Void weaponry, made from the body of the Void Tortoises, was one means of defeating the Darklings. The other was the use of the hero weapons. Heroes. There were heroes here, but the last demon king came to this world about seventy years ago.

Lumoof chuckled to himself. - If Stella was here, perhaps she�d be a goddess. -

- Or any of our void mages. - Kafa nodded. They were given the most beautiful guestrooms, and they were escorted into an area.

Thankfully, these dwarves of Delvegard were quite straightforward in their dealings. The actual meeting with the dwarven lord went as expected, at least; they didn�t tell a lie, just an omission of truth.

Darklings were creatures twisted by the void, and that was because in the depths of the core the magical minerals came in a few variants. First was Sunsteel. These were the rarest ones, and they could only be found in the deepest of the magical mineral veins, where the presence of the Darklings was highest. They didn�t know how it was made, but when Lumoof held the sample in his hand, it felt familiar.

- This looks like the base component of the Sun Rings , - Lumoof repeated. It wasn�t in its processed form.

Next was Sunmetal. It was an inferior form of the Sunsteel, where the ratio of those unusual metals had not been properly formed. They were found on the outer areas of the magic veins.

Then the last one was the Dark Ore. This were often found around Sunsteel and Sunmetal, and it had intense light absorption abilities. Sunsteel and Sunmetal were excellent weapons, incredibly magically conducive, durable, and could store way more magical enchantments per size.

But they had a downside. Once formed, they were not very easily recycled or remade. The magical enchantments were baked into their structure. Melting Sunsteel turned them back to Sunmetal, and melting Sunmetal turned them back to ordinary metals. With each process, they turned into lesser, more mundane variants.

Even the purity of Sunsteel varied. Because even making them into an equipment required a bit of processing, and each additional process weakened the natural qualities of Sunsteel. Most crafters that worked on Sunsteel essentially did it through a process called Cold Forging, where the metals were cut using a type of ice crystals.

Kafa looked at Lumoof. - I believe we need Lady Stella here. -

- I believe we do, - Lumoof said.

The dwarven lord proceeded to narrate why these metals were important. This, in many ways, was a typical dwarven society, with a heavy emphasis on crafting, technology, and equipment. Sunmetal and Sunsteel were critical for their prosperity, because it allowed creation of equipment capable of delivering more for less.

Most crucially, they allowed the creation of the strongest of the dwarven war machines. The giant spiders.

Lumoof frowned at the mention of war machines and asked to see one.

The dwarven lord gulped. - We only possess two. -

- I will not harm them, - Lumoof said.

The war machines were gigantic weapons. They were smaller than the demon walkers but big enough that they were easily one of the largest weapons. But their design was surprisingly elegant and slender. It reminded Lumoof of one of A/ �s memories, a Protoss Colossus from Starcraft.

- We pack as much Sunsteel as we can onto these things, - the dwarven lord of Greyhold explained. There was a dwarven engineer who walked over.

- And these are your most powerful weapons of war? -

- Yes. -

Lumoof once remembered Stella and the heroes spoke of a world that ran on steam and pipes. Of machines made of steel. But looking at the machine in front of him, its slender legs and small body, it didn�t match what Stella told him.

Lumoof knew that Alka could�ve made something better. Easily. In combat ability. Or design. But to achieve the same power - to - weight ratio, it would require a fair bit of high - level craftsmanship that only those in the level one hundreds could achieve.

- Do you all not have crystal weapons and crystal equipment? - Lumoof asked, curious.

The dwarves looked at each other. - We do, but we mostly use them as a magical storage to power the Sunsteel�s enchantments. -

Lumoof�s eyes watched, and the artificial minds quickly analyzed the data. It was likely that they needed Sunsteel for the hinges, because the Sunsteel offered significant performance without weight. The legs and hinges of the war machines were slender structures, only possible because of Sunsteel.

My priest looked back at dwarves. - And why do you need these weapons of war? -

- Well, other dwarves, of course! -

The dwarves of Delvegard were territorial and frequently fought brutal wars. They tried their best to negotiate, but once war broke out, all combatants would pull out all their stops. In short, when they went to war, it was all or nothing.

Kafa was shocked to hear that the dwarves were so brutal and ruthless. - They are nothing like Mountainworld�s dwarves. -

- A different history, - Lumoof commented. - History is a shadow, forever looming over the psyche of society. -

Kafa nodded. The two sat in a room.

- What do you think of this world, Kafa? - Lumoof asked.

The lizardfolk closed his eyes. - Hungry for war. -

- Not that. How is this world valuable to us? Or it is not? That ultimately depends whether we intervene or not. -

Kafa�s eyes opened. - Patriarch Lumoof, that is a question that is worth? -

- A million lives. Probably more. - Lumoof smiled. - Our type of engagement is vast. Ignore and do nothing, which is the least engagement. Then there�s a trading relationship. Then as a colony or vassal state of some kind. And at the end, full domination. -

- There�s also the friendliness of that engagement. Do we engage the locals? Do we ignore them? Do we send our own people because we can�t trust these guys? Do we. enslave them? -

- Surely not. - Kafa reacted at the last word.

- I know. But the range of engagement remains present. It is a choice, even if a choice we do not like. -

Kafa thought of that conversation with Edna. This was truly the weight of their task. They were now the eyes and ears of the Order, and the Order was a machine that would consume worlds. - We need more information. -

- That is also an option. - Lumoof smiled at the younger domain holder.

- What - what would you do, Patriarch Lumoof? -

- I will first propose a friendly relationship. A trading relationship to buy these Sunmetals and Sunsteels from these dwarves. -

Kafa paused. - Given how critical it is to their war? -

- They are unlikely to agree. If the Sunsteel proves critical to our war, they will therefore need to be conquered. Or at least, we will need to establish our own presence and start mining this Sunsteel using our own forces. -

- Is the Sunsteel that important? - Kafa interjected. - It doesn�t seem like it would be. -

Lumoof waited. Kafa was right. It wasn�t critical, but good to have. - No. We have alternatives. But let us propose a trade, and we�ll see how these dwarves react. -

YEAR 265 (PART 2)

Edna�s visits to the world of Satrya

- No. I�ve had it with gods control over me, and I�m not keen on it. All of this sounds like it�ll take away time from me. - Colette objected to the idea.

Well, what was the idea?

I rejected the offer to adopt the World Faith System, but I realized the ability to have an audience with both Bach and Mozart was way more powerful. Through them, I could gain knowledge of the past, of history and of how things came to be.

Sure, they were not willing to share a lot, but even if they refused to tell us that, the mere act of asking questions about the System and understanding the mechanics of the System would allow us to make projections and plans. So, among the senior leaders, we thought of creating even more people like me.

Level two hundred fifty. It was a crazy, crazy number. Of course, by telling this, I revealed my power level to everyone around me.

It was an act of trust, of course. But at the same time, I believed it was also an act of intimidation. The rest of the domain holders didn�t even reach level two hundred. My fellow domain holders of the other worlds refused to share their levels, but from the weight of our presence, I was fairly sure they didn�t exceed my levels.

We approached the heroes first.

I remembered Bach�s words that even heroes who met the necessary thresholds could get it. I wondered how this was so and whether, perhaps, heroes were robbing the gods of the faith values, therefore they decided to remove the heroes once their usefulness was over?

At some level, faith values made their control over the world a zero - sum game. Heroes who, given a certain level of independence, could create their own faith with their god - given powers and, at level two hundred fifty, rise to the point where they ascended. Their followers would compete in the same pool as the old gods.

- That�s a horrible way to look at things, - Kei acknowledged. Prabu looked at Colette.

- Sure you don�t want to do it? -

Colette looked at the growing child sitting on her lap. - No. Not at all. -

Kei sighed and spoke to me. To everyone looking, it seemed like she was talking to the air. - Who else? -

- We need someone who could have a religion built around her. -

Roon, Johann, and Ezar rejected it. All three of them didn�t want to be a god of any sort. Stella thought it over and decided that her void abilities seemed more useful than whatever divine shenanigans this system was up to.

- This WFS enables an old god to do everything alone. All that matters is the faith cost, - Stella said. - Because the old gods are solitary existences, they exist above and beyond their old societies. -

As I mulled it over, I realized Stella�s observation was true.

The old gods gained immortality, the means to open pathways through the stars, summon heroes, and tremendous combat ability.

Whereas the experience system was intricately tied to the class and later the domain . This allowed for a far higher peak, but much more narrow scope of abilities. In short, the gods chose width and breadth of abilities over depth and focus.

A pantheon, essentially, a team of domain holders with a wide variety of domains , should outperform the WFS. But if there was only a single person, the World Faith System was truly the best choice forward.

- I believe the WFS is a good choice in situations where we need a backup A/ , - Stella answered. - A lot of what we achieved today is because of the society change created by the Valtorn Order, backed by A/ . If we want to plan for a situation where we may have to survive without A/ for a while, one of us would need to take on the WFS to bridge that gap. -

- It�s an insane idea, to raise someone up just to be a temporary A/ , - Kei countered. - A level two hundred fifty warrior domain holder, per Edna�s calculation, should be very, very strong. We�re talking about a literal god able to deliver as much power as a full team of level one hundred plus heroes. -

- Edna, - Stella suggested. - She may not need it, but I believe if there�s anyone worthy of a religion, or at least a mini one, it should be Edna. -

My void domain holder wanted Edna�s Order of Knights to become a quasi - religious institution with faith in Edna�s powers. Edna would be elevated into a patron deity of the Knight Order, and a group of Valthorn priests would have to start the process of making her into a saint or a goddess.

An order of Templar Knights, in worship of a Martial Goddess.

Edna squirmed at being made into a goddess but ultimately agreed. On one condition. - Let�s do it outside of Treehome. I - I�d like to be a mere mortal at home. -

- You stopped being a mortal decades ago, - Stella countered.

- I mean, you understand. - Edna glared. Stella chuckled.

Alternatively, the other possibility was to elevate Kafa into some kind of lizardfolk god. Or god of the swamps. Or something of that sort.

It was a long way to go for someone like Kafa. He was barely level one hundred fifty, while Edna was already close to level two hundred. It was a lot more sensible to try it with Edna, but in many ways, we could do both. We would start to include both of them as minor deities of our pantheon of gods.

- First was A/ . The great tree sheltered all that came after. To nourish the land, for them to grow. Then came Edna, our guardian protector, defender of the weak, and the shield of the Tree. She was later joined by Kafa, warrior protector of the lizardfolks. -

Edna squirmed. Everyone did. But the drafted story, the tale of a god, would be weaved. - I really don�t want this to spread on Treehome, - Edna said with her face in her hands. It was incredibly embarrassing.

I didn�t like religious talk. It was cringeworthy.

I hoped they made better, less - cringeworthy versions of the mythos in the future.

Edna sighed. - We should just add all the domain holders to the myth. That way all of us get a chance to gain faith. -

It was a fair assessment, and so the priests went back to the drawing board.

- Well, rather than dwell on that stuff, time for you to go visiting. -

- My turn, I suppose. - Edna smiled at Stella, then at the two men that would accompany her on their visit to the other worlds. - Ready, boys? -

Roon and Ezar shrugged. Ezar tried to joke. - It�s my first time! Be gentle! -

It wasn�t. He made many trips to other worlds, but it was their first time as the - lead - explorer. Edna laughed. - When you�re on the other side, no one can hear you scream. -

Ezar paled. Roon just tapped him on the shoulder. - You�ll be fine. -

Stella smiled. - Off you go. -

The world they visited was immediately filled with the stench of blood and war. Edna could feel it in the ground, in the air, and feel the presence of battle.

Roon and Ezar glanced at each other. Roon�s senses were the strongest of the three, but if Edna could feel it, it must be quite near.

- Why not scout it out? - Edna proposed.

Roon nodded as his body turned into a shadow and then vanished. Edna looked at Ezar and smiled at the new domain holder. - Any thoughts about your first trip as an explorer and representative of A/ ? -

- Horrified, - Ezar answered.

- You should be. How we act, and what we do, shapes the natives impression, and vice versa. -

The brawler nodded as they walked. There were trees here. There were markings left by blades and swords. Arrowheads were embedded into the trunk of trees. The trees had been used for practice. Edna took out a black helmet from her magical storage and wore it. It gave her the ability to see the astral paths in space. This world was also connected to a few others. Stella or the Void archmages would need to be here to investigate.

Edna frowned as there was the clear tale of demonic invasion. There was a bright path in the sky. The demon king should be arriving on this world any time soon.

Roon was back. - Demons. As usual. There are local defenders. Pretty rough fighting, from what I can see. Demons appear to be the Sabnoc - variant. I�ve already spotted a few demonic encampments. The variant appears to have taken up demon knights as their form. -

- Oh. Demon armies again. - Edna frowned. - That�s a tough one, generally. -

- Smaller, demon armies, actually. More like demon knight packs. -

Edna�s eyebrow arched. - Packs?! That�s somewhat unusual behavior coming from the demons. -

Ezar sat and frowned. - That should make it easier, should it? Small packs means less bodies to punch. It�s a lot easier to just get rid of them. -

Roon nodded. - They seem to have fairly high combat strength for demons. Each pack seems to be at least a champion - level threat. The demonic leader looks to be somewhere around level eighty to one hundred. -

Edna�s eyebrow arched again. - So this is a Sabnoc that only spawns champion - level packs of armies? -

It wasn�t entirely unusual, Edna thought. There was a time when the demons only spawned dragons, and those packs of flying demon-dragons could easily be considered champion - level threats.

Ezar laughed. - They won�t last very long. A few punches and we�re done. -

- Let�s just go visit some and see. Keep our domains hidden. -

- I�ll try, - Ezar said. - I don�t have much practice! -

The group of three arrived in what looked to be a fortress city defending itself against the demons. The fortress looked fairly battered, with its massive stone walls that looked like they�d taken damage for some time.

- There�s like six thousand people in that city, - Roon commented. - Almost all humans. -

Edna smirked. - I�ve won the bet, then. Well, what else are we seeing? -

Ezar looked at the battlefield. On one side, there was a group of thirty demonic knights. They rode on large demonic horses that had no face or eyes but had sharp fangs. Their hooves were massive, and in some way, they looked more like bulls than horses.

All of them looked to be waiting for a sign.

On the other side was a group of human defenders, dressed in similarly heavy armor. A few of them looked badly injured. One of them rode to the front and stood holding a large steel sword. There were about a hundred of them, and yet, in a straight battle, it was fairly clear that they would lose. The demons were more powerful.

- Come get me, foul beasts of the dark! - the knight roared and charged alone.

Edna, Ezar, and Roon collectively squirmed. - He�s going to kill himself charging alone like that. -

Then only one of the demons rode to meet him in battle.

- What? - The three domain holders could not believe what they were seeing.

The demon brandished its dark blade, and that same blade clashed against the steel sword of the knight. They fought each other, and yet it was clear that the human knight was losing. They exchanged about twenty blows, and the human knight retreated back, injured. The demon had somehow landed a few hits on the knight.

Yet the demon didn�t chase. Instead, it returned back to its pack and waited.

This scene repeated itself as the second knight confronted the demons.

- What in the hell is going on here? - Roon looked and tried to sense. - There�s great magic at work in this world. -

The three didn�t feel it, because their domains had protected them. But once Roon mentioned the presence of magic in the air, Edna and Ezar easily found it woven into the land itself. She looked at Roon and concluded the magic at work was out of their understanding.

Not just that, it even felt like divine intervention.

- We need a mage here, asap. - Edna pinged back home. Stella responded.

- All archmages on duty. Will get back to you in a week. -

Edna rolled her eyes. - Since when couldn�t I override their duties? -

- Treehome defense, - Stella countered. - Is it really that urgent? -

- It�s some divine shenanigans in this world. I want it looked at. -

Stella�s eyes brightened somewhere on Treehome. - That means we are close to the gods! And no, if it�s divine shenanigans, I�m not sending any non�domain holders over. -

Edna paused, contemplated Stella�s reasoning, and then sighed. - Fine. We�ll ask the natives. -

Roon looked at the city. - I can sneak us in. Easy! But let me just check who should we disguise as? -

The ranger activated some kind of surveillance skill before concluding that there were merchants in this world and immediately altered the disguises to match. - All right, let�s get in. -

The three snuck into the fortress city easily, even as the battle against the demons went on outside. Inside, it was very quiet, as if most of the citizens had evacuated.

Roon quickly approached one of the soldiers who walked alone and greeted, - Hey there, soldier. -

- Yes? Eh? There�s a merchant? All merchants should evacuate the city. The Combat Procedures will end soon. -

Roon pretended to be blur and took out a little bit of coin. He had taken a look at the coinage used by the city folk and managed to pilfer a few for use. - Yes, about that, can you tell me what�s happening? Like, it�s my first time encountering this Combat Procedures. What - what�s going on? -

Edna and Ezar hid nearby but listened in. The soldier laughed. - Oh. I thought everyone knew by now, but in any battle, the attackers and defenders must first have ten rounds of knightly one - on - one combat, known as the Combat Procedures, or some people call it the Ten Jousts. If the attackers win less than three battles, they cannot proceed with the attack. If they win more than three, they may proceed to the next phase of the battle, known as the Assault. That�s where the attackers may attack the city. -

The three domain holders couldn�t believe what they were hearing. It was absolute nonsense. - But - but why do we stick to it? Can�t - can�t the demons just march in without care? -

The soldier looked at the merchant named Roon like he was an idiot. - Is your village not protected by the Great Gawa �s Divine flames, or the Divine Protection of Proper Combat? Even the dark demons are bound to it. -

Edna glanced at Ezar. They were close to the god Gawa .

- What happens when they break it? -

- They get weakened by divine curses and burned by the divine flames. Weaker creatures will die. -

- But why does god not just crush the demons? -

The soldier stared at the merchant. - That is blasphemy. The Gawa church will have you skewered if that ever gets out. -

Roon acted horrified. - Ah, my apologies. Another coin for your silence? -

The soldier looked at the coin and laughed. - Very well, very well. I heard nothing. But you should leave. Most of us are leaving before the last of the ten Combat Procedures are over. -

Edna, Roon, and Ezar glanced at each other, wondering how the rules of this world operated.

Most of the citizens fled, but Edna noticed there was a group of knights tasked to defend rather than escape. They all had the resignation that they would die today.

- Do we just watch? - Roon glanced at Edna. He was fairly all right just letting the natives die.

She gulped, closed her eyes. - No. We�ll step in. -

The group of thirty demon knights charged against the walls of the city, and the walls held, for a while. The demons took a while and destroyed the fortified gates and then charged into the city where the knights waited.

- But let us watch where we can. At the last minute. -

- At the last minute, - Roon and Ezar said collectively.

It was going to be a bloodbath.

Then a burst of arrows and the group of thirty demons were slain. Roon, Ezar, and Edna arrived before the group of shaking soldiers, who were all prepared to die.

They were shocked but not immediately thankful. Instead, they asked, - Who do we owe the favor to, and what do you need for saving us? -

The three realized this was the best time to extort the knowledge and demanded it.

The world was bound by a great divine magic of Gawa , known as the Bindings of Gawa .

Each city with a temple of Gawa , a lord or ruler of suitable rank, and sufficient number of knights may activate the Combat Procedures . These combat procedures applied for a period of a week and could be activated once a month per city. The Combat Procedures forced all combatants to engage in a multi - stage battle, first with the Ten Jousts, then the Assault on the city.

Knights , Priests and Lords who did not obey the combat procedures after activating them would be inflicted with a divine curse. Also, in order to fulfill the rules of the Assault on the City , there must be defenders. Otherwise, the Combat Procedures would be canceled, and the Lord and also Priests that cast them would suffer another divine curse.

This was how cities throughout the world slowed the demons attack, because the Bindings of Gawa could be used on the demons as well, and during combat procedures , interfering parties would be punished by divine magic. Because of this, the demons were forced to play by the gods rules.

In this world, Knights were essentially Gawa �s warriors. The knights of this world were an order of warriors who believed in Gawa , and as a martial group, they believed in strong, fortified cities and stone temples.

Priests of Gawa blessed each and every city, and the Gawa priests of this world were particularly good at blessing stone walls and knights. Knights who survived multiple Jousts were awarded special skills by the System.

The Lords of this world were naturally knight - priest focused as well. Many were either promoted Knights or Priests, so most Lords eventually set up knight branches of their own and built fortified cities.

- There must be a source for such powerful divine magic, - Edna mused, resting in the home of the defenders. They were clearly glad not to die so were more than happy to host the three. A few left the city to deliver the message that they had been saved.

After interrogating the surviving soldiers, they eventually realized that they needed to visit the cities of the world.

- There are divine relics in this world, - Roon concluded after summarizing all the interviews. - A few of the kings control powerful divine relics, but the soldiers have no idea whether they are linked to this Divine Law. -

- If the gods could do this, why don�t they do it everywhere? They could essentially force the demons to obey certain laws of engagement. -

- There might be some kind of Faith - Point cost to maintain such a system, and it�s only a realistic solution if it�s not too far from the actual god, - Roon answered.

- We should just ask Stella to send us closer. Skip this world and find where the gods are, - Ezar countered.

- I think we should talk to the most senior priest in this world. If they can put us in an audience with Gawa , that would significantly help our cause, - the knight concluded while she looked over a map of their region.

This world was filled with many small kingdoms, with just a collection of a few large kingdoms. The land seemed fairly hostile, with multiple monsters, and there were even living dragons on this world.

Roon paused. - We should have Lumoof here if we want an audience. A/ should be the one facing this Gawa . -

- Agreed, - Edna answered. - But we should get information before we get to that stage. Stella will make the preparations back home. We need to get things ready. Let�s fan out and infiltrate more places. There�s at least six different kingdoms with these divine relics. -

- Are we stealing them? - Ezar looked unsure. - No, right? -

- No. Just investigate, send information back. We�ll match it to what knowledge we have. - The Order collected information on Gawa , Gaya, Aiva, and Neira over the decades. If there were some matching information on the Gawa faith of this world, it shouldn�t be too hard to line them up.

After some interrogation of the locals, the three also found that the locals referred to the world as Satrya. Edna initially wanted to call it Gawa world but then decided against it. It was likely this wasn�t Gawa �s main world, because Gawa �s presence should destroy whatever demons. This wasn�t Gawa �s home world, but we were close.

Then, just as Edna thought they were done with the unusual affairs, one of the soldiers revealed a strange piece of information.

Sometimes, the heroes of this world were selected from the locals directly by Gawa instead of summoned from another world.

The immediate implication of this was that the gods could select heroes directly! They didn�t need to go through the complicated summon mechanism! The Gawa locals referred to the chosen champions as Gawa �s Champions , and they would receive a selection of Gawa �s Battle Relics to battle against the demon king.

- We must see the relics and speak to Gawa . -

It wasn�t hard for someone like Edna to get enough money, and collecting it from the dead was even easier.

As she traveled across the kingdoms of Satrya, she witnessed even more demons. In cases where the local defenders did not invoke the Combat Procedures or ran out of the relevant materials to invoke it, the demons could easily assault the city.

As a result, the demons were incredibly fond of night strikes and especially strikes on cities that should have been safe.

Then as she entered one of the more heavily defended cities, she saw warriors that probably could give the demon knights a good fight and then some.

Knights equipped with divine relics. They were not stronger than Edna, that was for sure. A quick survey of their abilities suggested they were in the level eighties, but Edna felt the presence of divine blessing.

- Those are the Gawa Knight Templars. They are blessed by the high priests and granted divine powers, - the traveler next to Edna explained to her. It seemed those who believed in Gawa generally had a high level of faith in the god and thus appeared to do so.

Edna�s eyes noticed that the individuals themselves didn�t appear to manifest divine powers, but this was the first time she had ever encountered someone with divine relics so didn�t have a good idea of how they stacked up in battle.

But if this world had Gawa �s Chosen .

- They have not selected the candidates for this century�s chosen, - the traveler answered as Edna probed for more information. - The war with this generation�s demon only started two years ago, and it�ll be some time before the five or six chosen are awarded an audience with Gawa itself. -

- Five or six? -

- Sometimes. - The traveler shrugged. He seemed to be a fairly knowledgeable merchant, so Edna kept him talking. - The demons will come and linger for five to six years. Even the king of the demons has not descended yet. -

- It hasn�t. - Edna paused as the pieces came together. Back on the worlds where heroes were summoned, the gods summoned them after the demon king arrived. If the demon king hadn�t arrived on Satrya, it naturally followed that Gawa wouldn�t bother to choose its champions. But the gods clearly had a choice of adopting a different set of procedures for its - closer - worlds.

What everyone thought was a - normal - procedure may just be something they had to do for faraway worlds where they had little information.

Edna arrived in one of the supposedly largest cities on Satrya after two months of travel. In truth, she would have covered the distance within a few days, but she did the long way to learn from the locals.

Gawa �s faith was ridiculously powerful in this world. Each city had Gawa temples, almost everyone believed in it, at least nominally, and many truly believed in Gawa �s blessings. The priests themselves also appeared more powerful here, with high - ranking Gawa priests wielding powers not normally seen in priests, as if borrowing them from somewhere.

- Milady, welcome to Museo, home of the royal family of Museo, and one of the seven Relic cities of Satrya. - Relic cities were names given to the seven cities that hosted the Seven Great Gawa Relics. The one on Museo was home to an item known as the Chalice of Eternity.

Edna could feel it in the air itself, the sensation of divine presence. From the intelligence that she gathered so far, the Gawa Temple of Museo was an institution that had power not inferior to the royal family, and the Chief Priest of Museo was a man of incredible faith.

It would be difficult to gain access to the chief priest via normal means, since he was busy and would not normally entertain guests.

- What would Lumoof do if he was here on this case? - Edna sat in her inn, thinking to herself.

She considered her options. She could barge in. In terms of raw levels, nothing she saw so far even came close to her, but the presence of divine relics meant she didn�t have one hundred percent certainty.

That would probably cause offense, and she would rather not do so, especially if she wanted to maintain a working relationship.

After thinking for a while, she decided the best way was to visit the temple and ask for an audience directly.

Those that couldn�t see in the darkness often remarked how it was all black, but those who could see often saw in colors that couldn�t quite be described to man. I would be able to unlock all three choices in time, and I thought to myself that the Dark Void seemed to be the power I needed the most.

I�d struggled with the void for all this while. Our pace of expansion was dictated by the void, our travels through the void were the clear limiting factor of how we could visit new worlds, and eventually, the conclusion of the council was fairly decisive.

I would select the void.

The Dark Void .

The selection itself was immediate and quiet, but what immediately happened soon after was the appearance of black lightning over the skies of Freshka. Void Lightning.

A single blast to my first body.

I wondered whether this was heavenly retribution.

I felt my soul, already separated across my clones, begin to change, and the view of the void came instantly. One moment it wasn�t, and the next I suddenly saw the different shades of darkness in the skies above, in colors I couldn�t quite see.

My immediate description of the void layers was.

Magical photo filters.

This was like looking at photos of the stars with infra - red or ultraviolet light. They revealed things that were not there before or in different places.

Each of these filters revealed a different version of the stars with different locations. As I shared it with Stella, she immediately understood what this was.

- This is the different perspective we�ve been looking for all this while. It�s hidden behind a domain ability?! -

I thought about it, and perhaps it could be a domain ability for me, but there may be certain races or species who could see the different void layers themselves. Stella immediately began to experiment on her newfound access to the void layers .

We were all very excited to see the new worlds hidden within the void layers, but we had to be prepared. We were not sure what exactly lurked on the other side.

YEAR 265 (PART 3)

- A/ finally has mechs, - Prabu said, amazed, as he watched the magical construction emerge from its hangar on the moon. My Valthorns outdid themselves when they built the first moon base, and they outdid themselves again when they constructed what was the first orbital battle platform.

We were expected the first of the remnant meteors to enter our void teleportation range soon, but given that they were such small objects with hardly any bubble of reality, we felt the risk of engagement in such a situation was too high.

With such small bubbles of reality, even if we succeeded in destroying them, we wouldn�t be able to flee in time. It was likely that their - reality - was very fragile to begin with, so my void archmages recommended against attacking them in the void sea itself. The best area of engagement was once they entered Treehome�s now - expanded sphere of reality.

This was, in a way, the equivalent of letting the meteor enter our solar system.

The means of engagement were these orbital battle platforms, the first few usable space warships, and these mechs. The mechs were not really mechs but instead were intended to facilitate the heroes in their movements and survival in space. They were only made possible due to a combination of clever crystalwork from our crafters.

- I wish we could make mechs with our hero forges . -

Kei, on their shared communication network, responded, - I could. You guys just need to work around your limitations. -

Each hero�s hero forge was different, tailored by their assigned powersets. Kei, being the shipgirl that she once was, could make mech suits. Basic ones, but mech suits nonetheless. For Prabu and Colette, their weapons were smaller.

Khefri didn�t want to participate in the defense of Treehome. She said she had things to do back on Threeworlds, so we didn�t force her. Similarly, Adrian had his own set of tasks back on Mountainworld.

Chung. Well, being Chung, he decided to ignore us altogether.

I wasn�t bothered. But Prabu and Colette tested out our first mechs.

They struggled, and we had to send the mechs back to the workshop to work on the synchronization. In theory, mechs and golems were pretty much the same thing. But golems ultimately were controlled by their masters, and so the System facilitated the control and manipulation of the golem�s many parts.

However, a mech, in our case, was piloted by heroes, and these heroes didn�t have the relevant skills and classes. Sure, they could still be manipulated and moved about relatively well, but not at the operating level expected of heroes.

Certainly not a level of performance where these mechs could see battle against the demon kings, even if it should still be quite sufficient for lower levels of demons.

Most conventional weapons continued to work as long as they were within the boundaries of Treehome�s reality bubble.

Now that we were able to move in - space, - we attempted to reach the very edges of this reality bubble and realized it was more like a rubber ball than a soap bubble. As we moved closer to that edge, we were pushed closer toward the center of that reality bubble. So it�d feel as if we were moving forward, but in reality we were not going anywhere.

In other words, it was like there was a - treadmill - at edges of reality that pushed inward.

With enough force, and a high enough speed, it should be possible to overcome this - force - and pierce the reality bubble directly.

Still, day by day, I could sense the bubble of reality continued to expand.

My domain ability was gradually pushing the world wider, and soon it would be large enough to accommodate a secondary world.

I wondered what it�d be like.

Did the world just pop out of thin air?

Or like a world drifting out of the void? Would it come with an inbuilt population, or would it be empty?

Threeworlds. With the crystal king imprisoned, the first moments of war began to emerge. The human kingdoms and nations struggled to realign in what was a tectonic shift in power.

We sent diplomats everywhere, accompanied by our Valthorns. We had to show force, even if I didn�t want to use the stick all the time.

But I had to. There was a point of no return. When the crystal king attempted to sabotage our preparations, that was the point of no return for me. They put my people at risk.

Now, I put them at risk again by making them force these human nations to bend their knee. Bloody or not.

As with any large group of people, some were loyalists, and despite my declaration, they were not convinced. They fought. And what began was an unfortunately brutal occupation by my forces.

Old leaders had to be expelled, especially those that sought to fight against me. Those that didn�t were actively and openly monitored. It was the noble class that opposed me most, and it was them that I had to remove. I tried a mix of carrot and stick. I enticed those willing to bend the knee with food supplies, resource assistance, and protection. Those that didn�t were punished.

I assisted family struggles, using those willing to work with me to overthrow those that didn�t.

The human nations, some attempted to attack us with their military.

Johann became my enforcer. He traveled the land with his dragon and struck fear into the kings and queens. Yet they were attacked frequently, and in response, they were punished. Jailed.

And at times slaughtered.

It made me churn.

A little.

But then I remembered that there were times that we had to make an example of a few to scare the masses.

I had imprisoned the crystal king. What was done was done.

Now I dealt with the consequences.

It was a scene that was repeated across the kingdoms of the crystal king�s land.

- You come into my kingdom and demand I bend the knee? - the king roared, surrounded by his soldiers and knights. Golems.

Johann was flanked by six elite Valthorns, all level one hundreds, and his golden dragon. The dragon grew day by day, feasting on the meat of the land. He laughed and flexed his domain easily. The soldiers buckled. The king trembled in his seat, even though he stood. He held his scepter tightly, using it to support himself.

It would not do for a king to cower in his throne.

Johann smirked. - No. I demand you work with us under the old arrangements with the crystal king. You either accept or you will be removed and replaced with those who will. I�d rather not invite the brutality of A/ �s Mercy onto your land or let you experience a little of A/ �s Perspective. -

- You! - The king held his scepter and called on the strength of his class to withstand the weight of Johann�s domain.

One minister tried to speak up. - Your Majesty, please, we should discuss this further. -

The king stared at the minister, but another minister spoke up for him.

- Your Majesty, the minister is wise. We - we�re dealing with a god. -

We had sent our spies and agents into the many kingdoms, to bribe, to talk, to convince those who could be convinced. This occurred before Johann�s visit to - prepare the field - for the agreement.

The same king agreed later on, convinced by his council of ministers. We bribed half of them and attempted to bribe the other half. But they were wise enough to remain silent.

They had seen our beetle armies.

Many had used magic to look at what happened to Maelga and were made speechless.

But ultimately, we used the stick.

There was an unfortunate king that opposed us to the end. He evoked war.

And Johann made him into an example. We announced our intention to remove him as king, using charges collected by my spies. Then we killed him there and then, publicly before his own citizens and subjects.

Death was a scythe we threatened on every noble.

About two - thirds of the kingdoms eventually capitulated to our rule, even if we had to reward them with wealth. Wealth was no big deal; after all, it was a resource I could always create.

One - third of them saw the writing on the wall and realized I was stronger than their crystal king. They agreed out of fear. The other third agreed with bribes.

As for the remaining one - third, we had to engage in power struggles. My agents helped those in favor of our new regime to overthrow their existing rulers and functionally install our people as the puppeteers of their new ruling state.

Naturally, there was blood spilled.

Kidnappings, murders, and assassinations. All to prevent a bloodier war.

The next one was to deal with the priests, and similar to the kings, we bribed them. Those that we couldn�t bribe, we removed. My spies and assassins were busier than ever.

Accidents.

Visits to another world.

I offered exile to those who wished to resist. I granted them the chance to live in Lavaworld.

The priests of the crystal king�s land were granted the right to operate as normal, so long as they did not incite riots or attacks against us.

The commoners and citizens of the crystal king�s lands, most of them couldn�t be arsed, and in the era where high - speed communication was only available to the rich, most farmers and peasants didn�t even know there was a change in power.

They would learn of such changes over a longer period of time, through the stories spoken by merchants and bards. Again, bribes. It was honestly because I had the wealth of Treehome that I could engage in such outright bribery of the masses.

My spies fed these folks coin and made them tell more pleasant versions of the story. We asked them to speak out how the crystal king attempted to sabotage the hero Khefri�s battle against the demon king.

We were the crystal king�s divine punishment.

It was an angle that worked well and helped pacify the commoners. Many didn�t really feel strong loyalties to the crystal king. He was too distant, too aloof. His empire was more of a ragtag coalition of vassal states rather than a proper federal structure.

The improved farming yields from my druids and trees that came after soon placated the commoners who usually dealt with hunger and heavy taxation.

Naturally, among the commoners, not all accepted the change of regime. This was most unfortunate.

We tried to reeducate them. Expose them to what happened.

But ultimately, some were violent. And death was the only way to deal with them.

It was unfortunate that regime change must occur this way.

But I accepted the blood on my hands. I would pay the price for my brutality when my day came.

With blood on my roots and leaves, I would transform the world and the human lands into an economy that could support this war against the demons.

DWARFWORLD

My mages and crafters analyzed the Sunsteel, and we believed it should be one of the components of what the demons used for the Sun Rings . At least, we believed the Sun Rings to be some kind of metallic alloy. It was this Sunsteel mixed with something else altogether.

So Lumoof went with the first proposal. Trade. The dwarven lord rejected the offer, but Lumoof wasn�t bothered. There were many dwarven cities, and we would be able to find a smaller dwarven city that we could support.

- Trade? - The dwarven lord looked absolutely shocked. - You want half of the Sunsteel? You might as well rob us. -

Lumoof frowned. - Half is fair. I will be doing the work. I really rather work this out on friendly terms rather than invade. -

- I don�t know who you are threatening. - The dwarven lord didn�t understand. Naturally, in front of him was just a man. A powerful man, but he didn�t grasp exactly what he was faced with.

Lumoof waited for a bit and realized he might have a point.

Though the dwarven lord rejected Lumoof�s trade deal, Lumoof decided to explore the world some more and realized this world, despite the constant brutal wars between the dwarven cities, was also filled with many relatively high - leveled dwarven craftsmen.

Many were level fifty to sixty, and they were available in very large quantities. There were multiple dwarven craft academies throughout the world that produced the smiths, crafters, and engineers needed to construct their gigantic war machines.

And they loved large - scale construction projects.

He pinged Stella.

- Stella, do you think you�re keen on sending some dwarves from and to our home world? -

- Sure - but why? -

- I�m thinking of some good ol perspective. I think Alka would love this world. He could turn this world into one of those Forgeworlds. -

Stella paused. - If they are a bunch of war - hungry dwarves, why not give them war? -

Lumoof paused as he digested Stella�s message. - You know what? You�re right. We should give them war. -

- Oh. Do you want an invasion force? We�re a little tight with half of our folks dealing with the comet remnants and the other half occupying Threeworlds? -

- No. I think I have something else in mind. -

- Really? Will this world be worth it? - Stella challenged. - What do you have in mind? -

- Get me a group of dwarven lords from the academy willing to rule over some alien dwarves, - Lumoof said. - I believe this world has potential to assist our war efforts. A node should be sufficient, since we should be able to claim some land as our city. -

- Got it. - Stella laughed.

The dwarf world was filled with many small dwarven towns and cities. Not all were competent, and not all had war machines. There were smaller towns led by less powerful lords that we could depose. High - leveled, well - trained lords trained by the FTC could sweep in with Valthorn support, take over these smaller towns, and effectively cobble the smaller towns together into a coalition.

Then we could effectively convert the cities into our dwarven workshops.

Rather than fight each other, it was time to channel the dwarven crafts toward a more productive war.

We would turn this world into a forgeworld, and those war machines would find themselves battlefields where they could do some good.

SATRYA - EDNA, ROON, AND EZAR

Edna spent days in the Relic City, observing how the temples and the people worked. With her advanced surveillance tools, it was fairly easy for her to soon get a sense of where everything was and how it worked.

It was a beautiful city. Especially the temple of Gawa . It was incredibly grand and made with an opulence unmatched in any world Edna seen before. Its structure was made with a kind of shimmering marble, and the arches were decorated with gems and a kind of gold paint that looked more gold - like than gold.

It was magic, and the presence of divine magic in the area was unmistakable. The relic in the deepest part of the temple bubbled, twisting the fabric of reality in a way only domain holders like Edna could feel.

Here, they were close to the gods, and Edna was sure of it.

She hoped that she would be able to arrange an audience with the gods. That would help with the war effort and figuring out what the hell went wrong with the demons.

So the time to make a scene finally arrived.

- I�d like to see the head priest, - Edna declared frankly in the temple. She had been watching the place for a while and noticed that the head priest was present for a meeting with the city�s king. He was frequently away, but this was one of the days when she saw him enter.

The priest stared at Edna like she was an alien. - Who do you think you are? No one sees the head priest? -

- I insist. - Edna�s aura flared, and the priest felt his hands tremble. She thought of more discreet methods but decided against it. It was better to just hit it directly. If they were unfriendly, then she�d deal with it that way.

- I - I will let him know. Who - He will want to know who wants to see him. -

- Tell him I�m a warrior from another world and representative of another god, - Edna repeated, and the priest�s trembling looked even more intense. His eyes met Edna�s burning gaze briefly.

- At once, milady. - And he ran.

Edna expected an army of templars to charge down at her, and so, when an army of templars armed with divine weapons did in fact emerge, she wasn�t shocked.

- This way, milady, - one of the priests said, escorted by what appeared to be a decent army of templars. They were all about level seventy to eighty, which made them very strong by most measures.

With their divine equipment, they could stand a chance even with the higher - level Valthorns.

Edna was escorted into the depths of the temple, and she could sense people moving throughout the temple. There was a huge guard force appearing around the relic, as if worried that the relic would be attacked.

She just smiled and walked past the corridors of paintings and tapestries all speaking praises of their god, Gawa .

Eventually, she was led to a chamber far from the relic and was clearly not the actual chamber of the head priest. But the head priest was there, decked from head to toe for war. Divine armaments, rings, armors. They would take a hit.

- Greetings, milady. Of all the outlandish attempts to get an audience with me, yours is the most ludicrous. A visitor from another world, and representative from another god? - the head priest said. He was smug. - So ridiculous. So you succeeded. What do you want? -

Edna didn�t feel the need to answer it with words and merely allowed her domain to ripple outward. It shook the cloth and tapestries. The magical defenses in the room vibrated. The head priest felt his rings tremble, as if begging to be activated.

It caused the head priest�s face to contort from smugness, into horror, and then to fear. He stood. - You�re not lying. -

Edna shrugged. - Why would I? I come from another world, a world that also has Gawa as one of our people�s faith. -

She looked around and withdrew her domain. The trembling in the room vanished.

- I will cut to the point. I want an audience with Gawa . -

The head priest stared at Edna as if she was mad. - An audience with our god? Are you insane? -

- No. We found the demon�s sun, and we need your god�s help. Only gods can hope to strike at the demon�s power. -

The head priest frowned. - You are insane. How do you hope to? -

- It�s not the first time we�ve spoken to a god, - Edna countered. - If it helps, let your god know we have spoken to Aiva. -

The head priest shook his head. - Communion with our god is a costly, resource - intensive process? -

- And it happens whenever you select your champions for this world. I know Gawa can be reached from this world. -

- And why should we do it? -

- Because we will get it eventually, - Edna answered. - All the delays merely add time but do not prevent the inevitable. We will find the gods, one way or another. Be it Aiva, Gawa , Gaya, Neira, or whoever other gods out there that we have not seen. And. -

The head priest stared.

- We can help. We have the ability to breach distances through the System. Our patron god can create permanent pathways between worlds, allowing your god to extend power further than ever. -

He paused and closed his eyes. - You mean it? Proof that you are from another world? -

- I would gladly send you to our world if you want to, but I ask that you trust me and consult whoever you need to consult, - Edna repeated.

The Gawa Temples of Satrya were a coalition of Gawa churches, each with a relic, each with its own head priests. Collectively, they operate as a council of equals, though each branch of the Gawa church was functionally independent.

They often did not intervene with each other, outside for the rare moments when Gawa descended and transmitted a message.

Divine Communion.

Edna heard that it was possible since a long time ago. Some priests and priestesses heard the voices of their gods in their minds, through dreams.

It was unmistakable, because the god�s presence was extremely difficult to fake.

The head priest looked at Edna uncomfortably before letting out a long sigh.

- Can you show me that aura of yours? Again. At full strength, - the head priest answered. - I�ll take it as proof of your claims. To initiate a conversation with our god requires agreement of all the head priests. This is a matter far more serious than what I can do alone. -

Edna sighed and let it rip. This time, the walls cracked as the full weight of her close - to - level - two - hundred aura rippled through the entire city. The whole city would have felt it, as if something pressed on them.

A weight of power.

The head priest and all the divine guards clenched their weapons.

Edna smiled. They were strong enough to resist, because Gawa �s blessing was exceptionally strong in this world. But even the weaker few felt their legs buckle. If Lumoof was here, they would all be kneeling.

- That is unmistakable indeed. -

- Tell the rest of the head priests that we offer a return trip to our world to have an audience with my patron, A/ . I believe once you meet A/ , you will find that our request to meet Gawa to be not unreasonable. -

The head priest nodded. - I will need some time to speak to the rest of my peers. The Gawa �s Circle don�t meet often, and the next meet is in a few months. I will bring this matter up then. -

Edna nodded. - We can wait. I have plenty else to do. -

- How�d it go? - Roon and Ezar asked over their shared communication.

- The head priest said they will bring it up to the Gawa �s Circle meet in a few months. How are things on your side? - Edna said as she retreated to an inn.

- Went as well as expected. I popped into the head priestess�s room, and I got misunderstood as a suitor and apparently, if a single man appears in a single woman�s room at night, I�m supposed to take her as my wife, - Roon said.

Ezar facepalmed from his part of the city. Edna chuckled. - I think this is the second time you did something like that. -

Roon just shrugged. - I seem to attract the wrong kind of people. -

- You shouldn�t be popping up in people�s rooms at night, - Edna said.

- She is heavily guarded as hell, and I really don�t want to knock people out just to talk to her. My attempts to get in through the front door got shut off because the head priestess gets too many people trying to meet her that way. -

- She sounds cute. - The knight smirked.

- Oh please, - Roon said.

- How�d she take your confession? -

- She asked me to call the rest of you here, - Roon said. - And she still wants me to marry her. -

Edna laughed. - She takes that pretty seriously. -

- It�s a faith thing. Some religious mumbo jumbo. I didn�t see such a rule in the Gawa documents we have back home! -

- Tell her you are married. -

- I plan to. Next time, we should insist on same - sex night visits, - Roon countered. - I�m not visiting a woman at night ever again. Never seems to go well, not with my kind of shit luck. -

- I wouldn�t call it shit luck. - The other two domain holders laughed.

Edna smirked. - All right, all right. Ezar, what�s your situation? -

- The head priestess is an old woman. She listened, but she thought I was a madman, so she chased me out. I think we�ll need Lumoof here to speak to her kind of person. It�s just a vibe I�m getting. Think she�d respect someone like Lumoof. -

- Darn. Very well, I think we should make ourselves seen during the coming meeting of the Gawa �s Circle, - Edna added. - That should be our best place to make our case to Gawa . -

- They don�t even say where it is. It�s one of those super - secretive meetings, - Roon countered.

- Ask your fiance where it is, then? - Edna asked.

- She�s not - and I�m not manipulating a woman�s love for that, - Roon countered. - There�s some red lines in my life, and that�s one of them. -

Edna chuckled. - You�re pretty chivalrous, despite your fondness for late - night visits. -

- Ugh, stop it. Edna, Ezar, just come over to my side of the world and visit this woman with me. And Edna, you�re going to pretend to be my wife. -

Edna laughed. - You really want an old woman like me as your pretend wife instead of a beautiful young priestess? Why not tell her you have a wife somewhere else? -

- I�m not marrying some priestess I barely know. So shut it and play along. -

- Very well. - Edna laughed.

Edna realized all the relic cities were flat - out beautiful. They were so well protected and covered with divine magic that it didn�t seem likely that the demons would be able to attack them.

The relic city of Olpash was located along a gentle slope along the hills, and the temple occupied a central location, surrounded by walls. There was a beautiful silver statue of a man with a sword, a shield, and wearing a knight�s helmet that was fifteen stories tall.

There were five castles throughout the city, each located along the walls, and each home to one of the ducal families of Olpash. Among the five, one would be king at one time, and the role of king rotated among the five families.

But Olpash was also home to a relic, and it was a gigantic divine shield too big for any man to wield.

Still, even from afar, Edna could feel the divine energies stored within. Should a demon king attack, it was likely they could hold the city. Just like the other relic city, the presence of Gawa was strong.

Divine magics rippled in the air, the shield�s presence warping reality. Edna briefly wondered what it�d be like to move all the divine relics together.

- So your prospective wife is located there? - Edna said.

- Yes. -

- Okay. Remember, our goal is really to get an audience with Gawa . This priestess is one of the Circle, so she can help facilitate that objective, - Edna repeated. - Ready? -

Roon shrugged. - I don�t really want to see her again. Can you just go? -

- Please, you�re a domain holder and you don�t want to see a woman again. Come on, - Edna countered.

Ezar just grinned. - I must say, Roon, I don�t recall ever seeing you this flustered. -

- Look, Ezar, you go visit a woman at night. -

- I�ve done it! - Ezar laughed. - They don�t mistake me as a suitor. Maybe I just have a punchable face that women hate. You, on the other hand, look like the pretty boys that woman absolutely adore. -

Roon flushed.

- Oh, I�m never gonna let that slide. - Ezar chuckled.

Roon glared. - I hate you. -

Edna just rolled her eyes. - Boys, focus. We got a priestess waiting for us. Let�s convince her to side with our cause. -

- Yes, ma�am. -

The priestess�s room was located in a magically protected sphere, in one of the inner buildings of the temple. It was heavily protected and most mages wouldn�t even be able to get in, but for domain holders, the restraints and magical protections just washed off their bodies.

She was half asleep in her sleeping gown when she noticed the window was open and felt the presence of others in her room.

Despite her seemingly youthful experience, Edna was fairly sure she was a high - leveled priestess, in the same league as the other high priest she�d met. She was likely to be around level seventy to eighty, and she wore a special necklace around her neck filled with divine magic all the time.

- Oh, you�re here again. With guests? - the priestess spoke. As Edna expected, she was a beautiful woman, well equipped in all the right places, and blessed by Gawa . Edna could feel the presence of Gawa �s blessing, just like in the high priest. It was likely they had a Gawa High Priest class or something similar. - Are they the suitor�s party? -

Roon frowned. - I am not marrying you. -

The priestess frowned. - Am I that unattractive? So many men desire me, and here you are, I offer you my hand in marriage and you reject me. -

Roon�s frustration was palpable. - Woman, I am here to continue that conversation. We need an audience with your god, Gawa . -

She frowned. - I�ll raise your cause during the Gawa �s Circle if you agree to take me as your wife. -

- I�m married! -

- Don�t lie to me. I don�t sense a woman�s presence on you, - the priestess countered.

In truth, that was because the priestess couldn�t sense anything on Roon, who was protected by his own domain. - I don�t believe in your god, - Roon countered.

- Doesn�t matter. Gawa will forgive you. -

Edna inwardly felt sorry for her fellow domain holder. He seemed to attract a certain type of crazy. Edna decided to breach the topic. - Milady, we wish to have an audience with Gawa . What else can we offer to get your support during the Gawa �s Circle meeting? -

She thought about it for a moment and stared at Edna briefly. Then she frowned. - Nothing. I want this man to take me as his wife. -

Edna countered, - Priestess, we really do not wish to mix personal matters into affairs involving the fate of worlds. There are worlds that could benefit from our mutual cooperation. -

- I know. But as head priestess, I have full prerogative and discretion in my decisions, as granted to me by Gawa . And so my condition remains. He takes me as his wife. -

Edna realized this woman was nuts and looked at her two colleagues. - Well, I believe we have nothing more to add. Let�s go. -

Edna would rather take the chance and convince the other head priests and priestesses. This woman was probably a little messed up in the head.

But as Edna, Roon, and Ezar were about to vanish through the door again, the priestess realized her ways were probably too aggressive.

- Wait. -

Roon and Edna stood. - Oh? -

- You claim to be from another world, correct? - the priestess spoke.

- Yes. -

- Take me on a trip together. Just the two of us, to your world. I don�t believe I can�t convince you to take me as your wife. If you remain unmoved, fine, I�ll support your cause anyway, - the priestess said to Roon.

Edna looked at Roon, and Roon made a long sigh. - Fine. I�ll take you on a trip to our world. Later. -

The priestess smiled beautifully. - I can�t wait to see you again, husband. -

Roon rolled his eyes and vanished through the window.

They would visit the other head priests and attempt to convince them of their cause.

YEAR 266

The first of the comet fragments emerged from the void. We had been tracking it the moment it appeared within our vision, and we watched with great interest for the moment it entered our bubble of reality.

The first few meteors popped out of the darkness, like a cluster of rocks that suddenly shed its cloak of invisibility. A quick scan revealed that we didn�t detect Multipus�s presence, but among the rocks was a slightly larger chunk of the comet�s core, and that rock maintained a small bubble of reality.

- Engage! - my mages ordered as the meteors entered our range.

Mages, in our tree - based environmentally controlled battlesuits, attacked the rocks. They were much smaller, and it seemed the very act of travelling through the void had - eroded - them one way or another.

It was a good sign. It meant that without a strong bubble of reality, the rocks we expected to face should be smaller than the main comet.

The distant dark skies, not visible from Treehome, erupted in explosions of magic. With extremely powerful telescopes, it would be possible to see some small sparks and explosions, but we destroyed the smaller remnant meteors. For the core remnant, a few of our mages hopped onto the rock and tried to steer it.

Core material was valuable. I had it in such little quantities that if there was a core chunk from the demon�s comet, we wanted to see whether we could process it and learn from it.

But like core mana, it degraded quite quickly, especially when exposed to the light of the sun. Which was strange.

One of the quirks of core mana.

For now, with magical propulsion, we guided this remnant rock from the core of the demon�s comet and directed it into a somewhat stable orbit. My Valthorn mages then quickly set up a basic manipulation system, just a few magical patterns and formations that created some propulsion to steer the core away from Treehome. This would allow it to maintain that stable orbit.

It wasn�t big, but we wanted to examine this core remnant in greater detail.

I was fairly impressed that we now had our first space - based research station.

The station consisted of portable living quarters from our almost century - long experience of building underground bunkers and later on our developments on the demon�s comet, Lavaworld, Cometworld, and our moon.

Travel to and from the research station in our world was a lot simpler, since we had access to magical portals and teleportation spells. We didn�t need rockets.

Even deploying our new wood - based mechs involved teleportation to the closest undisturbed space.

Stella watched as the first engagements with the meteor remnants proceeded as planned as my forces exerted themselves on Threeworlds, on Mountainworld, on Dwarfworld, and now even this world of Satrya.

- And so begins the Imperial Era of A/ , - Stella said as she arrived in Threeworlds and watched my Valthorns crawling all over the city of Maelga.

- You speak of it as if it�s new. - I chuckled.

- It�s just an observation, really. - My void domain holder watched. Within a year, we had to quell dissent in the human lands.

In many ways, it was an era of great political change for the Threeworlds humans. In normal times, the Sandpeople and the Centaurs would capitalize on this to wage an attack and try to claim some fringe territories from the human kingdoms.

But with the presence of my overwhelming beetles, they knew better. The Centaurs had seen my warriors in their lands and knew that we had far stronger warriors than them.

Zhaanpu, of them all, seemed to have most to think about. The nature of our relationship was perhaps an ally of convenience, but my occupation of Maelga had made him feel a little.

Queasy.

As if he invited evil into his home.

Perhaps it was a sensation to have power challenged.

I thought it might be a sense of vulnerability.

Or perhaps it was how relatively easy it was to suppress the crystal king, even with the crystal king�s huge array of hero - items. He didn�t manage to use them, and I also discovered they were primarily designed for use against heroes that turned rogue.

The hero - items effectiveness against Lumoof was suspect, and this was something that I saw Zhaanpu thinking about keenly. I noticed because he began asking Khefri for more general - purpose hero - items instead of human - killers.

- So this empire. - Stella looked at the human lands. - What do you have in mind? -

- The war to free ourselves from the demons will not end. Not with how they bend the System to its will. We will need warriors. We will need equipment. The myriad worlds will supply them. -

- I see, - Stella said. - It is like that. -

Maelga�s priests of Maelas adapted surprisingly easily. I still wondered who Maelas was, whether Maelas corresponded to any of the religions of Treehome. Gaya, Neira, Gawa , Aiva. Those were the main four of Treehome. There were a few smaller ones, but their presence had been minor, and it was hard to tell whether they were real gods or just fake ones.

Then on the Satrya, there were Gawa �s gods.

Then on Delvegard, the dwarf world, the dwarves, so far, didn�t seem to believe in any of the gods we knew of.

Looking at the trend, there may be more than ten gods, scattered over a vast area. The gods may be able to exert significant power over a set of core worlds, but a much more reduced presence over the rest.

- An empire gearing up for a war, but I can�t help but think about the day after. -

- You make it sound like we will win. -

- We will, - Stella said, unsure of herself. - But I hope there is something for the people, after all of this. That, you know, we become a post - scarcity society, where everyone lives at peace and can decide to live the lives they want. -

- That will happen after. -

- Will you let go? -

- Yes, - I said. I was sure I would. I�d be more than happy to shed the mantle if life was no longer at risk of extinction. If forests and my trees were allowed to prosper, why would I want to meddle in all this shit?

It was pointless. The squabbles of life against each other.

Pointless. I didn�t care for it.

But I had to, because I needed them to win this fight.

Stella looked at the growing empire and sighed. It was a mess. - You know, I�m torn whether that�s a good thing. -

Kei watched as the city of Freshka fell asleep that night. It was getting dark, and the skies were clear. There were lights that littered the city; it was said that Freshka could be seen from miles away. The sprawling mess of Freshka�s city, at times, never seemed to sleep.

The streets glowed from the colorful lights. Magical stones, not fully formed crystals, were somehow converted into magical lights through the inventive manufacturing processes of crafters and enchanters.

The crystal shortfall due to the manufacturing of bombs significantly drained the traditional supply of crystal - based lights, so cities such as Freshka and many others found alternatives. Some cities used a type of glowing bug that was specifically bred to provide lighting. Some cities found glowing trees and plants, which provided much - needed lighting.

Others reverted back to fires. With the huge variety of woods these days, there were a certain variety of slow - burning woods that gave enough light. Some just embedded a light spell into various types of magical material to cause them to emit light. But this required a mage to constantly maintain lights throughout the city, instead of materials that could draw in ambient energy.

Freshka was still busy at night, but traffic was less heavy than daytime.

The city�s resource demands were so high that logistics guilds resorted to moving goods at odd times to maximize efficiency.

Kei dodged a convoy of beetles. The Valtorn Order leased cargo - ferry beetles to the various merchants guilds for commercial use, and they were a large source of income for the Order. Cheap, magically sustained, and hardy, they significantly reduced the need for horses for goods, but most kingdoms, especially those that feared A/ �s retribution, still maintained their own stables and horses.

Just in case.

Dinner was over, and there were streets filled with bars and clubs. It was a scene that sometimes reminded her of home. People everywhere still had a need for entertainment, especially those of the flesh. Taverns were noisy at this time.

Past the noisy commercial streets, she walked into one of the quietest, most privileged corners of Freshka.

She arrived at her destination. It was a large mansion. Quiet.

She knocked on the gate, and it opened magically.

- Lady Kei. - An Order guard stood at the guardhouse. There was also a maid waiting for her. - You arrived earlier than expected. She�ll take you in. -

She was escorted into a quiet waiting room. Tea was served, along with some fruits. The walls had paintings of places.

- Kei! - Lozanna walked into the room. - Thanks for dropping by. -

The crystal golem smiled at the master of the house. Laufen and Lozanna didn�t live together. Her mother lived a few doors down the street.

They talked about Arlisa, how Arlisa was still spending her time with adventurer stuff. About Lozanna �s son, Lauda. Both Arlisa and Lauda were more than one hundred years old now, and both as half - elves, their lifespans were going to be shorter than Lozanna , unless they gained a lot of levels. Still, they should live until at least their two hundreds or three hundreds if all went well, unlike Ardi, who died so much younger.

Despite being a quasi - royalty of Freshka, Lauda founded his own small magical entity that focused on research and ruins. He didn�t want to be too closely associated with the Order, even if they still received Order funding. Unlike his mother and grandmother, who were still Order members to this day.

Partly because he saw how Arlisa went through a rebellious phase and essentially burned bridges with many of her old friends.

- What about you? What�ve you been up to? - Kei asked.

- I visited the Northern Islands recently, you know, to meet Meela and Alexis? -

- Oh. Them. How are they? - Kei said with subtle contempt. She still struggled to fit them into the plans. Even Ken didn�t really want to include them, given their complicated past with A/ .

- They are fine. They took my advice to bunker up well. The North�s growing well, and the cities feel a lot more prosperous since I last saw them a few years ago. The vassal and guild wars didn�t hurt them as badly as the rest. -

The vassal wars had mostly come to a standstill. The resource demands of the great comet attack drained much of the fire out of the war, and now that it had basically ended, both sides settled into a comfortable ceasefire and status quo that neither wanted to restart. There might be an incident or flare - up that caused it to resurface, but for now, both sides were focused on licking their wounds and preparing for the eventual resumption of hostilities.

Crystals also began to trickle back into the market.

Kei looked at Lozanna and then dropped the question on her mind. - Lozanna , would you be willing to take up arms again? -

She paused, realizing Kei�s question was serious. - Why? -

- Your children are old now. You no longer have to care for them like you used to. You have free time, and now, more than ever, we need you to do what Yura once did. Be on the front lines once more, and be one of the pillars of our world. -

Lozanna closed her eyes briefly. - Is this request from Patriarch Lumoof or Edna? -

- No. Me - and maybe Stella, - Kei answered. - Of all the elves from the first days of Freeka, only you remain. Well, and your mother, but she is not a warrior. -

- Roma�s around. -

Kei grinned. - You know it�s not the same. You are the first. The first true Valthorn. -

- That should be Yura . -

- He�s dead, - Kei said. - I believe A/ would still give you a soul - strengthening seed if you ask for it. For decades you are at level eighty - five. There�s probably some overflow experience in you that would? -

Lozanna looked at her room. - You want me to abandon the comforts of my beautiful home and head back out there in the wilderness, battling demons and monsters. -

- Yes. Because you are special, Lozanna . Till this day there is no one with your tier blessings. Sure, there are many, many others with the lesser variants of Blessed by the Soul Tree , but knowing the System, there is an unspoken value as the first Blessed One of A/ . You are the first, and that grants you a weight you can wield. -

Lozanna closed her eyes. - Tell me what�s really on your mind. -

Kei sipped her tea and allowed the question to linger a bit before she spoke her mind. - A/ needs moral guidance. There are the domain holders, but we know he needs more than that. He needs a bit of your presence. You have history and a past. A bond few others can claim to have. -

- A bond that has turned distant. -

- All I see are your internal struggles, Lozanna , - Kei answered. - You�re doing nothing with the rest of your life and you know it. You had just reason when you wanted to care for Lauda, but those days are over. Long over. -

- What if I don�t live up to that? There are so many with far better innate talent. The domain holders are all incredible people in their own ways. -

- Is that what you fear, Lozanna ? To try once more and find yourself not worthy? -

Lozanna closed her eyes. In many ways, it was a crisis of self - confidence. She didn�t answer.

Kei continued. - You once said to A/ that you wanted to be a hero. We now know that the path to power exists. Edna is close to that point. It is no longer an impossibility. Not like your earlier days. A/ �s access to the other realms enables opportunities for growth we never had before. Lozanna , please. It�s time to give that old dream of yours another chance. Yura once said your dream was foolish. But even he didn�t see how things developed. -

Lozanna listened, her heart swirling. A part of her was convinced. - What�s. what�s your interest in this? -

The golem laughed. - Must everything be about interests? -

- But you have an interest in this. -

- I�d like to see an end to this. Properly. I feel sorry for those like me, that we are on this treadmill of endless fighting, summoned to fight in worlds that don�t know us. -

- Lies, - Lozanna countered. - That�s bullshit. -

The golem smirked.

Kei closed her eyes and then spilled the beans.

- I - I look at Arlisa and you and see different versions of wasted potential. Arlisa is one where she couldn�t take the expectations and crumbled. You could and some, but you chose to walk away. We�ve known each other for years, decades, centuries! Lozanna , ever since the day you trained us, protected us, and got us to level, back when we first met in that dwarven city, in the Eastern Continent - that day, almost one hundred thirty years ago, in my eyes, you were always a hero. You can still be one. With A/ �s resources, I have no doubt about it. -

Lozanna stared at Kei.

Both of them looked at each other for what seemed like an eternity.

Eventually, Lozanna let out a long sigh. - I have. I have a lot of catching up to do. -

YEAR 266 (PART 2)

Void layers.

Stella felt it immediately, as A/ said he would select the Dark Void. The world twisted and distorted ever so slightly, as if the entire world was an old cathode ray tube television that just experienced an interruption to its signal.

The world was the same but different. There were now layers to things.

A/ immediately mentioned the term - filters, - as if everything was photography filters. That was an acceptable way of looking at things - but Stella wondered whether it was more appropriate to see things at different levels of magnification and zoom, that this was the world at different levels of zoom and magnify.

Even Treehome looked different once Stella applied the void layers.

It was just plain nothingness in some and some others - something else.

Stella wondered whether this was some kind of magical version of seeing quantum entanglement. That objects here were tied to some other objects far away, and the void layers merely rearranged the world in accordance with how things were entangled together.

The void layers shifted things about.

Each layer moved the position of the different worlds in wildly different positions, and incredibly, they were all true at the same time.

If teleportation was possible, in short, an ability to cross vast distances through linking two locations together, why wouldn�t it be possible to have naturally occurring variants? These were the worlds and realms cut up and pasted again in different places.

A puzzle with multiple possible answers.

Each world was a puzzle piece and each layer a different acceptable variation of how the puzzle was solved. Depending on which layer, a world could be infinitely far away or just next door.

Stella stared as her mind flipped through the different layers, and she could only process about fifteen - no, about twenty - layers. She may have access to them, but her mind could not process those that were still too different. It hurt just trying to look at them, and she didn�t even know why.

- Your nose is bleeding, Lady Stella, - one of the void archmages, Veter, commented. Veter, too, had gained access to the void layers, and he only managed to see six of the layers before his mind began to feel the strain.

- I need Patreeck�s help, - Stella commanded as she walked into the special brain augmentation tree designed to expand her mental processing capacity.

The minds linked with hers as she attempted to push the edges of the Void Layers . Incredibly, the moment she could see it, it didn�t take her more mental energy to see it again. Once she got it, she got it.

Twenty - three layers.

- Darn it. - Stella emerged exhausted and sipped on a fruit punch filled with nutrients prepared right outside. The archmage, Veter, nodded.

- Shouldn�t push it too hard, Lady Stella. A few of the lesser void mages had bad nosebleeds and had to be under healer �s watch. -

Stella shrugged. - The Void worlds. Do you see it? -

- One of them. - Veter nodded. The order had about seven void archmages now, though none of them close enough to get to the domains yet. They would have to participate in combat - perhaps intentionally triggering demonic mothers - and use their void energies on the black sun�s shards.

- I can see two different layers with them. - Stella frowned.

In some versions of the void layers, the world was entirely of a different color, as if these were special worlds and they contained worlds entirely unseen on any other layers. These were hidden in the gaps of the void sea.

The equivalent of folders and files that were hidden from view through some administrative rights and no matter how the files got shuffled around, these hidden files remained hidden.

Veter nodded. - Preparations to visit is underway - though our collective view is that we should get over the meteor remnants. -

Stella understood. - I agree. Tempting as it may be, it is not the right time to jump to these void worlds now. -

Veter breathed a sigh of relief. - A/ �s node seeds. They could be sent to these void worlds. -

The void domain holder paused. It was true. But right now, they were spoiled for choice. With the expanded star map provided by the rescued Zaratan, they could see even more worlds that were linked to Delvegard.

Then, on the other side of Satrya, there were the Gawa - controlled worlds. Stella knew they were close to the gods, because of how Gawa �s power permeated through the world of Satrya. That was also another front for exploration.

They really didn�t have enough void mages to go around.

Not just that. They didn�t have enough domain holders to explore the worlds safely.

YEAR 267

Delvegard.

- What do you think? - Lumoof asked as he guided the dwarven lord Sundus through the small town. It was a relatively rundown, undeveloped place, but the local dwarves still built a small town here. Here, in this small dwarven town of Odeos, with no resources of worth, they were not worth the attention of the nearby dwarven nations.

Sundus, a relatively young dwarven lord from the Freshlands Treetiary College, nodded. - Can be done. But I will require assistance. There�s a lot of construction to do, and I will need the Treeology priests to back me up. I�ll need some time to convince the dwarves to accept our rule. -

Lumoof glanced at Kafa. Kafa nodded. - I�ll handle it, Patriarch. -

My avatar nodded. - I�ll leave the responsibilities for this world to you, Kafa. It appears I am needed elsewhere. -

The lizardperson gave a salute. - I won�t let you down. -

- I know you won�t. But do not fear failure. We will inevitably fail somewhere. Even A/ fails. - Lumoof smiled and looked back at Sundus. - Lord Sundus, I�ll return to Treehome and arrange the resources. -

The Delvegard force was not a full invasion army, unlike Threeworlds. We deployed almost thirty thousand Valthorns and Valtorn Order operatives throughout the human kingdoms, in order to manage the transition period and enforce our rule.

At about one hundred people, it was pretty much a small but elite reconnaissance force. But with Kafa around, the likelihood of threats that could threaten them was fairly miniscule.

Sundus was one of five dwarven lords recruited from Treehome for the task; each of them would be assisted by about twenty others elites as bodyguards, spies, and also to act on their instructions.

They would each claim one of these smaller dwarven towns as these towns did not have a high - ranked lord leading them. The five would then form a shadow alliance, acting in concert with the rest of the Valthorns.

Once a certain scale was achieved, the plan was that I would deploy one of my Node Trees in Sundus�s town. As the situation on Threeworlds and the human kingdoms stabilized over the next few years, we would then have more resources to redirect to Delvegard and properly begin our colonization process.

Of what we knew of Delvegard so far, we had two actual goals and one optional goal.

The main one, in my brief assessment of Delvegard, was to properly capture the dwarven academies of Delvegard. These craftsmen and smithing academies trained a lot of the crafters that worked on their war machines, and if we could maneuver our FTC - trained dwarven lords into a position where they controlled these academies, that would be ideal.

The second one was to gain access to a stable supply of these Sunsteels and Sunmetals and conduct experiments on how to better use these new materials for our war against the demons.

The third one was to recruit the dwarves for our war. I would like to channel their thirst for war toward the demons. That should bring about some semblance of peace and unity to the Delvegard dwarves. If not, we would like to convert the dwarves into our war suppliers, providing assistance to our forces.

Right now, the Valthorns manufacturing processes were strong, but some variety of goods and an expansion of our total military industrial complex would allow us to mount more attacks and reduce our lag time between attacks.

We felt this keenly with the demon�s comet, where we had to tap into all our crafters and manufacturers to make sufficient bombs. Even then, it felt insufficient. It took us too long to ramp up our production, and our bombs were still not good enough.

As an institution, we would learn from our mistakes and get better in the art of fighting demons. We would roll with the punches and hit back as hard as we could.

Back on Treehome, the situation was calm.

More fragments emerged from the void, and during this time, the heroes got some additional practice with the meteors and their tree - mechs.

Then we finally had one that carried a part of Demon King Multipus. It was fairly small, and the heroes annihilated the creature easily.

So far, so good. None of the meteors had gotten past our first layer of defenses. But the bulk of the meteors should only reach us in about three years time. Our space - based defenses would be truly tested then.

- Here. - Kei held out the strange seed in her hand. Lozanna trembled slightly as she touched it and consumed it.

I remembered when Yura ate it for the first time and felt like his soul was on fire. Lozanna immediately went and rested on a bed. - I feel queasy. -

- I was told it�s a common occurrence. -

She slept for a day, and when she woke up, her soul weighed more.

- So how many levels did you gain? - Kei asked as she came to check on her friend. - I was told some folks have overflow levels. -

- Level ninety - eight, - Lozanna said, trembling slightly. - I seem to have done a lot since I hit my peak. -

- Darn. Thirteen levels is pretty good. I hit level one hundred some time ago, but it�s getting pretty damn hard to level outside of the dungeons. I�ll take you with me. -

Lozanna paused. - When I was sleeping, I was thinking about this - about what I�m doing. -

- What? - Kei looked back.

- What if. what if one day we have to fight him? -

Kei shook her head. - I�d rather not get to that point. We bend it, we mend it, but I�d rather not end it. That�s an ending we�ll regret. -

Lozanna looked out of her home and into the streets. She wore Valthorn armor, custom made. Her position in the society meant many gave her special rights and access, even when she didn�t ask for it.

- It�s been a while since I�ve visited dungeons. -

Kei smirked. - Well, it�ll get easier with time. -

Throughout Treehome, with the winds of the vassal wars behind us, trade and mostly normal life resumed. Piracy, a problem we�d pretty much allowed to occur due to the leveling it generated, came back in full swing, this time pitting the pirates against their former clients.

This time, adventurers participated in the defense of the guilds. Adventurers generally tried to stay out of the war between the guilds and empires of the other continents, simply because their nature of work wasn�t designed for regular combat, even if their high levels made them valuable irregular units.

Most empires and guilds dangled huge amounts of money in the past, during the heated years of the vassal wars, and hoped to entice adventurers to support their war. It worked, to some degree, but some adventurers didn�t want to offend either the guilds or the empires and decided to stay out of it.

- Once more, nothing from you. Why do you endure these pirates? - It�d been two decades since the day Emperor Erranuel ascended to the throne of his holy empire, but we still occasionally spoke. With my reach, it was not impossible for me to contact him even in the safety of his palace. The range of my telepathic abilities had increased, a result of the cumulative increase in levels over the years.

- Why not? It is only the natural course of mortals to attempt to subvert known ways of achieving wealth. Why do you expect me to do something? -

- True. Sometimes, I think nothing is exactly what you want to do. - Erranuel chuckled in his throne room. There was no one present; he chased them out whenever we spoke. But I knew some of the emperor�s aides were secretly listening, and he knew about it, too.

But a semblance of privacy was better than none.

By most measures, his holy empire prospered since his ascension. His elevated powers brought prosperity, as the average health improved, farming yields improved, and somehow, the earth itself rewarded them with new mineral discoveries.

A king or an emperor bent the luck and destiny of his nation. Earthly minerals and resources were certainly not finite in the traditional, earthly sense. System shenanigans could trigger the creation of new mineral veins, just as how the flow of magical ley lines changed the mineral structure and qualities of the rocks they passed through.

To a certain extent, there was a friendly competition between us. Erranuel wanted his empire to catch up with the Central Continent, and for most part, I didn�t get in the way. With our domain holders, we remained so far ahead that it would be difficult for them to even think of competing.

I believed it was the open communication between the two of us that allowed this to happen. As the Order expanded into a multiplanar institution, our capacity to monitor and to truly control all the minutiae of local policies and politics was limited.

Already, Stella informed the council of the presence of at least fifteen more worlds that could be accessed directly from Treehome due to the newly unlocked Void Layers .

- Fifteen worlds. Just from us directly through the new void layers. - My council gathered, and I wondered whether we should just send spies to them directly.

But with domain holders at a shortage, using my level one hundreds was an elevated risk because they lacked the protections a domain holder had.

In a way, it was ironic that I didn�t hesitate a full army to demon worlds, but I hesitated with these alien worlds. This was partly because demon worlds, for the most part, felt like a known quantity. We were expecting demons, not other domain holders or gods. The range of possible enemies was somewhat predictable.

If there was a domain holder hiding in the world of demons, they would be hiding really well. Gods, well, we didn�t expect them in the world of demons, because gods could easily defeat demons on their own home worlds.

- I hear from the grapevine that you�re exploring more worlds, - Erranuel said. It wasn�t that much of a secret. We explored worlds, and we publicly announced that we wanted to explore more worlds.

It was a recruitment pitch, really. People who had that exploratory streak would join us. The curiosity and desire to learn was a valuable quality to have.

What I was truly afraid of, with all these new worlds, was the discovery of a potentially hostile civilization with the ability to travel through the multiverse. If they possessed mind - reading abilities, that meant only my domain holders were the only ones that could interact with them with high certainty that their minds were not compromised.

- I am always exploring. There are many worlds out there, and we hope to find allies among them. -

- If you find our god, let him know I�d like to speak to him. -

Ironically, we were.

Holy Emperor Erranuel was blessed by the combined blessings of Gaya and Gawa �s archpriests to create a king above kings.

- We are close to one of them. When we do speak to him? -

- I want to be there, - Erranuel said. - I am a holy emperor of an empire, created in Gaya and Gawa �s name. But in the end, I want to know whether they care. Whether there is purpose in this foolish conflict that we inherited from the earlier set of Divine Communions. Whether we can end this long - standing conflict and work together. -

I wasn�t sure. I didn�t know whether Gawa would be friendly or hostile.

Of all the four major gods of Treehome, personally, I thought it was most likely that Gaya was hostile.

Gaya didn�t even like spirit trees in his temple grounds. I still remembered their priests kicking me out of their temple�s garden.

- What if he doesn�t want to speak to you? - I asked.

- Then there is no point for this faithful one to be faithful, is it? -

- You�re the holy emperor. Surely your faith goes beyond such interaction. Is your faith so weak that it crumbles from being spurned? - I countered. I didn�t know why I was testing his faith, either, but I suspected I didn�t like how transactional it all sounded.

There were those that believed with all the frills of our society�s interactions stripped out, it came down to our expectations. Each transaction led to current or future benefit, or fear of retaliation.

Many people behaved well, because they knew being nice had future payback. If there were no future consequences, only a select few would be nice just to be nice.

Emperor Erranuel chuckled. - Praise Gawa and Gaya, for I am a fool that can�t see their greatness. If a god doesn�t speak to me, even as a holy emperor, what more do I expect of my subjects? What more do I expect of the men who I send to their deaths in his name? I continue to believe in him, for his ways are as mystical as the darkness of the skies above, but a holy emperor is holy only because he is the conduit. He is the link between the Heavens and the Earth. If he doesn�t speak to me, then I must abdicate my throne and choose someone who will be granted an audience with our god. -

- Ah. - That was a sensible angle. He was a holy emperor, because he must speak for his god. Without the ability to speak to his god, he was nothing but a normal emperor. It was a fairly common expectation in medieval societies that the emperor was the god incarnate.

- What is God�s Hand, if the hand cannot see God? I see your avatar, the Patriarch and the Voice of A/ , and wonder where I stand. -

I supposed even emperors experienced impostor syndrome.

Satrya, the Home of the Seven Gawa Relics

- I doubt Gawa would actually refuse to see you, - the high priest said. It was the sixth high priest they�d met so far, and of the ones they met, two had refused to entertain them. The High Priest of Museo was willing to speak for them, as was the High Priestess of Olpash.

Two in favor, three against.

This high priest shook his head. - I will not oppose it. But I will not support you. It is His Eminence�s choice. -

- We merely request for the delivery of the message to Gawa . -

The sixth one abstained. He frowned. - Sorry. This is as much as I am willing to do. It is the matters of our god, and a mere mortal as myself would not step in. -

It was a common stance. Those that opposed generally had the same stance, that with the matter of God, Edna would be the one to seek out an audience herself. The priests had no say and should not be seen as working for another god. Even if it was just the act of delivering a message, all matters around their God were dealt with velvet gloves, and they would not dare to even consider modifying old customs and processes.

Faith. It did so much good to their world. It gave them protection and gave them structure. But there were times Edna hated dealing with them.

- Can you imagine our own priests turning out this way? - Ezar said with a scowl.

- They could, - Edna responded earnestly. - We better remind the patriarchs and matriarchs not to be such stubborn fools. -

- It�s a balance between accessibility and mysticism, - Roon said with a sigh. The ranger - archer was surprisingly knowledgeable. - With more access, god loses mysticism. -

Edna frowned. - That�s so stupid. A god�s presence is self - evident. Anyone standing in front of A/ knows that. -

Edna remembered the day when Aiva descended for an audience, and she remembered how it felt. It was truly an unmistakable experience. Those who were there knew who they saw, and no words could explain it.

A god was a god, and there was no need for all this pomp and process. Before divinity, there really was nothing else to compare to.

- But A/ is not in front of everyone, - Roon countered. - Think of it this way: if Gawa is so freely accessible, then it so happens that one can no longer speak to Gawa , will Gawa suffer from a loss of faith? Therefore, the base assumption for a faith is that speaking to a god is only in very, very special situations. -

Edna realized Roon had a point. If the god was always seen as there, then suddenly disappearing would be bad for them. But if he was always unseen, then whether he was or not was of no consequence to the faith.

- But we are asking for an audience? -

- And I bet kings and emperors have asked for an audience, too. That two of six are willing to speak for us is actually pretty good. -

The Council of Gawa high priests numbered seven in all. Seven relics, and seven high priests.

- But this means we don�t have a majority. - Edna frowned. - We need Lumoof here to convince that old woman to change her mind. -

YEAR 267 (PART 2)

Delvegard

Sundus found it quite easy to bribe the existing dwarven lord to resign from his post and hand it over to him. After all, he was the lord of a small town worth nothing; a bit of money and high - quality equipment did more for him than his position ever did.

So Sundus soon found himself lord of the small dwarven town of two thousand dwarves. They worked at a mine that produced regular iron, and they had forges to make high - quality steel, which they sold to the other dwarven cities.

For food, some of the dwarves farmed. It was a matter of great reluctance for the Delvegard dwarves, since they didn�t like farming all that much. On Treehome or on places like the Eastern Continent where the dwarves had their hidden underground cities, they loved to fund the other races to produce all their food and wheat or buy their food from others. It was for this reason dwarven cities were rarely mono - racial cities, because they needed some people to be farmers and would treat them well to do what they were meant to do.

It was a productive, symbiotic business transaction. The dwarves supplied high - quality equipment and ale, and the humans supplied the wheat, barley, and rye. The dwarves were also stockier, sturdier, and generally better brawlers than the humans, so they often provided protection to the human farmers, who also enjoyed how the dwarves generally stuck to their word.

On Delvegard, there were no humans.

And so the dwarves had to do their own farming. In most dwarven towns, dwarves did their own small - scale farming, where their produce was enough for themselves and for the brews they made. Dwarven homes in Delvegard usually came with a small patch of land next to their existing homes where they cultivated some of their farms, or in more structured cities, there were designated shared lands where the irrigation was centralized.

But in most cases, large - scale farms were extremely rare, except in certain dwarven cities where there was a functional - slave - class or - underclass - of dwarves. This was an underclass of dwarves that were forced to do farming.

- There�s an opportunity here, - Kafa said to Sundus, and Sundus readily agreed. A monocultural dwarven society wasn�t able to do what they needed to do well. The dwarves farmed, and they tried their very best to automate the process through large magical machines meant to run their farms. This was an option available to the strongest of towns, because automated farming golems were fairly difficult to make. For dwarves who were so picky with the quality of their wheats, the unskilled golem �s output was still pretty bad.

A farmer with skills and levels produced high - quality food. Materials for brews.

But dwarves didn�t like being farmers , and those that did were few and far between, and so they became rather precious folks. Despite this, their society looked poorly on them. A dwarven farmer �s social status in Delvegard was shit, so most of them doubled up as brewers , which was a better - ranked - position.

Still, the split focus and the micro scale meant farming output in Delvegard was low.

Despite farming being an absolute necessity for survival, dwarves in Delvegard generally avoided taking up too many farming skills. They would take one or two just to ensure that they had some viable crops, but no more. In fact, most of them preferred to subsist on a diet of hunted meats, foraged berries, and fruits.

So Delvegard dwarves tended to base their cities and towns near large hunting grounds, large forests with a decent amount of berries and fruits, or near rivers where they could engage in fishing.

- But the options are fairly limited. If we bring in an entirely new race of people to serve as farmers, that is a risk of its own. - The two discussed their options. Disease, environment, and we would essentially alter the racial composition of Delvegard.

In some ways, we were already altering it with our actions, but large - scale import of an alien race to a world like Delvegard did feel a little wrong. It felt like we were introducing a potentially invasive species, even though we already were an invasive species.

The alternative was to engage in import of the common necessities of the Delvegard dwarves. We had the ability to produce large quantities of high - quality food on Treehome. In short, we could be the remote breadbasket of Delvegard and pretty much throw the economic balance of Delvegard upside down.

In a way, we really had three main options, though our ultimate solution was likely a combination of them.

We could start introducing a migrant race to do farming. We also could use my trees and my blessing abilities to boost natural food sources. We could import.

- Actually, - Sundus asked, - what�s A/ �s time horizon for Delvegard? Do we want to take over this world in two years, ten years, fifty years, or a hundred? -

- Fifty. But within ten years we want a solid foothold with at least two to three cities, - Kafa said. - The things we want in Delvegard are people, skills, academies. Things that would be destroyed if we acquired them by force. Our preferred strategy here is to trade and win over, similar to how A/ won over the rest of the Central Continent with trade and pretty much overwhelming power during Freshka�s first century. -

Sundus looked at the domain holder and scratched his head. - You need to make yourself into a scary person, if that�s the case. Are you going to be the stick that looms over us all? -

The lizardfolk frowned. - That�s. that�s still a strategy that we�ll need to shape over time. -

Sundus countered, - Lord Kafa, I hope you don�t find this offensive, but I believe you are ill suited for this assignment. If Alchemist Alka is here, we should have a significantly better time. His sheer presence as a domain - tier dwarven Alchemist should convince many to join us. -

The lizardfolk actually froze momentarily. But he was willing to entertain the idea, and as the thought swirled in his mind, he eventually nodded. - You are right. But Alka�s resurrection is still a decade away. For now, I will have to suffice. -

The dwarven lord could only sigh. - I guess so. -

All the other dwarven lords successfully took control of their new towns. There was hardly any resistance, not when the right amount of money was paid.

These towns were - worthless, - but with the Valthorn presence and all of the dwarves selected from our own academies, our work began.

In some ways, we gave dwarves huge options. With access to the wider Valtorn Order network, the dwarves of Treehome could select duties that they were most suited for, and with a large enough net, we could have dwarven druids , alchemists , blacksmiths , and builders .

We deployed them in these five towns and used their skills to give our new towns advantages. New walls, improved yields from the foraged berries.

As the year reached its end on Delvegard, Sundus finally said his town was ready for the node.

And so I deployed my first node tree on Delvegard.

Mountainworld

Adrian, the last hero of Mountainworld, prepared for battle.

In a year, another demon king would arrive. Fifteen years seemed too short, or too long, depending on how you saw it. Fifteen years was enough for a human child to become a war - ready soldier.

Because on this war - obsessed Mountainworld, a life of war started early.

Fifteen. Ten. Child soldiers aplenty.

- Will you be calling them back? - Lumoof looked at Mountainworld. He was slated to visit Satrya, too, but that was a risk.

I thought about it. It was a suboptimal choice, and the exploration of Satrya took longer than I expected. Partly because I wasn�t expecting to find a world touched by the gods. - I should. -

We�d scouted out the connected demon world and found it to be some kind of wolf world. The demons took the form of gigantic wolves but with elemental powers. Each of the slightly different variants of the horned demonic wolves controlled either fire, earth, or lightning.

The demonic champions were shapeshifting demonic wolves that possessed a demonic form. They were either wolf form or demon form, where they were the stereotypical winged demons with horns.

It was amusing to witness the demons with shapeshifting ability, so I captured some of them for research.

Lumoof would�ve balked at this assignment decades ago, but now, capturing a demon champion and overwhelming it with mana?

This assignment was no sweat.

It was nothing next to being stuck in a demon comet.

We hauled three demon champions back to Treehome through the void gates and sent them into my gigantic biolabs.

- That way. - Lumoof looked as the group of Valthorns carried the pacified demon champion. The wolves had been trapped in magical stasis in a kind of crystalline prison invented by Alka a few years before the comet.

It was meant as an anti - hero countermeasure. As a prison for heroes, it was still insufficient, but it proved effective in weakening demons, too, because the combination of anti - mana glass used throughout its structure and magical formations drained the demons of their magical energies.

Once upon a time, this amount of demonic mana would prove too much. But we had changed since then. Advancements, all the little steps along the way added up, and now we had prisons able to subdue a weakened demon champion.

The Valthorns walked through the tunnel.

Here, the Valley of the Unrotten, the presence of magic was sometimes suffocating. The Valthorns gripped their equipment, and their breaths were heavy.

A/ could have opened the valley up long ago.

But it remained the way it was, with only a small opening where A/ �s canopy reached into the skies.

The rest of the valley remained hidden under the hardened, root - reinforced walls. The sludge was long gone, transformed into regular dirt and soil.

But here in the valley, it was a land of magic. Each tree here was slightly different, and anyone with magical sight would instantly notice the huge cacophony of signals throughout the valley. This was A/ �s extended mind, large numbers of A/ �s assistant trees whose sole purpose was to augment A/ �s sight over the worlds.

There were smaller versions of these orchards of Artificial Minds around each of A/ �s clones. But here lay the greatest of them all.

Lumoof stopped and looked at a grotesque existence that looked like human brains cut out and piled into the shape of a tree.

Patreeck, the Titan Grand Mind Tree. And there were two of them. There were crystals and gems in them, turned into strange shapes. The crystals and gems were used as connective tissue. Precious metals turned into a web of links throughout the strange tree.

Lumoof didn�t remember the other one�s name. But A/ planned for more of them.

It hummed, and for someone with Lumoof�s senses, he could hear a constant buzz as Patreeck thought.

But this was not where they would be. There was a section where A/ conducted demonic experiments.

Deeper.

There were massive trees here, but to say they were trees would be a stretch of definition. They were all a massive hollow log that could be covered, filled with A/ �s vines. They would thoroughly examine any creature thrown inside, though its ability to study materials was significantly weaker.

Here, in the depths of A/ �s valley, there were no concerns that the weakened demon champion could cause damage. A/ �s presence alone petrified the demonic creature, and his vines pulled the struggling wolf - demon into the log.

It would be torn apart and eventually transformed with A/ �s mana. Such was normal. One of them was already transformed in the field. But for those that were still purely demonic, A/ wanted to peek into them.

A/ would learn from them, and often, new discoveries were reflected in the beetles. Shapeshifting beetles would be a welcome addition to A/ �s arsenal.

Lumoof stood and watched. No. He could feel it as A/ �s vines began to work on the wolf - demon. He could feel the vines pierce the skin and hide of the creature and felt it crawl through its body and grab what was left of the demon champion�s dried soul. It was vivid, and A/ loved studying creatures that it never encountered.

Across all worlds, Valthorn and Valtorn Order operatives continued to harvest and collect new specimens for studies, a tradition that started long ago during the days of New Freeka.

A/ had reached the wolf - demon�s body, and Lumoof knew A/ had just made a copy of the creature�s dried soul spring. He would attempt to rebuild it on Lavaworld later on.

Lumoof noticed the other Valthorn operatives trembling hands as they pushed the second crystal prison close to the log. They�d done this many times, but for non - domain holders, they knew this was face - to - face with the jaw of the beast. They knew it was safe. They knew what to do.

But fear was primal.

Lumoof merely gave them a knowing nod. They had to face their struggles. It was safe. A/ would not hurt them.

As A/ finished digesting what was left of the third demon champion, he concluded his research. Biolabs were one of A/ �s favorite tools, and he loved experiments. He was also eager to study the Delvegard dwarves and the humans of Satrya, but it�d have to wait for a while.

- Silver weapons will be needed, - I remarked. This message was delivered to the Mountainworld hero, Adrian. He visibly facepalmed.

- Oh, great. I�m facing werewolves. Are the others coming to help me? -

- Only Prabu, Colette, and Khefri. Chung? -

Adrian shook his head. - Don�t have to explain. I get it. -

Werewolf demons were surprisingly hardy, resistant to magic and also blunt weapons. But like their nature, silver somehow pierced through those defenses fairly easily. It wasn�t too hard to modify some of our existing weapons to incorporate a bit of silver, and many of our existing weapons already had some silver element within them.

My void mages triangulated the location of arrival and prepared for the battle.

In our usual way. The surplus weaponry from the demon�s comet were redirected for this purpose. Lumoof and the other domain holders would return for this. Their adventures on those new worlds would have to wait for a while.

Satrya

Edna, Roon, and Ezar explored all the relic cities, but they eventually concluded that Patriarch Lumoof would have to be present in order to convince the other two head priests to switch sides.

The head priests of the seven relic cities met once a year for what was known as the Gawa �s Circle. Gawa himself only selected Gawa �s Champions after the demon king arrived, and that was a few years more.

In short, they had at least a few more years before Gawa would come. If they had to, they�d have to crash a meeting with Gawa �s Champion.

- Well, let�s head back, - Edna concluded. - We need to be there for the fight with the wolf - demon. -

Stella would open the portal from the other side.

- You don�t want to say goodbye to the priestess? - Ezar teased. - I bet she�s going to hate you if you just disappear without telling her. -

Roon was about to roll his eyes.

- You promised her you�d take her on a trip. -

He gulped. - Ah, man, come on, I can�t be taking a woman on a trip. Not when we�re going back to fight demons. -

Edna laughed but nodded. - Ezar has a point. I think you need to be more sensitive to how a woman of her age thinks. Let�s take her with us. -

- What if she�s a security risk? - Roon countered. - She�s a high priestess of Gawa . We�re revealing information about ourselves! -

- Agree on that, too. But at least tell her you�re going away. I know she�s trying to observe you even now. -

Roon flinched. It was true he was notified that his domain blocked attempted scrying.

But there were ways around it. She attempted to scry locations close to them, and it was possible to do so when their locations were not secret.

He frowned but nodded. - I�ll send her a message. -

- I�m leaving your world, - Roon said via a magical message. He activated an item that allowed him to have a magical conversation. - Also, you can stop scrying now. -

The spell only facilitated a voice conversation, partly because Roon didn�t really want to see her. - You know? -

- Of course. I keep getting notified it�s blocked! -

- If you�re leaving, can you take me with you? -

- No. - The unspoken reason was clear. She was a risk, and they didn�t want to expose our location.

- My god is not a threat, - she answered, clearly sensing the cause of her rejection.

- We don�t know about that, - Roon said. Edna and Ezar listened nearby. There really was not much point for privacy in such situations.

- I�m certain of it. We have a common foe. -

- I hope so. But until we are sure, we�re not taking the risk, - Roon countered. - If you�d arrange for the audience? -

- It�s all about the audience, - the priestess repeated. - Fine! I�ll tell Gawa ! But if you get to speak to him, I want you to take me to your world. -

The ranger sighed. He wondered why he had this type of trouble. - Look. It�s not my decision. It�s a collective decision as an organization. I cannot promise you that. Goodbye. -

The magical spell was cut off.

- There. -

Edna laughed. - Well done, but I do think you need some relationship coach. The way you spoke to her was quite harsh. -

Roon shook his head. - Why are you trying to matchmake me with a foreign priestess? Can�t you just let me date A/ �s priestesses instead? -

- I�m not. It�s your personal choice in the end. - Edna nodded. - Come. Let�s get back and deal with a giant pup. -

YEAR 268 - DELVEGARD

The security situation in most of the newly controlled towns was stable. The dwarves were fairly respectful of power, and they voiced their disagreements and dissatisfactions in a straightforward manner. In the face of strength, they respected and accepted that and so didn�t make much of a fuss.

These small towns didn�t have much concept of pride and its identity as a town or nation state wasn�t fully formed. This was due to the relatively short history and the lack of unique selling points. As a result, the five lords from Treehome were generally free to consolidate their power and make changes.

It was likely things would be trickier with older dwarven nation - states. These states and cities would have longer history, more pride, and generally a stronger desire to keep control within itself.

But for now, nothing much occurred.

The void creatures found in the mines of the other dwarven cities were nowhere near the five towns we now controlled. But it wasn�t that difficult to find them.

The dwarves, incredibly, had a special class for it: Sunmetal Prospector .

These dwarves seemed to have an inbuilt radar that detected the presence of these Sunmetals whenever they approached a new land, and stronger, higher - leveled prospectors could even sense their presence just by standing on top of them.

From our informants, it seemed that the dwarven lords themselves usually had some Prospecting or Mining classes because of how valuable the Sunmetal was to their war efforts.

Sunmetal, in other words, was Delvegard�s gold.

The void creatures were the dragons that guarded them. Large veins somehow generated and caused the creation of particularly strong void creatures, and in Delvegard mythology, there were stories of the Void creatures as the spirit of the Sunmetal, expelled from their flesh due to their crimes.

In those stories, the void creatures guarded the Sunmetal veins like an obsessive spouse and would fight tooth and nail to protect their bodies.

In other regions of Delvegard, another version of the story placed the veins as the remains of an old dwarven god, and the void creatures were the poisons that killed the old god and now feasted on its remains.

Kafa found the stories fascinating and traveled to learn more about Delvegard. His levels and domain made his physique exemplary, and he used it to his full advantage, moving from place to place. We wanted to visit all the large kingdoms of Delvegard and improve our knowledge.

One of the key concerns Lumoof had was whether there was divine presence in this world. We wanted to find out who these dwarves worshiped and whether there were other domain - tier individuals. Most of the dwarves we�d met so far seemed to believe and worshiped a god called Eras.

But Eras was more like a craft god, and it was a familiar name. We had records of Eras, as mentioned in the Margmarian recordings. But unlike the records in the Margmarian city, Eras�s faith in the world of Delvegard was more casual and unregulated.

Here, the teachings of Eras were passed down from parents to children and so were twisted in bits and pieces. What was left of the original Eras scriptures were scattered across the dwarven nations, but no one actually attempted to piece them together.

In some ways, the dwarves didn�t take Eras all that seriously, and the pious was a real minority.

It was a blend of an old faith with dwarven superstition.

One of the largest dwarven factory - academies on Delvegard was an institution called the Delvegardian Yards. It was a large mountain that was hollowed out over the centuries and home to the third largest war machines and factories on all of Delvegard.

It was, politically, a subordinate of the nearby dwarven kingdom of Ruthfyord, but in substance, the factory master of the Delvegardian Yards was the true king of Ruthfyord. Even today, it was the Ruthfyord king�s father that controlled the Delvegardian Yards.

Kafa tapped the illusionary device, and it cloaked his presence. He could do so with his scales, too, so the illusionary device was made not to interfere with the functionality of his colorful scales.

Colossal war machines stood motionless in the yards. Here, hundreds if not thousands of dwarven crafters worked on separate parts of the war machines. Some worked on their legs, some worked on their body, and some worked on the weapons that would soon be in operation.

Kafa walked about untouched. In this factory - academy where masters taught their apprentices, the sound of metals banging and hammers hitting steel was the background music. No one noticed the invisible lizard.

He snuck through the vast academy and then into the hangars located on another side of the hollowed - out mountain. They had at least thirty war machines just under maintenance and another ten more that seemed ready for use at any time.

They had pilots. Dwarven Machine Operators , each forming a bond with their gigantic war machines.

The war machines had to be charged. They had large crystal power units, and the operators themselves supplied some of the war machines power requirements. Just as Sunmetals were used for joints, they also used some kind of Sunmetal - crystal mixture for batteries.

I was tempted to steal one and even suggested it. I was fascinated. Such equipment and design were unseen on Treehome, and I believed Alka would love it.

But I was interrupted.

- But what if this leaves a bad mark? Do we really want to start a relationship with these dwarves on the wrong foot? - Some of my dwarven diplomats advised otherwise. - I believe we can obtain this above board, through trades. -

- Very well. Let�s try trades, then. - We could easily trade void weapons for it. My void mages produced enough void weaponry, but that was something we wouldn�t reveal. Not yet.

Kafa soon learned that the kingdom of Ruthfyord controlled about seventy war machines. There were a few other kingdoms with such similar size. Most smaller kingdoms and city states controlled two to three such war machines, and even those were of a lower quality than the giants.

The war machines themselves had surprisingly powerful beam weapons, and the legs were pretty much stabbing weapons. By my own estimates, two of these war machines could take down a demon walker.

- Their protections are rather weak, - Kafa noticed as they mainly relied on the natural endurance qualities of the Sunmetal and Sunsteel. - Most of them were focused on energy reflection spells. -

Kafa�s espionage continued, and he snuck through the Delvegardian Yards easily. He quickly detected the presence of a hidden chamber and entered it. The factory master worked on a super - colossus. Ten legs and enough weapons to match ten colossus, it was engineered for the factory master.

It wasn�t that unique. Kafa�s exploration of the other large factories and academies revealed that most kingdoms worked on some superweapon.

Bigger. Stronger. Each factory master wanted to go above and beyond a war machine.

It seemed even dwarven kingdoms needed a trump card. His visit would be cut short. For now. He would return for another visit.

- Kafa. Time to go back. Demon king coming. -

- Rift emerging. The demon king is departing from the core of the werewolf world. - The void mages on the demon world now linked to Mountainworld sent the message. I wondered how the Canari would react to another canine world, but the wolves of Werewolf - World were shapeshifters. I wondered what sort of people they had when they were still populated.

- Well. Moment we�ve been waiting for. - Edna laughed as she took out a gleaming blade of silver. Everyone was armed with enough enchanted silver to properly stock a jeweler, but in many ways, it was a shame.

We even modified our bombs to embed little bits of silver beads and alloys in order to amplify their effectiveness. In theory, it should work.

But every demon king�s skillset was unknown. Demon kings could be resistant to things their demons were weak to. Adrian, the lead defender, prayed. He prayed to his friend. Even his older friends, those that passed away long ago.

Demon King Marchosias has arrived.

The place of battle on Mountainworld was a large forest. We�d rigged the place with bombs. The werewolf champions emerged from the rifts and were swiftly shot down.

Then we all felt the demon king�s presence. It emerged from the rift, its fur like a living liquid. Once we detected it, the bombs exploded. Edna and the domain holders prepared for battle. I was partly expecting the fight with Multipus first.

The pulse of the chained explosions blasted upward, and I knew it was slightly weaker. Without Alka�s presence, some of his skills were inactive, and that impacted the strength of the bombs.

