World Keeper

Chapter 572: Another Step

Initially, many people had a hard time understanding what was going on with the two cultivation worlds. Lorek had been the first to be identified, given that Spica’s scheduled ‘connection window’ happened to coincide with the time that the change took place. Once they closed their connection, however, they re-established it less than half an hour later.

As the normal traffic hours were over for the day, they had far less trouble making the connection than Lorek did. They were shocked to discover that so little time had elapsed on the other side. Of course, by this time the news from Lorek had yet to spread to the other worlds, so Spica wasn’t able to learn of their shared plight.

It took five hours of normal time for the information to reach both worlds. This meant roughly ten days had passed for them as they tried to adjust to the situation. Naturally, there were more consequences to this sudden shift than just travel between worlds. The only reason that the information was able to travel as quickly as it did was due to the existence of the internet, but that was now being massively slowed within the affected worlds.

Games such as Natural Seed and Vision Expanse could no longer be played by anyone who had less than a certain level of accomplishment in their cultivation, or else their body would start to decline after just an hour of being logged in. Given that Spica was a big consumer for these games, it caused quite the uproar.

After one week of normal time, when nearly a year had passed in Spica, the God of Games made his move. Using a large portion of the energy that he had obtained thus far, he created a second server for each of the ‘world games’ that was housed within Spica. These games could not easily be cloned onto an additional server through natural methods, after all. They were created by divinity, and thus required divinity to change.

With this issue solved, other issues began to resolve themselves in due course. News was no longer transmitted in ‘real time’ from the other worlds, and only sent in brief bursts of data once every day. Meanwhile, news being transmitted out from Spica and Lorek had its priority adjusted. Given that they had fifty days worth of news for every one from anywhere else, they only sent the most major events.

By the time a month had passed, people were having mixed thoughts about the change. For some, they thought of it as an easy way to get their children through an ‘accelerated schooling’ by sending them to one of these worlds. However, these thoughts were quickly debunked by people that pointed out that the passage of time still appeared normal for those on the other end.

Who would want to go to another world just for the same education they would receive at home? More importantly, which parent would want to separate from their kid for a week, only to meet them and have them be a year older? Although there were some that refused to believe the truth of how this worked, it proved to be a small number of the population.

Within the core of a mountain, in the deep rocky hills of Earth, Dana’s voice called out. “How are you coming on your end!?”

“I think I’m almost there!” Tsubaki’s voice echoed back from outside a dark cavern. Just as they had when creating their Reality Gems, they had opted to use mountains as the center of their production facilities. However, they were unable to use their previous spell formulas, as there was a stark difference when manipulating different types of energies.

As a spirit herself, Dana was tasked with creating the gem which would generate spiritual energy. This was also the energy closest to mana in the way that it operated, but different enough that it still required quite a bit of thought for how they wanted to achieve their goals. Meanwhile, Tsubaki was working on the ki production gem. Only when these two were completed would they work on the final one together.

Dana furrowed her brow as she looked across her diagram, trying to find the best way to align the different components. It had been sheer luck that allowed them to complete the first gem, but now they had that experience to base themselves off.

Her mind ran through countless different patterns, mentally rearranging the different diagram components in hundreds of different ways to find one where the lines all properly flowed into one another. Sometimes, she would think that she had gotten it right, but would realize that she had overlooked something when it came time to actually draw it out.

When we’re done with this, I’ve totally got to learn programming. She thought to herself with a shake of her head. Maybe I can set up some kind of modeling program that will allow me to just insert the different components I want and have it just find the way to make it work on its own…

Of course, she could likely ask Ashley for help with something like that if she wanted to. While she was much more willing to request aid from the gods, that was only in the event that she wasn’t able to do something on her own. And this felt more like a challenge to her than an insurmountable obstacle.

As she thought about that, something seemed to click in her head, finding another pattern that may be able to solve her current dilemma. With careful precision, she carved out the stone around her to begin drawing the new diagram.

“Are you prepared, miss?” One of the scientists asked the young centauress who stood in front of the metal chamber, her hooves clapping against the reinforced floor.

Alme stared at the chamber, feeling her nerves starting to get to her. This wasn’t the same danger sense as those who worshipped Terra, merely the concern one faced when about to take a step that would change their lives forever.

As one who had lived as long as Alme, someone that had ruled an entire world for over a thousand years, she had experienced such situations many times already. Thus, she was able to steel her nerves, and took that step forward. “I’m sure.”

The scientist nodded his head, having asked this mostly out of protocol. They had to ensure that each subject was willing to undertake the procedure of their own will, and give them every chance to back out. In Alme’s case, he fully expected her to pass, seeing the data that had been presented upon her entry. With her levels, it would be a miracle if she were to fail.

