《Otherworld Goddess》


 I have a cat?

    ¡°Hey, Boss Lady, Mr. Tachibana says we have to have the final draft of that new shoujo manga from your favorite problem company by the end of day tomorrow or they¡¯re going to lose the contract. I¡¯m sorry ma¡¯am, but I can¡¯t help, I¡¯m pinned down with the details for staffing the upcoming convention. Do you want me to get Genji to help you with it?¡± The young man yelling from across the room was tactless but reliable and always earnest.


    Fujiwara Kaori looked up from the latest staffing shortage reports on her desk and considered what her junior co-worker was asking for only a second. ¡°No, that¡¯s okay. I¡¯ll work with them on it after I finish with this and the Osaka branch report. Genji is supposed to get a new child soon so he should spend more time with his wife. You should go home too, it¡¯s late already. If you miss the last train you¡¯ll have to call a cab again.¡±


    Kenshin wasn¡¯t happy that once again the boss lady was shouldering all the responsibility for the whole company but he certainly wasn¡¯t going to disrespect her resolve. He definitely wasn¡¯t going to argue with her, she was his boss after all. ¡°Okay Boss. But hey, don¡¯t you work too late either. It¡¯s not good for a woman to walk home alone in the middle of the night all the time.¡±


    She could see the concern on his face and she was glad to have good dependable people to work with, even if there were never enough of them. ¡°That¡¯s all right, I have a car so don¡¯t worry about it.¡±


    After their talk, it only took Kenshin another couple hours to finish up his work. He looked over to his boss¡¯s desk but she didn¡¯t notice. He thought to himself ¡°I wonder if I should try telling her how I feel? But then I would have to transfer to another team because it would be inter-team relations. Ah well, maybe there¡¯s some other way I can reach her.¡±


    He settled for going to the vending machine down the hall and buying her a hot can of coffee. As he sat it on the crowded but neat corner of her desk she stopped for a moment. She then looked at the can and then up at him with a smile of gratitude. Suddenly Kenshin¡¯s heart pounded and he realized he had to get out of there quick.


    Kaori was almost at the point of mental exhaustion. She had been going over the same correction requirements for the third time when Kenshin sat the can of coffee on her desk. She looked at the can for a second before recognition dawned on her. She turned a dreamy smile towards him that was more for the happiness that she felt about the coffee than the fact that he had purchased it for her. Just as she was about to thank him, he practically ran from the office. She realized that her expression might have seemed a bit to grateful and wondered if her smile was scary.


    Three hours later a thoroughly exhausted Kaori bought another coffee, left the office, and began the drive to her apartment. She still had to stop at the local convenience store and buy things for supper and breakfast for tomorrow.


    As she made her way home from the store with her two bags of groceries she reflected on her day. It was a rotten day, a horribly, rotten day. Thinking back on it, Kaori realized that it wasn¡¯t that different from the rest of the week, or even the rest of the month she had been having. She had been having a really bad year so far! ¡°I only have nine more months left to go! Then I can start another equally dreadful year, yay!¡±


    Kaori gave a sarcastic cheer to no one in particular as she kicked off her work shoes from her sore feet and left them at the entry to her apartment. She put the cold groceries in the refrigerator but left the dry stuff in the bags on the kitchen counter. She then made her way into the living room and sat in the only chair in that room. As she sat in it she grumbled to herself because of the type of chair it was. She was once again sitting in an office chair.


    This chair was one of the old chairs from the office of the large personnel firm she worked for. When they were going to throw them all away and replace them she went down and put a couple in the back of her car. At the time they were the only furniture she had in her apartment except for her old futon. She had worked there for months before she could afford to splurge on any furniture but by then she had grown accustomed to the office chairs and had yet to go to the store and replace them. It had taken every yen she could lay her hands on to secure the car at the dealership and between that, her rent, and simple living expenses her check was essentially spent every month before she got it.


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    ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll go to the store and replace them on my next day off.¡± She told herself for what must have been the thousandth time and as always seemed to follow that thought she remembered her schedule. ¡°whenever my next day off happens that is!¡±


    As many successful people find out, it is good to try your hardest but not all the time. When she first started with this firm she had given her full effort all the time and seeing her capabilities the company had ¡°Rewarded¡± her with ever-increasing positions. It seemed like a great thing at the time but eventually, she realized it was a trap! The more you do the more is expected of you and the greater responsibility is shoved off onto you.


    Massaging her sore feet she pondered her carefree college and high school career with fond recollections. This was nothing new for Fujiwara Kaori. She had been repeating the same routine for years. Work nonstop all day and sometimes into the night, much like this night. Then come home and relax for a few minutes before taking a shower and fixing supper. After getting a few hours of sleep she would wake up and start the whole cycle again. Worse, she had been working without a day off for the past two months due to funding and personnel shortages. She found that last one quite ironic for a personnel firm!


    As she sat half dozing off in the chair she noticed the cat looking at her out of the corner of her eye. ¡°I¡¯ll get up and make us something for dinner in a few minutes, just let me rest a bit first.¡± As she sat dozing off she wondered to herself when she had gotten a cat? She began trying to remember what she had in her refrigerator that she could even give the cat.


    ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t need anything to eat but thank you kindly for your consideration.¡± Kaori sat bolt upright in what should have been her chair and looked at what she thought was a cat. When she did, she found herself sitting in a plush armchair in front of an old, heavy-looking, oak desk with a very strange person sitting behind it.


    The person sitting at the desk in a large, high-backed armchair seemed to be an almost average twenty-something man with a medium build and glasses. He was wearing a dark gray business vest with a matching tie over a pressed, white, long-sleeve shirt. As she glanced around her she spotted his jacket on the coat stand in front of the rows of file cabinets and bookshelves that surrounded his messy, paper-laden desk complete with a computer.


    In other words, he was a very average-looking young man in a very average-looking office. The thing about him that threw the whole look off was certainly not the file he seemed to be inspecting so thoroughly and it wasn¡¯t his face that seemed to be an average Japanese man¡¯s face. Finally, she homed in on what had been tickling her sense of wrongness this whole time. This man had a pair of cat ears perched atop his head.


    At first, she thought he was just being silly by wearing some kid¡¯s toy to the office but after looking only a little longer she realized the truth. He didn¡¯t have any other ears on his head and the hair of his head arched right up the back of his ears as he sat in profile reading the file in his hands. As if to confirm her suspicions the ear nearest her craned slightly to the side as if hearing a sound and trying to track it without conscious thought before flicking a couple of times and coming to rest in its previous forward-facing position.


    The young man turned to face her a moment later with a genuine smile on his face. Kaori was no longer surprised at all. She assumed at this point that this had to be a dream. That his face had whiskers or that his teeth were all the needle-sharp canine teeth of a cat was just a matter of course. Then he spoke to her once more and she, only then, processed what he had said before about food.


    ¡°Miss Fujiwara, or would you prefer that I call you Kaori?¡± he paused for a second until she replied.


    ¡°No, no, whichever one is fine with me! Uhm, if you don¡¯t mind, might I ask what I¡¯m doing here? It¡¯s not that I mind, I¡¯m just curious and I need to get back to making supper so I can go to bed. I have work tomorrow, you see?¡± Even though it was her dream, Kaori decided there was no call to be rude to the cat-man in front of her, but she still felt this should have waited till she was in her bed, not while she was in her chair in the living room.


    ¡°Kaori then! I was just getting to that, but first, let me introduce myself. My name is Descartes Malefecto. I do apologize for my appearance. I haven¡¯t had a chance to read your file until just now, so I didn¡¯t realize you come from a world with no anthromorphs on it. I have been too busy dealing with all of the problems caused by personnel shortages to even read the file on a prospective new employee, how ironic is that?¡± She took that as a sign that her subconscious was now venting about her job as well.


    ¡°But I digress, the reason you are here is for a job offer. You see, you and I have much the same job. I handle all of the personnel for a certain group and when there isn¡¯t enough personnel to go around, I end up doing their share of the workload. This may be a bit shameless of me but I¡¯m begging you, please at least hear me out and give consideration to the job! I desperately need some competent help.


    That was to be Fujiwara Kaori¡¯s first meeting with the strange being who would forever change her destiny.

 Chapter 1 – Covenant With the Beast

    ¡°You want me to what?! I¡¯m sorry, could you repeat that?¡± Fujiwara Kaori sat in the typical-looking office of the typical-looking Japanese man with the very atypical-looking cat ears and whiskers, listening to his very atypical request.


    Kaori had awakened here just a few moments before after falling asleep in her chair in her living room. She was by no means a lazy person though! She, relentlessly, worked for the personnel firm, to the point that she hadn¡¯t had a day off in a couple of months. The firm she worked for provided personnel for numerous small media firms, some of which produced some of her favorite games, manga, and light novels back in her college days when she had leisure time and could enjoy them.


    Recently there had been a shortage of personnel to fill a lot of the vacant spots in those companies and she had to borrow people from one company to meet the deadlines of others. At times she even found herself performing artistic writing projects and programming when there simply was nobody to pull for them. And as all talented people eventually realize, once you do something once, everyone comes to expect it of you. Fujiwara Kaori was very talented at her job!


    That brings us back to the current situation where she found herself opposite a man referring to himself as an anthromorph and answering to the name Descartes Malafecto. The man in question had just told her the reason for her being seated opposite to him. It seemed he might now have to tell her all over again.


    ¡°You heard me correctly miss Fujiwara. But I have no aversion to repeating myself if it will help you adjust to the ideas as stated. I desperately need help! Firstly, let me offer my condolences on your untimely demise. I realize that being told that you died of exhaustion due to overwork is probably not the most endearing way of being asked to take a job. If I had the leisure, I would let you recuperate a bit first, however, I have issues piling up even as we speak that I will have to deal with once this interview is over.¡±


    ¡°As to the next topic, I doubt that there is any subtle way to ask someone to take on this kind of job. I¡¯ll try, so do please let me know how I do so I can improve. In the interim, I would ask that you take me seriously as this is, in fact, a real job I am offering you. It has a great many virtues to go along with the ceaseless work it brings.¡±


    As she settled herself, Kaori realized she had been in this situation before. A young and relatively new executive at the firm had asked her to help with the interview process. But in fact, what he asked her to do to help was to sit through a couple of mock interviews and give him feedback. Then there was the counselor at her high school who had asked the same thing of her when she was supposed to give mock interviews for college entrance. She readied herself. If this young man or whatever he was needed her help she would give her honest opinion.


    As he prepared to give her his pitch she readied her best interview posture. She sat up straight with her legs crossed and her hands clasped on one knee. She was totally focused as he began. ¡°You have read several Isekai novels according to your file and even played a few games based on that genre. You are therefore familiar with the idea of the sacred hero or chosen one. A person who is chosen to go to a new world and do valiant deeds in the name of a chosen god or ideal.¡±


    With each passing word, Kaori grew more and more excited. By the end of the third sentence, her composure had slipped and she had a smile on her face, a gleam in her eyes, and her hands were balled into excited fists. Even if this was a dream, which she was starting to doubt by now, this was all very exciting! She couldn¡¯t wait for him to ask her to take that job, she had long dreamed of doing great and mighty deeds heroically for the greater good.


    Descartes looked across the desk at the woman sitting in the seat and smiled to himself. He could see the excitement on her face at the mention of what she considered fantasy topics. He was immensely glad that she was so engrossed in the topic and that he hadn¡¯t misread the signs. He just hoped this whole bit of theatrics would get her to take the job. Even as he sat in this interview, he could tell, that problems were stacking up that he would have to sort out. But if she said yes it would be worth putting them off for a bit.


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    As Kaori leaned forward in her chair Descartes continued. ¡°I¡¯m not going to ask you to be a hero, those guys are a dime a dozen and generally not too bright. If they were smarter, most of them would turn the job down or quit when they found out what the people they were saving were like or so on. Fortunately, most of them are too focused on their shiny new sword to realize that they are being bribed to do somebody else''s dirty work.¡±


    Kaori let out a sigh of longing, she had really wanted to be a heroine, or maybe a great villainess even! Descartes continued his pitch, seeing the timing was right. ¡°In that same vein, you know of the creatures known as demonlords?¡±


    Kaori couldn¡¯t believe it. It was like he was reading her mind and she leaned forward again despite her intentions. ¡°Yeah, those guys crop up pretty regularly. They might be terrible rulers who earn the title through their abuses of power or actual demons lording over their carved-out domains in the mortal worlds. But they are all too common.¡±


    Descartes could tell he had her emotionally invested, she looked a tad sad that he hadn¡¯t asked her to be a demonlord, he made a mental note of that for later, but she was still listening intently. Now to reel her in! He fervently hoped this would work. He would have said a silent prayer but there was no one to pray to! ¡°What¡¯s not common on the continually blooming magical worlds of the cosmos, are gods. Actually, not gods, but capable gods or goddesses. Those are truly quite rare and have to be chosen quite carefully! Which brings us to the current topic. Would you please become a goddess?¡±


    Kaori wasn¡¯t sure what she was expecting but that certainly wasn¡¯t it. It wasn¡¯t like she didn¡¯t see the possibilities of becoming a goddess but the idea itself was preposterous. How does one simply become a goddess? She tried several scenarios in her mind to figure that out and quickly gave it up as a simple impossibility. Sure, there were legends of people in the past who became venerated by their descendants as deities but that didn¡¯t make them actual gods, did it?


    She settled her resolve, she decided the only way she would get the answer to that question was to have Descartes explain it to her. ¡°I¡¯m not yet convinced that this isn¡¯t all a dream but I am interested. I would certainly like to know more before I give you an answer. You claim that you want me to become a goddess but how does one become a goddess?¡±


    Descartes gave a slight sigh. She hadn¡¯t turned him down but she hadn¡¯t said yes either. This was all taking so much time that he needed to be devoting to fixing problems. Giving himself a mental shake, he braced himself for a long interview and proceeded. ¡°Normally I would hand you over to a subordinate for all the details so I will have to be brief but I feel that if you do agree to take the position you would be somebody I could depend on. That¡¯s the reason I will give you a bit longer with your interview. First, I feel that I should explain that I am a god and that I manage other gods and goddesses who in turn manage others. That goes all the way down to the mortals living on the many worlds under my care.¡±


    ¡°I am the chief deity over eight hundred forty-one worlds. Most of those worlds are just getting started and over one-hundred don¡¯t even have any inhabitants on them yet. I will be sending you to one of the worlds that has started but is not being handled well. I need you to take charge of the deity there and bring that world to order.¡±


    ¡°I will be stopping the clock on that world so that you can get a better feel for it before you have to fix anything. At first, you will have virtually unlimited resources. You can change virtually anything you want about the world. I will leave you a source of power and control. Once you have the changes in place, as quick as you can snap your fingers time will resume for that world.¡±


    ¡°A word of caution, I would urge that you not try turning primitives into civilized races. Civilizations have to grow as do gods. I am sure that you had employees who you got fresh and had to wait on them to mature into their positions? This is the same thing. I did say that you would have one god under your wing when you get there right?¡± Descartes looked at the slightly bewildered woman across from his desk expectantly.


    Kiori could tell that he wasn¡¯t posing a rhetorical question and quickly thought back over the explanation thus far. She remembered mention of a god but then there was a lot to take in. doing what she did best she compartmentalized all of the info in her brain and cataloged it for processing while she mulled over the point in the conversation concerning this other god.

 Chapter 2

    In a little under a second, Kaori had finished thinking and had formed a reasonable reply. ¡°You did mention a god who¡¯s mistakes I would need to clean up but I don¡¯t recall you giving me his name yet.¡± Seeing that she had a lull in the conversation she took the initiative to get more detailed information on certain subjects that needed clarification, in her opinion. ¡°You also have yet to mention how I would be performing the duties of a deity aside from the mention of a source of power. I have no idea what kind of power that might be nor do I have any way of knowing how to control it. Those are things that I would consider to be vital information.¡±


    Descartes sat back with a wry smile, which displayed his slightly disconcerting array of teeth. ¡°Ah, I see you were keeping up with the conversation, good! As to your questions, in order, the answers are; Yaj¨± god of the hunt, you will manage a pantheon or multiple pantheons that will oversee the development of the inhabitants of your world, and lastly, the power we wield comes from the faith of the mortals on our various worlds.¡±


    ¡°In that respect, the deities who forgo a pantheon are far more powerful personally than those with a pantheon. However, the toll that micromanaging all the daily affairs of an entire world or worlds takes is quite staggering. Most deities fare better with a pantheon under them or around them so that they don¡¯t get burned out. It helps to have others that you can depend on, I just wish I had a few more.¡± With that last statement, he gave her a pointed look. Kaori could tell that it was time to decide.


    After having that much explained to her Kaori knew that she didn¡¯t have much of a choice but she still didn¡¯t know what the alternative was. ¡°Suppose I said no, what would happen to me from here? Would I be going to heaven or hell, or is there perhaps something else in store for souls? I am a spirit, right, that¡¯s what you meant when you said I had died of exhaustion?¡±


    Descartes almost flinched when she made mention of not taking the offer but he held his composure. He could still justify taking this time to conduct the interview if she said yes but it would all have been a waste if she refused. He was half tempted to tell her that she would be eternally condemned but he was too honest for that. ¡°Since you fall under the purview of the Christian church in Japan, you would be going to heaven. If you were, however, asking what fate awaits each soul, it depends on their belief. Those from each religion would follow the practices of that faith. So, is that a refusal of my offer?¡±


    Kaori considered the two alternatives. On the one hand, she could go to heaven and would be at peace, she would have no more worries and would finally get all the rest she wanted. On the other hand, she could take Descartes¡¯s offer and become a goddess. That would mean a lot of work but he did say there were rewards. For just a moment she was about to refuse his offer but then she caught a glimpse of the troubled expression he was trying to hide. She could tell that he truly needed her help and she wasn¡¯t the type of person to abandon someone who needed help that much.


    Kaori squared her shoulders and looked Descartes right in the eyes. ¡°I accept your offer. I will take the position of the goddess and fix the world you need help with. I would be honored to work for you, I will be in your care.¡±


    As Kaori finished her acceptance speech, she gave a slight bow and Descartes couldn¡¯t help letting out a sigh of relief. ¡°Excellent, I will expect great things from you! If you could just sign here, I will get you set up and then I can go back to fixing the mountain of things stacked against me. At least now there will be one less thing I have to worry about!¡± With that, he placed a sheet of paper in front of her and there was suddenly a quill pen in her hand and a thick book on her lap.


    The moment she finished signing her name on the piece of paper Descartes sent her to the world that he had been having problems with. He wasn¡¯t happy about having to send her on her way so abruptly but he couldn¡¯t put the rest of his duties off any longer. Already he could feel the insistent anger of his many subordinates who he had to put off for this interview burning their way through to him. The lot of them were always so impatient and needy, it was just so much trouble.


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    Even though he wasn¡¯t at all happy about having to cut the interview short he still spared a moment to send a few words of advice along to the arc-Niel who he hoped would bail him out of some of his own troubles one day. ¡°When you are ready to pause time just press the pause button on the front of the manual. The resume button is at the rear of the manual on the inside of the cover. If you have any questions consult the manual and if it doesn¡¯t cover it just do whatever you want, you are a goddess now, after all! For anything relating to the current condition of the planet and its inhabitants, I have included a file on its progress or lack thereof. For anything not in the file ask Yaj¨± god of the hunt, he may be able to give you an answer but he¡¯s a very odd one. Also, you might want to watch his hands. They have a tendance to end up places they shouldn¡¯t around women. I hope you fare well in your endeavors and don¡¯t forget to send progress reports at least every century.¡±


    As Descartes was sending the last of his message, he pondered the odd circumstances that might have led to Kaori becoming available to him. Normally, if someone is a follower of a god then their souls are automatically sent to whatever final destination that deity has specified. In the case of Ms. Fujiwara, she was a follower of one of the oldest and most powerful of all the gods yet somehow, she had ended up here. Descartes Malefecto decided to be thankful to the mysterious old one. Certainly, this was one of his many machinations. He doubted he would ever be in a position to talk to the old deity about it but he could at least be grateful for the gift. But he didn¡¯t have long to contemplate this fortuitous turn of events as the first in a long line of minor deities came knocking on his door. Well, that was a nice diversion, He thought as he called for his underling to enter.


    The moment she finished signing her name on the piece of paper Kaori was suddenly standing in the top of a tree. In front of her, a little lower in the tree was some kind of creature. It had dark gray fur from head to toe and claws at the ends of those. She could hear it¡¯s hoarse breathing as it crouched watching something further down in the tree. She only had a moment to glimpse the creature, however, because her innate sense of danger kicked in due to being in the top of a tree and she began to lose her balance.


    Kaori was certain that she was about to fall from the tree but the falling part never came. As she opened her eyes, she was still in the top of the same tree but she wasn¡¯t touching any part of the tree. She looked down and realized the truth, she was squatting down on thin air. Truthfully, it didn¡¯t feel all that thin, more like solid flooring.


    Kaori took a moment to compose herself and carefully stood up. That went well so she decided to test it out a bit. She carefully inched her foot forward through the empty air but she couldn¡¯t find a soft or empty spot. It was as if she were standing on a solid sheet of glass. Unsure of the dynamics of this precarious state of being she slowly turned toward the center of the treetop and reached out. The tree was also solid.


    She decided to try stepping on the limb of the tree and she was a little shocked when it worked. She then eased her other foot along looking for the edge of the invisible glass she was standing on but couldn¡¯t find it. As she was about to back her foot up and try to stand on the air fully, she thought of another idea. She decided to put her other foot on the tree branch right behind the first and it descended to the branch without a problem. As she looked, she realized this was an area where she had been standing on air before.


    I wonder if that¡¯s how it works, she thought as she looked around. Deciding to try out her luck she carefully reached out a foot to the open air beside the branch, a good fifteen centimeters below where she had been standing on air before. Exactly where she hoped to feel the solid ground, it was there. She carefully leaned her weight onto that foot and picked up the other, nothing.


    As a further test, she slowly walked a couple of steps out into the open air and couldn¡¯t fall. A light jump then a couple more proved that the air was as solid as concrete. She breathed a silent sigh of relief. At least now she knew how that part worked. At that point, she heard a chuckle from the creature below her standing in the tree. She looked a bit closer at it from her new vantage point.


    The creature¡¯s front was now in profile and she could make out a couple of things about it. The creature was humanoid but it wasn¡¯t a human. It had a dog or wolf¡¯s muzzle mixed in with its facial features. It had hands but they had claws on them. It also had a long, unkempt beard that, thankfully, hung well past its unclothed crotch. When she was looking closer at it, she caught a glimpse of movement a bit further down the tree and what she saw there surprised her even more.

 Chapter 3

    Where Kaori looked, about two-thirds of the way down the tree, perched amongst the branches, sat an elf. There could be no mistaking it, that was an elf. The man, or child really, was lean and muscular. He had pale skin that somehow didn¡¯t seem to stand out against the tree. He wore a simple leaf loincloth and carried a wooden spear. The thing that made it clear what he was, were his long pointed ears, each reaching almost twenty centimeters from the side of his head.


    Kaori was interested in what was going on and she was pretty sure that the creature on the branches was Yaj¨±. But then how was she to get down to where he was at? She was currently standing in mid-air. She then imagined herself stepping down through the air like a set of stairs. With only a little surprise and a great deal of excitement, she found she could do just that and quickly gained confidence.


    After a few steps down she began to think how gods moved about in the anime she had watched and wondered if she could simply float over and down towards the creature. With just a little concentration she was able to get the hang of it and glided silently towards the creature. As she drew near, she began to wonder if being close was a good idea. Just as she was coming to a stop there, she heard the voice of Descartes in her ear.


    She turned around at the first word but he wasn¡¯t there. His words, however, continued. After a brief couple of sentences, she realized that she had been holding a book in her left hand the whole time. She then looked at the book and immediately spotted the double bar symbol for ¡°pause¡± on the front of the cover. She started to push it right then but then she remembered the elf youth in the tree below. If she were to pause now, she wouldn¡¯t know why he was there. That by itself wouldn¡¯t be too great a loss. Then there was the question of, why was this creature, that she assumed to be Yaj¨±, watching the elf boy?


    After a couple of seconds deliberation, she decided to ask the creature. Having had a message delivered to her ears by what she was certain was telepathy, she decided that she would try that. She focused her mind on the creature in the tree and willed the words into his mind. ¡°What are you watching so intently?¡±


    The reaction was far more dramatic than she was expecting. The creature grabbed both of its ears as though in pain and jumped to its feet. After a panicky glance around it jumped a dozen meters into the next tree over before continuing to search about for the source of her voice. ¡°Well, that went a little too well.¡± She thought to herself. Kaori then waved at the creature in the tree to get his attention.


    The moment she moved he spotted her and looked directly at her. After a brief moment of astonishment recognition set in, not of her but her position. There could only be one type of being that could stand in mid-air and talk directly into your mind. Kaori hadn¡¯t meant to startle him that much but she was glad to see that he seemed to recognize her for what she was.


    Then another thing caught her attention and confirmed her suspicions. The branches where the creature had just leapt from never moved in the slightest. Not even one leaf had been jostled in that mad leap of panic. This creature had to be the god of the hunt, ¡°Yaj¨±?¡± again she pushed the words into his head, and once again he grabbed his head like he was in pain. She resolved to stop doing that if it was hurting him but it was too late this time.


    He looked at her and bowed before introducing himself, which put an unintentional smile on her face. It was such a ridiculous looking posture from such a grubby looking character that it almost made her want to laugh. When his words issued from his mouth, she could tell that he wasn¡¯t speaking Japanese by the way his mouth moved, but she heard Japanese anyway. It was like watching a badly dubbed American movie, their mouths moved contrary to the words they were speaking.


    Yaj¨± was very intent on the young hunter. This one had been hunting for less than three years and he was still very much considered a child. Despite what the rest of the tribe thought, he was a good hunter with good instincts. Checking the hunting instinct of the young was one of Yaj¨±¡¯s favorite activities. Often, the young ones would sense his presence without knowing why. They couldn¡¯t see him unless he wanted them to but they could still feel him there if they had the instincts for it.


    So intent was he on the young hunter and trying to make his presence felt that he didn¡¯t even notice the presence above him. Suddenly there was a booming female voice in his head asking him what he was watching. The voice was so loud that it almost felt it could split his head in two. He wasn¡¯t sure if the young elf had heard it or not but he didn¡¯t have time to think. He jumped to the next tree over and looked around for the source of the voice.


    What he saw was certainly not what he was expecting. He might not even have thought to look into the air except that the one standing in the middle of the sky waved to catch his attention. This wasn¡¯t the beastman god who put him over these elves but there was no way that Yaj¨± could doubt that this was another god, well, a goddess.


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    Her posture spoke loads about her, he could tell that she was ill at ease standing in the air. He couldn¡¯t figure out why but gods of great power are allowed to have their mysteries. He could tell that she came from a world that was much tamer than his own, perhaps the same one as the beastman god, they had the same feel about them. He could also tell that she was a trifle scared of him but not overly so. It was more like the way he watched the people of the forest, she was reluctant to get too close because she didn¡¯t want to startle him any more than she already had.


    Her next word made many more things clear. She spoke his name. it had been so many centuries since he had heard it that he had almost forgotten, however, it came back to him in an instant. He knew in a flash of head-splitting revelation exactly who she was. This could only be a more powerful goddess in front of him. The fact that she knew his name meant that she was here to replace him, destroy him, or rule over him.


    It took a couple of moments but he remembered the life he had once lived before becoming a cursed beast and then dying. Long before he became a god of the hunt, he had to interact with others of higher station than him. Once he had been a miner and a huntsman, a proud underman of the Stonebeard clan. There were many other undermen who had stations higher than him and it was customary to lower your head in recognition that they were higher than you. As he did this now it brought back a flood of memories from a life long-forgotten.


    One day Yaj¨± was on the hunt for a beast to prepare for a wedding feast. While he was out in the deep forest, he was bitten by one of the beasts of the forest. For a time, nothing came of it and the wound even healed over very quickly so he thought nothing of it. Eventually, he began to notice that something was different. The undermen each began to smell different to him and the scent of a woman in her prime time was a scent he could smell through hundreds of meters of tunnels. He started noticing sounds that he had never paid attention to before and most of them hurt his ears now.


    It got so bad that he couldn¡¯t use his pick anymore because of the noise that it made. However, he could hunt better than anybody else in the clan and suddenly he became very popular. Then everything took a turn for the worst. It was a harvest moon festival and there was a lot of good food, stiff drinks, and bawdy company to be had for everyone. He was one of the favorites of the women since he had brought most of the meat that was being served that night. It was a great night until he blacked out.


    The last thing he remembered was that he was bedding down a woman who was only too willing and then he felt an indescribable urge. He then lost all control and gave in to the urge. When he awoke he was groggy and felt a little sick at his stomach but that was probably the drink. As he went to sit up he put his hand down and felt something cold, wet, and slick. What greeted his eyes was a horror unlike any he had ever felt. The woman he had gone to bed with was torn to pieces and parts of her had been eaten by some kind of animal.


    The sight was so horrible that he threw up. That was when the real horror began, his vomit had bits of flesh and bones and amidst it was a finger, her finger. He passed out. When he awoke, he was in a cage, the realization was sudden and terrifying to him. He recognized this cage. This cage was made for executions and hadn¡¯t been used for generations, since the last clan war. The method was simple, the bottom fell out over a deep hole full of liquid rock. He would be burned to a crisp. They waited till the next full moon and opened the big stone lid that covered the hole the cage hung in. as he began to lose consciousness at the sight of the moon, he felt the floor give way.


    When he awoke it was in a forest, and he was the beast he most feared. He could, however, think like himself. That was when that damned beastman god appeared and told him that he would be given another chance. He said that there were certain things that he could teach the people of the forest but he was to try to bring them to a better level of society.


    At first, he had taken the job seriously but the more he told the people about hunting the more exciting things got. He would never let them see him, he only whispered to them from time to time. They would listen to his words and would gain insights about the forests around them. He could tell them of things in the deeps of the forest that they would never have noticed. They venerated him for it, as the god of the wilds, the god of the forest, but most of all as the god of the hunt.


    Occasionally one of their mystics or shamans would catch a glimpse of him. There was a totem to him in the center of several of the villages. It was little more than a log with a lot of long grass tied to it but it served just fine. He was appreciated again and it felt glorious.


    But all things come to an end, now there stood one of those who would take the people of the forest and make them the people of a town. Knowing this, he decided that he was okay with being disposed of. They wouldn¡¯t be his people of the forest anymore. And so, he bowed. It was a bow of both subservience and acceptance of his fate.


    Even though he could accept his fate, he still didn¡¯t feel she needed to yell at him. ¡°Yaj¨± is my name great one. I am at your call. Might I ask your name, and if it¡¯s not too bold of me, that you please not yell at me?¡± He needn¡¯t worry about how wrong that last part was because he knew he would be disposed of anyway. But something about the way she acted gave him pause, she didn¡¯t look like she was ready to get rid of him yet.

 Elsewhere 1

    Foglat was old, too old. He had seen so many things in his life. There were things he remembered that were good and many more that were not. But at last, he was coming to the end of his days. He had been a teacher of magic for the last quarter of his life.


    He couldn¡¯t count the number of students he had told to avoid the path he was considering. The temple of Reyalla was a place of learning magic. Most just called it the wizard¡¯s guild but it was more. Reyalla was the goddess of life and magic so where a normal wizard¡¯s guild would only have wizards, her temples had clerics as well. She was a very well regarded goddess by any standard and her temples got the same regard.


    Why then was Foglat so worried about the magic research in front of him? Why would he fear any kind of magic? Put simply, it was taboo and he knew it! This was a manuscript detailing the process of becoming a lich. By all rights he shouldn¡¯t even be looking at this manuscript but burning it.


    There were creatures described as evil and then there were those described as pure evil. Liches were counted among the latter. Foglat knew that already and had no desire to become a being of pure evil. The thing was, as he was reading it, he found several places where the rituals called for certain items of evil. There were spots where the rituals called for the mage to make vows to the gods of evil.


    Everywhere Foglat looked in the original manuscript, there were processes that asked for evil to be inserted into the process. Foglat had an idea then. What would happen if he were to insert good items and vows to good deities in place of the evil ones.


    It took him a few moons to finish his secret research project. He had to keep it secret because the ritual for becoming an undead was forbidden. Especially to an adherent of the goddess of life, Reyalla. Foglat however, had an idea to become the first pure good lich. If this worked he would revolutionize magic theory.


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    He really wished he could see it performed on another individual but he had to keep it secret. Nobody would volunteer for this sort of thing so it was left to him. It would be a one chance sort of thing. He made his preparations during the night but he had his ritual set to happen during the next day.


    It was a holiday and almost everyone would be out of the temple. The temple would not be this deserted for another year. Truth be told, Foglat would have liked another year to prepare and refine the ritual. However, he could feel himself becoming increasingly weaker and worried that he might die before he got the chance to finish the ritual next year.


    He made the preparations the night before so here he was out in the courtyard of the temple. He had locked all of the doors that led to the courtyard and had shuttered all the windows. He began his ritual and after three uninterrupted hours he had come to the conclusion of the ritual.


    Foglat paused here for a good several minutes. The last of the ritual was stabbing a dagger into his heart. It wasn¡¯t too late to stop, sure he had made vows to most of the gods of good but he could probably get out of those vows. Then again, he might not live long enough to cancel all the vows he had made, unless he could live on as a lich. Ok, so there really wasn¡¯t any turning back.


    Foglat plunged the dagger into his heart and as he was fading he suddenly felt himself drifting. He opened his eyes and he could tell that he was different. He could feel that he wasn¡¯t alive by the lack of pain. Wait, there was pain, a sort of burning pain in his feet.


    Foglat looked down and he saw that his feet were on fire where he stood. He began dancing around trying to stomp the flames out. This only seemed to make it worse. Then his feet began to crumble to dust and her fell face first on the ground. The pain grew more intense by the second.


    After what seemed like an eternity, the pain stopped. Foglat looked around and spotted a pile of ash and robes where his body used to be. He then looked over at the vessel he was supposed to have his soul stored in. He had used the horn of a unicorn that was killed by mistake on a hunting trip some years back. Suddenly the horn grew brighter and he was expecting to be drawn into the horn where he could await the respawning of his body. The horn didn¡¯t draw him in though, it exploded. The last thing Foglat heard was a woman¡¯s voice whispering as though in his ear. ¡°Foglat, I had so looked forward to speaking with you. What am I to do with you now? Why did you forsake me?¡±

 Chapter 4 – I Have Demons

    Kaori looked at Yaju in curiosity for a second as his response sunk in before replying. She decided to get closer and just speak to him normally. ¡°My name is Fujiwara Kaori. For now you should address me as Fujiwara-sama since I was sent here because you haven¡¯t managed this world well. I will tell you from the start that I don¡¯t hold those who don¡¯t do their jobs in high regard. That being said, I don¡¯t really understand how I should go about running this world yet but I intend to get results as soon as possible and will expect you to do the same if you are working under me.¡±


    Yaju looked on at the new high goddess and after her first few words he steeled his resolve, expecting to be destroyed any moment but she continued speaking. The next line she spoke took him completely by surprise. How could a supreme goddess be unsure of how to do anything? More than that, was she saying that she wouldn¡¯t dispose of him? ¡°I¡­ You have my word and my loyalty great Fujiwara-sama. What would you have me do milady?¡±


    The ridiculousness of his last word almost made Kaori laugh but she managed to keep a strait face through sheer force of will. Still, what should she have him do? What was she going to do? While she was pondering, she noticed movement and saw the elf boy turn and look around. A moment later, he looked past her then quickly turned back and stared directly at her with eyes growing ever wider.


    Realizing that she hadn¡¯t tried to conceal her presence from him she decided to wave at him before fading from his sight. Yaju watched the whole interplay with trepidation. How was it that the boy could see her but not him? He could tell by the way that the boy started looking around the moment that she turned back to look at him that she had concealed herself from him as easily as breathing. For him, the hardest part was being seen at all but she didn¡¯t seem to have any problems either way. Suddenly he found his respect for her was that much higher! Not only was she a goddess with immense power that could stand on air and talk without speaking, she could also choose whether to be seen at will and was even willing to admit that there were things that she didn¡¯t know! Amazing.


    Kaori considered how she wanted to proceed from here but was utterly at a loss. She was supposed to advance the civilization of the world to make it better but how? She couldn¡¯t just walk into the village and tell them how they should live right? Then how? As she looked at the expectant Yaju she made up her mind to take it slow at first and just see how he did things if for no other reason that to see how not to do things. It was always good to have a reference of what doesn¡¯t work.


    ¡°Yaju, I¡¯ve decided that I want to see what it is that you do normally. I want to see how you normally interact with the elves and see how they live their lives. I need to know what I have to work with before I decide how to proceed. That brings us back to my previous question. What are you watching so intently? The elf boy I assume but why?¡±


    Yaju pondered for a moment about the best way to explain. For him to put things into words was a challenge because he had been without anyone to talk to or any need to explain anything for many, many years. ¡°You see¡­ the people of the forest¡­ I¡­ hmm. Forgive me, I need a moment to gather my thoughts, milady Fujiwara-sama.¡±


    She was prepared to keep waiting for his response but then she noticed that the elf boy was moving. He had been looking about in her general direction for a bit but now he was climbing the tree he was in. Yaju turned and watched his progress as well. He was very athletic and dexterous as he jumped from one branch to the next, one tree to the next. He got to a tree not far from where they were and began climbing to the top. Once he was there he was above where they were watching him as he began looking all around in the sky and the tops of the trees.


    Yaju once again turned to her and started over. ¡°The people of the forest have keen eyes and ears. For one of them to see something and then loose sight of it is very unusual. I am assuming that you hid your presence from him entirely and now he is trying to see what it was that he got a glimpse of. It seems that he can¡¯t tell where we are by presence alone.¡±


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    Yaju looked at the boy, shook his head sadly and looked back. ¡°The hunters, especially the young ones, often have a sense of where I am, even without being able to see me. I test their instincts by masking my presence and then seeing if they can sense me near them. Some can only sense when I get the urge to hunt them and those are at least able to dodge the worst of the beasts of the forest but others are able to tell where I am at all times and those are the ones who make the best hunters. They are the ones that can feel when prey is near them.¡±


    ¡°If I find one of the new hunters is unable to sense me at all then I whisper an omen to the shaman who seems to be able to hear me. I tell him that the one that can¡¯t sense me isn¡¯t fit to be a hunter and the tribe listens to the shaman. Not all of the tribes do though. The largest tribe of the five is near the big sea that way. *points* They have more tribesman than the others and they produce more children than the others. They have a lot more fruits and berries that grow around them and with more food they are able to have more children. That tribe doesn¡¯t miss the occasional hunter that dies to the beasts of the forest and their shaman has less say in the tribe because of it.¡±


    ¡°The last shaman they chose was a young girl who sensed me and ran from me. What kind of sense does that make? Why choose a shaman that is afraid of the god of the hunt? I still don¡¯t get why she ran from me. I was just thinking that her breasts were filling out nicely and her hips were getting a decent curve to them when she turned in my direction with a horrified look on her face and ran screaming. I didn¡¯t even try to touch them! I wish I had, hehe.¡±


    Kaori looked at him in disgust. He had an introspective look with a pervy predatory grin made all the worse by the canine snout. She made a mental note to go see the shaman of that village and apologize to her about her underling and another to have a talk with Yaju about sexual harassment. For now she had gotten a very big piece of information, there were five tribes. Then a thought occurred to her. ¡°Yaju, are the different tribes made up of different species?¡±


    ¡°What, no, no other tribes besides the people of the forest, elves that is. I had hoped when I got here that there would be other undermen but there were only the people of the forest. Besides, if there were other undermen, they would have feared me like my own clan did. Not that I blame them. What I did I can never be forgiven for.¡± After all his proud talk of the elves he had suddenly grown quiet and sullen. Kaori was about to ask about that when an intruder suddenly caught their attention.


    The elf boy who had been a couple trees over had gotten into the top of the tree they were in while they weren¡¯t watching. Suddenly he was climbing down the trunk behind Yaju and they both turned to watch his progress. When he got a little lower than the huge branch they were using he stopped. He looked about for a couple seconds then looked almost directly at her. He then climbed back up the tree to the same branch and started walking down it.


    When he got close to them, Yaju moved aside and the boy walked by without a glance in his direction. He was intently looking in Kaori¡¯s direction. He passed by where she was but then stopped and looked back. He then walked back and forth while keeping a steady gaze locked on her location. Kaori figured out from his motions that he was trying to triangulate her position from feel alone. Certainly he couldn¡¯t see her right?


    She decided to try an experiment, she leaned towards the boy and began making a teasing face, sticking her tongue out and pulling an eyelid down. The boy didn¡¯t respond in the least and she had her answer, he couldn¡¯t actually see her. She then circled around him until she was standing on the branch. At first when she moved he began frantically looking around but then he locked onto her and followed her with his eyes even though he couldn¡¯t seem to see her. He then tentatively reached out his hand in her direction but she had no intention of letting him grab her.


    She backed up a step and circled around to the other side of him and got closer to Yaju. ¡°Come, I¡¯ve made the air behind me harden. Try stepping on it.¡±


    Yaju might have had his faults but he seemed not to lack any faith in her as he simply walked right out onto the air beside her. ¡°Lead the way to the villages. I want to see them for myself.¡±


    Kaori then thought about the air around her being solid for Yaju to walk on as she floated along after him and they departed the somewhat bewildered looking elven youth. They chatted amicably while Yaju walked at a fast trot ahead of her weaving through trees as though he had been floating along this path like this his whole life. She revised her opinion of him slightly, he seemed loyal and trusting if nothing else. She figured that she could work with that. Loyalty to the boss would go a long way in the workplace.

 Chapter 5

    Not very long after they made it to the air above the first elven village and Kaori lowered them both to just a few feet above the tribe. Unlike what Kaori had pictured, the elves didn¡¯t live in the trees but in small huts right on the ground. The huts weren¡¯t even grass huts but instead were made of animal skins. They reminded her of a history book she had once read in the school library about some tribes from the past in America.


    Yaju knew all about the tribe and told her the names of each of the tribespeople and a lot of details about them. He was steadily rambling on about the daily lives of the tribe but she noticed that he kept looking over at her without actually looking at her specifically. He seemed to have a look of curiosity on his face but it was hard to tell for sure with his canid facial features. After a few times of him doing that their eyes met and he looked away in evident embarrassment but then turned back before sheepishly asking the question that she could tell he had been wanting to ask. ¡°Pardon my asking Fujiwara-sama but¡­ what¡¯s the deal with them?¡± As he spoke he pointed behind her.


    Kaori was caught off guard by the oddity of the question. She figured that if anybody would know what was going on with the tribespeople, it would be him. but as she looked where he was pointing it wasn¡¯t at the ground but directly behind her. She turned her head and caught a fleeting glimpse of a blackish shadow. Once she was alerted to the presence she realized she could sense it. Only, it wasn¡¯t an it but a them! She concentrated on feeling the unseen the way the elven youth had and closed her eyes.


    Suddenly she could clearly see every animal and tree for miles in a ghostly outline that overlapped each other. She could also see in every direction at once, a rather surreal experience. As if they were standing in plain sight, she found eight black figures behind her and three white ones above her. Each one had a differently shaped outline and they were varying heights. One was only about the size of a housecat while a couple were human sized. Something stood out about them as she was observing them all. Of all the things around her, only nine of them were solid while the rest were ghostly. One was a light gray in coloring, that was Yaju and the other eight were dark gray bordering on black, they were the ones hiding behind her where she couldn¡¯t see them with her eyes. The last three were an almost silver-white color and seemed to have the outline of wings or something.


    Opening her eyes, she kept them in one direction and pointed to a spot in front of her before calling out in her mind to the figures behind her. ¡°You eight, get out here where I can see you this instant! I don¡¯t know why you were hiding but I was put in charge of this world and I wasn¡¯t told about you being here. Who are you? Get out here now!¡±


    At her words, the eleven figures scrambled out in front of her where she pointed. They were a strange looking collection of creatures with horns and spikes on some while others looked greasy and nasty. Three were bright to the point of being hard to look at but had between two and six wings each. There was one that looked exactly like her and one that looked like the dreamiest guy she had ever seen. At first, she wasn¡¯t sure what was going on but before they even spoke, she had figured it out. The shortest of them was roughly the size of a housecat or a young toddler but it had wings and small horns on its head. It was an imp, she was certain. That could only make the rest of the black ones some kind of demons, right? Then the white ones were angels!


    As she was observing them she noticed one trait they all had in common, each of the blackened ones had glowing, red, pupilless eyes. After a second of contemplation, the one that looked like a total ikemen cleared his throat to draw her attention and bowed with the rest following suit. ¡°We beg your pardon Boss-lady. *a chorus of sniggers went among them and Kaori suddenly felt great annoyance because she had never liked being addressed as Boss-lady* We were swept along with you when you died and ended up here with you. We were assigned to you during life as your personal demons.¡±


    The White one with six wings bowed and spoke next. Her figure was just coming into focus but it was hard because she was so bright. Kaori could just make out what looked like a kimono in white and around her face was a silvery glowing halo of light so bright that it obscured her features. ¡°We beg your forgiveness Goddess Fujiwara Kaori-sama. We were sent along with you to your new world but were never given a reason or even told we were going to be sent. We thought about introducing ourselves but we didn¡¯t want to interrupt a conversation between two gods. That would be too rude of us. I see now that not making our presence more visible was just as rude and we apologize for that. The three of us were assigned to you during life as your guardian angels and it seems we will be serving under you now on this world. *She seemed to get flustered and bowed even lower* I mean, we will be serving you if you will have us! I certainly didn¡¯t mean to presume.¡±


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    The one that looked like her spoke next and as Kaori looked closer at her she realized that a lot of her features were exaggerated like the blemishes on her skin and the bags under her eyes. This one looked like her but seemed to be all the worst parts of her physically manifested in one place and Kaori realized that this was the self-image she often had of herself. ¡°We would like to first apologize to you. Some of us have been with you your whole life and have been troubling you the whole time. I only got sent to you when you were eight and started to compare yourself to others. But Anger here has been with you since birth. *At these words she pointed to a short red skinned demon whose face was the very definition of oni* We demons were born to torment humans on Earth. In the same way, most of the angels there spend their entire existences going from one human to the next keeping them from listening to us or inspiring them to do great things.¡±


    Anger, as he was introduced, bowed a little lower before speaking. ¡°A pleasure to finally meet you Kaori-sama. I used to have such fun getting you riled up in the middle of the night when you were a baby. I hope you don¡¯t bear us ill will because of it but we demons are used to it anyway. I only ask that you not send us all away. We¡¯ve been there for your whole life and now that you have become a divine being it would be our honor to serve under you going forward.¡±


    As he stood there bowing and shifting his three eyes nervously about Kaori looked over at Yaju. ¡°Are there any other angels or demons on this world?¡± Yaju shook his head no.


    Kaori looked back at the hopeful looks on the demon¡¯s faces and thought she saw the same thing on the faces of the angels but couldn¡¯t tell for sure. After a second glance at the angels she got an idea and willed the light glowing from them to fade and it did. She could now look directly at their beautiful features and see clearly that they were just as anxious as the demons. Looking at the demons she decided to try something similar with them and willed them all to have human-like appearances. In only a couple of seconds and with a few startled cries from them the demons all gained more human appearances but still retained most of their demonic traits.


    She smiled. ¡°Well, it seems that you are all subject to my will anyway. I see no harm in keeping you all here. I might be able to make use of you going forward, once I figure out what I¡¯m supposed to be doing that is. In the interim, it¡¯s nice to have you on the team. I¡¯ll look forward to working with you.


    When she bowed, which she was used to, all the rest of them bowed very low. She wondered if they would break in half. As she rose from her bow she became aware of noise below and looked down to see all the elves in the village bowing with their heads on the ground. Some were pointed in odd directions but most were bowing in her general direction. Kaori looked at Yaju in question and he just got a toothy grin and shrugged.


    Kaori got a sudden bout of inspiration and called to Yaju. ¡°Which one is the shaman?¡±


    When he pointed the shaman out she called everyone over to stand around her. She then willed the shaman to lift his head and open his eyes. She gave him a brief vision of herself with everyone around her. Accompanying the vision she gave it a special bright silvery white glow behind her, Yaju, and the angels while providing a glowing black aura behind the demons. The shaman only had a moment to take in the vision but after that he immediately began wailing and jabbering about what he saw to the rest of the village.


    Kaori decided this was good enough for today and left with her entourage in tow. Shortly after they left the elves decided to carve a log in the semblance that the shaman described to them. After all, it wasn¡¯t often that the shaman got a glimpse of the god of the hunt and he had never seen the other gods before! This was a big event and every elf in the village had felt their presence, even those that normally couldn¡¯t feel anything. Little did the elves of the village realize just how much change this would herald in the coming years.

 Elsewhere 2

    Varla could feel the last breath leaving her body. As a warrior, she had always known that she would die young. She had long lost her fear of the men following her. She was a warrior of the Grand Metosan Kingdom and a commander of many legions. She was. Therein lies the problem.


    The Metosan Kingdom followed the pantheon of Vardos, god of light and chivalry. Varla was a follower of his brother, Chern, god of war. That all sounds great but the truth is that Varla was born the wrong gender to be a warrior. She had been going by Varn since she was a little girl.


    Her father had asked for a son and when her mother had three daughters and was left baren, he didn¡¯t take it very well. He would often beat them all while drinking. When Varla was maybe five or six, she had gone to a neighbor¡¯s house and stolen a pair of pants from the laundry while her father was busy beating their mother. When she returned, she was wearing the pants and told him to stop beating their mother because she was a boy now.


    He laughed and smacked her several times. When he woke the next morning, he treated her like a boy and started calling her Varn instead of Varla. To her absolute joy, he stopped beating the others and only focused on her. Sure, it hurt but not as much as watching her sisters and mother bleeding and crying. He would rant for hours about what a wimpy boy he had but he would also tell her how he expected a boy to act.


    Varla, now Varn, never forgot his lessons and always did her best to live up to them. When she was a teen, the twin plagues crossed through their kingdom and her parents died. Her oldest sister sold herself off to get the money to support her little sisters but it ran out quickly. Then the war erupted.


    Varn had been working to support her sister and keep their house but it was slipping. Too often she would come home without enough money to buy everything they needed and pay taxes. Her sister would try to eat less to make the money last but it only made her weaker and less got done at home.


    Varn pleaded with her older sister to eat her share and vowed to find a job that would pay more. When the war came, she saw her opportunity. The military offered much better pay for soldiers than any of the local jobs she could get. She didn¡¯t hesitate.


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    The recruiter she talked to asked if she was really a boy and she lied her best. It didn¡¯t work. She insisted to the last that she was a boy but he only told her to prove it and strip. She knew she was caught and wanted to run away but he threw out a proposition. He would keep quiet about her gender and send her into training but he wanted something from her, that was a horrible night.


    Now in the military, she was able to send money to her sister. The training was hard and the beatings hurt bad, but not as bad as her father had given her. She was picked out as a potential leader because she kept giving other recruits tips during training.


    A little over a year ago, Varn got word that her oldest sister had died to a disease often found in brothels. Other than that, everything was working out fine until a few weeks ago. A message came informing her that her house had been seized due to lack of payment of taxes. She wrote desperately to her sister back home hoping to find her in a church or something, it worked but not as she was expecting.


    The church wrote back saying that they had her sister in the crypts. They condemned her for leaving her sister to starve to death. Her world went red with rage and grief.


    She left the encampment and told her second in command she would return in a few days. She followed the mail route all the way back to the kingdom. There she found the man who had recruited her. He had been snatching her letters and taking the money. When her sister tried to protest, he threatened to expose Varn as a woman. A woman in the military could only expect two outcomes, executed if she was lucky or violated and then executed if she wasn¡¯t. Fearing for her little sister¡¯s safety and unable to get any work she let herself starve to death.


    The bastard actually had the gall to threaten her exposure as a woman! Her whole reason for the ruse was to keep her sister safe! Now, thanks to this greedy perverted piece of filth, her sister was dead. He began yelling about a woman attacking him in hopes of getting her to run away but instead it just made her smile, the last smile he ever saw.


    Regardless of the circumstances, the military condemned her to death. She found she really didn¡¯t care anymore. She was ready for death but after she drew her final breath, she was betrayed again. ¡°Hah, Varn, you must be joking! You¡¯re a woman! I have no use for women distracting the might of Chern¡¯s Chosen! I banish you to the shadows of Naught!¡±

 Chapter 6 – Covenant With Demons

    Kaori spent the rest of the day traveling to the nearest two elven villages and observing them. The lives of the elves was fairly consistent, with each of the villages focusing heavily on hunting and various aspects of nature. Yaju explained that he couldn¡¯t figure out a way to make elves into dwarves. Though he called them the people of the forest and the undermen, she understood what he was implying. Trying to figure out how to advance the civilization of the elves was too much for him to figure out how to do. Once he found that he could help them in less civilized areas like honing their hunting and senses he admitted that he basically forgot what he was supposed to be doing.


    Watching the elves go about their primitive lives was interesting in some ways. It was almost like watching shows about a lost tribe on a certain channel with a yellow rectangular logo. The hunters would leave early in the morning and hunt for hours to bring back animals for food and hides. Some of the women would go out and gather plants for food and medicines while others stayed in the village and tended to the children and worked on making things from the supplies available.


    The elves seemed to be rather sensitive to her presence so she had to stay a decent distance from them. This surprised Yaju, who had to try making his presence felt before any of the elves would notice him. He suggested that it was probably her overflowing divinity but she suspected that he simply had a harder presence to sense since he was more¡­ feral.


    After watching the villagers of the second village begin preparing for supper, Kaori realized it was getting pretty late and decided to find some place to sleep for the night. She asked Yaju but he told her that he just slept in the first tree he found. She asked if he ate and he seemed to hesitate for a moment. He finally admitted that he would go chasing things down and eat them from time to time. As he said that, he reflexively flexed the claws on his fingers and she understood that he wasn¡¯t talking about hunting with a bow or spear and he didn¡¯t mean that he cooked it and then ate it either.


    She noticed that Yaju seemed to be a bit ashamed as he spoke about his eating habits and decided not to ask about it further. One of the demons seemed to be smirking and nodding along the whole time. The angels and a couple of the other demons all seemed a bit disgusted though. She asked them about where they would sleep and they just shrugged it off and said they didn¡¯t have to sleep. After she considered it for a moment, she realized that she wasn¡¯t tired but she could make herself tired if she tried. So much for insomnia.


    After a bit of thought she decided that she would just sleep in a tree like Yaju. That still left the question of what to do about the rest of her entourage. She called them all together and asked what they intended to do and they all looked a little surprised before one of the angels spoke up. She told Kaori that they would do whatever she asked them to do and would simply wait for her to give them orders otherwise. She expounded on this by saying that was the role that angels and demons always had in relation to gods.


    Kaori thought about that for a moment and decided she didn¡¯t want a bunch of angels and demons hovering around her while she slept. She had a sudden and chilling revelation that the whole time she was alive, that was the way things had been. Even though she couldn¡¯t see any of them, they had been there still. In order to keep that from being the way things were from then on, she would have to have something for the sleepless minions to do.


    After wracking her brain for a few moments, she came up with a plan. She thought about it and willed a translucent sphere into being between them. She then asked them to go out and collect data on the geography of the world around them. She wanted to know the shape of the world she was assigned to. As soon as she finished speaking, all eleven of them disappeared and left her and Yaju alone. She told him that she would be up for a while so he should go ahead and get some sleep. The truth was that she just didn¡¯t want to go to sleep with him there.


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    As soon as he left, Kaori went to the top of the forest and found a particularly tall and wide tree. When she approached the tree she could tell that the branches of this tree were certainly large enough for her to sleep on. She decided that she was going to see if she could make it a bit more comfortable. She started by trying to exert her will on the tree branch and see if it would respond to her.


    At first the limb didn¡¯t do anything. She was a little disappointed but then she asked herself what did she expect it to do. Once she said it out loud it was like a lightning bolt struck her. She had simply looked for the branch to do something but she never had anything in mind for it to do. She tried again with the idea that she wanted the limb to shake and at first it didn¡¯t seem like it would but then it finally started to sway slightly and she confirmed there was no breeze.


    With confirmation that it would move she willed it to move harder and the reaction was immediate. The branch started swaying and creaking ominously. She relented but understood the problem immediately, it was her own imagination. She was the one who had to have a picture in mind and will it to conform to her image of it.


    Kaori pondered for a moment then got an idea. She wanted to see if she could make the tree reshape to her will. She started with having one of the branches straighten out and become smooth. The moment she willed it to change shape to fit her image it was almost like the whole branch turned into a putty and in seconds it was exactly how she had pictured it.


    Armed with the knowledge of what she could do she wondered to herself what she wanted. While she was in thought on that subject, she spotted one of the elven hunters returning late to the village and an idea struck her. She conjured an image of the type of houses she would have expected to see elves living in. A home made from the very branches and leaves of the tree around her.


    In her image of the perfect elven home, she imagined a somewhat dome shaped inner space with the branches interweaving thickly into each other and leaving no gaps or protrusions in the floor areas. She imagined the walls woven the same way but with more in the way of gaps to let a breeze through and several circular openings for windows where the branches simple wove around instead of into those areas and a larger one on each side as a door. The roof she imagined having a very thick canopy of overlapping large leaves that would pass all the rain away from the inner space.


    As soon as her image became clear the tree started growing new limbs and foliage to fit her image. It came out exactly as she had pictured it but it was just a large open room with the trunk in the center. Looking at the trunk gave her an idea. She got and idea of the trunk molding itself into a basin to one side with a though leading up to a spot in the center of the roof of leaves. She imagined the leaves being open over this trough and actually slanting inwards in the center so that rain would collect in the basin.


    After that the only things left were a bed, table, and a platform to hold the human high globe that the others would be filling in the blanks on. The bed was simple enough to imagine and thus to make appear. For that, it was simply a rectangular grouping of very thick leaves that tangled themselves together to weave a futon. The table was simply the same but using branches without leaves. The stand was possibly the easiest since it was simply held in place by a few branches growing around it from top and bottom. With that, her ideal elven home was finished and she crashed out on the futon. It was a lot softer than she imagined it would be and she was asleep in no time.


    That night she had a very vivid dream about her old boss coming to look for her and showing up in the office of Descartes and the two ending up in a screaming match before finally coming to an agreement that she would have to do both jobs. The dream continued with Yaju, the demons, the angels, and all of her former coworkers swarming her from all directions with dead eyes and thousands of questions until she felt like she was falling through the floor. She then saw a jungle world zooming up to meet her falling body and just before she hit the ground she jerked awake with a scream.

 chapter 7

    As Kaori sat up she began looking around the unfamiliar surroundings with bleary eyes. At first she didn¡¯t recognize where she was and though that she must still be dreaming. A second later she heard light chatter to the side and looked over to see an angel and several of the demons near the globe and they were arguing about something. Suddenly, all of the events of the previous day came flooding back and she realized that she needed to find out why they were arguing rather than laying in her bed. As she got up the angel spotted her and bowed while the leader of the demons present just smirked and threw a casual wave. That set the angel off and she started insisting that they should show more respect to a goddess even if she was new to her position.


    For a moment, Kaori considered telling the demon about proper workplace etiquette. Then she remembered that if these were her own demons from her life, they certainly already knew that and still acted in this manner. After a momentary pause for consideration, she decided it probably wouldn¡¯t change the way that they acted towards her and at worst might become a point of contention. With that in mind came back to the matter at hand. ¡°What¡¯s the problem? I heard you arguing a moment ago.¡±


    The angel, who¡¯s name Kaori realized she hadn¡¯t even asked, visibly changed mental gears. Before she could respond, the smallest demon spoke. ¡°Your orders yesterday weren¡¯t very clear. We¡¯re all searching the same areas and some of us aren¡¯t very good at this sort of thing. I don¡¯t want to do this anymore. My wings are tired from flying all night.¡±


    Kaori realized her mistake and was appalled that she would mismanage her personnel so badly. She thought it over and realized that half of the problem was that she had no clear image of what she wanted to do. She came to a startling realization about what the other half of the problem was. She hadn¡¯t been thinking of them as people or even employees. Right up to that moment, she had been thinking of them as some kind of monsters or fairytales.


    Even having called herself a Christian since early childhood, she had never considered the possibility that all the beings mentioned in the bible actually existed. As a little girl, her father had insisted that she should attend church and act properly. All of the stories in the bible were just fanciful myths to her growing up. Kaori realized with shock that she had never believed in her religion and only went to church to conform to her father¡¯s wishes.


    Breaking from her sudden epiphany, she had an insight on how she should proceed. ¡°First, would all of you go out and bring the others back here. I suppose it might be easier to do your work if you had clearer instructions. I also need to know what to call all of you if we¡¯re going to be working together from now on. I guess that the introductions only need to go one way but I would like to know more about each of you and I need to introduce all of you to your new coworker. That can all wait till you all return with everyone else. I¡¯ll be waiting here.¡±


    Immediately, the group dispersed and took off from the small platforms at each door. Kaori wasn¡¯t sure but she thought she spotted a smile on the smallest demon¡¯s face as it was leaving. A moment later, she was studying the geographic data that the group had provided thus far. She still had no ideas about what she should be doing but then a familiar voice came from behind. ¡°Whoa! This place is neat! The people of the forest in the world I lived in before I was turned into a god had homes in trees but nothing like this. And what¡¯s that thing you¡¯re looking at? Is that the area around here? I¡¯ve never seen a map that was a ball before. Why did you make it like that?¡±


    Kaori turned to regard Yaju for a moment before she replied. ¡°Do you know much about this world? You spoke of the place you lived before becoming a god. Did you never see a globe of your own world?¡±


    Yaju seemed to regard her with a look of puzzlement but with his features being partially that of a wolf it was very hard for her to tell. ¡°A globe is a type of map of the whole world. The reason that you make it that way is because it¡¯s too hard to make a flat map of the whole world since it¡¯s not flat.¡±


    Yaju seemed even more puzzled by the declaration of the world being a ball. ¡°You jest? I always heard that the world was one of many thousands of connected caves. I always assumed that if you walked far enough that you would find the cave wall and if you dug far enough past that there would be another world. If the world is a ball, then what happens if you dig too deep? Oh and what does the world sit on if it¡¯s a ball? Can you dig through that?¡±


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    Kaori was about to launch into a round of explanation when she heard the sound of wings beating and yelling that sounded vaguely like cussing in the distance. The others were almost back and she hadn¡¯t thought about what she wanted to say at all. ¡°we¡¯ll continue this conversation after introductions and assignments. I¡¯m not sure what I should be doing to improve the culture of the people though. Any ideas?¡±


    Yaju looked aghast, a truly comical expression on his vaguely canine face. ¡°I haven¡¯t been able to figure anything like that out in all the time I¡¯ve been here! How would I presume to tell a supreme goddess what to do? I¡­ Wait, you asked for my help not excuses. Give me a moment to look at the problem from a new perspective.¡±


    As he squatted down with a look of deep concentration Kaori almost burst out laughing at his serious look and couldn¡¯t stop a light chuckle from escaping. Yaju looked up with a puzzled look on his face and she scrambled for an excuse so she wouldn¡¯t appear rude. Suddenly one came to her. ¡°I was just amused that the very thing you said to prepare was the very advice I was looking for. I just need a new perspective to look at the problem from.¡±


    As she spoke, she had to force herself to look straight at him instead of averting her eyes. What was a small lie when trying to boost a subordinate¡¯s confidence. Besides, it seemed that getting a new perspective on the problem might very well be a way to figure out something to do about the problem.


    Her moment of clarity was interrupted by the continuous griping of one of the demons returning. ¡°I still don¡¯t see why we had to come back! So what if we get the same information. We still don¡¯t have anything else to do right?¡± ¡°Oh shut up! She¡¯s the boss and if she says to hurry up and wait then we do that. It¡¯s not like it could be as pointless as a lot of the tasks that Lothiel came up with. At least she¡¯s not actively trying to come up with tasks to annoy and frustrate us, she just needs time to get used to her position. Besides, if we¡¯re lucky, she might eventually turn us into gods to fill out a pantheon or make us elder demons to rule over the new underworld!¡±


    Hearing their chatter before they landed gave her new ideas to think about but at the same time she had just about prepared the assignments she wanted to hand out. However, proper introductions came first. She waited until the last of the angels and demons arrived before she got started.


    ¡°I would like to first apologize to all of you for yesterday. I had this sprung on me and had no time to adjust to any of it. It was rude of me to simply dismiss all of you without even properly getting introductions. You all know me but I don¡¯t know you and you haven¡¯t met Yaju yet. I will start there. Let me introduce you all to Yaju, god of the hunt. As you all know he was assigned as my junior. Now I would like to have your names, please, and any relevant information about yourselves. That might include your previous jobs and things you are talented at or positions that you hope to attain.¡±


    As Yaju took a small bow the rest looked at each other for a moment before the distorted mirror imaged one from the previous day stepped forward to start things off. ¡°I feel I should tell you a bit about both angels and demon. We work with or against humans in the same way but hold opposing philosophies about it. When a demon or angel are assigned to a mortal we do everything we can to fulfill our task to them. If the mortal finds out our true name we are bound to them and are then able to use our full power on their behalf. To angels, that¡¯s something to be longed for and cherished if it actually happens because they like serving others or more like they have no ideas of their own if you ask me.¡± *As she said this, the demon stuck her tongue out at the impassive trio of figures to the side. *


    ¡°We demons have the same flaw as we see it. Demons don¡¯t like to be bound to a mortal because they are beneath us. Serving a mortal for their entire life is a short stint of punishment for demons and some will even tell mortals the true names of other demons they don¡¯t like to make them work for mortals. Greater demons will sometimes contact mortals and tell them the true names of their underlings as a form of punishment. While religious texts may list the true names of many angels, those angels are bound to every mortal that calls on them and thus their effective power is split between all of them. The power granted by angels is often higher than that granted by demons but because the power going to a single mortal is generally higher by binding a demon, most mortals seek the power of demons. In addition to seeming more powerful, demon true names are still far harder to find out, which makes most mortals seek them harder. Rarely, a mortal will seek the true name of one of their guardian angels and those people find that the power they are granted by the angel far surpasses what demon worshippers have.¡±

 Chapter 8

    ¡°I might have gone on a bit of a tangent but I wanted you to know what it means when I tell you my true name without reservation. I am a demon of worthlessness and my true name is Merin. I look forward to working for you Kaori-sama.¡± The moment her name was spoken, the previous almost mirror image of Kaori disappeared to be replaced by a nude, feminine mannequin or at least that was the thought that came to Kaori¡¯s mind. All of her determining features disappeared except for a pair of leathery folded wings. Her face became a blank mask that barely registered as effeminate but the glowing red eyes remained. Kaori realized as she was bowing that this was her true form as a demon who mimics the worst aspects of a person.


    Next, a cadaverously thin, sallow-skinned, and rather tall, male demon stepped forward and bowed. He wore what looked like an expensive business suit and a monocle over his left glowing red eye set in a face that seemed to be carved into a perpetual scowl. As he bowed with his wings on his back looking like a cape, his body posture seemed to say that this was a formality because she was beneath him. He then spoke in a voice of pure condemnation that seemed normal for him. ¡°I am a demon of judgementalism but my true name is Yosh. I will do my utmost to serve you hereafter Kaori-sama.¡±


    The next to step forward was a very short dark skinned naked female demon. Her skin was a mottled brown and black but it was hard to notice because of all the spines sticking out of her skin and her wings seemed to be made of spines. When she spoke, it seemed like she was sneering. ¡°I am a demon of patronizing and my true name is Belle. I devote myself and my talents to you Kaori-sama.¡±


    The next to bow was a medium height male demon in a suit that looked worn, stained, and tattered and his wings matched. He was oily as if he hadn¡¯t bathed in weeks and he had huge, deep purple bags under his bespectacled red eyes. His portly, almost bloated figure bowed awkwardly as though he might collapse at any second and he spoke in a hoarse voice. ¡°I am a demon of overwork and my true name is Pross. I will work tirelessly for you Kaori-sama.¡±


    As Pross spoke, Kaori recognized this as the voice she heard talking about godhood or running the underworld and had to restrain her emotions. She realized that this was a demon who had a huge impact on her life. She really wanted to blame him for her death the previous day but realized that wasn¡¯t his doing. The demons were there to spur people on into wrongdoing and bat habits like her habit of working too much but they couldn¡¯t make somebody do anything. The one to blame for her death was ultimately herself even if he helped. She reigned in her scowl and smiled before nodding her head at him as she had the rest.


    After Pross a slightly short male demon bowed. He had oily fur that looked slicked down over a thin, sleek, and not even slightly human looking body. He reminded kaori of a weasel as he fidgeted with his paws and the edges of his furry wings. His red eyes were constantly darting about as he introduced himself in a worried sounding voice. ¡°My name is Gelor and I am a demon of doubt. I shall serve you well Kaori-sama.¡± Kaori also recognized this voice but he was the one that didn¡¯t seem to care about his work much. She made a note to keep a close eye on him in the future.


    The next to step forward and bow was the impish demon she knew as anger. He had black horns and spines jutting from his crimson skin. He had two batlike wings on his tiny body and a face that was a caricature of rage. ¡°I Yaborr, a demon of anger will serve you faithfully as long as you will keep us around you Kaori-sama.¡±


    After him another tiny little demon stepped forward. The slightly purplish skinned demon only stood slightly taller than Yaborr and she too was nude, displaying her emaciated almost skeletal form. Her red eyes had a very dull glow and there were bags under her eyes as well as a droop to her wings. Her posture and her voice when she spoke both conveyed grave illness or extreme lack of sleep and Kaori knew immediately that this was the one who was responsible for her insomnia. ¡°Risse, a demon of exhaustion, will be ever at your service Kaori-sama.¡±


    The last demon to step forward and bow was taller than her but not as tall as Yosh. This one looked like her favorite manga or anime protagonist type personified and she could already feel a slight blush creeping across her cheeks. After ordering her body to stop reacting to a demon she looked firmly at the scaley wings on his back to distract herself from his handsome if somehow generic features. When he spoke it was in a deep but soft voice that practically dripped with desire. ¡°I too shall serve you in whatever capacity you might need Kaori-sama. My name is Keeval and I am a demon of lust.¡±


    Kaori was profoundly relieved when Keevals appearance melted away with his name revealing another of the almost formless demons like Merin. Kaori took a second to take in their forms and file their names away before responding. ¡°I look forward to working with all of you.¡±


    The moment that she was done acknowledging the demons the first of the angels stepped forward and rather than bow, she literally performed a dogeza with her six wings spread forward around her head. Kaori squinted a bit to see the angels before she realized there was a better way. Closing her eyes for a moment, kaori willed the radiance of the angels to back off to a moderate level then looked back at them.


    The angel on the floor had six silver-white wings on her back and what Kaori could see of her was unblemished very pale cream-colored skin. With a quick glance she realized that each of them had very generic looking faces but beautiful all the same. The one currently bowing spoke in a low sultry voice. ¡°Fujiwara Kaori Kami-sama, I vow my eternal servitude by the name Miraphon. As your former guardian angel of spiritual warfare I am sure that I, nay we will be of great help to you.¡±


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    As the four and then the two-winged angels performed similarly grandiose bows and introduced themselves as Einoro, angel of diligence and Rocell, angel of gift-typing, Kaori wondered at the conformity of the angels. The Demons all had a staggering amount of individuality while the angels all wore the same kimono-like dresses and had very little difference in faces. The only defining features were the number of wings and the pitch of their voices with Rocell being pitched high like a ringing bell and Einoro being a moderately high singing voice. Even their mannerisms and pledges were almost identical, differing only at the names and titles.


    Kaori broke out of her reverie and greeted them all. ¡°I accept your vows and look forward to working with all of you. I have put a bit more thought into what I would like you all to be doing and how. I want the twelve of you to form teams of four and gather info for me. First, Yaju. Can you fly?¡±


    The short werewolf took a step back as all eyes suddenly turned to him. ¡°Erm, I¡­ I don¡¯t know? I¡¯ve never tried to before so I imagine I can¡¯t but if I can it would take me a while to get a feel for it.¡±


    Kaori looked at the three angels and decided on the one with the most wings. Kaori stumbled through her hard to pronounce name but was determined to use each of their names as often as possible to show that she respected them even if she did struggle with it. ¡°Mirifonu-san, I would like you to carry Yaju with¡­ *there was a sudden gasp from Einoro and when Kaori looked at her she had a desperate look of longing on her face as she looked at Yaju but it was gone in an instant*


    Kaori beckoned Miraphon over to her and asked in a whisper? ¡°What¡¯s that about?¡±


    Miriphon looked almost disgusted as she replied in an equally low whisper. ¡°Ein has an obsession with furry creatures and undoubtedly sees the god Yaju as an object of adoration. In short, she desperately wants to hold and pet him.¡±


    ¡°On second thought, I would like Einoro-san to carry Yaju.¡± *There was a sudden squeal and as all eyes landed on her, Ein¡¯s face turned completely red and she turned around with her fists under her chin in excitement. It didn¡¯t do her any good to turn around because her four folded wings were still trembling with excitement.* ¡°U-Understood! I-I shall do my best, Fujiwara Kaori Kami-sama.¡±


    Grimacing, Kaori went on. ¡°One thing that is bothering me is the form of address. I don¡¯t mind during informal situations if you use pet names for me or long formal titles but in our daily interactions I would prefer that you all kept thing to a simple businesslike form of address. Just call me Kaori-san. Let me know at your leisure how you would like to be addressed but I won¡¯t be using long titles for working together.¡±


    ¡°Now, I want two of the demons to go with Yaju-san and Einoro-san. If there is anyone who doesn¡¯t want to work with someone else let me know and I will try to keep that in mind but for many tasks like this one cooperation is going to be compulsory. I will want the rest of you to separate into groups of three demons and one angel.¡±


    ¡°I want Yaju-sans group to make a detailed survey of the local ecology.¡± *As soon as she said this she saw a look of complete incomprehension on Yaju¡¯s face.* ¡°It means that I want you to study the wildlife and nature of many different areas of the world. I need to know what animals live where. When and whether they migrate or hibernate. Are they a good food source. What animals prey on what others. If there are animals that have to be kept thinned out to keep them from growing too numerous. What plants are eaten by what. Are there any plants that can be used as medicines. I also need to know these things about the seas and oceans if there are any.¡±


    Yaju looked confused again so Kaori decided to change her strategy a little. ¡°The first thing I want all of you to do is fly up and get a feel for the local area and make sure that you keep track of where we are here. You will then split up from there to do your various tasks. Einoro-san, please take Yaju-san up and teach him what various geographic features are and whichever pair of demons go with them I will be counting on you to help.¡±


    ¡°I want the other groups to go up and find the north and south poles as well as the equatorial belt if those things exist here. I then want you to split into your two groups and circle the world, mapping it. One group go north and the other south. I want to know the entire geography of the planet. I need to know the shape of the continents, islands, oceans, seas, rivers and the general areas of the various biomes. I want to know the basics of the undersea terrain also.¡±


    Kaori stopped with a sudden realization. What were the limitations of their powers? ¡°I just thought about it and I realized I never asked. Do you all breathe? Are you able to go underwater?¡±


    As everyone present was nodding their heads yes, even Yaju, she went on. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, can you all travel into outer space? If you can, then the mapping might go a lot quicker than I thought. I generally just want to know about the underwater ridges and mountains but knowing where any reefs and shallows are would also be good. It would help Yaju¡¯s team when they started looking at the aquatic biosphere.¡±


    ¡°After those two teams have finished mapping, I want them to look into the planet¡¯s geology. I want to know where various deposits of minerals can be found. For now, focusing on the early-stage metals like tin and copper would be fine. Eventually, I¡¯m going to want to know where every decently sized mineral deposit is so I can set up development plans and figure out if the local inhabitants can follow the same course of development that earth¡¯s various cultures took.¡±


    ¡°If any of you need me, I will be in or around the elven villages trying to get an idea of how to bring about their development. Also, take these to speed up the mapping and surveying processes.¡± Kaori reached out her hand towards the large translucent sphere and three palm sized spheres separated from it and flew into her palm.


    ¡°Each team take one of these to make the mapping faster. They will connect to the main globe remotely and they can be expanded and also zoomed in. You can log the exploration onto the map mentally. Take your time at this and do a good job. I¡¯ll be able to talk to each of you remotely if I need to, now that I know your names.¡± Kaori gave them a friendly smile. She felt much better now that she had some idea of what to do, even if it was just how to look for what to do next.

 Elsewhere 3

    Tanju was in a really bad situation. He knew without a doubt that this was the worst situation he had ever faced. In front of him were a set of condemned prisoners just arrived from the outskirts of the empire. Each one of them was a ¡°Schtut¡±, a worshipper of a false god who had stood in the face of their captors and declared that they would never convert. These people were just getting to meet their false gods a little sooner and see what they actually were.


    Tanju had always believed this in the past and wasn¡¯t shaken in his belief until this moment. What changed? Sitting, huddled amongst the other captives in the caged wagon were a pair of children. They couldn¡¯t have been more than ten seasonal cycles old. There were no adults there with them, just a brother being held by his older sister. For the first time in his life he didn¡¯t feel that the law should apply to these two.


    This was a predicament for the adherent of the god of law. How could he, a caller of the laws and orderer of the empire not follow the law? The punishment for any Shtut was to be publicly executed on the landing of the temple complex. The reason was so that the priests could ask for the gods to find the soul of the blasphemer and give them another chance once they saw what their false gods actually were.


    That was the official reason. The real reason it was done there was so the military could brag about all the lands they had conquered. Aside from that, the clergy would incite the people to loathe the condemned for their inability to see their false gods for what they were. Once the people were agitated enough, the clergy would sell prayer sigils.


    Tanju wasn¡¯t among the clergy who sold the sigils but he was often among the clergy offering inciteful words against those who wouldn¡¯t follow the laws. That¡¯s how he knew about the prayer sigils. He always considered them to be a little cruel. The sigils were small ornaments of paper and lace with a prayer inscription on them. The ornament hung from a string attached to a vaddath quill.


    Those who bought the sigils would line up and pick a Schtut to attach their prayers to. They would literally stab the quill into the often squirming blasphemers¡¯ skin. The Schtut were always hung naked with their hands and legs splayed apart. The adherents would pin the sigils all over them in the bloody ritual. At sunset the Schtuts would all have their throats slit in a sendoff to their false gods.


    Normally Tanju had no problem with this treatment of these vocal blasphemers but the idea of children being condemned the same way didn¡¯t sit right. Children didn¡¯t have enough time to form their own opinions and beliefs. They also had a long life where they should be able to make a better decision.


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    Tanju passed them along after noting down the number of Schtut in the cart. Later he went to the temple library and looked for any exemptions to the law. What he found disheartened him. Any who were condemned as Schtut were to face judgement without exception.


    Not content to just sit by and do nothing, he went to the temple holding cells and dismissed the guard while he ¡°Offered the condemned a prayer of blessing to meet the true gods¡±.


    As soon as the guards left he went right to the cell the kids were in and called to them. The little brother was too afraid to come near but the girl came to the bars. He talked with her about why they were there and what he learned horrified him.


    The girl had been propositioned by one of the soldiers and told that it was her duty to the gods to offer herself up. the soldier not getting a response that he wanted told her that she needed to follow the teachings of the gods if she wanted to protect her brother. It was a blatant threat and a lie!


    Then the girl recounted how her brother spat on the guard and yelled ¡°who would want to follow your rotten gods!¡± The soldier had been quick to thrash them and then had his way with her anyway. When they woke up, they were in the wagon. The guard had sent them off as Schtut to cover his crime.


    Tanju had a cold sinking feeling the more he heard. This wasn¡¯t right at all. He had to do something. There was the problem of all the other prisoners in the cell or he would just let the pair out. He made up his mind and grabbed the keys. He was breaking the law by letting any of them loose so what was a few more!


    He called out to the gathered prisoners and told them to be quiet and he would lead them out. He unlocked the door to the cell and began leading them all out of the temple grounds. Once they got out they would be safe! They could blend into the commoners and disappear.


    They were making good progress. They had already made it about three quarters of the way out of the temple when he rounded a corner and came face to face with a guard soldier. The soldier made a face upon seeing the prisoners and asked what he thought he was doing.


    ¡°I was¡­¡± he had turned to look at the prisoners and try to come up with an excuse, any excuse! The words wouldn¡¯t come though. It wasn¡¯t that he couldn¡¯t think of anything to say, he couldn¡¯t get any more words out of his mouth.


    It wasn¡¯t until then that the terrified expression of the children registered. They weren¡¯t looking at him but at the face of the guard. Suddenly Tanju felt a tightness in his chest and looked down to see the end of a sword sticking out of it, accompanied by a lot of blood.


    The last thing he remembered was hearing the guard jovially mocking him while the children and other prisoners screamed. ¡°That¡¯s why you never turn your back on a Schtut, they just might put a blade in it. And would you look at that, the ones that attacked the priest were the same ones that mocked me! Well, looks like this lot won¡¯t make it to the trial. Can¡¯t have any witnesses saying that you didn¡¯t give them weapons when you clearly did now can I?¡±


    ¡°You are banished to the void. This is the law for those who break my laws!¡±

 Chapter 9 – A Godly Perspective

    Kaori watched as the twelve of them left and heaved a small sigh of relief. Now alone with her thoughts she sat down at the low table and pondered what she was supposed to do. The stated goal was for her to progress and manage the planet and its inhabitants but she needed to create a business plan for reaching that goal. She pondered her claim that Yaju¡¯s words might be the right path to her goal. Maybe she did just need a new perspective. If only there were a manual for all of this.


    Then it struck her as pretty obvious, there was a manual for all of this. She realized that she had dropped the book or set it down somewhere because it wasn¡¯t there when she was talking to the angels and demons. As she was wracking her brain to try remembering where she might have set it down, she got a shock. Sitting on the wicker-like branch table in front of her was the book she was worried about.


    A realization occurred to her, the book had vanished and appeared at her intent without her even commanding it to. If it could do that then she probably couldn¡¯t loose it at all. For now she settled in and began reading it. There was a little bit of an introduction by the author who went by the name Seraph. In that introduction, Seraph explained that the book would provide all the necessary tools to set a world up any way that the god in charge of it wanted. Press the pause button on the front cover and the world would stop. Make any changes to the world you might see fit and then press the play button on the back cover.


