World Keeper: Birth of a World

by Justin Miller

  “You… are pretty spoiled, aren’t you?” I asked with a raised eyebrow, to which she pulled back, having a look of mock insult on her face.

  “Me? Spoiled?” She asked, making a dramatic gesture of pointing at her chest. “Absolutely not!” Honestly, I couldn’t understand what Aurivy was thinking sometimes. “But I finally got big sis to agree to making a big library of shows and movies for me to watch when I get bored.”

  I could only give a helpless sigh, shaking my head. “Anyways. You heard what Irena and I were talking about, right? What do you think.” From her input back when we were creating Udona’s personality, I knew that Aurivy was a bit smarter than she let on. Even if the plan didn’t work out exactly as we intended, it wasn’t her fault.

  “Hmm… Well, I think Irena’s handling it, right? Is there anything you can even do to help?” She asked, looking at me in genuine curiosity.

  I thought about it, but honestly, I could not come up with anything to help with either. In terms of raw power, my Keeper levels give me enough strength to flatten most resistance. But personally, I haven’t trained in any classes enough to make me truly strong. My highest level was still fifteen, only a fraction of what other spirits or daeva would have.

  And in terms of politics or army management, I was even more clueless. The most I’d ever commanded people was a boy scout group when I was a kid. Even then, I managed to get us lost for hours, and they had to send people to find us. “Okay, I get it. I’m not really that useful for things like this.”

  Aurivy grinned mischievously when I said that. “It’s okay, Dale. You’re still good at a lot of things. You’re a thinker, not a doer. And, from what big sis says, being a thinker is perfect for being a Keeper. Just don’t forget to do when the doing needs done.” She nodded her head to herself, as if that last line made any real sense.

  “Yeah, yeah… Well, go on. You’ve got shows to watch, don’t you?” I smirked down to the halfling goddess, and she smiled back. Aurivy hopped to her feet, waving to me once before running off in the direction of the bedrooms.

  Seeing as I was now the only one left in the room, I went ahead and headed for the bedroom. I checked a few things with the world map, seeing if there were any issues that needed cleared up. Once that was over with, I set the world to fast forward for fifty years. Hopefully, Irena’s little rebellion will be taken care of by the time this is over.

  Chapter 62

  By the time the brief fast forward was ended, I had already set up Irena’s room in the Admin Room. It was really just a copy of mine and Terra’s room honestly, since that was how her room looking like in the Underworld. The only difference was that her room did not have the computer I had in my own room.

  As soon as the fast forward ended, a figure appeared next to me. To my surprise, it was not Irena, but Ryone that appeared. “Hey, Dale!” She called out happily, causing me to look over at her.

  “Hey. Thought you’d still be messing around with Tubrock. What brings you here?” I was honestly curious, since I figured that they’d be working on the enchanted items for the next few days.

  “Ah, well, actually two things. First of all, you asked me to send you a message.” Well, if that wasn’t one of the most confusing sentences ever, I’m not sure what would be. “The World Host you, I mean.”

  Now, that made more sense. When I saw the state of the centaurs after coming back to my room, I had sent a World Host down, briefly taking control of it to meet a young centaur with the hopes of salvaging the situation with the variants. Although, I didn’t spend much time down there, as I wanted to quickly come back and take care of things. “What did he have to say?” I took a quick glance at the map, and noticed that my World Host had died some time over the fifty years.

  “Well, he wanted me to report that the person he was watching over found a rather interesting way to use ki.” Ryone explained, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “From what I understand, it’s something that you would want to know about immediately.”

  That certainly caught my attention. “By all means, don’t stop there.”

  Ryone gave a knowing smile, before continuing her explanation. “Anyways, according to the method that was discovered, it is possible to tune your ki to an element. The method that they used was to spread all of their ki out into the surroundings, and let it begin to disperse. As the ki fades, natural energy moves in to take its place. Then, while the two are connected, pull the ki back into the body.”

  At this point, Ryone furrowed her brow. “The method had to be repeated over a hundred times before it finished transforming, but in the end, that’s what happened. And, apparently each person only has a single element that they are attuned to, from what your Host saw. He managed to unlock water ki, so there’s a good chance that your own ki would show the same transformation.”

  While she was going over this all, I felt something nagging away at the back of my thoughts. It took me a moment to realize what it was, but soon I pulled up the market window on the computer, going back to a listing in the advanced class section that I had seen a while back.

  Elemental Monk

  Combining the energy of the body with the energy of the world, the Elemental Monk gains the ability to imbue their physical form with aspects of nature.

  10 points

  From Ryone’s description, it seemed like my World Host, and the person he was watching over, had managed to find the secret to using the powers of an advanced class. At the same time, I noticed a blinking message in the top corner of the screen, showing I had notifications waiting. Most of them were just the generic ‘technology unlocked’ or royalty notifications, but there was one that caught my eye.

  Congratulations! You have earned a world achievement!

