World Keeper

Chapter 96: Universally Bad Naming Sense

After returning to the Admin Room, I collapsed in bed and slept for… I don’t even know how long. Although I could technically go without sleep, and my mind was adjusting to that, that only applied to the Admin Room. When it comes to being a mortal, my body still definitely needed rest… which was something I had learned the hard way.

After waking up, I dragged myself over to the computer, and saw a blinking message, showing that someone had tried to send me a conversation request. Likely, it was while I was ‘unavailable’. Shaking my head, I opened the message to see what they wanted. There was really only one person that would message me out of the blue like that.

I had… almost forgotten about the Keeper meetings, but either way this didn’t bother me. This gave me plenty of time to figure out what I was doing on my own world before worrying about somebody else’s. Speaking of my world… Terra? I thought inwardly, too tired to try to figure out where I had left the communication paper. Hopefully, my mind was too worn out to send the loud messages that they had been worried about before.

Dale? A reply came shortly after, though not from Terra. Bihena’s questioning tone told me everything I needed to know. Wrong number, but I’ll send her your way.

Thanks. It was probably easier to talk in person than over the thought-chat radio or whatever we were calling it now. So, I turned to face the door, slouched over and propping myself up by my elbows until Terra came into the room.

“Hey, Dale. See you finally decided to wake up.” She said with a toothy grin, her tail wrapped around her waist like a belt. Currently, she seemed to be wearing a dress woven out of golden silk. “So, what’s up?”

“Not going to ask how long I was out.” I began, not even wanting to know. “But, I’ve got a question, and it is semi-urgent. What would a child be like if their parents were a descended Keeper and a god’s avatar?”

Terra had a knowing smile on her face as she listened to that. “You mean you and Ryone? She wouldn’t stop talking about it while you were asleep. And… normally, there might not be that much difference. Maybe a slight increase in talent. However, things are a bit different for you, since you have the Godking achievement.”

“Oh, you don’t mean…” I turned my head to look at the computer, and opened up the notifications.

“I created a demigod?” I asked, placing my face into my palm. “Okay… what’s going to happen now with it?”

“Well, Tryval’s demigods didn’t really do anything special. He was mating with the variant centaurs enough to almost single-handedly run their entire species. However, really things are a bit random. Most likely, they will be born with the protagonist aura, and will be successful at whatever they seek to accomplish in life. There is a very rare chance that the divinity in their blood grants them an extra power, but so far that hasn’t happened yet in your world.” She explained patiently.

It was only at this moment that I realized that Tryval had indeed made plenty of holy babies. And yet I had never received this achievement before. So I had to do it myself, huh? “Well, what about normal children between your incarnations and mortals?”

“Bihena’s son didn’t show any special talents, so I would say that the connection is weak enough for it not to affect the child.” She said with a shrug, walking over to sit down at the bed. “However, as the Godking, you are a different story. In order to not create a demigod, you would need to completely cut yourself off from your Keeper powers while you are in the act… And lately, you’ve been keeping your Keeper health and stamina active. Not at all a bad decision, and it’ll probably save your life later, but it also means you make god babies.”

She sounded just a bit too amused with that last part. I couldn’t help but lift my head up to look at her curiously. “You seem oddly okay with this. I thought you would be a bit more upset that I made Ryone pregnant.” After all, she had been fairly hesitant towards my initial goal of a heavenly harem… not that I really see them like that anymore.

“I’ve said it before. Ryone’s fine. Most of the girls up here are. If I had to list two girls as off limits… Aurivy, and Udona.” She nodded her head confidently. “Aurivy, because the whole sister dynamic. And Udona, because of her memories. Like you’ve learned yourself, the memories and personalities of the gods and goddesses you create aren’t always how you would imagine. It’d create a giant mess if you just went around sleeping with them before even confirming what kind of person they were, right?”

I still can’t help but think that there is something else going on with this. “You already gave Ryone a punishment, didn’t you?”

“First of all, you forgot to turn off the mental communication.” She said with a bitter smile. “And.. I may have paid her a visit. But I didn’t do anything drastic.”

Called it. “Okay… well, you can tell Aurivy that I’ll head down to visit you two next.” Though, not to make more demigods. “I just need a bit of time to check up on the world, and get over my previous descent.” It had lasted quite a bit longer than I had originally planned.

Terra nodded her head with a grin, not even waiting before she turned around and headed out the door, no doubt seeking out Aurivy to let her know what I just said. Shaking my head with a sigh, I turned myself back around to face the computer, checking to see if anything interesting was happening in the mortal world.

