World Keeper

Chapter 499: Array With You

“What now, Tsuba?” Dana asked, skipping idly down the hall as she moved alongside her ‘big sister’. The two of them had just finished securing every world where their ward could work, but that still left rather large gaps in their network. For instance, Spica and Lorek, as well as Fyor, and the vast majority of the demons’ secondary worlds.

“Next up is Spica and Lorek.” Tsubaki said with a firm nod, already moving towards the library. However, Dana froze as she heard that, confused.

“But… do you know how to use star magic?” Given that Tsubaki’s domain was light itself, she wouldn’t put it past the kitsune to be capable of freely controlling the magic of those two worlds.

“Only somewhat, but not enough to cover this.” Tsubaki shook her head, her steps not stopping until she was well within the library.

“Then… how do you plan to incorporate them?” If they were capable of using these wards without needing to master the local magic, then naturally there would have been no reason to skip the other worlds in the first place.

“Through the geometric system, obviously. Though I hear it’s a bit different there…”

“I’m sorry, what?” I sat upright when I heard Tsubaki’s words, looking towards the screen in confusion. At first, I thought that I misheard her. After all, Lorek and Spica both used the stellar system right? Shaking my head, I decided to focus on the screen to hear her explanation personally.

“God of the Forge, and Goddess of Magic.” Tsubaki spoke as she stood before a table within the library, one of the many that had been set up in order to allow people to freely read. Of course, Dana and Tsubaki were the only ones that ever really used it anymore, given that the other representatives no longer visited the citadel.

“Please bestow upon us the codex of the Array Path.” It was then that Dana’s eyes widened, and she remembered the existence of the ‘array cultivators’ from Lorek. There were, admittedly, only a few of them in existence as most of those who received the initial teaching had been eliminated long ago.

Regardless, there were a few similarities between the arrays of Lorek and the geometric magic of Earth. Unfortunately, the similarities were not nearly enough for magic from one to work in the other. This caused Dana, as well as the vast majority of natives, to dismiss the two as entirely separate magic systems.

“Are you planning to cultivate this path?” Dana asked curiously, watching a row of books beginning to appear on the table before them. The first showed a star with three points, and then four. This continued all the way until the twenty-fifth book, which featured a star with twenty-seven points.

Cultivation within Lorek was not an easy feat for those who were starting from the bottom. The potential to fail was constantly looming, with the results of failure being… unpleasant to say the least.

“Of course not.” Tsubaki shook her head. “If that was going to be my goal, I would have had to start preparing for this since before we began work on the wards for Earth.”

After saying that, she sat down at the table and gestured for Dana to do the same. “Anyone can use the arrays of Lorek. Array cultivators simply engrave these arrays into their advancement path, allowing them to activate a selection of spells at a moment’s notice.”

“The first thing that we need to do is to identify the key differences between these arrays and the magic that we are familiar with. Once we have that, we can move to Lorek and begin designing the array which will act as the ward for that world.”

Dana gave a brief nod, sitting next to Tsubaki and opening the book in front of her. “Okay… but we can’t ever take our scepters there. I heard that someone tried to smuggle an AC unit into Spica once, and it blew up in their storage device. Anything that radiates mana like that meets with an explosive end.”

By that logic, simply taking the scepters to Lorek or Spica would be equivalent to unleashing a terrifying destructive weapon. Not something that either of them wanted to occur. “Thankfully, we don’t need to do that. Unlike Earth, Lorek and Spica aren’t lacking when it comes to orbital energy.”

Dana blinked, suddenly remembering that aspect as well, the pieces falling into place in her head. “This can work… this can actually work, can’t it?”

“That’s my intention. I’d love to create a sphere for Fyor that could merge with their central pillar, but… if I’m correct, it requires at least fifth tier magic in order to craft something of that nature.”

“Wha?” Dana’s motions of reading through the book in her hands stopped as she heard that. It had taken them years to create the upper-limit fourth tier spell that made the Reality Gem. She was having a hard time even imagining how one would go about casting fifth-tier magic.

“Aha.” Tsubaki smiled happily as she ignored Dana’s stunned response. “Their first tier arrays differ from ours in their concept of layering. With our magic, we craft the entire spell, and then cast it as a single whole. On the other hand, each piece of their array is its own formula, capable of shifting within the array itself.”

Dana gave a nod of understanding, slowly coming back to her senses. “If a basic function like that differed, it would make sense for even lower tier items to not function when brought over.”

“Not just that, but the symbols don’t represent the same thing between the two worlds. Look here.” Tsubaki slid her book over to Dana. “What we consider as the pattern of the basic ‘blast’ effect, they use to represent the element of stone.”

Dana let out a low groan when she saw that, realization dawning on her. “We’re going to need to remake the entire ward from the ground up, aren’t we?”

“Indeed. But, at least this time we have the experience of making the first one to help us along.”

“Wait, so that’s it?” I blinked, looking at the screen. Leaning back, I fell into thought. I had to piece this together in my own mind, to help me make sense of these new changes. Or rather, old changes that I had overlooked until now.

Tubrock asked for the system of magic from Earth. I remember that now. But, when the magic items from Earth stopped functioning after the merge of Lorek and Spica, that thought had fallen to the back of my mind.

Focusing, I remembered another scene as well. Back in a previous invasion, when I fought against the black slime monsters. In order to jam our magic, they used runic magic. However, it was very clearly not the same sort of runic magic that I was familiar with, or I would have been able to understand it.

