I sat within my office, back in the mortal world once again. I was looking through the various training systems that my world currently had access to, trying to find a suitable method for myself and those around me to get stronger. At the moment, we had exceeded the levels of nearly every avenue of growth available to us.
The easiest method would be training within Fyor. This is the method that most adventurers take when they want to feel a sense of adventure while training their skills. The gradual increase of levels through Fyor makes it the perfect training ground for most people, which was the entire idea behind buying it in the first place. However, the fighters within Olympus could easily tackle any floor of Fyor, and it no longer served as an effective method to level up.
Next, there were the dungeons that Aurivy had been producing. From my understanding, Aurivy had finished the level adjustment system of dungeons, allowing them to tailor their challenges to the contestants. Yet, that too had a limit. If any of us even remotely exerted ourselves, a normal dungeon could be destroyed from the inside. I couldn’t even train with the dungeon core that Aurivy gave me anymore, because the space began to destabilize if I started testing big techniques.
The last, and most effective system that remained, was the educational streams. A normal stream would be broadcast across every universe, so the only type of streams that we could use for practical training was educational. Theoretically, this was fine for Tsubaki and the others. However, as the Keeper, I was barred from starting a stream, due to the possibility of a Keeper trying to hide in a stream during an invasion.
Is meditation the only option available to me? I asked with a groan. It would have to either be meditation, or I go back to the Admin Room for all of my training with Accalia’s old simulations, which was certainly an option, but it would require me to constantly need Accalia’s assistance, preventing her from being able to focus on her own work.
With a forlorn sigh, I closed my eyes and leaned back in my seat. There were too many domains available to me, and I needed to create powerful techniques that could be used in any situation I found myself in. As the Keeper, I couldn’t afford to be caught unprepared, no matter what occurred.
With a faint, mechanical hum, Chelsea finished the final connections on the modified ‘Origin Drive’ that she had been working on with Dana. “That should do it!” She said, looking at Julia with a smile. “We added in a detection spell that checks to see if there are multiple divine signatures. It should be able to detect both a Subordinate God and a Master God.”
“If it registers that the target is either one, it will activate Dana’s new divinity cleansing spell before beginning the Origin Ascension process.” She spoke in a proud tone, saying this both for Julia’s benefit, as well as Aurivy’s, as she was well aware that the halfling goddess was still watching them. “We’ll need to run a few more tests with the next person to go through the process, but this should be a stable method of allowing someone to ascend as an Origin. The only customization necessary should be uploading the schematics for the Origin world that they wish to gain.”
Of course, the only one capable of accurately designing such a world was still Chelsea, with the exception of maybe a few people on her research team. She had been keeping an eye on the progress of other research groups when it came to world creation, given the potentially catastrophic karmic fallout that could occur in a botched attempt.
Julia nodded her head, listening to Chelsea’s explanation. She didn’t seem particularly nervous, having experienced failure countless times already. She was fully aware that this was still a stream, and that a failure here would simply mean needing to try again. Of course, she wasn’t fond of feeling her body being torn apart at its core, but the pain was at least brief.
“Remember, don’t resist the process.” Chelsea urged. “Relax your energy, and let the Origin Drive handle everything.”
When Julia nodded again, Chelsea hit the switch, causing the platform beneath the elven girl to light up. Immediately, Julia felt something inherently wrong. Her connection with Aurivy, which had been present for what felt like all her life at this point, had suddenly vanished. It felt as if she had lost a key part of herself, and she had to force herself to relax, to not reach out and try to grab that connection again.
Doing so now would defeat the purpose of what they had been preparing ever since Scarlet suggested this idea. As those thoughts flashed by her mind, she felt her divinity moving without her control. At the same time, something dark appeared alongside her divinity, giving her an instinctive sense of danger. She had felt this sensation dozens of times already, and knew that this was the introduction of a Fallen God’s core alongside her divinity.
This was the stage where she had failed almost every time before now. Doing her best to relax, she felt the energies merging together, her new World Sight wrapping around them to stabilize the fusion.
There was a brief moment where her energy erupted, and she felt as if it was about to explode once again. However, instead, this energy collapsed in on itself. Immediately, she felt a sense of boundless energy and vitality, her mind seeming to expand. Her senses covered everything around her, even when she wasn’t trying to focus, and she knew that the process had succeeded.
Unfortunately, the connection with Aurivy was still severed. When she opened her eyes, she tried to reach for that familiar connection, but it was nowhere to be found. Her lips pursed in discomfort, knowing that this was an inevitable part of the ascension process. An Origin could not be subordinate to anyone, as they were the very embodiment of a concept.
