World Keeper

Chapter 1176: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

The next few days were… okay, they were annoying, I have to be honest. About once every minute, I’d get a notification that Fyor’s main planet had been integrated with another planet within Fyor’s universe. According to Aurivy, there were a total of exactly ten thousand planets that had been established with their own mana spires. While this seemed incredibly small for the number of possibly habitable planets within an entire galaxy, each planet itself was the size of an entire galaxy.

In total, it took one week for Tsubaki to finish integrating all ten thousand planets. That was one week of non-stop system notifications, to the point where I was desperately looking for an option to mute the messages. I could only imagine that I wasn’t alone, and that the residents of Fyor were also likely suffering from this.

However, once the messages were done, a long-awaited calm fell over us. I knew as soon as we were able to reach the surface of Fyor that we would be able to claim the other worlds without any issue regarding our rank. According to Aurivy, there did exist some monsters in the cosmos of Fyor that were theoretically capable of slaughtering an Origin.

For instance, there was one creature, which resembled an utterly massive dragon, one so large that it would make the King from the last invasion look like an ant in comparison. Aurivy named this creature the Chronos Dragon, as she said that it consumed time. It swept across numerous worlds, ravaging their surfaces until there was naught but the black shell protecting the inner layer. Anything unlucky enough to cross its path vanished from this world.

If an Origin were to be caught by this creature with their main body, I was certain that there was nothing that could be done to save it. There were other, similarly devastating creatures as well, but only those on such an ‘apex predator’ level were capable of freely traveling the space of Fyor. Anything weaker would be treated as prey for these super-monsters.

Part of me considered using this Chronos Dragon as an invasion force for when I *really* wanted another Keeper to die. Like, if I were to face off against the Keeper that had forced Kathy to reset. However, doing so would come with substantial risks. Although this monster was incredibly formidable, and capable of annihilating entire galaxies in moments, that did not mean that it was unstoppable.

It could kill an Origin, surely, but at the same time, an Origin would probably be able to kill it. And if that happened, and the creature’s corpse were to be left in another Keeper’s domain where it could be studied, its powers replicated… that seemed like too great of a risk for something that had at most a slim chance of success in the stage that I was on.

As I was thinking about all of this, the door to my office opened, and Tsubaki stepped inside. “I have returned, my Keeper.”

I gave Tsubaki a small nod, smiling at her. “You’ve been busy. I’m sure both you and Lena will appreciate some time to relax.”

Tsubaki hesitated at that, and I knew that ‘relaxing’ wasn’t something that came easy to her, even now. “First, I would like to make a report. I have gathered some data during my time integrating the various worlds, and I wish to share it now.”

I arched a brow, but nodded my head to signal for her to continue. “First, I have noticed that each ‘Core’ world has between one and four races that coexist within their central layer. Presumably, some of these cores would have had one race kill another in a war in their history, but I did not have the time to confirm this with each case.”

“Additionally, there were no repeating races within the central cores. For instance, there were no other races that seemed to be a match for either humans or halflings. Although there were races that shared similarities, none of them were close enough that I would say that they shared a common origin.”

“Next, among the ten thousand cores, there were only ten in which the primary race or races did not rely on a physical body. In these cases, the race was either naturally made of energy, had evolved beyond the mortal shell, or in one case… in one case, the residing race appeared to use an external energy core that was shaped into their body. Their physical form served as the internal core of their being, while they projected an energy body to interact with the world around them.”

I blinked in surprise, nodding my head once again. “Sounds interesting. Is there anything else?”

“There is.” Tsubaki continued. “Among the ten thousand cores, there were two in which the central core was left in ruins. I can only surmise that their races fell to war. Also, while I was gathering the integration orbs, I was having Lady Aurivy check how far each race had gone in their respective world.”

“Of the worlds I visited, the highest floor achieved by any race was the forty-second floor. This belonged to one of the energy-based races, and it seems that they have discovered a method to attain godhood. However, with their progress being only in the low forties, it is hard to say that they will reach the surface in the foreseeable future without any outside intervention.”

“Interesting.” I said with a smile. “Did any races seem to notice you acquiring the integration orbs?”

Tsubaki smiled at that, shaking her head. “They did not, my Keeper. I acted with the utmost discretion. Aside from the first race, which was already studying their orb, none of the other races even had time to register the presence of a new orb in their core floor. As things stand now, we are free to conduct diplomatic relations with any race we deem appropriate, and will be able to introduce ourselves to them in any way we see fit.”

That was somewhat terrifying, come to think of it. Just like we had approached so many races until now in Fyor, introducing ourselves as travelers of a distant land, untouched by the natives… Now, the people who had been doing that to various races would be the ones that would be subject to such an introduction themselves.

That being said, I would prefer to handle these introductions in a carefully controlled manner, though I knew that wasn’t a realistic goal. If we put a ban on people using the new teleportation system of Fyor’s spire, there would be criminals who would go out of their way to break that ban, traveling to a new world and taking over before the proper delegation could arrive. That, or committing crimes to purposely make the residents of that world hate the delegates that would come in the future.

