Getting the people moved into the new cities was actually the easy part. The biggest challenge of advancing Fyor in this way was actually exploring the territory around each city, adapting to the planet itself. Especially for the thirty-second, thirty-fourth, and thirty-fifth floors which had extreme environments. For these floors, exploration was highly discouraged unless one possessed abilities or items that allowed them to mitigate the dangers of the environment.
Granted, offsetting environmental hazards were easy for a god, but gods were still the minority, even among Maxers. For this reason, many Maxers began to seek out the methods that they had previously avoided, such as forging their divinity. Some played Fragments of Acidia, hoping to complete one of the many challenges that would award a player a domain, and others began cultivating in Lorek.
There were even Maxers that began to pray to Aurivy or Bihena to guide them on the path to godhood, willingly becoming their subordinate deities. Within three years, over eighty-percent of Maxers had taken the step to become gods.
At the same time, high-level challengers from other worlds began to filter their way into Fyor, taking advantage of the increased level cap to begin exploring on their own. For these people, they were less concerned about the environmental hazards due to having a wider array of skills than the extremely focused adventurers.
However, Fyor was not the only world to go through a major revolution at that time. Around the same time, a group of individuals among the mages of Kione began to advance in their studies of how to empower familiars. These spells ranged anywhere from the first tier to the fourth, and allowed a mage with a familiar to fight on even ground with one who specialized in other systems.
Perhaps the biggest change, though, came from the centaurs of Sher Dien. Following the efforts of their Eternal Queen, the centaurs began to integrate with the other worlds more openly. The research that they had always kept to themselves was gradually shared and used to better the standard of life for all worlds. When combined with the powers of Dimensium from Deckan, however, this research gave a rather unexpected bonus.
The research teams studying these combinations soon found that Dimensium was extremely compatible with the planar magic of Sher Dien. This went beyond simply making teleportation cards, though that was indeed one application. Dimensium could stabilize dimensional rifts, allowing for portals to be freely created. If they wished to, they could add extra safeguards to these portals, making them more akin to windows than doors in order to prevent any hazardous entities from coming through.
As the research advanced planet-side, it was only natural that such advancements reached the ships flying through space as well. The older ships continued their missions, finding new lands and settling down, while new ships began to appear. These ships combined all of the most recent advancements, capable of shuttling between worlds and combatting divine foes.
In total, it took nearly fifteen years for this wave of advancement to reach its peak. In that time, the Sky Citadel seemed to enter a lull, with only a cursory response given to any inquiries. Most people saw this as a good thing, as it meant that there was no need for the Keeper or his servants to personally act.
During these nearly fifteen years, the universal economy had long since stabilized. Those who had trouble getting used to the divine coins gradually adapted, and the old tokens were completely phased out, now kept as nothing more than collector items.
There was… one significant event that occurred at the end of this nearly fifteen year lull. An event so big that even the Sky Citadel was forced to take action. Whether they were the gods of the Greater Pantheon, the Maxers of Fyor, residents of Sanctum, Immortals of Lorek, even many common folk began to congregate for this event.
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“How do I look?” Irena asked with a small smile, wearing a white dress that hugged her frame, the back open to allow her wings to move freely. Next to her, Terra and Ryone were wearing similar dresses, all seeming quite excited.
“Beautiful as always.” I responded, grinning. “Come on, we’d better get going. We don’t want to be late.”
The four of us were not in the Admin Room, but rather in the Sky Citadel, hovering above the world of Deckan. “Still, it’s a surprise that he chose to stay in the mortal world all this time.” Ryone shook her head with a knowing grin.
“I mean, not really.” Terra laughed as we began walking down the hall, making our way to the courtyard. “He wouldn’t want someone to overtake him, and he is quite loyal to his job.”
“I suppose.” Ryone admitted faintly. “It did buy him more time, though.”
As soon as we exited into the courtyard, we jumped from the ledge and descended down to the palace below, where the ceremony would be held. Even the gods already gathered made way for us, especially when we saw the main characters of today’s event.
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Udona stood at the far end of the room, her cheeks lightly flushed as she wore a long, white dress. Next to her, wearing a black and white suit, was none other than her royal chef, Aznod. After spending fifteen years together, the duo had deepened their relationship.
More importantly, the last line of resistance for Udona to truly become attached to someone crumbled when Aznod gained access to the Heaven’s Gate. Now, even if the unthinkable happened, he would always be able to remain at her side.
Thus, it was only a matter of time before a formal engagement was announced. The only reason that it had even taken this long was because Udona wanted to wait until we had stopped fast forwarding again. Now that we were done, the ceremony had been scheduled for just a few days after the flow of time returned to normal.
