* * *
On a deserted continent, between a vast lake and a massive forest, one man and two slimes seemed to disappear with the wind. Shortly after, though, the wind caused another change. One of the shorter trees in the area, standing only thirty feet high, started emitting cracking sounds near its base. Birds flew from the tree and all others nearby, noticing the change.
Chapter 66
After returning to the Admin Room, I first went to check in with Terra. I had been gone for almost three full days, so there should be an update on the situation with the beastkin goddesses. Unsurprisingly, I found her sitting with Aurivy in the living room, watching another animated show. Well, this makes it easier, since there was also something that I wanted to ask Aurivy.
When she saw me enter the room, Terra smiled towards me. “Hey Dale. Heard about your training plan from the others. Learn anything useful?”
I nodded my head slightly in response. “I managed to convert my ki to elemental ki. Though, I have to ask, is it possible for me to still use normal ki in the future? There might be times that I want to make people believe I don’t have it converted.”
She thought for a moment, and nodded with a wider smile. “You can set it any time you create a body now. Your base element will vary with each body though, as it is different with every person. The important thing was that you were able to first feel how the enhanced ki felt. Otherwise, you wouldn’t know what changes you needed to make to your mortal body to allow it.”
That did reassure me slightly, though it also raised another question. “My base element? Does that mean I could use more than one?”
She chuckled slightly at that. “Did you forget, Dale? You are able to use every power that exists in your world. It’s the perk of being a Keeper. If you use the Keeper ki, you can choose which element you want to use, as long as it is one that someone in your world is currently able to use as well.”
That’s right… I had forgotten that basic fact, given that I still needed to train to use most of the techniques of the world. Although I could use the energies themselves in the same way, it took skill to use them properly. “I see. By the way, I wanted to ask, are you able to tell me what water ki does for its ki punch? I tried it earlier, but I didn’t see any results.”
Terra frowned for a moment, closing her eyes and focusing. “Hmm, you punched a tree with it. With water ki, larger targets will show a reduced effect. It invades the target, spreading out through them. Typically, it tries to cover the skin of the target, and when it’s done it will attack inward from all directions. Kind of like a submarine that goes too deep in the ocean, it gets crushed under the pressure of the water.”
I knit my brows together when I heard that. If that was the case, then it would make sense that I didn’t see anything happen when I hit a tree. “Thanks, that had been bothering me. Also, how is Udona doing? Better now, I hope?”
Not only Terra, even Aurivy had an awkward look when I asked that. However, the halfling goddess was the one to answer. “Big sis Udona is taking a unique approach to her domains.” Judging by her careful expression, she had been looking for the right way to word that without sounding insulting. Terra, on the other hand…
“She’s decided to be a shut-in. She’s still managing all of her godly duties just fine, and I even check on her periodically. To the mortals, there is nothing unusual about her. But… I kind of regret using your Earth’s culture as a way to help her cope with the whole family trauma.”
Hearing her say that, my eyes widened slightly. “On a scale of one to ten, how bad we talking?”
Terra briefly closed her eyes, and then smirked bitterly. “She’s currently hiding inside a pillow fort, munching on potato chips and watching a detective show.”
Aurivy blinked her eyes in surprise. “It was dragons last time you checked, wasn’t it?” Terra chuckled again, nodding her head.
“Okay… Well, this’ll be interesting. She does know that she still has to show up for any important meetings and stuff, right?”
Terra nodded her head, a relieved smile on her face. “She said we can call her whenever we need, and she’ll join in the meetings. Even said you can go to her room if you need her for something, since I explained you’re still getting used to using the mental communication in the Admin Room.” That last part sounded as if Terra herself found that to be a surprise.
“Alright, what about the other two? Are they getting along okay?” I had spoken briefly with Accalia through the prayers when I was down on the planet, so I could guess that she wasn’t doing too bad. But, I wanted to be sure.
“Yeah, they’re doing great.” This time, the smile Terra wore when she spoke seemed happier. “Accalia wanted to test out the Heavenly Game system you purchased. But, unless you feel like waiting a while her incarnation won’t be born until you fast forward. As for her main self, she’s checking out the library I set up for everyone. Keliope, last I checked she was sparring with Bihena.”
“They’re sparring? Martial arts training, or just because they both have more violent domains, and wanted to test each other?” You can’t blame me for being curious there.
“Martial arts. The two of them each wanted a different martial art, so I made some manuals for them. Bihena wanted something to promote peace, so I gave her the basic teachings of Qigong. Keliope wanted something that would take advantage of her people’s inherent strength, so I gave her a manual from the Earth before yours. It has a lot of similarities with kickboxing, but also incorporates throws.”
Well, that did sound useful for a race as large and strong as the ursa. “Okay, but they can’t have made any real progress in it yet. I wasn’t gone that long.”
“You’re right.” Terra agreed with a nod. “They’re just practicing the basic movements right now. I wouldn’t be surprised if the two of them plan to use the Heavenly Game to speed up their training.”
