Chapter 1123: A Warning

Chapter 1123: A Warning

Lena closed her eyes, focusing on the new power that the Keeper said that he had bestowed on her. She could feel something akin to a gateway in her mind, and so she concentrated on prying it open. To her dismay, the gate opened slowly, almost theatrically, and it refused to go faster no matter how she urged it.

Exactly thirty seconds after she began to focus on the gate, it was fully open, and she felt a new power envelop her body. A power beyond her comprehension, one that seemed like it was far outside anything that she had sensed before. It sent shivers down her spine, but it was gone just as quickly as it had arrived.

When Lena opened her eyes, she was standing within a rather... humble living space. There was a decent couch, as well as a black screen on one wall. She could see a kitchen attached to the living area, as well as a hallway that led further into the house.

This is the Keeper’s true palace? She asked herself in bewilderment. She had expected a lavish mansion with silken carpets and lighting made of captured stars. Or perhaps the most advanced technology imaginable, with solid holograms forming the various pieces of furniture that could be configured at the user’s command. But this... this felt like a house that a middle-class family would live in, at best.

“Someone’s thinking rude thoughts.” A voice spoke up, and Lena saw Terra smirking at her nearby, standing together with the rest of the Greater Pantheon, along with a few other faces. Most of these faces she recognized, though there was one new to her, at least personally. She had heard of the purple unicorn centaur, hailed as the daughter of Tryval, the eternal princess and first queen of Sher Dien, Alme.

“Sorry.” Lena said, scratching the back of her head. “This just... is this it, really?”

The Keeper gave a knowing chuckle. “This is the Admin Room that I told you about. Don’t let the appearance fool you, this is just what I set it as to make it more comfortable for me. The Admin Room can be altered by the mind of its inhabitants, and shaped into any form they desire. I’ve seen people set up their Admin Rooms like corporate offices, grand pantheons, or even fluffy, bouncing castles. To me... just a home that I can share with my friends is the most comfortable.”

Lena blinked quickly, but nodded her head. “Right. So, how long until this meeting starts?” She asked, tilting her head. The Keeper glanced off into the empty space, eyes seeming unfocused.

“Right... about... now.” He muttered, and Lena felt something distinctly shift, a trace of the power that she had sensed upon arriving in this space. For a brief moment, she felt as if it had gripped her heart, halting it, before fading away.

Do they feel this every time? Lena asked uncertainly. She knew that she was particularly sensitive to energies, due to her training in obtaining nine separate domains. While she couldn’t compare to the detailed results of World Sight being actively used, she was confident in her intuition.

The Keeper’s brow knit briefly, before turning and looking at a golden door that appeared on the wall behind him. “That door will take us to the meeting space.” He said, walking towards it. Lena braced herself for that familiar energy fluctuation as they stepped through the door. However, this time, she truly didn’t feel anything, as if they were passing through a mundane door.

On the other side of that ‘mundane’ door, however, was a white space that stretched out as far as she could see. Other doors began to appear and open within this space, and soon, buildings began to fade into being, a small cityscape forming. The Keeper turned to look at the group with a smile as Irena, Terra, and Ryone walked towards him. “Alright, everyone, remember, we’ll be here for the full week. Try to get as much as you can, and the invasion will begin as soon as the meeting is over.”

After he said that, the Keeper left with his wives, and Lifre ran over to Lena. “I know! Let me show you this awesome adventure maze that I found in a previous meeting. I’m sure that you’ll love it. And this really advanced battle simulator, too.”

Lena chuckled at Lifre’s eagerness, but shook her head. “I’ll catch up with you for all of that later, promise. For now, there are a few things that I want to experiment with in this space.” She could feel that all of her energy sources had truly been cut off. She could not sense mana, ki, or spirit, nor could she call upon her divinity.Nêww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com

“You really aren’t Terra, if you’re talking like that...” She said, her eyes wide. Lena knew enough about Terra to know that she would do anything to protect him. The thought of ‘replacing’ the Keeper would never emerge from her lips.

“I already told you, this is just a face that I am wearing to appear more familiar to you.” Terra, or rather, the entity appearing as Terra said. “This is your first offense, so you are receiving a warning. For your sake, as well as the sake of your Keeper, do not let there be any further offenses.”

Lena swallowed thickly, nodding her head. “Got it... but... can I ask you some questions? Not about any other Keepers or anything.”

The entity arched her brow. “This form will abide by the same rules as Terra. If information is permitted to be shared, it will be.”

Lena knew that that was another form of a warning. This being was able to read her mind, after all. If it wasn’t able to answer any of her questions, it would have outright refused. If it was able to answer all of them, then it wouldn’t have said anything.

“Is nine domains truly the limit?” Lena asked, feeling as though this was the safest question to ask.

The entity paused, closing its eyes. “This is not a hard rule that can be answered simply. As with all things, there are measures that can be taken, either through an individual’s own abilities or through the alteration of the world.”

“How... how does a god with nine domains compare to an origin?” She asked, licking her lips. Although she had briefly emulated the Origin of Fate, the energy consumption caused her to hesitate to make such a comparison.

This time, the entity seemed more amused. “Were you to have the absolute faith of the people, comparable to those you call the Greater Pantheon, your power would be no less than a typical Origin. This is due to all nine of your domains synergizing with one another to produce greater effects. If they were scattered, this would not be the case.”

Lena nodded, thinking through her remaining questions. There were some that she assumed to be in the category of ‘unable to be answered’, and others that she didn’t feel were worth this entity’s time. As she was thinking, another question entered her mind, and she said it without taking the time to consider.

“What was the energy that I felt when I entered the Admin Room, or when the meeting began?”

The entity’s face froze at that, seeming genuinely surprised. Its surprise further surprised Lena, who had considered the entity to be an all-knowing being that could anticipate anything that she would say or do.

“You felt that?” The entity pondered, a smile forming on her face. “Interesting, very interesting. All that I will say is that it was the greater system that you felt. Very few individuals are capable of sensing it, unless they employ special abilities at the key moment. The first time, you felt it reconstructing your body to suit the Admin Room. The second, as you said, was when time was frozen.”

“Now... your ‘work’ out here is done. You won’t find any of your ‘secret objectives’ out here, so you should keep your promises.” She said, lifting a hand and snapping her fingers. Before Lena could say anything, she had disappeared from the forest, leaving the figure chuckling to herself. “She could sense us, huh? Quite the interesting one... It looks like that Keeper will have his hands full.”