My fingers felt numb as I pulled back the string of the practice bow I had created, focusing on imbuing the arrow in my hand with the qualities of a void arrow. However, regardless of how I tried, the arrow simply shattered between my fingers. This wasn’t because I was mixing the energies wrong… but rather because I was using too much power.

This was a fact that had been holding me back ever since I started this training. With how much energy I had at my disposal, it was extremely difficult to partition it in such small amounts in the time it took me to draw my bow back. Worse yet, this bow did not even have the training paths that Accalia had told me about. It was simply a standard bow that I had made in the Admin Room.

Furrowing my brow, I released the string, closing my eyes and focusing. Ever since I had become the Keeper, I had gotten used to throwing my energy around in bulk, taking advantage of my natural reserves in order to crush the opposition. The only times I needed to exercise fine control to this degree were when I was creating special energy types like the Ki of Beginning or the World’s Shadow. And for both of those, I had to use my World Sight in order to correct any problems as they occurred.

However, I could not simply use World Sight every time I fired an arrow, or it would divert too much of my focus away from the ongoing battle. At most, I could use it to train myself to adjust my own output reflexively, and maybe then I’d be able to handle it on my own. It was either that or have an endless supply of high-quality divine arrows that could withstand my power. Just as I was getting ready to deploy my World Sight, I noticed a ping in the corner of my vision.

Oldbeard has sent a message!

Oldbeard: Just sent off my last invasion, and got notified that you’re my next opponent, like you said. Are you free to meet up, or would you like to take care of the transaction later?

Blinking, I had to think back to what I wanted from Oldbeard, as I had been fairly distracted with other matters lately. I could remember the level transfer orbs, as I had been anticipating those for quite a while. Aside from that… ah, right, Oldbeard had the rock people that I wanted to give a try.

EarthForceOne: Sure. Mind if I bring one of my companions over, or you prefer meetings like this solo?

Oldbeard: Doesn’t bother me any. Bring over whoever you like. I can have one of my people serve up tea when you get here.

I gave a soft chuckle at that, before sending out a message. Ryone, Leowynn? I’m about to head to another Keeper’s room, and I wanted to know if you two would like to join me? And Terra, while I’m gone, keep an eye on things. If anything drastic happens, make sure to pause for me to handle when I get back.

It only felt right to take Leowynn, after she used so much of her own energy for me to repel the recent void monsters. She was my daughter, after all, and I wanted to take her out to see new sights. And naturally, if I am taking Leowynn, I should take her mother as well to make it a family outing.

Terra gave a groggy groan, responding that she would take care of it, while Ryone and Leowynn teleported to my side with excited expressions. This would be Leowynn’s first time to visit another Admin Room herself, so I could understand why she was looking forward to it so much.

Oldbeard has invited you to their Administration Room with Guest privileges. Do you accept?

Nodding my head, I grabbed the hands of the two girls next to me, closing my eyes and waiting for the transfer to take place. I could hear the sound of glass shifting, and feel the hands of Leowynn and Ryone tighten slightly against my own. When I opened my eyes, I realized that we had been locked within a giant glass bubble, vertical lines of multicolored metal evenly spaced out along its exterior.

The sphere began to rotate, slowly at first before picking up speed. Soon, it was going fast enough that the colored strips began to overlap, forming a rainbow of color that constantly rotated around us. Faster and faster it went, the colors merging like pastel paints until we couldn’t tell what was what anymore.

And then, finally, it actually became pastel paints, the color exploding outwards in a splash that splattered across the room. I gave a small wince, as this was a transfer method that didn’t hurt the traveler, but instead hurt their destination.

However, as I looked around, I saw that the ‘room’ we were in was largely empty. It seemed to just be a great platform resting above the clouds. In some ways, it reminded me of what I had seen from Alkahest’s Admin Room when I visited.

“And this is why we use a reception room!” A voice called out from nearby, a young figure rising from the sea of clouds to stand on the platform. As I had suspected, Oldbeard did not look like some wizened old man. In fact, he wasn’t a man at all.

The figure that I was looking at seemed to be a girl, no older than ten years old. Her face scrunched up in disgust as she looked at the pastel decorations. “Cleanup!” She shouted, and a large, bipedal stuffed wolf appeared with a mop and bucket, nodding its head as it began working.

“Sorry about that.” The girl said as she walked over, and I could notice the vaguely pointed ears on either side of her head. No doubt, she was an elf. Or at least, she took the appearance of one. “Anyways, welcome to my place. Yeah, I know, you expected someone bigger. You wanna bring your girlfriends for tea, or not?”

“I’m his daughter, actually…” Leowynn cleared her throat, while her mother simply chuckled.

