yep, love you too buddy." I pat the living metal, which involved petting my own arm.

  He squirmed a bit, feeling pleased.

  Welp. Time for another training segment.

  ...

  This go around took way less time to become immune to sheer accelerated force.

  About an hour or so of just accelerating my body to the point of breaking over and over.

  I was going so fast that the speedometer built into my HUD was actually unable to quantify it. Which surprised me.

  And also annoyed me, because I still had no idea how fast I was going. It was kind of nostalgic, reminding me of my life just a few months prior.

  I must be in a sentimental mood today.

  A boon that I hadn't really expected to work with this training was that I could now accelerate my thoughts and perception.

  It only worked when my body was going super fast via flight, thus necessitating the change. This means I cannot freely alter my perception, but it might be enough to at least see the faker.

  Hopefully.

  "Now that we're done with that, now what do we do Jimmy?" I asked the living space suit, trying to think of anything I could do increase anything.

  Then again, if I need to increase anything then I could do my level. Get more Skills maybe?

  My main issue with that is that I don't trust the green system, but it's clear that Jerald was no longer protecting me from the weird system.

  So I was already in danger if it was going to do anything, so maybe I should just man up and go kill some monsters.

  As if to prove my point, Jimmy sent a feeling through our link.

  Hunger.

  "Alright, alright. Let's go kill some monsters buddy ol' pal." I pat my arm again, and opened a Gate back to my planet.

  Time to get some levels.

  ...

  --------- Angel of Light, Greg Hudson ---------

  Old memories surfaced to my mind as I continued to burn in the center of a star.

  I may not be able to see anything, but this blinding white light and the deafening noise so loud it drowns out even my thoughts told me where I was.

  It remembered what had happened to me so, so many years ago. Centuries even.

  A station.

  Menial tasks.

  A watch that spoke? The memories are fuzzy.

  The one clear thing from that long ago was that event.

  The black hole.

  It had eaten the station, along with me.

  I got to see the station crumple in on itself as the black void grew and grew.

  It's hunger insatiable.

  It's power unstoppable.

  Then nothing as I fell into it, along with every other God forsaken soul on that station.

  I woke up in some other universe.

  One with a System, like some video game.

  I was hurt badly from whatever had happened.

  Got better.

  Used the fact the System didn't know what I was to gain power.

  I thought I would have an adventure.

  Be the hero.

  I was wrong.

  So, so wrong.

  A hero must be strong.

  Not just strong, but also well liked.

  I was neither.

  I was a weak, small man in a universe that hated him.

  Aliens incapable of empathy greeted me.

  They enslaved me.

  Brought me to some research colony on a moon.

  Saw me as little more than a curiosity or a monster.

  All because they couldn't understand what I was saying.

  But I could understand them.

  The things they would call me.

  The things they planned to do to me.

  So I did what I had to.

  I bided my time until one day, one moment, one singular mistake during my feeding time.

  That's all it took to show them what kind of monster I was.

  That's the day I killed my first life.

  I had done it out of a need to survive, but that's a simple lie I told myself when I did it.

  No.

  I had enjoyed it.

  Loved it even.

  They deserved it, for the things they did to me.

  Cutting and reattaching things not meant to be removed.

  Experimenting on some 'rare specimen'.

  That first kill leveled me up, and I got stronger quickly.

  In less than 3 days, the entire moon colony fell by my hands.

  That's where my rise as a true hero began.

  One kill made me stronger.

  More made me even stronger.

  The universe made it obvious that it was ruled by the strong.

  Strength above all, nothing else mattered.

  So I got stronger.

  Killed more.

  Got stronger.

  Killed.

  Again.

  More.

  Over and over until I was at the peak.

  I was driven by a need to find more humans.

  Maybe my crew members had been brought to this strange place.

  I would still be a hero.

  Humanity's hero.

  Only... I was alone in this hateful universe.

  Surrounded by beings that hated me.

  Were disgusted by me.

  Feared me.

  Then I lashed out at this pitiful excuse of a universe, bringing it to it's knees as entire civilizations fell.

  That's when I got my wings and halo.

  When I became more than I ever could have been.

  It's around that point when I figured out where my strange abilities came from.

  An odd thing that was with me from the very beginning.

  A silent supporter.

  A green system.

  However, once I eliminated the last of the filthy hateful gazes, I realized that I was truly alone now.

  The green system had left, and I had not gotten stronger.

  Not even the tiniest amount.

  I didn't worry about it.

  My journey was done, after all.

  I'd go home, be hailed as the hero I was, and return to a normal life.

  That did not happen.

  I brought magic and technology unseen back to my own dimension.

  Back to Earth.

  To my people.

  Instead of being praised as a hero, as I should have been.

  They were scared.

  Some hated me.

  It was all the same.

  Every gaze distrusting of me and the change I brought.

  So what if a few monsters started spawning due to magic springing forth in previously non magical environments.

  It was magic!

  So what if a few people died, it was their fault for getting in my way to the top!

  I am humanity's hero, so I rightfully deserve to rule over it!

  I am more human than they will ever be.

  Sick of their gazes, I squashed them in an iron fist.

  I took what I want.

  I did what I wanted.

  I claimed my home as truly mine.

  And after all of that, what's another universe to rule after the first two?

  Nothing could stop me, so it was rightfully mine.

  Universe after universe fell.

  I found many things.

  More systems, some beings called Administrators who sometimes controlled greater Systems.

  I took those too.

  Even with all the systems, all the universes, nothing could compare to the power granted by the green system.

  So I started looking for it.

  The multiverse is large and infinite, surely there's more of them out there.

  Is what I wrongly assumed.

  The more I looked, the more I realized there is only one.

  And where would I find it but with myself?

  A weaker, more naive version of myself.

  I killed him, absorbed his core, and took the green system as my own once again.

  Only... the green system, my source of power, left me once again.

  I was supreme, I was perfect!

  So why...?

  Why does it leave me alone?

  Again and again, I hunted for it.

  Killing more and more versions of myself.

  Lesser beings, hardly considered human.

  I was the only true human left.

  I had sired many children, to grow the shrinking human race.

  These infinite others were not worthy of the title of human.

  They were no better than ants.

  So I squashed them in my pursuit.

  Hundreds of years passed, and each time the green system got further and further from me and my territories.

  But as I expanded, I would always find it again.

  On some other lesser form.

  Inside some kind of core.

  This game of cat and mouse was getting more and more tiresome though, then this current attempt had confused me greatly.

  I could sense the green system here, in this universe.

  But the thing that has it, does not die like it should.

  I refuse to call it human, it is even less so then the others I have seen.

  How far from my starting point must I be for that thing to be considered human?

  Humans are not 9 feet tall, nor do they regenerate from nothing after death.

  It must be the work of the green system, it has to.

  I will take it, once and for all.

  I want it.

  I need it.

  So I will have it.