World Keeper

I knew that it was outrageous of me to ask Lifre to participate in Chelsea’s experiments like that. However, the fact of the matter was that we needed a pinnacle combat power within Olympus. While Lifre was incredibly strong, and may even be able to contend with Origins if she used her stream personas well, it would be incredibly difficult for her to be able to kill an Origin outright.

Given that we were likely to be gaining ‘wild Origins’ soon, I had to take this step to prepare in advance. The alternative would be to go to the Admin Room and simply pause time for a month, but that was ultimately unacceptable. After all, the next match had already been decided after I sent Tsubaki and the others to Sanction’s world.

My next match would be another defense against a Keeper whose name I didn’t recognize. Once I had things taken care of, I’d ask Sarah and the others for information. Hopefully, this Keeper would be a friendly one, so I wouldn’t have to worry about another big invasion, but I still needed to prepare just in case.

As I thought about that, I extended my senses outwards, sweeping over the nearby Earth…

A human researcher with red hair walked down a silver hallway, entering a large lab with numerous terminals all running simultaneous simulations. “Progress report.” He called out, looking at the other assembled researchers.

“Project Origin is at ninety-five percent completion.” Another human reported back, a smile on his face. “We’ll be ready for initial trials within three days. Have you secured the volunteer, sir?”

The first researcher gave a small nod. In truth, they weren’t expecting that this first trial would succeed. Like Chelsea had done, they planned to use educational streams in order to safely simulate the ascension process. In this way, it was only a matter of recording the information that was obtained during the test, and tweaking it as needed.

Soon, we will have cracked the code for this final stage of evolution. The researcher thought to himself happily. He was well aware that Chelsea had already perfected this technology. However, unlike other technologies that the Another World Research Group developed, they showed no intention of releasing it to the public. Normally, even if they developed a massive evolution for one’s life, that research group would have announced it to the public and shared their results.

This monopoly that had been going on for a century was unusual to say the least. There were only a few reasons why they would do so that the man could think of. First, they had yet to create a way to safely automate the process, and were waiting until such a time to do so. Secondly, the dangers upon failing the ascension would be catastrophic to bystanders. If that were the case, it would be normal for Olympus to prevent them from sharing the technology.

Third, there could be a problem with the Origins themselves, something that fundamentally prevented them from being able to mass produce such powerful entities. Unfortunately, there was too little known about Origins at this time, so this was merely conjecture. Finally, the last option was that the Origins themselves were so strong that they were worried that no one would be able to stand up to them if one went out of control.

Each of these reasons seemed entirely plausible, and it could have even been a mix of all four. The thought that the research group was simply being greedy didn’t even enter his mind, given how many contributions they had freely made to the outside world in their history. It would be one thing if their management had changed over the years, but the core of the team had always remained constant since before its official founding.

Thankfully, they had managed to acquire the assistance of a rather reputable god for their ascension experiments, so they were unconcerned with the idea that the subject would run rampant after gaining power. That said, there was still the slight chance, so they of course sent a brief report to Olympus to summarize the progress of their research, as well as the identity of their future subject.

Such a report was by no means mandatory, but it was for the best for everyone involved if they were to take such steps on their own. After all, they were by no means the only group that was actively working on this. Some of the groups were bound to be less generous than they were, so this was a form of insurance.

James led Lifre through the halls of the research lab, glancing over at the happily skipping slime girl. “According to what little we could learn from Terra, you’ll need three Saint-level energies to pair with your three domains. Have you already taken that into consideration?”

Lifre tilted her head slightly, a wide smile still on her face despite her words. “Nope! I’ve got World Sight, but that’s it! I’ll be counting on you to help me get a couple more that fit me!”

James let out a low sigh, shaking his head. “Alright, what sort of energy types do you want? Going by normal Origins, you’ll still retain the use of these energies after you ascend, so choose carefully.”

Lifre tapped her chin thoughtfully, looking up at the ceiling. “I want one energy that can enhance allies, and one that can debuff my enemies. Got anything like that, chief?”

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James’s brow twitched, but he thought about it. “Those are rather specialized energies. Are you sure that you don’t want one energy that can do both?”

However, to his surprise, Lifre shook her head. “Nope! Want ‘em separate! Saves me having to pick another energy, and the more specialized an energy is, the more potent it should be at what it does, right?” She asked, to which James could only offer a small nod.

