World Keeper: Birth of a World

by Justin Miller

  I listened to her, moving to sit in the computer chair as I thought it over. “So… it wouldn’t be a good move to do in this world? But, getting another world isn’t exactly an easy matter… Wouldn’t I have to win an invasion to do that? That means, killing another Keeper…”

  Terra showed me a soft smile at that point. “Dale, this is why you need to go to that meeting with Alkahest. There are things you don’t know about the games yet, and can only be explained by people who have experienced it themselves. I can point you in the right direction, but that’s it. Wouldn’t it be too much of a cheat if I was able to know and tell you the business of other Keepers?”

  I thought about that, and gave a slight nod. “Okay…” I then turned to the computer, and set it to fast forward the world again. This time, the condition for ending the fast forward was for when someone reached level 10 as a Mage. That would give me a good starting point to learn magic. At the same time, I opened up the elves’ culture screen.

  Gandor Cultural Management

  Current Commands

  N/A

  Current Ruler

  Eldwynn Ryon

  Current Security

  5%

  Current Wealth

  N/A

  Current Focus

  Defense

  Additional Options

  Opening up the Additional Options menu, I saw a list of things that I could choose to edit with the system. For instance, I could give the current monarch the idea to have a royal palace constructed. Or, more importantly, I could focus their culture development on a specific aspect for a certain period of time.

  That was what I was looking for. I naturally chose Magic Research as a secondary field of development. According to the information provided by the system, that meant that any capable people would devote their free time to studying magic, and people born during that period had a higher chance to be suited for the task. The difference between a secondary field of development and a primary one was exactly that, the amount of manpower devoted.

  Given the world’s primal state, where attacks can come at any time, I wanted to leave their current Defense focus as it was. Switching that to a secondary field would probably make it much easier for monsters to slip in undetected. Now… for the duration. It would cost me one point for every five years I wanted to implement this, or one hundred points to make it a permanent option.

  Naturally, I didn’t have a hundred points right now, so I spent ten points. This way, they will spend the next fifty years developing magic. Once I had more points to spend, I could set periods of advancement for other cultures as well, but for now I had to prioritize the elves. Once the purchase was confirmed, I checked their culture window again.

  Gandor Cultural Management

  Current Commands

  N/A Primary, Magic Research Secondary

  Current Ruler

  Eldwynn Ryon

  Current Security

  5%

  Current Wealth

  N/A

  Current Focus

  Defense

  Additional Options

  I nodded my head at that, and checked on the other races. Due to the current state of fast forwarding, movements went by in a blur. Days ticked by as seconds, and I could see a definite improvement in some of the races.

  The beastkin, with their greater numbers and cooperation, erected primitive defensive structures such as spiked walls and guard patrols within the first two years. The humans, still untouched by either Terra or myself, started to band together in small tribes to fight against the growing monsters. The dwarves seemed to develop a bit as well. As I watched, they gathered into five small tribes, each in vastly different areas.

  Perhaps, the only race that did not show much advancement was the halflings. They remained as they had always been, a merry wandering race. But, something seemed different. Oftentimes, they would wander through monster dens, or past dangerous herds, and not be sighted. It wasn’t that the monsters were careless, but the halfings had developed a knack for stealth.

  This development continued for roughly an hour, at which point it abruptly slowed to a normal pace. Off to the side, Terra couldn’t help but giggle. “You know, if you had stopped watching for a bit, it would have been able to progress faster, right? You could have grabbed a snack, and it would have been done by the time you got back.”

  I smiled bitterly, shaking my head. “It was nice to watch them progress. Besides, if an emergency had happened, I might not have been able to do anything to stop it if I wasn’t watching.” Terra nodded, conceding that point to me. “Now, what kinds of spells are available to the Mages that advanced to level 10?”

  Yes, I know that I assigned the spells myself. But really, do you expect me to keep track of every ability and spell that I assigned for around fifty different classes, all the way to the high hundreds in level? That is just ridiculous! I was mostly idling through that and going by system suggestions in order to speed up the process, anyways.

  “Hmm, well, they have gotten three new spells since you last practiced. A light spell, a spark spell, and a shield spell.” Terra answered, seemingly not even having to think about it. “This should be enough for you to start making some small spells of your own, if you study them enough.” She said with a smile, which meant that there were most likely aspects of the spells that were similar enough to draw connections.

  “Alright, let’s get to work.” I said with a nod, and we moved down towards the training area so that I could try the new spells out.

  * * *

  Eldwynn Ryon sat at her chair, five different drawings in front of her. Each was a symbol of power to her people, as each had been provided by the world itself to those that sought to further the art of ‘magic’. The Mages, as they were called, had committed themselves to understanding and improving this strange power. And, as they did so, these symbols continued to appear in her mind.