“Alright!” Chelsea grinned, seeing that Julia’s energy had stabilized. “Looks like everything’s golden! Now, let’s reset the stream, and try this… let’s say another ten times, just to be safe?”
Julia’s eyes went wide at that, looking at Chelsea in alarm. “Ten times? Is that really necessary?”
“Julia, if I had it my way, it’d be a hundred times. At a minimum.” Chelsea said in a firm tone. “The more we test it, the more used to the process you will get, and the more confident I will be in the Origin Drive. Any little variable could potentially throw off the whole process, and risk you going supernova when we try this in the real world.”
Julia let out a low groan, but ultimately nodded her head, agreeing with the cautious decision. The last thing she wanted was to try this for real, only for some hidden flaw to reveal itself. “Fine, let’s get this over with…”
Thankfully, once they had one confirmed success, the others were done in barely an hour. Aurivy watched the whole event from Chelsea’s office, pursing her lips. Each time she felt her connection with Julia being severed, it was like a dagger twisting in her chest. She had half a mind to call off the whole plan, knowing that once they did this for real, that connection would be lost for good.
The only thing that stopped her from doing so was the knowledge that this would ultimately help Julia greatly. Additionally, even if their divine connection was lost, it wasn’t like Julia was actually dying or anything. It just felt that way in the moment that the connection was severed.
Back in the real world, Aurivy watched the process happen the final time, and bid one last farewell to that connection. She watched Julia hover above the platform, her hair swaying behind her. Her energy shifted, becoming distorted for several moments, before a switch seemed to be flipped. Her existence as the Goddess of Wood disappeared, and instead, Aurivy felt something entirely different from her. Like Chelsea and Dana, she felt… more.
Even comparing her to a member of the Greater Pantheon didn’t feel apt. Sensing her energy directly, Aurivy felt like she was staring into a boundless abyss. Of course, from a practical point of view, she knew that she would still be able to defeat an Origin, as long as she was given the chance to prepare. Especially so if she was still connected to her main self in the Admin Room.
When Julia’s feet touched the platform again, Aurivy rushed over to hug her. “Congratulations, Jules.” She muttered, and Julia smiled down to her.
“Thanks, Rivy. Sorry you had to watch all of that.” She whispered, knowing firsthand how it must have felt.
However, Aurivy shook her head. “It’d be worse if I felt it and didn’t see what was going on.” She said in a firm tone, before looking at Dana and Chelsea. “So, what sorts of systems did you give her? I assume that you wouldn’t have given Jules a run of the mill world?” She pressed, causing Dana and Chelsea to grin at one another.
“Well, first and foremost, she has the farming system of Lorek and Spica.” Chelsea began. “Only, we included admin controls, so she can adjust any of the system values. If she wanted to, she could have any crop immediately grow upon planting.”
Dana nodded her head quickly. “I also got a modded version of Digital Conversion from Ashley. Apparently, one of her workers had been playing with it as a side project. It doesn’t automatically convert items into plants, but it allows the user to combine attributes from different registered schematics.”
“That in itself isn’t anything major, but… we also included the World Seed game’s magic and development system. So, she’ll be able to combine those trees with the farming system to immediately create advanced trees, and research various plant-based technologies. Then, using the modded system, she can start combining those together to create new plants for her to grow.”
Aurivy blinked at that, nodding her head. Thinking back to the full power of the Sylvans that she had seen in a Keeper Sim battle, she had to admit that this was an appealing power. Plus, if she had the Natural Seed magic system– “Wait, Natural Seed. Don’t tell me that you modded my magic system, too?” She asked, causing the two Origins to grin at one another.
“We didn’t do much. All we did was add the ‘Plant’ tag to the seeds. So, if a magic seed is planted, it should be able to grow into a special plant, capable of producing similar seeds.” Chelsea explained, and Aurivy’s brow twitched. She had come up with the idea for that magic system ages ago.
“Meaning, if she combines a magic seed with a plant-based weapon through your modded DC system…” Aurivy began, before letting out a long sigh. “She could create plant weapons imbued with potent magic. And, as an Origin, she would be able to spawn a theoretically endless number of those weapons.”
“Or turrets!” Chelsea added. “She could also spawn hordes of plant-based turrets, capable of spewing fire, ice, or explosions at their targets.”
Aurivy’s brow twitched violently when she heard that. “It’s almost a shame that our next invasion isn’t against a zombie Keeper…”
