Chapter 42: the answer to aLL the questions

When I found Terra, she was just leaving Aurivy’s room, walking quietly and slowly closing the door. Her actions looked like a mother that had just laid her daughter in bed. Did Aurivy decide to take a nap? While it was possible for the girls, and myself for that matter, to sleep, it was not something we needed to do. In fact, it raised even more questions in me, so I walked up to Terra quietly.

Noticing my presence, she raised a finger to her lips to signal that I should be quiet. Seeing my questioning look, she smiled slightly, and nodded towards our bedroom. Following behind her, neither of us said a word until we were back in the room, at which point she let out a sigh. “Sorry, this is her first actual nap since you created her. Didn’t want you to wake her by mistake.”

I nodded my head in understanding, though was still confused. “Does that have something to do with the whole god thing?”

Terra chuckled lightly. “That’s right. She hasn’t been able to take a break and sleep, because she’s always hearing those voices. After she divides her mind, she can devote one part to the godly duties, and the other to resting.” She looked at me and raised an eyebrow, grinning mischievously. “What, did you think that I left my people all alone every time I took a cat nap?”

“I… hadn’t really considered it, to be honest. But, that raises another question.” She nodded for me to continue, so I did. “Why is it that each of you seem limited to your own race? I mean, fate exists for everyone, as does battle and every other domain. So, shouldn’t each race have knowledge of the full pantheon?”

Terra shook her head lightly, walking over to sit on the bed. “Right now, the races don’t even know the existence of other sapient life beyond their own. Once that changes, we will be able to interact with the races that become aware of us. For instance, I can communicate with any of the four gathered beastkin races, because they have all interacted with the Felyn.”

I was about to say something else, but she continued to talk before I had the chance. “Once all of the ‘favored’ races, those purchased with the system, have interacted with the race that represents a particular deity, that deity will gain access to one free domain. Irena should be able to get that right away, since everyone meets in the afterlife.”

That piece of news shocked me, and I immediately checked to verify it. The windows don’t give something as convenient as a pop-up saying ‘free domain token’, so you can’t actually tell whether one will be free or not until you try to get it. And sure enough, when I went to look at a new domain for Irena, the price was listed as ‘0 points’.

I decided to put off on that for a while, however. Right now, every god had two domains, so giving a third one to Irena would tip the scales a bit. Besides, I wanted to try taking their advice and actually talking with her about what kind of domain she would want first. “Alright, I think I get it. Now, I saw that you gave out a quest for the ninja clan?”

This time, it was my turn to raise a questioning brow, and her turn to look away awkwardly. “I wanted it to be a present for Rivy, okay? Setting up a proper ninja nation, like I’ve been showing her on those cartoons.”

“Alright… but that’s not what I was curious about. How did you get a functioning map to appear on the quest scroll? I never put anything like that into the settings.”

When I clarified my question, Terra looked at me with a proud smile, sticking her chest out and crossing her arms. “A simple matter! Your quest system lets the quest giver store information for the quest. I just put the information as a map instead. This would only be possible for someone that knew the layout of the land, and I added in a variable to display the location of the quest scroll, that way they wouldn’t get lost so easily.”

I nodded my head in thought at that. Her idea really did open things up a bit more for the system. At the same time, it made sense as well. Once the technology becomes more modern, and the quest scrolls go from leather bindings to paper, or even computer tablets, displaying maps would be an expected feature. Even more, you could modify what she did slightly to add a variable to track quest progress.

Still, something else bothered me. “But, why did the writing on the scroll appear to be in english?”

“Ah, that’s just because that is the ‘default’ language for me. Both you, as well as the last Keeper, spoke english as your main language. As such, for me who was created with the knowledge from the system, your main language became mine. If it was any other language, you would still be able to read it as the Keeper. It wouldn’t look like english, but it would translate in your mind.”

“Ahh…” I said, simply. “Well, such a small writing sample isn’t likely to cause any major changes to their development, anyways. Now, I had another question for you.”

She seemed to be interested, and amused that I had so many questions for her this time. After I explained the issue of the man with the multicolored aura, her eyes widened in surprise. “Huh, I didn’t think you’d actually be able to find one so soon. Those guys are pretty rare, you know?”

“Explanation first, please?”