However, that miracle would not be a fluke of data but rather dependent on the mindset of the individual. In theory, the ‘ninety-nine percent success rate’ was actually one hundred percent, it was only when the individuals themselves caused a disruption in the process that it could fail.

Once Alme was inside, the man proceeded to close the chamber, sealing everything within. As part of the process, she was forbidden from carrying any enchanted items with her, leaving her with a simple white gown that covered her humanoid upper half.

The man walked over to the control terminal for the chamber, activating the microphone to speak to Alme. “We’ll begin stimulating the fusion between your various energy types now. Please relax, and do not resist if you feel anything strange.”

Since the procedure was being monitored, he would be able to tell immediately if Alme’s health bar dropped before it was time. If that happened, it wouldn’t be too late to forcefully cancel the procedure.

Hearing the instructions, Alme paced around the small chamber for a brief moment, before deciding to sit herself down. She didn’t want to fall over if she suddenly got dizzy or anything, and so she crossed her hands over her abdomen and waited.

Soon, she could indeed feel something just as the man said. Her energy became more active, rising outside of her control. Her natural instinct from numerous battles was to force that energy back down, but she restrained herself. She had already been warned, and knew that it was all part of the process.

Bit by bit, her mana began to merge with her soul, as did her ki, before her ki and mana likewise began to form a small connection with her soul as the base. This process lasted for roughly half an hour before the voice spoke to her again. “The energy merge has reached an optimal level. Do not be alarmed, this next stage will require utmost focus on your part. We’re going to trigger an eruption of energy to help you shed your physical being. Keep your thoughts firm, and you’ll be back to normal in no time at all.”

This was the stage where the willpower of the subject was put to the test. For the first part of the procedure, it was just a matter of waiting for the energies to properly merge. Sometimes it would take hours, or even over a day if the subject was missing a spiritual class. Rarely, the overstimulation of the spirit could lead to failure, but that was only for those that hadn’t trained it.

The second step, as he explained, meant to ignite the energy all at once, shattering the physical body and leaving the individual as a mass of residual energy. There were numerous mechanisms in place to stimulate the willpower of the person inside once this happened, but whether it succeeded or not ultimately depended on the individual.

The man gave Alme a few moments to process that, and saw that she didn’t raise any objections. Then, he hit the big, shiny red button that activated the second stage. On the screen, Alme’s body… exploded. Across every world, any centaur would feel a chill down their spine, an anxiousness that was transmitted from their patron god himself.

Within the chamber was the scattered gore that once made Alme’s body, as well as a twisting cloud of energy. The scientist outside of the chamber let out a faint sigh, shaking his head. “Now we wait.” He muttered, both for himself and the figure he felt watching him from a distance.

This step could be over in an instant, or take days to complete depending on the subject in question. It was only if the will of the host was entirely lost that the energy inside would dissipate. Just as the man was preparing to step away, letting the process run its course, he heard a ding from the console.

While not unheard of, it was incredibly rare for this step to finish in under a minute. Yet, when he looked back at the screen, he could see the energy cloud condensing, reforming into the familiar appearance of the young centauress. She still had that firm look of concentration on her face that she held at the start of the procedure, and it caused a sigh of relief to emerge from the scientist.

Inside the chamber, Alme was able to clearly feel the changes in her body. Unlike those who either lost energy during the process or were below the ‘recommended level’, Alme did not lose any of her size after achieving perfection. She was just as tall as she was before, but had a far clearer control over her own body.

With a thought, she could change her hair and skin tones. Her horn could shrink or extend at will, even vanishing entirely. Looking down at herself, and realizing that the gown she had been provided was destroyed in the procedure, she created a new one from her own energy.

Once that was done, a look of excitement appeared on her face. Though she was surrounded by the bloody mess of her old form, she had finally taken that step forward, and achieved the true eternity that she had long since sought. Unburdened by the restraints of a mortal body, she could train and explore once more.

As the door opened, she stepped outside of the room, hooves clapping against the metal tile. “What’s going to happen to…” She didn’t finish her sentence, glancing back into the chamber.

The scientist clearly expected a question like this, as it was one that came often. There were many ways to take advantage of one’s physical body, even after achieving perfection. With the right spells, it could be used as a weapon against her. Clearly, they would not allow something like that to happen.

“Not to worry. You can watch on the screen.” He told her, closing the chamber again. Alme blinked, trotting over to see what he meant. When he returned, he hit the white button marked ‘cleaning cycle’. Bursts of energy arose within the room, turning into towering flames that engulfed everything.

When the flames passed, there was naught but ash left in the chamber, and a sprinkler system activated to wash it all away.