As the days passed, I became more and more concerned about the continuing silence from Dana. I knew that this would not by any means be an easy task, but I knew that if anyone would be able to rise to the challenge, it would be her. As of now, the only news that I had received from her was a report stating that she was trying to approach the problem from a new direction.

I wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but decided to put my faith in her. In the meantime, I continued to talk with Sarah and the others in the guild chat, and was able to see what their ‘normal’ conversations were like for the first time.

For the most part, the guild simply let the lower ranking members talk about interesting events going on in their world. For instance, Meatlover mentioned that one of his robotic societies had developed a new form of energy by refining mortal souls. He wasn’t sure whether he should encourage this behavior or not, as it was a highly efficient energy source.

Meanwhile, the more experienced members would chime in. They didn’t attempt to steer the lower ranked members in any conceivable way, but only offer insights on the pros and cons. For the example of Meatlover, they pointed out that such a thing could likely lead to a society where the robots hunted down organic life, treating it as nothing more than nourishment for its war machines. However, if properly controlled with diligent guidance, it could also have a utopic ending where the energy of the afterlife itself became the fuel, cutting out the need for a mortal soul.

Every now and then, one of the higher ranked members brought up a subject, like when Aerial said that she was thinking of making another world to create a brand new species of plant-based humanoids. Rather than seeking the pros and cons, she was looking for opinions on what sort of traits to include in this race.

Aerial’s world had always been one where there was an incredibly diverse set of races, something that I had learned at the first meeting that I attended at the Gilded Branch. So, hearing her talking about new races didn’t really surprise me.

Of course, there was also Sarah, who chimed in with regular updates on her next set of games. Now that she was programming them entirely from scratch, she had a lot more freedom in what she could make, but at the same time the development period was extended just as drastically. It was easy to just mix and match systems and call it a game, but a lot harder when you were programming those systems from nothing.

On that topic, Ashley informed me that she had done all of the testing that she could for her new game, and would be ready to launch it at any time. Part of me wanted to do so immediately, but I held myself back. Instead, I wanted to wait until the current crisis was resolved. Only then would it be fitting to release the new title.

Though, when I thought about that upcoming game, I couldn’t help but raise a question to Sarah, who seemed to have some experience with the system. I asked her whether or not it was possible to use admin commands to just level up to the point where you could immediately become a god.

To my surprise, the answer was… yes. Yes, it was entirely possible. However, she suggested taking it more slowly if I wanted to do something like that, and spread it out over the course of a few weeks. That way, the soul of the individual would have time to adjust to the growing power.

Honestly, that was fine by me. Simply knowing that it was possible was more than I expected. For that reason, this game became my backup plan in the event that my host died, and I needed to acquire the Illusion domain once again.

Dana grit her teeth, having spent months on the problem that had been assigned to her. Now, her deadline had arrived, and she couldn’t put her return off any further. With a sigh, she opened a portal, stepping through to the outer perimeter of Olympus, where the Keeper was waiting for her.

“Did you find anything?” He asked, and Dana was forced to let out a sigh.

“Yes and no. I found three ways to theoretically reinforce the barriers created by the Hyperlane Network. However, none of them should be what your friend mentioned, as they only reinforce a particular node. Furthermore, the time it would take to reinforce the entire network doesn’t fit the deadline. From what you told me, her method should be faster, easier, and more effective than any of the results that I came up with.”

After she said that, she saw the Keeper’s shoulders sag. She knew that he had been counting on her for this, and honestly felt a bit guilty that she wasn’t able to meet his expectations. However, he offered a smile, as if trying to reassure her. “That’s alright. I assume that the drone plan is still not feasible?”

Dana shook her head at that. “The energy requirements for both the construction of a massive energy field or ammunition for a turret defense would puncture a hole in the world’s barrier. The only way to make that idea feasible would be if you created a vein of high-purity Mage Heart and Blood Heart at each site, with their respawn timer adjusted to every minute. That would, in theory, create an endless source of power to fuel the defenses, but instead creates other issues.”

The Keeper nodded his head. “In that case, let’s see what Sarah has to say. Tsubaki volunteered to remain behind and monitor the situation.”

“Is Chelsea coming with us?” Dana asked, looking around. However, the Keeper shook his head.

“When I told Chelsea the full story, she said that it was fine to take you to meet Sarah. She said that you would be more than enough to decipher the changes needed, and she was at a critical moment in her own research.”

Dana felt an even greater weight on her shoulders, hearing such high regard from Chelsea, who had always been the true leading researcher. Even James couldn’t compare to her in some ways. She nodded, focusing on activating the Heavenly Gate. “There’s no time to lose, then.”

Thirty seconds later, the gate formed around her feet, and she was able to leave the mortal world, reappearing within the Admin Room. There, the Keeper was already waiting for her. She waited, having learned long ago of the odd methods used when traveling between Keeper domains.

For a few moments, nothing seemed to be happening, until there was a knock on the door behind Dana. Thinking that someone was coming to visit, she turned her head, only to see a faceless man in a blue suit. He stepped into the room, surprising both Dana and the Keeper, and held out a small box. Hesitantly, Dana took the box, which suddenly opened to reveal a black abyss.

Dana felt something pulling at her very being, a gravitational force that dragged her entire body into the box, compressing it down, and then felt another presence shoved in alongside her. No doubt that this was the Keeper himself.

