After returning to the Admin Room, the first thing that I did was to check to ensure that there were no missed messages or alarms. Although Terra promised to let me know if anything happened, it was still best to check first. Afterwards, I made my way towards my room, seeing that the felyn goddess had fallen into a catnap while I was gone. Shaking my head, I quickly adjusted the time difference between Lorek and Spica and the rest of my worlds as promised, and sent a message to the Guardian that Leowynn created to ask it to deal with certain void entities.
Resting on my desk was the very information orb that Accalia had promised to make for me, one containing the various techniques and training methods of the Archer class. I felt a small smile on my lips as I saw the orb, taking it and letting its knowledge flow into my mind. Most likely, every class had their own profound secrets, and I would need to learn all of them over time in order to truly master the powers at my disposal.
If I take care of this class now, then the next one that I can handle should be… probably the Scout class. It would synergize well with the Archer training, and also enhance my senses to avoid assassination-type abilities in the future. I’ll ask Aurivy for some tips to train as a Scout later.
Upon making that decision, I sent a message to Tubrock. I hope I’m not interrupting something. Do you have a moment to take a personal request?
There was a brief pause before he answered in a gruff tone. Aye, I do now. What is it, lad?
I’m going to be training as an archer, and would like it if you could help me produce a powerful divine bow. I want to add it to my arsenal, along with the chakrams I currently possess. Granted, those very same chakrams were made by a mortal, not Tubrock. Most likely, he could make something better if he tried, especially after so much time passed.
Aye, I can handle that. D’ye want any special abilities on it, or plannin’ ta just use the divine abilities ye can give it yerself?
I had to pause and think about that. In truth, there were many different types of abilities that I could install on a divine bow, whether elemental or raw energy. For instance, Accalia’s bow innately had the power to produce energy arrows. When used with her Hunt domain, she further gained the ability to turn those arrows into spectral beasts.
For my own bow, what sort of power would I like it to constantly possess? I’d just like the creation of standard energy arrows, with the four basic types as well as divinity. I knew what power I wanted to enchant it with when I had the finished product, but it was something best done with my own domain.
Aye, that’s easy. D’ye want the strength te be adjustable, as well? More energy equalin’ a bigger or denser arrow. He asked, to which I immediately agreed.
The higher the upper limit you can place on that, the better. If there’s one thing that I’m not lacking, it is energy capacity. Unless I was doing something extreme, such as the primordial relic tracking spell, I typically had more energy than I ever needed to use.
With that out of the way, all that was left was to properly train in this new set of techniques. I was even curious to see if I could combine archery techniques with various abilities from the Thousand Arms, Ten Thousand Threads martial art. Such as tying a chakra string to an arrow, firing it, and then using that string as a medium to use other abilities from that art.
Time slowly passed within the world, many of the larger disturbances attributed to the void monsters vanishing one by one. Haunted towns became peaceful, predatory buildings became inanimate. Even the accursed carved face phenomena vanished from the world.
Because of this, the people rejoiced, finally feeling a sense of normalcy in their lives again. They no longer had to worry about their showers eating them, their tableware talking back to them, or strange beings appearing in the corners of their eyes. Granted, that last one was still sometimes a thing, but not because of void powers.
Of course, not everything was happy around the world. There were still monsters, and people who were worse than monsters. There were those who would gladly consume the souls of others in order to steal their powers, or burn down a city purely for the joy of watching the flames rise. But there were good people, as well.
There were charitable souls, such as the Goddess of Mercy, who traveled across the world to offer her blessings without reserve. It was hard to tell how many people had been saved from disease or injury due to her timely intervention, while she mourned for those who she was not in time to save
There was a woman known as Maya, the recently ascended Goddess of Motherhood. She had made it her life’s mission to ensure the safety of the next generation, traveling the various worlds and placing blessings on any hospital that would allow it. These blessings served no other purpose than to care for expecting mothers and help ensure a safe delivery.
There was death, there was bloodshed, but there was also joy. A joy rising from the passing of an unpredictable threat, and also a joy that comes from progress as new devices were released to the public. However, there was also an event that shook the world once again, though it took a few days before it was realized.
The connections to the other worlds from Lorek and Spica happened once every day by ‘normal time’, or once every fifty days by their own time. Furthermore, these connections were always made from the side of Lorek and Spica, ensuring the accuracy of the schedule and preventing conflicts between their connections to each other.
One day, Lorek and Spica simply… didn’t make that connection. And they didn’t again on the next day. It was only in the early morning of the third day when the connection was established on Earth, moments before a portal was scheduled to open from another Deckan. Thus, those from Earth assumed that the portal had been opened from Deckan, and began sending people through according to schedule.
It wasn’t until five minutes after the connection was established that a communication came back from the other side, asking why people were being sent to the wrong destination. Those who had gone over to Lorek were confused, quickly making their way back as soon as permission had been granted.
