World Keeper

Chapter 581: The Wheels of Fate Turn Ever Slowly

The slimes that had been informed of their new objective eagerly returned to their own colonies. They activated various means of travel, either through flight, direct teleportation, or ki-infused sprinting for those closer. Those who lived further away, however, had to resort to other methods.

While their magical research could not be said to be advanced as the methods from Earth, the slimes had their own ways of doing things. Instead of storage spaces, they had a special slime variant known as a Void Slime, which had been evolved and bred after over a thousand years of research.

These void slimes appeared as small, black cores that could be held in the palm of one’s hand. Their slime body did not exist in this realm, but rather within the void between worlds. By infusing a small amount of spiritual energy into the core to communicate, items could be stored or retrieved from the slime’s body.

This was because of another unique that void slimes possessed. Unlike most other slimes, they did not need to consume physical objects, or even normal energy types. To a void slime, the only thing that could be used to sustain themselves and grow was the void itself.

Similarly, the newborn cores of a void slime would also appear within the void, alongside the other items stored in the original slime’s body. It was a matter of luck whether or not the owner of the void slime noticed the new addition before it naturally dislodged itself. If they did, and managed to retrieve it, they could then sell the new void slime.

Regardless, those who lived further away from the meeting point retrieved various boxes from their void slimes, which were opened up and tipped over. From the boxes, gelatinous masses of different colors fell out and quickly began reshaping themselves into various means of transportation such as small planes or cars.

The idea to create vehicles from slimes was far from new to them. The only thing truly innovative about their new plan was the ability for the vehicle to leave the atmosphere. So, as each ruler returned to their colonies, they spread word to the rest of their people.

Within a week, there were already those who had gathered ten metal slimes, offering them to the God of Evolution. Whenever such an offering was made, Atraxi and Pietra would appear together. Atraxi would create an additional slime, one that was not naturally found in the world, a ‘light slime’. After that, Pietra would combine all eleven and create a new slime core, one over a foot in diameter.

Once the new slime had been made, it was only a matter of feeding it until it was able to create its full body. They watched as room after room appeared over the course of several days, the slime structure growing larger the more it was fed.

A door of ice swung open on a large home within a nethrak village. A man walked in, standing nearly ten feet tall. In his hand was a large bundle of meat wrapped in thin ropes. “Nula?” He called out, soon answered by footsteps walking in his direction.

“Back from today’s hunt?” A woman asked with a kind tone, stepping into the room. Her skin was as white as snow, her hair long and black. Although she would be tall by the standards of almost any other race, she seemed absolutely tiny in comparison to the giant, muscular man at the door.

The man nodded his head, bringing the bundle of meat towards the table. As the nethrak had never had any trouble dealing with the cold, he was only lightly dressed without a shirt to cover his chest. “Found a herd of lamboths. This should last us for a fair while.”

Nula’s eyes went wide when she heard that, happily walking closer to examine the meat. Lamboths were giant creatures with large tusks. Their bodies were always coated in enough densely packed wool that it made it hard to pierce their hides with normal weapons. However, if one were to succeed, they would obtain meat at the highest level.

“Did you manage to capture any of them?” She asked hopefully, pinching the corner of the meat to check its quality. Even though the bundle was almost half as large as she was, she knew it would not even be one full leg from a single lamboth. Meaning that either the herd was small, or they did not kill many of them.

With a grunt of frustration, the man shook his head, setting the meat on a nearby table. “Only managed to bring down three before a snow wyrm roared from nearby. Sent the rest into a stampede. Takorta was almost trampled.”

Her eyes widened again, and she nodded. At that point, she was simply happy that her husband had made it home safely. As she was lifting the meat to store it, she heard a roar that seemed to pierce the air. Her body tensed, and a frozen spear appeared in her husband’s hand. “Did it follow you back? Reynard?” She asked in concern, but the man shook his head.

“That didn’t sound right. You stay inside, and get to the basement. I’ll go check what’s going on.” After saying that, he turned and left the home once again, stepping out into the raging snow. With a flex of his will, as well as others emerging as well, the storm cleared. They were able to see a ray of light piercing through the clouds above.

“What do you suppose it is?” A neighbor walked over and asked, his eyes fixed on the sky as well. However, before an answer could be given, the cloud scattered to reveal a sight far beyond any of their expectations.

Three metallic craft were suspended in the sky, each over two hundred meters across. They seemed to resemble spinning discs, hovering in place for several long moments before separating. Each craft went to a different direction just outside of the city, where they slowly began to land.

Naturally, those defensive men and women rushed towards the closest vessel as it landed. When they arrived, and were close enough to see a health bar appearing atop it, many were taken aback. Such a thing could be a creature?

Reynard clutched his spear firmly, his eyes never leaving the strange… thing that had landed not too far from his own home. It stood on four legs that resembled metal spikes, the underbelly forming an inverted dome ten meters wide. As he watched, this dome began to descend, forming a platform connected to the rest of the vessel by three ladders.

Standing on the platform were five figures, each scanning the crowd. They appeared… somewhat humanoid, though their skin clearly identified them as anything but normal. The five that Reynard saw seemed to be made of a red… almost mucus-like substance.