The large forest was instantly transformed into a crater.

It was a pity. I felt pain in my soul when such a large forest was leveled. But I would restore this forest later. I made a note to my artificial souls to do so.

- The wolf is coming. - Marchosias, the wolf - shaped demon king, lunged for Adrian like a furious war god.

It was wolf shaped, but not a wolf, because that was when we saw a few more magical claws and limbs emerge out of nowhere.

- Stay back! - Edna charged ahead, and her silver blade shone like a glorious full moon. She slashed, and the demon king recoiled. Her power was fully activated then, and she tanked the demon king�s powerful claws.

Each claw strike contained the power of a demon king, and though Edna took it like it was nothing more than a pillow strike, the aftershocks from each strike still left small craters around the domain holder.

She landed a few slashes, her silver blade leaving magical wounds on the demon king, but it was clear those wounds mended.

The heroes continued to bombard the demon king with spells and immediately noticed how lackluster their attacks were.

- Its magical resistance is astronomical. - Prabu frowned. - Switching to blended magical spells. -

If magic didn�t work, the heroes were each given a nation�s arsenal of physical spears and projectiles. They would wrap these projectiles in their magic and use them as bullets, empowered by their hero weapons.

The heroes magical attacks bombarded the wolf - demon and impaled it. Its fur was magically resistant, but physical weapons still hurt it quite a bit. I didn�t really get why silver weakened it, but I supposed it was some System shenanigans.

The demon pulsed.

We thought it was going to blow.

But it didn�t. Instead, it merely shapeshifted and transformed into a different form. A smaller, much smaller demon.

Faster. Smaller. Edna tried to step in the way and slashed it. Edna traded a few blows, but the demon king wasn�t keen on fighting the domain holder.

Instead, it looked around, and aimed at the four heroes present. It tried to battle Khefri and soon realized Khefri�s armor was too strong. Khefri, the scorpionoid heroine, was quite good at close - range combat, and her natural carapace could take more hits than most heroes.

She traded blows with the second form, and the demon king immediately realized it didn�t want to engage Khefri in combat. It shifted and tried to target the mages instead. But Prabu and Colette were too close, and they were also protected by my domain holders, Lumoof, Kafa, and Ezar.

No go. I watched it try to attack Roon and Johann, but my rangers move speed meant they were able to maintain a distance.

Marchosias was trying to pick off the weakest member of the party, and domain holders were not its priority. It wanted heroes, and so its sights landed back on Adrian.

Edna immediately retreated. - I don�t like how it�s looking at you. -

Adrian laughed. - You think it�ll get me? -

- We don�t know. It tried everyone and couldn�t get far. - Prabu and Colette�s combined bombardments meant they could sufficiently prevent the demon king from getting close, so that meant only Khefri and Adrian were in the - melee - range. - Lumoof�s with the mages, so I�ll be with you. -

It also seemed quite afraid of Lumoof and my avatar mode. So long as Lumoof was there, Marchosias seemed to understand it wouldn�t be able to get near the two mage heroes.

Khefri immediately leaped over. - Well, it�s weakened and looking to pick the weakest of us off. Who wants to be the bait? -

Adrian frowned. - I suppose that�s me, since it didn�t seem to like fighting with you. -

They watched the demon king dodge attacks from my ranged heroes and my roots. It was surprisingly still speedy, and the rift above continued to release smaller wolves.

- Is that necessary? - Lumoof asked as he activated his fury of the avatar . - I�ll try to restrain it. -

The entire terrain was surrounded by roots, and for once, the gigantic wolf seemed tiny. It was a wolf trapped in what seemed to be a mess of vines and woody tentacles. Marchosias immediately emitted an aura, a layer of black energy that formed around its body like a protective barrier. It briefly protected itself from all attacks and my vines.

- A demon king with shields. - Lumoof smirked. - It�s been a while since I�ve seen a demon king with shields. Well, let�s go for it. -

Immobilized, despite its shields, the demon king was a sitting duck.

We charged our weapons and waited for that protective layer to fade. Once it faded, we blew up the demon king.

Demon King Marchosias has been slain.

There was no explosive destruction. The demon king left a core that was tainted by star mana, but that was no matter. The entire crater was seeded with crystals as the remnants of the demon king�s corpse transformed into daemolite.

- Well. Time to clean shit up, - Lumoof declared. The Valthorns quickly descended on the forest to mop up the residual energies.

Adrian looked at Khefri. - You know, I had the strange feeling like I was supposed to die today. -

Khefri laughed. - You think too much. With so many other combatants present, you think you�d die today? -

- Well, it�s just a weird feeling. Like it was written in the stars, but it did not happen. -

Khefri frowned. - Don�t say such inauspicious things. There�s still Multipus. -

- I don�t think so. It�s inevitable that we will die. - Adrian laughed. - I just wonder when. -

Cometworld floated through the vastness of the void sea. Its bubble of reality expanded slightly, very slightly. This was a world with no core remaining, so its bubble of reality was maintained by my existence. I wondered whether only domain holders emitted a bubble of reality or whether it was something that all living creatures had.

It floated by places. Darkness.

Its movement in the void sea brought us even further away from the demons, and I wondered where it was headed.

We�d been working on manipulating an object�s trajectory through the void sea for ages, and even now, we hadn�t succeeded. With the void layers, we wondered whether this was even necessary.

Perhaps, in one version of the void layers, Cometworld was headed in the right direction after all.

- That�s so optimistic. - Stella laughed.

- But true, - I countered.

- It�s like falling upward. -

- The void sea defies all normal types of logic. The void sea is pretty much whatever your mind thinks it is. It�s like a painting on a canvas. -

My void domain holder chuckled. - I can�t wait to start exploring the void layers. We need to hunt Multipus down and be done with this meteor storm. -

The demon king was out there somewhere, on one of the meteor remnants.

I doubted it was consumed by the void. It just didn�t seem like a thing for demon kings.

Chung was alone in his part of the world. He trembled as his mind weighed on him.

It wasn�t the demon king of his world. And yet, when he heard that a demon king came for Mountainworld, his mind seemed to strain.

A hero was compelled to fight demon kings. It wasn�t that strong if the demon king was of another world.

But it tugged at his mind, and he lashed out.

He abandoned his puppet state and found a place in the mountains. There were no sapient beings here, only animals and monsters. He lashed out, his arrows blasting the surroundings. Everyone knew the area was off - limits. It was where the Archer Hero went to blow off steam.

The place was filled with craters and holes. I hadn�t bothered to repair it and left the mountainous region riddled with all the scars of his attacks.

It happened more and more. Especially in recent years.

I spied on him and realized that he was slowly losing it. Conflict with this hero seemed inevitable, and the only one left on talking terms with him didn�t want anything to do with him.

Internally, we prepared for conflict. We ran simulations of battle against the hero Chung. If he actually turned on us, the ideal state was a surprise attack.

I didn�t want to kill a hero.

Yet, as his erraticism grew, I knew that it was inevitable.

I only hoped that there wouldn�t be too much collateral damage.

INTERLUDE: Lozanna �S REALIZATION

It�d been decades since she saw active duty, but Kei was right all along.

A part of her had wanted to go back now that her kids had all grown up. It wasn�t hard. It was only hard in her mind.

What was worse was that she knew it was her own mind working against her. A/ said once, apparently, from an old philosopher, that the mind was its own unmaking. It was true, and yet it still happened to her. There were things that were so clearly headed their way, and yet the mind would refuse to do anything.

She stretched, her elven muscles and bones regaining their old flexibility. It was magic. She�d even say it got stronger. Since she took the Soul - Strengthening Seed, she felt she was more complete. More whole.

Matters of the soul were hard to explain. The concept of being more whole, more complete, when the soul was already complete, seemed counterintuitive.

But the soul could grow.

The soul�s density. Its weight. Its presence.

More.

When she was a child, A/ spoke to her at length about the nature of the soul. Of everyone in this city today, she remembered many small talks between her and TreeTree. Even now, she could feel him there, at the very edges of her mind.

A door she could open at any time. A voice she could reach out and talk to.

She remembered that Lumoof once said that if the mind was a house, A/ was like one of the rooms in his mind. It was there, and she felt it was apt. For her, it was a door.

At times, it was like an invisible limb.

It was that door that allowed her to sense A/ �s return from the Rottedlands.

Long ago, during the days of her travels in the Eastern Continent, she remembered how the door wasn�t even there.

But these days, even in the Northern Islands, or the mountainous underground cities of the Eastern Continent, that door was still there. She knew what it meant. A/ �s reach had covered the entire realm.

She could speak to him anywhere and felt the rest of her soul. She wondered why she could sense herself.

A rare ability, the priests and other mages claimed. She wondered whether it was something she inherited from A/ .

The soul grew. It grew when nourished. Each act of - gaining experience - was forming a brick that grew the spring of the soul.

She picked up the spear. When she mentioned she wanted a new weapon, multiple high - level craftsmen volunteered to make her something customized.

Lozanna swung it around as she practiced with her sparring partner, Kei. Her golem opponent used her golem abilities to her benefit. She could create shields of crystal, a temporary - growth - from her limbs, and block her spear strikes.

- You don�t seem to be in the zone today, - Kei said.

Lozanna laughed as her spear thrust slammed into Kei�s shield, then followed with a rapid series of jabs. - No. I�m not. -

- What�s on your mind? -

- What�s on yours? - Lozanna countered. Kei didn�t like the idea of the League of Heroes all that much, despite being - forced - to accept the task, and Kei believed a volunteer group, composed of people like Lozanna , would work better in the long term.

Kei wanted a mix of summoned heroes and native champions because she saw the flaws of the summoned heroes and believed that native champions could augment the gaps. The summoned heroes were too unstable, despite their power, and strong native champions could serve as their anchors.

Lozanna , therefore, served two purposes. Kei wanted Lozanna to be a counterweight to A/ �s increasingly expansionist ways. It was impossible to stop an expansionist A/ , and given the state of the world, some worlds definitely needed an expansionist A/ to make up for their lack of support.

Along that path, Kei hoped that Lozanna would also support Kei as the - anchor - of the mixed group of heroes. Of course, Edna or Roon or Johann would have worked as well, but Kei knew that group was part of the exploratory force that visited all the new worlds.

Eventually, there needed to be some kind of specialization. A defense - focused force of domain holders and heroes, and an offense and exploration focused force of domain holders. The worlds out there were too large, and they needed more pieces on the field.

But despite all that, Lozanna told herself she was doing this for the right reason. She didn�t do it because she was selfish. She was not here to satisfy the hole in her heart.

She lied. She knew it was there.

A gnawing sensation.

She liked this.

She enjoyed it. Far more than being at home.

- Mom, you�re really going back to the military? - Lauda asked. She had gone through six dungeon tours by then, and this was the fifteenth time he asked.

They were not young anymore. Lauda was an adult and would soon have a family of his own. She would be a grandmother in due time.

A grandmother back in the military.

Laufen, her own mother, once said it was rare for elven grandmothers to serve in battle, but not so for grandfathers. But she wasn�t just any grandmother. She looked at her own mother and knew the life of a doting grandmother filled with social work and societal duties was not a role for her.

In her heart, her calling was still out there.

She suppressed it during Lauda and Arlisa�s younger years. Tried her best to dedicate her life to her growing children.

But the joy and lightness in her heart when she sparred with Kei was all she needed. She knew it when she went back to the dungeons and slaughtered monsters. She could feel it in her limbs.

- Yes. It�s where I should be. -

- Why? - Arlisa asked.

- Because I enjoy it. - She was good at it. She still was good at it. She may be a long way from being the best, but she was pretty damned good at it.

Lauda understood. - Stay safe, Mother. - But he would ask her again. Her son couldn�t help but worry. Because doubt never faded. However remote, there was a chance she would not return.

That was life on the battlefield.

Arlisa looked at her mother like she was insane. - You�re already so old. -

Lozanna nodded. It was a response from her human half. For elves, and especially Lozanna with the soul - strengthening seed , she felt fitter than ever. - I know. But I still want to do this. -

Level one hundred came a few weeks ago after one of the level ninety dungeons, and her class transformed into A/ ic Phantom of War . A fairly unique class, despite it being an upgrade from the A/ ic Weaponmaster , though Kei said there were about twelve others with the same class in the entirety of the Order.

Her blessings also mutated at level one hundred, turning into the only one in the entirety of the Valtorn Order, First Sentinel of the Tree .

She didn�t like the name. She wondered whether Yura had it first, and a part of her felt a little torn for taking what should have been someone else�s.

That door in her mind felt wider, and the way it linked to her familiar felt stronger. A/ �s familiars had been able to replicate some of A/ �s powers, and it was often capped at their own levels.

Someone at level eighty could access a variant of A/ �s level - eighty ability through the familiar. It was usually weaker. Much weaker. It didn�t come from A/ directly, of course. The access of power came through the System. The System replicated A/ as a template and granted access to variants of that template.

It was similar to how the Court of the Deitree retained the skills of its predecessors.

She looked at her children. Arlisa disagreed.

- I must do this. -

Arlisa frowned. She knew her daughter opposed it. Her son didn�t look at her.

Two years later

Lozanna sweated it out in the final room of the secret dungeon. She heard of its existence, but it�d been a long time since she�d delved into the level one hundred�plus dungeons, located deep in the subterranean chambers of Treehome.

Kei smiled. - That went well. -

Lozanna nodded. The boss of the level one hundred ten dungeon was some kind of gigantic thorny lizard. The materials harvested from the lizard would be given to the Order, and they would usually make some weapons or potions out of the remnants.

She formed a small team of Kei, Lozanna , and two other younger Valthorns that were in the early level one hundreds.

They were surprisingly stressed out. Kei and Lozanna were famously known as members of A/ �s inner circle. Royalty. Elite. Whatever they called it, the two of them had A/ �s ears, and almost everyone treated them carefully.

After the dungeon, they went to that secret town in the underground chambers.

The nomadic dungeon town. Every building here was movable, and when the dungeons moved, the buildings moved with it. They had to, because the dungeons expired after a while, and the ley line�s energy dwindled over time.

Their goal was level one hundred twenty - five. They could get there with the experience seeds, but there was a flaw to it. Someone who worked hard to get to level one hundred twenty - five was going to be a little bit stronger than someone who got there through consumption of experience seeds.

Long ago, Edna and the first generation of domain holders needed to move every other month, because the dungeons energies would be exhausted.

These days, they didn�t have to move as much, and the dungeons energies recharged faster. The domain holders claimed that it was A/ �s enhanced vitality after A/ hit level two hundred fifty. Lumoof claimed it was a combination of factors, such as the enhanced energy of Treehome that meant stronger ley lines and also the higher levels and skill.

Kei stretched and asked. Kei asked the same question many times, and Lozanna realized the golem had a tendency to repeat herself. - How long is it going to take for you to hit level one hundred twenty - five? -

- I don�t really know how long it�ll take, - Lozanna said, but Kei said her leveling speed was extraordinary. In many ways, it was. Lozanna gained three levels when others gained two. Even next to Kei, with her fragmented hero�s blessing, Lozanna �s levels were still faster.

But to Kei, it was absolutely normal. - A/ �s been watching you since forever, and you�ve got all of A/ �s blessings. If you can�t gain levels, I doubt anyone else can. -

She remembered Lumoof�s explanations. Level one hundred twenty - five was where things got harder. They had to earn the right to be a domain holder. The System didn�t like power levelers much at that point, and it was well known that most - blessings - began to dwindle in effectiveness.

Except for the hero shards .

Those divine objects worked at all levels and were so thoroughly broken, Lozanna wondered how the System even allowed the hero shards to exist.

It upended all the principles that everyone else followed.

- Mother, how�ve you been? - Lozanna asked as she visited Laufen in her home some distance away.

- Well. Better, now that you�ve decided to take up arms. - Laufen smiled at her daughter. The two didn�t look far apart in terms of age; for humans, they�d be mistaken as sisters.

Lozanna said nothing. She remembered her mother�s emotions when it came to her service fluctuated from acceptance, support, to sometimes disagreement and objection. It often depended on the mood she was in, and the news she heard from her social circle. So nothing was said. Sometimes, it was better that way.

Laufen looked at her. - Do you remember when Yura died? -

Lozanna remembered taking Arlisa to visit the place that eventually became the city of Tigashfall. It was a vivid sensation to speak to Yura through spiritual communion, facilitated by A/ .

Something she didn�t wish to do, ever. But sadly, death forever remained more frequent than she hoped, and she knew A/ �s priests facilitated that service for the spirits that managed to linger for a bit.

So she nodded.

Laufen smiled. - Good. I don�t intend to speak to you that way, ever. I hope to see you as one of the domain holders. -

Lozanna let out a long sigh. The path was laid out, but it was not an easy one. - I will try, Mother. -

Laufen held her daughter�s hand. - It�s one thing to see our children die in battle. It�s another thing entirely to see our children die inside, hollowed out like a husk. If this is what you want, go. -

The younger elf nodded. - Was it that bad? I didn�t feel it was. -

- I could smell the fetid stench from my mansion. -

- No, you couldn�t. - Lozanna laughed.

Lavaworld was different.

It�d been a long, long time since she visited this hellhole, and she was instantly disturbed by how peaceful it seemed. There were demonic trees right around A/ �s clone tree.

Here, she looked at the gigantic tree and understood why Kei and the domain holders had concerns.

A/ �s clones were infinitely adaptable. They would adjust themselves to fit its natural environment, and here, A/ �s tree took a hybrid form, a blend of a tree and the demonic energies of Lavaworld.

- I thought A/ limited its use of demonic energy. - Lozanna gazed at the titanic tree; its presence on Lavaworld was a testament, a monolith of nature�s defiance. Its tree was both green and red, its trunks glowed, and it was filled with streaks of red, blue, and green. Its leaves were mixed, some bright, vividly green, some in a shade of demonic red, and some others withered and dead.

She could feel it here, the throbbing blend of natural energy, demonic energy, and something else. - This is the testing ground, - Kei countered.

- It seems on a larger scale than I expected. I was expecting just a small farm of demonic trees, not an entire forest. - Lozanna looked and in her heart understood the domain holder�s concerns.

In her mind, maybe it was just their scale of things that didn�t line up. To A/ , a forest really was tiny. If its trees covered multiple worlds, relatively, what was an entire forest of demonic trees?

It could be just one percent. No, less than that.

But seeing it for itself, it did make her feel a sense of disturbance she couldn�t quite explain. Lavaworld was a land of magma and lava. If any, what little original vegetation here consumed the minerals and gasses of the vents.

The demonic trees didn�t attack her at all. No. As someone who could feel a connection to A/ , it disturbed her that she felt that same connection with these demonic trees. A/ was the master of these demonic trees. She saw the demonic beetles crawling between the branches of the demonic trees, jumping, stumbling, falling.

- The demon champion is around here? - Lozanna asked.

- No. It�s far ahead. -

- Why are we not teleporting? -

Kei looked around. - I thought you needed to see this. What A/ tries to do with the demons. Learning. Absorbing. Assimilating. Studying our opponents to become better. But the humans once said, just as one gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into them. I fear A/ learns more than he bargained for. -

- You�ve become really good at propaganda, - Lozanna countered. She felt shaken.

- It�s standard espionage and insurgency training. The spies talk about instilling fear. They speak of the gravity of the offense. To show proof, to spin small realities into great horrors. To show darkness such that they drown out the light. To rig the scales by playing with the emotions and expectations within ourselves. -

- And you�re still doing it. - Lozanna frowned. - You�re scaring me about the spy operation�s insidious nature. -

Kei laughed. - I�ve spent too much time with Spymaster Intip. But the best propaganda all starts with a little grain of truth. By showing angles to the truth. By showing how the same fact can be interpreted wildly differently, just by taking a different position. It�s like the void sea. -

The elven lady and the golem walked past even more demonic trees and into an area where A/ bred and experimented on large amounts of demonic beetles. The entire spawning area was filled with purpose - built demonic trees.

- The truth is whatever you think it is. - Kei laughed.

- You don�t believe that sort of flimsy statement, - Lozanna countered.

Kei laughed some more. - I don�t. I do believe there is some objective truth out there. I believe there is right and wrong, good and evil. I�d like to believe I�m still innocent and naive. -

Lozanna nodded. That sounded a bit more like the Kei she knew. They stood there and watched the demonic beetles emerge from their large tree - sacs. These were experiments, and they noticed each beetle was slightly different. Very slightly.

It was essentially evolution by sheer quantity and brute force. The demonic trees all spawned little beetles. Some collapsed, and their bodies were reabsorbed by the trees.

She felt a bond with them. She could feel them through that door in her soul.

These were A/ �s.

She knew it.

And she wondered, as her eyes gazed at the strange, alien creatures, whether what A/ needed was really a moral guide.

- Kei. -

- What? -

- I don�t think my role is to be A/ �s moral guide. - There were others to guide the ship.

- Oh? -

She thought about her own history. From the very first days of Freeka, to New Freeka, and then to Freshka. She held faith that their tree was there to protect them. Even when it seemed like TreeTree was overwhelmed by the demonic sludge, the entire valley overflowing with demonic energy, it tried its best to protect them.

- Then what do you think it is? -

- To be his first believer. - Lozanna looked at the demons and felt her connection to the world around her. It was not malice. It was curiosity.

A desire to learn.

- Despite how dark and grim A/ �s actions may seem, it is guided by a desire to save us all. Even if all else fails, I want to believe in it. I�ve seen him in weaker times, and his desire to resist has not failed. Even when he converted demons, even when the demon kings threatened to overwhelm us all, I believe. -

Kei looked around. Lozanna guessed Kei knew people a lot better than she let on. Kei seemed to have a sense of how to press buttons.

- Progress does not come instantly. Progress does not always take a straight line. - Lozanna recited it, but her heart trembled at how it felt so relevant to herself. - Progress often requires us to gaze into the depths and discover where we should not go. When a cave explorer dives into the deep dark caves to find what�s down there, our role is to keep the faith and ensure that the ropes for the diver remain secure. We protect the path, for them to climb back out of the darkness. -

Lesser beings could not even try to explore the depths of the demons corruption. The demons would overwhelm them. There truly was no one she knew that could even hope to venture into the darkness and live to tell the tale. If it was not A/ , then who?

Someone had to be foolish, insane, and a bit twisted to venture into the dark and create the first light. To touch the unspeakable, to understand the taint of their corrupt energies, and master the means to reverse them.

Kei smiled. - You have more faith in A/ than you have in yourself. -

Lozanna felt that. - That is true. -

- And I�d like to say you are born from pretty much the same cloth. Or patch. -

Lozanna shook her head. Her mind thought of Uncle Yura . She wished for many things, but ultimately, she accepted his decision to die a hero.

He died a hero and left a set of shoes that was always too big for her.

It wouldn�t be possible to fit into his shoes. But she hoped her shoes would walk the path he once did. To continue the journey that ended for him. It just took her more than a century to realize it.

A/ would�ve said she wasn�t ready back then.

She probably wasn�t.

Now, with lesser worries behind her, she would be.

YEAR 269 - SATRYA

The world of Satrya thrummed with the power of the divine. To the others, they were faint strings that required some work to notice. For Lumoof, a man of faith, they shone in his eyes, like markings made of wispy lights. They were the signs of the presence of a god�s touch.

Divinity, at some point, was how the System flagged the presence of an administrator.

Gawa �s power was a lot more noticeable in a world like this. The way it threaded in the land itself and how the core of the world was even intertwined with it.

This was Gawa �s world. Whether it was a - core - world, that was not immediately clear to Lumoof, but it didn�t matter.

And now, they would crash a meeting of the high priests.

The high priests, or Gawa �s Circle, as they were called, were having a secret meeting in a mountain far from society. It was one of those secret temples that only the high priests knew about.

For those who were not a man of God, it would be difficult to find it, with the illusion magics and even the presence of strong illusions. But for Lumoof, the presence of Gawa �s energies made the location as obvious as the suns and even easier for him to trace it. All they needed to do was follow it, like the threads left behind by a hero as they ventured in the labyrinths. The Circle priests were blessed by Gawa .

They said Gawa rarely descended.

The priest of A/ knew that exceptions could be made, and the group followed them to the secret mountain temple. Lumoof wondered whether he�d meet another god, just like how they met Aiva.

The place was hardly populated, though the presence of the Gawa Circle�s Divine Guards should be enough to deal with most enemies. They were decked in divine - touched equipment from head to toe.

- What is it with priests and their secret enclaves? - Roon complained as my domain holders stalked the priests. It wasn�t the first time they�d seen secret enclaves. Even back on Treehome, all the temples had secret bases.

- We shouldn�t be complaining, - Edna countered with a grin. - We have enough secret bases to rival them. -

Roon wanted to respond but realized Edna was right. Valthorns and Valtorn s really had a lot of secret bases all over the realms. It would be the pot calling the kettle black.

They watched, and their own senses stretched. The secret enclave of the Gawa was protected by magic, but they were not prepared for trees. Our trees and grasses grew through the magical defenses easily, and through them, we knew what happened within.

The Circle conducted their secret meetings in an indoor, fairly covered garden with a large airwell. The reason it had an airwell was to allow for Gawa to - visit, - should the divine being decide to grace them with his presence.

That was exceptionally rare, of course, but it was tradition, and so every generation of Gawa �s circle continued its meeting in this beautiful garden. The entire garden was the very picture of serenity, and as a place Gawa once visited, the touch of Gawa �s divinity could still be felt even in the ground and the rocks of the indoor garden�s walls and pillars. The plants here were radiant and magical, as they were touched by the gods. The flowers here were exceptionally beautiful and flowered without withering.

The single sun - beam through the airwell was somehow at the exact level of strength, neither too harsh, nor too soft, and the small man - made pond shimmered.

It was a place perfect for a tea party.

But instead, it was the venue of the priests secret meeting.

- The demon king will arrive in about two years. How many warriors have you shortlisted for Gawa �s consideration? - They were a council of equals, but it was often led by the oldest priest in the circle.

Each of them started to name a number. Gawa �s champions were nominated candidates, chosen from the strongest warriors of the priests. The divine guards were often candidates, as the divine guards themselves, selected by each of the high priests, were all incredible warriors.

But Gawa often required warriors of a certain youth and strength, so older, more experienced guards were omitted.

They needed to constantly replenish the divine guards with talented young warriors, and each of the relic cities created dedicated academies and institutions for such purposes or co - opted existing military structures to function as the feeder institution. The Relic City of Museo had two feeder orders, the Order of Museo�s Knights and the Museo High Guards. The Relic City of Olpash relied on the Olpash�s Gawa Templars to select its divine guards, and the Olpash�s Gawa Templars recruits from the general army.

All in, the Gawa �s Circle named about forty names, and by tradition, Gawa would select between five to fifteen to be blessed with the powers of Gawa �s Champion , and each would receive a special set of Champion�s Armaments .

The forty, naturally, would have to face Gawa �s divine presence. Fainting before Gawa was naturally a rejection.

After the shortlisting of names for Gawa �s Champions, what followed was mundane administrative matters, such as the coming Gawa celebrations, and other smaller conflicts. This was part and parcel of their yearly priestly affairs, and Lumoof inwardly chuckled at how familiar it all sounded.

The patriarchs and matriarchs of the Treeology had very similar meetings, with even similar topics.

Gawa �s Circle spoke briefly about the demons, and from our understanding, they were not worried. The demons may win certain battles, but when the divine - blessed took the field, victory was all but assured. The divine guards, armed with divine - blessed weapons, could take on demon champions and the demon knights. The only reason why they were not deployed was because there were not many of them, and most of them were in the relic cities.

According to Roon�s scouting reports, only twenty percent of the - divine - blessed - guards were deployed outside of the territory of the relic cities. The rest of them didn�t go very far.

In other words, the suffering of the other cities could be partially attributed to the relic cities refusal to deploy more people outside. The relics were infinitely more important than the life of the cities. It was a case quite similar to how the Valthorns were mostly deployed on the Central Continent and our allied lands.

Eventually, after what felt like half a day, the meeting neared its end. The eldest of them said, - Anything else to discuss? -

- There�s the matter of the otherworlders, - the priestess of Olpash asked suddenly. - Visitors from the other world? -

- Ah. They visited you, too. - Another head priest frowned.

- What did you tell them? -

- Of course I didn�t tell them anything. Who would believe liars like that? -

- But they are real. They really are from other worlds, - the priestess of Olpash defended.

- Do you truly believe there are people outside of Gawa �s greatness? - the other priest countered.

The priest of Museo sat quietly. - The power they display is real, at least. -

- It must be some kind of stolen relic. -

The priestess of Olpash spoke up. - I did not detect such things, and Gawa would have informed us? -

Then the unexpected happened. The skies twisted, as if a portal opened in the skies above them. The once - blue skies turned dark, and then, from the darkness, a golden beam of light pierced through the swirling black clouds.

Here, in a land far from the rest of humanity, the skies parted.

Gawa �s Circle knew immediately. Their eyes widened in shock, and their jaws slackened. The eldest of them immediately prostrated on the floor, and the rest of them followed. The divine guards quickly followed.

Gawa came.

I felt it through Lumoof. The twisting of divine threads, the distortions of reality. The presence of divinity. Familiar, like Aiva, but different. Just slightly different.

The entire world felt it, too.

The beam of golden light shone from the skies above, and in a sudden increase of intensity, it shot what seemed like a golden burst of light. Lumoof looked up, and with our senses, it was easy for us to pierce it.

The light came through a divine portal. Gawa was somewhere else, and I believed we would be seeing a representative.

Edna, Roon, and Ezar looked at each other, and the newer domain holder trembled. Edna looked at Lumoof.

- This is a familiar sensation. -

Lumoof nodded. - I suppose it knows we are here. We will be fine. -

Gawa appeared in the middle of the garden courtyard in the form of a golden shadow. It was as if light itself took the shape of a warrior knight with a golden tail on its helmet. The golden shadow glowed faintly, and it was possible to see the outline of swords and spears in its figure.

A million swords and a million spears. It was as if gazing into a world filled with fights and battle.

- Greetings, my faithful. -

Gawa Circle knelt and did not speak. Their heads were on the ground. Their arms were as well. They waited.

- You may speak. -

The eldest of them spoke. His forehead was on the stone floor. - Lord Gawa . It - it is not yet time for you to select your champions. Is there something else we can assist you with? -

- Ah, yes. The demons. They are coming soon. But I am not here for them. -

The group present didn�t dare assume anything. So the eldest asked, - What can we assist you with? Say the word and we will do it with all our might. -

The golden shadow shifted and walked toward the eldest priest. - It is not something for my faithful to do. Instead, we have visitors. Eavesdroppers, it�s time you make yourselves known. -

I didn�t know how, but the Golden Shadow looked at us. I instantly felt my domain spam me with notifications. This was Gawa �s realm, and that meant Gawa should monitor this world with far greater attention than the rest.

In a way, this was expected. We saved time and resources. A part of me was pleased that this went as how I thought it would, even if it did occur a little earlier than expected.

Lumoof, Edna, and my domain holders were nearby, but not so nearby. So it was a surprise when their own domains were hit with the flood of notification. Lumoof gulped but nodded.

- Looks like I must face the god. -

Edna gulped. - Let�s go together. -

At the same time, the priests of Gawa were incredibly surprised and looked around, wondering who their God referred to. - Lord Gawa , do we call the guards? -

The golden shadow laughed. - Guards? You face visitors who would soon be my peers. A thousand guards would not hurt them. -

Lumoof landed right in the garden, and the three domain holders landed behind him. The priests of Gawa all yelped.

- You! -

The golden shadow raised his hand. Gawa �s energies were so thick that it was oppressive. - Be silent, my faithful. This is a conversation with those a few steps into the divine. Listen well, and learn. -

Lumoof clasped his hand in respect, and Gawa �s energies bounced off his body. I felt a strong force push against my own, but it wasn�t enough to push me back.

- Lord Gawa , I am Lumoof, avatar of A/ . I come representing A/ , and we come to seek an audience for guidance and assistance. -

The golden shadow was faceless, and yet it felt like our eyes met.

- I shall now call upon A/ , - Lumoof said, and instantly, the avatar form�s energies rippled outward. The priests, already suppressed by Gawa �s powers, now felt my own power flooding the space.

- A newly ascended one, - Gawa �s shadow spoke. - Greetings, A/ . -

- Greetings, Gawa , - I answered in response, my voice speaking through Lumoof. The priests around us trembled. The divine guards froze in their place. - We�ve been traveling the other worlds in search of the old gods. -

- I see. Have you met my peers? -

- I have only spoken to Aiva. -

- Ah. The one of the Great Lakes. How is he? -

- Drifting far away. -

- We all are, - Gawa said with what felt like a sigh. - I felt your request to meet through my priests and decided to cut the fats. Let us get to it. What do you wish to tell me? -

- We�ve found the demon sun, and there is a barrier that stops us from getting close. We ask for your assistance to help us. -

Gawa looked at one of his priests. His eyes were like a beam of light, and it shone on the priest, marking him. - Priest Salazar. Present yourself before A/ . He will show you what he has seen. -

Salazar was the eldest one of the priests, and he trembled. He walked over to Lumoof and knelt before him. - I am at your disposal. -

Through Lumoof, I touched his head. In an instant, through my Dream Academy , I injected Salazar with our memories of the Sun Rings , the demon sun, the black blob, and our detected divine energies within the demon sun.

Salazar�s eyes widened as if he had gone insane. But he was brought back to the world when Gawa spoke. - Now come to me. -

Salazar walked over as if he was a puppet, and the Golden Shadow touched his head. A ball of light emerged from his forehead and was instantly absorbed by Gawa �s Shadow.

- Such memories should not be seen by mortals. My apologies, Priest Salazar. It is best if my people do not see the great darkness that festers outside of my worlds. -

We waited as the golden shadow seemed to study the memories.

- This Sun Ring is unfortunately too far from me. I am centered around my core worlds, my existence weighed around my believers. -

- I can bridge worlds with my clones. I can send your champions there, - I countered.

- Access does not change my weighted core, and my resources are limited. -

- Then can you help us, summon heroes and equip my men with divine equipment? Or fight with us? -

- My champions pale before the foul spawn of the corrupted cores. What they send to invade our worlds are not what they have to defend their own, - the Golden Shadow said. - This foe of ours fought us since the earliest days of the realms, and even now it holds one of my peers as its prisoner. It defeats us by attrition over the eons, flooding us with its foul spawn, wearing us down over the millennia, until we are unable to bless enough champions to resist. If you come to request for me to fight with you, I cannot do so. I am weakened by distance from my core worlds. -

I offered an alternative. - If you are too distant, surely there will be some others that are closer. If you know where they are, I will seek them out. -

- I do not, and I suspect my peers would be the same. We cannot take the field with you. If we could, we would have done so long ago. But that does not mean I cannot help. -

I suspected a task was coming.

- You were offered the pact. -

- Yes. -

- Then you know that each of us has a duty to protect the peripheral worlds. These distant worlds where we summon the raw souls from the Immagical worlds to serve as our champions. -

The source worlds. Earth.

- Distance. It is a strange thing. We have a duty to them, and yet each of these worlds consume so much of our energy. So much that I have little to spare for other matters. I hear your request, A/ , and I am willing to aid you. I will forge a weapon powerful enough to shatter the Sun Rings barrier, but to do so, I will need to reduce my energy expenditure. -

If the gods constantly spent their faith points protecting the faraway worlds, they likely didn�t have much left. However, if the faraway worlds could be - saved - without requiring the use of heroes, the gods would be able to have a - faith point surplus - and could do something with it.

- Help me protect the peripheral worlds. You will have to defeat about fifteen of them and hold it for some time. I will transmit their locations through Salazar. These are the worlds that drained most of my energies. Freeing them will give me the capacity I need to build something for you. -

Fifteen worlds.

- But exercise caution. Even if you shattered the Sun Rings , that same power isn�t enough to break through the demons foul prison. To take the battle to the demon sun, you will need more than just my power. Seek out the other gods and convince them to lend you their power. I will lend you mine when the time comes. Perhaps together, we could remove this foul sun and free my peer from its grasp. -

- Do you know who is trapped within? - I asked.

Gawa paused, as if examining my memory. - I do not know for sure, but I suspect it is one of the ancient steel worlds, the engineer, Eras. That is Eras�s true body, and though it is captured and its energies used by the demons, it is not yet dead. -

Not yet dead.

- So long as his corpse remains, Eras can regain his presence. He still has believers in multiple worlds. -

Through Salazar, I received bright locations in the void sea. These were worlds under Gawa �s rule, but we were so far away from them.

- What are the demons? - I asked.

- I do not know. They fought me ever since the day I gained awareness in this world. Perhaps the ancient one, Gaya, or the First of the Suns, Shura, would know. Once you complete your task, you can return here, and I will see you then. -

- You can�t help me speak to the other gods? -

- I do not know where they are. We agreed not to pry into each other�s affairs eons ago. We agreed to leave each other�s core and outer core worlds alone. The war amongst the stars did no one any favors. -

I didn�t know what to say to that. Instead, I looked around at the trembling priests and priestesses. - And yet you have believers even in my world. -

The golden shadow paused and, as if a realization dawned on him, spoke. - Ah! Your world is a peripheral world, too. I am amused that your world spawns something like yourself. In many ways, this audience is indirectly the fruit of your efforts. Did they send an invasive world your way? -

He must be referring to the comet. - Yes. -

- I see. -

The Golden Shadow glanced at the priests and the divine guards, then back at the papers listing the champion candidates.

- Actually, let us not bless the champions. I wish to see your powers in battle. -

- My powers are fairly limited. - I frowned. I did feel a little set up. - And we fight unfairly. -

- A victory is a victory, regardless of the means. The demons spawn will descend in two years. Help my priests with the demon spawn, and I will redirect my resources where it can help you. -

I looked at my forces. Edna shrugged. Roon and Ezar looked uncomfortable in the presence of a god.

But a demon king was a demon king. Valuable experience to be gained. I wondered whether this was a trap to lure my domain holders here. But somehow, I didn�t feel that Gawa needed to trap me.

I recalled that they fought us long ago. - Why did you order your faithful to wage a crusade against us? -

Gawa paused. - I did? -

It took a second before the Golden Shadow realized what I meant.

- Then I must apologize. Peripheral worlds are always under attack, and I can�t spare the energy to scry so far away and study in great detail. -

A war.

So many deaths.

And all I got was an apology.

I couldn�t help but feel that the gods were callous. But then again, so was I.

If I was in that same situation, would I have done things differently, given the limited information? What if it really was an evil force and I chose to do nothing?

Actually, that was what I did all the time. I usually chose to do nothing until I was sure.

But some gods thought differently.

- We will meet again, A/ . Till then, my priests will extend their warmest welcome for our distinguished guests from the other worlds. -

Gawa vanished.

And the world could breathe once again.

Lumoof looked at his fellow people of faith.

They were of a different religion, but people of faith just the same. - Looks like we�ll have to help you prepare for a demon king. -

YEAR 270

- How many damned rocks are we expecting? - Prabu cursed as his biomechanical suit augmented his movement in space. He darted from rock to rock, propelled by his own magic and the vines from the suit, which functioned as extendable limbs, in the way Doc Ock would move about in space.

Rocks popped out of the void by the hundreds, as part of clumps or clouds of rock, usually anchored around a single larger chunk of rock.

On another side of the vastness of space, Colette fired magical spells repeatedly, blasting the rocks.

Despite the seemingly mundane nature of the act, I was nervous. We were nervous.

This was about the time the comet should have reached Treehome in one piece, and there was a demon king that we didn�t kill.

We were waiting for Multipus.

It was on one of the rocks, and we expected it to appear.

I suspected it was alive. We didn�t get notifications, but it was likely we wouldn�t get notified if it vanished midway? I wasn�t sure when the System gave notifications. Maybe only when we shared the same - world, - and so if I wasn�t there when it vanished, I wouldn�t even know?

- More rocks coming it? -

The edges of the reality bubble bent, as if the skies and the stars were a flat lake that suddenly bulged upward. It burst, and a gigantic rock was here.

- All right, all right, volleys away! - Stella and the void mages coordinated the defenses. The space - based ballista and magical cannons were already aimed at the expected entry point of the rocks.

More rocks popped up; this batch was even larger than the one before.

Demon King Multipus has arrived.

- Oh fuck, - I cursed, and the heroes did, too.

Right now, only Prabu and Colette were in space, dealing with the rocks. Chung was back on Treehome doing whatever shit he was doing. Khefri was in Threeworlds, doing stuff in her little queendom. Adrian was still busy with cleanup of the remnant wolf - demons.

My domain holders were scattered, too. Lumoof, Roon, and Edna were still on Satrya, Kafa was back in Delvegard, and Johann was still enforcing order in Threeworlds.

Even though we knew Multipus was coming, we had too many competing priorities that we couldn�t just camp on Treehome and wait. I immediately sent out a ping and summoned them through my Court of the Deitree , and they were all immediately pulled back from their current worlds.

- We need to support Prabu and Colette against Multipus now, - I declared and prepared to deploy another clone, if needed. I still had a few slots available, and having seen what Multipus could do on the demon�s comet, I was fairly concerned about what Multipus could do here.

A - swarm - of smaller, multi - limbed, octopus - like demons exited from the larger rocks. They were hiding within the rocks, and their limbs or spines shot out like really long spears and javelins. But this was space, and space was huge.

- Keep your distance and bombard it from afar, - Stella advised through our shared magical network. With the huge distances of space, every attack from the demon king took longer, and so, for Prabu and Colette, they were able to maintain their distance and maintain their attacks.

- Aye, - Colette said as she blasted magical projectiles toward the demon king. - Which one�s the true body? -

There were about fifteen smaller demon kings, and each of them contained fairly similar levels of power.

- None, - I responded as Lumoof teleported onto the nearest space - based platform. - Would it be better to force a battle on one of the rocks? -

- No. - Edna arrived soon after. - That sounds like fighting on the demon�s home ground. Fighting in space is effective against it. -

- But that means we can�t get near, - Lumoof countered. It was harder to reach the floating, moving bodies of Multipus in space.

- But we have the advantage. We have enough bombardment weapons to take it out. - Roon and Johann arrived next on the space platform. They wore a kind of wooden suit similar to the heroes. - How far can you make roots? -

- These days? Very far, - Lumoof said. - But space is big. -

- We just need platforms to stand. Just support us and we�ll shoot it out of the skies. -

- Very well. -

Prabu and Colette were both relieved to see the rest of the domain holders arrive. - Took you guys a damn while. -

- We were out on other worlds, - Lumoof countered. - It is only natural that we will take some time. -

The multiple Multipus bodies attacked, rolling like gigantic space urchins through space. Its tentacles hardened into spears and spines and attempted to smash into the heroes and my domain holders.

But once more, space was big. We found it hard to hit each other, but we outnumbered the demon king here.

- You know, we should�ve called it a sea urchin instead of an octopus. It�s more like a sea urchin, - Stella quipped while she helped use her magic to move some of the floating platforms around.

Multipus attacked with a combination of piercing strikes, using its spines to try and hit the heroes and my domain holders from afar. In space, we traded projectiles. Lumoof summoned gigantic roots and trees that reached into space. The domain holders would then hop on them and use them as platforms to get into better firing positions.

The platforms, made from rocks such that trees could still be summoned on them, were transformed into living platforms. A few of the void mages maintained open portals, such that my roots could sustain the trees on these platforms and allow them to give the fighters extra mobility.

- Wait. Multipus is here? - Khefri commented as the news arrived on Threeworlds. - Well, send me there. -

Khefri teleported to my main body, and then she arrived soon after.

The space began to bend some more.

- More rocks incoming! -

Another gigantic cloud of rocks appeared out of the edges of reality.

- Well, shit, - Prabu cursed. - We can�t destroy rocks and fight Multipus! -

As the heroes and my domain holders concentrated on the demon king, most of the rocks drifted past the first line of defenses and flew toward Treehome. Flying toward Treehome did imply some intentional movement, but these rocks were - guided - to Treehome. They fell toward it, tugged there by its magical gravity.

Our bombardment weapons were concentrated on the multiple Multipus bodies.

- More Multipus bodies inbound! - Stella watched as more gigantic space urchins popped out of the newly arrived rocks. - Keep firing the bombardment weapons! Aim at the rocks, too! -

It was a hard decision whether to aim at the rocks or Multipus.

- Khefri, you should just target the rocks! - Roon suggested.

- No, I won�t. Not the best use of my skills! -

There were some additional space - based weapons platforms spread throughout our space, and they began firing weapons at the clouds of rocks. They were very effective on the smaller rocks. Most of them crumbled and turned into space dust within two to three shots.

The bigger ones were hardy. Still, the impact from the projectiles slowed them down, buying time for us to deliver more attacks on them.

Meanwhile, Khefri suited up in a full suit of hero�s armor and charged directly at Multipus�s body.

We were weakening some of these giant space - urchins. The spines throughout its body absorbed some of the attacks, preventing some of our spells from reaching the softer inner body. The wall of spines around the body functioned like modern active tank defenses; they launched spines that met with the incoming attacks.

So spells like fireballs and conventional explosive spells were diverted and triggered slightly outside the body. The spells still injured it, but not as much as a direct hit on the inner soft body.

- We need to impale this damn thing, - Lumoof said, but we could only do so if we charged right into that wall of spines.

It was hard enough trying to catch the giant urchins barreling across space. Thankfully, its trajectory was somewhat predictable thanks to the sparseness of space, and it clearly wasn�t that good at moving in space.

- I thought we�re supposed to fight damned rock golems! - Roon asked Stella. Roon and Johann�s magical arrows were extremely effective, and after a while, they took out two of the demon king�s bodies.

The heroes themselves also changed their attacks to enchanted javelins, coated in magical power. These were more effective at hitting the body through its thick wall of spines.

Still, Multipus used the spines on its body as anti - missile projectiles and launched them to meet their javelins. Despite this, we made progress. We were slowly taking out the demon king, but the rocks drifted past our initial defensive lines and headed toward Treehome.

On Treehome, my Valthorns immediately activated our early warning system as our defenses swung into action.

- This is a warning from the Central Authority. There are meteors expected to collide into our world in a few days. Please ensure that your underground bunkers are adequately stocked for one to two months of hiding. Please ensure that your bunkers are registered with the Central Authority so that our forces will be able to find you. -

Sky - gazing observatories were able to spot the little streaks of light that were headed to the surface of our world.

It was beautiful.

And a little scary.

We deployed our second layer of defenses as mages, armed with bombs and teleportation spells, teleported onto the surfaces of the larger rocks and began to plant bombs. We also had cannons and various weapons stationed on our moons and nearby asteroids that started to bombard the nearby meteors.

We whittled the meteors bit by bit.

The skies were filled with streaks of light and little bursts in the sky, some occasionally as bright as the sun. Our weapons, firing as fast as they could, bombarded the coming rocks. Our mages worked tirelessly to redirect them away.

The locals wondered what it was.

Was it the day when the skies were lit aflame?

The locals called it the days of Starspark. Some called it the Day of the Falling Stars. For some, safely protected by magical barriers and walls, it was beautiful. Romantic.

But it was not all beauty. There were the smaller fragments that were missed, and most of them burned up as they approached Treehome�s atmosphere and magisphere. In areas closer to the Central Continent, our ground - based defenses did their best to intercept the meteors before they crashed.

We�d started construction of these ground - based anti - meteor defenses the moment we succeeded in cracking the comet. They came in all shapes and forms. Some were large cannon arrays powered by ley lines. Some were beam weapons, similarly powered by ley lines. Some were shields, since some mages didn�t like the idea of hitting rocks midair.

The variety of defenses performed reasonably well.

Throughout Treehome, not all of these meteors were caught; there were slightly bigger ones smashing into the ground, leaving craters. Thankfully, the world was mostly ocean, so the bulk of the missing meteors fell into the seas and oceans. A few caused big waves and tsunamis, but they were well within our expectations.

Meanwhile, the heroes and my domain holders battled it out, slowly; we destroyed Multipus�s multiple bodies. Piercing weapons were more effective, since explosions and blunt weapons were diverted by its gigantic spines.

We used teleportation spells extensively, but Multipus itself generated a small sphere of magical disruption that messed with our teleportation.

We really could use Chung�s arrows at this moment, but he didn�t care. He was still too engrossed in his grief and frustrations to entertain us. In fact, I suspected he was fighting the hero class inside his head, because the hero class compelled him to fight the demon king.

This was his duty.

And he didn�t want to do it.

The two forces in his soul battled.

For us, we kept at it.

Multipus�s gimmicks were fairly limited in the vastness of space, and it looked like it had things it wanted to do but couldn�t.

Both sides fought in an uncomfortable environment, and it was quite amusing that the demon king struggled with it more than we did. Multipus might be optimized for battle on land.

As our attacks continued, the demon king seemed to have realized it was running out of options. The multiple giant demonic urchins began to escape and roll toward Treehome. Our weapons and defenses caught up.

- Stop it! - Roon and Johann said. We had harpoon - like projectiles from our earlier days, and we used them to great effect. We attempted to ensnare the multiple bodies of Multipus, to some success.

We caught some and, with a heavy bombardment, destroyed a few of them.

- Some rocks are slipping through! - a void mage almost shouted through our shared communications network.

The skies were lit in beams of light and magic. The heroes themselves went all - out as the two archmage - heroes fired spell after spell at Multipus and the rocks.

- It�s gaining speed! - Roon and Johann said as everyone chased after the urchins. Our weapons and spells tried our best to catch the urchins, and we managed to hit a few of the urchins with really strong attacks and destroyed them.

But of the ten to twenty smaller bodies, we only managed to destroy slightly over half of them. The remaining half were all injured to some extent, but they flew toward Treehome at high speed.

- Surface team, intercept, intercept! - Stella roared as her own set of void weapons launched toward the demon king.

- But there are rocks headed our way, - the mages manning the various defensive structures countered. - We can�t target both at the same time. -

There was no point hitting the demon king with weak attacks. It didn�t hurt the demon, and our energies were better used dealing with other threats such as the meteors.

- Focus on the rocks, - I said. - We�ll deal with Multipus once it lands. -

The starry skies were lit aflame as six gigantic streaks of light burned through the outer sphere. Our weapons and magical attacks chased after the remnant bodies of Multipus.

Each world had an atmosphere, and to some extent, a magisphere that protected the world. Stronger worlds had stronger protections from such incursions, though the demons had clearly mastered the art of circumventing these protections through their rift gates.

- Multipus incoming, - I declared as Freshka entered a rare emergency siren.

We found Multipus somehow charging toward Freshka directly, which I found amusing. It must have felt my presence and determined that I was the threat they needed to eliminate.

Out on the streets, there was panic as the sirens blared.

- What�s happening? - the folks asked.

- Demon king incoming. Expected to land somewhere around Freshka. Please seek shelter or teleport out immediately. -

Freshka quickly emptied out as I used my teleportation abilities to send people out of Freshka and toward the rest of the city. My domain holders and mages continued to attack Multipus body as it spun through space and pierced through Treehome�s atmosphere.

Around this point, I created a huge wall of shields around Freshka as the six injured bodies of Multipus crashed in the lands around us. Its impact on the land around us caused huge shockwaves that smashed into my wall of shields.

The bodies did not move for a moment, and that was the opportunity we needed. Lumoof teleported down and immediately charged into one of Multipus�s bodies.

His body glowed with the Fury of the Avatar as huge, magically empowered roots pierced one of the bodies. It died instantly.

Edna landed right next to the another Multipus�s bodies. She took the spines to her flesh unharmed and slashed right into its actual body.

My roots attacked the remaining four bodies, and though I injured them, it felt like they still lived. I immediately wrapped my vines and roots around the remaining four bodies, and I felt it struggle against my vines.

I attempted to drain Multipus of its power, my vines immediately sucking the familiar demonic energies of demon kings.

Hate.

All I felt was hate. We destroyed two of Multipus�s bodies, and the remaining four were not in good shape. Lumoof quickly teleported to the third body and once more, with his fury, crushed the third body with an empowered piercing root - spear.

The three remaining bodies melted through my cocoon of roots and immediately tried to merge. I battered the remaining bodies with my roots and weakened it some more.

The melted bodies reformed and then reshaped into something resembling a golem.

Only to die.

The heroes and the rest of my domain holders arrived, and they came with the heaviest barrage of magic and weapons.

It died before it turned into its golem form.

Demon King Multipus has been slain.

You�ve gained 6 levels. You are now Level 265.

Your abilities and skills have been strengthened, range decay for abilities and skills reduced.

YEAR 270 (PART 2)

Multipus was defeated after what felt like a prolonged campaign. Even if the final battle on Treehome was anticlimactic, I was relieved that it was finally, finally over.

There were still some remnant rocks to destroy, and the skies would continue to be filled with momentarily sparks of light from our magical attacks. Some would streak across the skies and burn in the atmosphere of Treehome, creating beautiful meteors.

Now we could redirect our attention to the other issues.

Chung.

I watched him from afar and through my vines and trees. His situation eroded.

What seemed like insanity began to set in. Madness. Prabu and Colette seemed upset; they didn�t want to be the one to kill him. Prabu and Colette did visit and did try to talk to him. But it went nowhere.

Madness creeped his mind as he seemed to hallucinate that everything around him had somehow transformed into demons.

- Demons! - he screamed, blasting trees the moment he saw them. Grass and trees seemed to be demons. Even people seemed to be demons. I summoned the rest of the sane heroes and updated them on the situation.

I didn�t know why.

I didn�t hurt him.

I�d treated him fairly, as far as I could.

Even from this distance, my Soul Forge could feel an intense disquiet in his heart. The energies of a soul that struggled against the demands of his class. A god�s curse. I wondered whether Gawa could remove his class.

- Try not to kill him, - Prabu said.

- I would if you�d help me, - I said. - This madness is caused by the hero class. -

- I�m not mad, - Prabu countered. Adrian and Khefri listened quietly.

- Not all heroes take the effects and chains of the hero class equally. Madness is the outcome for some, - I countered.

- You don�t know that. -

- I�ve seen enough to conclude madness is likely the outcome of the hero class and his personality. -

At this point, the only plausible solution, at least the only non - lethal one, was to do something like what I did to Colette: remove the hero class from Chung.

He would become mortal.

Or I�d kill him in the process.

Or kill him, if he used his powers to hurt more than it was worth.

- If you�d help me knock him out, I will try to remove the hero class from his soul. - I offered the heroes a way out. I knew they didn�t want to kill their fellow hero.

- Bloody hell, - Prabu cursed. - I don�t even know how effective our powers are. -

- The alternative is death, - I countered. My domain holders would assist. It was a valuable chance to deal with a hero that was not at full strength. Chung was mad. His magical powers and abilities were still insanely destructive, but with his mental state a wreck, he was likely unable to strategize and fight us properly.

- Must it be now? -

- If not now, then when? Chung�s mental state is deteriorating, and he seems to be suffering from some kind of imbalance in his soul. I don�t know the effects of long - term internal struggles and whether it can be fixed, if it�s too late. -

I was being a little manipulative, but it was true. A soul, as I understood it, could get damaged. It happened with the first generation of heroes I encountered, Alexis and Meela. Their souls suffered damage. I�d seen soul damage in many ways or forms, and I expected Chung�s situation to be similar.

- There is a rot in Chung�s soul, quite similar to Colette�s feeling. While Colette understood it, Chung denies it. -

Partly because he didn�t want anything to do with me anymore. Partly because he felt, and still felt, I was responsible for Ken�s death. In his eyes, I was a murderer. I killed his friend.

Prabu and Colette looked at each other. Somehow, the burden of this decision was with them. They were the same generation, the same batch. If they decided to help, then it was possible.

- If I have to step in, I cannot guarantee he will live. He is a hero, while we are not. We will have to go all - out to take him out, - I answered.

To be fair, I was excited at the thought of finally taking on a hero. I�d known, since the Sun Rings , that I could take damage really well. Now I wanted to see how I stood against a hero like Chung, with his destructive piercing arrows.

Was level two hundred fifty enough?

I thought it was. At least, Patreeck put the chance of me winning to be fairly high, though the level of destruction we would cause was catastrophic.

Prabu and Colette looked at each other. - Khefri, Adrian, what do you two think? -

Khefri shrugged. - He needs some sense beaten into him, but as much as I hate to say it, I think he�s higher level than me. -

Adrian nodded as well. - I�ll help, but. yeah. We can�t let him destroy and kill like this. I think he might get excommunicated, like. -

It didn�t need to be said.

It was kind of sad. I�d watched Chung over the years, and he had always been suspicious of me. But I did think we had some level of professional respect for each other�s abilities. He knew I could do certain things, and I respected his power.

But in a long enough time frame, even friends could be enemies.

Then I wondered whether this was how paranoia starts.

Day by day, Chung�s descent into madness worsened. He blasted more places, destroyed more mountains. He began seeing demons where there were none, and it felt like some kind of suppressed rage.

- You can�t postpone this decision forever. - I spoke to both Colette and Prabu. Colette accepted the decision was necessary. Prabu struggled a little harder, but ultimately, the hero class did not oppose such matters. There were no restrictions on heroes fighting each other. They fought each other in the past. We had records that heroes went to war with other over petty things.

Colette agreed. - Let�s do it. -

The plan was the heroes engaged first. They would take the lead, since it was their friend. Lumoof and myself would only emerge in the final minutes to use our disabling abilities on Chung. Edna and the rest would only step in if any of the heroes were in trouble.

But otherwise, as Colette put it, - Chung is our friend, and well, let us do it. -

Honestly, I thought the chance of my domain holders dying was quite high, especially for my softer members like Roon, Johann, Stella, Ezar, and Kafa. We exempted Stella from the battle, since she wasn�t really a combatant, and we highly needed her, even if we had other void mages.

- Think he�ll kill us? - Adrian asked.

- He might be mad enough to do it, - Colette said after a long pause.

Chung�s senses were incredible, and it was for this reason we had not attempted to set up traps nearby. We�d seen him attack things for tens of miles away, as if augmented by the hero class.

I remembered the very first generation of heroes I�d met, using super - long - range attacks against the demon king. Chung being able to do as much was entirely a surprise but meant our ability to trap him was fairly limited.

As a hero, he was also blessed with all sorts of protections that most of our restraining powers would likely fail.

Except mine.

If there was any way we could restrain him, it�d have to be Lumoof and me. Together, I thought I could do it.

There was no need to alert Chung immediately, because with our teleportation abilities, the rest of the fighting force could arrive immediately. The domain holders presence would alert him, and that was not something we wanted to do. Not yet.

Prabu, Colette, Khefri, and Adrian approached him first.

Colette spoke softly, but with the hero�s senses, it was clear he heard it. - Chung. -

- What? - Chung stood on the remnants of a mountain blasted and riddled with holes.

- Are you all right? -

- All right? - Chung laughed. - All right?! Is that what you came to ask, Colette? -

Colette nodded. - Yes. We wanted to see why you�re doing this. -

- Why? - Chung answered and then laughed some more. The laughter turned manic, and for us listening from afar, this was unsettling. After that long, manic laughter, he stopped abruptly and then stared at Colette. - Do you really want to know? -

Colette didn�t flinch. - Yes. -

- Why are you working with the murderers? We were friends, Colette. We were teammates. We came from the same world! And you chose to side with the murderer! -

Colette�s eyes furrowed. - I was there. There was no murder. Ken died, as he always wished to. -

- Murderer! - Chung slammed the rock next to him with heroic force, the impact leaving a huge explosion in the ground. - So much for being on the same team, Colette. All of you�ve decided to work with the evil creature that�s clearly using us to achieve its own goals. -

Colette stared at the archer hero and asked, - So what should we do? -

- Destroy the tree, of course. An eye for an eye, a life for a life. - Chung laughed. - Were you waiting for me to say that? -

Colette frowned as Prabu held her arm. - Chung, doing that solves nothing! -

- It does. It solves the knot in my heart. The fury in my soul. I want to destroy this tree and everything it created, - Chung answered. - This theocratic empire is evil, Colette. It is a heartless existence that�s only goal is to win. We are just chess pieces in its game! -

- Then why not? - Colette asked.

- Would you join me? - Chung laughed. - If you do, we can get started right now. -

Colette sighed. - No. -

Chung frowned, but there was insanity in his eyes. - It�s your baby, isn�t it? He has your baby under control, so you�re compromised. He bought you when he gave you that baby. -

Colette�s patience instantly vanished. - Chung, not a single word more on my child. There are some things? -

- How do you know your baby is real and not a puppet created by the evil creature? - Chung pressed her buttons. I had the feeling he knew that was not true, but he was saying it in a moment of madness.

- Of course I know she�s real! - Colette countered as magic swirled in her hands. The rest of the heroes took the hint. - I hoped it didn�t have to come to this. -

Chung�s manic laughter was his response. He stood from the rock, and then the skies were filled with arrows. Prabu and Colette retaliated with shields that deftly blocked the magical arrows.

- We�ve sparred a lot, - Chung countered. - But I bet you�ve never seen this! -

Chung manifested a magical arrow unlike any other and fired it across the barren landscape. It resembled an arrow that was tied up with chains, and it was wrapped in anti - magical energies.

It easily pierced through the two mages shields, but it was blocked by a heavy barrier from Khefri and then exploded. When the dust settled, there was a deep mark on Khefri�s carapace. But the archer was already shooting more arrows.

Colette retaliated with an area magical spell that turned the entire area into a raging inferno.

Against the demon king and its incredibly high armor and health, the heroes generally stuck to high - damage, focused spells. These raging infernos were not individually powerful, but they covered wide areas and were likely more effective against Chung.

- Do you plan to kill me? - Chung laughed as he deftly dodged magical projectiles from the heroes.

Khefri and Adrian both charged ahead, trying to get him into melee. They were stronger there, but because Chung was the higher - leveled hero, the two melee heroes stuck together. Khefri immediately countered. - No. I hope I don�t have to. -

A magical scorpionoid tail appeared from her back and attempted to stab the archer. But the archer was already gone.

Chung frowned. - Why do you believe in that murderous tree? -

Khefri and Adrian landed. - Because it is the best choice. -

- Even if it�s evil? Even if it kills other heroes? Even if it makes us fight against each other?! - Chung countered. - Look what it has done! It rules over the worlds like an iron - fisted dictator! -

He somehow dodged a wave of magically enchanted icicles, shot an arrow that created a small shield, and blocked some of the spells headed his way.

The two melee heroes charged in, trying to make use of the space created by the mages. - Yes. It is still the best choice. Because the alternative is demons. -

Chung countered, - Wrong! That�s what the tree wants you to believe! The alternative could be us! Us heroes as rulers! -

Khefri frowned but wasn�t affected by the archer�s words. She was encased in a golden carapace and attempted to step close. Chung created mirror images of himself, phantom clones that vanished. - You told me long ago you didn�t like ruling. -

- I don�t, - Chung replied. - But some of us can do a better job! -

Khefri�s claws barely grazed Chung�s skin before he somehow vanished. - No. We can�t. We�ve seen it in the journals. -

Chung countered, - That�s also the Tree�s doing! How can you believe it? -

At that moment, thousands of magical spikes emerged around Chung and trapped him. Chung panicked and attempted to smash into the magical spikes. It hurt him. Khefri watched as more spikes emerged. There were spells from both Prabu and Colette. The two were the only heroes who were closer in levels.

- Free me! You�re under his influence! -

Colette frowned. - Maybe. But what you�re doing is not right, either. -

Prabu added, - Chung, we didn�t want to do this. But we can�t let you go mad. -

Lumoof then appeared, and in my avatar form, we entered the trap.

Chung struggled in madness as Lumoof�s magical vines quickly grabbed hold of the archer hero. - Let go! -

Lumoof didn�t reply but continued to focus on disabling him. My energies began to flood his body, and we began to forcefully drain his mana. His soul attempted to fight mine, but this was a sensation familiar to me.

I remembered Alvin struggling in the same manner. Chung was quickly immobilized and paralyzed as my own energies took hold of the hero�s body.

He struggled. - Let go! -

But eventually, my spiritual energies overwhelmed him, and he was knocked out. I teleported Chung into the depths of the valley, and we would begin the accursed process of stripping a hero of his class.

Chung�s soul spring was encased in the same type of shining marble stone. But, on closer inspection, the shape of the rocks had turned into large, thorny structures that surrounded the sparkling, star - filled waters.

- Get out. - I felt Chung�s thoughts here. - GET OUT. -

It was the soul�s resistance, trying to force me out. It was like a wave, pushing back at my presence.

But this wouldn�t kick me out. Not now. My presence was like a tree, and my energies, like roots, grabbed the soul spring and pierced the soil of his spirit.

I would rip the hero class out of his soul, and I would do so in the way a tree would.

My roots pierced the gaps of the marble stones and forced my way in.

- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! - Chung roared.

- Stripping you of your powers, - I answered plainly as my spiritual roots drew power from the worlds.

- NO! -

The rocks cracked as I pushed. It was harder, because Chung wasn�t cooperating. But I was now level two hundred fifty, and the hero class wasn�t going to stop me.

- EVIL! YOU WORK FOR THE DEMONS! -

- I don�t. -

- YOU WILL BE THE NEXT DEMON, - Chung accused.

My roots pierced the foundations of his soul spring, and slowly, I lifted. The rocks felt heavy. They always were. I felt his soul spring try its best to hold on to the rocks. But I pushed. My roots grew, and his soul spring buckled like a road with roots growing underneath it.

- Maybe, - I answered as I kept working. - But I posit life is better than death. So better alive than dead. -

- I RATHER DIE WITH PRIDE AND DIGNITY THAN TO SERVE. -

I didn�t bother answering that. His soul buckled.

The entire valley trembled with the turbulent powers of a hero�s energies. The four heroes were nearby, near my main tree, and they could feel it.

- Everything all right? - Colette asked Lumoof.

Lumoof shrugged. - It�s going well. The hero class is loose. -

Khefri had a mischievous grin. - Zhaanpu�s going to have a good time once he knows you can do this. -

Lumoof looked at Khefri and shrugged. - He�s been having a good time for a while now. We still owe him an apology. A/ promised he�d get an audience with a god. -

Khefri then looked at Lumoof. - Wait. I wasn�t briefed on that. -

- Ah. Yes. Priorities. - Lumoof laughed. - We did intend to inform him about Gawa and the things that were discussed, but things happened. -

Khefri squinted. - Fill me in. -

- Later, later. A/ �s getting there. -

The valley swirled with turbulent magic. Lightning and bursts of magic seemed to manifest out of nowhere, and briefly, everyone felt divine magic.

- Huh, - Lumoof said. - That was unexpected. -

They received a notification that their domain had blocked attempted scrying. For the heroes, they were all instantly hit with a headache, except Colette, who felt as if something attempted to touch her.

Lumoof looked at the heroes and immediately encased them in a barrier of roots and vines. - Something�s trying to look through your souls. -

Adrian, Khefri, and Prabu struggled for a little before the sensation vanished. - What�s that? -

Lumoof frowned. - A god�s trying to spy on us. -

Chung�s spirit was in turmoil as my roots and vines separated the marble rocks that made up the hero class from the soul spring.

The hero was in intense pain. The act of ripping out one�s class was like removing a central pillar of his identity. I spent quite a bit of my energies trying to hold him, as the rest of my energies pushed the hero class out of the way, further and further.

My spiritual vines grabbed the stones of his hero class, and bit by bit, I pulled it away from his soul spring.

A full day later, the hero class was finally out of the reach of his soul spring, and then.

You�ve removed the Archer Hero class.

You�ve gained the Archer Hero Class Seed.

Warning: This Class Seed is highly unstable and may cause death during attempted merger.

Chung was alive, but suddenly, the young man strapped into the soul forge began to age rapidly.

- Uh. Shit. -

YEAR 270 (PART 3)

- Icannot de - age him, - I said.

No. If I said I could, and I did it against his will, I would just prove Chung�s point that I could have saved Ken but chose not to. If I didn�t do it for Ken, there was certainly no reason to do it for Chung. I had to keep the story straight.

- But doesn�t this mean we just killed him? - Prabu and Colette both looked horrified.

Chung�s soul just had his class ripped out of him, and even as I tried my best to soften the edges, it was still a traumatic incident and would cause aging.

Khefri frowned. - How many years does he have left? -

- Five? - I guessed, based on the rate of aging. - His body was under a lot of stress, and he didn�t trade his hero class for the other classes. -

- Wait. Does that mean he could keep his immortality if he traded his hero classes for other classes? -

- To some extent. -

There was a limit, just like how there was a limit with the experience seeds. As far as I could tell, only domain holders were immortal, as the rest of them still aged, albeit slowly. In that sense, this was a unique advantage afforded to us non - humanoids.

Even a lich or a mummified corpse, like Zhaanpu, experienced decay over the years and had to go through a process of rejuvenation. The heroes didn�t like this development, of course. Why would they? They thought they just merely stopped him. They didn�t think they just gave him a death sentence.

Over the days and months, as Chung regained his consciousness, he laughed maniacally. - Well done! Well done, all of you! -

Prabu was the only one there when Chung laughed. - Chung. You were being destructive. -

- I know. - Chung laughed. - And you did it. Well done, Prabu, well done. You�ve worked with evil and decided to kill me. -

- I - I didn�t know it was going to go this way. -

- And you trust that crazy tree anyway, don�t you? You knew, and yet you trusted him. -

I was tempted to just kill him anyway, but I didn�t care. Chung now posed no harm, and I thought it was useful to have him around as a test for the heroes nature.

Prabu shook his head. - We didn�t expect it, either. -

- You think the damned tree didn�t know this was going to happen? -

- It never removed a hero class ever, - Prabu countered. - And you were a danger to everyone. It was the only way. -

- Was it? -

- You were not listening to us. -

- Why should I? -

Prabu frowned. - You�re being difficult. -

Chung frowned as well. - Is that what you call standing up for myself and what�s right? -

- No. You�re being destructive, and you wrecked the place in the Southern Continent. I don�t call that standing up for yourself. -

- I did that, didn�t I? - Chung said, as if feigning forgetfulness. - Why not just kill me? That�s what the tree would want. -

- It�s not what we want, - Prabu replied. - For the greater good, this is the best way forward. -

- For the greater good, - the former, now powerless, hero said. - That�s how we justify it all. -

- Yes. It is, - Prabu snapped. - And it is the greater good if you�re not destroying shit. -

- Fuck you. -

Prabu stared at the shell of a man. - I thought I would be sad to see you die. As it turns out, it�s just me holding on to someone who I thought was my friend. Someone who was with us for the fight against the demons. -

- Not for? -

- No. You were always looking for excuses. I had it. We�ve been in this world way longer than Earth, or wherever they call it. These worlds are our homes now, and I�ll be damned if I don�t protect it. -

- All because you have a daughter. -

- Fuck you, Chung, - Prabu said. - So what if it is because I have a daughter? I want to protect the world she lives in. At least I have something worth fighting for, unlike you just wrecking shit up because you think you�re better. -

- I did. Ken was? -

- Ken was always our friend, - Prabu said. - Even when he vanished and hid away, ditching his responsibilities as a hero. You, on the other hand, used him as a fucking crutch. You blame all your mistakes on Ken�s death, and it fucking tires me. -

- I liked you better when all you did was eat snacks. - Chung somehow aged in that moment, while he looked at the hero that usually seemed quiet. Prabu was not a person of many emotions.

But he snapped today, and Chung wasn�t sure why.

Maybe the gods tried to ensure the heroes stuck together, so with each other, they were forgiving of each other�s faults. Now that Chung didn�t have the hero class, had those effects vanished?

I wasn�t sure.

- Guess I ate something too spicy and I just had to vent it. Enjoy your final days, Chung. I hoped we could be friends like we used to, but I realize all I�m talking to is a shadow of the person I once knew. A rotten shadow. -

- Go to hell, Prabu. Go fight for the evil tree, and I hope you realize the mistakes you made in your final days. -

Prabu walked to the door of the fortified biolab. - I�ve seen the spirits of the heroes that died before us, and I know we are on the right path. It�s a shame you refuse to see the cruel reality. We will go to the demon�s hell, and we will destroy them. -

- Fuck you. -

- Oh, did I tell you A/ spoke to a god? - Prabu smirked.

Chung stared, his eyes a mix of confusion and betrayal. - What? -

- The Order finally found a god - protected world. -

- Wait - don�t go! -

Prabu shook his head. - I�ll come back if I feel like it. Bye. -

Chung yelled while his body was strapped to all the vines and roots that tracked his every bodily reading.

Lumoof, Roon, and Edna were back on Satrya, where the demon king would arrive, this time escorted with an actual Valthorn contingent of our own, mainly to set up the plan. Our void mages quickly triangulated the location, and since we were expecting a demon king similar to Sabnoc, our approach was the same.

Nuke the shit out of it once it spawned.

Once the plan was ready, we had to brief the locals.

The meeting location was the city of Olpash, the home of the priestess. The full Gawa �s Circle was present for Lumoof�s presentation of our plan.

The usual way. Bombs and explosions, followed by direct engagement should the demon king survive. Our plan also involved the deployment of one of my node trees in order to transport the heroes from our world to Satrya, and all the bombs we needed for this purpose.

The priests didn�t see the necessity for such - crude - methods. In fact, they were horrified.

On worlds such as Satrya, the demons were not the endlessly consuming plague. Here, they had to obey the intensely powerful rules woven into the fabric of this world�s reality. So, in the core worlds of the gods, the demons were not an existential threat.

They couldn�t be, because the gods who watched over them would intervene. It didn�t cost them much to intervene.

But since Gawa himself declared that we would deal with it, who was the Gawa �s Circle to oppose our plan?

None of them wanted to speak up against Lumoof, because he was my avatar. Our presence distorted reality and warped the environment around us. Just like when I ascended to be a domain holder, my presence rippled throughout the world of Treehome so that even Lilies could sense it, Lumoof�s presence on Satrya had a similar effect.

Our threads mixed into the divine presence of this world, and it made the priests uncomfortable.

They had never felt their lord�s authority challenged this way. The presence of another god in a world that never had the presence of another was unnerving, and it shattered a long - held belief in the primacy of their god�s place in the multiverse.

Their god was only one of many.

Eventually, Gawa �s Circle themselves appointed two to attend to our needs: the head priestess of Olpash and the head priest of Museo. They would act as facilitators and ease our conduct with the rest of Satrya.

Roon had an eyeroll, like the fates were playing some kind of divine prank on him. Maybe she volunteered herself for the role.

- It is time we are formally introduced, then. My given name is Olivia of Olpash, - the head priestess said.

- And I am Michael of Museo. -

We would later find out that they were named that way because once they ascended as Gawa �s Circle, they were supposed to consider the entire city that was their - home - state - as their home, and as such they were given the city�s name as their normal family names.

The land where the demon king would arrive was located deep in the uninhabited territories, and it seemed that the magics of Gawa had somehow twisted their magical rifts such that they could only land in a few specified locations throughout Satrya.

These areas became known as the demon lands to the Satryan populace.

Uninhabited and perfect for a node tree. Or a clone.

Our forces easily pierced the depths of the demon lands. Demon champions were frankly nothing at this point; Edna and Lumoof could handle multiple simultaneously.

I thought about what the right level of force to apply was and briefly weighed the risk. From what I could see so far, Gawa offered to help, but we would have to help free up resources.

With a node tree, I didn�t show my true strength. But why? Why hold back?

Should I be fearful of Gawa �s retaliation by placing one of my clone body on its outer core worlds or betrayal?

I briefly considered the experiences so far. I would have the clone I lost in Year 261 back in my reserves soon, and Alka would be back in business in about two to three years.

Lumoof understood my concerns and then asked Olivia and Michael, - How trustworthy is your god? -

I saw the silliness of the question. How could their own priests know their god�s character? But even so, their answers helped.

- If Gawa is not worthy of trust, no one is, - Michael of Museo answered in confidence.

Gawa �s decisions in its peripheral worlds did not inspire that sort of confidence. Yet I supposed to those who lived in privilege, what would they know?

Olivia�s response was similar. - There is no one we trust more than Gawa . -

Lumoof nodded. - Are Gawa �s promises reliable? -

Olivia and Michael�s facial expressions were ones of genuine disbelief. - Of course! - they countered, as if appalled that their god�s character should ever be questioned.

But the dealings between gods were all a matter of trust, were they not?

The System could ensure contracts and agreements were followed, but it would take a pact, a pact with the same level of power like the World Faith System . In short, it would be a constitution formed from the combined votes of the multiverse.

But right now, my dealings with Gawa would entirely be based on trust.

The belief system, in its design, should be one of trust. One where the gods acted in accordance to their myth, and Gawa was never seen as a deceitful god. After all, actions contrary to the god�s character would cause the gods to lose believers. It was an incentive to encourage consistent behavior.

- Very well. - Lumoof made the two priests of Gawa speak of their god�s character, to describe his greatness.

They preached. They were trained to do so from a young age. Gawa , in their eyes, was the god of laws, honorable battle, and honor. Of battlefield excellence and the purity of skill.

To the Satryans, Gawa was the only god in their eyes; naturally, their own creation myths explained how the primordial egg created Gawa , and the remnants of the primordial egg formed the rejected parts of the world.

The demons.

It was totally untrue.

Gawa �s faith on Satrya didn�t speak of the others at all, unlike how Gawa �s faith on Treehome was a blended creation myth.

Perhaps the gods created a few versions of their own creation myths. A set for the peripheral worlds that included the other gods, and a set for their core worlds where they would not encounter the other gods.

In that sense, the existence of the other gods meant Gawa lied to the common populace. I could see the reason for it - after all, Gawa wanted believers, and for its core worlds, it was best not to give its believers options. Here, he was supreme, and the only alternative wasn�t one.

Only the inner circle, Gawa �s Circle, knew of the other worlds. But even they didn�t know the full picture.

There was no reason to know.

Despite this obvious lie, I didn�t think it invalidated Gawa �s trustworthiness. The variation in creation myths didn�t seem malicious.

I also had value that I brought to the table. I could offer the Gawa a way to gain more faith points by transporting his priests and believers to places that would cost too much faith points for him to reach.

I could defend worlds where it cost too much for him to act.

So I decided it was worth it to give this relationship between two powers a shot. If they wanted to see us in action, well, I�d do so with a clone.

I had three to spare and one more on the way, anyway.

YEAR 271

Satrya

My clone was placed close to the demon king�s predicted arrival slot. The actual location of arrival would be rigged with enough ordinances to nuke the place to ashes, so my clone was located a little further away.

The rifts swirled.

Stella sighed from the safety of my clone. - I can�t help but feel that we�ve just signed up to fight someone else�s war. -

- It is true. But some concessions have to be made for trust. - In an agreement between powers, what else could there be but trust?

- We still have the void layers to explore. - Stella frowned. I felt her eagerness to see the void layers for herself. There was something that we wanted to see there, and yet here we were, torn by all these other obligations.

We were stretched. And we would be stretched even more.

The scale of the Valtorn Order needed to match our ambitions.

I needed to expand on a larger scale, and to some extent, these peripheral worlds seemed like the perfect place for it. They were exposed to enough demonic attacks that their people should have a reason to take up arms against the demons.

- I know, - I consoled the void mage, but she was here anyway. She monitored the subtle shifts in the void paths of the demon king, making sure we got the right spot.

She merely grunted at my response and after a while asked, - You plan to send someone over to the other side? -

The rift gates hummed in the distance. The Valthorns present placed our bombs as the two officials of Gawa , Olivia of Olpash and Michael of Museo, watched as bombs were carried out of my clone tree by the beetle - trucks. They watched with what seemed to be a mix of horror and amazement.

We�d gotten better at the logistics of remote mining demon king�s spawn points, and my plan involved designing standard deployment packages, each with enough to deal sufficient damage two times over, and deliver them to each of our attacked territories.

We needed to transform each fight with the demon king into a routine process that we could repeat everywhere. We would be a well - oiled war machine.

- If only to get the coordinates, - I answered.

Stella nodded. - A world that creates a demon king like Sabnoc would be of much interest. What sort of natural terrain they possess or features that caused the creation of such demon kings. -

- You sound personally invested. Do you want to go? - I wondered.

- I am. I volunteer to go. -

- Take Edna and Roon with you. -

- Got it, - Stella said. - I�ll give you a better reading on its location. -

The Valthorns were in full swing as they set up the bombs. Lumoof watched, and the team was familiar with our usual layout that they worked with hardly any intervention from the senior team. There were set formations that determined how the bombs were arranged throughout the arrival area.

- Impressive work, - Michael said to Lumoof. Lumoof merely chuckled.

- It�s not enough, though, - Lumoof said. - We�d probably have to step in for the finishing touches. -

- Is it? I would�ve thought this amount of magical weapons would be sufficient to cause an explosion, - Michael countered.

The priest grinned at the priest of the other faith. - You underestimate how hardy the planet is. -

- Really? -

- Yes. - Lumoof nodded.

- We have miners that use explosives for their underground mines, - Michael clarified. - I had the impression such explosive weapons would be enough. -

- The demon king isn�t a creature that dies easily. -

Michael paused. - I noticed it�s mostly ordinary explosives, but since the opponent is the demon king, why not use holy explosives? -

Lumoof stared at Michael and realized that Gawa may have access to divine - tier bombs, created with Gawa �s magical energies.

- The demon king isn�t vulnerable to holy weapons. Most anti - demonic spells and abilities do not apply to the demon king. -

- Really? - Michael paused. - Our divine champions would always claim it is the Gawa Armaments that made them so powerful and use it to defeat the demon king. -

Lumoof nodded. - Weapons made by your god must be truly powerful. I�d like to see them, if we have the chance. -

Michael nodded. - Sure. -

Olivia, meanwhile, looked around. - Lord Lumoof, have you seen my husband around? -

Lumoof paused, a little annoyed that she referred to Roon so casually. - No. -

Demon Conquered World � Orion

The rift gate wobbled. Stella�s bubble of void magic touched the rift gates and easily resonated with the frequency.

So the trio was now on the other side. They immediately realized this was an unusual world among unusual worlds.

- There�s some kind of magical hexagonal grid in the sky and the lands. - Stella looked around in both amazement and horror as she felt the same forces of divine law trying to apply on them. Luckily, it bounced off their domains.

Roon breathed a sigh of relief. - I don�t remember ever being so relieved. -

Stella nodded. - What sort of god created this world? -

A world that had fallen to the demons. The world that created Sabnoc came from a world twisted by divine energies!

- Let�s move, - Roon said as he looked around the environment. It was incredibly eerie to observe the demonic warriors stop after moving across a certain number of hex grids and stop. The magical grid, imposed by divine law, caused creatures that caused those grid barriers to feel exhausted.

The void domain holder watched and immediately made the connection. This entire world was designed as if it was a board game played on a hexagonal grid, and the rules were imposed on regular creatures by way of divine law.

- I can see why it fell, - Edna said. - Those board games have to follow rules, but the demons and their imported army will feel limitless, even if the demons have to obey the rules. -

The grids tried to impose their will on them repeatedly, but as domain holders, they were spared. The terrain itself was also shaped by this magical grid. Temperature, terrain, features, vegetation all changed just by crossing the grid.

Edna joked, - You know, of all the worlds to be summoned to, at least you were not summoned to this world. -

- Heroes should have some really lopsided powers, no? - Roon countered. - Something to offset the disadvantages of this system. -

- It may not matter if the way you fight has to follow the stupid rules of combat like Satrya, - Edna said.

Stella nodded. In a world like this, where the divine law imposed grid - dictated movement, stamina and attack time limits, a million demonic hounds could deliver death by a million tiny scratches.

But the divine law was woven into the creation of this world, and its core accordingly.

Roon led the ground, moving through the grids as if they didn�t exist. The terrain was beautiful in a strange way. With the aid of magic, they flew across the hexagonal terrain and soon found a large hexagonal hole in the ground that led to the core.

- Well, that�s the core. -

The divine law in this world also served other functions. As they approached, it spawned a screen that all could see. It was likely to be a feature unique to this world, perhaps as an experimental world by one of the earliest gods?

The Tunnel to demon-Corrupted Core of Orion

Long ago, Orion fell to the demons, and ever since then, it has birthed demon kings to fuel the demon�s ceaseless invasion to the other worlds.

Countdown to Demon King completion: 14 days

- You know, life would be much nicer if we had tooltips like that all the time, - Roon countered.

Stella looked at the sun, which initially seemed normal. But, as it turned out, the divine law also created an interface on the sun and the sky itself and had a clock overlaid on the sun itself.

- We don�t need clocks in this world, - Stella said in amazement.

- That�s both incredibly useful and annoying. - Roon frowned. - I�m going to be scolded for waking up late if this was a thing. -

- Hah! - Stella smirked. - Who dares scold the archer - god? -

- You? - Roon laughed. - Anyway, let�s find the rift gates. We need to rob a few, right? -

Stella nodded.

They found four rift gates and sent them back to Treehome and then decided it was time to head back for the battle.

Back on Satrya

The way the demonic world�s path glowed was the same as my men prepared. The bombs were ready. The two priests of Museo and Olpash were unnerved; they were so near to the demon king!

- We - we have never been asked to be so close, - the priest of Museo said, but in the safety of my newly placed clone, there really was nothing to be afraid of. My clone�s presence on Satrya had been unusual, I felt like I was exerting power over a land that resisted me, and my influence on the land bounced off like water on an oily plate.

I suspected this was how Gawa controlled the world of Satrya.

Edna was nearest to the battlefield. She would be the first to stand against the demon king from the hexagonal origin world, her magical quest - swords floating around her like her guardians.

Stella smiled. - After this, can we explore the void worlds? -

- Yes. -

Both would have to happen at the same time.

The path twisted with the foul energies of a demon king leaving their original world, and then Demon King Uklar arrived. It was a six - headed Hydra, each with a different face, but its power level was comparable to the variant we faced on Mountainworld.

- Bombs. -

The bombs detonated, and reality itself warped around the intense magical explosion. Edna, Lumoof, and my domain holders charged in. I�d call on the heroes if we needed to. But for now, with our focus on growing our own strength, I decided to prioritize this battle for my domain holders.

The bombs left Demon King Uklar with four of its heads burned, and it was beginning to regenerate. It was a common gimmick amongst demon kings to have regenerating parts. Lumoof entered avatar mode, and my root spears pierced its gigantic armored body, and more lesser demons appeared. I suddenly realized.

This was easy.

My spiritual energies messed with the regeneration.

Unlike heroes who had to keep figuring out how to destroy the demon king�s heads repeatedly. I could tamper with regeneration by messing on the mechanism at a spiritual level. The ability to block spiritual access also prevented healing. A body healed based on a biological code provided by the spirit. Magic had a reference point.

I�d done this before.

Easy.

Edna�s magical blades chopped off one of the heads. Roon and Johann�s arrows blew off the other.

Then the demon king attempted to transform.

But it was interrupted.

My roots, through Lumoof, pierced its body. We�d faced Multipus, and Multipus was way tougher. My roots crawled and snuck through its inner parts and wrapped around its demonic core.

And then Lumoof ripped it out of the body. Its fluids shot out of its body, and magical energy and demonic mana leaked, as the muscular roots ripped the heart of Demon King Uklar out of the body. I felt it attempted to reshape, transform.

It wouldn�t.

I did not allow it to.

My energies penetrated the demonic king�s core, and the demon king found its shapeshifting abilities disabled.

My roots drained it of mana.

Its large, massive mana pool attempted to coalesce, as if to trigger a detonation of some kind. As it always did.

But no.

This time it failed.

I drained its mana quickly as Lumoof winced in pain.

It felt like minutes. It probably was. But the demon king�s core struggled like a machine going through its last moments. It was like a spinning machine; it whined and whirled in its last moments.

But, fueled by the Fury of the Avatar , Lumoof could take it.

The demon king�s body, now separated from its core, froze as if petrified. Without the - heart - of the demon king, it was no more than a puppet with its strings cut. As more demonic mana was drained out of the demon king�s core, the body itself began to collapse. It soon melted into goo.

Lumoof stood close at the center of the goo, two gigantic muscular masses of roots and vines emerging from his body holding the demonic king�s core. Drained of its mana, it was like a machine that ran out of juice and shut down.

- We�ll take this, - Lumoof declared as the demon king�s core vanished, sent back to Treehome for further investigation.

This was getting easier.

The locals got a notification. We didn�t. The Will of Satrya�s refusal to acknowledge my presence in this world meant none of us did.

But the two priests of Museo and Olpash received the notification, and they were stunned beyond words.

Edna landed next to Lumoof. - Good job, Lumoof. -

You�ve gained a level. You are now level 266.

- Only one level, - I said.

But it didn�t matter. Both Lumoof and Edna benefited from this battle, because both of them experienced a large surge in power.

Power we would need for the next phase of our interplanar war.

The two domain holders were now level two hundred.

- Well, what did you get? - Edna looked at Lumoof and asked him first.

- I thought you should say it. I thought your choice would be more interesting. -

Edna smiled. - I suppose so. But I�m more curious about your choice, Lumoof. -

- As weird as it sounds, I only have two choices instead of three like A/ . - My avatar grinned. Lumoof then explained his choices.

Lumoof�s first option was The High Altar of Faith .

The High Altar of Faith granted the Avatar of A/ the ability to select non - domain faithful believers and admit them into the Altar. Up to twenty people will be allowed to join the High Altar. A/ may activate Avatar mode through the Members of the High Altar, though the expressed power is limited to three times their level. Only two full Avatar Mode can be active among the High Altar Members at any one point, though all High Altar members can activate a lesser version of the Avatar form. Members of the High Altar stop aging while they are members and will share sights, senses, and knowledge with the Avatar and also A/ . High Altar Members can be resurrected by A/ at a negligible cost. In addition, High Altar Members can teleport items to each other and can summon each other to their location. However, they cannot bring others with them. A/ and Lumoof will also gain control of each of the High Altar Members.

Selecting this option will also enhance A/ �s Lesser Wooden Avatars and increase the Pantheon�s Lesser Wooden Avatar power Limits to Level 150.

- That�s like a weird mix of Court of the Deitree and Avatar mode, - Edna immediately thought. - Not that useful, though. What�s the other one? -

Lumoof�s second choice was The Towering Avatar .

The Towering Avatar elevates the Avatar into the total reincarnation of their origin gods. Lumoof will now be able to function and support all of A/ �s abilities, including Soul Forge , the clone�s teleportation , and so on. In addition, under this form, the Towering Avatar is able to summon A/ �s Spirit . A/ �s Spirit functions as a temporary but complete incarnation of the patron god. Destruction of A/ �s Spirit does not result in any penalties or drawbacks. A/ �s Spirit is usable once a month.

Selecting this option will slightly upgrade A/ �s combat abilities and also doubles A/ �s mana pool.

- Wait, is that it? - Edna said.

- Yeah. It just means we no longer need to deploy A/ �s clone for battle, and the clone can now be reserved for permanent establishments. -

- Oh. ooh. -

- And it�s like we have two A/ in battle. Myself and the clone. And the mana pool will double. -

- The earlier option allows us to have mini - A/ all over the place. -

- But we already have clones and nodes. -

- Correction, mini - Avatars all over the worlds that can be revived. In short, zero - risk explorers, - Stella added.

- Zero - risk explorers suddenly make that option a lot more appealing for the void worlds, - Edna realized.

Lumoof nodded. - I think the choice is whether to go wide or to go tall. Both have their own legitimate use case, especially as Stella said, explorers. Teleportable explorers and envoys. Or a portable summon of A/ that we can use in place of clones, so that we can reserve clones as home bases. This could be tremendously useful if we�re faced with a lot of fighting on the peripheral worlds. We wouldn�t need to lock up clone slots to secure the frontier. -

The question sat in the room for a while.

- What�s more useful? -

- I say tall. A portable A/ without locking up clones is way more useful than mini - A/ everywhere. -

- What if we encounter dangerous threats? -

- The likelihood of threats? -

- I�m talking about hostile gods, - Stella said. - The High Altar can function as high - power but zero - risk explorers, while having a decent fraction of A/ �s power. -

Lumoof then looked at Edna.

- What about yours? -

Edna laughed.

YEAR 272

We didn�t see the need to rush into Lumoof�s choice. After all, we could figure out what was happening on the peripheral lands before choosing the better fit.

That was the thought with Edna�s choice, too.

- So what did you get? - It was Lumoof�s turn to rib the knight. The knight didn�t seem too enthusiastic.

- I could summarize them into three main directions. The first choice of my level two hundred domain is the Martial Paragon. In this form, I would achieve what we longed for: combat ability not only on par, but even more than the heroes. Martial Paragon would allow my Duty to last longer, and my overall combat abilities would rise significantly. Some of my abilities would also gain upgrades, such as my Quest Swords would gain even more power. I gain the ability to teleport to any of the fellow domain holders who are members of the pantheon at my choice. I am also able to leave a shadow knight with members of the pantheon to provide some protection. -

I found it underwhelming.

She sighed. - I think, aside from power, the utility aspects of this choice is lackluster. -

Lumoof frowned. - Edna, I think you shouldn�t worry about the utility issue. The rest of us will deal with it. -

Edna nodded. - That is true. -

- Then what�s the next? -

- The Divine Herald of Knights. I gain the ability to sense the presence of all knight classes all over the world and more. The Herald of Knights gains the ability to speak and grant quests to all knight classes all over the world directly, grant blessings and rewards, and also bestow knight classes of different tiers. I am also able to form Knight Orders out of a group of knights, which grants them some kind of group - wide ability. I am also able to teleport to any knight that requests for my aid or send magical assistants and spiritual knights. Pantheon members also gain an ability to set up a Lesser Knight Order . -

- This is more in line with a goddess of knights. - Stella chewed on a sweet of some kind. With the defense of Satrya completed, the next phase was the void worlds, the peripheral worlds, and also the assimilation of Delvegard.

- In short, the first choice is to go in the direction of combat. This second choice goes wider, just like how Lumoof�s one did. -

- I must say I�m starting to see a pattern, - Stella said.

- It�s just how the System creates these domains. It�s a choice of focus or breadth, - Roon said as if he knew it all along.

Johann poked his fellow domain holder. - And you know what yours is going to be? -

- I bet mine�s going to be some kind of super - archer upgrade or some kind of split - archer form. -

- All right, all right, Edna, what�s the third choice? -

- The third choice is the wildcard choice. Sword of the Void Forest . It is the domain that takes me closer to A/ , Lumoof, and Stella. -

Edna looked at Lumoof in a way that made Lumoof squirm uncomfortably. - What in the world? -

- I can also be an avatar of A/ , - Edna repeated. - And you can be an avatar of me. -

Lumoof�s eyes widened in shock.

Stella shook her head. - That�s a clear no. That�s too much? -

- You didn�t even hear the details, - Edna said. - Stella, the System clearly considers you as part of this arrangement. The primary power of this domain choice is the ability to have spiritual equivalents, or as the System calls it, manifestations, and tag along with A/ �s node trees, clones, Stella�s void explorer, and Lumoof�s avatar form. In this form, I essentially become a person with multiple bodies, like A/ �s clone. These manifestations are void in nature, and I can travel in the void sea with your void explorers. -

- You create them? - Lumoof asked.

- No. Strangely enough, this domain binds the manifestation to the abilities of Stella and A/ . My manifestations appear whenever there is a clone or a void explorer or your avatar form. It�s a package. -

- A form of subdomain, but not totally subservient. - Lumoof thought about it.

- In a way, it�s more of a pantheon - support type of role, - Edna countered. - Though the choice mentioned Lumoof, A/ , and Stella specifically, it�s not actually limited to them. It extends to all pantheon members. -

The rest of the domain holders were in thought, but then Johann laughed. - Roon, you might get a mixed - choice. Think about it: what if you got an A/ �s Archer type of ability? -

Roon rolled his eyes.

- At least you won�t get one linked to your prospective partner! - Ezar, the brawler, chuckled. - Imagine that! -

Roon had a look of genuine horror. - Oh, no way. -

- It is a wildcard choice. - Stella decided it was a fun topic and added fuel to the flame. - A wildcard romance - linked domain choice would be a supreme troll - move from the System. -

- I�m going to opt for the World Faith System if the System does that to me, - Roon countered.

- You�re taunting the System?! - Stella feigned horror.

Roon realized Stella had a point and decided it was best to just shut up.

We didn�t decide that day. We had worlds to visit, and we wanted Alka to join us in the choice. We would prefer to optimize our abilities and choices that would get us through the next hurdle.

It also helped that Alka would have a level - up of his own, and we wanted to hear from him.

What was it like, being dead?

Lumoof, Stella, and Edna gathered for a trip. The three were often the first to visit dangerous places, and this time, they would visit the void worlds together.

The void worlds existed only in the void layers, and it would be the first time my people ventured there. We wondered what it was like, but after all the wondering, it was time to visit.

- Well. - Stella summoned the void mana in her body and tapped into the void layers. The void layers required a few additional extra steps of locational information, and the cost of opening a rift to the void layers was a little bit higher than normal, but other than the extra ring of magical glow around the rift itself, it seemed pretty normal. - To the first void world. -

Lumoof laughed and walked through without hesitation. Stella stared. - Hey, wait! - she called out, but Lumoof was already through. - I thought it wasn�t ready. -

Edna smiled at the void mage, and then she walked through, too.

- Dammit. - Stella ran through.

The path through the void layers was as if one slipped through the gaps of reality. They existed on a different layer of the void sea, occupying the same place but on a different plane.

- Well, took you long enough. - Lumoof smiled as Stella finally stepped through. We looked around and saw a world with a burning black sun and a surface made of darkened rock.

- Uh. So where are we? - Stella asked, but just as she said that, her own magic expanded into the world.

Void world.

Our magical senses rang as a strange creature appeared before us. It emerged from the same type of rift gates that we used, but the shape was different. It was some kind of worm, and it immediately judged us. It stared at us. It has fifteen eyes and tentacles that looked like they were made of the void sea itself.

It radiated void mana through its body. The eyes, each of them were as if they were made of starry skies, dark and yet somehow deep. The three spoke telepathically. - This is a void creature, - Stella said. It was a familiar feeling, she�d sensed creatures like this in the void sea, but to encounter them in the void layers was somewhat expected.

Standing before us was a creature that didn�t look like any living being, and through Lumoof, I sensed it wasn�t even a creature with a normal soul. It was as if it was cobbled together from something that belonged in the void sea.

It reminded me of a jellyfish, its mind distributed throughout its limbs.

It stared at us for a while, and just as suddenly, the rift gates emerged again. It then vanished.

- Well, what was that? - Edna said.

- I don�t know. It looked like it was curious but not altogether hostile, - Stella said. The void world itself had a dark sun, and the world had a glow that was quite similar to the reflected lights of the moon.

Faint.

There were clouds in this world, made of black dust of some sort, and when they covered the sun, the world around us twisted. The laws of reality worked differently here. A world wasn�t a fixed object, but a flexible one that transformed according to the sun�s light.

The terrain warped, and somehow the way it warped was always relative to our position. It only warped when the three of them were not there, in the distance, visible.

- The stars lead to different places. - Stella stared as she watched the position of the world shift. It was as if the void layers were rolling a wheel, and the stars spun and slowly settled into position.

Edna nodded. - Useful? -

- Potentially, - Stella said as we continued to explore the void world.

It was a world that was bare. There was no vegetation of any sort. The terrain was all blackened rock and sand, imbued with void mana to some degree.

We searched.

And searched.

Then we came across a large rocky plain that finally had something unusual. A crater with a skeleton at the center. It was a human of some kind, but a little taller than the normal human. The body had long been eroded by the sandy winds. What was left was just the bones, perfectly preserved, made of something resistant to the wind�s corrosion.

- A body. -

I could probably use the bones to search its memories, just like with the dragons. How did it get here?

- It�s been here for a long time, - Lumoof said, judging from the layers of sand and the condition of the crater. The edges of what would have been the impact crater were all smoothed out. Eroded by the winds.

The wind carried the same black dust everywhere.

The wind was created by magic, the swirling energies of the void.

This world should not have winds, but it did, because the rifts created low - and high - pressure areas throughout the world. Each time a rift was opened by the strange rift monsters that sometimes visited, it created a pressure zone.

Winds.

There was nothing else, but the void layers contained many worlds. Many more that Stella could see. We would have more to visit.

- Your ambitions are great, - Zhaanpu said, his mummified body floating in what was a quiet, private oasis meant only for him and his guests. It was rarely used, from what I understood, but these days, it was where we met and talked.

- You knew that, - I responded.

- I did. But even an immortal like myself cannot truly fathom the scale of what you want to achieve. -

I told him about my intention of constructing a multiversal force a long time ago. A force to take the battle back to the demons. But as with many others all over the multiverse, it was one thing to have information. It was an entire thing altogether to turn that information into understanding and knowledge.

So my tree, the vessel of my will, wobbled in his little green oasis. There was a small pond, perfectly clear. Beautiful, white sands, more crystalline than dirt. There were tiny insects crawling all over the ground.

