World Keeper

Chapter 691: Endurance Test

“So, how do you want to do this, boss lady?” Lifre asked with a grin, looking at Tsubaki as she sat on a chair in the kitsune’s room. The two had come here for the purpose of fulfilling Aurivy’s promise to help her ascend to divinity. A process that Tsubaki had experienced firsthand when the Keeper had done the same thing for her.

Tsubaki looked at the little mimic slime, stroking her chin in thought. “First, I’ll need access to your core. That’s what we will really be enhancing, after all.”

All slimes shared a notable trait, which was that their main body was in fact a small core that rested inside themselves. This core looked like little more than a spherical rock, and could be destroyed with a well placed strike. It held the mind and soul of the slime, while the gelatinous body was largely replaceable.

For a mimic such as Lifre, her gelatinous form stored the excess material and energy that she had previously absorbed, allowing for her to quickly activate them at will. This was a different form of storage than a void slime, as she did not deposit items into the void to store them. Instead, they were liquified and compressed, becoming additional ‘slime matter’.

Lifre pouted her lips when she heard that, but still nodded and extended one hand. “Okay, but be careful with this! I’ve only got one, and I’d like not to lose it!” In the palm of her hand, her ‘skin’ squirmed and parted, a small stone appearing.

When Tsubaki plucked that stone from Lifre’s palm, the mimic slime melted in seconds, her body turning into a pile of goop all over Tsubaki’s chair. “That’s going to take all night to clean…” The kitsune muttered to herself as she looked at the core in her hand. She could see what appeared to be engravings on it, markings that contained the power of mana, ki, and spiritual energy.

“So, instead of cultivating additional energy cores, she integrated them all with her primary core? Is this how her people have evolved to handle it?” She wondered, before shaking her head. She stared at the core for a moment, conveying her words via spiritual energy. “When I do this, you will feel pain beyond anything you have ever imagined. It might even feel like you have died a hundred times over. Pain should be a largely new concept for you, so I have to give you this warning.”

“If you can endure the pain and not resist my influence, you will be able to successfully advance. However, if you resist it for even a moment, I can’t guarantee that you will be able to survive. Are you ready?”

There was a brief pause before the core seemed to vibrate in Tsubaki’s hand. Stop trying to scare me and get it over with! I can endure a bit of pain, no problem!

Tsubaki let out a sigh, suddenly feeling like this might not be such a good idea. Regardless, this was a promise made by Aurivy, and a candidate chosen by her. While Tsubaki may not have that much faith in Lifre herself, she could believe in the goddess that chose to bring her here. “Alright, I’ll begin.”

Channeling her energy, Tsubaki found the spark of Lifre’s soul fluttering about within the sphere in her hand. In situations like this, having a smaller body actually made the process easier, because the divine spark had far less room to retreat. Tsubaki seized that spark, guiding Lifre’s soul to merge with it.

Working from her own experiences, she supplemented her own energies to stabilize the process, just as the Keeper had done for her long ago. With her sensitivity to energy fluctuations, it was a surprisingly easy process for her to fuse the divine energy within Lifre’s core with the slime’s spirit.

Of course, the process was by no means painless, and Lifre’s voice could be heard resounding in Tsubaki’s soul constantly. Who said pain could hurt this much!? I want to talk to pain’s manager! GAH, it’s pulling me apart! I’ll be a good slime, just don’t break me!

Perhaps most surprisingly, Lifre never offered the slightest resistance despite how much pain she was clearly in. If anything, her increasingly incoherent screams appeared to be her method of venting the pain so that she would not fight back against Tsubaki’s control. As long as she focused like this, she would be able to stop herself from interfering.

The entire process took roughly ten minutes, during which time there was a visible change in Lifre’s core. The original black surface, engraved with various colors to represent different energies, had become a pure gold. The engraved patterns were still there, but they did not have any additional coloring to them.

Once Lifre felt that her soul was no longer being pulled apart at the seams, she mentally whined. Am I a god yet..?

Tsubaki shook her head. “No, that was merely step one. The next step will likely be more painful for you. Do you want to keep going now, or wait so that you can recover first?” In truth, Tsubaki felt it was admirable that Lifre was even conscious after having her soul reforged. Even Tsubaki herself had lost consciousness when the relief from the process finishing had hit her. Part of the kitsune even wondered if slimes were capable of sleep in the first place.

All at once… let’s get this over with… Although Lifre was still reeling from the pain that she had experienced, it was within the level that she could bear. Unlike most slimes, she was no stranger to pain. Pain was one of the many methods she had tried in the past to ascend, believing that if she broke through her limits, her body would experience a qualitative change.

Unfortunately, that had not been the case. No matter what sort of pain she afflicted herself with, even simulating her soul being burnt in eternal fire, there was no divine evolution. The process had not been without its benefits, but it did not include the benefits that she was hoping for. That was why she had developed her… unique method of venting the pain, so that she would not stop channeling whatever effect she was using at the time to cause it.

Tsubaki nodded her head, feeling rather impressed with the slime in her hand. “Very well… this next step will upgrade your ‘body’ to reach a divine state. To do so, we have to shatter your physical--”

You’re going to shatter me!? Lifre asked in alarm, that word clearly catching her attention. I’ll die if you do that, you know!

Tsubaki nodded her head, a small smile forming on her lips. “I am aware. I’ve also undergone this process, myself. After shattering your physical form, it is then remade with a mixture of divine energy and ki. For this process, the important thing you must keep in mind is not to let your consciousness disperse as well as not interfering. I’ll protect it as much as I can, but it will require your cooperation. You’ll feel dizzy when it starts to happen, but you have to keep focusing. Otherwise, I won’t be able to help you.”

