World Keeper - Chapter 1254: Deal of a Lifetime
Throughout the various realms, several Masters and Fallen Gods, as well as those more innately attuned to the void, all sensed the faint fluctuation of the void.
“Which unlucky fellow broke through as a Master at this time?” The Master of Gems asked herself, sitting in her office to put together a planetary security plan that could be implemented across various territories. They had never needed to worry about many threats from deep space, so their scanners were not prepared to pick up such powerful monsters moving beyond the speeds of light.
Naturally, the Master of Gems believed that this new Master would be sharing the burden, suddenly forced to help defend countless planets right after breaking through. She closed her eyes, letting out a deep sigh. However, before she could process those thoughts any further, the new resonance simply disappeared, causing her to blink curiously.
This wasn’t the feeling of a Master being destroyed, so how could the resonance simply disappear? Don’t tell me, the new Master went straight into conquering another dungeon?
This was the only thing that the Master of Gems could think of. Each dungeon essentially represented its own void domain. Thus, when a Master entered a dungeon, their resonance with the void would temporarily vanish. While this technically allowed a second Master of the same nature to be produced in the world, the two would inevitably conflict when the first Master returned again.
“I have come to report, my Keeper.” Tsubaki said, kneeling on the floor before me. I could sense the feeling of accomplishment radiating from her, and gave a light chuckle.
“Congratulations, Tsubaki.” I said, gesturing for her to stand. “I watched the whole thing. Once Chelsea told us that she informed you of how Hal Tua produces Origins, I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist. You are far more than qualified to ascend through their methods.”
Tsubaki nodded her head as well, rising to her feet. “I believed so as well, my Keeper. Once I heard of the peculiarities in their methods, I believed that there was no longer a need for me to hesitate. Whether it is creating the portal itself or defeating the dungeon boss, there is nothing for me to fear.”
I nodded in agreement, a smile on my lips. With this, every servant of Olympus was either an Origin or, as Hal Tua would call them, an ‘Extreme God’. “What Origin domain did you resonate with?” I asked curiously, and Tsubaki looked at me, a faint hint of hesitation on her face. “Don’t tell me that it was the Origin of Submission or something?”
She shook her head quickly at that. “No, I was prepared for such a domain to appear. The domain that I ultimately received was something I had not originally considered. As of today, I am the Origin of Contracts.”
I couldn’t help but blink at that, thinking. “How do you fight with the Contracts domain? I can see it being used in a wide variety of fields, but what could you do with it for combat?”
“I am still working on that. Given that the domain that I received would be random, I was unprepared for specific systems. However, I intend to carefully study world creation from this point forward in order to make the most of this domain.” She answered, while Accalia looked over in interest.
“I could think of a few useful combat methods for Contracts. For instance, what if you could inflict a punishment on a target for every promise they’ve ever broken in their lives? Or, you could force an unfair, binding contract on a target. If you use it on a monster, you could say that their mere existence means that they accept the contract, and force them to become your tamed minions.”
Hearing Accalia’s suggestions caused Tsubaki’s eyes to light up. “Indeed, these uses could be possible, so long as I can properly understand world creation.”
It was at that point that I cleared my throat. “Actually… that might not be strictly necessary anymore.” I said, causing Tsubaki to look at me in confusion. “While you were preparing for your trial, I asked Chelsea how Origins in Hal Tua tend to develop their skills. Given that they don’t need to understand typical world creation methods in order to ascend, it seemed unlikely that they used the normal methods of developing their abilities.”
“Does Hal Tua possess yet another shortcut here, as well?” Tsubaki asked, her eyes widening.
“That’s right.” I confirmed with a nod. “This is a system that we didn’t learn about from the monarch, because it was something that he had never had the reason to use, so he had completely forgotten about it… The system itself is called Heavenly Phenomenon Manifestation, and is only usable by the master of a guild.”
“This system allows the guild master to describe any form of phenomena that they wish to manifest, and the territory that they control where it will manifest. For lower ranked guilds, the price for this is prohibitively expensive, and there is simply no reason for them to do so. And, because of how the currency is handled through the system, simply using a divine domain to prepare funds wouldn’t be enough.”
Tsubaki nodded hesitantly, but still looked somewhat confused. “In that case, how shall I prepare the funds for this system?”
I couldn’t help but give a knowing smirk. “Sanction set up a personal account for himself, that way he could enjoy whatever luxury service he wanted. It’s just like our admin accounts, with unlimited funds. Once you get the prices for what you want, I’ll transfer the funds to you.”
Tsubaki blinked, but nodded her head in agreement. This would undoubtedly save her a lot of time creating her new abilities, and could be used to help Lifre and Dana as well. “Very well, my Keeper. Is there anything else?”