- You have something you want to say. -

Zhaanpu mused for a moment before he went for the strange question. - What do you have planned for me? -

I paused before I decided it was best to be honest. - I intend to honor our old agreements, look for a suitable world of sand as you requested, and nothing more. This question arises because of the crystal king? -

- Yes, - Zhaanpu admitted. - It is unnerving to see how you humbled my peer, and now I am uncertain of the nature of our relationship. -

I decided to reiterate my old stance. Perhaps in politics, as the power balances shifted, there were times when I needed to speak to those who were my friends and remind them that they were friends and not minions. When one party was much stronger than the other, it was only natural that this caused feelings of insecurity. - I ask for nothing but mutual cooperation. I do not ask for you to fight for me, and I would like to continue being friends. -

- Friends, - Zhaanpu said. As if the word was meaningless.

In some ways, what meaning did it have? What did it mean to be friends, when we were immortal creatures that lived forever? - I would not impose, Zhaanpu. I do not intend to. As we expand, our needs will be spread over a wider set of worlds. -

Zhaanpu breathed a long sigh of relief. - Very well. I shall take your word for it. -

Satrya

Lumoof and Roon returned to Satrya to find the two priests waiting for them.

- Gawa wishes to speak to you, Lord Lumoof, - Michael said with a bow. They�d been exceptionally polite, and since the defeat of the demon king, they had treated Lumoof with the full benefits of a foreign dignitary and some.

It was a treatment that the lesser - ranked priests found strange, but those in the divine guards silenced them, claiming that it was Gawa �s command. Gawa �s Circle rarely devoted full attention to any one person, but Lumoof, as avatar of a - peer, - was leagues above. It made Lumoof feel a little strange, of course.

The entire courtyard waited as Michael and Olivia sat at the side.

Lumoof sat, while Roon stood behind him.

The world twisted, and Gawa arrived once more. Here, in Museo, most mortal men never felt the presence of god so close. It would be something they remembered for the rest of their lives. To be in the same city as Gawa arrived would be a mark on their souls.

- Well done, and most impressive, - Gawa said, his golden form shining. - You�ve saved me precious points. Each of us spends every point we can spare, especially in defense of the faraway realms. -

I waited for him to speak as Lumoof glowed. The avatar form rippled in the air, and the entire temple structure wobbled as my own energies rubbed against the energies of Gawa .

A golden pendant emerged from nowhere, as if it popped out of space itself. - This contains my will, and you may use this to sway my faithful followers in the peripheral worlds. Those who possess my related classes would know that you represent me, and you can claim to act on my behalf. -

Useful.

- Change the balance of power, A/ . -

- I do admit feeling like I�m being used, - I responded. Both priests present paled at my statement and feared Gawa �s retribution. They didn�t know how their god would react to such a rebuke.

- You can claim the peripheral worlds as your own. I have no need for them, and many of us lose points holding on to them. -

- I�ll do it, of course. But I�d like your knowledge. Of the demons, of the other gods. Of how the System works. Of the worlds you have access to, - I countered. I didn�t mind working, and expanding my influence in new worlds was a win, even if it was contested territory, but I wanted knowledge.

There was a moment of silence as the air around us wobbled. Eventually, Gawa agreed. - I will share what I know. -

Another golden gem appeared. A quick glance of it showed it was clearly a divine item.

- This will allow you to ask me questions. I will reply to them when I am able. I will inform you of what I can tell you. Some things are restricted by our pact. I will let you know if it is. -

Both Michael and Olivia�s eyes were filled with greed. Two new divine items appearing in a single day would cause the priests to go insane. Armies would fight to get hold of them.

But no one would dare snatch it from Lumoof�s hand.

- Very well. This is more like it, - I answered. - I will begin to reach out to the peripheral worlds and will need to travel through some of your outer worlds. -

- Understood. But move quietly. Some of my worlds know no other god but me, and it is in my interest to keep it that way. You may take my two priests with you to the peripheral worlds. I hear my priestess has found one of your minions attractive and would like to be married. -

It made Roon and Olivia blush.

I merely brushed it off. - Their own private affairs are their own. But thank you for the offer. I will keep it in mind. -

Maelga, Home of the Imprisoned Crystal, Threeworlds

The human kingdoms of Threeworlds bent the knee, as they were expected to. The Valthorns had completed the assimilation of the crystal king�s power structure and replaced them. To the nations and kingdoms of the human - dominated lands, they stopped challenging our authority.

It was a peace brought about by blood and a lot of captured men. We sent a few thousand of them to Lavaworld, where a quarter of them died, and the remaining were too horrified to ever raise their arms against us. Blood on my roots and leaves, and so be it.

Peace was here, and it was time to milk the industries of this world into the war machine.

My Valthorns quickly identified locations where we could set up manufacturing facilities for crystal bombs, weaponry, and tools. We also began setting up training and recruitment institutes, where the recruits of the Centaur - ruled lands and the humans of the human - controlled lands would train.

The humans found the presence of the Centaurs in their lands unsettling at first. They were enemies, but under the watchful eyes of the Valthorns, they were in no position to attempt anything.

Trade and mutual learning happened more frequently. Human merchants, mages, and scholars were sent to the Centaur lands to learn from them and vice versa. Centaur - compatible inns and institutions were set up in the human lands, and the opposite was also true in the Centaur lands.

It was an uncomfortable change.

But both sides knew that they were now parts of an intergalactic war. It was an uncomfortable realization that the peace of their world was merely an illusion. For many, they chose to believe in the lie. It was a lie that their world was still peaceful. It was also a lie that the three hegemons maintained a fragile peace.

Many chose to believe the lie. It was easy.

To those who didn�t, they were guided into our propaganda machine.

Through a large recruitment program, talented soldiers from all sides were drafted and recruited. We wanted those who sought more from themselves. To those who didn�t like the fake peace, they saw our greater purpose appealing.

I liked it that way. They would join soldiers from Treehome, Mountainworld, Tropicworld and soon Delvegard.

A coalition of forces from all over the multiverse.

TREE OF A/ Seven

2024 SPAIzzER

YEAR 273

The emperor had aged when I sent Lumoof to see him. The holy emperor�s hair had turned white, even though his power and class should have kept him a lot more youthful. - It�s been a while since we last met, Emperor Erranuel. I hope you�ve been well. -

- As well as I could be. - He waved his hand. His aides and guards left the room. There really was no point in having them here.

- Really? - Lumoof nodded and decided to joke. It was inappropriate, but no one dared correct him. - Your hair seems whiter. -

- Age and the weight of managing an empire, Lord Lumoof. In time, my hair will soon fall off. - The emperor relaxed.

- It�s certainly too soon for hair to start falling off, - Lumoof countered. The emperor wasn�t that old, was he? He was perhaps eighty or ninety. He ascended to his Imperial Throne around forty years ago.

He laughed. - If I lived a leisurely life without worries, I�m fairly certain my hair would still be beautifully golden. But alas, I struggle to understand how an empire actually manages to stick together, with all the bickering nobles and lords. -

Lumoof chuckled and sat on a chair next to him. A tea set was already prepared. The emperor was more of a coffee person, a relic of the earlier parasite years, but diplomatic channels had data on Lumoof and indicated he was a tea person. - Would you like me to find some ointments and potions for your hair, then? It should be a fairly easy issue to solve. -

The emperor smiled at Lumoof�s offer. - That would not be necessary. My whitened hair is quite useful. It�s a good reminder to my nobles that I am an aging man. My mortality helps bring out the schemers amongst the ducal families and misleads them into thinking that I am a frail, weakened man. -

- Oh? - Lumoof laughed. To feign weakness when one was strong and lure out the schemers was a common tactic. Somehow nobles still fell for it. Their greed and desire for power often overwhelmed the warning signs.

- So are you here to just taste my tea? -

- Nothing like that. We met Gawa . Twice, actually. -

Emperor Erranuel sagged. - I heard rumors from my informants. It felt so implausible that I�m certain it�s an intentional leak. -

- It is. - Lumoof chuckled. - It�s good to see how news travels. It helps us know who�s talking to who. -

Erranuel looked in the distance. All of us played the game. His throne room was necessarily grand; the act of being invited to this room was a spectacle, a ceremony. Something for mere mortals to remember. But to the holy emperor, this was no more than a ritual meant to enhance his mysticism.

The priests said the regular citizens must be reminded that they stand before the representative of god. A holy emperor.

So the throne room was filled with enchantment. For regular soldiers and citizens, they would feel a tremendous weight as they entered. A set of spells and items, meant to enhance the holy emperor�s presence.

It was exhausting, and Lumoof could see it. He had a role to play, as a symbol of sorts for his empire.

His powers as an emperor were strong. It was for this reason his lesser nobles had not tried to assassinate him. The empire would collapse without his presence, and lesser nobles were not prepared to deal with the aftermath and power vacuum.

He was not the only holy emperor, and the relationship with the other holy empires was cordial at best and outright hostile in less pleasant times. Not just that, the threat of the guilds still remained in the background. Though the era of merchant warfare was mostly over, there were still small skirmishes and battles. Little reminders that there were greedy guilds waiting to pounce.

So the nobles, despite their greed, dared not shatter the emperor�s presence that supported their empire�s strength. His skills, and his blessings, endowed his people with strength. It was a country - wide blessing and worked in some ways similar to those of my own priests and trees. Harvests were bountiful, mines were more productive, people were healthier, and levels increased a little bit faster.

Erranuel sipped the tea. He wasn�t a big fan, and Lumoof could tell. - Would you like to visit the world where we met Gawa ? -

- Yes. Though I suppose my nobles will curse my absence. My blessings fade over time. But I want to go. To see the god I claim to represent. -

We�d known this since the emperor�s visit to Lavaworld, and later on, a week - long tour through Threeworlds and Mountainworld. The other emperors were not so keen on visiting; they bought their church�s propaganda to a stronger degree than we ever did.

A missing king was therefore bad for the country, even if the effects were not felt immediately. That said, there were assassin , spy , and conspirator abilities that could mess with a king�s abilities. It was often said that it was better for a king to die in battle than to die assassinated in his sleep, because the assassin class passively eroded the king�s country - wide blessing, while an honorable death in battle was often rewarded by some other form of blessings.

Lumoof thought about showing the divine item, but we decided we would keep it. Not now. We didn�t want to ruin his first experience of divinity.

- I will make the arrangements and let you know. -

- Do you not fear your long absence? - Erranuel asked abruptly.

- What do you mean? - Lumoof paused. The tea was perfectly warm. The cup was some kind of enchanted cup that emitted a soft, gentle heat that kept the tea warm.

- You travel to other worlds, on long missions. Do you not fear for the safety of your homes when you are away? -

Lumoof found the question amusing. - Why? I trust my fellow warriors to keep things safe. -

Erranuel sighed. - I admire that. I can�t trust my nobles - well, except two - but they have their plates full keeping the empire together. It would�ve been easier if we had a structure that�s so immensely loyal. -

- It�s something you must build, Emperor, - Lumoof advised. - This structure was constructed over centuries, layers by layers, built on the backs of many veterans. -

- Only for it to collapse when I die. -

- Then don�t. - Lumoof smiled.

Emperor Erranuel stared at Lumoof as if it was the most ridiculous thing ever. After a while he laughed. - I sometimes forget I�m speaking with an avatar. -

- You just need to gain levels. There are worlds out there where you can gain levels. -

Erranuel paused and looked at Lumoof. - Are you suggesting I expand the empire to other worlds? -

For others, it was as close to impossible. The Valtorn Order had complete monopoly over void mages. Void mage was a class that dabbled in the void mana, and for younger void mages in training, accidental void mana corruption and curses still occurred somewhat regularly, and so most void mages still needed to get - treated - for curses. Even void archmages experienced mishaps, though their souls were so well attuned to void mana that the mishaps were usually minor.

So, a senior level void archmage wouldn�t even think of working for others, due to the sheer gap in resources. Perhaps the Angels could entice some of my void archmages, but we kept a thorough inventory of who and where each of my void mages were. Well, except those that vanished into the void during the demons comet.

My avatar looked at Erranuel and knew that deploying him on other worlds would be a good way to use his talents. His talents were stagnant here. His powers were used to fight and resist my influence. Here, we were competitors, even if it wasn�t much of a competition. I would prefer to have his abilities used against the demons or other forces in the peripheral worlds.

It�d be a good time to also use my anointed king class, and see its effects on the peripheral worlds.

So Lumoof doubled down. - Yes. I�d be happy to facilitate your move and even provide you with a suitable protective force. We will help get your new empire in the faraway worlds up and running. -

Erranuel stared at Lumoof as if it was totally ridiculous. - You�re asking an emperor to leave his empire and start a new one somewhere else in what�s likely to be a war - torn, demon-infested world. -

Lumoof grinned. - Absolutely. It�s exciting, don�t you think? -

Erranuel closed his eyes. It felt like minutes.

His lips curled into a mischievous grin.

- Well, can�t say I�m not swayed. When do we start? And I�d like to see the look on my nobles when I�m appointing an imperial regent. -

- I�ll have scribes, painters and mages for the moment. - Lumoof laughed.

All of them were in full suits of armor as they prepared for the rift gate. It was a small group, only about six of them, mainly just to protect Stella as we made the journey to the peripheral worlds. Stella, Edna, Ezar, a druid warhealer, a ranger, and an elemental mage.

The peripheral worlds required six hops, mostly through Gawa �s regional worlds. It was likely to be safe, since these were Gawa - controlled worlds, but Edna was with her, just in case.

We were not allowed to linger, and though it was a bit of a pity, I understood Gawa �s reasoning and accepted it.

So the goal was to keep moving until we reached one of the peripheral worlds, and because the peripheral worlds were all relatively close to each other, I would then deploy either a clone or a node tree. From there, we�d use that clone and node tree as the - base - to make further travel, skipping the Gawa �s outer worlds entirely.

These peripheral worlds were pretty much a cluster of unloved worlds. Worlds too far from the gods, not that far they were out of reach, but far enough that it wasn�t sustainable. Still, the pact forced them to protect it.

- Well, let�s start hopping. -

The first Gawa world was similar to Satrya; the presence of divine energies was strong. Just as we arrived, we could feel the strands of divine energy trying to exert itself over us. This was another Outer Core World.

But the five worlds after the first world only had a faint, divine presence. There were no - laws - like the Outer Core Worlds, and per the data shared by Gawa , these were the Regional Worlds of Gawa .

Then we were finally at the frontier of Gawa �s power bubble. The peripheral worlds.

The First Peripheral World - Landas

Stella landed first, and we were immediately assaulted by the presence of demons. The astral space of the peripheral world glowed with the demon king�s path, and when we looked to the skies, we saw were filled with flying demons.

- The welcoming party is here, - Stella quipped as the rest of the six arrived. Edna was just a short few seconds behind her.

- Exactly what I was expecting, though. - Edna smiled. The flying demons were not that powerful. Perhaps about Level 30. She could take them on singlehandedly. - Node tree? -

- Too early. - Stella�s senses fanned out, and Edna�s own magical senses followed. - Divine presence here is minimal. Comparable to Treehome and Mountainworld. -

Of the first three worlds, I would rank Threeworld�s divine presence to be a little bit stronger. There was a pact of sorts that governed the three hegemons, and there must have been three gods that agreed to it, a long, long time ago. Their presence may have faded due to the distance, but the pact sustained a certain level of divine presence in the world.

Edna looked at the demons and activated a small defensive, illusionary object. It immediately masked her presence. The rest of the crew followed.

The first peripheral world seemed fairly war torn; the terrain around us was charred. There were burned trees and burned rocks. Corpses that had long rotten.

Bodies.

One of the Valthorns, a Level 140 Warhealer , squatted down and examined the bones.

- Elven, or at least some kind of elven variant. Dead for at least four years. But these burn marks look younger. -

Stella glanced at Edna and back. - Well, I suppose there should be some surviving civilizations here. Let�s go look for them. -

One of the Valthorns immediately wondered, - Maybe they�ll be like the Ularans. Cowered and hiding in their tunnels. -

The void mage nodded, but one of the rangers began using his scouting abilities. - There seems to be some kind of habited location further away. I detect new smoke and the faint smell of cooked food in that direction. -

Stella nodded. - Distance? -

The ranger immediately shared the distance and coordinates, and Stella opened a magical portal. The group stepped through, their presence hidden by their illusion items, and on the other side was a fortress that was under attack.

They were hidden.

There was a group of flying demons above them, about two hundred demons and a single demonic champion among them. They attacked the fortress, but for now, their progress was hindered by a decently powerful protective barrier.

- Well. - Edna looked at her fellow teammates. - There are living people on the other side, and we have demons attacking it. What is there to do but stop it? -

The army of flying demons wasn�t very strong, so Ezar stood. - Let me. -

He stretched, twisted briefly. Then his fists glowed, and he began to punch the flying demons with his energy punches.

Novorosk

Landas was not always a world infested with demons. But for survivors, like Novorosk, that sort of history didn�t matter. They fought the demons for decades, and a life of fighting demons was the only one they knew.

Ancient history claimed there was a time when the five different elven tribes - the blood elves, the high elves, the night elves, the white elves, and the riverine elves - all had multiple empires, all incredibly powerful. It was a time when the five tribes fought each other for supremacy.

It was ancient and a dream told from the great matriarchs and lorekeepers to the young.

There were demons back then. But each of the five empires would have heroes , elven champions, each of them, and they would fight the demons and destroy them. No lorekeeper remembered when, but there was a time, a few thousand years ago, or perhaps tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago, the heroes began to dwindle.

From five to four.

Some elves believed that this was divine punishment. The five sub - races, all those elven empires were all reckless. The demons supremacy and the loss of the heroes was due to the other empire�s foul behavior. It was an era where elves, already hostile to each other, blamed each other instead of banding together as one. After all, it was the other empire and elves fault that the gods abandoned them.

The era of war came, and just as the wars between the elven tribes intensified, the heroes vanished.

Four to three.

No matter what the elven tribes did. They fought. They made sacrifices to the gods. They offered worship and prayers.

But it was all for naught. The world of Landas drifted further away, unknown to them all. Their gods, faraway and silent, did nothing to tell them of the truth. It costs them too much to even send a message. The gods were stretched, and limited faith points were used to support more worlds. The gods supported thousands of worlds each, but to each of these worlds, they knew only a single one.

Their own.

Then three heroes became just two.

The demons presence in the world of Landas became almost permanent. Somewhere along the way, the demons established a foothold in the world of Landas. They claimed the vast sands as their home, a land hostile to the elven tribes, and what was once a vast ocean of sands became twisted by the demonic energies that took root.

It transformed the sand oceans into the Landasian demonlands. The demonlands spawned demons forever, and what was a once - in - a - decade incident became a never - ending nightmare.

Then two heroes became only one.

The world of Landas only received a single hero.

A single hero to hold off against the powerful demons. A single hero who couldn�t be strong enough to kill the demon king and live to tell the tale. A single hero that didn�t benefit from the blessings of the hero shards . Because there were no other heroes to give him that shard.

And it felt like the gods took forever before they sent a hero. The world of Landas was now in an eternal war against the demons.

It�d been many, many years since then.

The old feuds for the elves gradually faded away as their inter - tribal enemies paled before their existential threats.

Novorosk prepared for battle. Their home, the Fortress of Roskor, was protected by old magics. There were relics left from the earlier era that still gave their Fortress City its shields and protections.

Their people were ready to die.

Novorosk, the leader of the defenders, prepared his bow, his spear, his harpoons. The flying demons were difficult enemies. He could kill a few singlehandedly, but there were hundreds in the skies above.

It was hard to talk; each time the claws and fangs of the flying demons slammed into the magical shield, there was a loud humming sound.

A life of war meant Novorosk was already Level 80. Many in his squad were Levels 60 to 80, and each of them could kill multiple flying demons. In full strength, this army of demons would not have been a problem for them.

But the demons were relentless. They had flying armies by the tens of thousands, and this was the sixth attack in the last week. His men were all injured, wounded by a thousand tiny cuts, poisoned by tiny droplets in each strike.

Even Novorosk himself felt the demon�s foul poison in his left thigh. There was a blackened stain that was slowly fading. It would heal in a few days, but the demons didn�t give him the time.

He�d have to fight without his full mobility.

Novorosk, blood elven warleader, watched as a healer tried to soften the effects of the poison. The healers tried to patch up the defenders, as much as they could, but none of them would be at their best today. The shamans drew blood - colored lines, enchantments, on their skin.

The leader of the demonic army was a flying demon with a large battleaxe. The blood elves referred to it as the Axe Leader.

Novorosk beat it before. He killed three of them in the last year alone. But he wasn�t sure he could do it with the poison in his leg.

He cursed. - Aturk. You�ll need to support me. -

Aturk, his third - in - command, looked at what Novorosk was looking at and frowned. His face was one of fear. But he wasn�t going to let his leader down. - Yes, Warleader. -

Aturk was Level 65, and in better times, he would�ve been a good warleader.

The shield wobbled. Novorosk waved his hand and signaled for the squad to be ready. There were about seventy warriors in his detachment, and another thirty would be supporting from the back.

If they could take down the Axe Leader, they should win this. It would be at great cost, and Novorosk himself may not survive it. But the Fortress of Roskor would live another day.

- Warleader Novorosk! There are civilians outside of the fortress! -

Novorosk stared at the shouting scout, absolutely baffled. He tried to run, but his poisoned leg made it painful. The shaman�s pain - suppressing lines glowed and suppressed the pain. But it still hurt.

There was a group of six adults, and from a distance, Novorosk thought they looked like the white elves of the snowlands.

- Where did they come from? - Novorosk shouted. - Didn�t our magical detectors spot them? -

The scout looked embarrassed. - No, Warleader. We did not notice them at all. -

- Is our equipment faulty? Who�s in charge of maintenance? - Novorosk frowned.

The scout shook his head. - It shouldn�t be? -

- Something is wrong? -

The second - in - command walked to the scouting tower. The shields continued to wobble. It likely wouldn�t hold for long. - Warleader, let�s deal with the civilians later. The defenders are ready. At your command. -

Novorosk sighed. - You�re right. Civilians who take such risks will have to be responsible for it. -

The blood elven warleader surveyed the fortress walls. His men were all in position. They were all deathly afraid, but they would not let it affect the fight. Novorosk looked at the second - in - command. He would be in charge if Novorosk fell in battle.

He was a good man, and Roskor would be in good hands. Novorosk tapped the shoulders of the deputy warleader. - Take care of yourself. -

The deputy shook his head. He was armed to the teeth. - We�ll cover you. -

- Don�t be stupid, - Novorosk countered and then stood on the battlements. - Get ready! Supporting fire? -

But they all felt it then: a sudden surge of power that wasn�t demonic. A pressure so intense that Novorosk felt the blood in his face drain away.

- What -

They heard sounds. It sounded like a really loud punch. A single swish and a splat. In the constant humming from the magical shields, and in the noise of demonic fangs and claws rattling and attacking, they didn�t know why the punch sounded so loud.

It was as if it was the only sound that mattered, and all the other sounds were somehow silenced in its presence.

The demons exploded.

They watched the flying demons felt in the skies above. The Axe Leader of the demons turned, as if looking for its enemies.

But it, too, splattered into smithereens.

Novorosk watched as the strongest of the demonic flying horde turned into mush.

The demons were all gone, their bodies splattered all outside of the ground. The deputy turned to face Warleader Novorosk, unable to understand the changing tides. - Warleader, what just happened? -

YEAR 273 (PART 2)

Landas, The Peripheral Worlds I

Novorosk

The six strangers were foreign. Everything about them was foreign. Visitors from beyond the stars. Their weapons were made of wood Novorosk did not recognize, the carvings on their armor and the texture of their steel unknown to them. The way their magic seemed like an endlessly deep lake made the entire army tense up.

Everyone knew they were different. The way their ears looked. The scent of their hair.

- Hello, - the woman in armor said first. - I�m Edna, and these are my fellow warriors. We are the envoys of A/ , and we�ve come to help. -

Novorosk looked at the rest of his team. Traditionally, communication would be made in the receiving rooms of the elven cities, but most of the receiving rooms have been repurposed. As accommodation, as a warehouse, as a place for healers. Novorosk cursed and immediately whispered to his second - in - command, - Do we still have a receiving room? -

The second - in - command shook his head, naturally paling at the question. - No, Warleader. -

- Get some men and go clean one of the rooms up. I�ll hold them here. Move quickly. -

The second - in - command nodded and ran for it. He hauled at least ten of his soldiers. Novorosk hobbled closer. - My apologies, visitor Edna. I am Novorosk, Warleader of Roskor. I will have my warriors prepare a receiving room. May we know what you need from us? -

The visitor Edna paused and looked around. The Fortress of Roskor was battered, its shields weakened from the assault. There were about two thousand elves living in this place, about half of them working the farms within the fortress walls; there were about a quarter that looked to be children, and a smaller group, about two hundred or so, that looked to be much older.

Their farms were unique. The plants and vegetables were on stacked platforms. Novorosk�s eyes noticed how the visitors seemed to look at the stacked platforms.

Did they want food? Novorosk quickly did mental calculations. Their druid - farmers produced enough food, but their supply would normally be enough for a week. If they asked for too much, they wouldn�t have enough? -

Edna turned to another woman with jet - black hair and a scent of the night. Novorosk wondered whether she was a night elf, but she didn�t share any of their features. - You�ve seen something like this, Stella? -

The woman nodded. - It reminds me of vertical farms back on Earth. It�s interesting that they resorted to this, because of land constraints. -

Novorosk immediately cut in. - Visitors, our food condition isn�t great, but once the receiving room is ready, we can arrange for some food? -

Novorosk felt the visitor Edna�s stare, as if she was judging him. She answered, - Very well, Warleader Novorosk. -

The receiving room was ready. It was hastily cleaned and still had the faint scent of dried blood in some of the old, ancient carpets. Novorosk wished they kept a single receiving room proper, but centuries of war meant all space had to be reused.

The six didn�t seem hostile, but the way they looked at things was intense and made the entire force feel tense.

- Are you the ultimate leader of this fortress? - Edna asked.

Warleader Novorosk shook his head, as the second - in - command brought three old elves to the receiving room. Each of the three wore a set of robes that looked like they were never worn in hundreds of years. The dust on the robes were hastily cleaned.

Novorosk nodded as he bowed. He struggled to remember the words. - Presenting the Elder Council of Roskor, Elder Ruzus, Elder Muzur, and Elder Noroskor. -

The three elders nodded. The elder in the center, an old man, took the lead. - Greetings, visitors. I am Elder Muzur, and welcome to Roskor. It - it�s been ages since we used the Receiving Rooms, so we apologize for the poor condition. -

Edna looked around, and Novorosk wondered what she�d say. But she shrugged. - We�ve seen worse. We are new to this world, so we want to know everything. Do you have a map? -

Novorosk thought he misheard that. What did she mean by - new to this world - ?

But the elders were more composed. - Bring the latest maps. All of them. -

Two of the elven crafters that doubled as assistants hurried out. The Fortress of Roskor had few administrative workers left; most of their populace were warriors and the military supporters like shamans and druids, farmers, healers, or crafters.

The maps they brought were old and stained, but they depicted a set of cities and - areas - that were still occupied by elves.

The six stared at it intently, then one of them took out a large piece of paper. At first, Novorosk thought he�d start to make a copy. But he didn�t take out a pen.

- Map Replication . -

The map was then immediately copied over to the paper. The elders stared, unable to believe the spell that just happened. Novorosk paused. He didn�t know there was such a spell.

- All right, - the woman, Edna, said. - Thanks for that. Of these cities, how many survive? -

The elders looked at each other. It�s been months since they received letters from the other towns. Novorosk watched as the elder pointed to a set of neighboring cities and then a set of outer cities. - We spoke to some of these neighboring cities about four to five months ago. We have not communicated with these other cities in the last few years. -

Edna, the woman, looked at one of her team. Novorosk wondered whether they were the woman�s subordinates, because they seemed deferential.

- What do you know about the greater world? -

There wasn�t much to share. Roskor�s focus had been to survive day by day, week by week. For most part, the city mostly managed to remain stagnant. There were periods of time in Roskor�s history when they had multiple Level - 80 individuals, and they were able to expand a bit. They even sent out expeditions, but they never came back.

- Don�t you have message networks? - the woman asked.

One of the elders paused, as if surprised that the woman knew of such a thing. - It - it�s not reliable. There are demonic energy storms that frequently interrupt those message networks. -

- I see, - the woman in front of them said.

Novorosk watched as the woman began to interrogate them on the history of the world, as if they knew absolutely nothing. They asked about the gods of the world of Landas and about the different gods, then its history and its heroes.

It really was as if they knew nothing.

Eventually, the two women, the one that felt like a soldier, and the other one that felt like the night, looked at each other. - Well, thank you for your hospitality. We will be leaving now. -

- Leaving? - one of the elders, Elder Noroskor, said. - It�s - it�s dangerous out there, with all the demons. -

But the two other elders immediately looked at Elder Noroskor, and he immediately shut up.

- My apologies, distinguished visitors, we do not mean offense. We doubt the demons would pose a threat. -

Edna grinned. - It is fine. On behalf of our leader, A/ , this world will be under our protection. You will be hearing from us soon enough. -

Novorosk�s eyes couldn�t leave the woman, and in that small, cramped room, it felt as if the world shifted around him. There was something about that supreme confidence, a swagger and weight that truly gave that ridiculous sentence credibility.

He had long believed that their life in this world was one of endless struggle for survival.

But his heart pounded.

The world was going to change.

He could feel it in his soul.

Treehome

Lozanna

Lozanna was in the crowd when Roon and Johann stood before them. There were about five hundred Valthorns present, many recalled from a recent tour of service in Threeworlds. With the human kingdoms largely stable, the number of active personnel was reduced and reshuffled.

There were many newer, recently - promoted - Valthorns, those previously in the lower Level 80s to 100s, and now that they reached Level 100, they were ready to join the higher tier of the Valthorns.

There were more from Mountainworld, too. What was once a really small group of soldiers now grew, thanks to the large recruitment process over at Branchhold over the past few decades. It�d been almost seventy years since Branchhold was established, and now the force from Branchhold was a respectable quarter of the total present.

In time, Lozanna believed that Threeworlds human and centaur recruits, and also the new Tropicsworld soldiers, would join the ranks.

They would have to prepare for another tour of service.

The Valthorns were expected to support multiple locations - Delvegard, and up to fifteen peripheral worlds, as identified by Gawa .

- So, ready for a trip to faraway worlds? - Kei smiled. The briefing was over, and what came next was for each of the Valthorns to sign up or abstain. Kei once said that this process was a little like how companies would ask for volunteers to go on faraway outstation assignments and how it was a common thing in the merchant guilds of Earth.

Lozanna found the concept amusing and nodded. - Sounds like there�s a lot to do there. If we can make a difference to the lives of the locals, yeah, I�m up for it. -

The golem nodded. - Ever the hero at heart. -

Lozanna immediately glared at the female golem. She smiled.

- I�m joking. -

Lozanna poked her playfully. - You�re not. -

At that point, Kei looked at the counter. They were allowed to sign up immediately or go back and think about it. Most of the Valthorns would mull on it for a few days.

- Which world looks good to you? -

- We don�t know yet, do we? - Lozanna laughed. - But the peripheral worlds would be a place where I think I can contribute. At least there should be more demons to destroy. Delvegard doesn�t seem particularly interesting to me. -

- It�s the safer option, and more suitable for those fond of more subtle types of moves, - another Valthorn spoke, and Lozanna nodded. Not all Valthorns were the warrior types - some were spies, like Spymaster Intip, and many others were diplomats. Each of them had worlds and situations that best made use of their talents.

For Lozanna , she felt she belonged in the battlefields. She longed to fight against demons, an experience now mostly missing from Treehome.

Roon and Johann also spoke of the void worlds, but the void worlds would remain off limits for non - domain holders. The presence of unusual creatures and strange rules meant the void worlds were a significantly higher risk to the elite Valthorns, while the peripheral worlds, as unloved, soon - to - be - godless worlds, were likely to be free of more obstructive and invasive, divine meddling.

Lozanna listened as Roon and Johann narrated that the meeting was more to assess the level of interest amongst the Valthorns. The exploration team of Stella, Edna, and Ezar was still surveying the faraway worlds, and the Valthorn presence would come in once they�d established the general details.

The initial reports were not encouraging. The earliest departure to the peripheral worlds would happen within days, because the peripheral worlds were all under heavy attack.

The elven warrior listened and wondered whether she�d be able to join the exploration team like Edna. That sounded interesting, and she remembered how she used to explore the other continents of Treehome.

She would like to be there. Exploration was one of her other interests. She heard tales of how Valthorns were involved in exploring the various tunnels and caves of Mountainworld, and her heart wished she was a part of it.

- You look like you have unanswered questions, milady. Something on your mind? - At that point, Johann was the one that approached Kei and Lozanna .

Lozanna smiled back and spoke her mind. - I was thinking about the explorers and wondering what it�ll be like to be one. -

Johann nodded. - If you are interested, I believe A/ would be happy to rotate you to the exploration team. -

Lozanna agreed. - Ah, I will raise it the next time I speak to him. -

Johann grinned. Few people could answer that way. - We look forward to having you with us on the field, Lozanna . From what I know, we�ll need almost all our people. -

Lozanna nodded.

It was horrifying.

The peripheral worlds were pretty much demon-infested, at different stages of destruction.

Yet she found herself excited at the prospects.

Treehome

A/ .

- Are we involved in the peripheral worlds? - Colette and Prabu asked. They were briefed, naturally, as were Adrian and Khefri. The presence of heroes in these worlds rekindled the idea of a League of Heroes, one that would be managed by Kei.

- Yes. The number of worlds involved would require all of you to be deployed, at least to help remove the threat of the demon kings, - I responded directly. - The Valthorns would then come in to sweep up the rest and help rebuild these worlds. I will need you all to step in, if there are any heroes surviving. -

- You will be doing this in your own name? - Colette wondered. - Or on behalf of Gawa ? -

- My own. If Gawa wishes to spread his presence, he can send some of his forces over, we�d be happy to facilitate, but since it�s our lives on the line, I�ve got no intention of letting him get the credit. -

Colette paused before answering. - I see. -

I�d like to minimize the role of the heroes, simply because their strength was inconsistent. My domain holders all appeared much more stable and centered, while the heroes felt like they could snap. Well, maybe except for Colette.

Colette�s liberated hero gave her a sense of calm and assuredness that the rest of them didn�t have. Even her partner had strange outbursts, like when he interacted with Chung.

It was a strange thing to feel, even though I personally liked talking to Prabu more than the rest. The heroes all had a switch in them that could trigger without notice and suddenly alter their reactions and behavior. It was for this reason that they were unreliable, even if interacting with them on a day - to - day basis could be pleasant and friendly.

They were trustworthy, until they suddenly were not.

I didn�t want to work with these sorts of requirements. Not in the peripheral worlds, and not when we took the battle to the demon sun.

So I intended that the peripheral worlds become a farming location for my Valthorns and hoped we could elevate a few more of my Valthorns.

Once we stabilized the demon situation, I intended to deploy at least two clones, in the largest, most populous worlds, and use that presence to transform those worlds. I would like these peripheral worlds as future - Core - worlds, just like Treehome, Branchhold, and what I was doing with the world of Delvegard.

The data that came back from Edna and Stella was rather depressing.

The first world they were in, Landas, was almost conquered by the demon king.

The demon king that attacked Landas was some kind of flying demon king, and Landas itself faced demons with high regularity, apparently records, whatever little that they had left, claimed that the demon kings attacked almost every ten years.

They also used to have heroes, but the amount of heroes shrunk quite quickly, and so the condition in their world deteriorated rapidly. It only held on due to the many, many historical relics left behind by all the different heroes and the high - leveled warriors that protected their cities.

In short, they were perfect as our first base.

From Stella�s surveys, they really needed help.

Peripheral Landas 3

Edna

Edna and team arrived at the next location on the map, only to find it was already an open - air cemetery. The bodies of elves torn by the flying demons were everywhere. Blood and the smell of rotting bodies filled the air. The elves probably died no more than a few days ago, because the bodies were only beginning to rot.

- We�re too late, - Edna said.

Ezar�s shock was brief, because he quickly steeled himself and nodded. There were things that needed to be done. - Let�s keep going. We don�t want to be late for the next one. -

Edna looked at the two rangers and druids. - Wait. Too late to save the cities, but there may still be survivors. Let�s search underneath all of this. We should help them before we leave. Just in case anyone�s left. -

The knight�s words made the Valthorn druid regain his composure and spread out his senses. The ranger used a kind of calming ability on himself and searched.

Ezar looked at Stella. - Lady Stella, send me over to the other locations first. If there are demons, I want to be there. -

Stella nodded, and the portal whirled open. As expected, there were demons. Ezar nodded, and he stepped to the other side.

About that time, the druid shouted, - There�s a small group of them hidden underneath this rubble. They�re very weak! -

After stating that, roots and vines immediately emerged from the druid and pierced into the rubble and began to lift the collapsed structure. A set of roots reached for the semi - conscious elves hidden underneath. They were injured, hungry, and almost dying. Only three. But three was better than none.

Edna got to them and immediately used a set of potions on them. Their wounds healed, and soon their eyes opened to the sight of Edna�s glimmering form.

- Are we dead? - they asked.

- No, - Edna said gently. - You�re not. -

The ranger then shouted, - There�s another few hidden here. They�re in bad shape, too. -

The druid and the mage immediately went over, while Stella checked on the first group. From his pocket space, the druid took out more potions. They continued to search and soon found, in total, twenty survivors, mostly children and their mothers, hidden underneath the rubble.

Many were delirious, but the potions helped with the physical wounds and the shot of food helped with their hunger.

Stella immediately opened a portal and sent them back to the Fortress of Roskor.

Novorosk was there when the portal opened before his eyes.

- Warleader Novorosk, these are the survivors from the nearby city. Take care of them. - The ranger guided the survivors through the portal.

Novorosk stared. - What? -

- Just take care of them. Feed them and house them somewhere. We will come back and check. -

Novorosk panicked but nodded. Once all of them were over, the portal closed.

At that point, Edna then looked back at Stella. - Ezar�s right. If there are other cities, we should go and get to them quickly. The more survivors we can save, the faster we can get this world back on its feet. A/ needs to send more people over and to all of the fifteen worlds. -

- We can�t scout that many worlds at the same time, - Stella countered. The domain holders must be first to go. The druid�s roots immediately rescued another few more elves hidden under the buried rubble.

The demons killed indiscriminately. To the demons, the mortals were just obstructions. What the demons wanted was the planet�s Core. Everything else was unnecessary.

Edna looked around. - I think we can leave this world to the rest of the Valthorns. Leave Ezar here just in case. We must start moving. We don�t know what condition we�ll find in the other fourteen worlds. Each day we waste is another day for the demons to slaughter more of these folks. Many of them do not have our advantages. We need full mobilization now. -

- But -

- Us domain holders will need to start hopping. Let�s deploy the node here, and we�ll use this place as our launchpad, - Edna said. - We need all the domain holders in all the peripheral worlds. -

Stella pointed to the immediate problem. - There�s not enough of us to cover all the worlds. -

There were eight domain holders, excluding A/ , and there were fifteen worlds. There were only four heroes.

- We�ll have to leave node trees there and use that to support those worlds where we can�t. The heroes will have to step in. We will need to hop extensively. -

Stella nodded. That wasn�t ideal, but it was the best plan they could do with their current resources. Fifteen worlds also meant some worlds wouldn�t have a node tree. A/ only had nine node tree slots left, after the first one was used on Delvegard.

- Kafa will have to leave Delvegard. -

- Delvegard�s priority should be lower, - Edna countered. - Lives are at stake. Let�s make haste. We can afford to patch it up as we go. -

Stella nodded. - Very well. Let me do so. -

Ezar

The portal led to a horde of demons attacking what was probably a city. It was one, once. There was already crazy fighting when he arrived, the demons have stained the lands with blood and corpses. Flying demons loomed as arrows zoomed.

The defenders were fighting with their lives on the line. Everyone was fighting. There were children, old elves, all doing their best with sticks and whatever weapons they had.

He looked around and immediately spotted the demon champion in charge. It was one of those axe champions. A large, bulky demon with four giant wings, two large, clawed legs, and two arms, each with a burning battleax.

He fought demons across the worlds, many times, and always found them to be emotionless creatures. If anything, he always thought the demons looked afraid. But it was ridiculous. The demons didn�t feel fear. So he didn�t believe it, either, when he thought the demon champion looked smug.

Demons had no feelings. Ezar�s enchanted gauntlets glowed as he channeled his domain ability. In an instant, the burst of energy from his fist smashed into the champion, and it splattered to death, unaware what hit him.

The death of the demon champion sent the demon army into a wild frenzy, but that was intentional.

Ezar activated the rings on his fingers and released their stored ability. They summoned five gigantic beasts, two lions and three gray wolves, each about Level 80 in power. - Go and slay the demons. -

The presence of the five giant animals instantly drew the attention of the demons. Without the demon champion, the rest of the flying demons were torn apart by the five powerful magical beasts.

Ezar hopped, and in a single leap he landed right next to the breaking lines. He spoke, his voice carried by the weight of his domain .

- Stand back. -

To the defenders fighting for their lives, they did.

Ezar�s gauntlet glowed, and he punched with such weight that all the demons in front of him were crushed in a single energy punch.

There was no need to use his domain ability here. He watched as his five summoned beasts tore through the demons, and the flying demons fled. Any demon that got close was crushed.

- Mommy, are we saved? - There was an elven boy who looked absolutely in awe. He was dirty, covered in blood, but his mother was injured. His mother, an elf, held a sharp, pointy wooden stick as a weapon.

His mother looked around. Everyone did. There was a feeling amongst all of the elves.

Disbelief.

Hope.

Relief.

Ezar turned. - Is this it? Any more demons? -

The elves didn�t know what to answer. So no one answered. Ezar realized they probably weren�t in any condition to know.

The place was probably a fortification of some kind, but the walls were already destroyed. The elves were fighting their last stand within the city itself, because they couldn�t outrun the flying demons. Not that there was anywhere else to go, anyway.

The elves looked amongst themselves. There were no leaders left; all that were supposed to lead them died during the battle. The five beasts walked closer to Ezar, now that their target had been destroyed, and the elves stared in fear.

Ezar looked back at them. They were creatures tagged to his enchanted summoning ring, one of his many pieces of equipment. There was no need to speak the command, high - tier summons were mentally linked to their masters, but Ezar said it to assure the elves. - Patrol the perimeter. Roar if there are any demons. -

The lions and wolves roared in acknowledgment, and they ran to secure the perimeter. The elves were relieved to see the creatures move.

- Bring all the wounded here. I�ll help them where I can. Those that can�t move, call me, - Ezar said as the rest of the elves scrambled to sort everything out. But at that point, they obeyed.

Ezar looked around and frowned. This wasn�t the only world.

- Ezar to Stella, Ezar to Stella. This location is safe, but we need to keep moving and hit the rest of the cities. Can you open a portal? -

- Portal incoming. We plan to deploy a node soon to bring more forces over. Domain holders will need to visit all the peripheral worlds as soon as possible to deploy nodes. -

Ezar smiled. It was nice having teammates that he could count on. - Acknowledged. Let me know. -

Ezar turned back to face the elves as he checked his inventory. At that point, the portal swirled open, and both Stella and the druid stepped out. - Ezar, you�re needed elsewhere. Falin will handle the healing and fixing the security. -

Falin, the Level 130 Valthorn druid, got to work.

- There are other locations with demons, - Stella said as she prepared to open a portal again.

Ezar nodded as Falin looked at the location. The druid�s arms glowed briefly as roots shot out of his arms. At that moment, a wall of bramble emerged around what was left of the elven encampment. - This should protect the location for now. -

- Where�s Edna? -

- There�s another location. A proper city. It may be under siege. -

- Is it our timing? Why are cities under siege at this time? - Ezar found it terribly unusual. It was common knowledge that most reinforcements arrived either too early or too late, though in some ways, they were too late. Somehow, so many cities were under siege.

Stella smiled. - We�ll deal with that later. Portal open. Go, go, go. I�ll deploy the node once A/ acknowledges our request. -

Ezar didn�t know where and how far he was from Stella, but it didn�t matter. He trusted she�ll come back for him once it was over. The portal opened, and he arrived to immediately see three demon champions in the air.

Three! How cute.

The demons actually saw him this time, and they roared at him.

He punched through them. Two died instantly, and then he dashed toward the third with such speed that the third demon champion briefly looked horrified. He was fairly sure it wasn�t horror. Perhaps it was just a survival reaction.

It died.

The elven city of this location was protected by a magical shield that felt like star mana . A quick glance suggested that this was a fairly prosperous city at one point in its life. But it had a breach.

There were two more demon champions there, battling the defenders. The defenders here were actually fairly competent. There were two Level 80�plus elven warriors battling against the demon champions, and they looked like they had special equipment from a much earlier time.

- Stella, I don�t think this location needs help. They have hero items . -

- Really? - Stella responded through the message . - Uh, give me a couple of minutes. I�ll send you elsewhere. -

- Got it. I�ll make myself useful for a bit. -

He looked around and decided to just help their odds for a bit. His domain spread out. Everyone saw Ezar glowing midair like a god of war, his fists shimmered with power like the fists of furious heavens. Lightning, fire, and the elements each in a single punch.

The demons charged at him. Mindlessly.

The two demon champions trying to break the gates turned to face him, as they soon decided he was the larger threat.

They all were nothing before a domain holder . His domain was oppressive to these lesser demons.

They died in a splatter of magic.

The elven defenders stared at Ezar in horror. Ezar merely smiled and decided it was worth it to pitch his presence. He scrambled to recall the name in the map. - Greetings, Elves of Shorodosk. I come in the name of A/ . You will hear from us soon. -

The elves looked like they had more questions, but Stella�s portal opened.

- Deal with the remnants, - Ezar commanded. - Stay safe. We will contact you. -

And he stepped through the portal and left the elven defenders wondering what happened.

YEAR 273 (PART 3)

Edna

This was supposed to be the biggest city known to Roskor Elves, at least a few centuries ago. This place was supposed to be the old capital of the White Elves, Nunarnusk. When Edna arrived, what she found was a fortified city that was battered in many, many places.

It reminded her of Mountainworld. The same scrappiness in the eyes of the people. The same ruthless desire to protect themselves. Everyone here fought wars. Generations lived to fight, and so their people turned hardy.

Tough.

They made do with what they had. Because they had no choice.

They deserved better, of course. This kind of society destroyed those who didn�t adapt to this kind of life. Who couldn�t adapt, because they were talented in a field that this world didn�t need.

A sad thing, but societies like this had to make do.

The city of Nunarnusk was protected, just like the other city. There was a magical shield that stopped attacks and blocked demons. But they were also selective and allowed for the elves to move in and out freely. So the shields that protected the city didn�t work on Edna.

She felt its energy wobble. It was weak. It weakened a lot over the years, but the fact that it still held for so long was testament to the incredible power of star mana .

Immediately within Nunarnusk�s shield bubble was a layer of battered walls made of stone, wood, and whatever rubble they got their hands on. There were guards on all the towers, and everyone looked tense.

There were demons, but the demons were not attacking. Instead, Nunarnusk was under siege. There were five to six demon champions, all seemingly waiting. Edna thought of helping but realized it was better to figure out what was happening.

Edna cloaked her presence even before she went through the portal, so as she walked through the tired crowds, it was clear everyone was preparing for the next fight.

It�d be hard for anyone to see her here.

- Have we patched the left walls? - Edna eventually found someone that looked like a leader, and he was barking orders to the worker men. The elf had armor and exuded power equal to someone at the very limit of their strength. Most likely Level 85.

Some of the workers were injured. A lost limb, a limp. They did the repairs, because in a fight, they�d be useless.

It was very rare to see amputees and folks with lost limbs in the Valthorns and Valtorn Order. Ever since A/ healed Yura �s limbs many, many decades ago, A/ made it a point to restore everyone�s limbs. A/ even extended the treatment to the general populace, though there was a lottery that was always oversubscribed.

The leader turned to face another set of workers. - All the folks that can fight are waiting for you, Commander Argo. -

The man known as Commander Argo nodded. Edna quietly followed. Argo glanced briefly in her direction, but he was unable to pierce her illusion items.

There were about a thousand fighters there, all armed with weapons and armor. Edna�s quick glance told her all she needed to know. Half of them were injured in some way, and only about three hundred were in full fighting form.

Commander Argo soon elaborated on what seemed to be common knowledge to those present. The demons have been waiting outside for the last one week after their earlier failed assault. There were more demons coming, and the demons had the city of Nunarnusk surrounded. Commander Argo opted for a defensive strategy: stay put and keep waiting.

Edna listened and surveyed those present. There were about seven or so that had a power aura similar to Commander Argo. Level 80 to 85 meant they could take on the demon champions and win.

They�d survive this battle. There were enough strong warriors here to survive the siege.

Then, as the group was dismissed, Commander Argo was surrounded by that same group of strong warriors. And internal divisions emerged. There were whispers of going against the commander�s plan, and the high - powered folks were split in half. Together, they�d survive.

Three of them had enough. - We�re tired of waiting. We charge out there and break this siege. We need the resources outside our walls, Commander. We cannot hold up like this forever. -

Argo countered, - We don�t even know if those resources are still there. The demons could have destroyed it. -

- Then what? We keep waiting and let them destroy those resources? We need the iron quarries and the white - iron stones. Our weapons need repairs. Our healers need the white - iron stones to make some of our healing tools. We�re dying if we keep holding here. -

Edna thought the conversation was slightly pointless. If she acted, they wouldn�t have this issue. But she listened. It was good to know what was going on.

Argo frowned. - There are five ax champions out there. The four of you rushing out there is a death sentence. The demons will get us separately. -

The equipment used by the four elves was in pretty bad shape. They were battled and scarred and some of its old magic lost. - Then come with us. -

- The city is defenseless! We cannot leave the city defenseless! - Argo countered.

- The shield will hold. -

- The shield will not, - Argo said, frustrated. - Its energies are weak and won�t last if the demons attack. It�ll need time to recharge. -

- Then why are we waiting? We must charge out there and defeat them before they overwhelm us. You�re being too careful, Argo. It�s time to go out there and defeat them. -

Argo paused. - Can you give me half a day to think about this? -

The other elves looked at each other and shrugged. - Fine. Commander Argo, we�ll charge out there, whether you are coming or not. -

Argo frowned. - Please - don�t do anything stupid. -

Edna trailed Commander Argo to his own office. There was a small office filled with resources scattered everywhere, and he sat on the only chair in the cramped room.

He was talking to himself then. - It�s always like this? -

Edna then appeared at the door as she disabled her cloak. - Commander Argo. -

Argo turned, and his weapon of choice, a kind of dagger, was immediately pointed at Edna. - Who are you? -

Edna smiled. - An ally. Well, a potential ally. -

- An ally? - Argo looked around. - Are you alone? -

- Sort of, yes. But I�d like to talk. About your city and everything. -

- And what makes you think I�ll talk to a stranger. How did you even get here? - Argo said, totally unused to the fact that there was a stranger.

- Because, Commander Argo, I can help. -

- You can? You, alone? -

- Of course not. I am here on behalf of A/ and the Valtorn Order, and we are here to destroy the demons. -

- I�ve never heard of you. -

- You�ve never heard of anyone outside your city, - Edna corrected. Most communication between cities collapsed due to the constant demonic attacks, as cities turned insular.

- That�s not true. There was a period of peace after the hero Junmark defeated the demon king fifty - nine years ago? -

- Is it? But how many demon kings since then? - Edna asked. - Every hero that came after is weaker and fighting against tougher odds as the demons established stronger footholds. Every hero weakened, since they couldn�t level quickly with the loss of the low - level habitats commonly used for farming. -

Heroes could spar to gain levels, but given their situation, he wondered whether the kingdoms would just immediately force the heroes out to the battlefield.

Argo looked at Edna like she was an alien. - So what do you want? -

- Tell me the history of Nunarnusk in an hour, and tell me everything. I assure you, I will deal with your demon siege once this is over. You can even watch. -

Argo had never seen a stranger, but Edna�s presence overwhelmed him. His eyes looked at the knight, and he thought she was mad. Confident, but mad. - Very well. -

The demons came in huge waves every ten years. The past few decades, the hero was able to defeat the demon king, but they did so at great cost. The last attack left the previous hero without one of his arms and cursed by a dark magic that no one in the entire world could break.

Thanks to the curse, the hero couldn�t go on and destroy the remaining demons. Instead, he was like a weakened, semi - dying man wishing he could die, but the hero class was too strong.

Even severely weakened, no one could kill him. His soul and blessings were still too strong. So the hero rested in a city of the Night Elves called Chursky. That was the last communication Nunarnusk received from Chursky about six years ago.

For Nunarnusk, the demons never really stopped. The great deserts, of which there were seven, each turned into demonlands and continued to spit out demons by the hundreds and thousands, so travel between cities became a matter of great risk.

Only cities that were really close together could still communicate regularly.

There were no gigantic oceans in Landas. Instead, there were six great lakes, and at the center of those great lakes were the few bastions of the old elven empires. Nunarnusk lost touch with those old bastions a few years ago.

Edna listened and laughed. - Very well, call your men. Call them all to the walls. I, on behalf of A/ , would like to demonstrate our intentions. -

Commander Argo thought it was rather embarrassing, but when he left his office, the six other Level 80s were waiting for him. He looked back at Edna and then toward the walls. - To the walls. -

The four that supported the push outward looked surprised. - Let�s go. -

The seven gathered up on the walls, and Edna followed quietly behind. The rest of them didn�t notice her; they were busy preparing for the charge out. The four immediately called their own supporters to prepare for the charge.

Once they were at the walls, Argo looked at Edna. - So what is it that you want to demonstrate? -

It was at this moment that everyone noticed Edna�s presence. Edna nodded, her cloak vanishing to reveal her in shining armor. Two anti - demon swords appeared magically, and there and then, her domain flooded the city.

Everyone felt it, Argo as well.

- Regenerating Guardians . -

Five glowing magical knights appeared, and they flew. They were ephemeral objects, and they shared Edna�s toughness. They zoomed across the skies, creatures of magic.

Creatures made from Edna�s Domain .

Edna looked around. - There are demons on the other side, as well? -

Argo nodded, his white hair seeming whiter, his fair face a slightly greenish pale.

Edna�s energies wobbled outward, as more magical knights appeared. Edna�s lesser magical summons swarmed outward, a hundred magical knights now taking the field.

It was a short battle, because none of the demons could even harm Edna�s guardians.

The seven leading defenders of Nunarnusk looked at Edna with a mix of awe and fear. - Well, Commander Argo of Nunarnusk, I am Edna of the Valtorn Order, and we are here to recruit allies. If you agree to join us, you will have our protection, but in turn, we will require you to support our war against the demons. -

Argo nodded. There was no other word to say.

- Okay. Nunarnusk is secure. We�ve added it to the fold. Has A/ approved the node tree�s placement? - Edna said as the elves of Nunarnusk breathed a rare moment of relief.

Stella responded, - Yes. Node deployment approved. But we need to decide on a location. -

Ezar, also on the same discussion, added, - Just pick a location and start sending Valthorns over. Is there a hero in this world? -

- Yes. Want to arrange a visit? - Edna countered.

Ezar laughed. - Let�s bet. A hundred gold that it�s under siege. -

Edna chuckled. - That�s a stupid bet. The hero is there. The demons must be drawn to him like moths to a flame. Also, the hero seems to be cursed. -

Stella frowned. - If that�s the case, the decision�s made for us. Let�s place the node tree where the hero is. Send the hero back to Treehome, let A/ work on him, and send him back here to fight. -

Edna had a feeling what happened on Landas would be a tale similar across all the worlds.

INTERLUDE

Edna, on Landas, the Elven Peripheral World

The portal whirled open to the old location supposed to be where the hero was. Nunarnusk was once the great capital of the White Elves, so they retained many old records, stored, luckily, in their underground vaults. The locals gladly gave her a tour of the place, and indeed, there was a time long, long ago when they rivaled even the great empires of Threeworlds or Mountainworld.

Great empires were but materials to be turned into sawdust in the hands of the demons ever - persistent grinding machine.

The old vaults were sealed magically. The White Elves hoped that if they fell, the city�s history would still somehow remain within these vaults. There were no weapons here. Instead, it was all books and records. Paintings.

And most importantly, detailed maps.

Maps that made it easy for Stella to roughly locate its location. An old White Elf, apparently almost six hundred years old, volunteered to help them verify the location of the hero�s resting place. There was a time, a few centuries ago, when there was a lull in the demons push. When they lucked out with a hero with the right mix of talent, capability, and luck to help beat back the demons and push the balance of power in their favor.

During the fleeting era of peace, there was travel between the cities. There was trade that has long vanished. Magical travel was possible during the period, instead of the constant, perpetual disruptions today.

- Portal disruptions seem pretty common, - Stella said. A lot of the messaging and teleportation failure was entirely due to the demons magical disruption, and for someone like Stella, it wasn�t even hard to tell where those disruptive energies came from.

The demons nests in the deserts of Landas were all sources of that disruption. Stella almost didn�t notice them, but Stella�s portals, that survived the shredding of reality and teleportation on far more chaotic environments like the demons comet, easily overpowered the disruptions. If they had capable mages, they might have managed to maintain some semblance of a communication network even in spite of the disruptions, but Edna knew that those odds were unlikely.

Talent needed the right circumstances to flourish, and even today, even with the huge talent infrastructure of the Valthorns, mage training remains slow. Faster than before, but still slow.

And so the portal opened, to a field of destruction and burned wood. Ash.

It was a lake, once upon a time, but it had long since dried up. There were bodies filled with the corpses of the dead, though demons rarely left corpses. They decayed way too quickly.

There were champions in the distance, hammering at what appeared to be a magical shield. The shield protected a cherry tree that had long since withered and was without a single leaf or flower.

There was an injured hero within that tree�s little space.

All around the shield was endless destruction. The White Elf collapsed on the ground and wailed. - This entire place - it - it used to be a large city. One hundred thousand High Elves once walked this land, and now, all that remains is the Sacred Cherry of the First Estate?! -

Edna and Stella�s eyes both scanned the demon-filled surroundings. There certainly didn�t seem to be anything resembling a city here. It was just a series of craters, whatever civilization didn�t leave any structures or infrastructure that survived the demons attack.

The champions all hammered away at the shield. The shield did not break. The shield did not bend. But they both could sense the attacks chipping away at its strength. Slowly. The shield could last a few more years.

- Since I am here, - Edna said, as she jumped and landed not far away from the flood of demons, - I might as well play. -

Her Quest Swords appeared by the tens, and the knight�s magical summons soon appeared to accompany her. What were champions before a domain holder?

Stella created a shield around herself and her guide, the old white elf. Edna�s blade shone like the fury of the stars. In the land that was once the First Estate, light returned and ended centuries of darkness brought about by the demons champions.

In what was no more than ten series of flashing lights, the army of demon champions crumbled.

The pounding of the shield ended, and an eerie silence returned to the land.

Even the wind seemed to stop.

Edna�s footsteps felt like the marches of a million soldiers. She walked to the gigantic Cherry tree that was all withered and felt the presence of a heroic shield.

- A/ would be pleased to find another spirit tree out here, - Edna said, her quest swords vanished into their own magical space.

Stella looked at the White Elf guide, - Please return to Nunarnusk. -

The White Elf wanted to stay, but he dared no object. - Please don�t hurt the Sacred Cherry. It is one of the most sacred places for all of the High Elves. Our ancestors have offended the gods enough. I do not wish to offend them further. -

Stella found that amusing. All the briefings they received suggested they were all enemies. - Rest assured, if the Sacred Cherry is not our enemy, it would not find us a threat. -

The White Elf went back through the portal, and Stella teleported up to Edna.

With not a single demon in sight, the withered Cherry Tree stood before them.

- So, do we talk to it? - Stella asked. - Or do we require Lumoof�s presence? Connect roots and stuff. -

- I thought you said we�d just deploy A/ �s clone here and be done with it, - Edna teased, but the nature of their work meant most plans had to be adjusted. Reality and plans were not good friends.

A root emerged from Edna�s body, an ability of A/ �s familiar. It pierced the dirt around them and made contact with the roots of the Cherry Tree.

The sensation was immediate, like two minds touching. But her domain protected her, while the counterpart was unprotected.

Domain blocked attempted intrusion

But they could still speak through the connection of roots.

- Greetings. - Edna�s words were transmitted through the roots from her body. All she felt was a weak whimper from the other side. Its thoughts were slurred and weak.

Edna could feel the vulnerability, the frailness in its energies, so she tapped into the familiar�s healing powers. Though nothing like the real thing, the effects were immediate, as the flow of healing energies into the Cherry Tree reinvigorated the withered plant, its branches and trunk gained color that was lost, and small cherry buds began to emerge from the tips of its branches. New leaves spawned from the tips of the tree.

It took about ten or fifteen minutes, but the Cherry Tree no longer withered. Stella smiled. - Well? -

This time, the reply from the Cherry Tree had strength that was once lost.

- I greet our rescuers. Our gratitude knows no bounds. - The Cherry Tree�s voice was like the whisper of a gentle old man.

Edna looked around. - I was told the hero is here. -

- The hero lies within. Nursing his curse. -

- The hero is cursed. - Edna recited from experience. - His soul feels as if he�s wrestling against the darkness. There is demonic poisoning within his soul. A curse that tainted his soul, a mark that blemished his once - pristine soul spring. He may even have voices in his mind, whispering demonic words. -

- You have seen this sickness. - Edna felt the Cherry Tree�s surprise through their root connection.

The knight grinned in amusement. Things repeated. She understood why A/ once said that what was possible was pretty much a certainty to occur. Once they visited enough worlds, it was inevitable that they would meet those with similar circumstances.

- We have someone that can heal the curse. - Edna looked at Stella. - We need Lumoof here. -

Stella caught on. - On it. - The rift gate opened, though momentarily Edna detected the Cherry Tree�s defensiveness. It must have suspected this was the demons work.

The priest stepped through the rift gate, and the earth itself around them seemed to spring forth with life. Plants, grass spawned as if spurred on by the world itself, and the Cherry Tree�s buds bloomed. What was a destroyed field turned into a field of young grass.

- Well, where is the patient? - Lumoof asked.

- Within, - the Cherry Tree answered, and Lumoof nodded. The Cherry Tree�s bark bent magically, and a door opened.

- Secret Hideout , - Lumoof said as he approached the room. It was a tiny space, much smaller than the labyrinth within A/ �s true body.

Edna followed closely behind and saw an elvish man strapped to tree vines. One side of his arm turned black from the effects of the curse, a familiar old rot from a far older time. She saw something similar in A/ �s dream academy .

Lumoof touched the elvish man, and he felt Lumoof�s domain focus. It was instantaneous, because Lumoof�s energies grabbed something within the elf hero, and pulled.

The demon�s curse was ejected forcefully, a festering parasite that Lumoof grabbed and pulled out of his soul. It immediately transformed and attempted to take the form of some kind of demonic spawn. Edna�s blade was through the spawn�s body, and her shining blade destroyed it instantly.

The removal of the demon�s curse restored health to the elven hero instantly, as the darkened skin on the hero�s body regained color. His face, which was once in pain, instantly relaxed. Lumoof, Edna, and Stella stood and allowed the hero to sleep.

- Well, I was told there are many other worlds like this. - Lumoof looked at Stella as the three domain holders rested outside the Cherry Tree. - Should you start moving? -

Stella shrugged. - Well, yes, but we couldn�t leave things in their current state here. And since we are familiar with this place already, we might as well finish what we started. -

- You are like us. - The Cherry Tree spoke abruptly.

Lumoof stopped. - Ah yes, I did not introduce ourselves. We are from the Valtorn Order, and we are an organization that aims to defeat the demons across the multiverse. We were asked to come here, to shore up the local�s defenses, as the old gods presence fades. -

- You are a tree, - the Cherry Tree emphasized.

Edna and Stella chuckled.

Lumoof shook his head. - I�m not a tree. I am merely the avatar of one. -

- There is no difference. -

- Oh, there is a huge difference, - Lumoof countered.

- We have authorization for deployment. - Lozanna sat quietly in the vast meeting room when the commander and strategist presented the layout. - Our destination is Landas, and based on the map retrieved, these are the identified settlements. Each team of ten will visit thirty locations, defeat demons, rescue survivors, help restore some basic semblance of civilization, and report back. -

Lozanna nodded, as the teams of ten were formed. All in all, there were twenty teams. - Nice to see you again, Ebon. - Lozanna smiled.

Ebon, the A/ ic battle knight , shook her hand. - Glad to serve with you. It�s been a long time. -

Ebon served as a knight for many decades, though he did take a break. But he was also one of those who was stuck in the high Level 130s to 140s, unable to push on.

Then a centaur approached. - Arjan. You�re on our team, too? -

Arjan nodded. - Hallowed company indeed. A/ �s princess and the old black knight. - The centaur peeked behind Lozanna to find another woman. - And a matreearch. -

Lozanna turned and bowed before Matreearch Hoyia. - I was not aware you are participating in this round of exploration. -

Hoyia smiled gently. - There are younger priests to handle affairs on Treehome, and things are stable here. How could I resist diving into the deep end and see what it is like? I would have to trouble the rest of you to be my bodyguard. -

Lozanna chuckled. Hoyia was a Treeology Matreearch that served for decades, and she doubted the woman needed protection. Not with her own natural set of blessings. Six other Valthorns joined the four, and they were all in the Level 125 and above.

It wasn�t the first run for most of them. The announcement came immediately that evening.

- All right, the node tree was deployed. Get ready for transport. Equipment ready! Final checks! - Lozanna checked her own backpack and her spears. Her group would be led by Ebon; he was technically the most experienced one here with a long history of deployments to strange new worlds.

Ebon glanced at his team, and they all indicated their readiness.

- Well, let�s go. -

About two hundred and fifty would be teleported over to Landas, but fifty of them would be around the node tree . - The node tree in the outskirts of Nunarnusk. -

- Good luck. -

- Another survivor here, - Hoyia said as she helped a young boy out of the hole. There was something about visiting a world where death was so commonplace that survivors seemed like a miracle.

Lozanna wondered how the boy survived in that hole, but such perilous circumstances often seemed to create miracles.

- Are you angels sent by the gods? - the young boy asked when he was much better. It almost seemed like all of them were surrounded by a halo.

Lozanna shook her head, even though she could see why the boy thought so. - No. -

She remembered that conversation with Kei, how she was a hero in her eyes. She looked around, at her team, and saw they too had similar emotions. No matter what they said, in the eyes of these survivors, the team were heroes.

- All right, let�s send them to Roskor. We need to keep moving. More places to go, - Ebon commanded. This was their sixth location, and almost all of them were just ruins. Most survivors lucked out, somehow trapped under rubble but not yet dead. The others hid and ran. The rangers found many survivors this way, hiding in what remains of the forests, in caves or holes throughout the land.

Of the marked locations, they found a few somewhat intact cities. These cities and towns were all lucky, because long ago, the heroes left defensive items for them. Some ruins were just filled with dead people, dead for years, if not decades.

The seventh location was a field of death. Destruction claimed the land from long ago that plants began to grow from the ashes.

- This is what our world could be like, - Hoyia said quietly.

Arjan merely tapped the matriarch�s shoulder. - Don�t dwell on it for too long, priestess. Our focus is on rescuing survivors, if any remain. -

Lozanna remembered a similar scene on the Eastern Continent. The demons didn�t get a chance to destroy freely, because A/ existed. If the locals could not defend themselves, the solution was obvious. A/ needed to be everywhere.

They needed to be everywhere.

Lozanna realized later that day that being everywhere was a lot harder than they expected.

They covered eleven locations that day and gave themselves four hours to rest. They would need to keep moving.

- The domain holders will be moving to another world. - Ebon spoke when they woke from their rest. - New orders. They expect that only four or five teams will remain in this world to support the natives by the week�s end. We need to start making substantive improvements to this world�s defenses, as soon as possible. -

- What? - Hoyia said. - But we just came here. -

- There are fifteen worlds to reinforce. Treehome expects to send lower - leveled Valthorns over to support those that remain, - Ebon said. - Let�s keep moving. We won�t be able to rest much. -

The seven surviving domain holders had to split up and formed three teams. Edna and Stella left Landas behind and arrived in the next world. Lumoof and Kafa were sent to another one. Johann, Roon, and Ezar to the fourth peripheral world.

All three teams found more worlds at stake. All these worlds were under attack by the demon kings. Some were almost all lost, and in others, the heroes were significantly less and weaker from their earlier days.

They were weakened, because the demons employed demonic curses extensively in all these worlds. Demonic parasites, demonic curses were found even in lesser beings, but these lesser beings died quickly.

- They are pulling the teams there already? - Hoyia�s exasperation was immediate. - Don�t we have people on Treehome? -

- Too low leveled, - Ebon countered.

The Valtorn Order as a whole had about three thousand Level 100 and above individuals. A huge amount that meant the Valtorn Order far outclassed the powers of every other party in Treehome, Mountainworld, and Threeworlds combined.

It was, in every sense of the world, a monumental sum. A fighting force to fear.

But about one third of these were non - combat classes. Crafters, enchanters, builders. Merchants and lords. Mage - researchers. Trainers and teachers.

So, effectively, only two thousand Level 100 individuals were ready for deployment. There was also a need to maintain standing forces on Threeworlds, Mountainworld, and Tropicsworld. These three worlds security situation required a larger staff strength. That eliminated another one thousand or so Level 100 individuals from deployment. If they stretched it, they could reduce the number to five hundred.

So, at any one point, only about one thousand to fifteen hundred or so Level 100s could be deployed as an expeditionary or peacekeeping force, supported by a larger population of lower - leveled Valthorns.

The high - level math was obvious. - If there are fifteen worlds like this, we can only deploy about seventy to one hundred Level 100 individuals per world. -

It seemed like a big number, but each of these worlds were large places. These seventy Valthorns would definitely turn the tide and trivialize all lesser threats wherever they went, but they couldn�t be everywhere. It wasn�t large enough to cover all the places that needed help.

- It will have to do, - Ebon said. The support force of those below Level 100would have to fill up the gaps.

The team sat and processed Ebon�s update. Lozanna looked around them and wondered whether there were enough of them to reach these worlds in time.

- Let�s keep going. We might have to depart for another world once we�re done here, too. -

They visited location after location in a rush, and finally, when they stopped at the last marked location, Lozanna stood over a corpse that was still warm. A young elven woman gored to death by demons.

Maybe if they reached the place an hour earlier, she would�ve lived.

- No use thinking about it. - Ebon sat next to Lozanna as they ate some of their rations. There were few animals or wild creatures to hunt for food, and most forests were destroyed. The surviving cities all had their own specialized farms, supported by their local druids and farmers . - We just have to keep going. -

Lozanna didn�t like the feeling of helplessness. What price would she pay if she could save more people? No, what would she sacrifice to end this war?

Maybe that was A/ �s question. She knew A/ sensed it all. A/ could see this. He absorbed the spirits of the dead by the hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions.

Why would he not make a deal with the devil to end this slaughter?

- How many of us are left on Landas? - Lozanna asked.

- Six teams remaining. The other fourteen have been summoned to leave for the other worlds. More are getting ready. -

Lozanna looked around them. Hoyia helped some of the injured with her healing powers. Her blend of priestly and familiar powers meant she could fix most injuries instantaneously.

Thanks to the combined efforts of all their teams, they�d constructed a revised map of Landas, indicating all the surviving cities. Of the six great capitals of the elves, only three remained. The other three were razed into the ground by the demons. Nunarnusk, Atarusk, and Sorokor were the three last elven capitals that stood in some way or form.

- All right, Lumoof and Kafa have left the world, - Ebon said suddenly. It was a matter - of - fact update.

- Wait. It�s been barely a few days, - Lozanna thought.

- Their world was in such terrible shape that there wasn�t much left to help. - Ebon recited the communications that came through the network. Updates on the peripheral worlds were given regularly to each of the team leaders, along with updates on the domain holder movements.

- Did they deploy a node? -

- No. Not yet, - Ebon countered.

- What are our orders now? - Lozanna wondered as one of the druids helped create a reinforced wooden rampart for the survivors. They would survive. They�d eliminated almost all the demons they could find.

- None yet. At this point, Treehome Command�s leaving it up to the rest of us team leaders to decide what to do. -

Lozanna �s instincts were simple. If the overarching goal was to reinforce the natives, then they could also accomplish that by weakening the demons. - We have two main choices that maximize our presence. We strike the demons bases in the deserts, clean up the shit that was left behind, and reduce the frequency of demonic raids on the surviving natives. Or we support the elf hero�s retaliation. -

Ebon nodded. - The elf hero�s in Treehome for now. So the hero�s retaliation will have to wait until he returns. Let me talk to the rest of them and build a strike force. -

INTERLUDE

Novorosk

Everything about the place was surreal. Novorosk looked around and had never seen a city like it. It was massive and filled with creatures. Talking lizards and horse - people!

But more important were the people that came along with him. People he didn�t think he�d ever see. Novorosk of Roskor couldn�t believe the people he met. - You - you�re the hero ? -

The elf man was gorgeous. He had features of the high elves - long, light blond hair that was down to his waist, elvish ears, and handsome features that made the females present stare. He sighed, and somehow he managed to look good while sighing. - Yes. Not a good one. I am Samuel, or since I�ve come here, I go by the name Samahiro. -

- This way. - There were chauffeurs, attendants that led the group of twenty or so leaders of Landas to a large tunnel. The city was overwhelming to them, and all of them were dazed. Novorosk looked at the mass of people and immediately wondered how they were fed and housed.

Except Samuel, who looked at the city wistfully, as if remembering a life before his current one.

Novorosk was next to a lady with pale gray skin and equally gray hair. Among the elves, they were sometimes referred to as the Drow, but they referred to themselves as the elves of the night.

The woman and Novorosk exchanged glances, as if sizing each other up. Commander Argo, the leader of the White Elves of Nunarnusk, greeted the rest of them. The fact that so many senior members of the various elven cities could gather made the commander look as if he wanted to cry.

- Are you all right, Commander Argo? - Novorosk asked out of concern.

He rubbed his eyes. - I, I just cannot help but feel a little teary, that the leaders of the various elven cities are allowed to meet under much gentler circumstances. This moment should be recorded. The first gathering of the elven leaders after a period of darkness. -

The woman was surprised. - I believe it is too hasty to consider it the end of darkness. -

That statement made the rest of them freeze. It was true that they now had hope, but they were not out of the darkness yet.

Samuel, the elven hero, laughed. - Look around us, lady. We are in an entirely different world, and we face a force clearly geared for war. If this is not the end of the darkness, then what evidence do you need? -

At that moment, a woman in a dark green uniform stepped out of a gigantic door. - Greetings. A/ is ready to see you now. Hero Samuel, you will have an additional, separate session after the meeting. -

The beetle led them underground, through tunnels and vines, but strangely, it felt as if the earth�s pulse gained strength. The blood elves of Roskor were particularly sensitive to energy flows, particularly spiritual energy. It was spiritual energies that powered their blood - runes and blood - marks, so the overwhelming presence of spiritual energy in the tunnels was a strange surprise.

- What�s going to happen? - the night elven woman asked the uniformed lady.

- You will meet our god, the leader of the A/ ic Pantheon. -

The night elf frowned, as if there was disbelief. They then saw the valley, with the pulsing trees and the flowing energies. The place pulsed, as if each of the trees possessed a heartbeat. There were streaks of light, as if the stars and meteors were trapped in the trees themselves.

- We are here. -

The beetle stopped in a gigantic courtyard, and in front of them was the biggest tree they have ever seen? -

Then he felt it.

His attempts to look at the tree were met with a sensation as if a million eyes were upon him. His mind was immediately sucked into a maze of trees, and he felt lost. Novorosk didn�t know how long he was in there, but then? -

- You all right? - Samuel asked.

Novorosk suddenly felt himself pulled out of the maze, but what replaced it was immediately a sense of scale. He looked at the tree and thought for a moment like he was looking at trees in other places, and the more he tried to look at it, the more he felt like his mind was being pulled apart.

His knees buckled, and quickly, he averted his gaze. The rest of them stared at the tree, only to all kneel, unable to look at the tree anymore.

- Greetings. - The voice was in their heads, and Novorosk felt his skin tremble. His hair stood on its end, as if that voice whispered right next to him, from both his ears at the same time. No, it was as if a choir spoke to him all at once.

Samuel the hero heard the voice, too, and looked around, as if searching. - Greetings? Who - who are we speaking to? -

- I am A/ , the gigantic tree right in front of you. Welcome to my Valley. I have asked my people to bring you here for many reasons. Mainly, I ask for your cooperation. -

Samuel was the only one who could look back at the Tree. Novorosk�s attempts to even glance at its roots immediately awakened that feeling from before. How? Why? The lady mentioned that the Tree was everywhere, and yet in this valley, why was the sensation so intense?

- Anything you command, - Novorosk answered, as if his soul compelled himself to answer. Just being here imprinted the Tree�s presence in his soul. He would never forget.

- What is it? - Samuel asked.

- I will establish the Valtorn Order on your world of Landas. We will help you rebuild, if you let us. But we will also ask some among you to fight for us, and we will choose those willing and talented among you to take this fight beyond your world and further into the stars. -

Novorosk realized then that this was a conscription. A/ intended to turn their world into one that supplied soldiers? -

- Who are we fighting? - Samuel asked.

- The demons, of course. -

The night elven woman asked, - Are - are you sent by the gods? -

There was a moment of silence before the Tree answered into their minds. - Your old gods are drifting away. I am here to take their place. -

Samuel was the only one standing. - Why? -

- Time, and expansion of the multiverse. -

Novorosk didn�t understand it, but Samuel did. He looked at the Tree and sighed. - Can you send me back home? -

- No. I am not the one that brought you here, so I cannot send you back. -

- Then who did? - Samuel asked.

- Hero Samuel. You will have another session later to speak to me privately, and with some other individuals that you will work with, if you choose to cooperate with us. To the rest of you, do you agree to assist my people as we settle in your world? -

The night elven lady answered, - I cannot decide on the behalf of the rest of my people, but I will try my best to convince them to agree. -

Commander Argo answered with a firmness he never exhibited back in Nunarnusk. - Yes. We will support your people with all our might. -

The rest of them nodded without hesitation. - Yes. -

Novorosk wondered how much of their answer was fear. They were ants, and the tree in front of them was the finger of god and could crush them if it so wished. It was a sensation he couldn�t shake. A savior had come to their world, but their world would be reshaped in their savior�s image.

The guide helped the rest of them out, and they were all relieved to be brought far, far away from the gigantic tree.

Novorosk sat and thought. His world would change. It would change into a world made to support this god�s war. For once, they were no longer helpless victims of war.

This would be a better life for his people. For most of them, as the beetle brought them out of the valley and into the larger city, he realized that they now had a hope to live a life like they once did, and better. The various elven empires would be remade from what was left behind.

For most of them, this would lead them to prosperity.

But he also noticed the soldiers of Tree. The short - eared men and women, lizard - people and horse - people, all draped in weapons. They were strong, but he saw in their eyes a look he recognized.

These were people who lived a life of war. Never - ending war.

Some of his own people would have to make the sacrifice for the rest of them. They would be transformed into pawns, to be deployed where the Tree saw fit. Some of them would be expendable pieces.

It was a sacrifice.

The few would have to bear the burdens of the many.

Novorosk looked at the prosperity outside of the beetle - carriage�s windows and felt the imprint in his soul.

If asked, he would be the first to raise his hand.

The elven hero fidgeted quietly. He was nervous, and he had a lot of questions. But I decided to ask mine first. I wanted to hear from him directly.

- How did your first battle with the demon king go? -

Samuel paused and shook his head. - Bad. The demon king was some kind of Flying Demon, while I�m an Archer. It should�ve been a decent matchup, but the demon king�s armor was so strong, and he possessed so many poisoned axes. -

- All demon kings attacks are poisoned to some degree. It is the nature of their energy. The Demonic Curse infects all that survive their attacks. - I briefly remembered that I was even poisoned by the demons curse in the first few decades in this world, and it took years to remove it. The second time I was cursed, it was from the demonic mana, and that required my domain to free myself from its effects.

Samuel didn�t know that. - Really? -

- Are there no surviving records in Landas? -

Samuel shook his head. - I�m not sure, and I also didn�t think about it. There was no one left to man their stores or archives. The elven nation was battered when I came, and the demon king struck when I was only around Level 90. I was not ready. -

That was plausible. If the gods summoned teenagers, they might lack life experience. If they summoned teenagers who didn�t have much agency and mostly went along with the flow, they likely would not think too much about their strategy and would not seek out information.

At that point, I introduced the four heroes. I teleported them in via my ability.

- Samuel, let me introduce the four that will now assist you. Adrian, from Mountainworld, Khefri, from Threeworlds, and Colette and Prabu. They are fellow heroes. -

Samuel�s eyes brightened, and his own senses immediately detected that they were like him.

Colette stared at Samuel and immediately said, - Wow, you�re so pretty! You�re even more pretty than all the other elves I�ve seen. You - you�re like what I imagine an elf should look like. -

Khefri nodded furiously. - You look like a doll. -

Samuel blushed. - I - I�m sorry. This is the look they gave me. I - I didn�t look like this originally, but? -

Khefri cursed. Her annoyance at her appearance never faded. - You lucky bastard. They made you a beautiful elf. They made me into this scorpion shit. -

Samuel sighed. - Milady, I wish we could�ve traded places. This form did nothing but harm to me. The unwanted attention from the native elves just made life hard. -

- I know we just met, but to me, suffering from this ugly - ass shit form, that sounds like ughh! - Khefri countered.

- These four are heroes, just like you, and they will help you with the battle against the demon king in Landas. I will have one of my domain holders support you. -

- One? - at that point, Khefri asked.

- The rest of them are exploring. -

- Can they come back after they�ve done the initial exploring? I think this pretty boy still needs to gain some levels. He feels kinda low level, - Khefri countered.

- Acceptable. We may choose to liberate Landas once the rest of my domain holders visit all the fifteen worlds. -

At that point, Samuel interjected, - Sorry, what - what is this about fifteen worlds? -

Colette answered, - The gods intend to abandon fifteen worlds, so A/ �s tasked with taking over. In short, there�s been a big - ass mess that�s got out of control, and these guys are the professional cleaning crew sent in to take over. -

- Shit, how can they do that? -

- Apparently, not much of a choice, - Colette said. - Gods have a limited range. -

Samuel sat there and looked at the other four. - If the four of you are here, it means there�s no way back, isn�t it? -

Colette shook her head. - Death. The spirits of the dead heroes tell us death leads us back home. -

The elf hero stared. - How? -

At that point, a Valthorn centaur guide appeared. The centaur spoke. - The Journal Room awaits. -

The elf hero touched the journal as expected, and for a moment, all was well once more.

Lozanna , Landas

- Found them. - Lozanna spoke over message . She was high up on a tree that she made, and she saw the flying demons in the distance.

The operatives, spread all over the world of Landas, reached most of the known cities over the past two months. Death in demon form came to two thirds of them, and only one third of the known cities remained as actual, habited locations. The rest were ruins. Dead. Destroyed.

It was sobering, but it steeled her determination.

No, it steeled everyone�s determination.

Sights of thoroughly ruined cities, cities where survivors died because no one came to help them, reminded them of a state possible if they fell. The devastation brought back memories of all her earlier campaigns.

The Order is ruthless. The Order is sometimes cruel. The Order can be callous. There were sacrifices made for power, but all this merely reminded them that their cause was true.

This was an enemy they must defeat.

Team Leader Ebon landed next to her, then a mage followed. The mage created spears of ice that flew toward the flying demons, and they died instantly.

- All right. Let�s move. The desert�s not going to clean them up themselves, - Ebon answered as the Valthorn force landed closer.

The Valthorns extensive counterattack brought a moment of quiet to the cities, while Valthorn druids and operatives constructed new defensive formations. The now - destroyed city of Chursky, and home of the Sacred Cherry, became the new home of A/ �s node.

There was already a small force of builders constructing fortifications. An army of beetles and spiders marched behind them. Beetles outfitted with projectile weapons, fired from the abdomen. They had quite a few deserts to clear before the heroes attempted to battle the demon king, now hidden deep within the tunnel to the Core.

The demon king�s journey to the Core would take a few years.

Edna, and Stella, The Second Peripheral World of Sarlpi

Edna and Stella arrived in a world of Fire and Ice. Plumes of smoke from volcanoes poured into the sky above. Demons were everywhere. The first habitation they found was a group of Lavapeople. They were humanoids, but with skin resembling fresh lava; they built their homes in a cave where rivers of lava flowed.

The demons were of the traditional kind - fiery - with horns of flame, wings of flame, and axes of flames accompanying their fire - breathing Cerberus and hellhounds. They were a terrible matchup for the Lavapeople. The Lavapeople�s fire weapons were resisted by the demons, while the demons overpowered the Lavapeople with sheer brute force.

From the Lavapeople, or as they called themselves, the Arpik.

Edna and Stella then learned of the Snowpeople, the Sarljuk.

The people were once the Lavapeople�s mortal enemies, but they�d found peace with each other after a while. It significantly helped that the two races of the world of Sarlpi did not really contest the same territories. The Snowpeople lived in the cold poles of the world, while the Lavapeople lived in the warm central bands, and the areas where they intersected were populated by the Mixed Bloods, known as the Cham.

The Cham were sort of pariahs to the two sides, who preferred the purity of their own race. The Cham were people that resembled humans, and unlike the Snowpeople, who retained some innate control over the powers of ice, or the Lavapeople, who had innate control over fire, the Cham had none.

Still, as Edna and Stella surveyed the land, they eventually visited the Snowpeople and found that many of the Snowpeople�s great cities and nations remained unscathed.

The fire demons that so easily overpowered the Lavapeople were weakened by the hailstorms and blizzards of the coldlands and were easy pickings for the Sarljuk defenders. Even the demon champions were battered by the strong blizzards, and the strong natural coldness severely hampered their ability to expand into the cold north and south.

The demon king didn�t care. There were no heroes in the world of Sarlpi. The last two heroes died about four years ago. The last two heroes were born to the Chams and sadly, due to their pariah status, did not receive much support from the Sarljuk. Even their death did not affect the Sarljuk or the remnant Arpiks.

Instead, after the victory, the demon king dug into the depths. It had not succeeded in claiming the world yet, but it would happen eventually.

Prosperous Sarljuks and battered, impoverished Arpiks. The Sarljuks saw no reason to help the Arpiks in their warm, volcano - filled lands. It was also a land that was disadvantageous: they were weakened by the heat of the central lands.

- Life is unfair, - Stella said at the end of their visits.

- It always is, - Edna said. - Let�s help the Lavapeople and the Cham, and we�ll end it there. The Sarljuks don�t need us. -

Stella nodded.

- Selfishness, - Stella said. - It seems it is a common thing throughout society everywhere. -

Edna nodded, but the Sarljuk had their own reasons. The warm lands of the Apriks were not friendly to the Sarljuk.

- It won�t be the last we see, - Edna said. - But let us keep moving to the others. - They didn�t have much time to spend here. Not yet, anyway. They needed to complete a quick reconnaissance of the remaining worlds. Only then the Order could form a coherent strategy on how and where to place the rest of A/ �s nodes, clones, and the rest of the Valtorn forces.

THE THIRD PERIPHERAL WORLD

The Deadworld

Lumoof landed in the third peripheral world only to find a world without survivors. This was a dead world, there was no one here, and as far as he extended his senses, it was all demons.

It was a world at the very edge of full conversion into a demon world.

Not a whiff of mortals.

He sighed and spoke to Stella.

- Send me elsewhere. -

- Already? -

- This world is dying. I sense no survivors. -

- Are you sure? - Stella said through their shared communication network.

Lumoof spent another few days scouring the world and found nothing. Ruins. Death. Corpses that were easily a decade old. There were some trees, some vegetation that survived the destruction wrought by the flying fire demons.

- Is it me, or are there a lot of flying and fire - type demons? - Lumoof asked. - Stella, are you going to investigate the originating demon worlds? -

- Later, - Stella said. - Still moving. -

Lumoof looked at his partner for this mission. - How was your stint on Delvegard? -

Kafa shrugged. - Nothing much. I am glad to be reassigned to the front lines. -

- Delvegard is the front lines. - Lumoof laughed.

- Not for me. It is for the Dwarven Lords, and perhaps alchemist Alka. -

- A pity. Alka would�ve loved the place. Or hated it because it has too many damned dwarves. -

Kafa related with the response and chuckled along. - I feel that way whenever I�m in Wetport Lapule. -

- That�s racism against your own kind, - the priest teased.

- I didn�t say our kind is without flaws. - Kafa smiled. There wasn�t much to do in this world except destroying demons, so the two domain holders took the time to catch up and chat. Nothing threatened them. Ten demon champions were nothing before a Level 200 avatar. - My people are still changing, and it�ll take a few generations. -

The priest understood it keenly. The hearts of the people were often hard to change. He could preach the truth, show the evidence, and some of their hearts would still deny it. The heart believed in what it believed, and it was a primal thing.

It was why the Central Continent�s priests and the Order tried very hard to reach the young children and embed their values as soon as possible. It was something the parents resisted; after all, some of them believed the children should be free to make their own minds. But Lumoof, as an avatar of a rising god, saw it differently.

The truth in the heart of the people needed to fit reality. The beliefs they held must match the society�s needs and wants. They tried to step in where possible, and it was why orphans were so often roped into their circle of influence.

It was an area where Lumoof frequently disagreed with Stella, who believed in the independence of mind. Thankfully, Stella was a void mage, and her views did not affect how the Treeology approached the issue of education and shaping society�s cultural zeitgeist.

They had to.

The society needed to be ready to fight wars. The society of Treehome must accept and believe in the cause. The society as a whole must possess the industrial and military capacity to support a war throughout the multiple worlds.

Perhaps someday, Stella�s view of the world could come true. A world where beliefs developed organically.

A wartime government had no choice but to make choices differently, compared to the government of a world with no existential threats. Lumoof believed in it wholeheartedly and that all of them, even Stella, were wartime leaders.

Of all the races on the three Core worlds, the lizardfolks, treefolks, and elves had a very high level of support of the Central government. Dwarves and humans were generally split between Centrists or Order - believers, the noble - royal groups and the guildsmen. A/ once remarked how ironic that the human groups could be summed up to the stereotypical trio of the priests, the nobles, and the merchants.

- Do you think the Delvegard Dwarves will fold obediently, or will it be violent? - Lumoof asked.

- Generally, I expect it to be violent, - Kafa countered. The craft - kings of Delvegard wouldn�t give up their supremacy so easily.

- Should we just kidnap them and spare the world of Delvegard from an unnecessary war? - Lumoof proposed.

Kafa stared back at the priest.

He was unable to answer.

Lumoof could feel the lizard warrior weighing the odds. A war would have tremendous casualties and in most cases was unnecessary. A kidnapping in the background by a sneaky, hidden group like them would truly enable them to get around and avoid such conflicts, especially if a transfer of power could happen peacefully or if these craft kings realized where they stood along the true scales of power.

The lizard warrior sighed. - I admit kidnapping the leaders and forcing them to bend the knee may be the wiser choice, but I cannot help but feel extremely uncomfortable with it. -

Maybe it was his class. A warrior class did not sit well with such clandestine methods. Their ethos was excellence through combat. But a priest was a type of subversive class. The natural state of the priest - class was to change minds without violence. To convert others.

The avatar patted the lizardman�s shoulder.

- It�s hard to make such choices, isn�t it? -

Lumoof pointed to the world around them, and then the portal whirled open before them.

There was nothing else to do on this world, other than to destroy the demon king. With that knowledge, it was time to move on.

- Time to go. -

The Fourth World

The Drakeworld Capra - Terban

Roon, Johann, and Ezar arrived in a world and felt the similar presence of demons in the air. The environment around them was filled with rocky spires and deep valleys, and the energy levels in the air seemed to match the shape of the terrain. At the bottom of the valleys were usually fields of dark rocks filled with bugs that survived off the things that fell down or raging rivers.

It was a land meant for flying creatures, and it just so happened that the demons responded with flying demons of their own. They were the type of flying demons also found on Ulara.

- Well, we�re bumping into more of these buggers. -

- Well, fuck. I dislike flyers. - Ezar cursed as he immediately sensed the presence of demons in the air. Without Stella around, they had to rely on their movement abilities, but the mountainous terrain was not meant for sprinting. They would be hopping from spire to spire, since their levitation and flight artifacts would not last that long.

The spires were everywhere, as if the earth itself protruded out of the ground like thorns, covered in small vegetation and bushes.

- Demon king. - Roon frowned, and they spotted the demon king quite a distance away. - Let�s get some distance between us! -

The demon king of Terban was a gigantic flying dragon with two large heads, both blasting the terrain with its energy attacks. The three quickly fled the confrontation with the demon king. It wasn�t time yet, not with their lack of knowledge.

As they explored the rest of the mountainous world, the three eventually discovered the natives of the world. The natives were a type of goat people that rode drakes of their own. These goat people lived along the cliffs and made homes in caves and crevices along the cliff walls. Their society was similar to villages and towns, stuck in the standardized medieval era.

Capra. The Goat People, and they rode the domesticated drakes. Drakes, or the domesticated variants, were friendly smaller drakes that had grown used to the goat people�s lives.

- The more worlds we see, the more I wonder why everyone�s weapons and development seem to be stuck in this particular era, - Johann said as he rode his own flying dragon.

His flying dragon was hugely interesting to the Capra. The first sight of Johann, they immediately bowed to him as if he was the next incarnation of their hero.

The heroes of the Capra were legendary drake riders, and the old gods granted the heroes an ability to supercharge their - partner - drakes, that even allowed those flying drakes to transform into larger dragons, and also strangely, into humanoid forms. For male heroes, apparently the drakes would take on a female form, while the opposite was true.

Roon thought the gods meddling with the sexes of their partner dragons to be rather disgusting and even wondered if this was a form of honey trap or honeypot.

The heroes of the Capra world could also take on human forms, on top of their Capran forms.

They landed on what looked to be one of the larger populated cliffs and immediately noticed the huge magical protections covering the cliff. There was also a massive illusionary magical formation that hid the cliffs from the demons, powered by hero items.

- So there were no heroes in the last thirty years? - Johann, Ezar, and Roon stood as they were welcomed to the Capran Cliff Lord�s home. It was a fairly small place, but the lush decorations of the room made it feel much bigger.

- No, - the Capran Cliff Lord answered. - Our god and benefactor, Gawa , has not responded to our prayers since two decades ago. But we cling faithfully and continue to pour our prayers into these ancient items left behind by the heroes that came since time immemorial. -

Roon heard the updates from Lumoof and Edna. This was a common occurrence for the peripheral worlds. They were peripheral worlds for a reason, and the distance from their protector - gods meant they didn�t get much protection.

At this distance, it must�ve cost too much to inform the Caprans of their doomed fate.

The flying demon-drakes of Capran, the same type as those on Ulara, found Capran to be incredibly suitable and made those same cliffs into the demon nests. The magical energies of Capran seemed to be correlated to the height of the cliffs, the tallest mountains seemed to have stronger ley lines, and so the demons were naturally drawn to them. In the same manner, the old Caprans also found these tall mountains to be places where they could grow and breed strong drakes.

The Caprans thus fought against the demons for control of their strongest cliffs, though that war was mostly lost over the last three decades.

- Why didn�t the demon king dig underneath the earth after these thirty years? - Johann asked.

The Caprans didn�t know the demon king did that, so they had no answer. But the three domain holders glanced at each other and thought about it.

- Maybe it wasn�t ready? - Roon wondered.

- Or is it searching for something? -

- Or it needs more hero - souls, - Ezar countered. - You know, like what�s written and recorded during the Rottedlands incident. The demon king killed the heroes, collected the hero souls, and used it to poison the earth. -

Roon and Johann glanced at each other. - So you�re saying the demon king has not killed enough heroes to start digging? -

- Maybe, if the Core�s resistance is strong enough, - Ezar proposed. - There seems to be some kind of resistance from the Core, maybe not super strong, but enough that a demon king won�t attempt a dig to the Core until it possesses sufficient kills. -

- I want to say it doesn�t make sense, but at the same time, maybe there is some variability in the demon king�s range of abilities. - Johann frowned.

- If that�s true, that is a good sign and may explain why the demons sometimes seem to just wait it out. -

- If it�s true, it does feel a bit too good to be true. -

Ezar countered, - There is probably a limited number of abilities the demons could cram into the normal - sized demon kings. Think about it, these demon kings are immensely powerful, and from what we know of the powers of creatures, there has to be a tradeoff somewhere. A combat - focused demon king or a corruption - focused demon king may not be as well - equipped as a demon king designed to take over a Core. -

- It would be a sensible tradeoff to make, too. - Johann went along with Ezar�s thought process. - If demon kings could capture hero souls and use their own energies to power the planetary corruption? -

- It explains why both Adrian and Kelly were not killed but rather captured when we found them back on Mountainworld. -

- Sorry, may I know what you three are talking about? - the Capran Cliff Lord interjected.

- Ah, our apologies, we were merely lost in thought, - Ezar politely apologized. - We mean no offense. -

The Capran Cliff Lord didn�t dare to be offended. Johann�s beautiful dragon was a powerful beast that signified the rider�s immense position. Such a unique beast could only have an equally powerful master. So he was polite in response. - It is nothing. It must be important if it merits the great master of the beast to think about it so seriously. -

The three domain holders accepted the hospitality offered by the Caprans, though they found their choice of food mostly unappealing. The Caprans seemed to pride themselves on all different sorts of cultivated grasses, weeds, and plants as delicacies. They did not eat meat at all.

They were pure vegetarians, and Capran cooking was mainly through seasoning the various types of grasses, weeds, and plants with sauces derived from fruits. It was odd, but they ate a little anyway, if only not to insult their hosts.

But they did find something amusing: their drakes were fed on special types of fruit.

- A/ would love this, - Roon said as he picked up the strange fruits. They were - meaty - fruits; they had a tough, stringy texture that looked, felt, and tasted like meat. It was as if nature created its own natural, plant - based meat. - We should ask for one for the Biolab . -

Johann�s dragon tried one and seemed to enjoy the taste. He was given seconds. And thirds.

- The place that you come from, there is no Drakefruit Tree? - The Caprans were very amused, because the Drakefruit�s sole purpose was to feed the drakes. There were sub variants to the Drakefruits, such as those infused with more magic so that the drakes gained additional magical properties, or those that gave the drakes extra armor, stronger claws, and so on. In the good old days, the cliffs drake breeders competed on training the best drakes, with the best combination of magical properties.

- It would please us if you could give us a small sapling of these Drakefruits, - Johann asked, and given his status as a dragon rider, his request was as good as a command. They gave Johann three saplings, each a different subvariant. They would be sent back to Treehome where they would be properly studied.

Johann wanted to ask for some drake eggs, too, but he knew his own dragon seemed fairly possessive and, like a jealous pet, would show some attitude.

With nothing else to do in this cliff town, the trio went on their way.

The trio soon visited a few more cliff - towns and rescued a few of them from champion - class attacks. The demon king was just roaming about, as if the presence of the natives was nothing. It was puzzling behavior. Why did it not eradicate the natives?

Was it to farm more hero souls?

If so, it would be risky to deploy heroes on worlds where the demon king wanted to find heroes.

Landas

Lozanna watched as the rest of the eighth demonic nest was destroyed by the army of beetles. They�d launched attacks relentlessly, and the mages worked tirelessly to send them from battlefield to battlefield.

Portals were extremely powerful. They invalidated traditional limitations of space and expanded the operating range. For warriors like the Valthorns and their augmented bodies, they could fight as if their stamina was almost limitless.

- Six more nests and all that�s left is the demon king. - There were still smaller pockets of demonic nests, but with the major nests removed, the frequency of the demonic raids on the surviving cities reduced tremendously.

Yet the demon king�s behavior on Landas was strange. The demon king ignored the cursed hero.

Lozanna wondered why; perhaps it concluded that the elven hero was not a threat and so decided to burrow underground. But the data contradicted how certain demon kings on other worlds seemed to wait forever before starting its - dig. -

But their presence brought a huge sense of relief to the five elven races of Landas. Almost all of them were sent to Treehome to meet with A/ , and when they returned, they found a world not at war.

Mostly.

It took another three months, but Lozanna and the rest of them finally crushed all the major demonic nests, and all that was left was the demon king.

The hero still needed time to prepare, but for the rest of Landas, an era of peace had finally come.

The magical interference vanished, and with it, the ancient magical communication networks between the various elven cities could be restored. The surviving elven cities began to reconnect with other nearby settlements.

But fear still permeated the elves lives.

Many grew up being told not to venture too far.

It would take some time for this foul memory to fade, but Lozanna felt joy.

It made her happy to see the elves relaxing. A fuzzy feeling when the injured elves didn�t have to rush back to the front line and were allowed to heal.

She came to help the peripheral worlds heal and was eager to move to the next one.