Again, that made sense. “Qigong, does that have anything to do with monks?” Judging by the name, the two did not seem unrelated, even though monks did not exist in quite the same way for my Earth as they do here.
“Not directly.” Terra grinned. “But the teachings from it do benefit that class as well. I chose it because it was the calmest, most peaceful martial art I could come up with, which still held just enough fighting ability that her people would be interested. If I used one that was purely peaceful, then her people would not bother with it even if Bihena herself commanded it.”
I had to nod at that. The current stage of humans in the world seemed very warlike. “Alright. Hey, Aurivy, got a minute?” I asked as I looked to the loli goddess, who nodded her head with a wide smile. “I wanted to see how that dungeon’s been going, maybe see if you guys placed any more since the meeting.”
Aurivy’s smile turned into a full blown grin when I brought up the dungeon. “Oh, it’s growing really well! It still is pretty small, because there aren’t any monsters that regularly appear on its island, but its intelligence has improved a lot! I managed to teach it the current written language of the halflings, though sometimes it gets a few words mixed up. I’m hoping that it grows faster now, since we moved those two slimes in there. Of course, none of the people will discover it for a really long time yet.”
That was true, too. I remembered seeing aquatic travel mentioned in one of the technology updates that I skimmed through lately, but it was only the lowest tier. My guess is that they are just learning about rafts and canoes. Getting to an island far removed from any continent is still a long ways off. Even in modern times, there could still be largely unexplored islands like that. Though, if it goes too long without anyone finding it, we could always arrange for something to guide them there.
As if she saw that I was distracted with my thoughts, Aurivy was patiently waiting for my attention to shift back to her before continuing. “As far as other dungeons go… I think everyone’s placed one in their area but Tryval. Not sure why he never took the chance, but oh well.” After sayin
g that, she shrugged her shoulders, indicating it wasn’t really her responsibility.
I could understand why the centaurs might not be that fond of dungeons that typically grew underground. “Alright… If either of you two need anything, I’ll be in the room. There’s a new system I’ve been wanting to make for a while, and I think the world finally made it far enough to use it.” I couldn’t help but notice Terra’s ears twitch when I mentioned that, and a small smile form on her lips. I hadn’t told her what kind of system this was that I was making, so most likely she was just happy to see me taking an active part in developing systems.
Leaving the two of them to continue watching their show, I walked back towards my room. When I passed the series of doors belong to the other gods and goddesses, I was tempted to take a peek in to see how Udona was doing. However, given that Terra had just given me an update on her, there really didn’t seem to be much point in that. Instead, I continued on my original path until I was sitting down at my computer.
Pulling up the notepad, I began writing down the details of this system. The system itself was fairly simple, a new type of expanded class system. My name for it was ‘Legacy Classes’. With the Legacy Class system, people could combine their understandings of different techniques, sometimes ranging from entirely different classes, and combine it all into one class.
Although it would not create an actual class within the system, it would act as a training manual. For instance, say a Mage who has trained as a Warrior wants to pass on a way to fight using close ranged magic, they create a Muscle Wizard Legacy Class. Then, for that class, they write down their teachings for someone to learn from, and that person follows along in the Legacy.
The only real restrictions on this system are that you can only pass on techniques you actually understand and can use, you need to pass them on via a writing of some kind, and the medium used to pass the Legacy is consumed upon use. With this, there should be some interesting combinations that appear in the world, as mixed classes are more encouraged. Of course, with how the system is written, a Legacy can’t advance beyond what the former generation had. But, that just means that they need to combine it with more teachings to keep the Legacy strong.
After I chose to confirm the system I wanted to design, I took a look at it in the market. The total cost of the system was a hundred and fifty points. Given my promise to leave the bigger purchases to Ryone, as she was my accountant, I wrote a quick message to her to look the system over. It didn’t take her long to write back to me, though the reply was simply a drawing of a thumbs up.
Like that, I went ahead and spent the points to buy the Legacy Class system, enjoying the ten percent discount that comes with having designed the system myself. I considered making another announcement to the world to let everyone know about the new system, but decided against it. Written languages were still new enough that the change shouldn’t be too obvious. Compared to that, I’d rather not increase my reputation as a Godking any further than it currently was.
* * *
The mountains had been a rough journey, some going higher than the skies themselves. Yet, journey was the very reason that halflings lived. One family, composed of just under twenty small halflings, had made the journey. With them were several large birds, bears, and even a creature with three long spider-like legs and a tiny body. Its mouth was a narrow tube extending forward, half a dozen sharp teeth lining the edge. This was a Pookajook, the name that the halflings had given the odd species.
With their small horde of animals, they continued south, past the known lands. Far in the distance to the east and the west, their birds had reported oceans on both sides. This was the first time any halfling had ever ventured so far south, but even further still was a landmass that stretched as far as the eye could see. A whole new land, untouched by halfling hands.
