“However, I have a different theory. Maybe the number is just a coincidence? Maybe the system did not use a base ten system of math like most worlds when it was first conceived. Maybe it used a base nine system, instead? Or, maybe it actually originally measured in a base 9,999 system of math? To me, there has never been evidence of the True Keeper’s existence, outside of that number.”
Going that far, Grimor gave a bitter grin. “As an experiment, I made a world where there was only one sentient race, but that race only had four fingers on each hand, and four toes on each foot. What they developed was a base eight numbering system. So, I did not mention the True Keeper because I do not believe in it.”
I could only nod at his explanation. Really, I didn’t blame him, but I still wanted to know more. “Then, why are so many other Keepers sure about it? And what do they hope to achieve by finding the ‘True Keeper’?”
“They just need something to believe in, I think.” He explained with a solemn face. “Most of them came from worlds with some kind of religion, and they still cling to the idea of a higher power than themselves. To them, the True Keeper fills that role. As for what they want to achieve, answers maybe? Why are we here, why do we have to fight each other, and why do we have to live on after everything we know and love is erased?”
I… couldn’t say anything for several long moments, unable to wrap my head around those thoughts. To me, the loss of the Earth did not mean much, because I did not have anyone I really cared for. Rather, it would mean more to me if I lost what I had now, because I actually have people close to me. Right now, my life has meaning where it didn’t before.
“Any other questions?” Grimor asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Uhm, what is a ‘standard minute’?” I figured it would probably be similar to the amount of time for a normal minute, but if movies have taught me anything, a ‘standard’ week could be as short as an hour.
“Oh? Well, I guess you haven’t been introduced to the ‘standard time’ used by the system. Really, it’s more of a convention the Keepers implemented to keep track of time, that got approved by the system. Basically, one hundred seconds in a minute, one hundred minutes in an hour, and ten hours make a day.”
I am really glad I asked that. Doing some math in my head, it seemed like it would take about fifteen or sixteen minutes for that ‘ten minutes’ to pass. “And, how many ‘standard’ days are in a year?”
“Five hundred.” He answered without needing to give it a moment of thought. My head hurt trying to work out that math. So, one standard year was nearly double the Earth years that I was used to?
“And… how often are these meetings held?” I needed to get some kind of calendar set up. Maybe there was a cheap one in the system that could be of help.
“Every month, or one hundred days. Though, the first meeting of every year is the ‘official’ one set forth by the system itself. The other four are all handled by the guild.”
And this was the 271st… “So, you guys have been doing this for almost seventy standard years?”
Grimor nodded at that, smiling slightly. “Little longer, actually. At first, we only held the meetings once a year, but the demand for them grew over time. Before that, the only chance Keepers had to interact with each other on a scale like this was the yearly meeting. Some of us like to socialize with others in the same situation, so these events are a welcome relief.”
Saying that much, he looked around me as if noticing something for the first time. “Did you not bring your companion with you? I had expected to see both of you here today.”
I shook my head. “No, she wanted to stay at the Admin Room today to play with one of the gods.”
“Ahh, I see. Well, no harm in that.” He laughed, tilting his head back. “No matter what personality settings the system assigns the companions, there has never been a case of a companion being hostile towards their Keeper. At most, frustration, even if the companion themselves think it would be better if the Keeper died. Yours seemed to like you quite a bit, though.”
I felt the corners of my lips turn up in a small smile. “She’s pretty cool, yeah. Anyways, should probably get to know some of the other Keepers here, huh?” I looked off to the side, and there were actually a few different Keepers watching us, though there wasn’t the expected hostility in their expressions. Rather, they just seemed to be waiting for their turn to introduce themselves.
Grimor only grinned in response, turning and walking off. As if that was the signal, five Keepers rushed over to me. Of them, four were human, and one was a bird-man, whose entire body was covered in feathers.
“Hey!” One of the human Keepers, a man with blonde hair, spoke first. “You’re one of the new guys, right? Nice to meet you, I’m Dalar.” He extended his hand in greeting, and I shook it. Seeing that the greeting was accepted, he gave a relieved sigh. “These are Sarah, Talon, Mapan, and Jare.” He pointed to the other four as he introduced them. Surprisingly, the bird-man was the one introduced as Jare, rather than Talon, who was a young woman.
“We’re a small guild, and were hoping to have a few words with you.” Again, it was Dalar that spoke. Either because he was the leader, or just the one with the biggest mouth.
“Uhm, alright. But I’m not really looking to join a guild at the moment.” I was still too new to this whole thing to even know what the benefits for being in a Keeper guild was.
“That’s fine.” This time, it was Sarah, a brunette woman who barely came up to my shoulders, that spoke. “It’s enough just to get to know the new people, and help them get to know us. Our guild is a small group of friends, really. We’re not looking to meet the True Keeper, or defeat the Dread Eye, or anything like that. We just want to have a group of people we can talk to when we need to, and keep in touch when we need advice.”
