By dropping an item into the world of darkness, anyone else with the Darkness Manipulation skill can find and retrieve that item, as long as there is uninterrupted darkness between them. For instance, if their shadows are connected, or at night when the darkness extends everywhere. Likewise, they could transport themselves through that shadow world in the same way.
While this was an interesting concept, it wasn’t particularly useful to me. Maybe if we needed another way to quickly transport items, but that’s not really necessary for us right now. At most, it is nice to learn the basic principle behind the Dark Affinity. It was the one that had been confusing me for the longest, after all. If it followed the same rules as the other affinities, then I would only be able to move shadows around with it, and not be able to use any other effects.
From what I can tell, they have focused their research almost entirely on magic, ever since it first appeared after Genesis. Their insights into it are almost approaching what NeoLife had, almost three thousand years in the future… Okay, so apparently there was a reason for them to need to survive. If the Qu’Lopti survive, then magic research can advance even faster, and new possibilities may be unlocked in the future.
Now, there was also one section I was particularly interested in, regarding their magical knowledge. And that was how to develop unique abilities. One such ability listed was the ‘Devil’s Eye’, which was just their name for Aura Sight. This was the most common ‘unique’ ability. Another was the ‘Ultimate Protector of Unity’. From what I could tell, this ability was what the Qu’Lopti pair had used in the previous recording to summon an iron golem.
In order to call the protector, the two people have to merge their auras together, and form a clear, identical picture of what they want to summon. They have to both imagine its form, its strength, and any special abilities it has. If the two images match, and the combined mana is sufficient, the merged auras will come together to form the protector.
This particular ability seemed rather interesting to me. I couldn’t help but consider, what if more than two people formed a protector? What if it was five? Or ten? Or even fifty… All pooling their mana together to imagine a single terrifying creature.
Oh… that happens. I saw another ability listed, and was surprised to see that it was labeled a separate ability, even though it had the same concept. ‘God’s Warriors’, an ability used by large adventuring groups to subdue giant monsters. The suggested configuration is at least twenty people with at least a thousand mana each, and they all have to focus on the same image. With twenty such people, the monster formed has the equivalent of level 150. With fifty, it is a level 300 monster.
The strongest ‘God’s Warrior’ ability ever used was by a hundred people, but it only lasted for ten seconds. During that time, they had no suitable means to judge its level, because the boss monster was defeated after the first two seconds. By my guess, it should have been a level 450 to 500 summon. And, the stronger the monster, the faster it drains the mana from each individual. So, after that ten seconds, all one hundred people were unconscious from severe mana drain.
According to their information, anyone has the ability to create a new unique ability, if they have sufficient patience and imagination. Each one is essentially a new type of magic. Although this new magic can be powerful, it has to be developed manually, each new aspect to it added one at a time. That is what sets it apart from conceptual magic, where you can easily come up with new spells following the same concept.
I sat down for a little while, thinking about this information. Tokemi was currently playing with Kismet and Yo, so I had some time to myself. Should I make my own ability? If so, what should it be?
Obviously, I wanted something that could combine all of my major abilities. Nature Magic and my element manipulation would have to be my two biggest magic-related abilities, by far. Toybox doesn’t interact well with magic, and Soul Arts aren’t too good for offense, at least not how I’ve been practicing them.
Another question, why were these abilities not widespread in the future, even without the Qu’Lopti? Was it just that there weren’t enough people willing to go outside the norm when they thought there was nothing to be gained?
Suddenly, I had an idea for my own unique power, but I wasn’t sure how I would create it. Well, actually there were two ideas… and I wasn’t sure which was cooler. Either way, I’d have to practice for a while to get them right.
The first ability combined my affinities with my marksmanship. My idea was to make a gun with my magic that could shoot out condensed elemental mana, which I could ‘solidify’ at will. So, for example, if I used it with metal mana, and waited until the mana impacted against the target before solidifying it, the target would be locked in a metal cage. Alternatively, I could solidify it in midair before reaching the target, and they would be struck by a metal bullet. This power would continue to grow with my Mana Manipulation and my affinities.
The second ability combined Nature Magic with my affinities. The idea behind this was living elemental pets. I actually had an idea on how to practice this one, though I wasn’t sure it’d work. Basically, I would form an animal or monster’s aura with elemental mana, and use Nature Magic to make it real. If my theory worked, it could create a monster made out of the element. So, a fire goblin for instance. There was a major flaw behind this ability, though. It was unlikely that monsters I made in this way would be loyal to me by default. Although I should be able to forcibly control their bodies like a puppet, it would likely take too much of my concentration.
Out of the two ideas, I decided to focus on the former. While elemental guns might not seem as cool as elemental minions, it is more reliable in the long run. So, I took another look through their information about creating new abilities.
