I couldn’t help but furrow my brows as I thought more and more about the new Heaven’s Gate ability that I had unlocked. No matter how I looked at it, it was… incredibly inefficient. Yes, I could use it on people like Tsubaki and the others to let them come to the Admin Room as they wished. However, compared to the cost of simply recreating them as Companions and giving them their domains back, it was around a hundred times more expensive to do it this way.
Not only that, but it didn’t grant ‘true’ immortality. They could still die in the mortal world. There had to be some kind of benefit. Some reason to justify the expense. Off the top of my head, I could think of three possibilities.
The first possibility was if they were able to access Heaven’s Gate during an invasion, allowing them to be a liaison to the Admin Room and get information from the Companions there. This was the most unlikely of the three possibilities, as I couldn’t imagine the system letting me have an easy way to cheat like that even if it did cost ten thousand points per individual. I wouldn’t believe something like that was possible unless the cost was as high as one million per person.
The second possibility was that the individual was able to maintain their full power, even if the world was reset. So, for instance, if I reset Earth for some reason, I could still have Tsubaki with all of her abilities and divine domains. This one seemed to be the most plausible answer to me, but came with its own risks. Using the previous example, I would have a mortal god in a freshly reset world, which might immediately push me to the first rank.
The final possibility was somewhat related to the second. That was the idea that they might be able to use their powers regardless of the ‘laws’ of the world that they were in. So, Dana might be able to use runic or geometric magic in Spica, or use stellar magic on Earth. Though, using stellar magic would still require some alterations, as she wouldn’t be able to pull all of the energies she needed from the atmosphere.
Regardless, those were my three theories about why this new perk would cost so much. I couldn’t believe that it would really be as simple as giving a mortal limited Companion privileges. So… which is it? I asked after sending my theories to Terra.
Hmm… definitely not one. I’d say a mix of two and three, but there’s also something extra~. She said in a teasing voice.
Are you going to tell me what it is? Even my thoughts carried an exasperated tone in the face of her teasing, though she only laughed lightly in response.
Life Insurance. Terra said simply. The perk is called Heaven’s Gate for a reason. If something happens to one who can open Heaven’s Gate, they will automatically be converted into a Companion within the Administration Room. In a sense, it becomes their new afterlife.
My eyes went wide at that, nodding my head. That alone wouldn’t be enough to justify spending a hundred times as many points as turning them into a Companion in the first place, but when it was combined with the ability to maintain their power level and profile across different worlds… It was definitely worth the expense.
With that in mind, I went through making a mental list of people that I wanted to convert like this. Obviously, the members of the Sky Citadel were a must. Aurivy would never forgive me if she found out that I could do something like this and didn’t make the offer for Julia. I could feasibly make the offer to Aznod as well, since he and Udona seem to be growing close. It would certainly stop her from losing another friend like the former Queen of Deckan.
James… no, he was still not someone I could target with the system, not until we made a lot more headway in Fyor. And without James, there wasn’t much point in using this on his research team. As I was thinking that, I blinked, sending off a quick message.
Tryval, do you have a moment? I’d like to ask your opinion on something.
Of course, sir. Tryval’s response was as prompt and polite as ever. What may I do for you?
Actually, I think it’s more about what I can do for you. I said, briefly explaining the Heaven’s Gate system to him. If there was anyone that had earned a special slot for that ability, it was him. I was wondering if you would like me to give one spot to Alme.
There was an almost uncharacteristically long pause from Tryval as he processed that information. I’ll… ask her opinion. However, I believe that she will agree to it.
Let me know what she says. I told him with a small smile, closing my eyes and focusing on creating my divine circuits again. Now that I had a basic plan in mind, I needed to see it through to the end.
Unsurprisingly, it was only about ten minutes before Tryval reported back, saying that Alme would happily accept the Heaven’s Gate. And, after another hour, I managed to establish the three basic nodes of my circuit. Once I did so, I realized that I could continue, making other nodes for domains that I was able to access either through my Keeper powers or through my subordinate deities.
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To start with, I created nodes for the four domains that I was currently receiving from Lifre and Tsubaki. Ever since she became a Companion, Scarlet was no longer considered my subordinate deity, so I couldn’t get hers through that channel.
For each of these subordinate nodes, I accessed one of their domains briefly, turning it into its own node, and then deactivated the domain. When the domain was inactive, the node was dark. Afterwards, I began tentatively making nodes for other domains, testing if I could have more than nine domain nodes. However, I soon ran into a problem.
The standard design for a Divine Circuit was two-dimensional, like a proper circuit board. If I kept adding in domains like this, I would be making it harder on myself to establish the proper paths for divine abilities. Thus, I began experimenting.
Thankfully, I found that I was able to have more than nine domain nodes, as long as no more than nine were active at a time. However, I had to treat my divinity more like a three-dimensional array rather than a flat plane. Only in doing so was I able to add in more and more nodes.
