World Keeper

Chapter 1045: Taking Root

The changes to Chaotic Codex were met with mixed reception. For the more casual players that enjoyed living a fantasy life, free of worldly burdens, they were outraged that their time in the game was not being charged. Even though Ashley’s company released the fact that this was to encourage people to not forget about the real world, few people accepted this change. After all, everyone believed that they were managing their own time properly, regardless of how much time they spent in the game.

For those hardcore players that were in it for the challenge, they were instead happy. Although the simulation cost money to start, the idea that they could get a prize for swift completion filled them with hope. Several even planned to make the game their career. Until then, the biggest complaint about Codex Chaotic was the fact that there was no way to earn money off of it, unlike other games that the Keeper had released.

Some people completely quit the game in outrage, saying that their time was better spent on other games, while others became more deeply invested. Although the popularity of Codex Chaotic plummeted, there was no change to this policy from Darkflame Technologies. Rather, it seemed that this was the reaction that they had been hoping for.

The only potential downside was that some people began complaining that Darkflame would charge a similar payment model for other games, though they had no intention of doing so. After all, people could still socialize with others as much as they wanted in other games. While it wouldn’t bring more business to the offline facilities, it prevented a situation where everyone was lost in a single player game.

Lyra took a deep breath, somewhat nervous. Leowynn had already explained to her the functions and benefits of being a Companion, though Lyra herself still found it hard to believe that she was living among Leowynn and the Keeper now. She was the first of what was being called the Heroic Spirits.

When she realized that it had been fifty years since the battle of V-Day, she was shocked. She had just been talking to Leowynn for a short while, and half a century had already passed? Leowynn simply explained that time worked differently for them, and Lyra would get used to it before too long.

The first thing Lyra needed to do was create her mortal incarnation. Although it would take quite some time before that incarnation grew, this would give Lyra more connection with the mortal world. At the moment, she could only descend into the void, borrowing its power to sustain herself. However, Leowynn had assured her that she would have more freedom when her incarnation matured.

Lyra’s gaze swept through the world, choosing a pair of expecting elves and closing her eyes. Now that she had made her choice, everything else was a matter of waiting.

Giles stood atop a golden branch, his eyes cast out into the depths of the black sky beyond him. How long until we reach the next destination? He thought, hearing a gentle voice echoing in his mind.

We should be there within the hour. The voice was powerful yet sweet, causing Giles to release a small smile.

Is your daughter ready? He asked, the voice suddenly becoming more shy.

O-Our daughter, please. The voice corrected, causing Giles to release a silent chuckle.

He stood atop the branch of a massive, golden tree, which had attached itself to an asteroid, flying through space at incredible speeds. Even stars flashed by before he could fully process them. Is our daughter ready? He corrected himself.

She is. Latia of Wisdom will be ready when we land. I’m sure that she will be able to handle the forest.

Wisdom, huh? Giles nodded. He and Sprigga had taken it upon themselves to conduct a rather unique mission, repopulating habitable planets that had their populations eradicated by the events of V-Day. Because Sprigga had become a goddess, she had the ability to turn into a tree and back again at will, and could produce one golden Sylvan every year. Thanks to this, they had created almost fifty new groves on fifty different planets.

Let’s take a break after this one. Giles spoke to her in a gentle tone. So many cuttings must be taking a toll on you. He knew his wife better than anyone, and so he knew the pain that she had to go through every time they created a new grove.

After all, they were not merely creating the golden Sylvan. Following the method of growing a tree from a single branch, Sprigga had Giles cut off one of her branches every time they landed on a new world. Doing so hurt immensely, but she was able to regrow her branch during the following year. Still, the repeated cuttings must have had an effect on her.

I-I’m fine. Sprigga assured him, though he could tell that her voice was weaker than usual.

Sprigga. He spoke, his voice more firm. We’re taking a break after this. Take some time to spend with our daughter, and we’ll treat it as a vacation.

Sprigga hesitated, before one of her branches tilted, as if nodding. We’re almost there. She said softly, and Giles could feel the tree was slowing down, a blue planet appearing not far away.

Giles observed the planet for a long moment, taking in its characteristics. There was very little land, occupying less than a tenth of the planet’s surface. Do you want to put her in the water, or one of the islands?

There was a moment of hesitation. Let’s put her on the largest landmass. Her wisdom won’t be able to show itself properly if she is in an environment that restrains her options.

