337. Bulb |
337
Year 311
The trio thus saw it fit to slay any demon kings along the path. World after world, attacked by demons. Along the way they saw more of Aiva’s believers. It took a full year to hop ten worlds, and just like Gaya, as we approached deeper and deeper, we noticed that the cost of opening a void path through the void sea increased.
A wave in the void. Stella described it like trying to swim upriver.
Aiva. I often wondered whether that god would be surprised to see us again.
Actually, now that I had access to both Gaya and Hawa, financially, I most likely could make a huge amount of money selling pilgrimage services to their homeworlds.
For believers of Gaya and Hawa, they would likely want to feel the presence of their gods.
Could I be the God of Travel, that way? With my clones and nodes, I was already one step along that path. Maybe myself and Stella could be the two Gods of the Journey.
Or the Gods of Pilgrimage.
It could be a great way for me to bridge and smoothen out old conflicts with the 4 temples and restore normal relations between the religions.
***
Gigantadragon, The Dragon-shaped peripheral world
“Let me try this one alone.” Lausanne said to the rest of her domain holder peers. She wanted to gain levels quickly, and one way she was sure to do so was to try demon kings on her own. The challenge of the battle would help her. “I’ll call for help once I’m spent.”
A cycle of peace was finally over, and Gigantadragon would face another demon king. But the past decade of peace brought respite to many of the once-destroyed parts of their world, though the tail-half of Gigantadragon was only twenty to thirty percent of what it once was.
There were still many dead towns and villages that used to be home to the dragonlings. Many of them were still dead today.
“Sure sure.” Ebon motioned with his hand, as if he was an usher showing Lausanne to her place. “All yours, princess.”
Lausanne frowned. “I’m a little too old to be a Princess.”
It also reminded her of her younger days when she was the ‘de-facto’ princess of Aeon. Maybe, to her, it brought back some unpleasant memories.
“Elves don’t age. So I think you count.” Ebon insisted, as the elven woman walked a step closer to the knight. “But knock yourselves out.”
Lausanne punched Ebon playfully anyway, but her senses were honed on the coming demon. Through our shared connection, we could subtly feel the demon king travelling through the path. “For a knight, you sure like to insult your Princess.”
The void path buzzed. The Order’s agents returned from the demon world. “The demon king is on its way, milady.”
We already knew, but it was nice to have confirmation. “Got it, got it.” Lausanne nodded, as the void mages passed a few reports to her. She flipped through them quickly and returned it. “Inform the rest. Let’s get ready.”
“You get ready.” Ebon smiled, more than happy to let the elven lady deal with the demon king. “The rest of us have time. Would you like some tea?” Ebon said as he found a place to sit.
Lausanne blinked a few times and wanted to punch the knight again. He dodged. Ebon was better when he was relaxed.
He clearly didn’t seem to mind not having chosen any of the domain choices.
I supported him too. In an earlier conversation, I told him.
“Ebon, if you don’t want to choose, go ahead. It’s worth experimenting on this and figure out what happens when we don’t choose any of the three choices. From what we know of the system, there exists some interesting quirks and options that may appear when we go off the beaten path.”
Ebon took it as approval to hold off his choice for longer.
“As per our initial findings, we’ve confirmed that it’s a giant lion-headed demon. Strong fire-element bias. It seems to be a strong antimagic type of demon too.” The void mage commented. “We’ll head back first.”
Lausanne watched the mages vanish as she stood alone. Everyone else respected her request, and so stationed themselves far away.
She breathed and her spear pulsed with her.
“Another 50 levels to go.” She said to herself and Lightwood. She wanted to reach Level 200. If she could get to Level 250, even better.
The demon king arrived.
Lightwood glowed with all the star mana she could feed it.
The spear transformed with the star mana and turned into a spear of light. The skies flashed like it was a thunderstorm, whenever the slightly green tinted spear exploded with each star mana-infused strike.
