World Keeper

Chapter 128: The Stars Shall Guide Your Way

With the Wraith side of things taken care of, I did something that I hadn’t done in a while. I grabbed the piece of ‘message paper’ that Terra once made for me, and wrote a message for Ryone.

About to head down to the world for a while, but I had an idea I need for something that I need you to do. Can you make a storage bag like mine, but without the enchantment concealing effect? And then take it to a few of the dungeons in the different races so that they can learn how to replicate it. It will help stimulate their growth without causing them to overly rely on the gods.

The idea hit me as I was educating the Wraiths. If the dungeons can create items similar to those that they’ve studied, then logically they should be able to create items that the other races haven’t been able to yet. A perfect example being the sword that they mentioned putting in for the dwarves.

I considered just using my own bag for this, but then I recalled the effect to make its enchantments unable to be read. If they can’t see the enchantments, then odds are that they can’t copy them. But, if we use a new one, different story. And if the races find something like that in the dungeons, then they will be able to begin researching them, and will likely place more value in the dungeons themselves.

I would have sent the message to her directly, but I didn’t want to get caught up in a long conversation. I still had a bunch of things to prepare! Navigating the map, I began to descend down to the beastkin continent, finding rivers and ponds close enough to the cities to be usable without being spotted, and setting up a portal site with my druidic abilities.

If I was going to be passing off as a powerful druid, then there was the chance that I would be required to show that I had a network such as this. And even if I wasn’t, it would be a good idea to do so, for the future. Eventually, I had set up roughly fifty portal sites across the entire continent to serve as a portal network, though doing so led me to a discovery.

Once I moved a certain distance away from one of my portal locations, I began to feel my connection with it weaken, and found myself unable to open a portal to that location. It appeared that a druid’s powers weren’t quite as omnipresent as I originally believed, though the distance was still huge. If I had to compare it… I would be able to move from one side of the United States in my old world to the other, but not across the ocean to Europe.

I wasn’t sure if this held true for all druids, or if it was dependant on their level of power. At the moment, I was already using my Keeper levels for the Druid class, keeping everything else suppressed to normal. So maybe a normal druid only has a range of less than half of that distance, which is still pretty huge.

Either way, once I was done setting up the portal network, I returned to the Admin Room. So, we’re going on a boat, huh? I heard Leowynn’s excited tone from within my mind. I’ve never been on a boat before.

You sure you’ll be alright? You won’t get the chance to come out very much if we’re stuck in front of a bunch of other people. Honestly, one of the biggest things I was worrying about for this whole trip was Leowynn. Sure, I’d get a bit antsy sitting on a boat for a year, but I’d still be able to move around and stretch my legs. Leowynn wouldn’t have that option.

Isn’t it just for a year? That’ll be fine, then. I can take the time to practice a bit more. Also… mind if I make a little request for your trip coming up? I could sense a bit more excitement creeping into Leowynn’s voice as she spoke.

Of course, a year to her wouldn’t be long. She was already several centuries old when she died… What is it?

Could you guide the beastkin to the elves? I’m not trying to play favorites or anything, honest. But, there’s a bit of a story behind why I wanted to ask that. Would you like to hear? When I gave a brief nod, Leowynn continued. This is an old story about our sky, back from the day that the sky fell upon the land.

The sky of the elven lands is split in five, signifying the four earthly domains and the domain of the Goddess. There is the Sky of the Lion to the west, where the beasts roam in greater strength and numbers. On the day the sky fell, it is said that a mighty lion swallowed a star, becoming a guardian protector serving Ryone.

The Sky of the Aerop lies to the north, the domain of the spiders and wicked insects. The mighty aerop spun its web around a fallen star, and drained it of its energy. The north is a land of terrible beasts that the elves refuse to settle in.

To the south is the Sky of the Mortal Palace, the land from which the elves first came. Although we did not inherit a star, we gained the protection of Ryone to shield us from harm, allowing us to own one of the four domains.

Between the four directions, there is the Sky of the Goddess, bringing balance to all. And finally… the eastern sky is the Sky of the Serpent, the realm of the boundless ocean, and the area where more stars fell than any other domain.

When the sky settled, the ancient ancestors saw shapes emerging from the stars in the night sky, and began to draw them on leather and name them. Among the stars in the Sky of the Serpent, there were five constellations drawn. They were The Dragon, The Tide, The School, The Snake… and The Traveler.

When Leowynn reached the end of her story, I felt a small laugh rise up from my through as I understood her meaning. I couldn’t help but voice my thoughts out loud. “You want us to arrive from beneath the Traveler’s star, as a sign of peace and fortune for the elves.”

