With Lena keeping an eye on the larger criminal organizations, making sure that none of them tried to do sothing incredibly stupid, the days managed to pass rather peacefully. We created as many weapons as we could to prepare for the incoming invasion, and spread our defensive forces out across our inhabited worlds. Gods and Fallen Gods alike were stationed at every colonized star system, and even regular citizens could feel the increased tension from the distribution of forces.
However, there was one thing left to do before the invasion, and that was the annual eting. This eting was going to start in just over an hour, and we would have a week to get as many points or other rewards as we could.
Given Lena’s performance since joining Olympus, I believed that she was trustworthy to accompany us to this eting. But first, I needed to have a talk with her. Thus, I looked up at the ceiling, calling out to the digital intelligence in charge of communication. “Hers, can you let Lena know that I would like to speak with her?”
“Of course, Keeper.” Hers responded, before going silent. Roughly a minute later, there was a knock on my office door.
“You wanted to see , boss?” Lena asked, poking her head in. She blinked in surprise at my serious expression, and I gestured for her to co in and take a seat. “My clone and I didn’t ss up anything big, did we?”
I shook my head, offering a small smile. “Not that I am aware of. But there are so things that we need to talk about, and not a lot of ti to talk. So please, take a seat.”
Lena looked confused, but quickly ran over to sit across from , nodding her head.
“How much do you know about Keepers, Lena?” I asked, wanting to develop a baseline for the conversation, that way I knew what I needed to fill in or correct.
Lena thought about that for a mont, and I could tell that she was taking this seriously, which I appreciated. “According to the information I have access to, a Keeper is born together with the void, but likely resides within a separate realm for the majority of their existence. Additionally, ti within this separate realm does not always move at the sa pace as ti in the mortal world.”
“Next, the Keeper possesses the ultimate power of creation, but this power must abide by a set of rules. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have anything to worry about, and there would be no need for you to have Chelsea and the others researching world creation on their own. Following this logic, there is a system in place for Keepers, one that exists above the normal mortal system.”
“Through this system, you are able to exert your power to execute a vast, yet limited number of options. These options allow you to interact with the world, such as altering the world laws, updating the system we live under, or creating entirely new worlds or gods.”
“Next, there is a hierarchy among the gods that you have created, with Terra being in a special position. Of all of the mbers of the Greater Pantheon, she is the only one that can’t directly inhabit her mortal vessel. This can be seen from how they act, showing that it is not a matter of choice on her part. Given that I cannot see you placing those restrictions on her yourself, these restrictions must co from the system, which has deed her to be in a position where it would disrupt the balance of the world if she had direct control.”
“History has proven that there exist other Keepers, who typically have a hostile relationship with each other. However, this is not always the case, as proven by the existence of the tic sensor that was received. That technology was of a completely different field of thought from how we invent, so it is unlikely to have co from this world.”
“These other Keepers appear to invade randomly, but using the previously gathered information, it can be assud that there is actually a set schedule for their invasions. However, this set schedule follows the tiline of your separate dinsion, so it gives the appearance of being random to the mortal world.”
“Finally, it is within the Keeper’s power to elevate the status of a mortal, allowing them to access your separate dinsion through one of two thods. The first thod, as was shown with Leowynn and to a lesser extent Giles, allows you to turn them into a fully fledged deity of the Greater Pantheon or resident of your other dinsion. The second thod, which you have used on Tsubaki, Lifre, and Dana, allows them to seamlessly travel between dinsions, without elevating their mortal status itself.”
I couldn’t help but blink as I looked at Lena, my eyes widening. I had assud that she had gathered a fair amount of information, but at this point, there was almost nothing left for to explain myself. “You ca to all of those conclusions on your own?”
Lena gave a broad grin at that. “So of that stuff is just common knowledge. There are also a lot of speculations, like whether you were born with your knowledge, or if you inherited it from a previous Keeper. Like, you might have gotten your knowledge of how to use your abilities from your system or other Keepers, or because you t the Keeper of a previously destroyed world. This would follow with the claim that your death marks the end of creation, because it erases the void itself and causes a new Keeper to be chosen.”
“As for the stuff with my senior, that was easy to figure out. She is way too harsh on herself with her training, so there is no way that she wouldn’t be up to date with the latest techniques used by various professions. If she was like Leowynn, and could freely interact with the world from the other dinsion, then there would be no reason for her not to know all of that stuff. The only logic that works is that she had no ti to train while she was gone, and no ability to interact with the world. Also, when I transford into her, I had the feeling that she had been a Keeper at so point in the past.”
“You even managed to figure all of that out…” I let out a low sigh, shaking my head. “Well… this will make a lot of things easier. You are spot-on with almost all of your assumptions. Including the fact that I t the previous Keeper. Well… after a fashion.”