  Three of them were images that Eldwynn herself could not be more familiar with. They were the spells designated Fire, Ice, and Light which she had personally acquired. However, the other two were ones which she had yet to grasp. According to the Mages that delivered them, they were known as Spark and Shield. One capable of paralyzing a nearby target with a blast of light, and the other capable of defending.

  How many more of these symbols of power are there, she wondered to herself. She had personally tested Spark and Shield, and discovered that they worked even if she had not unlocked them. She merely needed to imagine them, and fill them with her inner power in the same way she did when casting her own powers. Further testing showed that anyone who was a ‘Mage’ could do the same thing. Even people without that title could with proper guidance, and doing so granted it to them.

  Seeing the power offered by these strange patterns, Eldwynn issued an order for all Mages in her realm to devote themselves to the discovery of these powers, these spells. As the seasons passed, the monsters at their walls only continued to grow stronger. They needed these symbols to be their symbol of hope, or these creatures may grow to an extent that they can no longer contend with.

  * * *

  Back in the Plains of Beginning, there was an elderly Felyn lying on a bed of straw. Her beautiful face had wrinkled with age, her fiery red hair turning a dull grey. Across her body was the pelt of a mighty beast, which she had personally slain in her youth. Standing near her were representatives of each of the tribes which she led, those who she had gathered and had ruled over until she came to her current state.

  “What would you have of us, Ardra?” One asked, an aged wolf with a missing eye. It may have caused his appearance to lessen, but he was proud of it. It was a mark gained in the service to his people.

  The elderly Felyn, Ardra Firebrand, gave a light, weak smile. “It is almost time for my passing. Before I go, I want to choose who will take my place…” She brought her hand to her mouth, coughing into it. Blood could be seen on her hand as she pulled it back. “My daughter is not ready for the
task, but there is another. I want you all to guide her in my stead, old friends.”

  The Ursa, Lycan, and Kitsune leaders all dropped to one knee. The Kitsune, a younger man with black hair and fur, was the first to speak. “If it is your wish, we will do our best. But, if not Kyra, then who?”

  Truthfully, Ardra had always wanted her daughter, Kyra Firebrand, to replace her when it was her time. However, the Goddess had told her that Kyra was not suited to rule. This was one of the few decisions that Ardra had initially wanted to debate with her Goddess, but she was given a vision. She was shown her daughter excelling, but not as a leader. She would lead her people, yes, but in the ways of securing food.

  Instead, there was another, a local Kitsune girl that had been unknown to Ardra before. Ardra was given another vision of this Kitsune leading their tribe to prosper and expand, to fight back the growing threat of the monsters. Following the Goddess’s wish, she had not revered her openly, and did not tell anyone that various decisions over her rule were aided by the Goddess. This, she could only tell to her successor.

  “The person who will lead us, is… Mara Eversong.” Ardra spoke in a weak voice, to the surprise of the three representatives. “Please, send her to me. I wish to speak with her alone…”

  Although unwilling, the beastmen representatives left Ardra’s hut, finding the girl that had been named and instructing her to meet the Grand Elder. This was possibly her final day, so none wished to delay Ardra’s orders. She had personally transformed them from scattered families to a great force. With her in command, food had never been a problem. She had always fought at the forefront of any battle against the monster threat. In the hearts of the beastkin, there was only respect for Ardra, respect and loyalty.

  “Wh-what do you wish of me, Grand Elder?” A shaky voice could be heard as a silver-haired Kitsune, no more than a dozen years of age, entered. Her body was undeveloped, and her ears flattened against her head in nervousness. Never before had she personally met the Grand Elder, but suddenly she was called on the eve of her passing.

  “Do not worry, dear child.” Ardra spoke softly, turning her head to look at the person chosen to replace her. “I have many things to tell you, things that you must know, and things that can’t be said to others.”

  Still worried, Mara nodded her head, listening quietly as Ardra spoke. She was told of the Goddess, how it had been her decision to gather the races, and how important she had been to Ardra’s rule. Then, she spoke of how the Goddess had personally decided for Mara to replace her. Mara was surprised by this sudden declaration, and immediately tried to deny this suggestion, but a voice spoke into her mind.

  Calm, my child. This is what must be. This was the first time that Mara had ever heard the voice of the Goddess, and she immediately froze in her attempts to speak. Seeing this, Ardra knew what had happened, and gave a gentle smile. Slowly, she closed her eyes, having finally fulfilled her last mission.

  On that night, no monsters attacked, no storms raged. A gentle wind blew through the plains, as if the world itself was mourning.

  Chapter 12

  During my training with Terra, I had managed to develop two new spells, the Elemental Shield and the Force Bolt. These spells were created thanks to Terra helping me identify some key structures of the magic diagram. In particular, the blast spells all shared many common properties, with only a few of the major shapes being different. After some testing, I discovered that those parts of the diagram were related to the element being used in the spell.

