The twenty-fifth layer was a sprawling civilization beyond anyone’s expectations. Despite not yet having the ability to level up, obtain classes, or even using any magic, the Solii as they called themselves had built a prospering civilization. They did not fear the monsters, and directly beat them back with both their ki and their technology.

Within this floor, the primary currency used between the solii were bloodstones. Bloodstones were the name that they had given to essence orbs, condensed drops of blood imbued with enough ki that they became solid objects. 

These bloodstones were used to power many of their devices, such as the hovering drones that they used to patrol the wilderness and defeat monsters or the cars which the solii themselves drove. Furthermore, there was a particular class of solii that could only be entered by the ‘rich’, those who had collected sufficient bloodstones.

These individuals, through a technique discovered long ago, were capable of shedding their mortal flesh and becoming spirits of blood. In exchange for their accumulated wealth, they would gain eternity, along with powers unavailable to them previously.

Only these spirits of blood were deemed fit to serve as the rulers of solii, each one granted their own territory. Some were kind lords, treating their citizens with love and respect, while others were far more vicious. However, there was a line that should never be crossed, a set of laws that applied even to the spirits of blood.

The Blood Covenant, as it was called, was this binding law. If you shed the blood of solii unjustly, so too shall your blood be shed. This was an ancient law, passed down from the very first spirit of blood to arise within the solii. If someone was found to have unjustly killed a member of their race, they would be collectively hunted down by the spirits of blood, with nowhere left to flee.

When I looked over the twenty-fifth layer, I had to admit that I was surprised. After all, their culture had developed entirely without any outside interference. From what I could see, there wasn’t even an elemental stone or anything like that, only the basic ores you would find on Earth. Albeit, those ores had been strengthened several times over due to the intense gravity affecting that layer.

Still, I shook my head, glancing through the rest of the worlds. In order to prepare for the games, I had to perform enough of a fast forward that every world had at least fully colonized another. That way, even if an entire planet ended up being destroyed, I wouldn’t lose the territory that I had given to everyone.

Of course, there were some areas that were… difficult to follow that rule. For instead, Tryval’s world Sher Dien was still far too behind in technology to implement interstellar warp. More importantly, centaurs had an innate problem when it came to space travel. They required more room to regularly run, and suffered from severe pains when riding on a ship.

With both of these in mind, it seemed unlikely that they would ever be properly fit to travel beyond their own world. Part of me was worried, because that meant that it would be easy for the world that he created with Alme’s help, and had even named after her mother could be lost.

And so, I got to thinking about the subject. If it wasn’t possible to have them travel to the stars, maybe I could convince them to research interplanar travel through magical means. Not simply using the Fairy Gate, but manually creating spells to traverse into new realms.

Although the majority of centaurs had a complete inability to use magic, certain variants still could. If they learned the trick, then maybe it could be used for the good of the entire world.

With that thought in mind, I selected ‘Interplanar Magic’ as the cultural focus of Sher Dien. Afterwards, I immediately chose to fast forward, hoping that I had done enough.

“So this is the fourth level of magic.” Tsubaki muttered, reading through one of the books. Or rather, reading through the holographic images projected above the book itself. Given the nature of the fourth tier, it was not a simple matter to record its components within a two-dimensional medium like paper.

“I understand why she was so concerned about our ability to use this.” The kitsune offered a small nod, glancing towards the young elf who sat nearby. Dana was similarly going through her own book regarding this magic, studying to the best of her ability.

“What kind of magic are we trying to make, Tsuba?” Dana asked without ever taking her eyes off of her own projected images.

“We need a ward that can encompass an entire planet. One which locks onto unauthorized divine powers and seals them away.” After she said that, she shook her head. “We’ll need to set it to look at only the strongest forms of divine power, cast directly by a god. If we simply set it to look for discharges of divine energy, it would target every bard and knight in the world.”

“Okay…” She nodded her head, focusing. “So first, we need to assign the parameters of powerful divine energy for the spell to target. We don’t want to make it a ‘living’ spell, since those take longer to process information, so we can scrap those components.”

“If you turn to page ninety-three, they have something called a Wardstone that should work.” Suddenly, Dana lifted a hand up to hold her head. “Building an enchantment room for these things shouldn’t be impossible. But… ow, yeah, I don’t think I could even begin to cast one of these spells myself.”

Tsubaki didn’t blame her. Just a single component of a fourth tier spell posed the same difficulty as a fully formed, top level spell of the third tier. Part of her morbidly wondered what type of formula was required for the fifth tier, but she cast those thoughts aside.

Instead, she flipped to the page that Dana told her about, scrolling through the information until she found the wardstones. Small stones created through the materialization of mana to act as ward anchors. As long as multiple stones with matching spells and keys were placed within range of one another, they would erect a ward between them.

