Tower shook his head as he returned to his office. With the recent conflict between the Keeper and the Dragon of the End, he had been made well aware of just how fragile his dungeon world was. He sat at his desk, his crystalline body pondering the issue. What could he do to reinforce his world?
In truth, this was not a new concern for him, and was something that he had been actively thinking over for centuries. When gods battled, and used their full abilities, it was easy for countries to be destroyed at the very least, and planets could fall in the most extreme cases. Furthermore, this was a dungeon where gods were forced to fight for their lives.
Until this point, Tower had been forcibly restraining any of the energy shockwaves that were released from the godly battles in his dungeon. Doing so was challenging, but not impossible. At least, that was true for normal gods. In the recent battle, he had been utterly incapable of stopping the energy from leaking out and affecting his world, and that was before the dragon was allowed to use its full power.
Looking out the window of his tower, he could see several nethrak and slimes walking around in confusion. Buildings that had been damaged by the quakes caused by those waves were being repaired rapidly. Their stone walls rose into the air to mend themselves, glass melting and returning to windows. Within a matter of minutes, the damage to the buildings themselves would be undone.
Tower knew that this wouldn’t be the end of it, though. More powerful gods would appear, both among the challengers and those he captured and put in the dungeon himself. If he were unable to contain the power from those fights, there would be significant loss of life.
The question was… how? How could he contain the shockwaves from godly powers clashing against one another? His eyes dimmed, connecting with the network of other dungeons that existed across all known worlds. He shared his plight, and the network briefly fell silent. In that moment, the research direction of thousands of dungeons began to shift.
After bringing Geoff and Hanya back out of Virtual, I returned to the Citadel to resume my normal training. When I arrived, Dana found me with a bright smile on her face. “Welcome home, boss! We were just about to get started, want to join us?” She asked, looking up at me hopefully.
“Get started on what?” I tilted my head curiously, Dana chuckling.
“The new game, Fragments of Acidia! You sponsored it, right? You should want to try it out for yourself. Tsuba said that you tried out Vision Expanse when it first released.”
I hesitated for a moment, not wanting to shatter her expectations. However, at the same time, the coming invasion was too important for me to put off so that I could play around in the game. As such, I shook my head. “Sorry, but I can’t.” She seemed surprised by my refusal, so I quickly explained. “We’ll be facing another invasion in a little less than three months. This time, we’re the ones defending, and it’s against a known hostile Keeper.”
Dana’s eyes went wide at that, nodding her head slightly. “So… you’re going to be training?”
“That’s right.” I confirmed. “My real self is going to be training Elemental Embodiment art, and my Virtual self will be training Beasts of the End. I want to have a passing mastery of both of these before the invasion starts. This time… we’re likely to be facing a large number of gods.”
Dana’s gaze hardened when I said that, giving a small nod. Part of her shadow broke off, rushing down the hall while she took a step closer. “I’ll join you, then.” She said, her voice determined.
I blinked in surprise, a smile tugging at my lips. “I’m thankful for the consideration, but I don’t want–”
“We’ll all play together when we’re safe.” She said, grabbing my hand to start pulling me towards the library. “We’re a family here, right? That means all of us fight together. I need to finish training the Absurdity of Fate style, anyways.”
Hearing her argument, and seeing the determined expression she used when giving it, I gave in and let her guide me to the library. Once there, I found Lifre, Tsubaki, and Gerard all already waiting for us. Dana’s shadow must have gone to share the message with them.
“What goal shall we set for our training, my Keeper?” Tsubaki asked, bowing towards me when we entered.
“Goal…” I hadn’t really thought about goals to give the others, only my personal goal. “If everyone can get passing marks on at least two styles, that would be for the best. Preferably, I would like all ten of the new styles to be covered between us, that way we can display the contents when we release the styles to the rest of the world.”
Gerard was the first to speak up. “As much as I’d like to maintain my studies of Absurdity of Fate, I do not believe myself to be qualified for it. As such, I will pursue the Will of the World and Nature’s Wrath.”
Next up was Lifre. “I’m already pretty good with the Essence of the World’s End, and I was just thinking of starting with Nature’s Wrath next with Gerard!”
Tsubaki gave a firm nod of her head, standing fully upright again. “Without live combat, I do not believe that I can progress any further with the Heart of Combat style. As such, I shall turn my attention to the Way of Hidden Truths. With my ninja training, this style is quite suited for me.”
And finally, there was Dana. “And like I said, I’m working on Absurdity of Fate, and then my real self will work on the Twin Swords of Joy and Sorrow. I’ll have my Virtual self join you with practicing Beasts of the End. I started out as a summon myself, so this style is perfect for me to help you with.”
