After several hours of waiting and thinking to myself, I heard a loud buzzer from the machine sitting opposite of myself. Given how the sounds of the automatic hammering had stopped at this point, it seemed like the refinement was done. And as expected, I soon saw Chel entering the room quickly. “Be right with you, sir!” She said with a wide grin, setting up her terminal on the counter and pulling up a screen.
“We’ve just got to do some last minute checks to ensure that the process went smoothly. This is only our second time using this forge. Let’s see… all the parameters appear normal. I’m not picking up any impurities in the ore, so it should be good to go!” Chel nodded her head, pressing a button on the holographic display. The pressurized window of the machine hissed for a moment before opening, and she walked over to get the refined divinity.
Unlike when Chel refined her own, this was not a sloppy brick with uneven edges. Likely due to the fact that it was done with an automated process, the final result looked like an even slab, the edges smoothed. Its size was about a foot long, maybe a bit more, and half as wide. When I accepted the divinity, I was surprised at just how light it was, but that only lasted for a moment.
“And now for the finishing touch.” Chel commented, before wrapping the fusion energy around the slab of divinity. I could feel it dissipating, the divine energy merging back into my body. However, this divinity was clearly different from the rest of what I possessed. It felt… empty, fresh, much like I felt back when I was first training to gain my Mirrors domain.
“Thank you.” I nodded my head towards Chel, who simply waved it off with a grin.
“Don’t worry about it! Now that you’ve done this, we can discuss with Scarlet about supplying more portions of her blood for us to use.” She chuckled, shaking her head at that, to which I simply nodded.
Scarlet still had final say over who would be supplied the proper materials for the forging process when it came to established divinities like myself. More importantly, now that she was in the Admin Room, she was able to properly review each individual candidate to determine who to accept. This made it far less likely that someone would be able to slip through the net and get the upgrade if they had malicious goals.
Satisfied with what I had gotten, I opened a portal back to the Sky Citadel, arriving in the courtyard. It was no real surprise that Tsubaki appeared at practically the same time that I stepped through, offering a low bow towards me. “Congratulations on the successful forging.” She said with a small smile. “Will you be needing any assistance training for your new domain, my Keeper?”
I shook my head at her question. While an assistant would be helpful, I couldn’t risk the chance that I might damage Tsubaki’s soul in the process. “I’ll be heading to the Underworld to conduct my training this time.” I told her, before reaching for my wrist, clicking a button on the watch-like device.
Tsubaki’s eyes widened a fraction, and she quickly nodded her head, using her own device to synchronize with her Virtual self like I did. There was only a faint rush of memories, a fast forward of the world moving while my Virtual self seemed suspended in time. Thankfully, this kind of situation had been taken into account when designing the watches, so there was no risk of mental degradation from the process.
“We can meet up to play while I’m handling my training. There shouldn’t be any problems that way.” I said with a small smile, Tsubaki’s head quickly nodding in agreement. I could practically hear her mentally calling for Dana and Lifre to get them ready to come along with their Virtual selves, causing me to chuckle.
Irena, open me a gate to Hell, please. I sent a quick prayer, taking a deep breath as I did. I didn’t know what to expect from the monster half of the Underworld, as it had often changed with the evolution of the monsters themselves.
At first, it was nothing but an empty, foggy landscape with wandering souls. Then, later there was broken terrain occupied by stronger spirits. Now… would the monsters have created their own world?
A gray portal of fog appeared next to me, opening into a world of darkness. I gave a small wave to Tsubaki, turning to step through the portal. On the other side, I ‘felt’ the cracking, dried grass beneath my feet, what seemed to be soft soil underneath. From a glance, I appeared to be in a large forest, though the trees were black and jagged.
Let’s make this a bit more proper… I muttered inwardly, focusing on the fresh divinity within my body. Slowly, I built an image in my mind of the surroundings, as well as how I wanted to shape them. Giving order to the misshapen spiritual energy, bringing back a true scene of nature.
The more I focused on this image through my divinity, the more the world around me responded. Starting from my feet, the dried grass began to stand upright with a lush, green color. When the spread hit the trees, they warped in on themselves, bursting into spiritual mist to reshape as proper, lively trees.
I gave a small smile as I saw the spreading scenery, walking through the forest as it changed around me. I wasn’t going to simply be satisfied with restoring a few trees… I wanted a proper place for me to train in this otherwise hellish nightmare. Thus, I created a spring, fed by a waterfall that rose high above the foggy sky.
At the bank of the spring, I made myself a small cabin, designating that as the center of my territory. The longer I stayed there, the more I focused on the changes to the Underworld, the more my divinity would spread.
Ten spirits roamed through the dark and jagged forest, each holding a weapon in their hands. Their eyes were focused, scanning the surroundings for any signs of movement. Clearly, each of these warriors were battle-hardened, and this was not their first venture into the darker side of the Underworld.