I could practically feel Leowynn nodding her head rapidly inside my soul. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble? If you had already settled on the dwarves, we can do it later…

“No, it’s fine. I hadn’t completely decided, and it does make for a bit of poetic irony. I guess you could call this fate? Either way, there’s no harm in going this way, but first we need to make sure that the elves themselves would be there to see it. Otherwise, it loses its meaning.”

Hearing that, she seemed to fall into thought. Are there no cities on the eastern part of the continent after all?

Shrugging my shoulders, I opened up the map to check. Honestly, the fact that the eastern region of the sky was the domain of the ocean meant that there should be a settlement close enough to see the ocean. And that was over five hundred years ago.

Not surprisingly, I found that there were quite a few cities on the east, though they were mostly spread out. One of which I had actually been to myself, the city of Cau Buhnga. In fact, now that I looked at it, it seems like a second elven kingdom had taken hold. The first was in the eastern part of the continent, where Leowynn herself had been born.

The second kingdom was on the larger western area. Its cities were fewer in number than Gandor in the east, but they were packed far more closely together, offering more security for their people. I imagined I’d be hearing a story behind that before too long.

Though, this led me to question why Terra had said that the elves wouldn’t be there to meet us if we sailed to them. Did she mean the other kingdom? Or was some kind of disaster heading their way that I wasn’t aware of.

Terra. I called out to her in my mind, asking her that very same question.

Hmm? Oh, sorry, I wasn’t meaning to exclude them or anything. They’re not on the verge of extinction, so don’t worry. A lot of them are just considering moving towards the safer western region and moving away from the coast. Though, now that I think about it a bit more, there probably wouldn’t be a whole lot of dwarves living on the beach, either… Sorry! Honest mistake.

Huh… Terra actually made a mistake of her own… has she… ever done that? You sure you’re okay? I don’t think that you’ve ever made a slip up like that.

Yeah, I’m fine Dale. I’ve been practicing handling two incarnations a lot more recently, so my attention is divided too much, I guess. I’ll try to keep it more in control in the future. Oh, and nice thinking on the dungeon thing. Ryone filled me in and said she’d be happy to help.

I nodded my head slightly at that, a small sigh emerging from my lips. Ultimately, I knew that nothing normally happens to a system companion like Terra, because Alkahest mentioned that he still had his. And he’d been in this position long enough to know the Keeper from a few generations before me.

At the same time, the idea briefly came up that she might be pregnant, though a short laugh ended that thought. The idea was a nice one, but physically impossible in this scenario. A new life can’t come into being in the Admin Room without being purchased or hitchhiking like Leowynn. And even if she was able to get pregnant, there is no aging, so the child could never be born.

Shaking my head, I brought my thoughts off of that topic. “So… time to get started I guess.”

Opening up the map, I was quickly able to find the harbor city where the voyage would set sail from. Dyjorn, it was called, and I was easily able to find a plot of land nearby to place a little shack. Thankfully, using the Easy Reputation system did allow for things such as primitive dwellings to be built on empty land to serve as the home in the reputation.

I gathered the papers from Accalia, and quickly entered them in as the reputation I wanted to create. While I watched, wood began to push up out of the ground at a visible speed, forming into a small home. Just like it mentioned in the reputation, it looked as if a strong breeze would knock it over, yet it stood surprisingly firm.

Next, I took out an insurance policy. My five hundred year timeskip had brought a massive influx of points, so I was easily resting at just over two and a half thousand. This made it very much affordable to buy a World Host. That way, even if I do end up in a fatal situation, I can just ascend and have the body left behind die in my place.

Finally, I began to actually craft the body that I would be using for the next year. Naturally, since it was Accalia’s recommendation, he was a lycan. Because of his reputation, he was an elderly one, looking to be in his late sixties. His true age was unknown, but it was estimated that he had some secret to extending his life.

His face was just showing the signs of age, a few wrinkles appearing here and there, while his formerly black hair formed lines of grey that ran down to his shoulders. The body was far from muscular, though in this world the appearance or absence of strength can be very misleading. His clothes were neat and tidy, yet had a few patches sewn onto them to show how long they had been used.

Once I was done crafting the body, I looked it over for a little bit. This would also be my first time descending in an elderly body, and I wasn’t quite sure that I was ready to deal with all the aches and pains. It shouldn’t be a problem, but if it turns into one I’ll have to find a way to fix it.

Are you sure you want to go ahead and head down? Leowynn asked, seeming to realize my intention.

Why not… the sooner the better. I need to be there in time to be picked for the voyage, and this will give me more chance to acclimate to beastkin culture. As I said that, I hit the button to descend, letting the blue lights surround me.

And that was when Tebor the Traveler was born into the world, ready to see history being made.