I spent roughly six hours training within the instance space, going in and out of it multiple times just to confirm that there was no transfer of damage between it and reality. The more I did so, the more Tsubaki seemed to become enamored with the device that Aurivy had given me. It was to the point that I had to mentally message Aurivy to ask her to send one of those to Tsubaki’s room while we were gone.
However, as I trained my various domains, I had something nagging at the back of my mind. A thought that just wouldn’t go away. After leaving the instance one last time, I sent a message to Terra. Are you free at the moment?
Always, Dale. She replied in a playful tone. What do you need?
There’s something that I feel like is long overdue, and I want to ask if it is at all possible.
There was a moment of hesitation before she spoke again. If this is about permanently combining my incarnations like Chelsea’s assistants–
Huh? I blinked, momentarily taken aback. No, nothing like that. I figured that that wouldn’t be possible until we found the proper way to create an Origin. I want to ask about fixing Clover.
Clover… the split avatar of yourself that you made way back? What’s wrong with him?
This time, it was my turn to pause briefly, considering my words. I want to completely separate him from me. That way, even if this body dies while I’m in the Admin Room, nothing will happen to him. The main tether connecting the two of us is the soul, so I thought that I should be able to completely recreate his soul with my domain, removing the connection.
I see… so that was what you meant. Terra seemed to be nodding her head, going by the sensation I got from her. You just want to confirm whether or not it will work?
That’s right. You know stuff like this the best, so I thought you’d be able to tell. It also doesn’t feel like it would be outside of the realm of knowledge you can give me.
No, you’re right. She replied quickly. This is something easy for me to answer. It’s been centuries since you had the power to do this, after all. There are even other people that do similar things in your world, creating avatars and then using various methods to build them a unique soul.
The main question for you is whether or not doing so would still list him as part of the Keeper, which is something that wouldn’t apply to others to begin with. I can confidently say that, as long as you completely remove every trace of his original soul, you will be able to sever the connection between the two of you.
I let out a sigh of relief when I heard that. Good. The only other thing to worry about if my host body dies would be making sure that Olympus wouldn’t self-destruct. Given that it is my reserve of divine energy in the shape of a planet.
Terra responded with an almost annoyed tone. Is it really necessary to think so much about your body being destroyed?
Yes, yes it is. I nodded sagely. With all of the memetic monsters appearing, the threat is greater than ever before. I’m confident that you would pull me to the Admin Room if I was in true danger, but that wouldn’t save my host.
Terra let out a long sigh. You don’t have to worry about Olympus. A battery won’t shatter just because the power goes out. It would just wait there as an ownerless mass of divinity. Plenty of time for you to reclaim it. A bunch of gods make reserve batteries, but many of them are still around, even when the god themselves are killed.
I blinked at that realization. In that case, I just need to take care of Clover, and move all of my domain books out of my shadow world. I gave a small smile when I realized that. Aurivy, can I get you to take me somewhere?
Steam filled the room as Lydia stepped out of the shower, the energy around her body rippling and forming her uniform. Her and Clover had joined the exploratory voyages venturing into deep space. Although neither of them were gods, they possessed exceptional combat power, and were thus welcome to join.
When she left the room, she saw Clover sitting at the desk in their shared room, a smile on her lips. She walked over behind him, about to say something when both of them suddenly stiffened, feeling a new presence entering the room.
Turning, the duo saw golden mist spreading in the room, revealing the form of the Keeper. It had been quite a long time since the Keeper had met with the two of them, and he seemed surprised to see them in uniforms. The duo quickly stood upright and facing him, offering a trained salute.
“Sir.” The two of them said in unison, causing the Keeper to wave his hand for them to calm down.
“You can be at ease.” He said with a smile. “It’s been a long time.” He looked at both Lydia and Clover as he said that. “I didn’t expect to find the two of you on a ship like this.”
Lydia gave a somewhat bitter smile at that. “We might not be, for long. We just arrived at the designated gathering point, and were told that our voyage has been suspended, pending an investigation and improvement in critical infrastructure.”
The Keeper nodded his head. “Memetic monsters have been discovered in deep space, and it is suspected that they will become increasingly more numerous as time passes. To counter this, we are putting new policies in place to protect the crew of these voyages. However, that’s not why I’ve come here.”