Okay, so maybe Dalar didn’t have the biggest mouth. “I see. I’ll keep that in mind.” I looked to the five of them, and thought of something. “Any advice you can give to a new Keeper, then?”
They looked at each other, trying to figure out what to say, but it was Sarah that spoke again. Do only those two ever speak in front of strangers? “Diversity, and participation. Those are two really important points, I think. When you participate in your world, you are helping to steer it on the right path, and earning some nice rewards along the way. And, if the residents of your world are diverse, they will be inspired to create more as a culture.”
Talon suddenly started talking, nodding her head as she did. “I have three races on my world. Arachne, humans, and avians. Although it took a while for them to get along, because of their differences, once they did their culture really boomed.”
Puffing out her cheeks at the interruption, Sarah hastily continued. “Culture is really important for Keepers. An advanced culture means that your residents might come up with ideas for things you never thought of. You can then turn those ideas into systems or items to sell on the Keeper market. I’ve heard that some of the advanced Keepers have worlds dedicated purely to raising culture, so that they can harvest those ideas for systems.”
Okay, so culture good. Though, looking at the races on my world, there really wasn’t that much diversity. They all looked pretty human, but with different traits. For instance, halflings were midget humans, the beastkin looked like humans with animal traits. Maybe my last race should be something that isn’t a standard humanoid? Closest to that I have right now is the Daeva, and that is purely because of their wings.
“Oh, one other thing!” Sarah said, her face breaking into a grin. “If you like crafting, try to make whatever you can without the system’s help. Most of the things easily crafted are already on the market, but having a secret or two is sure to help.” Well, I already figured that out recently, but thanks.
I thanked them for their help, and got their Keeper titles to exchange contact information. It would be good to have another source of information than just Grimor, just in case. After I broke off from them, I wa
lked into the crowd. There were still people introducing themselves to me, but nobody actually tried to hold a conversation. It was more on the level of just greeting the new guy.
I saw one Keeper that seemed to be trembling, looking left and right with nervous eyes. The other Keepers seemed like they were avoiding him, giving a wide berth as they walked around. Curious, I was about to approach him when Seraphine’s voice rang through the room.
“The evening’s games will be starting soon. Any Keeper wishing to participate, please proceed to the designated area.” Not knowing where the designated area was, I saw golden arrows forming on the ceiling, pointing all in one direction. Well… might as well. I gave one last look to the nervous Keeper, before making my way to the game area.
Chapter 26
Following the flow of traffic, and the arrows painted into the ceiling to guide us, I made my way towards the game area. The journey felt like it took nearly an hour, before I finally saw the nearest walls. When I arrived, I found a hall filled with doors, each door bearing its own label. One was ‘Gambling Room’, another was ‘Race Field’, and others were things like ‘Talent Show’.
As I walked down the hallway, I saw Keepers casually entering through each of the doors. Through each door, there appeared to be a large room, something that should not have been possible, given that the doors were placed immediately next to each other. Keeper logic…
Looking back at the entrance to the hall, there were five people that seemed hesitant to enter. Naturally, these were the other five new Keepers, who didn’t seem to know which door to go through. Slowly, four of them began walking forward, taking a peek into the various doors in the same manner that I had. However, there was one that was completely incapable of taking a step forward, the dragon with the title of Jugularnaut.
The dragon looked through the hall, its eyes half closed and wings drooping. Its body was simply too large to fit through the hallway. I saw Seraphine approach from the side, attracting the dragon’s attention. Due to the clamor of the crowd, I could not make out the conversation they were having. However, he did not seem pleased with the ideas.
After turning his head up and pretending to ignore the angel woman, Seraphine crossed her arms and spoke in what must have been a harsh tone. Something that she said must have worked, because he slowly looked back to her, before nodding. A few moments later, and his body began to shrink down. Once it was done, he looked like an eight foot tall, scaled humanoid. Although he still had his wings, he was at least able to enter the hallway.
By this time, the other four new people had gotten halfway down the hall, around the same spot I was at. The centaur barely took a look around before entering through the door marked ‘Race Field’. The elf likewise went straight for the ‘Talent Show’ door. The human walked a bit further down, before entering through the door marked ‘Treasure Hunt’.
Finally, the arachne and myself, having no idea which doors were best. She seemed to notice me standing a few feet away from herself, and waved happily. “Hi, there! You’re one of the new Keepers too, right?” She asked with a smile, her eight legs practically shaking in excitement.
“Yeah, that’s right…” I said hesitantly. I know that there was no danger here, and that this woman actually seemed really friendly. Still, spider body, not exactly a widely accepted beauty aspect where I grew up. More likely to find spiders the subject of a horror movie.
