World Keeper

Chapter 532: A New Star is Born

I watched as a figure slowly took shape before me. No longer was she wearing her silver armor, replaced with the black starry dress that her mother had once woven for her. Her long, silver hair flowed down her back as she opened her eyes, looking around at us with a smile. “I’m back?” She asked curiously, gazing at each of us.

“That’s right, honey.” Ryone nodded her head, her own smile blossoming. “You’re back. And this time, you’re back for good.”

Leowynn rejoiced, lunging into her mother’s embrace while the rest cheered. She let out a happy laugh, burying her face into her mother’s shoulder. It felt weird not being able to feel a connection with her anymore, but I knew that it was alright. Even if this meant that I had lost my Aki Seppo, that I did not have a familiar anymore, that was still perfectly fine.

Aki Seppo could be compensated for by the domains of my various gods, allowing me to supplement my own power to an even higher level. As for a familiar… well, if I really wanted one, I could just perform the ritual. I was fine with not having a familiar for now, until I decided on what type I would like.

“Dad?” Leowynn’s voice spoke up, and I saw that she had turned to face me. “Did you mean what you said? That you would allow me to become a goddess, like mom and the others?”

So, Terra made sure to include the details of the ‘her’ that I summoned with the Community domain? Well, I’m not really upset about that or anything. I fully intended to keep that promise.

“That’s right.” Not only was I going to make her a god, but I was going to make sure that she unlocked the three domains to put her on par with the others. “Do you know what domains you want, Leowynn?”

Leowynn hesitated a bit at that, shifting to sit in her mother’s lap. “Well… I really like the Stars domain that I have in Vision Expanse. I think, if I use that, I should be able to use all of the powers that we practiced with Aki Seppo.”

I nodded my head. Stars had a bit of overlap with light, but also had its own meaning. Though there wasn’t really anything bad about overlap in the grand scheme of things, still. “The Family and Strength domains are basically covered already, if you want something unique to replace them.” Although not strictly Family, the Fellowship, Love, and Community domains all covered the different aspects that Family would hold.

Hearing that, Leowynn thought a bit more deeply. “What domains would make me suitable as a goddess to mark the current age of advancement and travel? I don’t want to step on Aurivy’s toes, but… maybe it could show our growth to the people?”

I gave a small smile, thinking it over. “There is the Gravity domain that you could use. Nobody is currently using anything remotely similar to it. Aside from that… the Void domain could potentially work for both interplanetary and interplanar travel.”

Ryone giggled lightly when she heard that. “Stars, Gravity, and the Void. You might as well name yourself the supreme goddess of space at that point.” Leowynn’s cheeks tinted red at that, but she seemed rather happy.

“Yes, please…” She muttered quietly, and I opened up the menu to make it so. “Terra, I need to borrow you for a moment, before you run off to do something.”

“Oh?” The catgirl goddess looked at me with interest. “Are you going to get me to read the life story of that illusion man you have locked up in the Sky Citadel? You should know, the same deal would apply as with Fleece, and we don’t have any more souls that are familiar with him to write his story.”

I shook my head, smiling towards Leowynn. “No, I want a different kind of story. This one, I want you to help me to write a story that will be sent to the masses. The birth of the Stellar Goddess, Leowynn.”

Terra’s face practically lit up when I said that.

Unlike Ryone, Leowynn had not been tied in as a patron deity of the elves. They were not made instinctively aware of her identity, domains, or her status. As far as the world knew, there had been no new deity added to the pantheon.

That is, until people began to sleep. When they dreamt, they dreamt of a silver-haired woman in ancient times. What they saw was a story, mostly lost or altered in the flow of history. The daughter of the Goddess of Magic, hailed for her unparalleled might among her peers.

They saw how she knelt with her mortal mother as she lay on her deathbed, tears streaming down her face. When a pillar of light descended, they saw the face of Ryone welcoming her mother to the afterlife personally.

Then came the story of how she joined the kingdom, becoming one of the queen’s most loyal knights. She ran to every corner of the nation, fighting back bandits and monsters, creatures that would spell death for normal soldiers. A woman who strove to protect her people above all else, to the point where she burned her own life to slay one of the earliest dragons.

Just when they thought that the story was over, the scene shifted. Now, they were watching the image of an old hermit living in Accal. Few people knew him from historical records as Tebor, one of the druids who sailed the first intercontinental voyage.

They watched as he rode into a terrible storm, standing at the bow of the ship. Gauntlets formed on his hands as he lifted them to the skies to calm the wind and rain, protecting his vessel. They could even see the faint, star-like patterns that had emerged on the cover of the gauntlets.

Again the scene shifted, this time showing a man standing before a mighty dragon. This dragon was far more easily recognized as the Keeper’s own dragon, Fafnir. Similarly, the man himself was recognizable as the Keeper.

When the Keeper stepped forward, golden light spread out from his body, which rose up until he was standing atop the body of a golden dragon. His figure was covered with a starry robe, but it was his words that held the deepest meaning. “Leowynn, I leave the opening act to you.”

Another shift, and this time the setting seemed far more modern. The Keeper appeared again, standing with several known figures. The First Blood, and the two servants of the Keeper. As well as Leowynn herself, now wrapped in silver armor.