  From there, I began experimenting with the Shield spell, until I found a way to include those elements in the spell itself. This changed it from being a shield of pure force, to a shield of fire, ice, or lightning. Likewise, this helped me identify the ‘force’ element, which I was able to transplant into the blast spells, creating the Force Bolt spell.

  To my surprise, I had actually earned another 10 points, for discovering a secret to magic and developing abilities that had not been known to my people yet. I was slowly getting closer to being able to implement an afterlife for my world, though there were also other ideas I had been thinking of. Primarily, I had thought about creating a new race, though I wasn’t sure what one I wanted to put in at this time.

  When Terra heard this, she gave me some news that surprised me. “It’s actually possible to create a new race for your world whenever you want, as long as you either have a free race slot, or buy a new one. As long as your world has not been entirely explored yet, you can also isolate a section of your world, and have it run at a different timeframe. For instance, if you place a new race right now, you could choose one of the empty areas of your planet.”

  “From there, you could choose to ‘rewind’ that area of the planet, and place that race there. Then, they will begin developing under your supervision, until they either reached a level you were comfortable with, or began exploring into ‘known territory’ on your world. This is how new planets are typically handled in technological worlds, by having the races develop when the world itself is found, and then reintroducing them to the timeline.”

  That was certainly an interesting thought, but I couldn’t help but ask. “Can’t I do the same thing with the races I already have? Like, if I wanted to give the humans more time to develop, could I isolate them and pause the rest of the world?”

  Terra gave me a small nod, watching me stare at the various diagrams. “That’s right. It would cost a few points, but you could use that as an easy way to balance the races, if one got too far behind the others. Or, if one got too far ahead, you could just freeze that race until the others caught up. Of course, this is only possible as long as the races have had absolutely no contact with each other, and have therefore not influenced the other races in any way.”

  I nodded to that, thinking that it would be interesting. I still had a vast majority of my world unexplored, so fitting in a new race would be pretty easy. It was just a matter of not knowing what kind of race to put in. Well, I still had time to think about that. Maybe I could get an idea from Alkahest after our meeting.

  After I was done training in the basement with Terra, we once again headed back up to the bedroom, and I decided to check up on the world. I hadn’t expected many changes, since the last fast forward had only been roughly ten years or so. In the great timeline of the world, ten years is really not a lot of time for change, especially in this age. However, there were a couple of things that surprised me

  First of all, I noticed that the leader of Terraria was no longer Ardra, and was in fact no longer a Felyn at all. I sent a curious glance to Terra, who asked what was the matter. “I almost thought that you wanted to keep your own race in power with the beastkin. Didn’t expect to see a Kitsune in charge.”

  Terra gave me a wry smile, and shrugged her shoulders. “I do want the Felyn to be important, but wouldn’t it be more fun if the races took turns leading? And, Mara really did have the best talent for being a leader out of everyone. So it only makes sense to put her in charge.” Saying that, she turned back to the bed and crawled up on it, turning around to give me a small grin.

  “Ahh, that’s true.” I nodded slightly, before checking out the other thing which caught my eye, a flashing prompt in the corner of the screen.

  You have 2 messages waiting.

  After I opened them up, two windows appeared in front of me.

  Congratulations, you have earned an achievement!

  Your world has begun to explore the basics of science of their own volition! You have earned the Free Thinker achievement. +20 points.

  You have sold 5 units of World Host

  I nodded my head slightly, appreciating the extra 35 points to my balance. Though, I was curious who had begun exploring science. Naturally, my first thought was the elves, since they were without a doubt the furthest along out of any of the races. But, that thought was refuted when I checked the Science window, which seemed to display the progress of science in my world. This window had never been available
before, likely because my world had yet to begin any research.

  To put it simply… it was not the elves who had begun working on science, but the dwarves. And, it was a rather obvious science as well. According to the window, the dwarves had begun working on crafting technology, though I wasn’t sure what had prompted such a sudden interest. According to what Terra had said, the bonus for them that I purchased shouldn’t have kicked in yet.

  Investigating a bit, I found what could possibly be the cause… and what could also possibly be quite dangerous. One of the dwarven tribes had settled on top of a mountain. But, this was not just any mountain… this was an active volcano. Did they see how rocks melt when they fall into lava, and get a sudden inspiration or something?

  I considered intervening to stop the volcano from erupting… But doing so would cost points, as it is preventing a natural phenomena. I’m sorry, but I wish for the best for you guys. I gave them a silent prayer. I couldn’t just delete every disaster that could befall my world. Some disasters are needed in order to help them grow. Now… if this volcano was big enough to wipe out the entire dwarven race, I would probably interfere. But just one tribe is an acceptable loss right now.