World Keeper

Chapter 415: Disaster Awareness

After witnessing the changes taking place in the combined worlds, I shifted my attention to those that had not yet been joined. My gaze first landed on Kione, recalling the scenario that the system had put us through in the meeting. We had asked for a copy of Kione’s world settings, meaning that everything we experienced was a real possibility.

The concept of amalgams was not a mere theory, as the system had proven it to be fact. As such, I began to search through the world, even as I watched how it quickly advanced. A part of me hoped that this world would not go down that path, that Irena’s traumas wouldn’t be relived again.

Unfortunately, it did not take me long to find evidence of amalgamation research. As with the scenario, it had been labeled as a forbidden research. Even the church expressly forbid it as blasphemy against Accalia. But this did not stop some people, those who preferred to delve into the taboo arts.

Potentially, I could go and crush them myself, but that would require extensive training to adapt to that world. While I did still have my memories from my time as Slyris, that did not include his history…

It was then that I remembered a particular feature that had unlocked when I first became a first ranked Keeper. As I opened up the disaster spawner, I sent a mental message towards Accalia. Sorry to cut in like this, but did you hear about what had happened at the meeting with Irena?

It took a few moments for her to respond, as if she had to think about what I meant. Do you mean the issue with that game you guys played? Terra had told me about it, yeah… Honestly, I didn’t even realize that amalgamation was a thing before that.

That would explain why it had been expressly banned by her church… I’m thinking of a more… definite solution to the problem. Until we understand more about amalgamation, and unless there is some benefit for it later on, I was thinking of creating a disaster that spawns during amalgamation research. I want you to help me set one up that will sufficiently ‘discourage’ people from performing that research, while at the same time won’t harm nearby civilians.

Again, another long pause. Can’t do earthquakes, or weather phenomena then… honestly, I’d like to do a tornado due to my domain. But if someone was doing that research underground, then it would not damage the research, and would only hurt those above.

How about… a Mana Null? That’s a thing you can do, right? Whenever someone attempts to perform amalgamation, the mana in a small area around them is stripped away for a few minutes. No mana, no ritual, it’ll be impossible for anyone to complete their research.

I thought about that, closing my eyes and trying to imagine what sort of problems that could cause. I was not assuming that her answer was a bad one, merely trying to think of potential problems before they became an issue. I’ll make it a very small area. Personal, maybe a couple meters in diameter. Any bigger, and it’s possible that they will stumble upon it as a way to disrupt mages in a fight.

As I spoke, I began to set the parameters for this disaster, before my mind went almost blank. Something else occurred to me, something potentially bad. Hold that thought.

Swapping over my ‘channel’, I sent a message to Aurivy. Got a moment? Potentially earth-shattering thoughts occurring at the moment, and need your input.

Dale, I always get worried when you use that tone, but go on… Aurivy’s response was understandably cautious.

Have you placed any of your dungeon cores in Spica during the… okay, nine years now that they’ve been connected?

Thankfully, her response this time was almost instant. Not yet, why? I was thinking about starting to branch out to there, soon. I’ve finally gotten the secondary worlds of the demons fully mapped out with our dungeon plan.

Dungeons operate by releasing a field of mana that they control to reshape the area around them. I was mostly speaking to myself at that point, as Aurivy was far more familiar with the way that dungeons operated. However, in Spica, mana sources are stars.

What does tha–oh… potentially earth-shattering kaboom… Okay, how do you want to handle this? It was clear that Aurivy had caught on fairly quickly. Given the nature of dungeons, and of magic as a whole in Spica, there were three options for how dungeons could operate.

The first, and most likely option was that they simply work as normal, with only minor mechanical changes. This was the ideal answer, however it was not the only one. In either of the other two scenarios, it would range from useless to terrible.

The second option was that, like other magic, dungeons simply did not operate on Spica. Their mana would be unable to leave their own cores, and they would forever remain as inert lumps of crystal within the ground. This was the ‘useless’ option.

The ‘terrible’ option… if mana sources were stars, then perhaps dungeons would undergo a mutation in Spica and become stars as well. While this was the least likely of the three options, the possibility was not zero. Going by the theory that the creation of mana produces heat and light, which then carries that mana to distant worlds, then a dungeon core which produces mana would be treated as a small-scale star when operating under those laws.

We need to test, first. Terra, I know you’re listening. If I go down to Spica, I will still have my godly status from Earth, correct? That won’t be stripped away due to me not merging the laws?

