While I was rather glad to see that Al Dien was taking the initiative to help the centaurs and halflings et the other races, I couldn’t spare more than a passing glance at their progress every now and then while I trained myself. I had learned from the first Keeper eting that I was a part of that the prizes for these gas were points. And points were exactly what I needed now.
I considered asking Alkahest if he could give a list of all the different gas that would be featured at the eting, so that I could pick and choose what ones I wanted to do to earn the most points. One that I knew I’d be participating in would be that Keeper Sim that I played in last ti. Now that I had so more experience under my belt, I was confident in my chances with that ga.
Though… speaking of that. I quickly sent off a ssage to Alkahest, navigating the nu while I continued my ‘thread training’.
EarthForceOne: If we bring a companion to the eting, are they able to play gas on our behalf?
Alkahest: They can, but you’re limited to just one Companion to use in this manner. You can’t just flood the party with people to play the gas for you, after all. You can also use them as advisors for you in the gas that you play, so long as it’s not in a cheating way like telling you what cards your opponent has.
Thankfully, it didn’t take him long to get back to after I sent off the question, which made smile in relief. Now it was just a matter of thinking who would be best to take with for the eting. Terra was an obvious choice, given that she was a system companion, and knew the ins and outs of every ga that they could play.
However, I had the feeling that she wouldn’t be eligible, due to the restrictions placed on system companions. And I didn’t want to put all my hope on her, only to find out later that she couldn’t do it. If we weren’t lacking in points as badly as we were right now, I wouldn’t hesitate to take Terra or the rest of them with just to hang out with a new crowd.
Then there was Udona. She had already displayed a remarkable level of ability in understanding gas. However, that was also after she had spent months studying those gas. Right now, we only had a few days left until the eting began, so that wasn’t enough ti for her to even properly study the Keeper Sim ga, let alone the ones that I never attended myself.
In the end, I put it up to a vote, sending the ssage out to all of the companions. In a few days’ ti, the regular Keeper eting will be held by the Gilded Branch guild. I’m looking for soone to attend the eting with . This isn’t a regular party outing, or I’d be willing to take everyone.
These etings feature gas hosted by the guild, with the prizes being points. Whoever goes with will also be competing in these gas in order to earn the prizes, so that we can get all of the information we need to bring out the Fairy Gates. I want you all to decide who will be joining .
I had half expected to receive a series of ‘!’ responses from the gods and goddesses, but they were surprisingly silent. Or maybe they were just discussing among themselves to decide, and taking this seriously like I had hoped. Either way, they didn’t get back to , which allowed to continue my training.
Minutes passed by into hours, which soon beca days as I focused purely on expanding my understanding of the Thousand Arms, Ten Thousand Threads martial art. Every now and then, I would consult the information orb that I had purchased to refresh my understanding.
Before, I had only practiced casually, bringing my ability up from twenty threads to thirty. I had never taken the ti to diligently train like I was now. But now, I had to. After all, the key factor of this martial art was its ability to affect the ntal state of its user, granting them a better ability to multitask and process information.
By the end of my sixth day of training, I had finally reached the rank of One Hundred Threads. This ant that I could accurately form and control at least one hundred threads of chakra and direct them around my surroundings. This also ant that I was able to use two new abilities of the art.
The first new ability was the Woven Eye, which first becos available once the practitioner can accurately handle fifty threads. This ability allows the user to weave together those fifty threads and connect it with their own eyes. With that, they are able to see everywhere that their threads go, as if there were eyes attached to the threads.
I tried the ability briefly, and was stunned by the sheer amount of sensory input I was receiving. The room around had suddenly changed into a three dinsional map in my mind, and I could see every little nook and cranny. Naturally, once I got to a hundred threads, I could do this twice, which only increased the level of detail.
The second ability was one that I had been looking forward to for so ti, the Twinned Cord that I received after reaching One Hundred Threads. Unlike its rather confusing na, the ability was really simple to describe. It was a cloning technique, far better than the original ‘Split Thread’ ability that was unlocked early on. In this case, the clone could be considered a physical creature.
While the clone was created, I could use any ki, magic, or chakra through it as if it were . I could see through its eyes and use it to communicate. It could deliver physical attacks and even wield weapons or armor. However, its body was rather fragile, since it was created from a hundred woven chakra threads. If an attack broke through its defenses, it was likely to destroy the clone.
Another weakness of the clone was its range. This wasn’t a case of simply being able to create the clone and sending it out all over the place to scout and fight for . No, the clone was limited to the sa range as my threads. And right now, the furthest I could push a single thread out to was fifty ters. Still a really good card to play when in a fight, but not sothing that can just be used as a godly clone.
