World Keeper

Chapter 958: A Prospector’s Prospects

Once Lifre was able to talk more coherently, I managed to get a better understanding of what she was talking about. “You found a gemstone that is able to immediately grant someone an extra domain?”

“That’s right!” Lifre nodded her head emphatically. “It needs divine energy to use, so it should only be useful for people that are already gods. Oh, and I think it might also be able to change an individual’s existing domains, too!”

“That’s… powerful.” I gave a small sigh as I said that, before shaking my head. Thankfully, despite the power of this gem, I didn’t feel like it would disrupt the world’s market too much. These gems were bound to be in limited supply, and we already had an entire floor of Fyor that could passively generate gods just by living in that floor for a while.

On the other hand, I was more curious about the gems that could be created via other energies. It even created something from World Sight, so it can work with saint level energies… what would happen if World Shadow was used for it?

I wasn’t particularly concerned about using the gem to obtain a new domain for myself, given my abilities as the Keeper. If anything, I might use it to recover my Illusions domain if my host ever dies. “Lifre, I want you to mine out the rest of the blue gems from that vein, and see if there are any more divine gems in the mix. From your description, it would make sense if there was only one, but it’s best to check.”

“If you can’t find any, get Tubrock to help you locate another vein. I also want you to take a Digital Conversion Scanner with you, and scan both the divine gem and its derivatives.” The energy requirements to recreate these stones should be extremely high, but it was better to have the option available. More importantly, with my reserves, I should be able to make them more easily than most. If something happens, I can ‘reward’ someone with a divine stone.

“Got it, boss!” Lifre nodded her head. “My clone’s still been mining things out while I came here to report. Right now, I’ve gotten most of it done… so I can say pretty confidently that there is only one divine gem per vein!”

“...Sometimes, you are efficient in the strangest of ways. Right, then you can take Tubrock and the scanner. I’m sure he’ll be interested in this gem that can mass produce powerful crafting materials.” 

Lifre quickly nodded again, before turning and bolting out the door. Seeing her go like that, I couldn’t help but sigh and shake my head. Most likely, Tubrock would be using Admin Room controls in order to find the gem, in order to conserve his divinity, but that was fine. There was no reason to force him to do it manually when he had another option available to him.

There was a flash of golden light, a pair of figures appearing within the mountainous hills of Fyor. Lifre had changed out her typical blue and silver outfit for a brown hiking outfit, Tubrock dressed rather similarly. “Onwards!” The dwarven god shouted, pumping his fist into the air.

Lifre let out a light laugh, nodding and running to follow along after him. “I’m surprised you’re not cheating, but this is fun!” Tubrock marched through the mountains, holding a small device in his hand that seemed to be scanning the ground that they passed over.

“Aye, there’s no point in just doin’ what’s convenient all the time, is there lass? This is the thrill of discovery! Who knows how many other new materials there could be in this forsaken landscape? If I were to just use a screen to look it up, I’d lose out on the journey!”

“You were bored.” Lifre grinned, Tubrock nodding his head.

“Aye, that too. Besides, there’s another way that we can speed things along without usin’ those greater tools. Ain’t that right, lass!?” He shouted, looking off into the air instead of at Lifre, who tilted her head curiously.

“So you saw me…” A voice floated over on the wind, before green light condensed into a young halfling girl dressed in similar hiking gear as Tubrock and Lifre. She offered a small smile at the duo, nodding her head. “My apologies, but there aren’t many people on this floor, and the Greater ones don’t usually visit. So, I was curious.”

“All’s fine, lass.” Tubrock nodded his head with a fatherly smile. “No need to fuss. We were just on a journey of discovery, looking for what new materials await us on this floor! Would ye like to join us?”

“Discovery?” The girl blinked. “But, I can--”

“No buts!” Tubrock shook his head firmly. “No in-depth scans, no pinpoint accuracy. Ye can be a dowsing rod, but otherwise this is an adventure!”

“Now you’re talking my language, gramps.” Lifre said with a grin, the World Spirit of Fyor blinking slowly.

“An… adventure…”

“Aye! Yer always dressed like that, so surely ye’d like to go on an adventure, right?” The girl looked down at the outfit she was all but born in, before back up at Tubrock.

“I… I think that would be nice.” The spirit said with a nod, Tubrock grinning broadly.

“Fantastic! In that case, come along! We’re off to find some precious materials!”

It had been more than two hours since Lifre left to retrieve the divine gems with Tubrock, and there had not yet been any word back from them. Honestly, I had been expecting an update within minutes, knowing Tubrock. Did Lifre drag him around to do something else, or..?

