I dashed from tree to tree, bow in hand. Currently, I was wearing a leather outfit crafted from the beasts that had been slain thus far, as well as a sizable black backpack. Truth be told, this backpack was perhaps the most wondrous creation I had seen to date.
After I slew my first prey, I was given several crafting options, with nanites being deployed in order to convert the creature into usable parts. This was how I was able to make myself the arrows that I fired against creatures every dozen or so meters. So long as I had the mana, I could deploy nanites to construct objects within a certain range.
Sadly, the makeshift bow I created wasn’t strong enough to handle energy arrows, or this would all be going far more smoothly. Nonetheless, my purpose here was to train. This was only the beginning, and I would be able to make more advanced bows as my technology level improved.
At least, that’s what I was expecting. A soft ping drew my attention to the watch on my wrist, where I saw a brief ‘Incoming Synchro’ message. My eyes widened briefly, and I ducked behind a tree to close my eyes.
A moment later, a new flood of memories came to me. I gifted the headsets to my closest allies within the mortal world, spoke with Dana, and then… all of us gathered together to decide what we wanted to do. As the memories ended, I gave a small nod, allowing my full power to roll off of me to scare away nearby creatures.
“Let’s hope that this works.” I muttered, focusing on recalling the spell diagram that Tsubaki had shown me. This was a third tier spell, so I would normally be unable to craft it myself on the spot. However, I had spent some time memorizing this spell diagram in the real world, and only needed to recreate it from my memories.
Crouching down, I placed one hand on the ground and focused my mind. This spell was a beacon to allow the three of them to teleport to me after spawning on other worlds. Apparently, it was a common trick in order to play with your friends in this game, as there was no automatic option to spawn on the same world.
As the light of the spell faded, I saw three figures standing before me. Two of them, Tsubaki and Dana, were dressed in the same rags that I had started with, while Lifre had clearly already adjusted her body to create the outfit that she was most familiar with.
“Hey there, boss!” Dana grinned, the mimic girl taking a moment to look around as Tsubaki offered a deep bow.
“Greetings, my Keeper.” She spoke in a reverent tone, though the tails behind her kept swaying left and right. “Thank you for allowing us to join you today.”
I could clearly remember back when I first played Vision Expanse with Tsubaki. That was… so long ago by this point, moreso for her than for me. Now, games have evolved to an entirely new level. “Let’s drop the formalities while we’re here, shall we?” I asked with a small smile, Tsubaki blinking up at me. “We’re here to train together and have fun. That means no divine powers, and no social hierarchy between us. We’re all just friends while we’re here.”
“I understand.” Tsubaki nodded, standing fully upright as her tails began to sway more rapidly. “Then, have you established your base yet?”
I shook my head at that. “I’ve only been here for about ten minutes or so, and my priority was on training. I’ve not had the chance to scout out any ore deposits.”
“Oh, leave this to me, then!” Dana grinned, sending a command to her backpack. “Finding a suitable construction site is one of the most important parts of this game, so geological surveys are one of the features you can use the nanites for. Sometimes, you’ll find ore on the surface, but all the biggest veins need to be mined out.”
As she said that, a barely visible pulse shot out from her body, rolling out along the ground. Dana waited patiently for roughly thirty seconds, before a holographic map appeared in front of her. “Let’s see, it looks like the best ore deposit is about ten kilometers northeast. There are traces of both copper and iron there, but we’ll have to perform a more detailed scan once we arrive.”
Nodding my head, I looked at the outfits of the three, or rather of Dana and Tsubaki. “The two of you should probably get that taken care of, first.” Thankfully, I had a good deal of leather saved up from my brief hunt, taking it out of my backpack and passing it to the two of them. “There should be enough for both of you to make yourselves some clothes.”
The two smiled at that, accepting the pile of leather and releasing their nanites to construct them into form-fitting outfits. “What are you going to do about weapons?” Naturally, since we were playing this game the ‘right’ way, we couldn’t just use our divine artifacts.
“I’m perfectly capable of wielding whatever I am given, and can fight unarmed if need be.” Tsubaki clenched her fist at that, and I could see a thin layer of ki forming along her skin.
Dana, meanwhile, chuckled. “For me, a staff is best. I can just enchant a big branch to serve as a good starter staff until we get settled down.”
“Oh, oh, can I have a sword?!” Lifre asked, one of her arms extending into a bladed appendage. “This would be kind of cheating, right? But if I use a real sword, it’d be okay!”
I rolled my eyes at Lifre’s question. “We can’t get you a sword until we set up a forge. We’re essentially in the Stone Age right now, remember. The only kind of bladed weapon you would be able to use is a stone axe.”
“Uhm…” Lifre pouted when I pointed that out, thinking over her options. She looked at my bow, Tsubaki’s fists, and then at Dana. “We need a tank… I guess that means a wooden shield and a club?”
