When I took my sight off of Kris, I let out a sharp breath. I knew that there would likely be some strange event that led to the people of my world developing the psionic powers I selected for them, but I didn’t imagine that it would be something like that. The only reason I even noticed Kris was that Terra sent me a message suggesting that I keep an eye on him for a little while.
It had to be known that the merkin were the original psionics of my world. They evolved with an innate ability of telepathy, which allowed them to communicate beyond the boundary of language. However, this ability had been largely underutilized due to their short attention spans hindering them from learning how best to use what they had.
When I saw the young merkin girl giving Kris her bead, I ran a quick check on both her and the bead. The bead itself was little more than a psychic marker, something that she could use to focus her power on and act as an extension of herself. In the hands of anyone whose mana had not evolved with an innate ability, I doubted that it would have any significant effect.
The girl, however, was another matter. The Psychic Song achievement she possessed amplified her innate power to the scale of an entire race. Her telepathy was as strong as every merkin in the world combined, allowing her to use it to essentially scan the entire world passively. It was so strong that it placed a severe burden on her body and mind, causing her health to rapidly deteriorate.
Due to her age, she was unable to fully process everything that she was learning, which led to her subconscious creating a second personality that spoke to her. That personality fed her tips based on what she should have known herself, such as helping her choose a successor, or the danger that awaited him.
Even what she was able to personally process was enough that it forced her to mature at a rapid rate. It was only her lack of personal experiences that left her unable to make the judgement herself as to whether or not the world was ready for this power.
By a similar line of logic, Kris now possessed the song, fully unlocking his own psionic power. As he is a halfling, that is the power of invisibility. And, if I had to guess, the fact that he is the direct host of the achievement meant that his invisibility was far above normal standards. I would have to test it out personally, but there was a good chance that he would be undetectable by anything short of my World Sight, or the system’s monitoring itself.
Thinking about it, that was likely one of the reasons that she chose to bestow that power to a halfling in the first place. If she had some sort of sense as to what ability they would obtain, a halfling’s invisibility would undoubtedly be the safest choice to boost to that level. Had she selected a human, and their telekinesis been boosted to hold the power of an entire race… it wouldn’t be out of the question for them to move planets with their mind.
In truth, the current matter was not out of my control. The achievement stated that it would trigger upon his death. If I arranged for him to die, or simply smote him on the spot, the song would trigger and unlock the psychic powers of everyone. And, if I was reading into this right, it would have a lasting effect, echoing itself whenever those affected individuals went to a new world.
The only way to truly contain such a power would be to place Kris within an isolated universe, and kill him there. Without anyone for the song to spread to, it should simply dissipate. Thankfully, squashing that achievement was not something that I wanted to do.
At the same time, I did not want to expedite his death. The idea of selecting successors like this… I wasn’t against it. As this was what the system chose, to allow my people themselves to be the trigger for their evolution, I wanted to see where this went. In the worst case scenario, the achievement would be transferred to someone that used it for evil.
If that did happen, the world would have the means to rise up against them with their current power. Even if a pyrokinetic became capable of wielding the flames of the sun, they would not be invincible in the world. And when such an individual was killed, they would inevitably trigger the release of the achievement anyways.
As I thought this over, I found myself quite looking forward to how this would unfold. One thing was for sure, however. The merkin would definitely not fall back into the shadows, now that they had made their debut onto the world market. Their civilization had at last developed to the point where they could stand on the world stage, if only as a more primitive people compared to the rest.
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“So… this is the place.” A golden figure spoke as he stood within the empty void of space, his eyes staring at a distortion not far away from him. Without extraordinary senses, it would be impossible to notice that the space was distorted, as the only giveaway was the subtle shifting of where stars seemed to be when looking through it.
However, this man had long since been aware of the distortion, and had merely been biding his time to settle matters in his homeland before making this trip himself. As he was currently, there was no longer any need to delay, for he had achieved his primary goal.
“Let’s be off, then, and see what awaits us. They managed to drive back the Head, after all.” As he said that, he stretched one mechanical hand out towards the distortion, focusing on it with his divine senses. If I can store this distortion, then it will be a simple matter to travel between the two realms.
As that thought flashed past his mind, he clenched his fist. A large, golden field manifested around the distortion, wrapping tightly around it and forcing it to shrink smaller and smaller. Such an exertion would naturally cause a drain to his divine power, but he had been building his reserves long enough to handle it.
Once the distortion had become as small as the palm of his hand, he moved it towards his chest. The golden chestplate opened up, revealing a small row of shelves, most of which were currently empty. After choosing a spot at random, the golden god placed the distortion on one such shelf, feeling it connect with his being.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Connected to him in a similar manner, there was only one other item that graced those shelves with its presence. This item was a small, metal sphere, one still showing signs of movement and life. A planet shrunken down to the size of a toy, so that he could carry it with him wherever he went.
It was at both times his home, as well as his personal forge and prized possession. At any moment, he could call on the forces of this planet, releasing them into the world to wreak havoc. And while they were stored, they would naturally continue to worship their god, supplying him with a steady stream of power.
Seeing how the distortion settled into its new home nicely, the golem deity waved a hand, exerting the power of the distortion to pull him through to the other dimension. Once there, his eyes scanned the stars, charting his current position by comparing what he saw with the memories he acquired from the Head. “I see… this way, then?” He muttered to himself, turning and flying off into the distance.