  For manually unlocking the abilities of an advanced class, Earth has earned the Advancement achievement. +15 points, Education trait unlocked.

  So, world achievements can give that kind of reward. I remembered the Education trait from back when I originally created this world at the very beginning. It had been attached as a trait to the technology world. From my understanding, it affects the understanding of the inhabitants to help them grasp more difficult concepts. Which will be immensely helpful for any world.

  When I looked back to Ryone, I saw her smiling patiently at me, waiting for me to finish looking over what I had found. “Yeah, I made the connection to the advanced class too. Though, the class probably has some more efficient training methods and unique techniques, but those will probably be discovered eventually whether or not you buy the class.”

  I nodded my head, agreeing with her. Just the fact that they had managed to unlock the abilities of the Elemental Monk class meant that there was hope for other advanced, or even the legend or special classes to be unlocked naturally. Though, I imagine anyone capable of unlocking a legend class would truly be a legendary figure. I was starting to imagine what kind of person might eventually unlock the False Divinity’s powers, becoming a figure with powers just short of the gods.

  “What was the other thing that you wanted to talk about?” I was honestly a bit worried, given that Irena had not arrived yet. I’m sure that nothing bad could happen to her in the Underworld, but there is the possibility that her plans had been delayed.

  “There’s a new system that I discovered on the market, and was going to run it by you to see about getting. I think that it would be a big benefit for us in the short term, as well as the long term.” As she spoke, she waved her hand, causing a blue screen to appear in front of me. “The person that submitted it chose two versions. Personally, I lean more towards the second one, for obvious reasons.”

  Heavenly Incarnation

  By placing the mind of a god into the soul of a fetus, you can have them experience life as a normal mortal. They will have no particular benefits, aside from the godly knowledge that they retain, and possible communication with their true self.

  30 Points per incarnation.

  Heavenly Game<
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  This system grants a special option to all occupants of the Admin Room. This option is the ability to ‘log in’ to any world they manage as an incarnation born to mortal parents. This causes their mind to temporarily split, one section remaining with the true body while the other lives among mortals. The incarnation will have no benefits outside of knowledge and communication with the true self. As this is a system purchased to alter the Admin Room itself, it does not need to be purchased multiple times for different worlds.

  300 Points

  Reading over this, I opened my eyes wide. In a way, this seemed like an expanded version of the World Host system, marketed towards the gods and other companions. “I get why you might like this, but what did you mean about benefits?” I asked, curiously. Honestly, I planned to get it no matter what the benefits were, once I saw what the details were. The ability to have the gods living mortal lives down in the world would essentially give me ‘agents’ that I could use to affect history.

  “Well, the biggest benefit can only be seen in the early stages of the world, like we are at now.” Ryone began. “Right now, the thing that we are lacking most is knowledge. As an example, if I created an incarnation of an elf, I could gain at least eighty levels in either Mage, Archmage, or Enchanter. Doing this would let me have a much deeper understanding of the laws of magic.”

  “Likewise, if it were someone like Bihena, they could gain practical fighting experience that she simply can’t gain in the Admin Room. The new beastkin sisters could be born as an actual family. Any one of the gods could use this system as a way to stealthily interact with their people.”

  To finish it off, Ryone grinned knowingly. “And, one more reason that I know you would like. Here in the Admin Room, it is impossible for you to have kids, even with the goddesses like myself. The only way would be to buy a baby companion, and slowly alter their body as they grow. But with this, you could descend to the world while we are ‘logged in’, and have a relationship with one of us. Like that, you could actually give one of the goddesses a child, and live with them as a family.”

  I had to admit, most of that was appealing. Honestly, I didn’t feel like I was ready to have kids yet, but I could definitely see myself doing something like that in the future. There really didn’t seem to be any reason not to get the system, unless you were the kind of Keeper that didn’t want to let your gods descend, like the previous Earth Keeper had been. From what I had heard, at least.

  I took a look at the point balance. After the royalties and new technologies had been taken into consideration, we were sitting at almost a thousand points again. Maybe this is why Grimor’s guild is able to host so many regular events were they hand out point-based prizes. As long as you don’t mess up too much, it’s easy to keep a steady amount of points.

  Of course, I hadn’t seen the price tags that went with some of the truly powerful systems, so I couldn’t say for sure that things wouldn’t get more expensive in the late game. But, for right now, this seemed like a good investment. I nodded my head, making the purchase for the system. Using this, even if a time came when Irena couldn’t find a suitable ruler for the Underworld after one passed away, she could have an incarnation handle the job until someone better came along.

  * * *

  In the Underworld, there was a massive gathering, the likes of which had never been seen in history. Anyone with the ability had made an appearance, and those without had tried to get help arriving. Even the former faction leaders, who now held their heads in shame, appeared with the rest of the spirits and daeva.

  Their factions had been taken apart. Not by force, but from within. With the introduction of the Underworld Alliance, the only way for them to gain any real influence over the afterlife had been to submit. Yet, such was impossible without first disbanding their factions. Naturally, none of the faction leaders had been willing to do that. They had long since gotten used to their power, and were reluctant to give it up.

