Julia let out a defeated sigh when she faced Lifre. Honestly, she had wanted to turn Lifre away and refuse the request, telling her to seek out a craftsman deity. This was not because she had a bad impression of Lifre, but rather that she recognized her own strengths and weaknesses.

Julia’s domain was one extremely suitable for building large constructs, this much she was almost painfully aware of. The problem was that her own architectural skills were lacking in comparison. While she had created the divine palaces of Udona and her Holy Knights, she knew that any trained architect would likely be able to create an even more beautiful palace than her.

Lifre didn’t seem to care about any of that, though. More importantly… she had said that it was the Keeper himself who told her to come to Julia directly. If this were to be taken as a request from the Keeper, then there truly was no other option. As someone who was very familiar with the Greater Pantheon, she naturally knew that the Keeper’s power was unimaginable.

Of course, Aurivy wouldn’t tell her something like the Keeper being just another guy. Even if it were true, she had to help maintain his dignity as the ruler of all creation within his realm. Thus, she had the same unfathomable image of the Keeper as most of those who resided within his world.

“Alright… I’ll do it.” Julia shook her head, causing Lifre to jump with joy. “Just be warned… it might not be as good as something made by a proper architect.”

“That’s totally fine!” Lifre said happily, shaking her head. “If the boss says you can do it, I know you can make something great!” With that said, she ran over to the side, squatting down and crossing her legs as she watched Julia.

“...I’m not making it here, you know?” She pointed out, causing Lifre to tilt her head curiously. “There’s not enough space for a library in my front yard…”

“Oh! Right, haha, sorry! Would you rather make it somewhere else in Sanctum, or I can take you to an unoccupied world that the Servants use?” Lifre jumped up to her feet, running back over to Julia.

Julia had to consider that for a moment. “Somewhere else on Sanctum. The divine energy here will help make sure I don’t use as much power. Let’s just fly for a while and find somewhere.”

“Before you go…” A voice suddenly cut them off, one that Julia found only vaguely familiar. When she turned her head to look, she saw the image of a well-dressed man appearing not far away from her, his body largely illusory. “Would you mind letting me see your divine artifacts for a moment? I’d like to thank you for the sudden request.”

“Ah, hey boss!” Lifre called out, waving towards the figure. “I didn’t know you were coming, too!”

Julia’s eyes went wide at the realization that this was the Keeper, though the figure shook his head. “This is just an avatar of mine. My real body just completed an experiment, and I’m about to do some work. I thought I’d come over and take care of this, while I was at it.”

“Ah, you d-don’t need to do something like that, sir.” Julia said as she offered a deep bow, though the Keeper simply raised his hand to stop her, silently sending his voice to the woman.

Think of it as my way of thanking you for dealing with the requests of the others until now… and for making Aurivy so happy. The Keeper told her secretly with a smile, causing Julia’s cheeks to darken briefly.

“R-Right.” She gulped, nodding as she conjured a thread of divine power. With it, she summoned two items. The first was the very wand she had used to create all of her recent constructions, and the other was a straight sword roughly a meter in length, both made wholly from wood.

The Keeper nodded his head, exerting a bit of power to bring the two over as he examined them. “This wand will be first. From what I recall, you use it to focus your mind and enhance how accurately your divine power responds to your imagination, correct? It’s actually a rather brilliant use for a divine artifact.”

Julia simply nodded, happy to receive the Keeper’s praise. The wand floated away from the sword, arriving directly in front of the Keeper and simply hovering around chest-height on the man. “I’ll enhance this quality for you.” He said in a confident tone, eyes becoming focused.

Julia suddenly felt an immense weight from the Keeper’s divinity spreading out from his body, eyes shaking. She had only felt a similar level of power from the members of the Greater Pantheon when they were creating Sanctum.

“Wood as the base, enchantment and illusion to enhance.” The Keeper muttered, and three golden rings formed near the wand, spreading out like a triangle as they slowly rotated. Within each of the rings, Julia could see a strange script written, one that she had a vague experience with in the past. This was the ‘divine script’ in which the domains were written when one were to channel their divinity into their eyes to observe the domains of another.

This divine script was a very special, and oddly incomprehensible, language. The same word written in a true divine script could not be replicated, even if drawn perfectly. When it was truly portrayed, this word was one that anyone could understand, regardless of any language barrier. And the only way to write it was to do so with the divinity that possessed the word as a domain.

As she watched the three rings, lines began to spread out from each, connecting the rings together. “This is the trinity.” The Keeper explained, still focusing on his work. A powerful, harmonious energy appeared from the three rings of golden light, enveloping the wand.