- Well, where to? -

- The fifth. -

FIFTH PERIPHERAL WORLD

Magisar

The Surviving Academy of Magic World. The Ironless World (A World Without Hard Metals)

Magisar, The Fifth Peripheral World

Metteria Hudrot, Gorfort Tower Mage

Metteria Hudrot watched as the magical shields were battered by the attacks from the demons. The fists and arms of the rock demons were strong, but she was a Level 42 Stone Mage, and her shields would hold. This generation of demons had been a good matchup for her, and she gained many, many levels in the numerous skirmishes since then.

- Metteria! Duck! - Metteria pulled back, her movement propelled by manipulating the stones embedded within her robe. A fireball barely grazed her hair and slammed into what appeared to be a rock golem.

But at that moment, she thought she saw a man with short white hair and wearing some kind of greenish robe. The fireball exploded, and Metteria panicked. - Wait! I saw someone! -

- Saw what? - The rock demons came for them, but then there was not a trace of the man that she saw.

Was she hallucinating?

- Pay attention! - Metteria�s captain screamed as another fireball slammed into the rock demon; this destroyed the rock demon entirely. - Metteria! Defense! -

- Got it, got it! - Metteria shook her head briefly, and her stone shields reappeared. She once again repositioned herself using the stones within her robe. Her Stone Levitation allowed her to drag her entire body along as she moved to help her teammates. A few more fireballs, and a few stone bullets, and slowly, Metteria and her ten teammates brought down the small squadron of rock demons.

- Good job, good job, - the captain said, relieved that none of this team died. Metteria looked back at the battlefield, and she swore that she saw that old man.

She walked into the location where she thought the man was but found nothing. There was absolutely no trace of the man, as if he was never there.

- Something on your mind, Metteria? - the captain asked.

- I thought I saw a man during the battle. But he vanished just as quickly. -

The captain walked closer to her and then grabbed her hand. - That sounds like mana exhaustion. But no sign of mana exhaustion. -

- Was I the only one that saw the man? - Metteria glanced around. No one else did. The only reason she saw it was it was exactly in front of her, but he vanished just as quickly. Where did he come from?

No one answered her. The captain frowned. - Metteria, report back to the infirmary and have yourself subjected to tests by the life mage. -

She wanted to protest, but then she knew how this all looked like. - Yes, sir. -

Lumoof

Lumoof landed on the fifth world and immediately had a fireball slam into his shield. It wasn�t intentional, because the fireball hit the edges of the shield. There were demons everywhere, and there were strange mages fighting against them. The demons around Lumoof were gigantic rocky creatures made of a kind of sandstone rock.

The demonic golems of brimstone and fire attempted to punch something in Lumoof�s direction, but he vanished before they got him.

- Stella, can you avoid live battlefields when opening portals? - Lumoof complained through their linked messaging system once he got out of his short - distance teleportation and landed a good distance away in what seemed to be a large valley filled with demons and a group of mages defending against them. The defenders were humans, but they all seemed pale. Lumoof briefly wondered if they were malnourished, but his senses soon realized this was their natural state.

The humans, for once, were not exactly helpless. They all seemed like a decently experienced group of combatants, and they hurled magic freely. Magical fireballs and blasts of energy slammed into the demonic golems, and the explosions ripped the golem demons apart. The group of skinny humans huddled together.

Lumoof watched as they shredded the last of the golem demons and then checked their surroundings for more enemies.

Lumoof�s presence was shrouded in enough protective items and illusions that he was fairly certain they didn�t see him.

Kafa popped out of the portal a few minutes later. - Sorry I�m late. Did I miss something? -

Thankfully, he was also protected by his protections that most likely would not have noticed him.

Lumoof and Kafa continued to follow the group of mages back that eventually led to a steep mountain. At the peak of that mountain was a magical structure that floated above the skies, a magical creation.

The mountain wasn�t totally bare. It was filled with some small trees and vegetation, though Lumoof immediately noticed the encroaching presence of demonic hybrids in small patches all over the place.

He would have to investigate that later and get a better read on the world�s state. But for now, he directed his attention toward the floating structure, a city suspended midair by magic.

- That is quite impressive, - Lumoof said. He activated his spiritual sight and immediately noticed the presence of magical energies from the ground below. There was a faint taste of the hero�s presence in the magical structures beneath the floating castle and multiple magical protections. - Seems like they used ley lines to power a levitation formation and kept their city protected from the demons. -

Ley lines that were fading.

The group of magicians regrouped somewhere near the bottom of the castle, and then Lumoof heard them curse.

- What�s taking them so long to activate the teleportation formation? - One of the humans that appeared to be the leader of the group began to talk.

One of the other mages then teased, - Probably one of the mages sleeping on the job. -

- Really? I�ll give that guy a good sounding once I get back? -

Lumoof looked at Kafa and then back at the flying castle. - Think we can get in? -

Kafa shrugged but knew it was a rhetorical question. The real question wasn�t whether they could but which method would serve their interest best. So Kafa responded with a silly question of his own. - Do you want to jump in, or do you want me to throw you in? -

Lumoof laughed and then pointed. - Let�s just watch. They are not the only group, - he said as he felt the presence of more people through the plants and trees around them. - I sense more people coming here. -

Kafa turned around and tried to focus his own senses. - That plant - sense of yours is overpowered as hell. -

- You can be a tree man if you want. - Lumoof smiled. - It�s surprisingly nice to have A/ right next to me all the time. -

Kafa shook his head in horror. - I�ll take that back. -

- Well, let�s see what these guys are up to. -

There were six other small groups, all mages just like the first group. They felt like mages, because of how their mana poured out of their spirit, and the spiritual lines that facilitated magic use were most pronounced. A common feature when mana use was high and something Lumoof had seen often in their own mages and wizards.

- Still waiting for the teleport? - the other groups arrived and quickly asked. They were all slender - looking mages, and all wore some kind uniform made of knitted leather and wool.

- Yeah. It�s taking a damn while. -

- Are the charge crystals malfunctioning again? - one of the other mages from the third party asked.

- How�d I know? But that would explain why we�re stuck here. -

- Glad to see you guys all in one piece. - The mage - leader from the very first party smiled.

- Eh. Just usual rock demons, we�ll live. -

A fourth party returned, and Lumoof noticed this party carrying far more things. He continued to observe their interactions. - What happened? -

- Our usual forage run was interrupted by rock demons, and one of my guys is an idiot, - the fourth party leader explained. There was a corpse. - He�s dead, but we hauled his body back for his family. -

The rest sighed. - Young ones should know better than to charge into a party of demons. -

Lumoof watched, and he felt it. The thread of magic in the air was something he could sense innately, so he activated his invisibility and walked closer to the group.

The teleportation formation activated, and the group all vanished, pulled into the floating fortress above the mountain.

Metteria

- You�re fine. Eyes appear normal, and there�s no unusual mana presence along your mind or your spirit, - the healer said. Healer, life mage. The distinction hardly existed in the Gorfort Tower.

The rest of her team was already in the barracks dropping off their harvest for the day.

- I am? - Metteria muttered, but a second later, she realized how ridiculous it all sounded. - Of course. Of course I am fine. -

The healer and life mage promptly discharged her, and Metteria decided it was time to go visit her own master. Her master�s tower wasn�t far from the place, so she stepped out of the infirmary and into the streets of Gorfort Tower�s fourth floor.

She glanced around, her feet sensing the vibrations of the stone used around Gorfort Tower, and noticed? -

- Am I being followed? -

It couldn�t be. She looked again, and there was nothing there. Her stone sense was a strange skill, but it�d saved her life a few times. But why? Who would follow her?

She walked anyway and went into her master�s research tower. It was a small, cramped space. Space was very expensive in all the safe havens of Magisar.

- Did you manage to find what I asked? - an older voice said once Metteria stepped into the third floor of the tiny tower. It belonged to a small, petite woman with not much muscles. Her appearance was tired; wrinkles were all over her body.

- Yes. I did. - Metteria checked her pouch and took out a piece of rock with stripes. - The vein remains untouched for now. -

The older woman frowned as she also picked up the same rock, and then she began to examine it with a strange, copper - colored contraption. - This is no good. -

- No good? It looks fine to me. - Metteria didn�t want to believe it.

- Stupid disciple. Come closer. Look at the stripes. It�s starting to show dark - reddish spots. -

Metteria�s face was one of horror once she, too, noticed the presence of the tiny spots in the stripes, made visible through the copper contraption. - The demons magic is seeping into our usual mineral veins. The tower masters must? -

- They know. -

Metteria was about to protest, but then she stopped. - What? They know? -

- They know, disciple. They�re just trying to figure out how bad it is and what can be done. They are not fools, despite all the arrogance they portray around the rest of you. -

The younger mage frowned. - How much time do we have? -

- That�s why I sent you. - The older woman pulled down a paper map suspended off a ceiling. The map was one of the wider surroundings with the tower in the center. Around the tower were marked locations, each with a date.

She snapped a finger, and a wooden, five - stepped ladder came over. She climbed up to the map. She began to write dates and then, with a wooden abacus, began to calculate. It was a relatively simple mathematical extrapolation based on the distance and dates of corruption based on the last corrupted vein and the newest corruption vein and then extrapolated to their current location.

- Think we have somewhere around seventeen to twenty - five years before the ley lines underneath Gorfort experience the demonic taint. -

- That�s not a lot of time, - Metteria countered.

- Not much, but not little, either. - The old woman sat down and then took out another copper bowl. She placed the rock into the copper bowl and then set it down. - Well, let�s go see Ol Junker and see whether he�s got a different data set. -

Metteria stared at the old woman. - He�s also looking into this? -

- Of course he is. You think he spends his time flirting with his two beautiful disciples? No! He works them like hell! -

Metteria chuckled lightly. - Do you need me to go with you, Master? -

- Come. Magister Junker would spill a lot more secrets if you are around. He�s not interested in old hags like me anymore. -

The younger disciple watched as her master climbed down the stairs. It still made her marvel every time she saw her move about as if she was still a spry young woman.

The two of them moved down, but then Metteria paused and looked back. She thought she saw one of the books on the floor move. The vibrations on the rock and wooden floor seemed strange, as if there was someone else in the room with them.

Invisibility was impossible. Metteria was not aware of such magic. She looked around, tried to feel for the presence of magic, but the entire place was filled with so many little magical trinkets that it was hard to be sure.

She turned back and followed her master out of the door.

The alleys and streets of Gorfort were all tiny. Space was expensive in a - safe haven - like Gorfort, and every inch mattered. It was someone�s home. An extra few bits of space could fit a shelf or a cabinet or even a tiny bed for their skinny bodies. They were not fat. Not at all.

Lumoof

Lumoof and Kafa looked around and immediately felt it was hard to move about. The entire place was so tiny that they were bound to bump into things. The humans of this world were skinny, thin. Not a single one of them had bulky muscles, and instead, they all seemed more attuned to magic.

The entire structure was a series of floors, built on top of one another. Each layer was largely self - sufficient, and movement between the layers was regulated by the guards and mages that controlled the tower. It wasn�t hard for Lumoof to notice that those located in the middle were all the unwanted, lower - class people, while those who had some skills and talents were located along the sides of the floating castle, where there was sunlight and some fresh air.

They followed the two mages through the small streets, trying their best to dodge where they could, and eventually, they passed through what was an actual, really crowded market. There were not actually that many people; they passed through the tiny stalls, packed with all the goods they tried to sell.

Kafa looked at the stalls. It was separated into segments and labeled with signs. Equipment. Tools. And Food.

- They use a lot of wood, gems, and copper for tools, - Kafa spoke telepathically as they observed the crowd. The two mages were still walking up ahead.

- Do they not have mines? - Lumoof wondered as they then passed the tools and equipment section. It was so cramped that it was just a few steps away, and they reached the food section. There were only three stalls, one with vegetables, another with baked breads, and another with fruits.

- There�s nothing for me to eat here, - Kafa said as a joke. - Seems like a good place for the non - meat eaters, though. -

Lumoof felt like a candle lit up in his mind. - Is their skinny build due to a lack of meat? -

Kafa shrugged. - Sounds like it�s worth exploring. Let�s follow these two. They seem to be talking about important stuff. -

Metteria

- Ol Junker! - her master shouted as she pushed the wooden door open and stepped into a small workshop on one of the corners of Gorfort Tower�s many, many floors. The old man inside was tinkering with some contraption while his two female assistants were also trying to replicate his contraption.

Her voice shocked all three of them, and the old man immediately looked up. - What brings the grumpy old Kerifa to my workshop? Can�t you see I�m trying to teach these two girls how to tune a magical seeker�s compass? -

- That�s a stupid thing to learn in this time and age! I got my latest data on the taint. I want to compare notes, - her master, Kerifa Gundhert, shouted. Metteria wasn�t sure when her master wrote the scroll in her hands, but somehow she did.

- First, no magic is stupid. - Junker Quartz, one of the leading bronzemages, immediately glared at Kerifa hatefully. - Second, if you are here to depress me, I�ll kick you out. -

- It�s depressing, all right, - Kerifa said. - Do you want to know or not? Or should I take it to the older farts upstairs? -

- Fine. Disciples. Let�s head upstairs and see what this ol woman has for us. - The two girls bowed.

Above the workshop was a relatively airy room, with a view of the skies. The corner units of the Gorfort Tower were highly prized, and it was only with Junker Quartz�s stellar record as a master bronzemage that he won the right to use them.

On one set of walls were three empty boards. Kerifa tapped her scroll, and the scroll�s contents were transferred to one of the magical boards.

Junker stared at it and looked at his two disciples. - Bring our set of reports. - One of the girls nodded, ran down and back up again in a minute, and he tapped the scroll.

Kerifa frowned. - Looks like yours is more optimistic. -

- Our samples were collected, - one of the girls ran to the board and pointed, - there. -

- We don�t know which of the taint would reach us first. -

- Our usual copper mines would be under threat and farms would be under threat. -

- The tower masters should be calling for a culling of the demonic vegetation, - Kerifa said.

Junker shook his head. - I don�t think that would work. Ninefort tried that with their surroundings, and their ley lines were still corrupted. -

Kerifa frowned. - Is that supposed to be a secret? -

- Yes. But I�m telling you anyway. Are you going to report me? -

- No. So it won�t. What�s our solution? -

Junker looked at the map, took a deep breath, and then said, - Energy filtration. We need to purify the demonic taint so that we can continue to use the energy. Our entire existence depends on it. -

This made both Metteria and Kerifa glare at the old man suspiciously. - Use of demonic mana from harvested demonic trees has caused mutations. Do you have a workaround? -

- No. -

Lumoof and Kafa listened in the room, and the rest of the conversation shifted to politics. At that point, the two retreated to a quiet area and looked at each other.

- Our goal is to fully survey all fifteen worlds before we decide how to and what to deploy, - Kafa repeated. - But I cannot help but feel we should help all of them. All of these worlds are in trouble in one way or form. -

The very reason Gawa asked for assistance was simply because these worlds were in trouble.

- Fifteen worlds. Even if one of us is in each of these peripheral worlds, and A/ leaves a clone on the rest, that still leaves us four short, - Lumoof said. - And A/ will not risk all the clones. -

- We have node trees. -

- Or if we select one of the options you are given, - Kafa said.

- That should help. But look beyond their immediate troubles, and think beyond it. A/ �s goal is to bring these worlds into our wider campaign. Which of these worlds will contribute the most to our war effort? Which of these worlds will be strategically useful and contribute to our war? -

Kafa looked away and sighed. - I wish we could just help them all. -

- We will help them all. But there is a choice for us to make, beyond the immediate assistance. A question of permanence. A question of adding strength to our whole. Which of these worlds is worth an investment? Which of these worlds can be made into a Core world? -

- Landas has it easy. They have a node. -

- A node doesn�t mean we will invest our resources there. The Valthorns ability to invest on a planetary scale is limited. Even now we can only fully occupy one world at a time. -

Just the mere act of controlling the human kingdoms on Threeworlds took a significant amount of Valthorn personnel. Rebuilding Tropicsworld still continued to require a significant amount of imported resources.

- The choice we make adds to our overall resources, - Lumoof said as he recalled how A/ once described the problem as an optimization issue. Clones were limited, but clones bestowed benefits on their host worlds.

The various auras of A/ enhanced their citizens health, development, productivity, and even made them level up faster. Each of these worlds would benefit from A/ �s aura, but which one would benefit the most?

Lumoof looked back at the Gorfort Tower. They�d visited five worlds. There were ten more to go.

SIXTH WORLD

The Great Steppes

Edna and Stella landed together on a vast field. The fields of green and gold seemed to go on forever, over the rolling hills to the horizon.

- This is quite the view. - Stella smiled and stretched. It reminded her of the farmlands back home or the great open plains where horses and wild bulls used to roam. She took in the air. It was windy. The grass was colorful, and on closer observation, it was as if someone made a field of grass and added a palette of colors just for variety. There were spots of red, pink, and even purple grasses. - I wouldn�t say I dislike this. -

They were likely slightly magical, but at this point, all the void holder wanted to do was take the view in and appreciate a rare moment of peace. The wind blew, and the blades of grass rustled. It was pleasant.

Edna tapped the woman on her shoulder. - A nice welcome, and I believe this world has potential to be a tourist spot someday. -

Stella shook her head. She probably imagined beetlebuses of tourists, shuffled from viewing point to viewing point. - The tourists would probably ruin it. -

Edna laughed. Stella once warned extensively on the problems of overtourism, though none of her fears actually played out in the Central Continent. For now, tourism remained largely the realm of the wealthy, and even though middle - income folks could afford to travel regionally, it was still not in large enough numbers that places experienced overtourism.

It helped A/ �s natural energies meant damage to nature was fairly easy to mend. It didn�t take hundreds of years to restore a damaged forest.

- Well, let�s look for the natives and find out what kind of demons plague this world. -

They found a group of traveling centaurs a relatively large distance away.

- Greetings. - Both Edna and Stella arrived, and the centaurs immediately kneeled once they arrived in front of them.

- Oh the holy ones blessed us! The two - legged heroes have arrived! - Stella from a few decades ago would have blushed, but she was now quite comfortable in her position of authority that she didn�t flinch. Up close, they noticed the sheen of natural armor around the centaurs chest, as if they were some blend of a suit of armor and a horse, rather than the usual centaur form of a man and a horse.

Edna and Stella looked at each other and regretted their approach. Stella pinged Edna through magic. - Did we just fuck it up? -

- I think we did. We should know better. Remind me to use invisibility and spy on the natives before we even attempt to talk to them. I suppose we should exploit this opportunity to learn what we can. After all, if they think we are heroes, we should be able to get information. -

Edna nodded at the centaurs. - Hello. Can you tell us about this world? -

The centaurs rose from their awkward kneeling position. Centaurs were not really designed for kneeling, their four legs more suited for running. - Certainly, blessed ones. We will guide you to the nearest encampment. -

The world was known as the Great Steppes and was a land filled with mostly rolling hills and vast grasslands. The Great Steppes didn�t have much vegetation beyond bushes and grasses, and large trees were almost altogether nonexistent.

Still, Great Steppes was mainly populated by two types of - centaurs - that were so different that they might as well be entirely different races. One was the Armored Centaurs, and they were referred to as the Armataurs. These were centaurs with naturally built armor and helmets. Their bodies somehow - created - hard plates over their chest, arms, shoulders, and body.

The other centaur race was the Lancias. They were centaurs but with natural weapons and retractable spears, lances, and spikes throughout their body. Despite an ancient tradition where both of the two centaur races lived apart, the two centaurian races were generally cordial with each other and frequently cooperated for special occasions.

The Armataurs worshiped Gawa , while the Lancias worshiped a god called Zulfa.

The demons were the usual fire - breathing demons wielding a flaming weapon of some kind, and their elites were a variant of the demon knights. The demon king was slain about eleven years ago, and the previous hero died with it. The new demon king just arrived not long ago and seemed to be waiting for the hero�s arrival.

It was a world that seemed relatively stable now. In the vast grasslands and shrublands of the Great Steppes, there were now areas that were regularly known as the Demonic Highlands.

For Edna and Stella, the contact went fairly standard. The two centaurian subspecies waited for the blessed ones, and the blessed ones would slay the demon king.

With enough data collected, it was time to get moving.

Roon, Johann, and Ezar returned home briefly, and then they were off again to visit the Seventh World. In the meantime, I was given their collected samples from the world of Capra.

- Drakefruit. - The plants went into my biolabs, and I immediately unlocked the ability to replicate the drakefruits at scale. I noticed that they were also surprisingly compatible with my existing class seeds and skill seeds, and in short, it would be possible to fuse the drakefruit with my skill seeds and class seeds to create skill fruits for drakes.

This was a fascinating thing, and I didn�t know why it never occurred to me to create powerful skills for various pets and mounts.

I watched, and from my central vantage point, Landas had mostly stabilized.

Landas was the first world where I truly tested what were the limits of the Node Tree.

My node tree didn�t have my aura, and although I could still spawn subsidiary trees through my node trees, trees that were linked through my node trees did not share my higher - tier abilities.

So node trees had some constraints. One, I couldn�t use my giant attendant trees through them.

Everything that was connected through the Node Tree was restricted. I could see through them, but only at a basic level, not my full breadth of spiritual sight. Even my listening and observational abilities were severely limited. The mana output and extraction at each of these worlds were also a fraction of my tree.

Node trees also didn�t share any of my auras, and the subsidiary trees of Landas were the - basic - version. This meant the number of beetles they could host per subsidiary tree was three beetles per subsidiary tree, and the beetles were inferior to those spawned by subsidiary trees linked through my clones or main body.

Still, the teleportation ability of the Node Tree meant it was possible to - send - my titans like Hytreerion to Landas.

Stella, while traveling through Landas and then later to the Sarlpi, began hammering on the need to use my titans, especially given my new expanded limits.

I could deploy up to ten additional titans, and each of these Titans would be a strong supporting force in any of these peripheral worlds, or even Delvegard.

Or I could use them to augment my resource restrictions back home.

In many ways, my high Level 100s were a - limited - resource, especially when distributed over the planned fifteen worlds. So they needed a force multiplier, and titans should be that sort of force multiplier.

- Let�s see what sort of Titan choices I have now. - With my clone�s new ability to support titans, I could now support up to fifteen titans and a total of thirteen additional. I currently had two active titans in service. Hytreerion and Patreeck�s presence in Threeworlds was likely to be unnecessary soon, and I would like to redeploy him to one of the other worlds soon.

So as my domain holders gathered data on the peripheral worlds, I began to consider the tools I had at our disposal to enhance my Valthorns performance in these peripheral worlds.

Ever since my Greater Titans upgrade, my choices had changed. They started with a base power level of about Level 125, a decent increase from their prior Level 70 to 90 power levels.

The Great Storm Bird - A greater storm titan that takes the form of a flying thunderbird and has the ability to summon up to 3,000 flying eagles of relatively strong combat power. Has shared vision and senses, and many lesser abilities.

Carapace Demonhunter Worm - A greater variant of the depth worm, with immense earth abilities and very high resistance to demonic damage. Has the ability to summon 2,000 worms with similar resistances and abilities. Can significantly improve ground fertility and plant yields, and also undo demonic corruption for earth.

The Greater Leveling Dungeon - Dungeon with higher levels and more rewards. Will cause its surroundings to be tainted by pollution and magical miasma, and the spawn rate of high - level monsters outside of the dungeon�s vicinity will be significantly increased. Certain blessings and auras will be nullified in the Greater Leveling Dungeon�s presence, but experience gain will be significantly increased. Skills gained below Level 149 will likely be of a stronger variant.

Fusion with any Court of the Deitree - The Treant King. Significantly improve the host�s abilities and endurance. Host will no longer age and will be immune to non - divine sickness and poisons. Host will also now enjoy domain - level mental protections and will be able to resist divine laws. Also grants the ability to summon and control up to 300 treants.

Gantreethor Beetle Carrier - A flying beetle commander transformed into a Greater Titan. Each Gantreethor functions as a mobile command center for beetles, allowing all beetles to operate significantly further from an existing subsidiary tree. Each Gantreethor also carries within its spatial body an army of 8,000 greater beetles. Each greater beetle is around Level 30 to 35 and possesses flight abilities. Each Gantreethor can also self - destruct to deal explosive damage.

The Void Treant - Fusion with a familiar granted to a void - attuned treefolk - A treant meant to thrive in the void layers. Resistant to void turbulence and can move about. Can use void mana, use void magic, and also open void portals.

Fusion with Treechikomas - The Gigantic Spidertree - A Giant Walking Laboratory and Hospital with the ability to deploy smaller about 1,000 treechikomas, treants, and beetles. Provides a strong mobile blessing aura and healing presence to restore friendly parties. Living beings in its presence will not grow hungry or thirsty.

Fusion with Hamadryad Body (only one available) - The Primordial Elemental - A significantly powerful dryad mage specializing in elemental spells of around Level 140. Can regenerate even after destruction and is able to summon 500 fire, water, or earth elementals.

Fusion with Underground Living Crystal Labs - The Primordial Foundry - A tree that attached itself to a ley line and converts magical energy into crystals or metals. Produces a large quantity of crystals or metals based on a System - defined ratio.

- That�s a fairly good selection, - Lumoof commented while he was elsewhere. A world away, but we were always together. That was life as an avatar. - But I think what you need is utility in these peripheral worlds. The ability to provide low - level suppressing force while the Valthorns deal with any stronger threats. -

- We could pick one of each and send them - Edna commented, also in a different world. - But I suppose there is a matching problem, since not all titans are designed for each of the worlds. -

But I thought of the titans as a second - best choice, for worlds without my clone. I had three clones, one on cooldown after I used one on Gawa �s world of Satrya, but ultimately I was only prepared to deploy two clones.

I�d like to keep one or perhaps two in reserve if we did stumble on more worlds.

The peripheral worlds are not the only worlds. Beyond these fifteen worlds there will be many more worlds that need our help, so to artificially limit my choices to these fifteen worlds because of Gawa �s request would be silly.

I did not make a choice. Not yet. I thought it�d be fairer to optimize once the domain holders came back with the detailed reports. There were still a few more worlds to go.

The Fifth World, Magisar

- Eighteen surviving magical academies, all conveniently located in levitating cities, - Lumoof said as he surveyed the documents stolen from one of the mages. Unlike the mages of Magisar, who did not stray far from their homes, Lumoof and Kafa found the world no threat at all, so they camped in the wilderness in a cocoon of roots.

Despite the initially impressive veneer of the levitating cities, what they saw did not impress them. The levitating cities of Magisar were pretty much something copied out of a despotic magical universe, with the tower masters ruling as oppressive kings, while the lower classes were all just nothing more than flesh that was thrown away once they were not useful.

Because the tower masters controlled the levitating cities, everyone else was pretty much at their mercy.

There were a few fortresses on land that were made by those who didn�t want to endure the tower master�s oppression, but these fortresses did not have better living conditions. In fact, because of the lack of generational resources and legacy magical items, these fortresses were often at a subsistence level, and their rulers were also pretty much dictatorial, if for no reason beyond maintaining order.

It was hard to be happy and well behaved when everyone was perpetually underfed and in a terrible living environment.

- I must say this doesn�t seem to be the worst world, - Kafa said. - They still have functional government, even if it�s teetering on collapse. -

- Really? - Lumoof asked. - I would�ve thought this is one of the worst ones. -

- Worse than Landas that is holed up in their artifact cities with much smaller populations? - Kafa countered. - Or the world of Sarlpi where almost nine out of ten lavapeople have died? Or the deadworld with no one left? -

Lumoof looked back at the map. - Well, I suppose on a sheer numerical survivor basis, this is pretty decent. -

- It is, - Kafa repeated. - I would rank this in a similar capacity to the world of Capra - Terban. -

- Would you save them? -

- Yes. That doesn�t need to be asked, - Kafa said. - It is our duty. -

Lumoof chuckled at the term - duty. - Some of them viewed helping these worlds as a duty of those with strength. As wardens, they were here to reset the damage caused by an extraordinary force, something outside of the normal nature of these worlds.

Should a warden also engage in repopulation? Ecosystem restoration? Was there a line between restoration and meddling with natural selection? It was a thought I entertained briefly. It was a dangerous loop to go down, and I decided to prioritize life. Save lives, and deal with balancing issues later.

It was a good thing to do, politically. It enhanced our reputation, it gave reason and purpose to maintain a large Valthorn army and infrastructure, and the Valthorns often truly believed in it.

Only Lumoof felt my own inner conflict with the duty of safeguarding the world�s natural state and whether we would go too far and believe in ourselves as - saviors. - A savior complex would be troublesome, and that made me uncomfortable.

Then Lumoof looked at Kafa. - From what you�ve seen of the mage societies, would you want to bring them into the fold? -

That was a tough one. I didn�t have the answer for it, either. A magically proficient species would be a great help to offset our magical needs, but we would have to significantly usurp the ruling mages in order to gain access to the talent we need.

- I would rank them the best of the worlds we�ve seen so far, in terms of potential contribution to the coming days, - Kafa said.

Lumoof smiled. - Fair. But let�s keep it aside, because it�s time to go. We have more worlds to see. Let�s leave the demons for now. We�ll leave it to the Valthorns to come in and sweep. -

The demon king of Magisar appeared to be some kind of demonic golem, and even now, more demons appeared through the demonic rifts overhead. One of the key problems faced by Magisar was the demonic corruption. The demon champions of this world were similar to the corrupting demons of Sabnoc. They were gigantic demonic walkers that planted themselves near sources of magic such as ley lines and then used that demonic energy to spawn more demonic golems.

In the process of doing so, they corrupted their environment and also caused the demons energies to spread into the world around them. This created the demonic hybrids that we saw across the terrain, and incredibly, the demonic hybrids themselves carried demonic spores that spread even more demonic corruption.

What we learned of the demons methods did not really surprise it. It was just some variation of existing demon tactics, and should be fairly easy to deal with.

We later deployed a small batch of Valthorns on Magisar, mainly to support the information gathering once Lumoof and Kafa ensured that there was minimal divine - level meddling, and my Valthorns began scouring the terrain looking for refugees and those not living in the giant towers.

There were more than we expected. We rescued a few groups of small refugees fleeing their land - based encampments, and it explained most of their unusual behavior.

One, they did not have iron tools or hard metals in large quantities. Instead, all their people primarily used variants of some kind of copper or tin element, or in the more powerful mages gold or silver.

Iron was truly a rarity, and it reflected in the nature of the humans themselves. They resembled humans in many ways, but their blood was made of a different elemental metal altogether. Unlike our knowledge of humans that had iron in our blood, the humans of Magisar instead had something else that we had not encountered in the rest of the peripheral worlds.

A quasi - iron, and it was something I would like to examine in greater detail. It was likely Magisar humans could not interbreed with regular humans due to blood incompatibility.

The blood samples and biological samples we collected through aiding some of the refugees suggested that this elemental difference in their blood resulted in Magisarian humans being biased to magic, as their bodies did not - bulk - and did not gain much muscle.

Overall, we did have a relatively high rating for the world of Magisar, but we needed more time to shape the form of our contact. We had not yet decided on how to engage with these magical towers, whether we would take over, or whether we would be a little more diplomatic. Outside of the natural magical talents of the natives, the world itself was of no use, and I wondered whether we could offer a choice to the locals and then relocate the natives to a safer world, once we verified that their physique could survive on otherworld foods.

A massive breeding program could offset our challenges in training wizards and mages.

With a high - level understanding of the world of Magisar, it was time to move to the next world.

Seventh World

- Now this is something. - Lumoof sat as he watched the winds blow from top to bottom, and there was no horizon. Instead, the horizon curved upward, as if the world was looped. - Another ringworld, but not one of the demons. -

- Mayhaps the inspiration source of the demons Sun Rings ? - Kafa looked in another direction and then up into the sky to see two gigantic rings that rotated around the sun. That meant there were a total of three rings, and they were on the outermost ring. - There seems to be multiple rings. -

Lumoof nodded and noticed this world was physically quite big. - I do wonder, where is the Core of a ringworld? -

- Core? - Kafa laughed and pointed into the skies. The layered rings around the surprisingly small sun seemed strange. - Maybe that moon? That�s the only thing that resembles a Core from this distance. -

The avatar shrugged as his eyes traced the demonic rifts above them. Strangely enough, this world had two active demonic rift paths. Kafa couldn�t see it, but the news made Stella curious, so both Stella and Edna left the Great Steppes to join them in the Layered Ringworlds.

There were three rings surrounding their small sun, and the innermost ring was the smallest and thinnest. The middle ring was a bit wider, while the furthest ring was the widest. Closest to the sun was a strange glowing purple moon that overlooked all of the three rings.

The three rings orbited around the sun like the three axes of a gyroscope, each moving in its own direction.

The demonic rift paths through the void sea were then each connected to outermost and middle layers.

- Well, we have evidence that the demons can actually attack with two demon kings at the same time, - Stella said as she studied the demonic rifts. - There�s no actual rule against it, merely a convenience from the way the demons arrange their attack pattern. -

- Two demon kings doesn�t mean we have to face both of them together. - Edna shrugged. - Some operational difficulties, but if the two don�t stick together, it isn�t that different. -

- Agreed, but it does lend credence to Gawa �s claim that the demons have measures we don�t see yet. -

Lumoof then looked around. - Maybe we should ask Gawa about this world. Make use of that artifact he gave us. -

- First, we should find the natives, - Stella countered. So far, in the few days they had been busy studying the magical energies of the world, they had not located any natives.

It was not hard to find them once the four started to look. They were hibernating humans living in underground caves, and it seemed the world experienced what was called the regular weeks of - darkness. -

There was no concept of a day - night cycle in this world, because the sun was always overhead in a ringworld. Instead, they had a period when the sun dimmed significantly for two weeks at a stretch.

The - Purple Darkness. -

The domain holders were on the surface when the darkness happened. The sun abruptly transformed and changed color, as if the bright yellow sun itself was turned into a dim, dark blue sun.

The light vanished. The sun in the sky was still there but was difficult to see with regular sight, because now the dominant object was the purple moon. Everything turned purple, and then the monsters appeared.

They were no threat.

But the monsters were powerful. Level 60 to 80 monsters, seemingly empowered by the purple moon.

It was this world�s natural defenses, and the domain holders saw these monsters slaying the demonic beasts as well. Only the demon champions could hold them off.

- Huh, - Lumoof realized. - Why do they need heroes if the native beasts are so powerful? -

- Let�s ask the natives. -

The native humans were few, but they created entire societies underground. Their underground tunnels were fortifications, layers of layers of walls, and none of them wanted to be outside during the Purple Darkness. They were very good at constructing defenses, simply because the monsters were all really powerful, so they concentrated their resources on building multiple layers of walls.

The domain holders continued to spy on the natives for a bit, using invisibility to sneak through their defenses and into their underground societies.

There, we saw the natives living fairly decent lives. They grew crops under the glow of unique light - emitting metals, and we watched their society operate.

There were two main activities for their society, the Wall Builders, and the Planters. The Wall Builders was just the overarching title given to those who constructed their fortifications and structures. They dug new rooms underground. There was a subgroup, called the venturers, that traveled along the surface to find new places to build a home.

Each of these labyrinthian homes were called a - Chamber. - This one was called the White Ringed Chamber. Each of these chambers could be home to five thousand to twenty thousand people, and throughout the Three Rings, there were thousands of these chambers.

Each of the rings, in terms of actual surface area, was likely much, much bigger than the surface area of Threeworlds or Treehome.

In some ways, these three rings potentially had the highest population potential. If the threat of the Purple Darkness was nullified and the demons solved, each of these three rings could house ten billion, maybe even twenty billion on the outer rings due to the sheer size of the surface area.

So, after two to three weeks of observation, we finally made the move to contact the natives. The humans were surprised to see us, but ultimately they were all very welcoming of guests.

Because in this world, all humans fought against the demons and the monsters outside. The surface of the ringworlds was a dangerous place at the wrong place and the wrong time, and the odds of surviving in the Purple Darkness were thoroughly low.

So the world developed a norm to house guests in their outer rooms. For venturers who ventured too far. For harvesters and herbal collectors that lost their way.

- You come from the world of the heroes? Those summoned by the Three - Ringed God�s will? - Lumoof, Kafa, Stella, and Edna stood as they approached one of these native fortifications. They only exited their fortifications once the Purple Darkness came to an end.

Still, as a wary kind, they created special holding zones near the entrances of their underground societies. Their fortifications were similar to the lairs of an evil mastermind and were comprised of layers and layers of doors, each fortified to keep unwanted people out.

- I can�t help but wonder how this society even developed, - Kafa said as the humans escorted Lumoof and Kafa to their guest zones. - How did a society come from nothing to this? -

Luckily, the natives were more than happy to explain their own origin story. It seemed to be a story that each child learned when they turned two or three years old.

- We were created by the Three - Ringed Gods, - the human�s spiritual leader explained. - Each of the rings are the bodies of our god, the Three - Ringed God, and the god fought against the devourer of the sun. The battle ended in a stalemate, with both sides dying. The evil god became the remnant moon, while the Three - Ringed God became the rings that we live on. -

Lumoof and Kafa looked at each other and knew their creation myths were probably wrong, but they didn�t want to correct them. It would be highly improper to correct their hosts. It was not yet the time. Such things had to be handled gently.

- We came to this world as refugees, brought over by the Three - Ringed God from an older world. The Three - Ringed God�s voice sent us into the underground homes and gave us talents to thrive in this world. -

The native spiritual leader then demonstrated the ability. The seemingly normal humans created fists made of steel, as if their flesh had the ability to transform into steel. We�d seen it in operation, but still we feigned surprise.

Internally, the Valthorns classified these humans as the Steelblooded. They were naturally tougher and more resistant, but even that wasn�t enough.

- We use our gifts to build these steel walls, form our homes out of the body of the Three - Ringed Gods, and manipulate the Ringsteel into these fortified doors. They keep the demons out. -

- I see, - Lumoof answered. - Your Three - Ringed God is wise. -

- Kind, - the native human answered. At this point, they were not really - native - humans, but some of us wanted to call them the - Ringmen. -

- Are the strongest among you able to defeat the monsters during the Purple Darkness? - Kafa asked.

- A few of us, yes, - the ring - leader answered. - But there are more beasts out in the Purple Darkness than we ever could. Only those blessed by the Three - Ringed God can walk under the Purple Darkness and face the darkness. -

The interactions and discussions over the next few weeks with the natives went fairly well. We learned that the locals were not the type to battle the demons or the monsters of the Purple Darkness. They only engaged and hunted monsters during the Months of Sun, as they needed their flesh and parts for tools. Under the influence of the purple moon, they avoided contact and focused on hiding in their bunkers.

The domain holders learned what they could, but there were no true bombshells, just things that the rest of the Valthorns could gather in due time.

So Stella�s attention turned skyward.

They all looked at the thing that floated so close to the sun. A massive celestial object that was the true master of this realm.

- Let�s go to the purple moon. -

THE PURPLE MOON OF THE THREE - RINGED WORLD

The four domain holders landed on the purple moon, and the sensation was immediate.

- Core, - Lumoof said, but he didn�t really need to say it. All the domain holders knew; it was similar to the time when they reached the Core of Tropicsworld. There was no doubt, no uncertainty.

Just merely stepping on it, they felt the Core attempt to make a connection. For the rest of them, their domains blocked it, but Lumoof allowed it through so that I could speak to it.

The feeling of a million thoughts seeping through his feet and somehow the million voices coalesced into three distinct voices, yet they spoke as one. The mere contact flooded me with visions of the Three Rings, of a world once without the plague of the demons.

Of a world when the purple moon did not release bursts of energy to cause the monsters to run amok.

Visitors. How. strange.

The voice spoke through my mind immediately, and by now, I was quite used to the presence of such ancient things. - Hello. I am A/ , from another world. -

We have not had visitors since the long drift apart.

There was a long pause, but I said nothing, because I felt its probing senses. Cores, from what I could tell, were not evil. It was looking for things around me, and its energies moved.

I can sense the vague remnants of my fellow Cores in your being, their power subsumed into yours.

I wondered then whether those were my clones.

Are you here to claim us? Like the foul constructs?

- No, - I answered through the avatar form. With things like the Core, I decided honesty was the best policy. They were, in some ways, sentient machines. - I come to destroy them, as requested by one of the gods. -

So you are a claimant either way. A less - destructive one.

I could feel Lumoof�s intention to respond negatively, but again, I�d talked to enough Cores to understand that their statements tended to be more pointed.

- If that counts as claiming, then yes. I will establish a presence in your ringworlds and then use it to mount a counterattack on the demons, - I said plainly through our mental link. The domain holders stood on the purple rock, and the entirety of the rock was this realm�s planetary Core.

It just didn�t take the form of a planetary Core but instead placed itself out of reach of the demons by existing as a moon.

What will you do to our children?

The Cores created and took care of each of their inhabitants. In that way, each native was a - child - of their Core. Still, I was not sure how to answer them. - They will live. Prosper, perhaps. But live. -

I felt a probing sense, as if it tried to understand where and what I had done. It somehow traced my flesh across all the worlds, yet not through me, but as if it were droplets of rain flowing down the leaves and barks of a tree.

Yet. Protectiveness. This was a protective Core. A world that wanted to keep its children alive.

Altered forever, but alive. Our voice, if our children believe.

I felt a sense of acceptance, that my presence would be tolerable. Acceptable. The Core�s voice vanished.

We were still standing on the core. The Core refused to entertain us further, as I felt the Will retreat back into the depths of the Core. I could force it if I planted a clone here.

But would I be better than the demons that way?

I thought of planet Cores, or actually, these - realm Cores, - as the center of each world. It was not the - sun - like our old worlds, but instead, these worlds were as if medieval beliefs where Earth was the center of the universe was true. Well, almost every one, except for this one. I had many questions about the design and creation of this world.

We looked back at the Three Rings. From this vantage point, it was as if they moved around us. We glanced at the sections where the Three Rings intersected one another. There were six intersection points, and at each of these intersection points were beams of light that connected one ring to another, a place referred to as the - ladder. -

It allowed the natives to move from one ring to another, and it was how all three rings were connected, even if one didn�t have magic.

- I suppose we should just move on, - Stella said. - Or step into the demon worlds linked through the rift gates. -

- This world has two demon kings, - Edna countered. From the purple moon it was surprisingly easy to find the demon king, because its presence was not obstructed by other things, and there was a straight line from the purple moon to the sun - facing side of the rings.

- And this world is a long way from being captured, - Stella countered. - Its only issue is that Gawa can�t send anyone over anymore, and anyone Gawa sends need to send enough to deal with two demon kings. -

Lumoof looked at the rifts and the paths through the stars. - Let us hit the other worlds. We have a mission. This world can wait. The locals look very cozy, and the demon kings seem content to wait. -

- Why don�t we just take a tour, pay a visit to the demon kings, and see what it was up to? - Edna smirked, and it made all the other three domain holders stare at her.

- You�re serious. -

- Yes. Why is it not doing anything? Don�t you want to get more data points? -

And it was strange. We stood near it and watched the demon king remain as if it was in a hibernating state, or at least in a state where all it did was reproduce. The demon king did not move, as if waiting for something to happen.

- Does this count as a stable state? - Edna asked. We were wary that there were vulnerabilities, like what happened to Kei�s demon king. If we attacked a living but ultimately harmless demon king, we could invite the presence of a far stronger demon king that would not just sit idly around.

As weird as it sounded, when demon kings didn�t act and remained passive, our immediate thought was to consider whether it would be less harmful overall to suppress the rest of the demons and leave the demon king as it was.

A sort of - fantasy - version of - harm mitigation. -

- I think we should ask Gawa . This sounds like something Gawa would know, - Edna said.

Lumoof nodded. - Well, another thing to add to our growing list of questions. -

- Probably easier to just visit Satrya again, - Edna said, but she knew we could not do so.

Our mere presence created doubt and shook the faith of their followers. In a world where a god wass present and that god said it was the only god, the mere presence of someone outside that god�s rule was heretical.

- I bet there�s more to ask after this, - Kafa said. - Every single one of these peripheral worlds is about to be abandoned by Gawa . Might as well just move ahead and get on with it. We can compile our questions later. -

- Is that artifact time limited or with limited use? -

- Not really, it just takes a long time to charge between uses. The divine energies contained within it takes a while to accumulate, - Lumoof said.

- Then let�s keep going. Let�s split up again. You are with me this time. - Lumoof pointed at Stella. Stella grinned.

- Sure, old man. -

This time, Edna would go with Kafa to the Ninth, while Stella and Lumoof would go together to the Eighth.

Eight World - Triotuga

The eighth world started with Lumoof landing on what seemed like an alley. That was a good sign. Stella followed a brief moment after, since she did have to open the portals for everyone.

- An alley. A narrow street. A good sign, - Lumoof said as his senses fanned out into the surroundings. There were people. Humans, just typical humans. They were both cloaked in illusions made to hide their presences, so they walked out of the alley to find a vibrant market. For once, this human city was not at war.

Not yet, at least.

This world�s human society resembled the typical human - magical medieval one. There were kings, knights in armor, guards in chainmail, and mages in robes walking around the main street.

- This is one of those copy - pasted worlds, - Stella said. - Kinda lazy when they designed worlds like that. -

Lumoof chuckled. - You make it sound like creating worlds and societies is an easy thing. -

- I would think the natural evolution of? -

- One of those the heroes cause the spread of humans across the worlds theory? - Lumoof looked around and felt calm. Relaxed. - At least, for one, I like how familiar everything is. -

- Familiar yet different? - Stella laughed as the humans argued. As with all medieval societies, there existed a noble class, a priest class, a tradesmen class, the soldier class, and then the peasant class. A priest wearing typical Gawa outfits walked by, but he looked like the most corrupt, fat priest she had ever seen. - Correction. Familiar, and extremely disgusting. -

- From one priest to another, let us not judge too hastily. - My avatar smiled and walked about. The pair explored the human kingdoms and found that this world was a tripartite state similar to Threeworlds.

The humans, the forestfolk, and the demon-users.

Humanity and corruption were almost inseparable. The humans were incredibly typical. It was a wide number of small - and medium - sized human - dominant monarchies that were spread over one third of the land.

Unlike Treehome, they didn�t have dominant bodies, so the alliance of the human nations was motivated by a need to stick together to counter the incursions of the others. There was no set of central authority, and overtaking it would be fairly easy.

The forest folks were made of two great subspecies: the winged faeries and the earthbound dryads. Unlike the myth of our own world, these faeries were all large, almost human - sized, and possessed sharp claws and teeth. In some ways, these winged fairies were more like winged goblins than actual faeries, and the faeries were more like the lower class and seemed to be bred in gigantic hives that looked like an oversized bee�s nest.

The dryads were the usual rulers, twice the size of humans, and the largest were the size of full trees. They took the form of humans with bark skin but could shapeshift into trees or even animals. They also possessed a variety of earth magic. It reminded me of the dryad body I once possessed, and I wondered whether that would be one way to infiltrate them. Or I could use my parasite, Ally, the former demon champion.

From what we gathered, the forestfolk were also made for a collection of kingdoms, each a gigantic forest of its own.

With the existence of such a place, naturally I wondered whether their kingdoms were anchored by spiritual trees, but despite the large amount of magic coursing through their forests, Lumoof did not detect any spiritual trees.

The forest folks used a kind of light camouflage and illusion ability, similar to my dark forest , in order to hide their presence from others, but around domain holders, it was fairly easy to unmask.

The border areas between the forest folks and the humans were outright battlegrounds. The forest folks tolerated no humans and killed them with their control over the trees. The humans of the border practiced extensive culling of trees and permitted no shrub or bush higher than a child. Every single large plant along the border and a large buffer zone was effectively purged of all large plants. The humans were just as brutal, and the humans of the border used magical nets and harpoons with a kind of iron string.

The priests of Gawa , despite their corruption, also possessed a set of Purge and Banish abilities that seemed extensively effective against the forest folks. The forest folks, on the other hand, were able to regenerate and recover from damage by draining their nearby trees of their life forces. Their weakness was iron, and so, in a defensive battle, the forest folks could fight with extremely high toughness. The dryads, on top of their passives, also had good ranged abilities and had the ability to control their environment.

I suspected that the dryads had a hostile relationship with spirit trees and potentially, given the forest folks ability to drain life force from spirit trees, it was likely that any spirit trees that spawned in their magical forests were sucked to death.

The third faction, the demon users, were a kind of boar - faced people with strong hides, and it was walking into their lands that we realized what was wrong with them. They controlled demons, and I could feel their spiritual tendrils extend beyond their body. Young boarfolk could extend one or two spiritual tendrils out of their bodies, and they would link this to the demons. This would allow the boarfolk to control them.

But this link was not a one - way link, and in older boarfolk that controlled more demons, the demons influence also corrupted them and turned them into almost demon-like creatures.

- This is like A/ �s mana overwhelming, but far more specific, - Lumoof observed from our hidden location. The tendrils were visible to me because of our spiritual vision, but to normal mana - sensitive folk, they would feel as if there was a haze of magic emitted out of the boarfolk.

The boarfolk created a society of sorts, small cities made of boarfolk and their enthralled demons. They were able to control weaker demons, but from what I could see, not a single demon champion.

Instead, we followed the footsteps of the stronger boarfolk and observed that their base abilities were similar to animal tamers. They controlled the demons as their pets and empowered their - pets - to do the fighting. Maybe they even were beast tamers at one point but then turned their talents toward the demons.

Unfortunately, this link would be supercharged whenever there was a demon king present - a link that would corrupt them.

In short, when a demon king arrived into this world, the entirety of the Boarfolk suffered from demonic corruption and transformed into a demon. This process would strangely reverse itself once the demon king died.

Not all boarfolk transformed into the demons, like the children, and the boarfolk constructed special locations to house their young boarlings during the demon years, supported by a group of boarfolk that did not control any single demon.

They essentially sold themselves to the demons. The demons spared the boarfolk because of the demonic corruption through their mental link. I would love to capture them and study how their mental link worked.

It should be possible for me to create more powerful versions of the boarfolk�s demonic control and turn the demons against themselves. Though, looking at how the demons mana worked, it was likely such a thing would be outright rejected by my domain holders, unless the circumstances truly demanded it.

As of now, the world was still relatively stable. The rifts had not yet opened, but there was a glowing path in the skies above. The demon king was coming soon, and war would break out.

The boarfolk always invaded the rest of them, so the other two races erected massive fortifications along the border.

But we�d seen enough. We would send Valthorns here to understand them in detail. It was time for the domain holders to keep moving.

Ninth Peripheral World

The Tale of the Two Continents

The portals opened, and Edna landed on the roof of what seemed to be a heavily populated city. Kafa followed.

Crowds. They saw crowds, and everyone lived their lives. It almost seemed like none of them worried about the demons.

- Well. This doesn�t look like a demon world. - Kafa laughed after a week of traveling. It was just more and more people. It was just a world with a lot of humanoids. Humans, lizardfolk, dwarves, elves, centaurs. It had most of the types of people, and yet they were all trapped on this massive, continent - sized island.

An island that clearly didn�t have enough resources to meet everyone�s desires, so they fought each other over what little they had. The land was mediocre, the metals were mediocre, and the magic in the air was thin.

It was a massive continental island, home to hundreds of millions, and not a single demon in sight. There were few forests in this world; instead, everyone lived in cities or, in the case of the elves and dwarves, turned forests into cities.

Farmland was also plenty, but unlike the other worlds, the farms here were heavily worked. They could feel the presence of many effects and abilities trying to force more output out of their limited farmlands.

A large, heavily populated world with a scarcity issue.

But only on this continent. Edna and Kafa knew the world was much bigger, so they used magic and traveled.

Then they discovered a few more islands, with more resources, but infested with monsters.

And even further away, another full - sized continent overrun with demons.

It was as if imagining Treehome, in a situation where a demon king stuck to one continent and never left it. The humanoids claimed one continent for themselves, and the demons claimed another. The continent of demons was densely covered with demons of varying strength, and the demon king was a gigantic, three - headed, demonic elephant that was already digging into the ground.

In a decade or two, it would completely dig into the core, and this world�s way of life would change forever.

The rest of the smaller islands were just overrun with magical creatures, and this was where the humanoids ventured for wealth and resources.

But the great demon continent remained forever a land none dared touch. A land of death and destruction.

They referred to it as the Cursed Continent.

I couldn�t help but feel a tinge affected. That was what they called the Central Continent, once.

- Well. - Kafa and Edna landed on the island, and Kafa looked at his fellow warrior. - This world�s not in trouble. Not yet, anyway. -

- Seen enough? - Edna smiled after about a month of travel.

Kafa sighed. They�d largely formed an assessment in that month. - The great part of this world is its population. If our goal as an institution is to truly collect talent, then a significantly larger surviving population is more likely to produce the talent we need. -

- Outside of the population, I suppose you are right. Let�s go to the next. -

Each world had their own demon kings, and each had their own ticking timer. Some had more time, some had less.

We would likely need to do a full sweep of all the worlds, clean it up for demon kings, and then decide where to properly set up base. There were six more worlds to go.

TENTH

THE HUMAN KINGDOM LANDS OF CAVAL

Aland of knights. A land of warriors. Edna�s stint on the ninth world was short, so she and Kafa landed on the tenth world to find one filled with knights and demons. It was something like Satrya and yet not.

It was too familiar, and yet that familiarity also evoked a sensation within the lizardfolk.

- I�m starting to feel a little sick of traveling, - Kafa mused as a joke. It was only partly one.

Edna agreed. - Traveling too much does weigh on one�s soul. -

- I think I understand why Gawa �s just eager to let go of worlds. At some point, I think I wouldn�t be able to care. -

Edna stared and wondered how that escalated quickly. The lines between a stare and a glare were so thin. - You shouldn�t be like that. That will be our slow death. -

Kafa looked back. - You�re made of stronger stuff that I am, Lady Edna. I see these new worlds, and I realize at some point, why should I care? A part of me speaks to return to my familiar lands. Lands that are safe. As long as our homes are safe? -

- Death, - Edna answered. - We cannot be the only island in a sea flooded with demons. Death comes to us eventually. Together, with a coalition of the living, we can create a wall. -

Kafa sighed. That was true. - I know. I know. But this has been a lot more tiring than I expected. I thought the worlds would be interesting, but now we are in the tenth peripheral world, and even if they are interesting, I wonder to myself whether I should care anymore. -

Edna tapped the lizard warrior on his armored scales. - Because we must. Because we are the only ones that can care for these worlds that are no longer cared for. -

- I know you are right, - Kafa said, but he looked at the world and felt a little blank. - This is the burden of our existence, and we may have traveled a little too much. -

Edna nodded. - Let�s get a break. We can return home and rest. I suppose we do need it. I will continue on with the others. -

Kafa nodded. - I certainly do need some time back home. -

It was so tempting to relegate the world to something of a copy - paste of another world. Even when none of the worlds they�d been to were actually proper mono - human societies.

This was a world with only humans, and they fought demons.

Naturally, in mono - race societies, anything or anyone that didn�t resemble that mono - race was automatically assumed to be a monster. Or a demon. Both, if the demons had possession and corruption abilities, and that race had inherited trauma from past parasitic demons.

We still saw this in the Southern Continent, where some humans still experienced micro - flinches at the sight of non - humans. Perhaps not outright hostile, but a reaction nonetheless.

- Well, to be fair, this human world fits your powers like a glove. - Kafa laughed a few days later as they explored the world of Caval.

- On the other hand, I could think of about a hundred or two other Valthorns and allies that would benefit from this world, - Edna countered. There were also many others who could exploit a world of multiple city states.

- Maybe the next one is a sandworld. -

- I don�t like sand. -

- I know. Some lizardfolk claim it gets between our scales and makes everything nasty, - Kafa answered, and Edna chuckled.

- I thought some lizardfolk are native to the sands. -

- Some, - Kafa said. - I�m not one of those. I�m the swamp kind, and sand irritates me. -

- Then we should visit a swampworld. I bet there�s one. Maybe not the peripheral worlds, but beyond that. -

The tenth peripheral world of Caval was one of not many gimmicks. It was just humans and demons. Its population was fairly large, and in the past, the city - states that received heroes from the old gods prospered. But somehow, the cities never quite formed up into large empires.

Its social structure was also fairly similar to the humans of the eighth peripheral world, and even the old human empires of Treehome. The feudal aspects naturally reoccurred throughout the multiverse, and that was a fairly sad thing to think about.

I believed it was a product of the power - and combat - based systems. Societies where the powerful could exert power much more easily over the weak would naturally be more feudal, simply because there was no check or balance on the authority of the strong.

- Well? Any views? - Edna asked.

Kafa just sighed. - If what we want is gaming the odds of getting talent, I suppose this isn�t a bad place. It has most of the basic resources and resources, and with A/ �s influence, it should be possible to turn this world into a farm for soldiers over a few decades. -

- Overall, where would you place it? -

- Below the mageworld and that overpopulated world. Or even the Three - Ringed World. Hell, at least Landas has a magic tree. This world of humans is a little ordinary to be worth a clone. -

- Ordinary could be good. Mountainworld is fairly ordinary as it goes, and it is now our Core world. -

- Then why choose? We could just roll the dice, - Kafa said. - Each world has a ceiling for population size it can comfortably absorb, a ceiling to its mana output. I suppose given this world�s ordinary design, it should have a fairly balanced mix of resources, so that�s one thing going for it. -

Edna laughed. - You�re perfectly right. All right, I�m not going to tease you more. We should keep going. -

The seemingly ordinary world of Caval wasn�t totally ordinary once they started to investigate the heroes and defenses of the various city - states of it. There were segments of uniqueness to it, such as the many magical swords on the world.

The heroes of Caval, when they were summoned long ago, would also arrive with something called the Seed of the Hero Sword . Each hero would then, through their own growth journey, grow this Sword Seed into a magical weapon worthy of them, and throughout the world of Caval, there were hundreds of remnant hero swords left by earlier heroes.

Completed hero swords were extremely powerful; they contained a large fragment of the hero�s power that grew as the hero developed over time. Even incomplete hero swords, left by the heroes that died too young or early, were still decently powerful artifacts.

Interestingly, the journey of the heroes of Caval also took them through the path of gathering the swords made by previous heroes to add the power of the old hero swords to their arsenal of abilities.

Naturally, I began to wonder why these worlds were this way.

Did the planetary core influence how a world�s heroes worked?

Lumoof held up the strange object in his hands and willed it to activate. We could feel the power of a divine artifact; it twisted the world so viscerally that anyone nearby would�ve felt as if the world itself was torn apart to create the small tunnel.

It linked the world, and Gawa , if only momentarily, for us to speak. It felt like a sheer waste of divine energy, but then again, what could be more important than the exchange of information between two multiworld powers?

A part of me was repulsed by that sort of overbearing thoughts, but a large part of me embraced the reality long ago.

- I was wondering when you would have more questions? -

- Well, then I finally have them. Why do heroes seem different from world to world? How exactly does the hero class work? -

- It is not too much of a stretch to say that it is a trade made with the System. We petition the System for heroes that are adapted to defeat the demon kings. The hero classes themselves are created through the System. Think of it as visiting a merchant, and you tell the merchant that you wish to purchase a weapon with a certain set of attributes and a certain set of skills. The merchant would then go to the back of its room, and after searching and cobbling things together, it would then offer you a selection. -

I paused. - Then the mental controls on the heroes? -

- Our earliest attempts to summon heroes cost us too much of our faith points. We gave heroes all the power at the very start, only to find that they misused our gifts. Rather than deal with the demons, the heroes summoned did everything else. In quite a few worlds, the heroes ended up destroying everything. They were a medicine that killed its patients. A cure worse than the disease. -

This was something I long suspected.

- So, as a whole, we imposed conditions on the heroes. Many of the gods came together, back when the world was much smaller, to collectively control heroes. The heroes were a very sharp knife, and we wanted it directed specifically at the demons. -

- Then the worlds? -

- Each hero class, offered to us to choose, is a combination of our parameters and the restrictions imposed by each world. We cannot summon a Dragon ling hero to a world without Dragon lings . We cannot summon a lizardman hero to a world with only humans. These conditions are within each world�s inherent conditions. In worlds where everyone uses magic, working with the world�s restrictions and conditions reduces our faith point cost. Think of each core as a micro world with its own rules. Overcoming the rules costs faith points. Working with the rules reduces our faith points. It already costs us too much to pluck heroes from the source worlds and then send them over to these demon-attacked worlds. -

We listened. - But. why do the core worlds have these rules? Where do they come from? -

- At the heart of that question is a question of our origin. That is something I do not know the answer for. Even we wonder what truly is our origin story. Where we came from remains a mystery to even the most ancient of us. -

- But surely worlds and rules come from. somewhere? -

- In the early years, there was an idea that we are all creations of dreams. The unused radiant thoughts of the source worlds. It remains to be proven. But I digress. Each world has its own rules. Overcoming them has a price. -

There were questions.

- For my Core worlds, I am able to alter the Core�s rules directly, because I exert control over their Core. I can weave my divine laws into them and change how each of these different worlds function. There are limitations imposed by the System, but ultimately, it is all a matter of faith points. -

- Then can the heroes gain divinity? -

- I�m afraid not. It is an inherent restriction of the hero class. The hero class is a borrowed power. A god cannot borrow its power from another. -

- Even those freed? -

- Freed? -

- Those that escaped from the mental restrictions and altered the hero class. -

- That is not supposed to happen. But no. The power remains borrowed. The hero class is linked to a store of divine power from the System. -

I see. Colette�s chances of having a domain was nil. Unless she gave it up for - But they can trade their hero class for other classes? -

- Yes. But there is a cap. There is a distance they will have to climb on their own merit. -

I see. But then I look at the heroes and remembered there was a question I really wanted to ask. - Why the heroes? Why pick them from the source worlds? -

- Because they have the best souls. -

- Really? - I found that hard to believe.

- What you see is after the System�s meddling. But the souls of those from the source worlds are most suited for the perils of interdimensional travel. -

I thought about the question that the heroes asked. - Do they. do they really return to their source worlds after they die? Can they go home? -

- I have no ability to send them back, so I am not certain. But the System claims they will, so they will. -

- How? Is it really a lie? What is the System? -

- I have no answer to that. Know that what is created across many worlds are often random. Worlds that cannot self - sustain simply collapse, and those that can are all that remain. Unusual and different, but they have reached a point where they can function as self - sufficient worlds. At least, until the demons threatened to consume us all. -

At this point, I felt the powers of the divine artifact wane. It would need some time to recharge.

- There is no need to worry. We will speak again. -

We had answers, but we still had more to do.

Fifth World - Magisar

Lozanna and Ebon looked at each other during a short break. Just a while ago, they helped the Magisarian humans out of the rubble. Some of these humans, who didn�t want to live under the rule of the tower masters, left the tower and decided to strike it out in the vast wilderness.

The wilderness, filled with monsters and the demon golems, plants and demonic hybrid plants, was a hostile environment, but these refugees decided rolling the dice was worth it, at least compared to the cramped and slum - like living standards of the Towers.

This group of refugees was not that big. Just about one hundred people.

- Are you really from another world? - The leader of the refugees was a relatively strong mage at about Level 52. He was supported by a group of thirteen Level 40 mages.

- Yes. - Hoyia�s calming presence worked like a charm. To the refugees, she was the presence of the divine itself, a woman of tremendous holiness that even the mages could not help but believe. The man stared. - But I am not the hero. -

The heroes of Magisar, at least, some time ago, used to arrive once every two to three decades. Not enough to quell the demon king�s reign, but enough to buy time.

The hundred or so were fed and given food. The food provided had to be plant based, because the differences in blood type were then immediately noticeable. They vomited when given meat from other worlds. It was alien meat to them, and their bodies, though similar in appearance, were not able to tolerate the meats from the other worlds.

At least they responded to the healing energies, and that sort of energy transfer still worked.

There would be a lot of things to study. The interactions of the Magisarian humans with all the different types of materials available would be something they needed to check. Despite the natural magical aptitude of the Magisarians, if the side effects of their body were serious, it may seriously hinder their ability to operate off - world.

Lozanna snuck into Gorfort Tower. It wasn�t difficult, aligning one�s mana to the frequencies of the teleportation spell was fairly simple, compared to the mana attunement required to travel through demonic rifts.

Every single Level 125 Valthorn was familiar with the basics, even advanced versions of a few other major disciplines. They had to be, because out in the fields, it was really hard to know what the other worlds could throw at them. Even if they didn�t receive a class in those unrelated class trees, the skills and knowledge still helped their overall performance.

- How is it in there? - Ebon asked via their message network. He was located a distance away, clearing out the demonic hives. It was quite easy to locate more refugees, once they figured the patterns. The refugees generally preferred wide - open spaces where it was hard for the golems to surprise them.

So, rather than look for easily defended places, the mages exploited wide - open spaces where they had range and it was easy for them to use spells.

- It�s surprisingly sad. - Lozanna found the living conditions terrible. Due to the space scarcity in the Towers, everyone was crammed into a small space. Ultimately, Lumoof�s information guided them to one of the mages they stalked.

The mage Metteria Hudrot lived in a small room just big enough for a bed and four shelves. There were no bathrooms, and instead, for their level, the bathrooms were shared by a few units together, similar to a dorm.

She lived in a less - pleasing place when she was lower leveled. Under Level 30, a mage was pretty much just a peon and would only have a bed and a small box as their personal living space. Even children were centrally managed. For the low - level mage - parents, they were pretty much living in tiny rooms with stacked beds.

- Who�s there? - Metteria Hudrot looked around, and Lozanna smiled. - Who - who are you? -

It was easy to tell they were different. Their skin tones were different. Their build was different. Lozanna had dense, lean muscles throughout her body, while Metteria was thin, almost bony. Unlike Lozanna �s rounded joints, the Magisarian humans lacked the muscle mass, and their joints protruded from their skinny frames.

Lozanna knew it wasn�t the diet. She knew of humans that strictly consumed vegetables that still had muscle mass. This difference was in their blood and genes. Their stick - thin appearance was a norm.

- Hello. I�d like to talk. -

- . what? -

- I�m sent by the man you saw during your mission a few weeks ago. The man that vanished. -

Metteria�s eyes immediately widened. - It wasn�t an illusion! -

- Of course. Now, will you come with me? - Lozanna approached her, and suddenly a magical portal appeared right next to Lozanna .

Metteria gulped. - Where are we going? -

- Somewhere we can talk in greater detail. -

There were probably a million questions going through the mage�s mind, but it was important to learn more about the tower masters of the various Towers before making contact. So they had to infiltrate and learn about their society from the middle, where they had enough knowledge and access to see the bigger picture.

Lozanna would try to contact Metteria�s master next. It would be easier if Metteria could do the introductions.

They would slowly find potential allies, learn about the various tower masters pain points and weaknesses, and see how they could absorb these Towers into the fold peacefully.

By Lozanna �s own estimates, A/ had much to offer these Magisarians. She only hoped that they were wise enough to accept the deal.

YEAR 274

It�d been a year since we started exploring the peripheral worlds, and we were now in our eleventh world. I began to feel the strain of the expanding world. The Valtorn Order now stretched across more worlds, and each of them required resources. Shipment of goods. Even mana.

Stella and her growing team of void mages worked overtime to send people over, but ultimately, we had to decide on the placement on the node trees. Without node trees, the void mages would be fully tasked with the movement of people and resources, and this strained our void mages.

Our void mages were a fairly limited group in the first place. There were about two thousand void mages, but most of them were relatively mid - levels around Level 60 to 90. Then there were about one to two hundred void mages that we considered to be - deployable, - a decent number, but for movements to these faraway places, it was mainly the void archmages and their peers that did the work.

With my domain holders leading the exploration, I directed my own attention on the industry growth. I needed the drain on resources by some of the worlds in repair, such as Tropicsworld, to taper off.

But luckily, it was not bad news.

Because for the world of Treehome, the reality bubble expanded, and then I felt something exceptional happen.

In the faraway distance, at the edge of space itself, I could somehow see past the bubble that separated Treehome�s reality and the endless void sea. Using the vision of the void layers granted and shared with me, it was as if there was a world birthed within the void itself.

At that moment, I saw thousands of worlds, floating as if suspended in a dormant state. Each world was encased in a package of void energies. The void sea was the spawning pool of the world. It was the primordial soup, and from my point of view, I believed, it was only something I could see.

Because through my domain, through my empowerment of Treehome�s Core, I could see the energy of the Core stretch into the void itself, and then it searched. I didn�t know how or what it did. But it searched through the void sea, as if looking for something that matched.

Then it found one, a world somehow with land and water encased in a strange liquid sac within the void sea. I felt the Core�s authority spread into that liquid sac, and it pulled.

It pulled and pulled.

It felt like forever, it felt like just a moment, and the reality bubble of Treehome suddenly bulged as that new world in the sac made contact with the wall. It was as if a larger soap bubble joined with a smaller soap bubble, and then a new world entered into Treehome�s reality.

It drifted, then drifted and settled in an outer orbit around Treehome�s sun.

And so Treehome now had a sister planet.

My forces arrived on the sister planet to find it already populated with plants and people.

A dream from the Core of Treehome filled in the blanks.

A world that existed entirely within the void sea in a state of limbo. It existed, but imperfectly. The void sea was the cradle of worlds.

I strangely found it similar to something from my past life. This new world was like a program that was in development but never went - live. - It ran in a test environment all this while, but when it was pushed to the - live - environment, it inherited all the history it created during the test environment.

The sister world of Treehome, which I now called Shrubhome, shared the same racial mix as Treehome, and it came already present with a decently sized population.

- How? - Most of my forces didn�t understand. Or maybe they did, but it was a reality that was hard to swallow. For us from Earth or the source worlds, it was hard to grasp whether we were dealing with reality. How was a world that didn�t exist before suddenly existing with its own history in what felt like a few days? In a way, it was simpler to think of this new world as one that existed in a realm separate from ours, and now it moved across the realms to join us.

Because the implications of a world created out of scratch meant we were all simulations. That our existence could be created out of the blue by the void sea.

The mages were surprisingly more willing to accept it. To them, if summons were real, then creations of a world with its own history could be real.

For me personally, I found it easier to think of this sister world as a world that was teleported in to be our celestial neighbor.

Shrubhome was a smaller world. Smaller, but still had seas and continents, similar to Treehome. It had three large continents, and my forces arrived to find existing kingdoms and nations already squabbling.

There were no domain holders here. Not a single one, and the strongest person we sensed was only in the Level 50s.

We spoke to some of the leaders of Shrubhome, and it seemed, from their point of view, they were always there, and when they looked up to the skies and the sun, Treehome was always in their star maps.

Again, if magic could do so much, creating worlds out of thin air should be doable. But damn, it was hard to truly accept. Somehow, the flow of energies on Shrubhome was also the same as Treehome.

This was a world where the Core was actually linked to Treehome�s core.

I sensed the same energy from Shrubhome�s core. The core was a physical object, but in Treehome�s case, now it was split into two.

I wondered whether this was a form of defense mechanism. A demon king needed to capture both cores in order to fully control the world.

Eleventh World - Shasan Land of Sands and Floods - Demons are Gigantic Fire Demons But Expansion Curtailed by the Sands

- Sand. - Johann picked up a handful of sand, and the sand was blown away by the wind. It was fine sand, high quality, even. But sand. The sun was bright, and there was not a single cloud in the sky.

The sand, the heat, the cloudless sky all reminded them of the Scorpionoid lands of Zhaanpu.

- Well, looks like we found the world to fulfill our promise to Zhaanpu. - Roon smiled. - Khefri would enjoy this place. -

- Is something going on with you and Khefri? - Ezar asked.

Roon shook his head. - Nothing. There was nothing, and there�s still nothing. At one point, Chung was pursuing her. -

- He�s dying soon. You have a chance. -

Roon made an exaggerated retching expression. - Please. At some point I�m going to prefer to be partnerless. -

- I have a partner, - Ezar admitted. - And she�s cute. I hope to have many babies with her. -

Roon paused as he looked into the distance. There was a very faint scent of some kind of human presence. - I didn�t know that. Is it a fairly recent thing? -

Ezar nodded. - Yeah. We got together recently. At least, before this whole peripheral worlds thing. I kinda miss her already. -

The ranger pointed in a direction, and the three began to move. - Well, maybe you should head back and go make some babies. I think there�s really no need for three of us in a single world. -

Ezar shrugged. - The three of us are meant to offset Lumoof and Edna�s significantly higher levels. But yeah, I should make babies. -

- I know I know. - Roon laughed. - But yeah - look, humans. Again. -

- That�s good. - Johann joined in, and the three activated their illusionary spells. They needed to stalk the natives and learn more about them before making the first contact. - A/ would love to have a look at your kids. -

Ezar nodded. - A/ �s medical care would be indispensable. -

- I mean? -

- I know what you mean, - Ezar said. - I�m curious, too. I just hope there�s no complications for the mother. -

- Is she human? Where�s she from? - Roon asked.

- Yeah. She�s an enchanter working for the Valthorns. She helped make one of the pieces of my gauntlets. -

- Oh. Sweet. At least she isn�t an outsider. That hardly works well, - Roon said. - There�s Valthorns married to folks outside the Order, and that can get a little messy if things get leaked. -

Ezar squirmed. - That? -

- What usually happens is the outsider gets absorbed in, but that can be a little traumatic for the partner, - Roon explained.

There were information - access tiers to the Order, and for domain holders, they pretty much had full access. As one went down the Order�s ranks, the access tiers decreased. It was monitored by the artificial minds to ensure key information remained secure.

There wasn�t one hundred percent security. Not with the various kinds of espionage skills and surveillance spells, but we had been fairly successful in controlling data leakages with a huge network of artificial minds and Patreeck�s perpetual mind - scanning abilities.

- You need to tell me more. Later, - Ezar said as the three snuck close and followed the human caravan traveling through the sands.

The trio didn�t take long to start noticing the unusual creatures of this desert world. One, there were sandbirds. They were part sand�part spiritual creatures that were more like elementals than actual animals.

There were many other larger creatures, like a gigantic sandfish that resembled a transparent fish but with sand as its skin. They were just native animals made of sand.

Then the vegetation was also different. Despite the strong sunlight, the plants they had were skinny, brown - colored things. Instead, these plants were drawn to magic and seemed to derive sustenance from the natural magical energies.

As a result, they tended to be brownish or sand - colored and were mostly camouflaged in order to hide from the animals that preyed on them. The plants were also able to move to an extent, because their roots seemed to be able to extend to reach the magical ley lines.

In a way, they were pretty much some kind of plant - animal blend that didn�t need water or sunlight and instead used sand and magic for its sustenance.

- The great rain is in fifteen days. - The trio listened to the local humans talk. - The sands will flood, and we must reach Norgan. Make haste, everyone. -

They whipped the strange, armored beasts, and they roared. The armored beasts were also sand - like creatures similar to the sandbirds and the sandworms. They were fed a collection of brown plant leaves harvested from the various magical plant patches. The locals called them the Brown Trees.

The trio followed the human caravans and reached it in thirteen. Norgan was the first human settlement they encountered in the world of Shasan, and it was located on a rare rock outcropping, a mesa in what appeared to be a sea of sand.

The people of Shasan made things out of sand and rock, and they did so through a class known as the Sand Sculptors . We also soon noticed the presence of an Altar made of Sand that we were pretty sure was a magical object.

It granted the class Sand Sculptor to anyone who prayed to it. All cities had one of these Sand Altars.

They were magical existences, a kind of spiritual object similar to a spiritual tree, but one of sand.

It reminded me of Zhaanpu, and I wondered what Zhaanpu would�ve done to a world like this.

Then we experienced Shasan�s unique weather.

The Great Flood. A seasonal rain that happened almost like clockwork. The skies were charged with a kind of magic, similar to ley lines, but different.

The people of Shasan were ready. Their homes, all located on top of the mesas, were built with large walkways, and then it poured. The skies poured more water than we�d ever seen anywhere. It was just a constant torrent of rain that flooded everything.

The sea of sands became an actual sea, complete with monsters and creatures. The sand creatures we saw previously now took new forms, and they shed their body of sand for a body of water.

The actual constant rain lasted for two weeks, but the Great Flood itself would last for about two more months, followed by two weeks of - the great draining. -

The world alternated between sand and water in about three - month cycles. During the great rain, the Shasan humans would fish and harvest the various creatures that spawn in the sea. During the great sands, they would hunt certain types of plants and beasts, such as the magically sustained Sandplants.

Yet, so far, the demons presence was minimal. There was a demon king here, so it was strange to us. Eventually, my domain holders spent months moving through the vast sands and seas and eventually found it.

We soon found the demon king in a flooded pit. It wasn�t dead. Water wouldn�t kill the creature that didn�t need to breathe. Instead, it was headed toward the depths of the Core. We also learned there were no surviving heroes. The last of the demon slayers died about twenty years ago.

Despite this, the demons did not take over the world. The environment significantly hindered the demons ability to expand, just as how the oceans of Treehome often constrained the demons to a particular continent.

Even when the demons did attack, the demons were also clustered around a few corrupted mesas, islands of demonic forces. The lesser demons didn�t take well to water, and the sand creatures were brutal.

In some ways, this wasn�t a horrible state. The demons hardly bothered the locals.

This world didn�t really need us.

Metteria Hudrot, The Stone Mage of Magisar

There were only three of them and three of these visitors. They were not the strange person she saw, but she trembled. Her senses screamed to take at least a few step backs, so they did.

It was the man in armor. Ebon. He emitted a keen, cutting presence that made her feel as if her skin and head would be sliced open. Next to him was Lozanna , the woman that invited her and spoke to her a few days ago. Then next to her was another man that felt every bit like a Tower Master, and more.

- Greetings. Thank you for coming, - Lozanna said with a smile. Metteria�s brief meetup with her was punctuated by teleportation portals, skills that only tower masters could use.

Junker Quartz and Kerifa Gundhert were both master mages and were in the high Level 60s. The true masters were in the Level 80s, yet Metteria watched the two of them sweat. Magisarians all had a keen sense of magic and mana, and some magisarians could even see magic flows in the air around them.

Junker Quartz was one of those unique individuals with the power to see magic in the air, and it was why he became a great bronze mage.

Lozanna led them to a meeting area carved out of the rocks of the ground. The entire area should�ve been infested with demonic golems, and yet Metteria�s senses were clear. There wasn�t any.

Kerifa sat first, and she naturally took the position as if she was in charge. - Who are you three, and what do you want? -

Lozanna smiled. - Let�s start with what we want. I was told that the tower masters position as the tower masters can be challenged directly through a magical duel. -

Kerifa, Junker, and Metteria stared at each other. Her immediate suspicion was the other Towers. During an earlier, much less demon-infested time, tower masters frequently sent mages to other Towers and tried to usurp power and claim the other Towers by way of a duel.

- Who - who do you work for? Which Tower? - Kerifa asked.

- None of that. - Lozanna laughed. - But can it be done, and is it still recognized today? -

- I doubt it. The tower masters won�t let go of their positions. Not in our current environment. - Kerifa frowned, but at that point, a portal opened and a man Kerifa and Metteria recognized stepped out. Metteria�s fellow disciple.

- Good to see you again, Master Kerifa. - Lezzan was one of the refugee mages rescued in the Valthorns recent tour of the Magisarian lands. - It�s been. eight years? -

Kerifa rubbed her eyes. - Have I gone blind? I thought you were dead! -

- It�s quite hard for a bug like me to die. - The refugee mage was one of the assistants. - Well, we had enough of the tower master�s selfishness! -

- That�s a death sentence. -

- Now, we have enough to finally think of challenging the Tower�s whims, - Lezzan said proudly.

Lozanna coughed. Lezzan immediately paled and changed his words.

- My apologies. I certainly wouldn�t dare to claim credit for the visitors achievements. -

Ebon�s helmet turned and stared. At that moment, they all felt the man�s overwhelming presence on their shoulders. Metteria didn�t notice it before, but now that she did, she noticed the man�s armor and helmet were not made with their common bronze alloys.

Instead, it looked like a metal that was exceptionally rare on Magisar. So much so that Metteria blurted it out. - Is that a suit of armor made of steel? -

- Yes, - Ebon said and then turned to face Lezzan. His voice was heavy and strong, and Lezzan cowered in his presence. - And you. We invited you to repeat what you said to us. -

Lezzan gulped. - I - I - said that it is possible to formally take the position as a tower master if a challenger is endorsed by at least three resident Level 50 mages. -

Kerifa and Junker then looked at each other. Kerifa scratched her chin once she recovered from Ebon�s presence. - The old Tower�s Challenge remains within the Gorfort Tower�s code, but it has not been invoked in the past forty or so years. Will the challenger be one of you, Lezzan? Your leader? -

Lezzan shook his head. - I - I doubt our leader could even last against the great tower masters. -

- Can it be done? - Lozanna asked. Metteria noticed she was already a little annoyed with the mages constant diversions.

Kerifa nodded. - Possible. -

Junker looked at Kerifa and then at the man standing next to Lozanna . - Will it be you? -

Metteria�s eyes and senses focused on the man with a strange hat, and he shrugged. - Much depends on our central command. -

Lozanna frowned. - The two of you, can you find someone willing to endorse a foreign mage for the position. -

The two shook their heads. - We won�t endorse an outsider. -

The woman sighed. - Well, this has been a waste of time. What level is the tower master? -

- They say the few tower masters are all Level 80 or so. -

- Should we really play their political games just to formally claim to rule? Let�s just abduct them and haul them back here. - The man who was clearly a mage sighed. - I bet we can make them see reason with some good ol A/ �s Perspective. -

Ebon nodded. - We will discuss this further. What is the current formal way to be accepted back into the Tower? -

- A written endorsement and sponsorship by a Resident Mage, - Kerifa said.

- Issue one, - Lozanna declared. - No, issue three. -

- Why should we? -

Lozanna then took out a small crystal of tremendous luster. It was soaked in mana and seemed to shine. Metteria�s eyes stared at it greedily, and she noticed her two senior mages making similar expressions. - Let�s make a deal. -

Kerifa straightened up, and her posture changed into one Metteria knew. It was the one when she wanted to do business. - Well, I would�ve preferred if we started off this way. What are we dealing in, and is that thing for trade? -

Lozanna smiled. - Why, yes. -

Metteria stared at the crystal and realized she couldn�t miss out, too. - Can I be part of the deal, as well? -

Lozanna nodded and took out two more equally sized crystals. - Would you be interested, Junker? -

The old man�s posture transformed in the same manner as Kerifa. - What do you want us to part with? -

Lezzan looked betrayed. - Why wasn�t that? -

Ebon stared at him, and he instantly realize he had no place here. The mage flicked a finger, and a portal opened. - Please leave. This part of the discussion does not involve you. But if you behave and cooperate, there may be other deals we can make with you. -

Lezzan nodded and ran through the portal.

Lozanna laughed.

Metteria�s eyes never left the shining crystal of magic. Greed truly was universal.

YEAR 274 (PART 2)

There were still a few more worlds to explore, but back home, I tried to consider my options with the eleven worlds we have visited so far. I decided it was a good idea to pool all my domain holders and get some preliminary assessments.

It was likely that the four worlds wouldn�t be too far off.

A group back home started to work on our expected response to the demons. Some of these worlds were in a stable state.

It made me wonder, of course. Despite the peripheral world�s distance to the demon king, not all of them had folded. So why?

I�d been thinking about the nature of the peripheral worlds and had concluded that the peripheral worlds usually had some kind of - defensibility. - It was this defensibility that made them into contested zones. Worlds that were hard for the demons to fully capture. Worlds that were also hard for the gods to properly reinforce.

In short, peripheral worlds were not peripheral worlds by distance, even if it was one of the factors, but by sheer survivorship bias. Faraway worlds that could not be defended and lacked inherent defensibility meant they would easily fold to the demons.

That meant they were not the gods problem any more, since they were then demon worlds.

Worlds that were close to the gods could be easily defended and reinforced, so they remained as normal worlds.

So peripheral worlds were those that were in limbo, worlds that were hard for the demons to conquer due to their design and those that the gods found hard to reinforce. If these two were true, it was likely that these sorts of worlds would become - peripheral - worlds, because they would survive the drift.

- Could it just be a fluke, that the heroes old artifacts and items give the natives some fighting chance to hang on? - Lumoof countered.

- Of course. But it�s just something I�ve been thinking about. - It was just a hypothesis, that peripheral worlds become battlegrounds, because they experienced longer periods of struggle against the demons.

Worlds that couldn�t put up a fight died or fell to the demons and thus drifted out of the gods influence anyway.

Lavaworld

- How do you feel? - Khefri said as Samuel, or Samahiro the elf hero, gained levels battling the demons of Lavaworld.

- Better. Stronger, - Samuel said while he rested. He�d gained a level that day. The demon champion was hardly a threat. With more power, they would have the ability to retake Landas from the demon king. The goal was to get Samuel at least into the Level 100s, one they achieved fairly easily.

But each new hero had their own style of battle, and Kei, as the new hero - manager, decided that all the heroes needed to have - practice - sessions. It was something copied from the Valthorns, since the Valthorns had battle simulations in order to form their battle tactics. The heroes, even with their natural gifts, still needed practice.

Samuel also needed to get used to his new abilities, even if the divine gifts of the hero class helped tremendously.

But the demon champions were too weak to be a challenge. Without really pushing it, it was hard for the heroes to really know how well they worked together. Teamwork was one of the few things that the hero class wasn�t very good at.

- It is good to have another close combat fighter in our team, - Adrian said.

Colette, Prabu, Adrian, Khefri. Four heroes. And now they were five once more.

- I�m just happy there�s more of us. - Prabu sighed. - I hope they find more heroes on the other worlds. -

Samuel looked around. It was better than being alone, for sure. - I hope so, too. -

The Valthorns concluded it was best to decide which world to clear out its demon king only after we�d explored all fifteen worlds. In some states, it was likely there were stable worlds.

So for now, Samuel and the other heroes prepared for war. They repaired old hero items, restored magical defenses.

Twelveth

Gigant dragon - The Planetary Dragon

Stella and Lumoof opened the portal and instantly knew this was one of those unusual worlds. A world that existed on the surface of a gigantic planetary dragon that was forever chasing a sun. The world was constantly moving; it wasn�t moving in the void sea, but after staring at the edge of its reality bubble for a moment, we concluded it was likely to only appear as if it was always moving. Maybe it was like a marble spinning in place as water flowed around it.

- Well. A giant dragon. - Lumoof looked around. They�d landed on what appeared to be the middle part of the dragon�s body. The part that looked like the head was the brightest, and yet, even on the surface of this gigantic planetary dragon�s body, there was running water, plants, trees, and mountains. - That�s a first. -

- I wonder whether A/ �s clone could link to the dragon�s will, then we could possibly gain control or communicate with it. -

- You�re concluding that a planetary - sized world�s Core is a sentient dragon. -

- Yes. I suppose, - Stella said. - A creature of this size? -

- I think we have to let go of some of our assumptions. It may only possess the physical form of a dragon, but nothing actually requires it to be sentient. Its movements, its mannerisms may just be a set of instructions imprinted to its being. -

- A machine. - Stella sighed as she scanned around. - I suppose in a world of magic, nothing really requires planets to be, well, planets. -

Lumoof nodded, and through him, our senses expanded. I could feel it, and they could, too. Heroes. There were still heroes here. And at the same time, we also felt the presence of a demon king. A strong one.

We knew because its demonic energies were intense, as if amplified by the natural energies of the land itself.

- That�s not good, - Stella said as her hands got to work. A portal whirled open, and the two stepped through and found a battlefield with strong demons.

Demons that glowed with lines of magic, and they were strong. Champions littered the skies as if they didn�t cost energy. Because they didn�t.

Stella�s magical senses expanded as she sent magical probes all around.

But here, around the - waist - of the planet - sized dragon, was a battleground between the land controlled by the demons and the lands controlled by the natives.

Two heroes, two humans with magical wings, surrounded by smaller drakes, fought back against the demons. They were strong, but the demon king, a giant two - headed, armored lizard, breathed magic that glowed with the same strange lines.

- I�m not totally certain, but it seems this demon king left parts of itself on ley lines and that ley line energy fed the demon king, - Stella said as she landed behind Lumoof. It seemed like the demon king was going to fire a weapon their way as well.

One of the heads opened fire, and a magical blast smashed into Lumoof�s shields. It burned through three layers of shields but didn�t reach Lumoof. It did make him sweat a little, so he prepared to activate his shields again. - Well, that�s something. -

The other head of the demon king fired, and the heroes dodged the energy blast. It was considerably more powerful than the average demon king, and its energies were a blend of demonic energy and the unusual ley lines energies. They couldn�t take the hit directly.

- Think we should help them? - Lumoof looked at Stella, but that question was partly directed at me. I could feel Lumoof�s presence.

The demon king charged at the heroes at a surreal speed, and the two heroes countered with attacks of their own. They were fairly powerful, and their own energy attacks left large scars on the demon king, but those wounds regenerated quickly, its health supported by the ley lines.

Stella could feel the demon king�s energies were linked to other places. There were fragments of the demon king spread throughout the tail of this planetary - sized dragon. - We should help to destroy those ley line sources if we want that to happen. -

But we couldn�t do that. The demon king closed in on the heroes and fired an energy blast at point blank. A shot that would�ve killed the heroes.

Lumoof seemingly blinked in front of the two humanoid heroes and created a massive wooden shield and blocked the attack from the demon king. The blast tore through layers of wooden shields, and the shockwave of the attack sent Lumoof and the two heroes backward.

I could feel the two heroes were tired and had not much strength to continue this fight. - Let�s rescue the heroes and we can talk strategy later. Taking out the demons fragments on the ley lines should be quite easy. -

Stella nodded. - You�ll have to carry them out. My void portals won�t work with the heroes. -

Lumoof approached the two humanoid heroes. They were battered. They didn�t have many wounds on them, but they spent quite a lot of their energy on the demon king.

- Hello, heroes. I think this battle is lost. Let us retreat and we can discuss details later? -

The two looked at each other and back at Lumoof. - Sure. -

The demon king didn�t give chase, while we followed the heroes away from the battlefield and arrived at a Dragon ling city, filled with flying drakes and the humanoid Dragon lings .

It was a border town, one closest to the creeping demonic corruption, and the home base of the two heroes, for now. They�d been trying to push back against the demon king for a while, but with just the two of them, they hadn�t been able to overwhelm the demon king.

- I�m Lumoof, and this is my friend, Stella. - The two heroes, Rajah and Wira, were summoned about a year ago. But the demon king and the demons arrived about six years before that, so they got a five - year head start.

- The demon king advances slowly, - the two heroes explained. - Each time it creeps forward, it tries to capture the ley lines within the ground, and it goes stronger with each captured magical ley line. The two of us couldn�t really beat it, even though we gained levels after each battle. It almost seems as if we�re fighting against a monster we can�t win. Each time we hurt it, it just regenerates. -

- Demon kings have exceptional regeneration ability, - Stella said. - What you experienced isn�t unusual. Does it have minions? I didn�t see any lesser demons beyond the usual hellhounds and critters. -

- A few. They�re not that weak, though, - the heroes said.

- Why didn�t you sneak past it and attack the ley lines? -

- It wouldn�t let us, - Rajah countered. - You know how this world is like one long dragon. Any time we try to get past that line, it knows we are coming. It can tell we are headed there. -

Ah. The demons had hero - vision. So for the heroes, they would not be able to sneak past the demon king. Stella looked at Lumoof. - But we could. -

The two heroes looked at each other. - Yes. Yes, you totally can. -

- Teleportation? - Lumoof asked.

- Jammed, - Rajah added. - The demon king�s energies spread throughout the demon lands, and any teleportation spell into that area gets shredded. We can�t maintain a stable portal. -

- But what defenses do they have? -

- Mostly the demon lords, - Rajah added

- Demon lords? - Lumoof asked.

- Demons empowered by the ley lines. They are quite powerful, but nothing like the demon king. We could take one down, but the ley lines are all protected by these demon lords. -

- Ah. Demon champions. Just terminology differences. - Lumoof breathed a sigh of relief. At least it wasn�t an unusual class of demon, most likely just a demon champion that had a similar energy - absorption mechanism as its parent demon king.

This demon king seemed to rely on capturing ley lines to make itself stronger and also spawn more powerful demons.

- So, actually, we kinda got ahead of ourselves by diving right into the demon problem. What is this world? - Lumoof said. The Dragon lings of this world, Gigant , looked at us with interest but ultimately left us alone.

The heroes were more than happy to explain it to us.

The world of Gigant dragon was a long, dragon - shaped planet that was perpetually chasing the golden sun. The day - night cycle was determined by the position of the dragon�s head and the long shadow the head cast over the rest of its body as it moved in a rotational pattern through space, blocking out the sun. It twirled and moved as the stars around the world warped and shifted, as if it was forever chasing the sun, but we knew this was an illusion. Nothing was moving.

The land itself was separated into fifteen large segments, each representing like a chunk or segment of the body, as if the body of the dragon was some sort of gigantic centipede of stone and earth, and on those segments were rather normal features such as mountains, seas, lakes, farmlands, and so on. Between the segments was a part called the dragon�s skin, essentially an unstable part of the land that frequently experienced fissures due to how two linked segments of the planet - sized dragon moved about as it rotated around the sun.

The tail end was significantly colder than the parts closer to the head, where it was warmer. The magical energies of the ley lines were also stronger closer to the dragon�s head, but there were ley lines throughout Gigant�s body.

The locals referred to the ley lines as the - dragon�s veins, - because they were the energies of the gigantic dragon.

It was inhabited by a mixture of Dragon lings , drakes, and humanoids, and the Dragon lings worship a mix of Gawa and Gaya.

The Dragon lings and drakes had elemental biases that were reflected in their skin. The green - shaded Dragon lings and drakes generally had powers of the wood and earth, the reddish, orange Dragon lings were fire, and the blue - white Dragon lings and drakes were of the water, ice, and wind elements.

These three were the main subgroups of Dragon lings , and the fire element Dragon lings were clustered closer to the head of Gigant and the areas where there were volcanoes and rivers of lava, while the water and earth element Dragon lings were more spread out.

Rajah and Wira, as heroes, were the union of the three Dragon ling subgroups, and they had powers of all three Dragon lings and could empower their drakes. The drakes of Capra or Johann�s Dragon would be fascinating to introduce to the Dragon lings of this world, and vice versa, but that would be a later problem.

For now, it was the heroes that would do the moving.

- So when are you two going to sneak past the gates? Are you two like world travelers? Like some hero that finished their quest and now could travel from world to world? -

Stella shook her head. - Nothing like that. We�re not even heroes, but let�s say we have an organization behind us. -

- I don�t see it. Is it like some kind of starship flying overhead? - Rajah and Wira looked overhead. The sky was somehow filled with stars, even if it was not a real thing, and the stars looked like they moved in a particular direction.

- No. I suppose if we deploy a node here, we can introduce you to the rest of us. -

- Wait, wait, wait. What about defenses? We�ll have to hold the demon king back. If it senses us disappearing, it may decide to attack! We�re what stands between the demon king and total annihilation of the Dragon lings ! -

That doesn�t always happen, - Lumoof countered.

- It doesn�t? No. We can�t desert our post here. Not even for a bit, - the two heroes said with certainty.

Their reaction made Lumoof pause for a while before he said, - I see. Then we need to discuss our plans before we go ahead. -

The two domain holders left the heroes to their own affairs.

- What�d you think? - Stella and Lumoof met somewhere away from the heroes. - Their hero class compulsions seem a little strong there. -

- They are fairly high level; that sort of meddling is expected. - Lumoof frowned. - We wouldn�t be able to move them, and we�ll have to bring the rest of the heroes here. -

Stella merely nodded and waited for Lumoof to continue.

- Or we do what�s sensible. We sneak past the demons battle lines and hit the ley lines. That would ensure that the heroes can survive the next conflict with the demon king. Then we bring the heroes. If we leave as it is, it�s likely they won�t survive an encounter with the demon king. I think we should call for some reinforcement, give them some breathing room, then decide later. -

The void domain holder nodded. - Yeah. That�s probably our best choice. We should figure out what�s up with this demon king anyway. -

INTERLUDE

THE A/ IC LANDAS ERA

Landas

Commander Argo looked and noticed unusual expressions in his fellow elves.

They didn�t have the old expressions of exhaustion, or anger, or joy.

Stress.

His fellow elves struggled to keep up with the demands of their new rulers. Fortifications were constructed at breakneck pace, the old farms rebuilt quickly. The visitors. The divine guides. Argo, in his heart, thought of them as the messengers of heaven.

It was hard.

His people were so used to subsistence, so used to existing scraping by, that the messengers of the Tree God had to teach and reintroduce many new skills. Even the art of building better homes, or processing tools, or recording information.

Landas lost so much of its old administrative abilities and knowledge. But the change brought by the messengers had been swift, so swift that his people, now no longer existing under the threat of the demons, struggled to adapt.

Stress.

They were all listening to the centaur, talking about recording information, city design, and city administration. Things they never thought about. It didn�t matter when things could get destroyed.

But now, they had to design for permanence. They had to rebuild their military ability, and they were all, truly stressed.

The old elven soldiers were now trained by the messengers. They were veterans of war. Many of them were old, too, and survivors of many demonic attacks.

But they survived without regimented training. They gained their levels, often learning from the older soldiers and from each other. Their methods and styles all contained habits that didn�t always work.

Now the Valthorns came, and truly, they were a thorn in their backside.

Yet it was not defiance. His people were not defiant. They knew how different the power level were.

Every single messenger Argo met was Level 100 and more. They were stronger, their equipment and tactics well honed. In some ways, they were truly anti - demonic specialists, and they wanted to train them to be like them.

The Valthorn lord present came with a small army of expertly built golems, a Golem Master of some sort, and somehow, the laborers worked to rebuild the city.

- Nunarnusk must be rebuilt quickly and better, - the man said. - And unfortunately, many of you lost the skills to do it. We will have to bridge the gap. But first, we need all the old designs out of your old archives! -

Nunarnusk was an ancient city, and the druids magical roots pierced the ground and revealed many such old structures hidden after centuries of war. Many of them were hidden under debris and, over time, forgotten. Their people were too busy surviving war after war that the brief periods of peace didn�t grant them much respite to even think of archaeology.

Stress.

The elders squinted and cracked their heads, trying to decipher text from the old days that they struggled. Some of them were written in old White Elven that none of them truly could say they still understood.

Even though the System naturally bridged the speaking language, and often granted knowledge of the current lingua franca, the written system drifted over the centuries, and that drift meant old text started to lose legibility after sufficient amount of drift.

But the messengers insisted that they dig anyway.

The messengers were not all warriors. Some were clearly mage - scholars, fascinated to pour over new text and subjects never before seen by their kind.

Commander Argo was nearby when he saw a group of them discuss. They spoke fairly audibly that Argo heard them loud and clear. - Our goals for the excavation are to locate old maps and find old spells. From those old maps, we then locate places of magical study. If we are lucky, we may be able to learn new spells that were previously unique to the White Elves. We will have to leave the originals here with the White Elves as per our caretaking agreement, but what we learn, we take and add to our library of spells. We will also extend our coverage outside of Nunarnusk, if there are any strong leads. Understood? -

The rest of them nodded.

Old spells. Argo wondered to himself what old spells the White Elves knew. A part of him wondered whether he should consider it sacred and sacrilegious to let these newcomers go through their history.

But the locals had no strength to resist them.

Nunarnusk and the many capitals were all home to great elven mages during the pre - demonic age.

Though the messengers clearly came to help, it seemed that they also had ulterior motives of their own.

Roskor was a hive of activity, as new areas for housing were built seemingly overnight. Gigantic trees turned into homes littered the outer ring of Roskor�s original fort, all meant to house the tens of thousands of refugees that now called Roskor home.

Refugees.

- How much food do we have? Do we have enough to feed everyone? - Novorosk stared at crowds waiting outside their newly constructed canteens.

- Yes, yes. - One of the blood elves nodded with a bit of frustration. - Warleader, don�t worry about us. Food will take some time, but there is enough. -

- Enough? Sure? - It was so strange that the word - enough - still seemed weird to him. It was hard to change from a mindset of scarcity.

For some, it was easier. For Novorosk, it was hard. He didn�t know what to say. He felt a little lost. The refugees all came to collect and eat food. The Valthorn druids blessed their farms and spawned new fruit trees. There were many new farms, and with more new produce there should be enough for everyone to keep their hunger away.

It wouldn�t be enough for luxury. Not yet. The druids and builders that came to Roskor focused on the staple foods and, together with the refugees, constructed new farms and plantations that would feed them all. It was enough to feed twice their current population, but the variety was still almost nonexistent.

They would have to develop more farms with more interesting food varieties in the future.

Novorosk watched and wondered what he�d miss in Roskor if he blinked.