Naturally, I had no intention of adding in every single domain available to me. Only those that, for whatever reason, I would find myself using more often than the others. Those that I would take the time to properly figure out powers for.
Once I was done with that, and had taken my time recreating all of my most frequently used divine ability through my circuits, I let out a long sigh of relief. Looking at the time, it had been one full day since I began my training, so it was time to descend.
Aurivy, Udona, Tryval. If the three of you are free, please meet me in the Sky Citadel. I whispered them, before feeling a warm light wrap around me. A moment later, I was once again sitting upon the throne of the citadel, Tsubaki kneeling at the base of the stairs.
I couldn’t help but give a small smile when I saw that, thinking that she wouldn’t have to do such a thing for much longer. “Please gather the other three.” I told her, and she quickly looked up at me, nodding her head.
“Have you finished your training?” She asked in a hopeful tone, to which I nodded in response. “Congratulations, my Keeper.” I could tell from her surface thoughts that she expected this gathering to be about teaching the method of the Divine Circuits, though she was inwardly confused why Dana and Gerard were needed for that.
Regardless, she gathered the three of them as requested, with Aurivy, Udona, and Tryval all appearing in the throne room around the same time. Tryval had a hopeful look on his face, while the other two looked rather confused about why they were all called.
“Ready for me to move the citadel back to Earth?” Aurivy asked, seeming to guess my intentions. Though, that would obviously not explain the need for Tryval. Udona, perhaps she was needed to disseminate the information about Divine Circuits, but why Tryval? I didn’t need to be able to read her mind to see those thoughts flashing by her head.
“Not just yet.” I said with a shake of my head. “After this victory, I received two new abilities as a Keeper. The first was to make a Fallen Deity equivalent to the Greater Pantheon. For the moment, I have no immediate plans of doing so, though that may change in time.”
“The second ability is why I gathered you all here. This ability is known as Heaven’s Gate. When I use this, it will allow a single mortal to have the ability to freely come and go to the place where the Greater Pantheon resides.” Immediately, there were three intense, burning gazes fixed on me, causing me to grin. Aurivy and Tsubaki, I expected, but even Udona had locked onto me with a similar gaze.
“This ability is not cheap, and costs ten thousand points per person. However, upon doing so the mortal in question will receive a number of boons. First of all, you will be able to use any power that you have learned in any world, regardless of the local world laws. You could use geometric magic in Fragments of Acidia, or runic magic in Lorek. Secondly, should the worst happen, you will automatically be converted into the same type of being as the Greater Pantheon. However, at that time, you will lose the previously mentioned boon.”
Both Tsubaki and Udona’s tails were rapidly swaying back and forth, clearly excited about the reveal of this information. “Tsubaki, Dana, Gerard, Lifre. As you have all been serving me directly, I would offer this to each of you.”
“Of course, my Keeper.” Tsubaki lowered her head, trying to hide the wide smile from her face. “I would gratefully accept this honor.”
Dana simply smirked. “If she’s in, I’m in. I guess this means that we won’t need to worry about your long absences anymore.”
Lifre blinked, looking around. “Sounds like it could be fun! Besides, I want to know what it’s like where you live! I bet it’s an even more awesome castle than this!” Aurivy gave a somewhat wry smile at her words.
Gerard seemed to think it over for a moment, nodding her head. “I accept this honor, Keeper.” I could see that he was already thinking about the types of experiments he could do if he was able to directly work with Ryone.
After saying that, I turned to look at the other three. “I have already spoken with Tryval privately, and we have come to an agreement that Alme would be allowed entry. Now, I would like to ask the two of you. Aurivy, I know that you and Julia are incredibly close. If you--”
“She’ll agree!” Aurivy spoke up, interrupting me with a wide grin. “You don’t have to go through the big speech. Trust me, she’ll agree.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at that, turning to Udona. “And Aznod?”
Udona bit her lip briefly, before nodding her head. “I’ll talk to him, but I’m pretty sure that he will agree, as well.”
I let out a relieved sigh when I heard that, nodding my head. “Okay, the two of you go and talk with them. Once you have their answers, let me know. I’m going to return and take care of this with these five.” After saying that, I closed my eyes, returning to the Admin Room.
Once there, I accessed the system, and spent fifty-thousand points to grant the ‘keys’ to Heaven’s Gate to Alme, Tsubaki, Dana, Lifre, and Gerard. After doing so, I felt that there was an option to choose where the gate connected to. I could either choose to have it go to different places for each individual, or a single entrance for all of them.
Given the situation, I decided to give them all the same entrance, that being a new door created along the hall. I didn’t want to make it the front door, just in case that meant that they’d leave the Admin Room any time they tried to leave the house.
Shortly after the door was created, I could see it opening, Lifre jumping through. “We’re here~!” She cried out, before looking around and blinking. “It’s a lot smaller than I thought it’d be.”