World Keeper

Chapter 1028: Progress

“You gave her a blessing, my Keeper?” Tsubaki asked in confusion as we appeared near Olympus, having found its position after it teleported to the system.

I offered a small nod of my head, smiling. “I’ve never had a true priestess. While I don’t plan to bring her into Olympus or anything like that, I thought that it would be nice to have one in the mortal world. Especially given the recent invasion.”

In truth, I had been impressed by Priscilla’s passion and commitment to her duties. Even though it was taking time out of her day for a seemingly meaningless task, she went on for more than an hour at the request of a total stranger to talk about each of the major gods she served. If it was someone like that, I didn’t mind letting them be the one to be my voice outside of Olympus.

While she was explaining, I was busy compiling both the information that she would need as well as an ability to grant her. The information was easy, I just had to set up conditions for her to contact me, or contact the others to get to me in the case of emergency, and explain why I wasn’t always available to respond. 

For the ability to grant her… I had been creating the books of divine domains within my shadow world for so long, without any real means of actually using them. This seemed like the perfect method. Then, if things with Priscilla worked well, I would be able to implement the same strategy for future priests.

Tsubaki gave a small nod of acceptance, seeming to think things over. She had long ago established the Church of Light, but had always kept it rather small. No doubt she understood the benefits of having a church.

Udona sat on the highest ledge of her palace, her eyes watching the cityscape of Ashtanu. Not far behind her, Aznod appeared, his hands behind his back. “Is anything the matter?” He asked gently, causing Udona to shake her head.

“Nothing’s particularly wrong.” She said, turning her head to look back. “How is your farm going?”

“I have not yet reached any success when it comes to preparing the void beasts as a dish suitable for normal consumption. However, I don’t plan to give up just yet.” He answered with a smile, moving to sit next to Udona. “I received a report that Olympus has been spotted in the system again. Are you planning to go back there?”

Before V-Day, Udona had ruled Deckan from Olympus, just as Scarlet did for Bloodhaven. However, during the events of V-Day, Udona chose to leave Olympus to remain with her people. Similarly, she has been with Deckan since then, helping with its recovery efforts, and had not yet returned to Olympus in that time.

“I may.” She nodded her head with a small smile, her gaze lifting to observe the sky. “Things have finally started to stabilize, so there wouldn’t be any harm in returning at this point.”

After she said that, her brow twitched, looking off into the distance. ‘Though, it seems someone else might be busy. They might need your help in Fyor.” Aznod’s eyes widened at that, nodding his head as he turned to leave.

On the sixtieth floor of Fyor, there was a sudden surge of excitement within the Floor Advancement Party. Within this facility, there were thousands of individuals waiting at designated spaces to simply place their hands on the wall, opening a gate and observing what was on the other end. They each did this nearly a thousand times a day, a simple and almost meaningless job, but well paying.

Now, one of the workers let out a cry of surprise, slapping the button on his gate stabilizer. Like the other workers, he wore a thick suit designed to protect him from a number of hostile environments. After an unlucky worker died for not properly wearing his protective gear, everyone had been more careful to secure themselves, even if the chances of a ‘jackpot’ were low.

Just now, he had stuck his head through the gate, seeing a faint red mist that spread as far as he could see. His eyes widened, pausing for a moment as he realized that this was the sixty-first floor of Fyor. It wasn’t until his suit alarm sounded, warning him of damage sustained, that he was pulled back to his senses. He quickly pulled his head back and stabilized the portal, preventing it from closing naturally.

When he did so, an alarm echoed throughout the building, shocking the other workers. “The sixty-first floor has been found. Repeat, the sixty-first floor has been found.” This news was received with… mixed reactions. For many, this was simply an easy job that could provide them with a stable income. For others, they were excited to see what awaited them beyond this dull floor.

Following the alarm, the manager of the facility made their way to the worker who made the discovery, seeing that the helmet of his suit had already partially melted. “How long were you inside?” He asked in shock.

The worker, stunned, had to think back to it. “I only put my head inside for a few seconds, sir.” Following the standard procedure, he produced the environmental details that the suit had been able to collect during the brief exposure.

The manager took the information, nodding his head. He grabbed his radio, his voice echoing out to the rest of the facility. “Everyone, take a thirty minute break while we analyze the data. The advanced party will be formed once the analysis is finished.”