    It was pretty simple in that regard but there was a little catch. The items and powers in the book came at a cost. There was some system among gods that let them barter and trade for goods and services. What would an all-powerful god or goddess want that they couldn¡¯t just make? Worship. The book went into detail about the system of worship points. The points would be based off of the fervent prayer of worshippers and in much the same way that paper money and coinage had no true value, the worship from devotees of a deity had no real bearing on that deity. The value they had was in making the deity accountable to their worshippers in order to get their prayers.


    These prayers and devotions could be monitored and quantified independent of the deity they were being sent to. By having an independent monitoring system in place ahead of time, the deity to whom worship was lauded would accumulate worship points and the system was set up eons before the creation of the universe by the original gods. These beings known in the earliest texts went simply by the Old Ones but the gods that came later called them many various things. The most used of these names was the elder gods.


    These and a handful of other things were covered by Seraph in the introductory pages. The most pressing of these facts was that this book itself worked like a credit account. All the items would be immediately available but would put the deity in question into immediate debt.


    As if to reinforce this point there was a free gift on the last page of the introduction. It was a small spell that would bind to the deity and allow them to summon a floating account of their current finances as it were. Kaori found this to be a bit annoying and yet comical in a way. She activated the spell and it floated off of the page and solidified into a ring that she then slid onto her thumb. After activating the ring¡¯s spell she was surprised to find that her account actually had a small positive balance and remembered the look of reverence on the faces of the elves. So that was how it worked!


    The rest of the book read like a catalog. There was a glossary after the introduction and it had the rest of the book separated into categories of things that a deity could purchase for their world or worlds. Kaori skimmed briefly through some of the rest of the pages before turning back to the glossary to look at it more carefully. From her glance she could tell that each page contained one or more items and most had a moving illustration.


    The glossary had twelve categories of items that could be purchased. The categories were animals, energies, features, help, histories, magic, materials, monsters, phenomena, powers, races, and relics. Each of the categories had sub-categories under them as well. While most of the different categories seemed to be fairly self-explanatory, Kaori found some to be perplexing and so she flipped to the first of these mystery sections.


    It turns out that the term energies refers to just that. In the section of energies a deity could purchase new types of energy or controls to the existing ones. Kaori found electricity as one of them and was a little perplexed. Why would anybody need to buy lightning when it was a part of nature.


    Suddenly, a stark realization came to her and she looked around in wonder that she had missed such a simple observation. There was not a single cloud in the sky as far as the eye could see out any of the windows or doors. She left the tree house and flew up a bit into the sky then focused on her sight and as she figured she was able to zoom her sight in on the farthest distances. There were no clouds in any direction and no lightning as a result or perhaps lightning wasn¡¯t necessarily a result of water vapor after all! She was stunned to realize that these elves had never even seen a cloud in all their lives much less experienced a thunderstorm.


    Returning to her book, she then flipped to the most questionable section. She had a real hope for what she might find in the Help section of the book. She was thinking that it might be manuals for how to proceed in building a world. What she found was completely not what she was expecting. The help section was a help for hire section of various gods, helpers, and even various eldritch beings advertising their services for an expected salary in worship points.


    Each of the pictures seemed a little creepy to her at first glance since they all seemed to follow her with their eyes. A moment later she got a real fright when one of the pictures of a fancy looking demonic woman wearing a lot of jewelry spoke to her. ¡°Don¡¯t even bother looking at my posting. I¡¯m out of your price range newbie. I only work for established deities.¡±


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    Suddenly it all became clear to her. The pictures in this section were a two way communication window that would let the deity interview the prospective help on the spot before hiring them. She decided to respond to the demoness out of gratitude for helping her realize this before she spoke out of turn about one of the prospects in one of the pictures. ¡°Thank you for your honesty. I will keep that in mind if I need help in the future and you are still available.¡±


    Kaori then flipped through the help section and noticed that there seemed to be a lot more pages than should fit in a book the size of the one she was holding. Shrugging this off as just another mystery of the divine she flipped back to the glossary and another neat trick was revealed. If she had a particular spot int the book in mind it would flip directly to that page without her having to search for it.


    She was curious what was meant by features but the sub categories in the glossary answered that pretty well. There were afterlife features, dimensional features, ocean features, sky features, spatial features, structural features, subterranean features, and terrain features. Kaori was very glad that she had the foresight to have her subordinates survey the terrain. Then it hit her and she was even more glad that she had been sent here with subordinates in the first place.


    A cursory glance at each of the sub-categories was enough to give a general idea of what the category was all about. Histories was a section that would add a complete past for any creature, item, phenomena, or even a whole world. It would implant this history into the memory of any who had reason and age enough to know of it as well. All very convenient and it came with all the appropriate items and such that would scatter through your world. But there was a catch, they were expensive as all get out.


    The magic section had a number of different systems of magic that could be purchased and even had spirits and the like that could be added in. she decided she would look over that section in detail later. Earth didn¡¯t have any magic as far as she knew so she was very interested to see what kinds of magic there were in the book. If she bought one of the systems in the book then that type of magic would be available in the world and she could see it in action. She pondered for a moment what would happen if she bought multiple systems of magic. She then remembered that there would be a price for these things.


    Materials was a section that had different raw resources that could be scattered throughout the world. There was even a section on magic materials and one on divine materials. The phenomena section had various things like automatic spawn points for creatures of all types, wellsprings of various different types of powers like magic, bizarre things like floating islands and dimensional rifts, and even a section on dungeons. How fantasy could you get!


    The powers section turned out to be a section devoted to the imbuing of different kinds of powers on creatures, divine helpers, and even deities themselves. These powers were extremely costly and it looked to her as though most of them would only be things that she could get later or go severely into debt for. She decided she was going to have to study that section in detail before making her final plans. Some of them might be worth incurring the debt.


    The relics section was something she wasn¡¯t expecting to find but it turned out that you could put these powerful items in your world. The effects of each was cost appropriate but they were all things that might be beyond the skill of a god to create on their own. The big draw of this section was that the items were individually rather cheap where most of the other sections were full of things that would rack up a sizable amount of debt real quick.


    Animals, monsters, and races were each different categories so she expected to find that the races would be sentient. Already she knew that she could expect to find dwarves, elves, humans and apparently, something called anthromorphs in that section. When she turned to the section she was rather surprised to find that it was so small. There were only eight races available. None of them went by the names she was used to.


    Arc-ans, Arc-els, Arc-sens, Arc-toks, Arc-niels, Arc-tals, Arc-fens, Arc-mels. None of those names meant anything to her but the accompanying pictures helped, she only wished they weren¡¯t all nude pictures of a male and female of said species next to each other. Apparently the eight species for sale were angels, elves, fairies, dwarves, humans, giants, ogres, and demons. There was a conspicuous lack of the cat eared anthromorphs, the species that the god Descartes was apparently descended from. She wondered briefly if the Egyptian gods were like him before reeling her thoughts back in.


    What could it mean? There was a race that was obviously not represented in this manual. Once she thought about it she began wondering if the demons she had working for her were the ones in the book and flipped there. The picture of them was of a very generic looking mannequin demonoid with leathery wings and red eyes. Hers were apparently not the same species or so she thought. She began reading the description and found her answer. It described the abilities of a demon as being able to morph and adapt to the job for which they were assigned. It also said that all demons could be reassigned roles by a deity with an appropriate level of authority over them.


    There were a few examples of roles that could be assigned including demon overlords. Apparently, a deity could give a demon a huge powerup just by assigning a more powerful role to them. The highest form they could take was dark god. So if she chose a pantheon route, the demons would become far more powerful just because she told them to be. Quite the neat trick there. She would have to keep that in mind for the future, it would make a really good reward for hard work but she would have to give careful consideration before she chose to give any of them that level of power.


    She went through and read the listing for every one of the species available and was about to turn back to the glossary when she realized there was another page in front of the first species in the section. She turned to that and found her answer. She could buy a separate manual for a pittance that would let her choose from a huge number of civilized races that would range from simple variants of the eight original species created by the ancient gods all the way to the truly bizarre. It listed there anthromorphs and eldritch horrors by another name.


    The cost of the supplement to the manual was only five worship points and her account had a little over three hundred. She went ahead and activated the spell for the purchase of the supplement and was surprised when the races section suddenly bulked up right there in her hand. So that was how it worked, any additions to the manual would simply appear within the cover upon purchase.


    After browsing for a few minutes through the expansion, she came to a realization. Everything in the manual was rather expensive and if she went overboard she would be forever getting it all paid off. She wasn¡¯t sure if there were any interest charges but she suspected that was how it worked. There was probably a section of fine print somewhere that listed all of the various charges and fees associated with using the services and it was probably all rather expensive but for now she was getting restless.

 chapter 10

    Kaori had been reading for hours and had yet to actually make any progress on figuring out what she was supposed to do. There were no manuals for sale on starting a world either. She might be able to hire someone from the help section but she doubted she could afford it. Closing the book she looked over at the globe that was slowly getting new landmass revelations and a lot of water too. Past that was the window showing the sunset.


    She went to bed thinking about the things she could do to get some ideas for where to go with this world. It seemed that everything was totally up to the deity in charge of the world to decide what direction the world would take. She would have to find the direction for the world to progress along without any help. She thought about Yaju¡¯s contribution, a new perspective. After pondering for a bit, she decided that she would just go about it literally. Starting in the morning she would go observe the elves and see if she could gain some insight by watching them from new perspectives. With that decided she basically ordered herself to fall asleep, being a goddess did indeed come with certain perks.


    The next day Kaori awoke a little before dawn just as she had intended. The whole waking and sleeping at will thing was really handy. She quickly and silently descended to the village nearby below and willed her presence to be unnoticeable. There were already a few of the inhabitants stirring. She spotted a few hunters leaving for the nearby woods and several of the women were carrying hollow bones and gourd-like fruit husks to the nearby river. It was a glimpse of daily life for a primitive tribe and she was hoping it might give her the much-needed insight to figure out what to do next.


    She spent the whole day wandering about in the village just watching the activities of the inhabitants. There were a group who left a little after dawn to look for nuts and berries and hunters were returning throughout the day. It seemed that food was what occupied the largest number of individuals throughout the day. All of the hunters were using the crudest of spears and the gatherers were using whatever they could find around to hold their findings from the forest. The tribe barely had anything for clothing and many tribe members went completely nude. Kaori realized that if there was no rain then they would likely never figure out how to make clothing or proper shelter.


    There were other little bits of insight like this but overall, she didn¡¯t get the answer she was after. That night she returned to her treehouse and checked the globe and found that both teams had circled the globe on opposite sides and had filled in a large chunk of the area around the equator. They seemed to be heading to the poles next and might be filling in the map from there. Any way they wanted to do things was fine by her. She noted that her current position was just a little south of the equator and when she looked, she could see a lot of tiny writing on the globe right there.


    Looking closer, she found that it was detailed info about the local vegetation and wildlife in the area. Even as she looked another tiny paragraph appeared on the map and she realized that Yaju¡¯s group was nearby working on that. She had learned a lot today but she still needed to figure out what to do with the world. Tomorrow she would look at the next village over.


    Before dawn the next day she was standing in the intended village and watching everything they did. She repeated this process for each village in turn and at the last of the five day visits she went to the large tribe near the sea. This was indeed a bigger tribe by almost three times the size of any of the others. In a hut-like structure near the center of the village was the village shaman. Kaori went straight to this place first. There on a matt of broad leaves was a sleeping girl who looked to be in her early teens or perhaps even preteen. Kaori kneeled down next to her to wait for her to awaken. It didn¡¯t take long. Kaori wasn¡¯t trying to hide her presence and apparently the girl could feel her there watching her in her sleep, quite interesting!


    As soon as the girl began to stir, she turned her head and looked straight at Kaori. There was no question that she was looking her in the eyes right at that moment. Kaori willed herself to be fully visible to the girl who was stark naked except for a loose leaf wrap that sort of resembled a fundoshi. She jerked awake and backed away and as she was doing so Kaori noticed that her ears really did droop like a dog¡¯s ears when she was frightened.


    Kaori didn¡¯t get up or move beyond looking at her with as gentle a smile as she could manage. The young shaman took a second to come to her senses then she looked around to make sure of her surroundings before asking the simple question. ¡°Who are you?¡±


    Kaori bowed her head just slightly and introduced herself. ¡°My name is Kaori and I am the head goddess of the world. I came to apologize for my lustful lesser god who scared you the other day. I will make sure that he isn¡¯t allowed to do anything to you so you needn¡¯t be frightened anymore. I¡¯m afraid that Yaju is more of a wild beast than a proper god but there are others to watch him now.¡±


    With her first few words the young girl seemed to wither with fright. The more Kaori spoke the longer the girl seemed unable to catch her breath until she almost seemed to be turning blue. She hastily bowed her head to the dirt as though she thought that Kaori would eat her if she looked at her for too long. Kaori reached out and lifted the young elf girl¡¯s face from the packed dirt of the floor then spoke to her. ¡°I don¡¯t mind your reverence but when I come to you alone, I would prefer that you just listen and talk to me like I was a member of the tribe. Aside from apologizing for Yaju, I also wanted to let you know that I¡¯m going to be around the village for a few days but if you see me or sense me just pretend you didn¡¯t and don¡¯t let anybody else pay me any attention if they seem to notice me. Okay? I will probably only be in your village for a few days then I will go back. I just need to see a few things for myself. Can you do that for me?¡±


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    The girl was nodding so emphatically that Kaori thought she might break her neck. Smiling she placed her hand to the girl¡¯s cheek with a warm smile. ¡°It¡¯s okay, be calm. I¡¯ll be off now but just remember what I asked of you, okay?¡± With a final smile, Kaori hovered off the floor before unfolding her legs and then willed herself to become invisible to everyone. The girl rubbed her eyes for a second then began looking around. For the whole day the girl walked around the village looking for Kaori with her eyes while poorly pretending not to. As a reward, every couple hours, she would get a fleeting glimpse of Kaori, who wanted to see if she would make some overt reaction. Despite the constant teasing, the girl never alerted any of the other villagers.


    Kaori decided on one more big prank just for the fun of it. The poor shaman searched high and low for the last several hours of the day with no luck. Unbeknown to her, Kaori had swiped a berry from one of the food baskets a bit earlier and retreated for the evening. The girl finally gave up and returned to her hut and there she received the biggest shock. There in the corner of her hut was a bed made of literally a woven berry bush, full of fruit along three sides and laying in said bed was the goddess herself.


    Kaori couldn¡¯t contain the mischievous smile from crossing her face. As greetings go, only one would do in this situation. ¡°Yo!¡± As the shocked shaman settled in for the night, Kaori prepared for a fun evening of girl talk. While she might be a goddess, she wasn¡¯t forbidden in any way from talking to her subjects or even picking a favorite.


    Unfortunately, all her watching and even her talk with the shaman girl, Atha, didn¡¯t give her the insight she needed to decide what direction to take with the world. Going back to her previous plan she tried a new perspective.


    The next morning, she told Atha that she was going to use her for a day or two but she probably wouldn¡¯t even know she was there. When the panicky girl asked what she meant, Kaori simply walked into her body and then melded inside her where she took up residence for a couple days. While there she experienced everything that the girl did without having any control over the events. She did this with a couple of the other tribesmen as well but in the end it didn¡¯t give her any new ideas.


    The next day she tried the same thing except as a tree on the edge of the village. It was an odd perspective being so tall and yet so passive. She considered perhaps just watching the villagers do their thing without interfering but quickly decided that wasn¡¯t the answer since Yaju had done pretty much just that. The next day she tried melding into the ground and looking out from there like she was part of the planet. Then she tried flipping her orientation over and walking the same surfaces as the villagers but from underneath the ground. This perspective reminded her of a time she was playing a demo of a poorly coded RPG and her character fell through the map. It still didn¡¯t give her any ideas or at least none about how to run the worlds.


    She decided to go way above the villages and look down on the activity of all the villages at once. She had proven that she would be able to zoom her vision in on anything of interest so this was just one more new perspective to try. She zoomed into the sky and looked down at the villages. She had to go higher a couple times because the fifth village, the one by the sea, was a bit farther from the others than she thought. Finally, she was in place to settle in and watch them all for a while.


    She felt that something was missing and after searching for the answer for a couple minutes she realized that she was missing her office chair. An odd revelation but she decided that if a little comfort was what it took to get herself in the right frame of mind, then she should see about fixing that. She summoned her book and looked through it. Sure enough, in the relic section was an entry called mundane artifacts from another world. She quickly read the description and there were two types, specific and random and the price varied for each based on the level of advancement and amount of materials needed for the item. She thought of her office chair from her work and the price was seven worship points but only because the level of advancement was so far ahead of this world¡¯s that it cost six points. The base cost of the materials was only one point. She bought it without hesitation.


    Now seated in her office chair looking down on the world with her arms crossed she noticed several things. First, all the villages were within forests that grew around a river and a sea. There was almost no vegetation anywhere except around the water supplies and she vowed to herself to buy a weather system for the planet if nothing else. Next she noticed that the continent was hexagonal looking. She summoned her globe and confirmed, all the land masses were hexagonal and evenly spaced as well as evenly sized. Looking over the map she noticed that the mapping was complete but there was very little data except that on the map. There was a little bit of metal here and there but not a lot.


    Whoever made this world had done a really lazy job. It was almost like looking at an incomplete alpha test of an RPG from one of the software companies she used to staff. The world had almost no development to it. She pondered this comparison and realized it was almost like she was looking at the map of one of her turn based 4X games. She could almost imagine the concept of the game. Each continent had a different starting point on it and every one of them was a potential ally or enemy.


    Realization hit her with an almost electric jolt. That was it! She could set the whole world up as a giant game and it would be much easier to visualize a direction for things to proceed in. She began to see ideas for new directions, new twists, new secret paths, and a host of other options. It all started to make sense to her! She had found her inspiration and found that the path going forward was a lot easier than she had thought it would be.

 Elsewhere 4

    It was a stupid attempt! Garros knew that before he ever started trying to hide it. The military were the ones who had funded the research and that meant that they already knew of it. Still.


    Garros looked around again, trying to find anything that he could light a fire with! If he could just get a fire started, he could burn all records of this bastard of a research project. It was the dead of night and he was here in his colleague¡¯s research lab trying to burn it down. It would have been so much easier if he had fire magic instead of light magic!


    Garros wasn¡¯t jealous of the research, he was terrified by it. His former apprentice had come to him for help and instead he had been berated. Garros could still remember the look of pain on the boy¡¯s face when Garros called him a monster for committing such vile research. It couldn¡¯t be helped, it was true and the research was worse than Garros had read.


    The military wanted weapons to use against the Cernians. They wanted sabatours and infiltrators who could wreak havoc inside the enemy¡¯s home territory. This was a line of research that should never have been attempted, but a young magic researcher looking for a name would be easily persuaded to try this sort of thing.


    As a follower of the god of knowledge, he was supposed to be neutral and open to any knowledge. That was easier said than done Garros found out. The research in question was over a spell that would corrupt the caster¡¯s soul and invite demons into them. The caster would gain a sudden burst of power and ability. The cost though, well, the caster would go insane and go on a rampage. They would kill anyone they came across in the most brutal way possible!


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    The little bastard had been casting it on unsuspecting victims in the city. He was the one responsible for the recent deaths. And then he wanted Garros to collude with him to finalize this abominable spell. His idea was to have suicide mages infiltrate enemy cities and cast the inflicted spell as often as possible before being caught, then cast it on themselves. The military loved it and couldn¡¯t wait to claim it.


    Speaking of the military, that¡¯s them outside the building. Just when Garros finally got a fire started in here the military had to show up! Damn it, how would he get out of here now? He hoped maybe if he went to the top of the building he could jump across.


    When he got up the stairs, the top of the building was already burning in a lot of places. He looked at the side that wasn¡¯t burning and when he got close, an arrow spell just missed his head. If he was to survive, he would have to run across the roof and jump from the opposite side.


    As he was running across the roof it suddenly shuddered and the whole section he was on plunged into the flaming torrent waiting below. After the sudden shock of a bone breaking landing, Garros realized that he wasn¡¯t dead but he was dying. He had a spear of timber through him and smoke and flame were everywhere. He decided now would be a good time to pray. What he felt made him cold despite the flames all around him. He couldn¡¯t feel any connection to the god of knowledge¡­

 Chapter 11 – Beginning the Job

    Kaori, having found her way forward, made haste to get started. Step one, she needed to find out if the idea was feasible. Step two through everything else would come after that. She descended to her house like a meteor crashing to the ground. On the way she called each of the teams and told them to assemble for a strategy meeting. By the time she got to the trees she could see the outline of an entire plan. She could also see both of the geo groups in the distance and once she got even with her house, she could see Yaju¡¯s group inside.


    The moment she stepped through the door, she noticed the swollen purplish color of Yaju¡¯s eye and when she noticed the direction of Kaori¡¯s gaze Einoro looked off to the side and began whistling while Yaju still managed to get a grin on his face. Kaori was about to ask about the circumstances around the black eye but decided she would leave that one alone. Just at that moment she began to hear the furiously flapping wings of the other eight.


    Once all of her subordinates were present, Kaori began the meeting. ¡°Sorry to pull you all away from your assignments but I need to consult with all of you about an idea for proceeding forward. Thanks to a suggestion by Yaju, I was able to come up with an idea for how to proceed forward. I need to know from all of you if you think it can be pulled off and if you have any insight into ways to do so.¡±


    ¡°I went looking for new perspectives to gain inspiration. While I was looking down from space, I noticed something interesting. *Kaori points to the globe and has it spin around to display the continent with the elves. * The continents as you all discovered are all hexagonal and evenly spaced over the surface of the world. I saw that the only places there were any vegetation were at the edges of the continents and along the edges of the few seas and the river on this continent.¡±


    ¡°This world is very incomplete. It doesn¡¯t even have weather! But, thanks to the continents looking the way they do, I saw a similarity to early development stages of 4X games I¡¯ve worked on or played. That gave me the idea, what if I made the world in the image of one of the fantasy 4X games? Think we could pull that off? I know that there are some that you can set them up and just let them run on their own and the various factions would build and develop civilizations by themselves. Maybe, if we gave them enough starting points and varied factions, we could get them to compete and challenge each other to build bigger and more advanced societies? Thoughts?¡±


    Yaju looked around at the faces of everyone else and suddenly he felt very left out. He could tell that everybody except him understood what the great goddess had just said. Resigning himself, he bowed and spoke to her. ¡°Begging your pardon great Fujiwara-sama, I have no idea what you are talking about. I hope that my lack of understanding and therefor lack of opinion doesn¡¯t hinder your plans.¡±


    Kaori considered this for a moment but came up blank as to a solution. Everyone else began to mutter to each-other and spin the idea in different directions but the outlook was positive. *I¡¯m afraid that without a gaming console, I won¡¯t be able to explain it to you very well, Yaju. I will see what I can do about making it clearer later but for now I¡¯m going to have to exclude you from the conversation to a degree. I imagine that you will catch on to most of it and you¡¯ll be able to jump in wherever you feel comfortable.¡±


    The talks went on for hours and both the angels and demons had a lot to contribute. Yaju managed to understand a great deal of the plans but he never understood what a video game was. Kaori however, now had her plans set and knew exactly what she wanted to do going forward. All that was left was to execute the plans as they had laid them out.


    As the talks progressed, idea seemed to Kaori to be doomed to failure because she wouldn¡¯t have enough gods and goddesses to handle all the other things she had in mind. She very much doubted if she would be able to keep track of it all.


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    Just as she was about to give up and rework the whole plan in a simplified fashion, Belle spoke up. ¡°Kaori-sama? While I certainly don¡¯t want to give away my chance at becoming a full goddess, I can tell that you need more help than just the twelve of us. Why not recruit people from different worlds to be gods? I just hope that you will keep us in the head of the line for godhood. Also, I saw a paragraph in the book you were given about new gods. I don¡¯t know if it balances out or not but it said you would be given a small hiring bonus to offset the price of each new god or goddess. If they still give you that bonus, despite not hiring gods from the book, you would come out a little bit ahead by doing this.¡±


    Kaori pondered this but the thought kept getting snagged on a certain god¡¯s words. ¡°Didn¡¯t Descartes Malefecto say that people from other worlds aren¡¯t supposed to end up in other worlds but go to the afterlife of the deity that runs that world? If that¡¯s how it works how can we recruit people? I don¡¯t get that part.¡±


    Belle smirked but Miriphon beat her to the explanation. ¡°That is true but there is a catch. Do you recall that Jesus went to perdition and destroyed it? That was a place for souls that were not in good standing with God the father upon their death. They were faithful but had missed the mark by some act of sin and couldn¡¯t enter heaven until Jesus pardoned their sin through his death.¡±


    ¡°In the same way, if a person from another world is a faithful to a deity but blasphemes soon before death, then that person is unable to enter the afterlife of that deity. Their soul becomes exiled to some version of perdition. The Greek gods had limbo and there was some version of it for each of the differing pantheons of earth. All we have to do is go there and poach souls from the various exile points and see if we can find any that meet your requirements.¡±


    Kaori saw a path through her trouble and forged ahead. ¡°If that¡¯s how it is then I want as many candidates as possible. I want all of you to be thorough and interview each soul to get a notion of their personality and what strengths and weaknesses they have. I want to put each one in charge of a place that they will excel. I also will want each of you to fill one out so I can make all of you gods of something you would be good at. If this is done right it sounds like it will work out even better than I had imagined!¡±


    The angels and demons were all asked if they knew of any other worlds and several demons and all three angels said they did. In the end, there were only five other worlds that they knew about though since experiences overlapped. A pair was sent to each of these worlds to see about recruiting more personnel. Just before they left Kaori overheard the demons chatting and one of them playfully commented that she¡¯s glad to have the workaholic tyrant back, leaving her a little stunned. Only Yaju and Einoro remained on the world with Kaori.


    She then walked over to the globe floating in her house and created another one that looked exactly the same as the first. The second one looked a lot like a blue and tan soccer ball just with much, much smaller patches, like the first one. She then began moving the continents around with her fingers and changing the general shape of the landscape.


    The continent they were on, if you could really call the hexagonal islands that made up the landmass of this world that, was at the center of the newly formed mega-continent. She pushed all the other land masses together in a random pattern to form a large section of what now looked like a beehive. The reason it looked like that was the greenery around the edges of each hexagon giving slight definition to the edges as they were pushed together. After looking over the odd shape for a couple seconds, Kaori smiled in satisfaction and called the other two over. ¡°Einoro, I want you to rough the edges of the landmass up and randomize it a bit. Yaju, point to several random spots on the map. I¡¯m going to make mountains and lowlands and all the other terrain features of a good map.¡±


    ¡°once we¡¯re done with that we¡¯ll be breaking the map back apart into a lot of small islands around the edges, followed by an area of moderately small islands that gradually increase to larger islands, and lastly there will be three or four small continents in the center with a string of islands between them.¡±


    ¡°Yaju, I just want to confirm real quick, there are no other tribes of any kind are there?¡± As she feared, he answered immediately.

 Chapter 12

    Yaju resignedly answered back. ¡°No, Fujiwara-sama. There aren¡¯t any other tribes than the five here in the river area and next to the sea. When I had only been here a couple years, I took a journey to see what was out there and I was surprised at how little there is. I didn¡¯t have a map and didn¡¯t know how to fly like you so I had to run but I run fast and don¡¯t get tired. Everywhere I ran was either the river, forest, desert, sea, or the coast. There were forests growing right at the edges of the coast and the water isn¡¯t salted the way it was described in an old underman tome I read once about the travels of one explorer in my old world. No matter where I looked though, there were no other people than the forest people. I think you called them elves or something? I was really hoping to find a clan of undermen back then.¡±


    Kaori could almost feel the pain and longing in his voice and decided to comfort him a bit. ¡°I don¡¯t know how this world came to be the way it is but I was given the ability to change it as I see fit. I don¡¯t know why you weren¡¯t given that¡­ you weren¡¯t given a book like this?¡±


    Upon summoning her book, Yaju looked at her book and though hard before shaking his head. ¡°I don¡¯t remember getting any book from anyone. That beastperson god Descartes came here a couple of times to tell me I wasn¡¯t doing things right and that I would be replaced if I didn¡¯t change things but he never gave me the time to ask how and he never gave me a book. At least, I don¡¯t think he ever did.¡±


    Kaori though about it for a second and decided to try something. ¡°Yaju, look at my book and think about having one like it of your own. Imagine having it in your hand and then command the book you imagined to appear there. I doubt it will but just as a test, give it a try.¡±


    While she held her book up, Yaju studied it carefully. After a couple seconds he closed his eyes and held out his hand. A second later a book that looked very much like her own appeared in his hand, much to his and her own surprise! ¡°You did it! You do have one. May I see it for a second?¡±


    Still stunned by the sudden development, Yaju mutely handed the thick volume to her. Kaori opened the front cover that had a different symbol held in a large gem in its center. There were a lot of words written there and it looked a lot like the introductory page of her own but the language it was written in was nothing she had ever seen before. All the letters looked like small explosions or something similar. Yaju inhaled sharply when he saw it but after only a moment, all the letters writhed on the page and suddenly they were Kana.


    The change happened so quick that Kaori almost missed it. After the change, Kaori saw the words written across the top of the page and her heart sunk. They read ¡°Volume obsolete, Power retracted. You are no longer the main god and can no longer access the abilities of this manual. For a second after she saw him summon the manual, Kaori had hoped that both her and Yaju would be able to use the manuals to speed up the process somehow but it turns out that his manual became obsolete when she arrived.


    Suddenly, she had a lot more sympathy for him. it wasn¡¯t his fault after all. Kaori could never stand a boss that expected their employees to do a task with no proper training at all on the task they wanted done. She had worked extra hard in the past to make sure she never asked those working under her to do things they didn¡¯t know how to do. Several times she had been on the receiving end of that treatment and because of that she made sure not to do it to others.


    She resolved to treat Yaju with a little more courtesy since she now knew the reason he failed so badly. She silently handed the book back to him. when he took the manual from her hand, she saw the text on the page revert back to the odd marks from before. ¡°So, is that the language of the, let¡¯s see, Undermen, was it? I wonder, do you know why it looks like that? My own language is derived thousands of years ago, from pictures of various things and I just wondered if yours was similar somehow?¡±


    Yaju looked at the text on the page and Einoro peeked over his shoulder looking between his book and Kaori¡¯s. ¡°The underman script is derived from marks made in stone by the blade of picks and shovels. If you have just a bit of practice with the pick, you can leave messages for other people to read marked on the wall. Originally, the underman words were just a few simple signs like watch out, danger, metal, and various directions but over time it became more and more complex until it became the text we use today. I think that took thousands of years like your own did but I don¡¯t know that much about it. I have written messages on the walls of new tunnels though and it¡¯s very easy to use like that.¡±


    Kaori pondered the possibilities of underman history for a second before shaking her head. With her job being what it was, she was going to have to be careful not to let her Otaku side get in the way. It would be too easy for her to go on a tangent and loose track of the tings she was working on. ¡°I have some good news for you, Yaju. There will be undermen from now on. I will be buying a tribe of undermen for the planet. I also plan to buy all the other peoples that I can.¡±


    As she said that she flipped her book open to the section with the species available for purchase. This section contained a lot of information about each of the different species but there were only eight available. She began reading carefully in the introductory section of the chapter. It didn¡¯t take her very long to find her answer to that question. In that section it explained that the great old ones had created eight prime archetypes of life. No god knew which of the great old ones were responsible for which archetypes because the old ones never said.


    The prime archetypes were all intelligent and had individual souls that could be reused in future generations and could even grow and split to make these intelligent species evolve and grow. Their abilities would be able to grow and they would be able to learn to do new things. There were other creatures made by the great old ones but they were made with lesser souls that couldn¡¯t evolve or learn much. Then the great old ones left and the new gods began to try imitating what they had done.


    The reason that more types of intelligent life existed than the eight prime archetypes is because some of the new gods figured out a way to mix them with the various other creatures and with each other. The pairing of these dissimilar species created new species that were still intelligent and could still grow. The manual stated that with experience, a god would be able to mix species of their own. It was here that Kaori discovered an option to purchase the expanded species portion of the chapter. She decided to come back to that and kept reading.


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    Then one of the new gods discovered that by combining a lot of the lesser creatures together that they could make creatures that were semi-intelligent. These were the first monsters and they were usually violent and irrational, owing to the nature of their amalgamated souls. These souls held the ability to grow but just barely. They could however, split and reproduce the same as an archetype soul.


    Finally, one of the new gods tried to combine multiple archetypes into an amalgamated creature. The only success was the creature known as the dragon. From this one success, several variants were produced and this creature did show more capability than the archetypes they were derived from but as with all the other amalgamated souls, they were unstable and irrational, prone to violence and fits. In a creature of great power, instability is not a good thing and dragons tend to be solitary for this reason. They also contain part of the soul of every archetype and thus are able to create lesser species by mating with any other species. In order to keep them from going out of control and destroying everything, all but the first dragons were given a permanent curse upon creation that would make them sleep for long periods of time.


    After reading this section of the manual, Kaori was in full Otaku mode. She was imagining all kinds of scenarios and forming all kinds of weird plans. Einoro was simply nodding with a look of understanding as she read over Kaori¡¯s shoulder. Yaju seemed to have flipped to the same section in his own book at some point and was reading very intently from it. A look of bewilderment was on his face.


    With the introduction to species over, Kaori understood a lot more about the way things worked in the universe as a whole. This was information she could use in her new job to great effect. She didn¡¯t hesitate anymore and bought the expansion to the species section. It was a lot more than her remaining worship points but it gave her access to all the intelligent species.


    After making the purchase, she got a notification in the top corner of the page that the new section was added. She quickly flipped to it and found a huge list of new intelligent species. There she discovered a new type of mixing that wasn¡¯t listed in the introduction. Apparently, species could be mixed with elements and it would produce new species as well. The most notable examples were listings of swimming creatures mixed with the water element and flying creatures from the air element.


    She realized that the elements spoken of must be like the Chinese phases, Water, wood, fire, earth, and metal. Since there was air, she figured it might be more like the Greek elements, earth, air, fire, and water. As she read through the section, she discovered that there were species mixed with plants and some were mixed with funguses. There was no end to the things that the gods had mixed to get new species in the past.


    There was a huge number of species available to choose from but there was a very big problem with that. They were expensive! Each species was sold in three ways, single specimens that were called specials. These were the most expensive but apparently had capabilities that regular members of their species didn¡¯t have. Then there was the small batch of 100 that could be specified by percentage of either male or female in mix. Then there was large batch of 10,000 and they had the same percentage factoring. Doing some quick calculations, Kaori realized that the large batch was just a tad cheaper to buy that getting 100 small batches.


    The problem was that there were so many species that Kaori wanted to add to her world but she couldn¡¯t see a way to get them all. Even the small batches were going to put her way in the red for many eons if she bought them all. She still had to buy everything else for this world after that so there was no way she could get them all. It was like when a rare collection came out in a gatcha format. You couldn¡¯t afford to buy enough tries to get every item you wanted and were doomed to have an incomplete set. Unless you figured out some workaround.


    Kaori decided to buy the small batch of the other seven prime archetypes for now. That already put her way in the hole and she knew that she would most likely be centuries building her credit back up after this. There were also all the other things she still needed to consider. Thinking of the debt she was taking on made her very depressed. She began imagining gangs of demons or evil gods showing up and threatening to wreck your planet if you don¡¯t cough up the credit that they lent you.


    As her mind began drifting into a depressing series of diversions, a notification at the top of the page caught her attention. The notification was that her purchase was ready and had a glowing blue icon that looked to be some kind of tiny magic circle after it. She somehow knew she was supposed to touch the circle and when she did a glowing blue magic circle that looked like the one on the page appeared on the floor of her treehouse.


    The three of them approached the circle and looked at it. It was Yaju who first stepped onto it. ¡°Coming? *upon seeing the look of confusion on her face he chuckled and responded with a puzzled look of his own.* Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve never seen a teleportation circle. How did you ever get around? Don¡¯t tell me you had to walk everywhere!¡±


    Kaori began trying to explain cars to him but Einoro just smirked and told her to watch. She touched her forehead and her finger turned glowing blue then she tapped his. Kaori burst into laughter as Yaju got a dazed look on her face and then fell over on his butt. ¡°What did you do to him?¡±


    ¡°I just gave him a memory of you riding to work in your car. He will come out of his daze in a moment and he¡¯ll understand transportation on earth was way more advanced than he could ever have imagined! Humans on earth came a long way in a really short time¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a neat trick! Wait, if you could do that, why didn¡¯t you do that when he didn¡¯t understand videogames?¡±


    ¡°Well, I did consider it but which video game would you have liked me to show him and at what point in the game? Also, I don¡¯t mean to seem selfish or discontent with my previously assigned role but as the angel of diligence, I have never liked videogames. I think that Rocell would likely be better to ask that of. At least when you were using the keyboard to play videogames, it was partially in her purview of gift typing.¡±


    ¡°Videogames are almost diametrically opposed to my purview of diligence. I was the one who encouraged you to be satisfied with a job well done. I also hope that you won¡¯t come to feel that your death was my fault. I already feel guilt over you overworking yourself.¡± As she said the last part, she grabbed her arm to the side and looked away. Kaori could see tears in the corners of her eyes.


    Kaori could tell that the guilt was really getting to her. Without thinking, she stepped forward and hugged the angel, shocking them both a little. Both women stepped back from one-another but Einoro reached out and grabbed Kaori¡¯s hands and held them. ¡°Thank you, Kaori-sama.¡±


    The next moment they noticed Yaju shaking his head and they let go of each-other. ¡°Whoa! The world you come from is, is¡­ I don¡¯t even know how to describe it! I¡¯ve never seen anything like it. Not that I have much to go on but it was still amazing! Just watching as you got into the car and drove to work through the city. There were so many people and the buildings and, and¡­ I just never would have imagined something like that is all.¡±


    Kaori could only smile at him. After all, to her, that was just an everyday experience. ¡°Shall we go? Even though that was the way we traveled from place to place in my worlds where there was no magic, it¡¯s not like I don¡¯t get the notion of how teleportation circles work.¡± With that, they all stepped into the circle and were transported to another location.

 Elsewhere 5

    Cenest was enjoying the night much the same way she enjoyed every night. She might not be looked on highly by most officials and the law but they changed their tune pretty quick when night came around. Even the clergy would make regular trips to the red-light district and her bed.


    Tonight, she was having a really good night. She had already seen to three clients and the other girls in her care were doing pretty good as well. The night was still fairly early so she figured that if things kept up at this pace she might see another five or six customers before the night was over. She took a moment to thank Neir, goddess of fertility and semi-secretly the patron of prostitutes.


    Her prayer was interrupted by a scream and sounds of commotion downstairs. Cenest went down to see what the commotion was about. At the entry was a man yelling angrily and blearily at the girls. He was holding the wrist of one of her girls and seemed to be trying to drag her out the door.


    Cenest jumped in front of him and demanded that he let go. The man just punched her for her effort and yelled again. ¡°You¡¯re coming with me you piece of ass. I¡¯m going to mess you up real good like no man has before and I don¡¯t need nobody telling me I gotta pay for that shit. I¡¯m gonna keep you at home and make you like iiiiiiit.¡±


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    His yell turned into a shriek and he lost his grip as he lost all interest in the girl, or anything besides the knife separating him from his manhood. Cenest was furious, not only was this bastard in her home trying to take one of her girls, he had the gall to hit her when she demanded he stop. The short dagger she kept on her inner thigh wasn¡¯t useful for stopping a sword but it was good at getting someone¡¯s attention.


    As the man looked down and saw the woman holding a knife in his crotch he lost what little reason he had. He grabbed Cenest¡¯s hand with the knife still in it and began stabbing her repeatedly. Cenest felt powerless as the knife came to her breast then her stomach and anything else he could reach. Her only vindication was seeing one of the other girls slide a long kitchen knife into the back of his head as her vision faded.


    Finally, Cenest was in the presence of her goddess! She was happy for almost an instant, at least as long as it took the look on Neir¡¯s face to register. ¡°You would call yourself my follower? The first thing you do in a conflict is to castrate a man? That girl might have gotten pregnant from him since he wasn¡¯t going to let her put in a cup and then she might have truly known the joy of being a mother. You, who have shirked your duty to be a woman countless times and took the fertility of a man as your last act are banished to the shadows of naught!¡±

 Chapter 13 – inspecting the goods

    What Kaori saw next astounded her slightly. There was a huge room with a slightly blue tint to it and no definite ceiling or walls, just a foggy sense of where they should be. In the room there were only a few things besides her and the other two with her. There was a floor that seemed almost to be made of a smooth painted concrete but it seemed like it was perhaps too smooth to be that. On the floor under them was the large magic circle glowing blue and illuminating everything around it in a slightly bluish tint.


    The other thing in the room was the people standing there motionless and staring ahead blankly. Each of them had a dimly glowing white cylinder of light around them. They were separated into groups of one hundred with each group consisting of a different species.


    Of the hundred, there were forty males and sixty females of each species. Kaori hadn¡¯t reset the percentages from the original settings in the book when placing her orders. Each of the people here seemed to be in their mid to late teens. Also, something she hadn¡¯t messed with when making the order.


    The ordering page at the end of each species gave a brief overview of the usual ordering methodology. It stated that unless stipulated in the order that they would all use the presets that were best suited to starting a populace. The beings that were ordered in such a way were created from scratch and sent to the deity with no memories, languages, or anything else. All of that was left to the deity to purchase separately.


    Seeing seven hundred nude people of various races standing there blankly, doing nothing but breathe was a little disconcerting. However, Kaori forced herself to get over it and walk around to inspect her order. As she was about to head to the first group, Yaju sprinted past her and headed to the group of dwarves. The other two looked at each other and hurried after him.


    When they arrived, he was standing in front of the females ogling them. They all looked roughly the way she had imagined they to look. Roughly thirty to forty centimeters shorter than her with a broad muscular frame. One part shocked her a bit. Almost every one of the dwarven women seemed to have a well-endowed chest to the point that it made Kaori self-conscious.


    Yaju reached toward the chest of one of the unmoving women. Just before his fingers made contact, Einoro¡¯s fist made contact with the top of his head. Looking in his direction made her catch sight of the forty naked male dwarves and she blushed and looked away. however, she turned back forcing herself to properly inspect the people she had bought for this world.


    The dwarven men were all young but already had respectable beards and hairy chests, limbs, and when she checked backs too. The sixty females had very full heads of hair and bushy eyebrows as well as certain other parts being covered by hair. Dwarves seemed to be naturally hirsute. With Einoro leading Yaju by holding hir ear, they left the dwarven section.


    Next Kaori checked on the angels and found that all of them only had a single pair of wings. The halo of light surrounding them was overly bright and Kaori dimmed it as she had with the other three. Once again, she noted that despite being handsome or beautiful, they all seemed very plain and generic. Their eyes also seemed to be pupilless and silver. When she looked, Einoro was looking back at her and her eyes were hazel and very human looking. Kaori made a mental note to ask Einoro about the number of wings and the eyes later.


    Next, she wanted to see what the demons would look like. She was disappointed but not very surprised to find that all of them looked mannequin-like. They all just seemed to lack definition. The only defining characteristic they seemed to have was a pair of leathery wings folded on their backs and up to a couple dozen small horns on their head. Several only had one horn but one of the females seemed to have a crown of horns. They all had glowing red pupilless eyes as well.


    The giants were a little hard to view and she had to fly to inspect them. From her original perspective all she could see was their genitalia and legs. When she flew up she found that the giants looked largely like humans but their proportions were a little wrong. The legs and arms were too long and they were overall too thin, like a certain famous American doll. They weren¡¯t quite as tall as she was expecting either. They topped out at around six hundred centimeters but oddly the females were a bit taller than the males.


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    Kaori landed in the midst of the ogres and found them to be less intimidating than she had imagined. They reminded her of grey skinned neandertals. They each had the distinctive horn or pair of horns growing from their foreheads and some were to one side or the other. They all had long black hair and gemlike black eyes. Each was well muscled and the females seemed a bit heavy in the bust as a general rule. Kaori began to wonder about the tastes of the gods who created such a race. The only other distinctive thing about them was the mouths full of canine teeth, definitely a predatory species.


    Moving on, Kaori came across the most adorable group there. She almost stepped on one of them before she noticed them. The fairies were standing naked on the floor, like all the other species. The problem with this was that they only stood around ten centimeters tall. Each of them had a pair of insect-like wings on their backs, some butterfly-like, some were in a long transparent pair like a dragonfly, and others were in mismatched size pairs like the various beetle types. They were very tiny and Kaori had to lay down on her stomach to look at them properly. Here at least, there were no huge breasted females for her to feel jealous of. They all looked like children rather than teens but she was knew from their description in the races chapter that they wouldn¡¯t mature much their whole lives.


    Finally it was time to inspect the humans. As she walked over to them, a blush began to spread across her face that hadn¡¯t been nearly as pronounced when she was looking at the other races. Kaori noticed right away that all of the humans seemed to be Japanese! She immediately began wondering if they had been abducted from some high school in Japan but she remembered the part of the ordering page that said they were created from scratch. The girls ranged in breast size from around A cup all the way up to a pair of girls that had massively heavy racks, probably G or even H cups. The boys seemed to range in their endowment as well but all of them, whether male or female, seemed to be rather muscular and toned. There were no fat kids here and none of them seemed to be particularly tall or short.


    Kaori was able to compare the humans in a way she never would with another species. She noticed that there was a great deal of diversity amongst the general builds and faces of these kids but she would have called each of these a prime athlete if they were in a high school. these would have been the competitors in the various sports teams. The entire sports teams wouldn¡¯t usually be comprised of kids this well-muscled either. These would be the star athletes from among many teams.


    She began to wonder why the teens here were so well built. Kaori also wondered about the other species, were they this out of touch with the norm? ¡°And why are they all Japanese?¡±


    Yaju looked at her a bit confused. ¡°What¡¯s that? I thought these were just overmen.¡±


    Einoro got a curious expression on her face and looked at Yaju. ¡°Did the undermen not have countries where you came from?¡±


    Yaju turned to her in thought and then seemed to get an idea. ¡°I¡¯m not sure that it¡¯s the same as what you¡¯re talking about but undermen had clans! Each clan would be in one or even a couple of mountains and would dig mines all through that mountain.¡±


    Kaori nodded her head as she spoke. ¡°The idea is very similar. Humans live above ground and spread over large areas. They group together and form different levels of organization. The highest level of organization that humans form is usually a country. A really massive area of land with many groupings of humans in it but generally all of one type or another.¡±


    ¡°These humans all look like they came from the country I lived in. mine was not a very big country but it was pretty well developed. Because the people in my country could move all over it regularly and it wasn¡¯t that big to begin with, the people all tended to look rather similar. The only people that looked different were the ones from other countries, those with family from other countries, or those trying to look different.¡±


    Yaju got a contemplative look on his face again. ¡°You know, I wondered about the women in that group over there. They look almost like they were from my own clan but none of them had any beards at all! They all had really nice breasts though!¡±


    Einoro had a look on her face that Kaori couldn¡¯t quite identify but she suspected that it was some form of jealousy. It made her wonder what the angel saw in the dwarf-like creature. She began wondering if his entire clan looked like him or if he was different and what the differences were. Were all the people of his clan as hairy and canine-like as he was? Suddenly, Kaori noticed that Einoro was looking at her and she realized that she was staring at Yaju. ¡°Well, no turning back now!¡±, she thought to herself.

 Chapter 14

    Kaori steeled her resolve and spoke in her office manager voice. ¡°Yaju, I was wondering, are all of your clan like you? Is this the form of all undermen or do you look different from them somehow? You seem to imply that you are different but I didn¡¯t really want to pry into your past. You don¡¯t have to answer if you don¡¯t want to.¡±


    Einoro looked away from her with a pensive expression but Yaju didn¡¯t seem to mind too much. ¡°I suppose I should probably explain that. I was cursed by an evil spirit of the forest. Our clans normally look a lot more like them. *He pointed at the hundred statue-like dwarves in the first group.* But I got bit by the spirit and turned into one of them. When that happened, I lost control and did something unforgiveable. Then I was killed for that and ended up here.¡±


    ¡°I probably would have gone to Veranon, the afterlife of the undermen, and been tortured by the act till the end of my clan. The only thing that kept that from happening was that I wasn¡¯t in control of myself at the time nor at the time of my death. Thanks to my clan, I was spared that fate and ended up working for the beastman god. But I even managed to screw that up. You would have been well within your rights as the new supreme goddess to get rid of me entirely but instead, you had mercy on me and even let me keep working for you.¡±


    Suddenly, Yaju got down on his knees and bowed his head to the floor. ¡°I Yaju Stonebeard, former god of the hunt, pledge myself to serve you for as long as you will have me. You could have discarded me but you didn¡¯t and I will forever be indebted to you for that.¡±


    Kaori looks awkwardly at Einoro and then back at Yaju. ¡°I thank you for your service and look forward to working with you for¡­ well, going forward. Come on, stand up. look, I don¡¯t want to seem impolite but I have to ask this of you. Could you take a bath and then put some clothing on? Oh, I guess you probably don¡¯t have any do you? Hold on a second.¡±


    Kaori summoned her book, opened it on the index then flipped to the relics section. She looked at the clothing portion and found that all the item listings were exceedingly powerful. Thinking a little bit about it, she came to the conclusion that what she wanted was something she should be able to simply conjure on her own. Looking at Yaju a bit closer she figured his rough measurements but wasn¡¯t confident about them. Then she got a great idea, she made the clothes as a minor magical item with the ability to shrink or expand to fit each wearer. The thing she decided would suit her tastes best for her pantheon to wear were business suits.


    Kaori got the other two to follow her out of the summoning circle. When they returned they were back in her treehouse. Kaori then created a bathroom with a toilet, tub, and shower that would create cold and hot water without any supply and dispose of the waste. She made sure it was stocked with shampoo and body wash as well as razors, combs, brushes, and every other item she remembered from her own apartment. She then partitioned this room and reinforced the branches to fill every gap in the floor and walls of the room. Lastly, she made a round glass pane for the window of the bathroom before deciding that she would make one for each of the four windows.


    Kaori looked around sheepishly, not knowing how to ask her next question. Just as she was about to make the awkward request, Einoro whispered in her ear. ¡°Kaori-sama, I was wondering if I might make a request? I know this may seem a little forward of me but¡­ *The angel clenched her fist and steeled her resolve.* May I please bathe Yaju? I know that he is your subordinate but I would really like to ask this of you as a personal favor.¡±


    Kaori was a bit taken aback by the sudden request when she was gearing up to ask that very thing of her. She just nodded a little before turning away so that the blush on her face wouldn¡¯t be too obvious. It wasn¡¯t that Kaori was ignorant of men, she just didn¡¯t have any experience. To take her mind off the place it was heading she concentrated on making the clothes she had in mind.


    A moment later, she was holding a pair of short black slacks, a white button-up shirt, a pair of white socks, a pair of black loafers, a black and red pinstriped tie, and a black blazer. Aside from the resizing capabilities of the rest of the suit, the tie would tie itself. She was quite proud of her creation. She had even chosen the red pinstripes to represent Yaju¡¯s title of god of the hunt.


    She held the final product out to Einoro. ¡°Here, I¡¯ll be counting on you. Get our associate here looking presentable. We¡¯ll talk when you¡¯re all done.¡±


    As the somewhat reluctant and obviously bewildered Yaju accompanied Einoro into the bathroom, Kaori sat at her table and began reading her book again. It had been over an hour since the pair entered the spacious bathroom when Kaori started to hear sounds coming from that direction. At first, she wasn¡¯t sure what she was hearing but then she heard a gasp followed by a moan. As her face turned completely red, she quickly exited the house and just began walking through the sky in the opposite direction.


    Kaori had suspected that Einoro might be a little attracted to Yaju but she had never suspected the angel of going that far. She then began to wonder about the divine nature of angels and demons. In church, she had always imagined that angels were pure and never did anything like that. Clearly, they weren¡¯t as chaste as she had always imagined them. To get her mind off the subject she summoned her book and began making her selections for what she would need on this world.


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    She chose a weather system, a set of backgrounds, and several other tidbits. She found the section she was after with the land remodeling kits. She found that there were a few variations. The cheapest one only allowed the user to change the landscape of the world one time. She decided immediately that she didn¡¯t want this one.


    The next type was one that would randomly reshape the world and could be used a set number of times by price. Next, she found one that would slowly change the structure of the world over a long time and she realized that this was what earth had. She liked earth but she preferred a different one. The last and most expensive one gave the user the permanent ability to change the landscape any time they wanted to. Although she was gritting her teeth, Kaori hit the purchase button on this one.


    She also found an entry in the phenomena section that would let her create floating islands but it required the purchase of a floating metal out of the material section. The two entries had both purchase buttons listed in each, an obvious setup. She didn¡¯t begrudge the creator this sales tactic and simply made her purchases. She imagined the glorious floating islands that would grace the skies of this world and her inner otaku started going nuts.


    Once the world was running properly, she resolved to take a run through some of the various places she would create as a mortal, maybe with a false memory in place to make her think she belonged to the populace of this world for a time. First, she still had to finish setting everything up. she reminded herself that there was a lot of stuff to do. She was still standing in midair and strumming through the book looking for neat features when she found an entry on dungeons.


    At first, she doubted that it was the same thing she was thinking of. In a lot of light novels, manga, and anime about other worlds there were dungeons that would occur for various reasons. These were long maze-like constructions filled with monsters and treasures. There would be boss monsters in special rooms at various points in the dungeon. Some of them were simply abandoned structures that had been taken over by monsters but other stories featured dungeons that were living beings that grew off of the death of the adventurers that came to challenge the dungeon.


    Kaori read the first few paragraphs of the entry and was astounded to find that this was an entry for the very same type of dungeons from those kinds of stories. She would be able to add real dungeons to her world! She finished reading the entry and found that there were several different types available. She wasn¡¯t sure which she would need in her world but she was determined to get them.


    Just as she was puzzling over whether to get the kit for purpose-built dungeons or the self-growing dungeon starter kit, she heard wings flapping. Einoro was approaching her from behind. Kaori turned around and began walking back to the treehouse. As soon as Einoro saw that she returned to the ledge in front of the door and waited for Kaori.


    Einoro¡¯s face was beet red when Kaori got back to the house. ¡°Kaori-sama I ¨C I, uh¡­ we err¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. Don¡¯t worry about it. I just figured that I would give you a bit of privacy.¡± The words were exactly what Kaori meant to say but instead of bold and confident, they came out in a trailing whisper. Both her and Einoro were red faced and looking away from each other. Kaori wasn¡¯t sure how to defuse this embarrassing situation but fortunately, Yaju came out of the bathroom at that point. He was wearing the business suit and looked so much better, although, he still looked like a beast.


    Kaori looked at him contemplatively. ¡°As I thought. That is a good look for you. I think I will ask all of the gods under me to wear a business attire for work. Although, we may adjust a few things to make them more comfortable and may have to customize them a bit more to represent each god¡¯s role a bit better. Thank you for agreeing to this. It¡¯s a lot easier talking to you clothed than while you¡¯re standing around naked.¡±


    Yaju looked at his sleeves and his legs and kept looking at different parts of himself. Finally, Kaori realized she had forgotten a vital part of the bathroom. She waved her hand and a floor length mirror appeared on the wall. Yaju noticed the movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to see himself standing there. Not recognizing his face at first, he yelped and jumped back a bit. Realizing his mistake, the moment his brain caught up, Yaju looked hard at his reflection and seemed to be concentrating. Suddenly, his face changed and the wolflike appearance of his features was gone, along with much of the hair that was still visible on other parts of his body.


    Einoro gasped and began looking a little dejected. Yaju turned at the sound and his form reverted almost instantly. ¡°I thank you Fujiwara-sama. I had almost forgotten what I look like and hadn¡¯t considered the way that I appear to others in a long time. I have to concentrate to stop the curse but at least now I know that it¡¯s possible to do. I plan to practice that so I won¡¯t scare people when I talk to them anymore. It¡¯s too taxing to keep it up long though.¡±


    Einoro let out a sigh of relief and Kaori just smiled. She hadn¡¯t known him long but, in that time, she had become accustomed to his appearance. The only thing that had been bothering her was that the only thing hiding his nether regions was his hair and beard. She had been thinking of him like some kind of animal so it wouldn¡¯t bother her as much. ¡°Not a problem. I imagine that those meeting you for the first time would appreciate you holding back your bestial appearance as well. While you were¡¯ Ahem¡¯ busy in the bathroom, I was getting together various elements of the new world from the book. There are many left to find though. Would you and Einoro kindly look through your copy of the book and find a few things that I¡¯m having trouble finding?¡±


    They all sat at the table and looked through the books for the rest of the evening. By the time night rolled around, they had found almost all of the elements for the new world. The time to pause the world and begin remaking things was drawing ever nearer. In the morning she would begin on a new project to advance her goal even closer, an afterlife!

 Elsewhere 6

    Vizzik knew he was dead but he had to at least try. This was his sister listed on the contract! He knew that the client had no idea but it was an official assignment of the assassin¡¯s guild. They had stamped it and accepted payment. Somebody at the guild had it in for him but that didn¡¯t matter right now, his sister¡¯s life was at stake.


    Vizzik dropped from the balcony of his family home and stole into his sister¡¯s room. He found her sleeping naked in her bed and the sight did terrible things to him despite his best efforts to the contrary. He woke her and she started to panic until he showed her his face. She didn¡¯t know he was an assassin, none of his family did.


    He got her dressed and in a set of traveler¡¯s clothes and gave her all the money he had as well as snagging a bit from their parents. He left them a note explaining things and left with his sister. As soon as he had her out of the city he told her to never come back because someone wanted her dead. She got a look of shame on her face and told him about the man who wanted to force her to marry him so he could take their family¡¯s fortunes.


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    Vizzik knew that he would never see his sister again because he would be dead after this. He told his sister to stay gone until she got word from their parents and sent her to the next town over. He then went to the house of the scum who had put a price on his sister¡¯s head. There he found another assassin waiting for him. The one waiting was a rival in his class and not unexpected.


    Vizzik fought fiercely and managed to kill his rival assassin but not before being poisoned. He then went in and killed the scum and his retainers. He made his way back to his family home, already fading in and out. He woke his father and explained everything to the shocked man and asked that he take his hood to the assassin¡¯s guild as proof before sending for his sister.


    Thankfully he had an older brother to inherit the family he thought as he finally faded to blackness. Then he got another shock. There stood the god of death, his own god. ¡°You made a vow to me. You swore to kill all impartially, You were one who would be immune to death eventually if only you had followed through. And for what? Family. Impartiality makes no exceptions and you need make no excuses. What¡¯s done is done. You are banished to the void.¡±

 Chapter 15 – Afterlife Crisis

    What Kaori wanted in an afterlife wasn¡¯t perfectly clear. She was having almost as much trouble envisioning the afterlife as she had with the world around her. She had thought that just having an idea for the world would be good enough. She was expecting to buy a premade afterlife package and just implement it like a new piece of software.


    It didn¡¯t go according to plan. There were no premade afterlife packages. When you bought an afterlife there were a few varieties to choose from. One was the infinite expanse of one type or another. This type baffled her for a bit until Einoro said ¡°You could just buy two and have a heaven and hell setup like earth had.¡± Suddenly it made a lot more sense. That wasn¡¯t how she wanted to do things though.


    She wondered how that would be possible. How could you put an infinite plane in place next to a world. More than that, it would be directly tied to that world. Einoro came to her rescue again by asking how you could store ten million books on a laptop computer. Thinking in those terms, a soul would be something like a set of virtual data and the place that it went wouldn¡¯t have to be physically massive to be infinite to the souls that resided there.


    Kaori still had no idea what she wanted to do so she decided to look at all the options. Another one was oblivion. No, just no! that was the cheapest but that would suck for those that were living to know this really was all you got. She remembered the atheists back home and wondered how people like them ever got up the motivation to do anything except be hedonists.


    Then there was the promotion system. This one let you turn a soul into a higher form of soul by burning its experiences to give it the capacity to be reborn as something better than it was before. She was honestly interested in that idea and set it aside as an option. The problem with this one was that it assumes you will have spirits, demons, angels, gods, and other incorporeal creatures roaming the surface of the planet. Interesting but not quite the one she wanted but she wouldn¡¯t count it out completely just because it wasn¡¯t exactly like her old world.


    It was about this time when a couple of the demons and an angel came back with a batch of applications. Kaori took a break from the afterlife quest to peruse the applications. What she read shocked her for a few moments, the sheer cruelty of the way so many of them died and the callous indifference of their deities was sickening.


    She reminded herself that she was about to set up a world where all the inhabitants would fight each other and the world around them as a way to get ahead. She began questioning herself but then remembered that a world without conflict wouldn¡¯t advance. She would have to leave the being to do as they pleased and even then they might still end up fighting. Even the elves might have fought each other. The universe wasn¡¯t a nice place but she would at least be able to make it rewarding.


    Kevall, the demon of lust, leaned over her shoulder and asked what she was doing now. ¡°I¡¯m trying to figure out what I want to do about the afterlife here. I think I have part of it but I¡¯m not sure about the rest of it.¡±


    The reincarnation system was the one she wanted. The inhabitants thought they were being reincarnated already but the truth wasn¡¯t the same thing. Kaori discovered that the people of the forest were actually all still stuck in their bodies in a sort of suspended animation or something. When she thought about their souls, she was able to actually see thousands of them just laying flat in the soil. At first, she wanted to be mad at Yaju but then she remembered that he didn¡¯t really know what he was doing and hadn¡¯t even been able to summon his book until it was too late.


    Kevall looked at Einoro and then at Rocell before looking back at Kaori. ¡°Boss lady, why don¡¯t you just use the heaven and hell system? You already have residents from both sides to give you pointers on how it works right? That¡¯s the simple solution then right?¡±


    Kaori grimaced at him and then almost burst out laughing as he literally flinched back. ¡°Relax, I¡¯m not going to punish you for giving me an opinion or idea. You¡¯d have to really do something wrong before I would take action against you. But I don¡¯t like your idea. I don¡¯t want to just copy something else that already exists. If I¡¯m going to have to create it then it¡¯s going to be MY creation not some knockoff copy. I also don¡¯t like the way the systems from earth didn¡¯t give any incentives to the living besides what just being nice does. I want to have something tangible come from this too.¡±


    Saying that much set a plan in motion. She purchased the reincarnation system right away but then discovered that it was a straight one to one transfer system. She then realized that she could still purchase the promotion system, she would just have to modify them both a bit to work with each other. But she now had her plan pretty well settled. It would, once more, be game influenced.


    This time, she thought of it like a mini-game in a regular computer game. Not quite the same but that helped her figure it out and that was what she needed the most was inspiration. ¡°Hey Rocell, do you remember the premise of that MMORPG about the crystal glade? The one with all the killer graphics that bogged the game down so much it crashed constantly? *At a nod of confirmation, she continued* think you can write a quick synopsis of the gameplay for me? If I set you up on laptop how long do you think it would take?¡±


    Rocell considered for a moment while absently flapping her wings. ¡°I dunno, maybe like, 30 minutes. I could probably give you a full rundown of the game in an hour. It would take a little longer to retype the code for the entire game but if you give me two hours, I could probably do that. You were right though; the code was a mess and I doubt that it¡¯ll be as useful.¡±


    Kaori just shook her head and handed her the laptop from nowhere. ¡°I¡¯ll take the full run-through but skip the code. I want to use elements of that in the afterlife here.¡±


    Kaori comes up with a system where the inhabitants can be reincarnated. They go to the afterlife which is a game set up as an MMORPG with multiple story lines that a soul can follow. The soul plays as their self from their previous life. The script forces them to be railroaded a little bit but every decision has multiple paths for them to follow. She then thinks thing through and decides to make it an open world style instead.


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    It means more work but the extra possibilities should make things run a bit smoother. The question is how long to let them have in the afterlife? She finally settles on making the duration one year at most. Then she remembers that she doesn¡¯t know even how long the year is here or if it has one at all! How utterly frustrating!


    Kaori then set the game-like realm of the afterlife to have various trials and rewards such as bosses and puzzles, just like any normal RPG might have. The major difference was that she didn¡¯t limit her options in any way. For all her talk of not wanting to rip off an existing system, she blatantly refurbished any old game knowledge she could dredge up. It didn¡¯t matter to her if it came from a sci-fi, fantasy, shonen, or horror game. She purposely put in elements of some of the otome games she played in college and even parts of a few FPS games.


    The world was looking like a real creation of Dr. Frankenstein by the time she was finished putting all her ideas into it. That¡¯s when the rest of the demons and the last angel showed up and everyone was intent upon seeing what the goddess was making. It had been nagging at Gelor for a bit now and he couldn¡¯t help falling into his old job. ¡°Pardon Boss lady but, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s a bit weird to have all those different things mashed together? I mean, this game thing has robots and dragons, kings and space empires. I don¡¯t know, isn¡¯t it kind of, you know, messy?¡±


    Kaori considered his words for a few seconds before turning to him slowly. Everyone was expecting her to be mad or something but she had on a different kind of scary face. This was the kind of face you never want to see on an otaku or a hardcore gamer, the face that says, are you interested in hearing about it? ¡°I thought about that for a bit but then I remembered that this is a setup for an afterlife. This one will be set to only last around a year at the longest.¡±


    ¡°Since the souls in the game won¡¯t have any perspective on what¡¯s going on, I plan to make it more like their subconscious is in charge. They will feel like it¡¯s all a dream and anything goes in dreams. I plan to have everything be hazy and overly bright to encourage them to miss the details. They will still have full control of their minds but will be forced to simply accept everything they see as normal.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll have them run through the game world leveling up as a soul. They¡¯ll each face various quests and trials and by completing them they will gain abilities. The different types of trials may be anything from farming to fighting monsters. Every soul will remember their previous life and think of themselves as that person. I want to make it so that as the souls go through the afterlife, they can gain certain abilities from completing trials that they will be able to keep in the next life.¡±


    ¡°I was also thinking that if the soul gets enough of some kind of points or tokens then they get to keep some of their memories of their past life in the next. One thing I want to add as a given is that if I can make that last part work, then souls will never be reincarnated as the same kind they were and they will get to keep the language of their last life as a bonus.¡±


    ¡°ooh ooh, and I just had another great idea! Maybe we could make it so the soul gained experience points and leveled up to say¡­ hmm, Maybe level 100. If they do some kind of quest after that, they begin earning experience towards deity levels. Once reaching the low deity level in points, a soul can always come back with their deity levels intact. The deity levels will allow them to build towards becoming a god or goddess.¡±


    ¡°First, they would have to become an angel or a demon. Oh, I forgot, I want to set it up so that evil people get to keep their evil intent if they chase after it in the afterlife. They will be able to remember some of their past life as the new person. If they gain deity levels, they will basically be the same person in a new body. If they just have some memories, they can learn what to do or not to do based off of them. If they become a good person, it may be because they didn¡¯t like the memories or their evil past life.¡±


    ¡°Once a soul gains enough experience to become an angel or demon they won¡¯t be reincarnated as anything else and won¡¯t be able to be killed by anything but another angel, demon, or a deity. At that point they will join us as helpers to run the world. If they continue to do a good job then they will be promoted to being gods or goddesses and I will need just as many evil deities as I do good ones. I really did like the look of a lot of those applicants but I promise, you all are first in line for your godhood.¡±


    This earned her a round of cheering and she had to wait for it to die down before continuing. ¡°I think that I will be promoting all of you right after we pause the world but I¡¯ll need to figure out for sure when the timing is right. I need all of you to keep working on this for a bit longer though. We¡¯re not there yet. There are still a bunch of things I haven¡¯t figured out how to do and when the new people arrive, I¡¯m going to be doing a lot of work with all of you on the world. Let¡¯s make this world a blast!¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah! I was wondering, do any of you demons want to become good gods instead of bad ones? Oh, and do any of you angels want to be evil gods instead? I know it¡¯s a weird topic but I just figured that¡­¡± Kaori was interrupted by a chorus of requests to change alignments and it wasn¡¯t just the demons surprisingly.


    ¡°Okay, Okay, I get it! I¡¯ll let each of you choose which side you want to work on. I¡¯ll have the new angels and demons work with the inhabitants or against them just like you did on earth. I want to focus their efforts on keeping steady growth. But I will need good gods to rule over the inhabitants, almost like players, and I will need evil gods to run the monsters and keep them in fighting shape. I also need them for the dungeons. So I suppose I might need more evil gods than good ones to begin with. No, I¡¯m planning to make a lot of different species so I suppose that each of them will need a couple gods.¡±


    ¡°Oh yes, I also need gods to take care of the animals. I¡¯ll be making the animals where they can take advantage of the afterlife enhancement system as well. I¡¯ll even give a minor soul to colonies of bacteria and viruses so that they can evolve into more complex creatures, maybe like slimes or some other fantasy mini-monster. Any ideas?¡±


    They worked on the afterlife for hours and eventually got it a lot more fleshed out. They had to set up something akin to NPCs for the souls to interact with but that wasn¡¯t too hard for them. Then they set loose the thousands of elf souls to begin wandering in the new afterlife. They used them to gauge a general response to everything. They had to modify a lot of things but it was all fairly easy since the whole thing had a feeling like a dream. The souls would just watch as the angels and demons would come up and modify things right in front of them and then go right back to what they were doing when told they could.


    After a few days of working through the afterlife and making all of the various things work, they were finally able to just let it run. They all kept an eye on it just in case any of the inhabitants found any more glitches or snags. They decided to take Kaori¡¯s advice and just keep notes on what needed changing and doo it in patch updates like a real game. The next thing was to turn their attention to the veritable mountain of god applicant that they had brought back. It seemed that the chances of dying while committing an unforgivable blasphemy were fairly high and that left a lot of applicants to screen. Finally, Kaori felt like she was doing her job the right way!

 Chapter 16 Worship and Workfloors

    What Kaori found in the book next was something she could barely believe was allowable. There was a section on various types of minerals and metals that would increase and in some cases even double the number of worship points garnered from any given settlement if used in worship ritual items.


    She decided that despite the expense, she would at the very least, look through all of these items and see if any fit into her idea. The idea of being able to double her worship points from all or even some areas really appealed to her. It was like getting a production boost in the early stages of a game. Anything she could do to up her production of currency would be a boon.


    As she read through the chapter, she found that there were various different metals or minerals, mostly crystals, needed for different types of deity. She even had one of them already purchased, the floating metal. That one would make the worship of an air or ethereal aligned god double.


    The best boost could be found from what was dubbed starmetal. From the description, it was basically meteoric iron that would gain a certain celestial glow as it fell from the heavens and she would have to literally launch it at the planet from space. She thought that condition was strange but discovered that a lot of the crystals would require a god of that alignment to do certain things to encourage their growth. The thing that set starmetal apart was it didn¡¯t have any alignment and would boost the worship of any god.


    Kaori bought this and summoned one of the asteroids in orbit. She then went up and sent the huge rock plunging towards one of the uninhabited hexagonal continents that she would then retrieve it from. What awaited her was a truly magnificent sight. The meteorite had been reduced in size to a mere fraction of its original size and was glowing red hot. Even on the verge of being molten, the object was beautiful to look at. The lump sitting in the bottom of the crater had a swirling, rainbow-colored iridescence to it that was reminiscent of the aurora borealis.


    Kaori forced the lump of metal to rapidly cool off and reached into the crater to pick the metallic stone out of the bottom. The chunk was only about the size of a volleyball with an irregular flattened round shape. With it cooled down, the glow of the iridescent pattern was a tad dimmer but not by too much. Kaori looked at it from all angles but concluded that it was just a surface effect but quite nice.


    When she entered the door of her hut, she was greeted by the others and they all gathered around to stare in wonder at the object she held in her hand. Proud of her new acquisition, Kaori sat the lump on the table in the midst of a chorus of oos and aahs. She then set to work on the item she would be making from this.


    She made the lump of beautiful stone form into a regular rectangular bar. She then had it divide into five regular cubes of equal proportions. Then she went to form them into crucifixes before stopping herself at the realization that the cross bore no meaning to her own worship. She considered for a bit what she would want the symbol of her or her pantheon to be but in the end she came up blank.


    Finally, she decided to just form them into small, palm-sized balls with a hexagonal pattern spaced across the surface that would represent the planet. The inhabitants wouldn¡¯t know what the planet looked like but that didn¡¯t matter. Finally, she remembered that they were about to change the planet and almost made the balls smooth. No point in changing it, she decided, they could simply become relics of the previous world or something.


    With the objects formed, Kaori asked Yaju to take one to each village and give the shaman one. She also wanted him to tell each of the elven villages that a time of great change was coming and that everything they knew was about to change and they should prepare themselves to start their villages over. They would be paused while the changes were happening but they didn¡¯t need all the details and off he went.


    Kaori then buried herself in a mountain of paperwork to find the right personnel. There were of course, far more souls available than what she really needed but that didn¡¯t mean she was going to leave them there. She simply needed to give them each the prospect of employment and they would get a free pass out of limbo. What she needed was to figure out who she wanted to give deity positions right away. Well, after her group here, that is. Looking around, she noted that Yaju and Einoro, who had gone to deliver the worship talismans, were back. But for now back to the grind, she thought to herself.


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    Kaori had perused the book several times over and found that there wasn¡¯t a lot in the book that she didn¡¯t feel a need to know but right now there was one chapter that was of immediate interest to her. She reached to the side and as expected, her book suddenly appeared in her grasp. She then opened the book and it went right to the part she was looking for. She was momentarily distracted by thoughts of being able to put the same spell to use in every book.


    She went back to her chapter, the help chapter. This chapter, like the book itself had a small introductory section that detailed certain knowledge deemed useful for new deities. Since that was her current predicament, she didn¡¯t mind the slightly condescending tone of the author. A small subsection detailed how a god could promote those below them but noted that all lower ranking deities had to have permission to do so. She wondered for a moment if that meant her before recalling that she had signed a contract that stated something similar.


    With a look of worry, Kaori held out her hand and to her profound relief, she was holding a copy of the very contract she had signed. It took her reading through the thick sheaf of documentation for what seemed like hours before she found what she was looking for. Though stated a little ambiguously, probably to give her superior a loophole if she screwed up, she found she had been granted blanket permission to grant anyone she chose a rank of godhood almost right up to her own but still separated by a small gap in authority. She was left a little astonished that so much trust was given to someone as new as herself.


    Kaori suspected that the proviso about not to the same level of authority was probably there to keep gods from shirking their duties onto somebody else. Despite any misgivings she might have had about the way the contract read, she had her answer. All she needed to do now was recognize her little group as deities. She suddenly found it odd how she could feel a sense of attachment to a group that literally included the demons that tortured her during her life. One look at the various strange figures busily working on tasks she hadn¡¯t even assigned them told her all she needed to know. If nothing else, they were HER demons.


    Kaori went back to her book and reread the part that covered promotion. The only real requirement was that the one being promoted be in the presence of the deity offering the promotion to them and that they accept. Kaori knew there wouldn¡¯t be any problem with this group not accepting. She had to admit to herself that the idea of an angel wanting to be one of the evil gods was a bit strange to her but she wasn¡¯t going to try forcing them to be what they were not interested in being.


    Suddenly it occurred to her that she didn¡¯t have to make it a permanent assignment. The evil gods who were more suited to be good and the good that were more cut out for evil could just be swapped. Still, she didn¡¯t want them to just flip back and forth from one day to the next. Now how to encourage them to take the chosen path seriously?


    She supposed to herself that there was always the promise of promotion, demotion, and being fired. Thinking about it from a rational point of view, other pantheons might also use the threat of being destroyed outright but she knew that she couldn¡¯t bring herself to do that to anybody, no matter how bad they were. Japan was a nation of laws and honor and if someone was too terrible then she would just have to come up with a way to reform them.


    What would make her go that far? She pondered the question for several moments not really coming up with anything. Suddenly, she had an epiphany. If there was anything that would make her consider the alternatives to destroying a soul it would have to be another destroying a soul. She really didn¡¯t want that to happen in the first place though, so she flipped through the book looking for a way to ban anything from being able to destroy souls.


    What she found shocked and appalled her. There were innumerable methods of destroying souls listed in the book. Some were there so that others creatures could take the place of the soul, some were there as a way to harvest power or magic, and still others were there as simply a means to be evil and cruel. It was in the powers section listing ways for evil deities to demonstrate their craft and gain more power as a result that she got her answer. It stated that the deity in overall charge of the planet could still stop this power¡¯s function if they forbid the destruction of souls. It was really that simple. She could just forbid the destruction of souls.

 Chapter 17

    Kaori began to backtrack her train of thought and realized that she still needed something to encourage her underlings to thrive. She also needed to figure out how they would go about the changing of roles without being able to abuse it. Also, she had to figure out how she would minimize the cost of any such system. In a rare facepalm moment, she realized that she could solve both of the former problems and completely reverse the third all in the same stroke.


    Kaori called out to her gathered underlings for attention. Almost as one, they turned to regard her with looks of rapt attention. ¡°I have a couple of announcements and then I think we will do something rather fun, yes? Okay first, I am putting a ban on the destruction of souls for any reason without consulting me first. I figure that one would be pretty obvious to all of you and fairly self-explanatory but let me tell you why I bring it up. We are going to have a lot of hirelings that will be working under us soon and they may have seen souls destroyed in their own world. Let all the new recruits know that that¡¯s off limits in this world or at least not without extremes of justification.¡±


    ¡°Next, I am not going to tie any of my deities down to being either good or evil. That¡¯s not to say that you can be both at once but you will be able to switch. This will be one of several personally provided prizes for doing a good job. Another set of things that will be available is a lot of the powers in the catalog. I will provide a copy of the catalog to each of you but I¡¯m likely going to remove the worship point cost and reset them to reflect a rewards-based system. I don¡¯t have to spell it out to most of you, the prices in the catalog will be lower but they are my cost. I¡¯m going to be making a share off of your efforts.¡±


    ¡°I presume that all of you know that you will be getting paid in worship points and I think I will do that on an annual basis. Not that I¡¯m yet sure what the time system is like in this system or if it even follows the same principles of science that earth did. I have my doubts since there isn¡¯t even any weather on this world yet. Getting back on track, you will have money as it were but what to spend it on? I will provide a number of items that you can buy once you gather enough worship points.¡±


    ¡°I will be paying everyone based on the importance of their job just like on earth. However, some jobs won¡¯t be fit for gathering points personally. Evil deities will likely be less likely to see worship than good. Deities in charge of animals probably won¡¯t get much praise. All the points gathered will be distributed to everyone by their gob title not by what they personally gathered. Therefore as a means of motivation, the items that one can purchase will be distributed to those who perform their duties the best in their designated roles.¡±


    ¡°One of the rewards for performing your job well will be the ability to change roles. Think of them as promotions and job swaps. You can buy your way into a different role after saving up enough. You can also purchase the ability to secure your title as a certain deity. Then also, you can save up for powers from the catalog. I will think up a bunch more items that you will all be offered to purchase with your reserve of worship points as time goes on. In this way I hope to encourage everyone to work to your fullest and make this a positive if competitive work place.¡±


    When she was done, there was a momentary pause where the angels, demons, and Yaju all looked back and forth between each other and her with growing grins. Abruptly, the whole treehouse erupted in jubilant cheers and questions. It was so loud and chaotic that Kaori had to quiet and calm them before she could begin to tell what any of them were saying. It took a couple hours of work to work out a system for everyone and then she began their promotions to godhood.


    Kaori asked all of the demons to take a form reminiscent of one of the intelligent races, especially if they wanted to represent that race. Yaju asked if he could be excused from representing the elves or people of the forest as he called them and everyone broke out in good-natured peals of laughter. That brought his situation to Kaori¡¯s mind.


    After thinking it over for a second, Kaori focused her intent and found that she could break his curse at any time and told him so. It made her wonder if the poor dear had been trapped the whole time in a form that he could have broken at any time prior to her being appointed to replace him. her musing was interrupted a moment later when she noticed Einoro looking terribly forlorn and Yaju noticing her looked conflicted. Kaori then cleared her throat. ¡°I also think I could modify the curse so that it was a more at will form change. In fact, I think I could even throw in a full wolf form if you wanted.¡±


    Einoro was practically bouncing and Yaju just chuckled before turning from his angelic lover to Kaori with a big smile. ¡°I would¡­ We would be most grateful Fujiwara-sama. Maybe it could even be something that we shared in common?¡±


    At his words, Einoro gasped and turned tearful pleading eyes to her. Both of them bowed and she couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. ¡°Let me see what I can do.¡±


    She looked at the patterning of the curse and understood it on a fundamental level and realized it was much like a program. She studied the program and realized that it was something that was very easily transmitted by bite or scratch. That had to go. She then looked at it¡¯s adaptability and found that it could easily mold itself to most any mortal creature but was only tenuously sticking to Yaju because he wasn¡¯t a mortal creature anymore. She rewrote the wording of that part to better fit a being of godly standing and moved on to the next part.


    The part about transformation didn¡¯t exist, unlike the legends from earth. This curse was one that would leave the person permanently stuck as a werewolf if oh wait, there it was. It was tied to a part about the moon and kaori realized that this world, not having a moon, had left the curse in a locked state. She rewrote the condition of transformation to being at will and then added in a transformation to the final form as at will. Apparently, the wolf was the final form after a person lost their will to resist the curse. It was probably meant to break the person¡¯s psyche by having them commit atrocities they couldn¡¯t live with. She checked and found that there was a phrasing for the temperament of a ¡°Rabid or Insane¡± wolf in there. She rewrote that part and had it being merely the sensory perceptive form of a wolf instead. When she finished with the rewrite of the curse, Kaori was rather startled to see that Yaju¡¯s fur had gone from a grey and brown to being a lustrous and gleaming silver and gold.


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    With her having confirmed that the curse was responsible for Yaju¡¯s condemnation, Kaori looked briefly through his early memories and found the night in question and the following punishments and put a censor over them. There was no call for him to continue suffering for something that wasn¡¯t his doing. She then copied the curse and transferred the copy to a very excited Einoro. The next few minutes was spent watching an excited pair of silver and gold wolves or werewolves flipping back and forth between forms in rapid succession and cavort around in various forms. Fortunately, the clothing they were both wearing transformed with them and it was quite odd seeing a wolf wearing a business suit or a dress. It was a rather surreal moment but the moment passed.