The entire process of enchanting the wand lasted roughly five minutes, after which the golden rings faded, and the wand flew back to Julia. “I’ve enchanted it with a special Illusion divine ability.” The Keeper said with a smile. “If you insert a strand of your divine will into the wand, you will be able to enter an illusory space to practice your divine powers freely. Once you use a power and find it to your liking, you can have it saved to the wand for more convenient use in the future.”

Julia let out a small gasp at that, as such a thing was certainly a powerful enchantment. She was almost unsure what else he would be able to pull off for her sword. As she was thinking that, he turned his head to look at the sword itself. “For this one… I have an offer for you. I can merge this sword with your familiar, allowing it to transform into the sword and control it in battle. You won’t have to worry about losing the special abilities or personality of your familiar, and it will still have its normal form outside of battle. Additionally, it should be able to obtain the ‘eternal’ property of your sword.”

Julia hesitated when she heard that. She knew how important a familiar was to someone. In fact, she had almost lost her familiar before, when her home was destroyed. Had the familiar been summoned at the time, it would surely have not survived.

After a few moments of consideration, Julia nodded, extending her hand and calling a wooden statue-like figure out of her body. This statue was exceptionally graceful, and appeared to be wearing a red dress over its body. When the familiar appeared, it smiled both at Julia and at the Keeper. As it had been within Julia’s body, it had heard their conversation up to this point.

I think we can trust him. Her familiar whispered into her mind. And besides… I’d like to be able to fight with you, should the need arise in the future.

This was ultimately what led to Julia deciding to allow the process, the wooden figure walking over to stand next to the sword. With a small nod, the Keeper became focused once again. This time, his body seemed to lose its illusory quality, becoming far more solid than before. Julia took this as a sign that he was becoming more serious, and felt a small sense of relief.

With a wave of the Keeper’s hand, three more golden rings appeared surrounding the familiar and the wooden sword. This time, the words within the rings were Wood, Possession, and Evolution. Once again, lines began to form between the rings, seeming to trap the familiar inside.

Julia could feel her connection to her familiar starting to weaken, becoming more nervous as she watched the sword floating slowly towards its body. What would happen if this failed? Would she lose a part of her soul, becoming a broken husk like so many others? Her familiar turned to look at her, offering a reassuring smile that somewhat eased her concerns.

Julia’s familiar had long since reached the fourth tier, being among the most powerful familiars in the world. Furthermore, she had taken it a step further and used the method she had learned long ago to make it a divine familiar. This had made it so that her familiar was able to use the same Wood domain as Julia herself.

The reason why the familiar was anxious to enter battles with Julia was because divine familiars were still seen as a ‘weakness’ in a godly battle. Their bodies were easier to destroy than the gods they were partnered with, and doing so would deal a critical blow to the god in question. Additionally, the familiar had not received the same ‘eternal’ property of Julia’s Wood element, as that had come from the Seed of Eternal Wood rather than her actual divinity itself.

Only with the eternal property would the familiar have the resilience needed to enter combat alongside Julia. Not that the Goddess of Wood had any plans to enter a battlefield, but it was still reassuring to know that she was prepared if the circumstances demanded so in the future.

She watched as the wooden sword slowly sank into her familiar’s chest, merging without leaving the faintest trace. Afterwards, its body became more lustrous, its wooden skin becoming more smooth. In a way, it had begun to look like one of the Sylvan race.

When the three rings faded again, the Keeper let out a sigh of relief, before a hidden smile appeared. The familiar blinked its wooden eyes at his expression, turning to face an utterly shocked Julia. Julia was staring in awe at a window that had appeared before her.

Julia read through the message time and again, making sure that she had read it correctly. This wasn’t as simple as merging the item with her divine familiar. He had directly promoted the familiar by a rank.

Given that the method of reaching the fifth tier was currently unknown, she did not know what to say. She didn’t even know what sort of power her familiar would possess at this rank. However, the bond between her and her familiar was now stronger than ever before. They could feel each other’s joy at this unexpected evolution, and the familiar ran over to embrace Julia.

The Keeper watched this with a smile, nodding his head before turning to look at Lifre. “Apologies for holding you up. Once she’s ready, you can have her make the library. It should be a little easier for her now, with the upgrade to her wand.”

Lifre’s head nodded rapidly, a wide grin on her face. From her expression, it seemed that she already had plans to ask for similar enhancements to her own artifacts. However, she restrained herself, planning to wait for a moment when she could ask for such things as a reward. Surely he wouldn’t object to rewarding one of his servants with such a reward when he granted it to someone outside of the Citadel, would he?

Her thoughts seemed completely visible to the Keeper, who let out a small sigh. Shaking his head, his body once more returned to an illusory form before disappearing from view entirely.