I gave a small nod at that. “Both of you can get to work on making your weapons, then. We’ll set off once you’re done. I’d like to get to the construction site before the next sync in two hours.” In reality, we had all decided that we would sync our memories every two hours, aside from when we’re sleeping. This would let us keep regularly updated with our progress, and also allow me to roam the world without missing out on time spent with any of them.
“Are you sure that we can’t accompany you, my Keeper?” Tsubaki asked, the two of us standing just outside the Sky Citadel. The other two had both returned to their normal work, and only Tsubaki had come to see me off.
I shook my head with a smile, reaching out to pet the top of her head. Her tails stood up straight, before beginning to rapidly sway back and forth. “Not this time, Tsubaki. I haven’t taken the time to just walk around my world and take in the sights for too long. I’m not heading out as the Keeper today, just as a nameless passerby. It’ll be easier to do this part on my own. Of course, if you have any recommendations on tourist sites to visit..?”
Tsubaki’s shoulders shook, freeing herself from the dreaded hand of petting. Her cheeks were lightly flush with embarrassment, but she quickly collected herself. “The dwarven city of Kal-Thul, the halfling’s Blazing Trail, or the elven capital Gandor are all excellent places to visit. If you want to go to Deckan, I believe that there is a magic tournament taking place tomorrow to determine the Magic King.”
“Magic King?” I asked, unfamiliar with the term in this context. “Is there any significance to that title?”
Tsubaki simply shook her head. “It’s merely a celebrity title awarded to the winner of the annual tournament. They receive sponsorships and try out the latest card magic devices, but they do not hold any special authority. The tournament itself was something that Udona started after adjusting to her position as God-Queen.”
“Of course it was.” I groaned, shaking my head. “I’ll see if I can check out the tournament later. For now, would you mind opening a portal a few kilometers away from Kal-Thul?” I did not know the exact coordinates of the location, so it was easier for me to ask this of Tsubaki, unless I was wanting to disturb Aurivy for taxi service again.
As Tsubaki opened the portal, I began suppressing my Keeper attributes. At the same time, I changed my appearance by manipulating my body. Once I stepped through the portal, I looked like a blonde halfling. Given that they are natural explorers, I felt that they wouldn’t be out of place no matter where they went.
On the other side of the portal, I saw a rather empty meadow. There were no visible cities nearby, nor any roads that could be immediately seen. In fact, I started to wonder if Tsubaki sent me to the wrong coordinates.
In the distance, I was able to see several mountains, some of which appeared at first to be active volcanoes due to the plumes of smoke rising from atop them. It was only a few moments later that I realized that those plumes of smoke were emerging from chimneys dug out along the sides of the mountain.
Realizing that this was my destination, I began to run towards those mountains. It was still odd that I was not seeing anything in the way of a road, but I figured that I would receive my explanation soon enough. I was… both right and wrong at the same time.
When I finally reached the base of the mountain, I began circling to look for the entrance to the city. Given the chimneys, this had to be the right place, but I could not find a single entrance even after running for over an hour at my top speed. Eventually, I had no choice but to call out to Aurivy. Okay, where’s the door!?
Aurivy giggled lightly at that. All paths to Kal-Thul are underground. If you want to enter normally, you’ll have to go to the nearest city, and take the passage.
I grumbled when I heard that, shaking my head. “Not happening.” As I said that, I deployed my World Sight, scanning the interior of the mountain before me. All I had to do was find a secluded alley or dark corner where I could appear.
Thankfully, it did not take me long to find one such area, nestled between two buildings. With a thought, I teleported myself into that alleyway, and immediately covered my ears.
The shell of the mountain served to create an excellent soundproofing, which had prevented me from hearing the ‘song’ of the city. Heavy hammers struck metal, giant cogs turning above and below. The entire city was alight with the fires of countless furnaces.
Wherever I looked, I could see metal catwalks suspended in the air, layers upon layers of walkways and buildings. Large elevators served as the transit between floors, and I had to walk over to the nearest ledge in order to see just how deep it went.
The city extended far beneath the surface, at least five kilometers before a massive rock floor could be seen. Even then, I could faintly make out mining machines working to dig the city ever deeper, and dwarves carrying construction materials to fortify it all. Finally, pipes could be seen climbing the walls of the city, leading higher and higher. These pipes likely carried the smoke out towards those chimneys that I had seen previously.
Standing upright, I looked around to see where exactly I was in the city. Directly behind me, I saw that I had appeared between a weapons workshop and what appeared to be a sauna. Rows of customers lined up at the former, while the latter seemed to be closed for renovations. Still, even if this was only my first impression, I had to admit that seeing this up close was far better than seeing it from the Admin Room would have been.