I shook my head, allowing her to return to the world as I sat down. In truth, Sanction’s currency revolved largely around his dungeon system. While conquering a dungeon did not directly give a guild profit, that dungeon could either be kept by the guild, or sold to the system. In the latter case, the dungeon’s entire value would be provided by the system in one lump sum, similar to if the Keeper themselves refunded it.
This was why even larger guilds with their own Origins would still conquer dungeons, because they wanted the profit that came from doing so. There were various levels of power where one could purchase something directly from the system, or could sell items to the system. This led to three currencies ultimately being formed, all managed by the same system.
The first currency was Skill Currency, used for lower level transactions. New skills could be registered to the system for profit, and this currency could also be earned through the process of leveling up and defeating monsters. To spend it, one could purchase skills from the system and train them to a higher level.
The second currency was Prestige Currency, used mostly by divine-level figures. Prestige skills, or domain powers, could be registered the same way skills could, and defeating ‘prestige monsters’ could earn the currency. Similarly, divine-level abilities could be purchased from the system.
The final currency was Domain Currency, and this was only usable by entire guilds. The only ways to earn this currency were either through guild achievements or by conquering and selling dungeon worlds. Domain Currency could be used to buy enhancements for various universes, such as the privacy shield, or general guild enhancements.
All three forms of currency could ultimately be earned through conquering dungeons. Whether it was discovering new skills, or the dungeons themselves, they were practically gold mines for the various guilds.
And, while there was no direct ratio to trade between one currency to another, there were several individuals that were willing to handle the trade at different rates. Like with other matters, Sanction did not oversee any of this, and simply left it to his world to figure out. All he needed to do was ensure that his own personal account had no limits, that way he could pay anyone for any service he wanted.
Comparing my own realm to Sanction’s made me realize that I had gotten involved in my realm’s history far more than I had originally realized. Despite always trying to set a clear line that I didn’t want to cross, I was willing to step in and help if some disaster was about to strike. On the other hand, Sanction’s past showed many disasters that had wiped out entire universes, whether via monsters or internal strife. The only time Sanction ever got involved was if it came to his own personal interests.
That said, I was still busy working on resolving what I saw as perhaps the most unethical part of his domain, the afterlife system. Sanction had, unsurprisingly, opted for the system which directly incinerates souls a short time after their death, annihilating them entirely. Only certain universes that already had their own afterlife systems prior to being conquered were safe from this.
Back within the void, a large dwarven god could be seen standing atop the World Tree. In one hand, he held a golden hammer, and in the other a black structure. With a grin, he swung his hammer towards the top of the tree, releasing a burst of golden light.
Immediately, the area around the tree’s canopy transformed. A sky formed within the towering branches, blocking out the influence of the void similar to the farm that existed beneath the tree’s roots.
Within this sky, the dwarven god planted the black structure, which rapidly grew into a large city made of blackened metal. At the heart of this city, a single branch rose up, forming the core that powered the city.
With his work done, Tubrock shrank himself down, appearing before the newly relocated Olympus. “Bout time we had another upgrade.” He said to himself with a grin. From the Sky Citadel to the original Olympus, it had always been necessary to upgrade the symbol of the Keeper’s residence as the scale of the realm increased. Now that they were dealing with Origins, it only made sense to him that the Keeper’s residence should exist as a beacon of authority within the void itself.
Lifre felt a tremor rumbling through Olympus as it was set into its new position. Her body was practically melting into the sofa she sat on, enjoying the brief moment of freedom from the excessive work that she had been handling previously. Although she was regretting stepping forward to take on so much responsibility, she knew that there had been no other choice at the time. Especially given all of the monsters that had been appearing.
As she relaxed, the door to the living room opened, and Dana walked in. When Dana saw the half-melted slime girl, she gave a small grin. “And only now does it really feel like we’re back.” She said in a playful tone, earning a long groan from Lifre.
“I don’t wanna woooorrk anymore!” Lifre whined, causing Dana to laugh.
“Don’t worry. We’ve got things from here. Everything should start to settle down, now that we’ve gotten rid of the biggest threats of Sanction’s realm.” She said, moving to sit next to Lifre.
“You sure?” The slime girl looked over at her. “There’s still a whole bunch of guilds that probably don’t like us after that last battle. Especially the Thousand Eyes or whatever.”
Dana simply shrugged her shoulders at that. “If they want to cause problems for us, let them try. Chelsea and Julia are working to modify the security vine, so they’re able to keep an eye on the movements of the different problem guilds.”
“In that case, I shall potato upon this couch!” Lifre announced proudly, further melting into an unidentifiable lump on the couch.