The spectators watched, while Ebon got his tea. He wasn’t a big fan of tea, but it felt appropriate to have one while watching Lausanne fight a demon king.
“You seem confident in her victory.” Roon and Johann sat next to him and teased.
“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?” Ebon poured a cup for each of them too. Hoyia glared at the knight, but decided not to say anything.
“Did you bless her?” Roon asked.
“A simple set of buffs.” Hoyia answered.
“For a challenge, she shouldn’t get them. The heroes don’t get buffs.”
“She just wants to know where she stands when compared to the heroes. A buff doesn’t change all that much.”
“A buff from you changes a lot, Matriarch Hoyia.” Ebon countered.
There were more flashes of light. The battle went on. Some of the Order’s operatives distributed lunch. But halfway through lunch, Lausanne’s Lightwood was thrust into the demon king’s exposed core, and the core shattered.
She was victorious.
This time, after fighting for only half a day, she killed the demon king single handedly.
***
“That demon king was rather weak.” She declared, as she and Lightwood both gained 5 levels from the exchange.
“Reckless,” Hoyia scolded and healed her. She was covered in dirt, and she had taken some damage. But a domain level body empowered by star mana was incredibly tanky. Hoyia tried to pinch her, and Lausanne squirmed. “But it's not the first time we told you that, so you’re not going to stop. You’ve reached what most heroes should reach. The point where heroes can kill demon kings single handedly.”
From our history we knew of many heroes that could take on demon kings on their own. Even Kei managed to do it with a bit of support from the rest of us.
“The White Statue could fight a demon king. Osroids could do it. Aeon could do it. I have star mana, and now I also have Lightwood, an actual divine living weapon. So, I thought I should be able to do it, even if I’m still at a lower level. I suppose the presentation and style of the battle is not as clean as it should be.” Lausanne said.
“The mages told me they rate that demon king a 4 out of 10, so don’t get too confident. I wouldn’t want to see you in that biolab.” Hoyia tapped the elf on the head, maybe a little harder than normal. “Alright, you’re good. When’s the next one? Ah right. We’re clear for a few years, unless we head over to the Gaya or Aiva side of things. If we establish a clone or a node on that side, we could get access to more.”
“If it’s not because of all the void mana around the Sun Rings, I’d love to try and take on the Defender Demon Kings on the Sun-Rings.” Lausanne sighed. “I’d love to see where I match up.”
The overwhelming void mana was a significant disadvantage for Lausanne, since they combusted around her. There was so much void mana that the mages predicted that there would be a perpetual explosion around her.
In a way, the Sun-Rings was a great anti-hero counter. No. It could even be said that the Sun-Rings were engineered to be inaccessible to heroes.
At least in Lausanne’s case, she could convert her star mana into regular mana and still make the trip.
***
The two native heroes of Gigantadragon were busy doing normal transmigrated hero things like tending to their harem.
For them the warning signs in their mind didn’t trigger until the demon king actually arrived. It made me suspect that was why each demon king was accompanied by a system announcement.
It functioned as a call to arms to all heroes located in a particular world.
The Order maintained a large building on the largest city of Gigantadragon. The locals referred to it as Fort Brambles, because of the thick brambles that surrounded the fortified structure. The domainholders would visit the local institutions, as a means to check on their operations and also have a look at the developments since they last visited. The domain holders were often away for months, years on expeditions through the worlds, and so, the local operatives on Gigantadragon and the various other worlds would only see the domainholders once every few years.
Dragonling operatives within the Order was still a rarity, but since our presence here was slightly over a decade ago, the first batches of graduates were now ready for the mid-levels. That meant warriors and soldiers around level 70 to 80.
Dragonlings were natural fliers, and thus they were the first Valthorn soldiers capable of flight without the use of magic or tools. Though from our tests so far, this flying ability didn’t work that well on some of the demonic worlds. They helped to add strength to our air force and augment the use of drakes and wyverns from Capra.
Within the Order, we’d generally classified the type of combat engagements into three main types.
