karami92

Author's Corner: Just a heads up, last chapter for a few days, most likely! Going to take a bit of a break while I work on the fanmail, so probably won't be anything for nearly a week, unless I just get very bored.

Once the contribution had been calculated, there was a day of rest for those gods that had taken part, before the announcement was made to the public. In order to not make the gods seem as if they were simply hired for the task, the mention of payment had been excluded from the announcement that Udona prepared.

Simply put, the Goddess introduced the threat that had previously set out in an attempt to conquer or destroy her world. This alone sent tremors throughout the population, before she moved on to show a recording that they had made of the battle. This recording was made using Udona’s own memories from the scene, which she had transferred into an illusion for the sake of this production.

Thankfully, the God of the Stage was more than happy to contribute to this project, and he lamented the fact that he was unable to participate in the battle itself. Due to his work as a director, he rarely paid a visit to Sanctum, preferring to spend his time in Deckan where he could properly put his talents to use.

With this announcement, those gods that actively participated in the battle were able to spread their names to new audiences, gaining even greater recognition. As for those that had either tried to escape or cowered in front of the enemy, they earned their own type of recognition…

Finally, those who had been feeling a sense of dread in the air were at last able to relax. The danger had come and gone, with the world being largely unharmed throughout the entire process. Although there was a death of a friendly god, it was not such a shocking scene that people across the world would mourn for them. Especially so given that same god had tried to flee the battle as soon as he saw the enemy’s strength.

Kris watched the broadcast with wide eyes, seeing the special news being sent over from Deckan. “That lot…” He shook his head, not sure exactly what to make of it. As he was no god, it was hardly his place to comment on things of that nature. However, he found it hard to swallow that an individual person could have the power to overturn a planet like that.

After saying that, he looked down to his own hand. With barely a thought, he was able to see straight through his wrinkled skin and into the floor below. Remembering the young girl whose extraordinary power had swept over the world, he knew that people with such power did exist. It was just hard to accept them as part of his normal life.

The average civilian, through personal training and schooling, tends to reach a level of roughly two hundred and fifty in total. Most of these levels naturally come from the Scholar class, which is trained simply by studying in school. Those whose occupation involve training a class often reach between five hundred and seven hundred.

Even then, these people are typically not combatants. Their classes are either academic or production related, meaning that their physical stats experience only negligible increases. Kris himself had rather low physical stats.

Then there were the law enforcers. These individuals were trained combatants. Disregarding their schooling, they learned a wide range of classes before picking their specialty. Once they had completed their training in that specialty, it wasn’t uncommon for them to have levels in the eight hundreds, or even higher.

Kris took a moment to consider that. A fully trained police officer had the power to overthrow an entire city of normal civilians. That was the highest level of power he encountered on a daily basis, but he knew that was far from the end.

Adventurers, like his friend Jin, oftentimes reached over level one thousand. Furthermore, as they were typically out fighting monsters to either protect people or gather materials to sell, they had real combat experience. Unlike police officers, whose mere presence served as a deterrent for crime, adventurers would find themselves beset by bandits and beasts alike.

It was not hard to believe that one adventurer could take on five police officers, maybe even ten. And then… you had the Maxers of Fyor. The group who had raised themselves to level one thousand, one hundred and fifty. This was the level cap currently allowed within that world, and they often specialized in their particular role, training to fight monsters up to a hundred levels stronger than themselves.

If a trained adventurer could take on five police officers, a proper Maxer could take on five trained adventurers just as easily. There had even been reports of Maxers that had feuds within Fyor, their fights spanning multiple levels. At times, entire cities disappeared under their battles, as it was hard to employ such people to protect every city.

Finally… even above the Maxers, there were apparently the gods. Kris couldn’t even imagine how many Maxers a single combat deity could handle on their own. Ten? A hundred? Maybe even a thousand, depending on compatibility? It was a realm that he couldn’t properly fathom, and clearly one where it was no longer a matter of being able to destroy mere cities.

So this is what you meant, young’in. Is the world ready for the kind of power that this thing can give them? Kris questioned whether such a thing was true, but… in the end, were there not already far more powerful forces at play in the world? At most, this would elevate the status of the working class, such as himself, and offer them some means of protection in the wild.

As he realized that these powers were truly nothing compared to what was already available, he resolved to take the achievement with him to his grave. That way, this gift prepared by that young girl would not be wasted on an old fool like himself.

Of course… he was in no hurry to reach his grave, and the prospect of a long life was quite appealing to his old bones. But when the time did come, he wouldn’t have regrets! Probably.

“I’m boooored!” Dana shouted as she rolled around on the floor in her workshop, Tsubaki watching with an amused smile. “I upgraded the storage space with space-folding enchantments to prevent void encroachment, enhanced the automatic sorting feature, wrote a program to create enchantment diagrams, and finished enchanting everything in the storage!”

“Have you considered writing a translation program for Fyor’s rune magic?” Tsubaki asked as she watched the little elf roll along the ground.

