As the fastest of the forward groups, it only took Kruz’s group roughly twenty minutes of flying before they reached the area that Lana’s information had mentioned being the gate to the next level. Naturally, he noticed the looks of others who saw the gods flying through the air, but he didn’t pay them much mind. According to the information Lana received through her divinity, there were quite a few gods in this world, though they did not often come to this location.
At the same time, there were parts of the information that he couldn’t really make sense of. For instance, there were numerous references to the void, a concept that Kruz wasn’t familiar with. The worst part of using Lana’s divinity for purposes like this was that she only read the ‘common knowledge’ of an area. While people in this area knew that the void existed, and had accepted such as fact, knowledge on what exactly the void was would be far harder to come by.
It was the same as knowing that a car existed without knowing exactly what components go into creating one. That was the dilemma that Kruz was facing at the moment, and why he was eager to travel to a more advanced area. Densely populated cities often contained more individuals with a better grasp of the world, making that information more easily accessible.
Conserve your energy for now, Lana. Kruz sent her through a divine channel. We can’t afford to use up all your divinity before we have the information we need.
Lana nodded her head in agreement. She knew how precious her own power was in large-scale infiltrations. She disabled most of her passive abilities, even if they only consumed a small amount of divinity, so that she would be able to afford to use it on information gathering later. The only ability she continued to maintain was the obfuscation that would prevent others from using their divinity or magic to spy on the group.
Kruz closed his eyes and focused as the five walked through the black stone platform, finding no resistance from the gate. Soon, they were in an entirely different region, the gravity having just slightly increased for them. Get Borok to start producing the currency of this world. We’ll need it to purchase travel through the gates.
There were clearly developments that had occurred in this world since the first information that they had received from their own Keeper. For instance, the gates between worlds were no longer large platforms that teleported groups all at once, but had instead become circular portals that people could walk through at their own pace whenever they connected. Such discrepancies showed the age of the original information.
Unfortunately for Kruz, he wasn’t aware that his group had already been marked as suspicious.
Five gods? A young kitsune woman thought internally, keeping a smile on her face as she skipped down the street. They don’t seem to match any of the retired deities in this area.
The girl looked no more than twelve years old, wearing a frilly pink dress and carrying a matching bag under one arm. She had silver hair, and was humming to herself as she made her way to the store. As she did, she saw five more streaks of light in her peripherals. Another five? There were only eight gods residing in the fourteenth floor of Fyor. Maybe some would have come to visit through the void, but then why are they flying to the gate?
She couldn’t be blamed for her suspicions, as gate travel was far less convenient than simply being able to come and go through the void. As she entered the store, one with a sign in the shape of a coin, a split eye on the face of the coin, she smiled at the shopkeeper. “Hello! Nice to see you again, sir!” She waved, moving over to look at the different items on sale.
The shopkeeper, a felyn man appearing in his late thirties, furrowed his brow at the actions of the girl. He was familiar with her, of course, but the greeting that she used was one that had been established with their group. If there was nothing to report, the operative would enter the store quietly, grab some mundane item or sweets, and then leave with a polite thanks.
The fact that she went to the sales counter after that greeting meant that there was something special. “Hmm…” She muttered to herself while looking over the different items. “It’s been getting more crowded around here lately. Maybe we should move away? No, I’m sure it’ll pass.”
Although she seemed to be muttering to herself, the shopkeeper was keeping track of every word she said. More crowded? Then there are visitors that are unexpected. And… two sentences of five words, so two groups of five.
The shopkeeper had an amiable smile as he looked at the girl. “I haven’t heard of any major groups moving into the area. Perhaps it’s just your imagination, dear?”
“Hmm.. maybe!” The girl nodded her head in agreement. So there haven’t been any reports to indicate the gods would be here before, then? She thought her words over for a moment, grabbing a pair of discounted sweets. “I’ll just have to tell Grandpa about it when I get home!”
To any observers, this was simply a casual exchange between a kind shopkeeper and a young customer. Only the duo knew the information that they were exchanging. The shopkeeper nodded his head with a light chuckle. “Do give him my regards.”
Once the girl had left, the shopkeeper continued to tend to the other customers. He briefly brought his hands together, synchronizing his memories with his Virtual self.
Within Virtual, the shopkeeper had a far more stern look, sitting at a large desk on a private server, hundreds of others seated at similar desks around him. Several of these people had begun typing out messages on their terminals, chronicling every vaguely suspicious group or phenomenon that they noticed.
As soon as the memories came in, the man leaned forward to begin typing as well. “Two groups of five unknown deities sighted on their way to the fifteenth layer of Fyor, at Gate’s Rise. Querying for a report of their arrival. If there is no report, mark it as a high priority investigation.”
