293. Floodplains

293. Floodplains

293

Year 274

Aeon

It’s been a year since we started exploring the peripheral worlds, and we were now in our 11th world. I began to feel the strain of the expanding world. The Valtrian Order now stretched across more worlds, and each of them required resources. Shipment of goods. Even mana.

Stella and her growing team of void mages worked overtime to send people over, but ultimately, we had to decide on the placement on the node trees. Without node trees, the void mages would be fully tasked with the movement of people and resources, and this strained our void mages.

Our void mages were a fairly limited group in the first place. There were about two thousand void mages, but most of them were relatively mid levels around level 60 to 90. Then, there’s about one to two hundred void mages that we considered to be ‘deployable’, a decent number, but for movements to these faraway places, it is mainly the void archmages and their peers that did the work.

With my domainholders leading the exploration, I directed my own attention on the industry growth. I needed the ‘drain’ on resources by some of the worlds in repair, such as Tropicsworld, to taper off.

But luckily, it was not bad news.

Because for the world of Treehome, the reality bubble expanded, and then, I felt something exceptional happen.

In the faraway distance, at the edge of space itself, I could somehow see past the bubble that separated Treehome’s reality, and the endless void sea. Using the vision of the void layers granted and shared with me, it was as if there was a world birthed within the void itself.

At that moment, I saw thousands of worlds, floating as if suspended in a dormant state. Each world was encased in a package of void energies. The void sea is the spawning pool of the world. It is the primordial soup, and from my point of view, I believe, it was only something I could see.

Because through my domain, through my empowerment of Treehome’s core, I could see the energy of the Core stretch into the void itself, and then, it searched. I didn’t know how, or what it did. But it searched through the void sea, as if looking for something that matched.

Then it found one, a world somehow with land and water encased in a strange liquid sac within the void sea. I felt the Core’s authority spread into that liquid sac, and it pulled.

It pulled, and pulled.

It felt like forever, it felt like just a moment, and the reality bubble of Treehome suddenly bulged as that new world in the sac made contact with the wall. It was as if a larger soap bubble joined with a smaller soap bubble, and then, a new world entered into Treehome’s reality.

It drifted, then drifted and settled in an outer orbit around Treehome’s sun.

And so, Treehome now has a sister planet.

***

My forces arrived on the sister planet to find it already populated and with plants and people.

A dream from the Core of Treehome filled in the blanks.

A world that existed entirely within the void sea in a state of limbo. It exists, but imperfectly. The void sea is the cradle of worlds.

I strangely found it similar to something from my past life. This new world was as if a program that was in development, but never went ‘live’. It ran in a test environment all this while, but when it was pushed to the ‘live’ environment, it inherited all the history it created during the test environment.

The sister world of Treehome, which I now called Shrubhome, shared the same racial mix as Treehome, and it came already present with a decently sized population.

“How?” Most of my forces didn’t understand. Or maybe they did, but it was a reality that was hard to swallow. For us from Earth or the source worlds, it was hard to grasp whether we were dealing with reality. How was a world that didn’t exist before, suddenly exist with its own history in what felt like a few days. In a way, it was simpler to think of this new world as one that exists in a realm separate from ours, and now it moved across the realms to join us.

Because the implications of a world created out of scratch meant we were all simulations. That our existence could be created out of the blue by the void sea.

The mages were surprisingly more willing to accept it. To them, if summons were real, then creations of a world with its own history could be real.

For me personally, I found it easier to think of this sister world as a world that was teleported in, to be our celestial neighbor.

***

Shrubhome was a smaller world. Smaller, but still had seas and continents, similar to Treehome. It had three large continents, and my forces arrived to find existing kingdoms and nations already squabbling.

There were no domain holders here. Not a single one, and the strongest person we sensed, as only in the level 50s.

We spoke to some of the leaders of Shrubhome, and it seems, from their point of view, they were always there, and when they looked up to the skies and the sun, Treehome was always in their star maps.

Again, if magic can do so much, creating worlds out of thin air should be doable. But damn it was hard to truly accept. Somehow. The flow of energies on Shrubhome was also the same as Treehome.

This was a world where the Core is actually linked to Treehome’s core.

I sensed the same energy from Shrubhome’s core. The core was a physical object, but in Treehome’s case, now it was split into two.

I wondered whether this was a form of defense mechanism. A demon king needed to capture both cores in order to fully control the world.

***

Eleventh World - Shasan [Land of Sands and Floods - Demons are Gigantic Fire Demons But Expansion Curtailed by the Sands]

“Sand.” Johann picked up a handful of sand, and the sand was blown away by the wind. It was fine sand, high quality, even. But sand. The sun was bright, and there was not a single cloud in the sky.

The sand, the heat, the cloudless sky all reminded them of the Scorpionoid lands of Zhaanpu.

“Well, looks like we found the world to fulfill our promise to Zhaanpu.” Roon smiled. “Khefri would enjoy this place.”

“Is something going on with you and Khefri?” Ezar asked.

Roon shook his head. “Nothing. There was nothing, and there’s still nothing. At one point, Chung was pursuing her.”

“He’s dying soon. You have a chance.”

Roon made an exaggerated retching expression. “Please. At some point I’m going to prefer to be partnerless.”

“I have a partner.” Ezar admitted. “And she’s cute. I hope to have many babies with her.”

Roon paused as he looked into the distance. There was a very faint scent of some kind of human presence. “I didn’t know that. Is it a fairly recent thing?”