“Has the maid of honor shown up yet?” I asked, looking around. Udona looked almost nervous when she heard that, shaking her head.
“She said that she’d be here in time, but the ceremony is going to start soon.” As soon as Udona said that, a shadow was cast over the palace, even larger than the Sky Citadel itself.
Looking upwards, one could see a far larger island hovering in the sky, large enough to fit an entire city. From that city, a long finger rushed down, white dress fluttering in the wind. Udona’s eyes lit up at the sight, watching through the window as the figure flew to the entrance of the palace. “Sorry, it took a while to get here.” The figure said with a grin. “I’m not late, am I?”
“Right on time, Brie.” Udona responded happily. “I was starting to get worried, though.”
“Well, imagine how I felt when I heard that you of all people were getting married.” Brie responded with a faint grin, moving to take her spot next to Udona.
“Trust me, it almost didn’t happen.” Udona rolled her eyes with a groan, smirking towards Aznod. “I practically had to twist his arm to get him to agree.”
Realizing that he was being called out, Aznod simply cleared his throat. “I didn’t want to make any problems for you.”
“Problems?” Udona arched her brow. “If someone wants to come cause problems for me because I got married, let them. I’ll see who has the courage.”
Aznod let out a somewhat dry chuckle at that. It was clear that he wasn’t concerned about the problems being too much for Udona to handle. Rather, he was surprisingly shy when it came to that final step, thinking that he wasn’t worthy of the honor.
“Alright, everyone, settle down!” Aurivy’s booming voice spoke up from the front of the hall, standing there in a pink dress that flowed down to her ankles. “For those that can’t make it into the hall, Ryone will be projecting the scene to the outside, and Ashley has it transmitting across the other worlds. Don’t go crowding them and getting in the way!”
Several individuals backed up a few steps at that, including myself. The only ones to remain near Aznod and Udona were Aurivy, who was handling the ceremony just as she did when it was my own wedding, and Brie, who was Udona’s maid of honor. It didn’t seem like Aznod had chosen a best man or anything like that, as he stood alone on his side of the aisle.
As I thought about that, I heard heavy footsteps, turning my head to see Tubrock walking up to them. At first, I was shocked at the thought that Tubrock might have been Aznod’s best man, as I just couldn’t put that image together in my head. However, seeing the small box he was carrying, it was clear that he wasn’t the best man, but the ring bearer. Still, seeing how tight the black suit hugged his muscular frame was almost comical.
“Okay, everyone’s here!” Aurivy grinned broadly. “Thank you all for showing up for this wonderful occasion, where we join these two individuals in the most holy of matrimonies. Udona, the God-Queen of Deckan, you have ruled this land for so long, and guided it longer still before. Your name echoes among the heavens, your legacy visible to all.”
“Aznod, though your time in this palace may not be considered long in comparison, you have captured the heart of this Goddess. Through loyalty and love, you have conquered that which many believed to be an impossible goal.”
“Should there be any who see fit to deny this couple their union, speak now so that I may have an easy target.” Aurivy smirked, clenching her fist threateningly. “Otherwise… Tubrock?” She gestured, and the redheaded dwarf stepped forward, opening the velvet box in his hands.
The two rings inside were quite clearly made of divine gold, and engraved with an almost ephemeral silver. “Aye, just as ye asked.” He said with a satisfied smile, Aznod reaching in to take one of the rings. Udona’s face lit up, holding her hand out for him.
“Udona…” The struggle not to add ‘Lady’ to the front of her name was almost visible for him. “You gave me the chance to enter your service, and for that I am eternally grateful. More still, you gave me the chance to enter your heart, and for that I will never be able to repay you. Will you allow me to remain by your side, as all the years pass us by?”
“After saying that, you had best believe I’m not letting you go…” Udona muttered, though her voice was still caught by the projections. Aznod simply smiled, slipping the ring onto her finger. Afterwards, Udona took the other ring, holding Aznod’s hand in her own.
“Aznod… I’ve always tried my best to connect with the lives of my people. I’ve played many a role over the years, but never once have I played the role of a wife. Never has a man stolen my heart so thoroughly, and never again will it repeat. This heart of mine belongs to you, should you choose to accept it.”
Aznod’s smile grew wider at her words, nodding his head. Udona slipped the second ring onto his finger, both rings shining with a faint golden light. “In that case, I now pronounce you, Queen and King Consort. For crying out loud, kiss the bride already!”
Aznod blinked at Aurivy’s sudden declaration, his cheeks going rosy at the command. Udona rolled her eyes, reaching over and pulling him in. Clearly, she had been waiting for this for a long time, unwilling to release him even when they were being shown to billions of people. After several long moments, Udona pulled back, her face bright red. However, there was no denying the ear-splitting grin covering her face.