Lana’s obfuscation was more than capable of protecting them from supernatural observation methods. However, when it came to being observed with the naked eye, it would only use more energy than it was worth to make others not aware of their presence. After all, they were seeking to blend in.
Unfortunately, the hardest moment for them to blend in was naturally the very first moments of their arrival, before they were able to spread out and form different groups. The shopkeeper watched his screen, seeing information appearing. However, it was not reports of the group’s arrival, and instead was about numerous other groups that all originated from the same area.
With every similar report, the information was elevated to the next level, reaching those in the higher ranks. By the time that fifty gods had been reported in total, the news had reached the Grand Elder of the clans. At this point, the group had already been flagged for observation, several of their images reproduced from memory to share with the rest of the community.
I wasn’t having much luck scouring the various worlds with my World Sight, though such was to be expected. If anything, it would take a miracle to happen to find the invaders, which numbered over five thousand. I was primarily focusing on checking remote islands on Earth, seeing if they had spawned in one of those regions.
As I was, the other gods and goddesses were idling around, waiting for some form of news to come in. Suddenly, the Terra sisters looked at their Virtual watch, which was blinking. After synchronizing, they jolted upright. “We’ve got a potential lead!” One of them shouted, the other one quickly reading out the energy that had been sent to their Virtual selves.
“One hundred deities, all flying in groups of five, making their way through Fyor and moving towards the Fairy Gate. No signs of hostility, but they are unrecognized gods. Additionally, there may be groups following them and moving in similar groups, but that is an unconfirmed report due to them being mortals.” The other sister finished.
Immediately, I shifted the focus of my mirrors to the fifteenth floor of Fyor, spreading my World Sight throughout the area. If the information was coming from Terra, then that meant that the ninjas had found them. Given the delay in information transfer, I had to assume that they would be near the gate soon.
Now that I had a target to observe, it was just a matter of waiting. World Sight was an incredibly powerful detection-based energy that had no other uses aside from scouting. Unlike other energy combinations, there weren’t different ways to use the energy other than to spread it over an area and observe the information it sent back. This made it particularly unpopular among Keepers, as they sought more versatile abilities. However, World Sight was able to observe, to my knowledge, everything in the world. More importantly, it could do so without being detected, unless the other party similarly possessed that energy.
After roughly half an hour, I ‘saw’ a group walking towards the gate, which had just activated to connect to Kione. This group did not appear within my mirrors, which felt rather odd, but they were visible to my World Sight. As I observed them, I saw a girl from the group looking upwards, gazing in the direction that I had placed my mirror.
Having been detected, it would be more suspicious if the point of focus were to suddenly vanish. So, instead, I had it remain in place, as if performing a regular security sweep. I did, however, place a number of barriers on my side of the mirror, just in case they had some means to attack me through it.
“So, they all have three domains?” I asked in surprise. Given what we knew of UpperLevel, I expected to see individuals with more. Either this was a lower power guild, some simple advanced troops, or… they might have had some kind of system that forcibly sealed their domains. If that was the case, even my World Sight wouldn’t be able to violate the system.
Is everything alright, Lana? Kruz asked mentally, a smile on his face as he handed over a handful of coins to the gate attendant, preparing to walk through. They wouldn’t know until they were on the other side whether or not the next world was the one where the Keeper was staying. However, at the very least, they’d be able to probe the information network again to learn more about the ‘divine world’.
It’s fine. There was a divine power probing at the observation field. It’s been here since we arrived, so… likely the local law enforcement monitoring world travel. If Lana still had her other passive abilities operational, she likely would have sensed that someone else had managed to acquire information about her, but that was impossible after taking those powers down to conserve energy.
Kruz gave a small nod at that. It wasn’t the first time that they had entered a monitored zone since arriving in Fyor, though it was the first one watched by a god. However, given the importance of the area, it did make sense to pay special attention to this location.
Once the group was through the portal, Lana’s eyes pulsed once again, a smile tugging at her lips. Sure enough, this area had far more information than the place where they had first appeared. I’ve discovered the method of entering the divine world, and it is something any god from our group should be capable of.
Oh? Kruz couldn’t help glancing back at her. Was the security of the divine world so lacking?
All you have to do is say out loud that you wish to enter the divine realm, and the power of the Goddess of Travel will take you there automatically. Afterwards, saying that you wish to return to the mortal realm will bring you back to the point you departed from.
When Kruz heard that, he gave a small chuckle. Mara, you go to this divine realm, and see if the Keeper is there. Whether or not he is, return after ten minutes. Only come back sooner if you encounter danger.
Mara gave a shy nod of her head, looking around before walking off to an alley and muttering to herself. “I wish to enter the divine realm.” She said, golden mist wrapping around her body and causing her to vanish.