This led to a discussion between both sides. The two ‘isolated worlds’ both confirmed that they were connecting according to their normal schedules, and asked why the other side had not attempted to establish a connection themselves when they missed their regular updates.
Naturally, the other worlds had attempted to do so, but to no avail. After all, the gates for the other two were often open between their own worlds, so there was little chance to connect. Given that there were still regular network connections between worlds, they assumed that their refusal to connect was a result of them not having any people wanting to travel. Unusual, granted, but not unheard of.
With that out of the way, the two sides performed an experiment. The portal from Lorek was closed for exactly one hour, before being opened once again in order to confirm the time difference. Normally, barely a minute would have passed in that time, but they were surprised to find that a full three minutes had passed instead. This confirmed that the time difference had been narrowed from a scale of fifty-to-one to a scale of twenty-to-one.
Those within Lorek and Spica were confused at first. Did this mean that their world was gradually synchronizing with the other worlds? Or had the Keeper merely adjusted it of his own volition? Without direct access to the powers that be, it was impossible to get a definitive answer.
Either way, this did make things at least marginally more convenient. The transfer of information between worlds was able to become more smooth with the time difference cut by over half. While it was still far from the point of being able to communicate freely back and forth, they began to set up a system where regular news was sent on a daily basis, as opposed to a weekly one.
“Let’s see…” Dana muttered to herself, standing in the training room with Tsubaki and Lifre, holding a book in her hand. This was the same book that she had received from the Keeper, detailing the use and training method of the Thousand Arms, Ten Thousand Threads art. “According to this, you just start by creating a single thread of chakra, gradually increasing the number of threads along with its length.”
Tsubaki nodded her head. “I expect all of us to be able to manage at least twenty threads easily. We have been training to multitask and handle numerous tasks for quite some time, after all.” Of course, to do so she would have to divert her focus away from her avatars, but that was a simple matter.
“Oh, oh, let me! I’ve done loads of tailoring, so this is right up my alley!” Lifre grinned proudly, to which Dana nodded her head. Taking a deep breath, Lifre’s body seemed to rumble, blue threads extending all around her. Her eyes scrunched together in focus as the number of threads increased, clearly trying to test her own limits.
The other two silently counted at the side, waiting for her to be done. Only once the threads receded back into her body did they report the number. “That was one hundred and fifteen. A very good first start.” Dana smiled, nodding towards Lifre. Afterwards, she looked at Tsubaki. “Your turn, Tsuba.”
Tsubaki gave a small smile as well, closing her eyes and diverting attention away from her avatars. They had picked this moment to train because there was a temporary lull in other matters that required their focus, allowing them to concentrate on this task.
Perhaps because Tsubaki was a born ninja, or just how long she had been training, the threads practically erupted from her body, scattering all around their training room to touch against every surface. Lifre jumped in surprise, Dana focusing merely on counting the threads as they appeared.
Thankfully, these threads lasted a good thirty seconds before Tsubaki pulled them back, giving the little spirit elf plenty of time. “Four hundred and eighty-two.” She reported with a grin, Tsubaki nodding even though she blew her own estimation out of the water. Maybe she had overestimated the difficulty of the technique? Or was this just the result of her centuries of intensive training giving her a natural advantage?
Either way, it was Dana’s turn now. She closed the book in her hands, closing her eyes and focusing. Darkness stirred within the room, Dana’s figure becoming almost ethereal before it burst into countless threads. Unlike the other two, these blue threads were stained with black specks as they spread through the room.
Lifre’s eyes went wide, darting side to side as she struggled to keep up with the increasing number. Tsubaki’s brows furrowed, knowing that Dana had easily surpassed her own number. Furthermore, she had even surpassed the Keeper’s results after a few moments.
These threads danced throughout the room for a good five minutes, touching against every surface before Dana’s body solidified again at their center. She opened her eyes with a smile, blinking as she looked at Tsubaki. “How did I do?”
“Two thousand, one hundred, and sixteen.” Tsubaki answered, having had to count the threads twice to confirm that she wasn’t mistaken. Her gaze towards Dana turned incomparably gentle as she approached, simply wrapping the smaller girl in her embrace.
While Lifre may not know what had been the cause for Dana’s amazing success in the art, Tsubaki was all too familiar with it. Dana had spent so long in the monstrous region of the Underworld, trapped and alone. Her spirit shattered again and again, dividing her mind into fragmented pieces.
After bringing her out of that literal hellscape, Tsubaki had worked long and hard to repair the damage done to Dana’s mind and spirit. Her trauma had lasted decades before she was able to fully embrace her new life. But it seemed that her mind had never fully become whole. Or at the very least, it was all too easy for Dana to split it again. If there was one thing that Tsubaki could be thankful for, it was that Dana had managed to put herself back together again. She had the vague feeling that it was her World Shadow that was responsible for that, her embrace of the little elf becoming just a touch tighter.