Naturally, a power source had to also be placed within the ward itself, with larger wards requiring greater reserves of energy. For a ward like they were discussing, they would have to use techniques recorded in the book to refine ambient mana into a more efficient fuel.

If they managed to get this to work, however, they would have a certain degree of safety against enemy gods. It would be excellent if they could come up with something better, but this was the best that Tsubaki was able to create at the time. There was always the risk that the ward would target new ascended, as well as older gods like the Keeper himself, so they could not allow the effects of the ward to be too extreme.

“Right this way, Ms Hart.” A halfling man in a black formal suit spoke amiably to the elf following behind him. “As a VIP for this trip, I assure you that your accommodations will be to your liking.”

Julia simply sighed as she heard that, glancing at the crystalline girl following alongside her. Too late to back out now, right? She asked her familiar, who nodded with a bright smile.

That’s right, Julia! Don’t worry, we’ll be out among the stars again in no time! 

Julia let out a faint chuckle as she heard the optimistic words of her familiar. It was finally time to launch the first long-term warp voyage. For six months, they would be living within a large spaceship, which had been constructed within an orbital shipyard. 

During that time, she would contractually be required to be ‘on call’ for twelve hours a day. For the rest of the time, she would be free to act as she saw fit, whether to relax in one of the lounges or to log into Vision Expanse.

In reality, however, she did not expect to be called upon much to help out or offer advice. In the eyes of many members of the crew, Julia was simply a gamer from the first generation of Vision Expanse players, a relic who had built up ‘simulated’ experience.

Julia knew this, and she had accepted it. What she was here for was to be one of the first people able to experience the new world. While she had done so several times already within the game, this was her first, maybe even her only chance to do so in the real world.

As such, she allowed the halfling to guide her to a modest lodging. Her quarters seemed to be a complete suite unto itself with a modern living room, kitchen, bedroom, bath, and even a guest room. She had already seen what the ‘normal’ lodgings were like, having passed many of them on the way. Little more than closets with a sleeping pod.

Julia gave a small shake of her head, well aware that she could fit at least fifty of such rooms within her own suite. It was comfortable, yes, but also grossly demonstrated the difference between normal passengers and ‘first class’.

As soon as the halfling left, and the door closed, Julia was left alone with her familiar. And… a pink haired girl that had manifested on Julia’s couch. “Are you excited?” The little bundle of joy and energy asked with a light laugh.

Nonetheless, her presence always brought a smile to Julia’s face. “Yeah, Aury. I didn’t expect you to come along for the ride, though.”

“Well, I can’t be here all the time, obviously.” Aurivy grinned. “But I can totally show up to chat still. Besides, it gives me something to do when the little runt isn’t calling on me.” She rolled her eyes with a small huff at that.

“You’re never going to let that go, are you?” Julia asked, knowing that Aurivy didn’t truly hold a grudge. “Besides, I don’t think Dana’s going to be ingame for a few days. She said she had something important that she was working on with her big sister.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know… but still! How do you go and turn a semi-godly being, one portrayed by an actual goddess, into a pet!? That’s just so wrong on so many levels! I feel like I got cheated so hard whenever I think of that.”

Seeing Aurivy puff her cheeks out in a pout, Julia’s lips twitched upwards just a bit further. “At least she doesn’t call on you for much?”

“Not when you’re around, sure!” Aurivy flailed her arms. “Whenever you log off, she immediately summons me to play with her, or help her take care of chores. That’s a waste of a perfectly good summon, you know!?”

After she said that, she lowered her voice while glancing off to the side. “I even told her that she could just ask me to play with her in the real world, but she insists on doing it in the game because of that contract.”

Deciding that it was a good idea to change the subject, Julia moved over to sit down next to Aurivy. “Any insider tips on what we can expect from this new world, Aury?”

The halfling goddess gave a mischievous wink towards Julia. “Sorry, you know I can’t tell you that. I’ve been avoiding looking at it myself, because I want to experience it with you for the first time!”

For some reason, those words seemed to warm Julia’s heart, and this entire trip suddenly became more meaningful. Without warning, she leaned over and wrapped the goddess in a gentle hug, earning a giggle from the smaller girl. “You’re the best, Aury. Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise.”

“Oh, I don’t know…” The halfling smiled wide. “There was this one girl, way back, who was practically asking for a smiting. Had the nerve to threaten me because I cheated her out of a fight.”

“Yeah, well, I’m sure she was just a dumb little girl.” Julia said, clearly knowing who Aurivy was talking about. “Threatening a goddess? How could that ever go well for anyone?”