Lena’s eyes widened at that. “You killed him, right? But you totally don’t seem the type. Was he so kind of crazed murderer or sothing, and you were acting as the hero of justice?”
I gave a bitter chuckle, resting my face against my hand. “I was a delivery driver, overworked and underpaid, and he was a lazy slob that didn’t look both ways when crossing the street.”
Lena paused, blinking slowly. “Wait, really? That’s the big reveal? Don’t you want to embellish the story a bit? If you do, I’ll give you so ti to co up with sothing and try again, I don’t mind.”
“No, that’s really how it went. The last Keeper was a coward, who was so scared of invasions from other Keepers that he forcibly halted the world’s progress, living a leisurely life without ever once revealing himself to the masses. Any three year old child in my world would be stronger than him.”
“That’s… harsh.” Lena muttered, before focusing on again. “So, what is this about? Given the context, you must be considering elevating like my senior, right?”
I nodded slightly. “That’s right. But first, I wanted to know how much more I needed to explain, so I’ll just fill in the gaps of your understanding. The power that I exert through the system is referred to as points, which can be earned in four ways. The first is passive inco, which I earn by allowing my worlds to develop new technologies and cultural advancent. This is a small, yet constant source of points that can be used to upgrade the world.”
“The second thod is through achievents. If either myself or my world create a significant achievent in the eyes of the system, I am awarded a small number of points, as well as potentially an additional reward. One of these rewards is the thod to ‘elevate’ people, as you called it.”
“The third thod is through invasions, either defending or attacking. If we succeed in a defense, I earn points based on the number of enemies the opponent sends, as well as their strength. If we succeed in attacking, and kill the enemy Keeper, I inherit all of their worlds, and can refund them for their point value in the system.”
“The thod of invasions is good for lump sums of points, but naturally cos with the associated dangers. If the enemy kills , the other Keeper inherits all of my worlds, and may twist them into horrid abominations, or delete them outright.”
“The final thod is good for lump sums, and has much less danger, but is less commonly available to . This is through a regular event hosted by the system, and available to all Keepers. We call it our annual eting, because it happens once every year, according to the system clock. In this eting, there are various activities for the Keepers to participate in that can award them points, and they are free to bring people from their own worlds.”
I offered a small smile, letting out a long breath. “This is where Tsubaki beca a Keeper, as you ntioned. She participated in one activity that allowed her to experience life as a Keeper, with Dana as her assistant, equivalent to what Terra is for .”
“The next annual eting is starting in less than an hour now. Given your performance, I believed that you were trustworthy to take with to the eting.”
Lena’s eyes widened, clearly having not expected to ask her to join . “Wait… wait wait wait. You an that you revealed all of this to , and not only are you not expecting to try to kill you to beco the Keeper myself, but you are inviting to a highly sensitive eting where I could either help you or beco a disruptive force? Are you insane? Like, seriously, is there sothing wrong with your head?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “I don’t believe that you would try to take advantage of that. And if you did attack , Terra is probably watching right now and has the ability to pull out of the world before a fatal blow is landed. She probably would have pulled out the instant that you decided to attack.”
Got that right… Terra’s voice spoke up in the back of my mind.
Lena hesitated, but nodded her head. “Got it. So, what do you want to do in this eting? Am I just helping you collect points, or do you want to gather information on other Keepers?”
I smiled slightly, trying to dispel her serious deanor. “Your first priority should be collecting points. And… Did I ntion that the vast majority of the activities at this event take the form of gas? You won’t be able to use your enhanced powers, but your personal judgnt and skill will remain.”
Lena’s eyes widened again. “Wait, you want to go to this eting to… play gas? Am I being pranked right now? Because if so, this is a good one.”
“I’m being serious, Lena.” I told her, reaching across the desk to lightly flick her forehead, causing her to hold her head with an aggrieved look. “There are also special rewards that can be earned in these gas, tickets that allow a Keeper to either force an attack on soone, or cancel an attack coming their way. Additionally… as soon as we return from this eting, the next invasion will begin.”
Lena’s eyes imdiately beca serious. “I understand, sir. In that case, would you allow to try to gather information on the forces that the other Keeper is bringing in? I’ll need any identifying information that you can provide .”
“The only thing that I know is their title, which is DarkestNight. For reference, mine is EarthForceOne. Gathering information on DarkestNight won’t be easy, since we don’t know what they look like or anything like that. That’s why I said that your first priority is to play those gas to earn points.”
Lena slowly nodded her head, but maintained a pensive expression. “I understand, sir. I’ll do my best to help you in this upcoming eting.”
With that, I began to explain to Lena how the eting area worked, and the kinds of things that she could expect to find there.
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