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Phisher’s eyes shot open, a cold sweat dripping down his face as he shot awake. As a god, he did not truly need to sleep, but that did not stop him from doing so. This was more than a mere habit, it was a personal request from the goddess that he served. She hoped that he might once again trigger his special characteristic, allowing him to live another future.
He sat up within his bed, looking for a calendar so that he could find the current year and date. Sadly, his ability to live through the future was not so convenient that he could identify when it was happening until after the fact. And the only way to know that… was when he died and inexplicably woke up.
Fifteen days? Is that all? He gasped in disbelief when he saw the current date, comparing it to his memory. Closing his eyes, he focused intently on a prayer. Oh Goddess of Life, I beseech you to answer my call. I have once more glimpsed the passage of fate, and seen a disaster approaching on the horizon.
There was barely a moment’s pause before Udona’s voice answered him. What is the nature of this disaster, and how long do we have? She knew that, while Phisher’s prophecies were not guaranteed, they had to at least be taken seriously. Failure to do so would be irresponsible of her both as a queen and a goddess.
The return of the golems. However, this time, they brought but one god. A god capable of negating any attack sent his way, and even turning them back on the attacker. I fought him personally when he arrived, but my blade was unable to even touch his body. Instead, I found myself suddenly dying at his hand… Should this fate hold true, he will be here in fifteen days.
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Udona jolted to attention when she heard the news from Phisher. She had expected the time to be measured in years, as it had been before, not barely two weeks. Within her bedroom in the Admin Room, she began pacing back and forth. “Calli, you there?” She called out loud, sending her voice to its intended recipient.
“Yup, I’m all ears!” A voice spoke up from her door, which abruptly opened to reveal a cheery dog girl with black hair. Accalia was wearing a loose blue shirt and black pants, looking as if she had just come back from a run. “What’cha need, sis?”
When Accalia saw how worried Udona appeared, she walked over to sit on her bed, lightly patting it for Udona to join her. “If it’s got you this worked up, it must be serious, right? Did James try to push for normalizing the nine-tails program again?”
“Huh? No, well, yes, but not that.” Udona shook her head, doing her best to collect her thoughts while she sat down next to her sister goddess. “The golems, the clockwork ones. Do they have a god? I know you’re the one in charge of assigning that, and I haven’t really been paying attention to them for a while. I’d ask Tubrock, but he pretty much gave up on that race when they decided it was easier to consume than cooperate.”
“Golems…” Accalia crossed her arms, thinking it over. “Well, the Metong have their new Goddess of Heat. The March has the God of Communication. Clockwork… ah! I remember! Boy, that was ages ago. Yeah, their leader became the God of Storage a while back. He was another guy aiming to be the God of Kings, or the God of Power, but I’m not going to give some megalomaniac that kind of domain. I just gave him Storage, instead, because it was the most compatible for him that wasn’t… well, that.”
Udona nodded her head, taking a moment to consider matters. “Phisher just got back to me, telling me that he was on his way to Deckan, and would be there in just over two weeks. Apparently, he has the ability to nullify attacks directed against him and send them back to their attackers. Phisher is a powerful combat god, but couldn’t defeat him. What can you tell me?”
Accalia blinked at that, and a blue haze seemed to appear in her eyes. Udona wasn’t worried, aware that this was Accalia reviewing the highlights of the man’s life to determine what kind of power he wielded. “Oh… well, that’s certainly one way of using it. Next time, I’ll just make someone like that the God of Blankets or something…”
Shaking her head, Accalia looked towards Udona. “His power isn’t unbeatable, but it’s a bad match for that Phisher guy. Basically, he has a barrier around him that automatically absorbs and stores incoming attacks. In order to defeat him, you’ll need to use an ability that bypasses that barrier, or use something that can negate it. Think you can handle that, or should we call the boss?”
Udona thought it over for a moment, weighing her options. “Not Dale… but why don’t we call in Aurivy? This seems like a good test for Sanctum. A force that could threaten to destroy a core world… that’s why she created that place, right?”
Accalia gave a knowing grin when she heard that. “Well, there is that, and also because she didn’t want to be homeless with her little crush.”
Udona’s cheeks went slightly red at that thought, causing Accalia to laugh. “Hey, she’s the Goddess of Love. If you think she’ll spend an extended period of time with anyone and not develop feelings for them, you haven’t spent enough time with her yourself! Besides… I think it’s good for her. Having someone she cares about keeps her grounded in the world, and lets her think about things on a more personal level… that’s how it was with you and the former queens, right?”
Udona hesitated before nodding her head slightly, admitting it. Accalia was right. While Udona had never harbored romantic feelings for the queens of old, she had been very close with them. And, that closeness had allowed her to see the world as more than just a project that she was helping with. She was able to live, and truly feel like she was living because of those friends of hers. Not just the queens, either… the gaming friends that she had made over the years, whose bones had long since turned to dust in the wind.
All of those people helped shape Udona into who she currently was. And, if not for having people like that, she might not be able to process the danger that her people were in if this golem made his appearance unchecked. “Yeah… would you mind letting her know? There’s someone I want to visit…”
“Going to Jonas’s place again?” Accalia asked with a small smile, and Udona nodded her head as she stood. “Tell her that we all hope she’s doing well. I’ll take care of things here.”