Ezar nodded. “Yeah. We got together recently. At least, before this whole peripheral worlds thing. I kinda miss her already.”

Junker Quartz, and Kerifa Gundhert were both master mages and were in the high level 60s. The true masters were in the level 80s, and yet Metteria watched the two of them sweat. Magisarians all had a keen sense of magic and mana, and some magisarians could even see magic flows in the air around them.

Junker Quartz was one of those unique individuals with the power to see magic in the air, and it was why he became a great bronze mage.

Lausanne led them to a meeting area carved out of the rocks of the ground. The entire area should’ve been infested with demonic golems, and yet, Metteria’s senses were clear. There wasn’t any.

Kerifa sat first, and she naturally took the position as if she was in charge. “Who are you three, and what do you want?”

Lausanne smiled. “Let’s start with what we want. I was told that the Tower Masters’ position as the Tower Masters can be challenged directly through a magical duel.”

Kerifa, Junker and Metteria stared at each other. Her immediate suspicion was the other Towers. During an earlier, much less demon infested time, Tower Masters frequently sent mages to other Towers, and tried to usurp power and claim the Other Towers by way of a duel.

“Who- who do you work for? Which Tower?” Kerifa asked.

“None of that.” Lausanne laughed. “But can it be done, and is it still recognized today?”

“I doubt it. The Tower masters won’t let go of their positions. Not in our current environment.” Kerifa frowned, but at that point, a portal opened and a man Kerifa and Metteria recognized stepped out. Metteria’s fellow disciple.

“Good to see you again, Master Kerifa.” Lezzan was one of the refugee mages rescued in the Valthorn’s recent tour of the Magisarian lands. “It’s been- eight years?”

Kerifa rubbed her eyes. “Have I gone blind? I thought you were dead!”

“It’s quite hard for a bug like me to die.” The refugee mage was one of the assistants. “Well, we had enough of the Tower Master’s selfishness!”

“That’s a death sentence.”

“Now, we have enough to finally think of challenging the Tower’s whims.” Lezzan said proudly.

Lausanne coughed. Lezzan immediately paled and changed his words.

“My apologies. I certainly wouldn’t dare to claim credit for the visitors’ achievements.”

Ebon’s helmet turned and stared. At that moment, they all felt the man’s overwhelming presence on their shoulders. Metteria didn’t notice it before, but now that she did, she noticed the man’s armor and helmet were not made with their common bronze alloys.

Instead, it looked like a metal that’s exceptionally rare on Magisar. So much so that Metteria blurted it out. “Is that a suit of armor made of steel?”

“Yes.” Ebon said, and then turned to face Lezzan. His voice was heavy, and strong, and Lezzan cowered in his presence. “And you. We invited you to repeat what you said to us.”

Lezzan gulped. “I- I- said that it is possible to formally take the position as a Tower Master if a challenger is endorsed by at least three resident Level 50 mages.”

Kerifa and Junker then looked at each other. Kerifa scratched her chin once she recovered from Ebon’s presence. “The old Tower’s Challenge remains within the Gorfort Tower’s code, but it has not been invoked in the past forty or so years. Will the challenger be one of you, Lezzan? Your leader?”

Lezzan shook his head. “I- I doubt our leader could even last against the great Tower Masters.”

“Can it be done?” Lausanne asked. Metteria noticed she was already a little annoyed with the mages' constant diversions.

Kerifa nodded. “Possible.”

Junker looked at Kerifa, and then at the man standing next to Lausanne. “Will it be you?”

Metteria’s eyes and senses focused on the man with a strange hat, and he shrugged. “Much depends on our central Command.”

Lausanne frowned. “The two of you, can you find someone willing to endorse a foreign mage for the position.”

The two shook their heads. “We won’t endorse an outsider.”

The woman sighed. “Well, this has been a waste of time. What level is the Tower Master?”

“They say the few tower masters are all level 80 or so.”

“Should we really play their political games just to ‘formally’ claim to rule? Let’s just abduct them and haul them back here.” The man who was clearly a mage sighed. “I bet we can make them see reason with some good ol’ Aeon’s Perspective.”

Ebon nodded. “We will discuss this further. What is the current formal way to be accepted back into the Tower?”

“A written endorsement and sponsorship by a Resident Mage.” Kerifa said.

“Issue one.” Lausanne declared. “No, issue three.”

“Why should we-”

Lausanne then took out a small crystal of tremendous luster. It was soaked in mana, and seemed to shine. Metteria’s eyes stared at it greedily, and she noticed her two senior mages making a similar expression. “Let’s make a deal.”

Kerifa straightened up and her posture changed into one Metteria knew. It was the one when she wanted to do business. “Well, I would’ve preferred if we started off this way. What are we dealing in, and is that thing for trade?”

Lausanne smiled. “Why, yes.”

Metteria stared at the crystal, and realized she couldn’t miss out too. “Can I be part of the deal, as well?”

Lausanne nodded, and took out two more equally sized crystals. “Would you be interested, Junker?”

The old man’s posture transformed in the same manner as Kerifa. “What do you want us to part with?”

Lezzan looked betrayed. “Why wasn’t that-”

Ebon stared at him, and he instantly realize he had no place here. The mage flicked a finger, and portal opened. “Please leave. This part of the discussion does not involve you. But if you behave and cooperate, there may be other deals we can make with you.”

Lezzan nodded and ran through the portal

Lausanne laughed.

Metteria’s eyes never left the shining crystal of magic. Greed truly was universal.

***