- I�ve summoned everyone here to discuss a key topic for the future of Landas, - Druid Falin of the Valthorns stated as a treefolk man appeared. They�d never seen a man made out of a tree and wondered whether he was some kind of mythical creature written in their ancient text. - This is Lord Kraveik, a senior noble lord from our world. He is visiting temporarily to assist with the economic aspects of Landas. -

There were old elves from every surviving city of Landas. Many of the surviving towns quickly consolidated, as most were barely surviving and eager to rejoin a larger society. In time, some would wander out again, but for now, the centuries of war left most elves eager to reconnect with their fellow elves.

- Coinage was lost from your old era, - Kraveik declared after what appeared to be weeks and months of pouring through ancient texts with a small army of assistants and translators. - Most cities and Landasian settlements now function without coinage, everything through a pooled set of resources allocated by the elders. This is familiar to all of you, but that was not how things were in the old era, and your current favors and allocation system will not work once you become proper nation - states. -

What followed was Kraveik�s highly summarized brief on the economic history of the old elven empire era.

- On behalf of the Valthorns, we intend to restore the coinage system, and for now, we hope that all the different elves adopt a single - coin system until your world regains sufficient scale and industrial output. We will then use this coinage to trade with your cities for the resources each of your cities will then produce. -

The elders glanced at each other. They would have to produce something to trade with each other, because the Valthorn force concentrated on defenses and basic needs. The Valthorns expansion also quickly flagged many potential resource sites, some containing the usual metals, some containing magical resources such as crystals and gems.

There were some rather basic questions from the elders. They asked why trade was needed when each of them were currently self - sufficient.

- Two main reasons. Quality and levels. Specialization allows the creation of higher - tier goods, which improves quality. It also raises levels, which allow for an individual to create even better tools and equipment. Trade is necessary to allow each individual to have sufficient production volume. With sufficient production volume, the System recognizes their specialization and awards levels. Trade creates volume, volume creates improvements and experience, and the maker then gains levels. This is how our world�s industrial base gained power. We hope to replicate it to yours. -

Kraviek naturally omitted the part where this was only applicable to the lower Level 100s, because the level gains from non - combat activities quickly plateaued past Level 70 to 90, depending on the type of non - combat class.

They weren�t there yet. Not with their current subsistence level industry.

It would take a decade or two to restore some decent level of trade. It was as much a - mindset - and - habit - issue than just knowing the means.

- Warleader Novorosk, please, show me the old shield structures. - The hero Samahiro or Samuel finally visited their home. He was healthy, handsome as hell, and all the elven females watched him walk by.

Novorosk nodded, pleased to be useful. He hardly recognized Roskor now, with all the new structures added and old structures cleaned up.

- How are things? - Samuel asked. - The last time I saw you was on Treehome, my apologies for not visiting sooner. I had to gain some levels. -

- It is nothing. It�s not like the shields were used at all, - Novorosk said.

Samuel nodded as they finally reached the shield structure. There used to be at least three to four mages here, all feeding their magical energies to support the shield structure. It was an ornate, historical object, made with a blend of metals and crystals, and left by a hero many, many centuries ago.

It was once their lifeline, and Novorosk swore to protect it with his life. Little did he expect to ever see a day that here it stood, unattended, unprotected.

He sighed. - If this era lasts, this thing will no longer be needed. -

Samuel shook his head as he touched it. His star mana pool was larger now, much, much larger than it originally was. He easily fed his star mana to the thirsty object, and the two felt the energies of the shield regain strength. - The wider world is an unforgiving place. Very, unforgiving place. -

- It is, - Novorosk said. - How many such structures have you fixed? -

- A lot. I lost count. I was told to create new ones, just in case. - Samuel sat. - So, will you keep me company, Warleader? -

Novorosk nodded. - There is nothing much for a warleader like me to do. Other than train and spar with my fellow soldiers. -

For a moment, the two sat in peace.

- You should join them, - Samuel spoke after working for a bit, and a magical ball emerged before him. Samuel�s Hero Forge would create an additional set of defensive equipment, complete with instructions of use. Most defensive equipment also had a passive charging ability, but often the ambient energies were so thin that they took a while to charge.

Novorosk looked out of a small door. It was normally closed, but these days, there was no risk. The view was of a Roskor that was changing.

A warrior would have no place in a time of peace.

- I want to, - Novorosk said.

Samuel nodded. - You worry for your team. -

Novorosk wanted to say no but then nodded. - Yes. I - I still wonder whether my place is here or there. Or whether I should even? -

- You should join the Valthorns. I�ve seen what they want to do, and they still need more soldiers. They need far more than you can fathom. -

- Why? -

Samuel looked up; there was a ceiling on top. There were fading paintings made by the old White Elves from an older time. - There are thousands of worlds out there, many of them like ours, struggling to hold on. They all need help. You received help, Warleader Novorosk. It is time to do your part and help those who are in need. -

Novorosk looked at Samuel. He heard of the same briefing and understood what it meant. - I know. I - I just need some time to tell my team. -

- They will understand, just as how the rest of the heroes understood I needed time. I, too, was not ready to face the demon king again. - The two exchanged glances, and Novorosk understood that Samuel was still afraid of the demon king. The demon king cursed him in their first confrontation, and even though he successfully fled, the curse deteriorated and left him in a near - comatose state, with the Cherry spirit tree trying its best to keep him alive.

The warleader sighed. To the hero, the hero must think his own fears as just something small. - I will. -

- Good. I�m done. I will have to speak to the mages. Can you call them? - Samuel took out a crystal spherical object that quickly made itself at home.

Novorosk felt its magical energies spread out, and another magical protective layer emerged over their fortress. It wouldn�t be enough to cover all of Roskor. Not with all the new settlements outside its old walls.

But it was just an additional layer of security. An insurance.

- I�ll call them in, Hero Samahiro. Please wait. -

- Good. I hope the next time I see you, it�s when you are in a different set of uniforms. -

Novorosk chuckled at how quickly the elven hero switched allegiances. But he was right. The world was much bigger than he thought. He�d speak to the Druid Falin later and see whether he could be a new member of the Valthorns.

- I�ve been wondering when you would ask. - Druid Falin had a schedule where he visited each of the different elven cities. There were only about thirty large surviving elven cities, and Roskor was one of them.

- You know? -

- You�re not the first, Warleader Novorosk. The Valthorns are already vetting those who wish to join. -

- How - how many asked? -

- About a hundred for now. We expect more to join, eventually. - Falin patted Novorosk on the shoulder. - I can�t give you any special benefits, but you�ll have to join the training system. Once you�re sufficiently trained, you will be sent to where A/ sees fit. -

Novorosk shuddered. - I see. -

- Many will fail. Being around A/ is a difficult thing, and minds need to be made of sterner stuff. -

Novorosk remembered the sensation of having his mind assaulted. It was something that still lingered until today.

- But many of you are warriors who lived a life of protecting your homes. If you do it for the right reasons, I think you will find it easier, - Falin said.

- I do? -

- Those that put themselves out there must be willing to burn a bit of themselves, - the druid said.

Novorosk didn�t understand. - Why? -

Falin smiled. - Because you will be digging deeper into yourself, all the time. You will try to be more, do more. We burn a little bit of ourselves so that together, we shine brighter. -

Novorosk thought that sounded familiar. It was a sensation he remembered. He nodded. - I look forward to it. -

Falin tapped him on the shoulder again. - I hope to see you soon, Warleader Novorosk. Be prepared for transport. -

Treehome

- It is damned good to be back. -

Kafa was happy to be back in Freshka. He took a shower, followed by a long, long dip in a slimy tub filled with fragrances that most humans would find appalling. But lizardfolk enjoyed certain types of scents, scents that reminded them of the village or city they came from. The rivers they played in. Non - lizardfolk visiting their homes often had to use some scent - nullification artifact to mitigate the nausea it tended to create.

It was time to hit Gigant dragon soon, and Johann�s party also took a short break.

The domain holders decided it was a good idea to meet up to discuss strategy and tactics.

- Well, I think given it�s stronger magical nature, it should be somewhat vulnerable to anti - magical attacks. At least, the stronger anti - magical weapons could disrupt the ley lines enough to temporarily weaken the demon king. -

- We could test it out, - Edna said. They would have to draw up a revised list of equipment and inventory for the coming battle. - But taking that many anti - magic weapons will drain our store. -

- We�ve been using them a lot, - Ezar noted. - Production�s not keeping up. -

Kafa shook his head and sipped his drink. - Why not? -

- Access to that world is seasonal. We don�t have a clone or a node on it. - Johann quickly looked up some reports. - You think, I think we should put a node there, at least. -

The five domain holders looked at each other. - Yeah. Let�s do that. -

Roon frowned and then looked at Kafa. - I think our thinking about these sets of worlds need to be adjusted. I think the anti - magic sand world needs to be turned into one of our Core Worlds. -

- It has no population. If the entire idea is to strip - mine that world for the anti - magic sands, a node tree will be sufficient, - Kafa countered. - I�d rather put a clone on this dragon - world. Or that heavily populated world. -

- Does A/ want to place a clone on this dragon world? - Johann asked. - We seem to be encountering a streak of dragon - type worlds. -

- That�s good for you, isn�t it? - Kafa countered cheerfully, in a much better mood. He had a glass of his favorite juice.

- In some convoluted way, not really. My dragon seems easily jealous, and I�m not exactly sure how it�ll react to it. -

- There should be some kind of group - benefit from controlling all the dragon - drake worlds together, - Edna countered. - The drakefruits of Capra could be used to help the drakes of Gigant dragon. This mutual assistance could result in a powerful force. -

- Does he want the Dragon lings ? -

Kafa shrugged. - I think all the differences between the world and their special qualities is just a distraction. I think it�s all a little silly in the end. -

- Why? - That made Roon and Johann turn.

- In the end, there�s only three things that really matter, at least when we try to fit them in the way we work. Domain holders, crystals, and the craftsmen that produce the equipment and items to support us. Worlds that can create domain holders, worlds that help produce crystals so we can blow the demons up, and the worlds that can create all the craftsmen we need, so that we can turn resources into weapons. -

- That relies on the assumption that our bombs continue to work on demon kings. There will be demon kings resistant to bombs. -

- Resistant, but not immune, - Kafa countered and took a big sip of his juice. - Now, really, if we look at the bigger picture, creating domain holders is really a game of numbers. If the odds of finding someone who can be a domain holder is one in a billion, then we need to get billions on our side. A/ should therefore claim the worlds that have the highest populations, convert them to our side, and from this large pool, there will be some talents. -

That made Edna shift a little uncomfortably. - I don�t generally view it as a game of numbers. Domain holders can emerge from anywhere, and what matters more is the institution designed to support that growth. - Edna, in her heart, believed that the ability to reach the domain was actually a lot more common, but it was the institutions around them that encouraged that sort of excellence.

- But they must have the talent. The special thing that pushes them beyond that last step, - Kafa said. - We have it, somehow. But we need more domain holders, and I say it is not something that can be manufactured. Yes, the infrastructure is important, but we are ultimately looking for gems in a wheatfield. -

Edna and Kafa glanced at each other. - So you advocate for the heavily populated worlds? -

- Yes, - Kafa stated. - There will be talent. They can be trained into craftsmen. I would choose worlds with large existing populations that can be redirected into other causes. Either as potential domain holders or as the craftsmen and all that needed for the rest of us. Gimmicks like drakes are unnecessary. I don�t see how they can contribute against the demon king, even if they were stronger. They�d have to be domain holders to even have the right to stand up there with us. -

The rest of the four waited for him to continue.

- So, if it was up to me, I�d take Delvegard, Magisar, and Twin - Continents as my three clone locations. Delvegard because it fits with the second and third goal of supplying equipment, Magisar because it also provides a supply of craftsmen, and Twin - Continents because it has the numbers to create domain holders and also craftsmen. The rest can be nodes. -

- We don�t even have enough nodes, - Edna countered. - Let me flip the question around. Which world would you give up on? -

- How many do we need to give up on? -

- Three. We have fifteen, - Edna said. - Three clone slots, and ten node trees. Two of them are already on Delvegard and Landas, but we can count the one deployed on Landas as something we can move around. If we deploy a node on the anti - magic sand world to boost our anti - magical weaponry, we�d be down to nine nodes, so we have to leave four worlds. -

- Deadworld�s a clear choice for the first world to give up on, - Kafa continued, but he hesitated with the remaining two. - Maybe - Maybe Landas. -

- What? - That made Roon squirm. - I thought Landas was a good world. Elves! -

Kafa stretched, his views colored by his little stint on Delvegard. He wasn�t impressed by the giant colossus fielded by the Delvegardian Dwarves. In his mind, he could crush them singlehandedly. What use were these things before the demon kings? - The huge mountains we have to climb to repopulate it means it wouldn�t be useful to us so soon. Elves also take a lot longer to reproduce compared to the other races. In a game of numbers, we must churn through recruits to find the gems. -

So, even lesser dragons or unique types of races. Sure, they had some value, but in the end, it was the domain holders that made the difference.

Edna shook her head slightly, as she remembered their own talks much earlier. The domain holders had to advocate for their worlds, and this was Kafa doing his part.

- Talking about Delvegard is a good point. - Johann touched his chin. - Does A/ intend to keep one of his nodes as a spare? Nodes can be thrown across the void sea, and that has some value. Let�s assume A/ keeps one as a spare. So there will be five worlds where we wouldn�t have A/ �s direct presence, and our presence there will depend on the void mages. -

The knight stated her view then. - These five worlds without A/ �s presence should be those that are still the strongest. Worlds that are in least need of our assistance. They can somewhat fend for themselves. -

- That means the Three - Ringed World and the hero - sword world of Caval? - Kafa thought. - Maybe this new Gigant dragon world, too, once we slay the demon king. -

- The rest of them are in pretty bad shape, - Edna said. There were pockets of resistance in all worlds, but there were not many structural factors in their favor. Only Caval with all their scattered anti - demon hero - swords, the Three - Ringed World with their Purple Darkness, and maybe Shasan, the flooded world, had some natural anti - demon advantages.

Roon then asked, - The world of Twin - Continents appears to be stable. -

- For now, - the lizardfolk countered. - To achieve Gawa �s objective, we still have to free up the demon continent. I doubt they actually have the strength to do anything if the demon king lands on their continent, instead of where it currently is. -

- We need a full dossier on the strength of these worlds, - Johann said. - Something we can only conclude once the rest of the Valthorns enter them and start gathering information. -

- I quite like Delvegard, and I do agree with Kafa�s assessment partially. Our goal for doing this really is to build strength quickly, and yes, numbers help. But we don�t have to dominate worlds like the Twin - Continents. If what we need is resources and talent, that can be through a strong recruitment presence. -

- I think a clone is a damned good statement to their population, - Kafa said.

Roon shook his head. - We are not sure if that�s what impresses them. A large show of force may be counterproductive. Some races are like that. -

That made Kafa pause. - I guess that is fair. -

- But the Three - Ringed World is unique. Maybe A/ would unlock something unique through his presence there? - Ezar suddenly asked. - He does get unique blessings and soul forge abilities when he has access to unique worlds. -

The other four domain holders looked at each other. - I kinda forgot he got that. -

- It happens so rarely. - Edna laughed as she recalled some old facts. - But yes. A/ also needs a clone presence on a particular world to get hero fragments when their heroes die. -

- So if we want fragments, then A/ must place a clone on Gigant dragon. -

- Snek�s also petitioning for a node to be placed on Ulara, - Ezar added.

- So six worlds without A/ �s presence, - Edna said. - Can our void mages support that much troop movements? -

- People, probably. Resources, no. Our forces there will have to source a lot of native resources. I�ll need to get Central to do the numbers, - Roon clarified as it dawned on the five domain holders that they would all be working with fairly limited resources. Void mages spent days to recharge their void mana, and opening portals through the void sea from one world to another consumed a large amount. - By my guess, we�d have to deploy almost all our void mages if we want to maintain near - constant communication and troop movement. -

- That�ll be hard. -

- Do we have information on their demon king�s invasion frequency? - Edna asked. - I think that should also be something we need to consider for our next battle. We�ve known for a while that it�s exceptionally hard to move large quantities of weaponry through void magic alone. Our experiences on the demons comet? -

- Fifteen world�s demonic invasion frequency - I thought we were supposed to collect that somewhere! -

- On everyone. Again, suitable for a recruitment - type presence where we don�t have to exert control or continuous presence, - Roon said while rubbing his head. - All right, all right. Maybe we stop this for a bit and prepare for our next trip. -

12th World, Gigant dragon

Stella�s void portals brought both Lumoof and Stella to the furthest end of the gigantic dragon�s tail. There were areas that experienced massive magical interference, which Stella soon concluded to be related to the magical ley lines that flowed through this odd - shaped world.

The ley line took the form of a massive demonic spire, and it thrummed loudly, as if it was a mountain - sized demonic factory, churning out demons by the hundreds. Each of the demons that appeared were large demonic creatures, some resembling regular demons, some looking as if they were cobbled together from a pile of unwanted designs.

- Well. - Lumoof�s spiritual eyes zoomed into the mountain, and we saw the way the magic of the ley lines was entangled with the demonic energies seen throughout the mountain. At the very heart of the artificial demonic mountain, there was a glowing fragment, and we knew immediately what it was.

A fragment of the demon king, in both flesh and spirit.

Lumoof glanced at Stella and shook his head. - The demon king left a part of him here to tap into the ley line. -

- Well, then let�s destroy it. -

Lumoof nodded, and he activated avatar mode. Power surged through him, as his Fury brought a torrent of magically empowered roots through the mountain. I felt it as the roots he summoned slammed through the demonic spires; it crushed everything in its path and then abruptly slammed into something hard.

We focused and saw a gigantic floating scale of a dragon but with demonic features. It was charged with demonic energy, similar to that of the demon king.

- We got company, - Stella said. - Look up. -

The skies above us seemed as if it was torn apart by the void, and within it, the head of the twin - headed demon king popped out.

- Teleportation. The ley lines are also markers. - Stella laughed. - It seems the demons are learning from us. -

Lumoof rolled his eyes as the demon king�s two heads charged with magical energy. - A coincidence. Think we should bail? -

Stella nodded. - We should hit the demons with numbers. The demon king certainly can�t be everywhere. -

The demon king�s energy blast poured out of its two mouths like water from a powerful fountain. It slammed right into a wall of wood, and like a powerful jet of water, it cut through the wall of wood. But the wall of wood was much thicker and regenerated.

- Well, get us out of here, - Lumoof said as his energies charged his shields.

The demon king�s second energy blast also slammed into the shields. We were fairly certain that this demon king�s power was up there, because of its energy - draining mechanic. Once weakened, it was likely fairly weak.

Stella shook her head. - Think we�ll have to run. The demon king�s presence is bending void space. -

- Was that supposed to happen? - Lumoof looked at the void domain holder, even though there were two magical jets of energy slamming into the shield.

- Well, the demon king�s distortion of the void wasn�t that pronounced normally. I�m guessing it�s simply because this demon king has a higher power level. I can manage short - ranged teleportation, though. Think this is the strongest demon king we�ve seen on the peripheral worlds so far. -

- A part of me actually wants to see how much stronger it could get, if it has control of even more ley lines, - Lumoof mused idly. A little of my tendency to consider wild outcomes infected my avatar.

- Well, can you push back with your shields, and we�ll buy some room to run? Once we�re back with the cavalry, we can hit it with a multi - pronged attack. -

- What makes you think it doesn�t have countermeasures? - Lumoof laughed as he channeled more of his mana into the multiple layers of wooden shields . The wooden shields regenerated rapidly, and then the floating wooden shields pushed in the direction of the demon king�s two jets of power.

Stella shrugged at his question, but she charged up a large spear imbued with void energies anyway. - I�ll hit it with this, and then we run, got it? -

- Sure. -

The two - headed demon king landed on the ground, and Lumoof began to sweat. - It�s been a while since we had a workout. -

- You�re doing great! Now push that attack back and let me stun it for a bit. -

- Got it. - Lumoof called on the full power of the avatar and amplified it by the fury of the avatar state. The shields grew massively, even as the demon king�s two heads poured its magical power into the blast.

Bit by bit, the wall of wood pushed back.

A small moment of vulnerability opened, and Stella�s spear of void energies flew toward the demon king like a reality - distorting bullet. It slammed into the body of the demon king, its explosion sending a messy mix of void energies through its body. For a moment, the demon king staggered from the blow.

Lumoof followed with his own attack as gigantic roots just as large as the demon king appeared from the ground and wrapped around the demon king. It wouldn�t be enough to hold the demon king for long, but the few seconds was enough for the two domain holders to flee far enough and activate a portal.

- We knew that didn�t work. - Wira and Rajah listened as we updated them on our attempt to attack the ley line. - The demon king has some kind of teleportation or beacon ability that allows it to move to its captured ley lines. -

- Oh. Then we will have to split up and attack together? - The heroes were now in a much better state of health, and in the small moment of peace, they worked to repair the hero items scattered throughout Gigant dragon�s defensive lines.

- Well, yes. But let�s wait for the cavalry, - Lumoof said.

- Cavalry? -

YEAR 274 (PART 3)

Gigant dragon

Lumoof stopped at an uninhabited part of the - frontier. - Gigant dragon�s frontier was all battle - scarred battlegrounds; the slender, twisting, cylindrical nature of the long serpent dragon�s meant the demons path, in some ways, were fairly constrained.

The demons controlled from the middle half onward, all the way down to the end, or as the locals called it, the tail of the dragon.

All this while, the heroes held the line in the middle. They tried to stop the demon king from gaining control of more ley lines. It did, but the heroes also leveled, so the two forces were in a fairly fragile stalemate.

It�d been over a year since we started the exploration of the peripheral worlds, and as we drew closer to the end of the peripheral scouting campaign, it was also time to flex our strength.

Partly, that desire was also our own self - interest. Gigant dragon was home to two living heroes, and we wanted to add them into our fold. Two additional heroes would bring the total to seven, and that was a really respectable strength.

Lumoof looked around and kneeled, and his palm touched the ground. A magical seed emerged from it and immediately sank into the ground below. It was a deep greenish object that shone even though there was land and soil.

The node tree emerged out of the basketball - sized seed and spawned outward into a giant tree. Even though it was just a node, this was the moment when my roots connected with the soil of Gigant dragon.

It knew, and so I saw visions.

A land of dragons and monsters. Giants. A rough, untamed land with powerful terrain. Volcanoes, and huge tsunamis. Towering mountains. Raw fury. Creation, and destruction. Power.

It was a relief to me. Gigant dragon only took the form of a dragon, but not the mind of one.

Through the node tree, the rest of my domain holders and the rest of the heroes came over.

- I feel a little bad for Alka. He�s missing out on so much, - Edna said as she stepped through.

- He�ll catch up. - Lumoof shrugged. - But you know, Edna, I made up my mind. -

- Oh? Let me guess, Towering Avatar ? - Edna smiled, as if she already predicted it.

- Exactly, - Lumoof agreed as we felt the attention of the demon king on us. The presence of so many heroes must have drawn its attention. The demon king could - see - heroes. It had a mental link to sense those with star mana.

Edna stretched as she prepared for what was next. - I, too, intend to go for Martial Paragon . We�ve seen twelve worlds, and from what I�ve seen in these worlds, our job is to go tall, not wide. The Valthorns and future new domain holders can cover and compensate for the weaknesses of not selecting the wide option, but they cannot compensate for what only we can do. They cannot compensate for raw power against the demon kings. For us two, I believe tall is the way. -

- Unless you�re A/ , or maybe Stella. - Lumoof smiled. For utility - type domain holders, wide had its advantages. But at this point, both Level 200s stretched and made their choice. - Well, then let�s greet our demonic foe with our new powers. -

- Gladly. I�d love to see how I fare. - The entirety of Gigant dragon felt it, as if the air itself thrummed with power. Their choice was like a shockwave that rippled throughout the fabric of reality.

Edna�s physique form did not change, but from then on, we knew she was on par with a hero. In some ways, maybe she was even more.

I suddenly felt a wave of nostalgia. This had been a really long journey, and I thought of the little elven girl that grew up with me, and Yura , who died in my service. Edna was living proof that the people, too, could match the heroes.

Lumoof�s choice, the Towering Avatar , was an experience for me, as well as for him. We were already connected, but there was always an opportunity to be even more connected.

- Do you not fear for your sense of self, Lumoof? - I asked. I feared for the man.

Lumoof stood on that hill, his eyes staring into the demon-controlled half of Gigant dragon. - That choice was gone the day I chose your subdomain. A/ , it is time to go. -

The rest of them could feel the tangible difference in Edna and Lumoof. Roon clapped his hand. - Well, Edna, leave some scraps for us, will ya? -

Edna smiled. - Each of us will split up. I�ll be the bait and handle one spot by myself. Lumoof too. The rest of you will strike other ley lines in pairs. Stella will stay back to give us a path out, just in case. -

Kafa, Ezar, Roon, and Johann nodded. - I kinda wish Alka�s here. His self - detonation would make things pretty easy. -

- He�ll have his chance, - Edna said. - There are many, many more demon kings to go. -

- True. -

Edna went first. - Send me to the demon king. -

Stella smiled. - Got it. -

Edna stepped through the portal, as close as Stella could send her. She arrived at another part of the frontier, where the two heroes waited. The demon king was just over the hill.

It was getting closer. - You�re the cavalry? - Rajah and Wira looked at the female knight.

- Part of it. Now, my two heroes, I think you better spend your time destroying whatever demonic structures the demon king put on the ley lines. Get out of here. -

- But -

- I�ll keep the demon king occupied. -

- You? Alone? -

- Yes. - Edna�s Quest Swords emerged, and her summoned magical knights appeared around her. - I am enough to keep him occupied. Make haste, heroes. There are ley lines to be destroyed, and we don�t know how long the demon king will fall for the trick. -

Edna and Lumoof�s role was to be the - bait. - Edna would first attempt to hold the demon king and prevent it from hitting the other locations. With her Duty Beyond Life and Death and her various buffs, she would be able to frustrate the demon king significantly.

Lumoof would be the second - bait - or - harpoon. - If the demon king moved elsewhere, Stella would move Lumoof to that location, where if needed, he would summon my image, and I�d then hold the demon king back with my abilities. That, in theory, should also buy quite a bit of time for the rest of them to destroy even more ley lines.

Between us, we were fairly confident we could destroy multiple ley lines. If the plan went well, the demon king should be significantly weakened, and we would then have everyone converge on the demon king and destroy it together.

Or, if we were confident, Edna, Lumoof, and I would take on the demon king ourselves.

I hoped we could replicate that first victory on Lavaworld against the demon king, this time with only domain holders without the spawn bombs.

We wanted this strategy to work. We wanted to know that we were ready.

A success would be all the evidence we needed.

And it went swimmingly.

There was something beautiful about watching a plan work perfectly well.

The battle - scarred lands saw battle once more, as the fury of a war goddess descended on the empowered demon king. Edna struck first; she attacked with multiple anti - magical spears that disrupted teleportation and left a few quest weapons that created some kind of anti - teleportation field.

Her quest weapons were all incredibly powerful weapons, collected over her many journeys into her strange pocket dimensions.

The demon king staggered as Edna�s weapons now packed a punch comparable to the heroes, and it was something I could feel in her presence.

Joy.

She was always frustrated that she lacked the ability to deal substantive, - real - damage.

Not anymore.

Her quest weapons shimmered with her domain�s power, the aura of a blade that was no longer in the mortal realms. The demon king was torn; it clearly sensed something was wrong elsewhere as the rest of my domain holders and heroes swept through the demon-controlled lands and easily destroyed the demons structures.

The demon king�s other head kept looking elsewhere, as if trying to pull it toward other things. It knew it was needed elsewhere. It wanted to leave, while its first head bombarded Edna with attacks.

But Edna�s series of anti - magical weapons prevented it from going too far, and the army of magical summons created by the knight ensured its every movement was not without obstacles.

- Your opponent is here! - Edna roared as the demon king attempted to create a portal. It crumbled when Edna�s anti - magical spear slammed into the rift and interfered with the demon king�s attempt to open a portal.

Her spears and swords struck the demon king and pierced through its regenerating skin.

The creature was confused for a moment. A few strikes from Edna later, the demon king realized it wouldn�t be able to reinforce its back lines, and now both heads focused on the knight.

It rained a set of attacks we�d seen it use against the heroes. The demon king�s attacks were intensely powerful, but she shrugged them off. Its attacks were useless before Duty Before Life and Death .

She traded blows with the demon king and came out ahead every time.

- Is that all you got? - Edna said with a laugh. The blast vaporized some of her summons, but they respawned soon enough. - Come on. -

Fun.

And slowly, we felt the demon king�s connection to its supporting ley lines fade.

- I feel like we�re cheating, - Roon said as the ley lines were crushed without much resistance. There were demon champions, and even champions that had additional power from the ley lines that put them as - stronger - champions.

But stronger toys were still toys.

We crushed them. Each of the domain holders swept through ley lines and destroyed them easily.

Tens of ley line spires. Hundreds within half a day. The two heroes could not believe how they managed to waltz through the demons battlelines without the demon king�s disturbance.

- Will. will your friend be all right? - The hero powers worked really well against the demonic spires, but the heroes were worried.

Lumoof shrugged. - She�ll be fine. Come, let�s keep going. It�ll help her, too. -

- But she�s alone. -

- Oh, she�s not alone. How much time does she have left? -

Stella, who was far away and facilitating the movement of people, nodded. - About six days left. -

- See? - Lumoof. - She�d last a battle of endurance and attrition for a week. We�ll get back to her in time. -

- What are you guys? - Rajah said with utmost disbelief.

Lumoof said, - It�s kind of hard to explain while we�re destroying demons. It�s much, much easier if you visit us. You�ll know once we kick this demon king�s backside. After that, you two will go with us to our home world. And right now, your vacation ticket is held by that two - headed giant lizard. -

Edna and the demon king traded blows, and progressively, the demon king weakened. Edna�s Duty now lasted for a week thanks to her Level 190 upgrade, and now with her Level 200 power - up, her ability to dish damage.

A full day passed, and yet Edna wasn�t done. She was tired, and her stored magical abilities were spent. It was not the first time she fought without rest or sleep, but fatigue was still ever present.

- You know, - Stella said from afar. - It almost seems like you can win this alone. -

- Not really, - Edna said. - It�s regenerating almost as fast as I can deal damage. I think I�ve barely cut through half of its current form. -

- You think there�s a second form? -

- I expect it to, - Edna said. - There�s a reason why solo heroes rarely win against the demon king. -

- True, true, - Stella said as she coordinated the magical portals for the domain holders. Unfortunately, Rajah and Wira had to run really quickly since they couldn�t use her portals.

- Now if Lumoof gets his ass here, we�d have a chance, - Edna said with a grunt. Her sword just made a deep gash in the demon king�s neck, but it was already regenerating. - I could use A/ �s spiritual interference. -

- Hang in there for a bit. We�re getting rid of the demonic spires, - Lumoof countered through the shared messaging network.

Gigant dragon was a large place, and even if it was just a constant set of explosions and battles at every single location, there were still a lot of spires and corrupted ley lines that it would still take a while.

- Oh well. -

On average, it took the team just about half an hour, per team, to fully destroy one single corrupted ley line. There were hundreds of these corrupted ley lines all over Gigant dragon. Just locating the ley lines without the demonic interruptions took some time, too.

- Well, we missed it, - Lumoof said as Edna retreated on the sixth day. The demon king was weakened considerably, as we�d managed to remove about two thirds of the ley lines. It was enough that the demon king lost a third of its strength. - But I think we�ve achieved what we needed. All we need to do is recharge for a week or two, then this time, we hit it with everything we got. -

Edna shrugged, but it truly impressed the two heroes.

- You were flat - out amazing, milady, - Wira said, his eyes seeming to outright shine in admiration as they returned to see.

- I need to rest for a bit. -

- How many times can you do that? -

- Five times a year. Which is a little too much, I think. -

- Which is plenty, - Lumoof said. - It�s so damned overpowered. -

- Not as overpowered as being able to respawn and split yourself where I can�t find you. - Edna smiled.

After the attack on the ley lines, there was finally time to properly introduce the two heroes to the rest of them. We introduced the two heroes to their new peers.

The heroes met and mingled. What happened was similar to what used to happen. Surprise, joy, and a sense of comradeship. It helped Samuel to feel like he wasn�t alone. From five heroes, now there were seven.

Seven heroes would definitely help. So, while the heroes rested, mingled, and swapped war stories, the domain holders readied for a second strike at the twin - headed dragon demon king.

Edna and Lumoof wanted a shot at the demon king by themselves. A battle, only with all the domain holders. A chance to prove that we could do it without the heroes, even without the beneficial terrain.

The seven domain holders gathered and prepared to strike. The demon king lost a third of its strength, and with my domain holders fully healed, it was time to put our strength to the test.

Were we ready to fight a demon king without our beneficial advantages?

The two - headed demon king stood waiting, and Lumoof grinned at the already weakening king. - A/ , are you ready? -

- Yes. - I�d fought demon kings over the years, and just like my domain holders, it was now a chore. With Lumoof�s new powers, I expected the creature to be fairly easy to defeat. As it was now, it was not much stronger than an average demon king. - Let�s go. -

Lumoof moved first. His first act was close in, as close as he could get, and immediately summon my presence. I emerged almost instantaneously, an experience similar to a clone .

A/ �s Spirit .

But I wasn�t real. Not the way a clone was. Instead, it was a magical replica, and my form was clearly magical, because it was somewhat transparent. An outline of magic, like a shadow. Despite the appearance, it carried the full weight of my presence, as my all of my aura spread throughout the land. My presence was like a heavy blanket that coated everything around us; all the lesser demons were rendered immobile.

But my attention was on the demon king, and instead, I felt pity. It didn�t feel that strong. Not with its weakened state. One of its heads blasted a beam of energy at my trunk, but my wooden shields blocked it easily.

My powers were stronger thanks to all my levels and Lumoof�s newer buffs, and my roots surged out of the ground. My roots were massive things, as if a gigantic tree far larger than the demon king had somehow transformed into the tentacled limbs of a wooden kraken. So my roots wrapped around the demon king and drained its mana.

The demon king struggled and found itself losing the exchange of both strength and magic.

At that point, Lumoof looked at Edna. - I think we�re probably going to be unnecessary very soon. -

But Edna�s face was one of utmost happiness. She was delighted to see how my spiritual roots easily overpowered the demon king and how I drained the demon king of its energies. - I consider this a part of the journey. If A/ can�t even do this, how do the rest of us hope to face what�s on the demon sun? Come, let�s make this swift. We�ve got more worlds to clear. -

I felt the demon king attempt various things to free itself, but I knew for certain now that I was strong.

My spiritual energies tampered with its ability to regenerate. My roots drained it of its mana. My roots punched holes in its flesh.

And my domain holders killed the helpless demon king without much of a scratch.

It was easy. So incredibly easy.

We won.

I gained two levels.

You are now Level 267.

But I didn�t mind. Trivializing demon kings was what I should do as the leading god of my growing pantheon. It would be a battle we�d have to fight on more worlds.

But this was a boost of confidence.

We now knew we could do it ourselves.

Gigant DRAGON

Gigant dragon was freed from its demon king, and it was the beginning of our - occupation - of the peripheral worlds. We would need to hold off the demon kings until Gawa could fulfill his end of the bargain, so Lumoof wanted to take our battle to the demon kings. We would now plan to remove the rest of the demon kings and gain levels in the process.

From this battle, Lumoof and Edna gained one or two levels, too. Their experience gain was slow, and at this point, they needed the hero fragments. The subject of hero fragments did feel a little sensitive. I didn�t want the heroes to die; they were a force I could deploy quite easily with Lumoof functioning as a mobile warp gate.

- Y�know, I never quite realized how overpowered you two are, - Roon said. His contribution in the final battle against the demon king was decent, but largely, the battle was fought by myself, Lumoof, and Edna.

Lumoof laughed. - It was the right set of enemies. A/ did the bulk of the work. -

- I genuinely thought the demon king looked quite pitiful when it struggled against A/ �s big - ass roots. It felt like the demon king was a whale struggling against a gigantic kraken, - Stella quipped, easily amused. - But boys, let�s clean this up, and we have more to do. -

With the demon king out of the way, the domain holders and heroes quickly swept through the rest of Gigant dragon and eliminated all the remnant demons. There were still demonic spires all over the place, and this process took them about six weeks.

But the demons were gone, and we saw the pathway through the void sea linked to a demon world crumble. These days, with Stella�s upgraded abilities, she could get a - code - on the demons rift, so we could still locate these worlds.

- How many more levels before you get your Level 200 ability? - Lumoof looked at Stella.

- A lot more. I�m about to hit Level 180. Hopefully I will get a decently strong domain ability then, - the void mage continued. I knew we needed her at Level 200. Given how strong Level 200 abilities were, it was likely some of the drawbacks of the void mage classes could be mitigated with her higher levels.

Gigant dragon was beautiful. Without the demons presence, the natural weather of the tail half of the planetary dragon returned. The demonic spires no longer drained away the magical ley lines, and instead, those ley lines returned to their natural state and transformed into gigantic magical sculptures. The ground beneath them transformed just as quickly, as the space around the ley lines were warped into doorways that led into dungeons.

The tail half was the - frontier - for the Dragon lings of Gigant dragon, at least, before the demons conquered it. Now, there were a few ancient cities buried under the demonic sludge from a time long before the demons.

The domain holders had to keep moving. There were three more worlds to go.

A switch flipped in the minds of both Wira and Rajah when the demon king died, and suddenly, they seemed normal. What was an almost crazy obsession with the demons vanished, and instead, both of them looked thoroughly exhausted. As if their minds were forced to maintain a high level of performance for so long that now the sudden emptiness just made them unsure what to do. In a way, we contributed to that. We defeated the demon king, not the heroes, so they lacked the sense of achievement.

They were now willing to travel with us back to Treehome to visit the old hero journals and, for once, have a normal life.

They actually seemed keen.

So, now that Lumoof could function as a mobile teleportation pad, all he needed to do was touch them, and I could send them to Treehome.

Their visit went pretty much as expected. The heroes experienced a little culture shock to see Treehome now resembling a solarpunk version of their human cities. It made me feel happy to see how excited the existing heroes were to introduce the two newcomers to Freshka.

Freshka was pretty much the most advanced city we knew of, with many magical equivalents of facilities known to man.

Freshka was the central node for transport between the worlds and also the political headquarters of everything related to the Valtorn Order. Naturally, this meant a need for embassies and various support staff associated with such diplomatic events.

The confluence of diplomacy and the high amounts of youths receiving education in the multiple colleges throughout the greater Freshka region led to the rise in entertainment and consumer options similar to the heroes own home worlds and a vice network that we controlled.

It was a guided development, primarily driven by our intelligence department. Such entertainment and vices meant these officials and embassies were lulled into a sense of familiarity and comfort. It loosened up their guards. It was easier to obtain a favorable agreement when it was whispered to their ears by a charming companion. Theaters, plays, concerts, bars, and clubs, forums. Nobles everywhere were mortal, after all, and we used both carrot and stick to get what we wanted.

The heroes were wined - and - dined and treated to entertainment options that reminded them of home.

The change happened so slowly over the years that the existing heroes didn�t notice how they were now sucked into the entertainment culture and lifestyle.

Even Kei didn�t notice until Rajah and Wira both looked at her and asked, - Is this - is this all really okay? It�s fine for us to get free entry and reserved seats at these entertainment areas? -

Since most of the entertainment options in Freshka were indirectly controlled by the Valtorn Order, we set up special rooms meant for - unique situations. - This meant private viewing balconies, special guest rooms, and all that sort of thing for my domain holders and also for the heroes.

Kei paused, and that was when it hit her that we were now doing what the churches did to her peer, Alvin. She gulped. - Yes. It is. -

Thirteenth - Khubor

The World Where the Dead Do Not Move On

Roon, Johann, and Ezar frowned when the portal placed them right in the center of a mountain of bones.

- Man. -

There were bones everywhere, and they watched as the magical gray clouds rained bones of different shapes and sizes around them.

Roon stared at Johann, and Johann stared at Ezar. - Who was it that said worlds can�t get any weirder after Lumoof�s giant dragon? Here, exhibit one. A world that rained bones. -

- Where do they come from? - Ezar looked at the rain of bones smashed into his magical artifact. The bones were surprisingly hard and smashed into the ground. The ground itself was covered in bones.

- Magic, I bet. Or some Core shenanigans, - Roon said.

The ranger picked up some of the bones that rained and noticed they weren�t actually animal bones. They were just shaped like bones and made of the same stuff. There was a kind of magical cloud above them that produced these bones.

- It is probably more appropriate to call them bone - stones than actual bones, since they are just bone - like, but not actually the bones of an animal or monster, - Roon said as he examined them in greater detail.

- Fair, fair. That�s probably a better way to wrap our heads around it, - his fellow domain holder said as they kept exploring. The clouds of the world were a storm of magic; they could feel the intense magics coming from their bonestone - creating clouds. - Well, think we have living beings to see? -

That was when a spirit, a wight, appeared before our very eyes.

- You three are far from the lands of the living. Return to the lands of the living. The Deathlands are not for you. - The spirit�s voice was like the whisper of the wind.

Roon looked at the wight. There were a million things he wanted to ask but decided not to. - Could you point us the way? -

The spirit pointed. - That way. If you walk at the normal living pace, you will reach the Kingdom of Murklands in six days. -

- Very well. What lies in the Deathlands? - Roon continued with his question.

- The nations of the departed spirits. It is the land where creatures like me form our nation. -

- Heck, - Roon said, a little surprised. - Well, I suppose we should go that way, though. I think this world would probably interest Lumoof. -

Roon, Johann, and Ezar eventually did encounter the Kingdom of Murklands, which was not a special kingdom. It was only one of many humanoid kingdoms, and throughout the area, all the - living - kingdoms came to be known as the Kingdoms of the Living. The land of the living were kingdoms of faith, where the priests of Gawa and Gaya roamed.

When the folks of the living lands died, they shipped their corpses over to the Deathlands. This was organized by a group that existed with the support of the Gawa and Gaya temples, the Deathmen. The Deathmen would ship the corpses to the Deathlands, and the Deathlands would pay for their services in goods from the Deathlands.

- They trade with the dead, - Roon explained over our communication network.

- I�m headed there now. - We both had a million and one questions, so my avatar quickly headed over.

The Living kingdoms were fairly normal, they were mainly humans, but there were some slightly longer lived dwarves and halflings, organized around kings and supported by priesthoods.

But as Lumoof arrived, he could see something different about this world. It was something only obvious to Lumoof, and yet he wondered whether the local priests knew.

- Not all souls escape this world. Instead, for the corpses that were shipped to the Deathlands, their souls, still partly bound to their flesh, are turned into these spirits, - Lumoof theorized. Their corpses were linked to their souls. Though the soul may have - separated, - if someone meddled, it was possible to pull the soul back into the corpse.

It was a feature that worked both ways, just like how we were able to restore souls from old personal items of a person, because there were fragments of that person�s soul in them.

- I believe there is a domain - level individual deep in the Deathlands, - Lumoof said, and so, for once, our suspicions were true. Once we paid attention, we could sense it, the small ripples of space of a domain holder. Deep in the Deathlands, there was clearly something, or someone, that could tamper with souls to create these wights and deathlings.

- Could it be friendly? - Roon said.

- I don�t know, - Lumoof said. - The only way to know is to go and see it. And I�ll only do so when I am at full strength. Just in case. -

Fighting another domain holder is an iffy thing, and we are not exactly sure what kind of powers this other domain holder had.

Domain holders, at least those we�d met, were all slightly eccentric existences that didn�t like to be surprised. So we knew from experience that I couldn�t just barge into the depth of the Deathlands and be well received. We needed to figure out a way to send a message, one that would be favorably received by the other side, and we could then meet to truly understand them.

- Okay, I�ll come back in a while, - Lumoof said. - I�ve got other places to go, but for now, the three of you maybe help to figure out what�s up with the heroes and do research on past alliances, discussions, and communications with the Kingdoms of the Dead. The goal is to establish communication. Peacefully. Without scaring them. -

- Got it, boss, - Roon said.

My avatar rolled his eyes, but we knew it was in jest.

The kingdom of the living occupied two thirds of this world, while the remaining third was the kingdoms of the dead. The demon king, occasionally, would spawn in the Deathlands, and those in the Deathlands would band together to destroy it.

When this happened, it was called the - Week of the Waking Nightmares. - For a week, people all over the world would have nightmares, and it almost seemed as if spirits appeared all over the world.

This was a fact that worried me, because it suggested that the Deathlands had a weapon powerful enough to destroy demon kings, though, from what we�d seen so far, the Deathlands stuck to itself. If it could take on demon kings, then it could definitely take on domain holders.

Maybe it was something like the blood sacrifices and the hex bombs of the blood mages, because whatever was in the Deathlands clearly knew how to manipulate souls and turn them into wandering spirits that couldn�t move on in their cycle of reincarnation.

It was possible this domain holder got further along the path of weaponizing the incredible powers of the soul. If so, maybe the power of the soul was what we needed to destroy the demon sun.

Anyway, information from the living nations was scarce. They didn�t have insights into the nature of the Deathlands, and all their interactions with the Dead Spirits were for trade and commerce. The Dead Spirits didn�t reveal about the intricacies and inner workings of the Deathlands, though communication was clearly possible with these Dead Spirits.

The heroes, if summoned, would arrive at the kingdoms of the Living, and the Dead Spirits were usually not hostile. Their first instinct was to chase the living out of the Deadlands and only raise their weapons if such actions were repeated and their attempts to remove the living were stopped.

There was, to our surprise, still one hero surviving and living in this world. He defeated the last demon king that arrived about twenty years ago with the aid of the Deathlands and since then retired to the countryside.

A man who clearly wanted to live and have a family.

Roon, Johann, and Ezar discovered the hero living in a quiet, picture - perfect valley surrounded by a farm. There were cows, chickens, fields of vegetables and wheat. There were three beautiful children running about. The oldest one looked like he was in his teens.

When they knocked on the door, a tall, well - built man greeted them. He was dressed like a farmer.

- Greetings. You are the hero, Gideon? -

- I�m Gideon, yes. - The hero and the three exchanged looks, and the hero eventually added, - But no, I�m no longer an active hero. -

- No longer? -

- Well, no. -

Roon looked around. - Can we come in and talk? We don�t mean your family any harm. -

Gideon looked around and back at them and shrugged. - Well. No weapons, but sure. Come on in. -

The home was fairly simple as hero - homes went. It didn�t have the common features of hero homes seen elsewhere. It was something Roon immediately noticed, at least compared to the homes of Colette and Prabu, or Khefri or Adrian.

Instead, it was clearly designed to resemble a picturesque farmhouse. It had large glass windows that allowed plenty of sunlight in and a view of the valleys. It was functional and almost entirely made of wood.

- A beautiful place, - Roon said. - Certainly unlike the homes of the other heroes. -

- Thank you. Come, there isn�t much, but you can sit. - Gideon�s kids noticed and looked worried. They came over, but the hero patted their head. - Go to your rooms, kids. Daddy�s gotta talk to some visitors. -

The three nodded, and Gideon�s wife, a beautiful mature lady with golden - blond hair, followed their kids into their room.

- You�re not from here, are you? - Gideon said frankly.

- Yes. - Roon sat and nodded. - There�s sort of two reasons why we came, so we�ll get right down to it. -

Gideon sipped his mug of water. - Well, sure. -

- One, we�re recruiting heroes. We�ve formed a coalition of heroes to fight the demon kings across worlds, and we�d like you to join us. -

Gideon stared at Roon and sipped his mug again. - So there are worlds other than this one that also have demon kings? -

- Yes. -

- How many have you recruited? -

- Seven. Well, five, but two�s new and maybe they�ll join us. -

- That�s a lot of power in one team, - Gideon said.

- True. But there are even more worlds, - Roon said.

Gideon paused and then sighed. - Honestly, you came a little bit too late. I�ll tell you why, but what�s the other one? -

- You�ve been to the Deathlands? -

The hero stared at Roon, this time seriously. As if judging him. - What is it? -

- What�s in the Deathlands? -

Gideon paused and shook his head. - Why? -

- We sense something unusual in the Deathlands. It is as if souls were captured and unable to move on. There�s a strange emptiness in their lands. -

- I see you already have an inkling. What is in there is an undead demigod. The Osroids. -

Roon leaned forward. Both Johann and Ezar looked around, as if anticipating a sudden strike. - What else do you know about them? We hear some really fascinating tales about the Deathlands, and we want to know what we are dealing with and whether it is friendly. -

Gideon frowned. - Friendly? It�s an undead god that turns corpses into spirits, vampires, and zombies. -

- And yet its undead seem well behaved, - Roon said, a little puzzled.

- The dead need the living to replenish its souls and spirits. This is the balance of the world. If they didn�t need the living, they would have invaded us and killed us all. This peace exists entirely due to the ancient agreement by the church and the Deathlands to sell corpses to the Deathlands, - the hero said with a sigh.

- What about the demons? -

- Just an enemy of my enemy. -

Roon, Ezar, and Johann glanced at each other. - Well, I suppose only Lumoof can handle such a thing. - Roon then turned back to face the hero. - Well, last question: why won�t you join us? -

- Simple. The Osroids gave a simple way to destroy the demon king. It ripped a portion of the hero class out of my spirit and used it to make a bomb. -

All three domain holders were stunned. It took a good thirty seconds before Roon�s shocked face turned into a smirk. - Oh boy, Lumoof�s gonna have a field day with this one. -

- Why? -

- I think our patron god probably has a lot of similarities to these Osroids. And so you have an incomplete hero class? -

- Yes. -

The three met outside.

- What the fuck�s going on here? - Ezar cursed. - That dude�s a half - hero or some shit? -

Roon nodded. - Not what I expected, but I suppose so. -

Johann looked around. - I think what�s really important to know is whether the Osroids are some kind of threat to us. -

Ezar looked a bit bewildered. - I am guessing it�ll be yes. It�s some death - manipulating domain holder with some soul - type shenanigans. -

- Let�s - let�s not pass judgment so quickly. Just because it�s using death power doesn�t make it bad. What it�s doing now seems fairly proper. It trades for corpses, uses souls from corpses to create its people, and uses the hero�s class somehow as a weapon, - Roon countered. - I - I think we should let A/ decide on this. -

- I don�t get it. Gawa clearly considers this world to be a peripheral world, and it loses faith points sustaining this world. Yet it clearly doesn�t seem like it needs help, if this Osroid can use the hero class to destroy demons. -

- It still needs the hero class to make the weapon, and that costs faith points. I reckon the act of summoning is what drains most of the faith points, - Roon countered.

- So the way to save Gawa �s faith points is to blow up demon kings before new heroes are summoned. -

- Yeah. Pretty much. -

- Then we�ll need to make an agreement with this death - god in the Deathlands. -

THE FOURTEENTH WORLD

THE FLOATING ISLANDS

Terras

The land of the floating islands immediately evoked a sense of wonder when both Stella and Lumoof arrived. It was a world where it was a set of massive floating islands, and the land below was an infinitely dense and thick layer of white, fluffy clouds.

- You know, when I was a child, I used to imagine worlds like this where everything is a floating island, and it�s just a sea of white clouds. Each of us have our own islands, and we�d visit each other on flying ships, - Stella said.

Lumoof didn�t relate. His childhood wasn�t that vibrant. As a native of Treehome, his childhood was mainly trying to be useful to his parents. When they still lived. - I can�t say I understand, but it is quite beautiful. -

The sun was bright and somehow floated overhead, and they noticed a strange contraption around the sun. It was always visible, a large screen that orbited around the sun. Strangely, there was a gigantic, steel - like structure that connected the screen to the sun. When I saw it, my first thoughts were those planetary models commonly found in schools.

Stella stared at it, as if trying to make sense of it. - In a way, that�s somewhat similar to the Three - Ringed World. This world�s day - night cycle is controlled by that screen thing. It moves to block the sun. -

Lumoof found it funny. - As if this world is a toy. -

- I mean, I suppose you could say that. - Stella looked around and found bridges made of clouds that linked the island to other islands. Magical clouds. - Man, this world is a fairytale. -

I felt my avatar�s sense expand, but because as a tree our senses mostly propagated through the ground, it ended where the island itself ended. I tried to grapple with what I felt and studied how the large islands floated, only to discover they were not exactly floating.

They were suspended. I felt a strange, divine - law type of string, and they bound each at every single island. They were commanded to float where they were, so they did. In short, divine power commanded the islands to float in the sky, and the world obeyed.

- Could you do something like that someday? - Stella asked, once she realized the presence of divine power.

- I think it�s not that simple. Such a command must have been woven into the world when it was created. - The idea of commanding the islands to do so now seemed silly and wasteful. It was likely that there was some kind of - foundational law - that made it happen, which was why it persisted even when these worlds theoretically drifted away from the range of gods.

- That sounds like there�s a god - commanded divine laws, such as those commanded by Gawa , and a set of neutral or core - bound divine laws, that are specific to each world�s creation. Right? -

- That�s my guess. -

Stella nodded. - And I found living folk. -

Humans. Regular, normal humans living almost idyllic, peaceful lives. They were farmers, farming on incredibly fertile lands. The crops they planted were familiar, though it was more of a mixed farm, with small patches of everything.

There was magic in the land itself; it almost seemed as if the plants were growing before our very eyes, as if they were spurred on by the blessings of a Level 70 to 80 druid.

- Oh, hey there, it�s been a while since we had visitors, but how did you arrive? I didn�t see any flying ships or balloons. -

- We walked, - Stella answered.

- Oh, through the cloud bridges? I�m surprised people still do that, - the farmer said. - So, what�s up? -

- We�re lost. Could you help us out? -

There were thousands, or even tens of thousands, of floating islands, some larger, some much smaller. There was a set of larger floating islands known as the Main Islands, and these housed most of the humans in this world.

The Main Islands were rich in all sorts of magical resources and metals, while lands further away lacked most natural resources and metals.

Humans were the only population, but there were monsters on some of the islands, and these islands became known as the magic islands or dungeon islands, because these islands were the locations that spawned monsters. Monsters generally stuck to their own islands, though occasionally, flying monsters did attack their surrounding islands.

The Main Islands were home to a series of kingdoms and empires, and wars were frequently fought between them. The further islands, like the one that they visited, were generally those that escaped the constant warfare of the Main Islands.

Farming was somehow easy in all the islands, and each island usually had a series of naturally occurring springs that created lakes and rivers.

- Some of these worlds just absolutely defy understanding. How does the water cycle work in a world where everything�s on floating islands? - Stella rubbed her hair in her guestroom. The farmers were friendly and were more than happy to let them use the guestroom once it was clear they were not hostile.

Lumoof didn�t answer her. He knew her long enough to know that she just needed to vent when things didn�t match how she understood reality.

Stella slapped herself gently. - All right, all right, I know, each world has their own rules. Each world, own magic. Got it. Quirks of their reality. This is just how this world works. -

My avatar nodded. - I do foresee all these different rules of different worlds will make it hard for the Valthorns to swiftly adapt to each world. They will have to spend some time to acclimatize themselves to how each world behaves. I might forget, if I�m suddenly sent back to say Landas, or say Gigant dragon or that hex - grid world where everything is controlled by divine laws. -

- So cultural familiarity is going to be a big issue? -

- Not just that, I could easily imagine representatives from each of these worlds are unfamiliar with the quirks of other worlds, and their well - meaning suggestions thus come off as weird or unhelpful to others. -

Stella paused. - Oh. So you�re talking about the Order�s structure across all these peripheral worlds. -

- Yeah. It�s been on my mind. Knowing A/ , the structure of how the Order will function is highly likely to be delegated to a person that will be based long term in that world. That warps our preferences, our understanding, especially non�domain holders who are not protected from the divine laws of each world. I imagine that anyone who spends a few years full time at any of these peripheral worlds will get used to the local laws and lose touch with how things work elsewhere. -

- So the Order expansion is dead underwater. -

- Not exactly. I mean, not all of these changes are that dramatic. The System and our powers still work on them. Just - I suppose there will be some expectation and cultural differences that will emerge. -

- We already have those differences, - Stella said. - That�s why Branchhold recruits and Treehome recruits have slightly different attitudes. -

- It�ll be worse with these peripheral worlds. -

- Eh. It�s just the urban - rural gap with even more skin. I�m sure it can be solved. We�ll just need our own internal diplomats. -

Lumoof gave Stella a look of disapproval, and she eventually sighed. She rolled on her own little bed. - I know, we�re building even more bureaucracy into the System. We�ll use A/ �s dream academy and work around it. Frequent trips to Treehome to soak up our culture. That�s what large guilds, corporations, and governments do. I think it�s too early to tell. Branchhold seems to integrate well, so far. -

- So far, - Lumoof said as he looked out the window of the guestroom. The gigantic screen was starting to cover a part of the sun, creating a strange dimming of the world. - Which is why I fear for worlds that won�t be linked via a node or a clone. They will stray from Treehome�s supervision. Even with us present, we can�t hope to match A/ �s trees. -

Stella decided to hop off the bed and walked to the window. - Huh, that�s quite a view. -

- It is. It�s like an eclipse. - The seemingly white clouds now glowed, as if the world around us turned into darkness. Yet it wasn�t total darkness. The clouds themselves glowed.

- Imagine it happening every day, - Stella said in a rare moment of wonder. - Must feel pretty normal to the people here. The clouds are pretty. -

- A sea of clouds that glowed. - My avatar also took the time to bask in the beauty. - I think I�d like to see it from the edge. -

The farmers didn�t stop them, but the two walked uninterrupted to the edge.

Demon kings, at least in the past, used to land in special islands. It seemed that every time the demon king was about to arrive, a new island would appear. That island was known as the - demons island, - and it was a magical creation, a dark - red glowing island that floated above all the other islands.

Then, when the hero arrived, a chain of smaller islands would appear that allowed the hero to go and meet the demons.

The demons were unable to use the cloud bridges, so they were often trapped on their own islands. It was only when flying demons appeared that they could expand to the other islands. When that happened, it was a huge disaster that caused a lot of deaths.

- These islands protect them. -

- In the same way the oceans protected us, - Stella said. - Look at these clouds. They feel like they are partly magic. -

- They probably are. - Lumoof nodded as he observed the clouds floating from place to place. Some of them were fluffy, and some took the shape of streaks.

- The winds are pretty constant. They have a defined direction, - Stella suddenly noticed. - They all move in the same direction, at the same speed. -

- Worldly magic, - Lumoof said. - I wonder what the last world would be like. -

Stella decided to just sit down at the edge. She wasn�t afraid of heights, and somehow, she knew she wouldn�t fall. There was a fundamental divine law that operated in this world, a kind of specific force unique to this world. - I never thought I�d actually see a sight like this. -

- There was the stormworld with a floating island, remember? - Lumoof said.

- That one - that one wasn�t this beautiful. -

- Is it? I thought the turbulent storms were quite beautiful. They had so much energy, the flashes of lightning, the seemingly gigantic rivers of magic that turned into a cloud river. -

- This is peaceful. Calm, - Stella said. - I can see myself retiring somewhere like this. Someday, when all of this is over, I�d like a farmhouse, too. I�d probably need a bit more necessities and stuff from Freshka, but one of these faraway islands would be nice. I�ll plant some fruits and stuff. -

- You could pick an island. The islands along the Eastern Oceans are still beautiful and untouched. -

- It doesn�t have this view. - Stella smiled, and Lumoof stretched. He too decided to sit along the edge. It was a sensation I didn�t enjoy. I didn�t like my feet dangling midair. I very much preferred to be rooted down on something solid. Even these floating islands were a little too much for my liking.

Lumoof took a deep breath. The air was clean.

The two domain holders sat quietly, and both enjoyed the beauty. There were other islands in the distance, but the clouds obscured most of them from view. - Let�s go to the main islands tomorrow. -

Airships were everywhere, and they were armed to the teeth. The peace of the distant islands were soon replaced by the constant threat of war.

Human kingdoms hated each other.

Lumoof and Stella found the main islands of this world to be in a state of constant warfare. Large airships were built out of unique floating materials, and weapons mounted on them. Then they fought each other.

There were five main islands, split into three main empires. The three human empires all maintained large fleets of airships of their own. War in these main islands were brutal, because the main islands were incredibly resource rich. The islands itself were magical, divine, and seemed to produce resources indefinitely.

All that potential used to fuel a war against each other.

- A sickening testament to humanity. - Stella cursed.

- It is in our nature, - Lumoof said as we arrived in the capital of one of these large empires. Fleets of airships floated overhead, each of them filled with magical weapons. Their arrays of magical weapons were slightly more advanced than those found on the other worlds, though still quite behind those of the dwarves of Delvegard.

The capital was fairly advanced, in the larger scale of things. Only the dwarven cities of Delvegard and the Dragon ling cities of Gigant dragon could compare.

But of all things, it was the islands themselves that truly got my attention.

Just walking on the Main Islands, I felt our souls, both mine and Lumoof, resonate with the ground below. The touch of divinity was woven into the ground, and it was similar to how a druid encouraged trees to grow. Here, some force caused the ground itself to - spawn - metals and crystals.

Control of these islands could significantly alleviate our resource problems.

- You can�t be - Stella said. - Wait. You�re thinking about it. -

- They use a lot of crystals and metals for their airships. They fight a lot of wars with each other. I see value here, just like Delvegard. Though it would be similarly hard to get them to bend the knee. They already hate each other, and unlike the dwarves of Delvegard that generally respect and obey technical superiority, these humans would not be so cooperative. -

Stella and Lumoof were seen as travelers, farmers from afar that came to see the big city. So it wasn�t entirely problematic. Most of their gear were also hidden elsewhere, so they passed through security fairly easily, though some of their items failed in their presence.

- So much for peace, - Stella said as we walked through the city. The city was heavily militarized, and there were constant recruitments for soldiers and a massive industrial system built around supporting the war. It was like a more advanced version of Mountainworld. - I can see why the humans moved to the outer islands. -

Three empires of humans, Aire, Argin, and Taufang, each with their airships, and there were frequent wars between them. Even now there were smaller skirmishes where their empires met. All three of the human empires worshiped Gawa , yet somehow, the church itself splintered into three sub - branches of Gawa .

The demon king wasn�t here yet. The last demon king came fifteen years ago, and after that, there was a brutal war that saw the demon king defeated. The stories spoke of how the demon king died when the hero ascended into the demons floating island and slew them. The island was destroyed, together with the demon king.

It�d be at least five or six years before the demons started appearing again. So the empires descended into war.

- I�m putting this world under the good for resources pile, - Lumoof said. - Just like Delvegard. -

- Got it. I wonder what Edna sees in the fifteenth world, - Stella said. - We�re finally done exploring, and we can then move on to the next stage. -

The void mage looked at the world at war.

- Do you think we can convince these three empires to lay down their arms? -

Lumoof laughed. - If they do not listen to words, they�ll have to listen to a very big swarm of beetles. -

FIFTEENTH PERIPHERAL WORLD

THE EMPIRE OF THE WHITE STATUE

- Emerald waters and white, sandy beaches. Mountains of white stone and marble and cities that shine, - Edna said as she looked at a city so white and beautiful it could be seen as she crossed the hill. Humans, strong, muscular, lived there. An honest life, of farming, of craft, and of fighting.

Things were simple but functional. Clean. Organized, but not overly so.

- A place I cannot quite admire. - Kafa smiled, but the stresses of travel were temporarily gone. Lizardfolk like Kafa were so used to a state of organized chaos that the overly orderly scenes of this place reminded them of the world of Angels. Still, he was in a cheery mood, hidden in plain sight that none of the humans of this world saw him.

As we approached the city, we began to see towering white marble columns in the distance. The temples on the top of the hill looked transplanted out of an ancient civilization. They walked and explored for days and found a world strangely ancient and yet advanced in its own way.

- Welcome to Raeko, traveler. Your attire is foreign, so you must�ve come from a place far, far away. Come, come, our code dictates that our foreign visitor�s first meal and board is free. Let us lead you to our communal guesthouses. - A man in white tunic greeted Edna as she approached the gates. The walls were white and beautiful, as if they�ve never seen battle in ages, and yet the guards took their work seriously.

Edna nodded as they were ushered into a fairly basic but functional guesthouse. Food was warm, though there was a particularly pungent taste that the locals seemed to love.

Before long, the host and the guest began to trade stories, and the host�s pride in their nation was clear. He was eager to impress on the greatness of their nation, and Edna soaked it in. Edna gave a generally vague description of a land far away, which the host presumed to be the land beyond the White Shores, commonly referred to as the Untamed Lands.

This was a fairly small world and home to a large nation called the White Shores. It was ruled by a really old white statue that stood as the guardian of the birthplace and administered by a council of the wise men, who would routinely elect one amongst them to be the decade�s Philosopher King. The Philosopher King would then shape the White Shore�s policy for that decade, though changes were often incremental rather than revolutionary.

Eventually, the host spoke of the home city, the White Capital, and home of the White Statue. The host spoke at length about how every citizen of the White Shores would make a pilgrimage when they came of age to the White Capital to receive their calling.

- I should go there, - Edna said, realizing that there was something about it that hinted to the presence of a domain holder or some kind of immortal guardian spirit.

The host, naturally, was more than happy to assist. It was fairly easy for Edna to change into the locals attire, though Kafa would then play off as her attendant.

Raeko was one of the many cities of the White Shores located closer to the fringes than the center, so the pair set off on a leisurely journey toward the heart of the White Shores.

They traveled with the common means of transport, which mainly consisted of horse - drawn carriages that went on well - maintained pebblestone and cobblestone paths.

It was on these cobblestone paths outside of the small town of Raeko, where the smaller road joined with a larger one, an intersection, that stood a replica of a giant white statue. There were smaller statues all over the place, but Edna felt drawn. She commanded the driver to stop, for them to take a look at the statue.

The small clearing around the giant white statue was covered in marble flooring, and there were a few guards standing about, mainly to supervise traffic.

Yet, as Edna looked at it, she felt there was something here.

- I didn�t sense a thing, - Kafa said at first.

- You were not there when we visited the beast deity Bitu. I sensed a faint link from these statues elsewhere. Once you get used to it, you�ll even see it in A/ �s trees, - Edna said as she stood in front of the statue.

Faint strands of divine influence.

- Really? - Kafa walked closer to the White Statue. - Maybe it�s my level. -

A guard immediately walked over, gave a warning, and walked away. - Citizens. You are permitted to remain here, but do not conduct any unsavory activities. I would like to remind you that touching the White Statue is not permitted. Have a good day. -

- Takes his work seriously. - Kafa looked at the guy.

Edna nodded. - That is good. They are quite strong. Do you not notice the way they are blessed? -

Kafa frowned. - I�m a warrior. Sensing such auras is harder for me. - But he squinted just to try and see, and when it clicked, it clicked. His eyes widened as he looked around. - No way. It�s everywhere. -

- It is, and it swirls around us like a subtle fog that�s almost invisible to see. - Edna�s eyes looked at the statue. - I wonder what it�ll take to get its attention. -

Kafa looked about. - I think that can wait. -

Edna looked back at the lizard warrior, and after a second, said, - You are right. Let�s see this world for a bit. -

We have seen fifteen worlds, and now back home, I was fairly clear on my first course of action. I would flush out all the demon kings with all my domain holders and let them level up. This was the easy part.

The one I had trouble with was what came after.

Should I even bother establishing a position here? Should I force a presence on all of them, or just not bother? The demons were not playing games, so I needed to grow. I needed to grow faster and quickly. Good, high - quality growth. Growth that would bring us to the next level.

I decided to pull in my domain holders for their views.

Kafa went first. - I believe that talent is key, and talent exists where the population is biggest. We should have a bigger presence in a world like Twinspace, where it�s overpopulated and people are eager for a better life. That�s my first pic. Second pick, I�ll pick Capra. -

- Capra? - Edna responded telepathically. - Why Capra? -

- Because the Caprans seemed to gel well with us, - Kafa countered.

Edna decided to reframe the question. - Okay, I think let�s work through this by elimination. Which world do we not want? -

Lumoof thought for a moment. - I kinda want all of them. -

- No, you�re not helping with that! We have to eliminate some of these worlds. Worlds where we just maintain a casual presence. -

- I�m going to understand that as worlds that have their shit figured out and we�re not necessary. And worlds that are already wrecked. So that�s Deadworld, Three - Ringed World, Caval, and Khubur. All these worlds are strong and have people designed to sort out their own shit. Khubur even has a domain holder of some kind. I say we leave them alone. We visit occasionally just to check in, but otherwise, we leave them as they are. -

Roon nodded. - I�m generally with you there. I think we should just be insurance, just in case this domain holder acts unnaturally, but yeah, I think we can leave the Osroids alone, whether they are friendly or not. -

- Edna should claim the world of Caval. That world just meshes super well with her set of abilities. If we wanted to arrange for someone to speak to the administrators when they are offered the Faith System, Edna should set up a significant presence on Caval, - Ezar countered. - It�s human, and it has a strong knightly tradition due to the presence of historical hero - swords. -

- All right. Caval�s contentious. Let�s put that aside. -

- I like Gigant dragon. If we take Capra, we should take Gigant dragon. The two dragons and drakeworlds have some value together, - Johann advocated. - Synergy effects and all that. -

- If so, Magisar and Caval as a set. Swords and magic. -

- Are we pairing up worlds? - Stella asked. - I say we take Twinspace and move the heavily populated folks to Deadworld, since that world�s dead. That can happen with just nodes, so we don�t really need A/ �s clones there to boost everything else. -

- Are you sure we need Deadworld? It�s dead. -

- I think Landas is a node - only world. The hot and cold world of Sarlpi, the Centaur world of the Great Steppes and Shasan, the flood and desert world, I rank them in the middle. Not a priority. -

- Magisar? -

- Magisar is an upper - tier world, - Edna said. - They are naturally magically talented. There�s some things we can use to offset our current magical shortfall - together with the world of the floating islands. -

- You like the floating islands? - Stella asked.

- I thought you did. -

- I did like the world, personally. But I don�t think it�s that great for the Valtorn Order. Would A/ �s abilities work well in a world where the lands are fragmented? Where each piece of land is cut off from other lands? I think A/ �s clones would be functionally weaker in such a world, - Stella countered.

Lumoof nodded. - I could test it out by using A/ �s Spirit , but my intuition agrees with Stella�s conclusion. A/ �s clone would be suboptimal in a world where each island is separated from others by magic. A/ would not be able to fully exert his benefits across the entire world. This also applies to the Three - Ringed World. -

- Wildcard idea here. A/ should be on Deadworld. Like, perfect world to reconstruct from scratch. We�ll offer the people of the overpopulated worlds a place to move to. -

- Too long. We�ve seen Tropicsworld, and it takes forever to rebuild. If we want to scale quickly, we should hit places with the largest existing population and supercharge them. That means that twin continent world. We could even sell it by starting an expedition to the Cursed Continent and clean it up, - Kafa suggested. - We�ll call it A/ �s Crusade. Imagine the impact it�ll give to the population that someone successfully cleaned up the Cursed Continent. -

- You�re mad, but I like it. - Ezar laughed. - That does sound like a good idea. -

Lumoof nodded. - Seems sensible. That means Twinspace pushed up a notch. -

- Our key resource shortfall is crystals, and that�s aplenty in the Floating Islands world, - Edna said. - Along with Delvegard. -

- That doesn�t mean we need clones. We could use nodes. -

- A/ has a crystal - producing titan. Those titans will work better with a clone�s blessings. Production titans must be linked to A/ since they are pretty much unique trees. So we�ll need a clone. -

- It doesn�t have to be on any of these worlds. These Crystal Titan could be based out of our existing worlds, - Roon countered. - It�ll be closer to where the crafters are, anyway. -

- Fair. So where does that put the Floating Islands world? What�s with the drawbacks of the Floating Island world? -

- I don�t know how it�ll play out. But just like Delvegard, our presence can force them to change. A/ �s clone has a ten - year cooldown. We could test it out, build a presence, and if it doesn�t work as well, A/ could swap it for a node. -

- Or if A/ gains levels, we�d have more clones, - Roon countered. - I think let�s just summarize a little. A node on Twinspace, Capra, Magisar, Gigant dragon, Deadworld? Clones currently proposed to be on Twinspace and Deadworld? -

- Why not Capra or Gigant dragon? - Johann asked, in rare disagreement with his fellow partner. - A/ �s ability to meddle with fruits and supercharge breeding of drakefruits could be beneficial to the drakes and dragons of these two worlds. Done properly, we�d have a really powerful flying force. -

Kafa shook his head. - Only domain holders matter, Johann. Against the demon kings, everyone else falls short. -

- I disagree with that. - Johann didn�t think so. - Our organization is built upon the support of thousands of support staff. Someone makes our equipment, keeps our supplies stocked, and does our planning. -

- Yes. But ultimately, the organization must be designed around producing domain holders as its core objective, - Kafa defended. - So, population, thus talent, matters more. A/ has three clone slots. With Lumoof�s A/ �s Spirit , we technically don�t need to keep any as spare. Or at least, we need to choose two worlds. Twinspace should be one of them by virtue of its population size. Blessing such a world to produce even more potential talent will supercharge our talent pipeline. -

Stella paused. - What if we don�t bother with clones at all? Let�s just go with node trees . A/ has seven node trees left after the ones on Landas, Delvegard, and Gigant dragon. Let�s use all of them. Twinspace, Magisar, Capra, Caval. Those four have the most potential. We can add in Triotuga and maybe Shasan or the Floating Islands just to round it out. The rest of them, we�ll leave it as portal - only worlds. -

- Really? - Johann paused. - Why? -

- We cannot be relying on A/ �s clones forever as a crutch. We need the Valthorns to outgrow its current abilities, and to do so, it must first gain the ability to function and prosper without A/ �s clone presence. Lords and Kings grow faster in times of peril, and the Order will learn to be better with the challenge. -

Kafa paused. - A clone would make a big statement. -

Stella countered, - Agree. But the people of Twinspace don�t know that. -

A story emerged in Lumoof�s mind. - The story of winning over Twinspace will be simple. We create a small node tree with limited abilities and sell the Cursed Continent as a promised land. Then we launch that crusade as Kafa suggested, then once we succeed, a clone gets deployed and we can create a new great nation in that resource - rich continent. -

That made my void mage freeze for a moment. - That�s kind of unnerving, even if I know how it�ll work. -

- As priests, our jobs often involve crafting mythos. We will need to create one for each of these worlds. A story. We need the people to buy in. To hope. A reason for them to join in our journey, to take part in a tale we create together. -

- I think to venture into the heart of the demons territory and slay the source is a pretty compelling story, - Roon said.

- For some. But again, variations. We could craft smaller tales about our journey in each of these worlds. Like how we have the venture to the Cursed Continent to create a promised land, on Gigant dragon, Landas, and so forth. Our story will be one of restoration and revival. -

- But what if what we are reviving is terrible? - Stella countered. - Not all of these old civilizations are great. -

- Renewal. -

Kafa frowned. - I think to just say that these worlds will now be part of a community of wider worlds could work, though that doesn�t actually inspire loyalty. -

- The generation that saw the most change and improvements will be loyal by virtue of our actions, - Edna stated. - It is the successor generations that would see the need for a finely crafted narrative. Something to convince them to be a part of our crusade. -

- Will Lumoof take the lead on the narratives? - Ezar asked.

- A bit. But I�ll likely leave it to the other Decarches, - Lumoof said. - It ties into our mythos, of a tree expanding its roots and branches into the other worlds, to purge them of the demons and spread the fruits of growth. -

- And the roots to suck up talent. - Kafa chuckled. - But Stella�s node idea is logical. A clone is a decision that has a long - term impact. A test case with nodes would work. -

- Speaking of the myths, we should just call this whole thing the Fifteen Revivals. - Roon laughed. - Or the A/ ic Expedition. -

Stella rolled her eyes. A part of her disagreed with the colonial, imperialist methods of our Order, but unfortunately, it was part of the developmental stages these worlds had to go through.

- Eh. We shouldn�t be touching the worlds with the domain holders. It�s pretty dangerous unless we want to fight another domain holder. That means Khubur and the world of the White Statue, - Edna said.

- I don�t think we�d lose, - Ezar said.

- I don�t think so, either. But the battle is the easy part. Replacing the power vacuum it creates is what�s hard. Unlike the crystal king, these two worlds have fairly intertwined domain holders that run what seems to be fairly well put together, - Edna countered. - If these worlds are working well, we don�t have to mess with it. We can just drop in, deal with the demon kings, and go out. Let things remain as they are. That�s all we need to tell the existing domain holders - strike a non - interference treaty, say our whole job is just to deal with the demon kings, do it, and go. If they are willing to help us, it�s a win. -

The consequences of betrayals were self - explanatory. They could test us, but if we made the statement with Lumoof and my own avatar form, the difference in power should be clear.

- Okay, wait, seven nodes. We are choosing to ignore the Deadworld, Sarlpi, Great Steppes, the Three - Ringed World, Shasan, Khubur, and White Shores? - Roon decided to repeat the conversation. - Wait, that still leaves one spare. -

- Wait. Why Triotuga over Shasan? - Stella asked, out of curiosity.

- Shasan seems like they got things figured out, while winning over one of the three factions of Triotuga seems a lot easier, - Kafa countered.

- The dryads there have something against spirit trees, - Lumoof said. - Or at least they�d find our trees a target. I think I�d go against Triotuga out of principle. -

- But the human population there is fairly healthy, - Kafa added, once again taking the point of view that populations mattered more. - That world sort of resembles Threeworlds. -

- Shasan�s wider skill set and unique creatures are more interesting to absorb into our fold, - Roon jumped in. - Though I suppose Shasan is not exactly friendly to trees. That place is either too dry or too wet. -

- Actually, let�s skip both and go for the Great Steppes, - Edna said. - I�ve seen the two centaur clans, and I think their strength could be a welcome addition. It�s also decently well populated. -

- Or the Floating Islands. A node tree on a floating island, ideally one of the large ones. Just to gain access to the resources, - Lumoof suggested and recalled the resources of the Floating Islands. Control over any of the main islands could improve our resource situation, at the expense of the locals.

- Do we really want Capra over these four choices? - The lizard domain holder didn�t strongly buy the dragon argument. - Or Landas. -

- Landas is largely settling in its place, - Edna said. - Our infrastructure is built. The population is lower than we like, but they welcome us. -

In the end, I wasn�t sure the Valtorn Order was large enough to successfully build new branch establishments across nine new worlds. We would have to recruit as we go and augment our strength. The larger native component would be key to our success.

There was no need to rush on the nodes, and to me, node trees with their fairly short cooldown times meant we could change our minds. - It is fine. Let�s go with it and respond to what happens. -

And so a decision largely made, thousands more left the comforts and safety of Treehome and spread out across the stars.

I thought it fitting; this was the moment where we consciously tried to move up to the next level. Our scale would have to increase to match our growing ambitions.

YEAR 276

Magisar

- We yield. - The group of mages were battered, their leader unable to believe what happened. Half of the upper dome of the tower was blasted apart, exposing the top to the whims of the weather.

A dwarven mage stood standing, in his hand a wooden stick made from one of A/ �s many branches. A fragment of divinity, as a conduit for magic.

Lozanna looked at the Magisarian mages and wizards. Their shields shattered. Their staffs cracked. A group of them, defeated by one Valthorn archmages, a Level 145 Grand Archmage named Blackmoore, a rare dwarven mage. It wasn�t hard at all to bribe enough of the mid - ranked mages of the Tower to support an unusual challenge for the tower.

It was even easier once these bribed mages saw who exactly they were consorting with. Those whose eyes could still see knew the winds were changing. Mages were generally smart; a certain level of intellectual prowess was generally necessary to understand the tomes and scrolls of earlier mages, though there were always those who intuited magic as if it was the back of their hands. Those were geniuses, and those were incredibly rare.

Spectators, there were about two hundred or so mages who belonged to the upper classes of the Tower, unsure whether to clap or cheer. It was just pure silence.

Lozanna smiled and decided to set off the cheers. She clapped, and soon, those that she bribed took the cue to clap as well.

Blackmoore stood in the center; with his level, he easily dwarfed every other mage present.

In their eyes, he must seem like a prodigy, and they were not wrong.

Blackmoore could be called one of those prodigies. Blessed with a gift for the higher magics that was really hard to translate, in the old dwarven societies he would have been forced into some kind of magical blacksmith or alchemist. Instead, through the Valtorn Order�s many academies, he escaped the constraints of the dwarven social order and dabbled in more pure forms of magic.

Lozanna knew how hard it was to train magic. She was there when the old Wizard Madeus tried to train the new students. It was a shame that so many with talents were often educated in fields that did not exploit their strengths.

She shook her head. Here they were, and so, the first of the Towers.

Blackmoore declared, as he glanced about, - Any more wishes to dispute our claim? -

The Tower Lords frowned. The female elf could see the disbelief in their eyes. All their lives they�d worked toward higher magics. They dedicated their resources and efforts to their goals and reached the level that couldn�t go anymore.

The cursed level cap.

For Magisarians, it was also around Level 85.

For mages who reached that level, it must�ve felt like they�d reached the end. They could not go higher.

- How? - the Tower Lords asked. Maybe the question they should have asked was why.

Blackmoore was not protected by a domain, and thus, a high - level version of inspect could give a level estimate. So they knew his levels must be very high. They could conclude it was some kind of inspect - confusion type of spell or ability, thus the number shown was a lie.

But the strength he displayed was clear, and no one could deny the hole in their tower. The spectators were stunned to see a mage overpower so many of them so clearly.

Blackmoore nodded as he turned to face the spectators. - A/ �s gift. I ask the crowd again. Does anyone wish to state their opposition to our demands? -

The Tower Lords could not believe it. - What - what do you want? -

- As is often said in our circles. Nothing for now, but eventually, everything. But I jest. - Blackmoore grinned. - Our first goal will be a coalition of the Towers. As of this day, and until the day the demons are driven back, we will now have full control of your military. Together, we will drive the demons back. -

Everywhere, the Tower Lords fought tooth and nail against the mages of the Order, but the gaps in strength between someone in the Level 80s and someone in the Level 140s was immense.

The Valthorns won everywhere, but we did not become the new tower masters. If anything, the combined military forces of the Towers would still pale compared to whatever we could field.

But it would deliver an impact. It was our moment of strength. A chance for the combined mages to see how high the tree grew and where they stood beneath it.

The Order would not be able to administer this world. It just didn�t have the size or scale. It would be harder still to do with those entrenched in the current system resisting us at every step.

The Valthorns concluded that the existing process and ruling system of the Magisarians were not compatible with our ways. We would not be able to fully capitalize on their strengths if we maintained their System. Thus, we would have to redo it our way.

A statement of strength would lend credence to our legitimacy and ideas.

This statement would win over allies. This statement was our way of telling the local military that there was another way. A complicated power dance to tell those watching that we had the power to protect them. That their Tower Masters were going to rot away in their towers.

Ultimately, we were not bound by the rules of Magisar. The Order would create new cites, one of them with a Node Tree at its heart. Unlike the Towers of Magisar that were all in various states of decay, a new city would be built in one of the reclaimed lands. Somewhere that would be fertile enough. A new city, and volunteers from the Towers could then move to.

With our strength, we would even set up a city right where the demon king was.

From the volunteers and those willing, the Order would form a new organizational structure of both these Tower Refugees and the Order. The young mages would be directly trained and supervised by the Order. Those entrenched in the old system would stay back, and they would bear witness to the gaps between us.

- How�s things, Lozanna ? - Ebon came over from Landas and visited one of the newly constructed cities on Magisar. It was located in a valley, in a space that was reclaimed from the demonic corruption. Lozanna was made the temporary leader of the new city, as she was technically the most experienced person in the field. Given how thinly the Valthorns were spread across the worlds, it wasn�t like they had that much of a choice.

Other than the Dwarven Archmage Blackmoore who was slightly higher level than her, everyone else was in the Level 100s to 120s, while Lozanna was already firmly in the Level 140s. It was a pace she didn�t expect, yet somehow, everyone else seemed to think it was normal.

Lozanna stood and smiled at her teammate from their Landas tour. Hoyia followed behind as she, too, appeared through the makeshift door.

The elven temporary leader answered the dark knight. - Slow. But moving. -

- As is on Landas. People remain the hardest component of our struggle. Give them time. I see you�ve gotten all these built, at least. - Ebon pointed to the structures around them. Lozanna shrugged.

- The physical objects are easier to build. The Magisarians remain unnerved by these land - based cities. They�ve lived so long in their floating towers that they are still mentally scarred by life living so close to the lands. That�s a problem that will take some time. -

Hoyia looked around and, after a while, tapped Lozanna on her shoulder. - Little to worry. A passive blessing from the aura of a Prayer Tree should fix that. -

Lozanna looked outside. There wasn�t much of a view; most of the Magisarian terrain was rocky and rugged. - What of Landas? -

- The Lords are moving in to set things up, and the locals are generally compliant with what was asked of them. Have they assigned a Lord to Magisar yet? -

The elf shook her head. - Central claims they are not yet ready. -

- Strange. Delvegard has seven lords. - Hoyia frowned. - Wonder what�s happening on the field that�s causing this. -

- I was told that they�re trying to get a Mage Lord . - Lozanna regurgitated the answer from command. She would likely transfer that control to one of the dedicated Lords or Ladies once they arrived.

- Ah. - Hoyia and Ebon clicked in acknowledgment. Specialized classes were harder to prepare for deployment. Certain ruling classes were harder to deal with.

- So for now, I�m the temporary leader trying to smooth things over. I do have some good assistants and planners, though, - Lozanna answered, though she did have her share of difficulties. Frustrations with the locals were mainly on the little microaggressions and resistances. - The Magisarians have many quirks, and I initially hoped that they�d be smart enough to just accept us. I am sadly proven wrong. -

Though some of the mages accepted the deal, they were not going to accept all of the Valtorn requests.

- Their cities are not charred fields. Their villages were not burned and destroyed, - Ebon said. - It is only normal that they will fight for it. Those who lost almost everything will think of a chance to rebuild differently than those who are asked to tear down what exists. -

Lozanna didn�t speak of the time when the village was ashes. A faint memory of a time when she and her mother were standing in what was a charred field of ash flashed before her eyes, and she glanced away.

The tower masters thought of Blackmoore as powerful but yet still reachable. To them, if they worked together, maybe they had a chance. They schemed a little too obviously. The Valthorns present were from a spread of disciplines; it wasn�t hard to pick up on what they were trying.

Even if they lost in a battle, they would not give up their posts without an attempt to wrestle it back in the dark.

This was part of the process.

They tried to speak to the tower masters. Yet somehow, all of the tower masters seemed cut from the same cloth. They were cunning but not very wise. Even in the face of power, they�d rather control what little they had.

They would not be the first to change how things were.

Resistance came in many forms. For many of these Magisarians, there was a strong cultural undercurrent.

Even in their new city, she noticed their subtle disapprovals. The clicks, the sighs, the subtle headshakes as they observed how things would be in the new city. In their minds, the Towers were still the ideal to strive for. It was a cultural relic in their mind that they would need a few generations to change.

This was the part of her tasks that was hard. Lozanna sighed. They were there to help, but it did irritate her that those who needed help seemed to think they didn�t.

Hoyia gave the elf a long, warm, motherly smile. The matriarch placed both of her hands on both sides of Lozanna �s shoulders and tapped her reassuringly. - A problem that will be solved in time. Those who have not felt the touch of divinity often doubt its existence. Such is the way of mortals. The mind is hard to change, and it takes overwhelming force to overcome one�s mental inertia. Let us not dwell on the difficulties, but instead, let�s celebrate successes. Show us what you�ve done. -

Lozanna led the group through a makeshift city built for the refugees and those who agreed to join them. Blackmoore, as the dedicated mage champion, went about and challenged all the Towers, and after he completed the tour, there were refugees and those who wanted to join them.

All in, about ten to eleven thousand Magisarians came to join the new city. Some were spies, but ultimately, the Valthorns had enough firepower and about thirty Level 100s, more than enough to maintain a strong level of control over a single town.

The Valthorns also brought in about two hundred Valtorn Order support operatives from Treehome to handle construction and development of the new city.

- We�ve got these new wells, with these filtration trees that cleans the water. - Lozanna pointed. Ebon and the crew were fairly familiar with most of the things. Clean water was a surprisingly rare thing on Magisar, and the locals developed quite sophisticated rainwater collection systems in their magical towers to supplement the missing natural water sources. - One of the tweaks we had to make to the rhizofiltration trees was that the water content needed to be separated to remove some of the minerals that seemed toxic to the Magisarians. They have a zero - iron diet, and their bodies adapted to it so well that iron is now fairly harmful to them. -

Ebon nodded. - Huh. The Landas elves seemed fairly normal. I wonder whether there is other stuff we�d have to look out for on the other worlds. Maybe the Caprans and the Dragon lings will have some unique quirks. -

Lozanna agreed as she recalled what happened during the first few days. - We only realized it after a few of them got sick. The water is fine now, but that was a rather careless blunder on our end. A proper biological study through one of A/ �s biolabs should help. -

- True. - Ebon walked about and noticed the homes built everywhere. There were magical shields constructed. They passed by a large farm, where the druids were in discussion with some locals over the plants.

- Food�s a pain at first, but we�re getting better. We can�t use the food from our world because of their diet, so we�d have to restrict it to native plants. But their local plants all have low yields, because they are mostly a nation of harvesters and hunters, where their cities exist as areas to protect themselves from the demons, so their local plants were not selectively bred for yields. It�ll take a generation or two to change it, - Lozanna narrated. - Even if I see these Magisarian mages as useful, I wonder whether the Order would eventually be overwhelmed with all the custom supply choices for each of these world�s recruits. Standard rations that are not standard will lead to a large surge in logistic overheads. -

- That does limit their external deployment options, isn�t it? - Ebon thought about it; he rubbed his chin as he thought about the difficulties of keeping a Magisarian force fully supplied in remote locations. - Unless they could use familiars. -

- That�s something we�d like to try, - Lozanna elaborated. - We�ve not had a Magisarian with A/ �s familiars, so we don�t know whether those familiars can produce Magisarian - compatible foods when they are operating out of the other worlds. -

Food. Water. Accommodations from Magisarians were simple, though they were initially unused to all the space they now possessed. On a spiritual level, the Treeology priests provided a sort of calming effect on the populace using a mix of their various abilities.

It was not an entirely new situation. Valthorns faced some difficulties a few decades ago when the Order started including Lizardfolk and Treefolk field agents, but over time, the logistics system absorbed their culture, and it became second nature to cater for their unique needs. That said, lizardfolk were generally able to consume and tolerate a vast amount of foods, so they were not hard to integrate. In time, it may be the Magisarians that would change, or the Order as a whole figured out how to better support them.

Lozanna eventually led them to the walls. There were three layers of walls, and though it was quite unnecessary given the Order�s strength, it was the locals that needed convincing.

For an added sense of security, there were large magical barriers erected to give the newly settled natives a perception of security. It was partly performative, since the shields were only strong enough to protect against enemies of the demon champions level.

Ultimately, their real defense force was the deployed Valtorn Order and the local militia.

- Are there native monsters? - Ebon looked about and across the horizon. - I�ve only seen demons since we�ve arrived. -

- Yes, - Lozanna said. - But they are rare for now. They should start spawning once the druids get to work and push back the corruption. Also, since you guys are here, wanna help me get some fresh air? -

- Oh? -

Lozanna grinned and stretched. They went on a demon-hunting spree.

Delvegard

It was a quiet time in the dwarven towns of Delvegard. The appeal of small towns was always its relative obscurity, and that was what drew the dwarves to live in such places. Peace. Free from the usual tussles for Sunsteel and the mines. Free from the rough, chaotic warfare that are the machine wars.

So the recent changes were met with mixed reactions. Not everyone wanted the attention, because it affected their peace. Yet the Valtorn presence brought much - needed food security.

It was a tradeoff that the dwarves begrudgingly accepted, because food was a pain. Security was something that could be fixed.

The strange dwarves from beyond brought a tree that magically grew within their town, and the locals now had to produce equipment to trade for food.

It was at a very good rate, so that was highly appealing to the local dwarves, but it was a strange, unusual practice to trade with a - tree. - The central equipment purchasing hall was located right next to the Node Tree , a dark - brown colored tree that was six stories tall with a trunk the size of two houses across.

There was a cavity in the center, the place where everything appeared and vanished.

Even people. The ruling Lord Sundus found it amusing that the rumors were so crazy. It was a rumor. A curiosity. It was often whispered that people could be eaten by the tree, though they would then see those people reappear sometime later. For now, it seemed as if it was a magical tree that traded food for crafts.

If only they could see where they led to or the links that tree represented. He tried explaining to the local craftsmen that it led to other worlds, but all the local dwarves did was stare at him like he was mad.

He�d love to see their reactions when he�d send them away for the first time. It would be something he�d carve to his memories. For now, to the locals, it was a tree that traded food for crafts. Crafts and goods went in, and food came out the other side.

Of course, the locals didn�t trade with the tree directly. They traded with Sundus�s men, but the locals were curious, and they saw how his people moved the goods to that cavity, and then it just vanished.

So it was known to the locals as a - Magical Trading Tree. -

A few locals even tried sneaking in, perhaps the result of being a little too intoxicated at the local tavern, and tried trading with the tree directly.

One of them claimed to have heard a voice in his head. The rest of them just laughed it off as drunken hallucinations.

A/ would speak to them one day. Then they would know the truth. For now, they waited. Sundus knew the plan for Delvegard mainly hinged on Alka�s return. The return of the alchemist of bombs would then shift their plans on Delvegard forward.

For now, the lord focused on shoring up their position and setting the field.

News, especially amusing news like the Magical Trading Tree, spread quickly. It attracted the presence of neighbors and faraway travelers. Sundus could see them, many of them were obviously not traders, but these so - called traders pretended to visit the local market. But they tried the - Magic Trading Tree - anyway, and his men were willing to trade.

Maybe it was paranoia. Maybe it was curiosity.

Dwarves were proud, but they were not stupid. Curiosities could mutate into a bigger problem. The Dwarven Lords from the nearby nations were curious; they�d all heard of the alliance of dwarven towns - the so - called - Small Group, - backed by strange, tall folks and their unusual equipment.

Sometimes, Sundus wondered what they discovered. But so far, Valthorns presence remained fairly small and spread across all the smaller towns, and they were all shrouded in a fairly thick layer of disguises to throw off most onlookers.

After watching these spies try the trading tree and furiously write notes, Sundus decided to go and chat. They were clearly not very good spies, and their disdain leaked through their words. They were curious, but from what Sundus could tell, they were mostly not worried.

For now, they were unusual, but nothing to be worried about.

None of the large dwarven groups had set their sights on them. They held no large Sunsteel or Sunmetal veins. They were not aware of the Valthorns secret mines nearby. They didn�t have any of the Colossus war machines.

Why should they be worried?

Nothing they�d seen so far threatened to upset the status quo.

Would they react differently once they met someone like Alka?

Sundus tried his best not to grin. He liked this feeling.

He thoroughly enjoyed it when people looked down on them, only to be proven wrong. He totally couldn�t wait for the day for the domain holder to visit Delvegard.

Landas

Lumoof stood at the entrance to the pit, as all the domain holders gathered to purge the first visited peripheral world of its demon king. The demon king was down there, and he could feel its presence.

It wasn�t digging. It was still digging a few weeks ago. But not anymore. It stopped once it sensed the heroes all reappearing nearby. It had some intelligence to know the heroes came for it.

The hero, Samuel, stood nearby, along with the rest of the heroes. Wira and Rajah, surprisingly, decided to join them.

- It�s down there, - Samuel, or as the locals called him Samahiro, said, pointing to the pit. - I hear it calling. -

He was stronger, but somehow, it didn�t matter. The fear was real. The impact of the demonic curse was so strong that it messed with some of the hero class�s usual mental protections. Lumoof nodded anyway.

- Have no fear, Samuel, - Colette said. - You are not alone this time. -

Somehow, those words made Samuel tear up a little. His eyes seemed a little reddish, and he rubbed it away. It was not the time to show weakness, as he tried his best to show an expression of determination.

- Shall we lure it out, or does it want us to go down there to it? - Colette then looked at Lumoof.

He shrugged. - Edna? -

- I think let�s lure it out. We�ll have better escape options fighting out here. -

- Sounds good. - Lumoof nodded as he walked over the edge and fell into the pit. - All right, then. You guys wait here. -

The heroes looked at each other, and Samuel looked worried. He didn�t need to be. The demon king wasn�t that strong, and in avatar mode, fighting underground where a tree�s roots could grow and gain control of the environment was thoroughly advantageous to Lumoof, so the demon king, predictably, chose to escape from the depths.

The demon king came out to meet its death.

It was fast.

It was undramatic.

It was just a flurry of colors and lights, as so many heroes and domain holders worked together to destroy a single demon king.

It died so quickly that the battle lasted no more than an hour.

For that hour, the world momentarily shook as a huge surge of magic crushed the demon king, and Landas became another peripheral world freed of its demon king.

Just like Rajah and Wira, a strange sensation vanished from Samuel�s heart.

Everyone still had places to go. The domain holders had tasks to do.

With Landas freed, the demonic riftgates collapsed, and the demonic invasion ended.

Reconstruction could now go full throttle.

White Shore

The White Capital city of the White Statue was, in many ways, an aspiration for the entire empire. Edna watched as the wagon that carried her crested the hill, and the city came into full view.

The main city, commonly referred to as the White Capital, but formally called Claritas of the White Statue, was eye catching and beautiful. It comprised a central conical hill, and at its peak stood a large white temple, the largest temple of any Edna�d seen in any of the cities so far.

But the city itself wasn�t massive. Instead, Edna thought it looked fairly compact for a capital city. It was what appeared to be a planned, properly organized structure where not a single piece was out of place.

In some ways, it reminded her of the angels.

It was as if an array of marble structures was built to decorate a single hill. Every building was made out of a kind of white, shiny marble that never seemed to accumulate dust or wear. It was apparently an ability of many stonemasons, though it originated from the White Statue itself.

There were white statues all over the city. Edna was alone this time, and she felt it the moment she walked through the city and entered the city guard�s checkpoint.

Domain has blocked an ability.

- Well. What is this? - Edna mused to herself, and just about instantly, a siren blew.

At that point, the guards had an unusual reaction. Then the guards at the gates immediately stopped her. - Milady, please come with us. -

Edna smiled at the four guards, all clad in full - body armor. Their weapons of choice was a double - sided shortsword and a set of spears. They were all of a decent level, maybe Level 50 or so. They were tense as hell and prepared to fight. In their eyes, she could see their readiness to die at the moment.

Was this her turn to go through what Lumoof did back when he first visited the Crystal King? Would this White Statue be friendly or hostile? But she saw enough of the White Statue�s impact and realized that it was probably worth talking to this entity. - Sure. -

They were relieved when she did not resist, and at least they did not chain her. They seemed to understand how different their powers were.

The four began to lead her through the path. Those along the road looked, and she could hear them whisper. But the guards paid them no mind, and none of the busy citizens blocked their path.

- So where are you taking me? -

- To the hill, the White Statue, - the guard answered.

Edna could feel the throbbing presence of another domain holder. It was as if the air itself was layered with a kind of invisible white dust.

She was escorted through the city, so she took the chance to see the lives of those living here. Streets were clean and beautiful. Each and everyone looked healthy, and they were doing business with each other. Everyone, as weird as it sounded, looked good. Men were tall, muscular, and healthy; the old people looked wise and still fit with none of the patchy features common in older people.

- Are there poor people in this city? - Edna asked.

- No, - the guards answered. - No one who comes to Claritas will be poor. The White Statue guides, and the citizens follow. Their poverty is but their starting point. -

Her eyes squinted, and she tried to sense it in the presence of the four guards around her. She blinked. - He touched all your minds. -

- The Virtues of the White Statue are imprinted in our souls, milady. No one who obeys the Virtues will be a poor citizen. The State will ensure a role appropriate to you is created and a fair remuneration is paid. -

- What of the sick? -

- The White Statue heals those it can, and those who can�t be healed are sacrificed at the altar. -

Edna paused, but her feet kept walking. It was a centrally planned economy, but to an extent stronger than even that of Freshka. A city controlled by a god, where everyone did what it told them to do.

She blinked. This was not far from an ant colony.

Yet she looked at how everyone looked happy. Everyone had a purpose. A task from God itself. It mattered, because their god told it to their soul. She blinked again when she realized A/ could do this, too, and wondered briefly whether it should happen. Everyone seemed to take their work seriously.

- Virtue, - she repeated. - It�s a fascinating thing. -

The guards naturally agreed. - It is. -

- What�s yours? -

The guards looked at each other and didn�t say a word.

- It is not for us to say, - the guards answered. - Only the White Statue has the right to reveal what is one�s virtue. -

Edna nodded as they passed even more buildings. There were administrators here. People who collated reports. This was the heart of the empire, and she felt the touch of the domain holder in every single one.

It was like a magical familiar, but more pervasive. The knight refocused her attention on the four guards around her. They were calm. Prepared. She wondered how strong this domain holder had to be. Perhaps in the same tier as the Osroids.