After he said that, he immediately left, heading to a control center built into the basement of the facility. Once there, he inserted the chip that contained all of the environmental data, and began the analysis process. Just from looking at the damaged suit, he was sure that they would need to modify the suits slightly to withstand the atmosphere of the next floor.

Sure enough… as the minutes passed, more and more information was pieced together from the recorded data. With every new revelation, the manager’s face distorted more and more. It was no longer a question of whether or not they would need to modify the suits, but whether the modification would make any difference.

The composition of the energy filling this floor seemed to dissolve any form of energy or matter that it came into contact with. We’ll need to find something that can specifically resist this energy pattern, but… how long would it take? Do we need to contact Another World Research for help?

“Sir.” A voice suddenly spoke up over his radio, attracting his attention.

“Yes? What is it?” He responded. “Are the workers upset about the development?”

“No, that’s not it, sir. The King Consort of Deckan has arrived. He said that his Queen asked him to come.” The manager’s eyes went wide when he heard this. Although Aznod did not often act publicly, his powers were well known as the God of Cooking, Preparation, and Optimization.

“Send him to the lower control room at once.” The manager called back, before turning to face the elevator, putting a smile on his face. When the elevator door opened, he stepped forward. “King Aznod. It’s an honor to meet you.”

Aznod simply smiled, looking at the man. “Mister Drakar. I’ve heard of your facility for quite a while. It appears that you have made some progress?”

“Yes, sir, that’s correct. Just now, one of our workers successfully made contact with the sixty-first floor. However, the environment there is even harsher than we had anticipated. Only a few seconds of exposure had caused substantial damage to our environment isolation suit.”

Aznod nodded his head, thinking it over. He briefly looked at the data displayed on the screen. “Take me to the portal. I need to analyze the situation on the other side myself.”

The manager’s eyes went wide when he heard that, but still complied. He took Aznod to the elevator, leading him to the stabilized gate. “This is the one.” He said, gesturing for Aznod to proceed as he needed.

Aznod stepped forward, closing his eyes and putting a hand through the portal, causing the manager to gasp in shock. Having seen what the energy on the other side did to the protective suit, he could imagine what was happening to Aznod’s hand.

Sure enough, when Aznod pulled his hand back, the majority of it had long melted, leaving only a stump of a wrist. Aznod’s health bar appeared over his head, though he didn’t pay it any mind. “I see.” He allowed his hand to regenerate by redistributing his divinity, before pushing it through the portal again.

This time, his action was swift, and he quickly brought his hand back with a clump of soil from the other side. Immediately afterwards, a black flame engulfed this seemingly ordinary clump of soil, and the manager began to understand what he was doing. If the energy truly melted everything on the other side, there should be no land aside from the black stone. The fact that soil existed meant that it had a composition that resisted the red mist.

After a moment, Aznod nodded his head. “I believe that I have the answer. However, I will need you to modify the designs of your suit, replacing it with this material.” He pulled his hand from the black flame, showing a silver strip of metal. “This material should be able to resist the corrosion, similar to the material native to that floor.”

The manager nodded his head quickly. As the one responsible for the facility, he had the patent for the suits in the Digital Conversion system. Modifying the suits with a new material was simple, though it would require moving to another floor where their energy would not be disrupted and they could properly scan the new material.

He grabbed his radio, sending an order to the workers to meet in Gate’s Rise on the fifty-ninth floor for emergency modifications to their environment gear. Afterwards, he accepted the strip of metal from Aznod respectfully. “Thank you, sir. With this, we should be able to finally make progress conquering the floors of Fyor.”

Aznod simply smiled. “You would have discovered it sooner or later. All I did was speed up the process.” After saying that, he turned and began walking towards the exit, considering his work here to have been completed.

“It’s done.” Aznod said as he returned to Udona’s side. “They should be able to properly begin their expedition later this evening.”

Udona smiled at that. “Good. It’s about time we got moving with Fyor again. “We should only be a few floors from finding ‘his’ hometown. The Maxers of Fyor are finally at a strength that they can contend with them in their base form now, so we should be ready to make our move to connect with them.”

Aznod nodded his head in agreement. “James said that his people were extremely savage in the past. It would be best if they had moved on beyond that point. However, if they haven’t, it shouldn’t be too hard for our top forces to handle themselves.”