DK-class engagements referred to all combat engagements with exceptional opponents, and this was an area where the bulk of the Order played a supporting role.
DK-class engagements were mainly confined to the domain holders and heroes, with some limited roles for the level 100 to 149. These engagements were the most publicized due to the sheer level of power, and the Order’s propaganda corps would weave beautiful stories targeted at the general public.
Most of the Order’s soldiers would not be able to participate in them directly.
Then, there were the two major combat engagements where most of the Order was deployed to and was often unseen to the public.
Offensive operations. This was where we engaged in battle against demonic swarms, invasions into demonic worlds, countering opponents like demonic champions, battling other nations, and so on.
Defensive operations referred to peacekeeping engagements, mainly to enforcing Order and maintaining our presence in the various nations. It was a necessary reminder to all the various kingdoms and nations that our strength was real. Mortal memory was short, and leaders especially so.
For most new recruits, they are sold the dream of one day playing a part in the great battles of yore, though they would have to spend decades and centuries in the trenches serving in numerous offensive and defensive operations.
***
“Have you considered changing your ways, yet?” I taunted the Crystal King. The city of Maelga changed a lot ever since I took over a few decades ago. The humans that once treated the Crystal King as a god-in-the-flesh were now educated in the nature of levels and thus no longer approached the creature as a mythical thing.
“No,” The Crystal King answered. “I would rather be destroyed than to live under your rule.”
“Must you be so stubborn, old rock?” The avatar that hosted Zhaanpu countered. Zhaanpu’s avatar seemed to have a decent fondness for the rock prisoner and frequently came to chat with the old rock.
“I suppose it is only normal for insects to live in service of this creature.” The rock countered.
Zhaanpu fumed, but the insult was not the first. As the Order brought about a great peace to Threeworlds and the demon kings became nothing more than a notification, the relations between the three great nations thawed.
Perhaps, by force. The Order enforced trade and mingling areas and recruited heavily from all three factions. Those that returned to the three nations then brought their norms and experiences with other races, and that gradually changed the culture and attitudes towards those different from them.
It was by no means peaceful. There were still deep seated suspicions, ancient hatred, and prejudice. They did not treat each other the same.
But at least the first instinct was no longer war. It would likely take centuries of coexistence to reach a stage where many of these inherited prejudices disappeared.
“I suppose it is a very rock-like thing to do, to stay in place for a long time. I actually don’t even think this is much of a punishment.” Zhaanpu said to my spirit tree located right around the Crystal King.
“It is alright. I do not expect many to be my allies, and instead, many more like him will serve as my whetstone. The human nations he once protected now feed and strengthen my armies, and with each and every battle I grow stronger. Like a rock, even if he emerged, he would find that he has already been left behind.” I declared.
Threeworlds was now the third largest contributor to the war effort after Treehome and Mountainworld, and Maelga was at the heart of that war-industrial revolution.
“I’d love to offer you a chance to fight at our side, and in fact, I would even offer you another world for it, one where I would leave you be.”
Zhaanpu countered, somehow deciding to argue against me. “Please do not accept. I still have not received my promised sandworld.”
“It’s in progress.” I countered. “But it should be easier to find a generic human-heavy world. It seems to be what you like.”
But the crystal king shrunk and just refused to talk to us.
***
The two golem warriors of Eras reignited a long question in my mind.
What happened when the [Soul Forge] possessed all its colors? Was something like the Erasian Sentinels the limit of the artificial souls we could create?
I sent Hoyia, my other representative, to speak to them once more. Lumoof, Edna, and Stella were faraway, still traveling towards the Aivan worlds.
“Jorkun.” Hoyia said, and the sentinel glanced at her strangely. Hoyia could feel the sentinel’s attempt to examine its structure. “What do you remember of the Erasian worlds?”
“Plenty.” Jorkun said. “I was created in the Crucible of Eras, a beautiful rainbow-colored forge, where my creator worked both the spirit and metal to create warriors like me. “It is a shame that many of my brethren were destroyed. Together, we can even fight stronger foes.”