- Do they still summon heroes? - Edna asked. When she asked about heroes back in the other cities, they�d gotten nothing. Instead, all they�d gotten were blank stares. When she probed about the demons, strangely, all she�d gotten was also just blank stares before one of them said they would be handled by the White Statue�s elite forces.

The guards looked at her, and three of them said nothing. But one of them turned and walked close to her. He whispered, - Those who claim to be representatives of the Pagan Gods? The visitors from the stained well. That is something only the White Guards know. If you wish to know more, you must ask the question to the White Statue yourself. -

Edna paused and felt strangely unnerved. This was the first time they mentioned the term - Pagan Gods. - Much of what happens in the regional towns of the White Shore was so normal, so perfectly manicured, that Edna kept wondering whether there were unusual things. There must be secret things only the special people knew. The touch of this domain holder kept most things secret, as the pieces began to come together.

It wasn�t that they didn�t know; it was that they were not allowed to know.

There was a vast, white building filled with windows. in it were men in white tunics all walking about. They looked busy, going over papers and reports.

Edna�s long glance was answered by one of the guards.

- That�s the main office of the Philosopher King and the Council of Elders. All matters of the empire travel through that office. -

Edna nodded and wondered how much of it was for show. Though the Philosopher King supposedly ruled the nation, it was truly the White Statue that held the puppet strings. In some ways, Edna thought that was similar to A/ , though each domain holder and society found their own stable position in the spectrum between - control - and - freedom. -

By now, she was almost at the peak, and the grand temple stood before her. At this distance, she looked up and couldn�t quite admire the temple. She felt the aura of another domain holder from outside, and it was trying its best to press against hers. It didn�t work.

The guards stopped. They were unaffected by the domain holder�s aura. It was focused. - Milady, you�ll have to step inside yourself. -

The knight looked about, took a good look at the city, and then back at the door. She gently pushed it, and the heavy painted steel door opened without a sound. It was perfectly oiled and maintained, and though it was pitch dark inside, she could feel that it was just a single, gigantic chamber. The door closed behind her, and here, she sensed no unusual magic.

There was no need for little toys in the presence of an existence that likely considered itself a god. In it was a giant statue of a man, and she felt the emanating power of a fellow domain holder.

- Hello. I�m Edna, - Edna answered as she walked toward the White Statue. Here, in this large, ethereal chamber, her footsteps echoed. - Pleased to meet the White Statue. -

The statue�s eyes glowed white, and it went directly to a question. - Are you sent by the pagan gods? -

Edna�s eyes squinted. - Who are these pagan gods? -

- Those that deserted us long ago. The old ones, - the White Statue answered.

Edna frowned and then looked at the White Statue. There was no facial expression to read in an object like the White Statue. Its carved face was that of an old man, yet she wondered what she was dealing with. - We encountered them, but no, they didn�t send us here. -

- Then why have you come? Have you come to represent them? To retake the lands that were once theirs? -

Edna shook her head. - Not at all. I represent the Valtorn Order, led by our tree god, A/ . I am one of those in A/ �s pantheon. We have been asked by Gawa to deal with the demons in these faraway worlds. -

There was so much history scrubbed from the memory of those present. The people of the White Shore did not remember the past. To them, their creation myth started from the White Statue. It was a lie, naturally.

There was a moment of silence.

- Like the souls that they lied to? - the White Statue asked.

Edna paused as she realized. - The heroes ? No. We are not summoned like them. -

- Then what do you want? If you seek to upset the structure I have created in their absence, then we will be enemies. I will slay you here and now, - the White Statue declared. Edna was fairly certain she would survive any conflict.

The knight felt the probing energies of the White Statue�s domain, but again, it was ineffective. She couldn�t quite sense what the White Statue was, though the founding myths she heard so far claimed the White Statue always existed, and he held the light of wisdom that brought the men of the White Shore wisdom. It was so that they existed as productive members of society instead of living as barbaric creatures in the faraway lands.

- We merely want permission to deal with the demons. -

- And deny us the experience we need? - the White Statue countered. - We do not need help dealing with those creatures from beyond, or the lost lambs the old gods send our way. -

Edna frowned as she realized the White Statue probably had some means of dealing with the demon king. Briefly, was this something she needed to feed back to Gawa ? This world didn�t need help. So why did Gawa still mark this world as a drain on their faith points? Something didn�t add up. What happened to the heroes?

- I see, - Edna said. - Who do you do with those summoned by the old gods? -

For a moment, the two just stood in silence, as both took a sense of each other�s power. She roughly estimated the White Statue to be around Level 200ish and probably had some means of dealing with the demons. Perhaps a collection of ancient weapons or some unique power.

The White Statue folded.

- We will send them back, of course. A swift death, - the White Statue declared.

- Death, - Edna repeated. - You killed them? -

- Yes. -

- May we propose that you send them to us instead? That we take them away from you? - Edna countered.

- For them to return one day and exact the old god�s vengeance? No. My White Guards hunt them down. -

The knight stared at the White Statue and, for a moment, felt a sense of injustice. She tried her best to hold herself back and took a deep breath.

- Are you dissatisfied with our conduct? - the White Statue asked.

- I�d rather not kill them. -

- They are a potentially rogue agent and a poorly constructed weapon of the old gods. Their presence only serves to create chaos, as their incredible potential is turned into the tools of their whims, - the White Statue declared. - Such poor tools do not deserve to exist. -

- You could rip the class out of them, - Edna countered as she recalled what the Osroids or the Ularans did to the heroes. - They become regular mortals, and at least, they get to live normally. -

- Even without their powers, their whims and thoughts are tainted by a world unlike ours. Ours possess a structure that is fundamentally incompatible with their world, and now I realize your world has a structure incompatible with ours, too, - the White Statue declared, and for a moment, the two auras clashed once more. The entire city of Claritas experienced a rare tremor as the two domain holders weight of existence slammed into each other.

- Have you spoken to the administrators? - Edna asked, and in an instant, the clash of aura stopped.

The White Statue�s white eyes glowed brightly. - You speak of something I do not know. Elaborate. -

Edna realized that the White Statue must have not yet reached Level 250. Because if it had, it, too, should be offered the choice.

It possessed a religion centered around the White Statue. It was strong. By both counts, it met the criteria. Her mind thought of the angels of Angelworld and that moment when they hosted the eight - winged angel, Raph. Would their presence here set off another chain of potentially hostile power?

She closed her eyes. - It seems you have not reached that level of power. It is not my place to tell. -

- What? - The white marbles of the temple moved but stopped just as quickly, as if the White Statue realized it was useless. It thought quickly and then suddenly proposed, - If you want me to spare the lives of the future summons of the old gods, then you will elaborate on this choice�. -

- It is not my place to decide. We will discuss your offer, - Edna said.

- I have a bad feeling if we tell them, - Lumoof said. - From what you described, he gives me vibes like the angels. Do we really want to let him know about that future? -

- If we don�t, we don�t get to save the heroes, - Roon countered and asked a rhetorical question that didn�t really need to be answered. - Is that important to us? Should we have to weigh what we want to do here? -

- Of course we do! They are heroes. All right, let�s look at our options. Let�s start with the obvious. Should we go in there and fight that White Statue? - Stella asked, and it was met with silence.

Lumoof waited and frowned. - I don�t think it�s a good idea in the short term. At our stretched levels, we cannot deploy enough personnel to fill the power vacuum or maintain order. It�s also going to be pretty hard to predict how these folks will behave should the White Statue suddenly disappear. The imprints on their mind sound like it could go either way. I think we leave that option for much later. It should be a nuclear option, once we conclude that the White Statue really is hostile. -

It was an uncomfortable reality that fighting was often the easy part. Maintaining order and advancing society were significantly harder.

Was it worth it, just to save some heroes? It was a line of thought that Kafa raised. - What makes a hero�s life worth more? - Kafa countered. - We�re at the point where they are more of a liability. A rogue element, and I would even go as far as saying that the White Statue is right to consider them as erratic. Like we all remember what happened to Chung. -

- We need them because heroes can help defend the existing worlds. They can move around freely with nodes and through Lumoof. They are our defensive pieces, and their situation can be managed. The more heroes we have, the less risky it becomes for us as a whole to rely on them, - Roon explained. - And as much as I hate to admit it, heroes are worth more than normal people. Their potential to save lives is so much higher. -

Stella squirmed uncomfortably. Discussions of the value of lives made her react this way. She knew how I thought about it. - So we�re going to tolerate this White Statue�s murder of mostly innocent fresh heroes. -

Lumoof sighed before he explained. - We all make sacrifices, and I am cognizant that even A/ �s branches are stained with more blood than the White Statue. We�re in no place to comment on the sort of sacrifices the White Statue made to achieve a stable, prosperous society. -

- I mean, that�s fine with me. We�ve all killed, some way or another, so I think we�re not really innocent. We just think that it�s the right thing to do. But more importantly, can we actually trust this White Statue�s offer? Is it an offer in good faith? What if it reneges on the deal? - Ezar, the brawler, then asked. - I mean, there�s really nothing other than our word and theirs to hold this agreement together. We�re giving special knowledge, in exchange for a promise. -

- What does A/ think? -

I reviewed Edna�s explanation, and personally, I thought it was a matter of time. - If it has been defeating demon kings, it may be a matter of time before it reaches Level 250 anyway. By then, it will meet the administrators. The very fact we have informed him of the existence of these administrators is already revealing much. -

- My bad, - Edna said.

There were sacrifices made in every society, and from what Edna saw on the White Shores, they made some, too. I had my share of brutal experiments and demonic touches. If I could save these heroes in exchange for knowledge, it seemed like a fair position to take.

- Letting it know beforehand could be advantageous. Maybe it�ll be a future god we can work with or at least reason with. Or it might be a threat. But for now, I don�t think we need to see it as one. -

I saw the heroes as useful, even if they were increasingly less so relatively speaking. If anything, saving these high - potential individuals was worth it, even if we were sharing information with a potentially risky individual.

Maybe it�d be like the angels, a force for order in a chaotic world.

Maybe Raph was right after all. The world did need some agents for structure and peace. My approach may work for some, but I did not think it was the perfect one.

In a world where the System granted so much power on individuals, maybe we did need gods that played a more pervasive role to mitigate the potential chaos of errant individuals with System - granted power.

Anyway, that was a side thought.

- I think we can agree on this, - I proposed. - If it doesn�t deliver, then we know it can�t be trusted. We�ll deal with it when it happens. -

YEAR 276 (PART II)

- You know, I think our interaction with Osroids is gonna be pretty messed up, too, - Edna said as she rested on a corner sofa. She stretched and felt her muscles turn. They were all very happy to be home, even if there was a lot more to discuss.

- With creatures of that level of power, I�m not surprised. - Stella sighed. The two female domain holders frequently spent time with each other; somehow, they both saw each other as a bit of a kindred spirit. - Few things grow to that level of power without a little bit of madness. We all are mad in our own way. -

- Hah, - Edna said. - You think that�s the key missing thing to be a domain holder? -

- I don�t know. - Stella picked up a glass and poured herself some fermented fruit juice. - But at the rate we�re going, every domain holder we meet is going to be unusual in their own way. They don�t become domain holders by being normal. -

- What are the odds there�s someone like you out there? - Edna countered.

- If you mean whether there�s bound to be someone who can travel worlds? I think the chances are very high. But also, if you�re like me and we have the ability to run whenever things get dangerous, all we�ll be doing is to keep running. -

The knight paused for a long, long time. - You know, that�s a very valid point of view. There really might be a domain holder that�s only running from world to world and hiding constantly. Or a void mage. -

- Yeah. Why bother staying and fighting when running is so easy? - She drank the fruit juice and barfed. - I�ve no idea why I drink such things. -

- You enjoy a little bit of misery. - Edna chuckled as she suddenly jumped up. - Did you personally agree with our choices? -

- Which ones? - Stella said, and somehow, she took a second big mouthful of the fermented fruit juice. - The node worlds, or the subdomain? -

- The one about the node worlds? -

- Eh. Could be worse. Nodes are disposable. I think it�s fine to just correct as we go. I�m planning to bug A/ to continue our tour of the Void Layers, - Stella said, barfing again, and then walked over to one of her bookshelves. It was a magical contraption that unlocked only with her magical signature. - I think we�ll waste a few years, but we can afford that. -

- We could, eh, - Edna said. - Alka�s waking up next year. I wonder what he�ll think. -

- I think he�ll think like us, - Stella said matter - of - factly. She chose a book written by one of the Valthorns on strategic expansions.

The two women shared a long, comfortable silence. Stella sat down and began to read on one of her finely polished wooden tables, and Edna continued to look out the window. The view of Freshka from Stella�s mansion was quite good.

- Do you think we all think alike? That we�re having a bit of a groupthink going on? -

That made Stella pause and turn to look at the knight. - Is that something that�s bothering you? -

- A little. I was actually fairly uncomfortable at how the White Statue marked everyone�s soul and injected them with a life mission. But then I realized not a single one of their denizens thought that way. To them, having a life goal was good. It gave their life purpose, meaning, and it shaped how they directed their time. -

Stella wanted to say something, only to stop midway and seemed to think for a long time. Eventually, she continued the conversation. - And I think they have a point. I would�ve loved to know what I was meant to do. Having to figure shit out for ourselves is a pain. -

- Ah. - Edna laughed, at first, and then stopped when she realized Stella was serious. - Come on, it�s not that bad. -

- I mean, in hindsight, sure it seems that way, but back during the early days when I�m still a lost, sad, depressed painter? Not at all. Those rose - tinted glasses are hell of a thing, - Stella said. - I would�ve given a lot to have a purpose thrust into my soul, and not just that, it�s something I�d even wholeheartedly believe in. -

- Do you think A/ should do that? - the knight asked suddenly. - I mean, hypotheticals, of course. It�s just something I thought about when I saw the fellow people of the White Shore, and I saw purpose. -

- What? No! - Stella said. - It�s crazy. I know that motivation and morale is a big problem over the longer term, but I still think spiritual tampering is still a step too far. -

Edna nodded. - I guess so. -

Lumoof looked at the city of Claritas and the beautiful white, marbled city. He sighed. - Reminds me a little too much of the Magic City and the prison of the Crystal King. -

- But a deal is a deal, - I countered, and through Lumoof, I could sense the White Statue�s pulsing presence. He was at the heart of a complex web of spiritual connections that was then linked to almost every single citizen of the White Shore. More than anything, I thought that was a level of control even beyond what I was willing to do.

It was similar to Bitu, only more direct. It was impressive. In a way, though the people around us resembled humans in every way, their actions were guided, so they were more like autonomous ants than actual independent people. Only the people from the faraway wildlands were spared the White Statue�s spiritual meddling.

Lumoof was right at the gates when the guards paused. Our presence didn�t need an introduction; the White Statue must have known we were coming, because a full battalion of highly decorated soldiers stood waiting for us, armed with enough weapons to match the angels, and even Gawa �s elite guards.

The elite White Guards escorted Lumoof through the city. - This way, distinguished guests. -

The walk was brief, and somehow, the streets were empty. Not a single one of Claritas�s citizens were on the street when we walked. Somehow, they clearly marked this as a sensitive event.

Unlike Edna�s visit, this time, two of the strongest White Guards escorted Lumoof through the door, and the White Statue�s domain pushed against ours.

- I see where your compatriot�s confidence came from. It is rare to see one that bests me in power. -

Lumoof nodded as it felt as if two winds swirled around us. A hurricane against a tornado. - Level 200 is still a very respectable power, White One. -

- Let us get to the matter at hand. I agree that we will spare the pagan god�s summons from a quick death, and you agree to tell me what your compatriot hinted at. Everything of these administrators, and the gods you have met. -

My priest reacted quickly, unsurprised by how quickly the White Statue got down to business. - In return, we ask that all of the heroes are kept safely. We will take them away from your world when they arrive. I ask that they are fed, in a physically good state, and kept healthy until we can retrieve them. -

- Agreed. You have my promise as the current master of the White Shore. Now for your end of the bargain. Explain. -

Lumoof took a moment to pause, catch his breath, and then began his explanation. On our end, we saw no risk to the decision. Not an immediate one where we couldn�t correct. So he spoke about the Level 250 choice, the existence of the World Faith System, gave an overview of the Faith System, and why their - drift - meant they were fading from some worlds. It was a fairly peaceful process where Lumoof explained and the White Statue answered with a nod.

- And that is why we are here, and we still want to rescue the heroes, - Lumoof ended.

The White Statue did not respond, but the fluctuation in the spiritual energies around us made it clear that it was deep in thought. The temple only had small windows, but somehow, the winds within were strong.

There was a really long silence; Lumoof was used to it. He was around me so often that he seemed used to the hours I normally took to reply.

The winds then gradually softened, as the White Statue calmed down.

- If what you say is true, my earlier punishment of the old gods as pagans was misguided. It truly seems that we lacked context. -

I was a little surprised, but then again, I supposed not all gods and domain holders were hostile.

- It is easy to assume so when the old gods don�t communicate, - Lumoof said with a sigh. - Perhaps it is their arrogance. After all, in their eyes, mere mortals are still way beneath them. Informing us costs faith points, and there�s nothing much that could be done even if we knew. -

The White Statue clearly wanted to correct, because the statue�s hand moved, but then it stopped. Again, after a few minutes of silence, it continued. - To think that even lesser deities like us remain insignificant. -

Lesser deities.

- Less so. Less so, - Lumoof said, and he decided to go on the charm offensive. The rare moment of vulnerability suggested the White Statue was open to negotiations. - But I see you have built a great world here, and you have a way of defeating the demon king. -

- We do. More specifically, I do, - the White Statue answered. - As a statue, I can shift my being and presence to any of my other statues, and with that statue, I fight the demon king. I leave a little fragment of me behind, hidden amongst my other statues, so that I can regenerate if defeated. But we�ve gotten better at fighting the demon kings, though in my earlier centuries I still had to borrow the powers of the pagan summons. This was long before this drift and back when my world resembled yours very much. -

- It is an impressive thing to do. It�s a feat few worlds can claim to have achieved, - Lumoof answered. For a Level 200�plus to defeat a demon king wasn�t thoroughly impossible. Maybe its power set was better suited to combat than mine.

- It is so. But we must look forward. If there is this option at Level 250, then I must now prepare for it, - the White Statue answered. - It will take a few centuries to get the levels needed, since the demon kings only arrive once every twenty to twenty - five years. Unfortunately, nothing else provides experience like them. -

Lumoof didn�t want to suggest the obvious. He could also defeat the demon kings on other worlds. The White Statue was likely smart enough to know that was an option, but unless he mentioned it, he wasn�t going to suggest it.

There was no track record to justify continued trust, but its explanation of how the White Statue�s soul was spread across all the statues revealed a key point if one day we were enemies. It was able to separate its spirit and spread it to all of its statues. It wasn�t a full clone like mine, but still, a decent failsafe.

Once again, the two stood as the White Statue continued to be in thought.

After a while, it asked, - Long ago, this world had two of the old gods, Gawa and Neira. Have you encountered them? -

- Only Gawa . -

- I see. If you meet Neira, I ask that I be informed. I have some ancient grudges to settle. My existence today can be traced to a Neiran blood ceremony. A ceremony to bless a statue to serve as a guardian for this city, and our old pagan ways involved blood sacrifices. I was once a doctor, I forgot how many thousand years ago, and I was sacrificed against my will and my spirit was thrust into the statue. -

Lumoof looked, but off my head, without any special intervention, moving a soul from one body to another was such a traumatic process that only hero - souls survived. Our own experiences on our death - row prisoners informed us that it was fairly difficult to encase a person�s soul in a new host, unless special powers like mine were involved. Blood magic and sacrifices rarely met the conditions needed for it to happen successfully. - That shouldn�t work. The soul usually doesn�t survive such traumatic damage. -

- Yes. But I was no ordinary mortal. My soul was stronger, much stronger, and so my spirit lived when thousands of sacrifices before me failed. It is a cruel irony that they were right to do so. I did protect my world from the demons for tens of thousands of years. -

- You purged all belief in the old gods? -

- Almost. I cursed them for creating me, but in time, I�ve come to a state of peace. Now, the wildfolks still carry on their weird beliefs, but there must be some chaos to give my men a concept of order and purpose, so I tolerate their existence. - At that moment, I thought that we were quite similar. The System encouraged conflict. Rewarded struggles, challenges. So, for Order to be, there must be a state of Disorder. - The old dungeons, too. We needed their special resources and the monsters, so I left them as they are. As controlled opponents. -

In the end, the two domain holders looked at each other once more. Lumoof thought it was mostly over. - I believe that is all. If there is nothing else, we will return. -

Again, another wait. It was not too long.

- It is most unusual to meet someone that I could finally claim to be an equal. We will honor the agreement. I will spare those summoned by the drifting gods. And there is one more thing. -

My avatar stopped, turned, and looked at the statue once more.

- I wish to join your pantheon and this fight against the demons. -

I was stunned, and Lumoof was, too. We couldn�t answer immediately.

Treehome

There was a quietness on Treehome. With so many of my Level 100s deployed on the other worlds, the city�s ultra - high - end market was significantly quieter. The merchants especially felt it, because many of their regular customers, those who belonged to my elites, were all away for long stretches, and that had a knock - on impact.

They still worked with my mid - tier Valthorns; many of them were busy preparing for their own trips to the other worlds. We didn�t have much of a choice. The order may be a massive and very powerful institution, but the very nature of how levels were gained and the exponential nature of the experience requirement meant it was a lot slimmer at the top.

Those that provided - lifestyle goods - to the elites instead had to redirect their production to provide portable goods. Goods that my elites could take to their faraway deployment. Even though a few years honestly just felt like a few weeks to me, for my elites and for the businesses, they still had to make adjustments.

The crafters, those directly under our employ, and indirectly as subcontractors or outsourced manufacturers, continued to experience huge quantities of orders, though the nature of production now shifted toward infrastructure goods.

Now that Lumoof, Edna, and I could handle demon kings, my central planners anticipated a slowdown in crystal bomb production requirements. This was a resource requirement that choked the world�s economies, such that the past ten to twenty years were periods of ultra - high crystal prices.

Strategically, we would continue to rebuild our crystal weapons stockpile consumed during the demons comet incident, but as a whole, the pace of this replenishment could be reduced. This would have a knock - on effect on the prices and profitability of crystal mines everywhere if we suddenly reduced our purchases, so the Order as a whole continued to buy, though at a reducing trend.

Instead, I�d like to figure out a better use of the magical storage properties of crystals for the war effort, not as weapons, but as some form of utility tool. We already had crystals capable of doing computations, recording images, and storing bits of memory, and we had also used crystals as temporary spell cores, where they created an area of effect that enhanced or weakened things and people in their immediate vicinity.

I didn�t have many ideas of my own, so I put it to the Valthorns for ideas.

There was feedback on the ground for some kind of deployable protective spheres, so that the Valthorns could quickly protect injured noncombatants from attacks, from our experience with the natives. Alternatively, a mobile food and healing kit, stored as spells within a set of crystals.

Maybe Alka would have some ideas when he finally reawakened.

Deep within my main tree, Alka floated in a pod that dabbled with powers that made no sense to me. His body was reconstructed by an automated will that could only be the System, his flesh reconstructed in bits and pieces in a way that was more as if a perfect replica was being built.

I tried my best to understand it, but truly the System understood Alka�s existence at a level of depth that I couldn�t capture.

When I looked at Alka�s reconstruction, I saw parallels with the void layers and Shrubhome. Maybe the System had a mirrorworld where Alka still lived, and what happened was a perfect copy.

It was times like this where I questioned the fundamental nature of the System, because when a world popped out of nowhere was hard to grasp for those without the mental flexibility to contemplate how the state of existence could just flip from nothing into something.

- Don�t think too much about it. Just accept it, - Stella once said. - The void sea is many things, and it�s quite hard to pin down what it is. The Zaratan I met once said it is a state of all that is not existence, and more. It is a state of possibility. When we carve a path through the void sea, the Zaratans once described it as walking in a type of dream - like space, where things exist if you imagine it to exist and could supply the void energy to motivate the void sea to respond to your imagination. -

Even that didn�t grasp the full scale of the void.

Increasingly, I felt that staring into the void was like going into the inner workings of this world.

I wondered if we ventured deep enough, did the void layers lead to Earth?

Or perhaps an Earth - like world?

YEAR 276 (PART III)

Even though the interaction with the White Shore went decently well, it made us curious of the intricacies of the World Faith System, specifically how the entire hero - summoning system worked. So Lumoof decided it was important enough to travel back to Gawa �s core world to figure it out.

Lumoof landed back in the world of Satrya, and the little relic in his hand whirled. Here, closer to Gawa , the item itself recharged faster. There was already divine energy in the world itself, and all the relic had to do was tap into it.

Stella�s ability to move through the void space was overpowered in its own way. For one, it made it easier for us to speak.

- I have more questions, - I said through Lumoof. - Some of the worlds we encountered have powerful domain holders that have taken hold of those worlds and protected them from the demon kings. Interfering with what they do to the heroes may cause a confrontation. How does the hero summoning work in detail? In such situations, can you stop summoning heroes? -

- Which worlds? -

- The thirteenth world, Khubor, and the fifteenth one, White Shore, - I answered.

The relic hummed and then said, - Wait a moment? -

I thought that was weird.

But a split second later: - Interesting. The System allowed me to cancel future hero summons for White Shore. -

- Wait. You can do that? -

- I am obligated to summon heroes if I do not have information or if situations change. But if I receive reliable information that those worlds are self - sufficient, as gods, I can raise a dispute on my faith point spending for these worlds. The intention of the System is to bind the gods together for mutual protection. If there�s no need for protection, I can raise an objection. The System permeates everything; it knows whether the information is legitimate or not. -

That made both myself and Lumoof wonder whether we could trick the World Faith System into verifying information on our behalf. - But why doesn�t the World Faith System cancel it automatically? -

- The Gods prefer that everyone participates in an arrangement, rather than everyone opting out. There are also factors that the System may not be able to foresee. But for Khubor - it seems that my information is not yet sufficient. Did you meet said domain holder? -

- No. Not yet. -

- Perhaps that is how the System verifies whether you know or not. -

- Is this because you can�t see those worlds? - I countered. - Why can�t you spend faith points to verify it yourself? -

- I could, yes. My information on these peripheral worlds is scarce, and all I could tell is that my heroes die. I feel the link of magic to the heroes fade and that a demon king died. I do not know who participated in the battle or how it died. It also does not help that there�s a huge lack of followers on these worlds, so they do not transmit fragments of their knowledge to me on death. -

- And you won�t? -

- If you will meet this existence anyway, I may as well save on the faith points. -

- True. You learn from people dying? - In hindsight, that seemed obvious.

- I learn from prayers. I learn from the death of my followers. I learn from those who have faith and offer me sacrifices. It is the power of the World Faith System. Their Faith in me provides the knowledge I need to act. -

It was similar to my ability to collect souls, but the World Faith System did work on a larger scale. - Does this work if the soul gets stolen? -

- No. When the spirit of a dead person enters the void, that is when the fragment of their identity merges with the System, where I would then collect it. If the soul fails to reach the void sea, then I do not gain it. -

Ah. So Khubor had been indirectly cutting information off by stealing the souls of the dead. - Why does the System force you to protect these worlds? -

- It is the old gods. Each are unable to trust each other but need each other�s faith to collectively protect the worlds from the System. So the old gods weaved this requirement into the World Faith System in its nascent stage to compel all of us to do our part. A mutual defense pact. -

Trust, or lack thereof. I saw parallels of this in so many things, where collective action was needed to get out of problems, but when each acted selfishly, it led to the worst type of outcomes. It was unfortunately just game theory playing out on a large scale.

- Naturally, the old gods didn�t think the lesser deities needed to play a role. -

- That does not seem like a glowing testimony of the other gods personalities. -

- Those who have power are often a little bit paranoid, even when they don�t need to be. If you have a visit to the domain holder of Khubor, that will help my ability to dispute the hero summon. -

On some level, I felt it rather comical that gods still had to engage in information gathering to argue their own case. It was as if the System was this irritating kind of governance that didn�t want to move unless prodded.

YEAR 277

Alka�s revival happened without much warning.

It just happened one moment when his eyes opened, and the pod naturally unfurled to release him from his long sleep. Then his domain expanded, reasserting its presence on the world around him.

- It�s good to be awake. I was in a really, really long dream, - he said as he realized where he was. Somehow, he knew I was there watching. Maybe it was my presence.

- Good to have you back, friend, - I said as I alerted the rest of the domain holders. They were all on their way back.

He blinked, stretched, and picked up a robe that was already gathering dust. - You�ve waited a long time. -

- A little. Seventeen years is a long time, and much has happened. -

Alka looked outside, and he could feel it. - I know I just came out of a pod, but I�m already eager to head back and have a dream academy replaying the years I�ve missed. -

- That�ll have to wait. The rest of them are on their way here. -

- Ah. Fine. I guess they�ll miss me after. seventeen years? Man, that long dream is so misleading. I thought I was asleep for only a few years. -

- Did you get anything for your sacrifice? - I asked, curious whether he leveled. - Any new abilities? -

- Surprisingly, yes. I�m now Level 171, and I�ve gotten the ability Physical Mana Manifestation . It�s the ability to turn raw mana, both mine and others, into a kind of physical object that can then be used as a bomb. In a way, it�s pure mana as a bomb, no intermediaries, no need for crystals and all that sort of stuff. Right now, we store mana in crystals and various potato storages spread throughout the world, but this physical mana manifestation pretty much leaps through them and turns the mana emitted from our souls into a physical object that can be used as a bomb, and maybe a battery. -

- Wait. Wait. Doesn�t that mean you could use my mana to create a very big bomb? - I said, realizing how this power interacted with my own extensively large mana pool. Of all the domain holders, I had the largest mana pool by multiple orders of magnitude.

- Well, yes. There�s got to be some downside to it, - Alka said, and after a few seconds, he figured it out. - Ah. Handling. It�s kinda fragile and could easily blow up. Because it�s like pure mana in physical form, anyone not strong enough could easily get mana overload and mana poisoning. And it also decays over time, though relatively negligible when compared to how frequently we use crystal bombs. -

- The bombs may be obsolete, though. We�re at the level where we can handle demon kings. - I had to correct him, though I could see such a physical bomb as a powerful tool on the Sun Rings . If we could blow it up, we didn�t even need to rely on Gawa �s divine weapon, whatever that was.

Alka paused as the bombshell just hung in the air. After a few seconds, he spoke again. - I really do need to get to that dream academy and have a recap of what happened in the past seventeen years. I missed out on a lot. -

- Yeah. In a way. -

At about that time, the door to the pod opened, and the rest of the domain holders gave Alka a big group hug. It was a strangely nice feeling to see my domain holders give Alka a hug.

- It�s really you, isn�t it? - Stella laughed.

Alka rolled his eyes as if it was obvious. - Maybe. Maybe the real me died that day and what you see now is a perfect replica. -

- It is a perfect replica, physically, - I answered. - But his soul is the same one. -

Stella grinned. - Good enough, I guess. -

I allowed my domain holders to have half a day to catch up, and then Alka, as he requested, had a long few days digesting the events of the past seventeen years in my dream academy .

We needed to hold the worlds for a period of time.

At least for one or even two demon king cycles. Alka had a lot of ideas in his mind after he reviewed the data, and one of the first things he did was calculate whether we could blow up the Sun Rings with his new ability.

Our initial information was fairly encouraging. It would leave a rather big hole, and the Sun Rings were such a massive object that it would likely survive. If we could make bombs equal to ten times my current mana, it should leave a large crack. With Edna and Lumoof�s ability to fend off the demon kings, we could potentially destroy the Sun Rings if we hit it multiple times.

I wasn�t sure if it�d be enough to destroy the strange demonic barrier that blocked our view of the inner demon realms, but we would have to try.

- So now that you know what�s up, what do you plan to do? -

The dwarven master alchemist laughed. - Let�s just say I have some dreams I suddenly feel like fulfilling. -

- Oh, all right, what will it be? -

- I�ll make a trip to Delvegard, - Alka said with a stereotypical dwarven grin. - That seems like the best place to get me up to speed and relive some of my fantasies. -

Lozanna , the world of Magisar.

Lozanna stood on the edge of their newly built city. There were few demons these days. In the past few months, even more demons were slain, and increasingly, their once - skeptical refugees and escapees from the towers began to see the merit of their ways.

There truly was nothing like power.

Sadly, not everyone saw it that way.

- There�s a planned rebellion to push us out, milady, - one of her subordinates reported during a regular weekly meeting. The actual Valthorn force deployed on Magisar wasn�t large, only a hundred to two hundred. The Valthorns extensive weakening of the demons, together with an alliance of the mages that supported the battles, gave the local tower masters the wrong idea.

The tower masters presumed that the Valthorns only comprised two hundred to three hundred or so mages, and they were thinking of overwhelming the entire Valthorn force during one of the battles against the demons.

In some ways, the Valthorns supplied the ingredients for the Tower Masters to plan the rebellion. The destruction of various demonic hives meant the disruptions were removed, and the old message networks were restored.

So the tower masters, eager to regain control over the entire world and place as the rulers of the world, quickly plotted with their peers.

In their minds, ten thousand mages across the ten or twenty or so towers would be enough to take on two hundred or so Valthorns. In order to make it happen, the tower masters would all deploy some secret teleportation scrolls to launch the attack together.

- Why do people do things like this? - Lozanna sighed as she heard the full scope of what the Valthorn spies had discovered. - Do they truly think they�ll win? -

- They might, if the tower masters themselves arrive, - one of Lozanna �s assistants answered. - They don�t quite understand the full scope of our strength. -

Both Ebon and Hoyia were redeployed to other worlds, and she looked at the report again.

- At least half of their mages will die if we let this attack happen. That�s a massive waste of magical talent, - Lozanna said with a sigh.

- I think we should haul up the tower masters. Let them know what exactly they are facing. -

Lozanna paused as she thought about it. - Is that the best course of action? I mean, how can we truly solidify our impression on the Magisarians that we truly mean to help them. -

Each of them suggested different ideas, but was there really a way to stop the conflict in such a way that would show them the gap between the two forces? Something that would truly show the Magisarians that in a real - war, - there really was a huge gap?

Something that would truly spare them the enemies?

In the end, Lozanna thought of a few different ways to solve the problem, but ultimately, the solution was some variant of A/ �s Perspective.

Fear.

She hated using fear to convince others, but there were times there was no choice.

Fear was a survival tool, and for those scheming against them, it would save their lives. There were those who didn�t think it through. Perhaps the hold of their old system was too strong.

It was hard for people to change overnight, what more such a large, cultural change.

Fear was a fence. It would keep them safe. Conflict was inevitable; sometimes, this conflict was peaceful, and sometimes, it was deadly. As A/ �s envoy to these worlds, they had an incentive to keep things peaceful.

It was kind. She knew and spoke to some of the Magisarians that would rebel. They even fought together briefly during one of the earlier attacks on the demons.

She tried her best for the charm offensive to convince their minds that choosing A/ was the right choice. But in the end, the presence of the domain holders on Magisar was fairly temporary, and only a few felt what it was like to stand before them.

She double checked and, together with her team, came up with a plan. One that would allow the archmages to go all the way, only for it to fail at the last moment.

The tower masters wanted to strike during one of the larger offensives against the demon hives. They saw that as their last window of opportunity where quite a few of the Valthorns would be gathered in the same place. Three thousand mages of the various Magisarian Towers were supporting the attack, and at the same time, about six thousand more mages from across the field.

Lozanna was there, as were ninety of the other Valthorns deployed to Magisar, prepared for the battle. Only about half of them knew of the coming betrayal, so the other half that didn�t would be updated at the last minute and sent into the demonic hives first.

- Lady Lozanna . - A Magisarian mage came over; there was a trembling in his hands. - Will we launch the attack on the demons soon? -

Lozanna looked at the hive as another Magisarian mage walked over. He was one of those who joined the refugee camps. Yet somehow, the tower masters promised him great titles, positions, and wealth if he cooperated with their schemes. She would�ve understood if it was someone like Lezzan, the old leader of the refugees that decided to side with the tower masters.

Some of those left not because they were against the structure of society, but merely because they did not benefit from it.

The Valthorns played the political game of Magisar and won the right to rule through their magical prowess. Alas, the game was there only when it benefited them. Already, the Tower Masters whispered how it wasn�t meant to allow foreigners to come and claim the Towers, even if it was never formally written down.

Lozanna looked at the demonic hives. It was quite far away, and the mage�s pulse was ragged. He hadn�t had much sleep.

The demonic golem hives were crowded; there were the large, demonic golem champions. - Yes. Soon. This is the last demonic hive. What�s left is only the king, and we will get to that soon. Are you ready? -

The mage gave a nod, but his body language was unnatural. He knew today would be the day the natives would try to flush out these - invaders. -

- It will be a glorious day. The day of the last hive purged from Magisar, - Lozanna explained. - Maybe it�ll be recorded as the Battle of Nothlend�s Valley. -

The native mage could only nod.

- Maybe you have another name for today? - Lozanna teased, and she felt the native mage tremble. There was something he wanted to say, but he couldn�t. - Relax, it�s just a joke. It�s just the first step. Rebuilding your world is going to take a while. -

Lozanna sighed and tapped the Magisarian mage on the shoulder.

- Change is hard. Removing threats doesn�t mean Magisar is ready to be a member of the wider world, and the society must be ready to contribute, just as it will receive aid and rewards for doing so. -

She wondered whether he would hesitate at the last moment.

The archmage Blackmoore led the charge into the demonic hive, as the Valthorns struck first. They always did. The native army�s role was just to support the Valthorns assault.

She glanced at a corner and sighed. The mage bowed as he tried his best not to expose their plot. - I must go prepare, Lady Lozanna . -

He didn�t. It was a shame that someone she thought would be receptive to change still wanted the old order.

Lozanna sighed and felt a familiar hand on her shoulder. - A good try, Lozanna . But do not worry, they won�t be harmed in the little demonstration. -

The elf nodded. She led the rest of the deployed Valthorns. - Valthorns! - she shouted as the rest of the Valthorn force gathered around her. - Let us destroy the last demonic hive! -

The small group of high - level Valthorns roared, and they all charged into the demonic hives. Only Lozanna and another Valthorn stayed back. The scheme had begun as she felt the activation of teleportation spells. The army of the local Magisarian mages grew as hundreds more mages joined the existing army, and then the tower masters appeared.

She had to focus to feel them moving around. They didn�t shine like the Valthorns.

- Attack! - The shout came from behind the lines, and Lozanna closed her eyes. She turned and saw a trembling mage, the same mage that spoke to her, and their eyes met. The mages launched a volley at the demonic hives. The hives were done for, anyway.

- Attack the invaders. - The second volley was the key signal.

The mage steeled himself, and yet Lozanna stared into his eyes and said, - You don�t have to do this. -

He did, anyway. He raised his magical staff, as did many others, and they all launched a spell, this time aimed at the Valthorns.

The spells were fired and smashed into Lozanna �s protective wooden shields. The tower masters flew overhead - they were armed with all their best weapons - and a battering of spells smashed into Lozanna �s shields.

- Die, invaders! - they said.

Lozanna �s shield held. They underestimated the sheer gap of power between them.

- No one is hurt yet. - Lozanna heard the same familiar voice in her head. She nodded.

The Valthorns that knew of the betrayal quickly moved to protect their peers that didn�t. Lozanna emerged at the center of a heavily damaged crater and looked at the tower masters. - So this is what you�ve elected, Tower Masters? - Lozanna said with a smile that terrified the Tower Masters.

One of them had a look at the grin on her face and knew they had fucked up.

- You�ve brought quite an army to support this attack, and yet your attacks fail to even get past my shields, - Lozanna declared. In truth, very few in the world could. Her shields came with A/ �s special blessings, and that meant her shields were always above and beyond everyone else�s; only those in the domain could match her.

Lozanna walked toward the group of thirty or so tower masters. Many of these floating Towers had a few tower masters, and not all of them were here. They were wise to do so.

- All you�ve brought is an audience for your execution, - Lozanna declared as the tower masters panicked. The second wave of spells smashed into her shields and did nothing.

The mood in the thousands of mages present changed.

- You must wonder why we are strong, - Lozanna declared.

Lumoof�s invisibility vanished right next to her, but his presence was zero. He hid his powers.

- Tower Masters, come, - Lozanna declared. - Show me the nerve of your resistance. The fire that possessed you to fight us. -

The tower masters did, and a few of the ringleaders shouted, - Don�t fear her! She�s just taunting us! -

Their spells gathered, and just then, a wave of anti - magic spread throughout the entire valley. Lozanna nodded at Lumoof briefly; the anti - magic aura meant not many would be hurt.

- Come, - Lozanna said, as the army of mages realized quite a few of their magical equipment and spells were not functioning.

- What - what�s happening? - The disbelief in the army.

Lozanna withdrew a spear of anti - magic, a pure glass weapon. To the magic - sensitive Magisarians, it was akin to staring into a whirlpool that drained magic from around it.

The tower masters had to use higher - tier spells that were unaffected by the anti - magic aura. They all smashed helplessly into Lozanna �s anti - magic spear. She walked toward them menacingly, while the lower - level mages were rendered not much more than regular, magic - less foot soldiers.

Her physicality meant she reached them, and she gave them a punch. Their shields were useless; all it took was a light poke by her spear and its magical energies were sapped. They were not built for rigor.

The army of mages watched helplessly.

- These are your Tower Masters, - Lozanna declared as she flung the bloodied Tower Masters on the floor. - They led you to believe you had a chance. -

She glared.

- All of you are just fodder. They are more than prepared to see three quarters of you die, just so that they can stand atop of your world once more. -

The army of mages of Magisar were generally below Level 60.

And yet, to Lozanna �s bewilderment, they raised their weapons. She saw in their eyes those who dared to fight them. If only they used that daring against the demons instead of them.

- Even before those who are twice your levels, do you really want to do this? - Lozanna asked, and those present were shocked. - You might still think you have a chance against me? -

She looked at the group of tower masters, and they were still somehow defiant. Their spells blasted into her wall of wooden shields. Those who followed them attacked with their own weapons. Some of them held hero - items.

A waste of such good weapons in the hands of lesser mages for the purpose of a power struggle.

Why?

Were they unfair to them? All they did was round up their army and cobbled them together into a unified fighting force. And yet they used that opportunity to rebel against them instead.

She glared at the Tower Masters, and they did not relent.

She saw courage. Misplaced courage, in the heart of the mages who believed they were fighting an occupier.

Were they occupiers? Lozanna knew they were not.

Yet somehow, despite their spies and allies, the tower masters managed to convince so many mages that they were. That these mages and wizards were freedom fighters.

Courage. They were driven into a frenzy as the tower masters continued their attack. She could feel them use some kind of magic that blessed the mages under their banner and raised their spirits.

Words would not do now.

Lozanna �s eyes looked into those mages that stood against them, despite being so outclassed. They believed her reluctance to hurt them as a sign that they had a chance.

So brave and yet so foolish.

She felt sad for them, because she did not really want to use A/ �s presence to crush their spirits. She had seen those broken by A/ �s presence, and it was hard for them to find their courage again.

Yet the alternative was death. The alternative was a spell that would hurt them. Or a perpetual guerilla rebellion as these mages continued to believe their chances.

Lumoof waited. It would be her call as the temporary leader of the Valtorn Magisar Division.

She weighed the odds in her heart and finally relented. - Lumoof, let us show them who stands at the heart of our organization. -

A/ �s Avatar descended, and the air instantly turned oppressive. The tower masters gazed at the sky, only to see darkness. The sun was blocked, as the towering presence loomed over the entire army.

- With each rebellion, and each resistance, the perceived value of your world to us diminishes, - Lozanna declared. - Those of us here are trying to prove that your world still has value and thus should be trained to be a part of the bigger war. -

In the face of something like A/ , somehow everything just stopped. The mages looked in foolish courage only to find an abyss of stars looking back at them.

In A/ �s Avatar, they saw the cruel reality that they never stood a chance.

In that moment, Lozanna rushed ahead and grabbed one of the mastermind�s robes and pulled him up. They were vulnerable. The Magisarians were never a physical kind, and next to Lozanna , this much was clear. Lozanna was a slim elven woman, but her limbs were all strong, dense, and flexible.

- We�ve known of your schemes for a while, - Lozanna declared loudly to the man�s face, but its intended audience was everyone else. - It is quite convenient that you�ve identified those with rebellious tendencies for us. -

The army of mages all panicked, but they had no words. They were unable to. The pressure that pressed on them was now too strong.

- I had such high hopes. - The elven lady sighed; she spotted the traitorous mage hiding in the crowd. - All of you will live, but your loyalties were tested today and found lacking. Return to your home cities and towers, mages. All of you are now barred from all preference trades, and all benefits with the Order are suspended until you�ve atoned for your rebellion. -

Through Lumoof, a group of three hundred or so Valthorns appeared. It was a temporary deployment, a force that was meant for the other worlds, but Lozanna borrowed them to control the rebellion.

The tower masters could not resist, as A/ �s vines wrapped around them.

Lozanna sighed. - I�ll deal with you later. The rest of them, please send them home. -

There was no need to imprison them. The fear will haunt them for the rest of the month. The power of Haunted Forest at A/ �s level was an imprint on their psyche.

The tower masters knew they were doomed. Some of them expected death.

Lozanna sighed, and still, she didn�t want to kill them. There was no need for death when there were demons to kill. - I believe these tower masters are in need of some perspective. -

They were whisked away for a good year - long trip on Lavaworld.

Thus, one of the most peaceful failed rebellions on Magisar, where the only injuries were some bloodied faces and bruises.

But the scar on the minds of Magisar�s mages would take an eternity to heal.

YEAR 277 (PART II)

Icouldn�t immediately decide on the White Statue�s offer, and at this point, there was not enough trust between us to even begin offering it a position. In short, we barely knew each other, and we would have to wait for a few rounds of safe - hero - returns - before we could seriously consider his offer.

So that was what Lumoof did. A simple visit, where we remarked that we appreciated the offer, but we were unable to decide on it, until we had built up a history of cooperation and trust. We would like to see it deliver on its promises to spare the heroes and, from there, decide how to move forward.

The White Statue understood and didn�t seem hostile.

A part of me feared whether it would retaliate for rejection, but then, if it did retaliate, then that solved whether it was someone we could work with, since it did not respond to what was a reasonable request.

The problem was Gawa had removed the World Faith System�s future hero summons, and thus there was no real way of testing whether the White Statue would hold up its end of the bargain.

On some level, the White Statue was not yet a threat. It had hero - level combat strength, which made it very powerful, but it didn�t have the means to move to worlds. If it did, then it had all the components necessary to establish an entity like the Valtorn Order.

Other than its past records of killing heroes, in aggregate, a White Statue - like empire throughout the multiverse would be a net benefit, just like Raph�s angels.

There were forces within the Valtorn Order uncomfortable supporting an entity that could one day grow into a force that rivaled our own.

But that was nature, wasn�t it?

There would always be competition, and those unable to compete had to find their own niche.

For me, I was comfortable letting these existences grow. I saw them as good, and it was not as if we were the only power around. There were still the old gods, and though the old gods were more - clustered - in nature, they still formed a powerful force that would hinder the expansion of potentially expansionist empires.

I believed it may be a good idea to send the White Statue to one of the demon worlds, let it experience what were the types of foes we faced and the lines of our war. Eventually, I would let it have its first expansion to one of the many new worlds that we encountered.

I thought about Raph, and the angels, and wondered whether it was wrong for us to just avoid them altogether. Maybe I should revisit them someday, because by just ignoring them, did I just sweep the problem under the rug?

Maybe I did.

Maybe we all did.

Knowing that, I thought about the White Statue and Raph.

Raph and the Angelworld leaned strongly authoritarian, and in hindsight, that may be what was needed during a period of chaos, especially dealing with a populace that was not familiar or able to operate within more collaborative methods.

From those experiences, and having seen the White Statue�s empire, my previous action of ignoring them was unlikely to be fruitful. Instead, engagement and guiding them toward a peaceful coexistence would be better for the world as a whole. I believed that the multiverse was big enough for everyone, and even if it wanted to grow, there were the demon worlds that could be reclaimed to feed all their ambitions.

Ignoring them and letting them sit in their own worlds may be a solution. Destroying them was also one.

But I didn�t think destruction was a good idea.

Would I be better than the demons if I destroyed other races that could�ve helped against the demons?

So we should do what civilizations do. Diplomacy and engagement.

We should engage with both Raph and the angels of Angelworld and also the White Statue and his empire.

They could still be enemies. But at least we�d given them and their societies a chance to prove themselves.

Meanwhile, the Valtorn Order�s priorities shifted to the rest of the peripheral worlds. The Valtorn Order deployed my nodes on the chosen worlds, and we began our expansion.

I watched with great amusement as the mages of Magisar attempted to rebel against us and was quite happy with how Lozanna dealt with it.

But it did suck that many of the interactions eventually ended with, - We have the big guns. -

Lumoof didn�t seem to mind. - If we have the divine on our side, it is best we show it. Power must be known and must be seen used. Only then will the people remember it. -

But Lozanna didn�t. It was not her ideal outcome.

Lozanna , Magisar

The single event reshaped the thoughts among the Magisarians. The mages that survived that event went back with their views of the Valthorns thoroughly changed. She could see it in their face, the mix of horror, awe, and strangely hope.

It was partly why she hoped to avoid that card.

But she knew she couldn�t. The mages were still eager to fight, she saw, even in spite of the strength she displayed. Even if she swimmingly overwhelmed the Tower Masters, some people would die that day. Unnecessarily, because of lies from their old leaders.

It was why she ultimately asked Lumoof to activate A/ �s Avatar.

But it had consequences.

It was not the first time she met people with such a reaction. She saw this same reaction in those subjected to A/ �s Perspective. The nobles were all unable to fathom an existence so much greater than themselves that they lost their ability to fathom it.

Gods.

Lozanna sighed. She was privileged in a way different from others. She grew up watching the big tree in her village grow into the ginormous existence that protected their world. To those around her, A/ was always a god, and they couldn�t see A/ as anything else. She, too, believed in A/ , but unlike others, she had seen A/ �s failings and knew that even gods had flaws.

She saw how it was done, for most parts of the way, and thus she could see even a powerful existence like A/ wasn�t unreachable.

A part of her wondered to herself whether this was the difference between those who could be domain holders and those who couldn�t. Somehow, she believed she could be one. No. She saw how it was done and knew it was entirely possible. Those who aspire to be domain holders must make it a part of them. An innate belief that the gods weren�t something that could not be reached.

Yet, as she looked at the now subservient mages, she wondered whether such an act would cut off their ability to rise.

The Magisarian mages would be sycophants. The new - zealots. -

She heard of the news through their Valthorn information network. The White Statue imprinted a mission on those it met, woven into their souls. Lozanna knew that A/ �s Perspective, and using A/ �s presence on low - leveled existences was pretty much the same thing.

It was an equivalent of a blunt smash into their soul. It was the equivalent of a battering ram breaking down the seemingly impervious castle gates. No one forgot something so clear.

Even the tower masters.

The slight trembling in their hand. The awkward jerks when she approached. They remembered that moment.

An imprint.

It was no different to the actions of the White Statue.

The presence of a domain holder affected all those who encountered them. Everyone felt the way their existence warped and influenced the world. Because they did.

Lozanna feared that there would come a time where Lumoof and A/ were so powerful that the mere sight of them would turn those with weaker wills and minds into golems, and so it was important that the use of A/ �s Avatar be limited.

- Lady Lozanna . - The mage knelt in front of her, and there were ten others behind the mage. He didn�t kneel before this, but he was there during the day of the crushed rebellion. All of them were. - I - I wish to atone for my sins. We were fools for believing the tower masters lies. -

Fear. Worship. Lozanna had seen so many mages who probably went back to their homes and realized that they would have died that day.

It was pathetic.

She shook her head. Her goal was to save lives, and she did so. There was no point coming to the peripheral worlds to save them from the demons and later on kill the natives due to infighting and rebellion.

It defeated their purpose. The peripheral worlds were not theirs to - claim. - Yet, as she looked at the sorry mages who came, maybe they were already dead.

She didn�t believe those who had their wills broken had the capacity in them to be one of them. Not with what their task called them.

In her eyes, A/ �s goal of extracting talent from the people of this world would have to wait for the next generation.

- If you wish to atone for your mistakes, do your job well, and teach your children well, - Lozanna answered, feeling a little resigned. It was a little sad, but for Magisarians with their human - like lifespans, it would just be a few decades.

The mages nodded and thanked her profusely. She had to resist a sigh. She wondered when Central would finally send over a Mage Lord to run the place.

She shook her head. No. She shouldn�t think of her escape.

She�d do her job well, until her part was done.

Alka finally walked on the lands of Delvegard.

- This is nice, - Alka said as he watched the chaos that unfurled in the valleys below. Lord Sundus accompanied him, as well as a few other dwarves, and they sat at the vantage point. The vantage point was protected by magic, so the group saw it fit to bring wine, food, and tables. They all had binoculars or other sort of viewing tools and watched from their comfortable location while eating. There was a war between two of the dwarven nations, and they brought out a few of their big guns. Both factions deployed their gigantic war machine. - But it�s so impractical. -

Sundus shrugged. - The dwarves fight their wars this way. They don�t do much covert warfare. It�s pure mechanical weaponry and power. -

- Perhaps no one with other ideas would get sufficient funding and resources, - Alka said. The way resources were allocated in Delvegard favored those who preferred to build big war machines. It made them gain levels, and their craftsmen could then go on to build even bigger, better war machines.

- Most likely. I�ve met a few low - leveled crafters, and they were fairly amused when asked to build other things. -

- If we could show them other ways to fight this war, they�d quickly adopt and copy the new designs, - Alka said as he activated some kind of spying skill.

Sundus paused. - Should we really introduce new ways of killing each other to the dwarves? -

Alka laughed. - Fair. Have you wondered what it�ll be like if one of A/ �s carriers came here? -

- You think. With all due respect, it�s not a good fit, sir. - The dwarven lord stopped, a little surprised.

- It isn�t. It�s a joke. - Alka smiled. - But now, have you ever wondered what the dwarves will do? -

Sundus realized the question was serious and momentarily sat there. - They would naturally turn their weapons against us. -

- But the beetle carriers fly high above these dwarven contraptions, - Alka said. - Barring the crystal weapons of the dwarves, there is hardly anything that could hurt them. Now, beyond that, these carriers are expendable. Consider what will happen to the politics of this world. -

- They will band together. But we�ll be like demons. -

Alka said, - And that�s the problem. How do we stop people from fighting each other? In almost every world we�ve been to, it is always a powerful force enforcing social order, because fighting is advantageous to the rebels. The one who cooperates and exists peacefully with their fellow men takes longer to get what they want, while the rebel who fights just takes and gets it now. -

A classic prisoner�s dilemma. If everyone cooperated and coexisted peacefully, there was potential to have even more than the spoils of war. And yet, because there was no way to enforce trust and peace without weapons, and the one who behaved peacefully was almost always at a disadvantage, everyone was then forced to prepare for war, which diverted resources away from a place of wealth.

- So we can do what A/ did on Threeworlds and Mountainworld. Establish a colony and recruit people. Then the natives turn on us because they fear our rising power, and then they remember to keep their distance for a while. Is there a better way? - Alka asked. - Would it be better if we came in with overwhelming force, so that we are seen as invaders, and force the locals to obey? -

Sundus frowned. It was true what they did now on Delvegard was more of the same. Slow expansion by establishing a small base of operations.

- Or we take what we want. The talents. The resources. How do we undermine what sustains the war on this world? -

Sundus paused as he realized it was similar to how the Order drained the vassal wars of its fire. By taking out the winds. - We steal all the void weapons. That would absolutely cut off all the supply of Sunsteel and Sunmetal, and the existing nations would have to resort to old weapons. -

- That is one. Two, we begin a wide - scale collection of the talented crafters. Recruitments. Spies. We need to give the talented crafters of these dwarven worlds reason to leave and also a damned good reason to join us. The academies are valuable, but its contents can be stolen. It is the people that we need. People who we can redeploy to build new types of weapons for use against the demons instead of fighting these repetitive wars. -

Sundus nodded. - So, first, we need to engage in wide - scale theft of weapons and a good amount of private visits. -

- Great. Glad you see it my way. - Alka tapped the lord. - Can I count on you to make it happen? -

Sundus shrugged. - I�ll treat my best. -

- Good. As for me, I�ll infiltrate one of these craft academies, build up a dossier of talented individuals, learn their secrets, and then, when we are ready, we�ll convince those we can, and rebuild a version of the dwarven academies somewhere secure. -

YEAR 278

- For the worlds that we don�t intend to spend much time on, let�s just go in, destroy the demons and the demon king. The locals wouldn�t realize anything�s different, and we fulfill our end of the bargain with Gawa , - Lumoof repeated. - For those where we intended to deploy a node, we�ll work out a more detailed plan. -

- Got it. - The heroes and the domain holders nodded.

- Okay, come. Now let�s go? -

Sarlpi

Lumoof and Stella led the way, and they landed on the world of Sarlpi. Once Lumoof went through, the rest of the heroes and domain holders followed, transported through my clone - teleportation ability.

The demon king of Sarlpi was a fire demon, and it waited. The world of Sarlpi was heavily battered, though the few Order operatives on Sarlpi managed to create a safe space for the fire people that still lived.

A few of them would stay back to protect the fire people, in the event that the ice people of the north and south decided to expand, though the unfavorable terrain meant it was unlikely that the ice people would be interested in the lands.

It was fairly easy to find the demon king, and the battle was now trivial.

Sarlpi�s demon king died in a fairly quick battle. The might of nine domain holders and seven heroes meant what was a formidable challenge for a single hero was thoroughly trivial. The heroes could not believe how easy the battle was over.

- I like that this is easy. - Samuel breathed a sigh of relief.

Prabu and Colette nodded. - It�ll be great if all demon kings are like this, but we have to prepare for demon kings that are like the one on Gigant dragon or Multipus. -

The heroes gained a level or two each, and the lower - leveled domain holders did as well. But for the three of us that reached Level 200, we didn�t gain a thing.

It was fine. We had to keep moving.

Capra

The force landed on the world of Capra, through one of my node trees. The Node Tree was safely placed in one of the Capran Mountaintop Cities.

The Caprans were hospitable, and they were more than happy to send a party with us to witness the battle. The agreeableness of the Capran rulers made it easy for us to work with them, though a part of me wondered whether there was something we didn�t see or realize.

On some level, I supposed it didn�t matter. As long as the Caprans cooperated, provided resources and talent toward our end goal, I didn�t see a need to expect more from them. This was their world; I was just their temporary protector.

Just like on Sarlpi, the battle against the flying demon king of Capra ended quickly. The moment both Lumoof and Edna got on top of the flying demon king and properly locked it into the ground, the battle was mostly over. Without the incredible mobility of the flying demon king, the rest of the heroes and domain holders hammered the demon king to death.

It was a very different style of battle compared to what the Capran literature depicted. According to their old legends, the battles between demon kings and heroes often brought them across large areas, as their battle crisscrossed the valleys and the towering mountains. As Capran attracted flying demon kings, and the heroes had flight abilities of their own, the old legends were pretty much aerial dogfights and chases through the valleys.

The brutal, up close and personal nature of our forces were a shock, but victory was victory, and we were ready to move.

Capra was free, and we would shift our direction here. On Capra, it was a time for recruitment and reconstruction.

Magisar

Lozanna requested that the battle against the demon king be a fairly quiet affair.

The quelling of the rebellion left a visible mark on the way the mages conducted themselves. It was as if the fire in their mage society was suddenly robbed of their fuel. Depression and a sense of sadness seemed to permeate the towers. Those that didn�t participate in it thanked their lucky stars, and the stories of how the rebellion was quelled turned more outlandish at each subsequent revision.

It�d take some time for this sensation to fade.

- Join us, Lozanna . As well as Blackmoore. Those Level 140 and above should join the final battle, - Lumoof offered the Valthorns. It was voluntary, but in the end everyone who was Level 140 accepted.

We knew from experience that those close to the domain needed it. Edna, Roon, and Johann fought in numerous battles against the demon kings before they broke through that unknown barrier.

The battle against Magisar�s golem demon king also went smoothly, and quite a few participants gained a level or two, but sadly, it wasn�t enough to make anyone a domain holder.

It was disappointing, but it made sense.

- Our presence is making it too easy, - Lumoof said. - But I don�t see why we should stop doing it. There will be many other worlds to take more risks. -

With Magisar�s demon king defeated, the group moved on to the next world.

Great Steppes

The Armataurs and Lancias were incredibly helpful, and the way they treated the heroes was as if they were the walking embodiment of god itself.

The priests of the two centaur subspecies were gifted with a way of noticing the presence of those who bore the touch of their gods, and so the presence of so many heroes created a controversy among the faithful.

The Treehome heroes were not summoned by Gawa , and neither was Khefri or the other heroes. In the first place, their ability to locate - their - hero only worked specifically to the hero summoned to the Great Steppes, and not elsewhere, but this was a matter that still confused them.

The Armataurs, which worshipped Gawa , and the Lancias, who worshipped a god I�d not met named Zulfa, only received two heroes during each and every hero summoning.

One by Gawa , one by Zulfa. Thus, the presence of seven heroes meant the existence of many gods beyond what their creation myths stated. It was a cause of great debate among the priests and faithful.

Some of these priests tried to explain it by some kind of exceptional summoning. Some of them spoke about the coming of a third god, which only made these bunch seem blasphemous to those who believed in the primacy of the twin centaurian gods of Gawa and Zulfa.

In the end, the great leaders of the two centaurs decided to order an embargo on all information about the presence of so many heroes, in order to prevent any wide - scale consequences, and restrict the knowledge only to the small group of leaders from both sides.

On our end, it didn�t matter. Their decision came from the desire to maintain peace, prevent unnecessary discord, and protect the current social order of the world. The Gawa and Zulfa faith didn�t need their followers questioning them, and since we�d decided to let them be, we allowed them to do what they wanted.

We fought the demon king and won swimmingly, and the Great Steppes returned to a time of peace.

Treehome

- How many demon kings are we planning to fight this year? - Samuel asked, slightly unprepared for how frequently he was moved from world to world. The few heroes met in a massive, luxurious lounge set in a mansion, and it was Prabu and Colette�s family home in Freshka. The heroes.

- I don�t know, - Colette answered while she briefly glanced out of the large glass windows. Prabu was chasing their daughter Rohana in the fields. Rohana had invited some of her school friends over to play; most of them were children of the Valthorn elites that decided to have kids. - But we should be moving soon. -

- Is it always like this? - the hero from Landas asked. - Like - can we have some breaks in between? -

- Not really. We�ve not had so many demon king battles in a single year, but the peripheral worlds are a relatively new phenomenon, - Colette clarified. - But if you want to clarify the schedule, I think you should just ask Kei - and speak of the devil, she�s here. -

Kei walked in and waved. - Oh, hello. I�m late, apologies for that. I�ve got the details on the next battle? -

Colette cut in. - Samuel�s getting tired of the demon king battles. Could you suggest a way we can build a schedule, that way we get enough advance notice, and I can still arrange time for my kid�s parties? -

The crystal golem girl stopped and looked at the mage Colette, a little bewildered. - Seriously? You want me to schedule an appointment for each demon king battle? -

Samuel stared at Colette. - That�s not what I meant! - Maybe he was a little annoyed that Colette just used his question as an excuse to advance her own interests.

Colette shrugged. - I do think schedules are a good thing. For the peripheral worlds we pretty much have all the information we need, and with both Lumoof and Edna - hell, can we suggest that the domain holders take the battles on their own? -

The former hero couldn�t quite believe the words she heard, but then again, Colette as a Liberated hero was probably the only one who could say such things. The idea of not fighting demon kings was something that gave all the other heroes a great big headache. Kei looked at Colette - no, she stared at the hero - and the mage smiled.

- I mean, I get that A/ wants to spread the levels around, but I kinda think it�s experience that�s wasted on us heroes? It�s not like more levels for us actually help the greater cause, - Colette said, once again something only she could say.

Kei rubbed her temple, unsure why her golem body still gave her the same kind of migraines a biological body would experience. Maybe it was a shadow of her soul, a headache felt in her spirit so it was then replicated in her body, whatever it was. - I will bring it up. -

- Great! I think a good ratio would be one - in - three. We�ll participate in one third of all demon king battles, and the domain holders can take the rest, - Colette suggested, more than happy to get out of demon king battles.

- Wait! - Samuel cut in, his face looked partially in pain. - Why are you suggesting such a thing? -

- Because I can. - Colette smiled. - Live a little, Samuel. You should find a wife, too. Maybe Khefri. -

Khefri rolled her eyes, somehow a little more resistant to the hero class�s effects. - No thanks. I�m gonna head back to Threeworlds once we�re done with the demon kings. -

The two newer heroes, Wira and Rajah, still adopted Gigant dragon as their home, but they too occasionally visited Freshka for a taste of modern life.

All in, seven heroes. Prabu, Colette, Khefri, Adrian, Samuel, Wira, and Rajah, all would have to work harder.

Kei frowned. - Well, there�s two demon kings to hit in the Three - Ringed World next. I suppose you want a break? -

Samuel clearly looked torn, the effects of the hero class trying to exert itself. So Colette answered for him.

- Yes. A break. Let�s battle the rest of the demon kings next year. The domain holders can handle it. -

Kei nodded. - Guess I�ll see what can be done. There�s only the demon kings on Three - Ringed World, Twinspace, and Shasan left, a total of four demon kings. The rest are all freed. -

Colette nodded. - Great! -

Three - Ringed World

- And so we are here after all. - Lumoof smiled as the Valthorns followed. There were at least fifty Level 140s, Lozanna and Ebon among them. - Since the heroes opted to sit out the next demon king battles, it is thus appropriate for us to try and get some of you to be domain holders. -

Everyone knew that already, and yet it still frightened them. As Level 140s, they were decently strong and could generally survive lesser wounds. Their attacks were also fairly powerful, since they came well equipped with powerful weapons created over the decades.

But death was a possibility, even with Edna�s Three Strikes and various protective abilities mitigated quite a few of the risks.

- Well, let�s go. Enough models and simulations, it�s time to test out our abilities, - Lumoof said, and my forces descended on the demon king.

In Avatar mode, through Lumoof, we could singlehandedly wrestle with the demon king�s strength, and together we drained the demon king of its magic. With Lumoof around, we pretty much pacified the demon king. Edna, Alka, and all the others went all out, and the demon king died fairly easily, even without the heroes.

It took us way longer, though. Instead of a battle that finished in two hours or less, fighting the demon king without the heroes now took us a full day.

But we still saw that as a win, since we achieved this without using bombs.

With one of the demon kings defeated, we rested for a few days and then replicated it with the second demon king.

It was quite a relief that the two demon kings did not assist each other, and instead somehow operated independently. If we had to face two demon kings at the same time, that would make our battle slightly harder.

So we freed the Three - Ringed World from its demon kings.

My Valthorns mostly gained a few levels here and there, and yet sadly no new domain holders just yet.

Maybe a few more.

Treehome

The Holy Empire of the Southern Continent

- You�ve got quite the place for me to go to, - Emperor Erranuel said as Lumoof arrived in his main chambers. The news of Erranuel�s intention to expand to the other worlds made the nobles that had been eyeing for more power confused.

Erranuel�s holy empire was politically fractured. It always was, even though he tried his best to hold them together.

But there were far too many vested interests, and Erranuel still felt like he had too much to lose by taking action. It was something Lumoof found pitiful. Maybe he didn�t have confidence in the support he had amongst his own nobles. The holy empire�s origins were the cause, the empire in itself was a cobbled nation, forcefully fused together by the acts of the churches in order to resist the merchant guilds and also the Order�s power.

This complicated history merely papered over old faults and grudges among its member states, and so Erranuel�s role was chiefly as the mediator.

He hated it all. Or maybe he was just tired of it and desired something new.

So, when Lumoof returned with a destination, we could see it spurred him into action. He nominated one of his trusted senior dukes as regent and then quickly rounded up a group of nobles, both loyalists and traitors, for the mission.

- Shasan is one of the worlds that didn�t quite fit our needs, but it is a fractured world with desert and part oasis type of terrain that you should be fairly familiar with, - Lumoof said.

- It�s one of your leftovers, - Erranuel countered flatly. There were a few nobles seated around the emperor.

- You could put it that way, - Lumoof continued without stopping. - But it is a world that doesn�t have a unified nation, and each of its nations are fractured. They also follow Gawa , even if only at a limited level. With the right motivations and resources, I think you could do a great deal. -

- Hah. - Erranuel chuckled. - Since you put it that way, then I must live up to my reputation. But first? -

Erranuel glanced at Lumoof and back at his own people.

- First, will you lead me to Gawa ? My people wish to meet their god. I, too, have many questions. -

- If you accept, we�ll drop by one of Gawa �s core world of Satrya. Whether Gawa graces you with his presence is between you and him. - Lumoof nodded. - Your men and priests can come with you, though the very presence of your god would likely be overwhelming for most of them. -

Erranuel shook his head. - I believe my men�s faith is stronger than that, but I�ll take the challenge. Maybe it is just what they needed. -

- Well, then get ready, we�ll arrange for all of you to be sent to one of the weaker, chaotic towns after that on Shasan. -

The emperor would not be starting from scratch, because he would make the journey with a decent - sized selection of soldiers and leaders. Maybe he was getting bored, and so the prospect of building a new nation thoroughly excited him.

I wanted to see what others could do, on other worlds.

INTERLUDE

ALKA AND THE DELVEGARDIAN YARDS

The dwarven kingdom of Ruthfyord was one of the powerhouses of Delvegard, and they were also the home of the legendary Delvegardian Yards, commonly referred to as the Yards.

Next to the Yards was the official capital of Ruthfyord, Kingsholds. To the locals, it was where the Dwarven King reigned, and the political, trade, and administrative capital. But not military and magic, because the capital of that was the Yards.

At this point, Alka had seen so many capitals and cities that it didn�t impress him much. He glanced at the map provided by the spies and then double checked his documents. It was incredibly easy to get the right dwarven merchants to provide a recommendation letter when the right amount of money exchanged hands. Dwarves were not incorruptible, though their price tags were often a wee bit higher than humans generally who would often sell out their friends and allies for less.

Alka�s appearance was one of a much, much more youthful version of himself. A change in their appearance didn�t take all that much of his strength but worked wonders for espionage.

He would infiltrate the Yards as a craftsman. According to records and information gleaned by the spies, it would take about five to six years to rise through the ranks of the Yards, though, given his exceptional abilities, it was likely to be shorter.

Alka�s goal for the next few years was simple: weave himself into the Yards structure, get access or identify a range of classified documents and information, identify and recruit potentially talented craftsmen for the Order, and if possible usurp the Yards from within.

He wouldn�t be alone. The Order�s spies assigned a few other dwarves who would join over the few years at various levels, through different channels. There were also agents that would enter the other famous yards and workshops. Together, they�d form a hidden network of agents that would then work to redirect the Yards leadership.

One of the challenges and learning points from the Magisarian rebellion, in Alka�s point of view, was the lack of discretion.

The Order was too public and moved a little too quickly.

On one hand, Alka understood why. They had no choice. The world wasn�t a stable place, and Lozanna �s goals were to save lives. For Delvegard, which was currently stable, their involvement could be more discreet, and they could keep themselves hidden for longer. An advantage he intended to maximize.

The guard glanced at Alka, back at his paper, and bowed respectfully. - Welcome, Craftsman Alka. -

Craftsman. A title given to promising blacksmiths and crafters who were then given a chance to join the famed Delvegardian Yards as a working apprentice. The passing mark was Level 30 as a craftsman, where they could be trained by the Level 60 to 80 craftsmen of the Yards.

The Yard itself had two main paths. The first path was the Craftsmen, which referred to those that would work with metals and build the war machines. The second path was the magic path, where alchemists, enchanters, and mages would create runic formations, inscriptions, enchantments, all the other magical liquids, and components that went into the war machines.

Alka was first and foremost an alchemist, but as the Yards generally treated its craftsmen better, he decided it was better to infiltrate the Yards as a craftsman. It would make it easier for him to get close to those who had talent and sway them toward the Order.

The two sides worked, studied, and lived together to build the war machine, though they were separated in some of the classes and learning sessions.

It was a fairly elite setup that worked well for the Dwarven Kingdom of Ruthfyord. Over centuries, they accumulated military strength, and they solidified their position as the best weapons and war machine academy in the world of Delvegard. The only such academy that could even challenge them, the nation of Airan�s Delvegard Workshops, was on the other side of the world.

He glanced at his documents again. His assigned room was somewhere on one of the corner buildings. The Delvegardian Yards was arranged into long rows of buildings, with wide open spaces in between the buildings. The buildings themselves were each individually self - sufficient; each had its own residential section, its own set of workshop areas, its own canteens, and its own study areas.

The wide open spaces were meant to facilitate movement of the war machines produced from the gigantic workshops. Even from afar, the first thing he noticed on each of the buildings was their giant hangar doors.

It was quite impressive that these dwarves got to the point of developing their own walkers to counter the old demons. The information Sundus�s spies gathered from the nearby towns and cities were fairly thorough, but it was quite hard for the spies to get hold of good - quality historical documents. There were some basic documents and books, but history for the most part only documented the great battles and victories of each nation. Only the king and perhaps its closed advisors had access to the true history of the world, and the Yards reputedly had one of the best archives and records of documents from earlier days.

Again, Alka understood. History was written by its victors, and so the less the populace knew about the truth, the easier it was to shape the mindset of its people.

Alka looked at the open spaces between each of the blocks, and along some of those empty fields, smaller war machines battling it out. Their means of battle were mainly physical attacks, where the war machines attacked each other using their legs and arms. Magical weapons and energy weapons would only be activated when battles were fought in the special areas located in a different block.

Alka looked around and saw about twenty other new craftsmen walk through the door. They all stared and looked around, equally bewildered and happy. One of the new dwarven students walked a few steps and suddenly got down and kissed the stone floor.

He could hear the dwarf student making a prayer to Eras for guiding him here. The others just groaned. - Oh, come on, don�t embarrass our year. -

It made him think of Freshka Treetiary College. There were similar reactions in young recruits when they visited the FTC for the first time.

There were supposed to be about thirty new craftsmen this year, and they would be split to each of the five main blocks. Each of the blocks were rivals, so most of these would be his rivals. Alka chuckled and checked his document again.

The five blocks were named after the five past kings of Ruthfyord. Ruthen, Arden, Melden, Furden, and Carden. Alka didn�t know why Stella chuckled when she heard the names, but it was probably one of those Earth things Alka didn�t get. Maybe it was the rhyming names.

- Block Arden. - All right. Alka nodded, got himself settled into a fairly cozy room, and quickly met his supposed - batchmates. - In the first two weeks, he generally kept a low profile and focused on understanding how the entire system worked. Using tools from the Order, he installed additional surveillance tools to keep tabs on the inner workings of the institution.

One of the first things he deployed were tiny surveillance golems, made by the golem masters of Treehome. They would spread out and plant themselves throughout different parts of the Delvegardian Yards and report the interactions back to him.

- Everything all right? - Alka heard A/ check in through the familiar.

- Yeah. All settled in, - Alka responded. He didn�t have to do this, but the situation on the peripheral worlds was stable, and Alka wanted to do something different, just to satisfy his curiosity.

Maybe it was one of those things that he wanted to do, since his temporary death.

Alka remembered a feeling of floating about, and when he reemerged from A/ �s pod, he felt like he was born again.

He felt he missed out. So now, he sought out these experiences. To do something different. Going to an academy and taking over it seemed like a fun thing to do.

A month later

- Alka! Come, join us! We are meeting some seniors and the head of the Arden block! - One of Alka�s fellow blockmates slammed on his bedroom door. Alka groaned as he climbed out of bed.

The bed wasn�t comfortable, so he had it secretly replaced. A shadow emerged right next to his bed, and Alka�s sleepy eyes opened to stare at an absolute lookalike of himself. - It�s all right, Ally, I�ll go for this one. -

- All right, - Ally answered, in the form of Alka�s lookalike. A body created to look like him vanished into the shadows, and the domain holder walked to the door.

- Okay! - Alka smiled. Acting wasn�t his strongest suit, but it was fairly easy to get used to an environment where there was a lot of work to be done.

As new recruits of the Yards, they began by making supplementary equipment for the various war machines. These were things like weapon mounts, replacement claws and arms, replacement shields, or just gears and parts for all the various components of the Delvegardian war machines.

War machines came in tiers. The largest were the King Spiders, and those were the biggest at about the size of a large building and were about the size of the demon walkers. Below that were the Prince Spiders, which were about the size of a larger room. Then there were the Lord - Spiders, which were generally the size of a bed. The definition, per the Yards rules, were governed by the size of their workshop doors.

War machines were similar to golems and warships in many ways. Just like warships, they came with inbuilt abilities bestowed by their creators, which could then be amplified by the abilities of their pilots or controllers. Mages and enchanters could inscribe runic formations and patterns to give war machines even more power.

Sunsteel was thus the perfect material for these war machines. Strong, light, and magically compatible, though they needed to be forged with Ice Crystals, a process then known as cold forging. Stella remarked it sounded quite like the mythical mythril, though we didn�t know whether it was even similar.

The Yards wanted Craftsmen to be trained to a high level, since stronger craftsmen gave their war machines stronger skills, which was then amplified by the enchantments that went into the war machines, and also the pilot�s own skills. It was for this reason that these large things were so dangerous. Each of them represented the skills and powers of multiple people that coalesced into a single tool for destruction, though the Sunsteel was a big part of why they took this direction.

On Treehome, A/ �s crafters and golem builders constructed golems and other such structures to fairly good results, but ultimately, the materials had limitations on how much innate strength they had and how much magic power could be worked into them. This meant there was a cap on how much stronger Treehome�s machines got, even if their crafters were better. On Treehome, it was warships with their large sizes, multiple skilled crews, that went crazy with their outfits and equipment.

- Everything all right, Craftsman Alka? - A supervising crafter, around Level 60 or so, walked past Alka and noticed him staring blankly. He then quickly took a peek at Alka�s work and answered before Alka could respond. - Everything looks good. Amazing, even. Keep up the good work. -

Alka nodded. In the Yards, the craftsmen worked with and trained with other budding dwarven alchemists and enchanters, who were also students going through their own set of challenges.

On top of that, they spent quite a bit of time testing out designs, and to a limited degree, work on the Sunsteel and Sunmetal components, mainly as assistants to more senior craftsmen. As the construction of the giant King Spiders took almost a full year, the chief engineer�s plans were plastered right at the top, and then components of it were distributed to each of the different groups.

It was familiar. The golem factories and golem magic schools that emerged in the past few decades on Treehome had a similar vibe. Those institutions had a hard time recently due to the crystal shortages, but the golems have been a fairly reliable workforce that supported industrial work.

Alka stood and watched the group of eager fellow craftsmen trying to learn from the more senior dwarven craftsmen. Dwarves by their nature were more direct, so he was fairly pleased to find some of the more insidious forms of politicking were not common in the Delvegardian Yards.

There really was a fairly genuine desire to learn and be actual better craftsmen. But rivalries were common, and that manifested in duels. It was apparently such a common thing that the heroes laughed when he reported it.

- So, Alka, I heard you�re the best one in your batch. - The senior then walked over to Alka and taunted him. Alka merely shrugged. Another challenge.

- Yes. What of it? - Humility wasn�t a strong suit for dwarves, either. Alka didn�t get to where he was without being proud of what he�d done. If he was good, he was good.

- Oh. Confident! You think you can make a better war machine than me? -

Alka looked at the senior. He was supposedly in his third year, and due to the adversarial, competitive nature of the Delvegardian Yards, the craftsmen and builders would gain levels from challenging each other. - Is that a challenge, senior? -

- Yes. - The senior grinned. His batch smiled, eager to watch another fight.

- Oh, our Alka�s actually challenging the senior! -

Alka nodded. What kind of domain holder would he be if he couldn�t even face a challenge even if he was here with different intentions? - So, what should we do? -

- Let�s do it the old fashioned way. - The senior smiled. - Two - on - two, Lord - class war machines fight till the other gives up or the war machine�s core is destroyed. -

Alka shrugged. - Two - on - two? Sure. -

- You may pick one of your friends to help. -

Alka laughed. - That will not be necessary. -

- You may be skilled, but don�t be too cocky, - the senior countered.

War machines. The people of Delvegard were beholden to certain ways of battle. Big towering machines, big frightening weapons, and powerful beam weapons.

It was due to the types of the battles they frequently fought and the power levels of the large war machines. Or maybe it was the sense of security and armor plating the larger war machines had.

But Alka had many advantages as an alchemist of his level. One area where Alka excelled was in the use of alchemical lubricants and greases, and the use of various oils and greases to improve performance was still quite primitive among the Delvegardian engineers.

- Such a small machine? - the senior taunted Alka. - And only one? -

Alka laughed as he climbed into his small war machine. It was a small, compact war machine with small arms but engineered to attack and move with far greater speed than what most war machines were capable of. - I only need one to win, seniors. -

- Oh? - The senior and his friend�s war machine charged. - Then don�t say we are too rough on you. -

Alka grinned, and his war machine moved faster than the other two. The lubrication in the joints meant they moved far faster than his foes. He was able to strike with pinpoint precision. He knew exactly where each of the war machine�s weaknesses were and was able to destroy their joints with his small but powerful strikes.

The small crowd of other craftsmen watched in awe as Alka somehow systematically disassembled the two larger war machines.

It would not be the last time that Alka was challenged by other craftsmen of the Yard. It was intentional. This would get him the attention of even more talented craftsmen who would love to battle a rising star.

Dwarves respected ability, and just like that, the two seniors couldn�t help but be in awe of Alka, amazed. - Where - where�d you learn how to build war machines like that? -

Alka smiled and placed his bait. - Somewhere far, far away. Would you all like to visit, someday? - If they were worth anything, they would be recruited.

Predictably, they nodded. In fact, some of the other craftsmen in Alka�s batch even joined in. - Can we visit, too, Alka? -

- Sure. -

- Why do dwarves fight each other? - Alka asked during one of the regular beer gatherings in their block. Everyone was fairly happily drunk by then, and Alka made it a point to attend them regularly. So much so that he did feel quite close to these fellow students and hoped they did well in the future.

- Because we�re idiots, - one of the seniors answered.

- Craftsman Alka, if you�re trying to get us to say something that�ll get us in trouble, don�t, - one of his batch countered. Alka laughed.

- Seriously, - Alka said. - You�ve never thought about it? Craftsmen, alchemists, enchanters. The weapons we build will be used on people just like you. Other workshops build things like this, and the dwarves fight to the death with them. It would be better if conflict could be resolved in more peaceful ways. -

- Of course, - one of the seniors said as he drank his seventh mug of beer. - But what can we do about it? Those in power are not going to change. So long as there are kings, territories, and politics, conflict is inevitable. Those who are strong do not see the problem when they exert their power over others. -

- What if there is a way out? - Alka said. - What if you don�t have to fight each other, but you can use it on the demons? -

- Demons? - The seniors looked at each other. - Wait, the demons are coming in a decade or so? Maybe two? -

- No. Now. Look outside, and look at the night sky. There are other worlds out there, all with demons. There are people fighting them everywhere. -

Those present stared at him like he was half insane. - Craftsman Alka, how many beers did you drink to say this sort of thing? -

One of the alchemist - students in the drinking session laughed. - Have you been snorting some kind of dreaming herb, Alka? -

- Oh, it�s very real, my fellow friends. I�d love to show them to you someday. The war against the demons rage on in thousands of worlds. -

- Hah. I�ll chop up my leather belt and make soup with it if it�s real, - a senior taunted, yet Alka could tell some of them felt inspired by it.

Alka chuckled. - Oh, my good senior, I�ll take that bet. -

- When will you show us? -

Alka touched his beard. - I promise you then, within the next two years. -

- You�re on. -

He could tell that the rest of his batch were looking at him as if he was insane. But Alka had to plant the seed. Let such thoughts fester in their minds. One day, when he finally opened the door and showed them what existed beyond Delvegard, it would all make sense.

Time passed quickly, and just like that, it�d been nine months since Alka joined the Delvegardian Yards. Throughout this time, he made copies of various schematics. Their different origins meant they had design ideas that were worth looking into at great detail. They were also a significantly older institution - the Delvegardian Yards had a history of over a thousand years, which made them older than Freshka.

Generations of craftsmen and dwarven engineers incrementally improved their workings, and Alka found that it was in small things where Treehome�s craftsmen could learn from. The slightly different ways screws and bolts were made or how they were all welded together. Treehome generally had a rapid development of magical equipment, but there were minor efficiency differences that the Delvegardian engineers made to their tools, defensive platings and war machines that Treehome could learn from.

Alka, within that nine months, had risen the ranks. Within the Yards, most newbies were craftsmen, but they could be promoted to be senior if they were good enough. Usually, this happened after the second year, because the constant honing and battles amongst the craftsmen and their war machines improved their skills.

The craftsmen and seniors of the Yards were initially skeptical, but they couldn�t match Alka�s capabilities, which were much more sophisticated than them.

This eventually caught the attention of someone higher up in the chain.

Someone knocked on the door. Ally took the door. It was one of the Yard�s senior craftsmen. He spoke to him a few times.

- Craftsmen Alka, the block master wishes to see you. -

Ally nodded. - I�ll be there. -

The door closed, and Ally looked at Alka.

- Should I go? He�s been spying on us and looking into what you�ve made. -

- It�s fine. I�ll handle it. Let�s see what the block master wants from me, - Alka said. - I expected this confrontation for a while. I may need you to shapeshift and be his body double. -

Ally nodded, as its body transformed to resemble that of the block master. As a parasite spy, it was able to reconfigure the body to match its appearance, and even copy a certain set of abilities. As a Titan of A/ , Ally�s Level 80ish presence meant no one would even doubt it was the Block Master.

Then Alka activated his communication ability. - Stella, I might need a portal soon. Got someone I might have to kidnap. -

- Aye. -

The block master was one of the five middle masters of the Yards, one for each of the blocks, and they reported to the forge master, who was the former king of the kingdom. Each block master was individually powerful relative to the rest of Delvegard, and Alka estimated they were likely close to their level cap, at about Level 80 to 85.

- Beer, Craftsman Alka? - the block master offered as Alka walked into his study.

Alka nodded. There was no one here except the two. - I normally don�t drink, but if it is the block master, I will. -

The drink was spiked. A rare move from the dwarves that preferred more direct means, but Alka was immune to such weak poisons. A/ �s familiar purged it instantly.

The block master stared at him. - So tell me, Alka, who are you? Your record and innovations are unmatched from anyone in our history, and you clearly have knowledge of something that�s not from the Yards repository of knowledge. -

Alka smiled at the block master. - You clearly have some idea already, Block Master. Why not tell me what�s your theory, and I�ll tell you whether it�s right? -

The block master stared at Alka. - That�s not a way to talk to someone that is your block master. -

- Maybe. But I�d love to hear your thoughts, - Alka countered.

The block master stared at Alka, and Alka didn�t flinch. - Fine. My first suspicion is that you are an agent of the Airan Workshops trying to destabilize us. But I�ve looked at your war machines and realized they don�t match anything the Airan Workshops are capable of. So, if you are not from the Airan Workshops, then the only other entity able to train a genius of your level would be the highly secretive Shadow Hangars. -

Shadow Hangars. That was something Alka wasn�t aware of. It was clearly intel that Sundus was unable to obtain, because it only lingered in the very small circle of senior members of the Yards and not frequently discussed. - Oh? And what is it about the Shadow Hangars? -

The block master stared. - We destroyed the Hangars thirty years ago. Are you here for vengeance? Infiltration is the sort of tactics these foul corrupted dwarves believe in. -

Alka smiled, a little amused how wrong he was. - Really? And you think I�d be here for something like vengeance? -

- Why else did you come and humiliate the rest of our craftsmen like this? Is this how the Hangars want to exert superiority? Are you here to recruit the students? -

- Well, I�m not, - Alka countered. - However, I am here to recruit your students. -

The block master stared. - What? -

- In fact, Block Master, I think you�re a fairly talented craftsman, too. Would you like a tour of what we have to offer? -

The block master was horrified. - What do you mean? -

- Is that a no? -

The block master and Alka exchanged glances, as if he was trying to gauge Alka�s statement.

- Would you like to see where I learned how to do what I do? I�ll take you on a trip. It wouldn�t even take long. -

- Are you serious? - The block master seemed fairly surprised but decided to play along. - Then yes. Show me where you learned how to do what you did, - the block master said, probably thinking Alka was just going to reveal his secret. Alka somehow blinked right next to the block master.

- Good. Let�s go on a little trip. - The two vanished through a void portal.

Alka and the block master arrived in Treehome, inside one of the many industrial buildings within the wider Freshkan area, and the block master stared. - What - what did you do? -

- What do you think about the state of Delvegard and how the dwarven nations constantly fight each other? - Alka ignored his question.

The block master looked around and noticed the far more busy city around him. - What - ? Where am I? -

- Another world, Block Master. The air feels different here, doesn�t it? -

- It does. - The block master kept looking around, trying his hardest to stop it. - Where are you taking me? -

- To where my people create weapons used to fight against our real foes. So I ask again, Block Master, what do you think about the state of Delvegard? Do you think your beautiful weapons are wasted on slaughtering the lives of your fellow dwarves in your brutal battles? -

- It - it is what we have to do. The lords and kings do not want to bow to others. Our kings, they are proud dwarves. -

- Pride. It�s led to such a waste of life. - Alka sighed, and the door swung open to reveal a vast industrial factory where crystal weapons were made by the thousands. The block master stared in disbelief. - I have a proposition to make to the dwarves of Delvegard, Block Master. The war between dwarves is unnecessary. Useless. Wasteful. Instead, I ask the dwarves, talented ones like yourself, to devote your efforts against the real enemies of the wider world. -

The block master looked at the crystal weapons. - What are you talking about? -

- Demons, Block Master. Delvegard has been a lucky world, a world where the demons only come once a century. But the other worlds are not so lucky. This world once faced demons every decade. -

The block master blinked, unable to fathom it. He was a relatively old dwarf, at about one hundred sixty to one hundred eighty years old, and he saw the demons once when they arrived about eighty to ninety years ago. It was a horrible time, but the dwarves banded together and, with the help of the Dwarven Hero, pushed the demons back. The thought of such monstrosities invading the world once a decade was hard.

- Imagine, for a moment, what we could achieve if Delvegardian war machines were paired with the magical equipment of my world? -

The block master watched for a moment, even at this distance he knew enough to get a rough sense of the sort of equipment that was being made. - You really are recruiting me? -

- Yes, - Alka said. - I will recruit everyone I can, Block Master, and I want you to help me. -

- Why do you think we would join you? -

- Because now you use your weapons on your fellow dwarves while I offer to use your weapons on demons. Because now you are capped behind your levels, stuck at Level 85 to 90, unable to reach beyond, while we have our ways of reaching in the steps of divinity. Because now, your people�s purpose is no more than to satisfy the whims of your kings, while we offer the chance to serve a power and purpose that would save many from these demons, and also elevate many more to join us. -

The block master stared as Alka led him through the factories and into larger barracks made up of Valthorns preparing for their next deployment on the peripheral worlds.

- Look around you, Block Master. These are my compatriots. They will serve in battles against the demons. We have taken the battles beyond our homes and reached into the shores of the demon worlds. The dwarven blood thirsts for war, Block Master. It is why dwarves are only able to unite during the demon king crisis, but after that, the dwarves cannot help but fight each other. -

A void portal whirled in front of him, and Alka led the block master through to the peripheral world of Sarlpi. Here, they witnessed Valthorn warriors hunt down the rest of the fire - elemental demons that still remained on Salrpi.

- I offer to take your nation�s warriors and war machines, and I offer them the glory, destruction, and war of the demon lands. So, Block Master, I am recruiting. Death. Blood. Destruction and Suffering awaits the warriors who join our cause, but my fellow dwarves aspire to more than just beer, politicking, and building war machines to slaughter their fellow dwarves. -

It was a long, long silence.

Alka allowed his words to sink in, as they followed the destruction left by the Valthorns. The fire demons were torn from the skies.

The block master looked around the chaos of Sarlpi and saw people he had never known existed.

- They will not thank you, - Alka said. - But if your men itch for war, if your men are eager to show the glory of your war machines, I ask that they show them against the demons. There are hundreds, thousands of demon worlds out there to satiate your lust for war. -

- Take me to one. Show me. - The block master was clearly shaken, his hands trembled. His heart pounded furiously.

Alka nodded as another portal whirled open. They landed in front of a rift gate. A void mage nearby nodded. - Opening portal to the demon world connected to Landas? -

The rift gate activated, and they were both sent to a demon world. Untouched. Landas was freed of its demon king, but the Valthorn had robbed it of its rift gates and locked it to its void coordinates.

The demons were everywhere. Yet Alka draped a cloak over the block master. It immediately hid him from detection.

The domain holder led the block master through the still mostly unexplored demon world. Towering demon hatcheries were everywhere, and the stench of demonic energies was still thick. The block master could feel it and looked uncomfortable.

After a few hours, they stopped.

- Bring me back. I�ve seen enough. Send me back to the Yards. -

And they did.

The block master was back in his own office. The first thing he did was walk to his big, comfortable chair and sat on it. He poured himself a beer and downed the entire mug in a single gulp.

As the beer�s effects kicked in, the block master looked around his room. Medals from the king were pinned there. As were certain paintings of the glories of their war machines.

After a long while, he turned to face Alka.

- You really want to recruit me? -

- Yes. -

- You do realize this is treachery and betrayal of the king, and the forge master of the Yards. -

Alka laughed. - Yes. If they don�t join us, too, that is. -

But the face of the block master was one of acceptance. Maybe it was bloodlust. Maybe it was a desire to escape from mundane politicking and back into the fires of war. - The hell with all of this. Yes. Yes, I will. Who else do you need? -

Alka smiled. - Everyone. -

YEAR 279

Landas

The Valthorns recruited a sizable group of soldiers and warriors from Landas, many of them from the ranks of survivors during the earlier harsher periods and went on to be fairly high - leveled soldiers and defenders of the elven cities were eager to take their skills to other places. Many of these have known a lifetime of fighting, and so the sudden end of wars meant they were feeling out of place in a world where there was going to be peace.

Thus they joined the call to serve and fight on other worlds.

Not all, though. There was also those that were more than happy to see the end of the fighting. Strong warriors who finally relished the chance to return to normalcy and to do what they always wanted to do. Many finally settled down and restarted what they�d long delayed. Family. Their old family workshops. Rebuilding cities and pursuing tasks their parents or grandparents abandoned when things got bad.

Now, Landas was doing well. The demon king had been slain, and the world had begun to turn a corner. Things were coming around.

The old cherry tree that once guarded Samuel regained its old strength, and since it didn�t have to store energy to deal with the demons, Cherry redirected their powers toward the rebuilding effort. The old cherry tree had a wide range of forestry - related powers and so used it extensively to rebuild.

Despite these positives, I still expected a few decades before Landas regained some level of normalcy. The world�s population had declined far too much.

In terms of population, we estimated it lost seventy to eighty percent of its population due to the prolonged demon war. But with heavy intervention from the Valthorns, we were helping the repopulation. Children were born, and we ensured they were well supported. The Treeology priests went about blessing many of the surviving youths and even slightly more mature elvish ladies with fertility potions.

It may seem a little heavy handed, but as a society, they needed the population to restore all their heavily battered society. The social wing of the Order came in to support many young families with caring for young children.

Most of their material needs were catered for, with the presence of the Order�s craftsmen and workers that set up new factories and workshops and helped retrain the Landasian elves in crafts to revive Landas�s lost industrial capacity.

In two to three decades from now, Landas�s babies of today will be the warriors of the future, and these growing workshops would grow into larger establishments that would help support the war of the future.

It would be a long process, but the first few steps had already taken place.

The first batch of Landas - origin soldiers, such as Novorosk, were given accelerated Valtorn Order training, though we had to supplement their knowledge with a good helping of teachers and tutors from Treehome.

Their combat capabilities and instincts were quite good, due to years of battle experience under defensive conditions. That said, we also felt the need to widen their skillset to cover some of the other things they would encounter in the demon worlds. Rescuing survivors, constructing makeshift structures, knowledge of the various demon types and monster types, and combat tactics.

Most of them were defenders, their focus always in protecting their home cities. Large - scale offensive tactics was an area they needed work on. From defenders, they would now have to be attackers.

It was likely that Novorosk and their batch would be demon-world focused operatives, since that was the environment they excelled at. Constant battles, destroying demons and surviving with little on the fields came naturally to them. In fact, we generally observed that these survivors were able to tolerate the stresses of long - term battle quite well.

I figured it was some kind of survivorship bias at play. Those that couldn�t died. What was left were battle - hardened veterans.

That said, unlike our homeworlds, it wasn�t entirely in the mind.

There were skills that helped, and from these battle - hardened veterans we were able to collect a few skill fragments that I happily replicated with my skill - fruit growing trees. These yielded fruits that contained skills such as battle hardened and survivor�s heart . Those who consumed fruits with these skills tolerated stress better and made better warriors out in the battlefield. Many of my Valthorns didn�t need these skills, because they acquired it later on in their higher levels.

I�d always wanted a similar skill for mages. If there was something like a mage�s instinct , I would�ve pounced and tried to replicate it by the thousands, but sadly, most of a mage�s set of skills were things like magical memory , or large mana pool , though we did notice more specific type of abilities like void sensitivity or elemental instinct .

My hopes for the Magisarians were something that could help improve our magical training process. My hope was that the Magisarians had some kind of unique skill I could replicate and then turn them into skill fruits.

As it was, we produced thousands of these skill fruits each year, and we distributed these across all our academies, training schools, and institutions. Some were given out to students as rewards, some for my Valtorn Order recruits to round up their own set of skills.

My domain holders often claimed that the skill fruits saved each and every one of them hundreds of days of work, because they could shore up their weak points with a skill fruit, and was partly why the Valtorn Order and Valthorns were so feared.

Very few institutions could claim to produce strong soldiers with such consistency, though the ability to grant skill wasn�t unique. Priests and trainers could actually grant skills through some of their own skills. Even teachers were able to grant skills, but in most cases, these skills were often in the basic - intermediate level, and there was some element of randomness in how they worked. A teacher teaching mana manipulation may have students acquiring weaker variants like mana shaping or basic mana flow .

For the Landas warriors, we also realized that most of them acquired a range of survival skills over their decades, and in some ways, that made them suboptimal for independent operation. This was because my Valtorn Order folks trained with the presence of my familiars , so they often rejected the acquisitions of survival skills since that could be outsourced to the familiars, in order to better focus on combat abilities.

My familiars came with a range of food generation, healing, and supplementary abilities.

I believed this problem to be transitional, a consequence of recruiting experienced soldiers from a war - torn Landas. Future Landas soldiers that went through our usual regime would not have these drawbacks.

Whatever it was, talent was hard to find. We�d take it, and we would just have to find ways to best exploit their strengths.

Shasan

The domain holders and the heroes gathered for another round of demonic attack. Alka decided to sit this round out, as he was busy infiltrating the Delvegardian Yards.

- All right, we�ll be going to a sand world. - Khefri was fairly excited when she landed. Her biology found the dry sand to be most comfortable, and unlike the rest of them, sand didn�t get stuck in her joints. There was just something about the hot sand, a burning sun overhead, and white - orange sands as far as she could see that appealed to her.

- I think you�re partly brainwashed by your body, - Colette countered.

- I know. - Khefri shrugged and rubbed her head slightly. Despite a different biology, she wasn�t spared from headaches. - But it is what it is. The body likes this kind of environment, and so I like it. -

Colette said nothing and looked at Prabu. Prabu was decked out in gear. A little overkill, but at this point, they�d rather not take many risks.

Rajah and Wira, the two Dragon ling heroes, felt their wings warm up from the heat of the sun. They didn�t like it the dry heat or the harsh sun all that much. Gigant dragon was still far more comfortable to them than any of the other worlds so far, with the only exception being the magimodern facilities of Treehome and Branchhold.

Samuel shared their struggles. The elven hero didn�t like the heat or the sun.

The domain holders and heroes chatted as they prepared for the start of the operation.

Edna clapped her hands. - All right, all right, Shasan should be a fairly simple mop - up operation. Shasan�s a fairly strong world, with strong natural defenses. We don�t really expect much opposition other than the demon king. As usual, Lumoof will fish out the demon king, and we�ll engage it on the surface. Hit it with all we can, and then we�ll only be left with Twinspace. Clear? -

Everyone nodded. There were about thirty Level 140 Valthorns present as well, and they were the ones that were most visibly nervous.