They charged into a room filled with enemies, Leowynn lashing out to slay foe after foe. They did not know who these people were, but the enraged appearance of the First Blood told them plenty. After all, news had already spread about the destruction of Bloodhaven.

With rapt attention, they saw Leowynn fighting back a tide of warriors, before suddenly a hand pierced her back. At some point, an unknown woman had appeared behind her. And this was the first time that a narrator appeared within the dream, the airy voice of the Goddess of Stories.

“The daughter of the Keeper and the Goddess of Magic, Leowynn has stood by his side for countless years, secretly helping him in multiple conflicts.” As Terra spoke, they saw Leowynn’s skin starting to blacken, the desperate look on her face.

“Yet she has asked for no glory in her life, nor in her death. Merely to be by her father’s side.” Slowly, they watched Leowynn turning around, embracing her attacker in what appeared to be a warm hug.

“Today, she performed her final sacrifice. In order to save the life of the Keeper, the lives of every living being in his worlds…” The next scene that appeared was Leowynn and the unknown woman drifting in space, still in the same pose. Desperately, the unknown woman severed her own hand to escape, before Leowynn erupted into a massive light.

“She became a nameless star within the night sky. And to honor her memory, the Keeper has elevated her in death to the highest standing. She now stands every bit her mother’s equal. A god of the greatest level.”

“Tonight, let us welcome her. Leowynn, the Goddess of Stars, Gravity, and the Void. The daughter of the Keeper, and the gentle light which watches over us all.”

“Oh wow, this is so weird.” Leowynn muttered, bringing a hand up to her head. From her appearance, the first wave of people falling asleep were being struck by Terra’s story, and the awareness of her as a true deity has caused ties of divinity to form with her new believers.

“Trust me, I’ve been there.” Ashley smiled reassuringly. While the normal companions all had little problem adjusting to the initial wave of worship, it was harder for those like these two who were elevated to their position. “Come with me, Leowynn, let me help you get used to it.” She offered gently, moving to help Leowynn stand before guiding her out of the living room.

It had taken Ashley decades to adjust, not only to her divine aspects but also to her demonic body. Leowynn only had to worry about one of those things, but at least she had a teacher that could walk her through the process.

I let out a faint sigh, taking a passing glance over the amount of points I had won today. It felt a little small, admittedly, but that was as much as I could ask for. To a second ranked Keeper, a force of a thousand was almost nothing. The fact that I got over twenty-five thousand points out of this was already pretty decent.

Given what I learned from my ‘turncoat’, this was simply treated as a semi-regular event in their world. Sometimes for these ‘wild dungeons’, there would be a great deal of publicity, urging massive guilds to participate with large rewards. Sometimes these guilds would even work together.

In total, this was their fourth time participating in such an event, though there had been dozens of others that they did not join. Given the timeline, that number felt a bit off. Most likely, the majority of those wild dungeons were extra worlds that Sanction himself created with a ‘false’ Keeper in order to train his troops.

The fact that this event wasn’t greatly advertised within their world led them to the impression that there would be little risks. As such, when the deadline approached, their guild chose to participate.

Either way, the fact that they had come had given me another source of income. Opening the Keeper Market, I navigated and searched for the skill tree system that had been described. And what I found made my face pale.

Comprehensive Skill Tree

This comprehensive system allows the inhabitants of the world to invent their own classes while acquiring and trading new skills. Includes built-in Guild, Party, Quest, and Achievements systems.

Game System Required - 1,250,000 Points

This description was… okay, it was sorely lacking when it came to the true power of the system itself. At the same time, though… that price. I couldn’t help but imagine such a system being reserved for Keepers at least above the fourth or fifth rank. Who else would be able to afford such a massive cost for one system?

It was likely that this skill had gone past the notice of the ‘quality assurance’ testers in the Gilded Branch, due to the ridiculous price that would need to be paid just to try the system once. As such, I didn’t hesitate to open the chat window, and fire off a message to my favorite white rabbit.

Starkiller: Dale! It’s been a while since you called, I was starting to get worried! Did your invasion finally end!?

EarthForceOne: Well, it’d be a bit hard to call you like this if it didn’t, right?

Starkiller: True, true. You have a point. So, what’s this call about? Need advice to recover from the damages?

EarthForceOne: Not quite… I want to sell you information about my attacker. I managed to capture one of the enemies ‘alive’.

Starkiller: Not going to ask what you mean by ‘alive’, but… okay! This is a pretty old Keeper we’re talking about, and he’s going to rise through the ranks pretty fast. Sanction, right?

EarthForceOne: That would be him.

Starkiller: Mind giving me an idea on what kind of information you have on him? Nothing detailed, I won’t cheat you out of a deal! Just so I have an idea what to prepare, and put it on my wall!

EarthForceOne: Well… let’s just say I have fairly detailed information about his world’s systems, including a million point investment.

After I sent that message, Balu went quiet, not responding for a long time. When I started to get concerned that I might have startled her, another message window popped up.

Chat request has been received from Alkahest. Do you wish to accept?

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