When they departed from the platform, the snow beneath their feet vanished, likely indicating an extremely high body temperature. If there was one thing that reassured Reynard, it was that these creatures were small, barely a third of his own size. However, that changed a moment later, as well.

Under the shocked gazes of the nethrak gathered, the five figures began to grow, their frames shifting until they more closely resembled those people gathered around the vessel. Anxiety spread throughout the crowd, before a voice spoke from the leading figure, speaking strange noises that they could not understand.

“Do not fear, my children.” A voice echoed in the sky, one that the nethrak were all-too familiar with. Seeing the anxiety of the various men and women meeting the slimes for the first time, Tower decided to act as intermediary. His avatars appeared next to every vessel, looking like a thirty-foot tall nethrak male himself. “These people mean no harm to you or yours.”

“They are distant cousins of another world, and I think that you will find they come in peace.”

I let out a sigh of relief when I saw Tower stepping in to handle things between the slimes and his own people. In total, thirty slime ships had descended upon his world, splitting into ten groups and moving to the largest cities in the world to make first contact. However… I was somewhat disappointed when I saw the ships that the slimes were using.

Although they were capable of interplanetary flight, they had nothing that would carry them beyond light speed or allow for long-ranged warp. Unless they were willing to fly for hundreds of years, these ships would never be able to carry them all the way to Earth. Though, that may have been intentional to allow them to only interact with the nethrak for now.

Seeing that this situation was resolving itself, I went ahead and asked Tubrock to break the formation surrounding that star system. There was no reason to accelerate its time any longer, and it was sufficient to allow them to return to the normal flow. Meanwhile, I cast my sight elsewhere.

Bria bid farewell to the elven man that was leaving her office. Now that Jonas had successfully added her to his community, she felt as if the final burden was removed from her shoulders. When the door closed, she saw Udona appearing behind it, looking at her with concern. “I’m ready.” Bria said, standing and moving to clear out a large, empty area in front of her desk.

“I’ll watch over you.” Udona said in a gentle tone. Because Bria had already obtained her perfection, the first step of divinity was the most challenging. Replacing the body was simply converting one form of energy to another. Changing a raw, unrefined soul into a divine gem? That was harder.

However, even Udona knew that her presence was little more than a placebo. If Bria truly failed, there would be nothing Udona could do, even as the Goddess of Life. Bria’s soul would crumble, and there would be nothing that could be achieved by sustaining her body. She would be ‘alive’, but without a soul.

Thankfully, Bria did not seem to consider that point, and appeared to be greatly relieved to have Udona at her side. “Thank you.” She muttered, before sitting down and crossing her legs. She extended her right hand, conjuring a wisp of her soul that hovered over her palm like a strand of smoke.

Then, with a great deal of focus, she isolated her divinity and extended her left hand. Above that hand was a flickering golden light. It was the purest and most powerful energy that could be cultivated by mortals, but had so few uses to them. Taking a deep breath, she brought the strand of her soul over to the spark of divinity, willing the two to merge.

Immediately, Bria bit down on her lip to muffle the scream which threatened to tear out of her throat. Her body convulsed, her hands shaking as the golden light drew the wisp of spiritual energy in, condensing a tiny bead. With the initial fusion a success, the process quickly sped out of her control.

The bead of a divine soul began to furiously suck the rest of her spiritual energy out of her body, ripping it out through her left hand. It took everything Bria had just to maintain herself, while Udona watched nervously from the side. For every piece of her soul that was pulled out of her body, she felt it shatter, burn, and forge itself anew around the golden bead.

Udona wanted to speak up and encourage Bria, but she didn’t dare say a word. If she did, she might break Bria’s concentration. However, her eyes suddenly widened as she felt feedback from her domain. Panic traced itself over her features, and she stretched out her hands to summon her divinity.

Bria was failing. She was unable to bear the pain, and it was tearing her soul apart. Despite knowing that the chances of her helping at this point were slim, Udona split her divinity into two threads. The first went into Bria’s body to keep it alive, while the second went into her crumbling soul.

Bria wanted to ascend by her own power, but she had already failed at that. If Udona didn’t step it, her death was assured. But even with Udona’s assistance, the deteriorating soul showed no signs of salvation. “No, no, no!” Udona cried out, watching cracks form along the golden bead as tears began to stream down her cheeks. She had watched others help mortals ascend, but never done so herself. Her knowledge in this field was little more than textbook information.

So, without knowing how to save Bria, Udona could only watch as the divine bead… shattered. Energy swept across the room, upturning furniture and shattering the window. With her soul lost, Bria’s eyes grew foggy, her figure slumping forward as Udona rushed over to embrace her.

“I’m… sorry…” She muttered, feeling her life quickly draining from her body. Her will was fading, her mind growing dim. “Looks like… I won’t be able to play anymore…”

“It’s okay… it’s okay.” Udona cried, stroking a hand through Bria’s hair. Her mind raced, trying to find some solution. She couldn’t call Irena to help, because Bria’s soul was not under her jurisdiction even if she died. Her soul was gone, and would never join the Underworld. Like Udona, the best Irena would be able to do was to keep her physical form alive.

With no other suitable options, the best she could do was to hold her friend, comforting her as she slowly faded away.

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