The incident with the Frieza frigate was a spark in the tinderbox of Astra's resolve. The quiet, methodical preparation was over. The time for exponential, explosive growth was now. He retreated to the heart of The Cradle, to the 1:500 time bubble, and entered a state of training so intense it bordered on self-annihilation.
The Gravity Forge was pushed beyond any sane limit. 500x Standard Gravity. The space within the Ouroboros warped, light bending in strange halos around him. His [Dense-Body Constitution], already a marvel of biological engineering, was forced to evolve again. His cells weren't just dense; they began to function as microscopic event horizons, storing gravitational potential as a new form of internal energy. His Power Level, once a linear measure, began to escalate on a logarithmic curve.
[Power Level: 600,000... 800,000... 1,200,000...]
He was breaching the threshold of Frieza's first form. But he didn't stop. The memory of the "Shard-of-Infinity" and the desperate Silence Fleet was a lash at his back.
He turned his focus to the Void Fist, pushing it from a martial art to a cosmic law. In the crushing gravity, he practiced not strikes, but the creation of absolute emptiness. He learned to project a field where Ki ceased to flow, where magicules dissipated, where the very concept of energy was temporarily suspended. He created bubbles of null-space within the 500x field, islands of nothingness that strained against the immense pressure. It was the ultimate defense, the only thing his simulations suggested could stall a reality-consuming entity.
But creation and destruction were two sides of the same coin. His [Stellar Forge], fueled by his skyrocketing power and the principles of Cosmic Energy Manipulation, achieved its apotheosis. He no longer needed raw materials. He could synthesize matter from the quantum foam. He practiced within the Cradle, creating small, perfect diamonds from nothing, then complex machinery, then finally, a flawless replica of the Arcosian Bio-Steel gauntlet, woven from pure energy and will.
He was becoming a true universal constant—a being who could both unmake reality and write it anew.
The strain was unimaginable. His body, mind, and soul were being hammered on an anvil of his own making. There were moments, in the deepest stretches of subjective time, where the line between Astra and the cosmic forces he wielded began to blur. He was no longer just using gravity; he was a gravitational force. He wasn't just creating voids; he was a walking pocket of potential nothingness.
[Power Level: 2,500,000]
He had surpassed Frieza's final form. The power he now held was, by the standards of the universe he knew, absolute. He could crack planets with a thought, snuff out stars with a gesture.
And it felt... insignificant.
Because power alone was not the answer. The decrypted messages from the Silence Fleet spoke of an enemy that fed on power, that adapted to it. His immense strength was just a larger meal. His Void technique was a temporary shield, not a sword.
He ended the session, deactivating the Gravity Forge. The release was like the birth of a universe. He stood on the deck of the Ouroboros, not as a man, but as a nexus of contained cataclysms. His form was the same, but his eyes held the light of distant quasars and the chill of the intergalactic void.
He looked at his status, a string of numbers that had lost all meaning.
[User: Astra - The Architect of Vesper]
[Power Level: 2,510,000]
[Unique Skills: Limit-Breaker, Stellar Forge (Grandmaster)]
[Extra Skills: Void Fist (Cosmic Principle), Cosmic Energy Manipulation (Master)]
He had forged himself into a god. But standing at the summit, he saw only the oncoming storm, vast and hungry, and knew that even a god might not be enough. The Forge had done its work. The weapon was honed. Now, he had to wait for the war he never asked for, a war where the prize was not victory, but mere survival. The Architect was ready, but the universe he was prepared to defend felt smaller and more fragile than ever.