Chapter 1176: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Chapter 1176: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back



The next few days were... okay, they were annoying, I have to be honest. About once every minute, I’d get a notification that Fyor’s main planet had been integrated with another planet within Fyor’s universe. According to Aurivy, there were a total of exactly ten thousand planets that had been established with their own mana spires. While this seemed incredibly small for the number of possibly habitable planets within an entire galaxy, each planet itself was the size of an entire galaxy.

In total, it took one week for Tsubaki to finish integrating all ten thousand planets. That was one week of non-stop system notifications, to the point where I was desperately looking for an option to mute the messages. I could only imagine that I wasn’t alone, and that the residents of Fyor were also likely suffering from this.

However, once the messages were done, a long-awaited calm fell over us. I knew as soon as we were able to reach the surface of Fyor that we would be able to claim the other worlds without any issue regarding our rank. According to Aurivy, there did exist some monsters in the cosmos of Fyor that were theoretically capable of slaughtering an Origin.

For instance, there was one creature, which resembled an utterly massive dragon, one so large that it would make the King from the last invasion look like an ant in comparison. Aurivy named this creature the Chronos Dragon, as she said that it consumed time. It swept across numerous worlds, ravaging their surfaces until there was naught but the black shell protecting the inner layer. Anything unlucky enough to cross its path vanished from this world.

If an Origin were to be caught by this creature with their main body, I was certain that there was nothing that could be done to save it. There were other, similarly devastating creatures as well, but only those on such an ‘apex predator’ level were capable of freely traveling the space of Fyor. Anything weaker would be treated as prey for these super-monsters.

Part of me considered using this Chronos Dragon as an invasion force for when I *really* wanted another Keeper to die. Like, if I were to face off against the Keeper that had forced Kathy to reset. However, doing so would come with substantial risks. Although this monster was incredibly formidable, and capable of annihilating entire galaxies in moments, that did not mean that it was unstoppable.

It could kill an Origin, surely, but at the same time, an Origin would probably be able to kill it. And if that happened, and the creature’s corpse were to be left in another Keeper’s domain where it could be studied, its powers replicated... that seemed like too great of a risk for something that had at most a slim chance of success in the stage that I was on.

As I was thinking about all of this, the door to my office opened, and Tsubaki stepped inside. “I have returned, my Keeper.”

I gave Tsubaki a small nod, smiling at her. “You’ve been busy. I’m sure both you and Lena will appreciate some time to relax.”

Tsubaki hesitated at that, and I knew that ‘relaxing’ wasn’t something that came easy to her, even now. “First, I would like to make a report. I have gathered some data during my time integrating the various worlds, and I wish to share it now.”

I arched a brow, but nodded my head to signal for her to continue. “First, I have noticed that each ‘Core’ world has between one and four races that coexist within their central layer. Presumably, some of these cores would have had one race kill another in a war in their history, but I did not have the time to confirm this with each case.”

“Additionally, there were no repeating races within the central cores. For instance, there were no other races that seemed to be a match for either humans or halflings. Although there were races that shared similarities, none of them were close enough that I would say that they shared a common origin.”



Prior to coming to the new floors, the shadows had first gone to lower floors that they hadn’t been able to capture in the past for one reason or another, which was why it had taken them so long to get this far.

Once the shadow was fully incorporated, Petra turned back to enter the elevator again. However, before they could choose a new destination, golden mist arose behind them, startling both Petra and Thelsa.

When the mist cleared, Tsubaki was standing there with an urgent look on her face. “Thelsa Whitefallow, Petra Carna.” She greeted, the two bowing their heads at her.

“What can we do for the Keeper, Lady Tsubaki?” Thelsa asked curiously.

“In a way, my Keeper has sent me to protect you from yourselves, as well as assigning a task to you.” She answered, confusing the duo. “Thankfully, you have not yet gone too far with your exploration. On the eighty-eighth floor of this world, the entire landscape is a memetic monstrosity. If you were to reach that floor in your current state, your shadow world would become contaminated, and may even leak over into the shadow world of my Keeper.”

Thelsa and Petra both stiffened at that. They hadn’t considered the landscape itself becoming tainted. However, Petra became despondent a moment later. “Does that mean that it’s not possible to complete the shadow world?” She asked, but Tsubaki shook her head.

“It is, but you will need a special device.” After saying that, she held out her hand, conjuring a small, golden sphere. “My Keeper tasked Ladies Leowynn and Ryone to jointly create this for the two of you. It is a device fueled by mana. Once activated, it converts the mana and releases a blast of divine energy that severs all void ties in the area, cutting off the source of memetic effects. The greater the mana supplied, the wider the range of influence.” Tsubaki didn’t feel the need to mention that Ryone had simply been present when she went to talk to Leowynn about this, and had offered to pitch in to help.

Thelsa blinked, thinking about these instructions. “In other words, we need to use this whenever we reach a new floor, connecting it with the mana spire, and it will purify the memetic influences?” She asked, to which Tsubaki immediately confirmed.

“That is correct. However, because it will exhaust the mana supply, this means that you will need to wait to leave the affected floor until the mana spire has recovered enough to support the elevator function.”

Thelsa hesitated. “That will make things difficult. Even if it only took fifteen minutes for enough mana to be restored to do this, there are ten thousand planets, each with one hundred floors. If we were to use this artifact on every floor as a precaution, it would take decades to finish our shadow world. And that is assuming that we worked constantly, with no breaks for any reason.”

Hearing this, Petra’s eyes went wide. She certainly did not want to spend the next several decades on such a monotonous task. However, Tsubaki shook her head. “There should be very few layers among the various worlds where such things would pose a problem. My advice would be to train a legion of shadows specialized in safely detecting memetic influences over a wide area. With your capabilities, it should not be difficult. Then you need only activate the artifact on the floors in which they report such influence. Which brings me to the task the Keeper has for you.”

“My Keeper wishes you to put your shadows to work. Currently, you are the only one capable of organizing a massive amount of manpower on very little notice for a cohesive cause within Fyor. My Keeper has asked that you be put in charge of handling diplomatic introductions to the other planets of Fyor’s domain. You may utilize your shadows for this cause in any manner that you see fit. Doing so will also allow you to more easily complete your shadow.”

Thelsa’s eyes went wide as she heard the mission being given to her, before a bitter smile came across her lips. “He really doesn’t assign easy missions, does he?” She asked, calculating how many shadows she would need in order to meet with all of the different worlds in a short timeframe, as well as the roles necessary for each meeting.