As I followed behind Dana, I found that the two of us were going down into the basement of the Sky Citadel. Some of the rooms that we passed… I was quite certain didn’t originally exist inside the citadel Tubrock made. Which meant that they were likely added on after Tubrock’s… renovation.
The room that we ultimately entered inside was not the workshop that Dana often tinkered in, but rather a room with a large circular object mounted on the wall. Once in front of the object, Dana held up her scepter, mana flashing and triggering the enchantment on the device. A large portal appeared, encompassing the entire wall.
I was just about to step forward when Dana held her hand out to stop me with a smile. “From here, we always use avatars. It’s safer that way, right?”
Sure enough, Tsubaki created a clone of herself to walk through the portal, while a similar clone emerged from Dana herself. This must be part of the security measures taken from my previous suggestion. Even if something were to happen on the other side of the portals, it would only be the avatars that were destroyed.
I gave a faint nod, creating an avatar from my divine energy and sending it through the portal as well. On the other side… it took me a moment to recognize the area, only doing so through using my power as Keeper to map out the terrain. However, if I was right, it should have been the world that I acquired from the centaurs of Sher Dien when I trained their knight troops.
At least they’re putting it to good use. I thought to myself as I walked along to a nearby tower. This was the only building visible within the surroundings for at least a hundred kilometers. Its width was fifty meters, standing at least two hundred meters tall. There were no windows visible along its outer wall, and only a single door leading in from the base.
“This is our ‘World Research Center’.” Dana explained with a smile, skipping ahead happily. “We’ve been setting this place up as our testing grounds for the last few months. Everything that happens here is completely isolated from any of the other worlds. This way, we can keep it both secret and safe.”
I nodded my head at her explanation. “You said that something interesting happened with your world research?”
Dana nodded, and I saw a spiral staircase running along the wall of the tower as soon as we entered. However, that wasn’t where she walked to. Instead, she passed down a short hall to arrive in front of a room with a single window standing before a pedestal.
Looking through the window, I saw a vast ocean of rolling waves. If not for the fact that I knew there were no exterior windows in this tower, and that we were too deep inside to see one, I might have thought that we were overlooking an actual ocean.
“This is our viewing room.” Tsubaki explained as she walked up to the pedestal. “From here, we can select any of our configured worlds and create low-stability viewing portals to observe what the situation is like inside. For instance…” She placed her hand on the pedestal, and a silver sphere rose to the surface.
After rotating the sphere a few times, the view of the ocean shifted, replaced by a barren world. Tsubaki pressed down on the sphere, injecting mana into it, which seemed to allow her to control the position of the portal. The viewpoint shifted, soon showing the seven individuals that we had only just sent for their final round of training. “This is the first world that we established, and we have left it unaltered since the very beginning.”
“Show him the interesting one, Tsuba!” Dana called out impatiently from the side, causing the kitsune to let out a long sigh. Rolling the sphere again, the view changed once more.
“See, mister Keeper, we have this theory.” Dana told me with a grin. “The four pillar energies serve as the ‘parents’ of the world, carrying the natural and supernatural records of all information within that world.”
“This child world then has a chance to undergo a slight mutation like any normal child.” Dana’s eyes practically glittered as she explained her theory. “Once the mutation has occurred, the information of it is divided within the four pillar energies of the world. At that point, the ‘parents’ become more unique, and are able to pass on their information to create entirely new worlds. With every new world they make after that point, the pillar energies continue to grow and change to store the myriad of mutations.”
“You’ve been studying the Metong databases.” I muttered, shaking my head. Previously, there was nobody in the world that properly understood genetics to a degree that would let them devise that theory, even if it was a convoluted form of genetics where the parent inherited the qualities of the child.
“Maybe!” She retorted, before continuing. “Anyways, after a while, some of the pillar energies showed signs of destabilizing from being swapped too much. For the record, an altered mana sphere can no longer be used to properly cast magic, even if it’s attached to a scepter. The laws of magic seem to have changed within it, making it incompatible with our magic system.”
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“Once the energies started to destabilize, we immediately stopped swapping them, leaving them to settle in whatever configuration they had previously set. The world we’re about to see is one where both the mana and spiritual energy spheres showed signs of destabilization.”
As Dana finished her explanation, Tsubaki seemed to settle on the world that she wanted to look at. At first, it was hard to make out what I was looking at, seeing it as a swirling mist of blue and grey. Clearly, the two energies Dana mentioned had become dominant within this world. However, as the viewing portal was moved, I began to notice something.