From their information, you need to be completely familiar with the physical form of the object you are creating when your ability involves that. For the Qu’Lopti, they generally use their VR devices to create a test world, and create the physical form they want to mimic in there. Then, they slowly study it, take it apart, put it back together, and so on.
Once they completely knew the form of their object, to the point where they could imagine it in its entirety in a split second, then they would be able to create it with their mana. The exact process to do so… is vague. I’d have to figure that one out on my own.
I was starting to think that maybe we should get some VR devices of our own. If nothing else, there would be a good entertainment value with them. Though… I really wasn’t looking to play any new games. It’s hard to get excited for a game when the real world itself has become one, you know? Well… maybe not that hard for the Qu’Lopti.
Speaking of… I noticed something that was missing from their knowledge on magic. And that was the knowledge about groves. They hadn’t yet discovered how to properly merge the five elements necessary to create a basic grove, so they are completely lacking in that area. However, they have created their own alternative among the unique abilities, ‘Perfect World’.
Perfect World is the ability to create your own personal pocket dimension, complete with any plants or animals you can think of. However, the things created by the pocket dimension aren’t real, and can’t be taken outside. They only exist while they are in that dimension.
This was probably the most powerful ability listed in the information I received. After all, you could create medicines while in the Perfect World, and as long as you wait until they have finished their work on your body, you would be able to receive the full effect. Though, thankfully it’s not as easy as imagining up a potion to double your strength, and you actually have to understand how to make what you want.
“You’re procrastinating again.” Suddenly, a voice spoke up from beside me, Celeste standing there with her arms crossed, looking at me with an amused smile. “I’ve already prepared the data to send down. We can contact them at any time to conclude the trade. And before you try to think of a way out of it, I already scheduled th
e mining operation, and contacted the druids on the crew to see who would be willing to donate for the station.”
“Yeah… but… do I have to?” I let out a soft groan as I got up, not looking forward to the meeting.
“Yup~! Tell ya what. If you can go through the whole meeting without wanting to blow up the planet, I’ll let you see my own unique ability, once I finish making it.” She grinned a bit at that, before turning to walk for the door.
“Dammit… well, I guess it was inevitable that you saw me looking at it. Let’s get this over with.” I said with a sigh as we made our way to the bridge.
For the record, I failed to restrain myself from wanting to blow up the planet. One Qu’Lopti is bad, but manageable. Two or more… and they just fuel each other. Ten in one hologram call… I had to struggle very hard not to press any big red buttons.
Chapter 77 - The End of a Journey
Well, at least the meeting was not a complete waste of my time, since I managed to learn some more about the Qu’Lopti world. Though, most of this was done by using Celeste to search their internet while they yelled back and forth. So, I’ll summarize a bit here.
“You peons of the fifteenth realm, you think you have the capital to sit at the same table as I, Dareon, wielder of the pale flame and master of the shadows?” One of the Qu’Lopti diplomats yelled at another as they conducted their ‘play’.
According to Celeste’s information, each realm was a different country, and there were almost two hundred countries in all. Though, the number of the realm was inconsequential, as each realm also had a name. They just often prefered calling the countries by their number in which they were established.
“Like a mere eighth realm has the right to question me. Why are you even here? Aren’t you said to be working on your new ultimate skill?” Another one questioned the first.
“Hah! As if I would have any difficulties with that. My Eyes of True Desolation have already reached their perfect stage.” The first yelled out proudly. Surprisingly, the other nine all clapped approvingly when he said this.
“Ahem, excuse me, but could we get back on track with why we are all here?” I shook my head with a sigh as I was forced to speak up. “My crew is interested in establishing a… mutually… beneficial… relationship…” The words, they felt like I had to force each one out. I was really starting to hate Malthan for making me do this.
“Ah, yes, the people of the Outer Realm.” One of the Qu’Lopti, who had previously been part of the play from before, spoke up. “We have heard your offer from Tordaedron. You offer information that would help us reach the Outer Realm ourselves, in exchange for our knowledge on magic.”
Several others nodded at that, but their faces froze when he continued. “However, my Network Integration has revealed a foreign presence on the net. After tracing it back, I found it originated from the Outer Realm. So, I ask of you, what is it you truly wish to gain from us?”
Wait… Celeste, you were caught? “Uhm… maybe? I don’t know!” I heard the AI answer in my head, so I shook my head again.
“It is true, I have already learned much from accessing your net. As I said, my crew wishes to set up a lasting relationship, so even if we do not learn much from this meeting, there is still a benefit to be gained. I plan to have a base constructed in orbit around your planet to use in the near future, as well.”
