The news of Udona ascending to the throne of Deckan had a rather… mixed reception from the masses. It was what one might expect from a nigh-omnipotent being taking on the role of planetary ruler.

Celebrations filled many cities at the

Announcement

. While normally a new queen would have little effect on the common folk, it was a different matter entirely when you considered that the new queen was a goddess that they had worshipped their entire lives. In fact, the reaction from the church was even more extreme.

Within a week, the church had announced its allegiance to the throne, becoming an official part of the governing body. Statues of Udona were altered to show her wearing the crown of Ashtanu. Even without the goddess herself granting any legal power to the church, they began to strive to assist the public more than ever.

However… for many nobles, this was a rather bitter pill to swallow. With Udona as the new God-Queen of Deckan, it was unlikely that their lineage would ever be able to rise in power. The throne had forever become off-limits to those who hoped to one day secure it for their families.

With no chance to marry someone into the royal family, and no grounds sufficient to rebel against the Greater Pantheon, the nobles had to look for new ways to ensure the success of their families. Instead of the potential to rise to the throne, they began to look into securing more authority and territory.

Unfortunately, the land of Deckan had long since been reclaimed and divided amongst different territories under the crown. Without violent conflict or underhanded schemes, it was unlikely that they would be able to gather more power within the world. And with Udona watching over them, both wars and schemes became a fool’s errand.

Which left them with one choice. If they wished to expand, they would have to do so outside of the world of Deckan. Either through dimensional travel to arrive at unexplored realms, or through claiming new worlds within the realm of Deckan.

When it came to this decision, the nobles felt divided. Each method had various pros and cons that had to be considered.

For example, if one chose to go with the dimensional exploration method. There would be a faster return on this investment, because it was a guarantee that they would find a world through the Fairy Ring to inhabit. However, the danger level was unpredictable, and the environment could be hiding terrible secrets.

On the other hand, there was the space exploration method. Through this method, there would be a longer, more secure return. New worlds explored like this generally had low levels of threat that could be handled with modern techniques. However, it would take a significant amount of time to locate a suitable world and establish a trade network.

While both of these options seemed valid, and both could potentially be completed in one or two generations, they had to consider which was best for their individual circumstances. At the same time, with the Goddess watching over them, they could not simply slack off with their normal roles. Regardless of what else happened, any expansion plans would have to be a side project.

Back in the lab, James let out a long sigh of relief. He had just received word that Chel and the research team were on their way back after acquiring a pair of Crystal Salamanders. Their journey this time had taken substantially longer than he had expected, so he was beginning to worry that something might have happened to them.

In James’s opinion, the transfer of power to the Queen was a good thing indeed. While Bria had never been in favor of his favored research project, he knew that the goddess Udona had alway been quite interested. When he secretly asked, he had even learned that it was her idea for Tsubaki to grow out a total of nine tails upon reaching godhood.

As for the matter of the researcher who had been lost to the void in his attempts to infiltrate the palace, James paid it little mind. While he was a bit sorry for the man as a respected academic, the two of them were on opposing sides at the time. Furthermore, James himself had no way of tracking where the man had gone, or if he was even still alive.

However, when he investigated the scene, and found the traces of the energy that had been left behind, he was inspired in his own way. Refining the energy radiated from dimensium had never occurred to him as a method for creating new energy fusions. While he was waiting for the team to return from Fyor, he began to go over different possible combinations involving that energy in the back of his mind.

Tsubaki and Dana sat together in the garden atop the Sky Citadel, each holding a pair of storage bags. With the events that had transpired recently, they had barely had the time to complete their own projects. “Did you get everything prepared?” Tsubaki asked in a serious tone, to which Dana nodded her head.

“Yup! I’ve prepared scepters for all four energy types. Additionally, I’ve tied them to the registry system to make sure that they can’t be used while on this world! If they manage to defeat the enemy and return, we won’t have to worry about them being able to lead a rebellion!”

This was something that had been bothering the two of them the most when it came to Dale’s request. He wanted them to grow a force capable of eliminating a Keeper, but in doing so that force would likely be strong enough to eliminate Dale himself. To prevent that, they had to take special steps.

“And the lifebound enchantment?” Tsubaki asked in an urgent tone, causing Dana to nod her head again.

“Once they drip blood on it, the artifact will bind to their soul, and vice versa. If they die, the artifact will destroy itself. And if the artifact is destroyed, their soul will be as well to prevent any interrogation.” Although cruel, this was a necessary step that they considered. They didn’t want to risk leaking critical information about their Keeper to an enemy, nor did they want a powerful weapon turning against them. “If they make it back, I can undo the enchantment when we take the scepters back.”