There seemed to be shadows within the blue and grey mist, dark spots that moved irregularly, looking vaguely humanoid. They observed the portal with interest, moving closer and circling around it.
“These are…” I started, only having a vague idea of what I was looking at, before Tsubaki explained.
“Raw aeons, or at least some similar type of life-form. Creatures born from spiritual energy and mana without being guided into a specific shape. It looks like they’re looking more humanoid today… which is concerning.”
“...Why is that concerning? And why does this suddenly feel strangely ominous?”
Dana giggled lightly at my comment. “When we first saw them, they were basically shadowy tentacles. Like you can see, they are able to notice the portal, unlike other areas we’ve created. In fact, I once went into a world myself to see if I’d be able to detect it, but I couldn’t tell no matter how close Tsuba moved it to me.”
“So… they’re not only able to see the portal… but they are able to see through it, onto this side.” I couldn’t help but gulp when I heard that. “Are you certain that no energy from that side is able to make it over here?” These were beings created outside of the restrictions set by the system to limit a monster’s power. If one of these things came over, depending on how strong they were, it might immediately shove us into a higher power bracket.
This wasn’t like Fyor, after all. Without the special restrictions set by the system, these creatures would be regarded as my personal assets if they entered a world I ‘owned’. Which made me think that the world I was looking at likely didn’t count, possibly due to the fact that Dana and Tsubaki haven’t spent the time there to ‘claim’ it.
“Positive!” Dana nodded her head heavily. “We keep a special sensor on at all times. If there is any kind of energy leak detected, the viewing portal is immediately--” As she was saying that, the portal shook, before the window went black. “...that. The portal is immediately that.”
“That wasn’t a cleverly timed demonstration, was it?” I asked, glancing towards Dana, who seemed to have lost a bit of color from her face.
“No, sir, no it was not.” Dana’s head shook slowly, before turning and running out of the room.
Tsubaki’s head turned to watch Dana leaving. “She’s going to go and check on the platform where this room is stored, to make sure that there aren’t any problems.”
I thought about that for a moment, and realized it was a good idea. “For the time being, you guys shouldn’t look at this world anymore. It could cause a lot of problems if one of those things escaped.”
Although I had the thought of checking it through my own methods, that wouldn’t be entirely feasible either. First of all, as the world was currently not regarded as part of my property, I couldn’t observe it through the Keeper system. The only way remaining would be to either use my mirrors to scry, or try to investigate with world sight.
However, I didn’t want to risk either method. If they were able to detect and interact with the viewing portal that Dana and Tsubaki set up, there was a decent chance that they would be able to sense my mirrors as well. As for world sight, the chance was far lower, but still present. If they did manage to detect it, they could potentially follow it back to the source.
Tsubaki thought about that for a moment, before nodding her head. “Unfortunately, deactivating the world could cause the energies within to destabilize and erupt. With your permission, we can find a suitable, uninhabited realm to dispose of it.”
I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath and shaking my head. “As long as there aren’t any signs of an energy leak, that won’t be necessary. In the future, we might have the ability to properly deal with whatever is on the other side safely. Until then, that world should be considered off-limits. And be more careful when you are interacting with destabilized worlds like it.”
Tsubaki nodded seriously at my words. “I understand, my Keeper.”
After saying that, the two of us turned, and began walking towards the staircase leading up to the storage rooms. As Tsubaki knew the way, she led me to the room where the world we were just looking at was being stored. Inside, Dana was hastily checking a number of different enchantments, while also consulting a few devices placed along the edge of the room.
“Anything?” Tsubaki asked, walking over towards the worrying spirit, who shook her head.
“Nothing so far, Tsuba. It looks like they were only able to poke a bit of energy through because we had an active portal established. Hopefully, it shouldn’t be so easy for them to learn how to create their own portals just from that.”
Hearing Dana’s report, the two of us were relieved. At the same time, Tsubaki walked over and flipped a large switch on the wall. “The world is being removed from the active viewing list until further notice. Dana, would you mind reinforcing the room with some seals?”
Dana blinked, looking between Tsubaki and myself as she seemed to piece together the purpose being those decisions. “Ah! Got it! I’ll have this world sealed off by the end of the week!”
After thanking her, I dispersed my avatar, bringing it back to the portal room where our main bodies were standing. I had a lot to think about when it came to these created worlds. For instance… what would happen if they replaced the fourth-tier geometric magic that created the pillar energies with card magic, or runic magic?
What if they were mixed from each system? Theoretically, it was possible to direct the ‘evolution’ of the worlds, but we realistically had no way to do so. Everything seemed to be left to chance, which was frustrating!