On the eighth day, I finally stopped training, having reached one hundred and thirty-two threads. I hadn’t received another ability, but I felt that it was necessary for to take at least a full day to rest and allow my mind to recover from the nonstop training. I was also quite curious why the others hadn’t gotten back to yet.
Moving towards the living room, I saw that nobody was around, causing to raise an eyebrow. Normally, I’d find Aurivy with one of the other girls watching sothing on the television, but it seed likely that she was off playing in one of their rooms. Alright… who’s going with ?
I was sure that my ssage had gone through the first ti, as I hadn’t had an incident with the ntal ssaging malfunctioning for a while. However, the fact that they never responded could only an that they had been taking this ti to decide themselves, or that they were waiting to leave it as a surprise for when I was about to go.
“That’ll be .” A voice ca from behind , causing to spin around in place. The person that had suddenly appeared was none other than my very own Goddess of Politics, Bihena. She quirked a brow at my expression, placing one hand on her hip. “You seem a bit surprised that it’s .”
“Well… yeah. I had been expecting Udona, or maybe even Terra. If not them, maybe Aurivy.” I answered honestly, giving a small nod of my head.
Bihena only shook her head with a wry smile. “Terra can’t help in these kinds of competitions. Udona thought about it, but she’s busy getting Deckan up to a good level of power and doesn’t want to take the ti to learn a bunch of new gas right now. Aurivy begged and pleaded, but like you said, this isn’t a regular outing. So, they decided that it would be .”
“Ahh… I see. Alright. We’ve got two days until the eting, but I wanted to make sure I knew who was coming along so that I could plan appropriately. Did Terra tell you the kinds of gas that you could expect at the eting?”
When I asked that, Bihena simply shook her head again. “No, she said that there were too many to really prepare for, and that saying anything more would be a ‘violation of Keeper privacy’. But I’m fairly confident that I’ll be able to bring back so points at least. How long are we staying there?”
I gave a light chuckle in response. “As long as we can. I left the first eting after just a couple gas, because I didn’t really have a reason to stick around longer than that. This ti, however, we need to stay in order to earn more points. Our goal is to get ten thousand points in total. We’ll only co back early if we hit that goal.”
Hearing that number made Bihena’s eyes open wide. Ten thousand points was around three tis as many points as we had at our highest, and that was when we had been saving up nearly a year’s worth of royalties. “O… okay. I guess we’ll probably be there for a little while, then.”
I felt my lips tugging upwards as I saw her suddenly becoming nervous. “Just think, this’ll be your first ti away from a territory that we had control over.”
Her expression suddenly chilled, and she quirked a brow at again. “Terra already assured that it was safe, and that nobody would be able to harm us. I might be nervous, but don’t try to frighten , alright?”
I shrugged my shoulders helplessly, shaking my head. “Oh, that reminds … I need to ask about Leowynn, too.” As I said that, I brought up the nu again, firing off another ssage to Alkahest.
EarthForceOne: Forgot to ask before. I’ve got an entity bound to spiritually. Are there any rules that I should know for them, since they aren’t really a Companion?
Alkahest: Bound to you, huh? Well… if they aren’t a Companion, I’d suggest to keep them with you at all tis. Hostilities are forbidden during the etings, but if soone tries sothing, your entity wouldn’t be safe. Unlike a companion, they can still be killed if soone gets violent. I don’t know anyone who would risk being blacklisted for sothing like that, but better safe than sorry. If it is the official eting, that’s another story, though. There, the rules are enforced by the system itself, and everyone is given absolute protection.
My eyebrow twitched slightly as I read that, feeling a bit sorry for Leowynn. I made a ntal note to try to find so other types of outings where I could take her along without her just sitting inside my spiritual realm. Maybe if I joined a guild eventually, she could et them. Or I could take her to the official eting whenever I attend one myself.
“Everything alright, Dale?” Bihena asked, glancing at curiously after I had gone quiet. “Did you find out what you wanted to know?”
“Yeah… looks like Leowynn won’t be able to co out to play this ti.” I answered, shaking my head. “We’ll find another chance for her to et up with other people.”
Bihena gave a brief nod at that, before glancing back towards the hall briefly. “You said we have a couple days before the eting, right?” When I nodded my head, she continued with a small smile. “Alright, I’m going to go make sure that I have everything ready on my end. Send a ssage when it’s ti, and I’ll co find you.”
After I gave another nod, she turned and walked into the hall, heading towards her own room. Part of wondered what exactly she had to prepare. I planned to pause Earth before I left, so there wouldn’t be an issue of humanity’s goddess disappearing for a few days. Maybe she just wanted to pick out a good outfit… won do always tend to take a long ti to get ready.
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