World Keeper

Chapter 768: Ambition

Dana stared at the message for several long moments, doing her best to wrap her head around it. It was clear that this hadn’t been quite what she thought I meant when I offered her a divine ability. That said, I could understand her confusion. Until Markus had brought up the subject of me removing one of his titles, I had never thought about combining the Paper and Games domains in such a way.

“I used a portion of my own divinity to imbue you with the Crafts domain. You’re not a true god in that you don’t have a divine body, and the only way for you to mobilize your divinity is through this domain. However, your special body type with the World’s Shadow should make up for any shortcomings there. If I set it up right, your divinity should recover based on my own rate.”

I could feel a thin bond between myself and Dana, a channel that existed within my divine energy. If I chose to, I was certain that I could sever it at any time. However, doing so would cut off the supply of divine energy to the artificial title that I had created for her.

When I was creating this title, I had a vague sense that I needed to personally supply the power that I wished to grant her myself, as I could not simply produce the power from nowhere. In that way, it was impossible for me to grant a domain that I did not have access to, nor could I give her a completely independent supply of divine energy to draw from.

In a sense, Dana had become a subordinate deity, though one with far more restrictions than most, in that she could not access any of my other domains, nor could she create subordinates in my name. However, this was the most that I could safely do for her, as I was unsure how her body would react to an attempt at divine ascension.

Dana thought about what I said, nodding slowly. She seemed to be thinking about what she should make as a test. Eventually, she brought her hands together and focused, a golden glow shining through the gaps between her fingers. When her hands separated, there was a black sphere hovering over the table, suspended in place.

Curious, I extended my World Sight to the sphere, blinking when I realized what it was. This item was a pure mass of World’s Shadow, molded into a solid form. I could sense that there was a special effect to this sphere, but Dana spoke up before I was able to identify it. “This should be… a key to my shadow world. If you give it to your own shadow, you should be able to freely move between them.”

There was a small smile on her face as she said that, passing the shadow sphere to me. Trusting her, I immediately gave the item to my World’s Shadow. The sense of change was almost instant, with the territory that I could sense expanding to include the shadow world of Deckan. However, I realized that Dana had not been entirely truthful in her explanation, perhaps out of concern that I would not accept it.

This was not as simple as giving me access to her shadow world, but rather giving me the rights to control it. And, seeing the innocent smile on her face, I knew that she had planned that from the start. I simply let out a small chuckle, shaking my head. “How is it? Is the divine energy recovering properly?”

Dana thought about it for a long moment, sensing her own energy before nodding her head. “It’s slow, but I can feel it growing a bit.” I let out a sigh of relief, glad that the little experiment to best pseudo-domains had worked. “So, is that the kind of reward you gave the winner just now?” She asked curiously, to which I nodded.

“In a way. A while back, I created a set of items that contained the power of different divine domains, that way I would be able to use those domains even after their holders perished. They just finished recently, so I thought that giving him one would make for a fitting reward from the Keeper.” I confessed. “In truth, I don’t know much about those tomes yet, either, so I’ll be watching how he uses it as a way to verify their effects.”

Lifre giggled, shaking her head with a small grin. “So he’s testing out your new product for you. If you give me one, I’d be happy to test it out, as well!” She offered with wide, sparkling eyes.

I rolled my eyes at her rather obvious attempt to get one of my domain books. Still, it would be nice to get someone to test them out like that. “Then you can try out the book of Wood.” I told her, retrieving a shining, gilded tome from my shadow. Unlike the one I gave to Markus, this one did not have an illusion to mask its divine nature.

Lifre practically dove for the book as soon as she saw it, hugging it to her chest and giggling madly. “Yay! You won’t regret it, boss! I’ll figure out exactly how this works!” She promised, though really that just meant that she’d play with it until she had unlocked all of its secrets.

I shook my head, knowing that she was going to be busy ‘testing’ the new book for quite some time. With that in mind, I cast my attention elsewhere, curious to see how Markus was faring with his own tome.

After the reward ceremony ended, Markus immediately made his way away from the city. Unlike most winners of the King of Mages tournament, he had no desire for the fame that came with the title. As such, he turned down any interview requests, and left through the city gates as soon as he could.

Honestly, he was feeling a little flustered at the moment, but that feeling was only making him excited. After all, it had been so long since he was able to feel this way, he could barely contain his swelling emotions.

When he was a teenager, he once thought that he could train his body beyond normal methods by applying restrictions to himself. He would use magic to seal his sight for an hour, forcing him to use his other senses to walk around his own house. He’d weigh down his body with another spell, training his muscles by simply forcing them to move.

It was when he created and used a spell that restricted his spirit, hoping to strengthen it like a muscle, that the system ‘awarded’ him with his title. Ever since then, he had lost the capacity to feel emotions like a normal person. Now that the title was something that he could disable, he had no intentions of turning it back on unless there was a true emergency.

He even planned to go so far as to get rid of his spell cards, perhaps selling them as the ‘deck that won the King of Mages’. There would surely be many wanting to buy that deck, especially if it came from the winner of the tournament himself. Once those cards were gone, he would no longer be at risk of such a title appearing again to close his heart. Or at least, that was the intention.

As he walked down the road, he could faintly detect that there were a few individuals following him. They kept their presences hidden quite well, but Markus had gained quite a few Scout levels during his time looking for a cure to his problem. Thus, they flickered in and out of existence on his minimap, causing him to grunt in frustration.