Tsubaki let out a relieved sigh when she heard that. “Then, I suppose it’s my turn. I’ve found seven individuals that fit our needs. After talking with them and explaining the issue, they’ve each agreed to help, and I’ll be gathering them here tomorrow.”

“Are they strong enough?” Dana asked with a tilt of her head, causing Tsubaki to smile.

“They’re all on the path to ascension. Each of them have created a divine soul, and three have gone as far as creating a divine body. With any luck, we will be able to send seven gods for this mission.”

Dana’s eyes went wide when she heard that, no longer doubting if they were capable. The fact that Tsubaki had managed to convince that many half-ascended individuals meant that she had likely visited Fyor, where the people had an easier time training themselves.

Finding three people that had already formed their divine body in itself was a remarkable feat, as that meant that they were only one step away from true ascension. Furthermore, it was the easiest step of the entire process. If they were waiting at this stage, it likely meant that they were either unsure of what domain they wished to achieve, or were looking for another god to be subordinate to.

“What about the other thing?” Tsubaki asked curiously, noting the second bag in Dana’s hands. The ones she was carrying herself held the details for the seven ‘heroes’, as well as a few materials that she had gathered over the last few days. She knew that one of the bags in Dana’s hands held the scepters, but couldn’t be sure what the other was.

When Dana heard the question, she let out a playful grin. “I had a few gems left over after I was done with the scepters, so I went ahead and completed our other project as well. Or, at least a prototype for it.”

Tsubaki’s eyes went wide in shock, knowing which project Dana should be referring to. “Can you show me?”

“Of course!” Proudly, she took out the object that was within the bag, setting it out within an empty walkway atop the garden. The object was a wide, circular platform. Embedded within it, and wrapped in stone tendrils, were four different-colored marbles. Silver, red, green, and blue, each representing one of the primary energies.

The rest of the surface for the platform contained an intricate spell diagram, one that made Tsubaki’s brow furrowed. “This is only the third tier, isn’t it? Will it be able to do what we want?”

Dana let out a giggle, reaching out and tapping on the air. An invisible ripple spread out, revealing a much larger spell diagram hovering above the entire platform. “I’m just using the third tier formation to anchor the fourth tier one in place.”

The kitsune was more relieved when she heard that, giving a faint nod. “Have you tested it out yet?” If she hadn’t, they certainly didn’t want to do so here. After all… Tsubaki still felt a chill whenever she remembered how she had once almost destroyed half of the citadel with one of their experiments.

“Yup! It’s currently functional right now, actually! Right now, the universe inside is really bare. I couldn’t even find a single fully formed planet. That’s why I mixed in a time acceleration formula that feeds on the excess mana. You just have to flip this switch on the side to turn it on or off.”

As she said that, she leaned down, showing Tsubaki the two switches on the side of the platform. One was clearly marked with the image of an hourglass, while the other had a black circle to indicate that it powered the entire formation itself.

“Oddly enough… I found something really strange when I turned the formation off earlier.” Dana muttered, standing back up with a complicated gaze.

“What was it?”

“The ‘information’ of the world was saved within the four marbles used as pillars of the world. Meaning that when I restarted the formation, they came together to create it as it had been at the moment that the formation was disabled. However, if I swap out any of the marbles, it creates an imbalance in the energies and actually causes things to develop in strange directions.”

After saying that, she lightly patted the bag in her hand. “I made a total of five of these platforms. This one I’m using as the controlled test, and haven’t changed any of its orbs yet. But, the other four I’ve been rotating the orbs between them, giving them each a day per combination to try to figure out what changes would happen.”

“So far, one of the test worlds has created a sort of mutated geometric magic system. I didn’t notice it at first, but that’s just how it ended up when I tried to use magic in it with an avatar. The symbols don’t all mean the same things anymore, and sometimes the magic comes out distorted. Another one has… created an interesting universe configuration.”

“That one had its ki information mutate together with the elemental information. It’s… almost like Fyor? But imagine Fyor if each layer was separated by a vast pool of blood, arranged in countless flat planes. That’s the only one of the five that has generated stable landmasses so far, as well.”

Tsubaki’s brow knit together when she heard that, deciding that she would need to take a look at the worlds herself once she had some more free time. “I’ll leave that project in your care. Let me know if anything dangerous happens, okay?”