Chapter 1177: Casting a Shadow

Chapter 1177: Casting a Shadow

Now that I had Thelsa and her group working on the plan to contact other planets of Fyor, I could consider that universe well and truly taken care of.. At most, I would need to worry about void monsters once people began to properly inhabit the surface of the various planets. However, I didn’t really think that would be much of an issue.

Honestly, there just wasn’t a reason to go to the surface of Fyor beyond scientific curiosity. If there had ever been soil or an atmosphere, it had long ago been destroyed by various monsters or void beasts targeting Fyor. All that was left on the surface was a massive expanse of black stone, and the pillar of mana that reached up to grasp the sun.

As for expanding to the surface simply to acquire more space? That was even more ridiculous. With the sheer size of Fyor’s individual layers, it might take hundreds of thousands of years just to fully colonize and occupy what is already there. Even if the entirety of the Metong Network were to migrate to Fyor, it would barely make a dent in the available space.

That said, I was certain that Aurivy, Bihena, and several others would be studying the spire for quite a long time. According to Aurivy, it is a perfectly safe method of transportation. Whenever anyone opens the elevator on the spire, the spire itself creates an independent space, sealed and isolated within Fyor’s mana core. The barrier around it is dense enough to prevent any form of mana-based monster from being able to pierce through.

Once a destination is selected, the space itself remains unchanged. However, the exit point of the isolated space is relocated to the destination, meaning that there is no travel through the void, no risk of death, or anything like that. If someone wanted to disrupt the transportation after a person was already in the elevator, they would have to have enough mana to overpower the spire itself... and even I didn’t have that much mana. Maybe Aurivy could do it, but that was only because she would be able to find people from the Admin Room to use as targets for her divine domain.

Regardless, it was time to divert my focus to one of the other worlds for now. There were only a few more days left until the invasion against Alkahest, after which I’d need to start preparing for the next round. And knowing my luck, I’d be on the defense. It seemed like I kept being put in defensive matches lately, after all.



Lifre let out a sigh as she leaned back, spreading her arms and legs in her chair. She had just finished broadcasting one of her advanced automatons infiltrating a criminal organization by disguising itself as one of their own, planting it as a spy to use as a future plot hook. “What should I make next, guys?! I could make some really cool transforming ship, or maybe I’d be able to make an advanced particle beam cannon!”

Looking for ideas from her viewers, she turned her head to look at the chat. It had been a while since she took the time to read through chat, as that was not a common occurrence in her stream. A small smile crossed her face as she saw everyone’s suggestions. “Ooh, a warp bomb? That could be really neat! Maybe I should set myself as an overlord of the local sector? I haven’t had a villain arc in so lon--” She paused, staring at one message that flashed by in her chat.

Suddenly, her smile turned frosty, eyes narrowed. “Hey, slimeballs? I saw a message saying that someone had finished conquering Fyor. That can’t be true, right? They wouldn’t do that without calling me, right?!”

Her chat froze, causing Lifre’s eyes to begin twitching. “They totally did, didn’t they? They went off and had this really big adventure without me... Okay! That does it! Villain arc time!”

Lifre put on a helmet that she had on her desk, summoning a virtual display as she muttered. “Going off and having all kinds of fun without inviting me...” Her hands rapidly moved along the interface, working on various blueprints as her viewers watched in equal parts awe and terror.



Sitting on her bed, Lena couldn’t help but roll her eyes, chuckling to herself. I did try to send you a message when they got started, but this is fine. Lena was actually curious to see just how far Lifre would take this villain arc of hers.

If anything, it would be an amusing way to end off her current stream storyline, that way she could start something new without the broken engineer class. As Lena was thinking about that, there was a knock on her door. Turning her head, she saw the redheaded Scarlet standing in the doorway with a smile.

Surprise, Lena jumped to her feet. “Hello.” She greeted with a nod. “Is there something I can do to help you?”

Scarlet nodded her head in agreement. “That shouldn’t be a problem.”

Lena smiled slightly, lifting one hand. “With your permission, I’d like to look at your memory. If Red finds out we visited the shop in person, that could cause problems.”

Scarlet blinked, but closed her eyes and let Lena place a hand on her forehead. Looking at the memories of someone else without transforming into them was certainly not Lena’s forte, but it was a simple enough use of her divine power, so long as the other person did not resist.

In Scarlet’s memory, she saw a redheaded lycan walking into an antique toy store run by a young ursa craftsman. The lycan walked through the store, glancing over the various dolls on display, and then simply left without ever saying a word. Lena pulled her hand back, blinking. “Oh... yeah... I think I know who he’s looking for.”

“You do?” Scarlet looked over curiously, eager to find an answer to the problem she had been facing. “Is it safe to say that he won’t be targeting anyone from Olympus, then?”

“They won’t be targeted... but they might be implicated if he manages to get who he is after.” Lena said with a long sigh. “He’s looking for the Collector. The Collector is a mysterious man from the ninja clans that went off the radar decades back. He enjoys collecting unique and interesting individuals, turning them into dolls that he puts on display. Before I retired, the Collector was quite interested in acquiring me, but he never had an opening to do so.”

“Anyways, very few people know what the Collector looks like. What we do know is that whenever he settles down somewhere, he opens up a store to sell toys based on individuals found in his collection. After all, he wants everyone to be able to admire his prized pieces. Red must be looking for familiar faces among the different dolls, and using that to track down the Collector.”

Scarlet nodded her head in understanding. “I see... and given what you said, it would be bad for us if the Collector were to perish?”

Lena groaned, laying back on the couch. “I don’t know the full extent of his collection, obviously... but I know that there are a few people in it that shouldn’t be left to roam free. The White Shadow, the King in Silence, and the Exception are all individuals I’ve personally helped him acquire.”

“The White Shadow... she’s not too bad. Really sweet girl, honestly, but she was raised as part of the shadow program, and has the annoying ability to make people forget whatever she wants them to forget. All she’s ever wanted was for someone to remember her for who she actually was, so when she was sent to kill me, I gave her to someone that would always admire her.”

“The King in Silence is a god from one of my earlier missions. Really powerful, with Silence as his initial domain, and Thought as one that he forged. He made a rule on his divinity, one which forbade him from speaking, but in return, he could bring his thoughts into reality.”

“The Exception is an anomaly. He can’t be targeted by any system or special ability. I had a really hard time tracking that guy down. In order to add him to his collection, after I had knocked him out, the Collector had to gather up the entire landscape he was in.”

“Anyways, if the Collector died, all of those he had gathered up until now might be freed. While I do feel a bit bad for White, I honestly think this is the best ending she could get without removing her special ability entirely. And the others... a lot of them are major villains.”

Scarlet nodded her head in understanding. “I see.” She began, before blinking. “A prayer just came from the Red Shadow. He’s saying that he found his sacrifice.”