    Kaori got them all back on track and reminded them that they still had a lot of work to do. Now that each of them were gods directly under her, she decided that it was time to implement the workplace attire and began bringing out multiple suits of black and white business attire. They began filing into the bathroom using it as a changing room and Kaori suspected that they only did do out of consideration for her sense of modesty. In short order, the whole room was filled with slightly glowing deities in business suits. It reminded Kaori of the office she used to work at until only days ago.


    Kaori was considering starting the hiring process but then she realized that there was an issue. Her little home was crowded to capacity with just the thirteen of them in it. She couldn¡¯t very well start piling people into the place when there wasn¡¯t enough room for everyone now. Time to figure out the renovations. Kaori browsed her trusty book again and turned to the pages of features. There it was!


    Kaori contemplated purchasing the ability to create an unlimited number of smaller side dimensions. The dimensions themselves were so much cheaper but not having the option to create new ones as she wished would likely bite her later even if she only needed the one right now. She was about to purchase it when something caught her eye. In the subtext, it stated that the dimensions were all tied to the planet and then went on to offer a link to ones tied to the deity. She found that it was in the powers section and was over five times as much as the one tied to planets. This one however could be tied to planets but could also be moved or connected to any other world the deity ran. With a slight groan, she pressed the purchase circle on the page and felt a sudden surge run through her as well as a flash of insight arriving in her mind.


    Kaori sat stunned for a couple minutes while her subordinates tried to find out what was wrong with her. When she finished digesting all of the information slammed into her mind like a sledgehammer, she blinked several times then smiled at everyone around her. ¡°Sorry to worry you, I¡¯m fine now. It¡¯s time to move shop.¡±


    Kaori created a parallel space in her mind and then willed it into existence. The next moment, she shifted the treehouse there. Everyone could feel the sudden shift and looked around only to realize that everything outside had become a blank white vastness. Kaori stepped out of the door and floated there for several seconds pondering before waving her hand and the bottom of the white disappeared, replaced by a huge rectangle of polished cherry wood flooring.


    Everybody then stepped out of the treehouse. The moment that Pross, who was the last one out, stepped onto the floor behind everyone else, the treehouse disappeared and only the items from inside it remained. The former angels, demons, and werewolf-dwarf turned and watched in fascination and curiosity as the walls and ceiling of the room they had just vacated dissolved from existence, leaving all the contents of the place floating in the air.


    Then, with a wave of her hand, Kaori sent the four windows off to three sides of the floor where the small rounds of glass expanded to become massive partitioned windows. Each partitioned section was roughly thirty meters on a side and were all square. As they counted down the side, they found one hundred of these windows on the long side and seventy-five on each of the shorter ends.


    The fourth piece of glass went up and became a ceiling that was one solid sheet and displayed a very impressive view of space with a representation of the sun in the center and to one side an enlarged representation of the planet below with a giant ring around the star to represent the orbit of the planet. Kaori then got a look of concentration followed by a look of surprise. ¡°There are no other planets or anything else in the system. Very sloppy.¡±


    Yaju was looking at the vista above him with awe and bafflement. When he heard Kaori¡¯s proclamation, he got a look of utter confusion and Einoro began trying to explain how stars and planets work to him. The interplay garnered chuckles and fond looks from the rest of the group. Kaori got a few hints that the two were the subject mild jealousy as well. Everyone could tell that Einoro was thoroughly taken with Yaju, as if the fact that they were both sporting matching coats of silver and gold fur wasn¡¯t enough evidence.


    Kaori moved on from the momentary distraction to finish the job at hand. She then waved the door from its hovering position to the open side opposite the massive 300-meter set of windows. When it arrived at the edge of the flooring in front of the blank white vita beyond, it began flipping over to both sides, paradoxically, and leaving behind copies of itself. Some of the copies then began to expand in size. Some only grew a bit bigger but others kept expanding up to reach the full thirty meters to the ceiling above and some even began to shrink.


    After the far wall was covered from one side to the other by doors in wave patterns going from bigger to smaller and back, all of the doors morphed to become a lot more ornate. The trim around the doors then expanded to fill the gaps above all the doors that didn¡¯t reach the ceiling. The effect was an entire wall with a rippling wave of elaborate cream and chocolate colored doors trimmed in gold with fillagree and the wall above in white with the same decorative ivy patterned gold fillagree reaching all the way to a glass ceiling that looked like it was an expanse of space and the whole place lit by a diffuse light that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.


    As the various deities turned from the spectacle of the door wall, they got a new surprise. Each of the 250 huge glass square panels of the windows now contained various views of the world or the tribes of elves from various different angles. Sitting in front of each of the huge squares of various vistas was a single desk of the classic managerial business style accompanied by what looked to be dozens of office chairs each. on the top of the closest desk they could see an inlay with what appeared to be a digital touchscreen keyboard.


    Then the globes moved to the center of the vast open space in the center of the room. Once they stopped there, they both expanded to a size that just barely fit with only a meter to spare on top and bottom as they hovered in place. The now nearly thirty meter high globes began spinning slowly and half of each one was in slight shadow indicating which side was in the sunlight. There was also a glowing red censor above the elven villages.


    While they were watching the globes form up, they began noticing bits from the bathroom and bedroom area fly by and burst into particles that flew further across the room. Then they realized that all the doors on the opposite wall had opened and the particles were breaking into dozens of streams that were going into each of the doors. Once all of the bathroom, bedroom, and living room items from the treehouse were gone and the last particles of them fled through the doors, the doors all slammed shut again.


    Everybody turned to look at Kaori and she smiled again before she spoke. ¡°Okay, now that we have the office sorted out, let¡¯s get down to the hiring process.¡±

 Chapter 18 - The flood of new

    What followed was not at all what Kaori had envisioned in her mind happening now. Each of the prospects for a new deity had an application and at the bottom of each application was one of those magic circles almost like the ones in the ordering manual. She picked up the application on the top of the stack and looked at the name. Varla.


    Kaori considered the application for a couple of of moments. She read through the two pages of text so tiny that it would have required a magnifying glass in her previous life, at a rate that would have made a computer envious. Contained in those two pages was the very sad life story of a woman who had devoted her life to defending her sister. She had cross-dressed as a man and become a warrior only to have a sleazeball trick her sister and steal her money. In the end, the sister had died and the god of war cast her aside for being a woman!?


    Kaori looked at Pross who had made the report and demanded. ¡°Are you messing with me? You¡¯re telling me that this person was rejected from her afterlife over being a woman?¡±


    Pross just shrugged in his now human form until Kaori pointed a finger at him. He yelped in a strangely high voice and all of the sudden his Business suit clad figure became that of a voluptuous oriental woman with similar features to the original deity but of a decidedly feminine framing. Pross looked at her wide eyed before looking down and began to pat his body through the suit in alarm.


    Kaori shook her head in resignation and a grunt of disgust escaped her lips. She pointed again and in moments, pross was returned to his original form and he sported a look of profound relief. ¡°If I can do that to a deity under me then why would it not work on a regular soul? Am I missing something here? Have I just overlooked something simple?¡±


    Rocell leaned over Kaori¡¯s seated form and rubbed her shoulder in sympathy. ¡°No, you really aren¡¯t missing anything here. If the soul didn¡¯t belong to the deity in question but another, then the deity wouldn¡¯t be able to change it without permission from the one who did. Since the young lady in question had pledged herself to that idiot Chern, he could have just as easily turned her into a man. It was a petty and cruel slight to her is all.¡±


    Kaori looked at the pages again and then at the bottom where three magic seals were present. Above each seal was the name of one of the three sisters. ¡°It¡¯s still hard to believe that there are so many souls floating in this¡­ *checking the page again to make sure she got the name correct* Naught, you say, and it¡¯s full of souls? If they aren¡¯t claimed by a deity but weren¡¯t rejected by one can we really have them?¡±


    As kaori looked around she was astounded to find every head nodding emphatically. She then looked at the huge stacks of papers on her desk. ¡°And you said that you only talked to a handful of the souls in the place? And we could make a contract with every one of them? Like these two other sisters, they hadn¡¯t pledged themselves to a god, so they just ended up floating in this oblivion of nothingness?¡±


    When Kaori got back nothing but affirmative nods she began to chuckle to herself but not in amusement. If this was the kind of gross incompetence that was happening throughout the universe, then it was no wonder Descartes was so desperate for competent help! This was just blatantly wasteful from a purely managerial point of view. If she were to view them as nothing but resources, this would be far too much but if you took into account that each of these were people then this became madness.


    Kaori reached out her hand and grabbed her book from midair and perused the section it opened to. Sure enough, it just said a contract of deityship. Kaori¡¯s face took on a huge calculating grin. ¡°Sorry to put you all up for this task so soon but I¡¯m going to send you all back to these places to get one of these forms for every one of them. I¡¯m going to sign up every single one of them to become deities. I¡¯m just going to leave a clause in it that it may not happen immediately and will require certain efforts to be fulfilled on their part.¡±


    Seeing a look of confusion on a couple of their faces, Kaori continued. ¡°You know, what¡¯s a few hundred lifetimes getting it right and rising in soul rank to become an angel or demon. They¡¯ll still be awaiting the day that some deity or another needs them to fill in a role under them. It may take hundreds of thousands of years but they are surely all going to end up as deities eventually, right?¡±


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    Kaori could tell from the smirks around her that every last one of them understood her plan now. They would sign every one of the souls floating in some nether realm of limbo up to become gods. The vast majority of the souls would then simply go into the afterlife system to be reincarnated as new people. Since every soul in the reincarnation cycle that Kaori had devised was technically able to eventually become a god or goddess, it was a huge legal loophole that would allow them to siphon all of the souls from these other worlds in one fell step. Every god there was looking at Kaori with a profound sense of respect.


    Kaori picked up a few more of the contracts and scanned through them. She sat each of them aside almost as quickly. There was a growing pinched look of concern on her face. ¡°I hate to ask this of you but are any of you inclined to become councilors?¡±


    All of them looked a little lost and confused for a moment. Realization struck them all pretty quickly. A lot of these people were going to be broken. They had spent entire lifetimes serving a deity and then got denied in the end. After that, they each spent some amount of time ruminating on their own failure to impress their god or goddess.


    Gelor, the formerly small and dodgy eyed demon of doubt raised his now elven hand. ¡°I might be able to ease a number of them through their problems. Having worked to instill doubt in people for centuries, I think I know a thing or two about how it roots itself to the soul. I can probably get maybe a dozen people through but I¡¯m not even confident of that. Sorry Boss la¡­, ahem, Fujiwara-sama.¡±


    Everyone started to hear what amounted to muffled screaming but nobody was quite sure where it was coming from. Kaori realized a moment later that it was coming from her book and opened it to the page that was yelling. There in the midst of the pages, she found half a dozen pictures of various deities and what looked to be page after page of angels looking at her pleadingly. It took her a moment to register that the heading above the section was "Mental and Spiritual Help Section".


    Kaori perused the section a bit, reading the bios of the various deities offering their services for the position of counseling and teaching counseling to deities and the listing for the angels had them as mortal counselors. Kaori had to look through the section several more times in disbelief. Finally, she spoke to the animated two-way mass conference call on the page. ¡°Can any of you tell me why every listing here is so incredibly cheap? I¡¯ve seen the listings for others in the help section and most of them are charging around ten times what you are, let alone what you angels are asking. What¡¯s your reasoning?¡±


    There was a sudden clamor of noise as everyone started to respond but then most of them quieted down and finally everyone deferred to the most senior goddess on the page. ¡°Ma¡¯am, the reason that we are willing to work so cheaply is because it¡¯s our calling. None of us are interested in fulfilling roles other than this but the problem is than most supreme deities see no value in our services whatsoever.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why a lot of us have been awaiting the call of a deity willing to use our services for a while. I myself have been waiting seven celestial cycles. I¡¯m sure that some of us here have been waiting a lot longer than that. Still, when we heard through your invocation of need and you still didn¡¯t open the book, we were all very dismayed. I think I speak for everyone here when I say I was terrified to hear someone say they needed me but didn¡¯t even know I was here.¡±


    ¡°I see that you are a new goddess. I can¡¯t in this speak for anyone else, but I am willing to defer any and all payment until such time as you have enough worship flowing in to cover my pay safely.¡± A few of the faces on the page looked pensive or even dejected but the vast majority began nodding their heads in agreement. Apparently, those with a strong sense of empathy were willing to go above and beyond in any world.


    Kaori thought it over for a moment, weighing her options. She scanned the two pages of faces in this subsection while considering her options. She flipped the page and found that there was a different subsection on the next page and flipped back. Each of the portraits was rather small on these two pages. The six deities had larger portraits than the angels did but they were still packed onto the pages, especially with a short bio under each.


    Finally coming to a decision, Kaori looked back at the goddess who spoke to her. ¡°I have a counter offer. How about if I pay each of you a sum listed to you but only the upfront for one local year¡¯s worth. Each of you, also leave your posting up in the catalog so other deities can still hire you away if you get a good offer in the interim. Finally, I will hire every one of you on those terms with the understanding that I will have to do a lot of work to get things working just right and you may leave after the one year of employment if you don¡¯t feel this is a good fit for you.¡±


    There was a moment of silence, then a cacophony of noise erupted from the pages. Almost every portrait contained a deity or angel nodding their head furiously while trying to be heard pledging their agreement. It was chaos but of a good kind. Some of those in the portraits were even seen to be crying with joy! Was it really that big of a deal?

 Chapter 19

    Kaori began pressing the buttons on the counseling help pages of her book one after another. As each one popped up in the glamorous and apparently mysterious heavenly realm she had created, they were handed a contract to imprint. Right after the imprinting of the contract was done, almost every one of the deities or angels began gawking at the wholly unexpected sight of the room around them.


    After a moment of chatter between the new arrivals and her bevy of deities, several of the angels and a couple of the deities bolted over to her and began chattering all at once. Again they all looked embarrassed and deferred to the same elder goddess who happened to be among those that came to her. ¡°Fugiwara Kaori-sama, *The green skinned woman stumbled over the unfamiliar name* we were just informed that some of your senior gods were once demons. Is that true?¡±


    Kaori was puzzled for a moment and it must have shown on her face. Just as one of them was about to clarify, realization struck Kaori. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true. Truth be told, only four of them were not demons until only a short while before you arrived. I harbor them no grudge for doing the job that was assigned to them.¡±


    They all got very excited but also rather nervous. After another tense second the woman, which Kaori had tentatively determined was a dryad, spoke up again. ¡°Do you suppose it might be possible to extend the same offer to a few demons that you offered to us? We all know of a small group of about five demons who sorely hate their roles and would likely jump at the chance to switch professions. Demons almost never apply for the role of counselors because they have such a reputation that nobody is willing to hire them. Please ma¡¯am, I know it would mean a great deal to them!?¡±


    Kaori chuckled a bit at their earnest faces. ¡°Yes, fine. Why don¡¯t you three angels go speak to them but do it quietly. I don¡¯t want a bunch of other gods getting jumpy that I¡¯m poaching their workers. As for you six deities and you too Gelor, I am about to begin pulling in the ones I want to directly offer deity positions to right now.¡±


    ¡°Gelor, I¡¯m putting you in charge of the counseling project unless you would prefer to abdicate the position in favor of *pulling the name from her memory of the bio* Tozenna. I will be summoning six to start with whom I want to each receive personal, one on one counseling.¡± She then looked at Gelor for his reply.


    The former demon come elf looked away sheepishly before speaking in a small voice. ¡°If it¡¯s all the same to you, Fujiwara-sama, I would rather defer the job of overseeing this to my more experienced elder goddess. I really only volunteered because there was nobody else to help with that. I feel that she would likely be the better fit for that role and I very much want Fujiwara-sama to have the best people in every position.¡±


    Kaori couldn¡¯t help but feel a momentary sense of warmth towards her subordinate. She decided that she would break her usual dry business practice for once and got out of her desk chair. She walked over to the surprised Gelor and gave him a quick bow. ¡°I don¡¯t want to make you uncomfortable, much.¡±


    He looked at her bowing to him with wide eyes and then caught the mischievous grin on her face as she said the last word. He visibly relaxed and she straightened. ¡°don¡¯t want to make us uncomfortable, hah!¡± But his smile betrayed his true feelings on her little jest.


    Returning to her seat and crossing her legs, Kaori addressed everyone in her clear, no-nonsense, managerial voice. ¡°Okay, Tozenna, You will be in overall command of the deific counselors and will help them get all of my chosen deities over their first hurdles. I¡¯ll then begin calling in a steady stream of future candidates. Those of you angels that are still here will be sent a stream of souls that have suffered grievous mental scarring. But before all that, gather around, all of you newest members so that I can explain how things are going to work here and what we have yet ahead of us.¡±


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    The next couple hours were spent giving a crash course in the way that Kaori ran things as a manager. The way she planned to run things as the goddess were only slightly different. The part she had the hardest part explaining was the 4X game concept but when she told them that she would be the only one who needed to really worry about that part there were a chorus of sighs all around. She explained about the way she wanted to restructure the planet and the system. It was a lot for them to take in but all of them seemed to be catching on pretty quickly.


    She was only a few minutes into her talk about how to manage your juniors when the angels arrived back with a group of eleven demons. All of them looked meek and terrified, a still very odd look for demons in Kaori¡¯s opinion but they organized themselves quickly and came forward to kneel and bow to her. The one leading them was a huge roiling black collection of smoke and ash with glimpses of fire in his depths.


    Apparently, he was an archdemon named Nazmur¡¯vaz, who was in charge of a branch of the underworld military in his original domain but he had always secretly hated his job. He had at some point spoken to an angel who counseled him through his feelings and he discovered that he was actually good aligned. Unfortunately, there was no place for him to exercise his true alignment in the underworld but he began testing to see what others around him were like.


    Eventually, he discovered that there were a bunch of demons who were neutral and didn¡¯t care one way or the other but there were also a few like himself who loathed their station. He got them in touch with the angel and she got them in touch with others like herself, including the deities of counseling. But, being demons, they had no hope of getting jobs as counselors. The deities and angels weren¡¯t really getting hired very often for that. Then, out of nowhere, a sudden ray of hope appeared to them. The angels arrived and began telling them that they could get jobs as counselors or something else good aligned! Every one of them dropped their old positions flat. Even being paid much of nothing was preferable to working eons in a job you hate. And so, he quickly went around and gathered any that wanted to change alignment and here they were.


    After the briefest of pauses to compose herself, Kaori smiled and extended them all contracts with clauses about their alignment going forward and all terms of employment clearly spelled out. The interruption was over pretty quickly and Kaori repeated her explanation of managing juniors up to that point for the benefit of the new demons and the angels who had gone to fetch them. Her explanation and plans were apparently very unorthodox but were received with much aplomb. She heard several of them extoling her virtues and several others grousing about her not having been around to teach all the other gods how to correctly manage a world.


    With the explanation out of the way, it was time to introduce a whole bunch of new deities and future deities into her world. She first plucked a couple of promising souls out of her afterlife. These two had been practically plowing through the afterlife and had already accumulated a good portion of the virtues and assets to get them on the fast track to godhood.


    The first was an elven ghost by the name of Eremileane and she was a former priestess of her tribe. She had taken to the afterlife with a gusto that showed she was intent on making as much of herself as possible. When she discovered that she could improve herself in the next life by completing quests in the afterlife, she began rushing about finding every quest she could lay her ephemeral hands on. It didn¡¯t take long for Kaori to get a notification about her.


    The next was a guy named Somolos. He was a hunter in his last life and found that through his prowess in hunting that he could gain more than food. He did do a few errant side quests that helped some of the NPCs out in the afterlife but he mostly hunted ever greater game. Kaori had a huge role for someone like him.


    With the two elves looking around bemusedly, she tasked Yaju with catching them up to date on what was going on, would be going on, and where they were. Before that though, she told them both that she was going to make them lesser gods. If they could have died of heart attacks, they probably would have. Then when they realized who they were talking to after that, they were again completely mind-boggled. Einoro went along with them to help Yaju fill in the blanks and the sight of a female who looked like Yaju may have thrown them off more than anything before that.


    It was finally time for Kaori to begin pulling souls out of the other domains. She would start with the top six candidates and then work her way through them all from there.

 Chapter 20 - Picking up the broken pieces

    When Kaori was done preparing her mountain of applications, she took the one off the top again. This was the three sisters, Feyna, Reyel, and Varla. Of the three, the only one who had a deity they had pledged their soul to was Varla and she had been rejected by him for being a woman rather than change her into a man. That was his loss but Kaori¡¯s gain!


    She pressed three fingers to the three seals and the three women appeared in front of her. At first, they just stood there in a daze but after a moment they began to regain their senses. The three of them looked around and upon recognizing each other, they began hugging and weeping. Kaori smiled and let them enjoy their reunion for a few moments before she interrupted them.


    She cleared her throat and saw the three of them jump, for the first time realizing that they were in the midst of a group of people staring at them. ¡°I am glad you were all able to reunite but I¡¯m afraid that I might become pressed for time if I allow everyone too much leeway. I need the three of you to do something for me. Before that, I believe that introductions are in order. My name is Fujiwara Kaori, but you may call me Fujiwara-sama. I am the supreme goddess of this world and I offer you all jobs to become goddesses under me and mine.¡±


    Kaori could tell that there was a layer of shock too thick for them to penetrate for a moment but then one of them spoke. ¡°M-My name is Varn¡­ no, it¡¯s Varla. If it pleases your deityship, I would like to ask what it is that you would have us do for you? Are you really okay with having us¡­ us women as your lesser?¡±


    Kaori winced at the timidity of the former knight but she answered her question nonetheless. ¡°I have yet to set roles for everyone to fill but I intend for you three to probably be the first three deities of one of the races I¡¯m going to set up on the world once I¡¯m done reforming it. Also, I¡¯m a woman am I not? I didn¡¯t come from a world where being a female is seen as a lesser role.¡±


    All of those who came from earth winced internally along with Kaori but it was a small white lie. If it helped ease the three frightened young women into standing in her presence now and doing what she needed them to do, she would just have to tell them about the mistruth later. They did all seem to loosen up a little so she continued. ¡°I need the three of you to imprint these contracts saying you will become deities under me. Just touch the glowing circle at the bottom and think about accepting. After that, I will have the three of you go talk to one of the other deities who have only been here a little longer than you and she will begin helping you.¡±


    ¡°Varla, I know what Chern did to you. I want to make sure that that sort of thing stops. I hope to one day reform the way the gods treat mortals on every world but to do that I have to make a good showing on this planet first. I need your help to do that. Everything has it¡¯s first step. You want to reform the way the gods treat mortals and especially women, then this is the first step for you. It will likely take eons but as long as we persist, things will only get better.¡±


    Varla got a look of determination in her eyes and the moment the document appeared in front of her she pressed her thumb to the circle and it went from a pulsing light blue to a flared gold before the document disappeared. She never even bothered to read it. It was only when her sister asked her to read the contract to her a moment later that Varla looked at Kaori in awe of the terms of the contract that she was having them imprint.


    The next one up was an old man named Foglat. Kaori was a little bemused by his tale. As a scholar of magic, he had wanted to become an undying lich but as he served a goddess of both magic and life, he had missed a key flaw in his plan. He had replaced all the evil in his ritual that he could find with components of good but he had mis stepped when it came to the part about being undead. Kaori felt that the goddess in question was mostly justified in her decision but she herself would likely have made some concession for such a clever reshaping of an entirely evil ritual.


    She regarded the wrinkly old mage finally uncurling from within his robes. The robes were grand in their pure white with gold embroidery and trim but he seemed too dejected to belong in them. In fact, he looked as though he desperately wanted to cry every time, he looked at his robes. Before he could go into the depths of despair, Kaori spoke to him. ¡°Greetings, former archimage Foglat! My name is Fujiwara Kaori, but you may call me Fujiwara-sama. I am the supreme goddess of this world and I offer you a job, to become a god under me and mine.¡±


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Foglat jumped at her greeting him and turned to regard her. As her words registered, he at first looked overawed but then he took on a sullen and dejected overcast. ¡°I greet you great Fujiwara-sama but I am afraid that this old fool is not worthy. I have fallen from grace and cannot be redeemed.¡±


    Kaori smiled at him in a way meant to instill confidence back into an underling that has just gotten done with an hour long dressing down by the CEO of the company. ¡°I think I will keep my own council about who is worthy of what. I happen to know about your past before summoning you here and while I do agree with the decision of Reyalla, that does not keep you from being of use to me.¡±


    ¡°You see, I come from a world that had no access or at least no well-known access to magic. I have no good grasp of the use of magic. We had stories but there was another power that obfuscated the subject of magic. We had science in such scale that magic wasn¡¯t really taken seriously. As I am the supreme goddess of this world and I intend for there to be magic, I need someone more versed in its use to be the overarching deity in charge of that aspect. That brings us back to you. As an added bonus, if you were to become the god in charge of magic for my world, you would have great reason to step across the boundaries of worlds and thank Reyalla for her gifting of knowledge and magic to you.¡±


    With her last words, Foglat brightened immediately and couldn¡¯t imprint the contract quickly enough. Well, maybe they wouldn¡¯t need any kind of counseling where he was concerned. He was also very bemused by the idea of all the gods wearing suits of black even if they were good gods. It took a lot of explaining by Merin, who was now sporting the image of a trendy grey ogre woman with short sharp silver horns on her head and claws on her fingers.


    The next was Tanju, a former cleric of the god of law. He looked absolutely broken but when she introduced herself, he snapped into a ramrod straight posture and looked as though he were going to sweat blood. When he got the document in front of him to imprint, he went over it a dozen times looking for the loopholes and treachery he was sure must be inherent in her law. When she told him that she wanted him to be the one to make sure laws came into being he almost turned white but he regained his composure when she further detailed that she wanted him to explain to all of his adherents about the virtues of tolerance in the law. She motioned for one of the counselor deities to work with him as she picked up the next application.


    The young man that sprung up from where he was summoned was named Vizzig. He looked around warily but in a matter of seconds, he dropped his guard entirely with a look of resignation. He must have had some innate sense of the strength of people like in some anime. Kaori had heard that certain warriors in olden times had the innate ability to judge the strength of people just by looking at them. When she introduced herself, he got a look of realization and immediately dropped to one knee with one fist on the ground and head bowed. When the contract appeared in front of him, he imprinted it without looking once. When she told him that she would probably have him take on the mantle of a god of death or assassins, he just bowed his head in acceptance. Kaori couldn¡¯t get a read on him and motioned one of the counselors to see to him.


    Next up was a woman who was the madam of a brothel and was very cruelly denied by her patron deity. And for what? All because Cenest didn¡¯t let one of her charges get dragged off and raped or even killed! Kaori was thoroughly disgusted with this Neir but then she realized that she was from the same world as Chern and a lot of things fell into place. When she asked Cenest to become a goddess of fertility, she was almost certain the woman would start to bawl and she really couldn¡¯t blame her. This was a chance for all of them to fix mistakes made by other gods and goddesses before. She definitely got counseling and Kaori didn¡¯t even have to motion for it, Gelor was simply at her elbow the moment she went to stand, helping her gallantly to her feet. She couldn¡¯t help but wink at him when she caught his eye and he just grinned.


    The next one was Garros, he was a scholar who had run afoul of the god of knowledge because he wouldn¡¯t propagate the knowledge of soul corruption. The god of knowledge hadn¡¯t even bothered to talk to him when he died, just cut him off and threw his soul out into the oblivion. Garros looked broken at first and a bit freaked when Kaori introduced herself. When she told him that she had a plan to introduce bits of new knowledge to a bunch of tribes of hunter gatherers he was a bit puzzled but then she explained a bit more and he was eagerly begging for a chance to help. When she told him she wanted to make him the god of new knowledge, in charge of secreting bits of revelation away in the far corners of the world and in every dungeon, he just about jumped for the contract to imprint. Probably wouldn¡¯t need counseling for this one. Apparently, one of the goddesses disagreed as she was already there talking to him, but then, maybe counseling wasn¡¯t all she had in mind?


    Kaori then summoned several more but left others to come forward and take care of them. Each of them were given a bit of time with one of the angels before most of them were sent to the afterlife in her domain. Others were deemed to be a bit more valuable and were retained as lesser gods to begin immediate work under one of her current deities. The whole process took what Kaori figured must have been days. They were all very surprised when she summoned tables stacked full of pizza!

 Chapter 21

    It was now time for the lot of them to work on implementing the plan. On the one side, they had a globe that had an even arrangement of small hexagonal continents. Most of the continents had nothing but dirt and a border of water but an area about six deep of the tiny continents, really only large islands, around the location of the elven village had trees and grasses around their borders.


    Kaori could tell from the little bit of survey that had been conducted that there were no veins of ore or much of anything else anywhere on the planet except right around the elven village. There was almost nothing on this planet at all. She just had to fix that in a creative way.


    Kaori got the attention of all of the gathered deities and drew them closer to her. ¡°Okay, First things first. The way things are going to work from now on is officially in the final planning stages. We¡¯re going to put our heads together and come up with a world of challenges for the inhabitants that I¡¯m going to be bringing to this world. I intend to have over a hundred different species of sentients on the planet along with countless animals and a lot of monsters too!¡±


    ¡°I intend for them to work together and against each other in order to advance their societies. They will get little boons to their technology for exploring. I have the ability to get many different things for my planet and a couple of the things I purchased are dungeons that will grow on their own and mature over time and floating islands, which are not mutually exclusive. This world is going to be bursting at the seams with danger but also with rewards for those willing to brave the dangers.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to have different teams work on different parts of the planning. I will need a lot of different things spread over a map the size of a world. I will also pass out books with a lot of different items in them. If you feel that one of the items in the book is needed consult with me. Try to go sparingly on the items from the book. Use them as a last resort because they are expensive.¡±


    ¡°You may have noticed the two big balls in the center of the room. The big ball on the far side of the room is the world as it is right now. There are only a few tribes of elves, people of the trees, arch-els, or whatever you might have heard them called. I have purchased a small population of seven more basic species for the world but I¡¯ll make more later. For now, we need to figure out what to do with the world to make it a better world to live and advance in. To that end, I have the big globe next to us and it has the rough plans that my earliest companions and I came up with for what to do on this world.¡±


    ¡°As you can all see, the two look nothing alike. Setting aside the fact that the world below doesn¡¯t currently have any weather, the landmass has yet to be changed at all. I want to keep this general layout we have going on this map but the exact details are mostly up in the air. Don¡¯t be afraid to come to me or one of the senior gods with suggestions. I should clarify, the senior gods are Yaju, Miraphon, Einoro, Rocell, Kevall, Merin, Pross, Belle, Gelor, Yosh, Rise, and Yaborr. Yaju has more experience with the people of this world than anybody else and the others came from my original world with me and all understand what I¡¯m trying to create.¡±


    As Kaori continued talking about all the various different policies and ideas that she had come up with for the world there were a lot of quiet murmurs. Kaori didn¡¯t notice the conversations going on but the gods directly under her did. There were gasps of wonder and comments of awe and appreciation at almost everything she had to say. It was gratifying to the newly minted deities to hear such words of praise for their head goddess and her unique ways of thinking. After a fairly long spiel,, they could tell that Kaori was wrapping things up and she had kept the entire crowd''s attention throughout.


    ¡°If you have any problems with your past tripping you up or with your fellow deities, talk to one of the deities under Tozanna. That¡¯s literally what I have hired them to do is help everyone cope. I know this is going to be a lot to get accustomed to but I¡¯m sure that together we can get through it. Also, if you have gone to see one of my counselor deities and you feel that there is just nothing that can keep your past in the past where it belongs, then you can come see me. I will want to talk to a counselor with you but if they agree that you need the help, I can seal your memories of certain events away so you won¡¯t have to recall them until you are ready.¡±


    ¡°I have been talking long enough so let¡¯s get to work. We have a lot to do and only a few million years to do it! *There was a decent smattering of laughter* So, teams as I assigned them. Counselors, don¡¯t forget to give me a list of the dimensional coordinates for any limbo or void that may have rejected souls floating in it before you leave on the retrieval missions! Dismissed.¡±


    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    The flurry of movement that came next was a little bit on the chaotic side as all the new deities grouped up with their more informed seniors. The globe next to them began spitting out smaller representations and the groups under Belle, Risse, Yabor, and Yosh all raised huge illusory maps from the floor that would correspond to one of the multitudes of different groups that were working on the different issues with the world below.


    The two elven deities, Eremileane and Somolos, approached her desk which was still piled with a couple of stacks of soul applications from the afterlife reject dimensions that she already knew of. As they approached she idly wondered how many more stacks were going to form for her to sift through. Already, she had put a rating system in place for the candidacy of the souls towards getting fast-tracked to godhood. She mused to herself that she needed to separate them into categories of what they would be best suited to be gods of and collate the data. Then she needed to make that data available to every deity via maybe tablets? Then she could¡­


    Her thoughts were cut off as the two elven deities in front of her bowed and waited to be acknowledged. ¡°Ah yes, You two! I need you to quickly change into these suits *Two sets of matching business suits appeared on the desk in front of them* and then go see Yaju. I believe you already know him. I will want the three of you to go to the elven villages and you can glean whatever knowledge you can from him about them. If there is anything you don¡¯t know about them feel free to ask him and if he doesn¡¯t know, ask one of the shamans. You two will be taking over the duties of being the gods for the elves.


    You can head over to the line of doors on the wall over there to change. When you open any door it will lead to your room. Even if you both open the same door it will lead to separate rooms. The room on the other side of the door is your own room and will always appear on the other side of the door when you want it to be there. That will be your personal room and nobody can enter that room without your permission. Everything you leave in that room will remain there but the bed will always be made with the¡­ Never mind, I¡¯ll explain the rooms to everyone later. Just go change and see Yaju.


    No sooner did she send the new deities of the elves off than a scroll appeared on her desk. She wrinkled her brow a little but opened it anyway. On the scroll were the names of fifteen different dimensions with blue glowing magic circles next to them. Even as she was reading through the list another two appeared on the list. Kaori grinned at that. She wasn¡¯t going to have any lack of souls for any of her special projects for a long time. Who knows how many souls could be retrieved out of these dimensions?


    Kaori made a laptop appear on her desk and promptly stuck the scroll into the screen. She then did the same for the remaining stacks of applications on her desk. ¡°Let¡¯s go paperless!¡± she chuckled to herself. It was a well-known joke among the older generation that she grudgingly admitted she belonged to that, when a company had said they were going paperless it really just meant doubling the paperwork because there would almost always be a paper copy of every file kept outside of any computer systems. She imagined that the bureaucracy of the heavenly realms was likely to be the same.


    That reminded her that she still had to report all of her progress to Descartes. She opened up a word processor type app on her computer terminal and began typing a report on happenings to date. She had to get really creative in skirting the issue of stealing souls from other realms in her report. She had no idea what he would do if she were to tell him the truth. She did go over all of her discoveries, plans to date, and policies. She was so wrapped up in her report that she missed the approach of some of her underlings until one of them cleared her throat.


    Kaori looked up to see most of her elder gods standing there and had to marvel once again at how different each of them looked now. All of the demons had opted to become different races while only Miraphon had elected to change from an angel. Risse smiled displaying the only part of her that she hadn¡¯t elected to change into a young Blonde woman with ringlets and blue eyes. Her sharp needle-like teeth did little to detract from her stunning beauty while she cleared her throat and prepared to address the senior goddess. ¡°We have all of the different maps set up and ready for inspection. Fujiwara-sama, some of the newer additions have been asking about food, shelter, and mostly about when they will receive their own business suits.¡±


    Kaori looked at the time on her computer and realized that the date counter, much less the time counter, had elapsed since she last looked at it. ¡°I can¡¯t believe that much time was needed to type that report up. No wonder Descartes has no time. Okay, I¡¯ll make sure that there is food, water, ever-made beds, and full closets in each of the rooms. While I am reviewing the simulations, would you all please show all of the new deities where to find all the amenities in their new apartments?¡±


    When she pointed over to the row of doors, all of them understood what she meant and most turned to leave. Yabor stayed a moment to give her one quick remark before also turning to leave. ¡°Fujiwara-sama. Don¡¯t you think that you should consider taking a break and having a rest too?¡±

 Chapter 22

    Kaori smiled at the retreating back of the former demon come dwarven god. She was very happy that her underlings thought so much of her and even a little touched that they cared. However, she had a lot to do and unlike in her previous life, she really didn¡¯t get tired so there was no real need to go to her apartment and rest. Instead, she closed her laptop and pushed it to the side of the desk before opening up the holographic maps above the top of her desk and peered at the amazing work that her teams were doing.


    Already, there were multitudes of changes to the map that they had worked on before. Among them was the addition of hundreds or maybe thousands of floating islands in the skies of the world map. Then there were the swirling storms and charted airflow markers on the map. That along with the water flow channels were an amazing improvement over the broad boringly open sky of the current world.


    When she zoomed in on the map, she was able to see a huge number of smaller changes to the environment. Ere was also a huge number of glowing red icons on the map when she got closer in. She could see that the middle of this large continent was supposed to be covered in a dense jungle but the largest portion of the plants were in a red color. There were floating icons above a lot of the patches and she realized that there was remarkably little biodiversity on the world below.


    She was zooming in on some of the other parts of the jungle around one of the proposed starting locations of a tribe when she realized that somebody was again standing at her desk. Looking up, she saw that it was Tozenna and she gave the woman her full attention. ¡°Sorry, you needed me for something? Go ahead.¡±


    Tozenna looked a tad uncomfortable but decided to continue anyway. ¡°Fujiwara-sama, I would first like to thank you for the opportunity you have given me, no all of us. The thing is, well¡­¡±


    Kaori encouraged her. ¡°It¡¯s okay. Whatever it is, just say it and I promise not to be mad.¡±


    Tozenna looked a little more relieved and kaori could almost swear she saw a blush on her green cheeks. She brushed a few stray vines over her slightly pointed ear before she continued. ¡°I know that you just gave us our assignments as the counselors and all but I was just wondering¡­ I¡¯m just speaking for myself but I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if others didn¡¯t feel the same. *Finally, mustering her courage she said the thing on her mind in a rush so she would get it out* Fujiwara-sama, would you allow me to work on the plant-life on the planet? Please, I know you just set us aside to do a task but seeing everyone else busy makes me anxious!¡±


    Kaori just had to blink for a few seconds and Tozenna had her eyes squeezed shut like she was expecting to be yelled at. ¡°Uhm, sure. I don¡¯t mind. In fact, I don¡¯t mind if any of you want to help in making the world better. Actually, I was just looking at the jungles in these plans and I see that they need a lot of new plants. Want to sit down with me and help pick out plants to use?¡±


    The dryad happily agreed and sat in the chair that kaori summoned for her. Apparently, only the first time you bought an artifact from the catalog counted against your worship points. It didn¡¯t really matter though as the plants actually came in biome packs that could just be bought as a package deal. Kaori bought over a hundred different biome packs with Tozenna¡¯s help. There were even mushroom biomes and a few that were bioluminescent! Kaori had a lot of fun looking through the catalog with the dryad woman.


    Kaori stood and stretched a bit before turning to address the Dryad woman still peering intently at the map while moving it over illusory terrain and muttering to herself. ¡°I think that I will leave the rest of the botanical decisions to you and the other teams. If you need any help feel free to ask for it and never forget that while I am your boss, I also hope to be your friend. Oh, and when you go, tell all of the other gods from the counseling section that I don¡¯t mind them helping in any role they feel they can as long as they are open to hear the problems of others and help them through.¡±


    Tozenna stood, bowed, and walked away with a huge smile and a bounce in her step. Kaori just smiled as she watched her make a bee-line for the small group of deities sitting to the side. Only one of the deities in that group was talking to anyone at the moment. Kaori sat and observed them for a few moments and shortly after Tozenna¡¯s arrival, almost the whole group stood and went right to the groups working at the giant mapping tables.


    With a smile, Kaori went back to perusing the work being done by checking the mirrored maps on her own desk. The islands had taken on a drastically different look but she noted that despite being a staggeringly good idea, all of the changes were blinking. Kaori guessed that this meant that either the ideas weren¡¯t finalized or that the parties responsible weren¡¯t sure if she would approve of them. Kaori wasn¡¯t sure which of the two it was or even if it might not mean a third something instead and she didn¡¯t want to have to constantly be under everyone¡¯s elbows to find out what they were doing either.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Kaori decided it was time to make a deific network interface. She collapsed the maps to a small corner of her desk and brought her laptop back. She sat in front of the laptop hashing out the rough concept of her network scheme for a few minutes and then prepared to get to the tedious part, programming the whole thing. Only, when she was about to start on the programming, she suddenly felt as though her knowledge of how to do it was taxed all at once. It was a very strange feeling. It felt like she had thousands of minds tackling the problem from every angle and all of them were drawing on overlapping parts of her brain and using overlapping parts of her memories all at the same time.


    After the utterly bizarre feeling left her, Kaori staggered a bit and had to steady herself on the desk. Her mind was reeling and she wondered what had happened but then instantly knew the answer as though the memory had always been there. Her awesome godly mental powers had set to work on a problem that only she could do and brought it to completion. She looked numbly at her laptop and sure enough, there in the top corner of the page was a new icon that said Deific Network Interface Program.


    Kaori blinked a few times before the realization fully settled into her. She had just done a couple week¡¯s-worth of programming and trouble-shooting in a matter of seconds! The proof was there on her screen and in her mind. She could remember every step of how the program was created, programmed, vetted, fixed, and finalized and she knew exactly what it would do and how. She grinned to herself before tapping the icon to execute the program.


    Suddenly, she saw an illusory podium next to her and knew where she wanted it. Kaori pointed to a spot in the midline of the huge office and roughly between the tables with the maps and the nearest set of desk and seats by the windows. She then judged that she didn¡¯t like the spacing and moved the whole section of maps a bit farther from the giant globes. When she picked up the entire section of flooring with all of the deities still on it, several of them looked over at her in bemusement and the rest soon followed suit.


    She slid a section of flooring backwards to fill the gap and then settled the tables in their new location. Looking at the tables, Kaori frowned a little bit. It wasn¡¯t that the tables were a bad design, a little bulky for her taste but not bad, however, she still just didn¡¯t like them. She settled on leaving the maps as giant floating 3D holograms in the air about waist height while moving the tables to the sides and splitting them into a lot of smaller, single-leg podiums so those working could set items on them while busy.


    Looking around, Kaori took in the aesthetic of her office and winced. The wraparound windows were nice but since they were all showing scenes of the current happenings of the elven villages, they just looked like the huge computer monitors they were meant to be. The desks looked like modern imitations of classic office furniture and the chairs around them were the exact same mediocre office chairs she had gotten from her book. The giant holographic globes and maps occupying the center of the room clashed pretty badly with the quaint podium tables next to them as well. The sum total was a bizarre mixture of old and new with faux elegance.


    Kaori decided that she had to change the designs of the various elements in the room. None of this bothered any of the other deities present, well, possibly the former angels and demons from earth but she was betting that they were too polite to say anything even if they did feel that way. She however, couldn¡¯t stand the mish-mash and resolved to fix it. There wasn¡¯t much to be done about the holographs or the space ceiling because those were functional elements. That meant she needed to find a balance of elegance in a space age theme. She then thought about a very old cartoon from America and shrugged it off with a grin before going back over her memories of it with a bit more interest. Space Family Jetson actually had a rather classy look all things considered and she knew with an impish grin what she had to do.


    She started with the tables she had just made and had them float off the floor. Then Kaori shortened the leg of the podiums to a long tapering point and then added two flat floating rings around the last third of the points before settling them back to the same height as before. Several of the deities stood a bit away from the now floating pedestals and Kaori noted with pride a grin matching her own appear on a couple of her direct underlings.


    The office chairs were next. She pulled them all up and gave their suspension system the same makeover as the podiums and left them black but swept the spike backwards a little. The seats weren¡¯t spared though. She changed the overall shape of the seats to a vaguely egg shape with most of the shape missing and a soft cushion and back inside what was left. She topped the whole look by changing the material of the top from black plastic into the same tone of wood as the podium tables. She settled on that wood as the one that would be used throughout the office since it complimented the chocolate brown of the back wall trim and the color of the flooring very well.


    Then she hit the desks and they saw the most dramatic change. They were all formerly large rectangular bricks of wood but the new models would look nothing like them. The desks all floated up, including Kaori¡¯s, and then proceeded to change from rectangular to crescent shaped with even more work area. The top of each still kept the built-in keyboard but the type of wood changed to match the rest of the furniture and they all got a sleek sheet of lacquer over the wood top. The base of each changed into a strange almost draping curtain look made of wood with the insides of the folds painted cream and the tips resting on the floor. They were still the same height as before but now the whole office matched very well! And even better, all of it had a classy futuristic vibe that Kaori cherished from her early childhood.


    Now to fix the last element, the Deific Network Node. After that, it was time to get everyone on the same page or network as it were.

 Chapter 23 – Networking is smart working

    Since Kaori already had everyone¡¯s attention, she decided that now would be a good time to introduce everyone who was awake, which looked to be about two thirds of everyone, to the wonders of networking. ¡°Now that I have finished with the quick remodel, let me have everyone synch up with each other using the pedestal over there. Just go over to it and place your off hand, meaning the one you don¡¯t use to do most things, on top of it in the blue oval. In a very short time it will turn gold around your hand and you can remove your hand from it.¡±


    ¡°Some of the golden color will leave the pedestal and follow your hand in an oval. Ignore the floating gold and move over here so that the next person can get to the pedestal. Once all of you have been to the pedestal, I will begin telling everyone the next part. Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t hurt you.¡±


    It took a few minutes but everyone was finally standing around in a group in front of her. Some were talking quietly amongst themselves while most were looking at her expectantly. Only one group was conspicuously messing with the new item they had received, Her previous angels and demons from Earth. Only they would know how to make use of most of the functions of their new interface, for that was indeed what Kaori had given all of her various gods and goddesses. It was the magical equivalent to a notepad computer with a built-in video chat function. She spent the next couple hours explaining the functions of the new boon to them.


    By the end of her explanation there were no end to the quiet murmurs of admiration and awe and more than a few deities who were extolling her virtues very boisterously. Kaori for her part blushed a little at their praise but waved it off. None of this was, strictly speaking, her ideas and she felt awkward receiving praise for the ides. The group that had transmigrated with her all had big grins on their faces as the egged the crowd into ever more adulation, even the three former angels!


    Having finished with their little impromptu pep-rally The groups all began heading back to their original work stations and found the new designs to be a great deal more efficient to work with. The holographic tables allowed them to walk through the display to point to different parts of the map without changing the orientation or size. Soon, a number of requests for different elements to be implemented were piling into Kaori¡¯s notification bin on her laptop. Going through them, she was able to approve the greatest portion of them on the spot. There were others that were requests for clarification or suggestions of a direction to proceed, especially where monsters and challenges were concerned.


    The work proceeded smoothly for the next several days with all of the deities who missed her initial presentation about the interfaces hearing about it from their peers and everyone quickly adapted to the new system. Kaori finally took some time off to go sleep in her new apartment at the insistence of many of her underlings. Finally, a few days later, it was time to begin implementing the new species and setting all of the new races up to figure out where they would all begin.


    This is where Kaori ran into a bit of a snag. She had never figured out how to make the hybrids she wanted. There was always the option of paying for them but that would be prohibitively expensive. What was it she was planning to do again? No, she had truly never considered the how of making the new species. Surely there was a way though, Right?


    Kaori tried to find the information in the book but that went about the way she expected. There was absolutely no information in the book about the creation of new creatures. She looked through the book again but the prices of the various creatures were prohibitively expensive and she would have to have an entire starter population of each one. Worse, there were species that she wanted that weren¡¯t even present within the catalog. Frustrated that this was getting her nowhere, she tossed the book onto her desk and looked around. There were several of the deities who were looking her way with varied looks of concern.


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    One of those who happened to be looking her way was Tozenna. That gave Kaori an idea and she called the dryad woman over. ¡°Tozenna-san, I have a question for you. You¡¯ve been a goddess for a while now, yes? How does one go about creating hybrid creatures? I can find no reference for it anywhere and I really need to get started on that.¡±


    Tozenna looked about bashfully before meeting Kaori¡¯s eyes with resignation. ¡°Kaori-sama, I don¡¯t know how to do that either. I was never slated to become an elder goddess and because of my interest in helping others with their troubles, I was relegated to working for less favorable deities. I¡¯m not implying that you¡¯re one! By no means, you, Kaori-sama have offered me the best terms of employment I¡¯ve ever gotten and this is by far the best world I have ever been a part of.¡±


    ¡°I worked for a lot of other deities that would have me talk to all of the gods under them. They would demand harsh work schedules with near constant problems, often created by the main deity themselves, and I was only there for them to complain to without being able to help them in any way. Needles to say, the pay was often a major point of contention between those gods.¡±


    ¡°I have never even seen any hybrid beings created before. Creation of new things was not often high on the priority list of those I worked for previously. I have been wondering for days now how one could even begin to compare others to you. The way that you approach things is often so far from the normal way of doing things that it becomes hard to imagine why nobody has ever done this before. Then there are things like the¡­ what was it again? Oh yeah, Deific Network! Nobody has ever seen anything like that before! You should probably talk to your supervisor about sales of that system in the catalog. I bet it would sell very well! Again, I am very sorry that I couldn¡¯t answer your question Kaori-sama.¡±


    As Tozenna was walking back to the group that was setting up the plants and animals in various regions that had already been prepared by the other groups, Kaori considered her words. She was right, there were a lot of things that she did in a way that was different than what would be available to others. Why were the things she did so different though? Just because she was from Earth? Whatever the reason, if there was nobody else to show her how to make the hybrids, she would just have to try doing it her own way.


    Kaori then began typing various ides for combining the different hybrids that she wanted. First on the list was one she considered to be ridiculous but she supposed all things were possible, she was a deity after all. She would have to see if simply willing the creatures to merge would work. She didn¡¯t really want to use that method though, even if it would work, because it would mean that she would have to buy a bunch of new people to turn into hybrids and she wouldn¡¯t really save any points doing things that way.


    The next on the list would be to try physically pushing the two beings together. This one she considered to be even more ridiculous. She would have to try it anyway. Next up is the idea of trying to find some sort of essence of the beings and using that. She tried to remember any time she saw something tried in an anime or manga and wrote those down too. Then there was the obvious if ultra-embarrassing method of trying to have the beings mate. This she wanted to write off because it never worked on Earth even though many strange people tried it, repeatedly.


    Armed with a list of ideas to try, she summoned her book and turned to the page with the animals and summoned her first test subject, a cat.

 Chapter 24

    Kaori bought a cat from the catalog in her book and wasn¡¯t surprised when it showed up in the same room with all of her other denizens. She was a tad surprised that the cat turned out to be a sphinx cat and not any of the normal domestic breeds. It wasn¡¯t really a problem though. She bought the little animal for her experiments, so having it show up in suspended animation was rather convienient.


    She tried to will it to move and the dimly glowing cylinder of white light moved where she wanted it. The cat in the cylinder of light was standing on the floor but as the light moved along the floor, the cats feet didn¡¯t move. It was odd to watch, almost like a 3D animatic of a scene where the cat will eventually walk across the room.


    When the cat was next to the first test subject, a human male who reminded her vaguely of her economics professor, she began trying to will the two of them together. She tried to imagine the two of them merging. She tried to imagine the two of them blending. She tried to imagine the two phasing into one another. Kaori tried every form of total and partial merger she could think of but the guy and cat just stood next to each other without ever moving in the slightest.


    A bit dejected that the idea was a bust, she glanced around and decided to try the same thing with the other races. She started with the cat and an elf. Then a dwarf, a demon, an angel, and so on. The forced merger experiment was at an end. There had to be a way. She had chosen the cat because she had already met a cat-man hybrid. Anthromorphs was the proper word for it, wasn¡¯t it. That¡¯s what Descartes had called himself.


    Next, was trying the few methods she could remember from anime, games, and manga. There was one where blood from the animal was infused into the host and dark magics caused the fusion. Kaori tried this by fueling the cat¡¯s production of blood while sending the freshly made blood into the first guy. She then tried every frequency of magic she could think of but they did nothing.


    Next was the merger of parts directly and for this, Kaori used cloning via forced parthenogenesis budding. The parts of both the man and the cat were fused with magic like some very twisted Frankenstein¡¯s monster and then a large quantity of magically reactive potion that Foglat helped her produce was infused into it¡¯s veins. When the whole abomination was presented with a soul and bombarded with light magic, still, nothing happened.


    Tozenna forced a bunch of her growth into the veins of a new set of body doubles at Kaori¡¯s request. The result was the same as the other experiment. It seemed that plant and animal were no more compatible than cat and man. Kaori was beginning to grow frustrated. This was not how that was supposed to go.


    She tried the creation of a virus that would fuse the two creatures but the methodology was well beyond her means. When she considered it, she decided that a virus would likely be even more far fetched than straight magic would be.


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    Next up was the mating but she was unwilling to do things the usual way. That was far too disgusting for her sensibilities. She knew that there were a lot of people in her country that would have jumped at the opportunity. Indeed, her homeland was known as a nation of repressed perverts on the internet. However, She wasn¡¯t one of them.


    The first step was to draw out the egg and semen of the two contributing specimens. The next step was to observe the interaction of the egg and sperm. Under magical magnification, the two refused to interact. The outcome was not unexpected. She then used a modified version of charm and illusion to present the sperm with the notion that the egg was the right kind and that did the trick. However, the penetration of the egg was as far as it went.


    This series of experiments was at an end. For all her knowledge and effort, she was still unable to come up with a way to make the two merge. There was still the merger of essence but Kaori wasn¡¯t sure exactly how that would work. She decided to think on it a bit while finalizing a few of the other problems and policies she had in place. Perhaps the answer would come to her if she didn¡¯t dwell on it.


    Looking over the work that has been done thus far on the terrain she was most impressed but still felt it was missing some element. She began to look more critically at the arrangement and shape of the islands and then it hit her. She was seeing something in her mind and since she hadn¡¯t been able to put her finger on it, the exact nature of the problem or feeling of something lacking just wouldn¡¯t fully manifest. Now that she knew what it was, she wondered why it hadn¡¯t occurred to her sooner.


    The islands all had a sort of ring shape around the central island continents and there was a big spot missing from the center of the whole arrangement. The look of the whole reminded her of an impact crater and now that she knew what it made her think of, she wanted it to match up to that a bit better. When she spoke about it to the design team in charge of terrain, A lot of them stared at her blankly without comprehension but those that did understand all lit up at the idea and they began working furiously towards that end.


    The new idea had all of the islands conforming to a more scoured out look but with erosion from weather over many eons. There would be a lot of cliffs that terminated on the side of the islands that was farthest from the center. Some islands would see a ridge of rock running through the middle of the whole thing but always the prevailing theme was a blast crater. This also gave them the chance to implement a major discovery at the very center of the island continents.


    Kaori had already come up with the idea of having dungeons distribute new technologies to the residents. That meant that she would have to make the dungeons at least semi-sentient. Then she could have a deity in charge of dungeons and when one was being challenged by inhabitants, it could drop new weapons or domestic goods or even new recipe items in the loot in various rooms. This would encourage a steady progression of technology and would give the residents more reasons to enter dungeons than just coin.


    The big surprise at the center of the world would be a still working advanced spacecraft that was so tough that it had caused the cratering effect over the entire surface of the world. There would also be evidence left in the craft of the proto-species that were the supposed forefathers of all the races that she wanted to place on the world. That brought her back to the problem of new species. She still had no ideas on that though.

 Chapter 25

    Rather than focus on the thing she couldn¡¯t figure out, Kaori turned her mind once again towards the various different policies and retrofits for the world. This time, she was focused on the plants, animals, and monsters of the world and how they might have evolved in the environment. Kaori had read that the easier and more plausible the background of the world, the cheaper it would be.


    She began looking into the proposed different regions and biomes. There were several suggestions for her to peruse now. One caught her interest and she called the groups of deities together to ask them to cooperate on the premise and to further expound on it to her.


    Belle, Pross, Risse, and Rocelle all came over because each of them had figured out parts of the system that they were proposing. Belle went first and the sassy little now-dwarf goddess spoke in a clear and confident soprano. ¡°The idea overall is pretty simple. We set up areas of high concentration magic in bands that coincide with the ripples from the impact site.¡±


    Pross picked up in an excited tone. The demon-come-elf was more exuberant than Kaori had ever seen him. ¡°In addition to regions of high magic, we set up regions of low magic too. It will require the purchase of that phenomena but it¡¯s among the cheaper phenomenon to purchase. Then we use those regions to explain the various terrain and biome features! Deserts, badlands, deserted mountains¡­ All of it can be low magic regions where creatures can either be smaller and weaker or bigger and tougher!¡±


    Rocelle unconsciously flared her wings as she jumped into the conversation. ¡°The areas of higher magic versus lower could allow a lot of interesting magical evolution. The explanation point that I prefer is that creatures that are moderately strong in a high magic area will become exponentially stronger if they move into an area of low magic.¡±


    Risse slid into the conversation smoothly with an addition to what Rocelle was saying. ¡°We were kind of thinking that there could be a growth mechanic involved in making the high magic creatures the boss of a low magic area. Like where they get bigger just by dint of having more magic than the surrounding area? I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s something we can find in the book or not but we figured it was worth asking about.¡±


    Rocelle took over again. ¡°We are all trying our best to make the world as much like a video game as possible. We all understood your intentions and everyone wants to see Kaori-sama succeed.¡±


    Kaori glared at the angel and she flinched a bit. ¡°Did we misunderstand you?¡±


    Kaori just facepalmed before looking up at the woman. ¡°Kaori-SAN! I keep telling you to drop the honorifics. Please?¡±


    All of them looked away sheepishly because they all knew they had been using the exalted honorific despite being asked not to. Risse made up her mind at that point that she would correct anyone she heard using the overly flamboyant honorific with their supreme goddess from then on. She still felt that the honorific was justified but if it was Kaori-sans wish then she would use san instead.


    The implementation of the new magic terrain mechanism went very smoothly in the model. The mechanism to implement the whole monster growth thing was a bit hard to adapt from a phenomena available already in the book but they managed. They got all of the biomes fleshed out and all of the plants, animals, and monsters finalized for each.


    The dungeons took some working on. Making the semi-sentience for the dungeon cores turned out to not be very hard at all. Apparently, most dungeons came with the option to be sentient from the outset. There were options for how it would be handled but kaori decided that they would be an afterlife evolution path available to monsters.


    What took the longest was getting the first generation dungeons dampened down enough that tribesmen could enter them at all. The prizes scattered throughout the various dungeons would be low tier technological developments. These were things that would be crucial to the early tribal progression to bring them to higher levels of development. Something as simple as the idea of using bows could be the difference between life and death for a whole tribe.


    The problem was that the dungeons were apparently never meant to be implemented this early in the development of a planet. They were something that gods usually unveiled when the civilization had reached a certain level. Kaori however, had other ideas. She explained to the simple minds of the first gen dungeons that hadn¡¯t even been put on the planet yet, that as long as they didn¡¯t kill too many of the tribesmen that they would have a steady source of food and would live for centuries or even millennia. They were, unsurprisingly, very receptive to that and promised to keep their lethality in check.


    Kaori Later gathers all of the deities for a meeting where she outlines the way that they will all be paid and the bonuses that they can expect. By that point, the teams that had gone to other deity-neutral afterlife zones had all come back with stacks of virtual applications from the banished residents there. There were only a few cases where the inhabitants of those zones felt they belonged there and refused the offer to leave.


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    Kaori informed the souls that were going into the afterlife game that they had prepared, that a great many of them would likely be pulled out and be given the opportunity to become angels or demons. The ability to change the race of the inhabitants to one of the arch-species but no other frustrated Kaori enormously. Why was it so hard to make the hybrid species she wanted?


    During the meeting with the deities, Kaori told them what she was expecting of them. She told them that a lot of them would be directly in charge of one aspect or another of a race or tribe and that the well being of the tribe was their responsibility. She would be assigning angels to the gods in charge of the tribes and demons to gods in charge of monsters, dungeons, or evil tribes.


    She informed them that the point of their protection was to get the overall technological advancement of the world to progress. To that end, she was willing to let some tribes get wiped out or even entire species but she would be keeping starting locations open to restart species she felt had too much potential to let go. She explained how she wanted the gods to encourage growth for their species or tribes and that the angels would be their messengers and go-betweens.


    She also explained that some tribes would be better equipped to forge ahead than others. That, she proclaimed, was the reason for the demon¡¯s involvement. They would be there to hamper the tribes that got too far ahead of their competitors. She also wanted contention as well as cooperation between the tribes and the evil gods would be in charge of promoting conflict through their assigned demons.


    She told them that the balance between nurture and hinder was going to be a little tricky but that¡¯s where the deific network would play it¡¯s greatest role. Deities could keep in constant contact with each other and even see the progression of the various tribes as well as any other projects that were in motion. It was going to be complicated but with the help of her elder gods, they could make it work for sure. Kaori wasn¡¯t worried about managing personnel but there were a lot more of them than she was used to being directly responsible for.


    The next thing she did in the meeting was to inform every deity of the overall plan of the world. Kaori explained for the benefit of all those joining fresh and for all those who were in need of more clarification just how the world would work and what the ultimate goal of the world was. Some balked at the idea of having a world set up as a series of challenges meant solely to progress the species on the world. She told them that this was the goal given to her by her boss and many blanched at the idea of a god higher in the hierarchy than her. Kaori just grinned as she explained to all of her deities that there was always somebody higher.


    After the meeting, Kaori sat at her desk and brooded. Miraphon approached her with Tozenna in tow and the pair confronted her. ¡°Kaori-sam¡­ san, you hired the councilors to help the gods who have problems. You have something that you aren¡¯t letting anybody help you through so why don¡¯t you tell us about it? / Otherwise, why did you hire me and my companions Kaori-san?¡±


    Kaori sighed to herself but relented. ¡°I have made it through all of the preliminary preparations for the revamping of this world. We have an afterlife, a new topography, all the biomes and wilds figured out, a method of progress found. Everything is in place to change the world and revolutionize the whole thing. There is just one final pitfall. I don¡¯t know how to make the hybrids that the whole plan hinges on. without them, there won¡¯t be enough diversity for the plan to work and the whole system will have to be revised. Also, there is no aquatic Arch-species. There is a vast amount of the world that will be left as oceans and I need aquatic sentients to go in them.


    I kept putting it off and pushing it out of the forefront of my mind in hopes that it would magically resolve itself but it hasn¡¯t done that at all. Instead, it has become this insurmountable obstacle that stands resolutely in the way of all further progression of my plans. I just don¡¯t know what to do now. Even if I were to relent and spend an incredibly huge sum of worship points I don¡¯t even have to buy the mixed races, there are a lot of mixtures that I couldn¡¯t find at all in there. In fact, the section on aquatic sentients is abysmal. Pun intended.


    Tozenna bit her green thumb and looked at The now human Miraphon before sighing and speaking to Kaori. ¡°I know that it¡¯s not the advice that you are looking for but I feel that you need to take a break.¡±


    Miraphon smiled at her and then looked pointedly at Kaori. ¡°You should take a vacation or something to take your mind off of it. There is more than enough work to keep everyone busy for a few months! I know that we have all the plans finalized but that doesn¡¯t mean that we have the designs finished and there is an entire world¡¯s worth of terrain to design. Aside from that, there are a lot of ghosts currently running the gamut in the afterlife. If the deities are expected to interact with them as angels and demons, they need time to see what kind of people they are so they can choose their own personnel.¡±


    ¡°My point, Kaori-san, is that you need to relax a bit. You never did when you were alive so I feel that you should now! / You knew Kaori-sama¡­ Kaori-san before she was a goddess?¡± The look of astonishment on Tozenna¡¯s face was priceless! Miraphon just nodded her head. Tozenna began trying to figure out how the two formerly human deities knew each other before they became gods without ever even realizing that the one was a demoness until only recently!


    Miraphon persisted. ¡°Besides, how will any of the deities under you ever feel confident taking vacations if you, their ultimate boss, refuses to take one? We need some time to just mingle and get to know each other more as well. I know! Why don¡¯t you go to Earth? I bet that there are a ton of things that you could do there!¡±


    Kaori wanted to protest but in the end she relented. Perhaps, she would go to Earth for a bit. Nothing in her contract explicitly forbid her from going there or even contacting her relatives but she decided against that anyway. She began to feel better about it the longer she thought about it!

 Chapter 26 Deities day out

    Kaori stepped into her apartment for the first time ever and found it to be blank and boring. Sure, there was a bed, a dresser, a closet, a mirror, and she even thought to provide each room with a rug. The problem was that there wasn¡¯t anything else in them. The bedrooms were the same cream and chocolate with vine motif for the walls that the office was and the furniture was white cloth on wood. They were elegant and functional but not much else.


    Kaori wrote a program real quick to let the gods change the colors and scheme of their rooms. She was amazed again at her speed when it came to producing the programs but she set that aside as she wrote a message to everyone explaining how the new interface worked. She was certain that it would be appreciated by the deities under her care.


    She had used an idea from a mobile game that had a temple as your home base. In the game, you were able to change the main, secondary, and tertiary color of the temple as well as the pattern theme for the basic furnishings. The basic themes for the temple ranged from a western style Catholic church all the way to an eastern Buddhist temple and there were even a couple of fantasy themes thrown in. She had been begged to work on that project because they knew that she was Christian and would have a better idea than them for what would be in that setting.


    The rooms would have overarching themes such as barbarian, knight, monastic temple, Space Family Jetson, other generic sci-fi, wizard¡¯s lair, alchemist¡¯s lair, steampunk, neandertal cave, as well as an elegant and rustic setting for European, Japanese, Chinese, Hindi, and American. The last was every setting style that she could remember from any manga or anime she had seen. Along with the themes she gave them the ability to change five color schemes to anything on a 400 million color palate with the ability to darken or lighten the shade. They could also color any particular component of the room separately if they wanted more variety.


    When she got finished, she played with the controls on her personal deific interface until she found a combo she liked. She settled on an elegant Chinese bedroom with colors in the reds, golds, and greens. She then added a program to create an interior layout as an addendum to the earlier program. This would allow every deity to have an entire mansion as their personal dimension if they so choose and every room could have a different theme and color scheme that would all be saved into the personal preferences of that deity¡¯s interface. Kaori followed this up by writing a notification to her deific co-workers and friends.


    She spent another hour setting her personal preferences up for what was now a rather decent sized apartment. The design was a lot like her old apartment except it was easily twice the size of her old apartment. Kaori didn¡¯t feel the need to be greedy. She would add extra rooms later if she felt the need.


    The extra space was because she had also added in a portion of the program that would allow deities to add various basic furnishings to the layout of any room and it could be in any quantity they wanted. In her own case, she now had bookshelves on every wall of her bedroom and even a third of her room set aside as a library with literal rows of bookshelf nooks.


    Kaori intended to go to Earth and buy all the light novels, manga, anime, and video games she wanted. She would treat herself for her hard work this past¡­ She was startled to realize that she had been working on this world for almost six months! She had fallen into her old routine of working so much that she didn¡¯t even realize how much she had been working. Kaori vowed to take more time off and set an alarm to go off every day to tell her to go rest and one for the weekend as well.


    Having settled on her ideal vacation plans, she stood in front of the mirror and changed her clothing to be casual and then walked to the door. In her mind, Kaori thought of a certain alleyway near one of her favorite bookstores and concentrated on it before opening the door. In front of her was the very alleyway she had thought of and she realized she was stepping out of the back doorway of the old temp service that occupied one of the two buildings to either side. When she closed the door to her apartment and tried the knob again, it was locked. She then imagined her apartment and the knob opened easily and the door revealed her apartment again. ¡°That¡¯s convenient!¡± she mused.


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    Kaori used a bit of her divinity, in part as a test, to make sure there was nobody looking at the alleyway as she exited. She was honestly unsure if her powers would work on Earth but she figured it was a fair bet since she was able to summon her apartment. That was a different dimension directly connected to her own, however, so it did still leave some doubts.


    When she activated her divine aura, she was focused on detecting and found she could practically see the entire street for a block in both directions. Kaori could feel a bit of resistance but it was minimal and didn¡¯t stop slow her down in the least. There were a few people on the street but nobody was paying any attention to the intersection where she would exit.


    After exiting the alleyway, she made her way a few blocks over to her favorite bookstore. She considered going to her favorite manga shop but she wanted to see if she could find the latest release of this one novel series she had been following for years, even with her busy work life. The writer had just released a new novel shortly before she died. In fact, Kaori hadn¡¯t even had a chance to read it before she died so she wanted to rebuy that as well.


    That was why she was so perplexed when she could find the one she had but not a new one. The author was very reliable and produced a new novel in that series every four to six months. It was only then that Kaori happened to observe the date on a newspaper near the front of the store that the clerk was reading. Kaori was stupefied, only three weeks had passed since she had died!


    Kaori started to go into a bit of a panic. The time differential was horrendous between the two worlds apparently. What would they do if she wasn¡¯t there? If she hadn¡¯t noticed and spent the entire couple weeks on Earth as planned, she would returned to find another several months had passed there. That reminded her, she really should think up a name for the world she had been entrusted with.


    Kaori almost rushed out in a panic but then caught herself. If the roughly six months she had been there was equal to three weeks here, then the two weeks she intended to spend on Earth should translate to roughly an hour and a half with a margin of error. She decided that it would be okay to spend an hour or so shopping for a couple books to read at her leisure back in her own realm. She marveled at the notion that she now thought of the other world and it¡¯s heavenly places as her own realm but it was true. She was literally the one who created it so it was hers!


    Kaori poked around and found a couple more books and a couple manga and was just making her way to the front counter when a realization stopped her cold. Kaori had forgotten that she had died and currently had no money here on Earth. She considered putting the books back or just setting them down and walking out after apologizing to the clerk. Then she remembered that she was a goddess and she should be able to make a few pieces of mitsumata paper with a bit of ink on them.


    She concentrated and felt the expected resistance but the 1000-yen notes appeared in her hand all the same. She marveled at how easy it was but wondered for a moment if this was forgery. Certainly, there was some kind of system in place for times like this, right? Sure, she remembered what was on a 1000-yen note but that didn¡¯t mean she knew what the actual ink was and yet this one looked perfect.


    Too late now, she was already at the front counter and the clerk was looking at her with a weird expression. ¡°Pardon, do I have something on my face or something? Sorry but you have a weird look right now. Is everything all right?¡±


    Kaori was in a full panic now. What if the clerk had heard about her death? Surely he wouldn¡¯t be that obvious about it right? If he thought something was weird, surely, he would chalk it up to bad information. The clerk looked a little relieved for some reason. ¡°Ah miss, it really is you. I haven¡¯t seen you in the store for¡­ I think it¡¯s been over a year since you were here and you were one of best customers. Then one day you just stopped coming altogether and I always wonder about people that I don¡¯t see anymore. That¡¯s all. How have you been?¡±


    Kaori breathed a sigh of relief. Thinking back she remembered that the last few books she had bought, she ordered online because she didn¡¯t have the time to come to the store anymore. ¡°Sorry, I got a job that kept me busy and didn¡¯t have time to come anymore. Actually, I¡¯m only here because I got a different job.¡±


    She felt a chill run up her spine as she realized just how true that statement was. If not for getting her new ¡°Job¡±, she would be dead right now instead of shopping for books. She would have to thank Descartes the next time she saw him. For the time, she completed her transaction as normal and left the store. She had to hurry back to her own realm. Her own realm¡­ She liked the sound of that!

 Chapter 27

    Kaori hurried to the alleyway and waited a minute looking through her bag before going into the alley. There was a guy passing as she got there and didn¡¯t want to raise suspicions. After ducking into the alleyway and going back to her apartment she headed to her bedroom to place her books on the shelf. She pulled down the light novel that she had died before getting the chance to read and headed for the door back to her divine domain.


    As she stuck her head through the door, Kaori noticed something odd. She saw that everyone was working on the maps of the world below, just like when she left. It didn¡¯t make any sense because it didn¡¯t seem like there was any progress at all.


    While Kaori was pondering this, Belle walked up to her. She had been heading to her room and spotted Kaori back and was wondering if she was about to announce something or do something similar.


    As Belle approached, she could tell that Kaori was puzzled by something. ¡°Kaori-san, did you forget something you needed to tell us? If you tell me, I will be sure to pass it along. Is that why you came back so soon? You really need to get some rest and relaxation time to yourself. We can handle things here for a couple weeks. The planet¡¯s time hasn¡¯t even been frozen yet.¡±


    Kaori was stunned. The time hadn¡¯t elapsed faster in her realm than it did on Earth like it did before. What was going on? This left her puzzled and apparently it showed on her face. ¡°Kaori-sama? Is everything alright?¡±


    Kaori flinched out of her deep thought and looked up at Belle, well, not exactly up because the dwarf was too short for that. ¡°Sorry, I just got lost in my own thoughts for a moment. Everything is fine though! I was just caught off guard by a particular problem but it¡¯s not that big of a deal. Have you had a chance to play with the apartment builder settings?¡±


    Belle looked up at Kaori incredulously and then facepalmed. ¡°Kaori-sama *A glare from Kaori sets Belle stammering for a moment* K-Kaori-s-san! I know you get excited to see a piece of programming you created in use but it¡¯s only been about two hours. That¡¯s actually where I was headed now. Did you want to come with me and see me use it?¡±


    Kaori really did but she could tell that Belle only offered out of respect not a genuine desire to spend time hanging out together. ¡°No, no. You go ahead. I have something I wanted to look into. I¡¯ll talk to you later to get your feedback on it and make any improvements you or anybody else thinks up for the program.¡±


    Once Belle politely bowed and walked away, Kaori went back to pondering the reason for the time dilation issues. She was fairly certain that she wouldn¡¯t be figuring it out today and set it aside to think more on later. For now, she wanted to go back to her apartment and read her book.


    Speaking of book, Kaori held out her hand and summoned her book. She cracked the first page to peruse the index and figure out where she should begin searching for answers on the time issue, when something else caught her attention. Her worship point credit balance had shifted badly!


    At first, she freaked out a bit but then she calmed herself down. She was figuring that one of the deities wanted to add some feature and just bought it but then she remembered that she was the only one who could make those purchases. This had to be something else. Kaori opened and looked at the balance sheet for her worship points and found where a large chunk of WP had been withdrawn for a synchronization fee. She was puzzled until she saw the next paltry fee on the list was creation of currency.


    Suddenly, everything fell into place. The time of the synching fee was a little over an hour before she made the currency which would put it right at the time she had arrived at Earth. Somehow, she had synched Earth and her own domain. The question that she had to answer was, is this a one-time fee or a permanent feature? She was able to tap on the purchase and found that the description expanded to provide more information, including the relevant info about it being a permanent feature that can only be afforded to beings originally from the realm in question.


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    Kaori smiled a bit at this. She would now be able to visit Earth anytime and not have to worry about the time difference again. That meant that her world would age at a slower rate than others. This was a little bit worrisome because she didn¡¯t know how this might affect the progression schedule.


    All of that was a worry for another day. Today she was going to go back to the Shop she was in and buy all of the books she wanted. However, she wasn¡¯t going to just spend WP every time she wanted to buy something. She still wasn¡¯t sure if the money she created was counterfeit or not and that troubled her a little.


    Kaori thought for a moment about what she might do to make money. She considered all the things that she could make with her powers that would sell but the only thing she needed was a one time boost, not a repeat source of income. She decided after a while to just create an asteroid with gold in it and pull some of the gold out to sell.


    The process of creating and drawing out the gold from the asteroid didn¡¯t take long. Kaori was once again duly impressed with her powers as she flew right into space with no ill effects. The lump of gold she extracted had a certain amount of silver in it and some traces of iron but she didn¡¯t feel like separating it into pure gold. And so, she was off to Earth again. This time she would visit a jeweler first and sell the heavy, fist-sized lump of gold she had in a handbag she created for the purpose.


    When Kaori got back to Earth, she had to find a jeweler to sell to. She was never rich in her previous life and wasn¡¯t particularly prone to buying luxury items in the first place. The most luxurious thing she owned was her car and that had likely been impounded and the hassle of getting it out would be far too much when she was supposed to be dead. Instead of doing that, she would just walk like she used to.


    Kaori asked several people she knew at various shops and had to defer the questions about her death. She told them that she had gotten a new job overseas and had to leave the country suddenly. It did the trick to alleviate most of their suspicions. Some were probably still curious but were thankfully too polite to ask further. Eventually, she did get the information she was looking for and made her way to a jeweler.


    The shop in question looked very upscale and the woman on the showroom was very courteous but in a snobby way. When Kaori bypassed all of the displays of jewelry and went straight to her, she must have automatically jumped to the wrong conclusion. She asked how may I help you and when Kaori asked do you buy gold here, she started to turn to the counter and was beginning to say something about applications when the words finally registered.


    The woman, who was a little taller than Kaori and wearing a fancy, one-piece, mini-skirt dress, turned with a rather strange look on her face. ¡°Does this look like a pawn shop to you?¡±


    Kaori was tempted to heft the bag with the gold in it against the side of the woman¡¯s head but politely excused herself instead. She hadn¡¯t gotten more than a half block away when the assistant manager, a short, balding man with a slight limp caught up with her and apologized profusely. Kaori told him not to worry because it wasn¡¯t his fault. Then he asked how much jewelry she intended to sell.


    The look on his face when he saw the lump of gold that all but filled the small handbag was quite amusing. The man begged her to come back and she agreed easily enough. After all, she just wanted to sell the gold off and make her quick sum of money.


    The woman looked like she was about to protest Kaori coming back when she walked through the door again but the assistant manager rushed over and whispered something to her. Suddenly her face went very pale and she bowed to Kaori before finding another customer to attend to and pointedly did not look in Kaori¡¯s direction again.


    The proceedings of the exchange went smoothly and quickly. The man weighed the nugget and asked if he could have a tiny sample for testing. Kaori agreed and he took a sliver so small that he needed a jeweler¡¯s loupe just to see it. Kaori had no trouble seeing it from several meters away but then she was a goddess, so.


    The man came back a few minutes later with a contract and Kaori got a really big shock. The contract was for the sale of a lump of raw gold for the value of 52,613,200 yen!

 Chapter 28

    Kaori did get a few looks as she headed down the street with a shopping cart full of books and figurines but she was able to ignore them for the most part. The punkish little teen who ran by yelling NEET at her did annoy her a bit but, thankfully, he kept going to wherever he was in such a hurry to get to. When she got to the alley, the street was deserted and she was able to take the cart right to her apartment realm.


    After putting up her books, she decided to read a chapter of her book before returning the cart. She didn¡¯t want to seem like she was staying right next to the book store when there were no hotels in this part of town. She took her time and then returned it with a thank you and the man was more than a little polite to her after that. He also dropped a few hints about her coming back on her next visit home to stock up on all the series that she would no doubt get behind on. He then saw her off with a bow and a genuine smile.


    The next stop was to the electronics store or it would be but Kaori didn¡¯t think she could get away with the same shopping cart trick for the electronics. Therefore, she would have to make two more stops. First was to a bank to get a card to hold the vast majority of her wealth. The second stop would be to a car rental lot to get a vehicle for her stay.


    The two stops were quick and unremarkable. Kaori did have to fabricate her drivers license but she remembered all the details of it so it likely only cost her a single WP. Finally, it was time to hit the electronics store!


    With a car, it was much easier than before but it did present another sort of problem. Now that she was in a car, Kaori found that she couldn¡¯t just park it in front of an alleyway and start hauling her stuff to the back of some random store. There would be way too many questions from that. She would have to find another way.


    Kaori began to roam around the city looking for deserted areas of the town. She found a good spot with nobody around and a lot of alleyways. It was in an industrial district and this part of it was only used for part of the year. The problem that she found, or didn¡¯t, was that there were no doors in any of the alleyways here. So it was back to searching.


    Kaori considered using her godly abilities to locate one but she couldn¡¯t imagine how that would work. She also didn¡¯t want to use her power too much here because this wasn¡¯t her domain even if it was her original home. So, Kaori reluctantly went back to driving around looking.


    Eventually, she found what she was after. There was an old building that used to be some kind of parts store. It was long out of use and the building was in a part of town far from the hustle of the more prosperous or residential zones. There was also a fenced in back parking lot for the employees. It was the perfect spot for what Kaori wanted. She pulled in and shut the fence before opening the back door into her apartment.


    It only took her a few minutes to unload everything but she did have one more thing she wanted to do on Earth this trip. It would have to wait until the next day however because it was a little late in the day now. Kaori took the car to an expensive hotel and checked in for the night. This was a fairly common dream or so she had read. Just once, or maybe a bit more, Kaori wanted to be treated like some kind of visiting debutante or CEO.


    That evening, Kaori decided to go to the restaurant in the hotel and order an expensive meal. She ordered a special cut of Wagyu beef and a rare spread of sashimi as well as a rather old koshu white wine. Kaori was glad she didn¡¯t have to worry about the mess with imported fakes being labeled as domestic wine since the laws had changed in the last couple years. They even made the places with older stock relabel their old stock of false domestic wines.


    When it all got there, Kaori was practically drooling. Eating wasn¡¯t something that she particularly had to worry about since she was a goddess but this was a vacation. The food was exquisite and the wine paired perfectly with it just as promised. Kaori wasn¡¯t a connoisseur or high-quality foods or wines but everything tasted spectacular to her. It also decided her on her course of action for the following day.


    Kaori had paid for a four day stay and then she would be taking a trip. She hadn¡¯t really decided where she wanted to go on her trip to. The choices she was most interested in were either the beach or a hot-springs resort. Kaori had been next to the beach for a whole week once before but it was part of a business training trip and by the time they got out of seminars each evening, everyone was too exhausted to go to the beach.


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    She went back to her room but the moment the door closed, she opened it again into her own domain and stepped in. She had piled all of her prizes from earth into the living room area of her apartment and decided to address that now. First was the big-screen TVs. She had purchased two for herself. One would go up in the living room and the other in her bedroom.


