Noah breathed in, a slow, deep intake of the recycled, perfectly filtered air within his new skin.
The white and gold armor was a masterpiece of lethal elegance, its lines both beautiful and brutal.
On his back, the Modulator hummed, a glorious blue light pulsing from its core. His entire existence now gave off the terrifying feel of a primal, ancient predator that had just been given a new, sharper set of claws.
He looked at himself.
Others took millions or billions of years to advance where he was and at the rate he was advancing.
But when he had Perpetual Harvest amplifying his existence, Cheating Architect amplifying his existence, RUIN/EDEN amplifying his existence, and now gaining another thousandfold amplification from this glorious living, growing armament...how could he not catch up and exceed all these monsters that needed millions of years?!
HUUM!
The further one traversed in complexity and purity, thr harder it was to gain more!
In the past day, Noah should have been feeling a pinch the moment he crossed 1 Quadrillion.
Lesser beings would have said man, reaching 2 Quadrillion is going to be even harder!
And yet.
And fucking yet...!
Less than a day later, he was not approaching 2 Quadrillion, but surging towards the 100 Quadrillion marker in Complexity and Purity.
And when he added other parts of him, his Modulator alone allowed that marker to be exceeded, and now his other part of him- his own Living Existential Armor...granted him 300 Quadrillion Purity!
"..."
Who said traversing existence was hard? Who said attaining Complexity and Purity only became harder?!
"Merely Complexity...merely Purity!"
HUUM!
His voice, a heavy and deep thing, boomed out again as existence trembled.
Elara looked at him, and for the first time since he had met her, she clapped her hands, a sound of pure, unadulterated, scientific glee. Her eyes shone with a brilliant, almost manic, light.
"We have to do some field tests!" she exclaimed, her voice filled with a joyous, almost dangerous, excitement. "We will exit the Early Laboratories and enter the First Folds to test out just how effective it is!"
Elara was already talking about field tests, her voice a buzz of scientific excitement that was a stark, jarring contrast to the profound, internal symphony of becoming that Noah was experiencing.
He was still acclimating, still charting the new, expanded coastlines of his own existence!
The Aegis of the Architect was not just a suit of armor; it was a new organ, a second skeleton, a partner in his very being, and with every passing second, its integration deepened, its boons becoming more and more apparent!
So much so that after just a few moments passed...
|Master, the ongoing evolution catalyzed by the symbiotic link with your armor is producing... unexpected results.|
|Your Early Atlas of the Folds is experiencing the most significant amplification. The fusion with a material containing unique clusters of Everythings has granted it a new, profound capability.|
|New Ability Unlocked: [Atlas Doorway].|
|Function: While you are physically present in the Earliest Folds, your one hundred and fifty-nine Vital Lighthouses can now synchronize and form a stable, one-way doorway. Through this Atlas Doorway, you can transfer items, resources, or materials directly from your location in the past to your Radiant Shore in the present.|
|Limitation: The doorway is not stable enough to allow for the passage of any lifeform. It is a cargo lift, not a time machine. At least, not yet.|
Oh!
A glorious, ongoing process of evolution. The armor was actively upgrading the very foundations of his power!
The moment Noah read the description of the Atlas Doorway, of the ability to pass resources from this primordial age to his own, his gaze, which had been turned inward, snapped open.
The brilliant, blue-gold light of his visor swept across the lab and settled on the mountain of vibrant, lustrous Early Omnichalcum Metal off to the side.
His mind, a silent engine of tyrannical ambition, raced. He had to have this material!

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