I couldn’t help but shudder, imagining Dana practicing the Twin Swords of Joy and Sorrow. Out of everyone here, she had undoubtedly been through the harshest sorrow imaginable, to the point that it had shattered her very soul. Additionally, she had been brought out of that sorrow and found joy in having a new family, serving as her anchor. This might be a more perfect match even than the Thousand Arms, Ten Thousand Threads.
“Counting in your Elemental Embodiment and Twelve Shattering Hands training, I believe that covers all of the styles, my Keeper.” Tsubaki said with a nod of her head. “For the time being, we shall devote both our real and virtual selves to this training, the same as you.”
After saying that, she turned and immediately walked over to one of the five terminals set up along the nearby wall, each of which had a VR headset next to it. The others all moved to follow, Dana still pulling me by the hand. “Like I said, we’re all in this together, boss.” She said, sitting down at once of the terminals while I took the final one.
I shook my head with a thankful smile, reaching down to synchronize myself with my Virtual counterpart.
Vivi waited within the training program, having been informed that the Keeper would be on his way again. She split her consciousness between all five terminals, that way she could guide each of them but her core remained within the Keeper’s own program.
As she had nothing else to do, she had been studying the various martial styles contained within the program, and was undoubtedly the first being to receive a basic mastery of all ten styles. This was all part of her efforts to train those of the Sky Citadel and increase their understanding in the quickest way possible.
Soon, she felt a connection with her training program, and then another… and another. At first, she thought that all of them were connecting for another joint exercise, but then even more connected. “Really, both sides at once?” She asked, eyes wide.
It was not impossible for both the real and Virtual selves to train at the same time, even in different fields. However, the idea behind having a Virtual self was to allow one side to relax while the other worked, enabling both sides to feel refreshed while remaining productive. To have both sides perform arduous training would instead double the stress that the individual was under.
For everyone to have chosen that, Vivi assumed that it meant that things were becoming difficult on the outside. As such, she further divided herself again, sending copies of herself to each of the Virtual connections.
When she did, she received a request from Dana’s Virtual self to connect to the same training room as the Keeper’s Virtual self. She saw no reason to decline this request, and so she granted it immediately, turning her attention to that lobby.
Dana and the Keeper soon both appeared, nodding towards one another. “Vivi, please introduce the Beasts of the End style.” Dana requested. It seemed that they were planning on practicing that together.
“Understood, Miss Jafer.” Vivi smiled. “The Beasts of the End style is one centered around an idea similar to the Summoner advanced class. By shaping together one’s spirit and mana, they are able to create powerful beasts. When the style has been fully mastered, one may use these beasts to destroy an entire world.”
“In what ways is this different from the Summoner class?” The Keeper asked curiously. The question was understandable. If the style was just a way to achieve that class, it would be rather redundant.
“Rather than different, you could say that this is an advanced style specifically suited to the Summoner class.” Vivi explained. “First of all, there are three branches of this style. The first branch is solo summoning. The second is group summoning. Finally, the third is fusion summoning.”
“With solo summoning, you are embodying a concept into your summon. For instance, let us say that you wished your first beast to have the concept of destruction. When your summon is fully created according to this style, it will have aspects similar to a divine domain of Destruction. While this domain will not be comparable to a true god of the same level, it still offers a vast array of abilities.”
The Keeper and Dana nodded their heads at that, Dana looking over at him. “What is the benefit of a group summon?” She asked, Vivi’s smile growing wider.
“A group summon is a greater challenge, as it requires people to synchronize and create their summon together. However, should they do so, they have one of two options. They can either grant an additional concept to the summon, or they can stack the effect. According to the introduction, up to nine individuals can perform a group summon at once, and if all of them stack they will achieve the level of a true domain.”
“We’ll do a group summon.” Dana said with absolute confidence. The Keeper looked over at her in surprise, but simply nodded his head with a smile. He didn’t seem to doubt that the two of them would be able to work together to create this creature. “Please walk us through the process, Vivi.”
“Of course, Miss Jafer.” Vivi nodded her head. She could already imagine all of the Citadel’s residents coming together to create a combined summon, and the power that it would be able to unleash. “First, let us start by identifying the concept that you wish to embody within the summon.”
“Darkness.” The Keeper answered before Dana could speak. This time, it was her turn to look at him in surprise. “We’ve both trained the World Shadow, and you are the Fallen Goddess of Darkness. That’s why this is the best concept for us to synergize with.”
“That’s true.” Dana agreed, her smile growing wide. “Alright, Darkness it is! We’ll create the greatest Beast of Darkness ever!”
