World Keeper

Chapter 986: Malfunction

The process of forming a Saint Body, once one met all of the prerequisites, was actually not very difficult. Instead, it was a simple matter of accumulation. The challenge came from meeting those prerequisites, whether it was completing all three steps of perfection in sequence or creating the Saint Energy itself.

Tsubaki had already trained one Saint Energy, with her World Sight already being quite strong. As for Contractual Obligation, she had thoroughly mastered the steps to create that. The only challenge was One Light, which Chelsea sent detailed instructions on how to achieve.

While Tsubaki was waiting for her Perfect Will to stabilize, she underwent the process of creating these two energies. Roughly four days later, she felt something shift within her mana, a jolt shocking her entire body. She could feel that her mana was no longer leaking out of her body. With a thought, she could prevent any of her energies from leaking into the surroundings, preventing them from being detected by any passive systems.

After that, it was just a matter of letting her energies spread throughout her body. Chelsea had mentioned that there would be no conflict, so Tsubaki was taking advantage to allow the three energies to circulate throughout her body, rather than letting them stay within their energy cores. Feeling the rate of her energies spreading, Tsubaki was able to calculate roughly how long it would take before she was fully saturated.

Four months? Her brow furrowed, but there wasn’t much that she could do to accelerate the process. She had already created a Service Avatar to practice the Perfect Soul class, and was preparing another one to train the One Light. Thankfully, my Keeper will not return for ten years, so I have plenty of time.

It only took a few minutes for the world’s acceleration to end, during which time Dana remained by my side as if trying to fill Tsubaki’s role. It felt strange having Dana there instead of Tsubaki, but it also let me see just how dedicated Dana was to keeping her promise.

Once the acceleration was done, I called Chelsea, Leowynn, and Ashley to meet me in the living room. “Progress reports?” I glanced between the three of them, as they were the ones with the most to do in this planning.

Leowynn was the first to speak up, her hands rested proudly on her hips. “I’ve set up Fallen God programs in every world to cultivate those with the talent for the void. Some graduates are already emerging, but we’ll need more time to get a full Fallen army.”

“Good.” I smiled towards Leowynn, nodding my head. I had considered using my new perk from being at the Fourth Rank in order to get a Fallen Companion. However, I decided that it wouldn’t be that useful to me. Normally, such a system would help open the populace to the concept of training in the ‘chaos attribute’, but I had Leowynn to help with that. Besides, Companions weren’t allowed to interfere with an invasion, so they wouldn’t be of any help to me either way.

“I guess I’m up next.” Chelsea said as she stepped forward. “Thanks to the Digital Conversion system, we’ve managed to create an automated process of integrating stars into the Hyperlane Network. Void interference is at an all time low, even with worlds such as Lorek and Spica. Additionally, the third generation void shields are currently being installed.”

I gave a small nod to acknowledge her progress. “We’ll definitely need to keep working on that. What about that void generator you guys were working on?”

“The Void Core?” Chelsea asked, nodding her head. “We’ve finished the theoretical design, and are entering the testing phase. James went and procured us a new realm that we can use as the staging ground, and the construction has already been completed. Since we knew the timing of when you’d resume the world functions, we scheduled the test for this afternoon.”

“Procured?” I arched a brow at Chelsea’s choice of words, though she gave a small smile.

“He used the Fairy Ring without a marked destination until he found a world that appeared uninhabitable. We can’t make any guarantees for the planets beyond the one he found, but it is the safest area for us to test. If you’d like, I can signal for him to activate the Void Core and begin the initial testing procedure.”

“After this.” I shook my head, looking over at Ashley.

The demoness snapped to attention as she reported her own achievements. “World Seed is being rather widely accepted as a new genre of game, and people are continuing to export elemental seeds from the world. Several trees have achieved interstellar capabilities via organic ships.”

“As for the tree you left to Julia, she has managed to cultivate it to the point where it is capable of generating both ki and mana internally, and can also cultivate elemental seeds. However, the latter function requires multiple seeds of that type to be consumed to begin the process… Aurivy wished to have me report that she found a seed that you would like, as well.”

I blinked in surprise, signaling for Ashley to continue. “There is a seed that can only be grown in a very specific environment. First, the planet must be tidally locked, while also within the Goldilocks Zone. Secondly, on the dark side of the planet, there must be a source of water that remains still for fifty years. Any ripples in the water will set the clock back, so Aurivy estimated that the true time of creation was closer to two hundred and fifty years.”

“Once these conditions are met, a Still Mirror Seed can be produced. Aurivy found this seed, and discovered that the magic unlocked with it allows the user to reflect abilities back at their source.”