There was a brief pause before I heard someone clearing their throat, Terra quietly speaking up. I wasn’t eavesdropping, I swear. I can’t help it… Anyways, if you weren’t at your fully divine stage, then it is possible that your body would have a negative reaction in Spica. As you are now, however, your descended body is made entirely of divine energy, and is thus unaffected by the change in mana.

Divine energy functions similarly in both worlds, so its uses will remain unchanged. Similarly, since you cultivated it manually, and it is not a class granted to you by Earth’s system, you will retain full control over it.

That caused me to let out a small sigh of relief. Okay, Aurivy. Find me the furthest region of space that we can monitor. Terra, I’m guessing you can’t just answer our question for us here?

Sorry, Dale… Terra spoke up with a tone of regret.

It’s fine, I kinda expected that would be the case. So, the only way that we will be able to discover the answer is by testing it ourselves. I gave a nod to myself as I decided that, turning my attention towards the map of Spica. The map zoomed out, further and further. Soon, the planet was a green and blue dot, orbited by its large moons, each of which were similarly growing smaller.

Spica had long since begun studying their stars, and in doing so they would naturally cause the system to fill that space in ‘retroactively’. So while I was happy when the map zoomed out past the entire solar system, other stars appearing in the distance, I was not at all surprised.

In fact, the map continued to zoom, until I was able to see the entirety of the galaxy. Unlike the Milky Way that I knew from my own world, the galaxy of Spica was not spiral. Rather, it consisted of a single large, dense ring.

Further zooming out, I was able to see a few other galaxies in the distance. Okay, where is the furthest that we can monitor closely? I corrected my earlier request.

There was a pause, before the map began rapidly zooming in, back towards Spica. Or at least, the same general region of the galactic ring as Spica. The planet that Aurivy showed me was clearly not one capable of supporting life, being too far from its parent star. This is planet PX-9, by the Spican designation. An uninhabited world that they only recently managed to make out clearly due to their long range telescopes.

It’ll work. I nodded my head, taking a deep breath. Now… spawn a dungeon on this world.

As soon as I had said my request, I saw a tiny speck of light appearing on the surface of the planet. Switching over to view thermal data, I could see the area around the spawn zone rapidly increasing in temperature. Its mana was clearly not enough to make bright light like a true star, but… dungeons clearly operated under the worst or the three possibilities.

And then, just as I was watching the data, I noticed the temperature beginning to cool once again. Part of me hoped that the dungeon had managed to control the outburst of energy, and I quickly switched my view back to zoom in on the area it had been placed.

What I found was a shattered, blue crystal. The dungeon had not managed to regain control of itself, but rather its mana had become too hot for its own body to withstand. While this did mean that there was no risk of a dungeon going supernova on Spica, it also meant that it was impossible to place them within this world.

Sorry, Aurivy…

It’s fine. She responded with a voice that clearly spoke otherwise, saddened by the loss of the dungeon. Better to learn now than when I tried to sneak them in later, right?

I wasn’t quite sure what to say there, and could only nod my agreement. I hadn’t even considered the dungeons when I was thinking about whether or not to merge the laws. And given how Fyor’s crystal spires were in essence giant mana crystals… merging the laws may have outright destroyed Fyor. Meanwhile, those old dungeons that had grown over hundreds, even thousands of years would produce far more mana than a newly spawned one.

Shaking my head, I quickly cleared away those thoughts, before returning my attention to Kione. The disaster spawner had already been pulled up, and I already had almost everything entered in. All that was left was to actually purchase the change for… thirteen hundred points?

I gave a wince at that price, before I realized why it had turned out to be so expensive. This wasn’t a case of a creature’s appearance causing a magical reaction, but altering the laws of magic themselves such that a single ritual now had an entirely different effect. While it might look like a small change, it was one that had to be handled extensively.

When it came to this, I really did not want to be stingy, and confirmed the expenditure with only a brief reluctance. Sorry, I’m back Accalia… Okay, that should take care of that. Hopefully, even those eccentric researchers will abandon the topic when they learn that it is now a dead end.

It’s fine, Dale. I kept an eye on what you were up to. That was unfortunate, to say the least. As for Kione, I already sent another divine message to my church. They’ve been made aware that I have entirely forbidden amalgamation, and have ‘shattered its potential’. Best way I could come up with to tell them.

I nodded my head when I heard that, glad that she was taking care of things. Even if Kione was a rather unusual world compared to my others, I was happy that she was playing an active role in its development.

Relieved that the immediate issues with Kione had been taken care of, I prepared to turn my sight to Lorek next. Given that this world was now being governed by both Keliope and Tubrock, I wanted to see what changes had occurred now that it was starting to advance more quickly.