Chapter 16: Chapter 15 – [Doomsday Meteor]

A rock is never late, nor is it ever early.

Because rocks do not count the years. They do not take note of the time. But… there were numbers that the rock cared about. Mass. Diameter. Velocity.

From those three, most other things followed. The rock had a simple philosophy: If it encountered a problem, it would strive to increase those three numbers, and usually, the problem would be solved.

It had worked this far.

And so, as the rock finally arrived at the [Doomsday Meteor], after a long age spent in travel, it took note of the numbers.

It knew how fast it was approaching the other. It knew how fast the other was growing in its sight. It could estimate things. Running a patient calculation in its mind, the rock estimated the [Doomsday Meteor].

It was about... 10 000 meters wide, and assuming it was as dense as our hero, it would probably weigh around 1 361 356 816 555 580 kilograms. A simple calculation for our rock. And a clear result.

It was... quite a bit bigger than the rock.

But—the bigger rock had no spark. As it cast out with its [Cultivator] senses, our hero saw that there was no will guiding the [Doomsday Meteor] forward, just the iron grip of gravity.

Did it feel disappointed? Maybe. Perhaps the rock had hoped to encounter someone of its kin finally. What would that meeting be like?

The closest it had ever gotten was the earth elemental, but that had been a construct of magic controlling rock, not a true rock itself.

A cousin at best.

So, when it saw that the giant meteor had no spark, the rock did not exactly feel saddened, because it did not know what it had lost. But any potential hope was extinguished, and a journey of anticipation was turned to normalcy.

Things remained the same.

But still, the rock did not rush to battle its larger kin, it did not rush to destroy it. Nor did it try to absorb it into its asteroid swarm, or to turn it off course using its gravity abilities.

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No—for a while, the rock just watched. And thought. It remembered the people of flesh, who piloted the metal shells from within. A smaller thing, controlling a bigger thing.

And the rock had an idea.

The system had forbidden it from absorbing new mass directly, forcing it to grow through levels alone. But our hero was not one to follow convention and regulation when a more straightforward path was presented.

First—it experimented.

The rock stopped the three concentric rings of asteroids around it, pausing that eternal dance for a brief moment. Then it painted a deep well of gravity on its own position, a deep hole, and sat down at the very bottom.

And the other rocks started falling in. Gathering. Collecting.

Until the rock was covered by a vast layer of stone, extending its size hundredfold. And it felt… right. Like something that made sense.

But as it moved, the shell shifted too, following along like a loose blanket of pebbles.

Not an iron shield.

The rock realized that composed of single bits like that, it was too fragile of a thing, not like the ironforged suits of the fleshy things. But…

Once more it observed the giant meteor ahead. That one would do very well indeed.

And so the rock finally accelerated forward, flying towards that craggy exterior. But it did not speed too much, it moved slowly.

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