Deep within the Village of the Hidden Fog, one particular beastkin was attempting a new technique he had been working on. Before him sat several bars of precious copper. This was a metal that the village had found hidden deposits of this material within the forest. After a few years of study, it was found possibly to melt a certain part of the metal from the ore and separate it through the use of various techniques.

After that, naturally people had begun reshaping the metal into more deadly shapes, such as arrowheads or daggers. However, Filla had another idea. An idea to create a weapon more deadly than the dagger, more accurate than an arrow, and perfectly suited to their abilities.

His hands quickly came together, forming various shapes as he channeled his chakra into them. Each sign seemed to resonate with his chakra, until he held the final sign as a circle with is thumbs and index fingers connecting, his other fingers all spread out. Under his breath, he recited the name of the technique in order to help him focus his chakra further. “Metal Melting.”

As his chakra poured into the copper bars in front of him, they gradually turned red, showing signs of melting. In order to prevent an accident, he willed his chakra to lift the metal into the air before him, watching as it gradually formed into a single blob of amorphous copper. Clapping his hands together, the blob trembled as it was compressed slightly.

Lifting his hands, he once again made a circle with his fingers, before pulling his hands apart. In response, the copper formed into the shape of a small circle and began expanding, leaving a wide hole in the middle. Already, he could see the effects from his previous technique wearing off, the metal starting to cool and harden again. However, he wasn’t done yet.

He clapped his hands together again, this time with both palms facing him, one hand slapping the other. Again, the metal compressed. And again, he clapped. With every clap, it was as if the metal was being struck by a hammer, suspended in midair and gradually cooling. One clap after another seemed to strike at the circle of metal, until the outer edge resembled a thin blade.

Satisfied with this result, he lifted his hands back up, forming another circle facing the metal, and moved his hands over to the side, lowering them down. The circle of metal followed the movement, lowering itself into a pot of fresh red blood. This was the blood of the shadow wolf, a beast the village had discovered over a century ago to be capable of using chakra. And it was also the key ingredient in this forging, used to temper the weapon that Filla wanted to make.

He watched the steam rising from the pot of blood, bubbles rising up as it began to boil. When he lifted his hands back up, he caused the circle of metal to fly into the air and land on the table, right where the original bars had been located. By now, his ki and mana were almost exhausted, leaving him unable to continue to the final step.

Thankfully, he had been expecting that, and grabbed two glass potion bottles from nearby, one blue and the other green. One after the other, he chugged them down without hesitation, allowing his energy to refill slightly. The village’s alchemists had not found a way to completely restore someone’s mana and ki, but their potions would restore a significant portion.

Taking a moment to let the potions take effect, he once again began the hand signs. At first, they seemed to be identical to the ones he had performed before, except for the very last one. This time, his final hand sign was a one-handed circle with his thumb and index finger, his other fingers extended together. “Metal Engraving.”

After saying that, he lowered his fingers down towards the cooling metal, keeping them several inches from its surface. Once a few seconds had passed, a red dot formed in the metal, which followed the movements of his fingers as he began to etch in complicated symbols, those which they had found most useful in storing ki. At a glance, they looked like the components in spell diagrams, except that their shapes were less rigid, more natural.

When Filla had completely engraved both sides with those symbols, he let out a deep breath, sending the disc of metal to cool in the blood once again. Afterwards, he carefully wiped it down with a cloth, smiling at his creation. A completely circular blade, made to be wielded either by hand or thrown. But, more importantly, if Filla’s theory was right, it should easily be able to hold chakra, allowing it to be controlled remotely.

After pouring a bit of chakra into the blade, he caused it to rise into the air with more ease than he had its previous raw form. With a thought, it began spinning rapidly, the sound of it cutting the air almost audible. Filla glanced down to his stone table and flicked his finger, causing the weapon to fly down at it, piercing halfway into the stone before stopping.

With a satisfied nod, he spoke as if talking to his new creation. “I will call you… chakram. The weapon made for chakra.” He knew that, once he shared this weapon and its forging process with the rest of the village, it would usher in a new age for them. Although they would need to learn how to properly wield this weapon, it should drastically increase the fighting potential of any single ninja.

Still, Filla had no idea how happy his actions were making a certain pair of ninja-loving goddesses, who had chosen to watch over his actions with high hopes in their heart. They had not influenced him in any way, and yet he had created a weapon that they had been looking forward to for quite a while.