“Oh, right. That kind of aura means that the person has a natural talent that is equal in all areas. If the aura goes beyond two feet, many Keepers call it the ‘Protagonist Aura’, because it signifies that the person is extremely talented with anything they do, and could easily change the world. Likewise, if the aura is extremely small, it means that the person has no real talent at all. The one you saw, six inches would be roughly average talent with something. So, you could say that his talent is ‘perfectly average’ for everything.”

Hearing Terra’s explanation, my eyes widened slightly. “So, someone with a protagonist aura, that would be a good person to raise as a hero or a king?”

She nodded her head lightly, agreeing with me. “That’s right. Though, in truth, people like that don’t tend to need the help. As long as they aren’t completely stifled, they will rise to great heights on their own. In your world, what would be a good example…” She closed her eyes in thought, likely going through the records of the previous Earth’s history. “Ah! Found one. Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci. He had a protagonist aura, but the last Keeper didn’t really nurture him. Completely skipped over his time period, even. Still, he was a major historical figure that changed the world.”

Hearing this, I naturally had to voice a question. “Has there ever been a Keeper that had that kind of aura?” I mean, a normal human with the protagonist aura can change the world. Imagine what they could do if they had the kind of power a Keeper has.

However, Terra stuck out her tongue at me playfully. “Can’t tell you that, Dale. That would be giving away confidential information about other Keepers.”

I reluctantly accepted her response, and went to sit by her on the bed. On the bright side, she seemed to be in a much better mood now. Or, at least I imagined so, until she held out one hand to stop me. “Nuh-uh~. You’re being punished. No fun kitty cat times until you go down to the world. It’s about time that you walked through one of the actual cities, don’t you think?”

I saw her mischievous grin, and could only let out a sigh. “Alright, but first, you need to teach me how to suppress that Godking aura. It’s gotta be harder than the normal Keeper one, right?”

She smiled slightly, and did indeed begin teaching me how to restrain that aura. According to her, it was the same principal as the Keeper aura, it simply required far more in the way of actual imaging. To the degree where, if I wasn’t constantly focusing on it to some degree, it would begin to leak out. At least the normal Keeper aura could be easily restrained by just building the mental wall.

After I was done learning, and then practicing to make sure I got it right, I went back to my computer to pick out an area I would descend to this time. Terra did have a point, and it was long overdue for me to actually wander around some of the cities. I just had to decide which civilization I visited first.

I’m not sure if it was because of familiarity, or just a random decision, but I ultimately chose the human civilization. From there, I chose the oldest city of the entire continent, the capital of what has become the Thuul Kingdom. After that, it was just a matter of setting my body up. Sadly, I had to watch as my clothes faded away to tattered leathers and furs.

When the familiar blue light faded, I was standing between two wooden buildings, which looked like they would fall apart from a strong breeze. I really hope they don’t get a hurricane season around here…

Shaking my head, I walked out towards the dirt path that passed as a road, and glanced around. Similarly designed buildings were set up all around, with only a few being made of stone. Humans walked by, carrying various tools, or stones, or leather scrolls. There did not seem to be a set direction for traffic, as everyone was simply going their own way.

If I had to judge the quality of the humans here by their looks… it’d be fairly poor. It’s understandable, because hygiene has not really been discovered yet, but still. The strongest thing about this city wasn’t its army, but its smell. I could only grimace as I continued walking, heading towards what should be the center of town. As I did so, I decided to check my status.

For the most part, it was within expectations. I was a bit surprised about the Hero class getting unlocked already, but there were two other areas that surprised me even more. First of all, the fact that my Spirit Hunter levels carried over from my daeva body. Second, and even more surprisingly, was my health value as a Keeper. I mean seriously… it’s over a hundred times my normal value!

Although my stats were fairly low, compared to what I suspected many people had, that was only my normal power. If I threw in my Keeper strength, and went all out, I could probably level a civilization on my own. That at least gave me some confidence in walking around, though I was still determined to finish training at some point. Since my Spirit Hunter levels crossed over, I’m just fifteen levels short of the current cap.

After I was done looking over my stats, I looked up to find myself standing before the target of my visit. This was possibly the largest manmade stone structure in the world at the present time. Thick pillars rose up from the ground to support a domed ceiling, all of it resting on a wide stone platform. In the middle of the platform, a tall statue of a woman was displayed. In one hand, she held a spear as long as she was tall. In the other, she held a rolled up scroll.