“Did that way back! It prints rune-script and phonetics to help people learn the language! I need something new!” Dana had thoroughly run out of projects to work on within the Sky Citadel. “I was going to work on upgrading the propulsion system of the Sky Citadel, but whenever I talk about doing that…” She abruptly rolled to the side as a small brick appeared out of nowhere, crashing towards where she had been previously.

“Ye’ll break it, lass! Don’t touch the Citadel’s systems!” Tubrock’s voice boomed from the empty air, causing Tsubaki to blink in surprise.

“Sky Citadel, Sky Citadel, Sky Citadel!” Dana repeated, constantly rolling to the side as brick after brick crashed into the floor. Tsubaki could tell that Tubrock wasn’t truly trying to hit her. If anything, he was entertaining her.

“Why not play one of your games?” Tsubaki suggested, knowing that Dana very clearly needed something to keep her busy. The last thing the world needed was a thousand year old shadow elf with too much time on her hands and nothing to do.

“Yeah… after playing the same games for a few decades, they get a bit stale.” Dana pouted, rolling onto her stomach to stare up at Tsubaki. “It’d be more fun if we could play together, but I know you’ve got a lot on your plate managing that palace in Sanctum.” She gave a comforting smile up towards Tsubaki, making sure she knew that there were no hard feelings there.

Tsubaki only offered a soft smile in return. She knew that she couldn’t play as many games as she and Dana used to, at least not until she became proficient enough with multitasking that she could have an avatar actively handling matters in Sanctum, one in the Citadel, and one in the game. Although it sounded easy, compared to having over a dozen avatars actively doing chores, those avatars were all performing highly practiced actions, involving little active thought on her end.

It was an entirely different matter to prepare herself for a position where she would potentially have to carry on multiple conversations at the same time. Not to mention listening to the priests she had scattered through the world to act as her eyes… Tsubaki let out a long sigh as she thought to that point. “Maybe I should think about getting some more help here?” She considered, earning a scandalized gasp from Dana.

“What?” She glanced off to the side. “I can still do my work, but I can’t really spend much time with you lately, and that time gets stretched thinner the more tasks I take on…”

Dana hopped up to her feet, lunging over to wrap her arms around Tsubaki. “The great and powerful Tsuba, the ultimate workaholic, is thinking about recruiting extra help so that she can have more time to relax?! The end times are upon us!”

Tsubaki rolled her eyes with a smirk, bringing her hand down to pat Dana’s head. “We’ve been alone in this place for a long time. Maybe it would be nice to have a third person here to share the load and spend our time with…” Solitude was no problem for Tsubaki personally, and she was more than capable of having an avatar stand in one position for decades at a time to watch for the slightest movement from the Keeper.

However… solitude and stagnation were perhaps the most terrifying things in the world for Dana, as they often reminded her of her time alone in Hell. As long as it was not creating trouble for her Keeper, Tsubaki would happily save Dana from that kind of experience. “In the meantime, though… if there aren’t any new games that you’re interested in, why not see if you can work with Blank to create your own?”

Dana’s eyes went wide as saucers at that, clearly having not thought of such a solution. “Making a new game… we’ll need a lot of server space… no wait, we’ll need some upgraded servers. What did James call them… micro-servers? I’ll get the design off of him and go talk to Blank!”

After she said that, she gave Tsubaki a tight hug, before running past her and leaving the workshop. Tsubaki watched her, her smile turning warmer as she saw the little elf revitalized. After watching her leave, she turned and walked to her room, sitting down in her bed. She closed her eyes, sending a prayer up towards the gods and goddesses above.

Lords and Ladies at my Keeper’s side. I’m looking to recruit an additional servant of the Sky Citadel. As my grasp on the people in this world cannot compare to all of you, I ask of you if there is one suitable to serve my Keeper along with Dana and myself.

With the golem situation handled, those of us in the Admin Room were taking our time to enjoy a game of Keeper’s Cards. It had been a while since most of us came together to play, so we were just taking the chance to have some fun together. As I was looking over my deck, thinking how I wanted to expand a kitsune cyberpunk world, a series of sharp gasps rose up from nearby.

I looked over, seeing that Bihena, Aurivy, Udona, Accalia, and Keliope were all exchanging shocked expressions. “..What happened?” I couldn’t help asking, as they all reacted at practically the same time.

“Oh, this is…” Bihena didn’t seem to know how to explain, but Keliope grinned broadly.

“Your little fox just put out a ‘Help Wanted’ ad in a prayer. Says they finally need another servant for you.”

After Keliope said that, Aurivy giggled. “Tsubaki’s been overworking herself again. I think the fact that she’s recognizing it and stopping it from going too far shows that she’s grown quite a lot since back in the day…”

I nodded, remembering how Tsubaki had almost pushed herself to her death to train the legions for my first invasion. By the time they were done, there was barely any energy left in her body. While I was surprised that she took the initiative to ask for help, I was also happy. I never wanted her to force herself to endure more than she could handle, even if it was for my sake.