“In that case, let me look through the database.” He said as he led her into a room with numerous devices. “Before we can begin the experiments, you’ll need to meet the basic requirements. That means all three steps to perfection, three domains, and three Saint-level energies. Thankfully, the only part of that we need to worry about for you now is the last one.”

Lifre nodded quickly, running over and hopping on the large, metal chair in the center of the room, atop a circular platform. “I leave myself in your hands!”

Within the void, there were naturally monsters drawn to the massive tree which supported the various worlds. They flocked forward in all shapes and sizes, wanting to feast on the bounty of information laid out before them.

As they approached the tree, a single vine whipped out, slicing one of the monsters apart. Despite this, others were undeterred, continuing to move forward, as if in a trance. Even as more and more of them were killed over time, they never stopped gathering. After all, this was the biggest ‘food’ that they could find, outside of cannibalizing one another.

In the end, this led to a rather peculiar formation around the base of the tree. Near the roots, where the energy of the void was being absorbed, Aznod established a void farm, just out of reach of the vine above. This farm collected a few roaming void beasts that seemed useful to domesticate, and raised them in a territory that Aznod himself established.

The void golems created by Tubrock helped him to manage this farm, as they were the ones who would ultimately receive its bounty. As the farm stretched out further with the addition of new inhabitants, it almost looked like a city within the void, surrounding a massive tree.

Of course, it wasn’t entirely peaceful. The allure of the various worlds above would inevitably cause some of the monsters gathered to float up, wanting to take a ‘bite’. These monsters were met with the cruel strike of the defensive vines, shattered upon approach.

Deep within the darkness of space, a lone woman sat on an uninhabited asteroid, drifting through space. She looked down at her own body in interest, feeling as if something had shifted.

This woman was the former researcher who had once been possessed by the head researcher of the fallen golem race. She had always been kept in check by a binding power, one that would ensure her destruction if she ever sought to cause any harm to the people of this realm.

Due to this binding power, she had removed herself from society as much as possible, since such a binding was rather vague. It would be all too easy for a random action to cause such harm and trigger it, especially if she continued to act as a researcher.

Now, however, that binding had disappeared. She had been feeling it fade away for nearly a century at this point, slowly weakening over time. Now, the last fragments of that power had finally broken away.

The woman, once named Cynthia Hill, stood up atop the asteroid with wide eyes. Although the head of research had not been aware of the identity of the Origin of Fate at the time, such news eventually found its way to her. There is no way that Terra was slain, as a member of the Greater Pantheon. Does this mean that I am finally free to do as I wish?

Cynthia waved a hand, conjuring the divinity that she had honed over her long isolation as the God of Machines. If that’s the case, I shouldn’t waste any time. As an unknown god, my energy reserves are extremely limited.

Despite knowing this, she had been in isolation long enough to stock up quite a bit. It would just take a long time to replenish that energy once spent, unless she obtained a reliable source of faith. And the easiest way to do that would be to create her own followers.

Thankfully, Cynthia was intimately familiar with the construction of the Geer. It only took her a few moments to completely remodel her entire body into the familiar form of the clockwork golem. Afterwards, she flew off from the asteroid, seeking a new planet to colonize with the long-lost race.

Her search only lasted for a few hours, before she came across a world rich in various minerals. Most importantly, as this was the Metong’s universe, it was incredibly rich in Dimensium, a primary material in most Geer constructions.

Cynthia’s divinity erupted, gathering and constructing the necessary components to build a large factory. Her lens-like eyes shined brightly, watching the factory come to life and begin assembling the first of the new Geer race.

Of course, even without the binding from the Origin of Fate, Cynthia knew better than to take things too far. History had proven time and time again what would happen if a hostile race like theirs rose to power and fought against the ‘chosen races’. They would, quite simply, be annihilated once again. And this time, there would be no hope for the future.

Cynthia was well aware that she was not even close to the top of the power scale anymore. At one point, her ability to instantly fabricate fourth-tier spells as the head of research was something astonishing. Now, there were several people in various worlds that could do similar things, and many gods that could perform even more powerful feats. Not to mention the Origins and their nearly limitless potential.

Thus, Cynthia needed to make sure that the Geer did not behave as warlike as before, to prevent them from walking to a new demise. Even so, it was now possible to return them once again to the world stage. Using her powers, it would only take a few days to fully colonize this world. And from there, they would be able to rapidly spread among the stars.

The Geer will rise again, I’ll make sure of it.