In truth, the only real preparation left to make on my end was to allow the assembly lines in both Deckan and Lorek to create more and more vessels to get ready for the eventual war that I’d be facing. Given that the enemy likely used void-manufacturing and cloned troops, their production rate would no doubt vastly exceed my own once they were able to establish their base camp.
In this way, the best case scenario for me would be if the enemy fleet spawned in directly next to one of my planets. If that was the case, I might lose quite a lot of people, but I could guarantee that the fleet would be dealt with swiftly. The further they were away, the harder it would be to find their traces.
Perhaps the worst case scenario for me would be if they appeared near the Gears. Although that planet is by no means weak, it is not currently connected to any other world in any form of travel network. Furthermore, its exact location within its universe is unknown, so I wouldn’t be able to find them quickly.
It would turn into an event where the enemy forces were able to integrate with the technology of the golems without allowing me to find their home base before it was too late. If such a thing happened, this would likely turn into a drawn-out war with me relying on getting a defense ticket or some lucky advancement to save the day.
As I thought about that, I watched the world accelerate once more. WIthin Lorek, the explored map was gradually becoming more and more complete. Floating cities had carried expedition groups all across the world, working to map out their massive planet. As Lorek was a size seven world, its basic planets were on par with a normal star in a world like Desbar.
That is to say, Lorek itself has a diameter of over a million kilometers. The actual stars in such a world are far more exaggerated, which leads to the ample production of energy suited for cultivation.
These floating cities quickly became the safest place for people to settle across the entire world, but there was no way that everyone could be moved to them, right? Doing so would simply be abandoning the planet itself to live in the skies. Instead, the special formations from the floating planets were installed in various established cities, allowing them to enjoy similar protections as the spacefaring travelers.
By the time that I was done fast-forwarding, nearly a thousand years had passed in Lorek, and twenty years had passed everywhere else. With this, the various fleets had been given ample time to complete their preparations, so it was time for me to descend to the world myself.
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“Are you sure he’s coming today?” Dana asked as she stood with Tsubaki inside the throne room, looking at the unmoving body of the Keeper. He had been in that same position for decades now, seeming more like a statue than an all-powerful ruler.
Tsubaki, however, nodded her head. “Lady Ryone informed me that he would be making his descent, so it should be accurate.” The nine-tailed goddess was quite eager to see the Keeper returning to this world once again, though she knew that this descent would mark the countdown before their galactic war. “How are things going on your end?”
Dana puffed her lips out indignantly. “Fyor’s been asking for help, still. They haven’t figured out the mechanism behind how the twenty-sixth floor works, so their progress is still halted there.”
Tsubaki furrowed her brow, finding that rather difficult to believe. Regardless, the level cap in that world had not risen yet, so she was still unable to reach there without the use of a dimensional gate. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the proper coordinates to safely land in that layer.
As she was thinking about that, she felt a faint flicker in the energy around her. Immediately, her back straightened, her eyes focusing forward. “My Keeper, you’ve returned.” She responded in a proud tone, as if to announce his arrival.
Blinking, Dana looked over, seeing the Keeper slowly tilting his head side to side, as if he were flexing a stiff neck. Naturally, she had sensed the energy fluctuation as well, but Tsubaki was far faster to respond in such a situation. “Welcome back, boss!” She shouted as well, nodding her head.
“Thanks, you two.” The Keeper said, slowly standing up. Despite the many years that he had spent in his motionless state, there was not a speck of dust on him. As for the cause… well, Tsubaki is a very diligent maid. “Is everything prepared on this end?”
Tsubaki knew what he was referring to, quickly nodding her head. “Fleets have been posted across all inhabited planets, including newly settled worlds. If the enemy appears within our territory, we will act to quickly exterminate them.”
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to give the Sky Citadel an upgrade like that.” Dana chuckled, shaking her head regretfully. “Tubrock said that we would need to completely rebuild the citadel if we want it to have a similar standard for travel and offensive ability.”
“That’s fine.” The Keeper nodded his head. “The Sky Citadel was only ever meant to be an icon and a home. It’s nothing more than a seat of power at this point.”
Tsubaki lowered her head, letting out a resigned sigh. “I apologize, my Keeper. If we were able to retain more of the representatives from the various races here, perhaps the citadel would still carry a greater purpose to this day.”
The Keeper simply smiled. “There’s nothing to apologize for. It’s only natural that they stopped living here when they were unable to fulfill their own wishes. Besides, thanks to that, this place has become important as an exclusive home for the three of us. Although the option is still present for the races to appoint representatives, I doubt any of them still remember this fact.”
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Tsubaki simply offered a small nod, accepting his words. “Then, my Keeper, what is the first thing that you wish to do now that you are back?”
The Keeper turned pensive at that, seeming to go over his options. “There’s still the chance that the enemy will appear with a ground assault instead of a galactic fleet. Although the chances are a lot lower for that to happen, it would be best not to publicize my return until after the possibility has been ruled out.”
“With that in mind, I was thinking of running some simple skill experiments. You girls have already registered most of your skills in the system by now, correct?” He asked curiously, drawing a puzzled look from the two.