    Kaori didn¡¯t bother with the mounting brackets and just willed them to stay on the walls she placed them on. The one in the living room was set on a wall opposite the seats. In her bedroom, Kaori decided that she would be using it more for gaming than for watching movies or the like so she set it up low to the floor in what she dubbed her gaming nook. She sat this space aside for that purpose and even had a separate shelf for all the games she would buy for it.


    She took a moment to place the ones she had purchased on those shelves now. Most of them were from the RPG and strategy gaming categories but not all. They served a dual purpose as reference materials should she become stumped on aesthetics or ideas in the future. None of them had any real answers for her current predicament but she ignored that for the moment.


    Next up was the computer desk and her gaming platform that she had purchased for it. She mounted the huge triple monitor setup and connected her computer. This was one of the reasons that she had decided to go ahead and set everything up. The computer was brand new and it would require a lot of updates and downloads from the internet.


    Since she had no way of getting a subscription to any services in her dimension, Kaori had to get access, at least during setup, from an outside source. This was a solution that she was rather fond of but wasn¡¯t sure how she would fund before. Now, however, she got to play the part of a rich woman for a few days. She didn¡¯t want to overdo it though.


    The setup took a small part of forever but she had her gaming systems. The problem, they also had to do updates and downloads for each game. Still, there were a lot of books and anime and she was engrossed in one of them while she waited on the various updates. It was during the first of the updates that one simple fact finally registered. It was very early morning on a Saturday.


    Kaori had something that she wanted to do but it would have to be on a weekday and she currently had two days before that. When all the many games and computer programs had finally finished updating, she decided to take a long neglected sleep. Once again, Kaori was profoundly glad for her goddess powers as she simply willed herself to sleep and dozed right off like a narcolepsy patient.


    Kaori awoke to a gentle knock on the door of her hotel room. After all of the updates had finished, Kaori had shut her dimension off from Earth again. She slept the night in the luxurious and overly fluffy bed but rested very well and decided to add the bed to the list available in the menu of her apartment builder. When Kaori opened the door, the attendant politely informed her that there was only thirty minutes before breakfast would stop being served.


    Kaori ordered room service breakfast and stayed in her room with alternate dimensional attachment all day. She connected her domain through the bathroom door this time. She mostly stayed in her room playing games or read while sprawled out on the big hotel bed. She also ordered room service for lunch and finally went downstairs for dinner in the restaurant again. She had pan seared salmon this time.


    The next day she had a nice full breakfast and immediately started on her planned full day of goofing off gaming and reading. However, after only a few hours, she got a little stir crazy and began walking around aimlessly and thinking about her current problem. She reminded herself she had to take her mind off of that and turned to her gaming consoles but really didn¡¯t feel the mood strike her.


    Kaori decided to go out instead. She was walking out of the hotel foyer when she spotted the pool and came up with a plan. She decided she would go shopping for a while and eat lunch in town somewhere. While shopping, she would pick out a swimsuit or three and come back to use it this evening in the pool.


    Kaori went to a few places to pick up a number of odds and ends for her apartment. The hundred-yen shops and several department stores. She bought a lot of different items that she could have easily produced with her powers but decided she wanted the real thing for sentimental reasons. She also went to several clothing stores and took in all the different looks while only buying a few articles from each.


    She went to a ramen shop for lunch and just wanted to melt from the splendid umami flavor she had been missing. She ordered six bowls and the itamae looked at her skeptically when she ordered the second bowl. By the time she finished the fifth and ordered the sixth, he just accepted it with a mirthless grin on his baby-face. Kaori had her reasons, namely, her ability to copy items for the future. She had done the same thing with every meal she had eaten while here on Earth again and wasn¡¯t ordering the same thing twice.


    After lunch, it was time to go to the swimsuit shop. As she left the ramen shop, several sets of eyes followed her and one woman pondered where she put it all in her slender frame. Kaori took her slender frame and fitted it into a couple dozen bikinis before settling on three she liked and bought them. That evening, a lot of old men got a real show around the pool as she sauntered to the pool in her saucy new red string bikini in a very racy cut! She went to bed early because she had plans for tomorrow. Even if she didn¡¯t have to get up early, she wanted to be well rested.

 Chapter 29 – Revisiting old places

    Kaori woke up early the next day and went down to the restaurant for a lavish western style breakfast of ham, bacon, sausage, omelet, crepes, eggs, hashbrowns, and pancakes. The chef came out to make sure that it was really one woman eating all of it. Some of the other guests were put off by her display of gluttony but kaori didn¡¯t care. She was going to have a huge stock of pre-prepared food items going forward.


    When she was finished, Kaori headed back to her room because it was still too early for what she had in mind to do today. She spent a couple hours playing around trying to find the trigger for a certain quest she had read about online. The game had a lot of really nice visuals but not a lot of original content. The content that it did have was exquisitely executed though. She had been a fan of the previous two iterations of this series and liked the open-world experience that this series was best known for.


    After piddling for a bit, Kaori decided that it was time to get ready. It literally took her no time to get ready because as soon as she thought about where she was going, her usual business suit attire appeared on her instantly. With her wardrobe in place she was set and went down to check out of the hotel.


    Kaori found herself hesitating and unsure. She remembered that the car was still full of items she had purchased yesterday and drove to the same abandoned building to offload all of it. This time, she took the time to situate everything instead of piling it all in the living-room. It only took her about half an hour and she had to rouse herself to go do what needed to be done.


    Kaori drove to the building she had in mind and parked in the lot across from it. As she walked through the front doors of her old workplace, the male receptionist, who looked more like a pro-wrestler than an office worker, jumped up from his seat. ¡°Fujiwara-sama! I didn¡¯t expect to see you here again. I¡¯m sorry ma¡¯am but you don¡¯t have a code to go up to the fifth floor anymore.¡±


    Kaori smiled at him but couldn¡¯t remember his name for some reason. It suddenly hit her; she would remember it if she knew it. In all the time she had worked here and all the times she had exchanged pleasantries with him, she had never asked his name. It didn¡¯t make her feel great knowing that. ¡°I was just going to go up to visit for a while and say my goodbyes to everybody. I had to leave so suddenly that I never got a chance. If I can¡¯t go up, I understand though.¡±


    The man looked conflicted for a moment but then his features softened into a smile. ¡°Strictly speaking, I¡¯m not supposed to let you do that but I see no real reason not to. You don¡¯t intend to cause any problems do you? It will probably cost me my job if you do, so please don¡¯t.¡±


    He smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head as he spoke. ¡°As long as you don¡¯t cause any problems and end your visit before closing time, I see no real problems. I¡¯ll take you up to the fifth floor. I know they¡¯ll be happy to see you again.¡±


    When Kaori stepped off of the elevator and walked into the office, the noise level in the room dropped instantly to almost nothing. All eyes in the room locked on her the moment she walked in and more than one mouth fell open. There was a pregnant pause before the noise level redoubled and multiple people were rushing her way.


    Almost every one of her old co-workers rushed over to talk to her. A couple glared at her before returning to their work and she noticed that there were stares of incomprehension from a lot of fresh faces. More than half of the room was piled around her though.


    At first she was bombarded by questions to the point that she couldn¡¯t make them out. A voice cut through above the din and told all the rest of them to ¡°Shut-up and give her a chance to speak!¡±


    Kaori had only caught a few questions out of the overlapping voices. ¡°Are you coming back?¡± and ¡°What happened, are you okay?¡± also one comment hit a little too close to home ¡°We were worried that you were in the hospital or dead you know! Glad to see you¡¯re all right.¡± Kaori was grateful to Kenshin for the interrupt and began to explain herself while avoiding eye contact with the one who had worried she was dead. Kaori was afraid that if she looked in her direction, that her expression would betray her.


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    ¡°I came here to apologize to everyone. I won¡¯t be returning here after today but I was back to pick up my stuff and wanted to stop in and talk to everyone one last time. I got a really great job offer but it came with a transfer that I could not refuse. I had to go abroad immediately to get the job. I do apologize for leaving so suddenly.¡± She followed with a deep bow to everyone.


    Kaori did her best to answer what questions she could about her job without revealing very much. She told everyone that her new job was confidential but that she was doing essentially the same kinds of things she had been doing before. She told them that the new job involved a lot of travel and had a lot of benefits and the pay was outrageous!


    There were a lot of jealous grumbles about the last part which Kaori could readily understand. She decided to make it up to everyone with a lavish lunch. She brought out the phone she had purchased at the electronics store and ordered out from a fancy catering service. She was back in their good graces again rather quickly!


    The catering service had several options to choose from, including beef-bowls, bento, curry, ramen, sandwiches, and sushi. So, Kaori did a poll and the overwhelming majority preferred the sandwiches. That was fine with her because she didn¡¯t have any sandwiches in her repertoire of prepared foods so she made sure to order at least a few of every kind of sandwich and she also followed that up with their special desert sandwiches.


    Kaori had made desert sandwiches once before in college but she didn¡¯t really spend the time to make extravagant things when she got into the workplace. The ones she made before were strawberry with a cream cheese sauce. Since the catering service had them, she ordered caramel, chocolate, cherry, custard, melon, strawberry, and red bean paste sandwiches.


    Kaori spent way more than she meant to but she didn¡¯t regret it. There was awe written on the faces of some of her contemporaries as she finished the order up. even those who didn¡¯t like her or resented her leaving were warming up to her. She didn¡¯t mind. After all, this was her apology to everyone for leaving them so suddenly, even if she had died.


    It was nearly an hour until the food would be delivered. Kaori had made sure to order a special delivery of several varieties of sandwiches to the receptionist guy downstairs. She made sure that he got a couple of the desert sandwiches too. After that, she had a little while to wait until the food arrived so she chatted with those who had time. She also went around and fixed several programing programs that she knew how to take care of.


    She was just finishing up one such task when she spotted one of the new guys got up from his desk and walked over behind one of his co-workers with a coffee cup. At first, kaori thought that he was going to go get some coffee but then he turned in the wrong direction, away from the coffee pot. After that, he walked behind a woman in deep concentration at her desk and began staring at her screen from behind her. Every so often, he would look around to see if anybody was watching him then go back to looking at her screen.


    Kaori asked Kenshin what his deal was and he chuckled before responding. ¡°He¡¯s new. He was hired to do some spot fill coding and proofing on some of the games. Some of your old clients and a few other we got since then. Anyway, he gets here with a strong background in programming but only on paper. He¡¯s basically learning the ropes here.¡±


    Kaori pinched the bridge of her nose. She had had to train more that one ¡°qualified¡± person on doing their job while she was here. ¡°I get all that but why is he going behind Ayaka? Couldn¡¯t he just ask? I mean, I get that Misano-san is working on something similar but couldn¡¯t he just ask? I know she¡¯s nice enough that she would explain it to him. Look, she¡¯s grinning. She already knows he¡¯s there¡­¡±


    Kenshin shrugged. ¡°He¡¯s supposed to know how to do that already so he doesn¡¯t feel comfortable asking. Honestly, it might become a problem if he did ask Ayaka. He¡¯s withing her ideal age range you know. She like them young and impressionable. I shudder to think where that could lead and we need them both in this department right now, so better they don¡¯t go that route!¡±


    Kaori smiled a knowing and slightly creeped out smile at the young man and the woman he was trying in vein to hide behind. Suddenly, Kaori had a flash of inspiration! If she couldn¡¯t find a way to make the hybrids, she would just watch as somebody else did it instead! Surely, she would be able to copy it if she saw somebody else doing it right?

 Chapter 30

    She waited for the food to arrive and had a rather lavish sandwich feast with all of her former coworkers. They were so happy not to have to pay for food and especially not to have to go somewhere to get it, that none of them really noticed how many of the sandwiches she was downing. Anyone who did, certainly wasn¡¯t about to bring it up to the person who bought them lunch.


    Kaori said a final round of goodbyes and left a mysterious book on coding in the new guy¡¯s chair. To her older co-workers, kaori imparted many words of wisdom, especially concerning how to handle all of her old clients. When she was heading out, the receptionist thanked her profusely for the meal. Kaori had to hold in a peal of laughter as she pointed out the chocolate cream on the man¡¯s cheek. Wellness was wished all around as Kaori departed one final time from this building.


    Kaori had intended to take an extended vacation to the hot-springs or the beach more likely but that could all wait. Her main reason for taking a vacation was so she could clear her head and come up with a solution to the anthromorph problem. She had no real clue about how to proceed with making them and her plan somewhat hinged on having a lot of varieties of them.


    Now that she had some idea of how to find out how to make them, she didn¡¯t need the rest and relaxation as much. What she really wanted right now was to find the solution to her problem. She jumped in the car and took it back to the rental lot then walked back to her alley behind the temp service.


    Once Kaori was in her own apartment dimension, she thought of her destination. The office of Descartes Malefecto was the only other place she had ever been but she felt a need to be super stealthy about this for some reason. She turned the handle to her apartment slowly but at a steady pace so it would be less likely to attract attention.


    Kaori peeked out of the door where she had cracked it the tiniest bit and sure enough, there sat the cat-anthromorph. He was furiously writing on a piece of paper and didn¡¯t notice her peering at him. Kaori kept her presence to a minimal but felt the other side of the door beneath her just enough that she could make an appearance there. She didn¡¯t want to linger looking at Descartes for very long because people always seem to know when someone is looking at them.


    Kaori closed the door and prepared her appearance. She formed a stack of documents that had to do with the revisions to the planet she was in charge of. She also had a clipboard with some permission form to begin experiments on anthromorphs that she had thought up quickly for an excuse to be there.


    Her personal deific interface was currently running a map program that would fill itself out as she explored. It was a very simple program that she had added to half a dozen games. All it did was reveal the map as you explore the game and it worked well enough for the PDIs. She was a bit interested in the office of her superior god and thus intended to have a look about while she waited.


    Kaori opened the door from her apartment into the offices opposite Descartes¡¯s door and walked out with confidence. She looked up from her stack of papers to scan the room and saw that it was a typical office setting with numerous desks settled front to front and side by side. There were only a few of the desks occupied at the moment and nobody bothered to look up when she entered.


    Kaori closed the door and chose a direction at random and began walking right. She shuffled the stack of paper a bit as she walked but didn¡¯t stop. The key to not being spotted was to act like you belong there. She had done this several times in college, once even sneaking into the professorial offices to retrieve a cell phone that had been taken up during class and hadn¡¯t been returned after.


    The people in the office took no notice of yet another office worker in the office. They must see a lot of different people come through from time to time. Kaori just kept exploring and discovered that the office complex was pretty big and had regular offshoots.


    The pattern seemed to repeat and Kaori began to get a gist of how things were set up as she walked further. She stopped short of entering the next section at that point. By her estimation, she had passed the main offices of about seven deities of the same relative level as Descartes.


    Each of the sections seemed to have a similar layout. There would be an office on the right that had a name on it followed by a couple offices that didn¡¯t seem to. To the left, there were rows of desks in a cleared out working area and then there was a hallways past that area. Kaori hadn¡¯t explored any of the hallways but she had a guess what would be down them. After the offices or rooms of whatever sort on the right-hand wall, there would be a short hallway before the next office with a name on it and the pattern repeated.


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    Each of the cleared out areas with desks next to each other were different depths with more or less desks in them. There were very few people in most of them but the one in front of her next was positively packed with people. The crowd ahead of her all seemed to be reveling in some way and more than one of them looked to be drunk and carrying around drinking horns. That was why Kaori stopped short of that one.


    Also, the attire seemed to differ a bit between each of the different sections. The revelers all seemed to be wearing red and gold dresses or perhaps robes. The people sitting at desks in the section prior to that were wearing plate armor of some thin flexible make in shades of grey. Kaori realized that she stuck out pretty badly in the sections other than the one belonging to Descartes and decided to hurry back.


    When kaori started back, she opened up her PDI and looked at the map. She denoted that there were eight sections present with the eighth being only a sliver or what she could see of it without going into the chaos. Also denoted on her map was the position of every person in those offices.


    Kaori went back to the section belonging to Descartes but changed her look up a little in case anybody was paying attention. She did away with the stack of papers and put the clipboard under her arm. She also turned off the display of her PDI as she walked further. Upon entering the section for Descartes, only one person looked up but then went right back to what they were doing.


    She turned to the right and filed past all of the desks and headed down the hallway. Each of the doors had a different sign on it and were right next to each other. Kaori was about two thirds of the way down the hall when she came upon a sign that had her name on it in Japanese. Kaori was a little astonished to see that but decided that if it bore her name she should be able to go in.


    When Kaori opened the door, she found herself in the top of a somewhat familiar tree. This was the same tree that she had first arrived at on the planet she was assigned to. Kaori grinned to herself and closed the door. She then concentrated on her heavenly office and opened the door again. This time, the door opened near the center of the set of doors on the back wall of her own office space she had created. It looked like the linking was successful. From now on, she should be able to come and go from this door.


    Kaori looked at her PDI as she moved aside to let a couple of other deities pass. They gave her a very strange look as they did. It didn¡¯t take a genius to realize they were looking at the display of the PDI but they didn¡¯t make a fuss and just kept walking.


    Kaori waited almost an hour before the dot representing Descartes moved from his office desk. It went around the office a couple times then back to the desk. Kaori was just about to complain when it moved away and out of the office. It was time to move!


    Kaori summoned a new stack of papers that was bigger and bulkier than the last one and walked to his office. When she got there, she had to fumble with the stack and balance it to get ahold of the door handle. The door was thankfully still unlocked and opened right away. Kaori slipped inside while balancing the stack of papers and as she had expected, the only one who saw her was pretending they hadn¡¯t because they didn¡¯t want to help.


    Once inside, she unsummoned the papers and began looking at the stacks of papers while keeping an eye on the PDI. Kaori had briefly rummaged through the contents of one stack and just started on the second when she noticed something. There was a notice about anthromorph formation in the top little bit of a stack a little to the right of her. The stack was a bit haphazard and the notice was on the top of a stack that stuck out a bit from the rest due to being on parchment paper.


    Kaori took the top of the stack off of the notice and took out her cell phone. She reminded herself to go through her cell phone and add the same kinds of programs to the PDIs. For now, she turned on the camera and took pictures of all of the pages pertaining to the anthromorphs. There were only six pages and the top three were past date according to Descartes¡¯s computer which turned out to be some magic device that only looked and functioned like a computer. A magic computer was still a computer as far as Kaori was concerned.


    What Kaori noticed though was that there was another god who was supposed to be creating new anthromorphs soon. She had all the information on which world it was and what the god¡¯s name was so it was time to book it. Kaori set the pile back the way it was before walking out of the office. As a final touch, she left a copy of the report she had typed out on the edge of Descartes¡¯s desk and it was almost the same size as the stack she had formed before entering.


    There was one person looking at her so she made a show of forgetting to close the door and having to go back and do it. The one who was looking at her was the same one from before who didn¡¯t help her with the stack of paper she was supposedly leaving. Kaori looked at him like he was useless and shook her head before walking down the hall and he averted his eyes again.


    Mission successful! Kaori opened the door to her own realm and walked in. There was a bit of commotion as the various gods under her spotted her walking to her desk. She could hear grumblings about overworking from at least one of her direct subordinates and she supposed she deserved that but now wasn¡¯t the time to be worried about it. She finally had a direction to go in.

 Chapter 31 – The formula for life

    Kaori pulled out her cell phone and pulled up the pictures. She found that she could will the phone to share the pictures with her computer and did that. The list was in some weird language but she found that she could read it anyway and then she recalled all of the different signs in the hallway but she could read all of them. It seemed that she had gained some kind of auto-translate function.


    The next scheduled anthromorph even was supposed to happen in just over a week. Kaori was overjoyed! She prepared herself as best she could. Kaori checked through the powers section of her book and found that there were powers for hiding all presence from even other gods. The section contained several powers but Kaori didn¡¯t want to spend the WP to procure all of the powers there.


    The main thing that Kaori wanted was invisibility but she conceded that she might well need the ones to mask scent, muffle sound, and mask her aura as well. Kaori was very reluctant to spend all those WP on herself but then she reminded herself that she really needed to know how to make anthromorphs. With great reluctance, Kaori hit the purchase button.


    The page containing the powers gained a second magic circle under the purchase button circle. The second one was labeled as the accept button. Kaori sighed and pressed it and it was then that she found there was a rather large boon involved. Aside from just having the powers herself, she could gift the powers she had to others. It was temporary and she couldn¡¯t gift them to very many but she could grant boons. She would be able to do that with any power she possessed as well.


    Kaori considered the old tales of gods granting their subjects powerful boons and blessings. Apparently, that really was a thing that gods could do! She would be able to grant the powers as a blessing and they would last the lifetime of a worshipper or until she stripped them of them. For her lesser deities, they would be granted the powers for a set duration based on their relative power by comparison to the one granting the power. So she could grant the powers to any of her deities but it would last the longest on the weakest and even longer on a mortal. Neat!


    Kaori tried the powers out. She turned them all on and then got up from her spot and walked over to the maps that everyone else was clustering around. She heard the conversation there at the first map had absolutely nothing to do with the map. All of the deities standing around at this map were all talking about the various features of the apartment builder.


    The apartment builder was VERY popular. There was nothing but praise from every deity talking about them. A couple were unsure how to use it but the others were busy teaching them everything they had learned. Some of them had gotten very creative with the options. One was talking about how neat it was to sleep on the ceiling while another was saying that ceilings were for storage spaces. One of the others was talking about the tiny house that she had made in her living room and how you could change the size of everything so it was possible to do that. Kaori had never considered using the builder to make doll houses.


    Much as she was enjoying the conversation, Kaori was now curious to see what everyone else was discussing. The next table was actually on topic and talking about the monsters that they could place around and what levels the people would have to reach to get to those places and defeat those monsters. They were rather animated about their discussion as well.


    The next table was discussing what they thought the new sentient species would look like. One of the new gods was saying that he couldn¡¯t imagine because he had never even seen some of the species present in this realm before. When a young goddess questioned him about it, he admitted that his world only had humans, elves, and dwarves. One of the older deities who had been hired on began telling about all the different species that she had met before, including a few chimeras and sentient monsters. The gem in her crown was discussing a conversation she had with a dragon once and having to reprimand her for causing too much destruction.


    Kaori began messing with the deities, doing things like poking them or blowing on their cheeks. None of them could spot her even when she did something that direct. She counted that as a success. It was now time to set off for another god¡¯s domain to see if she could be spotted there.


    Kaori headed for the doors and concentrated on the offices of Descartes. When she opened the door, she was looking at the same hallway from earlier. She stepped out and began perusing the names on the doors. If she moved her head quick or concentrated on seeing what was actually there as a picture instead of writing, she could spot the original scripts on the doors.


    After a short bout of searching, Kaori spotted the door she was looking for. The name listed on the door was Barsus and she knew from her reading the parchment that the world was named Rinvult. Kaori wasn¡¯t all that interested in that part but she did kind of want to know what his realm looked like.


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    Kaori looked up and down the hallway but it was deserted. She steeled her nerves and opened the door. Kaori almost had to close the door because she wanted to laugh so hard. Whatever she was expecting, this wasn¡¯t it! This was like somebody had taken the most overdramatized versions of what heaven was supposed to look like and amped them up to max and then made them even more over the top in any way they could think of.


    The space Kaori stepped into was like the inside of an alabaster and white marble castle. The ceilings receded into infinity in a white haze. The floors were all white marble with gold inlays and murals. The walls had open arched windows every thirty or so feet up from the last but there was nothing but glowing white haze outside them. And to top all of this ridiculousness off, there was an ambient layer of noise that was finally recognizable as a continuous chant of the virtues of the gods. What a bunch of egotists.


    Kaori wandered around for a bit with her PDI mapping the space before she saw the first person here. The space was ridiculously huge and not being used much at all. The god she found was just lounging on a couch in the middle of the hallway. He had his head back and at first, Kaori thought he was thinking but then she realized he was sound asleep.


    What a laugh. Kaori walked around for ages before she finally found the right guy. This was another one of the bigoted misogynistic religions. There were apparently no women in the deities here. And every one of the guys here looked like some Russian body builder from a video-game. It was rather pathetic in her opinion but she could ignore it for the time. She just needed one thing from them.


    It seemed as though the head god here was trying to deliberately spite her. Kaori realized that was impossible since none of the gods here even knew she was here but it still seemed that way. Kaori had been in this realm for almost two weeks and the imbeciles here had never even hinted that they knew she was around. However, that was a week longer than she was supposed to be here. The head god seemed completely apathetic and was in no hurry whatsoever to begin making a new batch of anthromorphs.


    Kaori was just about ready to give up or pull her hair out one. Listening to the constant droning of the incessant background hype was severely grating on her nerves. She contemplated giving up more than once and she also considered kicking them all in the hairy nether regions before storming out. Somehow, she managed to hold it together and wait the head god out.


    Finally, the oaf began his ritual for creating new beings. He called all of the gods together and announced his intentions to thunderous cheering. Kaori realized finally that he only kept these guys around because they were all yes-men. She had met her share of old misogynists in the workplace so she recognized the tendencies once they were displayed. The loser had probably been rejected at some point or been through a bad relationship and surrounded himself with men who would bolster his ego.


    The creepy hairy musclehead began by bringing out a human woman who was in the glowing white tube of light and from the other side he brought out a wolf. He then began circling the two subject but paid special attention to the woman. The creep stood staring at the naked woman in the cylinder of light for several minutes. He was fixating on her hair and her hairy nether region. What a total creep.


    Finally, after his drooling session was over, he got down to business and held his hands out in front of him. One hand was pointed at each subject, palm outwards. After a tense few minutes, a golden ball of light began to form in front of the woman and the wolf. A few moments passed as the light grew stronger and the balls of gold could be seen rotating multiple layers withing one another.


    A couple minutes later, the old letch turned his hands to face one another. The golden balls of light began forming miniscule hazy golden threads that snaked slowly towards one another. The threads began to intermingle with one another and snake around each other. He then brought his hands together and the threads left the original balls altogether and formed a new ball in the center.


    When the creep finally opened his hands and moved them away from one another, the golden ball spread out and began to take the shape of a person. It still had the hazy golden light properties but now it had the shape of a person. Suddenly, he clapped his hands together and the gold light disappeared and was replaced by a naked wolf anthromorph.


    The woman was as still as the parent beings to either side of her and even as Kaori watched, a third cylinder of light formed around her. The god waved her aside but sent the other two back through the archways they had entered by. Then he summoned two more in their place and began the whole process over. Kaori was still mystified by the performance after he had done it two dozen times.


    She began to wonder if she should have invested some of her WP into some sort of energy senses but there were hundreds and she had no idea which type he was using here. He was apparently going to keep going until he had a batch of a hundred or more before sending them down to his planet, or so she thought. An offhand comment by one of the cronies clued her in to just how creepy this group was. They were going to take turns picking from the zombie-like women until all of them were pregnant and then send them down. Kaori was revolted like never before.


    On one hand, she saw the lore working in their favor. A new species shows up and they are all women gifted children of the gods. The flip side of it was just over the top disgusting! These guys were just doing whatever the hell they wanted and who could say no to them since they were the gods?


    Kaori had to leave before she did something regrettable to these freaks. She wanted to vomit or be violent or both at once. Worst of all, she hadn¡¯t learned how to make an anthromorph! Kaori was extremely upset as she opened the door to her apartment and stepped in. she felt the overwhelming urge to take a hot shower and go to sleep.

 Chapter 32

    When Kaori woke up, she went out and let everyone know she was back. There were questions about where she was but she didn¡¯t answer them. Kaori told everyone that she would be in her personal apartment domain and they could contact her via PDI if they really needed her but she wanted some time to herself. She could tell that she was making her underlings worried but she couldn¡¯t be bothered to care at the moment. She just wanted to turn off her mind¡¯s images of¡­


    Kaori went back to her apartment and tried not to think of gods raping innocent and helpless women. The idea of it made her sick and enraged at the same time but she couldn¡¯t do anything about it. It wasn¡¯t her realm and she wasn¡¯t supposed to be there in the first place.


    Kaori tried to distract herself with reading a book but she found she couldn¡¯t concentrate to read. She tried reading manga but the images of the old letch staring at the parts of the woman kept resurfacing. Kaori finally stripped and jumped in bed in just her bra and panties and tried to will herself to sleep. The images of the guy staring resurfaced and this time, it was as if the guy was looking at her.


    Kaori sobbed in frustration but in the midst of it, she had an epiphany. His staring wasn¡¯t all as perverted as she had taken it to be at first. Sure, he was a huge sicko pervert who should be a demon in hell not a god but she had figured out a small part of the mystery behind his actions.


    He was choosing the features he liked. He would stare at the parts of the woman and the wolf. Circling the two of them and staring intermittently at different parts of each one. Kaori recalled ever instance that he had stared at a feature and thought of the end product. Sure enough, everything he stared at ended up as part of the final woman at the end.


    Kaori still had no clue about the glowing golden energy but she sat bolt upright with a start. She knew of a method already of picking certain features of a person or animal out. Earth scientists had been mucking about with genetic research for decades. What were they doing if not picking the features that they wanted and putting them together. Scientists on Earth had even bred glow in the dark cats, dogs, monkeys, pigs, sheep, and probably other thing that she had never heard about.


    Kaori made a new trip to Earth. This time, she visited regular book stores and bought up a huge number of books on genetics and programming. She got a bit lucky this time because the counter was off to the side of the bookstore and the clerk wasn¡¯t paying attention anyway. There was a camera but it was pointed at the counter to discourage robbery and thieving clerks, not at the door. Kaori opened the front door right into her apartment and began a rigorous study session.


    The study of genetics took Kaori nearly three days while the books for programming were all digested in the first couple hours. Kaori finally managed to see the patterns of the telomeres and the way the various parts of the DNA coding worked together. Once she figured out how to liken it to programming there was no stopping her. On the morning of the fifth day, Kaori had built a custom program for the PDI that was capable of doing the DNA and RNA comparisons and compiling a new viable code based on the characteristics that the user wanted to be dominant and recessive in the final subject species.


    Kaori then used her BS godly powers to simply make a machine that would house the whole recombinant process and give rise to the new species. It had to be linked to a deities PDI so her people were the only ones who could use it currently but that might be something she looked into in the future. For now, Kaori had a huge number of species to begin churning out.


    Kaori opened her book and opened the holding area for the new species she had purchased. She was a little startled at first when she saw all of the different plants, animals, and monsters but then she remembered buying them. Of course they would be here. Kaori noticed that the plants in the cylinders of light looked a little weird and then she looked and everything except the people were doing the same thing. All of the plants, animals, and monsters were a bit blurry with features that would change from moment to moment. Kaori realized that this was how the other species were made random.


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    Kaori contemplated trying to figure the randomization part of the light field out but decided that somebody probably made it so that it couldn¡¯t be applied to sentients. Certainly there would be some kind of limiting factor like that in place. For now, she had to link the space here to her machine and start churning out all the different species shew would be using. Kaori was practically bouncing as she looked at all of the animals and people floating in their light cylinders.


    When Kaori came through the doors at the back of her heavenly domain, all eyes shot to her. Something in the way she was moving or perhaps her aura told everyone that things were about to get interesting. Kaori came to stand at a spot between the two globes but just shy of them, directly behind the holo-tables with the maps on them. It was here that Kaori decided that she would be creating all of the various species.


    She walked back to the door and gestured and the machine came out of the door and flew over to the spot she indicated. The machine was only about a meter tall, half that wide, and maybe three long as it floated into place. Suddenly, Kaori snapped her fingers and the machine expanded to ten times that size, easily large enough to hold the tallest giants. All of the other deities were bemused by Kaori¡¯s activities and had long since stopped and gathered around to see what she was up to.


    Kaori opened her interface and the app for the recumbinator. She reminded herself that she needed to make all of the various other apps for the PDIs after she finished this. For now, she concentrated on her program.


    In the app, there were three spaces with an addition sign between the first two and an equal sign between the last two. She tapped the first space and it opened a menu screen and from it she selected the world first. This brought up a list that currently only had elves in it. She clicked on it and it brought up a picture and the name of every elf on the planet below. Kaori grinned at the program working as intended but then backed out and clicked the other option. It opened the storage space from her book and she selected the humans.


    After perusing the pics, Kaori selected one of the women and it went back to the original screen. The picture of the woman was in the slot and when Kaori looked, she was floating in one of the spaces in the recumbinator machine. Kaori then selected a female house-cat and it appeared next to the woman in the other slot.


    Now came the fun part! Kaori clicked on the picture of the woman and double tapped it to indicate that this was the base template and her DNA code was displayed next to her and flashed. She then clicked on the cat and in the expanded window clicked on the ears, nose, eyes, and tail, which all highlighted parts of the cat¡¯s DNA code, before clicking the arrow to the side of the screen to import those features. She pressed the equals button and the result looked almost exactly like what she wanted but at the last moment she decided that she wanted to have the legs and paws of the cat for the bottom.


    Kaori clicked on the equals button that was glowing green and there was a second¡¯s pause before the end result updated. This time she hit the create button at the bottom of the screen and the new DNA code flashed and the third empty cylinder of the recumbinator glowed and a separate tube of red goop that Kaori was calling cell soup glowed too and began bubbling. The third tube then filled with a blood red haze for a moment. When the haze settled, there stood an adorable little cat anthromorph. Little was the key word there. She was barely over a meter tall!


    Kaori looked at the woman in the first tube and wondered for a moment what she had done wrong. She glanced at the cat in the second cylinder and then did a double-take. After looking between the three specimens for a moment, Kaori had it figured out. This was a result of the height difference between cats and humans. She was a perfect blend of the two.


    Kaori played around with the settings on the next one and found that she had put just enough of the cat parts in to force the height difference. The legs seemed to be the big difference and Kaori saved the settings for both species of feline anthromorphs. She was having a blast and the other deities were just astounded about her ability to make the new races. Tozenna approached her and whispered in her ear that the first one was a completely new species that she had never seen before at all!


    Kaori just grinned at her and said just wait! Next up, kaori put the cat away and brought out a fish. When Kaori tried to combine the fish and the human, she was expecting to get a mermaid but instead, she got an error message that the two subjects were too disparate. Kaori frowned. She had set the program up to determine the feasibility of different species and apparently, this wasn¡¯t how to get a mermaid after all.

 Chapter 33

    Miraphon was practically bouncing with joy! She had realized what Kaori was trying to make and had a soft spot for mermaids. Those being one of the few cryptids that God, the Mysterious Old One, had allowed to remain on Earth. She wasn¡¯t sure what Kaori¡¯s version would look like but it had to be better than the originals because the old mariners were nuts when they described them as beautiful. Real mermaids, or at least the ones on Earth, were ugly in the worst way. They were however a very nice and mellow people.


    Kaori tried replacing the type of fish several times but to no avail. She then thought to try replacing the human with an elf. She still had absolutely no luck and was getting frustrated because mermaids and variants were an intrinsic part of her plans. Miraphon came up to her and suggested using the essence of water. Kaori looked at her uncomprehending for a moment but then it occurred to her that that had to be a thing as part of certain magic systems, like in various anime.


    Kaori summoned her book and had no idea where to look. Einoro pointed the spot in the phenomena section out to her and Yaju grinned from the side. Kaori was profoundly happy to have so many competent and helpful people around. She purchased the essences that were available which were gas, liquid, and solid.


    Kaori then substituted the liquid essence for the fish and miraculously when she hit the green glowing equals button, what sat in the other slot was unequivocally a mermaid! Kaori then got curious and stuck the human woman back into the first slot and hit the button that glowed green again. The creature that sat in the third slot was a blueish green skinned woman with long flowing fins coming off of her head, arms, and legs and had gills in the sides of her neck. The long talons on her hands and feet looked quite formidable. In short, Kaori had found the formula for a triton!


    Kaori immersed herself in discovering new formulas and found hundreds of combinations. She was busy picking the features she wanted to take from a frog to add to a dwarf and was almost certain she would get a Kapa! Suddenly there was thunderous applause from behind and to her left. Kaori whirled around wondering why one of her deities had decided now was the time to clap.


    Standing there with an admiring look on his face was Descartes Malefecto! His gaze roamed back and forth across the many new species but he was clearly having a hard time keeping his eyes from fixating on the felinoid women in the lineup. He wasn¡¯t even trying to hide his fixation on the shorter of the two even though it was obvious that he had eyes only for the taller one. Kaori couldn¡¯t blame him. If what Tozenna said was true, the short one was an entirely new species of cat-anthromorph.


    Finally, his gaze settled back on Kaori and he had a big disconcerting grin full of needle sharp teeth. ¡°I knew you would be perfect for this job! I first want to say how wonderful of a job you and your impressive, and very loyal it would seem, team are doing on the redesign of the planet below. I have read through your report and I could scarcely believe all of the reforms and changes you had implemented.¡±


    ¡°Actually, I asked some of your lesser deities and they got VERY defensive towards you. I can scarcely believe how loyal of a team you have assembled in such a short time. That¡¯s the mark of a great leader. When I asked them to show me some of the things that you had reported, I half expected them to be simply plans or fanciful ideas. If not that, I was expecting that you would be the only one who knew anything about most of it.¡±


    ¡°What I found shocked me. Almost every deity here knew all the details of your plans and could readily show and explain in further detail how everything worked. In fact, they all seemed to have access to some kind of information source that I could scarcely believe existed! I would dearly love to have that in the office at large and I doubt there is a deity who wouldn¡¯t be willing to pay for that item.¡±


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    ¡°And then there was you. Standing there engrossed in the development of species never even seen before in all of the multiverse as far as I know! Where did you learn to make such creatures?¡±


    Kaori was practically beaming and then came the last question and her smile almost slipped. Descartes looked at her pointedly before continuing. ¡°That brings us to another point though. I¡¯m afraid I have to give you a writeup for going through the files in my office and for going into another god¡¯s domain without permission. Fortunately, the oaf didn¡¯t realize you were there or it would have been a much bigger ordeal than¡­¡±


    Descartes¡¯s words died in his throat as he looked at Kaori. The formerly exuberant woman was now covering her mouth and trying in vain to hold back tears. Descartes tried to smooth it over. ¡°I do have to give you a writeup and that does mean a small deduction of worship points but it¡¯s only a first offense so it won¡¯t be that much! Besides, I dare say that you will be making loads of worship points if you list your innovations in the god¡¯s catalog. You could¡­¡±


    Kaori cut him off short. She was devastated about getting a writeup since she had never once gotten one during her entire working life. There were some things that she couldn¡¯t let stand though. ¡°Fine, I accept my writeup but you¡¯re going to listen to me first! Do you have any idea of what that creep and his cronies do to the beings that he creates? The things they do to those poor women? They, they¡­¡±


    It took her a while before she could tell Descartes what she had overheard. He went from pale white to livid before a look of determination settled over his face. He was just about to say something about what he would do to correct the situation when Kaori turned on him. ¡°And you! Do you have any excuse for how poorly you equipped or educated the previous god of this world? I found out that he had been dropped here without even being told that he had a deific catalog to make purchases from! Then you came here just long enough to tell him that he was doing a terrible job but never explained a damned thing to him! That is the worst kind of management I could think of!¡±


    Descartes looked sheepish and abashed. He couldn¡¯t even look her in the eyes as he tried to think of words to defend himself but he knew he had dropped the ball. Instead he turned to Yaju. ¡°Yaju, god of the hunt, I apologize for my earlier oversights. I will reinstate you as a full-fledged deity as of now but I have to put you in charge of a different world. Surely you can understand the wonderful work that I would upset if I left you in charge and moved Kaori to a new world instead.¡±


    Yaju smiled a big smile and had tears in his eyes. To think that Fujiwara-sama would go so far as to scold Descartes on his behalf. ¡°I appreciate the offer but I will be staying right here under the service of Fujiwara Kaori-sama. I have never had a friend so true nor a leader so brave and I would be a fool to forsake that. Besides, Fujiwara-sama introduced me to my greatest joy.¡±


    As Yaju turned, he also turned forms and so did the angel next to him that he was looking at. Descartes was doubly shocked to see the two gold and silver lupine forms touch noses. He turned to look questioningly at Kaori and just say her shaking her head. Descartes was dumbfounded. He had had people turn down being a deity before but never had one voluntarily stayed subordinate to another deity. Further, he had never seen the form of lycanthropy that the two of them had nor had he ever seen a werewolf god or goddess! This woman was going to be one that he would have to keep a very close eye on from now on!


    Descartes studied Kaori for a moment before speaking to her again. He considered his words and though he knew there could be problems, he spoke anyway. ¡°You know, I suppose it worked out in your favor anyway. If you had gone to one of the elder gods, they would have told you that you were too young to be able to create life yet. By sidestepping the rules this time, you saw the process and came up with a different version that you could do and are now doing something that most don¡¯t have the ability to try for thousands of years. Just don¡¯t make a habit of skirting the rules. The punishment for the writeup goes up each time. This time it¡¯s only 1000 worship points but next time it will be four times that many. I¡¯ll be going now but keep up the good work, you are definitely someone I will have to keep an eye on in the future, a close eye. Don¡¯t forget to submit your reports for everything periodically.¡±

 Combinations of life

    <table width="1049">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    alignment


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    good


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    good


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    good


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    neutral


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    neutral


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    evil


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    evil


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    evil


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Common name


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    angels


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    elves


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    fairies


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    dwarves


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    humans


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    giants


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Ogres (gray)


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    demons


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Godly name


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Arc-ans


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    Arc-els


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Arc-sens


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Arc-toks


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    Arc-niels


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Arc-tals


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Arc-fens


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    Arc-mels


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    General personality


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    dignified and stiff like robots or British royal guards


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    Free spirited but very quick to shy away or hide


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Naturally curious but cautious not to be seen


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Secretive and industrious but boisterous and friendly


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    Selfish but kind and as often bound by rules as not


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Proud and strong with a deep sense of superiority


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Honorable but quick to anger with great strength of body and will


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    Some reserved others wild but always twisted and malicious


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Common subtypes


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Direct cross


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    High-elves


    Fairy nobles


    Arch-dwarves


    High-humans


    Titans


    Ogre-lords


    Fallen


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    High-elves


    pixies


    gnomes


    half-elves


    forest giants


    blue ogres


    dark elves


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Fairy-nobles


    pixies


    halflings


    halflings


    humans


    Green ogres


    Imps


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Arch-dwarves


    gnomes


    Halflings


    Hodo/brutes


    hill giants


    Brown ogres


    Red dwarves


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    High-humans


    Half-elves


    Halflings


    Hodo/brutes


    Low-giants


    Red ogres


    changelings


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Titans


    Forest giants


    humans


    hill giants


    low-giants


    Purple ogres


    War giants


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Ogre-lords


    Blue ogres


    Green ogres


    Brown ogres


    Red ogres


    Purple ogres


    Black ogres


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    Fallen


    Dark elves


    Imps


    Red dwarves


    changelings


    war giants


    black ogres


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Plantites


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Forest spirit


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    Dryads


    Wood elves


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Brownies


    Mandrake


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Shrublies


    nutmen


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    Florans


    Fruitlies


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Treants


    War-bamboo


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Rootans


    Thorn-lords


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    Decay spirit


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    anthromorphs


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Siren/birds


    Pan/goats


    Unicorns/horses


    Tigrins/tigers


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    Kitsune/fox


    Satyr/goats


    Selkie/seals Avians/birds


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Sasoringen/scorp


    Aringen/ants


    Vesperin/bats


    Leporingen/rabbi


    Scuiringen/squirl


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Kobolds/dogs


    Kapa/frogs


    Nezumi/rats


    Sahuagin/fish


    Delphingen/dol


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    Canids/dogs


    Felids/cats


    Centaur/horse


    Orcs/swine


    Lizardmen


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Minotaur/cows


    Ursine/bears


    Sphinx/lion


    Cyclops/worms


    Elerins/elephants


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Lamia/snakes


    Harpy/birds


    Arachne/spiders


    Rhinogres/rhino


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    Naga/snakes


    Krampus/goats


    Goblins/monkey


    Hobgoblin/gorril


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Fungaloid


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    Myconids/gray


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Myconids/white


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Myconids/brown


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    Myconids/red


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Myconids/blue


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Myconids/green


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Microbian/slime


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Silver/healing


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    Blue/water


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Gray/oil


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Purple/poison


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    Green/acid


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Giant green/acid


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Red/fire


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    Black/decay


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Lithotites


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Earth elemental


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    Mountain elves


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Leprechaun


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Delvers


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    Neandertal


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Stone-giant


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    trolls


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    Fire elemental


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Aquatites


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Water elemental


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    Mermaids


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Nymphs


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Cesaelia/octopus


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    Tritons


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Wave-giant


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Shiva


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    Ice elemental


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Miasmites


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Air elemental


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    Djinn


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Will-o-wisp


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Genies


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    Genies


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Cloud-giant


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Ifriti


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    lightning elemental


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>

 Chapter 34 – Depression and coping

    When Descartes left, Kaori immediately felt a bout of depression settling in. Everyone else was amazed that Kaori had gotten off so lightly after being caught literally stealing information from her boss. They all marveled at how she had garnered so much praise and had earned so much clemency that she would be excused from such an infraction and then scolding that same boss on top of it. Kaori, however, had fixated on the writeup she had received to the exclusion of all else and was feeling like she had been told she was the worst employee ever. Such is the mindset of a perfectionist.


    She milled around a bit working on some dwarf recipes but her heart wasn¡¯t in it now. Eventually, she set up a chart on the PDI network and asked the other deities to find as many cross combinations as possible, even if they weren¡¯t going to use them all. She made mention that the discovery of each new species would carry the names of the deities who figured them out in the extended details of that species if it went on sale and they would receive a cut. That got a lot of motivation and suddenly everyone wanted to help.


    Kaori just shrugged and went back to her apartment. She had years worth of light novels, manga, anime, and games to catch up on. In truth, she just wanted to distract herself because she felt like dying. An interesting question occurred to her; Could she die? To keep from pondering that, she popped in a release of a recent otome game she had purchased for one of her new consoles.


    Kaori was getting very into the game. She had discovered that there were five alternate love interests to the main five. All of the main love interests were hot young male magic academy students. The alternate interests included a couple of the side characters, one teacher, and even a couple of the female rivals. How evocative and spicy!


    Kaori had just gotten into the storyline for the second alternate when she received a text on her PDI. It was one of the younger goddesses that she had hired from the catalog. The woman was likely old enough to be her great, great, grandmother but that was inconsequential. What mattered was that she wanted to speak with Kaori.


    Kaori pondered it for a few and then conjured a bit more furniture with her apartment builder before opening the door into the office. The young-looking woman of elven descent came in with a bow and a thanks. When she was inside, Kaori shut the door and invited her to come sit at the table in her room. Kaori produced a variety of rice snack crackers that she had gotten complimentary at the hotel.


    The woman was astounded by the variety of different snacks she was being presented and then the oddity of the room¡¯s contents hit her. The elven woman whose name was Lerrelan, began by asking Kaori about the various different items in the room. Kaori tried to explain some of the figurines to her and that led into a discussion of the book series they were from.


    Lerrelan had intended to go in and focus mostly on talking to Kaori about what had upset her so much. She knew that Kaori had been reprimanded but it wasn¡¯t a very serious attempt at punishment on Descartes¡¯s part. He had all but admitted that he had set the information out for her after discovering that she was having troubles creating new races.


    Lerrelan had never seen another higher order deity take such an immediate liking to a new deity but it was clear that their supervisor was one of her director¡¯s favorites for some reason. She considered it thoughtfully before she volunteered to speak to Kaori-sama about it. In truth, she was as curious about the woman as everyone else was and really wanted to figure out what was so special and odd about her. As she spoke with her about a myriad of imagined worlds that the woman understood in great detail, she began to get a sense that there was something distinctly different about the world she had come from.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Lerrelan did steer the conversation back on track after a long time and finally remembering why she had come there. Kaori avoided the discussion for a bit before finally relenting and talking it through with the councilor. It occurred to her that this was the very reason they had been hired and she was not above the need for counseling.


    Kaori told Lerrelan about the writeup and how this was the first one she had ever gotten. There was a lack of comprehension so Kaori had to try explaining what her job was in her previous life. This turned out to be a very long and in depth conversation about Earth. The continued lack of understanding prompted Kaori to show the elven woman a bit of Earth and took her to supper at McDonald¡¯s and introduced her to the bai double cheeseburger while she had the bai teriyaki burger and they both had a Uji matcha frappe¡¯.


    After the fairly late lunch, as in, they had gotten to McDonald¡¯s right as the bai menu opened at 5 pm., Kaori proceeded to drag Lerrelan to a shopping mall. The two women spent hours going from one shop to the next and buying a huge assortment of clothing and accessories for the utterly bewildered elf. Between going to several shops, the pair went to the bathroom but actually entered Kaori¡¯s apartment to drop all their things off.


    After the seventh or maybe ninth store they went to, Kaori decided that they had seen enough of the mall. It was time for the pair of business attire clad women to go clubbing! Kaori introduced Lerrelan to yakiniku barbeque which the woman took to readily. Kaori realized that this was a lot closer to what she would be used to than a McDonald¡¯s or another fast-food chain.


    After the eighth round of beers, the women were attracting a small crowd of would-be suitors. They didn¡¯t seem to care that Lerrelan was sporting a pair of elven ears and a couple seemed fixated on that point. Kaori hadn¡¯t had this much attention in a long time but it was getting troublesome to tell the guys no so many times. It seemed that a few of them were unused to being refused and might make a seen so Kaori pulled out her secret weapon and told them that they were lesbian so the guys had no chance to begin with.


    A couple persisted even after that but it was clear that they were just obnoxious. Kaori pulled out the stops and bought four rounds for everyone in the bar/grill. During the commotion, the pair slipped out and headed to a karaoke bar that Kaori remembered seeing. Lerrelan was already bewildered but when she heard the music coming from everywhere, she was just confused. However, Kaori found that her and her companion could sing the songs beautifully so that was a plus.


    When they finally made it back to Kaori¡¯s apartment dimension, Lerrelan had come to a firm understanding. There were definite reasons that Kaori was special and her culture was so far removed from the normal that anybody from her world was bound to seem gifted. The realization that Lerrelan had was actually that Kaori was gifted among her own people and that would obviously make her exceptional among other cultures. It seems that Descartes wasn¡¯t just fixating on her for no reason.


    Once Lerrelan was gone, Kaori breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn¡¯t sure who benefitted more from the outing but she was glad it was over all the same. Kaori wasn¡¯t sure what might have happened if the guys in that bar had gotten handsy. Two goddesses mingling with a bunch of mortals sounds evocative of many fantasy novels but in truth, it could have gone very badly.


    Kaori decided that from now on, going to Earth would have to be something that was purchased with WP. This would have to be a rather expensive tour as well. Kaori still had a small car¡¯s worth of gold that she could sell but she would have to be careful with doing that. Her funds wouldn¡¯t last forever if she kept burning through them to take trips to Earth all the time. Besides, it was high time that she got out the book and paused time and began implementing all of her changes.

 Chapter 35

    Kaori entered the office and could already see the impact that the words of Lerrelan were having. There were deities practically swarming the former angels and demons for information about Earth. Kaori cleared her throat and all eyes were on her in an instant. She began asking for status updates even though she had reviewed the information on her PDI already. Everyone began giving concise updates on what their teams were doing and where they were on the final designs.


    Overall, Kaori determined that they were over 80% done with the planning stages and anything they had left would be better seen in practice anyway. What astounded Kaori the most were the numerous hybrid breeds that had been created by her deities. There were over thirty varieties of sentients for water alone! This more than covered her initial design ideas. She told the teams that would be in charge of sentient tribe placement to begin coming up with the basic prompt for backstories for all of them.


    She then announced that she was pressing the button and that they would be moving ahead with their designs for the planet. Kaori summoned the book and pressed the big pause button on it. The globe of the world suddenly stopped turning and the modified version followed suit. Kaori went to one of the work stations and pulled up images of the tribes below. All the elves were frozen in place. It was crunch time.


    The first thing to be done was to relocate all of the elves. The deities in charge of the elves, The two elven deities, Eremileane and Somolos, took their small team of lesser deities and began grabbing all of the elves along with their belongings. It helped that most of them had already packed up their belongings. Getting a message from the gods to pack for a trip will have that effect, she mused to herself.


    Once the teams of elven deities finished stashing the last of the elves in the pocket dimension for holding sentients, Kaori engaged the terrain alteration system. Kaori glanced at the monitor on her desk and found that the holding dimension was absolutely full of thousands or perhaps even hundreds of thousands of beings that the deities had been hard at work creating. Kaori marveled once again at the efficiency of her teams of deities. To pull off that level of creation in a matter of days was truly impressive.


    Kaori suddenly had a worry and checked the total number of new beings in the holding dimension. She then had a look at the number of souls in her afterlife dimension. It was there that she got a major shock. Her afterlife had over a hundred million souls running around in it! She would have enough new souls for everything she could dream of doing for the unforeseeable future.


    Content with her numbers, Kaori turned back to the work progressing on the world below. The moment she had pressed the button for the terrain tool, teams of deities flooded onto the scene to play with¡­ to begin work. Yes, better to think of it in a professional manner. Nevermind that most of them had maniacal grins on their faces as they went about shifting entire miniature continents about.


    Next up came the inclusion of the resources. Yaju had taken over in this area for the time. He began summoning huge asteroids and hurling them at the newly forming continent and islands. Every so often, he would pause to open his PDI and check the map of the forming terrain to see what mineral deposits were supposed to go where. On the ground, Einoro led the teams that were reshaping the impact sites and varying the depths of all the resources.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    This work went on in shifts for several weeks. Once that was done, it was time to add in the floating islands. Kaori activated the terrain alteration feature for that and summoned the deposits of float stone. Some islands got more than others and the amount of this rare material determined how high the islands would eventually go. There were also numerous deposits of it being flung down by Yaju for the inhabitants to dig up later on the surface of the world.


    After the islands were finished, it was time to set up all the various strange phenomena that Kaori had decided to purchase for the world. There were natural teleportation sites, entrances to pocket dimensions, some full of rare and valuable resources, there were places with stronger or weaker gravity, places with stronger or weaker magic, places where various natural phenomena were suspended or redoubled. One place that kaori always liked was from a series of games and it was a vast field of wasteland where lightning would strike relentlessly. She added this spot into her world with a malicious grin. That would be one of the more dangerous places, filled with djinn, genies, lightning elementals, and even a few lightning dragons.


    After the basics it was time for the more hands on portions. This time, Kaori activated the weather system. Clouds appeared in the skys of her world for the first time ever. Kaori then began crafting storms and winds and such. All of this had been planned but implementing it was a bit of an art. It wasn¡¯t enough to just make the weather systems and let them go. They all had to be tested to make sure that the paths set up would work the way they were supposed to.


    To that end, Kaori used the time manipulation function of her book. While paused and devoid of inhabitants, a world¡¯s time could be fast forwarded or rewound as much as the deity in charge wanted. This was the point where they tested out the weather patterns and storm formation parameters before leaving the system running for a few thousand years over the next few days to get the right weathering of the land formations.


    Next up, they added in all of the vegetation packages and began canvassing the landscape with broad swathes of life. These packages replaced the existing local vegetation as the deity using it layered it over the area. The forests, jungles, prairies, and savannas. This world was looking more and more inviting all the time! In less than a month¡¯s time, the world was covered in a dense carpet of vegetation under the close guidance from Tozenna who felt a close connection to this part of the process.


    The time manipulation was once again employed and the plant life proliferated across the world with the surety of a world devoid of herbivores will. Kaori had to make sure that the atmospheric levels remained constant by pumping huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. She considered just letting the bacteria handle it but then decided against it. She didn¡¯t want the numbers of bacteria and algae to explode so she put her hand into things.


    Next up was wildlife and this went much the same as all of the previous parts. The only real difference was that this was the point where she introduced some of the oldest of the dungeons. Throwing a few dungeons down at differing points in the fast-forwarding process with the animals. This made certain old dungeons where only plants or animals were present.


    The next step in the chain of events was to install the monsters. There were only a few that had sentience and those would be held back until the other sentients were set down. Kaori only gave the monsters about a century to proliferate before she paused the clock for the final time. All that was left was to add the intelligent life to the world and sit back to watch future events unfold.

 Chapter 36

    Kaori spent a bit of time installing souls into the inanimate bodies of the sentient people and monsters. It took a lot of time but it was almost like office work as usual. After several days of installing souls as if they were the operating system of computers, the end was in sight. Kaori also had to set up the backstories and make sure that the history feature was working.


    Everyone was equally as surprised when the history feature began making crumbling castles, sunken cities, and all manner of historic monuments as well as equipping the inhabitants with clothing, villages, food, and tools that they would have if they had the history that they would remember. It was really something to watch and watch they did.


    There were dungeons all over the place and the history feature strongly suggested that the various races have been delving those dungeons for ages. The newest dungeons were the smallest and those were the only ones allowed to be near the starting points of different tribes of sentients. Some of the older dungeons with stronger monsters got memories of consuming entire villages and things like that. The people got legends about those places as well. Overall, the history feature was really something incredible to watch as it worked through the diverse group of species.


    The deities then spent the next week setting all of the inhabitants up in the roles and positions that the history feature had specified. There was a lot of work to do and for almost everyone this was something totally new to them. Kaori had to coordinate the whole effort because she was the only one that the history feature responded to.


    There were several dangerous situations that the deities were setting the inhabitants up to blunder into. Small things like hunters encountering predators they should run from. Scouts were set to find bad terrain and the like. There was however, nobody put directly into a life-threatening situation right after time resumed. That would defeat the purpose of setting this all up.


    Once the very last inhabitant, a forest giant that took three deities to move and position, was set in place, Kaori called all of the deities together via their personal deific interfaces. They would have a big party and a feast to celebrate the completion of the world¡¯s setup. She would have a ceremony where she would press the button and then everyone would start their regular assignments. For most, it would probably take many years before they found their calling and their final position. She hoped it wouldn¡¯t take them too long.


    Kaori had another reason to celebrate. Truth be told, they all did. When Kaori had listed her PDI system for sale in the deific catalog it took off almost instantly! Kaori could scarcely believe the amount of WP filling her coffers. This meant that none of the lesser deities had to wait for their pay at all. In fact, when Kaori listed some of her new anthromorph creations in the catalog, she had to begin setting up a new division just for that.


    Kaori created another separate but connected side dimension and set it up as a sort of factory floor. She hired a lot of new deities to work in it and some of the ones with more experience switched roles to help run it. The orders were already piling up however and it had only been a few months since its inception.


    Kaori knew that she was going to have to expand the operation soon. Descartes had given her a bit of input concerning the listing of items in the catalog and the relative worth of some of her creations. At first, Kaori was just going to sell the creation devices and the recipes but Descartes strongly advised against it. For him, there was a small incentive in the form of a fraction of a percent cut but the boost to his reputation for having her as his underling was actually much bigger than the WP he was earning.


    Descartes did have a good sense of finances though and even though Kaori initially didn¡¯t want the hassle, he convinced her to go for the earning potential. It had turned out a lot better than either of them thought it would because overnight the expanded species portion of the catalog had basically quadrupled. What¡¯s more, all of the new species had her name and picture listed.


    Kaori found it to be a very odd sensation. She actually split off separate consciences to handle the business contracts through the catalog but she could feel each of them and knew what they were thinking at all times. It wasn¡¯t distracting but it was still a very odd sensation. Deities were ordering batches of her new species continuously and it was, as Descartes had said it would be, making her kilos of WP daily!


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    After setting out the spread and getting everyone to quiet down, Yaju proposed to give a speech and a toast. He had been talking to Einoro about Earth and found out about the tradition. ¡°Everyone here has benefited from the kindness, cleverness, ingenuity, and sheer force of personality of one person. That one person, that magnificent deity we all know is Fujiwara Kaori-sama. She has been the benefactor of every deity here and for me she is something even more special.¡±


    ¡°Kaori-sama was assigned to this world after I failed to make it prosper. Yes, there were certain circumstances, as many of you heard when Kaori-sama opened the furnace in Descartes¡¯ face! *there was riotous laughter* She was within her rights when she arrived to fire me or even kill me outright for not fulfilling my role. Instead, she took me in and taught me what I needed to know to be a true deity! For that and many other reasons, I will propose a toast to her in a moment. For those of you who don¡¯t know, that is where somebody wishes another well in a phrase and then drinks mead and everyone who also wishes this person well drinks along.¡±


    ¡°I said I would do that in a moment but first, I wanted to thank her for bringing me to meet the woman that I want to marry and spend the rest of eternity with. *Yaju got down on one knee, which barely reduced his height, and pulled out an exquisitely hand crafted ring made of starmetal.* Einoro, will you marry me?¡± You can guess how loud it got when she said yes with much sobbing.


    The toast was made and the food was scarfed. Much drink was drunk and much merriment made. The party paused at one point and everyone held their breath as Kaori pressed the pause button to resume the time on the planet below. As she pressed the button, several things happened at once. The two globes merged and began spinning again. The screens containing still images of the inhabitants below suddenly sprang to life. And lastly, the pause button disappeared from Kaori¡¯s book. Apparently, once it was decided that the world was complete, the deity could no longer pause the world.


    Everyone finished up the party and either wandered off to sleep or began their main jobs. Many descended to the planet and took up roles to actively help, hinder, or observe the inhabitants. Others sat in their seats in the heavenly domain and watched over their charges from afar while directing those in the thick. Things began to move at last.


    On a blue and green gem of a world was a group of merfolk. These merfolk formed a couple of bands to explore the nearby underwater castle that was recently shown to them. The one that had discovered it was a triton woman with beautiful iridescent scales on her flowing fins at her arms and legs. This woman was the tribe leader and proposed a joint venture into the sunken castle and perhaps even the founding of a village of both merfolk and tritons in the castle if they could clear it of dangers.


    A tribe of elves were having a council meeting. There were reports from the scouts that at the far end of the valley, they had discovered another tribe. These seemed to be some kind of upright weasels. The council was discussing how to approach their new neighbors who seemed to have recently moved into the valley. Some advocated not approaching them, of course but most agreed that they would be better off finding out as much as possible about them as soon as they could.


    A fox girl was looking around warily and trying to figure out where she could run. Before her was someone claiming to be a deity and asking if she wanted to have a bit of fun. Just as she was about to bolt, a literal bolt of lightning struck the one in front of her and a booming female voice began a low grumbling scolding in a strange language. The visitor thankfully disappeared and Senu couldn¡¯t fell his presence anymore.


    The war leader of the red ant army screamed orders at her subordinates. The spears were adjusted just in time and the mouse that was attacking their mound found no gap to exploit. The war leader clacked her mandibles in excitement. Moments like this were what she lived for! She dived spear first at the neck of the invader.


    Bitts looked over the field and nodded. There was an ongoing discussion of how to build the new warrens below this field. Bitts had found the idea proposed by Ripple to be a little too spread out at first but when it was mentioned that the tribe would need a lot of room to expand the warrens in the future, Bitts started to see where she was coming from. The rabbit-man began stamping his foot furiously with a look of determination on his face.


    In the sky above a certain gem of a world floated a certain individual. This odd individual wasn¡¯t from this world but was more integral in the welfare of this world than any other individual of this world. This deity, this woman, sat in an office chair, wearing a well-tailored business suit, and crossed her legs as she looked down on the world spinning below her. Kaori smiled at her work.

 Book 2 chapter 1

    Heaven, Descartes Malefecto


    Fujiwara Kaori, Name Undecided


    Dear Sir, I hope this glorious spring in the life of the world you have entrusted me with finds you well. We are delighted and honored to do business with your heavenly host and hope for many eons of continued cooperation. We hope that our continued relations will lessen the burden and invigorate your health. I hope that if you have a family or a home world that they are in the greatest of health.


    As you are aware sir, I have formed a team of deities to help me oversee the planet which I have tentatively decided to call Islandia. The first set of obstacles have been overcome and we have set both the planet and the heavens in motion. I set out to¡­


    Descartes Malefecto sat behind his rather ordinary looking desk in a rather ordinary looking office with only a few oddities to distinguish its supernatural nature. The man in question flicked a pair of cat ears on top of his head as a smile spread across his many needle-like teeth.


    He knew that the woman that had shown up in his office around three years ago would be a perfect fit as a goddess. He had high expectations for her but to have a world formed and running smoothly, or even roughly, in only three years was an absurdly short period of time!


    He knew a great deal of the details because she had been moving at such a phenomenal speed that he was able to see progress every time he looked in on her world! He was there for a few of the last developments of the world and even advised her on some of her choices about her finances and about her dealings with other deities.


    Thinking about that, he skipped ahead to the part of her lengthy and detailed report about her world¡¯s development. There he found what he was looking for, a graph of the new species that she was directly responsible for the creation of! After being a deity for only about two years, she had already worked out a system for creating her own hybrid species! Many of them were species that had no former basis in reality!


    <table width="1049">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    alignment


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    good


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    good


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    good


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    neutral


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    neutral


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    evil


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    evil


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    evil


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Common name


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    angels


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    elves


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    fairies


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    dwarves


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    humans


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    giants


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Ogres (gray)


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    demons


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Godly name


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Arc-ans


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    Arc-els


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Arc-sens


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Arc-toks


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    Arc-niels


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Arc-tals


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Arc-fens


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    Arc-mels


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    General personality


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    dignified and stiff like robots or British royal guards


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    Free spirited but very quick to shy away or hide


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Naturally curious but cautious not to be seen


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Secretive and industrious but boisterous and friendly


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    Selfish but kind and as often bound by rules as not


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Proud and strong with a deep sense of superiority


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Honorable but quick to anger with great strength of body and will


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    Some reserved others wild but always twisted and malicious


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Common subtypes


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Direct cross


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    High-elves


    Fairy nobles


    Arch-dwarves


    High-humans


    Titans


    Ogre-lords


    Fallen


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    High-elves


    pixies


    gnomes


    half-elves


    forest giants


    blue ogres


    dark elves


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Fairy-nobles


    pixies


    halflings


    halflings


    humans


    Green ogres


    Imps


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Arch-dwarves


    gnomes


    Halflings


    Hodo/brutes


    hill giants


    Brown ogres


    Red dwarves


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    High-humans


    Half-elves


    Halflings


    Hodo/brutes


    Low-giants


    Red ogres


    changelings


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Titans


    Forest giants


    humans


    hill giants


    low-giants


    Purple ogres


    War giants


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Ogre-lords


    Blue ogres


    Green ogres


    Brown ogres


    Red ogres


    Purple ogres


    Black ogres


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    Fallen


    Dark elves


    Imps


    Red dwarves


    changelings


    war giants


    black ogres


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Plantites


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Forest spirit


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    Dryads


    Wood elves


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Brownies


    Mandrake


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Shrublies


    nutmen


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    Florans


    Fruitlies


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Treants


    War-bamboo


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Rootans


    Thorn-lords


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    Decay spirit


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    anthromorphs


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Siren/birds


    Pan/goats


    Unicorns/horses


    Tigrins/tigers


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    Kitsune/fox


    Satyr/goats


    Selkie/seals Avians/birds


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Sasoringen/scorp


    Aringen/ants


    Vesperin/bats


    Leporingen/rabbi


    Scuiringen/squirl


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Kobolds/dogs


    Kapa/frogs


    Nezumi/rats


    Sahuagin/fish


    Delphingen/dol


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    Canids/dogs


    Felids/cats


    Centaur/horse


    Orcs/swine


    Lizardmen


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Minotaur/cows


    Ursine/bears


    Sphinx/lion


    Cyclops/worms


    Elerins/elephants


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Lamia/snakes


    Harpy/birds


    Arachne/spiders


    Rhinogres/rhino


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    Naga/snakes


    Krampus/goats


    Goblins/monkey


    Hobgoblin/gorril


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Fungaloid


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    Myconids/gray


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Myconids/white


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Myconids/brown


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    Myconids/red


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Myconids/blue


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Myconids/green


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Microbian/slime


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Silver/healing


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    Blue/water


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Gray/oil


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Purple/poison


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    Green/acid


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Giant green/acid


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Red/fire


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    Black/decay


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Lithotites


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Earth elemental


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    Mountain elves


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Leprechaun


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Delvers


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    Neandertal


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Stone-giant


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    trolls


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    Fire elemental


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Aquatites


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Water elemental


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    Mermaids


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Nymphs


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Cesaelia/octopus


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    Tritons


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Wave-giant


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Shiva


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    Ice elemental


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="126">


    Miasmites


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Air elemental


    </td>


    <td width="108">


    Djinn


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Will-o-wisp


    </td>


    <td width="120">


    Genies


    </td>


    <td width="103">


    Genies


    </td>


    <td width="123">


    Cloud-giant


    </td>


    <td width="115">


    Ifriti


    </td>


    <td width="113">


    lightning elemental


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Descartes marveled at the sheer complexity of the methodology by which the woman went about her method of creation. Using a set of codes that had only been added to the format of the universe by one of the great old ones to explain things that her world went looking for. To think that a world could be so far removed from the normal patterns of things that one of the great old ones had to rewrite the entire universe to conform to their thirst for knowledge. It was awe inspiring.


    Descartes sat at his desk reading more of the report and wondered idly what Kaori was doing now that her world was running. As usual, his time to read her report was cut short as an assistant knocked on his door, no doubt bringing him a new crisis on one of the many worlds he oversaw that were run by his woefully less competent lesser deities.


    Somewhere on the central continent of the newly minted Islandia


    As she began to come round, she noticed a few things. The first was an intense ringing pain in her head followed closely by the fact that it was somewhat quiet around her. Her ears twitched and caught the sound of insects and more than anything else, the scraping sound of leaves being moved by her ears. That meant she was probably on the ground, right?


    She ventured to open her eyes and found it was still dark out when she awoke fully. She rolled her head to look up from the leaf covered ground at the trees overhead. There was a large tree next to her and a large branch right above her but nothing that really stood out as a danger. Nothing but the all-pervasive pounding in her head.


    She sat up a bit at a time and brought her hand up to grab the side of her head. She had to be careful of the claws on her hands so she didn¡¯t poke her eye. Slowly, she began the arduous task of standing up, using the tree as a support.


    Once she was standing, she began gingerly dusting herself off and using her claws to get the forest litter out of her fur. She noticed that at first she could only tell that she had a darker coat with a lighter belly color but realized that she was beginning to be able to make out an orange tint to her fur. That might mean it was getting lighter out.


    She looked around and her spastic movement set her head to throbbing. Cringing at the sudden burst of pain, she began looking around her a low slower and discovered that it was indeed getting lighter. She could now make out many details that she couldn¡¯t a few moments ago like the individual hairs on her curled bushy tail. Wait, did she have a tail before¡­


    There seemed like there was something she was missing. She felt that she was different somehow. It was like she was forgetting something. There was a certain sense of urgency when she realized she couldn¡¯t recall ANYTHING before waking up!


    She suddenly felt very vulnerable and scared and sad. She instantly began climbing the tree next to her while her heart pounded which only made the pain in her head worse! She relaxed slightly once she got to the branch she had spotted before. That was, until she saw the claw marks on the branch!


    With a sudden spike of terror she froze, only willing to move her eyes to look for any potential danger. After several moments of not seeing any movement in the trees around her besides the wind, she relaxed a little. It was only then that she began to examine the claw marks in greater detail.


    With sudden realization, she placed her hand over the claw marks and the gouges fit her claws perfectly! They were vertical though. At first her instincts told her that there was a predator that could reach all the way to this branch and mark the bark but it turns out it was her after all.


    Vertical claw marks on this branch and she woke up on the ground. It didn¡¯t take her long to figure out that she had fallen from higher up. She had missed catching herself with this branch. When she took a closer look at her claws on her left hand, she found the remains of the bark stuck in the grooves in the bottom of her claws. That confirmed her fall from on high and this branch was likely the only reason she wasn¡¯t dead now. An involuntary shiver ran down her spine at the thought.


    She looks around for a few more minutes just to be safe but finding no danger decides to look around the tree for food. After a couple minutes she finds a cluster of acorns and decides to have a meal here. The acorns are large with thin shells on them and the scales on top are soft and still a little green. She ignores how green they seem and cracks the nuts with her front teeth and then picks the shell off with her claws before throwing each into her mouth. The taste is a little off because they aren¡¯t quite ripe but she ignores that and continues her meal.


    Several nuts later she wasn¡¯t paying close attention when she bit into the last nut she scarfed down. Suddenly, a pervasive foul taste permeated her mouth and she almost puked but managed to just spit out the acorn she was chewing on. To her shock and disgust, the whole thing was black and had several worms crawling out of it.


    Having lost her appetite, she scurries further up the tree and begins working up a run to jump to the next tree branch when a sudden twinge in her shoulder stops her in her tracks. At first, she comes to a skidding halt and freezes in place looking for a predator trying to kill her but then she realizes the obvious. It¡¯s the shoulder she landed on when she fell.


    She rotates her shoulder a bit and winces as she feels the twinge again. Perhaps it wouldn¡¯t be a good idea to go running and jumping just yet, she quickly decides. She then sedately climbs back down the tree while looking around warily.


    After climbing into a nearby tree, she finds this tree has several branches that are close enough to some from the next tree over that she can climb onto them. Using this method, she searches a number of trees till she finds a good one that has a lot of nuts in it and even a vine with a few berries.


    Content in her find, she curls up and goes to town on another batch of nuts.


    Kaori observes the squirrel girl with a slight grin. ¡°Such a peaceful existence. Ignorance truly is bliss.¡±


    The girl spends the next four days just moving from tree to tree. She finds a spot with food and posts up in that area until the food is gone. The only time she really travels any distance is when she goes in search of water. Kaori took the chance to get her used to the idea of getting guidance when she would search for water.


    The girl freaked out and ran up a tree and over two more trees the first time Kaori spoke to her. Only after the fourth time hearing Kaori whisper to her, when she was completely parched, did the girl follow her directions to a small brook.


    That aside, the girl was relaxing to just watch. At first, Kaori was a little conflicted but soon put it aside. She wasn¡¯t a voyeur; she was the goddess of the entire world and she had a reason to be watching this girl. Keeping that in mind made her a little more comfortable. She thought back on her first meeting with her underling, Yaju god of the hunt. When she first met him, he was doing nothing but watching the local elven populace and freaking them out.


    Kaori grinned to herself ¡°A little creepy, but he couldn¡¯t do much else so I guess.¡±


    Cute and relaxing as it was to watch the girl eat, sleep, and groom herself, Kaori really had to get things started. ¡°Well, I guess I will give her a bit of a nudge.¡±

 B2 Chapter 2

    She was running as fast as she could! There was an instinctual fear that kept her running despite her desperate urge to take a break. Something was chasing her but she couldn¡¯t see what it was. She was sure that it was getting closer though!


    Despite knowing that the thing chasing her was getting closer, she dared not slow down long enough to see what it was. Surely it would catch her if she were to slow down like that! There was nothing for it, she would have to keep running and running. There wasn¡¯t even time to climb a tree.


    Suddenly she was falling into a hole that was in front of her and she somehow hadn¡¯t noticed! Oh gods, she was going to die here!


    Suddenly, her eyes shot open as she caught herself from falling off of the branch she was sleeping on. Her blood was hammering in her ears and her breath was coming in ragged fits. She blinked a few more times before the reality of her situation dawned on her. She had been having a nightmare, admittedly, a very realistic one!


    She took a moment to collect herself before climbing down the tree. She had to do her business in the morning but she hated doing things in a tree. She couldn¡¯t rightly say why but it felt wrong somehow. With that buried under a nearby tree, she turned to climb back up the tree she had been in.


    Suddenly, there was a chill of memory and recognition as she stared in the general direction off to her right. There was a small patch of bushes near the base of a small copse of trees. Her blood was suddenly hammering in her ears again as she recognized the scene as the very place her nightmare had started. She was near that spot when something had jumped at her and she had to begin running for her life. That was the very spot!


    Thoroughly freaked out, she began darting her eyes about while frantically turning her head in every direction. She wanted to bolt away but she was rooted in place shivering with fear. After a few moments of nothing jumping at her, she made up her mind to get away from the place of her nightmares and walk for a bit before she got herself something to eat and drink.


    After walking for a few minutes, she calmed down a bit and began heading for her nearby stream. Breakfast was a small cluster of some dark purplish berries. Snack was a cluster of acorns and lunch was¡­


    She woke from her sleep with a scream! There was the sudden realization that she was safe in a tree but it was quickly followed by the remembrance of the dream and the terror of being eaten. This one had started at the stream she was staying close to. She decided to leave the area and follow the stream.


    After walking at a quick pace for a few hours, she stopped and climbed a tree to find some food. Very soon after, she was walking again. The entire day was spent walking until she was exhausted by the time evening rolled a sky full of colors and she decided to settle in for the night. Here she found a new type of nuts in the tree and the taste was so vastly different that she could barely believe it.


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    The nuts she found were a bit smaller and their shells were harder and a bit tougher. That didn¡¯t deter her and when she finally popped the first bite of the meat of the nut into her mouth, she thought she was going to fall out of the tree from just how awesome the flavor was. It was like nothing she could ever remember tasting.


    The next morning was a dreary overcast of drizzling rain. She didn¡¯t leave the cover of leaves for much and tried to squeeze in under the larger limbs as much as possible. She also discovered that as the rain changed direction, that she could go around the tree to be more out of the rain. It was a miserable cold day and she spent most of it shivering despite her fur being oily and a little resistant to the rain.


    The little that she did eat was in the same tree she was in and only during the slightly warmer breaks in the rain. She spent the rest of the day shivering and wishing the rain would stop. The next day couldn¡¯t come soon enough!


    Unfortunately, the next day was more of the same and was only slightly warmer than the previous. She made her mind up to try to find a better spot with a bit more cover than the tree she was in. She almost slipped when her cold arms didn¡¯t respond the way she wanted them to.


    Upon reaching the ground, she began following the stream again. She noticed that the stream was faster than before and was a muddy brown color now. She wondered if it was safe to drink before shaking her head in wonder at her idiocy. There was water falling out of the sky and she was worried if she could drink from a stream?


    The walking helped her to warm up a little but she had less chance of avoiding the occasional cold breezes that would blow by. She didn¡¯t really want to eat but reminded herself that even though she wasn¡¯t hungry, it would get colder and she would feel less like eating then.


    She decided to take a break and get some nuts or berries in her before it got too cold. She was halfway up a nearby tree when she heard the noises coming from further up the stream. She froze against the side of the tree!


    Cautiously, she peeked around the edge of the tree she was on but there was nothing to see. The noises came again and she ducked back. After a bit, she edged around the tree again. The noises came again and she flinched but didn¡¯t move away.


    After the noises came several more times, she became a bit more accustomed to them and didn¡¯t flinch every time. She hadn¡¯t seen any sign of whatever was making the noises and decided that it was more important to focus on eating before it got colder. Lunch was a small cluster of the strange new nuts she had discovered the other day.


    As she was foraging, she discovered a small nook under an overhanging pair of branches that was surprisingly dry. After two day''s rain, it was still dry! She wedged herself into the nook and despite it being a little tight, she wasn¡¯t getting rained on anymore. Overall, a win! After cleaning and grooming herself for a bit, she drifted off to sleep.


    Sleep was a bit fitful and she woke up a few times during the night. Several times the crashing of thunder would jolt her awake. Finally, she awoke to find the sun peeking over the horizon and sending errant rays of light all the way to where she was sleeping.


    Suddenly, she was wide awake! There was a bunch of grunting and tapping noises and they were coming from the trees not far from her. She peeked nervously around the edge of the tree, afraid of what she would see.

 B2 Chapter 3

    Kaori was amused and annoyed at the same time. This was a huge oversight! This was exactly why she needed to observe the natives up close. There were instances where her underlings simply overlooked things and there were places where they assumed she meant something that she didn¡¯t.


    Kaori assumed that the latter could be chalked up to cultural differences or simply underling syndrome. Then there was the possibility that the system might be interfering on their behalf. She couldn¡¯t remember writing that particular bit into the programming for her office software but it might be the case. This was something that would have to be resolved right now.


    She left off watching the squirrel-woman, a scuiringen as she had named them in the catalog. She headed for the big kidney shaped desk that was hers. She was stopped a half dozen times on the way by one of the lesser deities with questions or in one case a compliment.


    Kaori could still feel the heat in her cheeks from the compliment. She also knew that it wasn¡¯t just the normal sucking up to the boss. Her hands began making a sesame seed grinding motion subconsciously. This was one of the deities whom she had hired from the help section of her catalog and she told Kaori that this was the most functional deific realm she had ever been in!


    Kaori was still blushing when she made it to her desk and began a search for translation properties in her software. It only took the briefest moment for the software to come up clean of anything like that. That left Kaori puzzled for a moment before she summoned her book to her hand.


    With a thought and the spreading of her fingers to hold the book, it appeared in her hand. The cover, which looked like some fusion of magic grimoire and a magazine, was now missing the pause button that had adorned it not long ago. It had disappeared when Kaori reset the time on the world below which meant that every correction from now on would have to be done in real time.


    Kaori checked a few pages in and looked at the table of contents, wondering what section might lend an answer to her question. Out of the categories were animals, energies, features, help, histories, magic, materials, monsters, phenomena, powers, races, and relics she wasn¡¯t sure where it would be. A moment later, she had an idea and went to the section for hiring, Help. She discovered that there was a section for promotion of new hires to deific positions before hiring so that the process counted towards the worship points you would have to pay them. In this case, the process was contractual and for a one-time investment of points a deity could make a lesser deity that they didn¡¯t have to pay half as much.


    Seemed like a con but she could understand if the world¡¯s deity was bad at their job and was struggling to get enough worship. She set the line of reasoning aside though as she found the listing for perks of becoming a deity. Listed right there in plain sight was the ability to understand and speak any language. So the problem was that everyone on high was a deity and therefore could automatically understand every spoken language of the world they had created.


    Kaori pondered this for a moment but ultimately turned to her book again. She went to the table of contents and pressed the section for powers and thought about languages. The moment she pulled her hand back, the book flipped to the section for powers and more specifically, it flipped to a power called omniglot. The word was strange but not unknown to her. She had seen it a few times in various Isekai novels.


    The power in question had several price ranges from one for single person all the way to every world under the purview of the deity. This last was an atrociously large sum in the millions of WP. Kaori somewhat wanted it but knew it was out of her price range but maybe the one for just this world.


    Kaori sat her book down on the desk in front of her and looked at her left hand. On the thumb of her left hand was a thin silver ring with a round flat space on the top and carved out of that space was an intricate pattern that was too complex to actually exist in a ring. She held her breath and swiped a finger over the ring, activating the spell circle that was the actual function of the ring.