That was certainly interesting. “I see… did she export the seed?”

Ashley gave a small smile, nodding in confirmation. “That’s right. She’s been exporting at least one of every seed she’s found, trying to create her own collection.”

That definitely sounded like Aurivy. Nodding my head once again, I turned to look at Dana. “Will you be joining me to watch the Void Core test, or do you want to go meet up with Tsubaki first?” Since we needed to watch the test from the Admin Room anyways, I wanted to take care of it before descending.

Dana thought it over for a moment, before smiling slightly. “Tsuba entrusted me with staying by your side until you return. We can meet her again after this test.”

When Chelsea heard that, she closed her eyes. “I just sent word to James to begin the procedure. Because of the circumstances, there will be nobody on-site to conduct the test, and all operations will be handled automatically. If anything goes wrong, I’ll be the one to report based on what we observe here.”

I could understand that level of extreme security, given the fact that we were dealing with a potential information hazard. Even if something happened, it would be fine as long as Chelsea watched from the Admin Room.

On a desolate moon, a giant structure suddenly lit up, having received a remote communication. Immediately afterwards, the channel used was closed. At the center of this facility was a large, blue sphere carved out of a giant lump of Mage Heart.

“Beginning startup sequence.” An electronic voice echoed throughout the facility, yellow lights flashing. “All personnel, please enter the anti-information chambers. Repeat, all personnel to the anti-information chambers.”

The giant gem let up as metal rings rose from the ground, slowly circling it from multiple angles. “Void Synchronization Rings online. Synchronization rate climbing. Five percent. Ten percent. Fifteen percent. Synchronization stabilized at twenty percent. Activating Void Interference Field.” As a black speck began to grow within the large gem, a translucent field surrounded the machine.

“Void Interference Field online. Identifying pre-defined coordinates. Injecting Mana Generation code. Mana Generation online. Increasing Void Synchronization rate to thirty percent.” Deep in the void, within an empty, shielded space, a blue sphere suddenly formed. As it did, the shield surrounding it began to flicker to life.

“Void Synchronization stabilized at thirty percent. Energy feedback detected. Energy levels, minimal. Activated energy shielding. Estimated time for energy viability, forty-eight hours. Entering Idle Mode to observe energy readings.”

Chelsea smiled as she saw the process happening on the screen. “It’s a success!” She called out happily. “With this, we can prevent any future energy crises.”

“No.” Leowynn shook her head with a grim expression on her face. “It was a failure.”

“What?” Chelsea paused, looking over at Leowynn. “But the generator world was created within the shielded space, and all of the systems reported normal?”

Leowynn offered a sad smile, snapping her fingers. The screen shifted, showing another world within the void. One where cracks were beginning to spread along the surface of the world’s shell.

“That’s… our testing world?” Chelsea asked to confirm, her face going pale.

“That’s right. The raw essence of the void is seeping in. By my estimation, three galaxies have already dissolved into nothing, and the corrosion will reach your facility in an hour. Assuming that the cracks don’t spread far enough to completely shatter the realm.”

Chelsea’s entire body sagged at that, a long sigh escaping her. “Was the synchronization rate too high? It could have created a weak point in the world barrier… I’ll need to get back to James. We can lower the synchronization rate and try again on the next testing world, though the energy efficiency will drop a bit… Once it’s up and running, we can make up for that loss.”

“That’s good and all… but if you have more than one of these per realm, won’t it end up being the same result? You’d need to be able to cover the entire realm’s energy supply from one station.”

Chel flinched at that remark, before letting out a long sigh. “We don’t plan for something that grand. This is more of a supplement than anything else. Once the Void Core is fully operational, we’ll be able to provide easy power to various worlds, filling in for the gaps left by local production methods.”

Dana’s eyes widened when she heard that. “Even such a big mana sphere is only treated as a supplement… what would it take to fully cover the power requirements?”

Chelsea tilted her head, seeming to run a few calculations. “Roughly… five of these, per world, letting them stockpile energy for two weeks before slowly powering on. However, like Dale said, the world barrier wouldn’t be able to sustain that kind of damage. The ‘perfect’ result would be through creating a void energy converter directly in the void, where it would be able to provide essentially unlimited energy, and then have that energy shipped where it needs to go. The problem is corrosion. Materials left in the void will begin to dissolve without proper shielding, but that very shielding would prevent the converter from operating at full power. In the end, we’d be suffering a loss by keeping it active.”

I couldn’t help but sigh as well. “So the only way for ‘true’ unlimited energy is to make a purchase from the system. I had expected as much, but still… at least the Void Core will make things more convenient in the future.”