I shook my head as those thoughts flashed by. If anyone was able to handle Lifre, it’d be Tubrock.

“There’s something over that way, I think.” The spirit spoke up, pointing off to the right. The group had long since accelerated their pace, only spending a couple of minutes searching each area before teleporting thousands of kilometers at a time.

Whenever they arrived at a new area, the World Spirit of Fyor did a very general sweep of the area to point them in the basic direction of something undiscovered. However, because her scan was so vague, there were times when they encountered the same item as before. For instance, there were three instances in which they encountered what Tubrock had taken to calling Singularity Iron, a super dense iron ore that weighed more than a hundred thousand kilograms per cubic inch. Even Lifre struggled to lift this ore to put in her inventory.

“Aye!” Tubrock smiled jovially, not even minding if it might be another repeat. He was having fun with the process more so than the destination. He aimed his survey scanner in the direction that the World Spirit had pointed, the trio quickly making their way over.

As he walked, he kept his eye on the scanner, stopping only when he saw a change in the readings. “This is the spot. Lifre, it’s your turn lass!”

“I realize I ended up just getting turned into manual labor, but honestly I don’t mind at this point.” Lifre grinned, her arms turning into giant drills as she dove for the spot where Tubrock indicated. Stone shattered, dirt flying into the air as her body descended.

Soon, Tubrock could see specks of blue crystals flying up with the stones, a wide smile spreading over his face. “Aye, I think we hit the jackpot this time!” He said, looking into the growing pit that Lifre was digging.

The World Spirit blinked, looking over and into the pit herself. Inside, she saw the sparkling blue gemstones covering the walls at the deepest areas. Her eyes went wide, and she let out a faint gasp. “It’s really pretty…” She said in amazement, her eyes turning the same blue as the gems.

“Aye, that it is.” Tubrock nodded his head, patting her on the back with one of his large hands. “It’s easy to miss things like this when you never take the time to properly enjoy it, lass.”

The World Spirit looked back at him in confusion. “Did you… ask me to come out with you on purpose, just to show me this?”

Tubrock paused at that, before letting out a deep chuckle. “I didn’t, but I admit that it would have been smart of me to do so! I just wanted to have another partner for an adventure, and you seemed like you needed something to do yourself.”

The World Spirit thought of that for a few moments, before nodding her head. In truth, she had enjoyed this little adventure with the two of them. She didn’t have many chances to just appear and interact with the people of the world. Due to her world’s segmented nature, it was harder for her to sense what was happening in a floor where she did not have her current focus set.

“I got it!” Lifre shouted, jumping out of the pit while holding a golden gem the size of a fist. However, to Tubrock’s surprise, she immediately threw it down to the ground as soon as she emerged.

“Oi! Be careful with that, lass!” He rushed over, only for Lifre to shout out.

“Don’t let it touch your divinity! I still need to scan it first!” She opened up her inventory, starting to get the smaller scanners as Tubrock paused. Realizing that it might destroy the gem if he touched it hastily, he pulled his hands back.

“Well… I can experiment with it after you’re done. Who knows, it might not even have an effect on people like me.” Since the domains of the Greater Pantheon were set by the system, it was likely that an item within the world wouldn’t be able to modify their domains naturally. 

Regardless, Lifre did her best to quickly set things up, before using a claw she took from her inventory to take the gem and place it into the scanner. Only then did she let out a relieved sigh, hitting the button to start the process. “And, done! Now we’ll just need to wait to let this finish, and we should be able to head back whenever we want.”

The World Spirit hesitated when she heard this, looking at the two of them. “Does this mean that the adventure is… over?” She asked curiously, the two exchanging glances.

A small grin formed over both of their faces, before Tubrock shook his head. “There’s no rush. I’m sure the lad will understand if we’re delayed by a bit. Besides, who knows if there might be more treasures that await us on this floor?”

“See, this is the spirit of adventure! This is what I live for!” Lifre shouted happily, a bright smile forming on the face of the smaller spirit. She clenched her hands in front of her chest, looking forward to what else they might discover.

“...Where are they?” I asked myself, walking through the halls. It had been two days since I sent Lifre and Tubrock to Fyor. Even if they searched the hard way, it shouldn’t take this long for Tubrock to discover a mineral vein.

Tubrock is there, so there shouldn’t be any chance of something dangerous happening. In the worst case scenario, he would have notified me if his avatar and Lifre were in trouble. Could it be that those gems are really just that rare? Given the nature of the gem, I was inclined to believe that that might be the case. Still, it was worrying for them to be out for so long on what I thought was a rather mundane errand.