World Keeper

Before I left for the Admin Room, I gave the ‘invasion team’ a simple mission. At this point in time, I had roughly a million points at my disposal. Buying myself a new system for the world wouldn’t benefit their invasion much, even though it could drastically change the world we live in. Thus, I told them to brainstorm amongst themselves and consult with Ryone, making a shopping list for what would truly benefit them.

This was the first time that I was taking part in an active invasion against another Keeper that I truly did not want to risk losing. While systems might not benefit them, items that they can carry with them would. If they can get some weapon, armor, or other powerful item that we can develop with these points, that would be the best case scenario.

After giving them this task, I left for the Admin Room, where I found Terra sitting on the couch, her legs pulled up against her chest. Clearly, she was still affected by the loss of the twins. “Sorry it took so long for me to come.” I said in a gentle voice, moving over to sit next to her. “How are you doing?”

Without immediately saying anything, Terra leaned over next to me, her head resting on my shoulder. “... It’s not great. They were cheeky, insolent, and hardly ever did what I actually told them. Still, I’ll miss those little gremlins.” She muttered, shaking her head.

I cracked a small smile, reaching over and wrapping my arm around her waist. “Did you know that this was going to happen?” I asked, and she gave a tiny nod.

“Yeah. Once the invasion showed up, their fate became sealed. There was no future in which they survived. Even if the Hermit wasn’t killed until after the effects of the spell wore off, the same thing would have happened the next time the spell was used on them. The lingering resonance in the void would have affected them just as much then.”

After saying that, Terra let out a long sigh. “I always thought that this might happen, if they ever became a ‘true’ Origin. The system doesn’t take kindly to people trying to exploit loopholes, remember?”

I nodded my head, rubbing my hand along her back. “Are you going to make another incarnation?” I asked, and Terra let out a snort.

“Duh. You think I’ll leave you with everyone else in the mortal world? Even if I can’t be there in my real body often, I want to keep a part of me around you.” She said, before hesitating again. “Also… because of this event, some more information was made available to me that I think you should know.”

Terra turned her head to look at me, seeing my curious expression. “It’s not just me. Any Companion who has received their power through the system won’t be able to become an Origin. Because they received their power through the system, that power is locked. That’s why all of our incarnations immediately get all of our domains as soon as they become a god.”

I couldn’t help but blink at that. “But wait, Chelsea--”

Terra smirked, cutting me off. “You never gave Chelsea her domain through the system. She gained that through her own efforts. If, for some reason, her incarnation died, her next one would not automatically become the Goddess or Origin of Security. On the other hand, Scarlet was already the Goddess of Ki when she was alive. However, rather than the ‘heaven’s gate’ treatment, she was fully slain and reincarnated as a companion, and then given her powers through the system.”

I pulled a face when I heard that. “In other words, none of the others will be able to become an Origin, either?”

“Yeah.” Terra confirmed, leaning back against the couch. “That was revealed to me when my incarnation died. If any of them tried to force their way into becoming an Origin, the same type of thing would happen to them. Figured I should let you know before you tried to have people upgrade themselves. And before you ask, no it won’t work if the god or goddess is detached from them like Irena. As long as they are marked as an incarnation, they are treated as the same being by the system.”

“Right… what if I use that Heaven’s Fall on someone? Would they be able to do it then?” I asked, and Terra paused, thinking. I hadn’t had the chance to use Heaven’s Fall yet, so I didn’t really know.

“It’s… possible. However, if you’re thinking of creating someone, use Heaven’s Fall, have them become an Origin, and then use Heaven’s Gate so that they become a Companion when they die… that’s probably not going to work. Remember that talk about loopholes?” Terra asked with a teasing smile, and I simply chuckled.

“Yeah, yeah. Though, on that subject, would it be possible to use Heaven’s Fall to make someone to send on the invasion?” I asked, and Terra thought about it for a moment before shaking her head.

“It’s possible, sure. However, it’s not cost effective. Heaven’s Fall is unreasonably expensive, and you probably couldn’t even afford to send someone on the same level as your upper tier combatants, even with all of these points at your disposal.”

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“Okay then…” I said, before looking around. “Where’s Accalia, by the way? I figured I should try to check in on her while I was here, too. She did kind of lose her entire universe in this invasion…”

Terra gave a wry smile, shaking her head. “I wouldn’t if I were you. She’s turning her frustration into motivation to train. Right now, she’s in direct control of her incarnation, and sent her to a hidden dungeon of Fyor. Pretty sure that if you visited her right now, you’d just startle her into putting a half dozen arrows into you.”