The two of them felt the box being picked up and jostled around, before being haphazardly thrown to the floor. They had no awareness of their surroundings, only able to feel the confines of the darkness that they were trapped in.

A moment later, there was light, and the two were violently expelled from the box, a feminine cry of surprise echoing out from the room that they were thrown in. Looking around, Dana found that they were in what looked like a futuristic office with advanced consoles lined up in rows. At every console was a figure, many of which had vastly differing appearances.

As for the person who cried out in surprise, it was a surprisingly normal-looking human woman with short blonde hair, wearing a black t-shirt and jeans. “Okay, I haven’t seen that one before.” She said in surprise.

“Be glad.” The Keeper grunted as he stood up, offering a hand to Dana. She took it with a thankful nod, understanding that they were now in Sarah’s Admin Room.

“So, where do we need to go to study?” Dana suddenly asked. The blonde woman, who Dana assumed to be Sarah, smiled and realized the urgency of the situation.

“I’ve prepared a space for you. Honestly, the process itself isn’t difficult to explain, and I think you’ll pick up on it fairly quickly, if you are familiar with the weakened version of the network.”

Sarah guided Dana out of the room, with her own Keeper following behind the duo. After a few turns, they arrived at a black, open space that looked like a scale model of a solar system, numerous planets slowly orbiting a star at the center of the room. At one edge of the room, near where they came in, there was a desk that had a console full of information.

“I’m sure that you’re familiar with the core of the lesser version?” Sarah asked as Dana approached the console.

“In the game, it’s a material called Void Crystal, which can only be harvested from a few highly dangerous areas.” Dana nodded her head. “I had to substitute a similar material from our world that shared its properties.”

“Oh?” Sarah seemed surprised. “If you’re the one that did it, and managed to find substitutes, you must be skilled indeed. In that case, you should be able to tell the difference.”

Hearing that, Dana looked through the information, thankful that it was translated into a language she could understand. Reading about the core, she furrowed her brow. “The void density in this is more than fifty times higher than what appears in the game. Did you use a refined crystal with higher purity?”

“You… could say that.” Sarah nodded her head, a hint of solemness in her voice that made Dana’s eyes widen.

“You… a sacrifice?” She asked, catching her own Keeper by surprise. Sarah, however, simply nodded her head.

“That’s right. When I encountered a similar situation to what your world is dealing with, I took rather drastic measures. I froze all of my active worlds, and then created a new one devoted exclusively to research, directing my staff to descend there for five thousand years. This formula was the result of their research, the most effective method that caused the fewest losses while maintaining the highest success rate.”

Dana hesitated, before looking at her own Keeper to explain. “The Void Crystal in the lesser network is what allows the barrier to be created around the network nodes, while also allowing travel within the field to go far beyond the speed of light.”

“According to this design, if a Fallen God’s life core is used to enhance this core material, it strengthens the network further, spreading out to any connecting nodes. Anything with even a touch of void energy won’t be able to enter without an appropriate pass. At least, not without having to sustain considerable damage.”

The Keeper seemed surprised at this, turning to look at Sarah. “So… every universe that is affected… will require the sacrifice of a Fallen God?”

Sarah simply nodded her head again. “It’s possible to forcibly kill and refine a Fallen God, but the best result only comes out if the individual willingly condenses their own life core. Also, I should mention that additional sacrifices won’t increase the power further.”

“That’s why you only said we’d need a few days to understand and implement the changes.” Dana said, clenching her fists at her sides. She had never looked at the idea of ‘sacrifices’, because she knew that it was something that her Keeper would vehemently oppose it. As long as Sarah’s method remained, there was no reason for her to look into such a subject.

Meanwhile, her Keeper seemed to be having an internal struggle of his own. “This… is a surprise. I hadn’t expected something like this at all.”

Sarah gave a wake smile. “Yeah, that was pretty much my thought on the subject when I first heard it. However, nothing else seemed feasible. Some memetic creatures are able to interfere with unmanned technology, so conventional defenses were useless. There are also too many types that can be born, so it’s not feasible to have a normal magical barrier. I bet you must be pretty disappointed to learn that this is how it ends up, right?”

Rather than answer her, the Keeper asked another question. “How many universes do you own? Not counting your games.”

Sarah thought it over. “Thirty-seven, currently. And yes… all of them have this network.”

The Keeper sighed. “Thirty-seven fallen gods.” A weary smile appeared on his face as he seemed to feel the weight of this information. “We’d better start heading back.” He said to Dana, who looked at him in surprise.

“We might not have that many worlds, but are you really going to go through with this?” She couldn’t help but ask.

“If there was another solution… probably not. If it were before this last invasion, I would try to fight with everything I had.” He said, his voice sounding more tired than she could remember hearing him. “Now, we have the Heroic Spirits. When we get back, I want you to spread the information via Leowynn. But… don’t tell them that those who volunteer will be selected for the Heroic Spirits.”

Dana paused, realizing what he meant. He didn’t want people to volunteer just because it would be their ticket to an eternal life. Rather, if anyone believed that this was a true death for themselves, and volunteered anyways, he wanted to offer them salvation. Behind them, Sarah smiled slightly.

“I might not know the context, but I can guess what that Heroic Spirits you mentioned is. That’s along the lines of what I did, too. I hope it goes as well for you as it did for me.” The Keeper looked back at her with a brief nod, before a red door appeared before himself and Dana.