Lumoof smiled. - All right. Come, come, come. Shouldn�t be too hard. Relax, it�ll be fine. Check your protective equipment? -

Samuel still looked a little lost. - Is. is that it? -

Adrian, the hero of Mountainworld, tapped Samuel, the hero of Landas, on the shoulder. - You�ll get used to it. Took me about five or six demon kings before I was able to get over how casual this whole thing feels. -

Samuel paused, and after a while, he sighed. Both of them knew each other faced their own trauma from the past. Adrian spent quite some time under the corruption of the demons, and Samuel nursed a demonic curse. The idea of facing the demon king still occasionally pulled out that trauma, and the whole thing being just a regular trip to the doctors was hard to reconcile.

- All right, I�ll head in first. - Lumoof looked at the flooded pit that led to the core and dived right in. The demon king was a kind of boney, half - shark, half - demonic creature that was still digging at the rocks. Lumoof, unaffected by the water, easily interrupted its constant digging and engaged it in battle.

Somehow, water numbed the demon king�s senses, because it was only then it reacted to our presence.

That was a surprise to us.

Lumoof got a good, powerful root strike through its body. Not enough to kill it, but enough for me to get a rough sense of its strength.

It wasn�t going to be a problem.

The shark - demon king soared out of the flooded pit; again, its senses seemed dull. The moment it exited the flooded pit, it was battered with a range of attacks.

The demon king, weakened by the blast, shapeshifted and then summoned more demons. But those extra - small fries died like flies. The heroes and domain holders launched more attacks.

It was no match. The demon king of Shasan died. The heroes gained some levels, the domain holders gained none, and some of the Valthorn Level 140s gained a level or two. Not enough to push them to a domain.

But now, there was only one demon king left. The demon king on Twinspace.

We wanted to make it a spectacle.

So I redirected my attention elsewhere. I wanted to visit Gawa again.

Satrya

Lumoof went through the portal first and landed in a large receiving hall filled with people. Gawa �s priests and an entourage fit for a king.

- Greetings. Patriarch Lumoof. - Olivia of Olpash stood there, waiting. She still asked about Roon occasionally, but this time, she was in her priestess mode and spoke with all the gentleness and grace of a high priestess. - Are the rest of the entourage coming? -

Lumoof nodded. - They�ll be here in a second. -

Emperor Erranuel and the rest of the emperor�s escorts warped in. They appeared around Lumoof through my teleportation ability. Erranuel brought about a hundred people to Satrya, and this same party would then be deployed to Shasan to launch Erranuel�s new world program.

But the fact that Lumoof landed here so specifically seemed to trigger some alarm bells. Gawa seemed able to guide how and where Stella�s portals opened and ensured that a large, luxurious welcoming party was present.

Stella was fairly surprised that a god could do that, but this was Gawa �s core world, guiding portals and specifying specific landing zones should be well within its range of abilities. However, it did highlight that this was a very clear vulnerability. Stella could teleport us right into a trap, especially if a god was hostile to us.

Essentially, we could be on the receiving end on a spawn - camp attack. That was an uncomfortable thought to entertain.

Lumoof grinned at the sight of the two high priests of Gawa . - Well, nice to see you again, Priestess Olivia and Priest Michael. -

- It�s a pleasure to welcome you and your party, Patriarch Lumoof. It is especially blessed for us to finally meet those who are faithful to the teachings of Gawa from other worlds. Our God Gawa �s blessings and wisdom reaches even to the furthest of worlds, and from one Gawa �s servant to another, we sincerely welcome you. - Olivia spoke, and Lumoof grinned at her heartfelt praise of her god. Her words were genuine.

Though her words were sweet, it was somehow lost on the emperor.

- So this is what it feels like where Gawa �s presence is strong. - Emperor Erranuel�s heart pounded. Lumoof could sense the trembling in his fingers, and we speculated that his class, the Holy Emperor , was instinctively linked to Gawa . Therefore, it was possible that here, in this world, that class was stronger than even on Treehome. The emperor looked around for a few seconds, took a few deep breaths, and then finally turned to face the hosts. - My apologies to the very generous and hospitable priests and priestess. I am just suddenly overwhelmed by the presence of our god Gawa that I cannot but take a few moments to take it in. Patriarch Lumoof promised me a visit to a world where Gawa �s reach was still strong, and it is truly a unique feeling. -

The priestess could sense it, too. A sense of comradeship in those that share the faith. - Yes, your majesty. Satrya did not face the need to create a holy emperor , but I do agree it is most interesting for us as well to meet those who triumphed against great odds. It is the foul demons that cause Gawa �s influence to be weak on your world, but your people persevered. -

Erranuel nodded and then turned to face Lumoof. - Patriarch Lumoof, thank you for sending us here. I�ll be able to handle it from here. What happens next, I believe, mainly concerns discussions about our faith, and it would most likely be uninteresting to you. So thank you. I wish not to occupy your time anymore. -

We expected that Erranuel would want to have some private words with the other Gawa - believers, so this went as planned.

Lumoof nodded. - I�ll leave you to it. I�ll return in approximately three months. -

- Three months is plenty of time, Patriarch Lumoof. We will be ready when the time comes. -

Erranuel was a man with his own plans, and I didn�t mind it.

The world was large, and right now, there was enough for everyone. Even if he turned against me, it was fairly easy to cordon off certain worlds. We planned on sending Erranuel to Shasan because it wasn�t a world where we had much interest in.

They could have it on a silver platter if they so desired.

I expected that as we discovered more worlds, my resources and manpower would not be able to keep up to maintain a decent level of control, and so, rather than let certain worlds suffer because I lacked the resources to deal with them, I was willing to pass some of these worlds to other forces. From my point of view, I didn�t want to let these other worlds suffer from the demons just because I couldn�t help them and refuse to share the portals with others.

People like Erranuel were relatively low risk, since they lacked the means to travel through worlds. In time, maybe Lilies, or Aria and Aispeng, or the White Statue could be roped in to take control of certain worlds, though given the White Statue�s strength, it was a matter of time before he achieved travel between the worlds.

But now we stood at a position of growing strength, and we no longer needed extensive paranoia. We had the weapons and strength to punish all those who broke our trust.

YEAR 279 (PART II)

Treehome

Treehome. Our home base, and the long peace led to a decent growth in terms of population. Our measures to soften the blow of parenthood and supplying the Central Continent�s families with a high level of support meant we continued to see good growth in terms of population, and so our recruiting pipeline was healthy.

Freshka, the capital and heart of the Valtorn Order, buzzed with energy. Politically, the mood in the population was fairly upbeat. Progress was made on many fronts, and the world entered an unusual era of peace.

It was this peace that partly enabled Emperor Erranuel�s expansion plan to the world of Shasan. It was going to be largely a one - way trip for the first five years, and we intended to deploy a few Valtorn Order agents just to accompany them, and void mages would drop in once a year to help them move people or resources, as needed.

The news of Emperor Erranuel�s travels to the other worlds was largely kept quiet, mainly because of fear for the merchant guilds and merchant kings attack. However, no one was really in the mood for attack. The Valtorn Order�s consumption of crystals had reduced gradually, but the world�s smaller forces were still not ready and had not rebuilt their stockpiles of war.

The consequences of the past war, and the fear of my punishment, for now continued to deter the prospect of wider war.

Instead, the guilds came to us with a proposition. They, too, would like to expand to the wider worlds. I immediately thought about Raph and the White Statue, and the risks.

I was willing to let them try expanding, though a part of me felt a little disturbed at allowing corporate forces to have a stake in expanding into other worlds.

Right now, we had a monopoly on travel due to our void mages, but it was likely that my monopoly over my void mages would eventually be broken. It may not happen in ten years, or twenty years, but at some point, it could happen.

Some void mages would eventually agree to join these other folks, or maybe they figured out how to independently train void mages. Of all people, the White Statue could discover how it was done on its own. As a domain holder of his level of strength, if it had seen the powers of a void mage, it shouldn�t be too hard for it to start figuring out how to create one.

After all, we learned how to create void mages through heavy exposure to void mana and constantly healing the individual from the effects of the curse. Eventually, they were able to gain the void mage class. If the White Statue learned how to do the same, it was likely they would be able to do it, too.

We had a technological head start, and the White Statue would figure out how to create void mages if it tried. That would allow it to expand to other worlds. Similarly, my void mages were not prevented from mingling and talking to other mages and people, so those of Treehome had some inkling of how a void mage was trained from scratch, even though the process of actually creating a void mage still remained elusive thanks to the various sicknesses and curses in the soul caused by exposure to the void mana.

However, as medical and healing abilities of the general populace caught up, or if any of my Level 100 and above healers joined one of these guilds, they would have the ingredients needed to experiment on void magic.

What would they do with it?

Was this power something we should release to the world? What if the power to travel to other worlds only destroyed others?

But we were not the fairest judges of that. We�d used our power to reach the other worlds, we�d saved lives, but in the long run, we also harvested their societies for their brightest children to fight this war. We should intervene if they used it to harm more than good, or when our trust was broken.

The ability to travel worlds in itself was not a bad thing, even if it may lead to bad consequences. I also didn�t see myself as intentionally policing their behavior. It felt like this was one of my usual dilemmas again. Did I allow people to do bad things with neutral powers? It was like preventing people from flying because some people could just use flight to fight wars.

Worlds that had this power would have an advantage over worlds that didn�t. Just because they gained access to void magic didn�t make them more powerful over those that didn�t. If the defending worlds were like Khubor where there were existences like the Osroids, it may not be that clear cut.

Thinking that way, maybe it wouldn�t be a bad thing to actually release knowledge of void magic to the wider world. Yes. It was potentially dangerous. But right now, only the old gods and the demons had figured out how to travel between worlds, and both had left quite a fair bit of the multiverse in a terrible state.

But Stella was quite against it.

- No. I cannot allow that. Yes, maybe some people can be saved. But as far as I can see, void magic is as good as a nuclear weapon. The longer they stay away from it, the more we can save people. We should be the ones saving them, because I won�t trust anyone else with this power. I currently cannot imagine how any other institution can handle this power carefully, not with where these other people are now. -

- Not even Raph or the White Statue? - I countered.

- No. -

- Are you being biased? -

From a net gain to the world, linking the others worlds should lead to net savings of life. It meant demon-attacked worlds had an exit path. That in itself should save many lives.

- Have you not seen the people? Everyone�s a warmonger. People will be killed, and I cannot trust any of them to treat those beneath them with more care than the Order. Not yet. Maybe someday there will be a truly good society that is worthy of this, but right now, no. The angels and the White Statue have potential, but I want to see how they behave, without our threat before I�d even trust them. -

- It�s not something you can hide forever, - I countered. Void magic could be learned.

- I know, but I will stop it as long as I can. I want to be able to pull the plug on this experiment if they misbehave. As the void domain holder, let me have this right. -

- Very well. -

Lumoof landed on the world of Khubor.

We knew that we were the ones that should face it. We walked to the very edges of the Khubor�s land and wondered whether this was a hostile domain holder. Even at this distance, we could subtly feel its presence.

I hoped that we could come to an agreement, like Lillies. At the border between the land of the living and the land of the dead, there was a trading post. This was where the humans of Khubor traded with the undead. So we approached the undead and requested an audience with the Osroids.

We declared we were coming. The undead at the border didn�t respond to us immediately, but eventually, one of the undead actually spoke with magic.

- Please wait. -

We did.

A wraith appeared about half a day later; it probably flew from really far away. It glanced at Lumoof with its glowing yellow eyes and nodded. - Follow me. -

We followed the wraith on a path that headed for the center of the land of the dead.

The land of the dead was surprisingly productive, filled with mines and quarries and factories. The undead worked, and they worked with only a little bit of rest.

As we escorted deeper into the land of the dead, we noticed the presence of large black crystalline towers that radiated magical energy.

It was familiar. It reminded me of that dungeon core that spawned undead from my earlier days. Lumoof�s magical senses focused, and we realized these were magical ley lines that were corrupted by the black crystal. These crystals then drew on that energy to create some kind of - undead nourishing aura. -

The undead consumed magical energy in their day - to - day activities, and the aura replenished the undead�s magical energy. In short, these were what kept dead going.

As we moved deeper into the Deathlands, we noticed more of these black crystals, clustered around where the undead worked. We did notice some undead were different from others; there were large, heavily armed black knights that had a series of magical gems within their bodies.

They drew from that undead aura but likely were able to operate without it.

It was around that time that we began to sense the eyes of a domain holder. It was just a sensation of someone looking back at us, whenever we looked or passed by one of those black crystals. The wraith that escorted us clearly noticed that we noticed, but it said nothing.

I still found them fascinating. They were, in a somewhat twisted way, a post - death society. People whose souls were given a second chance to live again here, even if they were just doing more work. But they did not tire or feel pain, and they were permitted to interact with themselves.

Even from afar we could listen to them talk to each other. Some of the undead talked to each other about their day - to - day life or talked about their past. Some missed their families, but some of these undeads were family when they lived.

I wondered whether they gained levels and skills or if they lost the ability to gain levels.

We traveled for about a day, and then we stopped in one of the - cities - of the dead. A city for the undead, built around one of these black crystal obelisks. This was a city of crafts, where undead and wraiths worked in workshops to build tools and weapons. Things that they used, but also things they traded with the humans.

- You will rest here tonight. We will continue our journey tomorrow. -

- All right. - I could feel the Osroids presence in the gigantic black crystal at the heart of the city. We were getting quite good and experienced at sensing the presence of these domain holders. Bitu, White Statue, and now the Osroids all employed tools to maintain control and oversight of their territories.

The city was clearly built to accommodate human visitors. Maybe the heroes, like the hero Gideon. We didn�t need sleep, and it was easy to notice how the undead didn�t need sleep, either. The workshops continued to work even at night, though the rarely used inn had really thick walls to drown out the noise.

The next day, a gigantic bone dragon arrived in this undead city, and the wraith waited next to it. - Visitor, we will now take you to meet the Osroids. -

- All right. Let�s go. - The bone dragon flew quickly, and I rated its power somewhere in the high Level 80s - a creature able to give even demon champions a run for their money. Amazingly, it wasn�t a reanimated bone construct but instead also possessed the soul. Multiple souls that were linked together. The wraith stood next to us and observed us.

Lumoof grinned.

- We should be there quickly with this dragon. Perhaps a day. -

- Yes, - the wraith answered.

We flew over surprisingly fertile fields, mines, workshops, cities, and barren land. In parts of the land of the dead, bones rained. Magic woven into the land itself caused bone - like materials to appear out of nowhere. As we flew closer, I could feel it, the familiar presence of another domain holder.

The Osroids�s home was an easily fortified valley, with a small gap.

The dragon landed at the door to the valley, and the wraith led us along the road. The valley walls on both sides were filled with carvings.

People. Creatures. Artwork made of gray stone, all intricately made from the valley�s natural gray colors. It was a temple, and the whole journey walking through the carvings felt serene, quiet, and even holy.

Maybe it was once a holy place.

There were many small doors that were carved into the valley�s walls, and they all led to underground passageways and rooms.

The wraith eventually stopped at one of the doors, where another undead awaited us. The undead was a heavy knight; its bones were larger and magically reinforced to be stronger, covered in enough magical armor and weaponry to be on par with the elite White Guards of the White Statue.

It was the right direction. The presence of the Osroids was all over the valley at first, but as we focused, I could triangulate its location.

The knight pointed at the door and walked in first. We followed.

We walked on a path covered with magical traps and weapons, but somehow, not a single one of them activated. Eventually, after we went through multiple passageways and underground rooms, I saw three creatures, all physically separate yet magically intertwined. I knew they were a single being.

- Greetings, - I answered on Lumoof�s behalf, and I felt the presence of a being pushed back against us.

The three undead bodies spoke at once, and it felt like I was talking to a magical twin of Lillies. Lillies underground roots and had the same sensation. - Greetings. Why have you asked for an audience with us? -

It clearly knew we were something. Our aura and presence as a domain holder was clear, and at this distance, I knew the Osroids was a peer of similar strength as the White Statue, though its power set was likely less combat focused. Just seeing it and being here answered ninety percent of the questions we had, but we asked the two main questions on my mind.

- We are travelers, expanding through other worlds and are here to help deal with the demon kings. Are you willing to coexist peacefully with us? -

The three Osroids answered differently. - No. Maybe. Yes. -

Lumoof smiled and answered sternly. - We would appreciate honesty, Osroids. You three are one, your soul is to one, even if you share three flesh. There is no need to play such tricks on us. -

The Osroid at the center paused, and then the other two merged into it. The three boney bodies fused together into a single larger bone creature, with three faces.

- Greetings, my fellow Soul Shaper. - It spoke as one.

Lumoof nodded. - Greetings. I�ve come for two real purposes and one goal. One, to know whether we can coexist with you, and two, to inform you of the fading hero summons. The hero summons will end soon. -

The Osroids paused. - We are as we always were. If you leave me be, I will leave you be. -

- Great. That solves the first problem. Two, the demon king is a continuing problem, but the hero summons will be over soon. Are you able to deal with it? -

In my mind, I believed the answer was yes.

The Osroids stopped, and its undead face transformed into one of displeasure. - Yes. But not without a great sacrifice. Without the heroes, we would have to rely on the powers of shaping the soul into a weapon. We would need many sacrifices from the living to create a weapon strong enough to defeat it. -

I had a sense that the Osroids could win without it, but it was unlikely to sacrifice itself to do so. It would prefer to win the easy way.

Lumoof frowned. - I see. What would you do if it landed in the Deathlands? -

Its answer was also unappealing. - I would chase it to the lands of the living, until I collected enough sacrifices for the weapon. That would be our plan. -

The end of the hero summon would greatly destabilize the current balance and prosperity of Khubor. So, in my mind, I considered offering a deal. We would deal with the demon king in exchange for continued peace and non - interference. We gained the experience, and the world stayed as it was.

- When will the hero summons end? - it asked.

- Soon. I am not certain. We were asked by Gawa to deliver the message. - I was fairly certain it�d end the moment we informed Gawa . I could hold it off, but that would delay my access into the inner demon worlds. Play off the time difference and Gawa �s limited information.

There was silence, but I felt the buzz of the Osroids mind. Its presence fluctuated like a turbulent ocean. It was in thought.

- You are strong. Stronger, - the Osroids said. - You seem familiar with the ways of the invaders and can fight them. We have no interest in the invaders; they are something to deal with because we have to. -

Lumoof listened. The room was fairly small. Constrained. It was quite different from most of the large, airy chambers favored by other domain holders.

- So we will trade weapons and magic for security. Knowledge of necromancy. We are interested in maintaining the status quo and will trade for it, - the Osroids offered. - The land of the dead will remain off - limits, but we can construct a new undead city to accommodate your people. If you wish to have undead servants, we are happy to supply it. We are also capable of constructing custom souls that meet any of your more exotic desires. -

Lumoof squirmed at the last item but decided not to dwell on it. Instead, he redirected the question. - What did you do with the heroes? -

- If the heroes are willing to fight the demons, we let them. If they are not, we use what is in their souls to make a powerful creature to battle the demon king instead. If that fails, we use the power of the heroes souls as a weapon. -

Lumoof frowned. - In the past, have you ever harmed a hero? -

- Yes, - the Osroids answered, as if explaining itself. - Those who are aggressive get what they deserve. -

At that moment, I felt the Osroids split a portion of itself, and that portion snuck away. Maybe it anticipated a fight. Lumoof merely smiled. - It is not necessary to do so. We mean no harm. -

Lumoof and the Osroids didn�t move, and yet at that moment, we felt our two domains graze each other. The Osroids may have realized we could sense its soul movement, but it decided the risk was worth it.

- We will accept your offer, Osroids, with two exceptions. We will require full access to your Deathlands to do battle with the demon king. Two, we do not know for certain how long the hero summons will remain, but we ask that if you find these heroes, you send them to the land of the living. -

The Osroids didn�t move, but I felt the chattering shifts of bone. I wondered whether I emit such a sensation when I was deep in thought. It spoke. - Acceptable, but my wraiths will accompany your forces. -

- Fair. That is all. We will be in touch, and we hope our peace remains. -

The Osroids seemed suspicious but ultimately answered diplomatically. - The peace will hold as long as it is upheld. -

Lumoof smiled and said some nice words to end it. - It is good to meet a necromancer that isn�t immediately hostile. This has been pleasant. We will be in touch, Osroids, hopefully in more cordial terms. -

The Osroids didn�t respond immediately and instead just watched us leave.

The wraith escorted us back to the valley�s entrance where the bone dragon waited for us, and we left the world of Khubor.

A deal was made.

INTERLUDE

EDNA ON CAVAL

Edna returned this time to Caval with a purpose to place a node tree, preferably somewhere friendly. Caval was a land of knights and a land of small, feudal kingdoms. These feudal kingdoms laid claim to hero sword , and that served as the foundation of that kingdom�s power.

How this actually worked was an interesting mechanic at play in this world, and it was something she wanted to see more of.

The descendant swords.

- So, Ebon, how many more levels? - Edna asked as they both approached the small fortified town. They could feel the magic that leaked out of the city, but Caval was a fairly safe world, so they were both in rather ordinary village wear - a tough outer tunic and pants, though they both had much more comfortable inner clothing.

- One, - Ebon said. - Level 149. -

Edna nodded. She knew he�d been at the very edge of the path for a long time, though the exact details often eluded her. Ebon�s service to the Order was probably a hundred years long. Edna nodded; she remembered many years ago, he was just a young A/ ic Battle Knight . - You�ve come a long way, my disciple. There�s but a few more steps to take. -

Ebon nodded with a brief sigh, a mix of frustration and exhaustion. Ebon was not the only one.

Many Valthorns reached Level 149 and never moved for years, even decades, like Ebon. His service was almost a century long, even with all the breaks he�d taken in between service. Even Roon and Johann stared at that final level for years before they made it. - This last step feels a lot further than all the ones before. -

Edna tapped the man that was once her disciple on the shoulder. - Keep at it. We�re almost there. -

It was a small fortified town, and six guards stood at the gates, decked out in polished steel armor. They wore the liveries of a nearby lord. Knights and Squires , perhaps with the ability Clean Armor or some variant thereof. Edna�s eyes, in particular, noticed one of the guards who stood nearby wielding a magical blade. A blade that had a faint presence of the hero sword.

- Visitors? -

- Yes. - Edna and Ebon both smiled. - Can we come in? -

- Bags? -

Edna and Ebon both handed over their bags, which were briefly checked. One of the knights whispered to the other, - I keep getting nothing. -

The other knight guard replied, - Really? Let me try. Security Inspection . -

Edna and Ebon glanced at each other, and immediately, they both activated small rings on their hands, an illusionary object meant to throw off Inspect .

- What are you talking about? I get Villager and Traveler for both of them. - The other knight tapped the man. - You must�ve drained your magical energy. -

- Oh. -

- Anyway, you two are free to go. If you�re here to live permanently, you�ll need to speak to the town lord, but other than that, the laws of our town are similar to all others. Don�t cause trouble. If you�re here to watch the Seed Drawing Ceremony, it�ll be in four days. -

They were exactly here for the Seed Drawing Ceremony, and they entered the fortified town.

At first glance, it seemed just like any other town. In fact, that was what the scouts thought at first. They didn�t have much time to dive deep into how they worked back then, but now that there was only one real demon-king - infested world to deal with, time was quite plentiful.

This town had one hero sword, and unlike most other towns, it had its hero sword out on full display. It stood at the town�s center, a gleaming golden sword embedded into a large stone. Its presence wasn�t really that great; for both Edna and Ebon, it didn�t seem particularly interesting.

They�d built a small water fountain around it, and there were at least two knights present, standing guard. The sword itself had a massive steel chain that tied it to the ground. At this distance, they could feel the subtle pulse of the hero swords and, strangely enough, a voice.

Well, only Ebon could hear it, and that was partly why she brought him along. - You could hear it? - Edna asked. Edna as a domain holder couldn�t interact with this aspect of the hero sword. Strangely enough, Edna didn�t detect her domain blocking anything.

It was as if whatever - feelers - the sword had knew it couldn�t reach her.

Ebon paused as he focused, and then he nodded. - It�s - it�s whispering. It�s saying something, but I can�t quite make out what it is. -

- I see. - Edna nodded. The Valthorn agents claimed they�d heard strange voices when they were around the cities and towns, but most of the hero swords were hidden in secluded courtyards and spaces. Edna checked her dates again. - Well, don�t think too much about it. We still have time. Let�s rest. -

The fortified town didn�t get many visitors normally, but there were slightly more than normal. So, at the inn, the two managed to talk to some other slightly drunk villagers to find out more about the Seed Drawing Ceremony.

- I�m still amused that every year or two there�s still visitors that want to see the ceremony. It�s nothing much, really, - the visitor said. - Nothing much for us to see, at least, but it�s a lot of work for the swordsmiths. -

- We�re travelers, and we�ve not seen a seed drawing ceremony. What is it about? -

- It�s when the swordsmiths offer their blades to the divine blades, and the divine blades share fragments with the blades. It happens every year or so, when the divine blade is ready. The swordsmith with the best blades gets to work with the fragment. -

Ebon couldn�t help but ask, - How is it judged? -

- Judged? It�s no eating contest! The divine blade chooses whichever blade it wants. Sometimes it chooses none at all and the swordsmiths will be in trouble with the town lord. -

- The sword chooses? - Edna found that strange. - Do the swordsmiths hear the sword talk? -

- Oh! Those that hear the sword�s words are the sword whisperers! They have a destiny to be great swordsmiths! -

Ebon frowned. He was nowhere near a swordsmith, but he knew he heard the sword. - Doesn�t it just say weird things? -

- No one knows. Swordsmiths are very secretive about that sort of thing, - the slightly drunk villager said. The town was a little more crowded as the day of ceremony got closer, and Ebon noticed the voices from the sword began to sound more like a chaotic mess.

There just wasn�t much in the townfolk�s lives such that even supposedly boring Seed Drawing Ceremonies became an event.

The town square was converted into a podium as the fountain�s water was drained and replaced with temporary wooden floors.

A priest appeared, but he was different from the normal priests. He looked like a priest and yet also a swordsmith. He was large, muscular, and filled with scars from years of work in the workshops. Even though he wore the deep brown robes of the priesthood, they could tell he was once a swordsmith.

The priest seemed like a fairly mid - level individual. He was likely around Level 60 to 70. In one cordoned - off area, a group of swordsmiths looked nervous, and they all held a set of weapons wrapped in thick cloth. All of them had done it before.

So Edna focused her observation on the gossip and rumors from the travelers. Merchants who had seen more places.

- I heard this isn�t a powerful hero sword, - one of those in the crowd whispered to the others.

- It�s not. That�s why the town lord�s only a town lord, - another one whispered back.

The priest - smith walked to the hero sword and began to chant.

Edna felt him channel priestly powers - holy powers common in priests and those who had a leg in these sort of classes. The sword glowed and emitted a powerful magical presence, as if it was a sword in its prime, as if its original creator still lived.

For a moment, this was a hero sword as if a hero still held it.

The priest turned and roared at the swordsmiths. - Present your seedling candidates to the Holy Sword. -

The swordsmiths were ready. Each of them held a finely crafted sword in their hand, and they all walked toward the platform. Once they approached, the hero sword seemed to glow, and it had wisps of light that reached out. The wisps touched the swords presented by the swordsmiths briefly.

The priest continued to chant, as if continuing to supply magical energy to the hero sword, and then the hero sword pulsed.

- The Sword has chosen, - the priest said.

The hero sword pulsed once more, and then two of the swordsmiths creations floated up. The hero sword shot a beam of light into each of them, and those swords glowed.

- Two of the crafted blades are worthy! - the priest said, and the crowd cheered. Those that failed looked dejected, but some looked relieved. The floating, glowing swords landed back in the hands of the swordsmith, and they looked nervous.

The priest said a prayer and then turned to face the crowd.

- And so, it is now the duty of the swordsmith to forge the greatest blades with the seedlings granted to them. -

Ebon looked at Edna. - Isn�t the sword already done? -

- I thought so, too. - Edna nodded as she then tried to ask a villager, - What happens now? -

- Oh? The swordsmiths are supposed to refine the blades some more. Usually they do some polishing, some engraving and all that kind of stuff to make the sword worthy of a hero - descended sword, - the villager said, clearly faking a level of expertise. Edna didn�t buy it.

The details of what exactly happened with the hero swords and these - descendant - swords were unclear, though Edna and Ebon both knew that most of these weapons were in the hands of the town lords and his chosen knights. So the two decided to watch.

Secretly.

They infiltrated one of the victorious swordsmith�s workshops that very day. The swordsmith, a relatively middle - aged man, probably around Levels 40 to 50 in some blacksmith - related class was greeted by his apprentice, a younger boy that was about Level 15 to 20. Edna and Ebon, both shrouded by magic, hid in the corners and watched how the Swordsmiths did their work.

From what Edna knew, it was exceptionally hard to work on hero items, due to the presence of star mana within them. Only A/ could attempt to replicate and work with them, but the powers of the Hero�s Forge were in a league of its own.

- Master, I have the things ready, - the apprentice said nervously. The apprentice looked nervous, but from what Edna understood, this swordsmith made a few descendant swords in the past few years, so this wasn�t their first run.

- Good, - the swordsmith said. - Let�s get started. -

The actual space where the sword would be forged wasn�t like any other part of the workshop. It was clean and almost seemed like an altar rather than a workshop. The swordsmith placed the sword with the hero sword�s seed on the altar, and then the smith knelt before it.

He started to pray. The glow of the sword began to spread and then touched the swordsmith itself. The glow spread, and for a moment, both the swordsmith and the sword were connected by a glow of light.

Holy power allowed the smith to reach into the sword and change it.

The swordsmith began muttering some prayers, and the apprentice placed a tray of items next to the swordsmith. The tray contained a rather random selection of items. A few types of metals, a few types of wood, flowers, pens, paper, some food, some drinks, a small cup of blood, and a cup of water.

He picked up some metals, some items, and then somehow offered it to the sword.

The sword seemed to change ever so slightly. The swordsmith offered some more steel, but some of the items were then suddenly rejected and flung far away.

- Okay, not that one, - the swordsmith said. - Something else. Faster. -

The apprentice quickly offered some flowers. The flowers were strangely taken, as they vanished into the sword.

The apprentice handed a pen to the swordsmith, but then he stopped. - Wait. It�s saying something. Wait. It�s ready. Apprentice, wait. -

The swordsmith turned to face the sword and bowed to it. He began to mutter certain words of prayer, and the glowing between the two brightened slightly.

At that moment, the swordsmith picked up a hammer that was on his belt. - I am ready. -

Edna and Ebon watched as the swordsmith�s eyes began to glow, as if he was having an out - of - body experience. They felt some magic flow between the swordsmith and the descendant sword, and the swordsmith just knelt for the rest of the evening, his eyes glowing but his mind clearly not present.

The apprentice held the swordsmith and kept him supported during the rest of the evening. Edna and Ebon watched, and Edna felt the subtle shifts in the sword during this entire time. Sometimes it got stronger; sometimes it turned weaker.

Maybe it wasn�t the perfect outcome, but in the depths of night, the glow between the two vanished, and the swordsmith returned to his body thoroughly exhausted. The sword landed back on the altar. - Water. -

The apprentice ran with two large mugs that the swordsmith finished in two big gulps. At that point, the apprentice asked, - How did it go, Master? -

- I - I think I did decently. Let�s check the sword. Help me up. - The swordsmith�s body was kneeling the entire evening, so the apprentice helped him up. The two walked to the sword to inspect it.

The swordsmith looked at it, a little frustrated.

- Ah. It�s not much different from what it was. I thought I did better. -

The man took a deep breath and prayed anyway.

- Let�s make a scabbard for the sword tomorrow. - The man left the blade on the altar and took a good rest.

The next few days, the man made a relatively elaborate scabbard, and then Edna and Ebon watched the two swordsmiths present their completed weapons to the town lord.

The town lord inspected the weapons and didn�t seem too impressed.

Despite that, he said nothing of it and just thanked the two swordsmith for their work. One of the lord�s treasurers paid the two for their services and sent them away.

The two infiltrators didn�t just leave it as that and stayed back to listen to their honest assessment.

- It�s average. Good enough for knights, but not something that could replace this. - The town lord tapped a sword on his belt, also a hero - descendant sword. Edna noticed almost everyone in the lord�s personal knights possessed a sword of similar category.

The lord�s knight commander nodded, as it was now his turn to inspect the weapon. - It�ll be good enough for the newly promoted knights, but this does mean we can only promote two new knights this year. -

- Two will have to do, then, - the lhe lord declared to his men. - Let the remaining squires compete for the post. -

Ebon and Edna left the two to explore another bigger town.

Caval�s towns were all spread far apart, and the farms were fairly clustered. One of the primary causes of the high density and clustering was because of the hero swords.

A town without a hero sword was no town.

There were smaller villages, but these were often linked to a larger town that regularly sent knights to protect them from the monsters. In between all the towns and cities were plenty of untamed forests and mountains and monster lairs.

On a macro level, this fed into the myth of the Knights of Caval. Knight would set out to slay the monsters, defend their cities from the dark creatures.

According to the reports, the largest towns generally correlated to the strength of their hero swords. Stronger hero swords attracted more people to live under its protection, since the powerful hero swords created stronger descendant swords and stronger knights.

The hero swords were like fruit trees. Each hero summoned to Caval started with a sword seed, which grew into his personal sword. It was this sword that became a hero sword when he died or when he gave it away. It was said that a hero could create a new hero sword if he gave one away, but there was some kind of price to be paid. Details were fairly scarce, since most of the drunk knights only regurgitated tales from their travels, the stories brought by travelers and merchants or whatever their lords told them.

The next city they arrived at didn�t display the hero sword out in the open. Instead, it was hidden deep in the city�s keep. The city lord styled himself a king, though it seemed that no one dared to speak up to the king, since he didn�t have the King class, and instead only had a Lord class. The city never had a King in its history, but at some point, the System could recognize it as true and would convert the city lord�s title into a King .

Edna and Ebon weren�t particularly interested in the city�s politics, as their focus was learning about the details of the hero sword and how they worked.

The world of knights and their glorious accomplishments didn�t spread on their own, and instead, it was the traveling bards and songstresses who amplified the knight�s glories.

The relative ratio of armed warriors to non - warriors was quite low compared to the other worlds, simply because a knight that had a descendant sword could do the work of ten soldiers against the monsters. Due to the limited nature of these swords, Caval�s towns and cities valued quality over quantity. The largest amount in any city were the squires. Squires who were soldiers in training but had yet to receive their descendant swords.

Even in a city with twenty thousand to fifty thousand people, there were only about two thousand actual squires, and about one hundred to two hundred knights. On the other worlds, the military�s strength was at least three to five times the number.

High - leveled knights who were Level 60 to 80 and outfitted with the descendant swords could slay demon champions. It was a virtuous feedback loop, where a small number of strong warriors slaying demons and monsters meant less sharing of experience, which created even stronger warriors.

This specialization also meant there was more resources and manpower for more artistic pursuits and specializations. Bards, woodworkers who made a range of instruments, farmers, brewers, the priest - smiths, and many other kinds of frivolous entertainment.

Here in one such larger city, that was in full display.

Taverns with beers, dancers, singers, and bards were all over the main street. It was common in Caval that the temples and the workshops were often located next to each other. The priests of this world prayed to a range of gods, and unlike the other worlds, Caval�s temples worshiped a pantheon of gods. Gawa , Neira, and Gaya. The Cavalians referred to these gods as the Three Swords of Gods, and they often prayed to all three together as Three.

- She�s around here. - Ebon reached a quiet home located in the workshop district of the city. It was a small, slender home that was probably once a workshop, but the workshop was now replaced with a small garden of flowers. Walls replaced with open windows for the sun.

Their goal was an old priestess and a great sword whisperer. In her youth, the rumors claimed she made powerful descendant swords. But mainly, because she was really old, and thus knew things many didn�t.

Ebon checked. - She�s inside. -

- Got it. - Edna knocked on the door. - Let�s go. -

- Hello, we�re looking for Priestess Shuwan. -

- I�m not a priestess anymore, - the old woman responded.

Edna grinned. - Then we�re looking for Shuwan. We wish to speak to her. -

- Come in. - The former priestess�s home was clean, and well - lit with ample sunlight from the large windows. The living room was fairly narrow, but it didn�t feel that way. Two of the walls were decorated with scabbards, their swords nowhere to be found. - Sit, sit. Do you want some tea? What can this old woman do for you? -

Edna and Ebon smiled, and Edna started. - That would be nice, but we�re here to learn about the past and the hero swords that are all over our world. -

Shuwan smiled, brewed a pot of hot tea, and sat down on the table with three cups. Ebon quickly helped her pour the tea.

- Oh? You want my story? -

- Yes, - Edna said.

- That�s probably the third time someone ever asked, and in the first two times, it was a hero. Are you a hero? - Shuwan smiled.

Edna smiled back and shook her head. - No. - Most of these worlds didn�t have an appreciation of the truth and history. They were busy surviving year over year, and even when they did create documents about history, it often spoke about the glories and achievements of their cities, kings, lords, and knights. Things about the nature of hero swords would be mentioned in passing, but not much attention was given to them. The swords were how things had been, and how things were, and how things would be.

Someone like Shuwan with her long history knew and had seen a lot of things, and interestingly, it was only people like heroes that would think about speaking to someone like her.

The woman was old, and at almost three hundred years old, it was probably the limit of her level - extended lifespan.

- And if you�re not the hero, why should I tell you? - Shuwan said.

Edna smiled. - What would it take for us to hear the truth? -

Shuwan found that funny and nodded. - I jest. I�m an old woman happy to talk about my past. Too bad few want to listen and many have long forgotten who I once was. Where should we start? -

- What are the hero swords? -

- It is what you know. They are the remains of the heroes journey. Each hero arrives in our world with a seed, which with their nurturing grows into a powerful weapon. Depending on the Three Swords blessings, the swords gain different types of powers. When I traveled with the hero Yoru so many, many years ago, he would visit each old hero sword and he would then imprint a memory of that hero sword into his own. The old heroes gain a wide variety of powers, because they can summon the swords they have met during their journey to aid them. -

- You traveled with the hero? - Edna asked.

- Yes! I traveled with two heroes, actually. Yoru, when I was a young woman, and later Zahar, when I was an older priestess of the sword, - Shuwan said proudly. - But it�s an old story, that was. maybe two hundred years ago. Back when the three or four heroes arrived and I was the one chosen by the lord to accompany the hero and provide my wisdom. -

- But why? - Edna asked. She knew why, but she wanted to hear it from her.

- Heroes need knowledge. They need company. They need someone to be there for them, care for them, and love them, - Shuwan said frankly. - They are fragile men and women, and even if they have strong powers, the temples know they must be cared for, and the temple. Well, the temple wanted children from the heroes. -

- Oh. Did you have any? -

Shuwan smiled. - Yes! My grandson�s now the knight commander of the city! Of course, the hero�s blood is a little diluted, but still! -

- But why? -

The former priestess laughed. - Why else? Our children can draw more out of the heroes descendant swords. -

- Ah. - Edna chuckled. - So these hero swords, what else do you know about them? What�s something we don�t know? -

- Hah. Such a hero - way of asking questions, I�d almost think you came from their world. - Shuwan laughed but talked anyway. - The heroes - well, Zahar - gave away one of his hero swords when he was Level 90 or so, just because he saw a village that was really vulnerable and wanted to protect them. So he planted his hero sword there and then. -

- Must a hero plant the sword? -

- Not always. That�s what I�m for, as well. If the hero falls in battle, I�ll retrieve his hero sword. The hero swords actually contain a fragment of their being, a part of their soul, and it resonates better with me than anyone else because I was their companion on the journey. The companion is always a priest - smith, because we can work with the sword he left behind. We can speak to it, better than anyone else. -

But eventually, they too died, and so lesser smiths must learn to pick up the slack.

- Is it always a girl? - Edna wondered.

- Not always. A man is fine, as long as the two have a strong friendship. Sending a woman to be a hero�s companion has its challenges, since a woman may find the hero less appealing and there�s a lot of complicated feelings that don�t make us a good companion. I was lucky that I liked the two heroes I was assigned to, but it�s not always the case. Romance and love aren�t necessary. All that is needed is a strong connection that the hero sword inherits. Are you two trying to be the next hero companion? There should be a demon king in another five or so years, but it�s hard to say whether there will be a hero. -

Edna just nodded. - You can say that. -

- Ah. Hopefully they send more than one. It rarely ends well with only one hero, - Shuwan said with a sigh.

- So a hero can create a second hero sword? - Edna tried to redirect the discussion back to the earlier question. - Why not create more? The world clearly has space for many more. -

- Each new hero seed costs levels - five to ten levels of the hero�s Hero class, and the new hero sword starts from scratch, - Shuwan said.

- Starting from scratch? - Edna asked. - Do the hero swords have levels? -

- Yes! - The old woman smiled. - They are special like that. They are a part of the hero, and so each hero gains two sets of levels. One for himself, and one for his sword. Once given away, they stopped growing, the swords transformed into the objects you see out there, but they gained some other abilities to protect their new home. -

Edna�s mind immediately thought of A/ �s idea of creating a living weapon. That was possible with a titan soul, but here, the hero�s sword was doing something else altogether.

- Do you think we can do something similar? A living weapon that�s so powerful that we could use it on the demon Sun Rings ? - Edna asked. - Something that outlasts even the heroes. -

If the hero swords were living weapons, then the natural idea was for a hero from Caval to gain power across many, many worlds to create a super - hero sword. Or whether they could make something with a titan soul, and push the living aspect to its limits by cobbling multiple titan soul�like weapons together.

- This makes this world a dilemma for us. If we stop hero summons, we�re fulfilling our end of the bargain, but we wouldn�t be able to experiment with the heroes, - Edna said. - I�m being a little selfish, but I really want to see what it�s like to have these living swords pushed to the limits. Could they be more powerful than the heroes themselves? -

- Then we should let A/ know to just hold off on this world. I think we could afford a delay to our plans? - Ebon wondered. - Skipping one cycle is what, ten or twenty years? A/ could wait that long, no problem. -

Edna agreed. - A/ won�t be the problem. Time is hardly a concern for him, and waiting a decade more or two is indeed nothing. I am more concerned with my peers. Would my peers be willing to hold off for twice as long? Alka may be on my side, since he�s willing to experiment, but will Stella let me do this? Are we playing with the lives of my fellow warriors? -

- We could let the demon king appear but don�t kill it? Leave it incapacitated and allow the summoning of heroes to trigger? -

- Agreed. That�s possible with Lumoof�s powers and my swords. Now, I�ll have to convince the rest of my domain holders to hold on for a little longer. -

YEAR 280

- Gawa , how long do we have to wait if we plan to hold off on rescuing one of the worlds? - Lumoof asked the object in his hand. Edna�s encounters with the hero swords made me wonder whether we could replace it with another world.

There was silence at first.

- If it�s one world, perhaps another five years, so all in, you may have to wait and hold these worlds for up to thirty - five years before I gather enough faith points. -

Thirty - five years. In a way, that wasn�t a bad amount of time, since we could reinforce our hold on these peripheral worlds and replenish the strength of the Valtorn Order and Valthorns. Thirty - five years was enough for one to two generations of new warriors to join our ranks.

Though a part of me wondered whether it was enough to attack the demons, I realized that at this moment, it didn�t matter. We�d just have to get ready. If we were not, we would take a step back and rebuild.

- Do you have domain holders under you? - Lumoof asked.

- Yes. A few, they care for some of my Core worlds. They serve as my voice to my people. -

- What do you do if they get too strong? -

- Why would they? It gets progressively harder to get stronger under the old system, and they would have to constantly seek out battles. My Core worlds are safe. They do not get invaded by the demons frequently. -

Ah. It was so easy to plateau, and I noticed this, too, even in my domain holders. There was always a point where progress seemed incredibly slow. Years passed by without a level gained.

Even for me, my level gains had been so slow that I hadn�t expected more levels unless I did something big. The last significant gain I had was during the demons comet. So far, our expeditions to the peripheral worlds hadn�t led to many levels for me.

- Have you started to save up some faith points? -

- Yes. It will take some time, but faith points accumulate slowly over the years. -

- Yet you do not want to send your priests and prophets to these worlds to convert them to your faith? -

- Distant worlds generate the least amount of faith points. I much prefer to create new planets in my Core realms and populate them with even more believers. There is more progress that way. -

- Wait. How big are your Core worlds? -

- Compared to some of the peripheral worlds, perhaps ten or twenty times larger? Some of my realms have thirty planets filled with my believers, in the billions. -

That explained the sheer scale and why the gods were so unwilling to entertain distant worlds. Its Core worlds were so big, and just managing that should take up most of its time. - Ah. But how does the Will of the World work in such a situation? -

- There isn�t one. I have merged with the old Will of the Worlds for those where I have claimed as my Core worlds. These worlds and I are one and the same, and it is why my existence is calculated as a blend of the worlds where I rule. -

- But - Wait, don�t you die if you lose your followers? -

- Yes, but the worlds will have to die first, and so long as I rule them, I won�t. -

Ah. Interesting. So since the World Faith System allowed them to supplant the world�s existing will and make it their own.

- Wait. Then how do the demons capture a god if you are merged with your Core world? -

- They must have defeated all of that god�s worlds and forced it to its last controlled world. And there, it captured its last controlled world, effectively claiming control over its faith. -

- But a god can draw power from further away than its Core world. -

- Yes. But the Core worlds are where we tie our presence. Call it an anchor of our reality. -

- But why don�t the gods just keep merging with the Will of the Worlds? -

- Each merger costs faith points, and the less world we control, the harder it is to generate the necessary faith points. -

- Why don�t you keep merging with more worlds? At some point you control so many worlds that you can keep merging with more? -

- There�s a distance penalty for each merger. Each merger shifts my center of faith ever slightly, making some worlds further away from that center and diluting the faith point generated from that world. In other words, there is an optimal arrangement of worlds based on the current density of worlds in the void. -

- But you can move worlds as the Will of the World. Can you not just move it closer to the center of your mass such that each world is optimally arranged within your center of faith? -

There was an odd silence. A really, really long, odd silence. - It can be done, at some faith point cost. There is a size restriction of the number of realms in the same space in the void sea, but no real limit on the number of worlds within a single realm, but? -

Again, a weird, long silence, as if it was in thought.

- Maybe that belief is also flawed. I will experiment on this. -

- Ah. - Even the old gods worked with fairly constrained information. The System worked the way it did, but not all the tricks to optimize its performance were known.

At that point, I wondered how my clones interacted with the Will of the World.

- What sort of powers do you get with the Will of the World? I mean, other than the power to move worlds. -

- Fairly wide. I can create and alter race compositions, alter species, create divine and magical laws that permeate the world, move worlds, alter its Core concepts, subject to the System �s limits. -

- Can you shape portals? -

- Yes. -

I wondered, - Are you able to block people from coming, then? -

- I have not tried, but maybe. At least, I can block a world�s Core from interacting with a person. Like, I can weave rules into the world to prevent certain things from happening, such as dragons can�t fly, or trees can�t grow bigger than a certain size. Some rules will need to go through the System�s implied voting process and can take a while. -

Could it even stop me from deploying my clones? - Can you stop the movement of souls, too? -

- A limited yes. I can create mechanisms that slow the movement of souls and recycle them, but over a long period of time, no. -

This lent credence to the idea that souls were one of the foundational forces of the world, but I wondered what the demons could do with worlds where it had fully - possessed - the will of the world and weaponized that ability. It had not done so with the demon worlds we�d seen so far, but there was no reason to believe the demon worlds within the bubble were similar.

- Are you able to prepare a force to fight with us, as we make our way to the demons sun? - I asked. - Join us, support us in our fight. -

A long silence later, it agreed. - Very well. I will have one thousand high - quality warriors ready within forty years. -

- Any domain holders? -

- No. My domain holders are far too precious. -

Three decades of relative peace should be achievable, though we were left with a few more worlds where we intended to see a little more happen.

- We are largely ready for the next phase of our movements. The rest of the Valthorns will focus their efforts on restoring the health of the peripheral worlds, but for us, we have other things to do. - Lumoof gathered the domain holders for a talk. They were connected through dream academy .

The dream version of Alka nodded. - I�ll spend another few years here in Delvegard. I think I can get a deeper grip into their society, but we�ll need a big deployment of staff to build a new space for these guys. In a safer world. Do we intend to use the world next to the Sun Rings as a staging post? If so, that�s where we should go. It�ll make it much easier to send over the war machines to the Sun Rings . -

- Is attacking the Sun Rings with war machines even necessary? -

- Well, maybe not, but the Sun Rings is where we are closest to the demons barrier. Once it breaks, it will lead to the inner worlds, and I expect a lot of war. -

- Fair. -

- What sort of crack are we expecting in the demons barrier? - Johann asked.

Stella then elaborated, - I�m not exactly sure of what sort of power Gawa �s weapon has, but let�s assume the barrier will either have a hole in it, or fall completely. We should be able to move closer toward the demonic worlds that are on the other side. I believe we should be seeing demon worlds. -

- So a whole lot of battle. -

- Yes, and the domain holders will be the tip of the spear, - Alka explained. The rest of the Valthorns would need to hold on to a set of worlds that form a path for us to retreat, if needed. - The likelihood of that sort of path being necessary probably isn�t high if we can have A/ �s clone deployed somewhere along the way, but we don�t really know whether there are restrictions of A/ �s deployment. We know so far during our first attack on the Sun Rings that A/ cannot deploy on places without sufficient soil. We are highly likely entering worlds that have been heavily warped by the demons presence, quite like the core worlds of the old gods. -

- So more divine law stuff. -

- Yes, exactly. Which is why we are the tip of the spear, - Alka said. - We�ll need more firepower. Way more firepower. -

Somehow, Johann, Roon, Kafa, and Ezar looked at Lumoof at the same time.

Lumoof blinked. - What? -

- We�ll need to get more allies. -

- Ah yes. -

- It is the avatar�s role as the primary representative, - Johann said. - If we need more domain holders, we�ll have to recruit some of these others to fight on our side. -

- Or we find more allies, - Stella said. - We should resume the Void Layers exploration. -

- Or reach for the other gods, - Roon poked in, and this time, he looked at Stella. - If we can get Gawa to give us some guys, Aiva probably could, too. We should reach Aiva, somehow. -

Stella frowned. - Aww, man. I already have two void explorers headed in different directions. If we find something, we�ll know. -

Roon and Johann looked at each other. - But if we�re venturing to worlds where there are divine laws, we�ll need a void domain holder. -

- Unless if we can somehow share the protections of a domain holder with any of five other void archmages, - Alka said.

- Is there? - Stella asked.

- Not that I know of. -

Lumoof shook his head. - If we can locate more gods, that is ideal. But our efforts should be on the basis that we don�t find any more gods, so we need to improve the strength of our forces. The peripheral worlds are mostly connected to a demon world. We should make use of that, - Lumoof said. - That�s a good way to give our new recruits some additional knowledge and experience. -

Then Edna brought up her observations on the hero mechanic on Caval. The matter was circulated to the domain holders earlier, so most of them knew about it on a relatively high - level basis.

- I�d like to experiment on the hero class. -

That made Stella squirm slightly. - The rest of the heroes won�t agree on that. -

- Why won�t they? They have another friend to fight with, - Johann asked.

- It�s taking people away from their homes. Away from their current lives. It�s allowing the gods to kidnap them, - Stella countered.

- Not if you believe what happens to heroes when they die, - Alka said. - They get placed back as if it never happened. Nothing really was lost. It�s like a dream. -

- We have no way of proving whether that is true, - Stella countered. - I don�t like this. We�re allowing the System to take one. -

Alka looked at Stella and frowned. - Just one, Stella. Think of the lives we can save, if there�s a way to make a super powerful living weapon. Something that we can then use on other worlds as well. -

- There�s ways to do that without the heroes, - Stella insisted. - Edna already has her quest swords. Why can�t her quest swords do something similar once she gains more levels? -

- Stella, it will end on its own. It�s a matter of time, - Alka countered. - The more we can learn how the world works and how some worlds integrate the hero summons into their natural ecosystems, the better equipped we are to deal with the consequences. Caval will have its end of summons eventually, and I think Edna has a point. One hero. One summons. That�s it. -

- No. -

- Do you want some time to think about this? - Alka tried to brush off her rejection.

- A/ , we have to stop this cycle of pulling people from our worlds, - Stella said. - Stopping hero summons is a good thing! -

But I wasn�t so sure.

Twinspace

Land of the plenty. Land of the overpopulated.

Kafa, Roon, and Johann arrived and found the chaos even more overwhelming than the overpopulated cities of the Central Continent. Somehow, the population here was just bigger. People here just had more children, and children grew up faster. Fertility levels were high in every race, and it seemed the minds of the people were very much inclined to have children, and we discovered they were indeed wired differently.

The souls of humans, lizardpeople, elves, dwarves. All slightly different. Their minds favored children, even though as a society, they didn�t seem to treat their young very well. Instead, they generally were left to fend for themselves, though crimes on young hungry children were rarely punished, unless severe.

But there was a price to such a different mindset. A price paid, in another form.

The level caps on everyone were lower. No one got above Level 75 in this world. Ten levels of difference, and in return, a land slightly smaller than the Central Continent housed ten, if not fifteen times as many individuals.

Maybe even twenty.

Kafa found the place pleasant. He was always fond of crowds. Lizardfolks generally were comfortable with crowds. It didn�t bother them, and their minds were able to shut out the unnecessary noise.

- The demon continent is the promised land! - Matriarch Hoyia stood on top of the podium. A crowd surrounded her. - Our divine God A/ has a vision, a task for us all. Once we reclaim the demon continent, it will be transformed into a land of plenty. Enough to feed your family. Your friends. Everyone! -

The crowd listened as Hoyia�s A Seed for the Masses spread throughout the entire plaza.

- A/ �s warriors await us on our journey. Our path, my fellow brethren. Our divine god calls on us to prepare for this journey. A crusade of our own to purge the unholy from our world! The reward is a new promised land. A land that is fertile, where minerals and resources are plentiful, and our god�s men will be there to help us. So, my brethren, we must make the journey. Our crusade awaits! -

Roon and Johann kept watch, just in case anyone tried something. But Hoyia had enough artifacts on her to block a demon king�s attack. - The crowd�s buying it. -

- A lot more than I expected, - Johann said and realized a lot were nodding. Some were swayed. A few walked up. Hoyia bought a building later that day and officially set up the first Temple of A/ on the world of Twinspace.

A total of three matriarchs and patriarchs of the Treeology came to Twinspace. The act of converting these masses into believers, zealots, was the first step. Once they gained scale, they would convert even the nobles, and from there, the preparations for the crusades would be on the way.

The first Twinspace Temple of A/ was located on a harbor city; it was ruled by a local king. There were soldiers, but anyone could tell that they were hardly loyal. They were only doing it because the king paid them.

How easy it was to sway the hearts of these lost sheep.

An offering of food, a blessing from a priestess, and a light touch of borrowed divinity, and Hoyia turned a group of lazy, unmotivated guards into her own private army of eager zealots.

- It�s quite scary what she�s doing, - Roon said as each of the matriarch and patriarch somehow converted hundreds and thousands of regular civilians into believers of the A/ ic faith.

Similar to Alka, Hoyia and the priesthood went down to the people and converted them first. The ruling institutions would fall on their own, once the legs they stood on collapsed. The powerful may have higher levels, and were stronger, but in the end, the benefits of that level only mattered if they had someone to lord it over.

With the Temple of A/ , and the power of the matriarchs, it would be easy to resist their attempts.

In two months, the Temple of A/ on the shoreline cities had grown to thousands, winning over soldiers and citizens alike.

The nobility began to notice, but by then the Temple of A/ was already sizable, and some began to whisper directly into the nobles ears.

In that shoreline city itself, the fire now reached the city�s lord.

- The demons continent is actually our promised land, - a zealous converted officer explained to that very town�s lord. The lord was furious. - We must join the Temple of A/ on the crusade to the demonic continent! Our suffering all this while was because we allowed the demonic continent to remain corrupted! -

- What ridiculous claim is this? How are the other temples not crushing this fake priestess? - The lord stared at the converted officer. The rest of the guards looked tense. They were friends, but the officer had been thoroughly mesmerized.

The zealous converted officer stood and drew his sword. - City Lord, the powers of the matriarch are real, and her divine blessing is true. You doubt it, but see this. -

His entire body radiated power for a matriarch�s blessing.

- Are you dabbling in demonic energy? - The lord didn�t believe it, incredulous. - Haul him up and throw him in prison. -

- City Lord, you may throw me in prison, but I beg you, go see the priestess for yourself. Matriarch Hoyia�s faith is true, and her vision of god is real! -

The lord looked at his guards. - Throw the man in jail, and summon this false priestess to my office. I�ll see what this succubus is doing to my officers! -

YEAR 280 (CONTINUED)

Hoyia was not a young woman. She took the appearance of a regal, mature woman, and the very moment she walked into the lord�s mansion it was clear to everyone.

Maids, butlers, soldiers, guards. They all could feel it in their souls when someone who possessed the air of holiness, and for the lord of that town, his opinions shifted the moment she walked through her door.

Holy.

A thousand words could not describe standing before one who spoke with the weight of divinity.

Hoyia and the priests were normal for the rest of the Valthorns. But for these folks of Twinspace, they could not even begin to explain how unique the sensation was. The local Lord stood in the presence of a high - leveled priestess with her powers in full swing.

Though fleeting, or momentary, a priest was an extension of their god. A priest was the conduit between reality and the powers of god as written in the System.

The lord blinked as the sensation hit him. For a lord who had never met a true holy man in a world with few holy existences, it was akin to seeing for the first time. - . how? -

Hoyia did not bow or kneel, her words divine, but she may as well have been a succubus. There really was no difference at their level of power. The Lord wasn�t very strong, likely only Level 30 to 40, and so his resistance crumbled.

- Greetings, Town Lord. It seems A/ saw it fit to arrange an opportunity for me to convince you of our truth. Would you like to join us in our crusade? There is a promised land for us, but it is not free. It is one that we have to earn ourselves. -

The lord was enraptured and, in a single meeting, converted. Hoyia made it look easy, and some Lords were ever weaker than others.

One lord done. Hundreds more to go.

A crusade for the demonic continent would now stir the world into a frenzy. New ships would be constructed, aided by the Valtorn Order�s craftsmen.

Perhaps Magisar should�ve used the priests to speak to the mages. The faith was far more potent and infectious than they expected.

YEAR 281

The Order purged all of Magisar�s demonic hives. What was left were just small patches of demons and corrupted land. A matter of time before the world was truly devoid of demons.

The Magisarian economy hinged on food harvesting and mineral collection. Due to a lack of hard metals in their world, most of their goods were constructed and reinforced with magic. The hero - created floating towers were the primary exception.

With peace, that meant old harvesting locations and mining spots could be restored and trade routes resurrected. Most of this didn�t need her involvement.

A great thing, and so the Order focused its efforts on recruitment. Training mages for the next batch. New schools. Lozanna and the Order recruited some of the friendly mages, thankfully not all were stupid enough to side with the tower masters, and a few new schools were constructed.

Children of Magisar did not have the old biases of their parents, and they did not inherit a - fear - of the land.

Like the lizardfolk, the children would experience a world so different from their parents that it was hard for them to understand. The Order�s priests would have to heavily step in to manage this generational transition.

The Order set up a total of ten new magic schools across Magisar, and unlike the Tower, the new schools were large academy style buildings replicated after the various magic schools of Treehome but staffed with a joint team from both the Order and also the local mages. The Order didn�t have that many mages to spare, so each of the schools could only have about five to ten Level 70 to 80 mages, and the rest would be Magisarian local mages.

The Magisarians used to have magical carnivals, tournaments as recorded in their historical documents, so she revived old tournaments and events between the Towers and added these new academies into the mix as competitors.

Now that the demons were exterminated, in theory, the Order should gradually cut off the Towers and let them return to their old ways, similar to Treehome. But A/ �s mercy left a mark on the old leadership, and none of the successors dared to lay claim to the respective leadership roles. So the Order�s mages continued to rule in place of the tower masters.

To make the best of what was already done, Lozanna and Blackthorn replicated the council of representatives of the Central Continent and made each of the Towers nominate a group of five representatives to represent their interests to the newly established Magisar Council, housed in the new city.

Delvegard

Crafters vanished. Tens. Hundreds.

Entire workshops somehow robbed overnight with not a sound or witness. Vaults filled with Sunsteel, Sunmetal and void weapons were all gone somehow.

A great theft of people, weapons, and resources.

The kings and rulers of Delvegard were in panic. Many wanted to comprehend what in the world happened to their nations.

Even in the greatest of Delvegard�s war machine academies, multiple masters just vanished overnight, along with all their gear.

There was a noticeable sense of dread in the Yards, that even the forge master of the Yards, the former king, patrolled the place extensively, along with his best warriors.

But even full security didn�t help when powerful Order operatives placed everyone in the Yards to sleep.

Those that vanished were housed in a series of secret new homes in new cities, in a series of new cities throughout Delvegard. Built into old Sunmetal and Sunsteel Mines, the crafters and builders from the Order had quickly constructed new, fortified, and heavily magic - reinforced cities hidden from view and in places normally inaccessible.

We called these the New Delvegardian Cities.

They were carved out of old mines or dead mines. An underground path was constructed that connected these New Delvegardian Cities to the regular dwarven towns ruled and managed by Lord Sundus and his peers.

These cities were basic but functional, but what truly made them realize that they were now working with crafters who were from other worlds were the singular object placed in their heart, along with the strange crystals that surrounded them.

The Rift Gates at the heart of the Delvegardian Cities. These oval - shaped gates were massive objects of otherworldly origin, and the dwarves could tell these were not made by dwarves.

- Stolen, - the void mages explained to the dwarves. - We took them from the demon worlds. The demons used them to invade our worlds. -

An object of tremendous void magic. It was something all the Delvegardians admired. Many of the crafters often walked around it and kept trying to figure out how it was made.

Even my crafters had not figured it out, and actually, it made me wonder how did the demons even reach the point of having such powerful technology? Were the demons some kind of technological creation by a powerful being from the past, and the rift gates were also one of their creations?

If so, their creator must have been some kind of truly powerful crafting god.

But no matter, the reason why we placed the rift gate at the heart of these cities was simple.

Alka promised them the glory of war, and we intended to deliver.

Delvegard would face its own demonic attack in a decade or so, but the pathways between the two worlds grew stronger day by day. Our void mages could amplify that connection and travel to the other side.

And so, as a small battalion of the dwarven war machines prepared, the void mages activated the rift gates.

- You will be the first Delvegardian dwarves to ever set foot on demonic worlds, - Alka encouraged them. - Now, go and fight the demons! -

There was a roar from the first dwarven force, and they walked through the rift gates riding their war machines.

The demons on the other side were small and resembled hellhounds and dog - headed monsters, and the larger creatures were gigantic versions of these hellhounds and had three heads. They breathed fire, and that fire smashed into the magical shields of the war machines.

Alka watched, a little amused how out of shape they were. The dwarves panicked, unsure how to fight the demons. The Order stepped in to help calm their nerves briefly, while a few of the Order folks quickly reminded them what they needed to do.

This was the first trip, of many, many more to come. They fought for a while, for what was half a day, and then the rift gates opened again, this time to bring them back.

Alka gave them a mission to establish a foothold on the demonic world, and the dwarves accepted. Groups of Delvegardian Dwarves from all over the world came together and somehow formed into cliques, and rather than fight each other for real, Alka merely gave out rewards for those who slaughtered the most demons.

- Had a good time? - Alka smiled at the block master. He was among the first group that rode their war machines to the other side.

- No. Not really. It was bad, - the block master conceded as he reviewed his own performance. - We were out of shape. -

Alka nodded. - A lot of room for improvement. Fighting demons is quite different from fighting each other. It�s quite chaotic, and there are many types of demons. -

- Hah. - The former block master looked at Alka. - You seem exceptionally used to this. -

- Me? Not really. I spent most of my years in a workshop building stuff. It�s only in the recent decades I�ve ventured onto the battlefield. -

- Recent decades? - The Delvegardian looked at Alka, and then Alka undid his disguise and transformed into his older, usual self.

- I�m much older, Block Master. - The domain holder sat with the dwarves as they rested back in their home.

- Ah. That explains it. And here I was wondering whether the new generation are truly so impressive. -

- They are. - Alka laughed. - With the regimen we put my fellow warriors through, they come out as strong as you within a decade or less. -

That was something that was met with an uncomfortable silence.

- How are things back in the Yards? - the block master asked as he, too, decided to redirect the topic of conversation.

- Tense. The king and the yardmaster are still trying to hunt down the culprits. That�s not going so well for them. -

- Have you not been able to sway them? -

- No. They tried to kill me, - Alka said and laughed. - At some point, it�s not worth it. I�ve got most of the good people I wanted, and we�ve stolen quite a few of their war machines. -

Throughout the entire Delvegard, there was a rumor of what was known as a - mass disappearance - of alchemists, crafters, and mages, along with multiple war machines. Even the Delvegardian Yards saw half of their largest war machines stolen, and most of their void weapons as well. Most of them were swayed by Alka and the Valthorns appeal to fight for a better cause.

They referred to it as The Delvegardian Disappearance.

Alka did make an attempt to convince the forge master. The disguised form of Alka offered the deal to the forge master, and the proud dwarven man attacked him instead for lying. Somehow, he was too proud, or perhaps he was too high up the pole, to see the drawbacks of the society he ruled over.

The order didn�t see the need to continue engaging the kings that refused. Instead, he would continue stealing talent and resources from the Delvegardian nations, so the kidnapping would continue.

It caused the entire war economy of Delvegard to grind to a halt. Lords didn�t want to invest in new war machines only for it to be stolen.

Alka returned to Delvegardian Yards discreetly and found it exceptionally quiet.

The place that once hummed with the hammering of Sunsteel and the clattering of war machines in battle now seemed like it was abandoned.

There were patrols, actual, heavy patrols, and many of them started to look at each student as if they were a suspect. The king himself was almost delirious, but the news that almost all workshops were targeted made them feel better. War machines were rigged with spells and artifacts to ensure they could be located. But it was trivially easy to remove them.

Across Delvegard, some cities were badly hit. They lost almost all their war machines and crafters. These were usually towns and cities that had wars in their recent history.

War didn�t leave people happy, and dwarves were often torn between pride, loyalty, and a sense of duty to family and friends. So the Order now provided a real alternative.

A possibility to live a different way, there was no reason to hold onto that cause, so many of these crafters decided to leave. The Order took everyone who joined them, and their family, and set them up in the various New Delvegardian Cities.

Back in the Yards, Alka�s little spy machines were everywhere, and he found ways to sneak into the doors of many craftsmen and talented men to speak to them.

Each day, Alka convinced a little more to leave.

- Another three disappeared today? -

As the king turned mad and paranoid, that only pushed more of their valuable crafters toward Alka�s offer. Not every approach was successful, but Alka got better at understanding the types that would fold. For those where he felt it was a little risky, he approached with a disguise.

There were those he approached that did not join him.

Instead, they all confessed to the authorities and said how they were approached by a strange man, who spoke of joining a war on other worlds, where dwarves did not fight each other but fought demons.

The king was furious. The king knew, of course. Alka already approached the dwarven royal, but the king ignored his approach.

But his citizens were fascinated. Kings and royalty rarely faced the consequences of their pointless wars. They had the best war machines. The best equipment. The best healers and potions. Fighting for their country was thus seen as a must. A proud thing, a duty. Fights were the dwarven way of proving their strength. No Delvegardian king earned their place on the throne without war, and expansions were glorious things.

An achievement in their rule turned into stories to be told in taverns and sung around as hymns by drunk dwarves.

The middle and lower classes didn�t see it that way, but the world wouldn�t change just because they disagreed. They lacked the means to cause that change, and so the cycle of war perpetuated.

But as the dwarves who rejected the Order�s offer shared their experiences and explained what was said, rather than inspire horror, instead, it only amplified them.

The promise of the big war came to be known as the - Great War. - An inspiration.

A part of me wondered whether this was a rehashed version of Valhalla and Ragnarok.

Maybe that was why the tales seemed to sell so well. Stories of wars that spanned worlds inspired grandeur and glory in the minds of young, impressionable dwarves. Alka�s attempts to kidnap and sway crafters, pilots, and alchemists to join the real - Great War - was like the song and purpose many waited for, and so, throughout Delvegard, many smaller, independent movements emerged in support of the disappeared dwarves.

- The tales grow more crazy by the week, - Lord Sundus explained as the tales spread far and wide and to the smaller Delvegardian towns. Thus far, Alka and the Order�s great kidnapping mainly targeted the large workshops, academies, and crafting institutions.

Then Lord Sundus�s spies reported of a planned execution of a crafter.

The tales of one such craftsman spread so much among the populace that it caused great distress and fear to the ruling class of one of these affected Dwarven City.

The craftsman was decently talented, at around Level 50, and because of family concerns he rejected the offer. But somehow, rather than rewarding the crafter for remaining loyal and rejecting the offer, the town�s lord grew increasingly suspicious of his explanations.

- This fool is spreading false stories! - The town lord hauled the crafter dwarf to the town�s square and intended to publicly execute him. - There is no Great War out there. These are lies spread by those who deserted their post and town. -

The crowd watched in horror as the town lord picked up the executioner�s ax. The craftsdwarf was chained to a platform, his dwarven body trapped.

- I didn�t lie, Town Lord! It was real! I really met a man and he told me about this story! He really wanted me to join him! -

The Dwarven lord was frustrated and turned to his people. - Shut your lying mouth. Now, I intend to set an example for all dwarven crafters everywhere! There is no Great War, and there is no war in the heavens. All these people who joined them are being sold a lie. They are liars! These people were consumed by the very demons that seek to destroy us! -

The people listened in fear. The crafter struggled and wept. - My lord! I did not lie! I have chosen to remain in the town out of loyalty to you, my lord! Please, do not punish me for my loyalty! -

But the Dwarven lord did not buy it. - Speak no more, liar. These evil words merely convinced the town folks of your lie. There is no Great War. This is a plot to weaken us all! -

He lifted the ax, and then a voice boomed in the entire town plaza. Somehow, the town lord found himself unable to move. A kind of paralysis or stasis magic had locked everyone in place.

- Crafter. If you are given a choice again, would you choose differently? - the voice asked.

The crafter stared at the town lord�s ax. There, on the execution platform, surrounded by a crowd of spectators, the choice was clear. Anything else was death. In the Dwarven lord�s eyes was madness. Paranoia. Fear.

His loyalty was not rewarded. And so he chose differently. - Yes. Yes! I will join the Great War! -

The Dwarven lord struggled against the magic that bound him, and by sheer will, the dwarven lord broke free of the magical bindings. He quickly swung his ax downward, toward the crafter�s neck. - Shut your lying mouth! -

The ax came down with force, a dwarven lord�s strength behind it, and it smashed into the wooden platform. But the crafter had vanished. Instead, they saw the remnant swirl of a teleportation portal.

The town lord looked around in shock. He blinked before he screamed, - Guards! They must be around here! Find them! -

A roar erupted in the plaza. The Dwarven lord�s guards and soldiers scrambled and searched the plaza. They found nothing.

The spectating crowd were frozen, but they talked. The rumors raged like an inferno, and throughout the world, more Delvegardians saw how the ruling class was weakened by the severe disappearance of their crafters and their war machines.

Delvegard�s Demonic World - Darkgard

One of the great benefits of the dwarven crafters was that they were all skilled builders, and they could easily work with whatever materials available to them. On the demonic world that was linked to Delvegard, which we now referred to as Darkgard, the dwarves were quick to build fortifications from natural rocks, stone, and steel.

Darkgard�s demons would invade Delvegard in a decade or two, and they were sold on a dream. A mission to stop the demons before they reached Delvegard.

The Order could handle it for them, but the dwarves would not learn. An easy win would not satisfy their inherent need for challenge and a well - earned victory.

Materials were shipped through the rift gates, and it was hard work.

But the Delvegardian dwarves were an industrious bunch and found joy in work. There was a palpable sense of excitement in them, as dwarves from all over Delvegard now united to attack the demon world.

Once the loyalties and capabilities of these war machines were decently tested, we would start incorporating the weapons of Treehome. We had a range of weapons such as our anti - magic weaponry, our own set of crystal - based weapons and wood - based weapons that could enhance their anti - demonic capabilities.

YEAR 282

Shasan. The Land of Switching Sands and Seas

Lumoof dropped in and watched Emperor Erranuel�s men work. The emperor and his group of followers had quickly fought with some local rulers, taken control of one of the towns, and declared it as the new Gawa Capital of Shasan. He had even styled it the Holy City of Gawa .

They�d worked quickly to gain one town. It was their first year on a foreign world, and for them, they did not have the systems or processes on how to set up a new outpost on another world. Interestingly, we found both Michael of Museo and Olivia of Olpash, both on Shasan.

- It�s interesting that both of you are here. - Lumoof smiled as he visited the emperor�s new office. The void mage that helped send them here did provide a list of people he had transported over, but Lumoof thought it strange and wanted to see for himself.

- It is only right that we stand to support our fellow brother in faith in his quest to expand Gawa �s reach, - Michael answered.

- That is so, that is so. How have you found the experience so far? -

- Different, - Olivia answered. - The people of this world seem unsure of their faith, as if Gawa does not exist to them. -

- I don�t blame them. Gawa really doesn�t exist here. I�m sure you have noticed when you attempt to tap into your god�s power. -

Olivia frowned. There was an imprint that existed in the System, and priests could tap into that. But that connection was stronger in worlds where the god�s presence was stronger. By the same measure, Hoyia and my other priests connection to me was stronger in worlds where I had a node and weaker in worlds where I had none. But not defenseless, because they could also tap into the System, and the System was everywhere. It was quite like connecting through a rootnet versus speaking through message .

- We both intend to spread Gawa �s faith and strengthen Gawa �s presence. In time, this drawback will fade. - Michael supported his compatriot.

- Then good luck with that. -

I wondered whether Michael and Olivia would find a weakness in the Shasanian�s psyche and tap into a vulnerability in their hearts. If they could, maybe they would be able to sweep through Shasan like Hoyia as well.

Twinspace

The new converts were zealots. Those new to the faith were driven and eager to prove their faith, and it was frightening. Did I really want to use this power?

That was something I asked myself as I watched the Treeology priests whip the population of about ten towns into something not too different from a passionate bunch of looters. The promise of a bountiful land, salvation from their current suffering, and the gospel of prosperity made me think of my own interactions of similar religious institutions. Was this what I had in mind?

The town lord stood obediently as Matriarch Hoyia took the stand, and she swayed even more nobles to her side.

- Matriarch Hoyia, the king now wants to raise an army against us! - a passionate zealot reported. A convert. Spies. It was surreal that Hoyia had built an entirely new structure of zealots centered around her and her closest advisors.

Johann and Roon stared at each other and even asked her, - You sure you didn�t use some kind of mind control on them? -

Hoyia chuckled at the domain holder�s suggestion, but Twinspace�s expansion would be led by Hoyia, just like how Lozanna controlled Magisar. We needed to give the Level 140s greater responsibilities and hopefully push them toward a domain. - Oh, not at all. They believe in the promise. A crusade. A cause. Now this is the moment we must guide the fire. -

- We�re playing with fire, - Johann observed. - This could very easily turn against us. -

- Oh, it can. Which is why we must tend to it carefully, feed it. And clamp down on those who do not fit in our faith, - Hoyia said as she heard the reports from the various zealots. - If the king wants an army to fight us, then we will have one. Now, my fellow faithful of A/ , we have nothing to fear! What do we, those gifted and blessed by A/ itself, have to fear from these faithless men? -

Johann and Roon were a little uncomfortable. - I think using priests offensively might be a mistake. -

But its effectiveness was incredible. The various nations of Twinspace were dumbfounded by how quickly the Temple of A/ spread and how these priests of A/ appeared out of nowhere and converted thousands in mere weeks. Some kings immediately launched purges against A/ ic believers, which somehow only emboldened those faithful that they were right.

- They fear us because we are right! - Hoyia roared in a fiery sermon to the new zealots as she recited a verse from an invented book of A/ . - Even in A/ �s homeworld, there are those who do not believe. And just like us today, those faithless men waged not one, but two crusades against A/ ! But we do not fear them, because just like A/ , we will prevail. They attacked us. They will stop us from trading. But they will eventually give in. Because they lack faith! -

The crowds everywhere bought it, and the fires of zealotry formed into an army, an army Hoyia called - The Defenders of the Faith. -

Twinspace was no stranger to occult faiths. Over the centuries, there had been many charismatic individuals, who had used their powers of persuasion to create a cult. The difference between a cult and a faith was thin, and the only difference was whether a faith had a link to real power.

- I feel bad that we are manipulating them into this shit, - Johann admitted to Hoyia after the sermon.

- But what is the alternative? A status quo where they are aimless, purposeless, and do not contribute to the security of the realm? - Hoyia said. - Not all people have the same potential to rise and think for themselves. But that doesn�t mean they cannot contribute. With faith, we can tell them what to do. -

- This isn�t far off from what the White Statue is doing, - Johann said.

- Oh. I was actually inspired by what the White Statue did and believe that A/ can do it, too. It is why we should. The masses of Twinspace and its massive population are wasted in their current state. Reproducing in large quantities but not amounting to much. The wider worlds would benefit from their increased productivity. It isn�t really that different from what Alka did on Delvegard. I am giving them a purpose, packaged in the form of faith, and they have accepted it into their hearts and minds. -

- Damn, - Johann said. - I still think it�ll bite us in the back someday. -

- Consequences that A/ can deal with. - Hoyia smiled sweetly. - You should head over to your dragonworlds and get back to work. We�ll need an army of drakes and dragons. -

Religious ceremonies were common throughout Treehome and Branchhold, and often they were used to provide small - scale blessings that lasted a long time. A blessing to a young child to grow up healthy, a blessing to somehow recover from injuries, a blessing for clarity when studying, and so on.

The power of a priest was mainly manifested through blessings . They could replicate the blessings of their patron god, often to a lesser degree. A power of the System .

It was the equivalent of tapping into the System�s concept that an entity like A/ existed.

My general conceptual understanding was that a person�s faith, a person�s soul, these were the two things that powered the System as a whole. The World Faith System, this offshoot and variant of the existing system, merely tapped into that faith directly, rather than through the entire System as an intermediary.

An army, raised by a threatened neighboring king, marched on the converted towns, and the towns raised an army to match them. Though there were actual soldiers among them, in the end, it was mainly an army of peasants armed with sticks and simple tools that walked to the field of battle.

Hoyia could�ve called on the Order to act. But she didn�t. A part of me thought this was crazy, but then Matriarch Hoyia, as the lead Valthorn member of the Twinspace expedition, had full decision - making authority.

As the worlds grew, I must delegate. And I must allow them to make mistakes.

I could feel Hoyia�s loyalty, and I knew she did not doubt.

- Sacrifice. Participation. They are all necessary for real faith. To experience fear, and to be saved, - she said gently, as there were about ten other lower - leveled priests around her. She held in her hand, a broken branch that she collected from my main body.

The opposing army was thirty thousand strong and comprised mainly of actual soldiers. The converted zealot army was about the same size, but only a third of it was actual soldiers.

Hoyia watched and prepared a ritual. Over the decades, the Treeology priests developed rituals and abilities, and they were most effective on the weakest segments of society. A blessing was an additional wind of strength behind an already strong warrior, but for the weakest soldiers, it was transformative.

The priests began to sing. A hymn. A chant. A call on me. A call on the System. A prayer to me. A prayer to Edna. If Edna was here to witness it, maybe she would feel crazy embarrassed about it.

Yet Hoyia could say it with a straight face. With full faith. Commitment. Seriousness. Perhaps it was the nature of priests in our world, that they must believe in those that were their friends. Their reporting officers. And the stick vibrated with holy power. A priest tapped into the System, and through the System, it channeled a memory of my power.

- Charge! - the enemy general roared. - Slay these heretics! Slay those who seek to venture to the demon continent and go against our old traditions! -

The generals activated a range of abilities that supported their army. The peasant army looked afraid, but there were a few generals who converted over to Hoyia�s faith, and they too activated skills to counter the enemy general�s abilities.

But Hoyia had planned this. The priests wanted this. In a way, manipulative.

- Don�t let them get too close, - Hoyia said to the generals. She could�ve started the blessing earlier. - Protect us as we call on the powers of A/ . -

The zealots immediately shouted in defiance, - Protect the matriarch! -

It was not necessary. An army of thirty thousand couldn�t get past Matriarch Hoyia�s shields even if they all attacked together. The two armies met. Blood stained the fields as the peasant army struggled to hold back the forces of the enemy.

She wanted this.

She was prepared to let some of them die.

She wanted the peasants to feel they contributed.

She wanted their devotion. She wanted them to truly buy in. She wanted them to put their lives on the line and feel rewarded for it.

She dragged it on slightly, fully aware of what was happening. Was it really necessary to convert people to the faith this way?

But I must trust my generals. She waited, as the enemy army, a group of heavily armed cavalry, forced through the zealot�s defensive lines. They were getting nearer.

- Matriarch Hoyia, you must retreat. They are getting nearer! - the zealot general said, eager to protect the leader of the faith.

- No, - Hoyia said. She feared nothing, her acting perfectly on point. - There is nothing to fear when we are right. -

At this distance, the enemy cavalry roared. They could even hear them curse her. - Charge! Let�s grab that succubus�s head! Kill her and destroy this heretic cult! -

Hoyia smiled. The zealots on her side tried their best to protect her. - Protect the matriarch! - they roared, and a few of her loyalists died as the enemy�s spears pierced through their flesh.

- Let it be known that I do not fear them, - Hoyia commanded. Her voice somehow could be heard everywhere. It was a priestly ability to give sermons even to a large army. - Zealots of A/ ! Your faith will be rewarded! - She finally triggered the blessings she dragged forever. It was a form of dramatic timing, to make it seem as if it was a perilous battle with real danger.

The enemy�s army wanted to punch through the defending zealots and claim their heads.

Then a large - scale blessing spread throughout the army of peasants and soldiers. The zealots suddenly felt a surge of strength. For those under Level 30, this surge felt like it added a good fifteen levels to their strength. For those under Level 50, it still was a respectable ten levels of extra strength.

The enemy cavalry�s charge slammed into a wall of magic. - There is nothing to fear! - Hoyia roared. - Our god has answered our prayers! Crush them all! - The blessed army turned into a frenzy as the sudden surge in strength heavily flipped the balance.

The war that the zealots should�ve lost on paper turned into a decisive victory. Then Hoyia fanned the flames of fear as she held the heads of the slain enemy generals and declared to a listening army of peasants and soldiers.

- My fellow zealots, our cause is true. They will claim we are heretics. They will claim we are evil. They will claim everything is wrong. But are we afraid? -

Amplified by the moment. The death. The slaughter. The adrenaline and high of a victory. They roared and answered their shepherd. The peasants and soldiers present all roared - NO! - as I somehow sensed many of them experienced a conversion of their classes.

At least a thousand of those present gained an A/ ic class variant that day, because I could suddenly feel the presence of many new believers. Hoyia turned the army of zealots into an army that would put their life on the line for her. They would cut their flesh off, sever their limbs, and kill their family if she asked.

I watched in equal parts awe and horror.

The Order, traditionally, used faith defensively. On Treehome, on Branchhold, and on Threeworlds, my faith had so far been to maintain order in my controlled territories, to ensure loyalty among my subjects, and to support our domestic policies.

This was because of the faith�s origins. We initially used the faith to counter the four temples of Gawa , Gaya, Neira, and Aiva�s crusade, so we needed agents on our side.

Hoyia turned that faith into a weapon.

A tool to turn the masses into my subjects. She crafted a bloody war where thousands died, to convert those who survived into an army of true zealots.

- Can we reconcile this? - Centrally, on Treehome, my lords and administrators wondered how to reconcile the different directions taken by various arms of the Order.

On Delvegard, we went through appealing to the dwarven pride, loyalty to their kind, and a desire for war. On Magisar, we inadvertently used fear and overwhelming power. On Landas, we rescued the people and won their loyalty. Now, on Twinspace, Hoyia�s direction took them toward religious fervor.

These were all different ways of creating loyalty, and my followers from each of these worlds would view me differently.

The strength we needed to take the war back to the demons would require all kinds of strength from all over the multiple worlds. A part of me suspected that this cobbled order would fracture when the demons were finally destroyed. At least, at the lower parts of society.

But another part of me found it beautiful.

It was the part that found beauty in chaos. That it was only normal for loyalty and faith to take many different forms.

This messy, incompatible nature of everything was perfectly natural.

YEAR 283

Hoyia was the voice of god in the eyes of men, and when she spoke, the people listened, entranced. It was as if she held their hearts and wielded the masses as her limbs. The first victory sparked fear. An army that gained levels from battle, even if it was from the blessings of a higher power, was a threat. Each victory added to their strength, and the nations of Twinspace feared her rise.

Assassins were sent her way, but as if to prove her divinity, she allowed an assassin to stab her with poisons while she gave a sermon to the masses.

The power of A/ flowed through her, and through it, there was no poison that could match the Tree God�s restorative powers. Each attempt on her life only magnified her position amongst the eager believers. Miracles entrenched her place, and her powers, even if they were executed through the might of the Order�s machinery, only made her seem more godly.

Hoyia and her group of priests traveled from city to city, preaching along the way. An army walked with her, but cities that received her had already lost the moment she was allowed through the doors. It meant their propaganda had spread so strongly that a city wanted her there. It meant the populace wanted to see god in the flesh, merely to confirm what already lingered in their minds. Faith was insidious as the stories spread; they turned into a thought in the hearts of regular folk. And when that thought was confirmed with acts that seemed miraculous, that thought turned into faith. Loyalty. Zealotry.

Armies rose at the sound of her voice. Hoyia spoke with the weight of the Order.

- I feel like we as domain holders are thoroughly outclassed by how Hoyia�s just bulldozing through the resistance. - Roon watched in a fair bit of amusement.

- It�s not that simple. The power of priests is more effective in such places. Dense and unhappy. Radicalization is often a response to a perceived oppression, and this world has always had the ingredients for such a cultish explosion. -

The reason why Treehome hadn�t experienced a surge in cultish behavior was because the old Lords and Kings had powers that tipped the balance of power. A world with a System was inherently unequal, and it was in favor of those on top.

A cult movement from the grassroots, comprising a mass of peasants and serfs, would never be able to overpower the might of even mid - leveled Lords and Kings and their higher - leveled soldiers. It was why feudalism persisted despite centuries or millennia of civilization. I wondered whether Lumoof and Kafa felt it subconsciously, that this world was ready and that was why they felt so strongly about it.

Just like Delvegard was receptive to a Ragnarok - type mythology, Twinspace�s population was sold on the promised land.

The nearby nations raised four more armies, but as expected, Hoyia crushed them, and her army of zealots gained levels along the way. Her stronger army of loyalists was good for us. They added to our strength. Yet a part of me felt it was so wasteful.

Unlike Delvegard where the amount of blood actually shed was minimal, Hoyia decided to use the other nations refusal to join and convert to the faith, and their subsequent declarations of war, as a way to hone her men and solidify their loyalty.

There was camaraderie in fighting together. Friendship forged on the battlefield. Loyalty and awe earned by achieving greatness together.

It was her tool, her weapon, and she took the playbook straight out of our own history.

Our past.

Freshka�s expansion became the inspiration for her war, and her small council of priests worked extra hard to produce propaganda. That era, when we came to take over the Central Continent about one to two centuries ago, came to be referred to as the First A/ ic Revolution.

Propaganda was the whip, the masses her workhorses. This was Hoyia�s moment.

Her army of zealots came to be known as the Undefeated Army as more and more zealots were sucked into the cult of the tree. Merchants carried the propaganda far and wide, and the constant string of victories amplified the insecurities of even faraway nations.

In just two years, she had managed to gain control of a quarter of the overpopulated continent. Kings and lords surrendered quickly, many overwhelmed by her zealots. Some kings and lords were dragged out to the streets by bloodthirsty zealots, captured and treated as criminals.

The strength of Hoyia�s followers grew with each successful expedition, and soon she was surrounded and supported by a fairly large number of Level 50 to 60 individuals native to Twinspace.

Hoyia doled out special blessings to those who acted as her champions. Generals, captains, administrators, lords, and even kings.

Further away, Hoyia was referred to by those against their expansion as the Temptress of A/ . Seductress. Succubus. The false prophet of a false god. It was really familiar. I remembered being accused in a similar manner, and it was partly why Treeology priests emerged. Back then, I did it out of spite. If the four temples accused me as a false god, I might as well live up to my name and build a faith around me.

Parallels.

In life. In time.

My past struggles with the first crusades was now her inspiration to start a new crusade.

Life was surely fond of rhymes, even if the verses and words changed.

Caval

Ebon and Edna decided to take a leaf out of Alka�s experience, and both decided to try a hand at the art of making swords, the Caval way. The creation of these descendant swords on Caval was a spiritual affair, and surprisingly, it wasn�t really that hard to walk up to one of these swordsmiths and ask.

Though the actual access to the hero swords itself was heavily guarded and the actual master sword smiths were treated as a member of the faiths of Caval, most individuals were granted fairly easy access to learn the basics.

- They teach everyone. - Ebon listened to a fairly drunk apprentice. - They say they never know who actually has the art of whispering to the sword, to create weapons that the world hasn�t seen before. -

In the larger cities of Caval, the great hero swords and the knights were given titles, and they were often known as the inheritors of the descendant blades. The swords themselves did not choose their masters, and so the best weapons were in the hands of the kings and lords.

But descendant swords ultimately lost their blessings, and so the great kings and lords perpetually needed to replenish their treasury with new blades. But the priest - smiths struggled to forge better blades than what they�d already made.

For Edna and Ebon, the basic courses in making these descendant blades were pretty much standard steelworking, but with an additional step of prayers. The temples and all the priest - smiths advocated praying extensively and creating altars in the workspace itself to encourage - holy - weapons.

It was an affair so deeply intertwined with superstition and unusual traditions that didn�t really lead anywhere, that the two generally concluded that the Caval swordsmiths were pretty much attacking the issue with mainly luck. Each city essentially built their own superstitions on what worked, but because there was no attempt to share how descendant weapons were made, the locals didn�t really know what worked and what didn�t. Most assumed their current methods worked well.

For Ebon and Edna, they were both already highly leveled, but making weapons was not their strength. So Edna approached the former hero companion of Caval, Shuwan, and asked her to accompany them in their journey throughout Caval.

The former hero companion Shuwan had a whole list of superstitions of what to do, and copying them didn�t seem to work.

Edna wanted to somehow replicate a large quantity of these hero descendant swords and hopefully use them as an alternative means of creating strong weapons. The knights of Caval were also a decently leveled force.

- Actually, - Ebon stopped Edna about a year into their exploration, - I�m starting to have second thoughts about the merits of this world. -

- Really? Elaborate them, - Edna said. Edna believed that having a wider variety of weapons was helpful.

- Caval is a strong world thanks to the presence of the descendant swords and highly leveled knights, but outside of the growing hero weapon, I think I�ve exhausted any potential avenues to any improvements here, - Ebon said. - I recommend swapping for a group of high - level blacksmiths to learn the local�s way of making these hero descendant weapons and then opening a recruitment center to recruit talented squires who were passed on from receiving their hero swords. -

Edna thought about it for a few days and realized Ebon was right. Caval�s knights had overlapped with Edna�s own knight - boosting abilities, but ultimately, it wasn�t all that different.

Then the demonic invasion occurred. Demonic rifts opened by the hundreds across the vast uninhabited lands around Caval, and we saw the various Caval knights in action.

They handled it well, with the senior knights all about Level 80 or so, and augmented with powerful descendant swords, it gave the senior knights the ability to match up with the demon champions and win. We did notice one area where they were weak.

Armor.

The hero swords and their descendant swords gave their users tremendous offensive power, but the knights were frail, relying solely on their levels and what little armor they had. Even the swordsmith - priests focused primarily on creating new swords, and so the development of physical armor for their knights was still fairly basic.

They had metal armor, plate armor, and all that sort, sufficient for regular non - magic combat, but once their opponents were demonic champions with elemental abilities, the knights died very quickly. This meant the knights themselves and squires would often run into the battlefield itself and try to get hold of the fallen descendant blades.

For Cavalians, there was a myth that descendant blades significantly boosted their level gains.

But for Edna and Ebon, the demonic attack was the best time to get their hands on a descendant blade for their own studies.

They retrieved two such descendant blades from fallen knights and brought it to a lab for studies.

- Took you guys long enough to get one, - the mages and smiths joked as they quickly got hold of one. The two descendant blades were brought to a makeshift laboratory located in the mountains. Caval was a relatively large world with vast uninhabited lands, as the cities clustered around old hero swords. So there was plenty of space for a temporary site or even a node tree.

- We don�t steal. Not where we can help it, - the A/ ic knight answered.

- Should�ve just sent some spies or thieves and be done with it. But never mind, let�s look at this. -

With a descendant blade in our hands, we were finally able to dissect their components. It took the mages and smiths a few weeks, but eventually we had a single point of reference.

The descendant blades were actually similar to my familiars . They were offshoots of the main hero sword, and each of the blades contained a single mote that linked the descendant blades to their main blade. In fact, it was even possible for someone with star mana to trace the connection to its parent blade.

Like familiars, they could gain strength over time, because even my familiars were able to accumulate levels, though they were capped at a fairly low level. For my Valtorn Order operatives, this meant my familiars were always this additional source of strength since each familiar had skills they could tap into.

The discovery of the Artificial Souls and later the Titans had increased the level cap much further.

That partly explained the spiritual and ceremonial aspects of the creation of the descendant blades.

It needed a ceremony. A - contract. -

It was also likely that each city had their own different superstition because familiar contracts varied widely. A familiar from A/ had different requirements as compared to a familiar from the Lillies of the Lake or Aria and Aispeng of the frozen islands.

- So how do we exploit this? - the mage wondered to himself as they tinkered with the descendant blade. - We should get a hero from our world here and see what it does. A hero should be able to form a direct connection with the hero swords, even if they are not from Caval. -

It could also mess with the current native city�s defenses. Right now, every town and city relied on their hero swords to ensure that they were protected.

- Everything is finely balanced at this point, - Ebon said. - I believe we should leave it as it is. Just keep recruiting, while we independently figure out how to exploit these descendant swords. It does make me wonder whether we could have multiple such swords at the same time. -

- I believe not. Ten Level 30 to 50 familiars are still not much use compared to a single Level 100, - Edna said. - For the Order, at its current state, it is likely not too useful. -

The mage interjected, - But there are Titan - class familiars, even if A/ hasn�t used it yet. These hero swords are an alternative path to achieve that. That said, its heroic origin may mean there are differences in its level cap that we do not yet fully understand. -

- But can we tell what level these weapons are? Or are they user specific? - Edna asked.

- Conventional appraise and inspect doesn�t seem to indicate much information, but perhaps something powered by star mana could pierce through its heroic origins to tell us what it is, - the mage - researcher speculated.

- So we need the heroes here. - Edna frowned. - Let me get this cleared with the rest of the domain holders, and we�ll revisit this issue. For now, let�s do as Ebon intended and have some blacksmiths and recruitment offices set up. -

- A/ , there are two things I�d like to have to improve our expansion on Twinspace. One, please bestow on us a special weapon. A divine relic, so to speak. One that contains your presence and aura to the extent possible. A staff, or a weapon that feels as if it is divinity encased in a weapon. Two, I�d like to request for a Titan to be deployed on Twinspace, as part of a ritual spectacle. Make it seem as if it is a summon. - Hoyia made a request.

- Is there a need for that? - I countered. - Just say it is your petition to me, and I answered your call. -

- Spectacle and ceremony is important, A/ . It is rituals to cement faith as something real, something part of their lives, something that they can then say they are a part of. -

- Very well. Which Titan? -

Forging an item that represented my being was a harder task than I initially expected, as the first few items I made through my normal growing process were decent, but not at the level that my operatives wanted.

Hoyia�s request required an item that would be a relic. A holy object that was revered and prayed to.

So, with Patreeck�s help, I went through all the items I�d seen so far and narrowed it down to only the ones from Gawa on his Core world of Satrya and Lillies death staff, which felt like divine items, or close to divine items.

- Soul Forge feels like a good place to start. Or the Titans. -

A titan in a weapon was a little bit strange, and even if the titan - in - a - weapon would be very powerful, I doubted it would be a - holy - object. I still felt titans and artificial souls as less complete souls, and it didn�t fit the idea of a holy object.

So soul forge it was.

I then spoke to Lillies on how to create such an object.

- It is not hard. One merely needs to cut off one�s self and shape it into something else, - Lilies answered. - It is like making seedlings. You should soak it, tie up its loose ends. Our bodies all contain a little bit of us. Our things, too. When they are separated from us, what�s left of us within those things decay, but you can stop it. -

Lilies answer was not too clear, but I supposed that was a way to start.

Lumoof naturally walked to one of my big branches and snapped one of my larger branches. It was a gigantic segment, and I felt a tiny bit of pain when he broke it off. He then immediately carried it over to my soul forge and threw it into the gigantic lightning - struck tree.

My broken branch was somehow transported into that soul space, where then I could see what Lillies spoke of.

Fraying ends, strands within the branch that were quickly decaying. It was as if I stared at a bundle of rope, and now the little threads that made up the rope were rapidly untangling. Left alone, there would be nothing left of my soul.

With my soul forge , it was fairly easy for me to reach out into the branch and meddle with it.

It was then that I realized the branch was malleable. As long as I reshaped the remnants of my soul within, here in the spiritual paste of the soul forge, the wood would follow whatever shape its - spirit - took.

Over long periods of time, the soul was like a slow, flowing liquid and took the shape of its container. It remembered an image of its body. But in the short term, the body took after and was guided by the soul. Healing, growth, all of that was the will of the soul and its soul spring.

I reached into the store of soul remnants I�d collected over the centuries and stitched some of that soul remnants into the freshly broken branch. I meddled into the remaining spirit, and I could insert - skill seeds - just like how crafters blessed their weapons.

Interestingly enough, because this was forged from a broken piece of me, the spirit of the branch could hold a few of my own non - domain skills. A true copy linked to my power, a bit like a crystal that was used to store spells and abilities.

Since Hoyia intended for this to be a weapon of some sort, I added my root - strike ability, Fields of Death , Demonic Suppression Aura , and some poison abilities. I could feel this branch as if it was still a part of me and realized I probably could not make too many. These isolated spiritual fragments of me were linked to me, and overuse would be a possible drain on my own existence.

After what felt like two to three months of experimenting, Hoyia finally had an object worthy of a holy relic.

The Greatstaff of A/ �s Fury was finally ready to be wielded, and next year, it was finally time to launch the first sea expedition to the demonic continent of Twinspace.

YEAR 284

Twinspace

The shipyards and drydocks of Port Tarfa were almost entirely new, and yet in the past six months, the twenty new shipyards each made a new warship every month. Each warship was able to ferry one hundred to one hundred fifty battle - ready warriors, along with all the new supplies. The warships were modifications of an existing design, aided by a few of the Order�s shipwrights.

The new yards, piers, drydocks, and structures made Port Tarfa the single largest port on this side of the main inhabited continent of Twinspace. The first of many more to come, but the first thirty or so warships would set sail for the islands located along the path would form the First Exploratory Fleet, while the remaining ships would undergo more preparations.

They would set sail for the smaller islands that existed between the two continents and reclaim the string of volcanic islands from their native monsters. The fleet would then spend some time there and build those islands up, if they found a suitable location, and transform them into one of A/ �s outposts.

The sea - facing frontage of the port city was crowded, as tens of thousands wanted to watch the great sendoff.

Three sea commanders would receive blessings today, from Hoyia herself, and through Hoyia, they would all receive a Class Seed . The War Admiral class would elevate their existing Captain variant classes and make them more effective for their assigned mission.

On the largest pier, Hoyia stood on a platform specially constructed for her, as she revealed her relic for the first time. Even if it was just a fragment, a fragment of god was still a fragment of god.

The entire city could feel it as Hoyia channeled her priestly powers and stood in front of the three seafarers. She commanded them to consume the class seed, encased and fused into a fruit. The priests began to sing, and the three dug in and ate the fruit, unsure of why they were told to do so. But it was then that all three of them felt their classes change.

The surprise in their eyes was all the answer anyone needed. They were chosen as they were part of the loyalists. One of them was probably a skeptical believer, while the other two were zealots.

The true zealots wept openly as they felt their Captain classes evolve, and they openly praised their god. They screamed, and one of them turned to face his ship.

- Sailors, warriors! Today we are blessed. Today he has made me an Admiral . And today, we set sail for the Cursed Continent and drive away the demons! -

The crowds went wild, and the rumors flew.

- Did you hear that? The captain has an Admiral class! - merchants said as the stories spread.

- This god claims to have the ability to evolve our classes? - The tales began to spread. They were whispered in the taverns and crowded inns of Twinspace. Rumors regurgitated by merchants as they walked the busy trading routes.