The only way to prevent something like that would be to have someone like Aurivy or Terra constantly watching over all one hundred layers of Fyor’s mana spire in order to prevent them from being accessed. Which honestly went against my general method of handling matters.

As I thought of that, an idea popped into my head, and I couldn’t help but smile. “I would like you to assign Thelsa and her shadow legion to be in charge of handling the introduction for these new worlds. She needs to visit the new worlds anyways to complete her shadow, and she has the manpower needed to handle multiple diplomatic teams at the same time.”

Before Tsubaki could speak up, I continued, leaning back in my seat. “Also, arrange for her to get a device that can cleanse memetic influences in a wide range. If we don’t have one available, Leowynn should be able to make it as an artifact. Thelsa’s shadow world is connected to mine and Dana’s, so if it is overrun by memetic influences, that indirectly puts me at risk of the same.”

Tsubaki’s eyes widened at that, and quickly nodded her head. “I will see to it immediately, my Keeper. At this time, I would not be surprised if Petra is climbing the floors to integrate the rest of Fyor. According to Dana’s report, there are some floors infested with memetic powers, so I will have to stop her before she gets there.” As soon as she said that, she stood up, looking eager to get moving. “Is there anything else you need of me, my Keeper?”

I shook my head, gesturing for her to go and do what needed to be done.

“This is so much easier with an elevator.” Petra laughed, spreading her shadow out on the seventy-seventh floor of Fyor, which was incredibly easy since light seemed to not exist within this space. “If I knew that this was a thing earlier, I wouldn’t have been so worried about us being the pioneers for every new floor.”

Prior to coming to the new floors, the shadows had first gone to lower floors that they hadn’t been able to capture in the past for one reason or another, which was why it had taken them so long to get this far.

Once the shadow was fully incorporated, Petra turned back to enter the elevator again. However, before they could choose a new destination, golden mist arose behind them, startling both Petra and Thelsa.

When the mist cleared, Tsubaki was standing there with an urgent look on her face. “Thelsa Whitefallow, Petra Carna.” She greeted, the two bowing their heads at her.

“What can we do for the Keeper, Lady Tsubaki?” Thelsa asked curiously.

“In a way, my Keeper has sent me to protect you from yourselves, as well as assigning a task to you.” She answered, confusing the duo. “Thankfully, you have not yet gone too far with your exploration. On the eighty-eighth floor of this world, the entire landscape is a memetic monstrosity. If you were to reach that floor in your current state, your shadow world would become contaminated, and may even leak over into the shadow world of my Keeper.”

Thelsa and Petra both stiffened at that. They hadn’t considered the landscape itself becoming tainted. However, Petra became despondent a moment later. “Does that mean that it’s not possible to complete the shadow world?” She asked, but Tsubaki shook her head.

“It is, but you will need a special device.” After saying that, she held out her hand, conjuring a small, golden sphere. “My Keeper tasked Ladies Leowynn and Ryone  to jointly create this for the two of you. It is a device fueled by mana. Once activated, it converts the mana and releases a blast of divine energy that severs all void ties in the area, cutting off the source of memetic effects. The greater the mana supplied, the wider the range of influence.” Tsubaki didn’t feel the need to mention that Ryone had simply been present when she went to talk to Leowynn about this, and had offered to pitch in to help.

Thelsa blinked, thinking about these instructions. “In other words, we need to use this whenever we reach a new floor, connecting it with the mana spire, and it will purify the memetic influences?” She asked, to which Tsubaki immediately confirmed.

“That is correct. However, because it will exhaust the mana supply, this means that you will need to wait to leave the affected floor until the mana spire has recovered enough to support the elevator function.”

Thelsa hesitated. “That will make things difficult. Even if it only took fifteen minutes for enough mana to be restored to do this, there are ten thousand planets, each with one hundred floors. If we were to use this artifact on every floor as a precaution, it would take decades to finish our shadow world. And that is assuming that we worked constantly, with no breaks for any reason.”

Hearing this, Petra’s eyes went wide. She certainly did not want to spend the next several decades on such a monotonous task. However, Tsubaki shook her head. “There should be very few layers among the various worlds where such things would pose a problem. My advice would be to train a legion of shadows specialized in safely detecting memetic influences over a wide area. With your capabilities, it should not be difficult. Then you need only activate the artifact on the floors in which they report such influence. Which brings me to the task the Keeper has for you.”

“My Keeper wishes you to put your shadows to work. Currently, you are the only one capable of organizing a massive amount of manpower on very little notice for a cohesive cause within Fyor. My Keeper has asked that you be put in charge of handling diplomatic introductions to the other planets of Fyor’s domain. You may utilize your shadows for this cause in any manner that you see fit. Doing so will also allow you to more easily complete your shadow.”

Thelsa’s eyes went wide as she heard the mission being given to her, before a bitter smile came across her lips. “He really doesn’t assign easy missions, does he?” She asked, calculating how many shadows she would need in order to meet with all of the different worlds in a short timeframe, as well as the roles necessary for each meeting.