Having James back in action was, honestly, a huge relief to me. Even if he had to play catch-up a bit with the research that he missed in the last few decades, I was confident that he would be up to the task. It may take him some time, but he would once again become the most famous researcher of Deckan.
Leaning back in my seat, I directed my gaze to the world barrier of the lifeless world. The cracks along it were constantly expanding, and I was able to see for the first time the chaos that was unleashed on a dying world.
Entire galaxies were fading from existence, planets and stars dissolving into darkness that spread across the cosmos. And leading the destruction were the two pitch black attacks that James had launched, gradually diminishing as they tore through space.
Outside, within the vast void, monsters arrived and began to claw at the gaps, feeding on the energy that was being leaked out of the dying world. Some of them even directly evolved on the spot, their bodies growing larger and more grotesque.
In total, it took six hours for the world to be completely destroyed. However, when it had finished this process, I saw Leowynn appear on the screen confronting the army of void monsters. In her hand was a black sword with white specks that seemed to shimmer like starlight.
“Why is she there?” I asked aloud, my eyes widening. Moreover, I could see that Leowynn’s expression was extremely serious. She swung her sword, actively utilizing the Absurdity of Fate style to slash at her opponents. From what I could see, this style was especially effective when fighting in the void.
Every now and then, her body became a blur, accelerating to dodge the bites, claws, and tendrils of the void monsters. Whenever she appeared again, one of the creatures would be cut in half. Compared to when she first fought the ‘wave shark’ void monster, she was now able to release far more strength with less effort.
Watching her body blur back and forth between the monster army, part of me felt that this was a demonstration. As if she knew that I was watching, and wanted to show me what a void battle really looked like. That, however, was only a small feeling, and I knew that there had to be more to it than that.
Next to me, Chel shook her head in confusion, also unsure why Leowynn was fighting so desperately to eliminate these monsters. The two of us watched the scene, trying to guess her motives every time she cleaved off a monster’s head or crushed one with a backwards swing.
When she had slain the last of the monsters, she looked around and waved her hand, causing a brief disturbance in the void. As if she had dispersed something that was lingering in that place. Only then did she disappear, and we heard a relieved sigh coming from behind us.
I turned around, looking at Leowynn, and arched a brow. “Mind explaining that?” I asked, and Leowynn blinked in surprise.
“Ah, you were watching? I thought you would have focused on James after they left.” She said with a faint chuckle, before walking around the couch to sit down next to me.
Okay, so it wasn’t a show. I thought to myself, keeping my eyes focused on her and waiting for an explanation.
Leowynn simply shrugged her shoulders, as if there was nothing to keep secret. “I was monitoring the structure of those void monsters as they ate the collapsing world. This was the first time that it had happened, so I wanted to make sure that I witnessed the full process, as Goddess of the Void.”
“What I saw was… most of those void beasts obtained a special modifier to their rules. This modifier could be summarized as ‘Apocalypse’. In one way or another, their powers had grown to the point that they would be able to threaten the existence of whatever world they attached themselves to.”
Chel and I immediately looked at one another in surprise, finding the description strikingly familiar. “So… that’s how RagnaRocker cultivates his void monsters? He has them feast on dying worlds?”
Leowynn blinked again, before nodding her head. “It’s possible. Some of them also obtained other modifiers from that world, such as basic geometric magic or ‘Lifeless’. With those, it depended more on compatibility than anything else. From my observation, a void monster that participates in the destruction of a world will gain the ‘Apocalypse’ modifier, as I called it. They may also obtain special features of that world as modifiers to their rules.”
“To use a historic example, if the water shark from back then had the ‘Lifeless’ rule, it could eliminate all life that existed within water. All fish in every planet, even the merkin, would die at the same time because they were touched by this rule. Combining that with the ‘Apocalypse’ modifier, and it would extend to weather patterns. Anything, plant or animal, touched by snow or rain would similarly fall dead.”
I couldn’t help but shudder when I heard that. “Okay… no more making worlds like that anymore.”
“But wait.” Chelsea held up a hand. “What about all of those worlds that got destroyed by the void generator tests?”
Leowynn had a small smile on her face, shaking her head. “James was careful. As part of the experiments, he made sure that the worlds spawned at preset coordinates, where they would be enveloped by already-established void shields. Because of this, void beasts weren’t able to take advantage of the moment when the worlds were destroyed. Otherwise, it is entirely possible that one might have feasted on the concept of your void generator, granting them a limitless reserve of energy.”
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“...Noted.” Chel nodded her head slightly. Though, a moment later, she blinked, suddenly turning to look at me. “We’re idiots.”
“Buh?” I replied, quite intelligently.
“We’re idiots. That new vote that went through recently. You could assign a fund to me, and I could create lifeless worlds like that one to use for the void generators.”
