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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Storms_Wrath on 2024-11-01 04:28:32+00:00.
Penny looked through Gustilla’s body, keeping her conceptual power active as she did. It was ruined down to its very genetic code, and it was incredible that she was even alive. The details were incredibly intricate. Sprilnav cells were typically shaped similarly to human ones. They had a nucleus, ribosomes, and a mitochondria equivalent. The notable differences were that their cell structures were reinforced and genetically tailored to be extremely resistant to alterations.
The outer lining of all Sprilnav cells sported a faint outline of psychic energy, along with complex filtration systems. The filters could allow the cells to detach if ordered by the immune system, where they could travel through the blood and convert. Stem cells in humans could develop into different cells under certain conditions. Every single Sprilnav cell could do so with ease, though it was difficult for them to do so in a way that would fail. The Sprilnav genetic code was over a million times the length of human DNA. It was far more densely packed, with psychic energy aiding the repair mechanisms. Ribosomes were larger, as were the actual cells themselves.
Sprilnav cells contained the mitochondria equivalent in the nucleus itself, and the organ also converted psychic energy to chemical energy in small amounts. Proteins were still carried in the typical sense, and the cellular level was where the greatest differences lay between Sprilnav and humans.
The differences diverged in their neural cells as well. Sprilnav brain cells packed over five times the psychic energy in them on average. They also used psychic energy directly in hyperfine connections in the nerve endings. If a normal connection could work like a circuit, with a connection from one neuron to another, Sprilnav brains had several more parallel connections. They might sport dozens or hundreds of times the paths for electricity to move from neuron to neuron, and the psychic energy within them formed incredibly dense webs of ‘wires’ that helped keep memories contained.
Their conscious brains occupied much more of their total brainpower, while their motor functions and autonomous functions were compressed into the smallest possible volume while still having separate connections for each. The problem of getting oxygen to their brains was lowered for the higher energy portions, as psychic energy circulated and was converted into energy using the same types of organelles present in the rest of their bodies.
Human bodies weren’t optimized to work with psychic energy, while Sprilnav bodies were engineered to do so. Elders added conceptual energy into that framework, increasing neuroplasticity and exponentially fortifying cells and the brain’s memory regions. They were also specially designed to house implants long-term, for millions of years on end. The connections to those implants would never cause problems. No Elder had ever had a natural rejection of an implant built for them in 10 billion years.
Progenitors took such things beyond. Their science was poorly understood, but Filnatra directly transferred some of her understanding to Penny to help heal her daughter. Progenitors could store some of their body functions in other dimensions. It wasn’t just that; they could directly convert some of the processes handled by matter into energy. That could include psychic, conceptual, and even speeding space energy, which many Progenitors constantly siphoned to gradually refine themselves.
They siphoned that power through their domains and integrated their domains into the real functioning organs of their bodies. Notably, these portions differed. Filnatra had an outer domain that manifested her impact on surrounding reality. Her inner domain made her impact on her internal reality, allowing her to control dimensions through her own form and exert power beyond the laws of physics. It was why she could hit a planet with enough force to shatter a continent and not have the reaction hit her because the equal and opposite reaction was no longer equal and opposite, which required investments of psychic energy, conceptual energy, and often speeding space as a place to dump the results.
Filnatra had stated there were also core domains, mind domains, body domains, and tons of others, but she kept those functions of herself a secret, as her child didn’t have them. Domains functioned like gravitational fields in their outer expressions. But Filnatra’s inner domain worked strangely and didn’t follow even a semblance of physical laws. Portions of it forced Penny’s focus back and away or were literally sharp and painful to think of, so she was forced not to.
The simple knowledge of Filnatra’s ‘blueprint’ equaled the same space as around 30,000 years worth of memories in Penny’s head, which was to say that Penny couldn’t hold it all. Filnatra’s memories showcased ironclad control. In many memories, background details would be blurred or perhaps run together. Filnatra’s memories only included what she wanted Penny to see and understand and nothing more. They carried tags of conceptual energy that sent pulses back to Filnatra, tracking devices woven fundamentally into their subjective realities. Filnatra’s reality was so strong Penny couldn’t actually move the memories without her help, just like she could barely read them, even at a slow pace without Nilnacrawla’s help.
She was doing her best to expand her capacity. But Sprilnav brains worked differently than human ones, and converting thoughts back and forth would be both a potential weakness and also make her less of a human, which Penny didn’t want. But there was no template to follow for a human Progenitor.
Even with the extreme time dilation Filnatra was facilitating, Penny wouldn’t have enough time to build her mind to comprehend a Progenitor’s true form. She simply wasn’t built for it.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take them back, so you don’t have to hold those memories forever.”
Filnatra didn’t say it like she even considered Penny could resist her.
“I know, but it feels wasteful.”
“I know your intentions here, Penny. Our minds are linked, after all. You think that if you do this right, you can gain deeper understanding of a Progenitor’s natural form, so you can mimic it and gain a free power boost. You’ll simply shatter your concepts trying to do that.”
“Why?”
“Because you are a human, and not a Sprilnav,” Filnatra said. “It requires Sprilnav Concepts to tie all this together. You can control your body and shift it however you like using your power. With your limitations, I would be capable of reaching my form. But since you are not a Sprilnav, my path is not yours. You walk on two legs, not four.”
“Perhaps that is simply an excuse to prevent me from getting more powerful.”
“Do you think I need excuses to do that? I can rip anything made of my power from you, whether you are here or at the center of Kashaunta’s Grand Fleet as I wish. You are no longer the strongest person in the room, Penny. If you wish to kill yourself trying to reshape your skull so you can have jaws like mine, then go ahead and try, after you heal my daughter. You’re not here for anything else than that.”
Penny didn’t argue it. She’d find her own way, and Filnatra wouldn’t stop her. She couldn’t.
Penny did her best to learn and understand the intricate concepts. She pushed her domain to try and store information and manipulated Cardinality far more precisely than she ever had before. And she found herself slipping into a new state as she did.
Penny’s power condensed, and she felt the secondary shadow of herself split off from her. Her opposite stepped forward and out of her, the minus sign on its forehead glowing like the morning star. It carried weight, as a crown of radiation manifested on Penny and the Cardinality copy. Penny reached forward with two bodies and twenty fingers interlocked.
Her domain divided itself evenly. The two halves shifted from a whole to two parts in concept and synchronized. Their conceptual energy split itself down the middle, like a cell’s genes through mitosis, and receded. Penny felt her very reality creaking under the strain as she turned her concepts around. Then, they started drawing closer. The gap narrowed, growing from the finite down to the infinite, then to zero. Space broke itself to keep the opposing forces apart, like two charges that refused to join. But Penny plowed right past it, and her domain smashed into its two halves, growing denser.
The collision was painful. It was a horrific pain and briefly unsealed the memories of Conceptual Suffering. Arneladia stepped forward, and a rippling sphere separated Penny from the rest of reality, encasing her in pure black. She was inside a black hole with no gravity, and she took advantage.
There were concepts other than Liberation and Revolution. Often, she manipulated them through Determination. But this process would not be the same. Penny twisted her conceptual energy into a framework. She poured a foundation upon it and built a palace of intent and will upon that. An undulating palace of conceptual power rose from the bedrock of her soul, but …
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