The two looked at the Keeper in confusion, before he continued to elaborate. “I’ve come to resolve the threat to Clover. This body of mine is no more than a host that I created many, many years ago. If my true body dies, it is equivalent to the death of all worlds. However, if this body dies while I am not occupying it, there is no such problem. Instead, only things which are directly linked to this body would perish.”
Lydia nodded her head, clearly already aware of all of this. “Meaning Clover. He explained what it meant for you to be the Keeper a long time ago. What do you mean that you will resolve the threat, though…?”
The Keeper offered her a small smile. “Right now, it is Clover’s soul that is tied to this body. With my current power, I have the ability to completely sever this connection by forging for him a new soul. It will be identical in every way to how he is now, with the exception that he will no longer be tied to the existence of this body.”
Clover’s eyes widened when he heard that, and Lydia looked at him in surprise, before turning to face the Keeper again. “What do you have to do?” She asked vigilantly, feeling that nothing so good could come easily.
“I have to reforge his soul.” The Keeper said in a serious tone. “I can’t guarantee that this won’t hurt, but I will try to make it as simple and painless as I can. Once his soul has been reforged, there will no longer be any direct connection between the two of us.”
Lydia looked at Clover once again, clearly seeking his opinion. Clover nodded her head, turning to look at the Keeper. “Do you want to do this here, or do we need to go somewhere else?”
The Keeper shook his head, walking over to Clover. “I don’t think I should need to say this, but just try not to resist.” He said as he closed his eyes, placing one hand on Clover’s shoulder.
Lydia took a step back, making sure that she wasn’t in the way for what was about to transpire. She saw specks of silver light appear all around Clover, weaving together to form a crystalline sphere. Then, she bit her lips, seeing a faint look of pain on Clover’s face as a matching sphere was extracted from his chest. Connected to it were thin strips of blue and red lights that trailed back into Clover’s body.
The Keeper moved the orb he had created into the path of these lights, letting them latch onto it instead. While doing so, a look of concentration appeared, both brows furrowing. Not a word was said throughout the entire process, but Lydia could see the faint glow of divinity in the Keeper’s hands.
Once the last of the lights transferred from Clover’s original soul to the newly created one, the Keeper let it slowly float back into his body. At that time, Clover no longer looked to be in pain, but rather had an expression of relief.
Meanwhile, the Keeper looked at the soul that had been extracted, and seemed to absorb it back into himself. “Everything should be properly copied now.” The Keeper said with a smile. “Just to make sure, I’ll go and wait in the next room over, and the two of you can talk amongst yourselves. Make sure that there aren’t any abnormalities with his personality or memories.”
The Keeper didn’t wait for the two of them to respond, simply moving to the nearby door and leaving the room. Once he was gone, Lydia turned to look at Clover once again. “Are you… alright?” She asked, chewing on her lip in worry.
Clover blinked, turning to face her. “I’m sorry… who are you?” He asked, causing Lydia’s eyes to go wide, mouth hanging open. Just as she was about to run after the Keeper, Clover smirked. “I’m kidding, Lyd. I’m fine. And… probably better than ever. I feel… I feel like I’m just me now.”
Lydia paused, before lightly bringing her fists down against Clover’s chest. “Idiot! Don’t scare me like that! I thought that he wiped your memories or something!”
Clover let out a light laugh, reaching out to pull Lydia in for a tight hug. “Sorry. It’s me.” He whispered, and Lydia’s tail began to wag faster and faster behind her, a look of delight on her face.
“So… you really don’t have a connection to the Keeper anymore?” She asked to confirm, to which Clover shook his head.
“There’s nothing. I’ve still got my familiar, but there aren’t any other connections in my soul. Though, this does mean I don’t get to freeload off of the Digital Conversion system authority anymore.” He teased, to which Lydia chuckled.
“You always hated the idea of doing that anyways, so no change there.” She said, leaning into his chest. “We should really let him know that it worked.”
“Yeah… yeah we should.” Clover agreed, though it was clear that neither of them had any intention of moving.
Outside of the room, the Keeper had a small smile on his face, sensing what was going on inside. With a thought, he called out to a certain goddess in his mind, golden mist wrapping around his form to carry him away from the ship.