I couldn’t help but blink in surprise at this idea. It… sounded like it could work. Back when those experiments had begun, we hadn’t even considered the idea of a lifeless world yet. “Is it still a necessary concern?” I asked, glancing back to the screen, hesitant after hearing the potential dangers.
Chel seemed to catch my meaning, and nodded her head. “If one of those generators malfunctions in the future, we’ll be back in this mess all over again. James has the energy to get rid of karma now, but we’ll still need to create another lifeless world for him to break. If the world is already lifeless, though, there is no risk even with a critical failure.”
“In my opinion, it would be better to safely decommission the current generators and re-establish them in lifeless worlds where there is no risk of a negative karma backlash. Especially because… at this point, most people in the various worlds are benefiting from the energy provided by these generators. If there was a karmic backlash, it wouldn’t just target James this time.”
Well, that was certainly enough to convince me. I nodded my head, thinking about the subject as well. “If I give you these funds, would you be able to create custom-built worlds to increase the productivity of the generator? For instance, something like an Amplified Energy modifier that increased the conversion rates of energies.”
Chel blinked, but shook her head a moment later. “I won’t know that until I know how many points I have for my funds, and get the chance to look at the market.”
I glanced over at my current balance, and created a new Companion account for Chel with fifty thousand points in it. This was a large sum, enough that it made her eyes go wide, but at the same time, this would solve a lot of our future problems. “This isn’t just for creating these worlds. This is your research fund. If you need any new technologies, you can pull from this fund. If you want, you can even create a world to act as a manufacturing point for your research group.”
Chel nodded her head firmly, clenching her fists as she heard that. “Alright! I’ll do my best.”
----------------------------------------
James was in the midst of tidying up his office, sweeping away all the dust that had gathered, when Chelsea suddenly threw open the door, startling him. “Is everything okay, Chel?” He asked in alarm, looking at the petite kitsune.
“You need to send the deactivation signal to the new void generators.” Chel said in a firm tone, surprising James even further. Because it was tied to his karma, James had never given control of the generators to anyone else. Only he had the power to decommission the power plants.
“I… can do that, but can I ask why? I checked when I got here, and they were still functioning normally.” In truth, James had been worried that those generators would have gone critical thanks to his karma, but Chel had explained that the system spheres could temporarily wipe karmic bonds like that, as long as new bonds weren’t established.
Each generator was encapsulated by one of these spheres that activated upon its launch, so the karmic bond with James was severed immediately. They just had to be careful not to directly link the generators to James himself. For that reason, they announced that the generators were jointly created by a number of unspecified research facilities.
“Because I’m not interested in Karmic Black: The Sequel.” Chel said, narrowing her eyes. “The Keeper just gave me authorization to make more lifeless worlds. I’m going to look at the options on the market to make one for us, and we’re going to make the void shielding. After that, we’ll start constructing the void generator. If we need more, I’ll make more.”
This time, James’s eyes went wide. “How many points did he give you?”
“Enough.” She answered simply, a smug grin on her face. “Now, are you going to send that signal or not?”
“Wait.” James held a hand up. “We can start decommissioning the old generators when the new ones are built. Otherwise, there will be a universal power shortage that could last months while we catch up. Also… I thought System Companions couldn’t manage their own worlds?”
Chel rolled her eyes, her grin growing wider. “Perks of not being one anymore. My Administration Room self is looking through the options now. The Keeper suggested adding in systems that would amplify energy generation, so we might be able to get away with just one or two generators. The rest of the money is for personal use. I can make a Size Zero world for us, and set it up to be our personal manufacturing lab or testing ground.”
James had always wanted a personal world for manufacturing needs, never satisfied with the old bases salvaged from Sanction’s invasion. Hearing that his wish was finally coming true, he quickly nodded his head. “He really did give you a lot. Alright, you make the world, and once our generator is up and running, I’ll shut down the old ones.”
Chel nodded her head firmly, before blinking. “Well… that’ll do.” Seeing James showing a confused expression, Chel curled her lips again. “Unsurprisingly, we’re not the first ones to need to use a world for this. My other self just found a package of energy conversion modifiers. Each one costs a thousand points, and can increase the energy conversion efficiency from one energy type to another.”
“For instance, from ‘mundane’ energy like electrical or solar to mana, or from mana to ki, or from void to mana.” Chel’s eyes were slightly unfocused, her attention diverted to her Admin Room self. “For double efficiency, it’s one hundred points per modifier in the package. For five times efficiency, it’s one thousand points. Ten times, it’s ten thousand points.”
James hesitated, before nodding his head. “If we get ten ‘void to mana conversion’ options at a five times modifier, that will be more than enough to replace our current energy production. Assuming that this would count for the world created by our generators.”
Chel blinked, before nodding briefly. “I’ll get a double efficiency modifier first to test that. If it works, we’ll use the bigger ones.” She suggested, to which James readily agreed.