Hearing James’s words, the Keeper let a small smile appear on his face. There were numerous reasons, no doubt, as to why he hadn’t visited the researcher in person. However, now… “I’ve got another offer for you. One I think you’ll appreciate.”
James lifted a brow, intrigued by what the man had to offer. “This one of those things we need to discuss alone?”
To his question, the Keeper nodded his head. “Aurivy, base one.” Although the midget goddess was certainly not around at the moment, the two of them were nonetheless immersed in golden mist. This was not the first time that James had experienced a transport such as this, but the location that they emerged in left him quite surprised.
A metallic structure, dimly lit and coated in a fine layer of dust, left unattended for several years. The interior was quite spacious for what appeared to be a large meeting room. There was a podium atop a raised platform, and several long tables for people to sit at. But with the racial energy that James was born with, he could see further. Or at least, he should have been able to.
The world itself seemed to no longer exist once he swept his senses beyond the material of the floor, making him widen his eyes in alarm. “Who the hell managed to make a base in the void? No offense, but nobody in your world should be able to do something like that but me, and I haven’t gotten the technology worked out for it yet.”
The Keeper simply chuckled, shaking his head. “One of the previous invasions. A Keeper that had reset in order to get a crazy expensive system. When they arrived, they built several bases like this in order to hide their forces. Even though it was only a casual invasion, it was the most trouble I’ve had in a match yet.”
“Wow.” James was reasonably surprised by this revelation. “So, what are you bringing me here for? Are you wanting my help getting this place up and running?”
“Not… quite.” The Keeper smiled. “I want to give you this base. You can bring all of your equipment over, and it will be far better stocked than the research lab on Deckan. More importantly, you will be able to expand your team with the added space.”
Something about this offer seemed… unusual to James, for sure. If the Keeper was just going to give him the base, why wait so long? And while James could certainly get more done with a larger research team, he didn’t particularly have any qualms about his current group. If anything, the smaller team made it easier for him to manage compared to the organization he used to run on his own world.
“What’s going on?” He asked, narrowing his brow in focus.
“My next opponent.” The Keeper let out a faint sigh, his shoulders sagging. “As far as I can tell, he should be at the peak of the second rank. And he is a full-technology world that sends in massive, galactic fleets for his battles. I need to have countermeasures, and you’re the best I’ve got in terms of energy research. If you can figure out how to modify the base layouts to suit different fields, I plan to give bases like this to a few other groups, as well. If I can turn a few of them into an assembly line, maybe things won’t be as bad when the invasion happens.”
James brought a hand up, stroking his chin in thought. “Tell me a bit more about this opponent.” If he wanted to plan countermeasures, he first had to know what he was up against. And the fact that the Keeper himself seemed to have that information was immensely helpful to his needs.
After moving over to sit at one of the tables, the Keeper began explaining the information that he had learned from one of his friends. James was surprised to hear about the type of technology world that they were up against this time. “So they’re going full augment… that’s a rather unique path.”
“How so?” The Keeper looked over in confusion at James’s question.
“Look at it this way… after a certain point, the physical body just can’t handle the advancement in power that you see in higher level Keeper worlds. You’re already starting to get that with the energy bodies. That’s why, most technology worlds will either branch into genetics or energy manipulation.”
“In the case of genetics, they’re looking to find a breakthrough and evolve beyond the limits of their natural bodies. This way, they can handle a greater level of power. Even in a technology world, this is crucial because the more powerful weapons will be taxing to wield.”
“On the other hand, you have worlds like mine, focusing on manipulating energy through technology. In doing so, we can create things like the Perfection Chamber to allow ourselves to possess fantastic powers.”
After saying all of that, James shook his head. “Pure augmentation, without harnessing any of the four base energies… you could say that it has its pros and cons. The fact that they managed to tap into the void should either be a stroke of brilliance, or the Keeper themselves bought a technology to pave the way.”
“Thanks to that breakthrough, they’ve overcome the primary limitation for a technology-based world, which is limited resources and energy. With that taken care of, they are able to mass produce weapons able to kill gods or destroy planets, and equip them to various vehicles.”
The Keeper gave a nod, understanding what James had said thus far. “Is there anything else I should be aware of?”
“I’m getting to that.” James chuckled dryly. “The reason that a full-augment world has to equip these types of weapons onto vehicles is because void energy generators could easily overload an augment. So unless your opponent bought a special technology to counter this, most of the modifications on the people themselves will be to enhance their perception and reflexes to match a high-level monk or deity.”
“Now, the worst case scenario for you would be if they brought a factory with them, along with a cloning bay. Full-augment worlds tend to like their clones, because they need bodies to experiment with. And, with the rapid recovery he has shown, the odds are high that your opponent fits that bill.”