Focusing his mind, he activated the newly awakened psionic talent of halflings, and his body became entirely invisible. There was only one path down this road for quite some time, so it would be hard to really lose the other party. However, he could at least hope to make them think that he had turned around and rushed back to the city.

Of course, to do so he stood completely still. Markus was aware that some people could detect his presence by his footsteps, which were not entirely silent. If he did not move, there was the  chance that they would mistake it as him erasing his tracks, or activating a flight spell.

As he was thinking about this, he saw two people appear, each wearing black cloaks that hid their appearances. The two figures walked over towards Markus, seeming as if they had already seen them. Are they able to detect mana? Markus asked himself in a panic.

As he thought about that, he saw the flash of a blade from one of the two cloaked figures, though they paused before delivering any kind of attack. Shadows lifted and wrapped around their bodies, hiding them from view before heavy footsteps could be heard charging down the road.

“Where did that little guy go!?” A female voice called out, one that Markus had heard during the tournament. Turning his gaze, he saw an ursa woman charging down the paved road, her head swiveling and eyes wide as she looked for him.

At this point, he realized that he had to take a gamble. The two figures from before were clearly after his life, no doubt trying to claim his rewards for themselves. He didn’t know how to use the book that the Keeper gave him yet, so all he had was his restriction deck. While he was willing to use that in the tournament, a true life and death battle carried entirely different meanings, and he would gladly take any alternative that presented itself.

As such, he caused his body to become visible again, the ursa’s eyes locking onto him right away. “There you are!” She shouted with a grin, running straight towards him. “I heard that you took off this way while I was being swarmed with reporters. I didn’t think I’d catch you!”

He could tell that there was no obvious malice behind the girl’s smile, and so he sent his thoughts to her via mana while speaking. “I’m sorry about that, is there something that I can do for you?” There are two assassins lurking nearby. They’re starting to move away after you showed up.

“That so, huh?” The girl’s eyes went wide, and she took a deep breath. Markus’s eyes went wide as he felt her ki mobilizing, and soon realized that she was truly not meant to be a mage in the first place. She suddenly aimed her head downwards, her ki pouring into her voice and creating visible shockwaves as she shouted. “You bastards want to pick on the little guy?!”

The ground beneath her seemed to shatter from the sheer impact of her voice, Markus immediately covering her ears to prevent them from being blown out. The ground seemed to ripple away from her feet, and two figures appeared over a dozen meters away, groaning and spitting out mouthfuls of blood.

The ursa woman gave a cruel smirk as she looked at the figures, lightly stretching her arms. “I couldn’t get a good workout thanks to that damn spider, so I’m going to take my frustrations out on you, alright? I’m sure a couple of bandits don’t have anything to complain about.”

Her voice seemed dulled in Markus’s head, his ears still ringing. Still, he saw her approach the two, and a projection seemed to appear behind her from her ki. The figure of an armored warrior, holding a bastard sword in one hand, and a rounded shield in the other. This figure stood over twice as tall as the woman, mimicking her movements as she began to charge.

The battle that followed could… hardly be called a battle at all. The two assassins were too disoriented from her ki-infused shout to activate any complex abilities or tactics, leaving them to only try and pathetically dodge her attacks. However, she did not kill them, and instead severed their arms at the shoulders and knocked them unconscious with a blow to the head.

Once she was done, she grabbed her communication crystal, making a call. “Hello? Yeah, this is Cass Neil, I’m calling from just outside the northern gate of Ashtanu. I’ve apprehended a pair of bandits attempting to attack someone fleeing the city. Hmm? Oh, sure, I’ll stay for questioning.” She responded with a smile as she addressed the police on the other side.

After hanging up, she turned to face Markus, putting her crystal away. “So, sorry about that. Would you mind sticking around as well for just a minute? They never really take long to show up, and I’d like to ask you a question.”

Seeing as the woman had just saved his life, Markus was inclined to agree. “What do you want to know…?” He had a feeling he knew, but he still wanted to ask.

“That book the Keeper gave you… was that some kind of secret manual or something?” Her eyes practically shone as she asked that. “If so, can I see it?”

Markus was… half right, at least. “It’s… not quite. Here, it’ll be easier to show you.” He sighed, summoning the book he had been given and opening it for Cass to see.

“Eh? It’s blank?” Cass blinked curiously. “The Keeper gave you a blank book? Is it some kind of test or something?”

“No, the book is actually really special. He bound it to me to make sure that nobody could steal it. He said that it has a divine domain, like a god.” Markus said with a shake of his head, dismissing the book.

Cass let out a groan at that. “Really? That’s it?” She seemed rather disappointed, her shoulders dropping. She could already hear the soldiers of Ashtanu running down the road towards them. “I thought he might have taught you some great training method or something.”

Markus was rather surprised to hear someone refer to the domain of a god as if it were a consolation prize. He thought that it had the potential to be a huge gift, but Cass regarded it as if it were nothing. “Are you already a god?” He couldn’t help but ask, causing her to blink.

“Huh? No, I don’t care about all that. I want to get that level of power by training myself. Gods all rely on the perceptions of others to increase their divinity, and their own biggest power is restricted to just one domain, yeah? I want to get strong enough that I can beat up gods with just my ki!” She grinned wildly as she said that, even as she was surrounded by soldiers.