World Keeper

Chapter 364: I’m Back

Chapter 364: I’m Back

I watched the meeting between the Shadow Council, using another mirror that I summoned with my divine power. I knew that it was extremely difficult for these mirrors to be sensed, unless it was someone as familiar with divine energy as Tsubaki was, so I was not worried about being discovered. Rather, I was using this as a test of my abilities.

Previously, my divine soul had allowed me to view over a distance of ten thousand kilometers. Now… that sounds like it should be plenty, given the size of the world I came from. Yet, on this Earth, that was only a small corner of the world. Now that I had upgraded to the divine body as well, I wanted to get an idea of what my new range would be like.

I was not at all disappointed. From my position high above Earth, I was able to use the portal outlets from the internet cables to extend my reach all over Fyor, and even Deckan or Desbar. It felt like my sensing abilities no longer had a range limit… and that made me excited for an entirely different reason.

Ryone, do you still have any more of those tidestones? When we had first discovered this material, I had used my world sight to probe the small portals within each stone, allowing me to catch the first glimpse of the elemental plane that rested behind them.

Hmm? Sure. Want me to send some down for you?

Please do. I waited for a moment after sending that message, and soon felt a small weight resting in the palm of my hand, a single, slightly damp stone. Moving to set the stone on the arm of my throne, I allowed my ambient mana to keep the item active enough.

“Now, let’s see what we have here.” I muttered to myself, looking towards the mirror in front of me. Show me the world within the stone. Communicating my thought to the mirror, I watched as the image of the Shadow Council meeting grew foggy, a vast world of water appearing within it instead.

I gave a small nod, recognizing the water world. I took a quick moment to activate my Planar Archivist title, before looking to the mirror once again. Focusing, I sent my will into the mirror, commanding the vision to leave, to rush out of that world. This would be the true test of my range, as I knew that the elemental plane was far larger than any of my worlds.

The image grew blurry again, though this time from the rapid movement as the mirror seemed to swiftly swim through the giant ocean. It passed by the other tidestones, shifting further and further upwards. As it did, I began to feel a small pull on my divine body, as if the mirror was trying to pull more energy to expand its reach.

Almost as soon as I supplied more divine energy to the mirror, the scene shifted again. The view within the mirror had become black. I willed the view to turn, the mirror shifting to gaze on the world again. As expected, it had broken past the surface of the ocean, the blackness being the void beyond. It would appear that I was not as lucky this time, not coming out on the same side as the other elemental worlds.

Still, that didn’t matter to me. I had learned something new… I had learned that supplying more energy to the mirror would not only extend my range, but also vastly increase its speed. Neither of these had ever happened before, so this was an exciting discovery for me.

Since none of the elemental worlds could be seen on the horizon, I turned the mirror to directly face the surface of the ocean and once again urged it forward. Without hesitation, I pushed more of my energy into the mirror, watching the scene blur as it passed through the world of water. At the same time, the mirror seemed to become more solid, floating in front of me.

I could see the many tidestones passing by, but didn’t dare to check them. There was a chance that one of them connected to a higher level of Fyor, a world that might unlock when I view it. I didn’t want my world to immediately rise in level simply because I was a bit too curious.

With me steadily feeding a supply of divine energy to the mirror, it took roughly three minutes to fully penetrate from one end of the world of water to the other. Given that I can immediately pull up a mirror to search all the way to Fyor… that just goes to show how far the distance really was. And, when it had once again exited the ocean, I was able to see the worlds of fire, earth, and wind again. As well as the mysterious central world that seemed to pulse with life.

That central world was by far the closest, and also the one that I had the most personal interest in. As such, it was no wonder that I immediately told the mirror to move towards that world. I wanted to see what this ‘elemental world of life’ had to offer.

Thankfully, it seemed like the divine energy found empty space easier to move through than a vast ocean, as the world became larger at an almost visible pace. It took less than a minute before it completely engulfed my view, and within another minute I was observing the surface.

All around me, I saw a vast sea of dense vegetation. Trees over a thousand meters tall and pulsating with energy. Even beneath me, I could see that the ground did not seem to be soil, but rather a network of vines. However, that did not surprise me as much as what I saw next.

“Hello? Who is this?” A voice spoke from the mirror. A young girl’s face appeared within, one that I had seen before, but not for a long time. “This energy feels familiar… but not at the same time. Have I met you?” Her soft, golden eyes were unfocused in the vague direction of the mirror, clearly sensing its general location without being able to further narrow it down.

Her blue hair, most notably, was something I wouldn’t be able to forget easily. I shifted the mirror to allow for a more stable connection, letting her see me as well without offering a path of physical travel. “You are Fyor’s world spirit, aren’t you?”

She blinked in surprise, looking more focused towards me. Her eyes squinted briefly, before going wide. “Mister?! You’re the one that made me, right? The… oh, what’s the word… the Keeper?”