Giles nodded his head in agreement. Sprigga uprooted herself from the asteroid that they had been riding on, slowly descending towards the planet below. Although their descent was controlled, bursts of flame arose from her roots, dealing minimal damage to the tree goddess.

Sprigga controlled herself to fall towards the largest island, silently taking root upon landing. Once she was down, Giles jumped up to her highest branch, collecting a golden fruit that was hanging from it. Inside, he could see the curled up figure of a beautiful woman with golden skin.

Giles plucked the fruit, jumping down to the bottom of the tree and tearing open the outer layer. Latia of Wisdom gasped as her eyes opened, looking up in confusion for a long moment. One of Sprigga’s branches stretched over, placed over Latia’s hand. In a moment, Latia’s eyes flashed, knowledge rushing into her mind.

This was the power of the Sylvans, to communicate and share knowledge with their ancestor trees. In that moment, Sprigga transmitted all of the knowledge that Latia would need to know to survive in this world, whether it was building a shrine of Aurivy, how to communicate with her sisters, or the use of commonly found materials.

Latia offered a soft smile, rising to her feet and drying herself of the juice that had filled the fruit. “Thank you for giving birth to me.” She bowed, both to Giles and the massive tree behind him. Giles merely chuckled. In truth, he didn’t have a hand in the birth of Sprigga’s daughters. He couldn’t even contribute any of his own energy, because the void and divinity did not mix properly.

Despite this, Sprigga insisted that they were as much his daughters as her own. Giles looked up at Sprigga’s tree, choosing a suitably large branch. “Bear with it for a moment.” He whispered to her, and the entire tree seemed to tense briefly.

Giles jumped into the air, using his hand like a knife to cut the branch off at an angle grabbing it before it could fall off. The branch was huge, easily more than a hundred meters long, and Giles had to carefully hold it. While he descended, Latia was already digging a hole big enough to place the branch, having learned of this message from her mother.

When Giles planted the cutting of the tree into the soil, Sprigga’s body began to shine. She controlled the branch, reshaping it slightly to allow it to grow roots, and then cut it off from her own divinity. Like this, the branch still possessed divine might, but no consciousness to control it, leaving it as a normal ancestor tree.

Latia walked forward, placing her hand on the new branch to share the information that Sprigga had given her back to this branch, instilling in it the basic knowledge that they would need in the future. At the same time, Sprigga rapidly shrank, turning into her Sylvan form. One of her fingers was missing, but it quickly grew back under Giles’ worried gaze.

“A week.” Sprigga said, looking at Giles with a small pout. “We’ll stay for a week.”

Giles sighed, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to change her mind at this point. Rather, he hoped to get her to relax more over the next week, convincing her to extend the time until she had fully recovered her losses from cutting off so many portions of herself.

“In that case, allow me to offer a residence for the two of you.” Latia smiled, natural energy swirling around her. The branches of the new tree extended, the tree itself starting to grow. Nearby, another tree formed from the roots of the first, rising up in a spiral pattern with a small opening at the front that resembled a doorway.

Sprigga offered a small smile, nodding her head. It would take a year before the first sylvans were born from the tree, so it didn’t feel like a bad thing to spend some time with Latia before they left. Even with the wealth of knowledge Sprigga imbued her with, she was still young.

“What do you plan to do now?” Giles asked, turning to look at Latia, who thought it over.

“According to the history you gave me, this world should be without animal life. However, monsters will begin appearing around the time the first children are born. I don’t know what type of monsters there will be, so I should make sure that I understand the terrain of this world and what resources are at my disposal. Additionally… I am curious about the contents of World Seed that you shared. If it is possible to achieve similar mutations with our tree, that would be for the best.”

Sprigga blinked in surprise. “Did I share anything about that game?” She asked, as if questioning herself. She hadn’t intended to, because it would take too long to get the ability to connect to the game from this remote planet. Not to mention the headset, there was the need to lay the foundation for the cables.

Latia merely smiled. “My power of Wisdom lets me see what others would miss. You could say that I reconstructed various memories from the information that you gave me, with World Seed being just one of them. However, I was rather focused on it when I realized that it was related to our sisters.”

Sprigga hesitated, before nodding again. She wasn’t expecting the power of Wisdom to be something like that. “If you can really achieve suitable mutations, I don’t think anyone would think poorly of it. Though, don’t push yourself too much, okay?”

Latia nodded her head. “Don’t worry, I will make sure not to overburden the tree.” She said, though Sprigga was more worried about Latia overburdening herself.

Giles chuckled from the side, thinking to himself. Like mother, like daughter.

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