“If it were me, I would create these two facilities within the void, and bind them to a deployable large-scale gate. The gate would then be miniaturized to release on command. So long as the opponent elects to send an entire galactic fleet, the odds are miniscule that they will appear anywhere near you or one of your planets.”
“This will give them time to deploy the facilities and have them operate in the background, constantly supplying reinforcements to the active invasion. By the time you found them, they would have a force that could sweep across a galaxy, jumping between worlds at will.”
The Keeper groaned at the description there. “How is that still in the bounds of the second rank? That definitely sounds like it deserves a promotion already.”
James simply shook his head with a bitter smirk. “It’s actually not as terrifying as it sounds, so long as you are properly equipped. For instance, don’t your maid girls have those perpetual motion engines that are constantly producing more and more energy? If properly wielded, one of those has enough destructive power to easily destroy a planet. The shockwave from destroying one was roughly the size of a dwarf star.”
The Keeper hesitated, nodding his head with a complicated expression. “I’m not denying that, but… that’s not the kind of thing that can be mass-produced and handed out to everyone. Like you said, they can destroy planets. If they were misused, it would literally be the end of the world as we know it.”
“That’s why you don’t make them items to be handed out to individuals.” A knowing smile crept over James’s face as the seeds of an idea took root in his mind. “They could be used to power ships of your own, either magical or technological in nature. The speed Tsubaki produced them suggests that she has no problem creating as many as she needs.”
“So you’re saying…” The Keeper closed his eyes, clearly picturing it himself. “We need to create a new breed of ship, with the reality gems as the power core? We definitely wouldn’t be able to send ships like that out in an offensive match, since those gems are currently my trump card. But in terms of defense… they could certainly prove to be powerful. The only question is, how long would it take to make these ships?”
“Can’t say.” James shook his head, as he could not predict the answer to that question. “If you get the two golem races working with us, it should cut the time down considerably. They have the most advanced energy control grids out of any of your races. Plus, their robotic minds would be able to come up with the blueprints more quickly.”
The Keeper nodded his head at that. “Now I’m wondering what their Unspoken Word would be like, backed by the reality gem.”
That was… not an image James wanted to think about, as he had seen firsthand the type of power that could be wielded by those scepters. “I’m sure they’ll come up with something. For my end, I can take this base, and get it operational. Depending on what tools they left behind, I might even be able to modify it a little bit. After that, I’ll take a look at the others to see what I can do. But… I take it this means that you’re ready to advance?”
The Keeper gave another nod. “Our opponent is at the peak of the second rank, and casually unleashes galactic fleets. I need something that can stand up to that, even if it pushes me into the next rank.”
James smirked, clapping his hands together. “Alright! Then, you should go ahead and meet with the Metong and the March representatives. Maybe Desbar too, while you’re at it. They’re mostly tech-focused, so they could play a decent role in building these ships.”
The Keeper chuckled, slowly rising and dusting off his pants. “In that case, I have another job for you, once you’ve gotten the Perfect Soul project completed. I want a way to seal the power of the reality gems into a card, and that card to be able to power other cards either through a fusion or simple energy transfer.”
James blinked at that, the gears turning in his head. “You want to create high-intensity, card-based weaponry for the ships?”
The Keeper nodded his head in acknowledgement. “With the reality gem as the power source, the cards would have virtually no recharge period, and a higher output. I’m just not sure if the cards themselves would be able to handle that level of usage.”
James thought about it for several long moments, seeing different ways it could potentially work, and just as many problems stopping it. “A dimensium card has increased stability, and allows you to withdraw fused cards at will. But… I doubt even that would be enough to handle firing a starship’s main cannon more than once an hour.”
By the time he lifted his head to continue, the Keeper had already vanished, leaving him alone within the dimly lit base. James could only shake his head bitterly, knowing that he had gotten signed up for a rather ridiculous project this time. Of course, first he would have to find the transportation system of this base, so that he would be able to come and go as he pleased.
“One down.” I muttered to myself, shaking my head as I got back to the Admin Room. Terra seemed to have left the living room, no doubt deciding to go take her catnap in an actual bed. But now, I had a new direction to take things, thanks to my predecessor.
Closing my eyes, I activated the communication function to send a message down to Tsubaki. Are you free? I asked, seeing her main body seemingly meditating in her room.
As soon as the message went through, her eyes snapped open, and she instantly responded. My Keeper, what do you need of me?
I need you and Dana to start mass-producing reality gems. We need mana, spirit, and ki gems in high numbers.
Tsubaki blinked in surprise at the request. You’re going to distribute them?
Not exactly. After saying that, I began to explain my and James’s plan to Tsubaki. For the time being, at least, I wanted to keep the production of the reality gems to the Sky Citadel. They held too much power to entrust the production method to other governments.