“That’s right… I thought that you were still sleeping?” The last time I had seen her was just after I had finished making her. Because Fyor didn’t have the world spirit class unlocked, she was unable to continue forming her body, and had fallen asleep. Naturally, I had assumed at that point that she would just wake up when the class had been unlocked.

“No… I don’t think I slept for very long. When I woke up, I was here! But I can’t access the spirit world where the others go. I know that the ability is there, but… it feels blocked. If you’re here, though… does that mean I’ll be able to go back, soon?”

Now I was starting to get an idea of what this world was. It wasn’t strictly a world of life… but a world densely comprised of natural energy in its purest form. It was connected to Fyor on a fundamental level, so when the system expelled her from the main body of Fyor, this was set to be her home…

I shook my head to shake away those thoughts, looking to the girl in the mirror. “I’m afraid that can’t happen yet. We still haven’t managed to find the world spirit class to let you return.” I could see the sorrow on her face when I said that, and it pierced at my heart. If there were a way for me to bring her out of there, I would have. However, I knew that a completed world spirit like her couldn’t exist within another world’s territory, so there was no way for me to pull her over here.

As I was thinking about that, a brief look of alarm flashed across her features. “We can’t stay here, follow me.” After saying that, her body erupted into green light, vanishing entirely from my view. I was left blinking in surprise, before commanding the mirror to find her again. It took only a few moments, but I soon saw her panting slightly behind a large tree.

“What just happened?” I asked, concerned over the panic that had overcome what should have been a nearly immortal being.

“A hunter beast…” She whispered. “I found them shortly after I first woke up here, not knowing what they were… if I don’t leave the area before they lock onto me, they track me down and eat me… I don’t die, but it hurts, and takes a long time for my mind to gather again. I don’t like them…”

Okay, now I was definitely not going to set up a passage through the mirror, if there was a creature strong enough to overpower a completed world spirit and cause her consciousness to disperse. “Don’t worry, I’ll try to find the world spirit orb soon so that you can come out of there.”

I saw a thankful smile on her face when she heard that. “Thank you, sir. I hope you’re able to do that. Is it okay if I go back to hiding, now? If I don’t they’re probably going to find me again soon.” I offered a small nod to accept her request, and her body once again faded away. At the same time, I also removed the two-way link from the mirror, not wanting anything that came by to be able to see it.

Not more than ten seconds after I did that, I was thankful that I had removed the connection. There was a flash of green light in the vision of the mirror, and a small, green wolf was standing where the world spirit had been only moments before. It lifted its head, looking around the area as if searching. Vines seemed to sprout from its back, bark-like armor covering its sides and limbs. Focusing, I managed to identify the creature through the mirror.

Level 4113 - Spirit Eater

Native Plane - Elemental Life

This was my first time seeing a creature anywhere near that level, aside from myself in my full Keeper power. And if all of its power was focused, that made it a terrifying force to be reckoned with.

It glanced briefly in the direction of the mirror, and the frame seemed to shake for a moment. I was briefly worried that it might be able to force a connection from its end, and travel through the mirror to reach me. However, just as I was about to dispel the mirror, the creature vanished. The mirror became stable once again, my view left focused on the tree that the world spirit had been hiding behind.

Still, not wanting to take any chances, I immediately dispelled the mirror. As I did so, I found an information window appearing in front of me.

You have explored a new elemental world, and made contact with one of its inhabitants. As a reward, you have unlocked the second ability of the Planar Archivist title!

Planar Shift ability unlocked!

I cleared my throat as I read that. So… Terra… Planar shift… is that what I think it is?

Pretty much! She responded after a brief moment, causing a small smile to appear on my face. This ability allows you to consume your own energies in order to create a temporary portal to a world that is connected with one you are currently on. So, for instance, you could use it to move to Fyor or Deckan, or even the elemental plane that you discovered if you were feeling particularly stupid, but you couldn’t use it to go to Lorek.

I… had to agree with her. There was no way that I was going to directly visit the elemental planes. Doing so would be nothing short of suicide, given that that spirit eater was not likely to be the strongest creature inhabiting that world. It might be the one most specialized to hunt down the world spirit, but there were bound to be many more powerful creatures that would be able to hunt down me.

Okay… next question. I felt a small smirk tugging at my lips. Does Vision Expanse count as a world that is connected to these worlds?

There was a brief pause as Terra took a moment to process what I was asking. Clever boy. It does count, yes. However, it counts as a world that has not undergone a ‘law merge’. You’d get the same deal there that you have here, but with skills instead of classes. But at the same time… if you took your true body there, you would no longer be able to respawn upon death. If something killed you, that would be the end.

Well, that doused any plans I had of playing around like that in Vision Expanse… I’d be more likely to kill myself than anything else, just by experimenting with the different uses of energies there.