“Do you think that your brethren survived inside the Sun-Rings?”
“They must. I am a creation of my god, and I feel my god’s life. It is still there, and so, I must believe that my god’s people continue to live within the round worlds.”
Hoyia pondered. “Does Eras’s people possess the means to travel between worlds?”
“With the Erasian Gates, yes. But beyond that. I doubt it. There may be no more than ten individuals on the core worlds with the ability to venture into the void independently.”
“There’s still ten?”
“Yes. My patron gifted some of his faithful with special artefacts that allowed them to move from world to world. A special key...”
“The Ancient Worldkey?”
“That is one of the names it went by, but each god made their own version with its own quirks and rules.”
“There was a traveler who seemed to possess it, but he had long vanished. Yet, he doesn’t seem to call Eras his god.”
“Then he must be a thief, or he received it from some other god. Eras made about one hundred such Worldkeys, and the other gods should be able to replicate them should they manage to get hold of it. Many such Worldkeys were destroyed over the years due to wars and combat or lost within the void.”
“Faith powers the gods. If, like you say, that Eras still lives, then there must be many more worlds where Eras’s believers remain.” Hoyia stated, and the golem nodded. “So. If there are core worlds that the demons intentionally left alive, I cannot help but suspect that Eras may be behind the demons.”
Jorkun looked at the woman, and somehow the golem’s gem-like appearance managed to frown. “I do not believe my creator would create something designed for destruction of such scale.”
“But the possibility is not ruled out. In your last days, do you remember Eras behaving unusually?” Hoyia pushed.
The idea of a god going mad was very much a possibility. It was a tale as old as time.
“No. Eras was absorbed in the creation of the void sun and this network. Unless, you believe that the void somehow corrupted Eras.” Jorkun countered, but the prospect of void corrupting a god seemed to shake the golem’s voice slightly.
After a moment, he answered firmly.
“No. I reject that notion. My spirit continues to maintain a clear link to my creator. If the void poisoned my god in some way, I must suffer its consequences too. Yet, I do not, so I believe my creator has not been corrupted.”
“How are you sure?”
The golem had no answer. The golem might be extremely well educated with some inbuilt Erasian knowledge, but it wasn’t sure about things such as souls and void mana.
Hoyia then attacked. “As a faithful of Aeon, you can see why I am suspicious. Even if I want to help you, I cannot rule out that you are, in some way or form, compromised. Possibly, and very likely, without your knowledge. You maintain a link with your god, and yet, you do not know what actually goes into that link.”
The golem sat. “I concur with your assessment. My comprehension of the ways of void corruption is limited. If the void magic somehow drove my god mad, it is possible that I lack the ability to see its effects.”
“Good. Then, let’s assume that Eras has somehow gone mad, or perhaps, is somehow corrupted by void magic. If we allow you to approach your god, that corruption could spread to you. No. What we truly fear is that you turn against us at a crucial point of our travel. That would put us all at risk.”
“Yes.”
“So, I ask this.” Hoyia proposed. “My god possessed some means of creating souls, but, is there a possibility we can create a replica of you. Something with your memories and thoughts, but is not controlled by Eras? That way, we can use your knowledge, and you can aid us in our quest through these formerly Erasian territories?”
“You want me to replicate myself, but without my god’s influence?”
“Yes.” Hoyia insisted. “You need not be my god’s follower, but you can see why we must cut off the link between yourself and your god. For the replica.”
Jorkun sat. It calculated the situation and the stakes.
Once Lumoof returned, with [Aeon’s Spirit], I could use [Soul Forge] attempt to create a clone of Jorkun, At the very least, studying Jorkun would allow me to understand the powers of the [Soul Forge].
The golem stared at Hoyia and nodded. “Agreeable. But I will have this replica destroyed, at a time of my choice.”
“Very well.”
***
Meanwhile, the trio of domainholders finally landed somewhere that was an Aivan Core World.
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