As this location was relatively close to the border between ‘Hell’ and the ‘Afterlife’, it was regularly patrolled to ensure that no monsters capable of breaching Irena’s border would appear. Especially if they saw any sudden changes to the environment, which would likely mean that a new ‘king’ had arisen among the monstrous souls.
If that happened, it was their job to immediately report back to the capital, prompting the army to move to eliminate the threat. After all, this was not merely a threat to those who lived on the border, but potentially those of the living world, as well. Once a monster soul became strong enough, it was easily capable of tearing open a hole back to the world of the living.
One of the leading warriors, a daeva male, held up a fist to stop the advance of the party. His eyes were focused ahead, a trace of shock visible in his expression. Far in the distance, he could see the jagged trees reshaping themselves, the grass growing lush. In his experience, this meant that a spirit had appeared with a strong connection to nature, its memories reshaping the bleak forest around it.
His eyes narrowed, a silver crest appearing in his pupils. With that crest, he projected his vision far into the distance, able to see all the way to the very center of the change. What he saw was a great waterfall, a quaint cabin, and a man sitting on the bank of a babbling brook. His eyes focused further on the man, suspecting him of being a monster in disguise.
When he saw a familiar face, one often seen in stone carvings and temple statues, his eyes went wide. Moreover, the eyes of the man flicked up to meet his gaze, causing him to quickly pull back his attention. He nearly staggered backwards, one of his companions catching him with a hand on his shoulder.
“What is it?” The woman asked with a firm expression. Unlike him, she was a demon, one who had died in the mortal world and lived her afterlife in a nearby region. If there were a monster king among the spirits, her home would be among the first to fall. Naturally, she was concerned when she saw such an extreme reaction from their stoic leader.
“The Keeper…” The man muttered, shaking his head. “We’re going back.” His words greatly surprised the rest of the party, who looked at him curiously. “If the Keeper has come all this way, he must not want to be disturbed. It is better for all of us if we leave him be, as he can deal with any threats in this sector. Our patrols will start back up once we’ve confirmed he has left.”
The expression of the demonic woman relaxed at that, giving a small nod. If anything, this meant that the small city she lived in would be even more safe for a time, so she was happy to let the Keeper remain undisturbed.
The leader of the expedition waved his hand, a blue sigil appearing beneath the feet of each member of the party. Without another word, the group quickly left the scene, their figures vanishing in silver light.
I shook my head as I watched the forces of the Underworld leaving. I had sensed someone watching me while I was studying the changes in the spiritual energy of the environment, but it seemed that they wouldn’t be sticking around. Though, for there to be anyone on this side of the border…
Irena, how close am I to the border? I asked curiously, given that Irena had been the one to choose my arrival point.
In case you required anything from the realm of mortal souls, I made sure to place you no more than a half hour’s walk away. Should I have moved you further in?
It’s fine. I smiled when I noticed the concerned tone of her voice. It doesn’t seem like they’ll be back before I leave, anyways. With that said, I returned my attention to the waterfall, studying it and its composition. Obviously, this wasn’t real water, so it was valuable material for me to study in preparation for receiving the Souls domain.
Within the capital city of Gandor, a turbulent storm of natural energy suddenly kicked up along a busy sidewalk, causing several pedestrians to quickly jump to the sides. Those with any level of combat training looked at the wild energy currents in preparation for a fight. However, this energy soon calmed itself, a woman appearing in its wake. Her skin was golden, covered with what seemed to be a dress-like pattern of leaves and vines.
Her eyes, like two golden orbs, blinked as she surveyed the landscape around her. She hadn’t expected to appear in a populated area, so she quickly approached one of the men that did not seem to be scared of her, reaching out to grab his hand. This was… definitely not an action the man expected, but a gentle voice appeared in his mind the moment he was about to pull away.
Hello, friend. I apologize for the sudden disturbance. Could you let me know where I can find a forest nearby? It is my time, so I am in somewhat of a hurry. The Sylvan woman’s eyes stared innocently into the eyes of the man whose hand she was grabbing.
Thankfully, the Sylvans were rather well documented at this point thanks to Philia, so it only took a few moments for the man to realize what she was. He cleared his throat to calm himself, focusing on his mana. Can you tell me your title?
Knowing just what would happen when a golden Sylvan found their new home, he had no desire to let her do so just anywhere. In fact, even if she were to do so anywhere in the country, he had to make sure that she didn’t have an ‘attribute’ that would harm the surroundings. Nobody wanted to suddenly volunteer to be homeless.
Of course! The Sylvan nodded quickly, her leafy hair fluttering. I am Serissa of Fortune, born to the Mother Tree of Light. Is there somewhere nearby suitable for me?
The man blinked in surprise, knowing that Sylvans were generally a rather honest people. At the very least, he had never heard of one performing any kind of deception. I don’t think I’m the right person to ask. Let me guide you to the police, and they will know where to send you.
Serissa simply nodded again, releasing his hand and gesturing for him to lead the way. She had to quickly find where she was going to be making her forest, and erect the shrine to Aurivy so that she could connect with the other forests of her kind.
