Chapter 951: Utopia

Chapter 951: Utopia

With Tsubaki still in her Trial of Blood, the days seemed to pass rather slowly. To my surprise, Athena’s estimate of Tsubaki’s trial time was actually rather accurate. Almost three days after she began her test, she managed to come out of it with a refreshed face. As usual when she finished the trial, her level didn’t noticeably increase, but she had gained experience of a different sort.

Similarly, Dana returned not too long before Tsubaki, having finished up with her own business of checking on her familiars. The only one to not come back in a timely manner was Lifre, still out exploring the different regions of Fyor.

Even without Lifre, Olympus seemed more lively than the Citadel had ever been, given that most of the gods and goddesses had chosen to have their incarnations living in the city made by Tubrock. Furthermore, it was only a few days after Tsubaki finished her trial that I received the notification about my next opponent. It was someone named... Triaxie?

I didn’t really know any Rank Four Keepers outside of Sarah, so it was no real surprise that I hadn’t heard of them. If anything, I’d be amazed if it was someone that I actually knew. For instance, Sanctum could potentially be at this rank by now, given the systems possessed by his world.

As usual, the first thing that I did when I heard about the pairing was return to my Admin Room and fire off a message into the guild chat. If it was a Rank Four Keeper, Sarah might know them. And, after mentioning them...

EverLasting: Triaxie? Why does that name seem familiar..? Give me just a second, and I’ll check!

Oldbeard: More importantly, are you the attacker or the defender in this one?

EarthForceOne: I’m on the attacking end, but I’ve still got a free attack ticket from last year. So if it’s a monster Keeper or something, I’d be willing to see if anyone would be able to benefit more from it.

EverLasting: Found it! Triaxie is a pretty common customer of mine. It’s been so long since I was paired against them that I thought that they had already risen to Rank 5!

EarthForceOne: If it’s a customer of yours, does that mean that they’re a decent person?

EverLasting: Oh, no! Definitely not! They’re a total tyrant. They buy games so that they can throw them at their world in the form of apocalypses. I got a few refugees from an invasion a few years back. Apparently, if they go too long without playing one of the ‘apocalypse games’ after coming of age, they automatically die. Even worse, the games have true death. And sometimes he just lets monsters from the game loose to ‘simulate’ an invasion.

EarthForceOne: ...Surely that wouldn’t be too bad for the gods, but the mortals would have it really rough.

EverLasting: If their methods haven’t changed, then divine powers are locked inside the games, and everyone is forced to start at level one. The only bright side is that power gained in the game can be taken out to the real world.

EarthForceOne: Okay, so this is definitely not someone that I want to trade with.

Oldbeard: Ah... one of those. Yeah, the tyrants that spam apocalypses are the ones that I avoid the most. They’ve got that whole survival of the fittest mindset, and consider other people, even Keepers, as inferior beings. Typically, it’s a mindset where they think that whatever they lived through is worse than anything they can throw at their people, so they should be able to survive it if they are strong enough.

EarthForceOne: Thanks. I’ll give my friend in the Gilded Branch a call to see if there is anyone that wants to buy a ‘Get Out of Battle Free’ card.

“Oh? Miss Jafer?” Treisha’s face showed a touch of surprise. “What brings you by the office? Or, did you just happen to be in the neighborhood?”

Dana shook her head. “I’ve got to meet up with your boss. I’m surprised I caught you like this. Not busy with anything at the moment?”

Treisha gave a somewhat bitter smile. “Oh, we certainly are. In fact, possibly now more so than ever. I’ll explain when we’re inside.”

After saying that, Treisha led the duo towards the large research building, scanning her palm to unlock the door. Once they were inside, she began to speak. “Up until now, it’s always felt as if those of us on the team were just playing catch-up. James knew most of the answers, but he wanted us to figure it out for ourselves. It was... honestly frustrating. For some of us, it made us feel as if our presence wasn’t even that necessary for the projects that we were working on.”

Dana’s eye twitched when she heard that. “I can imagine... it’s not research if someone already knows the answer from the start.”

“Right?” Treisha let out a heavy sigh. “I actually thought about quitting a few times. But after so long, I don’t know where I’d go. Despite the frustration, this is probably the most fun and relaxed research center around. I bet the others feel the same way.”

“Things changed recently, though. In our latest project, the Saint Graph, James was legitimately stumped for a while. It was the first time that we had seen that kind of reaction from him that wasn’t just trying to convert laws from his world to this one to arrive at an answer. For once, he legitimately didn’t know a piece to the puzzle, and neither did Chel.”

“And let me guess, you managed to solve it for them?” Dana asked in a teasing tone, earning a snort from Treisha.

“Me? No, sadly. Though, it was solved by the team. Eventually, Thea and Nora came to the answer together, and we were able to perfect the Saint Graph. The two of them were even the first to go through it, once the trials were done.”

Dana blinked in surprise, nodding her head. “So you’re happy that you’re able to contribute more, but that also means you’re being worked harder?”

Treisha gave another nod at that. “That’s right. For instance, James had me run to the Boundless Caravan just now to stock up on about two hundred different types of materials he wants to run detailed tests on for some upcoming project. I was just on my way back with the supplies when I ran into you.”

Dana chuckled, giving a wry smile. “I think I’m coming back with the project you’re talking about...”

Treisha’s eyes went wide, the door of the lab opening as Chel stepped out. “You are!?” She asked in excitement. “Does that mean you brought it with you?”

Realizing that Chel had heard everything they were talking about, Treisha’s head dipped slightly, and Dana nodded. “Yeah. Though, I don’t have a digital record of it. I had Ryone restore my memory of the original spell, and I want to transfer it to the two of you using a method that the boss taught me.”

Chel blinked briefly, before nodding her head with a serious expression. Of all people, she knew the importance of secrecy at times like this. “Alright. Just to be clear, is this a method that we can use, as well, or does it require a special energy technique?”

“It should be available to anyone, as long as they understand the concept.” Dana said, before holding out her hand and generating a silvery pearl. She had watched the Keeper use this method to teach them about World Sight, though he had done so through the power of his Souls domain. As for Dana... manipulating her own soul was something of a specialty of hers, so she was able to create the memory marbles without too much trouble.

Chel looked down at the marble, a look of understanding dawning on her face. “I see. That’s certainly a way to transfer secret information. If it were someone else, I’d have to run a detailed analysis on the spiritual energy to prevent any malicious tampering, but I know you’re smarter than that.” Chel said with a grin, taking the pearl and popping it into her mouth.