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    The center of the circle set in the ring lit and the whole circle began turning with a faint purple power and several bands of spell circuitry around the band faintly glowed briefly. The purple glow leapt from the ring and formed a small oval window in the air in front of her, displaying her current worship point balance. For a moment, Kaori just sat there in stunned disbelief.


    The small oval displayed a number that Kaori felt was simply ludicrous. She had expected to still be looking at a negative balance but what she found was anything but. The balance of her account was currently in the mid eighty billions. Her account balance was increasing as she watched! She sat stunned for several minutes as the balance ticked ever upwards and finally overtook eighty-six billion WP.


    In a panic, Kaori swiped the floating breakdown menu and found her deductions and credits summary on her account. The credits part was moving at a blinding pace and she swiped on it immediately. The breakdown that opened was a spreadsheet page that took up the area of a door.


    There were flashing account transactions going on at a frenetic pace with the vast majority being for the PDI (Personal Deific Interface) systems but the orders for batches of anthromorphs wasn¡¯t running much slower. The sheer volume of sales left her feeling numb.


    A sudden thought occurred to her and she tapped the search bar that she was sure hadn¡¯t been there the last time she had used this spell. The bar opened a keyboard interface and Kaori typed in Descartes Malafecto and found his name as one of the first three to purchase the system. No wonder Tozenna and later Descartes were so insistent that she post it for sale.


    With her finances secured in a most over the top manner, Kaori picked her book up and reread the description of the omniglot power. The power could be turned on and off by the deity and could even be turned on and off by the recipient so long as the deity made it available. It would also give a reference to which language the being that was speaking to the recipient spoke.


    Kaori almost purchased it immediately but then thought about it and wrote up an announcement that would be displayed in the system window of the people down below. A sudden realization struck her, the inhabitants didn¡¯t have the videogame-like systems available to them. This was one of the things she was going to do later when she had a bit more WP available.


    With a smirk and a quick glance at the ring on her thumb, Kaori tapped her book to open it to the powers page for inbuilt systems. She was a little puzzled when nothing happened but flipped to the front in the TOC and tapped the powers section while thinking of a video game system window. Again, nothing happened. Groaning, Kaori tapped the powers section and it dutifully flipped to the beginning of that section. She settled in for a good bit of reading.


    In the forest below


    The girl had grown accustomed to the noises in the slight distance. She was aware that there might be danger there but she couldn¡¯t identify it so she was left with the choices of either fleeing, waiting, temporarily ignoring them, or finding out what they were.


    She chose to simply ignore them and looked about for a bit of food. This went on for a few days where she searched every tree she could reach without descending to the ground. There was enough water held in the hollows of trees for her to drink from for those few days. Then came the morning that no matter how much she searched she couldn¡¯t find any food that she could reach without getting out of her safe tree cluster.


    There was no way out for her. She could descend but she would either have to get closer to whatever was making all that noise or go back the way she had come. She quickly decided that the way she had come terrified her more than whatever was ahead of her.


    She got down from her tree and walked to the tree she couldn¡¯t reach by its branches and then climbed back up. She might be forced to get closer to the noise but she wasn¡¯t going to do it any faster than she absolutely had to. After finding a cluster of nuts for a late breakfast, she cleaned herself and then curled herself up and went back to sleep. Kaori sat on the branch beside her watching her sleep and considering if there was anything she should update her alter ego about but decided that the changes she was working on were more important. She casually brushed an ethereal hand across the sleeping girl''s head while looking down at her with a smile.

 B2 Chapter 4

    Kaori sat in her chair considering how she wanted to proceed. Somewhere in the back of her mind she had felt this coming but she still hoped there might be something she could count on. She had spent hours scouring the deity catalog and come up emptyhanded. There really wasn¡¯t a system to be had for the inhabitants of a world.


    She knew what she wanted to do now but before that she was going to go on a purchasing spree. Magic was going to be a very versatile and pervasive thing in her world. She wanted all of it and then some. Her starting point would be the catalog.


    Kaori opened the catalog and it flipped obediently to the section on magic for a world. She knew that she was going to buy almost every form of magic that the book had to offer but she didn¡¯t want some of the more repulsive aspects to be present and she wanted to mitigate some of the worst clashes that having differing systems might entail.


    There was a guy that she had secured from one of the limbos who was really good with magic. Kaori opened her PDI and called Foglat. The old former archmage seemed to jump mile high when his PDI signaled to him. She figured that he probably still had the default settings on which would make the notification sound something that would be very nostalgic to some older people from her former world, the sound of a ringer from a telephone.


    Kaori could see how, not having had anything like that on their previous worlds, the sound might be a tad jarring for the new deities in her charge. A lot of them messaged and called each other so much that they were very used to it by now but that wasn¡¯t the case for all of them. Foglat, at least, hadn¡¯t had enough interactions to be used to the sound it seemed.


    A moment later, rather than answering his PDI, he came shuffling across the room towards Kaori¡¯s desk. ¡°Eh, er hrm, you called my goddess?¡±


    Kaori hadn¡¯t really had much call to interact closely with the old archmage so she hadn¡¯t seen this coming. The completely formal and honorific manner of address did nothing to dissuade Kaori¡¯s cheeks from heating at the grandiose manner of address. ¡°I um, I need your help on this part of things. I was about to design a new feature for the people of the world and for general purchase in the catalogs in general but I need to know if it should be incorporated into a system of magic.¡±


    ¡°I also plan on purchasing several systems of magic for the world but I need to know if the ones I am looking at will conflict with one another. The last thing I want is for there to be a bunch of magic that works contrary to other forms on the planet. At least, I think that would be a bad thing but that¡¯s the reason I needed your help to begin with. Also, Please just call me Fujiwara-sama.¡±


    After a few hours of reading over the many hundreds of pages of info on the few dozen magic systems for sale, they had settled on a selection of ten different systems. The systems they found didn¡¯t all mesh but Foglat reminded her that it was her idea to have a world of competition and strife. He pointed out that having different magic systems that didn¡¯t react well with one another was a perfect reason to cause some of that when different groups or even different individuals used different ones.


    The systems of magic they settled on were Chaos, Conceptual, Divisive, Elemental, Ethereal, Holy, Instinctual, Intrinsic, Pact-boon, and Practical. They passed on a bunch of the weaker ones and a lot of the strongest ones because of how evil or chaotic they seemed. An example of that being the Recriminative system of magic which revolved around emotions like hatred towards others fueling the ability to form curses of different types.


    Chaos magic was a very amorphous type of casting system. The amount of magic required to make any particular spell would be a good bit larger that a spell from a standardized system of magic but the tradeoff was in versatility. A chaotic caster could come up with magic effects to match almost any situation within certain constraints of their ability. The biggest limiting factor being how much magic any particular person could push into a spell.


    Conceptual magic was a system that took the idea or concept behind one thing and applied it to another thing. This system would be one that would encompass a lot more support and status type magic like curses, buffs, and debuffs.


    Divisive magic is the type that depends on an external source for the magic. This system includes both alchemy and enchanting. Kaori was interested to see if there would be anything else developed from this system.


    Elemental magic was the type that draws power directly from a certain element of reality. This was the basis for the Greek concept of the four elements and the Chinese five phases. The version Kaori proposed to use was like the Greek elements of air, earth, fire, and water but included light and dark. It would have many mixes in between to be far more complex but she was determined to leave the final version to Foglat.


    Holy magic would be that which was directly gifted by one of the deities and would function much like one of the other systems but would be orders of magnitude more powerful. This system as it were, would mostly function as a prefix to one of the other systems. For example, if kaori chose to gift a mortal with conceptual magic, it would be holy conceptual magic and would be able to force a binding of much more esoteric concepts into the final spell.


    Instinctual magic was described as being able to draw on an innate pool of magic for a certain set number of effects. The nature of the effects that the wielder was able to draw on would be either set by the gods or determined at the time when the wielder could draw enough extra magic together to create a new spell.


    Intrinsic magic would be the system mostly used by creatures and monsters. The magic would be things that relied heavily on certain features of the wielder. The system could be learned and the spells even taught but the effect would still be largely tied to characteristics.


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    Pact-boon would be magic imparted by monsters, spirits, and other things of that type. By using this system to pledge a pact with a powerful being they could impart magic spells directly on the supplicant. The benefits of this type of magic were manifold. The supplicant obviously would get spells they could use right away or as soon as they had the magic to use them but the pact holder would also have a ready supply of help bound to them by the pact.


    Practical magic was a system that would give a few useful skills to almost every being on the planet. The spells would be small things but would be things that would impact the daily lives of the wielders. Examples might include a small flame from a fingertip or a slight glowing aura to see by in the depths of the ocean. No spell of this type would be terribly powerful and most would be things that were randomly gifted to people in their daily lives in order to alleviate a persistent minor problem.


    Synergistic magic was a system that allowed the wielders to copy aspects of another person¡¯s or creature¡¯s spells and tie their own spells into them in a way that made the whole more than the sum of its parts. This form would be mostly used in a support role but could be used in conjunction with almost any other system.


    Kaori purchased those and many more magic systems. She then made it so that all of the deities had access to every system if they needed. However, she set it so that the only systems that the inhabitants of the world could use were the ten they had settled on. there would be leeway for a deity to impart a totally different system onto a certain individual but they would have to champion that individual.


    Foglat had been working with the various gods and goddesses that were laying the foundations of magic in the world. He now had to have a team of his own and Kaori decided that it would be a good time to see if there were any more applicants in the magical field for hire.


    When she opened her book to the help section, what she found were throngs of deities and elevated beings that were overly eager to come work for her. She perused the page about magic deities and chose one. She was an older elven woman that had a ready smile when told about the challenges that the position would entail. Kaori was astonished when just as she was about to hit the hire circle, the price dropped but she didn¡¯t pause long.


    The goddess was named Lethris and the first thing kaori did after hiring her was ask her about the sudden price drop. Her reply was a little astonishing. ¡°Great Fujiwara Kaori-sama, I have been employed on many worlds to manage the magic of that world. I have seen countless mortals struggle to use a singular system. Most eventually figure it out, especially if they have help, but they only have the one option.¡±


    ¡°Usually, it¡¯s the ever popular elemental magic system but for there to be ten systems of magic available to learn or more at the deities discretion¡­ *She had turned her head away wistfully and looked at the ground towards the last few words. Now, she looked right at Kaori and she had tears streaming from her eyes.* This is the most complicated and beautiful idea for magic I have ever heard of. I have to be a part of this and I would almost do it for free just to see the kind of world that it will create!¡±


    Kaori was left feeling a bit dumbstruck by the intensity of the older deity¡¯s words. She introduced Lethris to Foglat and was surprised when he asked to be her subordinate instead of the other way around. Kaori was a bit stunned by this turn but agreed to it. She then hired a series of several beings that ranged from lesser deities or demigods to angels and demons.


    She put the whole team together and told the new arrivals to go through the PDI process. She then gave them all access to every system she had purchased for magic. After that, it was on to the tour where she told them all about the work space, the planet below, their personal apartments, and all the various amenities she was providing. The lot of them grew more enamored the longer she spoke.


    Next, she asked them all if any of them knew any limbo-like realms that souls were cast into and they all nodded yes. She then asked for the directions to those realms and several wanted to balk but then Foglat explained the loophole that had led to his freedom and employment and they all looked stunned but agreed.


    One of the angels named Nrafthys spoke up at last but looked really sheepish as he did. ¡°Fujiwara Kaori-sama, Would I be right to assume that the details on the limbos are compulsory and we loose the position if we don¡¯t agree?¡±


    The lot of them looked stunned by her expression of abashedness. ¡°Absolutely not! Your employment is already set. The information that you choose or choose not to supply on realms from before your employment here is entirely voluntary. I would simply like to make an offer to as many souls as possible to join me rather than stagnate for eternity and I Imagine that most of you would feel the same but if you don¡¯t that is your personal prerogative.¡±


    Kaori paused for a moment to let that sink in but then thought about why he might ask her something like that. ¡°Is there some reason that you wouldn¡¯t want to see a soul or souls freed from eternal relegation? Perhaps, something more to it than that?¡±


    Nrafthys looked uncomfortable for a few seconds before he finally met her eyes and replied. ¡°My previous deity was a very good woman but kind of an idiot. She never considered putting a form of punishment into the afterlife and as a result, many very evil people went on to enjoy a pleasant afterlife. It took a warlord almost destroying the world she was in charge of before she ever decided that somebody didn¡¯t need to enjoy the afterlife.¡±


    ¡°Since there wasn¡¯t any form of punishment set up, she cast him into never. It was only after that that she plucked some of the revolting specimens from the past and threw them into never as well. The never doesn¡¯t have a lot of souls in it but they were all evil people.¡±


    Kaori smiled kindly at him for a second before she replied. ¡°I appreciate you telling me. *This made him relax but he stiffened as she continued.* However, I have an afterlife that not only accounts for evil but actually promotes it. Before you get too worried, let me explain. The afterlife here works like a dream where the souls of the deceased quest to better themselves, for good or ill.¡±


    ¡°Those that truly wish to pursue the path of evil have the choice to do so. The cavoite is that the memories of every soul gets taken from them unless they earned enough merit in the afterlife. They can even advance their abilities and divine nature by their actions in the afterlife.¡±


    ¡°The ultimate good goal for souls is becoming an angel. Evil souls can evolve into a demon. Each have their purposes on this world and in the afterlife where they will earn merit towards eventually becoming a deity. A deity of good or evil. Make sense?¡±


    The formerly reticent among the group gladly agreed to provide directions to every limbo-like dimension they knew of. Kaori then rallied their attention again to get started on her next project. They were going to make a video game-like system for their inhabitants. What¡¯s more they were going to have to make the system compatible with every system of magic and all types of martial and spiritual abilities. Kaori made the executive decision that the first step was going to have to be visiting her apartment to watch a lot of system-based anime! You know, to give everyone the general idea. It certainly wasn¡¯t because she just wanted to space out and show off her otaku collection to the new hires. Certainly not!

 B2 Chapter 5

    She awoke to the growling of her stomach again. This was the morning after she had spent an entire day looking for nuts in vain. There weren¡¯t any nuts or berries left in the trees within reach of this one¡¯s branches.


    The stream had also almost stopped flowing. She had been forced to climb through an entire embankment¡¯s worth of mud before she reached the shallow trickle of the stream that was left at the bottom. It had left her very unhappy when she had to climb back up through the mud and then clean it out of her fur.


    She was going to have to move again. The noises had been getting increasingly harder to ignore and they had sounded ever more like voices of some strange kind to her. When she first realized that the noises were sometimes repeating and responding to one another, she just about climbed down the tree and ran back the way she had come.


    She didn¡¯t know why the idea of that frightened her or why everything else frightened her but it did.


    She steeled her resolve and decided that now was the time to step out and try something she was afraid of. She descended the tree and began walking in the direction of the voices. She wasn¡¯t sure what to expect but she wanted to see something and cowering in a tree and running away from everything and everyone wasn¡¯t going to keep her stomach full.


    Meanwhile in Kaori¡¯s apartment


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid I still don¡¯t get it. Why did she sacrifice her brother?¡±


    ¡°If she didn¡¯t, she was afraid the great evil would take over his body and he would become the next demonlord.¡±


    ¡°But the duke¡¯s son was the one that was going to become the demonlord. It still doesn¡¯t make any sense for her to sacrifice her brother if he wasn¡¯t even the one that was going to become the demonlord.¡±


    ¡°Ahh, but she didn¡¯t know the duke¡¯s son was the one. From the main character¡¯s perspective, her brother was the one who showed the most signs of being the chosen of the dark gods. That¡¯s called dramatic irony and it means that the audience knows things that the character of the story doesn¡¯t. It¡¯s a very commonly used writing tool.¡±


    ¡°Kaori-sam¡­ san, can you show me how to complete the red forest side quest? I keep getting caught by the blood-golems. I just don¡¯t see how you¡¯re supposed to get by without losing a single hit point! It¡¯s not fair. They put these really hard enemies in the way and you can¡¯t lose any health or the blood-golems show up and take you back to the start.¡±


    Kaori had introduced the lot of them to some of her favorite anime and games that featured a system and they all began to see where she was going with her ideas. She had gotten across the idea about creating a system interface for all of the inhabitants rather easily but it had taken a bit of discussing to decide how much info the system would display and who would be able to see it.


    By now, everybody was on the same page about how to design the stat system. Now they were just so absorbed into the media that they had started on when trying to understand Kaori¡¯s explanations that they couldn¡¯t stop in the middle. Even the stoic Foglat was sitting in a beanbag chair in the corner of the library, reading a manga about some random girl that reincarnated as a magical girl in another world with an OP magic system.


    At first, the group seemed a bit bemused by the idea that the entertainment from Kaori¡¯s world would be her inspiration in creating a world. They had all changed their minds as the various media had begun to captivate their minds and imaginations. Kaori now found herself in a seven-way discussion about everything otaku. It would have been a twelve-way conversation but three were too engrossed in their games or anime to ask any questions and then there were the two reading in the library.


    Suddenly, Kaori felt a tug at her consciousness and focused all her attention on what was happening to the squiringen girl on the planet below.


    In the forest below


    What were these things she was looking at? Each one was thrice her height and had huge proportions. Their faces were slightly elongated with bulbous brown noses and small snouts with whiskers and huge front teeth. They all had small beady brown eyes and were covered in brown fur with most of them growing a long beard. A few had braided their beards as well.


    Each of them was also very broad and muscular. Even the ones that were plainly female, made obvious by the four teats, seemed to have beards though. They all had stubby claws and webs on their hands and feet which they were making good use of in holding and dragging the many pieces of logs around. They all also seemed to have broad flat tails that were only about three times as long as they were wide and were hairless.


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    These things were the source of the noises that she had heard before. Several of them were chittering and clicking at one another. Others were grunting, grumbling, or whining but there was a clear meaning being conveyed between them. No matter which noises they were making in which order, the other or others they were looking at all seemed to understand.


    The lot of them also seemed to be very crafty and industrious. They were all moving about the periphery of a small lake that seemed to have an island on it. There seemed to be a lot more of them on the island and when she looked, she could tell that they were moving in and out of holes on the sides of the island, just under the water.


    The ones on the shore were all grabbing logs and branches and then swimming out to the island where they seemed to be building a big mound. Then she noticed that the stream had been blocked by logs. The logs seemed to be precisely placed too. She realized very quickly that these creatures were the ones that had made it so hard to get water earlier. The water was being stopped by the logs before it could go downstream and it was building up in this lake.


    Suddenly, she was shrouded in shadow and quickly looked up from the stump of a tree that she had been peeking from behind. Standing over her was one of the creatures and he, because no teats, started grunting and chittering at her. She had no idea what to do and stood frozen for a few moments before trying to run past him. He made to block her on the left but she started right and just as he went to turn that direction, she actually did dart left and past him.


    She could tell that she was faster than the creatures even if they were taller than her. The one that she had slipped past began slapping its tail on the ground and the others all turned to it. As she made it to the safety of the nearest tree she furiously climbed up as fast as she could.


    The creatures all began running over to where the first one was and he began pointing to the tree she was in. Meanwhile, she was searching furiously for a way to get to the next tree over but the creatures had somehow chopped down several of the trees nearby. She had gone up a tree that she had no way to get out of. She wanted to climb back down and run to a tree further into the forest but they had surrounded the base of the tree.


    Suddenly, she felt a weird vibration in the tree and looked around the edge of the trunk where a similarly strange sound was coming from. The creature there was chewing on the tree and as she watched, others began to join it. She went into a full panic and began chittering at the creatures to stop but they ignored her so she ran back up into the tree.


    After many tense minutes, there was a sudden change in the way the tree was standing. With a snapping and a long groan, the tree began to tilt to the side. She could do nothing but hang on for her life as the tree she was in began to fall over sideways. She screwed her eyes shut and screamed while she clung desperately to the tree.


    Before she was fully sideways, the tree stopped moving with a bone-jarring thump. She hadn¡¯t been thrown from the tree however and this puzzled her a bit. She cautiously opened her eyes and looked around before she spotted the reason why she was still safely in the tree. The tree she was in had lodged itself into the branches of the trees further into the forest that she hadn¡¯t been able to reach earlier.


    Without pause, she rushed from her spot and darted into the next tree. Her exodus didn¡¯t go unnoticed, however. The whole group of creatures began chasing after her on the ground as she picked her way through the trees above their heads. Unfortunately, she could only go a few trees in any direction because there was a small ridge of rock cutting across the ground between the trees she was in and the ones further along.


    She circled around a few times but there were only about a dozen large trees in this copse that she could reach. The creatures had gathered at the bases of almost every tree in the copse too. When she got back to the first tree that they had felled into the copse, they had already dragged it away.


    She then made her way back to the tree closest to the rest of the forest. She figured that they would get bored of waiting for her to come down. There weren¡¯t enough of them to wait at the base of every tree but they had all of the ones on the edge so she couldn¡¯t escape at all. With nothing else she could do, she found a nut and began gnawing and eating nervously.


    The creatures didn¡¯t seem to appreciate her settling down because the one below her began gnawing on the tree she was in. She got up and was about to run when she felt a presence and suddenly, she felt very calm. She began thinking again and a plan formed. She would wait for them to knock this tree into the next one over and run further into the forest. She went to the highest branches to wait.


    Things didn¡¯t go quite as planned. When the tree began to fall, it wasn¡¯t towards the trees across the ridge of rock. Instead, it was falling out over the stream. She ran back up to the trunk and clung for her life as the tree arched ever farther to the side.


    The tree was almost completely sideways when the top collided with the branches of the trees on the far bank. These trees were lower because the embankment was lower on that side. She was sent flying from the top of the felled tree into a tangle of bushes below. The trees and her fur received an impromptu shower as she landed in them.


    Winded, panicked, and drenched in her own pee, she climbed out of the bushes. For several seconds, all she could do was stand there and gulp down air. Finally, a series of splashes brought her to her senses and she looked over to see the creatures coming across the stream.


    It didn¡¯t look like they had spotted her yet so she took the opportunity to run for her life. These things, whatever they were, seemed to want her dead. She wasn¡¯t fond of the idea and made all appropriate haste to ensure she wasn¡¯t caught by them again. She ran ever farther into the woods.

 B2 Chapter 6

    Kaori was sure of it now. What was needed was a system interface that the inhabitants below could access. It was the big thing that separated every good videogame from reality as it stood. Knowledge! The ready access to what progress you had made was what made the biggest defining difference.


    For a lot of the mundane things in life, there really isn¡¯t a way to say how much progress has been made in learning that thing or perfecting it. How would you rate the abilities of a salesman? Oh sure, depending on how they did on a given sale, the person they were talking to could give them a rating, usually on a scale of 1 to 5 or 1 to 10. A lot of things on earth would get critiqued like that but it wasn¡¯t a good system of measuring their progress, only their current ability.


    Kaori considered the problem once again from a standard of total progress made in a given subject. She wondered how to figure out the progress in a given subject when an idea hit her. Instead of a capped progress indicator, she could make an open-ended version.


    It would get exponentially harder to mark progress the higher somebody¡¯s progress got but then again, it was meant to be harder for somebody to progress at higher levels. The question remained, how to begin the process of determining levels in things.


    The obvious answer, she realized, was that everybody starts at level 0 in every skill. The question wasn¡¯t really a starting point but a leading point. How to gauge the progress as it increases? What constitutes advancement and how to measure it?


    Kaori began looking for a way to set a baseline. Where could she find an example that she could set as the standard in all things that would be measured in the world or in any world? She glanced over at the old archmage and wondered if he had an answer.


    It was a moment later, when her eyes left the bookshelf full of manga, that she looked back at Foglat and at the book he was reading. All at once, she had an idea. She summoned her deific catalog and strummed through the pages of the powers section that it had dutifully opened to.


    Sure enough, there were a set of powers for swordsmanship in any given weapon of certain makes. She checked through them and found that the section detailed a large number of the ones she wanted to find but not all.


    Kaori glanced around before leaving her book floating in midair and then clapped her hands to get everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°Okay, I have a good enough direction for where the project needs to go. Get to stopping points in whatever you¡¯re doing in the next thirty minutes and I will save a copy of that game, anime, or book into your quarters for the next time you take a break. We have work to do.¡±


    A little over half an hour later she was busily outlining her plan to the deities in charge of the magic group. For the project, she had brought in the heads of the monster group, the dungeon group, and all the various head gods of each race. It was a rather large group.


    Kaori had started off by merging in a new sub-dimension for the work on this project to commence in. There, she ''d created a number of dojos, ranges, and other various training grounds. She considered the setup and added a bunch of random types of buildings to the formerly open area. There were libraries, forges, crafting shops, and most other types of early jobs she could think of. Kaori knew she had only put in a fraction of the places the dimension would need, so the other gods would have to build on the dimension as they went.


    ¡°I need for everyone to quickly look at these skills.¡± Saying that, Kaori summoned a sword and began a training kata against a mannequin made for the purpose. She didn¡¯t try to interject any of her own ideas into the routine and just let the purchased swordsmanship power run itself.


    A lot of the deities present looked a little confused because it almost seemed from the fluid grace and skill that Kaori displayed, that she was showing off. They had an image of their boss goddess and a showoff wasn¡¯t part of it. Others were just impressed while a few with skills in swordsmanship gave her performance a critical eye of approval.


    When Kaori finished the routine, she turned to focus on the crowd again. ¡°This wasn¡¯t my ability. I come from a world where the ability to use a sword is mostly a form of art or sport. The use of swords in actual battle is something relegated to the past. This power that I used was one purchased from my book of deific authority. I need to know, does anyone feel like there is something better than this ability in swordsmanship?¡±


    As Kaori looked about, She could see many looks of incomprehension so she continued. ¡°What I mean is, does anyone here think that they or someone that they knew could beat me while I¡¯m using this power? Within reason, that is. I am looking for somebody that could beat this power using the same type of sword but it wouldn¡¯t necessarily have to be the same style of swordsmanship.¡±


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    ¡°I need to know what the pinnacle of swordsmanship is using this type of sword or rather, the lot of you do. My plan is to use this power from the catalog as something of a baseline to gauge this type of swordsmanship and figure out how much better it could get. If we have a good read on the general level of aptitude that this power imparts, then we can measure a person¡¯s swordsmanship ability and quantify it. Doing that as a first step, we can make a system that will let any swordsman using this type of sword know their general level in this sword skill.¡±


    ¡°By applying the same method to every martial, magical, academic, physical, job, and spiritual Skill, we can create a system that will allow all the inhabitants of this and every other world to gauge their progress. We will make it an interface-based system that will let them see what abilities they have and where they could go from there at any given level in any given skill or ability.¡±


    ¡°By having the abilities quantified, we should be able to impart them to anyone as well. We will have to find out from one of the deities who created the powers for weapons or magic how they created them. If one of them will tell us, then we are all set. We will then begin to find baselines for every type of weapon that isn¡¯t in the catalog. After that, it¡¯s on to the other types of skills and abilities.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s going to be a whole lot of work, maybe centuries worth. However, each of you will be the ones to list the skill you work on. I will simply be the backer and get a fraction of the proceeds from the sale of those skills¡­ I mean powers, yeah. When we get every kind of ability, style, magic system, profession, and everything else that everybody already knows, we will keep going with branching styles and more bizarre weapons and esoteric magic systems. I don¡¯t see any reason to quit making these powers. Just so long as we can find one deity to show us how.¡±


    Kaori was prepared to keep outlining her plan for a bit longer. She was going to explain what they might try if they couldn¡¯t find a deity to show them how to turn skills into a power listing for the catalog. Suddenly, she was interrupted by a long bout of tongue-clicking and turned to look at Lethris, who was making the noise. She bowed her head and proceeded. ¡°Kaori-sama, I actually already know how to do that. If it¡¯s not overstepping my bounds as a lesser goddess, I would be happy to show you.¡±


    Kaori couldn¡¯t help the expression on her face and Lethris actually flinched back. ¡°Kaori-sama, I apologize profusely! I swear I didn¡¯t mean to overstep. I should have waited till you were done and none were present to¡­


    Kaori cut her off quickly with a look of apology on her face. ¡°No no no, That is quite fine. I was looking for someone and it seems I have found them! I was mostly curious why you were clicking your tongue at me?¡±


    Lethris¡¯ ears and face turned a deep shade of scarlet as she looked down and whispered. ¡°I¡­ well. In my homeland, that¡¯s the way you are supposed to politely get someone¡¯s attention while they¡¯re talking. I hope I didn¡¯t offend you.¡±


    Suddenly, Kaori was the one blushing. She had been so focused on the job that she forgot that the people around her were of different races and from different cultures. If anyone could have heard over the laughter, they would have heard Kaori mumble. ¡°Maybe the suits were a bad idea after all.¡±


    The next three months were spent with most of the same team coming and going from the side dimension and working on the universe¡¯s first Leveling System. Shortly after the start of the third month, Kaori got a panicked notification from her alter ego.


    Down on the planet below


    She had almost no will to go on. Things had proceeded from bad to worse. The hairy treecuttters were just the first people that she ran into. There were three more kinds of creatures that seemed to speak. However, she had learned her lesson the first time. Trust your instincts and don¡¯t approach too close to anything!


    The problem was, she had meant to settle in and build a cache of nuts for the winter. However, as soon as she would spend a few days too long in one place, the nightmares began again. Once that happened, she was assured to not get any sleep.


    She had resolved at one point to just wait it out but the events of the nightmare came very close to fruition. There was something stalking her and it had almost caught her.


    In her dream, she saw the thing trying to get at her from its eyes. It had walked up to her tree and sniffed about before using some kind of stick to jab at the branch above it. The stick had a sharp end and scored the branch but the thing couldn¡¯t get what it wanted to fall from the tree. Eventually, it turned and walked away. Suddenly, it turned and lept up onto the branch and bared its teeth and claws at the terrified orange and white furry girl on the branch before the perspective shifted and she was looking down the throat of the monster with rows of teeth in its mouth!


    When she awoke the next morning, gasping for breath, there was a slash on the branch below where she was sleeping and she saw that her tail had draped over the edge. She was so terrified that she ran till she collapsed from exhaustion. When she finally caught her breath, she got up and ran some more. Only when her muscles screamed at her to stop and she wasn¡¯t sure if she would even have the strength to climb anymore, did she stop running.


    The nightmares were oddly all different. Sometimes, it would be something right on her heels and practically breathing down her neck. Other times, the thing was in the skies above and death would come raining down on her from on high. There were even nightmares about some group of things she had heard in the distance cornering her and eating the tree out from under her, and then her too!


    She had been running for so many days without stopping any longer than it took to find food and tend to necessities. The days had grown shorter and colder too. One day, there was this white stuff everywhere when she awoke and she was in such a panic that she slipped and fell. Her only thought as she fell was oddly. ¡°Wow, the tree is pretty like that.¡± Then, blackness took her.

 B2 Chapter 7

    B2 Chapter 7


    Kaori looked down at the furry orange girl extracting herself from the snowdrift she had fallen into. Technically, there wasn¡¯t enough snow reaching the ground beneath the canopy for a snowdrift to form. However, this change was so small that nobody was likely to fault her for it. Kaori then reminded herself that nobody would fault her for this anyway. She watched in bemusement as the girl climbed back up the tree and began looking for nuts.


    Back upstairs


    Kaori let out a sigh of relief as the moment of danger passed and went back to what she was working on. The basic framework was ready but it had numerous glitches when being tried between the different deities. Kaori could bestow the system on a mortal of her planet just fine but for certain reasons, it didn¡¯t work the same when other deities tried to gift it. That meant that the Alpha copy was a go but the beta-test of the system was a bust.


    The biggest issue was that there were only four deities that could work on the programming aspect of this and Kaori had pulled them all in on this project. She was by far the fastest but the extra perspectives were very helpful. It still looked like it was going to be a while before the system was ready to release. The rest of the team of deities was also busy making various skills for the system.


    On the planet below


    She stood on the branch shivering and eating a few nuts. She had discovered that the white stuff was slippery and turned into water. She had spent a few minutes trying to groom the stuff out of her fur. Every time she got her fingers on the stuff it would turn into water but if she left the water in her fur, it would turn back in a few moments. After trying futilely for those couple minutes she gave up and went about finding breakfast amidst the few remaining red and gold leaves.


    As soon as breakfast was over, she climbed down the trunk and went back to walking. At some point, she gave up on trying to run from tree to tree. Her shoulder had stopped hurting but she just couldn¡¯t bring herself to try jumping from one tree to the next all the time. Walking on the ground was slower but it was also less tiring she reminded herself. Now that the trees all had this slippery white snow, she was glad she had stopped trying to jump trees.


    She stopped in her tracks and looked at the white dust shifting along the ground in the breeze. ¡°Since when did I know that was called snow?¡± There was a sudden moment of realization as she came to terms with the fact that she seemed to know things that she couldn¡¯t access in her mind. ¡°And how do I know that¡¯s called amnesia?¡± The bizarre moment of realization passed; she resumed her trudge.


    It was about ten days later that she went to climb a tree and found that her feet didn¡¯t have the strength to hold her. She tried several more times before switching trees, only for the same thing to occur. She sat at the base of the tree and cried while rubbing her cold numb hands and feet to try getting feeling back. Failing to get her hands working right, she decided to keep walking even if she was still hungry. She reminded herself that if she stopped, she would have nightmares and things would try to eat her.


    She walked on through the day and once it got dark, she tried to climb a tree again. She was horrified to discover that she still couldn¡¯t get her hands and feet to support her up a tree and would have to sleep on the ground. She pulled a pile of dead, brown leaves up between the roots of the tree and buried herself in them. It was cold and damp but eventually, she managed to drift off to sleep.


    The next morning, she awoke to the feeling of her hands and feet stinging like she had slept on them all wrong. The pain wouldn¡¯t go away either. The good news was that she was warmer than she had felt in many, many days. She made a note to herself that she needed to sleep like this at night. When she went to climb the tree, she found that some of her fingers and toes didn¡¯t work right but she had barely enough strength to get up the tree. There weren¡¯t a lot of nuts but she ate all the ones she found.


    She got down and began walking again. The days all looked like early morning or late evening now. There was only a little light to be had since the clouds never parted anymore. It also kept getting colder. She just kept walking. At midday or what she guessed was, she tried climbing a tree again and found she couldn¡¯t again. Hungry again, she kept walking.


    She stopped for the night and curled up in some leaves at the base of a tree. After a bit, she felt her hands and feet stinging her again. Thinking she knew the meaning of this, she tried and barely managed to climb the tree. There weren¡¯t many nuts to be found though.


    The next morning she woke up and barely got up a tree nearby. This one, oddly, had around twice as many nuts on it. Sated for the first time in weeks, she climbed down the tree and began walking again. This pattern continued for a few days but it got even colder.


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    One day, she found that no matter how long she huddled in the leaves, shivering with the cold, she just couldn¡¯t get feeling back in her hands and feet. That day, she ate nothing. The next day and the day after were the same. Walking without having anything to eat.


    She got up and blearily continued her walking. She wasn¡¯t sure why she was walking anymore. She wasn¡¯t even sure she was getting up and walking but she thought she was. In her delirium, she could have sworn that the trees had gotten green again. She was so tired and the ground felt warm and inviting. She curled up and went back to sleep while coughing. Coughing woke her up but she couldn¡¯t be bothered to open her eyes anymore and drifted back off.


    At some point, she felt jostled and later there was some sense of motion but she didn¡¯t have the energy to open her eyes and soon drifted off again. There were brief glimpses of sound and at one point she briefly awoke to coughing up a bitter taste. She had the sensation that she could feel something warm around her and she twitched awake to the sensation of warmth making her hands and feet sting.


    Suddenly, her eyes shot open. She had no idea where she was. There was what looked like the inside of a tree above her but in strips. There was something between these strips but she couldn¡¯t tell what. The reason was that it seemed that the sun couldn¡¯t decide if it was rising or setting. The light was coming from the side so she knew it had to be one or the other but it seemed like it would brighten and darken several times every moment.


    She tried to move but something heavy and warm was on top of her, pinning her down. She next tried to turn her head to look at what else was in this weird place but found herself too tired. She drifted off back to sleep. While sleeping, she dreamed of a sweet sound almost like the song of a bird but far more lovely. For some reason the sound almost seemed sad but she couldn¡¯t stay awake long enough to figure out why.


    When she next awoke, it was dark but at least it was warm and she felt safe. She hadn¡¯t been dreaming of things trying to eat her so she guessed it was okay to just go back to sleep. It took a little bit but she did drift off, even with that odd almost snarling breathing sound near her. She knew she should be bothered by that but just didn¡¯t care right now. Sleep was calling her again.


    She awoke to the sound of something rustling like leaves on the ground but softer. This time she managed to open her eyes but only opened them a little. She twitched her ears around and discovered that the sound was coming from her left. Turning her head slightly and slowly to the left, she froze. The thing she saw there was absolutely huge!


    The thing she saw was the color of snow in the early evening. Not the pure white of snow during the day. It had two arms, two legs, and a head like hers but it was massive. It had hair but not much and all of it was on its head or strangely between its legs. The hair was the color of a dead leaf and sticking out of the hair were two ears like pointed leaves. Its eyes were the color of the sky on a sunny day and they weren¡¯t looking at her.


    The thing was grabbing something that looked as big as it was and moving it around. The thing it held was the color of the richest nuts with a hint of berry coloring. When she focused, she could tell that the held thing was fur. It was all fur and it was the thing that she was trapped under. It really was huge, maybe bigger than the thing holding it even.


    The tall thing had long thin arms and legs with no claws. Wait, its claws were flat and on the back of its fingers not the tip. When it finished moving the big heavy fur, it stood up straight. It was terrifyingly tall and it was very thin. Weirdly, its teats were huge. Maybe it had just given birth and was nursing young? It then turned away and grabbed something out of sight behind the wall of fur atop her.


    The thing moved very gracefully for something so huge. She couldn¡¯t see what it was doing but it was bending over and straightening a couple of times. Finally, it pulled up something that looked like two leaves made of skin with vine-like things between them.


    After the thing had wrestled with the thing it picked up for a few moments, the thing like two leaves of skin was over its teats. The tall thing then picked up something else and that went over the top of the other thing. This looked like a baggy, wrinkly set of skin but was the color of very ripe berries or lighter than that. Maybe it was the color of some flowers that she had seen a long time ago before it started getting cold.


    The tall thing then wrestled another thing over that. This last thing was its fur. Weird. She couldn¡¯t take her fur off, or maybe she could and just didn¡¯t know it! The thing then turned back to look directly at her and her heart froze!


    Suddenly, its lips parted and it bared its teeth but only briefly. Its eyes squinted slightly and its ears drooped a tiny bit while it looked at her with those sky-colored eyes. Then it started walking toward her and she panicked. She tried to back away under the heavy fur but couldn¡¯t move much.


    The tall thing leaned over her and she knew it was going to eat her. She didn¡¯t have the will or strength left to escape and just waited for it to happen. The tall thing, however, stopped it¡¯s face a little above her. It began cooing to her in a beautiful voice that she vaguely remembered from her dreams.


    The tall thing stayed that way for a little bit and then rose back to its full height. Seeming to decide something, it turned and walked away to the right above her head. It came around the soft mound of whatever she was on and walked past on her right side where she couldn¡¯t see it for the fur thing on top of her.


    Suddenly, there was a strange noise like the sound of a branch swaying in the wind. Speaking of wind, there was a very cold breeze that rushed across her face and she shut her eyes for a moment. After a moment there was a thump like a branch hitting the ground. And the wind stopped as suddenly as it came. She lay there shivering for several moments but the warmth finally let her drift back to sleep under the heavy fur thing.

 B2 Chapter 8

    THUMP! Suddenly, she was awake again with her blood hammering in her ears and the remnants of a dream fading quickly. There was a chill fading from the air around her. She briefly remembered the tall thing standing over her and the fur thing holding her down. She looked down and the fur thing was still on top of her.


    A sudden sound to her right had her trying to turn her head and see what it was. The tall thing was back and she could see that it had something under its arm. The tall thing squatted down and started messing with a strangely glowing hole in a tree trunk.


    It put several small things on the roots of the tree that seemed far too flat somehow. It then picked up a long stick and poked it into the glowing hole and something amazing happened. The dull glow that seemed like the earliest part of dawn got brighter and there were moving leaves of pure sunlight dancing briefly over the dark soil in the hole. It briefly lit the whole area around the tall thing before they went away.


    The tall thing then began to sing like a bird but much longer and more soothing sounds. It was mesmerizing. It picked up several small pieces of branches and twigs and flicked them into the glow hole before grabbing one of the thing it had set down a moment earlier. It set several of the bigger things in the hole then. A moment later, there was a popping sound like when the tree had fallen over under her and her blood began hammering again as she expected the whole tree above the glow hole to begin falling on her.


    The next thing she knew, the dancing leaves of sun where back in the glow hole and it was brighter. She could see the tall thing clearly in silhouette. She could also see where she was a lot clearer now. The thing she thought was a tree trunk with a glowing hole at its base wasn¡¯t even made of a tree. Or at least not one she knew of. There were lumps of what looked like different colors of dirt that made the thing up with another color of dirt between all the cracks.


    To the side of the tall thing was a broad flat thing that looked like the stack of logs from when those creatures were stacking them in the stream of water. The stack was all very well fitted together with no cracks she could see but it was still very dark. The stack of logs rose to her right till it met something else. This looked like a bunch of branched to her before but now she could tell they were strange. The branches above her were all straight and flat.


    She then noticed the area between the branches had big leaves flattened between them. She could barely make it out in the dancing light from the glow hole. The light from the dancing flames wasn¡¯t bright enough to see clearly. ¡°Flames? When did I know the word for part of the sun?¡±


    The noise of her talking to herself made the tall thing turn and look at her. She met the gaze of those eyes and despite her initial freeze of panic, she still felt safe somehow. It was weird to be this close to something that big and still feel safe but the thing could have eaten her earlier and didn¡¯t. The tall thing also seemed to have a gentle grace about it that just made her feel safe.


    It stood up and she realized that it had stopped singing the song from before. Now it began making noises at her that she thought were another song at first but then she heard all the breaks in rhythm and thought it might be speaking. She cocked her furry round ears at it and listened, even if she couldn¡¯t understand.


    The thing kept talking even though she didn¡¯t respond. Its tone was always calm and soothing even as it went around the small area inside the stacks of logs and did things. It moved over to the glow hole again carrying a big thing shaped like a nut and colored like dirt. It then picked up a thing made of flat branch pieces and poured water out of it into the big nut.


    A moment later it came over to her and was carrying a small hollowed out branch piece. When it set the branch piece next to her, she heard the swish of water in it and realized how thirsty she was. She began struggling to get to the water but the fur thing was too heavy.


    Gently and with great care, the tall thing reached down and lifted the fur thing off of her. She managed to right herself on her hands and knees and crawled over the soft ground thing over to the water and began drinking gratefully. She dunked her face in as far as it would go and kept drinking. She would have kept going but thew tall thing lifted the branch with water from under her.


    She held on as long as she could but was too weak to keep her hold for long. she fell back to the soft mound of not quite dirt thing under her. She wanted to protest but then the tall thing reached a hand down to grab her.


    On a certain level, she was calm and felt safe around the tall thing. This, however, was beyond what she could stay calm about and she began to scream and back away. the sudden noise must have caused the tall thing to panic too because it stepped back and dropped the water branch. Suddenly, before she could react, the tall thing had grabbed her, flipped her around, lifted the fur thing, put her back under it, and let go. It was so fast, graceful, and gentle that she didn¡¯t even have time to react.


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    With her safely stashed back beneath the heavy fur thing, the tall thing stepped back and started singing again in a gentle soft voice. It was trying to soothe her she realized. It then went over to the right past the glow hole and stood next to something made of branches.


    The angle she was at now, while still stuck beneath the heavy fur thing let her see the tall thing and what it was doing. The tall thing was using a rock on some kind of root but it stopped for a moment. It turned to the big nut thing beside the glow hole and in a swift practiced motion, it moved the nut-like thing over the flames. It then grabbed the pile of things that it had scraped loose from the root and dropped them into the nut-like thing.


    It pulled up several other things that looked like either chunks of dirt or roots and mashed them into pieces with the rock. After all of the pile was in small pieces, it grabbed the pile and dumped them in also. Next, the tall thing grabbed several strands of some kind of weeds and grasses and tore them into pieces before tossing them in after the rest.


    She couldn¡¯t figure out what the tall thing was doing but it was mesmerizing. It had clearly done this before and had a purpose to what it was doing. She couldn¡¯t figure out what that purpose was though. The tall thing then picked up a long strait stick with a flat dip on the end and stuck the flattened end into the top of the nut-looking thing.


    After spinning the stick around for a while the tall thing started singing a different song. The new song sounded more upbeat and had more chirpy sounds than the last one. While it sat next to the flame spinning the stick it grabbed more chunks of the broken limbs that it brought in earlier and shoved a couple into the flame.


    It wasn¡¯t long till she could smell something that she had never smelled before. This was a smell unlike anything she had ever even dreamed might exist! It made her wonder if that was the purpose of everything the tall thing was doing. The smell was great but she wished she could have some nuts. Why was she thinking of food now?


    After a while longer, the smell got a lot stronger and she was getting hungrier. She was curious why this strange smell was making her hungry but she just watched in fascination. The tall thing finally stood and reached over to grab something too low for her to see and threw that into the nut-thing. With the tall thing not in front of it, she could see something coming out of the top of the nut-looking thing. It looked a little like the snow that always floats in the sky.


    The tall thing sat down in front of the glow hole again and went back to spinning the stick. After a while, it stood up and pulled the stick out before bringing it up to its mouth. First, it blew on the end of the stick a few times. Then it bit the end of the stick. Weird! It seemed to like it though since its ears began bobbing up and down.


    It then put the stick back in the nut-like thing and grabbed some kind of rock or mound of dirt from the side. It then pulled the stick back out and tapped it on the side of the rock. Had to be a rock because it wasn¡¯t soft like dirt. It did that a few times before getting a smaller version of the long stick with a flat end and putting it in the rock, making her realize it was hollow.


    It sat the first rock aside and then did that last few steps a second time. Once it had the second rock set aside, it grabbed a small skin looking thing and grabbed the nut looking thing off of the flame and set it to the side. The almost snow colored thing stayed above the nut-like thing even though she could barely see either the nut thing or the stick sitting in it.


    The tall thing then brought one of the rocks over and upon closer inspection, it wasn¡¯t made of stone. It was round and flattened but was definitely made of wood and there was a little of the snow-colored stuff coming from the top. The tall thing sat on the soft mound of not-dirt and it sunk a bit on the right side. She was worried it might fall on her but the tall thing was sitting up straight.


    It then pulled the shorter stick with a flat end out of the round, wood thing and there was something on it. The tall thing brought it up to its mouth and blew on it a few times. She thought it was going to eat it again but instead it held it down to her. She tried to back away but she couldn¡¯t.


    She wasn¡¯t convinced that this was food until the tall thing took the stick back and bit the stuff off of it. It then dipped the stick back into the wood hollow and brought it to its mouth again. Again it blew on it a few times before holding it down to her. She sniffed of the end of the stick and thought she would pass out from the delight of the scent. This didn¡¯t smell like any normal food but it was food.


    She inched her head close and licked the stick. The taste was better than the smell! She had never been so amazed in her life! Even the change from those first nuts to the harder ones hadn¡¯t been this different in taste. The tall thing pulled up the heavy fur thing and let her get at the stick better. She didn¡¯t know what the thing was but she liked it a lot better all of a sudden.


    Kaori just smiled at the heartwarming scene of the young elven woman feeding a porridge to the emaciated scuirringen girl. She had watched with trepidation these past three days as the shaman girl of the former seaside village had found her and nursed her back to health. The girl had matured a lot over the past few years into a kind young woman. This was where Kaori had meant for the little furball to head in the first place. She would have arrived a lot sooner if she would have just gone instead of stopping for extended periods of time.

 B2 Chapter 9

    girl be nursed back to health over the next month and a half. The girl was a little hard to gauge because of her fur and her extreme difference in size when compared to the elf. This was exactly what Kaori wanted to see. Was there a way for the tiny races to cooperate with larger ones in various settings?


    was very touch and go. The young elf woman had come into her own only a year ago and discovered that she had the ability to heal wounds and injuries. The amount of practice she got as a healer was rather absurd. There was always somebody getting hurt and coming to her to fix them.


    bit more than she was prepared to handle though. When Atha, the shaman of the tribe, found the girl in the forest, she already had third-stage frostbite on both hands and both feet. Since the injury is so slow to set in it¡¯s very hard to treat like a normal wound.


    of Kaori''s favorites. She had known the girl and even talked to her personally since her second day as goddess over this world. Atha was one of the original inhabitants of the world, though she didn¡¯t know that now. She still had vague memories of being visited from time to time by somebody claiming to be the goddess of the world but couldn¡¯t quite pin them down anymore. Little did she realize that the reason was because of the memories put in her head by the deific memory function. Memories of a god or goddess are hard to suppress though.


    whisper the solution to the problem in her dreams. If Atha were more powerful as a healer, she might have been able to treat frostbite without problem but not at her current level. The solution was rather distasteful but necessary to treat the necrosis caused by frostbite. The offending digits had to be cut off and healed from there. As Atha wasn¡¯t very powerful, the healing would only regrow about a third of the missing digit at a time.


    squeamish to perform the next part by herself and one of the hunters stepped in and helped. After recovering her magic, the flesh on the new digit had to be slit open so the rest of the growth could happen. The whole process had taken days and would have killed the girl from shock if she were in a state to feel the pain from it.


    perfect but were nearly so. The young scuiringen girl had healthy hands and feet with newly growing-in claws. Her emaciation took longer to deal with. The porridge was a lesson that again came in the form of a dream to the young healer.


    time the girl awoke, she had been eating the porridge long enough that her body knew to salivate over it from the smell. The first time, Atha had made the porridge, she had misunderstood the idea and had cooked it down till it was thick. The girl promptly threw it back up. It took a much closer look at the final product in the next night¡¯s dream before she understood. From there, the seasoning was the next problem.


    finally starting to show a bit of bulk filling out her ribs. She was also finally able to move about a bit. Things looked like they would work out pretty well but there was still the language barrier. Well, deities were allowed to do as they like on their own world within limits.


    out firsthand that deities would push their limits if they weren¡¯t monitored closely enough. She had snuck into the deific realm of another deity under the authority of Descartes Malaefecto and found his pantheon doing vile acts to the inhabitants of the world. Descartes hadn¡¯t been pleased to hear about it either.


    to do anything off-putting like that but she was willing to bend her own rules every now and again. If there was a good reason to do it and no real reason not to then she figured why not help out once in a while. This was the kind of time when she was willing to help out. This would let her know the viability of her plan for this world overall.


    creation dimension


    at a line of the wording for the implementation of the system. She reread the line three times to make sure. This was something Rocell had come across and brought to her. There was no doubt about it now, this was the glitch in the system¡¯s programming. Kaori thought about it for a moment and then rewrote the line a couple time.


    Pross and Einoro were both about to object to the wording but Kaori caught the mistake faster. The second time, all four of her helpers looked at the line critically before Belle pointed out that it didn¡¯t quite sound like it would read the way Kaori meant it to.


    why it had to be done in one line and Kaori did a literal facepalm. After writing it as three lines the first time, they again all looked at the offending wording. The wording of a soul contract had to be absolute lest a person twist the wording and corrupt the meaning. Even for something as simple as who could bestow and look at the system windows, a flaw could be an exploit.


    two of the sentences could be combined and the meaning would be stronger. Kaori corrected the section and everyone read and re-read the lines. They looked at them in line with the sentences preceding and following the two lines and nobody could find any error with the wording this time.


    the finished contract template to a waiting lesser god and he immediately summoned one of the red ogre tribe he was over. When he went to offer the contract to the ogre¡¯s soul, there was none of the dissonance that there had been before.


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    contract to the Deific Network through her PDI and stored it in the special projects folder. She typed a summons to all the deities and helpers in the side dimension set up for the system¡¯s creation. A few seconds later, every one of the beings in the dimension were gathered to hear what she had to say. ¡°As of just a moment ago, the system should be ready for the second round of testing. I need everyone here to summon various mortals and offer their souls the contract. Don¡¯t initiate the final bestowment, just the offer. If there are no more snags in that part, we can proceed to offer it to the entire populace next.¡±


    pregnant pause of bated breath before everyone present began cheering with jubilation. This was the culmination of months of work for the whole lot of them and they had been so dejected when the first beta-test had failed. It was odd for Kaori to think that in just this short time all of these people that had never heard of programming had just come to accept the weird terminology used by her to describe these processes.


    of her head, the entire group broke up and began summoning various sentient beings. Each one of the people being summoned would arrive in a softly glowing whitish cylinder of light and would be standing perfectly still. Each of the deities present would offer the contract to the being in the cylinder and the ethereal blue contract would turn into a shimmering gold phantom of a scroll or a set of stone tablets. Some of the deities offered the contract in the form of scrolls made of wooden slips while others offered it in a standard book form.


    that the deity preferred to use, the contracts all seemed to be turning gold. That meant that each of them were being accepted in their totality by each of the summoned souls. Once the soul had accepted the terms of the contract, the deity would unsummon them without imprinting the contract.


    later, Kaori had her answer, complete success! They could now begin the mass introduction of the system on her planet and then it was on to the next stage. Once they had the system in place, the rest of the deities under the direction of Lethris and Foglat could do the rest. Kaori had seen the process for summing up the totality of a skill set and encapsulating it into a power that could be shared.


    made that the basis for the leveling portion of the system. The baseline would always be absolute zero and everyone had every skill in the system at level zero. That level wasn¡¯t visible in the system window, however. This little trick is what allowed the diversity of skills to be stacked correctly. The skills were already there and no reprogramming was needed if somebody unlocked a skill, it just meant that they got it to level one.


    skills that would come later were going to be a little bit of a pain because it would require a system update. That meant that for the first few years, the system would periodically cease to function while the update was being made.


    that the inhabitants wouldn¡¯t get into any problems from the updates happening. She could see scenarios where people would take advantage of the system being down to do shady things. She decided that system updates would be random, quick, and often. That would minimize the risks far more than making them long and scheduled. If one thing could be counted on, it would be people capitalizing on anything.


    four senior gods turned to leave after giving Lethris instructions on how to proceed. Kaori was going to have to hire a bunch of new gods with skills that weren¡¯t yet in the system. She knew that this would need to be done right if it was going up for sale to other deities. She was just in the midst of thinking about how to handle the odd requests for additions to the system that would inevitably be made when Foglat approached her.


    have a request if you are in a position to hear me out.¡± He then bowed low to her. Kaori had never told any of her deities to bow to her nor had she explained to any of them that this was something she brought from her culture. Somehow, they all began to adopt the practice around her and she suspected that her twelve senior deities that came here with her had something to do with it.


    she wanted to do so badly but gave up and just decided to hear him out. ¡°Go ahead. I can¡¯t say I¡¯ll grant it before I hear what it is but I will at least hear you out. Also, drop the long honorifics, okay?¡±


    to the head goddess¡¯ request. He could feel the heat creeping into his cheeks as he wrung his wrinkly hands. What he was about to propose was the very thing that got him banished from the afterlife of his deity when he was a mortal man. ¡°Kaori-sama, I would like to pursue the idea of making good aligned undead. I feel that I almost had the spell right when I was alive and I¡¯m sure that it could be much better done as a god. If you would¡­¡±


    at Kaori¡¯s upturned-hand gesture and waited. She had a look of concentration before checking her PDI for a moment. ¡°Right now, we don¡¯t even have the undead monsters purchased. That¡¯s quite the oversight! I don¡¯t mind you working on that project but I will want you to work diligently with Lethris to finish this project first. This is a higher priority than a new type of monster.¡±


    that I don¡¯t support your project though. I even have a suggestion or two. Firstly, the alignment for undead can be good, bad, or neutral. The lich counterparts for those might be saints for the good undead and sages for the neutral ones. You will have to figure out a huge set of systems for implementing these new undead though.¡±


    is finished or at least the largest portion of the main skills, you and Lethris can come to me and we will work on that a bit. Mind you, it¡¯s going to be a big deal because we will have to introduce undeath to the planet as a whole since we didn¡¯t have that in place before the restart. That means that there is no history of undead on the planet at all. All things considered; this will be another equally big project but I¡¯m going to be mostly hands-off. This will be your project.¡±


    the dimension and the wizened old god behind, she could hear him muttering happily to himself. She could see this becoming a trend. How many new things was she or one of her underlings going to introduce to the universe at large through the catalog? Already she could tell that Descartes saw her as a golden Buddha but perhaps she was going a bit too fast.


    thought aside for a later date and changed gears mentally. She was going back down to merge with her other instance in watching the Scuiringen girl. This was a critical time for this. She was going to include the omniglot skill in everyone¡¯s system for the first year of the system to encourage cooperation. She needed to be down on the surface at the time the system was implemented to see how it was taken by the residents of the world.

 B2 Chapter 10

    ¡°SYSTEM INITIALIZING¡­ STATUS GREEN¡­ DOWNLOAD COMENCING 4%¡±


    She sat bolt upright! She could feel her tail standing straight up behind her and the tufts on the top of her ears perked upright as she held her fists in front of her chest at high alert. Beside her, the tall woman (She had decided at some point to stop thinking of her as a thing or an it) also sat up in a panic. She could tell by the way her ears drooped and trembled. There were cries of panic to be heard from several of the other strange wooden mounds that these creatures lived in. She had been outside and seen a few of them when the woman she lived with went to help them.


    Something had happened that was upsetting all of them at once. She wasn¡¯t sure if it was the same voice that she heard in her sleep that woke them up as well. She couldn¡¯t remember what it had said but she didn¡¯t have to. Floating in the top of her vision in a color like she was looking at the sun through winter clouds, was a set of¡­ Words? How did she know these were words and how did she know what they said? SYSTEM INITIALIZING¡­ STATUS GREEN¡­ DOWNLOAD COMENCING 18%


    She had no idea what the heck was going on but suddenly the tall woman swung her feet out of from under the fur blanket and began getting out of bed¡­ She had just begun to ponder the implications of suddenly knowing the names of so many of the things around her when the elf woman turned to her and began cooing in that voice she made to try and keep her calm. ¡°Sweet child, I¡¯ll need to go and make sure that no one is hurt. I wonder if you¡¯re going to want to come with me or are you going to go back to sleep?¡±


    The elf woman began pulling on her clothing and she considered her words¡­ The realization dawned on her like the first stabbing rays of sun at dawn. She had understood the woman! Not just her intentions or a single noise she had come to recognize as food but all of the words she spoke! Turning her whole body and getting to her knees, she decided to try talking back to her to see if this would work. ¡°I think I would like to go with you. You¡¯re going to the houses of all the crying children, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    The woman stopped in the middle of pulling on her blouse before quickly fumbling the rest of the way into it and turning to her with her eyes wide and ears pinned to the sides of her head in what she had come to realize was a look of utter disbelief or surprise. ¡°D-did you just speak? Can you speak Elven?¡±


    She wasn¡¯t sure how she knew the words and it showed in her embarrassment. She could feel her eyes widening, her ear tufts flattening and her tail curling in submission while she tried to fight the urge to turn away. ¡°I¡­ I guess so? This is the first time I¡¯ve understood what you were saying at all. I think it may be because of that weird voice I heard earlier.¡±


    Hearing what she said, the elven woman resumed putting on her clothing, finishing with the heavy fur coat. The woman had a look of deep concentration but seemed to suddenly take note of the girl still watching her and her look softened as she turned to her again before stretching out a hand to her. ¡°Why don¡¯t you come tuck yourself into my coat and keep warm. I need to go check on my village and make sure that they are all okay.¡±


    She was a little hesitant but amazingly found herself a lot more receptive to things when she knew what the elf woman was saying. She got over her hesitation and crawled onto the woman¡¯s outstretched hands. The woman brought her to her chest and she began burrowing into the layers of clothing till she found an open space and turned to poke her head back out.


    She was just in time to see the elven woman¡¯s ears, still up, begin trembling and a red blush began spreading from the tips of her ears all the way across her face. She stopped looking down at the girl nestled between her breasts and off to the right but the redness didn¡¯t fade. ¡°W-we s-should get g-going I g-guess.¡±


    As the elven woman reached the door, she lifted the simple wooden latch with her right hand and grabbed the strange spherical object with her left hand. There was a sudden blast of cold air but not the absolute bitter cold she had felt before. On previous trips outside the house, she had noticed that the area that the elves lived in was perpetually lush and green, even in the dead of winter like now.


    While they walked, she looked down at the strange shimmering ball in the woman¡¯s left hand. It was absolutely mesmerizing to look at. It had a pattern of hexagons all over the surface. A surface that shimmered in rainbow colors as the light shifted across it.


    She had seen this object often in the last month or two that she had been here. The elven woman would hold it and talk to the air and she swore to herself that sometimes she saw another woman, a human one now that she somehow knew what to call them, standing with her hand on the elven woman¡¯s head. The human woman always seemed like she had the same look on her face that the elven woman had when she was looking in the girl¡¯s direction. That was the impression she got.


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    Her musings were interrupted as the pair made it to one of the houses built at the base of a large tree. The house was humongous but not to the elves. It was a rather small building to one of their kind. As they approached, she could hear the wailing of children in the house and the cooing of a pair of concerned parents, though she couldn¡¯t make out their words.


    When they reached the door, the elf woman knocked on it and the voice of the mother could be heard. ¡°One moment Atha!¡±


    She wondered about the words she heard. Before, all she got was the noises and the general feeling of emotions through their tone and body language of the elves. Now, however, she was hearing actual words but what was that last one? Did her ability to hear words stop as suddenly as it had come? She really hoped not. She really liked being able to understand the elven woman.


    She got her answer a moment later when the elven mother opened the door for them. ¡°Thank you for coming shaman Atha. Come in, come in.¡±


    After the two of them were escorted into the house by the elven mother, the woman turned to them with her face downcast and ears drooping in resignation. ¡°I fear that we have been beset by an evil spirit. Our whole family heard a voice and now we see a phantom in our vision.¡±


    The elven woman that the other had referred to as shaman Atha, spoke in a calming tone. ¡°Does the phantom consist of golden words that say system initializing, status green, download commencing *the elven woman moved her head and she could tell that the woman was looking up at the same words she was seeing, It was confirmed a moment later when the woman spoke the same number that she could see* 87 and then a strange symbol?¡±


    At the words of the shaman, both of the elven parents turned wide-eyed faces of shock with ears held tight towards the shaman. The three children seemed to have quieted down at some point and when she looked at them, she spotted three pairs of eyes staring back at her. The children seemed to be far less interested in what the adults were talking about than they were in gawking at her. She waved at them and they began giggling and the smallest waved back.


    The shaman continued in a calm authoritative tone. ¡°Losa, Clothe the children and we will head to the fire circle. Sanu, go from house to house and tell everyone else to meet us at the fire circle. We will begin building the fire up and then I will try to commune with the deities.¡±


    When the six of them reached the fire circle under the large pavilion, one of the men was already there working to rekindle the flames in the center of the village. After only a few minutes, the elven man, two women, and three children had several logs placed atop the slowly building flames.


    Several other families began to arrive and brought some things to prepare for breakfast. Breakfast was to be sabu-sabu, a dish of crushed dried berries, ground roots, and leaves. The resulting paste was put into bigger leaves and rolled up before being cooked in the fire. The result was a bar of something that had a very odd texture like the most brittle nuts. The flavor was really good though very hard to describe.


    Before everybody had even finished arriving, the shaman elf woman, Atha she supposed, began singing a slow reverent song. The song was about the grace of the gods and how they protected the people and supposedly warned them of coming change at some time in the distant past. After several moments, the people around the fire began to stamp cadence and Atha began dancing around the fire with the orb held above her head. Every eighth beat she would pause in the song to kiss the orb but it was part of the song and didn¡¯t detract from its beauty in the slightest.


    After the song had been repeated four times, something happened. There was a shift in the air, as though it felt like water but not. She then noticed the inhales of several of the elves but just then her eyes were drawn to the fire. Something had moved in the fire and was still standing in the middle of the flames.


    When she turned to look, she recognized the human woman immediately. The woman was standing in the middle of the flames but not being burned. She had black hair and eyes, whitish skin, and a clothes of black. She was standing there watching Atha dance with a smile on her face and her hands clasped behind her back.


    The moment Atha realized that the goddess was present, she kneeled with her head bowed and the ball raised above her head in both hands. As the elven woman did that, she got a glimpse from her vantage in the woman¡¯s cleavage that all the rest of the villagers were bowing. The glimpse was brief because for no reason she could put a finger on, she felt the need to bow her head as well.


    Kaori stepped out of the flames and looked at the countdown timer ticking over the 99% mark and began her speech. She had avatars appearing all over the populated portions of the world. Anywhere she found the inhabitants praying about the system initialization, she appeared to them. ¡°Be calm my children. The world greets another change but know that I am here with you. I have brought you a great gift this day. I will leave one gift with you always and the other, the gift of speech with all, you shall have only till the seasons come full circle again. Use it well while it lasts. Those that I see fit as my chosen I will leave the gift of speech to many.¡±


    Most of Kaori¡¯s avatars disappeared but the one in front of Atha remained a moment longer. Kaori leaned down and lifted the head of the woman with the squirrel girl in between her breasts. Truth be told, she wanted to squeal at how adorable the sight was but managed to hold herself back, barely! Instead, she leaned down and placed a kiss on the forehead of the trembling woman and then with a gentle smile ruffled the hair of the adorable girl before fading away¡­ Only then, when she could no longer be seen or heard, did she allow herself to squeal at the absolutely heartwarming sight.

 B2 Chapter 11

    Kaori watched as the timer ticked over to 100% and the program that she and the rest of the select team had worked months on initiated. The golden letters in everyone¡¯s vision read system startup initialized. Suddenly, every single person on the planet had a screen appear in front of them.


    Accompanying the screen was the vocal message in her own voice. ¡°System screen may be accessed at any time by thinking or saying; System. Only those that you mentally command the screen to be visible to will be able to see it. Hide the screen by thinking or saying; Hide Screen.¡±


    The voice being her own and being presented right after her little speech to the populace was a theatrical concession. She wanted the populace to associate the system with their goddess so that nobody would be too tempted to try bucking the system. There were bound to be a few glitches to clean up like systems that didn¡¯t initialize for their owners but she could deal with that a lot easier than having entire sections of the populace trying to avoid the system entirely.


    Kaori watched as the tutorial of how to use the system played out in front of each of the citizens. The design they had settled on involved the use of the reading part of the omniglot power. Kaori had purchased the power but she ended up having to fiddle with the settings to get that part of it separated so she could plug it into the system.


    The end result was right in front of her. There were around fifty elves in this little village and with the exception of the children who didn¡¯t have the attention span for it, everyone else was reading the system messages and working through the features of their new system interface. The children weren¡¯t excepted from getting system interfaces though.


    In the case of the children, they had come up with a clever way to work things. The system could be accessed by a newborn but not really understood. There was a feature that hid system screens if they weren¡¯t accessed in the first few minutes. That would leave a small box in the bottom right corner of a person¡¯s vision. This system was also to help mitigate confusion upon waking from being asleep or passed out and having notifications waiting.


    Children would be taught to use their basic system functions as they got a bit older by their parents. The message to play the tutorial would wait till they were old enough to use it. On the off chance that a child managed to run through the tutorial before they were old enough to understand or in the event of memory loss, the tutorial could always be accessed through the system menu and using that was part of the tutorial.


    It was a bit strange watching a bunch of elves staring into the distance with their eyes flickering all over and occasionally pressing thin air in front of them with a finger. The sciurringen girl was also going through the menu like the rest. Kaori smiled once more at how adorable her being in Atha¡¯s cleavage was. She was a little worried about her slipping and scratching the elf girl with her claws. Then she remembered that Atha would be wearing a hide bras and immediately felt better for her.


    After a few minutes, several of the villagers began to finish with the tutorial. They then began to play with their system in earnest and there was a lot of talk back and forth about general stat levels and skills. Kaori listened intently to all the accolades and complaints but nothing really stood out to her.


    She had just finished up her tutorial on how to use this magical marvel the goddess had bestowed upon them. She then did as she had heard dozens of other people doing and said the strange word out loud. ¡°SYSTEM!¡± She knew that the meaning was just an orderly way of doing something but the word itself sounded strange to her. It was like when she heard the elves talking before today. It was a word that she had never heard until today, she was sure of it.


    In the top right of her screen was the word name and below it: Aiko. She read the name several times and somehow it felt right to her. This was her name that she couldn¡¯t remember ever hearing before. Not that there had been anybody to say it until Atha had helped her those months ago.


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    She was so absorbed in the discovery of her own name that she momentarily forgot to look at the rest of the screen. At her stats and skills as the system called them. She kept reading which was strange in and of itself. There were stats for health, strength, speed, dexterity, stamina, intelligence, memory, creativity, mana conductivity, mana pool, confidence, and attractiveness.


    There were bars beside each of the stats that she knew meant how much of each thing she had or how good she was at that thing. Aiko was surprised to find that she had a few high values. Her highest was in mana conductivity, whatever that was. She also had really high values in dexterity and attractiveness. She supposed that those were good things to have a high value in?


    Below the section for stats was a section labelled skills and below that was one called abilities and still below that was one called gifts and blessings. She saw that she had things in all of those areas. Aiko wasn¡¯t sure what that was about but she would have to look closer at them and figure it all out.


    In her skills category she had by far the most. In it were the words: alertness II, climbing III, evasion II, jumping III, listening II, and scent I. She knew right away that these things were all related to her daily activities and how she survived. It was good to know that she had these.


    In the abilities section she had only three things. The first was spatial awareness which she had no idea the meaning of. The second was chaos magic affinity and she had even less idea what that was about. Finally there was omniglot-chosen. Aiko remembered hearing about that a few moments ago but why did it say she was a chosen? Everything had the ability to be looked at in greater detail but she wanted to scan the last section before doing that.


    The gifts and blessings section had two things in it. The first one was holy magic blessing which she didn¡¯t understand but the last thing on the list drew her eyes far more. The last item in the list was ^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^. It seemed like there were words that just didn¡¯t want to be seen.


    Aiko was very curious and clicked on that listing. When she did, the description that came up was less than helpful. ¡°This is a blessing that isn¡¯t meant for you to know and it shall be revealed to you at the proper time.¡± When would the proper time be she wondered?


    Aiko decided to start over at the top and click on everything starting with health. The bar beside her health was a grass green color but was rather short. Beside it was the number 15/18. She could tell that meant that she didn¡¯t have much health. She wondered about the empty spot at the end of the bar and figured that the total of the bar must be the bigger number.


    Realizing that her health bar wasn¡¯t full she looked at the other bars and found that most of them were a darker tree green and full. All of the bars were kind of short but the differences were glaring. There was something different about the color of her health bar as well as some missing. It came to her that she wasn¡¯t fully healed from nearly freezing to death.


    Her strength was tiny at only 6 but it was full. Aiko guessed that was about right since she was so much smaller than most creatures or people. Then there was speed. She had a lot more of that. Her speed was a 14 so almost at the level of her health and overall pretty bad.


    At least my dexterity is high! Aiko thought to herself. A 42 had to be pretty good right? Her stamina was fair at 35 too. She reasoned that this was a section for mostly physical stats.


    Intelligence was so vastly different that it had to denote a different part of the stats. Her intelligence was a 21 so at least it beat out her health. Her memory was a 19 so she wondered if that made her prone to forget things.


    Aiko wasn¡¯t sure about creativity but it was a little high at 32. The thing that really took the credit away from everything else was her mana conductivity. ¡°What does a 175 even mean in this? I don¡¯t even know what it does.¡± She whispered to herself and was gratified to see that everyone else looked just as lost in their systems as she was.


    That just left her mana pool of 21 to look at before getting to her worst stat, confidence. She wasn¡¯t sure why but the 6 in confidence both rang true and stung at the same time. It was slightly balanced by the attractiveness of 40. ¡°I don¡¯t really get these numbers. This has to be wrong or I just don¡¯t know how to read them maybe?¡±


    Aiko wasn¡¯t sure about her stats but she was giddy as she moved to read her Skills, abilities, and blessing/gifts. She stopped for a moment to wonder why this made her so excited. The moment over, she dived right into the descriptions for everything.


    Kaori just had to chuckle.

 B2 Chapter 12

    Aiko looked at the screen and ran through the descriptions in her head again before she closed out of the system window. Health was described as a general assessment of her body¡¯s ability to take damage and the smaller a body the less damage it could take overall. Also, the color of the bar would indicate certain statuses and the yellow-green of her bar was an indication of her recovering from sickness.


    The rest of the stats were all based around her physical or mental abilities as well. Strength was a general read of her muscular strength which was why it was so low. Both her speed and dexterity were higher, meaning she should run instead of fight things. Her speed was also low because of her general size apparently but her dexterity was a measure of how limber she was so it wasn¡¯t affected that way. Her stamina was how long she could keep on doing things and was the last of her physical stats.


    Aiko had discovered the intelligence stat was meant to be her ability to make sense of situations and information. Her memory and creativity stats were pretty self-explanatory. Except for one line in creativity where it mentioned the ability to come up with different ways to approach problems.


    The part that she didn¡¯t understand at all was the mana stuff. Apparently, mana was some stuff that people had that could make weird things happen for them. Aiko studied the mana conductivity stat¡¯s description again.


    Mana Conductivity is the representation of how well mana can be channeled through the subject. The higher the value, the more mana may be channeled through at once. Combined with an adequately large mana pool, this stat will allow the wielder to cast larger and more powerful mana-related effects such as spells or blessings. Unlike a subject¡¯s mana pool, mana conductivity cannot be improved without the blessing of a deity.


    Aiko had no idea what any of it meant but she had a vague notion that it was somehow really neat. She looked at the number beside the stat and wondered again, what good a 175 in the stat was.


    Her mana pool was okay but it wasn¡¯t that large. It was the amount of mana held within an individual. Apparently, it could be improved through constant use and draining. Aiko wondered if that required one of those mana-related effects.


    The next stat was terribly low but Aiko could tell that it was accurate. She had almost no confidence, no matter what it pertained to. She wondered for a second if maybe it would improve. She also wondered if attractiveness was actually measured correctly. She really didn¡¯t feel that attractive. However, since it was a measure of physical attractiveness to others, perhaps she was and that was the reason that things always seemed to want to eat her in her dreams.


    After looking at that she looked at the description of the skills, starting with alertness II. This skill boosts a subject¡¯s awareness based on information gained from the senses by a percentage of the intelligence stat. This skill gives a boost of fifty percent of the intelligence stat to all senses in use for a limited duration.


    Next up was climbing III. This skill gives a boost to the wielder¡¯s endurance when performing climbing. This advanced variant allows the wielder to quarter their endurance usage when climbing any surface that isn¡¯t overhead and halves endurance used when climbing on overhead surfaces. Aiko could remember never being that tired after climbing and now she understood why.


    She looked at evasion II. This skill allows the subject to use a small burst of endurance to gain more dexterity when in a fight. This variant takes 10% of base endurance and lasts twice as long. She remembered doing that at the feet of the beaver-dwarf guy. Aiko was surprised once again as her mind suddenly provided names for things that she didn¡¯t know she knew.


    Aiko next took a look at jumping III. This skill allows the wielder to increase the height or length of their jumps by a percentage of their strength stat at the cost of increased endurance drain. At this level, this skill will triple again the height or length of a jump and increase endurance usage by 5%.


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    Aiko glossed over listening II and scent I. She was too eager to look at the abilities and blessings sections. She knew that she wasn¡¯t going to get anything from her last gift or blessing thing but that still left the other one.


    First, Aiko looked at the abilities section. She opened the description of spatial awareness. This ability allows the user to perceive the area around them from every angle. With practice, this ability can be used with every one of the senses. After enough practice or under special conditions, the wielder may learn to perceive their surroundings without the use of any of the senses.


    Aiko read the description again and then a third time. How would that work? How does somebody sense the world without senses? Weird but neat! It even said that it could be practiced to gain better use. She nodded to herself that she was going to practice with this ability a lot.


    Now Aiko approached one of the two descriptions she had the least understanding of. This chaos magic affinity was a complete unknown to her. She had to admit to herself that she was more than a little bit curious about it and even a bit excited.


    She read the description of chaos magic affinity while unconsciously holding her breath. This affinity allows the wielder to learn chaos magic at an accelerated rate. The exact rate of learning depends on the intelligence, creativity, mana conductivity, mana pool, and to a lesser extent memory stats. That was all the description said.


    She was furious and was aggressively thinking mean things while demanding to know what chaos magic was. Just as her eyes landed on the word in the affinity¡¯s description, a new description opened over the top of that one. She didn¡¯t even know that she could do that and was so surprised by it that she just stared dumbly at it for a moment before even reading the description. She did vaguely remember something about almost every word having a description.


    The description for chaos magic was brief but informative. This type of magic is the most versatile type. It allows a wielder to judge what¡¯s needed in a given situation, then imagine an effect and focus mana into a construct or effect to fit that need. The use of this magic is taxing on the wielder¡¯s mana pool and requires a larger mana conductivity than any other type of magic to activate the chaotic spells the wielder creates. If certain effects or constructs are used often enough, the wielder will gain a spell in their spells section and this spell will be easier to cast and cost a bit less mana.


    Aiko skimmed over the omniglot-chosen ability. She already figured out that it was what let her speak to the elves and what told her what things were. She looked at the chosen part but it just said chosen by a deity.


    Aiko looked at the first (was this a gift or a blessing?), holy magic. The description opened and at first, she was left confused but as she read it a second time, she could feel her heart racing. This kind of magic is the gift of a deity and will make the magic of the wielder much better at their magic. This has the inherent effect of making the magic cast cost much less per spell cast. It also gives the wielder hints about new spells as they progress in their trek through the study and artistry of magic.


    Holy magic will disappear from blessings and appear as the beginning of the type of magic that was gifted when the first spell is cast. May Kaori bless all through her divine will! What an awesome gift!


    Aiko looked at her last gift or blessing but ^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ still didn¡¯t reveal much. There was a description but each word was hidden just like the two in the name of the thing. That was unhelpful.


    Still, she couldn¡¯t contain her excitement at the prospect of being able to fix any problem she came across with this magic stuff. Or was it called mana? She was still thinking how awesome this was as she closed out of her system!


    As Aiko looked around, she noticed that very few of the elves were done looking through their systems. That excluded the children of course. She realized after watching the eye movements of several of the villagers that they were extremely slow at reading. She wondered at that but eventually shrugged it off as inconsequential.


    Out of the corner of her eye, Aiko spotted a couple of the children playing near the fire. They were chasing one another and kept darting between the distracted adults. Aiko watched them for a bit longer and was about to turn away when she noticed something going wrong.


    There were a bunch of branches piled together in a cone that had been lit on fire. The elves had been reading their systems so long at this point that the fire was roaring and easily driving the pre-dawn chill in the air away. One of the logs stacked up had almost burned through and was bent, leaning outwards where it had burned thin.


    Just as the children went to run by it the thick branch snapped. Suddenly, a couple of branches began to topple toward the spot the children were about to step into. To Aiko, time seemed to freeze as she saw what was about to happen.

 B2 Chapter 13

    Aiko didn¡¯t have time to think of anything, she just thrust both of her tiny clawed hands out at the falling bits of branches covered in flames and she screamed! ¡°NO! Don¡¯t!¡±


    All at once, the branches stopped mid fall and righted themselves in the burning pit before falling inwards harmlessly. Aiko could hear screaming and yelling but she couldn¡¯t tell where it was coming from. Her vision blurred and tilted sideways before going dark as she passed out. Her saving grace being the perch she was snuggled into, between Atha¡¯s breasts and her clothing.


    In the heavens above and beyond


    After having spent weeks getting the many magical systems and a trove of thousands of skills, abilities, gifts, and blessings integrated into the new system idea that Kaori had developed, most of that work was done. The thing that the system team was left with were a million more of those to go.


    For every job there would be dozens of skills or abilities. On top of that, each of those required some gauge for the aptitude of skill somebody had in them. This was where the team was currently engaged. It was going rather slowly too.


    The only jobs that they had categorized so far were the ones that were already being used on the planet below. They didn¡¯t even have a complete list of the skills and abilities required for each of those jobs yet.


    The next step was going to be all of the jobs that weren¡¯t yet present on the plant below. All of the jobs that would be required for technological development and then they were going to have to get all of the skills and abilities for those jobs figured out. And if there were going to be any gifts or blessings where those jobs were concerned, they would have to update that list to include those as well.


    In order to do that they were going to have to figure out every job required for that technological development and they were going to have to find examples of every possible off branch. They were then going to have to find people that had already done those jobs and they would have to categorize the abilities or skills needed for those jobs and any possibility of advancement that that might entail.


    Altogether, that was going to be a lot of work. At the time, they didn¡¯t even have all of the branching abilities or skills for various combats styles of the various weapons already being used on the planet below categorized. Then, there was one overriding problem with all of this, they didn¡¯t have nearly enough personnel to accomplish this monumental task!


    Lethris and the team had been very, very, busy trying to get all of this sorted out and put together in a cohesive manner. The largest priority for Lethris and Foglat had obviously been the magic systems that would have to be integrated into the system. After working diligently on this project for months, they had finally managed to see through the final launch of the system with Kaori-sama.


    Unfortunately, they still had a whole host of other magic types that were going to have to be entered into the system. Including any off branches, all of their skills, abilities, any gifts or blessings that they might include, and the interaction that they would have with other magic abilities within the system. All of that, before they could even begin to scale all of those various magic types. They also had to make sure that the scaling of any type of magic showed its power when compared to other magic types as well.


    Right now, the team was working on the hunting profession. This particular profession was very, very, very hard to nail down due to the number of different variants that it had. In any given environment, there would be any number of different game that could be hunted. There would be any number of different weapons that could be used for hunting each type of game with overlap and different skills or abilities needed to use it on that game. There could be any number of different methods used for hunting besides just weapons, like traps or poisons.


    All of this was very confusing and complicated but this was what Kaori-sama wanted the system to be capable of doing. As such, there was nobody on the team who would be willing to give up on the project or even do a half way decent job. Lethris was proud to look around and see that everybody was giving the project 100%.