  Yet, when the members of their own faction began leaving to join this army, they were left alone in their empty palaces. No longer were they faction leaders, instead being nothing more than vagrants. In the face of a true god, they held no power, politically or personally. If the Goddess had wished it, she could have wiped them away with a thought.

  In the last half of a century, things had changed. With the founding of the Underworld Alliance, there was no room for people to stick to their racial supremacy. The best training, the best services, they could only be received by those that joined the Alliance and received a suitable rank. Not all in the Alliance were part of the army, as there were many craftsmen and scholars as well. Yet, they all served a single purpose, the unification of the Underworld.

  And now, on the day of unification, the Goddess Irena had called for a mass gathering. This was a ceremony, both to celebrate and indoctrinate. As she stood there, she gazed out to the crowd. Her voice, when spoken, amplified to encompass the entire Underworld. Even those that had been unable to attend could hear her. In death, there was only one language, and in the afterlife the same held true. No matter who they were, they could understand the words of Irena, and even each other as if it were only natural.

  “I thank you all for gathering today. And to those who were unable to make it, I apologize. This is the dawn of a new age for the Underworld. An age of justice, of unity. An age of exploration, and providence. No longer are we bound by the ties we had to the world of the living. By my right as Goddess of the Underworld, I declare this a new age!”

  Irena swiftly raised one hand, pointing it towards the sky. Everyone gathered felt a massive surge of power, and could not help but look up. In the misty skies of the Underworld, a shape had taken form. A giant floating castle, one beyond the reach of any spirit. “In this age, I shall watch the world from my new home. Show me that you are truly ready. Show me that you are not children, still clinging to the youth of your past. Show me that you are worthy for the trust I now place in you. For no more shall I appear in my palace. Instead, you will lead yourselves.”

  As she spoke those words, an uneasiness fell over the crowd. Many wondered why Irena had made this sudden declaration. It did not seem like she was abandoning the Underworld, as she would still be watching from above, and yet at the same time she would no longer be a part of normal affairs. It was at this point that her voice rang out again.

  “Dalin Watermane, come forth!” When she called the name, the crowd glanced around curiously. This was not a name that they had heard before, yet now they were being asked to appear before the Goddess, in front of everyone?

  The figure that flew up from the crowd was that of a centaur. One with golden fur, and a horn stretching out over two feet from his head. It glided over the crowd to land in front of Irena, lowering its horse body to bow deeply. “You called, my Goddess.”

  Irena’s gaze softened slightly as she looked at Dalin, a fact that only few managed to catch. However, she hardened herself once more as she spoke. “From this day forth, I appoint you Governor of the Fallen. You shall be the greatest authority of the Underworld, beneath only myself. Before you fade into the mist, you shall find a successor to pass along this title.”

  She then turned once again to watch the crowd. “The Governor of the Fallen shall have final control over all matters in the Underworld, unless I myself appear. The Council shall remain intact, to serve as advisors as they have always been. In a matter of grave need, the Governor and the Council each possess the exclusive right to call for my aid. But be warned, this right is not to be used lightly. If I am summoned for matters of no import, a punishment shall be imparted on the one that called me.”

  “Now…” The Goddess raised her head to look with longing towards her new home, her body floating higher above the ground. “Let this be an age to remember. Let this be an age that we can proudly show those that fall and join us. Let this be an age… that will never be forgotten.”

  As her final words rang out, the figure of the Goddess van
ished into the mist, presumably to appear in her palace above. Few could properly accept what she had said, yet none could reject her words. She had placed this Dalin in charge, to be treated as she would be treated. The Governor of the Fallen was now a position that none could afford to offend, whether they had heard of the man before or not.

  And in truth, there were many who knew of Dalin, and they all had a good impression of him. Even though he had only recently fallen, he had great powers from the moment he appeared. He had quickly risen through the ranks, going so far as to become one of the highest ranking officers in the Underworld Alliance in a short five years.

  To those that knew him, it was only fitting that Irena left this position to him. Yet, none knew just why her gaze had softened so the first time she saw him.

  Chapter 63

  Not long after Ryone left, Irena appeared in the room. On her face was a small smile, her wings pulled back slightly. “Good evening, Dale.” She gave a polite nod to me as she appeared. “Has everything been prepared on your end?”

  I nodded my head in return. “Hey, Irena. Yeah, everything’s ready. Your room is just down the hall. It should look just like the one you had in your castle. How did everything go on your end?”

  When I asked that, Irena’s smile grew a bit wider. “It went very well. I have to thank you for sending your Host to the Underworld. Without Dalin, it would have been far more difficult to choose an intermediate ruler to replace me.”

  “Pardon me?” I asked, surprised by the sudden thanks. Sent the Host? I’ve only ever used it once, so it could only mean the one I sent down to the centaurs.