Infinity and Observable Force flowed through him like snaking rivers of power, twin currents of fundamentally different character moving through his existence with the particular sensation of forces that had no natural business sharing the same channels but were being directed to do so by hands experienced enough to manage the combination without catastrophic results.

His amplified Pride burned with golden brilliance that did genuine work at this moment, that enhanced Ego and emotion actually staving off the sense of terrifying madness from Infinity that felt like it would strip him of all individual identity if he allowed it too deep without proper anchoring.

The blue river threatened at its edges with the quiet persistence of something that did not experience urgency because it did not experience anything at all, simply existing as potential that consumed whatever consciousness touched it without malice and without mercy.

But he allowed Mansa Nguna to do what she wanted at this moment.

She controlled the Infinity and Observable Force to flow into the bones of his fingers with precision that spoke of having performed this exact procedure countless times on beings whose foundations she understood thoroughly.

Her golden instruments guided the rivers through channels she had opened during his Engineering, directing the combined authority toward the skeletal structure of his right hand with the focused intention of someone who knew exactly what transformation she was attempting to produce.

Achilles felt the coldness arrive first.

A chilly regal authority converged on his finger bones.

Observable Force followed immediately after, golden warmth threading through the blue chill in patterns that complemented rather than opposed it, the two rivers flowing into his hand unceasingly under the control of a Gilded One who had done this enough times to make it look effortless.

The rivers continued flowing.

And continued.

Until.

BOOM!

His finger bones became tens of times grander in the span of a single breath, the transformation completing with suddenness that made even his transformed Primordial Architect physiology register shock at what it now contained.

They shone with crystalline blue and gold light that radiated through his skin, the bones of his right hand entirely rewritten into something that bore the same relationship to what they had been previously that stars bear to candles.

Information crystallized before his awareness.

|Transformation Complete: Proterozoic Bones- Right Hand Fingers.| 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

|Classification: Second Scale Physical Foundation.|

|Density and complexity increased by currently unquantifiable factor.|

|The crystalline blue and gold structure of Proterozoic Bones carries the authority of Infinity and Observable Force as passive properties rather than activated techniques.|

|Attacking with your finger bones alone, without exerting any additional authority, will impose the pressure and power of Infinity and Observable Force upon any target contacted.|

|Assessment: This transformation represents the foundational physical restructuring that distinguishes Second Scale entities from those of THE First Scale. Proterozoic Bones and Proterozoic Organs collectively form the physical architecture capable of containing and wielding Proterozoic authority without structural degradation.|

...!

Achilles gazed at the fingers of his right hand with shining eyes as they truly looked radiant, crystalline light playing through his skin with every slight movement as the transformed bones communicated their new nature through sheer presence.

This was only his fingers.

If he could transform all his bones and organs, every skeletal structure and every organ rewritten into Proterozoic equivalents capable of containing Second Scale authority without degrading, what would that make him? Was this how those truly powerful at THE Second Scale advanced past the initial threshold of crossing from THE First Scale? Was this the physical foundation that allowed Proterozoic entities to wield Infinity without tearing themselves apart?

As he looked at all this, he was reminded that the transformation had only happened so fast because a Gilded One was involved. The rivers she had directed with such precision and control would have taken him a long time to replicate independently.

He raised his eyes to look at her.

She blinked lazily while looking at him with the expression of someone who had already mentally moved on to the next item on her agenda.

"What? That was a freebie, little one."

Her lazy smile arrived with the finality of a door closing.

"I could sit here and likely help you transform all your bones and organs, but why would I? You have received your Engineering and your demonstration. Haha, I have already done quite a lot as it is. You can leave now."

...!

At such words, Achilles’s mind buzzed with hidden coldness and brutality that his exterior did not allow to surface by even a fraction.

He thought about all the moves he could make right now. He could choose to walk away from this Gilded One and transform all his bones and organs slowly on his own, building up his Observable Force and Infinity tolerance through patient cultivation that would eventually produce the same results Mansa Nguna had achieved in minutes.

He likely would not encounter another Gilded One again for a while, given that his access to this facility had been a prize rather than a standard arrangement. Days, months, years could pass before another opportunity presented itself.

But if he took a tremendously dangerous risk.

His existence burned with conviction as he made the decision before he had finished calculating its full implications, because some decisions required commitment before analysis could talk them out of existence.

He stayed.

"I actually have a unique power that might be tremendously useful for you and your work."

...!

Oh?

Mansa Nguna blinked lazily before registering that he was serious, her gold eyes sharpening slightly with the quality of someone shifting from dismissal to assessment. Something moved behind her expression that he could not immediately categorize, and then she frowned with the particular expression of someone activating a contingency rather than expressing genuine displeasure.

"Activate Engineering Protocol."

HUUM!

She exerted a thread of her Pride as if activating a switch she had installed and tested and trusted across eons of use, the hidden Engineering within him responding to her command with the immediacy of something designed to be reliable above all other qualities.

Achilles felt what she wanted to do and followed it, causing his eyes to dim as though the light of independent thought was withdrawing from them, his head bowing down slightly with the precise degree of submission the Engineering would have produced if it had actually taken hold rather than been consumed and integrated into his own foundations.

She asked with the confidence of someone who had no reason to doubt the system she was operating.

"What unique power were you talking about?"

Achilles replied in a voice stripped of inflection, robotic with performed compliance while beneath it his consciousness remained entirely cold and entirely his own, watching this gambit unfold from behind the performance with the calculating attention of someone who understood exactly how dangerous what he was attempting actually was.

"I have the capability to meld and integrate authority to be one with existence. It is why my Pride is so amplified, as I inherently integrated Observable Force into my existence during my Engineering. I was offering to integrate Observable Force into you so completely as to make you more powerful, in exchange for being allowed your graceful presence and continued help, ma’am."

...!

Achilles nearly vomited while forcing himself to say this.

But at this moment he was making a play that existed so far beyond the category of risky that most beings would have dismissed the idea entirely the moment it formed. Because the thought that had crystallized behind that robotic performance was not simply about earning more time with a Gilded One.

What if he could infuse the Observable Force from his Inner Dominion, that self-generating golden authority that had begun producing itself within his Realms at rates unprecedented for beings at THE First Scale, fill it with silent spores of his existence woven so deeply into the currents that they would be indistinguishable from the Observable Force itself, and begin working toward controlling a Gilded One?

BOOM!

A terrifying idea.

A terrifying risk.

But Achilles had never let terror stop him from doing what needed to be done, and what needed to be done right now was transforming every bone and every organ in his existence into Proterozoic equivalents before he walked out of this laboratory.

Whatever the cost of attempting it!