    The problem was that help was going to be needed and sooner rather than later. They were going to need experts in hunting and then they were going to need experts in everything else! Also, lethris did not feel the need to turn every single expert into a god. It was at times like this that she was all the more in awe of the spectacular foresight of Kaori-sama.


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    Because of the PDI system that Kaori had left in place, she would be able to get in contact with the head goddess and get an answer in a matter of minutes. After leaving a message asking for a direction in the matter of hiring experts it only took a handful of minutes before she got her response.


    Kaori-sama had replied to her to use the afterlife system and consult with the experts that they already had in the afterlife directly, without drawing them out of the afterlife. She said that if more experts were needed, they should check in the various limbos and see if there were any more souls that could be swiped from those soul storage dimensions. She also sent a short reminder to be sure to fill out an application for Godhood for every so that would be taken from another dimension. Lethris got a big smile on her face, it was time to go back to work.


    In the elven village on the planet below


    There were quiet murmurs all around with a few voices barely loud enough for their conversation to be picked out. ¡°Is she going to be all right? / Do you think she did that? / Can I go see her now? Is she still not awake? / Can I just leave these here?¡±


    Aiko came around slowly and began to open her eyes. There was an intense pain somewhere between her ears. As her eyes cracked open, the light seemed to make the pain that much worse and she quickly shut them again. After a second of listening to the various murmured conversations around her, Aiko decided that she had to go ahead and open her eyes. She slowly forced her eyes open through the incessant pain and tried to look around. One word could sum up the entire experience. ¡°Ouch.¡±


    As she looked around their bleary eyes, she could recognize the room she was in. this was Atha¡¯s house and she was in bed. Suddenly she realized that the house was more filled with people than she had ever seen it before. And it seemed that every one of them was looking at her.


    As Aiko looked around, she spotted Atha moving her way through the crowd of people. The young elf Shaman was carrying a bowl of something steaming and held one of the leaf wrapped sabu-sabu in her other hand. ¡°How are you feeling?¡±


    ¡°My head hurts a lot but I think I¡¯m okay. How are the children? Did they get hurt?¡±


    Suddenly the level of murmuring amongst the elves got noticeably louder. Atha just smiled as she leaned over and did something she had not done before. She placed a light kiss on Aiko¡¯s forehead before sitting on the side of the bed holding the food. ¡°No, the children are just fine. I suspected that you were the one to thank for that. I don¡¯t know how we can thank you enough.¡±


    Suddenly the room erupted into a sea of cheering and thank you¡¯s! Aiko was stunned to realize that everybody was thanking her. As she looked around, she saw that many of the people around her were crying tears of joy and there were presents stacked on the bedside next to her.


    As Aiko continued to stare around in wonder, a young elf mother came up to the bed pushing her two children in front of her. Aiko instantly recognized these two as the ones that the burning branches were about to fall on. At the mother¡¯s prompting both of the children walked up to the bed and each 1 placed a small bundle of flowers next to her.


    The young Elvin woman then leaned over and placed another kiss on Aiko¡¯s forehead before leaning back with tears in her eyes. ¡°I just had to make sure that I told you thank you myself. I don¡¯t even know what I would have done if my children had gotten hurt. I just¡­ I¡­ Thank you! Just, thank you so much!¡±


    Over the course of the next few minutes, Atha fed Aiko a bowl of rich, hardy stew and one of the thumb-size bars of sabu-sabu. She also took a moment to push a little bit of healing magic into Aiko¡¯s head and cleared up the headache. It took a bit but, most of the village was there and took turns thanking Aiko Profusely for protecting the children. To Aiko it was very, very, embarrassing.


    After all of the villagers left Atha spent a few minutes explaining that Aiko had been out for hours. Several of the villagers had seen what was about to happen to the children but nobody was in a position to do anything about it. All of the people that didn¡¯t know what was about to happen to the children were alerted when Aiko yelled out. Immediately following that, Aiko slumped over and passed out.


    Only one villager had been in a position to see Aiko and the children at the same time. What he claimed he saw was nothing short of miraculous. The Elf Hunter said that he saw a glowing purple line leave Aiko¡¯s hand, reach out to the branches that were falling towards the children, and push them back into place. He further said that as she began to pass out that the goddess herself leaned over and kissed Aiko on the head. Of course, this young hunter¡¯s testimony caused a huge uproar.


    Once the house was clear of people, Atha began going through all of the presents that everyone had left for Aiko and showing them to her. Aiko shared her name with the shaman girl for the first time and they talked for hours. The subjects ranged from Aiko¡¯s wandering journey to the elven village to the many mundane happenings in the village.


    The subject that they had the most fun discussing was magic, which Atha had much more experience with. They both decided on a regular practice schedule for the two of them going forward. Aiko was really looking forward to it.


    Finally, after all of the conversation had died down, Aiko was able to open her system notifications that had been patiently waiting for her to acknowledge them. There were seven notifications waiting on her.

 B2 Chapter 14

    Aiko opened the notifications and began reading through them. As she opened the first one, her heart began to race. This was so much better than she had even imagined it might be. She figured that she might have a notification about passing out or something along those lines. She figured that if she got really lucky, she might have a notification telling her that she had touched on her ability to use whatever chaos magic was. What she got was a whole order of magnitude better.


    Sitting directly at the top of a list of seven notifications was one entitled ¡°Congratulations¡±. She opened that one and read through it. Congratulations on your first successful use of chaos magic. Through the use of chaos magic for the first time, you have gained the permanent Ability, chaos magic. If this is a type of magic that you have an affinity for, you will not lose the affinity.


    Aiko couldn¡¯t believe it, she had magic. She had seen Atha using healing magic around the village a few times. Those few times were more than enough to garner a bit of jealousy at the miraculous ability. Now however, Aiko had her own magic and would be the envy of other people.


    After her mind stopped racing and her heart slowed a bit, she opened the next notification. This one was entitled Holy Magic. She knew that she had a gift or blessing of holy magic and wondered what this was about.


    This notification didn¡¯t disappoint either. Congratulations, your holy magic blessing has combined with your first magic ability. Instead of chaos magic you are now the wielder of holy chaos magic. For details on the specifics check the ability itself.


    Aiko wasn¡¯t sure exactly how that was supposed to work but it certainly sounded cool. Not only did she have magic, she had holy chaos magic! She impatiently glared at the next notification. This one certainly couldn¡¯t be as good as the last ones, right?


    This notification was entitled Spell. When she opened it up and read through the notification, her heart began to race again. Congratulations, you have learned the spell chaos grasp. For more information on this spell look at its listing.


    At this point Aiko was bubbling with excitement as she quickly glared at the next notification willing it to open. Congratulations, for having learned a spell, you have unlocked the spell category in your system window. The spell category will be found after the Skills and before the Abilities category.


    While Aiko wasn¡¯t as fond of this one as the last few, she had to admit, it was pretty neat. If it opened an entire category, that implied that she might be able to learn more than one spell. She quickly turned an expectant look to the next notification. Congratulations, for having learned a magic spell, you have unlocked 3 new job types.


    Aiko was a little bit unsure on this one. What exactly did it mean by job types? She focused on the words to see the description. A title that refers to a task or skill by which one gains and holds a position in society and usually a means to earn the necessities to live by.


    Aiko thought about it for a while and suspected that she understood what the description meant. The only example she could think of was Atha. She had heard many of the villagers referring to her as shaman. She supposed that, perhaps, that was what it meant by title. People certainly used it as a title of respect when referring to Atha.


    She opened the next notification and read through it excitedly. Congratulations, for receiving a new job type, you have opened the job category. You can find this category at the bottom of your Stats within the Stats window. Now, she had one more thing she was going to have to look at when she closed out of these notifications.


    With bated breath, she opened the last of the notifications and read carefully. Warning, you have depleted your Mana pool. depletion of your mana will cause temporary blackout and further use of mana before your Mana pool Has fully recovered could cause health problems. For fully depleting your Mana pool for the first time, your Mana pool has increased by 5 points.


    Aiko couldn¡¯t believe it. The last notification was the only one she was expecting and even that had brought her unexpectedly good news. Not only had she gotten an increase to her Mana pool, it had gone up by five full points. That was a huge amount for her.


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    Aiko quickly closed out of the notifications and began looking over the changes to her system window. Just as the notifications said, she had a new box within the box for her Stats. The title at the top of this box was Jobs.


    The box was divided roughly in half with the top of the two parts holding the word, Jobs. Below the fancy vine looking line that divided the box in half were the words, Possible jobs. The space below those words were filled by three sets of words that were blinking. The top set read CHAOS MAGE, the middle choice read CHAOS WITCH, and the bottom one read CHAOS BRINGER.


    Aiko focused on the top one to see its description. A CHAOS MAGE is an unparalleled bastion of unbridled versatility brought precisely to bear in every situation. Through experimentation and memorization of minute details around them, the chaos mage is able to build an enormous repertoire of spells for use in every situation. The key to being a good CHAOS MAGE is memorization and practice. This Job unlocks the Skills; Categorize II, Eidetic memory I, Mathematics III, and Observation II along with the Abilities; Focus and Spatial awareness.


    Aiko scowled a little bit at the last line. She then read the next description. The CHAOS WITCH is an intuitive caster who tends to stay aligned with nature and the world around them. Through observation and Intuition, a CHAOS WITCH can often find spells that will fit situations and others that can be bent or flexed to fill any need. The way to hone your ability as a CHAOS WITCH is through observing nature and creative artistry. This Job unlocks the Skills; Commune II, General crafting II, and Observation III along with the Abilities; Adaptability, Green thumb, and Spatial awareness.


    Aiko could feel her tail curling after reading the last description. That one had resonated with her far more than the first one. She turned her attention to the final Possible job listing still blinking at the bottom. A CHAOS BRINGER is a force to be reckoned with, the ultimate agent of change. With a force of will and powerful magic to back it up, a CHAOS BRINGER Never leaves a place they have visited unchanged. A CHAOS BRINGER confidently channels magic through raw emotion. This Job unlocks the Skill; Observation I along with the Abilities; Brazen, Devil¡¯s luck, Iron stomach, and Powerhouse.


    Aiko confidently chose the CHAOS WITCH. Confidence, emotion, who were they kidding? She was pretty sure the system couldn¡¯t have found a worse match for her then CHAOS BRINGER. No way was she going to choose that. Upon thinking that she chose the CHAOS WITCH, it stopped blinking and moved to the top of the box. At the same time the other two choices disappeared and the listing for Possible jobs turned gray and that portion of the box shrunk.


    With her job selection now completed Aiko Turned her attention to the descriptions of the Skills and Abilities that came with her new job title. She was still intrigued by the idea that her Job had given her new Skills and Abilities. This had been a most interesting day.


    She opened up the description of Commune II and read. This Skill will allow you to speak with nature in a more direct sense. By expending a bit of mana the wielder can ask questions of the inanimate objects and unintelligent animals in their environment. This level of the Skill will grant the wielder two questions per point of mana spent.


    Aiko¡¯s mind was left reeling. Could somebody really talk to trees or rocks? Apparently, she was going to find out because she now had the Skill. Things had gotten so interesting all of a sudden.


    Next up she opened the description for General crafting II. This Skill allows the wielder to create simple devices and handicrafts from mundane objects around them. The efficacy of any device depends on the available resources, time spent, and the complexity of the item created. This level of the Skill is twice as likely to succeed in a given level of time or for a given level of complexity.


    Aiko next looked at the Observation III skill. This Skill allows the wielder to discern properties of an observed object, person, place, or event that are not evident to a casual observer. This level of the Skill allows for observation at extreme magnification, distance, and clarity. This level also grants the wielder the ability to use an equal amount of mana to a magic effect held in an object to discern its use with a very slight chance of learning the magic effect.


    Aiko was left speechless. How could a Skill like this even exist much less be given for taking a job? Now she was extra curious about the Abilities and quickly opened up the description for adaptability. This ability allows the wielder to use many skills and other abilities, alone or in conjunction with others, to do things they were not meant to do. This Ability is highly dependent on the wielder¡¯s creativity.


    Aiko was a little Intrigued by the description but continued on nonetheless. Next up was Green thumb which she had to admit she was worried about. She really didn¡¯t want her thumb to turn green and thus began reading very apprehensively. This Ability allows the wielder to cultivate plants at an accelerated rate by forcing mana into their growth. A tree could be brought to maturity with enough mana in a matter of minutes. On the more reasonable end of this Abilities¡¯ uses, a wielder can expend a minimal amount of mana to coax a tree or plant into producing fruits, nuts, or ripening vegetables.


    She already had Spatial awareness but the list of things that she had gained from her job astounded her. The last one alone was such a boon that she could hardly believe it. If the description of the ability could be believed, as long as she had mana, she would never go hungry again!

 B2 Chapter 15

    Aiko spent the next few weeks working with the elves helping them with various small projects. Every morning she and Atha would wake up and spend a bit of time practicing magic. Usually, this was done while they worked on breakfast and while they ate. Then she would spend the rest of the day going between the various elves helping out anywhere she could.


    Her health had fully recovered by this point and she was getting the grasp of her magic. It was a good thing that she was able to use her magic so readily because she was too small and too weak to do very much without it. It¡¯s kind of hard to hold up a log or branch that weighs more than you.


    On this day Aiko found herself helping Atha around her house. There were a lot of things that she had learned from the shaman. One of the many things that she picked up was how to do basic herbalism. She found that she was able to help out immensely with this due to her Job Ability, Green thumb.


    Atha had planted a large patch of medicinal herbs along with a few spices and some more basic vegetables. Today, much like the last few days, Aiko was going from one plant to the next and forcing a bit of Mana into them. She watched on with wonder at her own ability as the sprig of clot-root in front of her grew taller and bushed out a little.


    She and Atha had discovered, shortly after she got her power that, if she pushed too much mana into the plant, it was a bad thing. A plant could be brought completely to full grown in a matter of seconds but the trade-off was that the plant would be weak and it would deplete the soil very quickly. If a plant was grown in such a way, most of the time, it didn¡¯t have very strong medicinal properties, if any.


    They had experimented with a lot of the medicinal plants and herbs early on. Unfortunately, a lot of the ones that they experimented on early on had to be thrown away because they weren¡¯t usable. They also discovered that the soil didn¡¯t want to grow plants after that and Aiko stopped using the ability all at once. They experimented a lot before discovering that a plant could be grown about a tenth of its full maturity at a time and it would still be just as strong and potent as one that took the full length of time to grow.


    It still wasn''t midday and Aiko was done with her chores in the garden so she began to Wander over to the other elves. Today was a woodchopping day and she had been hearing the rhythmic chopping sounds all morning.


    Aiko had heard the same pattern every three days for the past couple of months. Today was wood chopping day and she wanted to help. She made her way over to the big block of wood next to the mound where the fire would be started during every gathering. This is where Mara chopped the wood with a stone axe.


    She knew that she was too small to help Mara Chop the wood but she could still hold it with her magic. Mara of course greeted her with some small amount of enthusiasm because it made her work go that much quicker. Aiko didn¡¯t mind because she enjoyed helping wherever she could.


    The pair of them were about two hours into chopping the wood and had made a sizable dent into the pile of wood. They had settled into a smooth pattern where Aiko would grab the wood with her spell and place the block onto the larger chopping block. Mara would then chop the log on the block in half while Aiko was still holding it with her spell. Aiko could then turn the block so that Mara could strike it twice again before flinging it onto the pile of chopped wood.


    Aiko had been staring intently at the Stone ax cleaving through the logs. The motion was so smooth and the actions so repetitive that it almost became meditative. It was because of this that Aiko was caught so far off guard when the system notification popped up in front of her.


    Aiko lost her grip on the log halfway through placing it onto the chopping block and stared dumbfoundedly at the system window that had just popped up. It was several moments before she realized that she needed to read it. What she read absolutely astounded her.


    Congratulations! For your analyzation of wood chopping While repeatedly using your holy chaos magic you have gained a new spell. You have gained the spell Chaos knife.


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    Aiko was even more astounded to discover that there was a second notification that had been waiting on her to acknowledge it for some time. Somehow, a system window had popped up in her vision and she had been so zoned out that she had missed it. How does one even accomplish that?


    Congratulations! For your repeated use of the spell Chaos grasp the spell has leveled up. The Chaos grasp spell can now be maintained with less focus for a longer period of time.


    Aiko immediately told Mara about the new spell and they spent the next hour testing it out. Apparently, Chaos knife was capable of cutting far better than Mara¡¯s stone ax. The long thin purplish blade edge would magically descend through the piece of wood and leave no trace that it had been there, save and except that the wood would fall into two pieces. Each face of the wood had a smooth polished finish as if the wood had been used for years. The cuts were also perfectly straight.


    Mara went on and on about how awesome Aiko¡¯s new ability was and Atha Was no less vocal about it. Both women lauded her with praise and went on and on about how useful her ability would be. Aiko Though was just happy to be helpful for once.


    The next day saw Aiko helping out around the village and tending to some of the crops with a couple of the other villagers. With her smaller size Aiko was perfect for going between stalks of plants and spotting pests that the elves just didn¡¯t see. She also got plenty of practice with her new Chaos knife spell while she split many pests in half.


    The next day Aiko was helping Atha around her house. There had been an outbreak of deep winter sickness recently. Atha was going around the garden and picking many of the herbs and gathering many more from the forest. Aiko was very attentive to everything she did. Apparently, they were going to make cures and poultices today.


    Aiko was very excited to get started but soon regretted it as the house filled with the smell of many very strong herbs. Most of them had a very unpleasant smell as well. To make things worse, a lot of the things had to be boiled or ground, besides.


    Nevertheless, Aiko was very attentive to everything that Atha did. She helped out where she could by grabbing herbs and containers from across the room when asked. Before very long Atha asked Aiko if she wanted to make some of the potions and poultices.


    Aiko enthusiastically agreed and before long they were heavily in the midst of it. Aiko would use her Chaos knife and Chaos grasp both at the same time to carefully hold and chop the herbs into very fine pieces. She had gotten a lot of practice with these two spells and now had very fine control of them. The best part was if the item she was holding and chopping was very small and soft neither spell cost her much mana.


    Aiko was on her third poultice when a new notification sprang up. Congratulations! For your continued practice you have been granted the skills Herbalism I and Apothecary I.


    Aiko couldn¡¯t believe her eyes and happily told Atha all about it. Atha was of course very happy for her and they began putting her new talents into practice immediately. Aiko could instantly tell the difference in her skill now and before. She was not on the same level as Atha but she had gotten much, much, better. When she asked about this, Atha told her that she had herbalism at rank II and apothecary at rank III. Aside from leaving Aiko in awe it also gave her something to strive for.


    A few days later Aiko once again found herself wandering the village looking for someone to help. Today was going to be a celebration day. It was a festival that commemorated the time when the greater gods and goddesses descended and made themselves known to the elves. At one point Aiko had gone to the great carved log with the representations of all of the oldest known gods carved into it. It was quite an awe-inspiring sight to behold.


    Setting aside the festive mood that everyone was in, Aiko was bored. she wanted to do something, anything, to help. That¡¯s when she came across the man setting up the burning mound and offered to help him.


    It didn¡¯t take very long to set up the burning mound especially using her spells but that¡¯s when they ran into a snag. The man had a piece of metal and a piece of stone that were pretty much always used to start the fire. Today however he was having a very hard time finding them.


    After searching for a long while he did eventually find the rag that always held his fire-starting tools In his house. The rag was open and the contents were missing. After looking through his house thoroughly he finally found the tender and the Flint but the steel was missing.


    Aiko got an idea. She wasn¡¯t sure if it would work but it was worth a try. Since the piece of metal the steel was supposed to strike the piece of rock maybe it just had to be something hard and she wondered if her chaos knife would work. The man told her that he didn¡¯t use a sharp edge but A dull one instead. Not to be discouraged Aiko tried striking the rock with the back of her chaos knife a couple times.


    On the first three times that she struck the piece of rock with the back of her chaos knife nothing happened. On the fourth, however, she got a notification. Congratulations! For your creative improvisation, you have been granted the spell chaos substitution.


    After reading through the description of her new spell Aiko got a big buck-tooth grin On her face and couldn¡¯t stop her tail from swishing.

 B2 Chapter 16

    A few weeks after Aiko got the Spell chaos substitution things started to change around the elven village. It had gotten a lot warmer outside which indicated to everyone that spring was nearing. Of course, you couldn¡¯t tell the difference really.


    You couldn¡¯t tell too much of a difference because this was an elven village so the temperature was always much milder within this protected grove. However, Atha had told Aiko that spring was definitely nearing. Aiko made up her mind that it was time to leave, even though she very much enjoyed her stay with the elves.


    She knew that she had something that she was supposed to do and she didn¡¯t want to put the elves at risk because she felt like staying too long. She was fairly certain at this point that she had actually put herself at risk when she stayed around too long in the forest before reaching the Elven village. in fact, she was pretty sure that she might have been safer and not gotten as badly hurt if she¡¯d have just kept going instead of stopping to try and save up nuts for the winter.


    When she told Atha that she was planning on leaving, Atha told Aiko that she had received a divine dream just the night before and she knew that she would be leaving sometime soon. In this dream, she was given directions that Aiko was supposed to travel in. She was supposed to go to the right of the rising sun.


    Aiko thanked Atha profusely and spent the next few days going around the elven village thanking the many elves that she had both helped and been helped by for everything. She then gathered up all of the belongings that had been given to her in the elven village. At this point, she actually had quite a collection of clothing and other various items.


    She had to sort through the mountain of things she had been given and decide what she could really use and what she could not. Obviously, anything that didn¡¯t actually fit her she left with Atha. Among that pile were a few items that were made by the various children of the village. And some shee had helped make herself.


    All of those things were pretty cute in a crude, childish sort of way. She very much appreciated them and wished just as much that she could wear them. However, Atha told her that it was better that she didn¡¯t take things that she couldn¡¯t use.


    The things that she decided to take were all practical with only a few tiny trinkets as mementos of her time with the elves. Atha helped her sew most of those trinkets to her clothing or gear so they wouldn¡¯t get lost or in the way. She was going to dearly miss her time with the elves but Atha, she would miss most of all.


    Of the practical gear and clothing she took, she selected a pair of leather pants that were soft but durable with hardened patches sewn into the knees. She had been given a bit of torso armor that was made from the shell of a turtle. She also had a helmet that one of the craftier children had made for her out of the seed of a big fruit tree.


    A rather nice backpack, that was sewn by the seamstress of the village, was her largest piece of gear. It had been crafted from the supple skin of some flying monster. That meant that it was actually a lot tougher than it appeared to be. The elves would have used those skins for a great many things but unfortunately, the monsters in question were too small for their skins to be much use for most things. They were perfect for her items though, and it turned out that her pants were made of the same material.


    Aiko pondered on it for a bit. Perhaps, it was better that they weren¡¯t large enough to be all that useful. At least the monsters were too small to cause more than minor injuries and startle people. They could still injure children though and often did. That was why they were hunted instead of being ignored.


    Into her backpack, a number of smaller items had gone. Some of them were for working wood and plants into useful crafts. She also placed a small mortar and pestle to further her herbalism if she needed it. Lastly, she stuffed several bags half the size of her head into her backpack. Those bags were filled with a bunch of fruit and vegetable seeds that she would be able to grow on her own. Especially with her ability Green thumb.


    To the top of her backpack, she tied a blanket with some twine. The blanket was cut from the corner of Atha¡¯s own larger blanket and was warm and furry. The cutting of a blanket from a larger one was something that Atha said was a tradition amongst her people. Apparently, she would have it repaired later and the odd patch would always be a reminder of Aiko. Aiko bawled when she was told that and for part of the day her resolve to leave wavered as her heart ached.


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    Aiko found out, later that day, from the seamstress, that this was a traditional method of making blankets for the children of a family. The child¡¯s blankets would be cut from the material of their parents¡¯ blankets. Aiko burst into tears once again and the older elf, who still appeared as young as Atha, comforted her and told her that everyone in the village would miss her, especially the shaman.


    With many tears and much fanfare, between both her and the elves Aiko left the village that had been her home for the past few months. She headed, just as Atha had said, to the right of the rising sun. At first, she trotted along on the ground and didn¡¯t think too terribly much of it. After all, this was the means by which she had been traveling most often in her journey to get to the Elven Village. However, it occurred to her fairly quickly that she was meant to be in the trees.


    Before very long, Aiko ran up a tree and took to the branches. It didn¡¯t take her very long to get back in the hang of things and take off running from one branch and springing to the next. Back and forth, up and down, ever onwards and very, very quickly.


    She was in the midst of running along a rather large tree that had only begun blossoming out when she realized this was the type of tree that should have nuts on it. Aiko stopped at a cluster of blossoms growing from a nub along the branch and sat down. At first, she tried to use her magic on them but to no avail. The flowers wouldn¡¯t do anything.


    Aiko didn¡¯t really understand, at first, why they wouldn¡¯t do anything. But before long, Aiko remembered the lessons that Atha had taught to her. Lessons about why the forest needed all of the bugs that went from flower to flower and why the great divines created the world the way it was.


    And so, Aiko gingerly reached out her arm and brushed the reddish-orange fur of her arm over some of the flowers and then over others. Back and forth and back and forth she swept the tufts of fur on the underside of her arm around. As she did this, she saw a light dusting of powder clinging to her fur from each flower. This made had smile at the wisdom of Atha and the divine deities.


    Before long, she tried her magic again, only this time, it worked! In a matter of moments, she had a full cluster of nuts that had come fully to ripeness on the tree branch in front of her. She plopped down on the branch with a big grin and began munching on her meal. It wasn¡¯t as appetizing as she had hoped though because the nuts were all a bit bland. That¡¯s what you get for doing it all at once, she thought to herself.


    After lunch, Aiko took off bounding from branch to branch again. From tree to tree, onwards she went till she reached a part of the forest that seemed to be thinning a bit. The branches were a little bit farther apart, to the point that she couldn¡¯t just bound across them.


    Now, of course, she knew that she could stop and go from one tree trunk to the next but that wasn¡¯t exactly ideal. Every instinct told her that it was more dangerous to walk across the ground than to jump between the branches of the trees. She looked forlornly at the gap between the trees around her.


    Suddenly, Aiko got an idea! If she could make a grasping hand that could grab a branch or even lift a log that was bigger than herself, then why wouldn¡¯t she be able to jump on that same hand? It just needed to give her a little bit of a boost to get to the next branch over.


    Now obviously, she was not stupid enough to go jumping across a wide-open stretch without even knowing if she could accomplish the thing she had in mind. Instead, she turned back towards the trunk of the tree and found two branches that were roughly in line with each other, one above the other.


    Aiko scooted around the trunk of the tree till she got onto a branch that was a little bit away from those other two and backed up to get a running start. She imagined in her mind what it was that she wanted. A bar suspended in midair between the two branches that she could stand on or jump on to get to the next branch over.


    Since she had a running start if she missed, she would still land on the branch below. She backed up and took off at a full run. Then, just as she got to where she thought she should leap, she grabbed onto the tree hugging it, and skidded to a stop.


    Her heart hammering in her chest and she realized that she was about to jump into an area that didn¡¯t have anything to support her. Aiko suddenly remembered the way that she had woken up, without any memories. The paralyzing realization was that she had probably fallen, almost to her death, from a branch in the tree.


    It took her several moments to talk herself into trying it again and she made a couple more false starts before she finally worked up the courage to actually make the jump. Aiko was totally expecting that she was going to have to claw her way back up onto the lower branch after she missed.


    However, to her surprise and delight, the moment she jumped for the tree branch that was too distant from her, something just clicked. Aiko placed her little clawed feet onto the spot where she had imagined a branch between the two widely spaced ones. Instantly, a ghostly glowing purple branch appeared right beneath her feet and she was able to bound to that next branch over without a hitch.


    Aiko stopped on the far branch, tail springing back and forth and flicking her ears. She looked around before turning to stare wide-eyed at the impossibly wide gap that she had just jumped across, using her own magic. This was doable!

 B2 Chapter 17

    Ever the cautious one though, Aiko decided not to just take off and run for distant branches. She wanted to test it as much as possible so she jumped back and forth between these two branches that she had already bridged the gap several more times. Every time she imagined the illusory branch to be there it was right where she wanted it.


    On the fourth try, she noticed a window pop up in her system. She stopped for a moment to read the message and then began giggling maniacally. The message gave her so much more than what she was expecting.


    Congratulations! You have learned the new Spell Airjump. Congratulations! Due to your high proficiency with your Holy Chaos Magic and having already learned the Airjump spell you have now learned the spell Airwalk.


    She stopped for a bit and checked the Airjump spell out and couldn¡¯t stop the fit of laughter from boiling over as She read and reread the description. The caster of this Spell Can spend a point of Mana to create an illusory platform that will allow them to jump nimbly through the air. It requires the user to already have a running start and have jumped before they can create the platform. However, platforms do not have to be at the same level and can ascend or descend in the air allowing the user to scale distances, heights, and depths that should be impossible for them as long as they have a running start. This Spell also does not have to be taken in a straight line and will allow the user to Conjure as many platforms as they have points of Mana in any direction they so choose.


    Aiko couldn¡¯t contain her joy and began nimbly jumping from one platform in the air to the next. As she went higher and higher into the tree, at many points along the way, she didn¡¯t even bother staying in the tree and just made platforms next to it. Once she reached a branch three-quarters of the way up the tree, she stopped to check her mana and make sure that she wasn¡¯t going to suddenly fall out of the air.


    To her surprise, she found that her mona pool had grown again but she decided that it was still a good stopping point. At least until she checked the other spell and read through it. The description of Airwalk left her mouth gaping.


    The Caster of this spell can spend a few points of Mana to create a straight solid path through the air that the caster and any they choose can walk across. The path cannot be any longer than the height of the caster times their number of Mana points spent and will only remain for that number of heartbeats. The caster can cancel the Airwalk Spell at any time to recover the Mana points remaining in the casting of the spell.


    Aiko looked at the number of mana points that she had left and winced now was not the time to try this second spell. Still, she certainly had enough points to jump between the branches a few more times. Looking around she spotted the original branch that she was running along and looked into the sky to judge her general direction.


    She took off running towards a tree that was to the right of the rising sun, or in this case, away from the right of the setting sun. When she got to the end of the branch, she didn¡¯t hesitate and jumped nimbly out onto a branch of blue fog that appeared in front of her. She bounded several steps over it before reaching the next tree. She let out a quick chuckle as she climbed quickly down the trunk of that next tree and took off again.


    Aiko continued this pattern of jumping from branch to branch, tree to tree. Over the empty spaces between trees, she jumped using her spells. She only took breaks to eat lunch, and supper, and go to sleep.


    After leaving the elves'' wood she found it had gotten a lot colder and she remembered the time before she visited the elves. Back then, she would have to descend to the ground to rake leaves into a pile and pull them over the top of herself to stay warm. Now however, she was able to simply find a nice spot in the crook of a branch and pull out a blanket, wrap up, and go to sleep cozy every night.


    Every night she was sure to say a prayer to the gods, just as Atha had taught her. And every night, she would go to sleep, secure in the blankets¡¯ reminder and the scent of Atha.


    Aiko woke up the next morning to the sound of branches snapping beneath the tree that she was in. She blearily looked around and almost fell out of the tree when she forgot that she was no longer in a wide soft bed but curled up on a branch. After carefully rubbing her clawed hands across her eyes to relieve herself of some of the blurriness, she looked about and immediately spotted the reason for her abrupt descent from dreamland.


    Confidently striding through the woods, not a dozen meters away, was a tall muscular figure without a strip of clothing on. That only served to show off his bizarre features. The, He, In that being made very obvious by the feature on full display between his legs. Each of those legs looked to be almost as big around as the trunk of some of the trees around her. But the features that stood out by far the most, were his bright, blood-red skin and the six shiny black horns protruding from his forehead and working their way around the right side of his bald head.


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    Aiko got busy putting her blanket away in her backpack and strapping her gear on while she observed the strange creature crashing about in the forest below. As he turned his head and began sniffing the air she got a good glance at his facial features and noticed a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth along with a pair of tusks jutting from his lips in both vertical directions. After a few moments of not finding anything to suit his sense of smell, he began walking away to Aiko¡¯s right.


    Against her better judgment, Aiko decided that she was going to follow this strange creature for a bit but was very careful to always make sure that she stayed downwind from him. She isn¡¯t exactly sure what he might have done if she had been upwind of him at the time he was sniffing around but with a mouthful of blades like the ones he displayed, she decided she really didn¡¯t want to find out.


    After running about for a bit he stopped and began sniffing more until he found what he was after. There in a small pile on the forest floor were the droppings of some creature or another. At first, Aiko didn¡¯t think too terribly much of this until the creature reached down and cupped the air above them pushing it toward his face.


    At that point, she was more disgusted than anything, that is, until he suddenly jumped up startling the life out of her. Then all at once the creature took several bounding leaps in an odd direction away from her. She was left in such a daze that she had to hurry to catch up, spending mana several times on her Airjump ability just to catch branches that would let her keep up with him.


    After running for several moments, the creature came to a skidding halt and then began sniffing the air again. With a sudden sense of panic, Aiko wet her finger and stuck it up to feel the direction the air was blowing in. With an immense sense of relief she could tell that the wind was blowing her scent away from the creature but then what was he sniffing for?


    She didn¡¯t have to wait long to get her answer. A few moments later the creature suddenly thrust his hand up to the elbow into a Bush and it looked like his hand disappeared into the ground. an instant later he drew his hand back with a small squealing creature held in his grip. without a moment¡¯s hesitation, he brought it directly to his mouth and took a big bite out of its neck silencing the poor creature permanently.


    Aiko was almost violently ill from the site but managed to hold herself together. As the creature slowly walked away, she began thinking to herself that perhaps she should go back and warn the elves that such a dangerous creature was so very near to their village. However, something told her that she should continue watching it a little longer. Following whatever instinct was guiding her, she bounded through the trees after the hulking brute and quickly caught up with it.


    Once again, she was very careful to make sure that she always stayed downwind of the creature. Which, at this point, meant being constantly bathed in the nauseating scent of blood. Aiko reminded herself that at least it was not her blood and she intended to keep it that way.


    She was rewarded for her efforts when, shortly after she had begun following the creature, he made his way into a clearing and joined a larger group of the same Redskinned brutes. somehow she knew that these were called ogres even though she had never seen one before or even heard of one before. She had to chalk this up to system shenanigans again. She settled herself on the branch to observe the creatures for a bit.


    The creature, ogre she corrected herself, began mingling with several of the other ogres in the clearing. To her surprise, he handed the largest portion of the carcass that he had been carrying to a pair of smaller, probably juvenile, ogres. The pair seemed to shrink from him until the moment that he handed them food. Then, they grabbed the food and ran away before nauseatingly devouring the carcass raw. They even began clawing at each other to get more of the animal.


    At that point, Aiko couldn¡¯t hold it back anymore and barfed all over the branch that she was standing on. If she wasn¡¯t sure before, there was no doubt left in her mind, that this was something that she should definitely tell the elves about.


    Wiping the vomit from the corners of her mouth, Aiko began looking around only to discover that her path of travel was actually on the side of the clearing that she was on. The elves were on the other side of the clearing. Thinking about it again, Aiko realized that the elves should be fine since she had been mostly running through the trees without many breaks for five whole days.


    She was still debating trying to skirt the ogres and go back to warn the elves when the decision was made for her. The large red-skinned ogre that she had been following turned to regard one of the smaller females. when she commented that he seemed to be acting strange, he replied to her that he was not sure what, but something seemed to be following him.


    At that point, he looked almost directly at Aiko and she decided that it was far too dangerous to stick around. If she¡¯d been noticed already, the last thing that she needed to do was lead them directly to the elves. With any luck, she might just lead them away from the elves if she continued on her journey as she had planned. Also, she wasn¡¯t exactly sure what but something seemed to reassure her that this was the right decision.


    Aiko never saw the Redskin ogres make any attempt to follow her. She also didn¡¯t stop long enough to take that chance. She just continued along her predetermined path, heading to the middle right of the rising sun.

 B2 Chapter 18

    At some point, as she traveled to the right of the rising sun, Aiko noticed that the trees had begun to change, and the ones that she was used to seeing stopped being as numerous. That had a couple of different effects. The first effect was that, since the newer trees were smaller, she was forced to get much lower to the ground in order to jump from branch to branch. The second effect was that she wasn¡¯t able to force these trees to produce nuts for her to eat.


    She, therefore, had to get down at various points and grow seeds from the stockpile that she had in her backpack. It didn¡¯t take many of the seeds, however, since most of the vegetables that she was growing were actually quite large and served as more than one meal. In four more days of travel, she only used five seeds.


    She continued along for another five days only spending a few of her remaining seeds in that time. The reason she was able to save on her seed stock was that she actually managed to find a new source of berries in one of the local varieties of bushes. It was while she was down in one of these berry bushes that she discovered smoke rising into the sky from somewhere nearby. Of course, this set off immediate alarms in her head.


    The moment that she noticed the smoke rising lazily into the sky, she stopped picking the berries and just ran for the cover of the nearest tree. She climbed spastically to the top of the tree with as much haste as she could put into her limbs. From this new vantage point, she got a front-row seat onto the wide low moor at the bottom of what Aiko was only then realizing was a slowly descending mountainous region.


    The small rolling hills in the lush grassland were only visible because of the end of the forest line. Unbeknownst to Aiko prior to then, she was within the last stand of trees before they gave out entirely. She hadn¡¯t even known it because she¡¯d approached from low enough that the huge, and now that she looked closer, obviously cultivated, berry bushes were hiding the fact.


    As Aiko looked out across the verdant green field, with its many small, rolling hills, she could see smoke rising from the peaks of many of them. She could also make out the forms of some men or beings of some kind moving between some of these hills. It was only once she was looking closer, that she realized just how close she had come to a few of them.


    They seemed to be standing guard at some form of entrance. It was almost as though the hole leading down into the ground was the door of one of the elves'' huts. As Aiko stood there Perched atop the highest branch in one of the last remaining trees before this grassland moor, she looked on with indecision, trying to decide whether she should approach these strange beings or not.


    The beings that she spotted walking around and the two at the entrance to the mound were somewhat taller than her but not by a lot. They were a little bit broader than her and covered in fur that ranged from white to tan to brown with a few that she could see having even black spots. They wore little bits of clothing here and there with the females usually wearing something to cover both their teets and their crotch while the males only seemed interested in covering their crotch. Some of them did seem to have a bit of armor but these seemed to be set aside for certain roles, perhaps guards. They had slightly elongated faces with whiskers and big lips on short snouts ending in small Inverted triangular noses.


    However, their most prominent feature no matter which individual was the pair of long ellipsoid ears perched atop their heads. they looked a lot like the rabbits that the elves would hunt from time to time. Aiko never ate any of the meat but she did have to admit that the fat from some of the creatures the elves would hunt made their stews taste particularly good. Enough so that she even began to question whether she was truly an herbivore or perhaps she had a bit of carnivore in her.


    It was while she was in the tree observing these strange beings moving about, especially the two that were still next to the entrance to the mound that she came to the realization she recognized them. Not specifically any one of these creatures that she could see in front of her but that she recognized the type of being or that she had seen them before. It took her a moment to place exactly where it was that she had seen one of these before because the experience had been somewhat gruesome and she had been inadvertently trying to block the memories from her mind. However, the gruesome details of the hapless being from under the Bush came vividly back and she almost vomited again just from the memory.


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    After having recognized that these creatures were the very same ones that the big red-skinned ogres were hunting she made the decision in her mind she couldn¡¯t sit back and let these people be slaughtered without at least letting them know. The elves might have an advantage because at least they were roughly the same size but these people were almost as small as her. If they were likely to be attacked and killed they at least had the right to prepare themselves.


    She steeled her nerves she was going to have to go down there and tell them. There was still a little bit of a lingering stigma in her mind when it came to approaching people but the elves had taken the edge off and it was no longer a phobia. After all, Aiko wasn¡¯t exactly an antisocial person she just didn¡¯t want to be attacked. That was fair, wasn¡¯t it?


    After settling her nerves Aiko decided to put on a bit of a show. She descended to a lower branch and cast airwalk before slowly and calmly walking directly towards the two guards stationed next to the whole descending into the mound. At first, neither of the guards noticed her but suddenly Iko could tell the difference in one of their postures.


    She couldn¡¯t actually see his eyes but she knew that they were on her as he had suddenly stiffened up. Her conclusion was confirmed a moment later when that guard Jabbed the other in the ribs and pointed in her direction. Both guards were holding crude spears made of burned and sharpened branches.


    While certainly crude compared to the elves who used stone tips on all of their spears and as the cutting implements of choice for both axes and knives, these spears weren¡¯t too bad. A sharpened stick in the hands of somebody with experience was probably better than a stone-tipped spear in the hands of an amateur like herself. While she was pondering this she realized that neither of their spears stood the barest shadow of a chance against her chaos knife spell.


    However, it didn¡¯t look like she would need to demonstrate that to either of them since they didn¡¯t seem to be inclined to point their spears at her. Both guards seemed content to simply gawk at her as she walked calmly and sedately through the air. To be fair to them neither of the guards had equipment nearly as good as hers either.


    Both guards were dressed in what appeared to be a vest made of simple boiled leather. Their helmets were just a little bit better. They were still made of boiled leather but at least they seemed to have been form-fitted to the shape of their heads this still left their long ears sticking out over the top of the crude dome-like helmets. Also, most of their face was left uncovered by these helmets. This didn¡¯t strike Aiko as the best design for a helmet but it would be effective enough.


    Her helmet however was made of a very hard seed and had been meticulously chiseled into a shape that fit over her entire face and covered the entirety of her upper snout before wrapping around the end of her nose and ending at the top of her jawline. It did have small holes cut out in the sides to let her small bushy round ears poke out the top. Even setting aside the construction of the two helmets her helmet was certainly made out of something harder than theirs.


    All of that was before considering her armor which was leagues ahead of the pitiful armor that these two guards wore. Her armor was made from the hardest scales of the dragon turtles found around the Elvin Wood. Every elf grew up knowing that dragon turtles were a particularly nasty threat and that if you got caught in front of one you were likely to lose a hand if you were lucky and your life if you were not.


    The only way to kill a dragon turtle was to catch it at the base of the neck with a spear or a very daring dagger plunge. Of course, Aiko had never seen a living dragon turtle but she had seen the hunters bring a couple of them in. The scales on their back and their stomach were impressively hard but they could be hacked through with a stone ax and enough determination. However, there were scales that were too small and too hard for any ax to go through.


    These hardest of scales could only be found on the head and neck of the dragon turtle and the only exposed spot was the large preening scale at the back of its head that left a small patch of skin exposed right behind its head. After the creature was skinned, cleaned, and dried the hide with these scales could be processed.


    In the case of her own armor, these beautiful blackish-green scales made up the entirety of her chest covering. Of course, to the elves, this was a paltry amount and it took several dragon turtles to make up a decent patch of armor for one of them however her own armor vest was made from the scraps of one dragon turtle. There were certainly advantages to her size if only they outweighed the disadvantages.


    On the other hand, these two guards wore simple boiled leather as their vest. Aiko supposed that it would do well enough to stop many things from penetrating their hide but would have nowhere near the protection that her own dragon turtle scale vest would offer her. That was before even considering the vast difference in appearance that the glossy dark green scale vest afforded her. If only it weren¡¯t so uncomfortable to wear over her fur.

 B2 Chapter 19

    Brimit had been stationed as a guard for nearly three Seasons now and he had grown quite accustomed to the rigors of the job. He was used to getting up early in the morning well before the sun did and standing in place all day to watch as the mini harvesters went about their business at the nearby grove of berries. In that time he had been called upon a couple of times to deal with various things showing up that the harvesters could not deal with.


    Every harvester would carry the small sharpened harvesting sticks with them and that was enough to handle most threats. Every once in a while there would be something come up that was beyond the scope of what a harvester was meant to deal with. That was where he and the other guard on duty came in.


    When a wild bore started tearing through the berry bushes and was threatening the harvesters he and his fellow guard were the ones that killed the boar. When Talon Hawks and scaled bats would swoop in to try and carry off one of the women of the village he and his fellow guard were the ones that would skewer them and bring them down. From time to time the two of them would even be called over by one of the harvesters, usually a young girl who was new to the job, to kill a snake or something of the like.


    However, on this day they saw something different. As Brimit stood guard next to the entrance to the Warren he couldn¡¯t help his sense of boredom no guard could help that. What was the life of a guard if not boredom? The two of them would rise early and stand in the same spot or sometimes sit but only if they knew that nobody was forthcoming from within the warren. At the end of the day, they would go home only to start the whole thing over the next day.


    That was the reason that he found himself almost nodding off as usual while standing next to the entrance to the warren. What he was not prepared to see on this day was someone short and scaly but with a furry bushy tail of red sticking out behind them casually walking over the top of the bushes through mid-air. This being absolutely exuded confidence as they casually walked right towards the two guards so much so that Brimit almost missed their approach. The calm confident way that they casually walked through the air spoke of their complete disregard for the natural way of things. As though this person had done this many many times before and didn¡¯t give this air before them a second thought.


    Brimit finally noticed the approach of the being and gently elbowed Ganek before pointing at the one that was approaching them. He could see the other guard who was a few seasons his senior stiffen up noticeably at the approach of this unknown being. Neither of them was sure what to make of this creature but as it slowly walked closer Brimit was finally able to make out a few more details. Apparently, the glossy black of its head and chest seemed to be armor of some kind covering its reddish fur. He noticed that its arms and legs as well as its large bushy tail sticking out behind it were all the same reddish orange fur.


    Brimit wasn¡¯t sure what to do about the approaching being, so, he looked to his senior guard but the man looked just as clueless and curious as he himself. Brimit knew that Ganek was a fairly slow and patient type of person but that mostly came from the fact that he wasn¡¯t very bright and didn¡¯t have much initiative to do anything.


    Not having much of anything to do the one thing the two of them had done quite often was talk at length. That¡¯s how Brimit knew that Ganek was placed here because he didn¡¯t have the initiative and drive to take on his family business and his younger brother beat him out. For a guard the ability to be patient and not think very much was probably a blessing, the lack of that simplicity and patience had certainly gotten to Brimit a few times.


    All of that was the reason why he suddenly realized that if anyone was going to do anything about the being that was approaching them it would have to be himself. Stealing his resolve Brimit Stepped forward and called to the being in front of them that was just now touching feet to the ground. ¡°Halt! Stand there and state your name and your business.¡±


    Brimit was very careful not to level his spear at the strange being that was walking towards them. The being did not seem to be hostile currently and he wanted it to keep that way. He figured that if they had been intent on attacking they might have made a much quicker approach. His suspicions and cautions were validated a moment later whenever the strange being stopped in front of them at a dozen paces.


    Then, to Brimit¡¯s surprise, the voice of a young girl came from the being in front of him. The voice was high and rather uncertain which was confusing coming from a being with such obvious power. ¡°He-hello. I¡¯m sorry if I startled you. I was just making my way through the forest when I spotted your village. Would it be okay if I entered?¡±


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    Aiko timidly approached the guards standing near the entrance to the mounds and when one of them stepped forward she almost flinched but held herself back. If she was honest with herself, she almost wanted to run back through the bushes and go hide in a tree and perhaps just walk around the outside of this village and avoid it entirely. However, she held herself back from that and had approached already so she might as well see this through.


    When she approached them she couldn¡¯t help the quiver in her voice as she addressed the two guards but in a strange twist of fate, it seemed to go in her favor as the one that had approached her loosened up a little bit at her words and her tone. The guards looked at each other briefly but the next moment the one that had stepped forward squatted down slightly and began talking in soothing tones to her.


    He was calm and collected and seemed like he didn¡¯t want to startle her as he asked about her intentions and her destination to which she could only reply that she didn¡¯t know either. Aiko told the guard that she was headed to the right of the rising sun and that was as much as she knew. That, this, was the directions given to her by the goddess. The guard looked a little bit taken aback By her words at the mention of the goddess but he took it in stride.


    He got up and had a quick chat with the other guard telling him that he was going to show her into the council and would be back. When he turned back to her he seemed to hesitate a bit but finally came to a decision and offered her his hand. Aiko was equally as hesitant to take his hand but decided that it might be for the best since she could already tell that she wouldn¡¯t be able to see as well once she got inside of the hole.


    As it turned out the trip to meet with the council was not as big of a deal as it was implied to be. The trip there was rather interesting though. The rabbit warren town was very strange to Aiko but it was also very interesting. Around every corner with some sight or some smell that was very homey and yet utterly alien at the same time. The people that were bustling about were for the most part just going about their daily lives.


    Some of the people Aiko could see were moving about doing mundane tasks that she knew very well from seeing them performed regularly in the Elven village. Some of these tasks included cutting firewood, cooking, Cleaning, sewing and making clothes, creating cookware or utensils, and many other various tasks involving wood or clay.


    There was a single main thoroughfare running along the length of the Warren that she had been brought through. The moment that Aiko got a little bit farther into the Warren she was immensely glad that the guard had offered her his hand. She couldn¡¯t count the number of times that she had been jostled and bumped.


    Most of the people that would run into her didn¡¯t seem to notice her at first and most of them would jump or flinch once they noticed her appearance. It seemed to her that most of them Didn¡¯t pay a lot of attention to the guard and simply assumed that she was another child being led around by a parent or guardian.


    There were in fact a lot of children being led around this way through the Warren. In fact, once Aiko sought back on this she realized that the elves had only had a few children in the entire village while these people seemed to have numerous children running about everywhere with only some of them being attended to by adults.


    It was also very dark within the warren just as she was expecting however it wasn¡¯t as dark as she thought it would be. The main thoroughfare branched off into dozens of smaller routes that snaked back into the ground in every direction along its length and all along the main thoroughfare there were also holes burrowed between these snaking winding paths. When she looked into these holes she could tell that many of them were homes but still others seemed to be some sort of workplace.


    The whole of the village was lit up mostly by holes that extended through the ceiling of the Warren. Each of these holes was in turn covered by a reed mat or grate that would let in a lot of light but wouldn¡¯t let in much Else. Many of the homes branching off to the sides had these greats letting in additional light and all of the branching paths off to the side had them as well.


    Additionally, some of the homes and workplaces sported some means of cooking fire or other lighting. Though the ambience was rather dim the overall effect was still pretty warm and welcoming. Aiko figured that a large portion of this had to do with the overwhelming feeling of life and vitality in this bustling place.


    After walking past what Aiko estimated to be probably a dozen intersections the guard turned sharply to the left and entered What appeared to be another thoroughfare that crossed the first. It didn¡¯t take very long for this one to end abruptly at a large circular chamber. In the middle of this chamber sitting on a mat made of grass and reeds were a few of these people.


    Aiko didn¡¯t want to presume but in her own mind, she had already associated their appearance with that of rabbits, and nothing that they had shown her since had done anything to disprove that association. She knew herself to be some variant of a squirrel. She had seen many of the small mammals scurrying about in the trees around her and she knew that her mannerisms were very much akin to them. Now she had seen these people and couldn¡¯t help but associate them with the small, long-eared animals that burrowed all over the forest.


    She did kind of wonder though why it was that she was not much larger than a regular squirrel while these people seem to be three or four times the size of a regular rabbit. She also began wondering idly what the origin of an elf was if they even had one.

 B2 Chapter 20

    Aiko and the guard whose name she now realized she had not bothered to ask stood to the side and waited on the people within the room to finish whatever discussion they were currently having. On that note, Aiko decided that now would be a good time to ask and gently tapped the guard with her other small clawed hand. As he bent down she whispered into his ear. ¡°I¡¯m sorry that I¡¯m just now asking you this but what¡¯s your name? And also my name is Aiko. Thank you for all of your help.¡±


    As Brimit leaned down to hear what the small creature had to say he was still left in awe of just how discordant her personality was when compared to how she looked. What she said only served to further reinforce this. Brimit couldn¡¯t bite back the chuckle That formed from her words as he prepared his reply. ¡°Oh no need to worry about that. My name is Brimit. It¡¯s nice to meet you but I think that we should save all of our interactions till after the Council is Ready to hear you out.¡±


    He stood and as If on cue the council seemed to take notice of them and the discussion that they had been engrossed in till that point came to a halt. Almost as one, the five members seated around the mat all turned to face the pair that had entered the room behind them. At first, they only looked at Brimit but soon realization caught them and they all pointedly stared at Aiko.


    ¡°Brimit what¡­ who is this that you¡¯ve brought to the Council? And why have you brought this child here?¡±


    Brimit seemed to shrink a little bit at first but then stood firm and thought momentarily before simply shrugging and introducing her. ¡°Men and women of the council I would like to introduce Aiko. Apparently, she comes to us through the trees many days travel from here. She is also a bearer of the power and quite potent at that. When we first spotted her she was walking through the air towards the far Bush Warren exit.¡±


    This seemed to garner a lot of attention and Aiko shrank in upon herself a little bit but she quickly bit back on that and reminded herself that not everyone would treat her poorly. After all the elves had been more than kind enough to her. If not for their kindness in fact she would be dead now.


    Aiko steeled her resolve and spoke up in the most commanding voice that she could muster which still came out small and squeaky much to her dismay. ¡°I-I, um. I have something that I need to tell you. You are not the first of your kind that I have seen.* There was a quiet murmur that went through the council but she quickly went on before she lost her nerve.* I don¡¯t mean just today either. I saw one of your kind about 5 days ago.¡±


    ¡°I only bring this up because they were killed in a most brutal fashion. There was a large red creature called an Ogre that grabbed it out of the ground and began eating it. I imagine that you have guards to keep that from happening here but I thought I should let you know. I wouldn¡¯t want anyone else to end up that way.¡± Aiko wasn¡¯t sure when but at some point she had started crying and quickly tried to wipe the tears away before feeling herself being wrapped in a hug.


    Aiko opened her eyes to see Brimit was the one who had wrapped her in a hug. The guardsman was currently patting her back after having apparently laid his spear down and crouched down at some point. Aiko wasn¡¯t sure why but suddenly the elven village came back to her and sent her few tears into a literal flood and she grabbed the guard in a fearsome hug as she bawled into his shoulder.


    After some time, Aiko became aware of a feeling of a large hand on her back rubbing her and yet she knew that Brimit¡¯s hands were not there but were holding her more towards her head. The sensation was a bit startling and yet somehow very comforting at the same time. The strange sensation left her almost as soon as she became aware of it and was replaced by her awareness of murmurs of conversation in the Council.


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    When the council realized that she was done and had begun looking at them again there was a strange awkwardness among them. She couldn¡¯t quite tell what the emotion they had on their faces was because these were not the kind of faces that she could read at all. It was strange to think that the only faces she could currently read were those of the elves. She wondered if she would even be able to read the face of one of her own kind but now was not the time for such idle thoughts.


    The Councilwoman Who was nearest to them and turned away from them when they first arrived was now turned around to face them. She was the one who spoke up to them first. ¡°We thank you, traveler Aiko, for informing us of this tragedy. We certainly wouldn¡¯t want to downplay the death that you have witnessed however none of the members of this Warren are missing.¡±


    What sounded to Aiko to be an older councilman this time with black and brown fur took over from the slight Grey-furred Councilwoman who had spoken first. I¡¯m afraid that what my fellow council member has said is true. ¡°While we do regret the death of one of our kind we cannot endanger anyone from this warren to go investigate the death of one from another warren. If you would be kind enough to provide us details of where this might have happened then we will be more on guard to keep the threat from happening here.¡±


    A third and rather old-looking Councilman spoke up next with his long whiskers drooping along with his long ears giving Aiko the impression of an old man. ¡°While this death may not have been one from our Warren all loss of life is tragic. May we all go to our goddess Reyal¡¯s loving embrace and come back stronger next time.¡±


    The council members all spoke the same words after this one. ¡°May we all go to Reyal¡¯s loving embrace and come back stronger next time.¡± Apparently, this was their form of prayer for the deceased. Aiko knew From Atha that there were many gods and that the head of all of the gods was a goddess called Kaori but she wasn¡¯t going to bring that up in case it went against their beliefs somehow.


    They then spoke about why she was there and she told them that she didn¡¯t have a particular purpose but was simply traveling in a direction and decided to stop in. She told them that she recognized what they were and was afraid for them, described how big the ogre was, and told them what it looked like so that they could be prepared if it ever came near.


    When asked further what she intended to do, she told them that she wouldn¡¯t be opposed to trading some of the things that she had or could grow. The council seemed to talk about this a bit and Aiko could pick out some murmurs and questions about whether or not she truly had the power.


    Aiko decided to interject a little bit in the conversation by showing off her abilities. Of course, she knew that the powers that they were referring to were her spells. She took out one of her seats and looked up at the grading overhead to see where the strongest light was before planting a seed in the dirt In the left of the chamber.


    She used her green thumb skill instead of one of her spells because this still seemed like a spell but was a lot less scary than some of the other things that she could do. It was only then that she realized that some of the things that she had done or perhaps the way she looked might be scary to others. She hoped, by using this skill and growing a plant instead of walking in thin air or cutting something, that she would present a better image.


    It had the desired effect as the council seemed to regard her in an entirely different way the moment that the plant sprouted and began snaking its way up the wall toward the source of light. Aiko marveled once again at how plants always seem to head towards the light. She kept pushing Her mana into the skill until it started to bear fruit and then plucked a few of the small fruits before handing them out and eating one herself. She knew that the fruit was a bit bland but it didn¡¯t seem to matter much to the council who all immediately agreed to letting her trade as she liked.

 B2 Chapter 21

    Aiko was completely ecstatic. Here she was expecting that she was going to have to do all kinds of things in order to convince the council to let her stay but with one simple display of her Green thumb ability, they simply gave her exactly what she wanted. She was a little bit disappointed that they did not seem very concerned for the life of the person that she had seen eaten before. However, she could understand that if they were not part of the same warren, they might not be very interested.


    They did however seem to be rather interested in what she might have to trade and so she told them about the various seeds that she had and they seemed rather keen on trying some of those. Aiko wasn¡¯t very thrilled about the idea of giving away the food that she had been given by the elves But she did have another alternative.


    She asked if they would be interested in a few of the nuts and berries that she had come across and at the mention of that they all seemed to perk up a bit. Seeing this reaction she got rather curious. Are you all interested in nuts and berries? I do come across those pretty often.


    Several of them looked a bit sheepish as though they had just been caught doing something they shouldn¡¯t have. Even though she couldn¡¯t read their faces Aiko could tell because of their body language. It was interesting that their body language was pretty much identical to that of the elves even though their faces were very vastly different.


    Finally, after a long pause, the slightly older male of the Council spoke up. ¡°I don¡¯t know about the rest but for myself, I have always had a bit of a soft spot for a good wild nut. The flavor is just so different and then there¡¯s the fun of getting it out of its shell. You see I can¡¯t speak for everyone but I like to know on the shell a bit. Probably about as much as I enjoy eating the nut afterward.¡±


    The man proceeded to show her his rather impressive set of incisors and explained that, if they didn¡¯t chew on things, their teeth grew too long and would cause problems. Aiko couldn¡¯t help but grin at this and even went through the trouble of taking off her helmet to show them her own set of incisors. She told them that she perfectly understood how they felt and that she would be sure to get them a good supply of nuts. Another one of the council members told her that they would be very appreciative of that since the nuts would keep so well compared to most other types of food.


    Aiko was then shown to a room in the warren that was not very far from the entrance that she had entered by. She profusely thanked Brimit for all his help but he sheepishly waved her off. After settling herself into the slightly dark room, she sat down and pulled out some of the items that she had brought with her. He might have been dismissive of all the help that he had given her but Aiko really wanted to thank Brimit for his help.


    The item that she pulled out of the bottom of her bag was her mortar and pestle. What she had in mind to use it on were the various grasses that she could make tea out of. On her journey, she had come across a few of the fragrant grasses and tree leaves the elves introduced her to as various types of tea leaves. In the morning she was planning on making a fragrant tea brew and sharing some with the taciturn guard.


    Aiko spent the entire evening grinding the many tree leaves and grasses that she had plucked to make tea into more manageable coarse powders. It really didn¡¯t take all that long but it also wasn¡¯t very long before dark crept up on her since she was down in the darker warrens. Finishing up for the night she carefully put all of her work away in small thatched bags for steeping tea before pulling out her blanket and snuggling up in the corner of the room she had been given.


    The next morning she went around the warren exploring a bit. Rather quickly she spotted what she was after. In one of the shops to the side of the main thoroughfare, she found one of the people working around a kiln to fire a bunch of clay pots. Among the many clay products that they offered were a few teapots.


    When she asked about the teapots the people working the kiln seemed rather anxious. Mostly they seem like they didn¡¯t want to deal with her for some reason. While it did make her a little bit sad it also had the side benefit of getting her a teapot for the small price of a bag of tea. She considered that a small victory and set about finding a place to brew her tea.


    The room she had been given had enough ventilation in it that she could easily make a fire in the center so that wasn¡¯t a problem. Also finding wood to make a fire wouldn¡¯t be too hard since these people lived right next to a forest. She just had to be careful when She was using it for the first time because she could tell that this pot hadn¡¯t been seasoned.


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    Aiko went out and gathered up a few small branches to use for her fire and grabbed a few types of plump grasses for seasoning the pot. She wanted the types of grasses that would get sweet the longer you chewed on them. All of this was stuff that she had learned in the Elvin Village while she lived with Atha.


    The next thing that she did was take out some of her carving tools and begin paring down the branches of one of the more fragrant trees that she had gathered wood from. She knew that certain trees were good for cooking on while others were not and was very careful what she brought back to cook with. Likewise, she knew these trees to be good for carving things out of that you were going to eat or drink with. She quickly whittled out a pair of cups and then thought better of it and made another pair besides.


    After quickly building up a fire Aiko put the teapot above it and held it there with a stick. The flames barely leaked at the bottom of the pot and she was very careful to keep it from getting too hot this first time. She carefully dropped in the packet of tea that she had ground up to steep and set the pot aside gently on a small pile of wood so that it wouldn¡¯t cool off too quickly.


    She immediately said about serving up the tea that she had just brewed before it had a chance to get cold. She took two of the steaming cups of tea to the front of the Warren and handed one to Brimit. She didn¡¯t know the name of the other guard but wanted to be polite and offered the other cup to him but he waved her off saying that he didn¡¯t like bitter things but thanked her anyway.


    The two of them enjoyed a quick cup of tea before she took the crude mugs back inside. When she got back to her room she discovered several of the people gathered around sniffing the air curiously. She offered a cup of tea despite it being a bit tepid to several of them and a couple even accepted.


    After her many guests said their goodbyes Aiko poured the remainder at the tee over the fire. She then got another batch of water from the small stream that ran through the back of the warrants. Carefully she split open the starchy grasses and left them soaking in the pot to give it a nice natural glaze. It would have to soak for the next couple of days but after that, it should be perfect she thought.


    The next thing that she did was go out and forage in the nearby trees to see if she could find any nuts. The trees in the direction that she had come from were not ideal. Most of them were smaller thinner types of trees that didn¡¯t produce nuts.


    However, when she went to the other side of the clearing most of the trees there were of the taller thicker variety that produced good nuts. She checked on these but as she had feared most of them did not have any nuts yet. Some of them were not even in bloom yet.


    Figuring that this would be a project for the next few days Aiko said about creating her own small garden patch for food. Not only was she interested in keeping herself fed but she also wanted enough to trade. Before going down to make her garden she had advanced the growth of some of the nuts in a few of the trees.


    Both the nuts and the vegetables would take a few days to ripen and she figured she would have to find something else to do until then. When she checked about the berry bushes she found that her help wasn¡¯t really needed there. There were plenty of women going to and from those bushes every day.


    Her next thought was that she might be able to help in cultivating a few of the fields. The only problem was she found that these people didn¡¯t keep fields the way that the elves did. In fact they had no concept of gardening. She tried explaining it to a couple of them but soon gave up because they were so unreceptive.


    She was just about to give up on the idea of helping all together. Nobody seemed to have any use for her and most of them regarded her with weary glances and few words. In all her time walking through the warren, she had yet to see anybody using magic the way that she did.


    She was sullenly making her way back to her room when a large branch blocked her path. Several of the people were trying to lift the branch and having a hard time of it. Without much regard, Aiko quickly used her chaos grasp spell and lifted the branch easily out of the way depositing it at the edge of the forest a good distance away.


    Aiko was about to continue on her way back to her room when one of the rabbit people suddenly ran up to her and started thanking her Profusely. After a moment the rest of the group came over and started doing the same. All of them were curious if she was able to do the same thing again and she told them that she could easily live that much and maybe a bit more.


    They all seemed duly impressed and she was happy to have gotten to show off her magic. That is until they began asking her if she would be willing to move a few boulders and a few more branches for them. She was a little bit taken aback but decided that she might as well since she was looking for something to do.


    The next couple of days went by in a flash as Aiko moved heavy items around and tended to her new garden. She also spent time maturing the nuts in the trees in preparation for her upcoming trades.

 B2 Chapter 22

    Aiko brought in the nuts and vegetables she had been pouring her Mana into for the last couple of days. She had to have help to get the vegetables in because they were so much larger than she was. It¡¯s not that she couldn¡¯t manipulate the vegetables but she found that her fine control over the Chaos grasp spell was lacking.


    At first, she meant to bring the harvest in herself but she ended up bumping the sides of the entrance with the large vegetable that she was trying to manipulate. She spent several minutes trying to get the vegetable that she had been floating up to that point to rotate and slide lengthwise into the excavation between the two astonished guards.


    It refused to go in the way that she wanted it to and instead hit the side several times before spinning out of her grasp and rolling down the side of the hill.


    The two guards including Brimit were both hiding their mouths and trying to keep from bursting out in laughter at her antics. At first, she glared at them but soon enough she thought over it and decided that it truly was just that funny, and suddenly all three of them burst out laughing. At that point, she decided to ask For help and got an acquaintance to come move the vegetable that she had been manipulating with the spell into the hole.


    For the past couple of days, she had been working with a youth by the name of Skemmel who had been tasked with moving large branches and rocks to clear the way for further expansion of the warrants. When she had first run into Skemmel he was trying to direct several of the youth in moving a large branch that had fallen into the path that one of the tunnels was supposed to expand. The group of youths were having a very hard time moving the large branch when all of a sudden it jumped into the air several hand spans high before rushing towards the woods.


    Aiko had nearly wet herself whenever the overzealous youth ran up to her and started peppering her with questions. At one point she considered using the chaos grasp spell to move him aside so that she could avoid him but she kept herself from doing that barely. Skemmel asked her numerous times how she had done that and she just looked at her status screen at the description of the spell and pondered how to answer that.


    Chaos grasp. The caster of this spell can spend a few points of Mana to lift, hold, move, and otherwise manipulate objects at a distance. Objects of equal or lesser weight than the caster may be moved for two Mana and each additional body weight costs an additional Mana point to a maximum of twenty times the caster¡¯s body weight.


    Eventually, she just remembered what Brimit had said and told him that she had the power and left it at that despite his incessant pestering.


    In this particular situation, Skemmel was fairly competent at arranging the efforts of the youth group that he was in charge of. The lot of them managed to get the vegetables and nuts that she had gathered into her room in short order and in thanks, she left a couple of the large vegetables outside for them.


    Aiko had arranged for one of the council members to go around with her while she was doing her various trades. She looked about at the many things that were on offer but decided that there was very little that she was truly interested in. The major exception to that being the vegetables and fruit seeds that she found.


    There were apparently a number of different fruit seeds that were available in this Village.


    Some of the seeds weren¡¯t going to be of much help to her owing to the fact that they came from fruit trees and not bushes but a lot of them were from small ground plants that died off and grew back every year.


    In total Aiko found seven varieties of seeds that would grow from ground plants and three varieties of berry bushes that she got seeds for. There were also 12 varieties of vegetables that the rabbit people had been gathering and she bartered seeds from all of those.


    Unfortunately, there were not a lot of other goods that the rabbit people had that she wanted. She found that they had a few implements of pottery that were rather well made and very much to her liking.


    One of these things was jars that the rabbit people were using for an art that they called canning and fermentation. Apparently, they would go about picking vegetables and fruit and would put them into a jar with a bit of salt and water, and eventually, the things in the jar would change n in texture flavor, and smell.


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    Aiko also couldn¡¯t help being drawn to several of the smaller items that were called toys for children. She had hoped that she was a bit more mature than that but it turned out that, no, when given the chance she really did want some of the small knickknacks.


    She was on her way back to her room when she happened to glance over to the side and see a small boy sitting in the edge of one of the offshoot routes headed back into the gloom. At first, he didn¡¯t really stand out to her and she almost passed by without thinking about him but something caught her attention. She wasn¡¯t exactly sure what it was but something told her to look back.


    Aiko stopped to glance at the boy and though she couldn¡¯t put her finger on exactly what it was that had gotten her attention. now that she was paying attention she noticed a few things that she wished she hadn¡¯t. Aside from being a bit unkempt and not wearing any clothing.


    That was something that she had grown accustomed to the fact that a lot of these rabbit people did not do.


    This boy also had a certain worn and dirty look about him. He was sitting there with his head down and almost appeared like he had been crying. The few things that she could tell about him were that he hadn¡¯t taken a bath recently and it looked as though one of his ears was broken since it was lying flat backward about halfway up.


    She began walking over to the boy but the council member seemed to get in her way and tried to shield her from him or vice versa. Aiko wasn¡¯t very happy about this and quickly darted around the older man earning a cry of protest in the process. When she got closer to the boy a foul stench assaulted her nose and she almost backpedaled but kept herself on course and kneeled beside him.


    The vacant look in his eyes didn¡¯t seem to shift much but then he seemed to take in her strange appearance as compared to all the other people around her and truly looked at her for the first time.


    After looking at her for what seemed like an age but couldn¡¯t have been more than the briefest of moments the boy spoke in a rough whisper. ¡°What are you and what are you going to do to me? Are you some form of snake here to take me to My death?¡±


    Aiko was so taken a bag by his words that she nearly fell over from shock. That was only made worse a moment later whenever the councilman reached down and grabbed her shoulder giving her an utter fright. ¡°I would ask that you leave that one alone. He is an ill omen who was cursed by the gods.¡±


    ¡°While everyone else received a system from the gods he did not. We tried to banish him but despite the beatings, he wouldn¡¯t leave.¡±


    When Aiko looked up at the man with horror written across her face the old man recoiled as if he had been slapped. It was apparent from his demeanor that he couldn¡¯t understand why she was looking at him that way until she spoke. ¡°That¡¯s horrible! How could you treat one of your own that way? I can understand you not being worried about somebody that wasn¡¯t from your warren and not wanting to endanger somebody who was from your warren but this boy is not like that.¡±


    The old man¡¯s face clouded over with anger before he visibly forced himself to calm down. Aiko only very recently having acquired the ability to even read the expression on his face and only because so many of his expressions seemed to be rather exaggerated when dealing with her.


    Nonetheless, the old man replied to her. ¡°Young lady I would appreciate it if you not presume to tell us how to run the affairs of our own Warren. This one is cursed and not part of our Warren because of it. Now come along and leave him be.¡±


    Aiko looked back at the boy staring dejectedly at her feet and then scowled back at the old man but got up anyway. However, in an act of defiance, she pulled her arm from one of the straps of her backpack and rummaged out one of the large dried berries that she had acquired earlier before handing it over to the boy.


    The look on his face as she shoved the food into his hands was as though he regarded her as a god of mercy. She then turned to the council member who seemed outraged and stormed past him while he spluttered and tried to form a coherent derision to throw at her while he tried to catch up with her.


    Aiko finally made her way back to her assigned home and found several of the youths there arguing with a few of the other rabbit people. When the councilman asked ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡± they all looked startled but most of the older rabbit men people either looked abashed or angry while the youths all looked indignant.


    There was a lot of shouting and incoherent name-calling as insults were flung back and forth until the councilmen yelled to put a stop to it. He looked at a couple of the oldest in the group and questioned them first. ¡°Okay transit and semis why don¡¯t you two tell me what¡¯s going on here?¡±


    The older rabbit man and rabbit woman got a condescending smirk on their face when they were called on before the youths and Aiko was immediately wary of their replies. Both of them had roughly the same answer. They both claimed that they were only there to collect the goods that they had bartered for earlier in the day.


    All of that seemed reasonable to Aiko but then she thought better of it and just as the Councilman was about to start saying something else she looked at one of the youths that she recognized from the group she had been working with and asked. ¡°If that¡¯s true why are you trying to stop them?¡±

 B2 Chapter 23

    When Aiko asked why the groups were arguing, the girl looked like she had won a major fight. The Councilman looked outraged that Aiko would go over his head that way as the teen replied. ¡°We all knew that you were going out to trade for things by bartering off the vegetables and nuts that you had gathered but they were going to take all of them. ¡°We didn¡¯t want them to just take everything if that¡¯s not what you had agreed to. We were just trying to make them wait until you got here to confirm that you had made the deal that they claimed you made!¡±


    The two older rabbit people got indignant looks and immediately started yelling accusatorially at the youths and calling them liars. The youth On the other hand began yelling insults and saying things like we knew you were trying to cheat and steal.


    Eventually, Brimit and the other guard stepped in after hearing the shouting all the way out to the exit and got between both groups. After things calmed down a bit Aiko realized that the youths were telling the truth and the adults were trying to swindle her.


    It came to light that their plan was for a few of the quickest to claim that she had bartered all of her goods to them. When the rest of the people she had bartered with showed up there would be nothing for them to take and they would either take their goods back from her or she would have to provide them more goods.


    When Aiko found out their real goal she stated for all to hear that she would have no more dealings with the older culprits that were trying to swindle her. When she took the side of the youths the older Councilman seemed rather indignant but couldn¡¯t argue because they had been caught clearly trying to steal for all to see.


    Aiko realized at some point that the Councilman was most likely aware of this gambit and might even have stood to profit from it and she was livid.


    After making sure to distribute the fruit, vegetables, and nuts in the exact proportions to the exact people that she had made deals with she asked everybody to leave.


    When some of them acted like they wanted to protest her temper flared and she used chaos grasp to pick them up and move them away from her temporary dwelling. This show of force was more than enough to intimidate them and they hurried along away from her.


    That night Aiko sat in her room and cried herself to sleep. At some point during the night, she woke up after having a long and terrifying nightmare where she was chased through the warrens by a bunch of rabbit-men yelling at her and claiming that she stole from them.


    Taking long breaths to calm down from the nightmare, she got up and began pacing but this did little to alleviate her fears. She decided that she would be better off taking a stroll through the now mostly silent and almost deserted thoroughfare of the warrens.


    As she walked along the thoroughfare Aiko couldn¡¯t help but note that the boy she had met earlier was still sitting in the same spot. When she walked over she was surprised to find that he was still awake but with mostly the same vacant expression on his face. When she knelt down the boy took immediate notice of her and his face brightened including a smile that rather terrified her.


    One side of his face was swollen and his teeth were bloody. It looked as though somebody must have kicked him in the face and probably several times. When she asked him what had happened he acted like he didn¡¯t want to tell her but she insisted. It turned out that he had only gotten to take a couple bites of the food that she left him before somebody took it from him and began kicking him.


    Aiko was beginning to despise the rabbit people but decided to forestall judging all of them based on the actions of a few.


    She tried to get the boy to follow her to her room. Even though he acted like he wanted to he didn¡¯t seem to have enough strength to move from the spot. Aiko made a quick prayer to Kaori and all of the other gods that she wouldn¡¯t do any damage before activating her chaos grasp spell and picking the boy up.


    At first, the boy yelled but when he realized that it was her doing it, he quieted down as though it were the most natural thing ever.


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    She quickly brought him to her room and set about cleaning up his matted fur which she found to be full of blood and old scabs. She then made a trip to the back of the warrens to get a jug of water before returning to finish the job of cleaning the boy up.


    After she had given him some water to drink she fed him another one of the dried berries and a couple of big chunks from one of the nuts that she had set aside. The boy laid into the food with such fervor that she knew that he hadn¡¯t had anything to eat in a long while.


    She remembered the feeling of hunger and vowed silently that he wouldn¡¯t feel it again. She did ask him to slow down so he wouldn¡¯t make himself sick. He didn¡¯t want to slow down until she promised that nobody would take his food while she was there. That made him calm down and actually chew his food at least.


    After he had finished his meal Aiko laid down and covered them both with her blanket. She had a hard time going to sleep because despite her best efforts the boy still stank horribly. At some point, she did manage to drift off the sleep.


    When Aiko awoke the next day she went out and found a high tree that had been in bloom for a bit and already had the beginnings of some type of nuts growing there. She used her green thumb ability and forced a little bit of her mana into them to hurry them along.


    She was slightly surprised when the little bit of Mana that she fed them was enough to bring them to full maturity. She was a tad leery of the flavor but found that the nuts that she had discovered had a mild flavor that didn¡¯t suffer in the least from being rushed in their growth.


    Also surprising was the size of these nuts. Each one of them in this cluster of over a dozen was easily the size of her entire torso.


    The nuts had a grass-thin shell and the meat of the nuts was somewhat spongy in texture. Both of these were things that Aiko knew that her magic could cause to happen when something was rushed to grow too fast. Somehow it all worked in her favor with this particular batch of nuts.


    Thanking the gods in a silent prayer Aiko used a few points of her Mana. She manifested her Chaos knife spell and began chopping all of the nuts loose from this cluster. Then carefully let them rain down to the forest floor below.


    She gathered them all up into one spot and then tried her chaos grasp spell. To her utter delight, she found that as long as she recognized the pile as one thing she was able to grasp all of the nuts in that pile as one and lift them all at once.


    She brought a pile of nuts to sit in front of the entrance to the warrants closest to her temporary home just as the two guards were walking out of the hollow. The guards looked dubiously at the pile of nuts that she had placed in front of the door until she offered them one of them. Brimit was the one who stepped up and thanked her for the offer and split the nut with his fellow guard while she made herself busy carrying the rest of the pile to her home one by one.


    Upon entry, the noise of her approach woke the boy up. He looked at her wide-eyed and in complete fear for a moment before recognition dawned on his face.


    Through the whole process of bringing in the ten remaining nuts the boy just looked at her starry-eyed and stayed out of the way. She sat all of the nuts on the opposite side of her small home away from him.


    It was only once she was finished bringing the last of them in that she turned to regard him fully. ¡°Would you care to share some breakfast?¡±


    The boys seem to regard her in disbelief for a moment as though the idea that someone would share their food with him was ridiculous. Suddenly he began crying and nodding his head up and down vigorously. The two of them shared a meal before Aiko took her leave to go back to the surface and harvest the last of the vegetables that she had grown.


    Today she had a clear goal. She was going to outfit the boy for travel. If they wanted him to leave so badly then the least they could do would be to outfit him so that he would be able to make it in the world once he did leave. If they weren¡¯t willing to do that then she would.


    Getting the few vegetables that were left into the warrens didn¡¯t take her nearly as long as she thought it might. Having seen the youth bringing the vegetables in she had already figured out the proper method.


    Aiko simply piled the last few of them up in front of the entrance to the warrens first. After that, it was simply a matter of grabbing one end of the long green vegetables and pulling them inside and into her temporary home.


    After she had all of the vegetables stored in her home she split one open and pulled all of the seeds out of it. She then stuck all the gelatinous-coated seeds to the inside walls of her dwelling.


    The boy watched on with curiosity as she worked so she explained it to him. ¡°I grow these vegetables from these seeds but I can¡¯t carry them around the way that they are right now. I need them to dry out first.¡±


    ¡°So I am putting them in the air as much as possible and letting them shrivel up. Once they are dry they will fall off of the wall or off of whatever I stick them to. When they do that I don¡¯t suppose you would be willing to go around in here and pick them all up for me would you?¡±


    The boy nodded vigorously before croaking out a very meek yes.

 B2 Chapter 24

    Aiko took one of the large fluffy nuts with her to one of the shops that she had virtually ignored the previous day. When she stopped in front of the clothing store for children the older woman in the store seemed rather intrigued. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that I¡¯m not sure that I have anything that would fit you because you¡¯re just not built like one of us. I wish that I did because what you have there looks rather tasty.¡±


    Aiko smiled at the older woman and set the nut aside before addressing her. ¡°I think that we might be able to work out a deal then. I might just be able to modify the clothing that you have myself and I would be willing to trade if the deal is good enough. How many vests would one of these buy do you think?¡±


    The long floppy-eared woman with a shaggy gray coat of fur seemed to Ponder that question for a good bit before she gave her reply. ¡°Well despite my longing I¡¯m afraid that I couldn¡¯t possibly sell you more than three shirts for one of those nuts. Even that might be pushing it a bit but, your fearsome looks aside, *there was a slight chuckle* I understand that you would have to modify them yourself so I¡¯ll make an exception.¡±


    Aiko was happy with the deal because she wasn¡¯t sure that she would even be able to get one piece of clothing per nut. She could tell that the lady whom she had begun to suspect wasn¡¯t really that old was humoring her. However, she was willing to go with that if it meant getting a shirt for the boy.


    With her items in hand, she headed back to her room. It was going to be more work taking her payment everywhere with her but she had learned her lesson yesterday about trusting the rabbit people.


    She noted with a certain sense of disgust that a certain council member did not show up again this morning to escort her around pretty much confirming her thoughts about the nature of the Councilman.


    Aiko took some of the vegetables and nuts to various shops and acquired a full set of traveling gear for the boy before taking him to the stream that ran through the back of the warrens. There were many looks of derision and scorn thrown her way when people saw her assisting the boy. She just ignored them.


    Aiko was very glad that she had done all of her purchasing early in the day before she escorted the boy to get cleaned up.


    Once the boy had had a chance to bathe properly he seemed to be able to move a bit better. She assumed that might also have something to do with getting a decent meal, a good drink of water, and a decent bit of sleep for once.


    Aiko then walked the boy back to her room while all of the rabbit people around her glared at her and the boy. When she got back to her room Aiko and the boy began gathering everything up including the seeds that he had neatly stacked in a pile for her.


    With everything packed up and ready to go they enjoyed one more meal before the end of the day. Even after they had dinner there was a good bit of the vegetables she had scooped the seeds from left. Aiko placed some of the pieces in one of the jars with some water and salt for later.