“...Okay, fair point.” I nodded with a small grunt. “Still, when she’s calmed down, let her know that she can come and talk if she ever wants to. I doubt she’ll want me to buy her a new world or anything again, but I’m always open to talk.”

“Actually… she did mention something while we were watching the invasion play out.” Terra said, tilting her head back in thought. “She wanted to follow Udona’s example, and become a proper ruler for the people she has left. Kione’s gone, but there is still the empire of the beastkin on Earth, Zoriark.” She reminded me, and I thought back with a nod.

Zoriark was technically a nation that I had helped to found in my earliest days. Originally, it was a nation that was granted to the beastkin on elven lands after they helped with one of their wars. However, over the many centuries since then, Zoriark eventually absorbed the original four beastkin nations, Terraria, Accal, Kelios, and Udonia, with their economic power. This created the Zoriark Empire, which was a collective empire for the beastkin of Earth.

“So, Accalia wants to be the God-Empress of Zoriark?” I asked, and Terra nodded her head.

“It’s not just her. Some of the others are wanting to take more of a hands-on approach to ruling. Tubrock has started making plans, as has Ryone. They’re each planning to take over Lorek and Spica respectively.”

I gave a small chuckle. “What about Keliope? With Accalia taking Zoriark, and Tubrock taking Lorek, that doesn’t leave much for her.”

Terra snorted, shaking her head with a laugh. “Can you even imagine Keliope trying to lead a nation? As soon as the topic came up, she found an excuse to leave the room.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” I smiled, continuing to rub her back. “Any big plans for your next incarnation?”

Terra thought about that for a moment, before shaking her head. “Not really. I think I’ll pick a felyn from Lorek, though. Don’t really want to wait several decades of normal time before they can head to Olympus. And, I know you’re going to do a timeskip once they make their shopping list, so I want her ready to wait for you by the time you head down.”

“Can’t really be avoided at this point.” I admitted, sighing. “Between everything that needs to be prepared, we need way more than just a few months to let them get ready. Not to mention that they need to learn as much as they can from the Monarch that was left behind, that way they can prepare themselves for anything to come.”

As I was saying that, I received a mental message from Ryone. I’ve got the first item for the shopping list. At three hundred thousand points, it’s called the World Key. It is advertised to be a device capable of unlocking most universal barriers.

I nodded my head slightly, taking note of that. For that price, it had better be pretty advanced. Still, I could see why they would want something like this, going into a world like Sanction’s. Got it. Keep me posted on if they find anything else, or change their mind. I’ll make the purchases once they’ve finished allocating their budget.

Part of me felt sorry for Chelsea and James, as I knew that anything I purchased would ultimately be left to their research group to design and develop. Thinking that, I turned to look at Terra, seeing her slightly distant gaze. “And, that look means you found someone to incarnate as.”

Terra blinked, shaking away her thoughts and looking at me. “Sorry, yeah. Found a felyn couple living in Lorek. One’s an Immortal, and the other is a high level mortal. The two of them are expecting, so I thought I’d go ahead and get started. There aren’t going to be many more suitable candidates than that.”

“Is this one an anomaly, too?” I asked curiously, but Terra simply chuckled and shook her head.

“Nowadays, basically nobody is actually born as an anomaly. They developed tests for that decades ago, and there are treatments to help an unborn fetus properly adapt to the world’s system. Most anomalies aren’t beneficial, and there’s no telling what it will be before the child is born, so they just went with the method of curing all anomalies before they could become a problem. Like, someone who is born without the ability to level up, or someone whose health is constantly capped at one point.”

“Yeah… those would definitely be bad.” I agreed, slowly standing up. “Still, I’m glad to see that you’re doing okay. Like I said about Accalia, if you ever want to talk about anything, you know how to reach me.”

As I was getting ready to descend, I felt Terra’s tail wrap around my wrist. She looked up at me with a faint pout. “Then, can you stay a bit longer? You’re waiting on them to make their list either way, right? Let’s just watch a movie or something.”

I couldn’t help but let out a small smile, sitting back down next to her and stroking a hand through her hair. “Yeah, we can do that.” I said in a gentle tone, and she smiled, leaning against my side again.

Despite her identity as a near-omniscient System Companion, and a being who oversaw all of creation for millenia, I could tell that Terra was still rather hurt by the recent loss of her incarnation. The least that I could do was spend some time with her to help her get over everything.