At first, I had assumed that it was of a level higher than what I had purchased, but maybe that wasn’t the case. If the energy systems between two worlds can change on a fundamental level with the differences of the systems governing that world, then why can’t the magic itself change?

Lorek operates on a fundamentally different set of supernatural laws when compared to Earth. If I look at it that way, it’s not strange for their magic systems to operate differently, even when they are purchased as the same basic system.

The only question was… why didn’t I know of that sooner? I had already studied fourth tier geometric magic, even if only casually. However, I didn’t see any mention of a ‘second type’ of geometric magic. Even though I should have acquired both sets of knowledge with that purchase.

Thinking that, I summoned the information sphere into my hand again, and focused on it. At first, when I went diving for information, I indeed only found the knowledge of Earth’s magic system. It was only when I specifically thought about looking for Lorek’s information that the results drastically changed.

And, of course, I had never been interested in the path of arrays, so I hadn’t studied that information too deeply. I didn’t want to become the God of Arrays, so studying that field didn’t make as much sense to me at the time.

Once I realized all of this, I was both relieved and not at the same time. Relieved that there was a way for Tsubaki and Dana to continue their plans with Lorek and Spica. And as for the not, that was simply my own disappointment at myself for not putting this together sooner.

“Aye, that ought to do it.” Tubrock muttered to himself, looking at the engraving that he had created within a dark cavern. He had his hammer in his left hand, and a small chisel in the right hand. “Once I slot that core in here, this world should be fully operational in no time.”

The only thing stopping him from doing so was the absence of the dimension to place his world inside of. Before he got ahead of himself, he had to first confirm that what he wanted would actually work. “Oi! Magic lass! Get yer ass in here!” He called out into the empty cavern, answered only by a faint sigh.

“Really, Tubrock?” Ryone said, seeming to melt out of the walls to walk over as an orb of light formed in her hand. “You could be a bit more polite about it, you know?”

“Yeah, yeah, just excited. Ye ready to do this?” There was a wide grin on Tubrock’s face as he asked that.

Seeing the eagerness of the dwarf, Ryone let out a faint chuckle. “Sure. Have you decided which world you want me to copy? I mean, I can guess, looking around, but I’d rather make sure.”

Tubrock gave a faint nod of his head. “Can’t rightly use Lorek’s system, if I be wantin’ to make use of this power source. An’ besides, I made the golems with a mix of runic and geometric magic.”

“That, and I can feel a certain special material.” Ryone sent a raised eyebrow towards Tubrock as she said that. “You planning on letting Udona know?”

“Eh, I already told the fox lass my plan. She’s the one that gave me the idea to mine her planets.” Tubrock shrugged his shoulders at the verbal jab. “I reckon that it’ll be easier on my guys in the long run if’n they are able to lighten their load.”

“Fair enough.” Ryone nodded her head, taking a deep breath. “Let’s head on out and take care of this properly.” With a wave of her hand, she vanished, the dwarven god doing the same only moments later.

When they reappeared, they were within the void of space, stars dotting the otherwise empty expanse. Ryone was focusing, her eyes screwed shut as she held her hands in front of her chest. Her ‘voice’ echoed out around her, though only Tubrock was capable of hearing it within the depths of his mind.

I trade eight-tenths of my divinity for the absolute power of dimensions. It had taken thirty percent of her divinity previously in order to trade for the domains that let her make a controlled black hole. This time, she immediately traded away eighty percent.

Partition this world and flourish. Manifest the laws of time and space. May all become as one, collapse and burn, shatter and spread. The dust of creation moves unhindered. Form fire and light, water and stone. Ripple and open, the path to a new world.

As Ryone finished her chant, the focus to unleash a massive divine ability, the space in front of her seemed to distort, a gap forming. Tubrock offered her a thankful nod before walking forward. On the other side of the gap was an entirely new dimension, one completely accessible without both knowledge of it and the proper connections.

For now, Ryone was that connection, but that would change soon enough. Currently, this new universe was too young, there would be no sentient life within it. Probably no life at all. He could see the waves of cosmic dust forming stars, and simply smiled to himself. His golems needed no water to drink, or air to breathe. They could exist from the dawn of creation if he chose for them to do so.

However, such was not his plan. Even if he didn’t interfere, if he allowed them a billion years to develop, there was no way that they would not completely overtake the other worlds. However, he still waved his hand, a giant mass of energy forming in front of him. The first of his three planets form, bereft of his golems.

This world was the one which held the Fairy Ring. So long as it existed, this dimension would be anchored within their strand of reality. Now, the finishing touch… He snapped his fingers, and a blue gem appeared within the empty core of the planet, trapped within a silver device. The same cavern where he had just finished carving his grand spell.

Even without the golems, the planet seemed to come alive. A thin barrier formed that repelled the cosmic dust from encroaching upon it, while turrets positioned atop tall mountains fired upon any meteors that gravitated towards it. Thanks to the power source developed by Tsubaki and Dana, his planets could function independently as long as he required it.

Of course, he had to add self-repair functions into a great many of the spell formulas, but it was worth it in the end. Turning, he stepped through the void of space to arrive in another distant region so that he could deposit the second world, and then the third. Three independent civilizations within this new dimension, three types of golems to inhabit them when the realm was ready.

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