“Nice to meet you.” She nodded her head quickly. “I’m Kathy.” She introduced herself, leaning down and extending a hand in greeting. I hadn’t been able to accurately get a sense of her height before, but she really was tall. Nearly nine feet from the top of her head to her spider legs. After shaking my hand, she stood back up and looked at the nearby doors. “Guess you’re not too sure about where to go either, huh?”
“Pretty much…” I looked a bit deeper into the hall, and found one door that was labeled ‘Simulation’. Seeing that, I began walking towards it out of curiosity. There was a very distinct clicking along the floor behind me, letting me know that Kathy was heading in the same direction.
Glancing back, I saw her smile and wave as she continued following behind me, and soon we both entered the Simulation room. This room seemed almost as vast as the original lobby we met in, with me just barely being able to see the far wall from my present position. Scattered around the room were twenty wide platforms, each with two stands, one on either side. I saw two people take positions at one of the platforms, and after exchanging a few words, they activated the ‘game’.
The moment their game activated, the stone floor of the platform seemed to shift, a translucent blue sky appearing in a dome above it. The platform itself seemed to shift like sand, forming mountains and ditches, which then began to fill with water to form rivers. Looking closely, I could see tiny figures begin to appear one by one on the platform.
At the far wall, a figure stood on a lone pillar. His form seemed barely discernable, but definitely appeared humanoid. As he spoke, his voice echoed throughout the room, easily heard by everyone. “Today’s first Simulation tournament will begin in one hour. Anyone that wants to participate may take this time to practice and familiarize themselves with the rules. For those unfamiliar, each arena has a copy of the rules for viewing.”
“Oooh…” I heard Kathy say from behind me, then suddenly felt one of my arms grabbed. “Come on, let’s go play!” She said as she practically dragged me to the nearest unoccupied platform. Not that it was hard for her, she was surprisingly strong. Though, I wasn’t really resisting that much. Honestly, I was curious about this game as well.
When we arrived at the platform, she quickly scurried over to one end, while I stood at the other. Once we were both in position, a window appeared in front of me. Judging by the gasp of surprise from Kathy, the same thing had happened for her.
You have chosen to play the Keeper Sim. Do you wish for an explanation of the rules before you begin?
Almost simultaneously, Kathy and I both said ‘Yes’. Looking at each other, there was an awkward silence before she giggled playfully, looking back down to her own window.
Keeper Sim is a game designed and implemented by the Gilded Branch, in which Keepers can test their ability to command a world against one another. Each game takes place in a Size 2 world, totally 600,000km² . Each player may select from one of the available races to play as, and start a kingdom based on that race. Each character in the game is a soul from Hell, who volunteers to participate in the game to earn credit towards freedom into the cycle of reincarnation. Credit is earned based on contribution, so they are always on their best behavior.
There are multiple game modes for Keeper Sim; Battle, Culture, Tech Race, and Exploration.
In Battle mode, the objective is to build up your forces, and wipe out the opponent’s base. In order to purchase units, you must harvest gems from near your base. Gems may also be spent to purchase buildings which your units can quickly construct, and upgrades for your technology. To harvest gems, you must assign units to the task. Each player starts with a set number of basic units, depending on their race.
In Culture mode, the objective is to create a powerful civilization. In this mode, the two players are placed on opposite ends of the world, and must establish a strong culture. Points are awarded based on citizen happiness. While in Culture mode, time within the game is permanently set to 27 million times normal. Every minute of real time, a report will come in giving details of the progress made since the last report. The Culture mode game lasts for 30 minutes, and Keepers can slow down their civilization’s time in order to send messages to key figures, in order to direct advancement.
In Tech Race mode, a randomly assigned piece of technology is the goal. The winner is whoever is the first to create that piece of technology within their civilization. As with Culture mode, the two civilizations are divided during this time, and time within the world is 54 million times normal. However, players may not choose to slow time. Instead, they are
given tech trees to purchase from. Purchases are made with ‘Science Points’, a currency generated every time a player’s civilization gains a new understanding of a piece of technology. By purchasing options in the tech tree, players can slowly make their way towards the desired technology. However, some technologies have multiple prerequisites, and players are not able to see what advancements lie beyond their current options.
Finally, in Exploration mode, the goal is to be the first to map the entire world. This mode is most similar to Battle mode, where gems are used to purchase units and upgrades. Units may also engage in battle upon meeting each other in this mode, but the winner will be whichever player gets 100% map completion.
After finishing my review of the rules, I looked over and saw that Kathy was still furrowing her brows as she went through them. A few moments later, she gave a content nod, looking up at me with a smile. “Which mode do you want to play? This is my first time playing any games like this, so I’ll let you choose.”
World Keeper: Birth of a World Page 20