Lifre hesitated at that, before letting out a mental whimper. I’m ready…

Once she had the signal to proceed, Tsubaki sent her energy into Lifre’s core once again, gathering the most pure divine energy within her. Then… she clenched her fist, shattering the core altogether. Her face became extremely focused, because at this point she was in a race against time.

Harnessing Lifre’s divine energy, Tsubaki pulled on the ki from the numerous core fragments, coiling them together and helping them to fuse. When she did so, the falling shards halted, no longer rushing towards the floor. Instead, they gradually floated upwards, their golden glow intensifying.

These core fragments continued letting off brighter and brighter light, seeming to melt under their own radiance. Rushing together, they merged into one, spinning rapidly above Tsubaki’s palm. Tsubaki could feel the shape of the core changing, no longer that of a smooth sphere. Instead, it elongated to form a wide disc.

Finally, once the disc seemed to be fully formed, a hole opened in its center, growing wider and wider until it nearly reached the edge. What now hovered over Tsubaki’s palm was a golden halo measuring half a meter across and radiating with divine power. “That was… easier than I expected.” Tsubaki admitted, looking at the slime staining her chair.

Tsubaki could feel during the entire process that there had been an ample amount of divine energy being supplied from Lifre’s discarded slime body. It had instinctively reacted to her ascension, and left the viscous form of its own initiative. Along the way, it purified itself time and again, until only the raw power of divinity was left to integrate with Lifre’s divine body.

Where other ascending divinities needed years to accumulate their power, Lifre already had a spare divine battery saved up for just such an occasion. This was rather helpful, as Tsubaki was already planning to use her own divine power to aid in the process. Even without doing so, Lifre’s status as the Keeper’s subordinate goddess had been determined as soon as Tsubaki aided her in attaining her divine soul.

“Are you still there, Lifre?” Tsubaki asked, looking intently at the halo. It was hard to tell if Lifre had finally lost consciousness with this last step, in which case she would need to wait before undergoing the final phase.

My mommy was a goop, she went schlorp… Lifre’s delirious voice answered Tsubaki with a giggle, and it was evident that she was only barely hanging on at this point. Tsubaki felt a small pang of emotions, nodding her head.

“If you want to stop, we can. There is only one step left to the process, so there is no rush. This last stage won’t cause any pain, but it will cause you to fall unconscious. When you awaken, you should be a complete goddess.”

A nap sounds lovely. I’ll take two please, with a cup of water. Hold the lemon. Sour things make my jigglies warble. Lifre answered, starting to become both more and less coherent at the same time. Tsubaki blinked, trying to decipher what Lifre was saying.

“I… think that means to continue. I’ll let you rest now.” She muttered, gathering a bit of divine energy and infusing it into the halo. She sought out Lifre’s mind, her mana, and pressed her divinity into it.

Tsubaki watched as cracks began forming on Lifre’s halo-shaped core, her expression becoming startled. She quickly felt as if she had done something wrong, as if she had failed in helping Lifre ascend at the final step. This thought was further cemented when Lifre’s core shattered entirely, falling like dust from her hand.

“Oh no…” Tsubaki muttered, watching the remains of Lifre’s core falling into the puddle that she had left at the foot of her chair. However, moments later, she was able to hear a faint giggle in her mind. A very different giggle than Lifre’s. “...Lady Aurivy?” She called out, looking around. “Were you hoping for me to fail there?”

Oh, no, I was just amused, is all. I had the same reaction my first time. Don’t worry, you didn’t fail and she isn’t dead. When a slime evolves fully to divinity, their core naturally shatters and integrates with their former body. A truly divine slime has no core, just like a god’s body has no true weak point to exploit.

Just give her a while, and she’ll wake up on her own. With any luck, you might not even need your mop. Aurivy’s words sent a wave of relief through Tsubaki, who nodded her head.

“Thank you for that. Then, may I know what domain she will have?” Obviously, Lifre had not taken any time to train her divinity in any particular domain. In Tsubaki’s mind, that meant that it was up to the whims of the gods in order to determine what power she would receive.

No idea! I’ll have to ask Accalia, she’s the one in charge of that. I’ll get back to you later!

I sat with Accalia and Aurivy within the living room, the three of us watching the television. On it was the scene of Lifre’s body slowly pulsing with divine energy. I glanced over at Accalia, who shook her head to indicate that she hadn’t gotten the prompt yet, and began to accelerate time within the world.

Once I saw the look in her eyes change, I halted the accelerated time, turning to look at her again. “So? What did she get?”

Accalia mentally reviewed the list of applicable domains, her smile turning more playful. “Well, the first one on the list is Persistence, which I suppose makes sense when you think of how stubbornly she’s been chasing godhood. Same with the second, which is Obsession. Then the third, Pain…”

My eye twitched as I heard the top three domains. When I was selecting the domains for Aurivy’s original two slime gods, there were only three options to choose from. I wasn’t sure if that would still be the case, but I did not particularly want any of those three domains. That was why I was pleasantly surprised when Accalia spoke again. “And the fourth… Adventure.”

“That one.” I nodded my head quickly. Although it was not in Lifre’s top three, it was the most compatible domain she could receive that I found at least marginally acceptable. After all, as she was becoming my subordinate deity, I had to consider that I myself would be receiving whatever she got.

Accalia smiled playfully, nodding her head. “Then she will be Lifre, the Goddess of Adventure. I suppose it will be interesting to see how she works together with Tsubaki and Dana.” With that said, she turned her head towards the screen, eagerly awaiting the outcome of that decision.

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