As they heard me, a few of them frowned slightly. “You seem to be willing to give, but not take. Is there truly nothing else you are attempting to acquire from the Qu’Lopti people?”
I thought about whether I should answer that honestly, but knowing this race, one of them was likely to have a means of telling whether or not I was lying. So, I could only respond with a sigh before telling them. “I have been sent by a god known as Malthan, for the purpose of acting as a diplomatic liaison between the Qu’Lopti and… pretty much everyone else.”
When I said that, the holograms suddenly jumped to their face, looks of excitement spread across all ten faces. “The father of chaos has sent you?!” The one that had just been questioning me… I think he introduced himself as being from the second realm. “Why didn’t you say so before!? You appeared to simply be a boring man of no talent, but this changes everything! If the father of chaos has personally spoken to you, then of course we shall abide by his wish.”
“...” I have never spoken in ellipses before, but I felt like that is the only way to describe my reaction. Seriously, all I had to do was drop Malthan’s name? “Yes… he speaks to me… You could definitely say that.”
Nine of the people looked towards the tenth, who had introduced himself as being of the one hundred and ninth realm. “My Eye of True Discernment can’t detect any falsehood in his statement.”
The made the other nine even more excited, and they even seemed like they might be on the verge of dropping their overly dramatic performance. “We of the first realm support Captain Hulett’s offer to become diplomatic envoy to the Qu’Lopti!”
“The fifteenth realm supports as well!”
One by one, the ten Qu’Lopti voiced their support, leaving me truly surprised. Celeste… they have an almost fanatical worship of Malthan, don’t they?
“Yes.” She answered in my mind. “There is a religion dedicated entirely to him, which has spread over the last two years to over half the planet. Though… I didn’t think they were this serious about it.”
“Well… that will make this easier.” I spoke quietly to myself while the representatives of the Qu’Lopti all sat down and resumed their former play. Though, this time their topics were not about who belonged at the negotiations, but who I would be reporting to. “Or not.”
They did not even seem to notice when I left the call, and continued to debate among themselves. “You can go ahead and send the information down, Celeste.”
The Deus Ex chuckled knowingly, before nodding and doing just that. “Captain, if you don’t mind, I would like to begin work on the station as soon as possible.”
Naturally, I agreed, and she left the bridge. I stayed behind just in case one of the Qu’Lopti called again, since only myself and Celeste could speak their language right now. However, that turned out not to be an issue, as there was no more contact from the planet for several hours. What was even more surprising was, when the leader of third realm, Tordaedron, called me again, he was speaking in elven. Broken elven, admittedly, but it was elven nonetheless.
Were they just naturally better at learning languages, because they would often invent their own for their play acting? Or had they used another means to quickly learn an alien tongue. I wasn’t sure either way, but he informed me that he would be my primary contact with the Qu’Lopti. That had apparently been decided because he was the one I had first called when arriving here.
With that taken care of, the next few days were rather interesting. Sometimes, I would receive a call from one of the leaders wishing to meet me. Other times, someone would call hoping to receive a divine message from Malthan. Did he not talk to other people as often as he did me?
If I did that, would I have any time to myself? You’re just interesting, is all.
Well.. that is true, too. Anyways, my days continued like this for a while, and I even kept track of their space program. To my surprise, rather than using purely technology for their prototypes, they would mix in both magic and science. Although, they still did not have knowledge of runes, so they were more limited in their usage of magic with this.
Within two weeks, they had a design laid out for their first orbital launch, though the construction of it would take at least two months. Normally, it would be far longer, but they had magic capable of speeding up construction by directly controlling the materials. At the same time, Celeste had released a swarm of station construction drones into an area of space around the Qu’Lopti world. According to her, within two months, if they can gather enough metal, she should have the station at a level where it can function.
Of course, she ca
n’t complete the entire thing in two months, but she designed it so that she could add on to it over time until it was finished. So, until then, we began our mining operation on Qu’Lopti’s moon. Every time we made a trip back and deposited the metal we had acquired with the drones. And every time, they quickly got to work, flying around and building wide rooms and halls that floated in orbit around the planet. When they weren’t busy building, they would latch onto the sides of the current construction in order to perform any orbit corrections to keep it in place.
As promised, the station gradually grew, until Celeste had to release more drones inside of it to handle the machinery construction for things such as life support and power. At the end of the two months, the station was almost as big as the Ariadne, but it was still far from done. However, this was the day when we could officially open it, and we had planned a grand event for this occasion.
For this event, the shuttle had been running all day to ferry groups of people up to the station, in order to have a sufficient audience. And with that audience standing in front of me, I found myself in on a stage in one of the largest rooms of the station, easily able to hold over a thousand people.
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