One of the halflings smiled at the news, wanting to share it with others. “Kria.” He called, his high pitched voice summoning one of the birds. This particular bird was yellow, with one larger pair of wings and one smaller. Kria was often used to send messages to nearby towns, but this time it would be going further than it had ever gone before.
The yellow bird landed on his shoulder, rubbing his head against the halfling affectionately. At the same time, a gentle voice entered into the halfling’s head. What is it?
The halfling was not at all surprised by the voice. He pulled a small strip of leather from his pouch, and began writing crude symbols on it. It was a message, the best he could write with his ability, about a new land to the south. “Can you send this back to the Rest for me?”
The bird chirped sadly. A Rest was the halfling’s name for their cities, often left uninhabited unless a wandering soul wishes to stay for shelter and… well, rest. The reason that Kria was sad, though, was because the last Rest they passed was over a week’s flight away. He simply didn’t wish to be away from his Hunter for so long. Still, it nevertheless agreed to the request, its acceptance registering in the mind of the halfling.
The halfling Hunter rolled up the leather scrap, giving it to Kria who clutched it in one of its claws. “Fly well and true. You can find us when you return.” And with that, Kria flew into the sky, moving to the north to faithfully deliver the message. Even without the parchment, it was possible to convey the message, as long as a strong enough Hunter was staying in the village at the time.
With Kria having left, the family resumed their journey to the south, eager to explore the new lands.
Chapter 67
After my previous excursion to the world below, and my look at my status sheet, it was pretty obvious that people were already hitting the level cap. A quick check with the system confirmed that, and I was even able to get a chart. According to the computer, roughly thirty percent of people that lived longer than forty years managed to hit level one hundred. For people over fifty, the number improved to fifty percent.
As such, it was time to raise the cap again. I was considering doubling it to two hundred, but that would probably be a bit much for all at once. Instead, I simply increased it by another fifty. Maybe in the future, when the levels are higher, a one hundred level increase wouldn’t be so major.
Next, I went ahead and checked the maps, seeing how much territory each race had covered thus far. Most of them, like the humans, elves, and dwarves, had expanded to explore roughly five percent of their total continent. Beastkin were a bit better at ten percent, while centaurs had stayed mainly in one large plains. From what I could tell, they had never even really tried to move beyond it very far.
As for the halflings, they had explored over half of their continent. Not only that, but according to the map they were working on crossing the thin strip of land to the centaur continent. I was curious to see how their interaction would work, so I set an alarm for my next fast forward. This time, it would stop if the halflings and centaurs ever met in the living world.
Giving everything one final check, I looked to see if there was anything that I was missing. This was a significant step, the first meeting between two living species. I was excited to see how it would play out, even though I knew that there were only a few possibilities. Deep down, I was hoping that they would be able to get along, but I knew that the odds of that were low. Especially given the level of advancement in the world, and the fact that the centaurs just got done with a civil war of their own.
Either way, I wrote a message to everyone to tell them that I was about to fast forward, and that the halflings and the centaurs would come into contact soon. After that, I went ahead and chose to fast forward by one hundred years. Surely, within that time the halflings would be able to cross through the forest to meet them.
* * *
The news of a new land to the south spread quickly through the Rests of the halflings. Over half of the population in the southern area had begun to grow bored, no new lands left to see. But, with this information, it was as if their prayers had been answered. Any that could immediately began to pa
ck up their belongings and set out.
Within six months, there was already a steady influx of halflings passing through the mountains between the seas. Some chose to scale the mountains, while others chose to go around them. However, the end result was the same, as more and more arrived in the land beyond. What awaited them was a vast forest, crawling with new monsters and beasts that they hadn’t seen before.
Within a year, there was a Rest built as a forward camp at the edge of the forest, which would guide arriving halflings on where to go for adventure. Creatures small and large, flying and walking alike would often be seen running in and out of the Rest. These creatures were messengers sent by the Hunters and the Monster Tamers, sending back news of new creatures, new lands, or even a new fruit.
The halflings were eager to explore this new area, and within two years they had discovered yet another new area beyond. A land of vast fields, rolling hills of grass. Naturally, they sent news of this discovery to the Rest as well, but they didn’t stop there.
Five years after the discovery of the land to the south, one group of halflings made a startling discovery that would change history. As they were walking through the plains, they saw a distant group of strange creatures. Their upper bodies were that of a giant person, while their lower bodies resembled creatures often used as mounts in the north.
The leader of the family group, a wizened old halfling named Sjorn Tanglefoot, saw these strange creatures and immediately knelt down. He had pulled a fresh piece of leather, and drew a rough image of them. Then, he handed the leather to his eldest son, who passed it to a large, eight-legged insect that they had befriended in the forest. Since their encounter with it, the insect had become their default messenger due to its quick running speed. More importantly, few creatures in the forest seemed eager to attack it, making it their safest means of communication with the Rest.
World Keeper: Birth of a World Page 50