“I have registered some simple skills such as cleaning, as well as a few battle-oriented skills that I was having difficulty training.” Tsubaki admitted, while Dana chuckled.
“I did a control skill for my World’s Shadow, and a skill to help me assemble magic faster. Oh, also one to help my typing speed so that I could work more efficiently.”
When the Keeper heard that, his eye twitched slightly. He let out a faint sigh, holding a hand up. “Display Skill, Soul of the Keeper.” He said aloud, and a message appeared in front of both Tsubaki and Dana.
Soul of the Keeper(Passive, Unique): You are the Keeper, the only one in the world! Congratulations! Your soul holds the greatest power of every type belonging to your system! Keeper Skills system has been unlocked!
“M-My Keeper.” Tsubaki’s eyes went wide as she read the skill. “Does this mean what I think it does?”
The Keeper gave a brief nod. “With the Keeper Skills system, I have access to any skill that has been registered. Of course, it still relies on my understanding of the skill to perform any tasks related directly to knowledge. Things like recipes, or specific techniques aren’t available unless I know roughly how to use them.”
“Understood.” Tsubaki focused, having her avatars rush to various training rooms so that they could begin registering more skills, such as her martial arts. “I was not aware that this system included such an added bonus.”
“More like an added cheat.” Dana chuckled playfully. “Does that mean you can use that Geometric Spell Construction skill to quickly piece together high-tier spells?”
The Keeper seemed to think about it for a moment, before nodding his head. He turned his palm facing upwards, and dazzling blue light danced within it. Dana could see numerous different strands forming complex structures, every bit on par with her own assembly speed. Within thirty seconds, the model of the spell was complete, ready to activate at a moment’s notice.
“If the leader of that golem force was still around, it might be a little faster. His specialty was rapidly constructing spells like this.” Dana gave another pout when she heard that, before her eyes gained a new gleam.
“Oh, right! I wanted to let you know that I’ve been researching magical intelligences. You know, like Ana, but better. I’m planning to make a true fourth-tier spell lifeform, sooner or later.”
The Keeper blinked at that revelation, before nodding his head. “I’m… actually curious to see what that would look like. I heard a long time ago that fourth-tier magic was capable of taking on a life of its own, so I know that it is comparable to artificial intelligences like Blank. However, I’ve yet to see a spell in this world that was designed in such a way.”
Tsubaki spoke up, her concentration still split from registering numerous skills. “That is normal, my Keeper. Although the fourth-tier array information has now been circulating in the cultivation worlds for some time, they are not accustomed to the concepts of artificial intelligence, and would not pursue such a direction.”
“As for the worlds with our standard geometric magic, the full details of fourth-tier magic have not yet been released. Without receiving any aid in this regard, it would naturally be impossible for anyone outside of Dana or myself to use geometric magic to create an intelligence. Doing so with runes is even less likely, as fourth-tier runes are far more abstract and difficult to decipher, akin to learning a language without a proper guide to reference.”
“The only other alternative would be to use card magic in the same way that you created Ana. However, even that is hard to accomplish due to limited resources. Fourth-tier spells require a high creation fee, so only a large corporation would have the funds to do so, regardless on whether they could find the proper formula or not.”
Hearing her explanation, the Keeper appeared to understand and agree with her. “In that case, I hope to see some good results from Dana. In the meantime, Aurivy asked me to have you take down your Divine Registry, if you had not yet done so when I descended.”
Tsubaki paused, before letting out a long sigh. “She appeared before me fifteen years ago with the same request. Fret not, my Keeper, the task has long-since been accomplished. As things stand now, the fear of a rogue god is less and less of an issue compared to the past.”
“Right? Even I could kill a weaker god if I wanted to.” Dana said proudly, flexing her small arm.
The Keeper, meanwhile, simply chuckled. “I’m quite sure you could kill some of the strongest mortal gods if you went all out, Dana. I’ve seen you fight up close, remember?”
Dana stuck her tongue out playfully at that, but did not refute his statement. Tsubaki knew that it was the truth. If either of the two of them used their scepters and tomes, it was not a difficult task to slay gods, unless they had particularly difficult domains to deal with.
“That reminds me, my Keeper. One of the Sylvan trees appeared on Earth last month.” When the Keeper heard that, he turned to look at her in surprise.
“They’ve spread to Earth, now? It wasn’t in a populated area, was it?”
Tsubaki shook her head. “From the reports I received, two sylvans were sent through a shrine of Aurivy, and appeared in the human country of Bihena. However, they left immediately after, and flew out to a remote island in the sea. Six days later, the tree could be seen from the mainland, but the island that they chose was too small to host such a forest.”
“Since the report was odd, I went to investigate. I found that the sylvan who had transformed into the tree was named Leraje of the Sea, and so they had decided that they wished to establish a forest within a small island, to see if they could grow an aquatic subspecies.”
The Keeper quickly understood. The sylvans were a race evolved from the plants of Spica that had been transplanted to Sorii. Any living thing originating from Spica had a natural trait that allowed it to adapt rapidly to environmental changes. There were even aquatic elves living within the oceans of Spica, so an aquatic Sylvan race did not seem to come as any surprise.