    They sat watching the flickering flames dance in the middle of the room while enjoying a cup of tea. The boy confided in her that he had never had anything like it and that it was the best thing ever in his opinion.


    Finally done with the day Aiko and the boy lay down and drape the cover over before falling soundly asleep.


    The next morning when Aiko awoke it was to the rhythmic pounding of a foot on the floor outside of her temporary dwelling. There stood a couple of the council members including the one that she was pretty sure tried to swindle her.


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    That very same councilman stepped forward to speak in a sneering tone. ¡°I understand that since you are an outsider you wouldn¡¯t understand our customs but I must insist that you obey them anyway. That boy is a curse and if you want to stay here you can¡¯t let him stay with you.¡±


    He got a big smirk on his face before continuing. ¡°If you do decide to keep protecting him then I¡¯ll have to ask you *he seemed to think better of his words* WE will have to ask you to leave and not return.¡±


    Aiko briefly looked around at the faces of the other council members and the several older rabbit people gathered behind them. Everyone¡¯s face seemed to be set and they all began nodding.


    The boy having awoken from the loud voice of the councilman was cowering behind her. Between his fear and the councilman¡¯s horrible attitude, she couldn¡¯t help but lose her temper again. ¡°I still don¡¯t get why you feel like you are so much better than anybody else just because you got the system and they did not. Nobody had the system just a couple seasons ago. Why does that make any difference now? You say that he¡¯s cursed by the gods but when did they tell you that?¡±


    The Councilman in front of her seemed like he was in such a fit of outrage that he was about ready to scream but this only spurred Aiko on and she got louder. ¡°If you¡¯re so sure that he was cursed by the gods then which God was it that told you that? Did they speak to you?¡±


    ¡±Which God was it specifically that told you that the boy was cursed? None of the gods that I have been told about seem like they would curse somebody especially not a young boy like this. On the other hand, I can¡¯t say whether they might not curse a malicious old man like you! The goddess Kaori wouldn¡¯t want anybody to be abandoned this way!¡±


    The Councilman had had enough and slapped Aiko across the face before screaming at her. ¡°How dare you! Who are you to think that you can speak for the gods? How dare you he said again in a much colder tone.¡±


    Suddenly the old Councilman in front of her pulled out a long wooden spike that looked like the thorn of some tree or another with a cruel sneer on his face. ¡°As your blasphemy of the gods knows no bounds I shall send both you and the boy to them and let them tell you that you were wrong.¡±


    Aiko¡¯s heart suddenly started pounding fiercely in her chest but her eyes narrowed and her determination set fiercely in place. Without any hesitation, she summoned her chaos knife and sliced the thorn off right in front of his hand.


    The spell must have grazed his skin or perhaps a bit deeper because he suddenly screamed in terror before falling backwards clutching his hand and yelling she attacked me. Aiko could see a couple of the people in the back pulling out more of the long thorns but she wasn¡¯t going to be intimidated.


    Using Chaos grasp she picked up the Councilman and flung him at two of the older merchants who were giving her baleful grins. The entire group on that side went down in a heap.


    She then recast Chaos knife and used it to chop all of the ends off of all of the thorns that were being brandished in her direction while their wielders were stunned by her display of power directed at the Councilman. By the time anybody realized that she was destroying their weapons it was already too late and every weapon was already blunted.


    Aiko then used Chaos grasp to push the entire group out of her way off to the side of her doorway away from the entrance to the warrens. With a false sense of calm that she really didn¡¯t feel Aiko began slowly packing up her blanket and getting her and the boy ready to travel.


    She used her magic as a display of intimidation but inside she was panicking. Aiko knew that she was nearly out of Mana after having used her spells so much. She was worried she might pass out if she used her magic again.


    ¡°Since you all want me gone then I will go and yes I will take the boy with me. But if you threaten me or him again then there will be dire consequences.¡± She delivered her ultimatum in the most cold and condescending tone she could manage to hopefully avoid any more conflicts.


    Aiko and the boy then made their way out of the warrens while all of the group that she had shoved aside just stood there with their mouths agape. She did stop at the exit to the warrens to speak briefly to Brimit and wish him well before she left. She asked him to pass along her farewells to all of the youth that she had worked with.


    With a mixture of sadness fear and seething anger Aiko once again left a village on bad terms. This time however she was not running for her life but walking away with her head held high in defiance.

 B2 Chapter 25

    Reyal suddenly burst into Varla¡¯s room in tears! The three sisters had set their privacy settings so that any one of them could enter the other¡¯s room at any time.


    Varla looked up from the book that she was reading just in time to catch her sister mid-flight. Of her two sisters, Reyal was by far the closest since Varla had spent most of her adult life as a mortal trying to protect her supposedly younger sister. The reality of it being that she was in fact the youngest of the three sisters but since she had spent all of her time pretending to be a boy she was automatically seen as the oldest among them.


    She watched as the frills of her poofy dress flared up from the impact of her sister. Varla was only just starting to accept that she could be as girly as she wanted and no one would reprimand her.


    Setting those strange thoughts aside she comforted her sister in her arms before asking quietly what was wrong. ¡°Why are you crying? What¡¯s got you so spooked?¡±


    After a series of racking sobs that seemed to take most of her stamina from her Reyal looked up into her eyes. ¡°They¡¯ve¡­ They¡­ *Sniffle* I can¡¯t believe they¡­¡±


    She didn¡¯t seem like she was going to be able to articulate so Varla hugged her close before whispering in her ears. ¡°Calm down.¡±


    After crooning to her for a bit longer she finally calmed down enough that she was able to say what was on her mind. ¡°My followers that I was put in charge of attacked Kaori-sama¡¯s Risukagen girl! I¡¯m going to be thrown into the fire!¡±


    After saying that she burst into a fit of sobs and cried herself to sleep. Varla just held her sister¡¯s limp snoring and occasionally sobbing form and pondered with an expression of worry.


    This early in the world¡¯s initiation there weren¡¯t any tribes that were at war, at least not truly. This was pertinent to her since Varla was the goddess of warfare. This gave Varla a great deal of freedom to do other things with her excess of time.


    She thought about all the possible repercussions and outcomes of what her sister had told her had happened. She investigated the events on her PDI and settled on talking to Lethris about the boy whose system had failed to initiate. She was a little worried about the actions of the Reporingen tribe that had chased the two away but it was mostly due to the system problem.


    Sometime later in the sub-dimension set aside for working on the System.


    Lethris looked through the System initialization logs and scrolled down till she found the Reporingens. It wasn¡¯t too hard to find the offending soul. ¡°The soul that was used for that boy had a soul curse on it!? Just great! Now we have to screen every soul in the world and all of the ones in the afterlife and screen them for soul curses.¡±


    Varla looked over the many lines of text uncomprehendingly and just nodded her head. ¡°So, you don¡¯t think that Kaori is likely to try to burn my sister to a crisp over this? If she is going to do so, she will have to find a new goddess of war because I will stand in the flames with my sister. I won¡¯t be separated from her again.¡±


    Lethris looked thoughtful for a moment before she replied. ¡°I¡¯m not sure but I don¡¯t think that Kaori-sama meant that she was literally going to burn us if we failed in our jobs. I know that she said she was going to fire us but I don¡¯t think her culture even uses kilns and pottery anymore. There¡¯s probably a different meaning to what she said.¡±


    Varla looked thoughtful at that. ¡°I suppose that would be a little too harsh coming from Kaori-sama. It did seem a little odd when she said that but it really scared my sisters and I when she said that with a straight face. I know that I saw several other deities becoming rather nervous at that time too. I still serve her unreservedly but those words left me in terror for both myself and my sisters.¡±


    Lethris looked to the side at Reyal as she nodded along with her sister. ¡°Well, that aside, I can tell you what you need to do from here. You need to go to the afterlife icon on your PDI and open the waiting souls tab.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the password. The PDI screens are all transparent so Kaori-sama made the login screen and the person¡¯s hand both blur while they are logging in. Nobody but you can see you put in your password.¡±


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    Lethris guided the fidgeting young goddess through the process. ¡°Now, you want to look for souls with both very high and very low Karma levels. If there are any that have a high or low enough Karma then you can promote them to angels or demons and you need both.¡±


    When both sisters looked at her with faces full of confusion, Lethris let out a bark of laughter. ¡°I know. It seems counterintuitive but Kaori-sama has a plan. She told everyone this but I think perhaps a class to guide everyone might be needed. You need demons to urge the population to do evil things.¡±


    ¡°If the actions that some people take are evil enough then those around them will back away from those individuals. If everyone goes along with those evil people then the tribe is perhaps better off following a path of evil. After all, war is an evil act and nobody goes to war with peace in their hearts.¡±


    ¡°Anyway, you have demons to encourage evil and angels to encourage good. You might need the populace to fight or commit evil for the greater good of the world. You don¡¯t want angels appearing to the people and urging them to do evil, right? Certainly, you shouldn¡¯t show up yourself to deliver such a message! So, you will have to have both.¡±


    Seeing concern written on the features of the young Reyal, Lethris looked at her screen. ¡°If you don¡¯t find enough high or low Karma souls in the waiting souls tab you can always look for them in the main section of the afterlife. The souls can be pulled directly from there just as easily. And with billions of souls running through the afterlife, there are bound to be a few that are very pure good or pure evil.¡±


    After the sisters left, Lethris called Merin. She needed to talk to the senior goddess about her domain over the afterlife but more than that she needed clarification. Did Kaori really mean to roast her underlings if they failed?


    Below on Islandia


    The next couple of days Aiko and her new friend Brass made haste in the direction that Aiko was told to go, to the middle right of the rising sun.


    The going was actually rather slow though because now she found herself burdened with the company of her new travel companion. This meant that she could no longer travel at top speed through the trees like she had before. She still stopped fairly often and made her way to the top of trees to get her bearings but most of her time was spent on the ground walking beside Brass who she found couldn¡¯t climb trees.


    The boy was lively enough and mostly just seemed despondent that his family and community had thrown him out just because he didn¡¯t have one of those system things like everybody else. They wandered daily from the early morning through just before the setting of the sun. Every day they would stop a little bit before the setting of the sun so that brass could dig a burrow for them to sleep in.


    Aiko set her magic up for them to cross any difficult terrain or any streams that they came across. The two of them made great time for several days only stopping occasionally to eat food bathe and the like.


    Of course, it was a little bit wearing on Aiko because she wasn¡¯t used to having to walk across the ground the way that she was now. However, she figured that all things considered this was an easy trade-off when Brass was in such danger of being abandoned had she not taken him.


    So they continued their trek for a few more days until the weather clouded over and the threat of rain made them begin seeking better shelter than the roots of a tree. The two managed to find a small cave with a bit of effort and set up a temporary camp inside.


    The next morning it hadn¡¯t begun raining yet so Aiko planted a few seeds and began urging them to grow. Their store of berries had become precariously low and they didn¡¯t really have any nuts to speak of.


    It didn¡¯t take all day for her to urge the plant into producing several large vegetables. This was one of the plants that was very quick to fruit and wither being more than capable of producing several crops in a single growing season.


    The two of them made haste to harvest and secure their vegetables before the rain started in earnest. They still got rained on a bit on the way back to the cave but not too bad.


    They then used the rain as a chance to bathe again because unfortunately being closer to the ground meant being closer to the dirt and grime. Constantly walking meant that they were constantly sweating and getting covered in whatever detritus might blow up off of the forest floor.


    After bathing they settled into the cave and Aiko brought out the toys that she hadn¡¯t had a chance to do much with. Since there wasn¡¯t much else that they could do they decided that this was the perfect opportunity to try them out. Some of the toys were in the form of small wooden spirals that were meant to spin while others were small wooden balls and small wooden blocks.


    As nightfall approached Aiko set up a fire and began chopping up the vegetables to make a stew. Stew was something that they hadn¡¯t had before and Brass was very curious about what she was doing. Aiko considered herself to be a decent cook and looked forward to seeing the boy¡¯s reaction as she went about chopping up some of the herbs that she had dried in small grass pouches within her backpack.


    After the two of them had enjoyed a hearty meal and Aiko had enjoyed much praise for her cooking abilities they began the process of cleaning up. Once all of the dishes were clean they sat next to the fire and played with toys until sleep overtook them. Before they both fully drifted off Aiko could swear that she saw a large hand pull her blanket over the top of them both.

 B2 Chapter 26

    As Kaori sat in this cave that was barely big enough for her to fit she absent-mindedly stroked the pair of furry children that were laying in her lap. She used this time to review the many notifications that she had awaiting her attention on her PDI.


    The first thing of note was the many requests from various gods and goddesses to be the deity in charge of pestilence. She didn¡¯t particularly care for this and gave a canned response to all of them. The truth was that she really didn¡¯t want to make a goddess of war nor a god of death but they were entirely too necessary.


    However, she saw no reason whatsoever to include in her retinue a god or goddess of pestilence or famine. She knew that logically there was no reason for her to avoid the supposed four horsemen of the apocalypse from her previous religion but she couldn¡¯t help the feeling of cringe every time she thought of it.


    On the other hand, she did have a logical reason to avoid those two particular appointments. Since her world was just getting started the deity of pestilence was something that she wanted to avoid. The population of each type was entirely too small to let a plague loose in their midst. In fact, she had one of the minor benefits of the system set to be a larger resistance to viruses and bacteria. That would give her citizens the best chance of avoiding plagues and other types of pestilence.


    All of that in an attempt to bolster the population of the world and thus get a better base for eventually upgrading their level of civilization. The history function had done a marvelous job of adding a little bit of civilization to the various tribes. But she couldn¡¯t push that too far.


    She considered herself lucky in that all of the tribes that they had placed down with the exception of the elves were starting from a blank slate. That gave her a lot more freedom to do with them as she will but she still wasn¡¯t able to add a full civilization.


    Still, having half a dozen starter towns on each of the major continents and at least one starter city was a step in the right direction. Once the various tribes got bigger and stronger the natural conclusion would be that they would set up nations and begin conquering the area around them.


    For that reason, she had to have War right from the outset but that didn¡¯t mean that she had to like it. And death being an inevitability she would have to have a god or goddess for that anyway. But Famine was another story. Since starvation was a likely outcome for many of the tribes she considered relenting and making a deity in charge of that but thought better of it.


    It would be entirely too cruel to have a deity that was literally forced to starve people. That didn¡¯t mean that there weren¡¯t any demons or gods that were willing to take the position but She certainly didn¡¯t want to encourage that. For the same reason, she was unwilling to agree to make anybody the deity in charge of pestilence.


    Besides the history function was the only reason why anybody wanted to be the deity in charge of that particular domain. Kaori scoffed at that and then moved on to the next point of interest. Many of the deities had sent inquiries about the names of the various races that she had put on the planet and so she decided it was time to put together a notice to address that.


    Kaori then briefly described the scientific naming system. She started with domain and proceeded through kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. However, she found it increasingly hard to explain what each one of them meant and realized that she had never paid that close attention in biology class.


    She made a mental note to herself to provide all of the scientific literature that she could possibly lay hands on to all of her staff. If everybody were as up-to-date on scientific understanding and mathematics as well as a few other fields as Earth¡¯s people then things would proceed a lot smoother.


    She then explained briefly about the complexities of her native language. She explained a brief history of the Japanese language and the reason why so many of the symbols that everybody was curious about in her language didn¡¯t seem to make sense when compared to others.


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    She explained that there were a lot of other cultures on Earth that found her own language to be complicated and even incomprehensible. The notion of having three different written languages that were all used in conjunction with one another at the same time in any given sentence was fairly confusing she admitted. The fact that a word would change depending upon how it was paired with other words was also a point of contention.


    She then apologized to all of the lesser deities that had to work for her and thus, work with the language. She went on to explain that since there was no other species besides humans that were intelligent to the point of sapience, that she was forced to create new words for each of the species that she had created.


    Lastly, she included a comprehensive list of all of the complete scientific names of every one of her newly created species. She then checked with the deity catalog and found that it did have a listing for every one of the scientific names of every species that could be purchased for every world. She didn¡¯t get it though because the price was eight trillion worship points and it had thrice the number of pages as it¡¯s cost in WP.


    Kaori admitted to herself that she was very interested in this book but she couldn¡¯t justify spending the WP just for a flight of fancy. Perhaps much later when she had so much WP that she couldn¡¯t even imagine what she might do with it then it might be something worth considering. Out of curiosity she checked to see who the author of the book was and found it to be Ehoba.


    This startled her a little bit and she quickly checked with the catalog to see if it would translate the name to Hebrew. When it complied she found herself staring at a name that she knew very well. Just to be absolutely sure she asked the catalog to translate it into English, Jehovah there was no doubt left in her mind. The god of the Christian church was the author of the Book of Life.


    The next morning brass awoke to find Aiko still lying in her blanket. He decided to leave her nestled in her blanket but he began wondering why she hadn¡¯t awoken yet. He wandered over to her side and noticed that he could barely make anything out in the gloom within the cave.


    He turned to look at the fire and found that it had completely gone out but it still felt warm just not aflame. Brass remembered what Aiko told him about being careful around the fire and that sometimes even if a fire looks like it¡¯s dead it¡¯s really not.


    Since he didn¡¯t want her to get cold Brass decided that he was going to bring the fire back to life. He looked around the cave until he spotted the little pile of wood that the two of them had gathered up the day before. The pile wasn¡¯t much, just a couple of branches that had been split up into pieces.


    He pulled one of the thinner pieces from the pile and raked about in the pile of ashes until he found what he was looking for. There near the bottom of the pile of ashes were a few pieces of burnt stick with some glowing orange on them.


    Brass began breaking pieces of the branch that he was holding up and tossing them on top of the glowing piece. He had seen Aiko do this a few times and figured that it probably couldn¡¯t be that hard to do. After Brass had put another four broken-up branches on top of the small glowing orange piece he still couldn¡¯t see any difference.


    He began digging around in the pile and found that the piece at the bottom was no longer blowing orange. Also, the pile seemed to be completely cold now.


    Frustrated a bit Brass sat down and began thinking about what he could possibly do for Aiko and realized that he couldn¡¯t do anything. This more than anything else in the past few weeks broke his spirits and so he did the only thing he could he sat and cried. After crying for a few minutes Brass began to notice a subtle change in the air around him before he heard something strange. Looking up from his damp pause Brass was startled to find a fire was now merrily dancing in the broken pieces of twigs that he had left in a pile.


    Scrambling brass ran over to the pile of logs and found a few of the larger pieces which he quickly put on top of the rest. That was the thing that he always saw Aiko doing once the fire started going. Brass didn¡¯t really understand why the fire had to start with smaller pieces but if Aiko said that¡¯s how it was then he knew it had to be true. Since the fire was going Brass decided it would be safe to put a few more pieces of wood on there.


    Brass found that the rain was still going outside and left a slight chill in the air but not as cold as it had been during the last season, where the ground was covered in bitter-cold white snow. Brass was thankful that it wasn¡¯t snowing anymore. He found that he really didn¡¯t like snow or the cold.


    Brass then looked at the clay pot that Aiko had used for cooking and realized that there were no more vegetables to cook. Seeing that Aiko wasn¡¯t awake yet Brass decided that he would go out and find them something to eat.

 B2 Chapter 27

    Brass foraged around all over the place but he wasn¡¯t able to find much. The fruits and vegetables that Aiko had shown him were nowhere to be seen. He knew that somehow she made her own vegetables grow but he had still hoped to find some vegetables that he could bring back to the cave. With Aiko still asleep she couldn¡¯t grow the vegetables and this was his chance.


    Brass really wanted to show that he could be useful so he was persistent in looking farther and farther away from the cave. As he looked about he began noticing that it was getting colder.


    Thinking about it Brass looked down at his hands and saw that they were dripping with the rain that was still sprinkling down throughout the forest. He then looked at the unusual sight of his clothing. Also soaking wet. Brass decided that he was going to go back but he still hoped to find something to eat so he took a detour.


    Aiko awoke to the sound of the fire still going and thought that perhaps she had only dozed off for a few minutes. When she looked at the entrance to the cave she found out how wrong she was. It was well into the day even if today was a very dark overcast day. She was able to see just fine by the light of the flickering fire that was already getting kind of low.


    Apparently Brass had built the fire back up which was something she didn¡¯t even know he could do. That brought her attention to his absence and she began searching around frantically for the boy.


    Not finding him Aiko made her way to the entrance of the cave and looked about in the general vicinity. She still couldn¡¯t find him and began to panic a bit. However, a moment later she found one of his footprints in the mossy mud leading away from the cave in one direction.


    Aiko immediately jumped into the trees and began searching frantically. She couldn¡¯t help her imagination running back to the site of an ogre picking up a screaming rabbit-person and ripping its throat out.


    Brass continued looking around and just as he was getting frustrated he actually managed to find a patch of some big vegetables. He quickly ran over to them and began checking to see how he was going to grab one. He found the spot where the vegetable was attached to a vine that was wrapping around the base of a tree and gnawed it loose.


    Finally, he had breakfast secured and began confidently walking back towards the cave. It only took a few minutes of him walking and dragging the large vegetable behind him to begin questioning whether he actually knew that he was headed back to the cave.


    Suddenly a thought struck him. What if he never found his way back to the cave and never found his way back to Aiko? The thought disturbed him so much that he couldn¡¯t help himself and sat down in the mud and began crying.


    Aiko jumped around from tree to tree, branch to branch searching desperately for the boy somewhere on the ground. She had been searching for several minutes and was beginning to doubt that she was still going in the right direction. What if he turned and headed in a different direction? What if she couldn¡¯t find him?


    Aiko could feel her heart racing faster and faster and was starting to have trouble breathing. She stopped on a branch and backed up against a tree to try and catch her breath but it seemed to get harder and harder to breathe.


    All at once she felt a calming sensation wash over her and then for no reason that she could think of she turned to her left and began bounding down a different branch.


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    Aiko wasn¡¯t sure exactly why she had taken this branch and she certainly didn¡¯t know why she kept going when she reached the end of the branch. She was beginning to question just what she was supposed to do when she caught a subtle sound in the distance.


    Barely discernible over the wind and rain she could almost make out what sounded like a voice. Actually what she heard didn¡¯t really sound much like a voice but more like whaling.


    She stopped and scanned in various directions until she narrowed down approximately where she thought she was hearing the noise coming from. She began running along the branches in that general direction and was rewarded by the ever-increasing volume of the sobbing voice.


    Aiko very quickly found herself looking down at a bawling Brass sitting in the mud at the base of the tree she was in. Next to the boy was a large vegetable that she vaguely recognized.


    She immediately understood what had prompted Brass to leave The Cave. The boy was hungry and there was no more food left in the cave. She was impressed that he had found something on his own but she didn¡¯t have the heart to tell him that the vegetable that he was trying to drag back wasn¡¯t edible.


    Now she just had to get them both back to the cave but she soon realized that she didn¡¯t know the direction of the cave. That could wait. Aiko had to go down to Brass and calm him down before she could go looking for their temporary cave dwelling.


    As Aiko approached Brass looked up in momentary terror before recognition dawned in his eyes. The moment that he realized that it was Aiko Brass jumped towards her and hugged her close and if anything his bawling intensified.


    She really couldn¡¯t do anything for him but just patted his back which was easy enough to do since they were roughly the same size for now.


    As she patted his back Aiko became acutely aware of how cold and wet they both were. She whispered in his ear that she had to go find the cave real quick and he let her go.


    When Aiko made her way to the top of the tree she was relieved to find exactly what she was hoping to see, a line of smoke rising from the forest not very far away. now Aiko had to figure out how to get Brass to leave behind the inedible vegetable.


    She thought about it for just a moment before a plan struck her. Aiko rushed down the tree, grabbed Brass by the sleeve, and whispered frantically in his ear. ¡°We have to go! we have to go right now. I spotted something coming towards us. I don¡¯t know what it is and I don¡¯t want to know but I do know where our cave is so let¡¯s go there quick.¡±


    The two of them then began running back towards The Cave until they collapsed behind the dwindling fire in a heaving mound. Aiko lied again and said that she was pretty sure that they had lost whatever it was but that she wanted to get the fire brighter to keep whatever it was away.


    It didn¡¯t take very long for the fire to build back up and the two of them had to strip down and wait for their clothing and fur to dry out.


    In the meantime, Aiko took out a few of the dried berries and after pulling the seed out of them she began grinding them in her mortar and pestle. She set the ground-down berries aside on a large leaf.


    She then took out a packet from her backpack and began unfolding it. Out of that packet, she pulled several dried large leaves and began grinding them in the mortar and pestle.


    Aiko then pulled out the clay pot and suspended it above the fire before filling it with water. She put the ground berries and ground leaves into the pot once it was hot. The resulting stew was somewhat sweet and tangy and they both enjoyed the hot meal.


    By the time they were done with their meal, it had stopped raining outside. Once they were done packing everything up they set out again.


    Although the rain had delayed their advance Aiko felt that things could have gone much worse. She reminded herself that it would have been entirely possible for her to have not found Brass again. If she hadn¡¯t turned around on that tree there was a possibility that she wouldn¡¯t have found him.


    The thought scared her. She began chastising Brass for going off without her and said that no matter what they should stick together. She told him that she didn¡¯t want to lose him. He began crying but nodded anyway.


    They continued their trek for several more days uneventfully. They got to a part of the forest where it was hard to tell which direction the sun was moving in and it was always dark.


    Aiko had to run up the trees a lot more often in this denser part of the forest. At one point Aiko came down to find Brass listening intently. His ears were swiveling in all directions and she began booking around. It didn¡¯t take very long for her to find what he was listening to.

 B2 Chapter 28

    It didn¡¯t take very long at all for Aiko to find what Brass was listening to. Off their path by a bit was a large bush and inside was something wrestling about.


    Aiko made her way down to Brass and told him to wait on the other side of the tree. She then made her way over by the branches above whatever was in the bush.


    Once she was above it she could tell that it was some kind of large green monster. It looked vaguely like the goo that seeped out of certain plump plants when they were broken open.


    The thing was spread across a carcass in the bush. Aiko wasn¡¯t sure but she thought it might be eating the remains of whatever that was. There were small bubbles rising through the green jelly-like creature. When the bubbles made it to its surface, they would pop with a hiss of some kind of sour-smelling smoke that irritated Aiko¡¯s nose.


    Aiko then used her chaos grasp spell to rustle a branch of the bush. When the monster didn¡¯t respond she decided it would be safe to try something else.


    She began yelling at the creature in the bush but despite everything she yelled at it the creature didn¡¯t respond. It seemed that the monster was too intent on its meal to pay them any attention.


    Aiko made her way back to Brass and they proceeded cautiously around the bush avoiding it by taking a different path.


    A couple days after that Brass once again stopped in the path and began twitching his ears in every direction. Aiko stopped and watched in fascination. Brass then pointed to the side in a random direction and Aiko nodded to him.


    She ran up the closest tree and began bounding across branches in that direction. She went on for a bit but couldn¡¯t find anything. She made her way back cautiously and scanned more closely the whole way.


    When she was almost back to the same spot she had left Brass she found him on the ground below her. He was pointing down a small hill at something that she couldn¡¯t see. She descended the tree and he pointed towards the ground at the base of the hill again.


    When she made her way a bit closer she began to hear something as well. She could hear talking in a very high squeaky voice. She looked around again but couldn¡¯t find the source of the voice.


    It wasn¡¯t until Brass came up beside her and she noticed that his ears were still swiveling back and forth that she knew that he was still tracking down the sound. It took another few seconds before the two of them found the source of the noise.


    When they climbed down to the base of the hill they discovered a line of ants on the other side of a log making their way behind a bunch of roots. The ants were all carrying tiny Spears and one of them was yelling at the others.


    Once they were that close they could make out the words. The one yelling was calling out directions for the rest of the ants to follow.


    A couple of ants were moving quicker than the others and as they watched one of the two ran away from the loud one and one ran towards that one. When one got close enough, that one began speaking to the loud one and a moment later it began yelling directions again.


    The two of them watched the strange proceedings of the ants as they moved about. They weren¡¯t very quick because they were so small. Each of the ants was probably only as tall as Aiko¡¯s knee if that.


    They decided to move around to the other side where the ants were going. They found that the ants that were running were looking ahead of where the rest of the ants were going. They would bring the information to the loud one and it would call out the directions for the rest.


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    The ants were a lot of fun to spy on and the two of them spent quite a bit of time watching them. For the most part, the ants just went about doing the same things with the larger group of ants all moving about in a line and all carrying Spears.


    The only differences were that there were about eight to ten of them at any time that would run around looking at the area around where the ants column was going and would report back to the loud one. The loud one listened to all of the ants that were exploring and would call out directions to the rest of them.


    Apparently, the vociferous ant was choosing from the directions given to it by the scouts and directing the rest of the group to follow the chosen path.


    Aiko and Brass watched for a while in silence but eventually, Aiko made a mistake. While she was leaning over a bunch of large rocks watching the ants her foot slipped. The noise of the rocks clattering to the bottom of the pile drew the attention of all of the ants.


    Suddenly all of them were pointing their spears at her and Brass. Aiko was very embarrassed but quickly apologized to them. ¡±I¡¯m really sorry. We Didn¡¯t mean to disturb you. We were just watching you exploring the forest.¡±


    Brass spoke up in a timid voice. ¡°Well, Uhm¡­ W-what are you looking for? You look like you¡¯re looking for S-something.¡±


    The loud one looked up at Aiko and Brass before replying. ¡±Perhaps we are. My sisters and I are looking for food. Why do you ask?¡±


    Aiko and Brass exchanged looks for a moment before Aiko spoke up. ¡°If you¡¯re looking for food then perhaps we could help. What kind of food are you looking for? I can probably find a lot more than you in the trees.¡±


    Brass interjected quickly. ¡°And I¡¯m a lot quicker than you on the ground so I could find something too.¡±


    The leader looked back and forth between the two and seemed to consider their words for a moment before she replied. ¡°But why would you help us? Every time we run across big people they always step on us or ignore us. Why should we trust you?¡±


    Aiko was suddenly and violently sick at the thought of somebody stepping on these ant-people. Brass replied for the two of them. ¡°I don¡¯t know. It just kind of seems fun. I like looking for things and finding things.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t get to help people very much either. Everybody just tried to make me leave from my warren so if I can help then I want to. I don¡¯t want anybody to feel like nobody likes them. I know how much that hurts.¡±


    Aiko finally got her voice back after wiping the vomit from her mouth. ¡°I guess it¡¯s the same for me. I don¡¯t want to see anybody left behind either. I especially don¡¯t want anybody to step on you. That¡¯s just mean.¡±


    The leader looked between the two of them again before she lowered her spear and began walking in their direction. It took her a few moments to climb the rock stack that they were on and get closer. The closer she got the more hesitant she seemed until she was standing only a hand span away from the two. ¡°Very well, I accept your help in the spirit that it¡¯s given. I greet you in the name of our queen Ziprit Nitze Tat and once we have secured food I would invite you to eat with us at the Nitze mound.¡±


    The ant woman bowed at the waist with a fist over her chest. ¡°My name is Zenya Nitze Lay and these are the warriors of the Lay foraging band.¡±


    At her words, all of the other ants slapped their right fist over their chest and bowed briefly. From there the negotiations were pretty quick. Aiko asked what type of foods the ants were looking for and found that they mostly ate fruits.


    She was about to pull out one of the fruit seeds from her backpack when Brass stopped her. He was sniffing the air and pointed in a random direction. ¡°I think there¡¯s fruit over there. I smell something sweet in the air but it might be flowers too.¡±


    Aiko told them to wait while she went to have a look but Zenya insisted on coming with her. It really didn¡¯t take her very long to find the source of the smell that Brass was saying he smelled. Only a dozen or so trees in the direction that he pointed Aiko found a tree that had fruit growing on it.


    It wasn¡¯t just any fruit this fruit was humongous. A lot of the vegetables that Aiko had grown were as large or larger than her but not many of the fruit. These fruit however were over twice her size but none of them were ripe.


    The source of the smell was a fruit that had been pecked loose from a higher branch and had fallen to the ground where it had begun to rot. When Zenya saw the fruit on the ground she got very excited and started pointing. She would have fallen off if it weren¡¯t for her holding onto Aiko¡¯s fur with her four feet. Aiko then went back and showed Brass the way to the fruit that was lying on the ground and told him to go back and bring the Ants.

 B2 Chapter 29

    Aiko went back to the tree with the fruit in it, Zenya still clinging onto her shoulder. She then set about ripening one of the large fruits for her and Brass. By using chaos knife and chaos grasp Aiko managed to get the fruit safely to the ground without damaging it.


    The two of them went about eating the spoils of the endeavor and the ants all sat down and savored some of the rotten fruit next to them. When Aiko asked why they were eating the rotten fruit instead of the good one Zenya told her that an ant''s stomach couldn¡¯t handle fruit that wasn¡¯t already rotten. Aiko had a pitying look cross her face briefly but didn¡¯t comment.


    After their meal, all the ants began discussing how much of the fruit they were going to get back to their nest. Aiko told them that if she knew the way back to the nest she could get the entire fruit there. The entire group began moving the rest of the fruit about and getting it ready to be transported.


    At first, Aiko had considered just moving the fruit using her spell but that would be too far for her to walk with that spell going. She had discovered during her time gardening at the Warrens that she had a limited amount of time she could use the spell. If she didn¡¯t want to drop the fruit and ruin it she was going to have to use something else.


    Aiko wasn¡¯t sure what she could do but then she remembered that she had Brass with her. She remembered a couple of the rabbit people using sticks across their shoulders to carry things between them. After a bit of trial and error, Aiko and Brass managed to fit two long thin sticks through the remains of the two pieces of fruit and hoist them up for carrying.


    Seeing that the pieces were likely to touch and Aiko didn¡¯t want the rotten fruit rubbing on their good fruit she asked Brass to pull out his blanket and wrap around their fruit. She figured that that would probably get his blanket a little dirty but they could wash it in a stream later.


    It took a bit more working around to find a way for all of the ants to not get left behind. The two of them were much faster than the ants because of their size. The ants could all climb into one of their backpacks but Zenya warned them that ants needed to be able to smell to find their way home.


    The inelegant solution that they came up with was for two of the lightest of the ants to cling to Aiko¡¯s legs while she walked and point her in the right direction. All the rest of the ants climbed into Brass¡¯s backpack.


    By the time they made it to the Nitze mound, it was almost dark. That night the ants had a grand celebration because this was the most food that any of these scouting parties had ever brought back.


    Aiko and Brass made a fire and enjoyed tea with their fruit for supper. After the feast queen Ziprit came out and personally thanked the two of them for their help. She then told them that she had an important matter that she needed to discuss with them.


    Aiko was very, very curious about what the queen might have to discuss with her but tried to keep herself from fidgeting. She was worried that it was going to be something grim and annoying like the councilman from the warrens had sprung on her about Brass.


    It turned out that she was both right and wrong at the same time.


    The Queen explained that her time was limited as Queen. The last word of her name actually meant which generation she belonged to. She informed Aiko and Brass that the tat generation was coming to a close and would need to be replaced by the lay generation.


    She then asked if the two of them would help them with a ritual to expand their influence. Aiko wasn¡¯t sure exactly what she meant but she told the queen that she was happy to help if it was something she could do and it was safe.


    After that, the Queen told her that they would handle everything else but they just wanted her help with spreading out. She informed Aiko that she had nine daughters that were fit to be queen and she didn¡¯t want them fighting over the position of ruler of the Netze mound.


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    She went on and said that she would appoint one of her daughters as the future ruler of their current mound but wanted the other eight to spread out and make new mounds in distant lands. To that end she wanted all of her other eight daughters to go with the pair of them and find places to make new mounds.


    Aiko agreed because the ants were very light and wouldn¡¯t really cause much trouble for them to carry. The queen thanked them profusely and headed back towards the mound while calling Zenya and a few others after her. Aiko and Brass decided that it was a good time to go ahead and go to sleep.


    The next morning when they awoke there was already a procession going on. The queen was leading nine other ants out of the mound behind her. The mound was covered in ants and as the ten of them passed through they left the mound covered in spirals from the top to the bottom.


    They stopped in a line in front of the pair of travelers. The Queen then walked to the middle of the line and looked back and forth between what were apparently her nine daughters. After what seemed like several moments of deliberation she walked over to one of them and laid her hands on the girl¡¯s shoulder and then kneeled in front of her.


    There seemed to be a bit of tension from most of the other daughters that weren¡¯t chosen but not all. The Queen and the chosen daughter then silently walked back to the mound while the other eight just watched them go.


    After the queen was out of sight the other eight ants turned to look up at Aiko and Brass. It was Zenya who finally broke the silence. ¡°Well, that was an interesting and exhilarating night. It looks like we¡¯ll be going with you.¡±


    Aiko Brass and the eight ants had a leisurely breakfast before Aiko began getting everything ready. She was a little worried that they wouldn¡¯t be able to find food for the ants along the way.


    When she voiced her concern she was surprised to find that it was Brass who came up with a solution. He suggested that they take some of the fruit that was ripe but not rotten and put it into one of the pickling jars without any salt or water.


    The two of them ate a bit more of the fruit till they were over-full and then stuffed a bit more of it into one of the jars. The rest of their fruit they pushed over next to the rotting one and left it for the ants of the Netze Mound.


    As they continued their journey several of the ants left their company, about one a day. The last three of the sisters stayed with them for a while longer.


    After about as many days of travel as could be counted on both of Aiko¡¯s hands and toes, they finally came across something startlingly new. As Aiko made her way to the top of a tree in the later evening she was met with the site of a lot of smoke in the distance.


    At first, she was confused and thought that perhaps this was some new type of cloud because there was so much smoke. Once she realized that it was smoke they immediately adjusted their course to head towards it. It didn¡¯t take another day to reach the source of all the smoke.


    As they got closer the five of them could hear work going on in the woods ahead of them. There was a rhythmic thumping sound coming from a lot of different directions. Once they got close enough Aiko recognized the sound.


    That was the sound of axes chopping wood. Suddenly the amount of smoke made a lot more sense to her. If there were that many people chopping wood that must mean that they had a lot of fires to feed wood to.


    Once they got close enough to see the edge of the woods Aiko understood that she had been fundamentally wrong about where the smoke was coming from. The people chopping the wood were hauling huge logs off into a large village in the distance but a lot closer than that is where the fires were.


    Everywhere that trees were chopped down the people were building large fires to burn the brush limbs and roots of the trees that they had chopped down. She could see some tall people working with a huge scaly animal to pull the roots out whole.


    The five of them warily made their way out of the forest between two of the people chopping trees. Since nobody seemed to be paying them any attention though they kept going.


    They quickly made their way towards the large village in the distance. It was over several hills away from the edge of the forest that they had exited from.


    The first hill the one next to the forest was mostly on fire in several spots. The next hill had a small stream running between it and the last and it had low grass growing on it. The hill closest to the village seemed to have big gardens on it and it was a lot lower and wider of a hill.


    As they approached they saw people working out in the gardens. They also found that the big village had a row of logs stuck into the ground around it so that as you approached you couldn¡¯t see the village anymore.


    Once they got closer to the wall of logs they could make out people standing near a hole through the wall. There was also a path that led between a couple of big hills covered in gardens and that path led right to the hole in the wall.


    Aiko decided that it would be a good idea to follow that path and head for that hole in the wall. So the five of them made their way towards the two people standing toweringly to either side of the huge hole in the tree wall.

 Apologies

    Sorry, to any who were following my work. IRL has been most unkind in the way only reality can be. I lost the battle to depression, laziness, and several of my other demons. I plan to try to get back to writing but I can''t commit to more than a chapter a week. I will try to post the next chapter on Friday. Also of interest to any readers, I am going to try to change my writing style. I have always tended toward the detailed and wordy type of writing but I feel like my work has slowed to a crawl and the storyline hasn''t progressed as fast as I would want it to when I read it back. I don''t plan to change what I''ve already written but I want to try to speed the writing along from now on. I want to get a story told and I have a lot of it left so I will need to move things along. Also, on that note. I have numerous other stories that tie into this one along the way so I may postpone the story along the way to write in another story that will feature in this one somehow. If that occurs, I will be sure to let you know, either in the comments or the author''s notes. If you have been following but never left a comment, not even a TFTC, please do so. It makes a big difference to every author whether their work is being read. I would encourage you to always leave a comment on any work you read. The rest of this is just going to be this message repeated to make up for the missing word count.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Sorry, to any who were following my work. IRL has been most unkind in the way only reality can be. I lost the battle to depression, laziness, and several of my other demons. I plan to try to get back to writing but I can''t commit to more than a chapter a week. I will try to post the next chapter on Friday. Also of interest to any readers, I am going to try to change my writing style. I have always tended toward the detailed and wordy type of writing but I feel like my work has slowed to a crawl and the storyline hasn''t progressed as fast as I would want it to when I read it back. I don''t plan to change what I''ve already written but I want to try to speed the writing along from now on. I want to get a story told and I have a lot of it left so I will need to move things along. Also, on that note. I have numerous other stories that tie into this one along the way so I may postpone the story along the way to write in another story that will feature in this one somehow. If that occurs, I will be sure to let you know, either in the comments or the author''s notes. If you have been following but never left a comment, not even a TFTC, please do so. It makes a big difference to every author whether their work is being read. I would encourage you to always leave a comment on any work you read. The rest of this is just going to be this message repeated to make up for the missing word count.

 B2 Chapter 30 - Krathe

    Krathe slunk quietly across the wall of the massive area looking about in equal parts amazement and panic. Everywhere he looked was a hive of bustling activity. There were gods and angels and even demons running about everywhere with a determined stride.


    As he looked about, his master was watching the whole scene through his eyes and guiding him through whispers in his ear. At least, he should have been hearing whispers in his ear. Ever since he had stepped a careful foot into this supposedly young and inexperienced goddess''s domain, his divine patron had been as obviously flummoxed as he himself felt.


    This was a realm of ornate opulence but in contrast with every other gaudy or gauche godly domain he had ever witnessed, this place seemed to have a decided purpose for every item visible. And there was no end to the things to look at here!


    Krathe looked about in bewilderment at the area around him. He quickly realized he had been lucky so far. He had a spell of concealment cast on himself but it wouldn¡¯t help very much if he were looked at directly in front of a blank flat wall. The spell was even worse when viewed from multiple directions at the same time. Worst of all, whatever these windows were showing made him stand out even worse and they wrapped around three entire walls of the room!


    The only wall that would have let Krathe blend in easily was the back wall covered in doors. The problem with that wall was that it happened to be one of the busiest areas of the whole room with gods coming and going constantly.


    Almost from the moment he had set foot into this room, he felt he was in the wrong place. This was not the abode of a young and inexperienced goddess in the first hundred years of her reign. There were far too many gods here to be working for a new goddess. This felt like the kind of numbers he had seen in the halls of the upper gods that he had stepped out of to get here!


    How could one new goddess command the loyalty and servitude of so many? This was ridiculous!


    Then there were the items he saw everywhere. Supposedly, this was the goddess that had made the new communication spell that everyone was so enamored with. Krathe had his doubts but almost every god or goddess here seemed to possess the glowing golden screens in their hand or hanging around in their periphery. Every one of these deities seemed to know exactly how to use the spell and were obviously using them for way more than just talking to each other.


    Krathe looked about the huge room until his eyes landed on the giant sphere in the center of the room and then at the image set into the ceiling that he had completely missed up to this point. The image seemed to be moving very slowly but he couldn¡¯t figure out what it was supposed to represent until he realized that one of the dots was named the same as the planet, according to the glowing ring hovering around the base of the globe.


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    Many things about the workings of the room started to fall into place bit by bit as Krathe looked about. The globe in the center of the room was a piece of equipment. It was a huge spell of some sort and let the deities assembled look at the spots that were highlighted on its surface.


    As Krathe watched, one of the goddesses stepped up to the side of the globe and pointed at the central island and a tiny glowing gold circle appeared on the map. The goddess then turned and looked at the wall and Krathe almost had a panic attack! He felt as if he would have died from heart failure if he still had a heart and were still alive.


    After a terrified moment, Krathe realized that the goddess wasn¡¯t looking directly at him but at the desk in front of the windowpane next to his current location. He took a moment to look at the window near him and almost recoiled in shock. The scene was rapidly changing and there was a god sitting at the desk in front of it moving his fingers across the top of the desk in some arcane movements. The two deities seemed to be conversing as well and as Krathe watched they settled on a scene of a small tribe of some kind of creatures the like of which he had never seen before.


    As Krathe was staring transfixed at the scene on the screen a harsh guttural whisper jolted him out of his daze. ¡°Stop gawking and find her already! The longer you are there, the more chances you give them to find you.¡±


    Krathe began scanning the area again and came to the startling realization quite a while later. ¡°She¡¯s not here at all! Master, what shall I do now? The Kaori goddess isn¡¯t here.¡±


    An annoyed click came from the other side of the mental link. ¡°Come back Krathe. I will send you to invite her here another time. Perhaps we can use that time to figure out a better way to do so. I don¡¯t want to explain to Descartes why you were in his favorite¡¯s domain, uninvited. Besides, you gathered enough information in the time you were there that we will still garner a certain edge from this scouting mission. Indeed, this wasn¡¯t time wasted!¡±


    As the door at the end of the line, next to the wall closed, Krathe breathed a proverbial sigh of relief through his skeletal mouth and began hurriedly sneaking his way back to his master¡¯s domain, a dozen offices down from Descartes''s own.


    Unbenounced to the lich, a goddess trailed after him with a calm demeanor while typing silently on her PDI. Risse, Kaori¡¯s personally appointed goddess of knowledge and wisdom was so used to the devices at this point that she didn¡¯t even have to look at it to type. [And that was the last thing he said before leaving your domain. I¡¯m afraid that I cannot perceive the other side of the conversation.]


    [Very good, I appreciate your help on this. I don¡¯t want you to enter anyone else¡¯s domain though. Just find out where our little friend goes and then report back to me. As a reward, when I get back next, I¡¯ll take you to Earth and treat you to a totally new experience! I can¡¯t wait to show you what roller coasters are like!]

 B2 Chapter 31

    As the five of them approached the guards turned them a curious gaze and one knelt down. The man looked the two over a little bit before speaking to them, not even noticing the three ant women.


    ¡°Whoa there. It¡¯s ok no need to be afraid. I just need to talk to you for a moment. Where do you kids come from? Are you orphans and are you planning on staying here?¡±


    The man looked between them for a couple more seconds before adding another comment. ¡° As a guard, I really have to know these things before I can let you in. It¡¯s okay you¡¯re not in trouble or anything.¡±


    Aiko considered things for a moment Before she replied. She began slow but quickly built up steam and started telling him everything that had gone on from the time she woke up to this point.


    The guard looked more and more bewildered as she went on and then took on a bit of a panicked look.


    Aiko hadn¡¯t realized that she was crying until she was done talking but one thing she hadn¡¯t expected was for the guard to gently reach down and give her a hug. The man, because his deep resonant voice left no question about that, began comforting her and telling her that everything would be all right.


    The guard then took her and Brass into the city. They quickly made their way between a number of different shops and the guard took them to a very large building and had a quiet chat with the owner of the building.


    After a bit, the owner leaned down and asked her if she would be willing to work for him. He explained that they would need some place to live in the town but he couldn¡¯t just give them a room for free.


    He said that, if she worked for him, that he could see to her housing without any problems and that he would give her enough time off so that she could look for something else to do in order to make money to pay for the room if she didn¡¯t like working for him.


    Aiko quickly agreed and the five of them settled into a very small room according to the owner. Aiko Brass and the ant sisters all thought that it was immense. By comparison to the people that were normally living in these rooms, she could see that it would be small for them.


    The next few weeks were spent doing all manner of small chores in what Aiko came to know was called an inn and was made specifically for travelers. At first, she had a hard time getting used to the implements needed to clean because most of them were so much bigger than her but she quickly realized that she could use her magic to do the chores so much quicker.


    The innkeeper didn¡¯t mind at all. The old man had come in on her using her magic to clean a room one time and after backing out of the room with wide eyes had simply stood there with a big grin watching for quite a while until a bell at the counter had drawn him away from the spectacle.


    After that, the man never bothered her again over whether or not she would be able to accomplish any task that he set for her.


    Brass, Zenya, and her two sisters went out every day looking for things that they could do to earn money. Aiko would join them after she managed to finish the chores that were set for her. She usually got done fairly quickly in the morning and then would spend the day talking to various people around town and looking for somewhere that she could be helpful and make money.


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    The five of them managed to make a small amount of coin by doing various odd jobs but nothing steady came from it.


    Just as Aiko was settling into the idea that she was going to be stuck doing chores the whole time they stayed in the town, Brass came hurrying into the bedroom and told her that he had found them all a job for a good while.


    The next day the five of them went out to one of the fields outside of town. As it turned out one of the farmers had heard of them and was curious enough to search them out.


    After talking with Brass for a while, he determined that they would be a good solution to his problems in his garden. The problem he was having was with pests eating his plants. Since all of them were so much smaller than the other races in town he hired them to go through his garden every day and kill bugs and other vermin.


    It turned out that this was a very lucrative venture for everybody except Aiko. Everybody else was at such a low level that they were able to gain multiple levels very quickly just killing bugs and rodents that had wandered into the garden for a meal.


    Soon enough, two of the sisters left stating that they had high enough levels that they felt they would be able to make a strong hive. The other three couldn¡¯t and didn¡¯t begrudge them the chance to fulfill their mission in life.


    At one point Aiko had gotten bold enough to ask Zenya about the night before they left from the Nitze hive and had learned that all the possible future queens had been impregnated by multiple drones from other hives. They were then able to leave the hive and start a new mound by laying eggs. Aiko wondered aloud if she was meant to find someplace to lay eggs and Zenya explained to her that that¡¯s not exactly how things worked for other species. The rest of the night was very enlightening and embarrassing for the girl.


    The next day It was back into the fields. Aiko spent a bit of time every morning doing the chores around the inn anyway because the owner of the Inn had thrown in breakfast shortly after they started staying there. He claimed it was because he realized that none of the ¡°children¡± were eating as well as they needed to be.


    All of them got to experience a plethora of new tastes from all over the place. This town was fairly close to another and both of them were just on the edge of the territory of a large seaport city. Since the two towns grew an excess of vegetables, they traded these and other various goods to the seaport in exchange for various goods from up and down the coast.


    The Workload in the garden intensified as the summer growing season progressed and the animals became more and more active after the winter months. At this point, some of the larger animals in the forest had begun to make their way into the garden in an attempt to eat some of the easier food available in plain sight. It didn¡¯t go very well for them since Aiko could decapitate them with a single flick of her chaos blade.


    When she started doing this to the first few the farmer didn¡¯t notice. She would take them with chaos grasp out to the edge of the woods and drop the bodies off to rot.


    One day the farmer came across her doing this and asked her what she was doing. When she told him he explained to her that she was losing money that she could have been making by selling the fur and meat from these animals. Aiko almost had a meltdown on the spot because she had wasted over a dozen animals that way.


    The next couple weeks we¡¯re very busy with her and her pals learning how to butcher and cure meat and cure pelts from the animals. It became apparent that they weren¡¯t going to get very many levels with all three of them guarding the garden and all three of them wanted to garner a few more levels of experience.


    They came up with a plan for each of them to take turns in the garden while the other two would make a pair and hunt in the edge of the woods during the day. After a few days of doing this, the farmer caught on and asked about it.


    He was a little bit put out by the idea that they weren¡¯t all guarding his garden like he had hired them to do but they explained that any one of them was capable of guarding his garden from all but the largest and meanest of forest animals that they had come across recently. Being skeptical the man asked to see and chose Zenya for the example. He already knew that Aiko was more than capable with her magic and so decided to make a point with the smallest of the group.

 B2 Chapter 32

    The next day, Zenya began zipping around the garden and brought back every bug and every animal that she found in the garden and deposited them on the farmer¡¯s porch for inspection. The man was amazed to see the ant was capable of taking down animals dozens if not hundreds of times her size and equally as capable of carrying them anywhere she so pleased.


    By this point, Zenya was fast enough that no mere animal could even see her coming and her spear work was lightning quick. The only animal that gave her any problems was actually on the smaller side. It was a short furry animal with tan and gray fur on its body and black and white markings on its elongated triangular head.


    The creature wasn¡¯t particularly fast but had good reflexes. The problem was that it was very strong for its size and was ferocious. It had a wicked bite and long claws that seemed to be mostly for digging but that didn¡¯t stop it from using them to swipe with.


    It put up quite a fight but ultimately it didn¡¯t stand a chance against her. Upon seeing the creature, the farmer seemed quite pleased as well. The farmers called the things furry devils and generally gave up on whatever crops one of the animals had its stomach set on eating.


    The three of them had gone to the local blacksmith at some point and each had gotten a weapon sized specifically for them. With Zenya wielding an iron spear, even one the size of a large sewing needle, she was a force to be reckoned with.


    The farmer agreed to letting the kids split up the chore of watching his garden.


    The next few months were spent much the same way. Aiko would spend the early part of the morning cleaning the inn then they would go to breakfast and then head off into the fields. The routine got pretty easy, with one of them staying behind to watch the garden while the other two went out into the woods to hunt.


    During this time the three of them got to know their capabilities much better. Aiko was already fairly well acquainted with her magic but Zenya started to figure out that she could use unbelievable techniques to hunt things that were much larger than her. It became apparent fairly quick that she got some sort of Extra skill or power when hunting things that were larger than her.


    Likewise, Brass began to discover that he was the stealthiest and sneakiest of the trio and when he set his mind on it could sneak up on almost any prey in the forest edging the farm.


    With the final Harvest being brought in and the snow soon to start, the farmer let them know that he wouldn¡¯t be able to keep them employed through the winter. This didn¡¯t really upset them all that much because they had a sizable stock of funds set aside for anything that they would need.


    Aiko was still working in the inn every morning which saw to their housing. The only thing that really troubled them when the farmer spoke to them was that they had been eating lunch at his farm but that was a minor detail.


    The only other thing wrong with the situation was the realization that they would be bored with nothing to do.


    Once the first dusting of snow started to come down the three of them began going out every day and looking for other things that they could do around town. Aiko found that she would be able to do numerous things around town with her magic but that still left the other two with nothing to do. Ideally, the three of them wanted something that they could do together.


    The time wasn¡¯t all wasted though because Aiko found that she had more time to talk to the multitudes of people in the town. A lot of times she would spend longer in the inn just waiting on people who ordered food. She got pretty good with the few recipes that were offered from the in.


    Brass also began waiting tables to make it easier for each of them to take their time talking to customers. Zenya tried but found the height disparity too great to overcome.


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    It was while Aiko was talking to one of the patrons that she finally discovered why everybody was so hostile towards outsiders. Apparently, a few years back there was a huge plague that had killed off almost all of the old and young and left only the particularly fit behind. With so many people dying from an illness, those left behind became increasingly paranoid about new people and many even became hostile.


    Aiko finally realized that with the exception of the very young, there was a gap in age seen in every tribe that she had encountered thus far. She also realized that there were no old people in any of the tribes except for the elves. Putting two and two together, Aiko realized that the barrier that kept the elves safe during winter probably saved them from the plague as well. She wanted to tell the people about the barrier that the elves had but something inside her held her back.


    About two weeks after the first snow had begun to fall Zenya came home in the evening with exciting news. She was talking to a group of people that day and found something that they would all be able to do but it would require that they left the inn for an extended period of time.


    Apparently, the group that she talked to were something called adventurers and went into some sort of dangerous hole in the Ground near the base of the mountain. The group was looking for people to go with them and carry their stuff among other things.


    The next day all three of them left very early in the morning so that they could meet up with the adventurers before they left for the day. By all accounts, adventurers got to work very early in the morning. They found out later that it was a habit picked up early in all adventurer¡¯s careers because they wanted to get the first shot at the best-paying or easiest quests from the group that hired them. They also found out the group was called the guild but were told they were too young to join.


    Aiko found this bit of information odd because they had been hired earlier in the day by this group to go into some big magic hole called a dungeon by a group of adventurers. She asked about the group and found out that they had just lost a member in the dungeon a little over a week back.


    Aiko figured that they must be desperate to replace the missing member if they were willing to hire children. One of the smarter old guys in the guild hall, some kind of wolf or coyote mix, picked up on what she was leaving out and decided to fill them all in.


    According to him, the group was looking to use them to bait monsters and spring traps. He advised them to steer clear of the group because they wouldn¡¯t pay the kids what they would have to pay an experienced scout to go into the dungeons. He figured that between the three of them, the group had paid them five silver or less each while they would have to have paid a good scout three gold or more.


    The three of them thanked the man and were discussing how to equip themselves to minimize the risks when the guy called over a guild worker. The guy and the grizzled young woman he called over, literally a grizzly bear, began discussing in hushed tones while the kids were still busy.


    Before the three of them knew what was happening, the pair picked them all up and started carrying them to the back of the guild building. They struggled but it was futile. Both the man and the woman had iron grips and monstrous strength. There was a chorus of laughter from many of the patrons in the guild hall as they were carried off.


    The pair dropped the kids on tables in the back of the guild hall. Aiko had considered using magic to free herself. That was until she heard the laughter and realized they were likely in for a lecture or going to be told they couldn¡¯t accept the job.


    To her surprise and that of her friends, the pair just backed up and regarded them critically. The woman spoke first in a low gravelly voice that didn¡¯t sound very feminine.


    ¡°I suppose that the lot of you are determined to take the risks and join that group anyway, aren¡¯t you? Well, if you¡¯re going to go anyway, we might as well give you all some guidance. With any luck, you three might just live through a couple runs. My advice though, is you should run away first thing.¡±


    ¡°I think you can tell as well as I can that these kids aren¡¯t going to listen to that. All right you pups, listen up. I can¡¯t teach you about the dungeon because you aren¡¯t old enough to join the guild and go in there. Instead, I¡¯m going to talk to my friend here about what it might be like to go into a dungeon if we were kids and how she thinks we could survive some of those traps and monsters if we were.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you three go running off though. He might ask you what you think and I might get mad at you if you don¡¯t talk to us after we went out of our way to include you in our fun little chat!¡±


    If the advice they were going to receive wasn¡¯t enough, the growled threat the woman gave certainly was. And so, Aiko, Brass, and Zenya sat and listened to Vargas and Brell discuss the dungeon for the next couple of hours. Things got really interesting a few minutes in when the duo began asking what the children could do and got a few demonstrations.


    The rest of the day was spent getting supplies for the next day and then going to bed early so they would be ready.

 B2 Chapter 33

    The next day saw the children all waiting for the group of adventurers well before the break of dawn. As the three of them waited patiently at the designated street corner they went over their plans that they had made with Brell and Vargas.


    They weren¡¯t exactly sure what to expect but found out fairly soon. The adventures headed almost immediately off of the well-trodden portions of the path leading out of town.


    There was a certain portion of the forest around the town that had been cut down in all directions. The children learned some time back that the reason for all of the wood being chopped down around the town was for not only farming land but also for safety. All of the trees missing around the town made a good line of sight in the event that monsters came out of the woods.


    It wasn¡¯t going to take as long to get to the dungeon as the three had expected it to. One of the adventurer party told them it would take about an hour to get there.


    Zenya rode in Aiko¡¯s backpack as per usual. Brass on the other hand was running ahead as a scout. At first, the adventures were going to try and stop him but the one that was apparently the leader stopped them from interfering.


    Aiko knew that he didn¡¯t intend for her to hear but overhear his conversation with them she did. As he was stopping one of them from saying anything to Brass he whispered that they might as well see if the children were just going to get themselves killed quickly or if they had any value other than tripping traps in the dungeon.


    Even though Aiko wasn¡¯t very happy about this particular conversation she let it slide because this was exactly what Brell and Vargas had warned them about.


    Aiko grinned to herself. That was OK because they had plans of their own.


    It didn¡¯t take very long for Brass to come back with the news that she was hoping for. Ahead of them not very far off the path was exactly what they had been hoping to find. There was a monster waiting in ambush.


    This particular type of monster was one that hunted in packs and the locals knew it as a stalker. For some reason in the back of her mind, Aiko kept getting the word wolf which made no sense to her but she didn¡¯t dismiss it out of hand.


    As far back as she could remember she had been getting some kind of hints and help. If she had heeded all of the help that she had gotten her life would have gone a great deal smoother which is why she refused to dismiss any information that she got at this point.


    As soon as Brass told them quietly what was up ahead the children took off at a running pace. The adults in the party were surprised but were again held back by the leader.


    When the children got to the spot where Brass had found the stalkers waiting, they sprang their own ambush. There were six stalkers and only three of them but numbers weren¡¯t everything.


    The lead ambusher being picked up and flung backward into the woods helplessly set the rest of the pack on a back foot. All but one of the Stalkers made a run for it.


    The last stalker seemed a bit older and calmer. It began sniffing around before charging directly at the three of them.


    This didn¡¯t phase them because they were expecting to have to face down a lot more of these creatures.


    Brass and Zenya both took up guard stances in the path of the charging Stalker while Aiko prepared her spell. Within moments the Stalker was close enough for them to spring their trap.


    Aiko let loose with her spell and was going to try and grab the stalker but it dodged at the last second and ran around what it thought was the clear side away from brass towards her.


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    At the last second, it was proven very wrong when an ant jumped on its head and stabbed it through the eye. That wasn¡¯t enough to take down the large creature but it immediately veered sideways into a tree with a series of pained yelps.


    Zenya jumped away before the wounded Stalker could do any damage. The Stalker began frantically pawing at its wounded eye and turning left and right before its baleful gaze landed on Aiko.


    Immediately the stalker charged at her again but this time her spell had more lead time to get ahold of the animal. The Stalker led out another surprised yelp as it was yanked into the air.


    Seemingly out of nowhere brass appeared hanging onto the animal¡¯s back and with one deft motion reached around to its unprotected underbelly with a knife and slid down opening a massive wound.


    Since the animal was thrashing around brass let go and dropped into a roll as he hit the ground. Aiko kept the animal suspended in the air until his gnashing and thrashing tapered off to low pained whimpers.


    At this point, she laid him down on the ground and they ran back onto the path just in time for the rest of the party to arrive.


    When the leader of the party studied the aftermath of the fight he seemed to have a look of grudging respect on his face but the feline features of his face made it hard to tell what he was thinking. The only way Aiko got any clue about his emotional state was by watching his rather expressive ears.


    Aside from the leader with his feline features, there was a shorter man with grayish skin, a bald head, and a pair of broad tusks jutting from his upper jaw. There was a slightly older and heavier set woman with a flat upturned nose on the end of a very short snout who likewise had tusks but had pink skin.


    There was however one member of the party that was rather easy for Aiko to read. The last member of their party was an elf woman.


    The taciturn elf was easy for Aiko to read from her time in the elven village but she seemed uninterested in talking to anybody even among her regular compatriots.


    After the leader of the party looked over their kill with a simple good job they began heading out to the dungeon again. Aiko noticed that the orcish woman didn¡¯t seem to have a problem with them running ahead anymore.


    Aiko made a mental note to write down all these names that she was getting from seemingly nowhere the next time they stopped for a break.


    They soon arrived at the entrance to the dungeon and Aiko finally understood the interest in this particular hole in the mountain. The entrance to the dungeon was a massive construction leading into the depths of the mountain and the entrance was enthralling!


    The doors were thrown wide open and let light filter a short distance into the depths of the perfectly straight tunnel ahead. The huge double doors and the doorframe were both made of some kind of metal that had a light bluish tint to it and hadn¡¯t rusted. Both parts had elaborate runic carvings in them that almost seemed to glow.


    In spite of being free of rust, the doors did show other signs of their age. Each one was streaked with water stains from what looked to be ages of rain. In addition to that, both doors were bent outward as if something beat its way through the doors to escape. The bent-over tops of each door also sported a minimal amount of accumulated dirt with a sparse patch of moss and even some draping vines.


    The area around the entrance was cleared of brush and trees but it didn¡¯t look recent. In fact, it looked more like nothing was willing to grow within a certain range of the entrance to the dungeon.


    In the clearing in front of the doors, an area roughly five times the height and breadth of the overly tall doors was a small camping ground. There were several dug-out pits lined with stones and a couple even sported small piles of chopped wood near them.


    The clearing even had a small well dug near it but Aiko was dubious about the amount of water that could be drawn up this close to a mountain. Also sitting prominently next to one of the fire pits was a small collection of tents with a lone individual sitting amongst them.


    The boy or perhaps a short man, sported black feathers over most of his head and had a short beak. His hands didn¡¯t seem to share the same distinctions and were a tawny tan coloration of skin.


    When he spotted their group coming, the boy turned his head and reached for his spear lying on the log beside him. After the initial panic, he seemed to recognize the group and relaxed back. This recognition and his apparent age were both confirmed a moment later when the leader of their group called out to him.


    ¡°Hey, Demel! They¡¯re still down there I guess?¡±


    ¡°Heya, Zeyn. Yeah, Rina and the others aren¡¯t back yet. Usual deal. Four small coins a day and I¡¯ll guard your stuff too. I¡¯d appreciate it if you¡¯d make camp next to Rina¡¯s though. If you¡¯re going to pitch camp, that is.¡±


    A few minutes later they were busy making an encampment in front of the great doors.

 B2 Chapter 34

    Everybody was up and ready and the camp was all put together within the hour. All of their canteens were filled from the well and they double-checked their packs. They had to make sure that everything was within easy reach and everything was set up to enter the dungeon.


    Aiko watched carefully to see what the adventurers were doing and understood immediately that they were layering their packs for optimal use. She understood that by having certain things within easier reach it would make their treks through the dungeon a lot safer.


    They all began filing into the great dungeon doors and Aiko much like Brass and Zenya was quiet and observant. There was a lot to look at until the light became too dim to see by.


    Aiko immediately set about using her Observation skill much the same way that she would anytime she was going through a dark forest. The skill allowed her to see a great deal more detail in the dark than what was available to her normal eyes. She couldn¡¯t use the function of the skill that allowed her to see great distances but at least it allowed her a certain amount more clarity in the dark confines of the tunnel.


    She realized very quickly that the entryway into this mountainside was not a natural cave but was in fact a worked tunnel. The path around them Aiko realized was worked stone interspersed with a certain amount of brick and tile masonry.


    She figured that this must have been a way of patching up any spots where the stonework went too deep and left the surface less than smooth. The stonework wasn¡¯t necessarily smooth but the overall appearance of the tunnels they were passing through was at least uniform in depth and breadth. The walls came straight up vertically and culminated in a slightly domed ceiling.


    It didn¡¯t take very long for the party to encounter the first set of monsters. These monsters were some type of short green-skinned creatures that were only slightly larger than Aiko herself and brass but sported a mouthful of very nasty teeth.


    Their overall appearance was not helped by the gnarly pointed ears, the long, tapered noses, the proportions of their bodies being completely weird, or their beady black eyes. Overall these were some of the ugliest creatures that Aiko had seen to date and that was before she even smelled them. It was at times like this that she almost wished she didn¡¯t have the Scent ability.


    The creatures were hiding around the corner of an intersection in the tunnels. There were around a dozen of them that she could sense through a combination of factors using the Observation skill. She had spotted one early when it peeked around the corner impatiently.


    She knew from experience that she wouldn¡¯t be able to pull more than a few of them without directly seeing them. She signaled Brass and Zenya before she cast her Chaos Grasp spell and pulled four of the screeching monsters out of cover.


    The sudden appearance of the goblins, another new name from nowhere, combined with her sudden reveal that she was a witch and not just some helpless child, was enough to keep the rest of the party stunned for a moment. In that moment the children all acted decisively.


    She released her Chaos Grasp and summoned a Chaos Knife that bisected one of the creatures. At the same time, Brass stabbed one of the things in the eye and Zenya stabbed the other two in the foot.


    In the next instant, several things happened in quick succession. The goblins jerked up one foot each, Brass pushed one over while slashing the other¡¯s throat, Zenya positioned herself to spear the falling goblin before it could stop itself, and the rest of the party flashed by around the corner into the still-confused goblin ambushers. Aiko could swear she saw a look of appreciation on Zeyn¡¯s face as he dashed past her.


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    A few minutes later the older group had finished off the rest of the ambush party and another group a bit farther down the tunnel. As they were coming back, Zeyn looked at Brass and told him to go scout ahead down the tunnel and finish off any stragglers.


    In the blink of an eye, Aiko had a sudden vision about the way goblins usually had a nest with scouting parties and a realization. She looked at Zeyn¡¯s eyes and his posture, the way he leaned and tensed his muscles all screamed one realization at her with perfect clarity.


    Brass was just about to take off sprinting down the tunnel when Aiko¡¯s voice rang off the stones around them. ¡°So, you really do mean to kill us off.¡±


    ***


    The declaration was delivered with such calm finality it was like a slap to the face. Zeyn¡¯s head snapped around at her in an instant of fury but he stopped cold at what he saw. Instead of seeing a squirrel child, filled with exasperation and betrayal that he could manipulate, all he saw was cold fury and readiness.


    Suddenly he had a memory of a greenling held aloft by magic and then it suddenly falling to the ground in two pieces. Zeyn knew that he was ruthless and often heartless but stupid he wasn¡¯t. He could tell in her gaze that she knew exactly what he planned to do.


    He¡¯d counted on these children to be dumb and desperate but they were neither. As if to confirm his thoughts, he glanced to the side and the rabbit boy¡¯s eyes were slitted and appeared to be focused on him. However, to Zeyn¡¯s trained eyes he could tell that the boy was actually watching the little squirrel mage and taking his cues from her.


    Realization flared and he looked down at the ant that he¡¯d discounted and what he saw gave him pause. The little ant woman was tensed and poised with her spear to leap at him at the slightest gesture.


    He doubted that she could do him serious damage with that tiny weapon of hers but this wasn¡¯t a trio of children, this was a separate adventuring party. Her next words only served to reinforce this in Zeyn¡¯s mind.


    ¡°You might not realize this so I¡¯ll say it out loud. You hired us to scout and that we can do. However, we do so together as a group. We cover each other¡¯s blind spots and watch each other¡¯s backs. That¡¯s obviously very important since you¡¯ve made it clear that nobody else is going to. And under no circumstance will we be separating and leaving one of our own to act as a decoy!¡±


    ***


    Zeyn stood there tense for an endless moment until finally something broke. It started as a snort, then a chuckle and before long, Zeyn was doubled over gasping with laughter.


    The other three from his party looked tense but didn¡¯t seem like they were ready to step in on his behalf. Now with him bellowing laughter down the tunnels in every direction they looked tense for a different reason.


    A moment later, their tension was shown to be well-founded as a smattering of arrows clattered to the stones around them. Zeyn pulled out a short sword and knocked an arrow away without even looking at it and never stopped laughing.


    He continued to bellow laughter as he charged right into the throng of goblins. Amidst his flurry of swings and carnage, he called back in a voice that sounded not manic or broken but happy or more accurately contented.


    ¡°You¡¯re right! I have to thank you. I was on the verge of becoming someone I don¡¯t think she would have liked. I owe you a debt of gratitude for letting me see that looming danger ahead. Still, I am paying you so perhaps a little help here?¡±


    With the shift in mood, things began to go a lot more smoothly. Everyone broke from their tension and hesitation and waded into the monsters in a flurry of violence in motion.


    The goblins or greenlings ran away or tried to hide but it did them no good. At their backs, they had an assortment of deaths to choose from.


    Zeyn, the feline warrior leader had pulled out a second short sword at some point and was carving a bloody path. Near him, the gray-skinned man had pulled out a pair of cleavers and was doing much the same. Aiko got the new words Felid and Walrin from nowhere but knew instinctually what they meant.


    The Orcish woman had pulled a heavy warpick from the bottom straps of her backpack and was making hash amongst the monsters around her. She would swing one way, crush one with the flat hammer side, and use the rebound to impale two more on the spike-sided backswing.


    The elven woman surprised Aiko a little when she began a short chant and began waving her hand through a complex pattern culminating in a slight greenish sheen appearing on her hands. The next instant, she began flinging small glowing blades that Aiko¡¯s Observation skill identified as Wind Blades.


    After the first couple of goblins were struck by the blades, the next targets became wary of them. Just as one of the goblins made to jump out of the way, it found itself grabbed by the ankle, unable to move.


    As the blades struck the unlucky monster, the elven woman looked to the side and saw the squirrel girl with her hand outstretched in the same direction. Their eyes met and a knowing grin of malicious glee passed between the two.

 B2 Chapter 35

    It didn¡¯t take very long for the party to realize that they had stumbled into an area that was entirely too crowded with monsters. The second time that the monsters ambushed them from behind and they had to fight their way back was when Zeyn decided they needed to pull out.


    Aiko totally agreed with his decision and was glad to see that he was level headed enough not to try pushing too deep for safety. When they came across the next set of goblins coming up behind them down the tunnel that they were sure they had cleared, Aiko was glad that Zeyn had called a halt to their progress.


    She could tell that everybody else was exhausted and quickly cast Airwalk. She only invested a small portion of her mana into the spell because that¡¯s all that she needed in order to get everyone up above the heads of the goblins that were rushing towards them. Zeyn quickly figured out her plan and everybody rushed up onto the platform and began fighting the bewildered goblins from relative safety.


    A few of the more enterprising goblins made things difficult for them with spears and bows but these were quickly singled out and were the first to die. After that ambush, the tunnel back was clear and they spent the rest of that day in their encampment before packing up and heading back to town.


    Aiko hadn¡¯t known at the time or hadn¡¯t noticed but all of the goblins had been divested of their right hands. Once the party made it back to town, they were paid for the number of monsters slain based on the number of hands that the orcish woman, whose name Aiko discovered was Merrill, was carrying around in her backpack.


    Zeyn was very meticulous about paying the children what he owed them and was equally as meticulous in making sure that he didn¡¯t officially include them in the party. He sat them down at a small table with high stools next to it and then proceeded to seat his own party at the table next to it, within easy earshot of the party¡¯s table. This did very little to dissuade anybody¡¯s belief that they were a part of the party and certainly not Brell and Vargas. The illusion was further tarnished when he paid for meals for the three of them while he was ordering his own group¡¯s meals.


    The duo came by and had a chat with the older party and it became very apparent that Merrill and Brell were fairly close. After making sure that Aiko and her friends were indeed okay, they left in good cheer. Apparently, that was all it took to earn a lot of hospitality from the kitchens of the Adventurers Guild. They had baskets of steaming bread, bowls of butter, and a huge clay tureen of soup laid on the table between them along with simple wooden bowls and spoons.


    While they ate, the seven of them planned out how to tackle the goblin nest. It was obvious that the goblins had several hidden tunnels leading off the side tunnel they had used. The problem was in figuring out how to counter them and keep them from being able to use those tunnels to ambush everyone from behind.


    Aiko asked Merrill if she had ever used a pick on stone and the orcish woman just grinded her with a nod. It seemed that they had their method for detecting where the tunnels would be in the sides of the main tunnel.


    Next, They had to figure out what they were going to do about said tunnels. The elven sorceress, Shumay, suggested that they just seal each of the tunnels shut. The walrin man, Menk, asked whether or not the goblins would be able to dig the tunnels back open. There was a bit of arguing but the consensus was that simply sealing the tunnels wouldn¡¯t work.


    That left us all figuring out what we were going to do to trap the tunnels or collapse the tunnels. Zenya told everybody about a type of large, to her, creature that had many legs and big fangs on its front. She said that if they caught a number of these and let them go into these tunnels that the greenlings would have a lot more to worry about than digging out some tunnel.


    Zeyn agreed in principle but asked how many of these creatures she had encountered recently. Zenya was left a little bit stumped on that one and finally admitted that she hadn¡¯t seen one since they left the deep dark part of the forest where she lived.


    Menk agreed with her on principle but not execution and said that he might have a different creature in mind. He said that in the coastal city near them that there were strange jelly creatures that would wash up on the shoreline. He said that these creatures were often used by hunters around the city to poison the tips of arrows.


    The creatures in question had long hairs growing off the bottom of them that hung down into the water and if you touch them felt like fire and needles all along your skin. These hairs could be brushed over something and that feeling could be put into something else like an arrowhead.


    They ended up waiting several weeks for an order of these creatures to be brought from the coastal city so that we could use their fire hairs as a trap. It was not the best thought out plan because they arrived in a barrel and when it was opened everyone gagged at the smell of rot. The silver that Zeyn spent to get these creatures was a complete waste.


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    They waited and looked for an answer to this problem in numerous different places and different ways. After almost another week Aiko got the feeling that she was supposed to go look at the job posting board in the guild.


    Normally she wasn¡¯t allowed to go over to that board because the adults were afraid that she and her friends would try to take one of the jobs even though they weren¡¯t old enough. On that day however nobody tried to stop her and somehow her eyes were drawn directly to a posting at the bottom edge of the board where someone was requesting that a nest of giant spiders be cleared out Of the woods nearby.


    Aiko was ecstatic and ran to gather everybody up. When Zeyn had a look at the job posting that she was pointing at a giant¡¯s grin spread across his face. The job wasn¡¯t extremely easy, even for the seven of them, especially since it was only a means to an end and had to be handled a certain way.


    The very next day the seven of them were busy in the forest. It was almost two weeks before they were back in the tunnels of the dungeon and headed for the goblin nest.


    They had figured out at some point that Merrill did not need to actually knock on the stone sides of the tunnel. If she had done that it would have given their position away to the cunning little monsters.


    Instead brass would go along one side of the tunnel and quietly tap on the bricks and tiles with his ear pressed up against them. Aiko was on the other side tapping on the stone brick and tile, the same way.


    Numerous times each of them found a hollow space behind a patch of brick or tile that had obviously been worked out and could be moved with very little effort. Every time this happened, they would signal to one of the others in the back who were pulling along a small cart full of very large very angry spiders in separate bags.


    Zeyn had a manic grin every time he opened a bag and tossed a spider into a tunnel before sealing it shut with a climbing spike. Several of the times that they tossed a spider into a tunnel they would get an almost immediate sound of screeching and battle as the goblins encountered a spider that was almost the same size as them.


    After doing this same thing almost a dozen times they encountered something new. Further down the tunnel they found several of the side openings that had been left open and one of them had a spider still sitting inside the smaller tunnel. They knew at that point that all of the tunnels in the side were connected.


    Brass and Zenya began discussing furiously and when Aiko walked over to them a giant grin was shared between the pair of them. They were only too happy to share their horrible plan very gleefully. When the three of them told Zeyn Aiko was afraid that his face was going to split apart from how wide he was grinning.


    It took a little bit of work and a good bit of backtracking to make the plan happen but it was well worth it. They went along several of the tunnels closing all of the ones that were open that they could find and pinning them all shut. They then went back to the first few tunnels that they had sealed shut and released all of the spiders into them. Next, they took the remains of the campfires that they had gone back to the camping area to get and placed them in the very first greenling tunnels before sealing those shut.


    The mass of spiders could be heard scrabbling away from the smoke, down the tiny side tunnels. Before too long, the screeches of the greenlings that were still in the farthest parts of those tunnels joined the scrabbling and chittering of the spiders.


    The party found a corner in the main tunnel ahead and just around it they could hear the panicked and pained screaming of the greenlings from the tunnels. It was time to finish things. Brass confirmed this a moment later as he snuck back from the corner and whispered to everyone that the main nest was around the corner.


    The fight was a bloody massacre. The greenlings were already panicked from what they thought was an attack by the spiders. The spiders were wary of attacking the adventuring party but not the greenlings. And the only ones in top form were the party.


    By the time it was done, they needed the cart to carry all the bags of hands, spider parts, and other items from the day¡¯s work. They made a grizzly discovery in the greenling nest. Several townspeople had been captured and eaten as well as numerous prior adventuring parties.


    There was nothing left of the people but bones and scraps of their clothing. It was a nest that the town had been trying to locate for a long time. Aiko was originally a little against killing all of them before trying to talk to them but she had been coerced to go along with the wisdom of her elders. After seeing how the creatures acted, she was sure that the older party was right, mostly.


    Aiko still insisted that they take the infants and toddlers back to the town and at least try to raise them as people, not monsters. There was evidence that it was feasible. The greenlings had been raising slimes as a food source. In fact, the kind of slimes they were using could help around town so they took most of them back in jars later that day.


    They made a fortune from the trip because they were able to collect bounties on the monsters, sell the silk from the spiders, sell parts from the spiders, and sell any adventuring gear that didn¡¯t belong to the family of the fallen in town. They also got a small reward for returning the remains of the dead to be consecrated and keeping them from turning undead. The slimes they sold to clean the cesspits were just the dressing on the salad.


    The people of the town were dubious of Aiko¡¯s idea of raising the greenlings but one strong supporter was the innkeeper. They began teaching the toddlers and soon discovered that it was easier than teaching most children. The greenlings were clever and grew up very fast compared to most other species in town. Aiko used some of her funds to begin construction of a building to house children without parents and nobody objected when she began calling it an orphanage for no reason.


    Aiko insisted on calling the greenling children goblins. The town went along because they didn¡¯t want to associate them with the monsters from the dungeon. A couple years later, the town had a population of goblins that all tended to look on Aiko as a sort of mother figure, much to her dismay and the constant teasing of her party of friends.

 B2 Chapter 36

    The party was stuck between a rock and a hard place in a very literal sense. Behind them loomed a cliff face on the beach where they were fighting less than a hundred good paces from the water lapping at the shore.


    In front of them was the real problem. Between them and those waves stood a massive monster. The very same monster that they had come here hoping to defeat and cash in on.


    The creature in front of all but Brass was like nothing that Aiko had ever seen before. It vaguely resembled Zenya but only in the sense that it had a hard shell on the outside. The creature stood On eight massive legs taller than many of the houses in the town where they had been living for the past few years.


    The shell of its body was Blue and white and somewhat flattened and Looked like nothing so much as a soup tureen. If all they had to deal with was a massive armored body and giant armored legs that would be one thing but this particular menace to the shipping lanes of the coastal city made its presence known by wielding a pair of massive claws.


    One of the claws was smaller but that was a relative term since that claw was as large as Merrill. The orcish woman was easily the tallest member of the party. The larger of the two claws was the problem because it was almost three times the size of its counterpart and easily big enough to shear through the Hall of any boat in the harbor.


    The monster had shown up in the harbor one day and began tearing into the hulls of the fishing boats and eating the catch and crew with equal abandon. Only the clarity of the water of the harbor allowed anybody to figure out what was happening since the creature didn¡¯t come on land to attack.