- I saw it happen! - the merchant answered. - I was there at Port Tarfa, and I couldn�t believe it! It�s real! -

- You know there are abilities that can deceive your eyes! - The other merchant was skeptical.

- But the Saintess Hoyia, I cannot imagine it. If you�ve seen her, you will know! -

- You�re really smitten with that woman. -

- You�ve just never seen her. -

Back on the main continent of Twinspace, Hoyia continued to add more cities and nations into her growing holy empire, where she and her high council of priests existed as a ruling cabal.

A holy empire, and again, in another year, she now controlled half of the continent. The other half raised an army against her and promised to brutally slaughter anyone who spread her dangerous ideology.

But they couldn�t stop ideas whispered secretly. Kings and lords themselves met Hoyia and found themselves impressed by her presence, some charmed, some smitten. The competition for her attention only drove up the desire to prove their use.

Her army grew, and her priests continued to spread. Hoyia had to call on a few of her peers back from the School of Treeology to set up a small school in Twinspace to train the next generation of priests and to continue carrying the ideology to even more places.

Meanwhile, the journey to the islands took about three months, and the ships were about a third of the way to the Cursed Continent.

The three newly promoted Admirals crushed the monsters along the path easily. The sailors and soldiers they brought were all around Level 25 to 40, but the presence of a few Order operatives and priests ensured victory.

The archipelago was located somewhere close to the middle of the ocean. The ocean that separated the two large continents was generally known as the Middle Ocean. The islands of the archipelago emerged from the oceans from layers and layers of underwater vegetation and corals. So the surface of the island itself wasn�t sand, but instead small, disintegrated chunks of corals and other forms of decayed vegetation.

The largest of these had risen over the years into a small hill. It didn�t have regular trees found on the main continent; instead, a land - adapted variant of the underwater corals were the primary form of vegetation on the largest islands.

An actual forest of land - based corals made for an island filled with bright colors and unusual shapes.

It was fascinating, and the few priests quickly ordered that samples be collected for further study. The place itself was magically quite dense, so the monsters that spawned in the area were magically strong.

In a different world, this unique place would likely be preserved as some kind of national park or place of interest.

- We could raise the earth and create artificial islands, like we did on Treehome, - one of the priests suggested to Hoyia. - It may not be necessary to tamper with the surreal beauty of this island just yet. A/ would prefer to have such beauty remain untouched, as we did on the other worlds. -

Hoyia thought about it and realized raising the earth in a place where the seabed wasn�t so deep was feasible.

So a few Valthorn Earth mages warped in and found a patch that wasn�t that deep. The unique corals were quite spread out, untouched for centuries if not millennia because no one actually came here, so we selected a patch of soil and raised it up to serve as an outpost. We would need it in the future to supply ships and patrol the seas.

The artificial island amazed the sailors, but they had to quickly get to work. The druids and mages quickly used magic to form structures, and the few builders also got to work setting up housing. It would be sufficient to house about ten thousand people once fully developed, but for now, all it needed to do was to provide anchor and shelter for the thirty ships.

Void Layers

Stella and Lumoof

Meanwhile, Stella and Lumoof took the opportunity to revisit the void layers, and we returned to find a place different from what we visited originally.

- This place looks different. -

- I thought we went to the same place. - Stella double checked her magical calculations. - Strange. -

- I�m guessing our rules and magic don�t apply anymore? - Lumoof laughed as the pair wandered around the different places. The realm around us twisted before our eyes. The skies shifted, as if changing to be the land, and the land became the skies. There were rivers of color that seemed to stretch and then later compress into veins that flowed in the sky.

Stella looked around. - Was it like this the last time we�re here? -

Lumoof shrugged as he began to walk. Though he walked forward, somehow he went upward, as if the reality itself shifted him higher.

Stella blinked, a little amused to watch Lumoof float upward, entirely caused by the world itself reacting to his movements.

But just as suddenly, it stopped, and then he walked forward normally again. That made Lumoof stop, take a step forward, and find himself moving normally.

- Wild, - Lumoof said. Through our senses, it was hard to know what was changing, but we could feel it was. Our domains could assert our hold on the realm, but it was like trying to hold sand. A wave would just wash it away.

Lesser beings, those who were not protected by the domain, or close to it, might experience rapid deconstruction.

The last time we came to the void layers, we left a small artifact here, which we hoped to use to measure the void layers and what it was. The small artifact would collect magical readings and record it within a set of crystals located within.

We couldn�t find it at first, until we suddenly recognized a massive, unusual object that was warped beyond its original shape. It was twisted and transformed into a gigantic crystal filled with strange twists and turns to its shape. It was as if the crystal was a living octopus.

The only thing that made us realize it was the artifact we left behind was the small logo carved onto its being. The twisted object lunged at him, clearly corrupted and twisted by the powers of the void layers.

Lumoof could easily still activate his abilities, but then we immediately noticed something. Our attacks changed when they interacted with the energies of the void layers. Our roots turned into something else and then crumbled.

We felt it again, a sudden shift in the void layers, as if a new set of commands or rules swept through the land. The crystalline octopus froze and exploded.

It transformed into a frog and jumped.

- You know, - Stella said, - I recognize this sort of thing. It�s like those cartoons where things get deconstructed. -

- I do not understand - Lumoof said briefly before he took in a bit of my memories and understood. - Oh. ooh. This place is the factory of worlds, and so it is anything and everything, but nothing is permanent. -

- Unless our domains exert our will over it, - Stella said. Our objects resisted the effects of the void layer slightly, but the longer they remained here, the more they changed. - It is wise that we erred on the side of caution. -

It was a different form of divine law. Just as some worlds had divine laws weaved into their entire world and forced things to operate in a certain way, the void layers were the primordial soup, and those without domains could not walk this space.

Lumoof paused and looked at Stella. There were weird puffs of smoke and clouds. They popped out of nowhere. - A/ theorized there could be a way back home, through these void layers. -

- Ah. Yes. I thought about that as well. - Stella looked at the crystal frog, which suddenly transformed again, as if agitated by our presence. - But I don�t really want to go back. -

Lumoof said nothing and merely nodded. How deep did this place go? - Well, let�s keep exploring. -

- There should be a way to use these void layers as a way to skip the regular distances of the void sea. - She tried to meddle with the space, as if trying to command the environment to change for her.

It didn�t work.

Or more like there were too many other things for it to work. The void layers were layered with multiple changing energies. Different strands of fundamental laws of reality that imposed itself on the void layers. Some of those laws vanished, and new ones took their place.

There was no air to breathe.

The two could walk the space because they were domain holders, and their existences could be sustained by magic. Both knew that their abilities allowed them to operate without air or water.

- Let�s just follow the pulses. - Stella pointed, but even that direction was not a good guide. Direction was strange in the void layers; they could walk left and move right. The pulses came from the front, and suddenly they�d walk into each other.

It felt like months. But it was only for a few days. The void layers. My senses through Lumoof were strained when he was in the void layers. It was as if I was dipped in a dark, pitch - black pool, and I could sense nothing beyond the thin barrier created by our domains.

We arrived at a gaping hole, where the only thing we could sense was more unusual energies. It wasn�t really a hole. Not always. It looked like a rift in space, and then its shape kept changing. But in all forms, it took the shape of a door. A hole. A gate. A crack in space. A small valley. Even the size changed all the time.

From that gap, I could feel something constantly pushing against us. It sought to impose its will on us, but it couldn�t.

Strangely enough, the System gave us a title.

They Who Saw The Void Layer Gates

- You got that? - Stella said.

- Yeah. -

- I�m going in. -

- You�re not worried you�ll be sent back home? -

- I don�t think so. Come with me, Lumoof, - Stella said, and we went in.

We were in another place, but it was the same. Well, different, same. For reasons I couldn�t understand, it felt like it was both at the same time.

The Void Layer Gates sent us through instantly.

We were now in a place with strands, strings made of things I did not understand everywhere, and we were floating. It felt like being in the middle of a constant flow of strings moving around us. Though there was no light around us whatsoever and our senses were limited, somehow, we just knew they were there.

We floated, and here, we moved with thought.

Strands. It was as if they spoke of their presence to our souls directly, and thus their appearance took this strange form.

These strands were everywhere. Stella used a small light glowing from her hands, because the spell collapsed the moment it left outside the protection of her domain.

But the light from her hand allowed us to see, and the strands were all of a different set of colors. Some were rainbow colored. Some were pitch black. We were trapped in the middle of a constantly flowing river of strings, but there were little gaps here and there. Through the gaps, and through the little holes created as the strands stitched together, we could see little bubbles of worlds, and when we tried to walk toward them, or reach out to them, we couldn�t.

It wasn�t real. It was as if we were touching projections of light.

- So what do you think we�re looking at? - Stella said as we kept walking. The path must�ve led somewhere, even if there was no reason for it to.

Lumoof now wanted to touch the strands that were in front of him. They were so close, but they somehow instinctively moved out of the way. As if space itself bent to create space for us. We couldn�t touch them. Even if they felt like they were in front of us, no matter how far we reached, it was always outside of the way.

But even observing the strands themselves, we noticed they were only sometimes real.

They flickered. Turning on and off. Randomly. Sometimes for long stretches of time, they remained real, the others, some of these strands withered away like dry sand in the wind.

- I have no idea what we�re looking at, - Lumoof said.

- Let�s go. It should lead somewhere. Somewhere the void layers want us to be. - Stella sighed as she floated. I wasn�t sure if we were moving.

- Now you�re saying the void layers want us to be somewhere? - Lumoof looked at the woman. The woman seemed sure. Suddenly. As if she felt something. - Are you hearing something? -

- Maybe, - Stella said. - Like, there is a voice somewhere. Let�s go. -

- Where? - We had no sense of direction. I couldn�t feel much beyond the boundaries of my domain, and what we saw changed all the time. The strands rotated, moved, and fluctuated. The only clue that we were moving was that the things just flowed out of the way.

- Let�s just follow me, - Stella said as she held Lumoof�s hand. It was like swimming in an infinitely deep and wide ocean, filled with strings. Stella led us through the strands all around us. But we didn�t know how far we were. There was no frame of reference, while the strands surely changed, but what and where were we going?

They continued for days. And then the days turned to months. From afar, I was unsure whether we were moving.

But Stella assured us we were. The void layers had a waypoint somewhere. It had a marker that she could feel, and we were getting close.

YEAR 284 (PART II)

Void Layers - 2nd Layer?

Lumoof thought it felt like years, but it wasn�t. It was just the sameness of it all that made time seem to stretch out.

- How many days have we been moving? - Lumoof asked Stella. If he didn�t regularly check in through our mutual connection, it almost felt like he was lost in the ocean of strings. At times, the strings looked fat, like gigantic, long earthworms. Sometimes they resembled colorful eels, wriggling and wobbling just out of reach around them, never quite touching them.

- I don�t know, - Stella said, but she soldiered on. - Keep going. We�re almost there. I�ve been thinking about it for a while, but actually, this is a familiar feeling. -

- A familiar feeling? - Lumoof asked.

- I couldn�t pin it down and kept wondering where I felt this feeling before. But you know, I learned void magic from the Zaratans, and the Zaratans have a mind - state where the void forest feels like something similar. Rather than strings, instead it was like a constant slurry of mud. -

- Oh. It�s different, then. - The avatar wasn�t sure where Stella was going with it but humored her.

- It is, - Stella said, and then she stopped. - I think we�re here. -

The strings just stopped moving, and without us fully coming to the realization, we were suddenly not in that part of the void layers anymore.

The layer below felt normal. There was soil, albeit blue soil. There was a sky, albeit a brown sky. There was a sun, albeit a black sun. But it was somewhat normal. Compared to an ocean of strings, this was normal.

- So, why are we here? - Lumoof looked around and touched some of the soil. The world didn�t feel magical. Instead, it felt thoroughly devoid of magic, and all their magic would have to come from within them. This would be a dangerous world to be stuck in, if they didn�t have their own internal ways of generating magical energy.

- I have no idea, - Stella said. - But it is a different layer. My senses tell me that much. Let me just lock this layer in? -

Lumoof gave the woman some space and so spent some time walking about the clearly lifeless place. It was as if it was a failed world. After a while, Stella looked like she was done registering the place into her own record of the void layers. - At least we�re out of there. - Lumoof looked around. - Does your gut feel tell us where we need to go now? -

Stella blinked as she stared accusingly at the avatar. - My gut feeling is not a compass. -

- But you do know where we need to go. Don�t you? -

The woman made a rare blush. - Well, yes. Yes, I do. Come. -

The vast lands eventually gave way to a single hole in the ground. Stella seemed to be able to feel the unusual flows of the void layers. - It�s like there�s a flowing layer in the background. It�s like water moving in a particular direction, and so all I do is follow it. -

Lumoof looked at her. - Will this actually go anywhere? Like we�re trying to find a way to reach parts of the world we couldn�t do normally. Does this actually help? -

- I don�t know, - Stella answered. - But we have to understand it. At least, somewhat understand it. Then we can start using it. As it is, we know nothing. Something is still infinitely better than nothing. -

- That something is knowing that there�s a layer made of eels, strings, and elongated stretched objects is not exactly useful. -

- Yes, but they must exist to do something. The void layers don�t feel purposeless. They have a purpose. Either as a failed state, a graveyard of worlds, or just as a nursery for something. They exist as a result of a creation process, - Stella said, but we�d known her long enough to know this was part of her theorizing. - Let�s go. -

We did, and we entered a tunnel. A vast, massive tunnel. But there were walls here. Walls that were invisible, its presence written into our souls. Yet we could see what happened beyond the tunnel�s walls. In a distance imperceptibly far away, we both saw an egg form before our eyes.

A black egg, as massive as the world and more.

We walked and kept walking along that tunnel, fully able to see what was around us and what was ahead. As we walked further, we could see further, deeper into a giant, swirling black object.

Then we couldn�t proceed any more.

There was a barrier, made of a tremendous amount of void energy, blocking our path. It was transparent and yet visible to our souls. A gigantic puzzle in the shape of an ever - changing door. A door that we could not open, no matter how much force or energy we exerted on it.

It was a mechanism present within the void layer. Perhaps a protection from things that the void layer didn�t want others to touch.

- What in the world? -

Stella frowned as she tried to get past it. She looked at Lumoof. - Use A/ �s power and try to hit it. -

Lumoof did, and with the full strength of my powers, we attacked this invisible barrier. The sensation was unusually clean, as if my powers smashed into a perfectly repelling rubber wall, and the recoil was just as perfect.

- Ouch. It�s not going to work. - From the recoil, it answered everything I wanted to know and realized how poorly made the demons void barrier was. Whatever it was that the demons used to block the rest of the worlds away from our eyes, it was nothing compared to this. This was incredible, and from that single hit, I knew I was dealing with something that was created out of the very laws of the multiverse. This was the System itself saying no to us. - I don�t think I�ll break it with more power, no matter the number of times I hit it. -

Stella frowned, and yet she felt a connection to this mechanism. - It�s a lock. And I will need enough void mana to get through it. I have an inkling how to get past it, but I�m - I�m not ready yet. -

She just knew.

No. The very interaction with the mechanism and barrier fed the knowledge to her. It spoke to her and imprinted into her being that she wasn�t ready.

She stopped and looked at Lumoof. - We�ll return when I�m stronger. I think I need to reach Level 250 to get past this layered lock. Whatever this is, it is made as a fundamental law of this layer, and we won�t get past it without fulfilling its requirements. -

- That is a very high bar to reach. - Lumoof looked further, and it was clear that there were other mechanisms in the way. - And it won�t be the last barrier. -

- If one wants to pursue the truth, it lies beyond this thing. Let�s go home. - Stella looked back at the black swirling object that stood at the very end of the transparent tunnel. It wasn�t black anymore. Instead, it started to change color. There were more eggs around us, each a nascent world preparing for birth.

Lumoof looked at it and back. Was this really something to the demons? This felt like one of those hidden stories that went far off course from our goals. - It may not be worth it. Our goal is to stop the demons. -

- I know. But I think, just maybe, this is something for me to chase after all of that is over. - Stella looked, and she created a portal to bring them out of the void layers.

YEAR 285

Mountainworld

The arrival of the demon king was long overdue. In the past three years, the demons rifts were a minor affair, since our Valthorns ensured that none of these demon rifts ever caused any significant damage.

After the last attack on Mountainworld about seventeen years ago, it would finally be time for Mountainworld to face its regular, scheduled disaster.

It was slightly late. We�d been monitoring the connected demonworld for the past three years and hadn�t detected much movement, and on our end, we didn�t want to trigger another demon comet by attacking the demonworld world directly. So we allowed it to play out as usual.

Over the next few years, there were quite a few demon kings that would spawn.

The world of Caval, with the hero swords, would face a new demon king in a few years. Whether we followed Edna�s plan and allowed for a hero to be summoned or deferred to Stella and destroyed the demon king upfront was still open. I personally leaned toward Edna�s plan, since, if what the gods said was true, heroes really did return to that moment in time where they - died - or a version where they didn�t die.

Yes, it would be traumatic for the hero, but with the right support system and a community of fellow heroes, we could minimize the pain while we got a chance to fully explore the powers of a growing hero sword and try to push that to the limits.

There was quite an interesting overlap between the nature of these hero swords and the nature of my artificial souls and titans. I thought that the learnings from this experience could lead to stronger artificial souls.

It really could not be understated how useful artificial souls were in administering my vast empire. It was the artificial souls that controlled the movement of beetles throughout the empire. Without the artificial souls ensuring that my beetles moved where they were supposed to, the logistic network of the Order would grind to a halt. They were pretty much the trucks and cargo ships of my empire, the red blood cells ferrying crucial cargo everywhere.

Better artificial souls would only allow me to handle more beetles and deploy even more resources.

There was also the world of Triotuga. When we visited that world, the demon king was already dead, but in the next few years, they should have a demon king as well. It was also one where we would live to observe the Boarpeople and how their powers interacted with the demon king�s presence.

Then there was Twinspace and Ulara, where the demon king still reigned unchallenged.

All in, there were about four to five demon kings over the next five years to defeat.

We would use these battles as a chance to elevate people like Lozanna , Ebon, and Hoyia to be the next generation of domain holders.

A few others like them all asked for a chance to face the demon king without assistance. We roughly concluded that it was quite difficult to be domain holders if they fought demon kings with too much help. They needed the experience, the entire experience. The Level 140s would battle the coming demon kings entirely on their own, until they were spent and totally unable to. Only then would our domain holders step in.

It was risky, but no one became domain holders without taking on some risk.

We�d grown large. Large enough that there was going to be some world, somewhere, that was going to be invaded by demons and a demon king.

We could handle it.

Ulara was a world we were quite torn on.

They were a low priority world. The peripheral worlds and their perilous conditions meant I�d need to maintain my node trees for convenience of access to the peripheral worlds and to facilitate smoother movement of traffic.

If I gained an increase in my number of node trees, I was still hesitant to place a node on the little snakeworld of Ulara, partly because the locals didn�t really want me there. But if Snek insisted, I would spawn a node tree just so that they could have an exit route, if that day ever came to pass.

Meanwhile, I spent some time checking on the city of New Ulara.

The new group of Ularan migrants, who made a home on Tropicsworld, did well. The past decade of expansion and growth meant the hard part of migrating had mostly passed. Most of the Ularans now settled down, and the new generation of Ularans adapted to their new way of living. Snek hoped that New Ulara would take after the practices of the older, pre - demon Ularans, before the demonic conquest, but those records were still back on Ulara.

The old den lords were not keen to allow those who left a chance to return. Their reasons were entirely understandable. They didn�t want their ideology to spread amongst the Ularans that remained behind.

So, without access to the ancient records, Snek shared stories as much as he could remember and the builders of New Ulara tried to recreate the old cities of Ulara to the best they could.

But it was a struggle. Even after so many years, the Ularan migrants were so used to the subterranean life that life on the surface was awkward, and even after a decade, there were still some parts where their behavior was strange.

They were getting better. Day by day, there was improvement.

From what I could see, this was probably one of the better stages to be in. The pioneer era was the time when great chances were made, new norms were formed, and society experienced a period of genuine, well - distributed growth.

New Ulara was meant to be the new symbol of the Ularan�s desire for change, and in some ways, it was. The younger Ularans grew up without fear of the demons, even if it would take a generation or two to fully change their ways.

Just like many others, they would grow up different from their parents.

The early mature and developed stage would usually be the golden era. The post - pioneer era where some structure and order would emerge, but not still not overwhelming. Resources would be abundant, everyone would have opportunities to make something for themselves, ancient norms and rules would still not be so rigid, and their society would go through the equivalent of their teen and early adult years.

For some societies, this was when they peaked, and it was all downhill from there, unless they went through a good process of renewal.

Institutions got used to a particular way of working, and over time that created a force that resisted improvement. No, more than the ossification of institutions was the presence of immortals.

It was very much true in worlds with magic, where there were existences like myself. Immortals created a concentration of power that resisted change, unless the immortals themselves desired change.

We were the old pillars that prevented the rot from being too deep, but we were also the barriers that prevented further improvement. The societies, due to the pervasive effects of the immortals, over time were an image, a creation of their controlling immortal�s views.

Freshka

The heroes had a few relatively peaceful years, and for them, they moved about and visited each other. The income provided from trading the hero items to the Order was lavish and afforded them many luxuries. Some heroes, like Khefri, liked massive mansions with dancers and all that.

It was a very comfortable and luxurious life, but I could tell that they were all a little lonely. Only Colette and perhaps Prabu were less so.

It was not as if the heroes didn�t have friends. Many did try to make friends and successfully did so with the various Valthorns, whom at some level could be their peers. But they were never too close.

The restraints on the hero class didn�t just hurt their ability to maintain their sanity. The hero class sabotaged their ability to form connections with their friends. Peers. But I�d seen how to break the hero class�s constraints.

I understood that it was all written into the structure of the soul spring. That white, corrupted soul spring. And so Colette also suggested something for Prabu and the rest of the heroes.

It emerged because Colette grew increasingly frustrated at how much she had to look after the rest of the heroes.

- The soul spring contains our hero class, and if you remember correctly, it cracked over time. Can you have a look into Prabu�s soul and see whether there is something in there? -

The heroes regularly visited my biolabs for scheduled medical checkups once every few years. They were heroes, but it was a good habit. It kept them in generally good shape, physically. But the mental aspects were gated behind the heroic soul spring, and I wouldn�t touch it unless explicitly instructed to.

I dipped into the hero�s soul, and from outside, it looked generally all right.

Prabu winced, but I could feel his mind struggling. I sometimes wondered whether the hero class had some level of sentience to it. At least, maybe Caval�s hero class had something different to it.

- I�m going to lift up your soul spring. If there�s something hidden within your soul spring, or if there�s some damage, we�ll take it out. -

It was relatively easy to lift the once - heavy heroic soul springs. They still consumed a large amount of energy, but given my stronger levels, it felt as if they were lesser.

Stronger, I felt confident and tried to look deeper into the spring itself. The last time I tried, it felt like the hero�s class resisted, but this time, that resistance could not stop me. So I noticed that some of the rocks that represented the hero class protruded into the flow of the mana.

It was as if the rocks were shaping the flow of the soul�s mana into the rest of the body.

I lifted the stones that formed the hero skills, and as Colette predicted, there was damage throughout the rocks.

- There is damage, isn�t there? - Colette frowned, who was also along for the ride through a sharing of vision via Dream Academy . - Can you fix it? -

My spiritual tentacles touched them, and the damaged rocks were fused back together. They were not really actual stones, but more like representations of a hero class. Was all this some kind of wear and tear? I did not recall such damage in my Valthorns, as I had done similar checks on them.

Was this the engineered decay of the hero class? The heroes experienced skill decay after they defeated the demon king. Was this - decay - wearing into their soul spring? There were some remnants, the ground - up dust and shattered remains of these hero class stones. I picked them up and kept some.

When I did, I got a notification from the System.

Dusts of the Heroic Class - Can be used to seed new classes and skills and empower them significantly.

Was this why there was a mechanism within the System to convert the hero classes to something else? For non - hero classes, they often took a different color and shape, and these non - hero classes were often forced to the outer ring of the Soul Spring.

Colette quickly reminded me to focus on Prabu. - Ah yes. Let�s get to it. -

I picked up Prabu�s heroic class stones and fixed them one by one, but as I went deeper, I reached some of the protruding rocks. I didn�t understand why they were meddling with Prabu�s soul flow, and they were likely pushed out of place over the years.

I adjusted the locations of these rocks so that they no longer blocked the flow of mana from the spring.

I was done. - How�d you feel? -

Prabu blinked as his partner quickly gave him a hug. - I feel. strange. Strangely clear - headed. Like, everything feels fresh and new. -

- That�s amazing. Should we do this for everyone? - I asked Colette.

- Yeah. Let�s ask them. I�ll word it as just some spiritual healing and therapy. -

YEAR 285 (PART II)

Mountainworld

Lozanna double checked her armor and triple checked her arsenal of spears. They were all tremendously powerful weapons, and there were fifty - five of her peers around her. All of them were preparing for the battle. Ebon. Hoyia. Lozanna . The dwarven mage Blackthorn and many others prepared for a battle against the demon king.

Fifty - five Level 140s would attempt the first attack on the demon king, and the hope was that some of them would make it past the finish line.

For some, the mood was relaxed. - I heard you�re making big waves on Twinspace. - Ebon grinned and tapped the matriarch on the shoulder. He looked proud of his fellow Order teammate.

- It has to be done, - Hoyia answered. The matriarch had more armor on than the rest of them. Her physical abilities were probably one of the weakest, so she had to shore it up with more armor and equipment. - Just as what we have to do today. -

Lozanna thought about what Hoyia did ever since the developments were updated on their shared intreenet. She was there during the crusades against A/ and felt a little bit of unusual envy. She should�ve been there. She should�ve tried the same thing with Magisar, too.

Mages were not immune to religious propaganda, but as someone who grew up with A/ in her life, it was just something so taken for granted that she didn�t even know where to start. For Hoyia, inventing a tale and a myth was perhaps easy. Maybe it was her class, that of a priest, that made storytelling easy.

Somehow, the knight noticed Lozanna . - Has someone relieved you on Magisar, Lozanna ? -

Lozanna snapped out of her thoughts and nodded. - Ah, yes. A Mage Lord finally arrived to do so, but I�m staying back to help the transition of power. What about you? I heard you were on Caval for a bit. Was there anything interesting there? -

- It�s nothing much. - Ebon shrugged as if it wasn�t much. - The living weapons are interesting and worth researching, but I think it�s going to be quite challenging to get anything else of value out of it. -

- Good that you called it quits before you�ve spent too much time there, then, - Lozanna added. - Or are you still headed back there? -

- About that, it is complicated. I think we�ll see each other on Twinspace instead, once Hoyia�s naval expeditions are in full swing, - Ebon said as he also checked his weapons. The knight�s assortment of weapons came from many different craftsmen, and he had a wide range of spears, swords, and lances, but one of the things he tried to do differently was minimize the use of blessings from other domain holders.

There were some competing theories on whether the assistance of other domain holders made it harder for a person to make that final cut, so even amongst the group of Level 140 Valthorns, there was some variation in whether their equipment were enchanted with the blessings of other domain holders.

A few of them went as far as surrendering A/ �s familiar, just so that they could truly put themselves on the line.

Lozanna breathed. She didn�t go that far. The Court of the Deitree was too important to her. She nodded. - Yeah. Let�s go get that demon king. -

Ebon nodded. In theory, there was enough firepower here to match a demon king. But because it was split across multiple individuals and not focused, that partly meant its effectiveness was minimized. - You, too. See you later. -

One of the mages in front made a signal, and everyone got into position. It was time to step through the portal and head to where the demon king would arrive. Patriarch Lumoof would watch the battle from somewhere relatively nearby and step in once the Level 140s were spent.

She hoped it never got to that point but took a moment and looked around. Some of her peers had no backup teleportation device. Some of them did.

Reckless, but they�d been stuck so long.

Was recklessness one of the factors? She didn�t think so. But after such a long, frustrating stagnation, one step before the finishing line for years, she could understand why some of them tried such unusual strategies.

A few of them looked nervous. If she told anyone else, they�d probably think it would be fiction. Even if their foe was a demon king.

To the regular folk, it was hard to imagine people who were Level 140s being nervous. Folks that were so close to divinity having to give themselves a pep talk was a hilarious image.

Those not here would not understand the emotions they had or what it was like to face a demon king with few exit routes.

Lozanna closed her eyes momentarily and gave herself a pep talk. She would make it.

She closed her eyes briefly and imagined her mother. She remembered her childhood, hiding in the tree. The decades since A/ �s presence had made Mountainworld into a safe place. She would like to help spread that presence to more worlds.

Everyone deserved freedom from a plague that did nothing but destroy. Some forms of destruction resulted in renewal. They destroyed the old so that the new could replace them.

The rift gate opened, and the Level 140s waited.

And they were off.

Lozanna watched the demon king emerge from the rift, in one of the thousands of mountainous valleys of Mountainworld. Mountainworld was home to numerous mountain ranges, created not by tectonic plates but by the flows of magic that forced the terrain to flow with it.

Demon King Armaddon has arrived.

The demon king was a large scaled creature, resembling an armadillo with heavy armor, and with four legs all ending in sharp claws. It emanated a toxic aura, and the gaps in the armored scales periodically released some kind of gas. A root - mask emerged via her Court of the Deitree and covered her face. Some of the other Valthorns changed into full body suits of armor and magical masks, while others relied on A/ �s familiars to create a breathing mask.

Her spears charged with power, as she ran up to the gigantic armadillo demon, while the rest of the regular demons also emerged from the rift.

Distractions.

The skies rained with fire and magic, as the mages of the Valthorns bombarded the area with magic. These attacks quickly thinned the battlefield, and Lozanna herself closed in. The poison was slightly corrosive, requiring her to activate a healing ability in response.

The first strike slammed into the heavy armor and left a crack. But it was healing.

She cursed and struck again. About half of the Level 140s were priests and healers, and they mostly kept their distance.

She struck again, as she felt the priest�s blessings kick in. Her body, enhanced by the priest�s Strength of the Divine , made a deeper strike into the armor.

- Try the gaps between the scales! - Ebon shouted as he treated his weapons as if they were disposable. He thrusted the powerful, magically charged spears and lances into the gaps and detonated the stored magical power.

It ripped a few of the scales off and exposed some kind of flesh underneath.

- Eh. You�ve made the opening. - Lozanna smiled as she dived at the unprotected flesh. The key to the demon king was the demon king�s core. There were two real ways of killing the demon king.

One was to drain the demon king of its energies. Each time the demon king regenerated or repaired itself, it used up the energies within the core. That was its - health. - Once that ran out, the demon king wouldn�t be able to restore itself and would die. Of course, the demon core also could regenerate its magical energy, so the damage delivered would have to exceed the regeneration in order to reach the point where that was even possible.

The other way was simpler: damage the demons core itself. Lozanna knew this worked because she had seen how Lumoof and Edna�s strikes delivered damage to the core, even if it didn�t hit it directly. That was key to quickly defeating the demon king.

A/ �s ability to deal spiritual damage directly to the demon king�s core and mess with the rest of the demon king�s abilities worked exceptionally well and was partly why demon kings felt weaker in his presence.

Lozanna dived into the flesh herself and thrust her blade into the opening. The armadillo demon king responded by flooding its flesh with poison and some kind of acid.

- I can�t stay in there long with that, - Lozanna said as she leaped out. The barrier created by her familiar wasn�t strong enough to overcome the deluge of poison and acid. Some of her armor was already partially corroded.

The mages and priests that kept their distance understood, and she was then blessed with an array of shields and barriers. - Thanks. -

- Me too, - Ebon said as he briefly retreated to the mages. His armor was heavily damaged, but he managed to rip apart some of the armadillo demon king�s scales on the other end. - I�ll get in from the other side. -

There were about twenty other Level 140s harassing the demon king, and a few of them tried what Lozanna did. So far, not one of them died yet.

- Don�t be reckless, - Lozanna said as her spears glowed. - Even if this demon king is slightly on the weaker end, they shouldn�t take such risks. -

- Says the one diving into a flooded pool of acid and poison. - Ebon smiled as his armor somehow regenerated magically, armor shining as if it was newly forged. - We are all prepared to die, milady. Our conviction is just as strong as yours. -

Lozanna blinked and then smiled. - Ah. That is true. Then let�s see who gets to it first. -

The Valthorns launched wave after wave of attacks, but the demon king�s toughness was truly impressive. A few of them tapped out and retreated.

Lozanna kept trying, but the demon king�s core proved elusive. The creature was too large, and each of their strikes wasn�t deep enough. She remembered how Edna once said that she felt thoroughly frustrated.

She was a domain holder, but even at Level 150 to 190, she didn�t have enough firepower.

But no. Lozanna knew she couldn�t think that way. Edna was Edna. She was someone else, and her talents were different.

She saw Ebon run through different weapons; each of his strikes cut fairly deep but consumed the weapon itself. She needed a way to strike the demon king�s core, but could she replicate some of Lumoof and A/ �s spiritual sensing ability?

She activated her Court of the Deitree and used her spiritual vision. It couldn�t see through the demon king�s body.

She should have been able to see through it. Frustrated, she moved much closer to the demon king and landed into one of the regenerating wounds, stabbing her spear deep into the demon king�s body. Using the spear as a listening, sensing tool, she tried to sense where the turbulent magic of the demon king came from.

The demon king flooded her with demonic mana.

Lozanna saw her skin change color, as the demons magical energies flowed through the spear and into her hand.

Ebon, on the other side, slammed his sword into the demon king�s flesh with all his might. The attacks caused the demons magical energies to wane slightly, and Lozanna �s own spiritual energy pushed back and regained control of her hand.

Still, she tried to find the demon king�s core. The armadillo was too large. They wouldn�t get anywhere if they kept attacking like this.

Then Lozanna felt herself flooded with holy energy. Hoyia and a few other priests noticed what Lozanna was trying to do and combined their energies to bless her.

The best thing she could do now was to not waste it, so she pushed her own spiritual presence through her hand and into the spear.

- Where was the demon king�s core located - She cursed as she felt the two powerful forces fight within her soul. Hoyia and the priests channeled their powers through her, and the demon king�s energy fought back.

- Keep up the attack! - Ebon rallied the rest of the fighters to buy Lozanna some space. The rest of them launched volleys of attacks against the armadillo.

Lozanna searched systematically through the demonic creature, and then she found it.

She immediately took out a special spear and held it up. - Hoyia! Bless the spear! - she commanded as she channeled her own magical energies and abilities. The spear glowed, and she lunged it toward the demon king�s core, hidden beneath multiple layers of demonic sinew and muscles.

That attack caused the armadillo to flail wildly, as the spear�s energies barely grazed the demon king�s core.

The attack hurt it slightly.

- Again! - But this time, the armadillo flailed like a wild bull and began to curl up into a ball. A few of the druids and mages tried to stop it and used the weapons to hold the demon king in place, but they were not strong enough. Lozanna �s spear touched the demon king�s core again, and she felt a little crack.

Then the demon king released a powerful burst of energy.

Lozanna cursed and immediately moved out of the way as a spherical explosion emerged from the demon king. The demon king transformed as the explosion forced all the Valthorns to retreat.

The giant armadillo transformed into a smaller, human - sized beast and immediately charged toward Lozanna with tremendous force.

- That�s enough. - Lumoof emerged as his avatar formed. A massive shield of wood slammed into the demon king with a thunderous boom, sending shockwaves throughout the valley. Then the spiritual roots emerged. If the attack hit her, Lozanna knew that was the end. - We�ll take it from here. -

A/ emerged, and the demon king was no match for their enraged divine patron.

The demon king was slain but a few moments later. Lozanna watched the battle end and knew they�d have to try again? -

Demon King Armaddon has been slain.

That would�ve been the end of it, as it normally did.

But then, Lozanna felt the System�s whisper continue.

She blinked.

You�ve gained a level. You are now Level 150 and may now select a domain. You have three available choices.

Domain of the Spirit Warrior

The Spirit Warrior is a master of weapons that strike at the spiritual heart of your enemies. You will gain a range of abilities and weapons that attack both the spirit and the flesh. These spiritual attacks are able to ignore conventional and magical defensive abilities. You are also able to bless weapons to grant them the ability to temporarily deliver attacks that pass through conventional and magical defenses.

Subdomain of A/ - A/ �s Huntress

As a subdomain of A/ , you gain an ability to link through A/ �s clone and tree network, allowing you to move seamlessly through the multiverse at will. You will also gain a range of combat abilities similar to your patron god, to enact fury on his behalf. You are able to transform trees into A/ ic War Treants and also summon A/ �s beetles to support you in combat.

Domain of the Unchosen Champion

You once wanted to be a hero, and you�ve finally reached the starting point. This domain replicates certain heroic abilities you�ve encountered in your journey, except for the hero�s forge , and allows you to use star mana, convert your mana to star mana, and vice versa over a period of time. You gain the ability to use and manipulate unprotected hero - items without any penalty.

Lozanna blinked again and then turned to look at Lumoof with shock.

- I�m Level 150, and I have a very important choice to make. -

YEAR 285 (CONTINUED)

Lozanna , on Mountainworld

Lozanna stood at the side of the crater, the demon king already crushed by A/ �s roots. The corpse of the armadillo demon king was filled with roots that tore it apart. One of the roots was holding an intact demon king�s core. It would be another one for A/ �s group of mages and artificers to study.

But it was just a passing point of note. Her mind was preoccupied. Ascension.

Something she had hoped for, and now she had finally achieved it. Her mind swirled at the choices.

She had never planned for this part. After all, without knowing what the domains were, what sort of planning could there be?

She looked around.

Was she the only one? Ebon looked exhausted, and she felt for him. He had worked just as hard. There was Hoyia on the side; she seemed relieved. She also felt a little bit stronger. Hoyia was in the Level 140s, but she wasn�t exactly at the edge. She must�ve gained a few levels and now she was on the cusp of becoming a domain holder.

But Ebon noticed Lozanna �s eyes, and he walked to Lozanna . - You did it. I could feel it. -

- I did, - Lozanna said but thought of consoling the knight. Ebon was at that edge far longer than anyone else, and yet the System gave her the domain before him. Why? There were a thousand questions in her mind, but none would help at this moment.

But she stopped before the words left her mouth. Ebon didn�t need it. He was a damned good knight; he didn�t need her consoling worlds. She knew he would trudge on. He tried his best to smile. - Good job. It�ll be me next time. -

- It will, - Lozanna answered. The rest of the Valthorns packed up. The battle was over, and it was now time for their routine cleanup. A group of mages and crafters teleported in and began to mine the space for anything valuable.

Hoyia walked over as well to congratulate her. - Well done. -

Lozanna smiled and said the usual thanks. There were many others who all came to congratulate her, but for now, she had something to think about. Something important that would truly shape the rest of her life.

It was an interesting set of three choices, and she wondered how they fit in her life. Lumoof once said that one�s domain choices seemed to be based on their class and their selection of abilities, but it was also a reflection of the direction of their lives.

She had served A/ since her childhood and wondered whether A/ �s Huntress seemed to represent that. Her early life when she grew up under A/ �s care and the later years when she served as one of the tree god�s many warriors. As one of the earliest members of the Valthorns, she was sent on many missions to support the then�New Freeka�s issue.

She speculated the first one, the spirit warrior, arose from her attempts at developing powerful piercing weapons, again, as part of her role as an agent of the Valtorn Order.

The last choice made her think of her old uncle Yura . She would love to see his reaction to this. Maybe she would�ve told Uncle Yura that her dream of being a hero wasn�t impossible after all. Or maybe he would�ve been really proud of her. Even though it had been many, many years since he died, for a moment, she imagined him there tapping her on the shoulder.

- Well, who would�ve thought? I was wrong after all, - the imaginary Uncle Yura said with pride. - To think the little girl that I stopped from killing a wolf is now a champion. -

She shook her head. Her heart wasn�t ready to choose at this time. So she looked around some more, noticed there wasn�t much left to do, and then said to Patriarch Lumoof, - I think I want to go home and go see my mother and my two kids. -

Lumoof nodded. - That�s a good thing to do. Go and clear your mind. You�ll need it. -

Maybe she should visit her late husband�s grave as well. Yeah. She should. People that she should talk to before she decided on which of the three to go for.

Her heart told her that she should go for the last one. It was a dream, a dream she had buried and told herself was impossible, but deep down inside, her subconscious still didn�t really believe it was.

As she returned to Freshka after the war on Mountainworld, there were many others that sought her attention. News of her ascension was only known to the Level 140s and domain holders, but she knew it would spread eventually.

For now, home.

Home was her well - furnished mansion in a quiet corner of Freshka. It wasn�t the first home, but it was where she had lived for the past few decades. It was here where she remembered Kei knocked some sense in her and then convinced her to rejoin the Order.

She should thank her for giving her that jolt she so sorely needed. And it seemed that the golem had a talent for impeccable timing.

- I came to see you. - Kei, it seemed, had read her mind and was already in the area waiting for her. - I heard from Lumoof. -

- He told you? -

- I would curse him for an eternity if he didn�t. - Kei the golem tapped her on the shoulder. - One more to A/ �s pantheon of future deities. - Kei didn�t need to drink, and yet she came with some kind of juice from one of her favorite fruit juicers.

- Did Lumoof tell you about my choices? -

- That�s why I�m here. He didn�t. He said I�d have to ask you myself. That damned old man feeding me with incomplete information. -

The newly ascended elf found the golem�s reaction amusing. - He just didn�t want to spoil the surprise then. Do you want to know?�

- Of course I do! - Kei said loudly and thumped her crystalline chest. Her biocrystalline form was so good at mimicking flesh that Lozanna still occasionally forgot that she wasn�t actually a human anymore. - I�m invested in your success! -

The two settled down in one of the reading rooms in Lozanna �s mansion, and the elf narrated the three choices. In the end, Kei�s choice was very similar to Lozanna �s gut feeling.

- Choose the unchosen champion. It�s the path for you to do what you�ve always wanted to do but couldn�t. Star mana is tremendously powerful. -

- I believe so, too. But I thought of giving it some time before I make that commitment. We are not at the point where I need to rush through that decision. -

After Kei, a few of Lozanna �s closest friends and families all came to talk to her. Her mother, Laufen, was proud as hell and wished that her father would have been there to see it. Her daughter, Arlisa, didn�t seem too excited. If anything, Lozanna �s success turned into a deeper, larger shadow that loomed over her life. Lozanna tried to tone it down, but Arlisa�s frustration only grew.

Her son was fairly relaxed and didn�t have much of an opinion of his own. He was just glad that now that she was a domain holder, she would be eligible for the resurrection ability of A/ . He didn�t have to fear losing his mother, and that was all that he needed to know.

The Valley of the Unrotten. It was the name those who came after her gave to this place. The name of the place where they survived the Rottedlands.

She didn�t like the name. It was her home. It was Freeka, and then New Freeka. It wasn�t such a deep, scary valley, either. Their long confinement of almost two decades surviving on their own druidic produce and what little food they farmed in the valley was a memory most of them didn�t think about.

Things were definitely better now.

Nostalgia. Her mind thought about those days when she was trapped here in the valley.

The valley had changed so much. This place used to be home. Their homes used to be within the various subsidiary trees of A/ , but it had been more than a century. She hadn�t been back in a long time, and yet the very act of achieving one�s domain seemed to refresh her past.

So here she was.

The place felt dense. A/ �s presence was so heavy here, and before she got her domain, at times it felt suffocating. She could even tell he was trying to shift his presence around, but A/ �s presence distorted the world and that distortion was unmistakable. Increasingly, even Edna, Stella, and Lumoof all also distorted the world around them.

For lesser beings, they were at the mercy of something that could unmake them in many different ways.

This time, this visit, it all felt different. She could still feel A/ �s powerful presence, but it gently moved around her, as if she was a boat sailing through calm, peaceful waters. She was once a sandcastle facing the ocean tide, but today, it was as if her sandcastle was made of carved marble and stone, and the waters did not harm her.

- TreeTree, are you there? - Lozanna could speak to him everywhere, and yet she still came here to speak to him.

Her childhood that at some point seemed hazy now turned clear. She knew her fellow domain holders had rather vivid memories, but the sudden clarity to her memory and the strength of her nostalgia made her wonder whether this was an effect of the choices available to her.

- Yes. - The voice spoke into her head, and she blinked as she realized she could alter the form of that voice. A/ �s voice had taken an ethereal, choral quality over the years, as if a thousand trees rustling and speaking together at once. Now, with the domain, the voice she allowed to enter her mind was within her control.

She could shape that voice such that it didn�t overwhelm her, and she blinked as she realized how much leeway she had to shape the voice of those communicating with her telepathically.

She had always known that the domain protected them from mental intrusions and the effects of other immortals. In a way, a domain was the System �s way of carving up the distinction between someone who existed as a part of the environment and someone who now stood above them.

- I can make you sound like you used to, - Lozanna said, feeling amused at how A/ �s voice was back to that old, wise, but singular voice of her younger days.

- It seems the domain has brought you a fair bit of nostalgia. - A/ spoke to her without the echoing. Her mind didn�t have to strain to withstand a powerful being�s intrusion.

- Yes. It has. Since two of my choices make a reference to my past, I would think so, - Lozanna said. Both the Unchosen Champion and A/ �s Huntress referred to her roles over the years. - It seems I was held back by my past more than the others. -

- And the System recognizes you for it. -

- I thanked Kei for helping me realize that I had unsolved dreams. But now I think I owe her a little more than that. - She should buy Kei a good present for breaking her out of her stupor. A nice meal would be the normal way of saying thanks, but the golem didn�t really need to eat.

- Kei�s casual way of achieving things without much direct conflict is a strength of hers. I would give her a reward, but what she wants is just for the heroes to have a good rest. -

Lozanna smiled. She knew Kei played a big role during the first crusades, then later as the coordinator of the League of Heroes. Now this. - Yes. But this is the start. I am at the starting line. What should I choose? -

- It�s your choice. We will respect whatever you do and know that there will be a place for you, - A/ said, and for a moment, she remembered the days of New Freeka. - There are thousands of worlds. Stella�s detection finds more worlds the further it goes. -

- The first choice? -

- The first choice, I suspect, is about your youth, - A/ said. - Your first weapon was a spear and a dagger. The spear, because you hoped to reach them and hit them before they could hit you. The dagger, because you wanted to kill the moment they got close enough. -

- Edna always wanted to be a knight, - Lozanna said. She actually remembered meeting Edna when she was just a Grand Knight undergoing training in Freshka. She remembered A/ offering her the level - breaking fruit, and she had declined. That fruit, instead, went to Edna. She had wasted so many years.

- That is a part of it. A part of you wanted to wander the world, learn from various spirit trees. We are more than just a single thing, and the System probably has to try very hard to boil down what your story is, - A/ speculated.

Yet thinking about the System�s peculiarities was not why she was here today.

Lozanna shook her head and approached one of the Giant Attendant Trees. - Is our home still there, inside your Secret Hideout ? -

There was silence. A long silence she was so used to.

- Yes. -

- Can I see it? - Lozanna said.

The dark, magical bark that was part of A/ �s gigantic body shapeshifted, the bark itself reforming into a door. It was a kind of wood magic, but maybe not. Her fingers and arms seemed to tremble as she reached for the knob.

The room was unchanged. There were still a few of Uncle Yura �s things all over the place. There were some old clothes, perfectly preserved by A/ �s preservation ability.

- This was after New Freeka? - Lozanna asked. - We stopped living within you after the Rottedlands Incident. -

- Yes. After my long sleep, all of you were used to living outside. You�ve all stayed in for a bit, but then eventually all of you moved out. -

Lozanna nodded. The valley wasn�t a place to stay. Freshka, the new city that was built nearby, was a much more pleasant place. Not everyone wanted to live under the presence of a god. So the secret hideout was just as it was. Most things of value were taken away, but there were some old things left behind.

They were already a powerful group at that time. Freshka and the Order had risen to dominate the continent. There were a few old overcoats, some thick boots, and a few more gloves. There was the old pantry area, with the old wooden plates and cups.

- The world used to be a lot simpler, - Lozanna said, and she felt A/ laugh in her head. Without the creepy echoes of A/ �s voice, the laughter genuinely felt amusing.

- It�s only simpler because someone else dealt with the complicated stuff, - A/ said.

- You�re right. It was just a silly thought in my head. - The elven girl looked at that. - But I still miss those days. My memories of my childhood are so vivid, suddenly. - Then she was quiet. - I�ve never brought my late husband here, did I? -

- No. Not to this space. -

- He would�ve loved to see it, and I can still imagine him here. He would have said we lived in a life of luxury. Temperature controlled and stable supply of clean water is something hard to find out there as an adventurer. - Lozanna laughed. - We were lucky. We were very, very lucky. -

A/ didn�t answer, but she knew it was good fortune. She knew he agreed.

- What should I choose? - Lozanna asked again.

This time, A/ didn�t answer with words. Instead, a door opened. She knew what it was. It led to A/ �s secret chambers. It was where the old Soul Forge and Biolabs were.

She followed the largely unused stairs down into an old room. She remembered she was here often.

She looked around and then saw a door that she had never seen before. It opened.

It led her further, deeper.

Down into the depths, into a secret room. It was larger, newer. And it was filled with treasures.

She blinked.

- This room is? -

- A room of treasures. Things we�ve collected over the years. The various plants from all over the multiverse. The various fruits. Trinkets. Belongings of those who have fallen. The divine log and many others, - A/ said. - I kept them here mostly as a store of things, and mainly, I wanted you to see the relics we have. -

The divine log. The lens for the Margmarian dwarves. Special weapons used by the old, fallen warriors. Yura �s old set of weapons. Lovis�s old spear. The heroes items and a few personal belongings. She recognized many of them. There were things from the other elves, too. A/ kept the mementos and belongings of the Valthorns that fell in battle; it was a connection to those who fought for him. Even items from the very first refugees who came to New Freeka.

He needed them to augment his abilities as a Soul Tree and allow for the living to speak to those who recently died.

It was part of what he did to ensure that their spirits were properly handled and processed through the spiritual realm.

In a twisted way, it was a cemetery to those who died. An altar made of the personal belongings of so many people.

- It�s just a place where I kept things. A Treeasury , if you may. -

Lozanna laughed. - Can I touch them? -

- Try not to. The spiritual remnants of those who have left are very fragile. I keep them protected, but a touch from a domain holder is stronger than most. -

- I see. We�ve lost many of our friends over the years. - Lozanna suddenly could remember the faces of those who used to have these things.

- It is. Of the first generation, only a few of you live or remain. -

There were a few mementos of those who died. Things that belonged to her friends. Emile, Brislah , Walen . She looked at them and memories of her childhood with her friends when still lived.

- I couldn�t save them, - Lozanna said. - That day when the Rottedlands happened, I was too far away, and I could only reach a few. In the end, it was Uncle Yura that saved us. -

- Death was too common in that era. -

A lifetime of changes had occurred in the past two centuries, and yet she was now effectively an immortal. There would be a lot more changes to come, and she would play a larger role in shaping that future. She looked at all the relics and realized they were exactly that. Relics of the past. A snapshot of a time that was. But she wasn�t in the past. - I see what you�re trying to do now. -

- Oh. What would that be? -

- I�m too preoccupied with the past. I should think about what will work better for the future, - Lozanna said. She should approach her choice without the baggage of the past but instead think about what would serve her well for the future.

YEAR 285 (PART III)

Ifelt glad that of the first few elves that I took under my wing, one of them finally achieved a domain.

A part of me feared for them, and a part of me still dreaded the separation of death that occurred with Yura . I would lose Laufen as well, though her eventual death as an elven woman was still at least many hundreds of years away.

Life would eventually end, even for elves with their exceptionally long lifespans. That was the way of the world.

But even for me, there were days when I felt a little weary. Tired. Just like Lozanna said. There were times, moments, when one wished for the simpler days of the past. Now I would not have to witness Lozanna �s permanent death, and that was a great deal of relief. I was fond of them, the first few elves that walked the path with me. They were there for me, and I was there for them. And now, one of them would live, for as long as possible. In Lozanna �s domain, I had an additional anchor to my early village of Freeka days.

It also felt nice, a sense of validation that my goal wasn�t wrong. I had supported her in her dream to be a hero, even if that journey took hundreds of years and a long detour through many worlds. She would now be a domain holder, with the powers similar to a hero. No matter the choice she made, it was still a significant step up in her strength.

So, while Lozanna pondered her new pleasant dilemma, the wider worlds continued to demand my attention.

Twinspace

Hoyia returned to Twinspace to continue the crusades for the Cursed Continent. As of now, half of the continent�s nations had already converted to Hoyia�s Temple of A/ .

The level of expansion slowed around this point, for two main reasons. One, the number of priests and agents at Hoyia�s disposal was limited. Hoyia was increasingly concerned that once her area of rule expanded, there were not enough priests and agents to expand and properly steer the zealots.

The zealots were powerful. Their passion was real, but it was therefore really important to properly guide this fervor in a way that would lead to productive outcomes.

The second reason was really more of a number issue. With any significantly large number of people, there would be those who oppose for the sake of opposing. Those that felt a need to struggle against others and rebel against the norm.

Half of the inhabited Old Continent was more than good enough.

Hoyia�s followers channeled the zealots from their converted population. The most passionate were redirected to building ships and raising an army to sail on them toward the new islands. The islands at the middle were built into a rest and refueling stop, for them to proceed to the Cursed Continent.

They built one thousand to two thousand ships, and all in a few hundred thousand warriors would leave for the journey. Many of these would set sail for the Cursed Continent from the islands, chasing the dream of the promised land.

As with all acts of faith, there was a special ceremony to seek the blessings of their patron god. For assistance, for a smooth journey, and for a successful venture.

A few thousand warriors and a few thousand more spectators. The ceremony would be held across the cities simultaneously, though the main event that was a massive sendoff at the main port city.

Multiple platforms were constructed throughout the cities in order to host the event.

It would be time for her to summon a titan, and she made arrangements with Lumoof to make it a spectacle. It had to be. She asked for a beetle carrier to fly overhead. Its surreal, alien quality was something she wanted to exploit to properly cement A/ �s role as an otherworldly god.

The first fleet would be referred to by many names by future historians, but in general we called it the Expeditionary Fleet, and the army that went to the Cursed Continent was referred to as the Army of the Promised Land. The names were something the priests created to help their appeal in the eyes of their followers.

There was a launch event, to flag off the first ships from the anchor points that would sail toward the Promised Land.

On a sea - facing platform located on the shoreline of their largest ports, Hoyia was once again surrounded by hundreds of thousands of spectators. Her group of priests began to sing. The singing, amplified by their priest powers, could be heard throughout the city, and it was as if everyone was sucked into a song, even if they didn�t want to.

The skies darkened, a mix of magic from various mages, and then Lumoof appeared from above in the avatar form. He was tiny.

He was an actor in Hoyia�s scheme.

A role to play in the goal of solidifying their mythos.

The chants continued, and Hoyia�s priests sang to call on their god�s blessings.

The song and hymns intensified, and they timed it for the moment it almost hit a crescendo. The skies above changed as Lumoof activated his avatar form.

Everyone in the city looked up and saw a gigantic magical tree that covered the sun and clouds. An oppressive atmosphere descended on the entire city as their - god - came to their world.

- We are blessed! - Hoyia roared.

And as if controlled by the priestess, the crowd followed and roared. For a moment, the entire city echoed with the collective roar of the spectators, guided by her gentle but stern voice.

Through Lumoof, a gigantic living beetle emerged. Its size cast a large shadow that caused everyone to look up.

It was larger than any of the ships that waited in the harbor and was large enough to hold hundreds, if not thousands of beetles within its gigantic wings.

Its appearance made the crowd stare in silence and awe. The beetle carrier floated in the air, then, as if woken from a long slumber, the massive wings began to flap. A burst of wind swept through the entire city.

- Our god has blessed our crusade and granted us one of its powerful servants to aid us on our journey! Together with our great expeditionary fleet, we will crush the demons! -

Throughout the continent, those who used some form of scrying magic to observe the event were all struck in fear, as the size of the gigantic beetle carrier overhead was myth and legend made real.

Spurred by their god�s perceived blessing, the first crusade sailed for the demons continent. A gigantic beetle - carrier flew above the fleet of ships, its winds helping the magical sails to go further, faster.

Privately, the Order knew it was just easier to use magic. But extensive teleportation magic just didn�t have the spectacle and emotional touch of a journey across the ocean. There were also not enough mages and wizards to teleport a few hundred thousand warriors and their supplies over an entire ocean.

But that would be solved later.

The mages of the Order began construction of a large teleportation array on the de facto capital of the Temple of A/ on Twinspace on Port Tarfa.

Port Tarfa would be given a special title as its special place in the eyes of the temple.

The Holy Port City of Tarfa would be the seat of the matriarch�s primary temple, and rather than commission a grand temple, she got some druids from Treehome to grow a gigantic tree into the shape of a temple.

Ideally, she would have liked it to be a node tree , but the actual node would be placed on the demons continent to facilitate the conquest of the new continent. So this was the compromise they ended with.

The teleportation array would then be paired with another teleportation array on the demons continent close to the node tree, and the two would then facilitate fairly regular movement of people between the two continents without the use of ships or airships in the future.

The journey across the ocean took about two months, faster than expected due to some favorable winds and magic from the Order�s mages.

Hoyia wanted the first fleet to appear - blessed, - so she had used her resources to ensure favorable winds. With things going well, the Expeditionary Fleet�s army was in high spirits.

Hundreds of thousands landed on the demonic continent and with the backing of the giant beetle carrier that flew overhead, nicknamed Gantry, war finally came for the Cursed Continent.

The landing site they chose would be where they founded the Cursed Continent�s first city, and the city would be later named Expedition�s Landing. The demons were fairly disorganized, so the army of zealots were able to swiftly purge the area of demons and thus. The war to claim the Cursed Continent had begun.

These expeditioners quickly able to verify the Temple of A/ �s claims.

The cursed land really was incredibly fertile and rich with resources. It was never mined, never farmed. Even with the demons corruptive blight.

Back on the old continent, there were rumors and news that began to spread. Wealth. Resources. Large, untapped masses of potential farmland!

But no one believed it yet. After all, they did not see it.

The Cursed Continent was covered in demonic blight, and that same demonic blight tampered with magic. This interference was too much for most of the relatively lower - level native mages of Twinspace.

But Hoyia knew she had to show results. Something to keep the nobles and the new zealots hooked. So Hoyia�s expeditionary fleet hauled up large boulders of unprocessed ore. Most of these boulders were left untouched by the demons, filled with gold and gems, and were shipped back to the main continent.

She knew that day when the first ship, their very first - treasure ship, - landed on Port Tarfa and unveiled what they had brought back from their very first landing post, the rush for the Cursed Continent would truly begin.

Treehome

- Everything�s okay, - Prabu said as he emerged from the biolab. - I feel great, actually. Strangely nice. -

He stretched. Did some small jumps. The man looked like he never aged a bit. Rohana, his daughter, looked happy. Relieved. The heroes had many children, though both Prabu and Colette had been fairly special with each other and only had Rohana.

She was much older now and in her teens. A human like her didn�t have much special skills, but as she began to age faster than her parents, I knew they would start to have strange thoughts about their children.

But it was a can they kicked down the road.

For now, everything was fine. In fact, things were better.

Our scheduled inspections post - soul spring operation didn�t indicate anything unusual, but after some regular battle tests later, we discovered there were small improvements to Prabu�s abilities.

We noticed Prabu stopped complaining about unusual pains in his head.

It wasn�t totally gone. But they were far less painful than before.

They didn�t hurt him in a primal way when we spoke about topics regarding demon kings and postponing battles. He could endure those conversations and retain memories of them.

I thus formulated a hypothesis that those protruding stones in their soul springs were ways the hero class influenced their minds. It warped the shape of the spiritual energy flows, and in doing so, they shaped their mind. All other classes did not have those protrusions. I�d examined so many other Valthorns and individuals to know that classes did not alter the flow of mana from the - inner - soul.

So I quickly summoned the rest of the heroes for a similar inspection.

Not all of them wanted to let me work on their souls and clean it up, but they were willing to allow me to have a look in their soul springs.

I peered into the soul springs of Khefri, Adrian, Samuel, Rajah, and Wira and realized that they all had multiple protruding stone structures that altered the flow of their souls. This was the equivalent of a tumor growing within their brains. It applied pressure on their minds and thus shaped and directed their behavior in a certain fashion.

Unless they were able to thoroughly purge and - clean - their hero class like Colette, this did mean I could suppress and weaken the hero class�s mental influences and allow them to think with more clarity.

I believed if I wanted an honest discussion with the heroes, they needed to be able to think clearly.

Yet, of the five other heroes, only Khefri and Adrian wanted me to help them fix the protruding stone structures.

Samuel, Rajah, and Wira all were still a little apprehensive. They were still new and maybe still didn�t trust me fully. Rajah and Wira, in the larger scheme of things, were mostly out of the Order�s day - to - day activities.

Gigant dragon, the world that they came from, was still fairly independent, and with the enemy demon king slain, their world could get back to normalcy on their own. They still had multiple surviving large nations and cities that could invest and rebuild their old destroyed nations, and they did.

Samuel wanted to wait and see. The handsome elven hero had decided, somehow, that the hero class was sacred and shouldn�t be tampered with. Perhaps it was a holdover of all the education from the Sacred Cherry Tree of Landas.

Regardless, I helped Khefri and Adrian adjust their protruding stone structures and clean up some of the accumulated - waste - within their heroic soul springs. Just like with Prabu, I received a little more of the heroic dust . It was a strange thing, but I wanted to experiment with it a little bit more.

But with Khefri, this time I noticed there was something else in there. A differently colored rock within her soul spring. I didn�t know why I never noticed it before, or perhaps, because it was in the inner side of the soul spring, obscured by the turbulent star mana of her soul.

It had a connection to another.

This was a part of the Pact of the Three , between the three powers of Threeworld.

It was how Zhaanpu kept some limited control over Khefri. Once I just gently touched it, it responded back to me, and it felt like something I knew.

It was a skill, a Contract .

A Soul Pact of the Three .

Soul Pact of the Three is invisible to its host. An ancient bond that ties all heroes to the three hegemons of Threeworld. It allows the Three Hegemons to exercise some control and influence on the heroes.

I knew that Zhaanpu had some ways of controlling Khefri. But now I know how.

I left it untouched, but I wondered whether I should let Khefri know. For now, I adjusted the rest of the protruding stones and removed the tampering effect on the flow of her star mana.

Threeworlds

Khefri returned to the world of Threeworlds feeling refreshed. Her mind was clear. Clearer than it had even been.

Somehow, when she stepped into her old palace, something she did out of habit, she looked around and asked herself.

- Why am I doing all of this? -

The more she wandered through her old palace, she truly didn�t understand what she went through. It didn�t make any sense. It used to feel comfortable. As if it appealed to a part of her. What was the harem of dancing boys for?

It puzzled her. The clarity of mind suddenly placed all her past actions under question, and she began to realize that they were coping mechanisms.

The hero class distracted her from things. She wandered her palace and, in the end, decided to go talk to Zhaanpu.

- You�ve come to see me willingly, - Zhaanpu said with a sigh. - What happened now? -

- A/ removed some of the inhibitions of the hero class. -

Zhaanpu sighed. - He should not have done that. They exist for a reason. -

- Did you know this would happen? -

- Me? No. I have never seen it done. But heroes are dangerous. You can be dangerous. These inhibitions and distractions are how the gods ensure heroes remain functional and non - destructive in a world that only needs you for moments in time. The reality of being ripped out of your old world and placed into a new one is hard for you. -

Zhaanpu geared for a fight, as if Khefri was here for a showdown. Maybe it was Zhaanpu�s old past life�s experience. His past with heroes often involved showdowns.

But he didn�t get one. - No, - Khefri countered as she realized Zhaanpu was prepared to fight her. He was worried that without the inhibitions, she would go rogue. But no. That was not what she was there for. - No, it�s not. Not for me. There�s no need for this, - Khefri said as she realized that Zhaanpu�s fears were unfounded. - I have my fellow hero - friends, and as long as there is a community, I can deal with this. I just came to talk. -

That made Zhaanpu a little puzzled. - That is quite a surprise. -

- Yeah. I think you can just take back my palace and assimilate my old queendom. I don�t need it anymore, - Khefri said. - But I will return to fight the demons, as I must. -

- I see. This is an interesting turn of events. -

Khefri seemed to agree. It was great that there was a place that increasingly reminded her of her old home. The chaotic city life of Freshka was very Earth - like, as were all the various entertainment and food options.

She should return to her fellow hero friends. Maybe they, too, need a friend in her.

YEAR 286

Darkgard, the demon world connected to the Dwarven World of Delvegard

The world of Darkgard was home to a demon mother nursing a growing demon king within its planetary core, and in a decade or two, she would launch an attack on Delvegard.

- There are two things we can do, - Alka said. - One, we attack the demons directly, here on Darkgard and potentially trigger a demonic comet. The demonic comet is an extremely powerful countermeasure, and it will require the entire Order to intervene. As it is, even with the full might of all of us dwarves here, it is unlikely that there will be a successful attack on the demon king at the current point, so that leads us to option two. -

The crowd listened.

- We wait for the demon king to attack Delvegard. There is a risk of some collateral damage in the second option. In the past, our preferred strategy was to rig the landing point with explosives and weaken the demon king so much that the high - leveled Order operatives could crush the demon king. We can reclaim the demon world fairly safely after that. -

The dwarves of Darkgard had built, within a year, a large, sprawling city filled with fortifications, and here, their gigantic war machines were used to combat the demons.

Save for the new dwarven city, which was now named Darkgard�s Stand, the demon world remained almost entirely demon-controlled. Hordes of demonic spawning pools throughout the wider region would release thousands of demons that charged toward their new city walls.

In response, Darkgard�s Stand had three layers of walls made from the local region�s stone and minerals.

But interestingly, the dwarves themselves realized Darkgard wasn�t always a demon world. There were places, purged from the demonic blight, that contained old, ancient structures that were probably a few hundred years old.

There was a time when there were humans here. That was all gone now. The dwarves found these ancient civilizations to be fascinating and called them the Old Darkgardians.

For now, the Order existed as the final - security - measure for the dwarves who wanted to prove themselves in this outpost. The defensive battles were a great outlet for their energy.

We�d planned a few years ago to deploy my nodes across the peripheral worlds, but as of now, we had not yet deployed our node treeson the world of Triotuga, Caval, Twinspace, and the world of the Floating Islands.

The delay was mainly one of the finer details.

We were not exactly sure where the best place to deploy on Caval was and who was the most friendly to us as visitors. Just as Ebon and Edna had realized, the world�s value to us was really in the chance to experiment with heroes. The knights and the hero - swords were a fairly limited value to us on their own, outside of the concept of a growing weapon.

I told Stella that I intended to allow Edna the chance to experiment, and she refused to talk to me for a month. But in the end, Stella demanded some safeguards to protect the future hero and a chance to mingle with the rest of the heroes. Stella and Edna took some time to visit the world of Caval. Stella�s void domain wasn�t a particular fan of the star mana used by the various hero swords of Caval, but she wanted to see it anyway, just to know why Edna wanted to experiment with it.

The visit went smoothly, and Stella begrudgingly understood the merits of a growing weapon but doubted the System would allow a weapon to exceed its original owner�s level. I personally doubted that, too.

For Twinspace, it was about a great cleansing spectacle, so the node was put off until there was more development on the demonic continent.

For Triotuga, we had some operatives on the ground building up our relationships, but we were likely to base ourselves on the human side. Triotuga was a borderline world, and we wanted to experiment on the boarfolk�s demonic connections. It was a chance for me to test the extent of the faerie�s control over my trees.

For Terras, we also had some guys infiltrating the three major island empires.

After the defeat of the demon king on Mountainworld, we redirected our attention to the coming demon kings of Caval, Triotuga, and of course Twinspace.

In the background, Hoyia was working on her plan of how to make the battle for Twinspace�s demon king a spectacle. She had roped in Ebon and a few other Level 140s to help. She wanted to make it a fully televised event. The magical ability to scry and farsight was well known, though they were often interrupted by the magical disruptions by a powerhouse like the demon king.

So in the past, viewing demonic battles was often choppy and the image wasn�t clear. Mages who saw the demonic battles also found it hard to reliably share what they saw with their peers, though there had been good advancements in the past few decades such as some unique shared vision types of spells.

The challenges didn�t stop the matriarch, so at her funding, there was a dedicated group of mages researching ways to properly and stably scry a demon king battle, even while the huge amount of magical energies interfered with it.

In a strange twist of our old world�s influence on this magical world, the initial versions were pretty much magically insulated mechanisms with really long insulated cables, which were then linked to a transmission artifact located far away from the actual battle. There were magical formations already able to convert light and vision into magical recordings, and they had been around for a while.

But there had been no real push to create interference - resistant scrying tools until Hoyia came along, which would then feed into a great spectacle on how the Temple of A/ conquered the demon continent and freed it from the menace that was the demon king.

All in the name of propaganda.

I wondered if Hoyia gained a domain someday, could it be the domain of propaganda? Or domain of misinformation? A cultural domain of some sort?

It was an interesting thing to think about.

I looked at the rest of my Valthorns and wondered which sort of domain they would get.

Of all of my Valthorns, Ebon stood out as the oldest of them, and I wondered whether the System would be so cruel as to give him one that reflected his long journey to a domain. On some level, I didn�t understand why the System didn�t give him a domain. In terms of feats and achievements, he had tried as much as anyone else.

Then there were those who were hot on his heels. Hoyia, Blackthorn, and a few other Order operatives were all in the Level 140s.

On our pantheon front, we continued to grapple with one big gap, maybe two. The first of these gaps was a lack of domain - level mages and wizards. As of now, Blackthorn and a few other void archmages were up there. Magic remained a realm where we still lacked that bit of extra firepower.

Perhaps magic was just too overpowered?

I sometimes tried to imagine Stella at really high levels with her control over void magic. Maybe she could destroy or reroute the demonic paths through the void sea. If she could do something like that, it would truly change how we thought about fighting demons.

Even in spite of years, decades of experiments into manipulating the void sea, we had not been able to redirect the Cometworld. Maybe it took someone at the Level 250s to do so.

The second big gap was one about crafters. The heroes had their hero forge , but for the rest of us, our crafting abilities remained fairly limited outside of Alka. Alka�s crystal - explosive focus did constrain the full scope of crafting. We had high - leveled crafters who were now taking more combat roles, in order to get them closer to the domains, but progress was mixed.

There were a few of them who reached Level 140s, but I wondered whether this was the right thing to do. Should we really get crafters to Level 150 by getting them to fight demon kings? Did that lead to more combat - type abilities? If it did, it wouldn�t really solve our need for more super - crafters.

Then there was the problem with reclaiming the demon worlds such as Darkgard. We needed a way to quickly rejuvenate the reclaimed worlds so that they could withstand a return of the demons.

Like Treehome and Tropicsworld, I�d used the large population, resources, and supplies of Treehome and many other worlds to repopulate Tropicsworld, but even so, the weaker ambient levels of mana meant the world itself wasn�t as prosperous as the rest.

Was there a way to reset this quickly?

- Reclaiming the demon worlds? - Lumoof returned to Satrya briefly to speak to Gawa once more. - It�s not worth it. Those demon worlds have been stripped of most of its accumulated reserves and energy. Replenishing it would take centuries. In that time it�ll have to defend against tens of demon kings. Unless it was freshly conquered, and its world core�s magical reserves are still fairly healthy, it is not worth it. -

The odds of a world bouncing back from demonic invasion was slim.

Of the worlds I had a presence in, Tropicsworld really wasn�t doing so bad. It probably had thirty, no, almost forty percent of its old strength, and I wondered whether there was a way I could independently accelerate this recovery. In some ways, I believed it was already much faster than it originally was.

I was a tree. We were a force of nature, and healing broken lands should be well within my powers.

Could I amplify this further so that the captured cores could heal faster?

Out of instinct, I reached back deep into the various worlds I was in, like Mountainworld, Treehome, and Threeworlds, and tried to call to their Will of the World.

I wondered, if the strong worlds could reinforce the weak worlds? Could the Will of the Worlds share their energy?

At first, there was nothing.

But I tried anyway.

There must be a way to help the damaged worlds recover so that they were strong enough. So that they didn�t immediately collapse to the demons in a case of re - invasion.

I thought of the challenge as a medical matter, that these damaged worlds were chronically ill patients, and I wanted to use transplanted blood and organs from healthy individuals to shore up these chronically ill individuals and speed up their recovery.

I shared those thoughts to the Cores I was in touch with.

Nothing.

It was not that they were not listening. The Will of the World always listened, and they did so passively through the worlds many mechanisms.

Maybe, just like me, they needed time.

YEAR 287

The treasure ships landed on Port Tarfa, and the stores filled with gems and metals were hauled off the boats. As Hoyia predicted, the crowds gawked at the sheer wealth and resources of the stones, and the entire continent watched.

In their eyes was a mix of faith, validated belief, and greed.

The world was a dried field of grass, and she had brought oil and matches. - Behold, my fellow believers. The proof of the wealth that was denied to us all, trapped here in the old world because of your old beliefs! The proof that there is great opportunity in the Promised Land. In A/ �s vision, the demonic continent is a promised land, filled with metals, gold, silver, and gems, and fertile land! -

And the mistress of propaganda was soon back at the affair of fanning the flames of zealotry.

- Now to prove that it is so bountiful that even this chunk of rock is worthless, come! - Hoyia had the rocks filled with unpolished gems to their temple and placed them outside. She touched it, and with the powers of her familiar, the giant, gem - studded rock was shattered into thousands of smaller rocks. - Believers, those who believed and contributed to the expeditionary fund, over the next few weeks, you will be summoned to receive some of these rocks as a token of your faith. -

The same day, many nations independently started their own demonic continent program. Greed was such a potent resource, perhaps more so in a world of scarcity.

On Expedition�s Landing, the native zealots were able to expand further and deeper into the demonic territory, and they began to encounter stronger resistance from the demon champions that prowl the land.

This continent, the - New World, - was under the influence of demonic rule for centuries, and it seemed that the demon king had been around for a few decades. The truth of the matter was shrouded in poor record keeping and lack of a centralized way of checking when the last demon king had defeated the heroes.

It didn�t help that not everyone got the - announcement - when a demon king arrived, and for the existing priests of Gawa and whatever gods that would receive some notification, they were not really incentivized to record it or share that knowledge with others.

Ebon, like many other of his peers, was here. This was the last of the demon kings among the peripheral worlds, for now.

On some level, I wondered, perhaps, if there was a narrative element to the System . That each of us domain holders represented a story. I looked back at my own journey and realized my rise to a domain was probably quite stratospheric.

Was Ebon, therefore, missing the story that would elevate him to a domain? A tale of his journey that would cement him as one of us? In other words, if we looked into the ancient histories and myths of our world, could it be that Ebon needed a unique myth? For Edna, Johann, Roon, Kafa, and Ezar, I wasn�t quite sure why they had relatively easier paths compared to Ebon. Edna as a knight. Roon as a sniper. Johann as a ranger. Alka as an explosives alchemist. Kafa�s claws, and Ezar�s fists.

Was it because they had a clear focus?

No. As Patreeck and my artificial minds digested the data, it didn�t seem like they had a particular focus, nor did they seem better designed. I could sense Ebon�s inner turmoil. With each battle, it still shook him. He was unsure whether he would make it.

It was a familiar feeling. Both Roon and Johann had similar feelings when they were struggling to cross that final barrier.

Ebon traveled alone, cloaked in protections to spy on the demon king. The demon king was small, relative to the other demon kings we�d seen, but it thrummed with power. It was about the size of a beetletruck that we used for logistics and held two large, perpetually burning axes on its two arms and had two black horns from its head.

It was, in other words, the quintessential demon lord, without the demonic wings.

The demon king on the cursed continent of Twinspace seemed to have noticed Ebon�s presence.

- It sensed me, - Ebon said as we spoke through my spiritual familiar. - And yet it does nothing. -

- It�s waiting for heroes. - One of the theories we had earlier was that the demon kings needed hero - souls to generate sufficient energy for their mining operations toward the core of the world.

- Lumoof and Edna can take it. - Indeed, it may be on the slightly higher end of the demon kings from its energy signature, but two domain holders could hold it down. - It may suddenly attack us if it doesn�t like our presence in its space. I should teleport out so that it doesn�t follow me. -

The demon king was a presence we could sense even from far away, especially to my priests and mages who were attuned to how the demon king warps the presence of magic around itself.

As it turned out, Ebon was right. Hoyia�s plan didn�t go according to plan, because about four months into the demonic continent�s expedition, the demon king began to move.

And it was moving quickly toward Expedition�s Landing.

- What - the demon king is coming our way? What jolted it out of its passivity? - Hoyia said but tried her best not to reveal her underlying turmoil. - Wait. How much time do we have? -

- A day, maybe less? - the void mages working for her said. The way the demon king emitted void and demonic mana was something we could track.

She closed her eyes. It was too late to evacuate, and she didn�t want to waste all her efforts. - I suppose things have been going too well for me, hasn�t it? - Hoyia smiled and did her best to put on a brave front. - Well, let�s see what this demon king�s got. -

She did her best to arrange for the mages to view their battle, with what little preparations they got and readied the rest of the forces for battle.

- My fellow zealots and faithfuls of A/ . - Hoyia gave a speech as the leader of the Twinspace operations. - It seems that our faith has drawn the envy and anger of the demons, and now, the demon king itself is headed this way! -

That caused an audible gasp throughout the rest of the zealots. Their power levels were far too low to defeat the demon king.

- But fear not, this is all but the will of the heavens. I have called on A/ �s warriors to help us, and I, too, will take the battlefield with my compatriots. -

Hoyia stood with the Level 140s who were there with her. Most of them were ready, as well as they could be. But the fight against the demon king on Mountainworld was still fresh in their minds.

- Go and make a name for yourself, Ebon, - I said. A myth. A legend. Perhaps that was what they needed.

The demon king�s presence was unmistakable to all those present, and without the domain holders to shield them, the zealots from afar trembled. These were believers who had never faced something as powerful as the demon king.

Hoyia held my greatstaff in her hands and was first to launch a set of blessings for the rest of her team. The few mages and druids in the team followed soon after, and the battle was on.

I watched as the Valthorns flung themselves toward the demon king. They were afraid, but they made the leap anyway. In the eyes of zealots, they could not falter now.

The domain holders were somewhat nearby and watched.

- A part of me thinks we should intervene, - Edna said. For her, watching her friend Ebon try and try again just worried her. Each time, just like Lozanna , Ebon tried harder. More. Better. - But we shouldn�t. We shouldn�t. -

Edna was trying to convince herself. It was something they all were. They couldn�t steal the fight from those who aspired to join their ranks. They could not rob them of the ladder that they had used to climb to their level. It was hard for each of the domain holders who had friends amongst those who were the Level 140s. Like Lumoof, who considered Hoyia a peer, as one of the Decarches. Or Alka, who worked with many of the mages and alchemists present.

They watched them struggle against the might of the demon king. It was too much for them, even if all their equipment and tools gave them protection and shielding. Things that allowed them to tank a strike from a demon king.

The ax of the demon king slammed into Hoyia�s greatstaff and flung the matriarch far away. She slammed into the fairly new wall of Expedition�s Landing. The zealots gasped, but Matriarch Hoyia emerged in a cocoon of hardened wooden roots. She lived, even if injured.

- I am fine! - she roared, defiant.

Ebon and the rest of the warrior Valthorns launched powerful attacks repeatedly at the demon king, and they dealt some damage. But just like Edna, it was miniscule. Weak.

Their attacks only lightly injured the demon king, even with all their power together. All their attacks were barely able to overcome the innate regeneration of the demon king. It would take a lot more than this.

And yet the demon king somehow sensed or perhaps was drawn to Hoyia�s greatstaff. It gave chase and tried to hunt her down.

- Is this the point we step in? - Edna looked. There was too much uncertainty, but Lumoof touched her shoulders and held her back.

- No. Too early, - Lumoof cautioned, but I knew in Lumoof�s heart he steeled himself for a real loss of life. Someone would die, in order for the rest to advance. That was how it was in the past. Maybe it would be the same here. Maybe it was Hoyia. Maybe it was Ebon. Maybe it was the dwarven mage Blackthorn. Maybe it was the others who he called friends and colleagues.

Edna shook her head. - You won�t stop me from preventing deaths. I will leap right in there if I feel it. -

Ebon and the few warriors stepped in and tried to stop the demon king from charging in Hoyia�s direction. Maybe it sensed her weakness. Maybe it was the greatstaff. We didn�t know why it chose Hoyia as a target, but the rest of my Valthorns blocked the demon king�s advance.

- No, you are not getting to her, - Ebon said as his weapons tried to chain and hold down the demon king. His sword cracked as he traded blows with the demon king�s burning magical axes. He had gotten quite good at digging deep into his soul for the last dregs of strength and stamina. A part of him grew tired of it all, and he was prepared to let it all go to achieve the next step.

Lumoof looked at Edna. - It�s hard. I want to step in there as much as you. But they will be those who walk with us, and we must respect their determination to put their lives on the line. -

- I agree, and that�s why I am not going to let them die because of it, - Edna said as an army of lesser demons descended on Expedition�s Landing. They were late; after all, these lesser creatures could not move as fast as the demon king. The zealots were not ready, but it didn�t matter. - Guys, do you mind taking out the small fries? -

The four combat - based domain holders - Roon, Johann, Kafa, and Ezar - naturally understood and moved to deal with the rest of the demons coming their way. The beetle titan, which was nearby, also quickly flew to intercept the demonic forces. With the four and a fleet of flying beetles, the Valthorns could focus their energies on battling the demon king to the best that they could.

For Lumoof, Edna, and Stella, their eyes were locked on the demon king battling it out with Ebon and the others.

- It seems to be drawn to Hoyia, for some reason, - Lumoof said as he flipped through his various types of vision. What was the demon king attracted to? Star mana?

We didn�t quite know. Maybe it was the presence of priests as a holy existence.

- Ebon�s being just as reckless as Lozanna . - Edna sighed as Ebon stood and blocked the demon king with all his might. He used a range of abilities so that he was slightly larger and increased his heft.

- It worked for Lozanna , - Lumoof said. - Success becomes an example. -

The zealots were enraptured as they watched the Valthorns do their best to hold back the demon king. They were mere Level 30 to 50 warriors, and the demon king was an existence far above their level.

Hoyia�s greatstaff glowed as she channeled my power. A weakened version of my roots tried to chain down the demon king. It didn�t hold it down for long, but the fact that the demon king needed to exert effort to break through those roots was a sign of her strength.

The rest of the Valthorns attacked the demon king and managed to weaken it slightly.

Hoyia tried her best to bless the rest of her peers and yet.

A miracle.

The greatstaff. My greatstaff, made from my soul, drew power from the System .

The power released at this moment was immediately familiar to Lumoof and Edna. - This feels like the holy relics from Satrya. - Lumoof blinked. We�d seen the divine relics of Gawa and knew that they distorted reality in a certain way.

But relics were relics for their ability to summon divinity, and we would later discover it was this sort of relics that allowed the Champions of Gawa to stand up against the demon king invaders. They were, in other words, borrowing power through stored faith. Relics, as it turned out, were weapons of faith. The stronger the world�s faith was, the more powerful they became.

That meant Gawa �s relics could draw on exceptional power on worlds where Gawa �s beliefs were strong, but on worlds owned by demons, they were no more than special artifacts.

In other words, relics were defensive weapons, mediums of faith of the world they existed in. A shame they didn�t exist in the far - flung worlds where the people believed in gods.

Hoyia, Ebon, and a few other Valthorns at the moment were suddenly possessed by divine fury. Their bodies glowed in a way that was simultaneously my power and not mine. Because it didn�t come from me directly.

- Well, what do you know? - Edna said. - Hoyia�s decision to request for a relic has some merit, after all. You clearly should ask A/ to make more. -

- This didn�t trigger on Mountainworld, - Lumoof said. - What are the conditions for using divine relics? -

The demon king now suffered real wounds, empowered by divine might.

- Fervor, zealotry, perhaps? If we compare Twinspace to Mountainworld, the immediate thought that comes to mind is faith. Given the existence of the World Faith System, there clearly is a reason why the old gods chose to move to it, - the knight responded. - I think you need to go visit that old god again to talk about divine relics and how they work. It�s not the power of the item itself, but what it taps into, and we should be able to do that, too. -

The blessings of a relic brought the battle to a fairly equal state. The demon king suffered real damage, and incredibly, the damage dealt by divine fervor didn�t heal easily. The demon king couldn�t regenerate its way out of wounds.

But the power of divinity eventually ran out.

The relic was only able to sustain the blessing for slightly over an hour, but that was transformative.

In our eyes, the demon king likely lost half its strength in that hour of pitched combat, while Ebon, Hoyia, and the others were drained.

- They�re spent, I think. Let�s clean this up, - Lumoof said.

Edna nodded, and the two domain holders walked in to finish the job. The demon king was slain a few moments later, and two new domain holders ascended to join their ranks.

YEAR 287 (PART II)

- What are relics? -

It was a simple question and came with a simple answer.

It was a fragment of divinity, and anyone who held the relic could then channel a fragment of that world�s faith to create miracles. Miracles then took on many different forms. Miracles were things such as a sudden surge in the combat power of Hoyia, Ebon, and the others.

Miracles, in their case, took the form of the power to singlehandedly overturn the tide of battle.

Relics enabled miracles, and they were an inherent part of the old system.

- The old gods moved to the World Faith System because they all knew that faith was powerful. Miracles were there even before the first gods came to be, through things such as worldly miracles. There was a time when the people used to worship and believe in the power of the land and the elements. That was faith as well. Faith in the world, faith in the old nature before an existence like yourself came to be. -

- Faith is thoughts, beliefs. They are things in the hearts of men, and they linger within our souls. This is a power, even if unseen and untouchable. They flow into the aether and thus empower the world as we know it. -

Faith was the fuel that existed throughout the world. It was how the old masters exceeded their inherent level limitations.

Faith existed, with or without the World Faith System.

Relics were conduits. A connection to something more that took the form of gods, systems, and the Wills of the World. This connection relied on faith to fuel its effects.

With all three, a relic, the faith of their user, and a world where there was sufficient faith flowing about, they enabled such miracles to occur.

The old gods defended their core worlds with the use of relics and special champions empowered with multiple relic - grade items. It was likely the faith point cost of such an act was significantly cheaper than summoning heroes, and they would have more control.

In other words, they�d managed to reliably trigger miracles in order to defeat the demon kings.

In a similar way, Hoyia�s use of a relic enabled a miracle.

She was a few levels behind Ebon, but triggering this miracle made her gain many, many levels. Enough that she reached Level 150.

The matriarch�s choices were limited. Only two choices, but to her, it might as well be one.

Subdomain of A/ - The Burning Tree. This subdomain channels the power of believers, grants the ability to sense the zeal of zealots and empower zealots. It is stronger in worlds with high levels of faith and weaker in worlds with no faith. The Burning Tree is able to temporarily condense the levels of its believers into the domain holder, to significantly increase their own power. The maximum increase in level is two times the current level. In addition, the Burning Tree is able to enter Sacrifice Form, where the user gains a temporary tripling of power for a period of three days. Once the use of power expires, the user will die and be eligible for resurrection. If the user dies this way, resurrection will take twice as long to complete.

Hoyia considered it to be a defensive choice, strong in worlds with high faith, and the Sacrifice Form seemed exceptionally powerful in emergencies.

Domain of the Heartshaper. This domain channels one�s ability to shape the thoughts and hearts of those around it. The user is inherently able to sense the emotions, thoughts, fears, and weaknesses of those around them and form direct connections to reassure those around them.

This domain holder can enthrall others who are of a slightly lower level, and the enthralled individuals will obey all commands of the domain holder. The Heartshaper can cause those enthralled to enter - Berserker - form, where they gain a large increase in strength equal to 50% of their levels, though without the skills and abilities of the higher levels. The enthralled individuals can be broken out of their controlled state with sufficient time. Other Domain holders are immune to effects of the Enthrall.

It was an option that reflected her recent actions, of how she manipulated her believers and her reputation in the non - believer nations as the great seductress.

It was powerful in its own way, but Hoyia knew what her choice was.

The other individual, Ebon, also finally crossed the level threshold.

- You did it. - Hoyia approached the knight.

- Well, you too. - Ebon took off his battered knight�s helmet and gave a long sigh of relief. The man was old, but the influence of the domain had begun to de - age him. - It�s. I almost thought it wouldn�t happen. -

- Well, that was a miracle. -

- Do you think they�ll let us replicate it? - Ebon wondered. - A/ �s gotta make more of those relics for the others to step into the final realm. -

Hoyia paused as she thought about it and then shook her head. - I believe, even if indirectly, that there is a penalty for taking the known path. -

- Heh. We are lucky, then. -

- That is so. What options did you get? - Hoyia asked.

The knight had three choices.

Domain of the Knight - Trainer - This domain�s focus is on training and perseverance. It excels at training others and can formally take up to three students as a Domain�s Squire , who are granted a significant experience boost, and a single non - rechargeable instant respawn ability. The respawn ability will not apply to those above Level 100. The effect of the experience boost is significantly stronger in older, more mature students. In addition, the domain holder will be able to sense and influence the type of skills and classes of students and also remove unwanted classes. While in the presence of students, the Knight - Trainer gains significant defensive abilities and can protect students from harm.

In addition, the Knight - Trainer gains a passive boost to overall abilities and strength proportional to the number of levels gained by the Domain�s Squire while under their tutelage. If the squires eventually ascend to a domain of their own, the Knight - Trainer will receive a special skill based on the domain of their students.

Domain of the Enduring Knight - This domain has a focus on long, pitched battles and can name a target as a - marked - target. The domain knight�s regeneration and overall strength will increase at a stepped basis, relative to how long a marked target remains alive during battle and the target�s starting level. In addition, the Enduring Knight also gains an ability to Lock its target, which enables the domain holder to instantaneously teleport next to the target. The strength increase can be up to three times the current level of the domain knight. It will take about half a day for the effect to reach a 50% increase in power, a full day for a doubling of power, and five days for an effective increase equal to three times of the current level. However, if the Enduring Knight or the Marked Target leaves the battle during this time frame, the timer is reset. This domain will also significantly enhance defensive, healing, and also targeting abilities.

This option seemed to focus on long battles against a strong, highly defensive opponent. I wondered whether the targeting function worked for fixed, stationary objects or only moving creatures.

Then the last option.

Domain of the Castle Knight - The Knight gains the ability to create and summon up to three magical castles, called the Sacred Citadel , with their own linked artificial souls. These Sacred Citadels have their own magical summoned knight army, magical protections, anti - enemy auras, and facilities to heal allies and feed refugees as well as their own magical mana pool. All three Sacred Citadels can be linked and enable movement between them. Those with Knight and related classes can travel between the magical castles with no cost, while movement of all other objects and individuals will cost some magical energy. The Castle Knight can move to any of its Sacred Citadels instantly. These castles can have magical fixtures and items installed into them and will retain these fixtures until they are destroyed.

The Castle Knight can also temporarily fuse with their Sacred Citadels to enhance their own strength, endurance, and healing.

- Well, which one do you think you�ll go for? - Hoyia asked.

Ebon rubbed his chin and looked around. - I don�t know. I didn�t plan for anything beyond the end of the battle. -

- Me neither. - Hoyia punched the knight on the shoulder. - But for me, it�s quite clear what I want. -

- I�ll need a few days to process this. A part of me still doesn�t believe it and is more than ready to be disappointed once more. -

- Take all the time you need, friend, - Hoyia said.

Choices. We gave them time to think, just as we gave Lozanna . Now we had three of them at the cusp of their own choices.

- So. There are no more demon kings on the peripheral worlds. - Lumoof returned to the world of Satrya. - How long do we need to wait? -

- I ask that you wait for two more decades. It will be ready soon, - Gawa responded through the communications relic.

Two more decades, year 307.

In a few years, there would be a new wave of demon kings, but there was nothing to fear. Now, we could have a few years of peace. To rebuild, to regenerate the various broken cities, and to elevate their people.

- What will be useful for the coming attack on the demonic home world? - Lozanna approached a few of the domain holders one day and asked for opinions.

- We do not know, - Stella said. - I�ve tried to poke at the barrier to see what lies beyond, but during that brief moment when the Sun Rings was damaged, all we saw was the demonic comet. -

- Since we are talking about the Sun Rings , do you think we can try to break it down ourselves, right now? - Edna asked, perhaps a little curious of whether her own strength would be sufficient. The tale that I faced two defender demon kings on the Sun Rings was a fact known to our upper circles, but now, we had the means to deal with them.

As we were now, we would win against two demon kings at the same time. Three, even.

- We could potentially make Gawa �s work harder, if we didn�t destroy it immediately. The Sun Rings could possibly gain defensive measures as a result of our actions. We don�t exactly know how the demons repair their structures and whether this is a reversion to norm or it comes with upgrades. If I was the builder, I�d rebuild with new countermeasures, - Alka countered. - If we hit it, we need to hit it fully with the intention of destroying it in its entirety. -

- But I am still quite torn on what to select. - Lozanna redirected the conversation to her own dilemma.

- What do you want to do? - the lady of the void asked and then decided to dip her feet in the ring. - If I were you, I�d pick the Unchosen Champion, simply because the star mana potential independent of the hero class would be a good insurance against whatever stuff the demons have on the other side. -

- I had an inkling that was the case, - Lozanna said, - but the alternative is that I will have to wait until Gawa �s item breaks the Sun Rings , and that�s a two to three decade wait. I don�t think I should wait that long without the full extent of my powers. -

- Don�t worry too much, my dear. - Stella smiled back at the elf. - You will not be the last domain holder, so if there is something we lack, we�ll just have to train new domain holders to fill up that gap. -

Edna coughed. - You make it sound like we�ve got it figured out. -

- I think we do. Mostly. -

The void sea was immense.

Stella�s void explorers, now that she had more of them, traveled further and further away, in search of the lands controlled by the other gods. The other half of our plan involved engaging other gods to fight the demons together.

- Well, anything? -

- Nope, - Stella said and went on with her usual statement about how the void sea was really big and it took a lot of time to get anywhere.

But I could tell Stella was partly bothered by the prior visit to the void layers. There were days she sat in her room making notes about her observations in the void layers, and she also made predictions about what was on the other side of that barrier.

A part of it was a subtle but ever - present nagging sense of uncertainty. We did not truly understand the demons, and the more we learned from multiple sources, the better prepared we would be.

Stella�s void explorers played a crucial part in this information - gathering exercise, and we needed to reach the other gods - Gaya, Neira, or even Aiva.

A part of me feared something else entirely. What if the void barrier wasn�t meant to keep us out, but instead was something to keep the demons in?

I thought that was incredibly unlikely, since it was a structure controlled by demons, but the risk, however infinitely small, was not zero.

Alka returned to the world of Darkgard and continued to train the dwarves to prepare for their role.

Over the past two years, we�d gotten fairly comfortable with the Delvegardian dwarves and began to send groups of them to Treehome and a few other worlds for them to experience life outside of Delvegard.

At the same time, we�d also started the first series of technological exchanges between Treehome and the Delvegardians and also started work on the dwarven war machines that combined the resources, equipment, and materials of both sides.

We had advantages in terms of sheer levels, wider variety of materials, weaponry designs, and magical powers, but the Delvegardians did have details and finesse honed over a much longer period of continuous improvements.

As a whole, I still considered ourselves technologically superior to the Delvegardians. But there was no use hoarding some of the lower - and middle - tier techniques, and these dwarves had joined our Great War.

Twinspace

The defeat of Twinspace�s demon king had a significant impact on the overall strength of the demons on the demonic continent.

In an instant, it was as if all the weaker demons had lost about one - fifth to one - third of their individual combat strength, likely due to loss of some aura or passive enhancement from the demon king.

Expedition�s Landing, buoyed by the victory over the demon king, quickly expanded. With the threat of the demon king removed from the demons continent, more zealots came over to the new lands and began a new wave of expansion into the demonic continent.

The druids and priests had to do some work to purge the lands of the demonic corruption before the lands were usable, but whatever was beneath the thick layer of demonic sludge and blight was fertile, mineral - rich soil that promised a future of prosperity.

The gold rush for the promised land had begun, and even the other non - believing nations had begun to set sail toward the promised land. Ironically, the act of doing so only proved Hoyia�s propaganda as right.

It was also much easier to recruit large amounts of zealots now that the wealth of the demons continent was proven by Hoyia�s few treasure ships. Each of those treasure ships landed with multiple gigantic rocks and stones filled with unprocessed gems and ores embedded within them. Some had unprocessed gold ore the size of wagons, and the arrival of these treasure ships were actual fanfares as everyone crowded along the piers to see what they brought home.

Of course, for those who were not a member of the temple, they had to pay a hefty tax to use the ports about midway between the two continents or risk sailing from one end of the ocean to another without any rest.

That was a difficult act and probably many would die taking such a risk. So in the end, the newly set up Twin Orders of Twinspace made good money charging high taxes on non�Temple of A/ �affiliated ships.

Central, the management body within the Valtorn Order, was partly concerned that the presence of a surge in material goods could heavily destabilize the economies of Twinspace over the long term. One of the exit plans for that was to remove some of that excess production and wealth and redirect them to the other worlds, where the economies were much larger and could better absorb that sort of mineral boom.

On the other hand, the relatively poor conditions throughout the main inhabited continent meant most of the resources went into improving living conditions.

Gigant dragon and Capra didn�t give us too many problems, as the Order was quickly able to set up offices and buildings.

The local Caprans were rather welcoming, and it was a great relief that we didn�t have to deal with a combative native population, though we did have to educate the Caprans on certain sensibilities when it came to some of our other Order races such as treefolks.

The Caprans nibbled and gnawed on plants, and they had a large appetite for food. So they initially considered treefolks to be a plant. It didn�t help that the first few times they nibbled on treefolks, they found their leaves to be exceptionally tasty.

The distinction between plant and treefolk needed to be clarified, and unfortunately, that made Treefolks ill - equipped to work with the Caprans. The rumors of the Treefolks amazing taste only spread among Capran circles and created an underground movement of people who wanted to taste treefolk leaves.

So we sent lizardfolk and dwarves to set up offices and manage our outposts on Capra. Thankfully, it was only a minority, and the Caprans who were recruited to join the first few Order operations were reasonable, good folk who could resist such actions.

Gigant dragon�s Dragon lings were also quite easy to work with, and in fact, they were outright mercantile with their approach. They viewed the Order�s offer entirely on a cost - benefit basis and quite a few Dragon lings , who were a sort of half - dragon - humans, joined us merely to receive higher - quality equipment and tools.

The initial mercantile approach did make us a little suspicious of their loyalties, but we soon discovered that the Dragon lings were generally honest folks who worked and agreed to contracts. They had a culture of honoring deals and agreements, and as long as our agreement was fair, they would do their part without betraying us.

It also turned out that after a few good contracts, the Dragon lings did develop some sort of loyalty to their employers, so it was not as if they were that easily swayed.

The Order�s operative recruited about one to two thousand new soldiers and candidates for Capra and Gigant dragon respectively and sent them over to a few of the nearby demon worlds for - practice. -

It was a similar exercise as the dwarves of Delvegard, and through this sort of test, we could largely figure out how well they tolerated the expeditionary lifestyle, where they spent long periods away from home.

To my amusement, Caprans and the Dragon lings were both very tolerant of long periods away from home. Caprans, perhaps owing to their base as half goat - people, were tolerant of distant lands with very harsh environments, as they all had some kind of coping mechanism.

Even my existing lizardfolk, humans, elven, and dwarven warriors all had their own coping mechanisms. For some, that meant the construction of little outposts where they could let loose and be themselves for a bit. The armies rotated frequently to ensure that the soldiers mental states were generally healthy.

For all these new outposts, they would be tested through smaller real battles against the demons, and over time, they would be exposed to harder foes on new demonic worlds.

It�d be a long, two - decade wait until the Sun Rings fell, and when that happened, we would need an army ready.

With more worlds, we also started smaller - scale manufacturing of crystal bombs and explosives. We had used up a large chunk against the demons comet, and even if we no longer needed these bombs to deal with demon kings, it was still possible that there were more demons comets and countermeasures of that level of power.

A few suggested that we speak to Gawa as well, to construct a relic able to destroy demons comets without a need for so many different explosives. But now that I�d seen Hoyia use my greatstaff as a relic, I wondered whether I could do so myself and had the levels of power needed to do so.

I suspected the shift to the World Faith System was motivated by the potential they saw in these relics and how they enabled and weaponized miracles.

With our growing strength, the attack on the inner demon worlds would not be far away.

And so we waited for Gawa to do his part, while we sharpened our blades for what was to come.