Oldbeard raised an eyebrow at that, shrugging her shoulders. “I won’t judge. You wanna get jiggy with your companions, that’s your business.” She snapped her fingers, and a wooden door appeared nearby. “Anyways, let’s get to this. It probably won’t take all that long, but we should do this properly.”

That said, she turned and walked up to the door, stepping through and holding it open for us. I glanced at the two elves I brought with me, before the three of us followed suit. The inside of the next room was… very pink. Additionally, there was a large white table sat in the middle of it, chairs placed all around.

Once we were inside the room, Oldbeard walked over to the table, pulling herself into one of the chairs. “The tea should be here soon. Until then, mind chatting for a moment?”

“Sure…” I nodded my head, moving to sit with Ryone and Leowynn opposite of Oldbeard.

The young girl rolled her shoulders, crossing her arms on the table. “EarthForceOne, current activity time, less than ten years. Third Rank Keeper. No prior breaches of etiquette or hostility towards a peaceful Keeper. Multiple intellectual properties on the market including the World Host, Dungeon World, Card World, and Stellar Magic. Recently joined the Lasting Bonds guild led by entertainment-style world provider, EverLasting.”

“According to the official opinion of the Gilded Branch, you are a trustworthy Keeper, although you rarely appear during monthly meetings which shows a slight antisocial tendency towards your fellow Keepers.”

I couldn’t help but clear my throat at that. “I’ve had other things on my mind, and those meetings take quite a lot of time.”

“Don’t sweat it, I don’t go either.” Oldbeard said with a small smirk. “The point rewards for winning games can’t make up for the stuff I’d miss in my own world by attending that meeting. I just subscribe to their newsletter.”

“...Newsletter?” I blinked, having never heard of that before. Oldbeard simply chuckled.

“It’s a forum thing. If you’re a guild leader, you can set up paid posts on the forum. Your guild gets access for free, but anyone else has to pay you a fee to read it. The Gilded Branch releases monthly news bulletins for five hundred points each that say things like which Keepers to watch out for, and which ones have died recently. Nothing that would be incriminating if the bad guys saw it, but just enough news to make those of us that don’t go to the meetings feel like we’re still part of a community.”

That would explain why I had never heard of it, since I highly doubted that Sarah did anything like that. Unless it was for guides on her game worlds. She would probably charge for that. “Ah, I see. Still, you got quite a bit of information from them… wouldn’t that have cost you nearly more than you’d make trading with me?”

Oldbeard just shrugged her shoulders at that. “My policy is that I’d rather be on the losing end of a trade than to trade with someone I didn’t trust. After all, I might be sending some of my people to you. What’s to stop you from extracting their souls to learn information about my world? It’s a pretty common practice if you don’t have any safeguards in place.”

My eyes went wide at that, suddenly reconsidering if I wanted to have any of my races available on my own trade list. “How do you get around that? Everyone that I’ve seen advertising their races has listed cultural information for them. They can’t just wipe out the memories of everyone they send, right?”

Oldbeard shook her head, a small smile on her lips. “Everyone has their own way of doing it. For me, I use the Life Insurance Policy.” As she said that, she lifted a hand to flick her wrist, a small screen appearing over the table.

Life Insurance Policy

This system allows you to designate any number of individuals and leave a brand on their souls. This brand will permanently weaken their souls, making them too fragile to exist outside of a corporeal body.

10,000 Points

“With this system, I can send people over without any worry. If you ty to forcibly read their soul, their soul will simply shatter. Same for most forms of rough interrogation or hypnotic attacks. That’s why it is a good deal for trading like this, but it is pretty lame when you are sending a proper invasion. If all it takes to destroy your army is one light blast of soul force, what’s the point of sending the army in the first place? Some people go the extra mile and personally damage someone’s soul when they send them over with a delivery, but this is enough for me.”

I gave a small nod at that, just as the door to the room opened again. This time, a woman in her late twenties with silver hair walked into the room, wearing a black dress and an apron. She seemed to be carrying a large tray with her, and Oldbeard’s eyes lit up at the sight. “Mom! Did you get it all?”

The woman, no doubt Oldbeard’s previous mother returned to the Admin Room from their old world, smiled softly. “Of course, dear.” She said, bringing the tray over and setting it on the table. “I made plenty of tea for everyone, as well as sandwiches, if you’re hungry.

Oldbeard was rocking back and forth happily in her seat as she brought a cup of tea and a pair of small sandwiches over towards herself. “You’re the best.” She grinned, causing her mother to smile happily. Naturally, I saw no reason to be rude, and similarly gathered some refreshments for myself and both Ryone and Leowynn.