    It had actually taken quite a bit of persuasion on the party¡¯s part to get this particular creature to follow them onto land. They had originally hoped that if they could drag it out of the water it would die Like a fish because it couldn¡¯t breathe.


    That plan backfired, spectacularly!


    Now, here they were with their backs against a cliff and this giant monster bearing down on them eager for its next meal. Aiko wondered not for the first time how she had gotten herself into this mess.


    Ten days prior in the town that she now called home.


    It had taken Aiko years to get Zeyn to come out and talk about his loss and his pain. The only reason why she, Brass, and Zenya had gotten a job with this particular party was because the scout of the party had been killed a few years back. It had been the work of months and no small amount of liquor to get Zeyn to finally open up and talk about his dead love, the scout Aldine.


    Zeyn had Finally relented in telling Aiko about how Aldine had accidentally triggered a trap and had been skewered on the spot. He had spent a good half the night avoiding the subject of the talk and drinking himself into a stupor before he finally opened up about her demise.


    After he finally began talking about what happened it was like somebody had flipped the switch and the words and tears wouldn¡¯t stop pouring out. Aiko wasn¡¯t certain of it but Brell the giant grizzly bear of a guild matron had insisted that it was good for him and roped Aiko into her plan to get him to finally talk about it.


    It was the next morning and Zeyn was practically mortified that he had spoken about it at all but by any reckoning, he looked better in some ways. Not to say that he looked good because frankly despite his lanky frame and normally grayish pallor of his fur-clad skin, today he was looking rather green.


    Aiko and the rest of the party were all sitting there eating their breakfast when a rather haggard-looking man burst through the door of the Guild Hall. Vargas, the leader of the guild, was manning the counter when the man rushed over and began blabbering on about how the coastal city needed any adventurers that the town could spare right then.


    Menk, originally being from said coastal city, jumped up immediately and ran over to find out about what the man was blathering about. He came back a scant few minutes later and insisted that they needed to leave immediately so that they could capitalize on this job offer.


    At the time, nobody had objected. Thinking back on it, Aiko could kick herself.


    Back in the here and now and within sight of the coastal city on a small scrap of coast.


    The giant monster was certainly sporting a few nasty gashes all over its shell but didn¡¯t really look like it was in the mood to stop moving. Zeyn and Menk had done a number on the thing with their quick slash and evasion tactics.


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    Every time the two of them would distract the monster Merrill would jump in and land a devastating blow on one of its legs. More often than not her blows would shatter the shell wherever she hit and it was leaking fluid from numerous splits on its shell.


    Zenya hadn¡¯t been able to do a whole lot because of her relatively small size. This did however offer her another unique advantage in that the monster either disregarded her or simply couldn¡¯t see her. She had exploited this oversight to a rather large extent by exploring the thing¡¯s body and stabbing it numerous times in some partially protected squishy bits under its legs.


    That did seem to make the monster a little weaker but had the added benefit of making it a lot meaner.


    Shumai was hardly slacking. The monster was covered in a number of splotchy red marks from her magic. She had tried just about every kind of magic that she possessed but fire was the only one that it seemed to be worried about. Every time one of her fireballs struck its tough shell, the normal dark grayish blue would suddenly turn a vibrant shade of red in that spot and the creature would back up for a time.


    Aiko had used Chaos Grasp several different times to try and slow the crab down but it wasn¡¯t having a very good effect. The creature was just too heavy for her amount of magic to make a difference when dealing with its enormous strength or weight. She¡¯d had a little bit of luck in pulling its leg inward out from under it but that¡¯s about as far as it went.


    She also hadn¡¯t had much luck using her Chaos Knife because the shell of this thing was just entirely too thick. Aiko could tell at this point in the fight that everyone was running on pure nerves alone and that wasn¡¯t going to last much longer. If they didn¡¯t find a way to take this thing down pretty soon somebody was going to make a mistake and it would be bad.


    As one of the smallest combatants and one that hadn¡¯t physically done harm to the monster, it had mostly ignored her in favor of the larger opponents that it could see doing damage. Suddenly the idea struck her and she began looking for how it was seeing them.


    Up until this point, Aiko had been under the assumption that this thing didn¡¯t have eyes because she didn¡¯t see anything that looked like eyes on it. Thinking about the way that it acted, that was pretty dumb because it was clearly watching what they were doing.


    After studying the monster for only a few seconds of battle she spotted the movement on top of its thick shell. There, studying everything they were doing were a pair of club-looking limbs that were swiveling with The movements of each of her companions that were attacking it. In one decisive moment, Aiko called out to Brass to cut the appendages off the top of it.


    Brass managed to bound up onto the shelled monster and in a single swift motion, planted a knife into the base of one of the two limbs. He then used his body weight, small as it was, to leverage his knife and pry one of the two stalks from the top of the creature.


    Aiko had been hoping for some kind of big reaction but the creature didn¡¯t seem to feel very strongly about losing one of its eyes. The big spiky whiskers near them began flicking about a bit more violently but that was about it. Aiko began to get a little bit desperate at that point and tried to figure out some new way of dealing with this foe. A couple of times throughout the fight she had used one of her newer spells called Chaos Slam. The effect of the spell was to press a creature down and generally hold it in place but it didn¡¯t work any better than her Chaos Grasp had.


    She began looking at it from a different direction and thought about Merrill and her Hammer blows that had cracked the monster¡¯s shell so easily. Suddenly it came to her and she focused on trying to narrow the application of her downward force into a smaller spot.


    From past experience, Aiko knew that she had to use a mental focus of some kind in order to enact this kind of change on a spell. She thought about the way that the small round hammerhead of Merrill¡¯s hammer delivered all the force of that weapon. With that image in mind, Aiko called out the name of her newly formed spell Chaos Hammer and watched in befuddlement as a round hole that she could have fallen through punched cleanly from the top of the monster through the bottom of its shell.


    The monster staggered for a moment and she had an instant of jubilation thinking that it might well die from such a grievous wound but then it¡¯s I swivel to her and it suddenly charged. The creature spread its giant claws to either side and batted the rest of the party out of the way and its sudden lunge for her. In a desperate moment of panic, Aiko called out for her Chaos Knife, hoping to stop the sudden charge of the monster.


    She suddenly felt the drain of this bell taking hold but didn¡¯t see the blade appear in front of the monster the way she had hoped. Instantly, fear gripped at her heart as she saw that the spell hadn¡¯t landed on the monster. Realization dawned on her that she was about to die.


    Just as the monster was about to Crest one of the large rocks leading up the coast towards the Cliff and lunge straight at her, all of the legs on its left side gave out and it collapsed to the ground unable to use any of them or the giant claw on that side, it seemed.


    In a sudden stunning turn, the battle was over. With the crab unable to move one side of its body the party managed to dismantle it in short order. Later that day the party was treated to a giant feast where the people of the coastal city had cooked the monster and it turned out to be quite delicious.


    Aiko was still curious about what had happened and when one of the cooks overheard her talking with the party about it, he came over to have a few quick words. ¡°Miss, I thought that you had done it on purpose so I didn¡¯t say nothing earlier but you was the one what disabled the creature? That musta been a right nasty spell you used for it to cut all of the muscles inside of the creature like that!¡±


    Aiko just stared at the man unable to find any words as the implications of that settled in.

 B2 Chapter 37

    A couple years after the giant crab incident Aiko and her friends were once again challenging the dungeon. Their group had become fairly famous because they had gotten deeper into the dungeon than any other group. The maps they brought back were vital to the survival of many other groups that ventured into the dungeon.


    Aiko noticed early on that there were strings hanging from the ceiling in the dungeon at various points. Between her and brass they had figured out rather quickly that this was the location of traps set in the dungeon. Zeyn told them that the reason for these strings hanging from the ceiling was to mark the location of known traps and that it was a method that had just caught on recently.


    A stick could be used to push a pin or a wad of sticky gum against the ceiling to hold the string up. They decided unanimously not to use the sticky gum after finding a couple of fallen strings on the floor with gum on the end of them and they told other adventurers not to use it as well when they got back to town.


    A few weeks later they made their way down one of the well-known paths and Aiko pointed out a path leading off in another direction that it seemed most people had missed. The path in question was actually rather hard to spot since it was in a turn in the tunnel and faced the other direction. Aiko would have missed the tunnel just the same as anyone else but something told her to turn around and look back the way they were coming from.


    The path they encountered didn¡¯t look like it had been used at all or at least like it hadn¡¯t been scouted by anyone from the guild. Aiko, Brass, and Zeyn had a quick conference and decided that the risk was worth it but they had to be much more alert and on guard scouting an unknown tunnel like this.


    Their notion that they were the first ones to take that path was proven correct not terribly far down the tunnel. Brass scouted ahead and was looking high and low or at least at every floor tile and all the walls. Aiko was checking on a bit of fungus that tended to grow in the cracks in the walls and especially at floor level. This particular fungus could be very dangerous if somebody breathed it in and her and Zenya were always careful to keep an eye out for this particularly nasty mushroom.


    It was only due to Aiko being off to the side that she was the first one to discover a particularly nasty trap. She had been searching along the wall and not paying as much attention to the flooring and it was because of that that she felt the floor give out from under her slightly.


    With an immediate panicked yelp Aiko signaled everybody to stop and then began explaining that she had just triggered some kind of trap. Brass, hearing her explanation, had run back but stopped short about 20 paces from her. She watched with a certain amount of curiosity and an abundance of fear as he made his way to the opposite wall from her and began walking forward.


    At first Aiko thought that he was being so overly cautious that he didn¡¯t want to get anywhere near her but then suddenly she heard and felt a shift in the floor beneath her. Looking back over at brass he signaled her to move back down the tunnel and she carefully did. He then casually strode up the middle of the tunnel and asked her to turn and look where she had been standing.


    Aiko was dumbfounded by the complexity of the trap that she had narrowly avoided. As she watched on brass put a bit of pressure on the opposite wall from her and the entire floor of the tunnel began to tilt and pivot on the central axis of the tunnel. An area of the floor at least 15 paces long was set to flip over if any weight was put on it. It was only by dumb luck that Aiko, the second-lightest member of the party, was the one to step on this particular trap.


    They discussed it amongst themselves and realized that they had the perfect solution to this trap. It would require a party of four to bypass this trap. Shumai and Menk stepped up to the edges of the platform and put one foot on the platform while holding the wall and used their other foot to balance it and hold it in place. After that, everybody else hurried across and Merrill and Zeyn held the edges of the platform for the other two to get across. Then they marked the trap so that nobody else would fall through.


    Brass and Aiko began a competition to see who could spot the most traps after that. Both of them had Greater Spatial Awareness by that point And both of them had earned it through the use of their earlier skill set.


    Zenya realized that the floor tilting trap had given her a bit of an opportunity. As she was going across, she realized that there was a slight gap in the fore next to that trap and checked the next pressure plate that brass marked to find that it had the same kind of gap. She then began participating in the little competition to find the most traps by using her observation against the other two with their better perception skill.


    Meanwhile, Zeyn, Merrill, Shumai, and Meng were left speechless as one trap after another was uncovered by the hyperactive trio. They began having to Set roles in the application of trap markers where Menk would hold all of the nails, Merrill would loop the thread over the nails, shumai would run the ready to use markers up to Zeyn and he would place them.


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    At one point as they were scurrying about looking for traps and monsters Aiko got that strange feeling that she had come to realize was a sixth sense or the like and began searching the ceiling as it had told her. Brass on the other side of the tunnel from her and Zenya just a short ways back noticed her movements and took up the same vigil. Suddenly, Aiko spotted a movement amongst the bricks of the ceiling and there was a slight flicker of a shape that perfectly matched the color of the bricks.


    Aiko and Brass both having spotted the same movement signaled to Zenya who ran back to warn the party. Moments later the slight telltale glitter in the air gave them both warning to shut their eyes. The next moment an immense wash of fire bathed the ceiling of the tunnel and numerous screeches could be heard along with the running footsteps of the rest of the party.


    When Aiko and brass opened their eyes, it was to the sight of multiple large predatory monsters thrashing about on the ground around them. Aiko and brass wasted no time stabbing and slashing the distracted monsters and soon the entire party was in amongst them. The monsters weren¡¯t particularly hard to kill but after some discussion it was decided that the party as a whole would move a little slower to give their scouts more time to pick out any similar hidden enemies. And encounter them they did, in droves!


    After encountering the fifteenth or twentieth batch of these strange monsters the party was exhausted and decided to make their way back to town. Of course they took several of the monsters back with them and it was discovered that their skin had a natural magic property imbued in it. They made a bundle of money ferrying the corpses of the creatures they had killed back to town to create cloaks that would give hunters a natural camouflage ability. Of course it wasn¡¯t perfect because everyone of the hides had certain splotches on them where they had been burned or stabbed and the magic effect faded after a couple weeks but they were still highly popular.


    The next time they entered the dungeon, Zenya happened to be a little ahead of the rest of the party when she spotted something odd. A little above her head was a thin string that seemed to be made of metal. She had only noticed it in the dark of the tunnel because her spear tapped it as she walked under it. When she pointed it out to Zeyn, he asked Brass and Aiko to look at it and see what they thought. Sure enough, it turned out to be another way to trigger traps. Zenya grumbled that it was almost like the dungeon was trying to kill them and everyone had a good laugh.


    A couple weeks later, the party was deeper in the dungeon still. By Zeyn¡¯s estimate the last time they had taken a rest, they were more than thirty-five floors down from the entrance.


    Aiko was scouting a little ahead since Brass was pointing out a trap to Zeyn. Aiko noticed there was a dip in the floor of the tunnel ahead and approached cautiously along one side because almost anything could be hiding just past the edge of the dip. She noticed as she got a little closer that there was a slight downward bulge in the ceiling above the dip that would make a person duck if the floor continued at the same height but nothing else.


    As she got closer, she noticed that the tunnel rose and continued on the other side about a hundred and fifty paces away as if nothing happened. When she first spotted the decline, she had been hoping that it would be a set of stairs or a ramp leading down to the next level of the dungeon, but no.


    Aiko had decided to just proceed on but something about the whole thing tickled the back of her mind. As she cautiously inched down the incline, she thought for a moment that she felt something on her fur and paused but nothing happened so she continued to inch forward.


    Aiko heard the faint sounds of the party approaching and paused till she could see them. Once she was sure that they would see her she held up her hand to get their attention and that¡¯s when it hit her. Suddenly her nose was burning with a scent that was so bad it set her to coughing immediately. Aiko bolted out of the depression in a panic and warned everyone away from it.


    After the party discussed the depression for a bit, Brass inched closer and carefully held a torch down into the depression. Before the flame spluttered out, he saw hundreds of dead things at the bottom of the depression and warned everyone about the deadly trap.


    A few moments later, the party was crossing the pit on Aiko¡¯s Air Walk spell. Near the middle, they could all hear bubbling water nearby and could faintly make out the signs of small holes in the low-hanging ceiling. Merrill held a torch under a hole and everyone was stunned when it began spluttering but it didn¡¯t go out. Aiko decided that was the scariest trap she had seen in all her years of delving into the dungeon.


    Not much later, they found another interesting but single-use trap that hadn¡¯t been sprung because they were the first party to make it that deep. Brass noticed that all of the floor tiles were too neat as if they were laid for some precise purpose other than walking on.


    Brass had been studying the floor and walls for several minutes without figuring out what the trap was so Menk stepped up. He readied the shield he had recently bought and stepped partially on one of the tiles Brass suspected. He almost fell forward to his death as the tile immediately fell from under him.


    As Menk and Zeyn who had caught him were busy cursing the floor and the dungeon in general, Shumai stepped forward. The whole original party had been feeling increasingly useless because there were fewer and fewer monsters as the dungeon progressed downwards.


    Shumai was thankful for a chance to show her worth a bit and began channeling a wind spell into the hole left by the fallen tile. Moments later the spell went off and suddenly almost every tile for as far as the party could see down the tunnel jumped into the air and fell into a dark abyss below. The resounding crash of tiles hitting below was music to everyone¡¯s ears.


    Moments later, the party was hopping from column to column over the pit that they could barely see the bottom of. A scant few monsters and a half dozen traps later, they were at the bottom of the dungeon. Waiting for them was a vault containing three chests of coins, jewels, fine accessories, and three books of apparently lost knowledge. Finally, they had defeated the dungeon! Now, they just had to survive the trek back up to the surface on what remained of their rations.

 B2 Chapter 38

    Sitting somewhere in an office of plush opulence, decorated with items of varying use from worlds and dimensions more numerous than any mortal had ever seen, sat three individuals. The man sitting in a chair in the middle of what was nominally the righthand wall after entering the door was an anthromorph with cat features mixed with those of an arc-niel or human and dressed in what someone from earth would probably call an odd business suit.


    The arc-fen or ogre to the left, similarly situated on the wall, sporting a pair of golden horns poking out of the top of his silver hair with smokey gray skin and golden eyes was wearing a black and gold ensemble of robes and ornate filigreed armor. Plastered over his normally serene features was a vicious snarl that exposed his row of silver canines and left an ominous yellow glow emanating from his eyes.


    Sitting on a seat that likewise told gravity to get in line and file the appropriate paperwork if it wanted to be heard, was an odd luminous being whose outline was hard to pin down but looked to be roughly humanoid, if enormous. His desk, likewise suspended from the ceiling of the room, was covered in an assortment of scrolls and stacks of paperwork. However, the most prominently featured items on his desk were an assortment of items that looked suspiciously like the items from the deific realm of the new goddess of only one planet.


    Normally, the affairs of a deity that only controlled one planet would be eons outside the notice of the being whose office this was. This wasn¡¯t a normal occasion however. The items on the desk of the upper god who was even now glaring pointedly at the ogre-lord were entirely too close to the same as the ones a certain goddess had created.


    The luminous upper god spoke in a sonorous, resonant voice full of command and a tinge of weariness. ¡°Httroath-Azu, I ask you once again. Why did you send one of your servants to spy on one of the deific realms under the purview of Descartes Malefecto, this Fugiwara Kaori?¡±


    The furious ogre-lord turned his glaring visage away from Descartes long enough to address the glowing giant whose gaze was hanging at roughly the same height as his head and due to the strange geometry of the room was also at eye level to the much shorter Descartes. In a voice that sounded like it took every iota of its owner¡¯s willpower not to sound condescending, the furious Azu replied. ¡°My lord, By what right does this half-breed cur accuse me of spying? I have already stated that I was the one that developed those devices and this Kaori stole them from me! I demand that Descartes repay this disrespect in appropriate levels of authority. It¡¯s only right that he have to compensate me and all the more so when he falsely accuses me!¡±


    Descartes¡¯s eyes flicked over to the glowing upper god with a wry smile plastered onto his face. He had noticed the being looking towards him. ¡°What say you to this, Descartes?¡±


    ¡°Hmm. I suppose the punishment seems fair. I might perhaps tack on a restriction to movement in and out of realm but other than that it does seem a fair price.¡±


    The ogre-lord god turned to regard Descartes with a look of incredulity and bafflement before instantly jerking his head back to the upper god. ¡°See! He even admits his guilt.¡±


    The luminous god hanging from the ceiling began chuckling. ¡°He was agreeing to your punishment, Httroath-Azu. Descartes already submitted proof of your transgression. Your spy was observed and recorded from the moment he set foot inside the domain of Fugiwara Kaori.¡±


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    ¡°My punishment? What do you mean proof? I see no proof of any such transgression. If there were anything like that it would be because he fabricated it!¡±


    Descartes flicked his ears in annoyance. ¡°You don¡¯t even understand how those are supposed to be used do you? *At his words, he pointed at the replicated implements on the desk above them.* I bet you don¡¯t even know why they all stay blue instead of turning golden. I don¡¯t even have to try here. Your ignorance of the evidence is more than enough proof that you stole them from my prot¨¦g¨¦. And if you keep pushing your luck, he¡¯s going to take more than a few, probably mismanaged, systems away from you.¡±


    The almost weary looking glowing eyes of the upper god swung to regard Descartes. ¡°Mind your words. You are not the one that decides those things. However, now that it was brought up, I would like to see your reports on the systems that you are in charge of.¡±


    Through the audible sound of grinding teeth, Azu choked out a reply. ¡°Yes, my lord. I¡¯ll get right on that.¡±


    In a flash of black, gold, and silver fire, Httroath-Azu was banished back to his godly domain, which was now sealed off from all the other domains around it.


    With the disappearance of the other occupant from the office, it snapped into a new configuration with Descartes and the upper god facing one another. Suddenly, the items on the desk above floated down between them and the size of the objects could be somewhat discerned as they got a bit closer to Descartes. He chuckled in amusement.


    The strange spatial geometry of this office was always amusing to him. Descartes knew that the objects sitting on the desk weren¡¯t the same size but they were forced to appear that way for the benefit of the owner of the office. Descartes knew that the globe was easily larger than all the other item together and yet it appeared to be the same size as the wrist-mounted PDIs at the moment.


    Descartes ears swiveled and flicked again but this time in amusement. ¡°So Yuli, why am I still here? I mean, I can guess but I just need you to say the words.¡±


    The glowing one reached out a hand towards Descartes and it grew to enormous proportions and was preceded by a gale of wind. As the gigantic hand closed and one finger the size of a tower was left pointing at the assorted items floating in the air, the upper god replied in a jovial tone. ¡°These creations are magnificent. I wish to purchase multiple sets of each of them and¡­ perhaps even the temporary rights to produce my own?¡±


    Descartes just shook his head, looked down and ran his hands over his face, then looked up wearily at the visage of the glowing god before him. ¡°You didn¡¯t even look at the catalog, did you? She hasn¡¯t even put most of those items up for sale.¡±


    Yuli: ¡°I thank the Great Old Ones that she had her subordinate come to me immediately or that fool, Azu, might have managed to claim that some of the other items really were his creations.¡±


    Descartes: ¡°As it is, he was caught before anything could come of it but I¡¯m going to have to change my ordering of deities around. I¡¯m going to have to put her in a position of greater prominence just so I can keep a better eye on her.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s more, I have been told by a few of her subordinates that she has linked her domain to that of the Mysterious Old One. I know that she came from his world but We can¡¯t even get there. She¡¯s been taking her subordinate deities to his world with her! If something were to go wrong there it¡­¡±


    A sudden gust of wind signified movement of the monumental hand and Descartes looked up to see an open-palmed gesture of negation. ¡°Worry yourself not, old friend. If she were causing problems for that one, she wouldn¡¯t be able to come and go as she pleases. I suspect that she is one of his many strange machinations but I have no way to verify as much. We will just have to patiently wait and see.¡±


    ¡°Now, back to my request. See if she would be willing to start selling her creations. I am especially interested in the system that lets one remotely view the changes to a world as they are happening. As for compensation¡­¡±

 B2 Chapter 39

    Aiko woke from another dream about leaves floating on water and islands in the sky. This was the third time this week she had awoken from this same dream and it went back as far as she could remember. She wasn¡¯t sure if she had been having the dream as long ago as the elven village or that half-remembered trek to it but it wasn¡¯t a new dream by any means.


    She carefully got out of bed because she could tell it wasn¡¯t daylight outside and she didn¡¯t want to wake Brass up. As she got up, she rolled over in bed and gently stroked one of his long ears before giving him a loving nuzzle on the cheek.


    Finally deciding to get fully out of bed she began her morning routine. It was cold in the house because the fire had died down overnight so that was the first order of business. She threw a fur shawl over herself and stepped out the back door to grab an armload of firewood for the hearth and the oven.


    She had to force the door open through the snow and the wind was bitingly cold but her fur was thick this time of year anyway, the shawl was more of an afterthought. She loaded her arms full of wood using a trickle of mana into her Chaos Grasp spell then used the spell to haul the rest. She would usually use the spell for the entire chore but she felt she might be getting a little weak since the party hadn¡¯t been adventuring during the harsh winter.


    Placing the split logs near the still smoldering remains in the hearth, Aiko gritted her chattering bucked teeth and went to deal with the inevitable. It was time to face her morning ablutions in the cold bathing room. It wouldn¡¯t wait for her to get the house warm.


    After settling on the cold seat of the garderobe she used a towelette to clean up. She always felt particularly messy after she and Brass engaged in certain nighttime activities and was eager to get clean but the process was quite chilling, literally. She was pretty sure she saw some ice around the edges of the water bucket. As she sat there, she thought about the summons that she and Brass had received from the city council.


    Finished with building up the fires in the hearth, which also heated the bath water tank, and building a fire in the oven to cook on, Aiko began the next chores. The vegetables and meat were set to simmer on the colder edge of the oven and she began cooking the main dish of breakfast, the meat and bread. The starter dough needed to be topped up and the cold boxes full of vegetables needed to be shuffled.


    Aiko knew that she was trying to distract herself from the summons letter. She and Brass had been living in the house adjoining the orphanage for years now so everybody knew where to reach them. She wondered idly if they¡¯d gotten ahold of Shumai. The reclusive elven woman was often gone on hunting trips or the like during the winter months.


    Refocusing, she told herself that there was no point in avoiding it. The contents of the letter weren¡¯t going to change just because she didn¡¯t want to think about it. She and Brass were going to have to go on this journey for the council. Their party was the most reputable in the region, especially after the whole clearing of the dungeon incident.


    Truthfully, that was the whole reason for the summons in the first place. It was probably about the expedition that the Premier was planning. All because of those books.


    One of the three books they had brought back was considered to be useless to them so they sold it at a premium to the Premier¡¯s government in Safeharbor. That was the port city where they had killed the crab monster.


    The book turned out to be full of arcane knowledge on some kind of math magic that she knew for some reason was called geometry and trigonometry. The larger back portion of the book contained information on building vessels for traversing deep seas and was certainly the reason that the Premier¡¯s people wanted the book.


    There was also a book on smithing and metal and the like, Metalmania, whatever that meant. That book had been rented to the various smithies of all the surrounding towns and villages. The book itself stayed in the Prior¡¯s house to keep it safe and the smiths that wanted to rent it had to read it there. The party was paying him a small fee each season to protect the book and handle the transactions. It let the party do their own thing and still make money from the rental of the book. Everyone was happy!


    Incidentally, the last of the three books was in their home. It was a large tome containing many fundamentals of magic and magic principles. Appropriately, it was named Introduction To Magic Fundamentals. It had a smattering of spells from several differing magical systems that Aiko could identify. There was only one spell that directly related to her own Chaos Magic. Unfortunately, she already knew Chaos Grasp but it still gave her a few ideas for new spells and her magical repertoire had actually doubled after studying the tome for some time. She had even contributed her method for obtaining her own spells to the book, even though the book said that her Chaos Magic affinity was very rare. Shumai came by often and benefited greatly from it.


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    Once the smells of food started infiltrating the now warm house, Everyone started to awaken and the orphan children and the only slightly older caretaker all started streaming in. The caretaker girl, Yonna, admonished her again for not simply waking her to handle all the morning chores. She cited, correctly, that Aiko was paying her to do this sort of thing.


    Aiko felt a strange sense of maternal pride for the girl. Girl¡­ She was going to have to stop thinking of her that way since Yonna was older than her by a few years but she always felt older for some reason.


    Yonna took over the cooking and started divvying out the chores that needed doing like laundry to the six younger children that lived in the orphanage. There weren¡¯t any goblin children because the goblins were always willing to take in any of their own into another family. It was odd to think that the goblin children that she had rescued a few years ago now had families of their own.


    Aiko went back upstairs to wake Brass. They had a meeting to get to this morning. When she arrived, he was already awake and dressed and gave her a nuzzle and a hug before going down to sharpen their weapons while he awaited breakfast.


    Aiko hurried to get dressed. Since this was a council summons, she probably needn¡¯t dress in her armor but there was always the chance that they might want them for another type of job right away. Maybe even a monster extermination. Aiko donned her full set of brigandine, a new invention culled from the pages of that smithing book.


    She had been gifted a full set of five pieces. The gambeson went all the way from the armored hood down to the reinforced pleats of the long skirt covering her shins. Those were protected by greaves that ended in clawed toes so she could still climb, albeit a little awkwardly. Her sleeves ended at the elbow but were covered by gloves that ended in iron claws also.


    The smiths in town were working overtime to try to build the type of furnace shown in the book so they could make the better metals. One they really wanted to create was called steel in the book. If Aiko was honest, she didn¡¯t really see what the difference was but it got the smiths worked up if you said things like that. So, she didn¡¯t.


    After enjoying breakfast with Brass, the children of the orphanage, and Yonna, they set out for the council hall. The Town had grown a lot in the last few years and the knowledge that they possessed certainly helped with that. The council had also grown in numbers but the Prior made sure that nobody without the best interests of the people got on the council.


    The two of them arrived just after the first warming rays of the sun started cresting over the trees. The Prior¡¯s wife was waiting for them just inside the front parlor. She was an imposing canid woman with a pronounced snout and big bushy ears. Aiko had noticed that she was self-conscious about her half-pink, half-black nose and was careful to never linger too long on her face.


    The woman, whom Aiko only knew as Mrs. Prior, led them to the large meeting table in the center of the council house. All the councilors were already there and most of their party was as well. The only one missing was surprisingly Merrill.


    Once they were seated at the table, a serving boy came by and put steaming mugs of mulled wine in front of them. The Prior stood and addressed them. ¡°Thank you for coming. Once the last member of your party finishes using the garderobe we will begin the meeting.¡±


    Aiko looked over at Zeyn who was conversing with one of the councilwomen that he very obviously fancied. Too bad she was the type who wouldn¡¯t deign to wipe her feet on an adventurer. She wondered idly if she should warn him about her. It probably wouldn¡¯t matter because they were likely to be sent on this ridiculous journey soon.


    A few minutes later, Merrill walked in and upon seeing all eyes on her, she went from a pink to a shade of red. Then she played it off like she was the vulgar type who enjoyed the attention but Aiko had known the imposing and remarkably shy woman for too long to believe a word of her bluster.


    The moment that Merrill was seated, the Prior stood again and called the meeting to order. ¡°As everyone here no doubt knows, the Premier is putting together an expedition to sea. What some of you may not know is that this expedition will be compelled to explore beyond the coast and out into the Great Expanse.¡±


    There were a couple of gasps among the newer council members but the party just exchanged glances. ¡°As Prior of Highvalley, I have been asked to persuade you seven to lead the expedition. There will of course be people to crew the ship and several other groups of adventurers to help but you are the most experienced party to be found within a season¡¯s journey in any direction. I have been told to offer you all the leadership of any towns you found or seats on the Premier¡¯s council if you choose to return.¡±


    ¡°The goal of this expedition is not just to explore, it¡¯s to set up an outpost on whatever land you may find. The Premier has read in the accounts of the Nautialis Compendicus that there are many lands beyond the Great Expanse. The pages of that book claim great riches await as well.¡±


    ¡°Will you, the conquerors of the dungeon, accept this quest to explore the far reaches?¡±

 B2 Chapter 40

    After another two seasons of preparation, the expedition was finally ready to set out. The ship that was built for this trip was completely unlike all the other ships in the harbor. Where the other ships all fell into two general types with their own shape, this ship was vastly different.


    The first thing Aiko had noticed when she arrived at the start of the spring thaw, was that this ship had far too many of the poles sticking out all over the place. Where the smaller fishing ships all had one pole sticking up near the front and the bigger coastal ships had two poles in line with the ship where they hung the big tarps, this ship had seven or eight and some of them were even sticking out at angles over the water.


    Aiko wasn¡¯t sure what the function of any of the poles or sticks or ropes was but she could clearly tell that this ship used magic to move in some way. She could feel the lines of magic and in certain areas of the hull she could even see it etched into the surface of the ship.


    The three books had all been copied and there were three copies of each on the ship as well as general knowledge on a dozen other subjects. They had stores of food that she knew was packed in magic containers to keep it fresh. There were seeds and other things packed away in various parts of the ship. They had been told that the ship needed a certain weight to operate and she had helped pack every spare crevice with possibly useful things.


    She had gotten the Premier to fund the orphanage indefinitely and he liked the kids so much he ordered one built in each town and in the capitol city of Safeharbor. That was one less thing she would have to worry about. Speaking of worrying, the shipsmaster was saying it was time to get on the ship.


    At first, the crew of the ship only put up two of the big tarps on the poles in the middle of the ship but that was apparently only to get the ship away from the harbor. As the sun started to get higher in the sky and the harbor was barely a speck on the horizon behind them, the crew started pulling out a lot more tarps and tying them to the poles.


    Aiko watched with fascination as the crew pulled ropes one way and tarps went the other. Tarps were tied from several spots on the biggest poles in the center and then strung the other way from the poles in the front. There were even big tarps sticking out to the sides over the edge of the water.


    At some point, a signal was given and several magic apparatuses were activated. Suddenly, the ship that was going about as fast as a leisurely jog, lurched up from the water and started moving at a pace that the giant riding birds would have a hard time keeping up with.


    Aiko looked around to see what had changed and found a pair of glowing blue rings of magic passing under the ship from poles hanging over the side of the ship. She ran over to the edge to get a better look and saw that the bands barely dipped into the water under the ship and that water was going by a lot faster than she thought it was.


    Aiko didn¡¯t get long to gawk because soon one of the crew came over and asked her not to get too close to the edge because they might not be able to turn around and find her before she drown if she fell over the edge. She resolutely decided that she much preferred the middle of the ship.


    Later, she discovered a pair of tubes on the back that were drawing wind into them and pushing it out the back to make the ship go even faster. The crew were only too happy to tell her all about the ship and how it worked. Late that first night, Aiko lay awake in her hammock, reading the Nautialis Compendicus which had gotten a lot more interesting with a real example to go off of.


    Six days later, the ship was moving along at the usual pace when suddenly there was a commotion. The crew were clustered on either side of the ship pointing and chattering so Aiko set down her copy of Introduction To Magic Fundamentals and went over to see what the fuss was about.


    There were big gray fish jumping out of the water beside the ship! There were probably ten or more of them between both sides and sometimes they were making this strange sound when they jumped. Aiko marveled at the strange things for a little while, they were mesmerizing but eventually she got bored with them.


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    The next day the crew rushed to the railings again and Aiko thought that the fish were back and ignored them. Suddenly, the ship lurched and began slowing down and lowering into the water. She ran over to the railing and what she saw astounded her.


    Swimming in rings around the ship were people with the upper half of a humanoid and the lower half of a long fish! There were a lot of them too. The crew were all gawking because the vast majority of them were men and the vast majority of the fish-people were women, as evidenced by their naked upper bodies.


    Aiko had heard many of the crew talking about her and imagining what it would be like to sleep with someone who was less than a quarter their size. At least, they made those comments until Brass caught them and set them straight on what would happen if he ever heard them speculate those things about her again. Suddenly, Aiko was hearing all of the worst thoughts the crew had pent up directed towards the women circling the ship.


    Aiko was about to have a panic attack about what the fish-people were thinking about what they were hearing when she caught a snippet of conversation from the water. Two of the fish women were speculating if the men on the ship could be coaxed into the water where they could have some fun. Aiko looked between the two groups incredulously.


    Only, when she did, she realized something. The people on the boat didn¡¯t act like they had heard the women. When she considered it, the men were definitely being loud enough for the women to hear so why would they keep pondering each-other¡¯s intent.


    Coming to a sudden realization, Aiko jumped up onto the rail and scrabbled along it till she was in front of Menk and Zeyn. ¡°Guys, listen. What do you hear?¡±


    Menk: ¡°Oh come on. They¡¯re just talking. The crew aren¡¯t going to start dragging a bunch of fish women aboard and¡­¡±


    Zeyn: ¡°I think she gets the idea! Look, It¡¯s harmless but if you want me to stop it.¡±


    Aiko: ¡°No, I mean from the women in the water? Do you hear them talking? I don¡¯t think you need to worry about the crew.¡±


    Zeyn: ¡°Hear them talking? I hear a bunch of whistling and clicking noises but are you saying that is them talking?¡±


    Aiko: ¡°Whistling and clicking? Wait, Let me see if I can call one over. Doesn¡¯t this ship have an area made for these people?¡±


    Menk: ¡°Yeah, the whole bottom level of the ship lets water in and there is a ramp on either side at the back that goes down into the water. The ship holds a bunch of water even when it¡¯s moving fast up over the top of the water. You¡¯re saying that that is actually made for these people?¡±


    A short walk later, Aiko, Menk, Zeyn, and a curious group of the crew were standing only a hand¡¯s width above the water in the back of the boat. There were many of the fish-people watching them and chattering about what they might be doing. Aiko pointed at a stout-looking woman not too far from the back railing and began. ¡°You there. Would you mind coming over and talking with us?¡±


    There was a collective gasp from both the people on the boat and the fish-people in the water. Suddenly all eyes were on her and she wished she had kept reading instead.


    Zeyn: ¡°Aiko¡­ Did, did you just speak fish?¡±


    Aiko: ¡°What do you mean? What did it sound like I said? I just asked the big woman there if she would come over and talk with us.¡±


    Menk: ¡°It sounded to me like you were trying to lure a bird to land on your head. You were whistling and clicking like they are¡­ were.¡±


    Zeyn: ¡°I think you freaked them out just as much as you did us! You can really speak fish eh? That is going to be really handy.¡±


    Aiko suddenly remembered her status sheet and looked at it again. Sitting right there in one of the little lines in her vision was the word Omniglot. The description read that she could speak, read, and write any language. She almost devolved into a shaking, panicking mess as the memory of the great goddess speaking to them from out of fire hit her out of nowhere. She had all but forgotten about that happening in the elven village. Only Brass¡¯s firm, reassuring grip on her shoulder snapped her out of it.


    Aiko looked wide-eyed up at her friends and the crew. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡­ When the goddess spoke to everyone about the system, she said she would leave the gift of speech with some. I-I got that skill. I¡¯m a chosen of the goddess!¡±


    Brass looked at Aiko curiously. ¡°I always thought you knew. When the first year was over, I lost the ability to understand everyone and I depended on you to understand everybody. Then there were the goblin children. If you hadn¡¯t been there, nobody would have believed they were anything but monsters. You were the only one that could talk to them at first, love. I always knew you were special.¡±


    The rest of the day was spent forming lasting relationships between the crew and the Mrrrrkt. Aiko ended up just calling them Mer for the convenience of the crew. Aiko did very little meaningful translation that first day. When it was fully understood that both sides wanted mostly the same thing, Aiko bowed out of the negotiations and the waist-deep perpetually-flooded hold of the ship suddenly got a lot noisier. On the upside, at least her lover was aboard.

 B2 Chapter 41

    It was only two days later that the lookout in the basket on the tallest pole spotted something on the horizon to our left. That was the first time Aiko got to see the ship turn.


    The crew began moving ropes that moved tarps around. One woman was turning a bit spiked wheel thing. Somebody else went down the back ramp and talked to the Merpeople in the bottom of the ship and let them know what was going to happen. Lastly, a guy came over to ask all of us who weren¡¯t ship crew to hold onto the right rail tightly.


    Aiko got a bit anxious at that point but did as asked. The whole ship began to tilt to the left side and somewhat slowly it began to turn that direction. The tilting kept up until a set of small wooden fins on the left side hit the water and then they kept it from going any farther.


    Aiko had seen those fins on the ends of the poles hanging over the water but hadn¡¯t asked what they were for. Now she knew and she was once again amazed at the level of ingenuity that went into the building of the ship. Clearly, there were some very talented people in the nation and Aiko would bet that the Premier had hired all of them.


    Barely a minute later, the ship began to rock back the other way and the floor was level again. Merril had been busy hurling her breakfast at the fish the whole time. The orcish woman did not handle the motions of the ship well at all. A few of the other adventurers in other parties were like that as well and a few more had problems once the ship started moving really fast. Most of Zeyn¡¯s party was fine though and Aiko herself never felt the least bit of discomfort from the motion.


    In less than an hour, the ship had gotten close enough to see the land clearly. There was a huge expanse of gray sand beach that quickly melted into rolling grassy hills. It was beautiful. There were also mountains in the far distance.


    The ship came to a stop a ways from the shore and the Merpeople took a big rope down and tied it to something underwater. They then began exploring the waters around the coast.


    In a little under an hour, the Mer women came back. Aiko was the only one who could talk to them so it fell on her to translate what they found. It was quite awkward when they negotiated for the Merfolk additions to the crew because the Merfolk insisted that only women could go with them. That certainly went over well with the predominately male crew but Aiko was the only one who could hear the Mer women speculating about whether they could finally get pregnant and what their children might look like depending on which crew member was the father.


    The Merfolk guided the ship into a deep depression along the beach area. Somehow the ship actually fit with enough room to spare on all sides that they would be able to turn the ship end for end. They then began unloading a few of the items from within the ship to check out the island.


    Almost as soon as they began unloading things, they were attacked by the local wildlife. It was more of the giant crab creatures. None were as big as the one they had fought in Safeharbor but there were seven of them. Aiko used her trick of casting Chaos Knife where the blade was summoned inside the creatures and crippled five of them and went back to work unloading the ship. If the adventurers who came along couldn¡¯t handle the only two that she hadn¡¯t crippled, they were going to have words later.


    That night, they had a giant crab feast and the Merfolk got their first taste of cooked crab. Unfortunately, it turned out that cooked crab meat was an aphrodisiac to the Mer women, or at least they claimed it was. Aiko was ready to get away from them because the mood got Brass excited and left her very sore. Honestly, who would have thought that fish people were so deprived or depraved!


    The next day saw the adventurers, led by Zeyn¡¯s party, exploring out into the hills to find a good spot to begin building the new fort that would overlook the port. One party was left behind to act as guards for the ship. Once they were in the taller grass, the next danger made itself known to them.


    The three parties that were searching the hills were arrayed in a wedge with the fighting types in front of the casters and archers. Out of nowhere, one of the guys from the party on the right started yelling and hacking at the grass. A moment later, a huge three-headed snake rose out of the grass on that side.


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    Before Aiko or even any of the fighters could react, Shumai cast a lightning spell and the snake was left as a twitching writhing mess on the ground. The rest of the group descended on the incapacitated monster and the fight was on. One of the archers ended up with a broken leg but it didn¡¯t take very long for the creature to fall to the overwhelming force of adventurers.


    They had to drag it back but the meat was quite good and the scaled hide was left to be treated by the crew with salt water. The crew told them to let them handle it because they didn¡¯t have much to do. There were apparently a couple of tanners who had joined the crew of the ship for a more adventurous life.


    The next morning, everyone woke to the screaming of a crew member. They found him down the beach a little way, in a deep conical pit, buried up to his thighs, screaming about something eating him. One of the adventurer group leaders was a spearman and immediately thrust his spear into the sand beside the man.


    Suddenly, the sand erupted all around them and the crewman was tossed cartwheeling into the air. He landed in a heap and didn¡¯t move. What had tossed him became visible almost right away. A pair of long wickedly barbed mandibles were spread wide and snapped shut several times.


    Everyone moved at once. Swords were slashed at the jaws to little effect. Aiko tried to cast her Chaos Knife into the creature but was jostled and lost the casting. Several people got in each other¡¯s way.


    A lucky stab with a sword at the soft part of the jaw¡¯s hinge made the thing start moving seriously. It closed its jaws and started crawling backward up the side of the pit. As it backed through the sand, it left behind a furrow the size of an alleyway.


    Aiko managed to scramble the thing¡¯s insides with her next casting and the hack-and-slash types finished it off. The damage was done, however. The crewman who had taken a stroll on the beach to relieve himself was dead.


    The next couple of weeks followed much the same pattern. The exploratory group ranged further and further out to get the lay of the land. One of the adventuring parties stayed behind each time with the unanimously agreed upon exception of Zeyn¡¯s party. And work was begun in earnest to build a port.


    The crew and the laborers on the ship worked on the port while the adventurers guarded them and scouted the area. In that time, the adventurers got well acquainted with the local wildlife and monster variants of them. They faced giant rodents, giant four-legged ground birds, giant lizards with too many legs, giant bugs with waaay too many legs, and even a few more snakes with too many heads, just for variety. And they ate the greater portion of it all.


    There were also a few plant monsters in the mix. Quite literally, since they broiled the pod-like body of the crawling thornbush creature. They cut the giant constricting vine up and put it in a stew. Then there were the giant mushroom monsters. Those were used as edible serving bowls for a kind of monster-meat gravy.


    The animal variety of the various monsters were often much smaller. Most of them also seemed to have only two or four legs and at most, the bird creatures had a pair of wings. However, many of the animals would also attack but in large numbers. There didn¡¯t seem to be an end to the hostile creatures.


    Despite the best efforts of the local populace to stop them, they built the docks and a few buildings on the beach. The adventurers had to scout far afield to find a copse of trees large enough to build with. They also had their work cut out for them when it came time to guard the laborers who went to gather that wood. It was an all-around pain.


    One of the first buildings they made, after the dock was complete, was the waystation. This was a contribution of the mages, including Aiko to a small degree. Many mages contributed but somehow, Aiko could just feel whether they were going in the right direction with the research and development. It also gave her something to do during the winter months.


    The waystation made use of the rare starmetal to create a magic beacon that navigators could track with a device that also used a tiny bead of starmetal. All one had to do was pray to the gods over the device for guidance to a certain waystation and one could feel the way there. The guidance worked through the worst kinds of conditions and from any distance but didn¡¯t give more than direction.


    With the name of the first port already decided before they left, people would be able to make their way to and from the two port cities immediately. There was already a waystation in Safeharbor. There were even talks of trying to make the process more efficient on starmetal use so that every town could have a waystation to guide those venturing into the surrounding wilderness.


    With the majority of the building of the port built, construction of the fort began. The adventuring parties had to travel even farther to find wood to build the fort. In the end, a lot of the fort ended up being made of magically created stone. It took a long time to build that way but the safety of the laborers was the deciding factor.


    Finally, three seasons later, the first ship, other than the one they came on, made dock at the port town of Newharbor.

 B2 Chapter 42

    By mutual agreement, all but one of the adventuring parties stayed in Newharbor when the first ship departed. A plethora of commodities and potential ones were shipped back for review and more ships bearing new settlers arrived regularly.


    Aiko was surprised to see Yonna and the orphans from Highvalley arrive on the second ship full of settlers. Yonna explained that to an orphan, a town that was in the process of being built was a golden opportunity. There would be work and there would be a lot of construction of new homes and the land wasn¡¯t all claimed. Because of that, Aiko and Brass cached in their titles of ownership on a large plot of land in Newharbor.


    They figured that if they were the landowners, then nobody could complain if they settled most of the orphans on that land. Obviously, nobody did.


    Zenya also cached in and settled on the island and founded her colony which took her out of the fighting immediately. Aiko and Brass went by to see how the colony was progressing regularly and all the new girls of her nest grew up knowing the pair.


    Unfortunately, owning the land and having people on the land that they cared about obligated them to respond to threats and protect the land. That was the reason that Aiko, Brass, Merrill, and Shumai found themselves on a distant hilltop in the middle of the night a few months later. The seasons were all rather mellow there but that was a relative term. It had been raining for days and that was the only thing that saved the town.


    All at once, the sky lit up with the glow of fire and a distant roar came through the rain. Few people were awake the first time and fewer still were outside in the rain. Mostly, the only ones who saw the first signs were the guards. By the third bellowing cry, almost everyone in the town was awake and looking outside to see what was going on. If only they hadn¡¯t been then the giant, fire-breathing, flying lizard wouldn¡¯t have caught any of them when it flew through.


    Fortunately, the rain made sure the fire didn¡¯t take hold but the adventurers were called on to try to find the creature and maybe rescue the townsfolk. Thus why Aiko found herself slogging through the rain towards a distant hilltop where gouts of fire could be seen from time to time.


    Brass wanted to wait for more people before going but Merrill pointed out that the likelihood of survivors went down the longer it took. They went.


    The flashes hadn¡¯t been seen in the distance for a few minutes when Brass called a halt to their trek and began scanning furiously in all directions. Aiko heard it a moment later, a sound like the tarps on the ship going taut over and over again and getting louder. Aiko and Brass locked onto the direction at almost the same time and called out a warning to the others.


    The monster dove at the group but with the early warning didn¡¯t catch any of them. Merrill managed to get a swing on the creature but barely grazed it. It was gone, winging off back into the rain and gloom.


    They heard it bellow once in the distance and then nothing for a time. Suddenly, Merrill tackled Shumai and Brass tackled Aiko to the ground just as the massive lizard swooped by almost silently. Catching nothing, it roared in frustration and came to a running landing on the downward slope of the hill.


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    It immediately turned and spat a gout of flame at the party while they were still recovering from its last attack. Fortunately, it was a little too far away to roast any of them but it certainly left them panicking for a moment.


    When the beast wheeled around to face them and was just about to start sprinting towards them, Shumai hit it with a Wind Gale and flipped the stupid thing over onto its back. Merrill and Brass were racing towards it before Shumai had finished the last syllable.


    Aiko saw Merrill tear a bloody rent in the side of the thing as it tried to right itself. It then jumped away from the hulking orcish warrior and Brass was suddenly on its head and stabbing for its eye. The panicked monster began thrashing its head from side to side and then decided to fly away with him still on it.


    Aiko had a sudden vision of the creature bucking Brass off in the middle of the sky. As the agitated creature built up speed to try taking flight, Aiko spoke the words of her spell, determined to keep it grounded where it was less dangerous to everyone.


    With a final downturned finger gesture, Aiko skewered the monstrous lizard with a Chaos Spear. The faintly purple haze of the spell was nigh invisible in the dark rainy night but its effects were not. The monster slammed to a halt and there was a sound of tearing flesh from somewhere amidst its body.


    Brass, who had been holding on till that point and jabbing at its closed right eye, was sent sailing through the air as the lizard beneath him instantly lost almost all momentum. The momentum that it did retain wrenched its direction to the left.


    Suddenly feeling its life in mortal danger, the creature¡¯s one good eye locked onto the only being in its vicinity. In a desperate bid at life, it did the one thing it could think of to the only being it could see. It doused the whole area in front of it in fire.


    Consequently, that act was what ensured that even had it escaped, it would have been hunted to the very ends of the world and beyond.


    In the deific domain of Fujiwara Kaori


    Aiko awoke with a start and shot to her feet. She looked around in a blind panic for the monster that had¡­ The memory of the event flooded through her and she realized that she shouldn¡¯t have survived the maelstrom of flame at barely a dozen paces from the wyvern. Wyvern?


    ¡®You didn¡¯t survive. I¡¯m sorry.¡¯


    Aiko noted that the soothing and somehow familiar voice really did sound sorry. Then slowly, she noted the room around her. She was sitting on a massive bed of red sheets in a room with green walls and gold trim in a style she had never seen nor even imagined existed! The opulence of the room was beyond anything she had ever imagined.


    As she swept her gaze around the room she noted a number of figures of numerous different races looking worriedly at her. Amongst them she saw a tall woman with bird-like wings ¡®that¡¯s an angel and her name is Rocell¡¯, Two of what looked to be bipedal wolves in silver and gold ¡®werewolves and their names are Yaju, the shorter one and Einoro, his wife¡¯, a woman that looks like she¡¯s made of plants ¡®Dryads are plants and her name is Tozenna¡¯, and finally a human and an elf ¡®They¡¯re married too. That¡¯s Gelor and his wife Cenest.¡¯.


    The dryad moved up to the side of the bed worriedly while Aiko began a curious internal conversation. ¡®Who are you?¡¯


    ¡®I¡¯m you¡­ Or more accurately, you¡¯re me. My name is Fujiwara Kaori and I had intended to simply absorb all of your memories on your death. I created you as a body to experience the world I created.¡¯


    ¡®Wh-What do you mean? You created¡­ Who are you?¡¯


    ¡®It would probably be easier if I just showed you.¡¯

 B2 Chapter 43

    Suddenly, Aiko saw a vision of events through her own eyes but the perspective seemed both right and wrong at the same time. In the vision, she was walking through a strange room full of people and weird objects the like of which she had never seen to a wall covered in doors. The room beyond the door she opened was too large to fit there without the doors next to it being on this side too but they weren¡¯t and she seemed perfectly fine with it.


    The room she was in had some strange object in the center and she went to it and began tapping on a plate covered in strange numbers and letters. She realized with surprise that she could read them all but the movements were too quick for her to follow and she was moving again.


    Now she stood in front of a large glass tube on one side of the object and then looked down at a golden pad floating in front of her. More tapping but now on the strange clear, gold pad and she looked up in time to see a squirrel appear in the tube in front of her.


    She then moved over to one of the other two tubes and began disrobing. She looked down and there was a pile of black and white clothes forming at her feet while she was slipping out of a pair of strange shoes. She removed the white covering over her breasts and pulled the last piece of fabric down from her crotch before looking up just as a tall mirror appeared in front of her.


    In the mirror, she was looking over herself while turning side to side and posing. She was a human woman with pale skin and black hair. Her eyes were a little strangely shaped and black too but she didn¡¯t have time to think about it. Suddenly, she began shrinking down to a tiny size and had eyes that seemed a little large for her face, no breasts or feminine figure, and two pairs of long, thin, round-tipped, transparent wings on her back.


    She began turning around and looking herself over in the mirror again before nodding in satisfaction. She then flew up to the pad again and tapped on it. The tube opened beside her and she flew inside before it closed over her.


    She landed on the pad at the bottom and looked at the glowing pad in front of her before tapping it again. She quickly straightened and held her arms out to the side just in time for a bright blue plane of light to pass over her from the feet up. A moment later, the tube opened and she flew out and went to the pad in the center again.


    After a few moments of doing some kind of strange arcane ritual on the pad, she looked at the tube in the center of the others. Aiko was startled to see herself as she knew herself on the pad in the middle. The tube opened and she flew up to her body and started studying it. It was odd looking at herself standing there motionless except for breathing, not even blinking.


    Suddenly, she heard herself speak in a high-pitched squeak of a voice. ¡°Not bad, not bad! This might be more fun than I was originally thinking! Look at those claws and her face is just soooo damn cute! I bet I never get anything done because I¡¯m too busy petting my fur and stroking my own ears! I can¡¯t wait any longer.¡±


    She flew around behind her body and walked forward. She could feel herself melting into the body she was used to and then she was herself again but it was awkward. She stumbled a little because she wasn¡¯t used to standing on her feet the way they were. She looked down and flexed her fingers and tested the sharpness of her claws. ¡°Neat!¡±


    It was her childhood voice! She then floated up into the air again somehow and hovered in front of the mirror. Suddenly, she was wearing another one of those black and white sets of clothes again and there was another woman beside her, the angel.


    ¡°I¡¯m going down for a time. Don¡¯t let anybody fuss over me, okay? I don¡¯t need all of you trying to coddle me down there. I need to experience the world I created but I will leave a slip of my conscience open in the background anyway.¡±


    ¡°Also, I will clone myself up here to handle anything too big so contact my PDI if anything comes up. I¡¯ll have it connected to my conscience but try not to interrupt me too much, okay? I have faith in all of you.¡± The other woman just nodded with a somber look like she didn¡¯t want to agree but had no choice.


    In an instant, she was looking at a tree while floating in the air. She flew around it a couple times before settling on something. She raised her hand and some of the branches broke loose and fell. She looked up and down and then at branches in other trees before dropping down to a lower branch, placing a couple scratches on the branch, and landing on the ground.


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    She looked down at herself and spotted the suit and then it was gone and she ruffled her fur up a bit. ¡°Okay, now I just give myself a concussion and lock my¡­ Actually, should I have a different name? Probably.¡±


    ¡°Now, what should I call her¡­ Furry, Fluffy, too cute? Get serious Kaori. Hmm. Maybe I¡¯m overthinking it. I absolutely love her cute little fluffy body and I suppose she is kind of like my child in a way. Hmm, yes, Aiko should work perfectly. Now, off to sleep I go. Ow, ow, ow¡­ What a splitting headache! Who knew concussions hurt so much? *Snickering* Okay, sleeping for real this time.¡±


    She lay down and closed her eyes and the vision was over like it had never happened. Aiko could feel tears in her eyes. She wasn¡¯t sure what she felt, was she even real? Tozanna was at her side hugging her in an instant and making shushing and soothing noises.


    ¡®You see? You needn¡¯t worry about any family other than me and¡­ You know what? I really don¡¯t like the way we left everyone down there, especially not Brass. Now, I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ll just have to deal with the notion that your mother was there when you were having sex but aside from that, I think I would rather have you as a daughter than as part of myself.¡¯


    ¡®Now, let¡¯s go down and clear some things up, shall we?¡¯ Suddenly, Aiko felt a chill throughout her body and saw a form meld out of her and form the woman from her vision, her mother, the goddess from her visions. Kaori was standing in front of her with a hand on Aiko¡¯s cheek and she didn¡¯t seem to realize she was naked!


    Kaori chuckled. ¡°Really? That¡¯s the first thing you think of your mother?¡± However, she was instantly clothed. ¡°I think that for this, we will both go down to meet with each of them individually.¡±


    ¡°One thing first. You should check your status screen.¡±


    Aiko pulled up her status screen and immediately knew what Kaori was referring to. On her screen, a row of formerly unreadable symbols ^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ turned red and then blinked away to be replaced by the words Godspawn Avatar blinking in place. Before Aiko even had time to process the words they were replaced by a single word Demigoddess. Aiko¡¯s breath caught at the idea that she was a demigoddess. Somehow, the idea of being the daughter of a goddess didn¡¯t sink in until that moment!


    The next moment, the two of them were at a funeral service. Aiko watched as many of her companions and the orphans all threw bouquets of wildflowers into a raging bonfire. At the center of the fire, she could see a tightly bound figure and knew it was her body.


    The two of them stood there watching the whole scene with people coming and going around them without ever seeing either of them. Kaori stood stoically while holding Aiko in her arms and they just watched until the fire died down and finally, only one figure was left.


    Brass sat in front of the pile of smoldering ashes of his lost love and couldn¡¯t even summon the emotion to cry. When Aiko died, he felt like he had too. He couldn¡¯t remember what happened after the flying lizard breathed fire on Aiko but he was brought around when Shumai tapped his nose with some kind of weak lightning spell.


    When he looked around, he saw that the monster was sliced into bloody ribbons and he couldn¡¯t bring himself to look at the charred body of Aiko that Merrill was cradling and crying over. The fight was over and something just broke, something he suspected would never be whole again.


    Behind him, he heard shuffling, and dimly in the back of his mind, he placed the spacing as being that of a larger humanoid. The voice he heard next broke his mind a little more. ¡°It was a really nice funeral, I uhm¡­ I appreciate it.¡±


    Brass whirled around in a flash and had to shade his eyes from the radiance of the beings standing there. Fighting his way through tears, he forced himself to look and there she was. ¡°Ai-Aiko?¡±


    The next moment she was in his arms and Kaori was holding both of them. Rather than being offended or something, Kaori was jubilant as she held the fuzzy cuddling pair. But sadly she had to explain the bad news to Brass.


    Once Brass had calmed down enough to listen and understand her, Kaori began explaining things to him. About an hour later. ¡°I have to apologize about the wyvern. That monster was too powerful for this area. Lastly, I would love nothing more than to bring you back to the deific realm with us however if you leave right now, both yours and Aiko¡¯s claim to the land will be invalid. I hate to say it but you really have to stay here for now.¡±


    ¡°If you talk to Zenya and get her to claim this land with the orphans on it, they will be protected. If you die after that, I can gift you a little bit of divinity and we can, I mean you two can be together again.¡± Brass turned, shocked, towards Kaori. Aiko was shocked for a different reason. Kaori¡¯s slipup reminded her that her apparent mother was actually there every time she and Brass¡­


    The next couple of days, Aiko and Kaori appeared to each of the people they were close to and told them all why they shouldn¡¯t feel bad for Aiko.


    A year after Zenya got the decree informing her of her official deed to the lands formerly belonging to Aiko and Brass, Brass set sail in a tiny schooner, never to be seen again.

 B3 Chapter 1

    Salutation of brief letter


    Dear Sir, I hope this letter finds you in good spirits or perhaps the company of good spirits. Failing that, I hope you are at least enjoying some good spirits. May this letter find you in a spring of your eternal life. I hope you find many chances to get away from the office and enjoy yourself more. We again look forward to many eons of cooperation with you and yours.


    I know that it has only been twenty years since I made my last report but in light of progress, I thought perhaps you would like an update. I also wanted to thank you, profusely, for your help in dealing with that unpleasantness with senior God, Httroath-Azu. Lastly, I wanted to thank you again for your laudable financial advice concerning the many divine realm devices and their listing in the deific catalog. I likewise would like to request your further help in determining the value of a new system that I have developed, of course with the help of my wonderfully competent heavenly host, and place it for sale in the pages of the deific catalog.


    With everything that¡¯s gone on I just needed to vent a little bit about the world that has been entrusted to me. Not to say that anything has gone wrong but more to perhaps brag. I know that comes across as a bit conceited but I just can¡¯t help bragging on my wonderful team and admiring the great work that they have done for me.


    Some time ago I took a trip down to the surface of Islandia to see it for myself. I created a mortal body and gave myself a split personality with amnesia so that I could experience the world from the inhabitants perspective.


    I hate to admit that things did not go quite the way that I had anticipated. On the one hand, the body that I inhabited got to experience a grand adventurous life but on the other hand, it did get cut quite short. I discovered through that Experience that there were certain flaws in the system that I had set up for the world under my purview.


    The body that I inhabited got to experience the initialization of the new system of which I need to discuss with you. Since learning my lesson with that last debacle concerning the elder God, I won¡¯t be stating anymore about that subject in this letter. Instead I will look forward to your arrival or some correspondence denying my request. You should come though. Then you can meet my daughter!


    The items that you had suggested that I place for sale within the deific catalog are all doing quite well. Before you mentioning that to me I had not really considered the notion that other gods and goddesses might not have come up with that idea before. I still find it a bit odd to think that the closest analog to my observational system was a simple scrying spell. I must thank you profusely for recommending the sale of that system. I have received numerous letters of praise since I followed your advice and began listing my ideas for sale. That doesn¡¯t even begin to cover the unprecedented amount of divine currency that has flooded into our coffers.


    I Once again hope to express a desire for your continued good health and mental fortitude.


    12 of 30/3 of 10/ 22                                               Yours Sincerely


    Deiform Central Bureau, Descartes Malefecto                          Fujiwara Kaori, Islandia


    Descartes once again looked over the strange sideways letter that he had received on his PDI from the very creator of that system. The personal deific interface was a marvel of efficiency and productivity and had made his life unbelievably easier since its introduction. He sat up and willed the screen leading from his office into the rest of his deific domain to open. Almost every entity within view of the now open window was either actively using or periodically consulting one of the devices.


    As he sat swiveling back and forth in his softly padded office chair in his almost earth-like office, he considered his vastly less cluttered desk. When Kaori had first started working for him, he had merely hoped for a somewhat competent worldly administrator deity. He hoped that eventually, after a few thousand years, she would be competent enough to help lighten his workload.


    Instead, the marvelous woman from the sealed world watched over by The Mysterious Old One that had somehow ended up in his care had shattered all his expectations! In a scant couple of years, she had developed one of the most revolutionary communication systems in all creation. She went on to create multiple systems for administration of a world that all linked to the original system. Then she went on to multiply the types of intelligent beings by over tenfold!


    Descartes sat back once again, flicking one of his triangular feline ears due to an annoyance of air current as a smile spread across his many needle-like teeth. His focus zoomed in on one innocuous little sentence and the smile grew much larger. ¡°So, my prot¨¦g¨¦ has a daughter now? I must make every haste to visit. And thanks to her, I don¡¯t have to abandon all of my other duties while I do that.¡±


    The cheshire grin left his face along with the faraway look. Suddenly his whiskers flicked in annoyance and his long almost prehensile tail began to swish back and forth behind his chair. This was a tick that had long since given many of his enemies a notion of his mental state but he had long accepted that it was a part of him and had even turned the tables by faking the movements of his tail on occasion.


    This time, however, his tail was not giving false information. His emotional state had soured in response to a letter on the edge of his desk. As his eyes landed on that letter he mentally leaped through its contents once again and came to a quick decision. ¡°I think I¡¯ll tell her to expect more company when I go there. In fact, I¡¯m not sure there¡¯s any reason to delay my trip.¡±


    Descartes typed out a quick and concise letter to his department heads and senior deities and quickly hit the send key. He stood up from his desk, turned off his lights and fan, exited his office and began making his way down the left side of his deific domain. An occasional member of the various administration staff, most of whom had been in his service for millennia, would look up and nod or smile before returning back to their own work.


    He stopped and admired his administrative hub for a few moments. The amount of staff in his domain had risen recently. Where before he was the administrative head god of eight-hundred forty-one worlds and had worldly administration deities on seven-hundred thirty-six, he had recently been assigned one-hundred fifty-five more worlds. Each of those worlds was in the midst of the transfer of administrative rights.


    The new staff were all working on that and would transition into positions of administration over most of those worlds afterward. Descartes thought that the deities coming from the staff of Httroath-Azu would resent him but it seemed quite the opposite was true. Most of the newly acquired deities seemed relieved to be working under him instead. In fact, many of the deities that recently came under his direction told stories of abuses to their worlds or even their own persons by their former senior god. Almost without exception they spoke of neglect unless something was wanted from their world and then Httroath-Azu always took the opportunity to berate and scorn them for their work.


    Descartes pondered on the neglect aspect of this line of thinking and remembered a certain god of the hunt that he had unfortunately neglected just as badly. Following that revelation and especially in light of the increasingly lighter workload created by the PDI system, Descartes had made it a point to personally check the sate of every world and deity under his purview and had been distraught to find a few others that he had been far too hasty with. None were quite as bad as Yaju¡¯s case had been, fortunately, but it had still left him more than a little aware of his failings as an administrator.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Descartes broke from his dark thoughts as he spotted the very deity that he was looking for in the middle of a small cluster of his long-time staff. The goddess in question was Pedrionosis, Chief deity of Keldovar and eleven other worlds. Last time she had sent in her report on her world, coincidentally, the first time she had done so via PDI, she had asked if she could meet the grand deity who developed such a system. She was shocked to find that it was an almost completely new goddess and far more so when she found out that the goddess in question worked in the same divine realm under Descartes.


    Pedri had immediately asked when they could meet but Descartes had to disappoint her. Every time he had checked in with Kaori, he had found her still down on the surface of her world and indisposed. Not that they couldn¡¯t have met with one of her doubles but nobody likes doing that. Doubles are very versatile but it takes millennia working with them to not show the signs that your attention is split in multiple directions.


    Descartes called out to Pedri and he could practically see the excitement radiating from her gold-plated horns and scales as the eons-old dragoness actually squeed as she ran over to him practically bouncing on her clawed toes. For this meeting, the goddess had reduced her size to a rather small humanoid and had incorporated many Arc-niel or human characteristics into her gold draconian form, all to seem less imposing when meeting the new goddess.


    As the pair set off down the hall filled with doors leading to various worlds or deific domains under Descartes¡¯s purview, he contemplated how far she had come in her millennia working for him. There had been a time that she wouldn¡¯t have hesitated to show up to a new realm in her full size in all its shining glory and would have relished in the terror that it had invoked. Now she was considerate of those around her but no less excitable for it.


    They finally made it to the door near the end of the hall with the odd curvy slashed script of the equally odd goddess that resided behind the door. Without preamble, Descartes pushed open the door since Kaori was already expecting him. He waved Pedri through and the draconian deity made it four steps inside the door before pausing in stunned silence.


    The room that the pair had entered was unlike most that either of them had ever seen before. Descartes was prepared since he had visited Kaori¡¯s deific domain on numerous occasions but Pedri was left shocked. The room was large but not obscenely so. The center of the room which was easily tall enough that Pedri could have cut her transformation, held a huge sphere that was obviously a world. Along three walls were enormous windows but no two showed the same area and most were from odd perspectives like straight down from a height above a city or slanting down from above a group.


    Pedri turned and looked at the wall they had just entered from and was astounded to see an entire wall covered in doors and deities coming and going regularly from them at seemingly random. To an untrained eye, this scene would look like complete chaos but the two deities that had just gotten there both knew better. Almost all of the deities in this realm had the signature screens of the PDI system open near them. There were others sitting at tables or desks and every one of them looked both industrious and happy to be there.


    Pedri whirled on Descartes. ¡°I thought you said she was recently appointed? How does she have this many deities working for her if she¡¯s new?¡±


    It wasn¡¯t Descartes but a confident soprano voice behind her that answered. ¡°I scouted and promoted them personally. I much prefer having a decently sized staff to work with than an excess of personal gains that I have no idea what to do with. It was a little daunting at first but I feel I made the right choice and I haven¡¯t had many complaints since.¡±


    Pedri turned to see a human woman with black hair and eyes of only slightly taller build than her current form walking up to them. After the woman¡¯s confident demeanor, the next thing she noticed was that she was wearing the same strange black and white, semi-form-fitting clothing as the rest of the deities here. Obviously, this was the Kaori woman that she had heard so much about.


    Upon stopping a respectful distance away from the pair and introducing herself as Fujiwara Kaori, the woman did something else unexpected. She bowed to the pair of them. Pedri was taken aback at her humility at first but quickly realized there was a greater amount of formality than humility in the gesture.


    Realizing as Kaori rose from her bow that it was a formal greeting, Pedri placed her left palm in front of her at breast height with palm flat and downward then brought her right hand behind it with the fingers splayed and the back of her hand towards Kaori in a symbolization of a rising sun. After giving the formal good morning greeting of her home world, she introduced herself. ¡°Greetings, esteemed Kaori, high goddess of Islandia. I am Afirex Pedrionosis, High goddess and aspect of the sun to Keldovar, Zaffis, Thurris, Mendoln, Kedrill, Meladar, Bronax, Pintuun, Drogast, Sumrix, Bandelor, and Frentiss.


    Pedri could see the smile on Kaori¡¯s face becoming more wooden with every world she named but she had started the formal greeting and felt obligated to finish it. The titles might sound intimidating to a newer goddess, Pedri realized but then she dismissed it. What does this woman have to feel intimidated about, she probably brings in five times the worship points of any other deity in Descartes¡¯s domain, regardless of the fact that she gets almost all of it from deific catalog sales.


    Kaori on the other hand was wondering just how much responsibility each deity was expected to handle! By her count, this other goddess was in charge of twelve worlds. Unless those were nations? Kaori decided to ask about that and was a little blindsided when Descartes told her that she would be getting new worlds soon. Due to her aptitude for managing her world and bringing about the rapid development of civilization and culture.


    Kaori asked about that before there was some sort of misunderstanding. ¡°Descartes Sama, I read in the deific catalog under the description of the history function that it wouldn¡¯t put tribal peoples into cities but when I used it there were already towns and small cities formed by that system. I don¡¯t want to complain but I was under the impression that it wouldn¡¯t do that.¡±


    Descartes gave Kaori an appraising look before answering. ¡°Miss Fujiwara, where did the souls for all the inhabitants of your new creations come from?¡±


    Kaori suddenly got a look of realization that quickly turned sheepish. Pedri standing to the side couldn¡¯t help but interject. ¡°This sounds like a good story. Please, do share!¡±


    Kaori looked even more sheepish and looked back and forth from Pedri to Descartes. After he gave a brief nod behind his magnificent carnivorous smile, Kaori drew in a long breath and began. ¡°You see, I was facing a little bit of a problem. I had a very big plan but I didn¡¯t have the personnel to implement it.¡±


    ¡°The personnel I did have told me about how other gods threw souls away all the time but the souls persisted in these realms outside their afterlife. I did a bit of research and discovered that it wasn¡¯t against any rules to simply collect souls from these dumping sites. Since those gods didn¡¯t want them, I took them and made several of them *Kaori made a sweeping motion across the room* into new gods.¡±


    ¡°Technically, I made the deal of godhood with each and every one of them. However, some of them will have to develop a bit before their shot at godhood comes around. I have my afterlife as a merit-based questing system for reincarnation. Once the soul has earned enough merit, they will either be transformed into an angel or a demon and will work under good or evil deities to further my goals.¡±


    Pedri was a little shocked. ¡°You employ evil gods and demons? How does that work?¡±


    Kaori explained how the concept of war was fundamentally evil but was also useful for the development of societies and technologies. She explained that there were many evil aspects of societies that were better left to a deity that was more inclined to their use and that by pitting the good and evil at each other in an everyday workplace setting that it made everyone happier overall.


    Pedri was a little shocked but then explained why. Her system had a few gods ruling over the four mortal races of her worlds. Meanwhile, the mortal races were ever at threat by the forces of the demons, who were led by demon generals and at war with the gods and mortals for the souls of the mortals.


    Kaori said that sounded reminiscent of the way her former world¡¯s religion worked and Pedri asked where that was. Kaori told her she used to live on Earth but Pedri looked blank and asked where that was since she had never heard of it.


    Descartes leaned in a bit and told her that it was the world presided over by the Mysterious Old One. He took perverse pleasure at the look of utter astonishment on Pedri¡¯s face and the look of bewilderment on Kaori¡¯s.

 B3 Chapter 2

    Kaori had heard the title of the mysterious old one being used once or twice but she never quite picked up on the conversations that it was being used in. To be fair though, she wasn¡¯t being nosey and prying into other people¡¯s conversations. To do that would be incredibly rude.


    Another thing to keep in mind would be the wide array of odd titles she¡¯d been privy to since coming here. God of the hunt, The lustrous wonderment, Great wrath, Mysterious old one, and many more. The application of titles didn¡¯t seem to mean as much when actual deities were being discussed but having context in which to put the name, Kaori was very intrigued!


    The next half hour was spent discussing Earth and how it differed from every other world. Kaori was surprised to find that many gods had been to Earth to see what the Mysterious old one was doing with only a single world. Descartes noticed that she thought the statement odd and explained that there were legends about the number of worlds that the old ones administrated over.


    There were also legends that say that the old ones were the ones that created the universe and that they were the ones that set up the world creation system. Descartes also threw out that the old ones never confirmed nor denied any of the things said about them. He told Kaori, Pedri, and the small crowd that had gathered around them about how the old ones had mostly all left the bounds of the universe and that the places they went couldn¡¯t be reached by any means that the gods left had ever devised. However, all of that was billions of years ago, long before most of the current deities were around.


    Kaori for her part was very bemused. However, she quickly made up her mind and acted upon an idea that she had been putting together. Bringing up her PDI she looked over a schedule that she had gleaned from the Internet and a mischievous grin spread across her features. ¡°Descartes, how would you like to join me for a little trip?¡±


    Over the next hour and a half Descartes, the excitable dragon goddess, and a small group of her own hard-working team as well as her daughter all secluded themselves in her apartment. After a lot of laughter and many very confused outbursts, the entire procession left her apartment in a number of regalia that most teenagers and Otaku would very much recognize. Having scoured all of her most recent purchases from her favorite manga store. A few of her retinue had to be outfitted in costumes from the pages of dojinshi but most of the group were able to find a suitable look in the pages of mainstream manga.


    Kaori made sure that everyone was equipped with a polyglot skill and then opened a door that most of them had never been through. Descartes was exceedingly curious but having some notion of what Kaori had in mind he kept his thoughts to himself and simply watched on with a wry smile. A few moments later his suspicions were confirmed when Kaori opened one of the doors along the back wall of her realm onto a back alley of a busy street. Even though he had never been to the place he was quite certain of where she had taken them.


    As the group made their way out of the back alley, they were greeted by the sight of large crowds bustling in and out of a very plain-looking building of mostly dull concrete with a few decorative fountains around the lower courtyard area. All of the parking area around the building had been cordoned off and there were now pavilions and temporary stalls set up in that area and some even inside the lobby area of the mundane-looking building.


    Everyone quickly came to realize that the costumes they had been rushed into creating let them seamlessly blend into the crowd. As they walked amongst the busy pathways leading between stalls and set up pavilions, all of which brightly proclaimed ownership by varying manga and game companies, they began to see the utility of their costumes as they recognized and were recognized in kind.


    After a couple of hours of mingling, buying, chatting, and a few impromptu photo shoots, everyone was ready to make an exit from the bustling crowd at the comic con. Kaori walked her group across the street to the rather plain-looking building which she explained was the hotel that was hosting the event. Everyone was a little curious about why they were heading for a hotel and she explained that most hotels in Japan had excellent restaurants and those that were hosting an event such as this were used to seeing the people in their restaurants dressed for the event. She proudly proclaimed it¡¯s so we blend in!


    Once her group of twelve were seated and the waitress had put in an appearance to get their drink orders, Kaori got down to business. ¡°I thought that it might be interesting for everyone to see the world I came from and perhaps the reason why I have some of the ideas that I do about the way I want to run my world. I hope you can all see at this point that I¡¯m not nearly as clever as you give me credit for. Most of my ideas are recycled from my home world. I¡¯m not saying that it¡¯s not a lot of work to translate the ideas from Earth technology into deific or magical technology but you should at least know that most of my ideas aren¡¯t original. I must apologize if anyone thought that all of the ideas were mine alone.¡±


    After Kaori stood and bowed low to the group, Descartes waved her back to her seat. ¡°Oh, none of that. I¡¯ve long known that you weren¡¯t working from creativity alone but you bring much more than simply ideas to your posting. You can¡¯t claim that it was because of your life on Earth that you thought to employ the cast-off ghosts in the various purgatories or that your handling of your employees is simply the product of your past career. I am well aware of the kind of person you are and I offered you the position because I saw potential, potential that you have exceeded at every turn.¡±


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Pedri chuckled a bit and lifted the veil of her costume taken from a story about a doctor who treated monsters. ¡°I was very impressed with her before but Mally, you didn¡¯t tell me she was this precious. She just makes me want to snatch her up and keep her in my hoard! She¡¯s more precious than any gems or treasures I have there!¡±


    ¡°Dear, what Descartes says is true. I brought many talents to my job and for many years I thought that made me a superior goddess. It wasn¡¯t until I began looking at the talents of those around me that I was able to grow and learn to be a better goddess. What took me centuries, you have done in a handful of years. You have much more to be proud of than simply the systems that you have developed based off of things you already knew from your past experiences. Take that to heart and grow strong.¡±


    Kaori was blushing a dark crimson by the end of Pedri¡¯s little pep-talk and the snickering of her daughter and underlings wasn¡¯t helping her control her embarrassment one bit. ¡°S-speaking of systems, I had one I wanted to talk to you about.¡±


    Descartes cut her off with a slightly raised hand and a warm smile which had been modified by illusion magic to look like his teeth were fake. ¡°Before that, I have something I need to speak to you about. There is a senior deity coming to inspect your realm soon. It¡¯s nothing much to be worried about, just a routine inspection. I just wanted to let you know ahead of time. You should probably¡­ Actually, just be yourself. You can dazzle and impress the inspector if you like or you can ignore them entirely. For their purposes, I doubt it will matter much.¡±


    ¡°Also, I wanted to be introduced to your daughter that you told me about! We can talk about your latest creation after that.¡±


    At the mention of her daughter, it was like a switch had been flipped and Kaori was positively beaming. ¡°I would be delighted! Let me introduce Aiko, my daughter.¡±


    Kaori walked around the table and stood behind the seat of the fluffy young girl who had accompanied the group. Descartes was a bit confused because he had seen that this girl¡¯s original appearance before magic manipulation was extremely short and he couldn¡¯t see how she had any of Kaori¡¯s traits. The girl in question seemed quite flustered and after peeking back at her mother for support, seemed to come to some kind of conclusion, whereupon she bowed deeply before introducing herself. ¡°M-my name is Aiko. It¡¯s a pleasure to make your acquaintance!¡±


    Everyone was interrupted by the return of the waitress with their drinks. Kaori took the liberty of ordering lunch for everyone and then launched into her narrative of her time leading up to and on Islandia. They were interrupted a bit later by the arrival of their meals but Kaori continued after the waitress was done. Everyone seemed a little bemused by the dishes laid before them but Kaori¡¯s explanations and assurances won them over.


    Kaori had ordered the appetizer platter with tsukune, hiyayakko, yakitori, Yaki Onigiri, and edamame. The assortment of finger foods made it easier to share with the curious deities and also to take and finish bites between recounting her and Aiko¡¯s story. ¡°That¡¯s when I found a flaw in my carefully curated world of challenges. The Drake was too difficult a challenge for the area that our group had made it to.¡±


    ¡°Aiko used her talents to their fullest. All of our party did exceptionally well but the stupid lizard was just too much. In the end, it ended up costing Aiko her life and broke the will of the party pretty badly. After that, I brought Aiko to the divine realm and separated from her.¡±


    ¡°And there I was, left with a predicament. I could have absorbed my precious Aiko back into my own consciousness but that didn¡¯t appeal to me as much as keeping her a separate person. In the end, I decided that I wanted her as my daughter and brought both her and Brass to my divine realm as demigods. I¡¯ve been teaching them how to be good deities and I figure that I will apprentice them to one of the longtime deities.¡±


    Pedri rocketed to her feet. ¡°Kaori dear, Would you be amenable to letting me mentor your daughter? Also, if you don¡¯t mind, could I set a gateway door from your divine realm to my own? If I were to tutor the children it would be a good idea to have an easy way back and forth but if I¡¯m being honest, I would just love to come visit you more often.¡±


    Kaori was slightly taken off guard by the proclamation of the senior goddess and realized it must have been showing on her face. After schooling her features, she thought it through for a moment before replying. ¡°I would be honored to have your wise counsel and more so to have your tutelage for my dear Aiko and Brass.¡±


    ¡°That still leaves the issue of my system. I designed it so the residents of my world would have a visual confirmation of their path through life. It is set up so it will display the magic, skills, career choices, and special talents such as proficiencies with various weapon arts of the person as well as how to reach the next level in most of those things.¡±


    ¡°We still have a lot of careers and weapon paths as well as me needing to buy a lot more skills and such to put into it. I figure it will always be a bit of a work in progress and may need constant updates but what do you suppose my system would sell for in the Deific catalog?¡±


    Kaori had been looking at the last few morsels left on her plate as she spoke. Finally deciding on the last Yaki Onigiri, Kaori popped the delightfully crunchy grilled rice ball into her mouth and covered it with a napkin while chewing. After a second of looking at the rest of her meal, a resounding quiet registered and she looked up.


    Descartes and Pedri were both staring at her like she had grown a second head while the lesser deities that she had brought with her all had knowing smiles and grins plastered on their faces.


    Descartes finally seemed to get his voice back. ¡°Oh, is that AAAAAALL your new system does? Dear gods and goddesses above me! You certainly know how to make my life more interesting don¡¯t you?¡±