<h4>Chapter 66: No Rest for the Weary</h4>


    After returning to the Admin Room, I first went to check in with Terra. I had been gone for almost three full days, so there should be an update on the situation with the beastkin goddesses. Unsurprisingly, I found her sitting with Aurivy in the living room, watching another animated show. Well, this makes it easier, since there was also something that I wanted to ask Aurivy.


    When she saw me enter the room, Terra smiled towards me. “Hey Dale. Heard about your training n from the others. Learn anything useful?”


    I nodded my head slightly in response. “I managed to convert my ki to elemental ki. Though, I have to ask, is it possible for me to still use normal ki in the future? There might be times that I want to make people believe I don’t have it converted.”


    She thought for a moment, and nodded with a wider smile. “You can set it any time you create a body now. Your base element will vary with each body though, as it is different with every person. The important thing was that you were able to first feel how the enhanced ki felt. Otherwise, you wouldn’t know what changes you needed to make to your mortal body to allow it.”


    That did reassure me slightly, though it also raised another question. “My base element? Does that mean I could use more than one?”


    She chuckled slightly at that. “Did you forget, Dale? You are able to use every power that exists in your world. It’s the perk of being a Keeper. If you use the Keeper ki, you can choose which element you want to use, as long as it is one that someone in your world is currently able to use as well.”


    That’s right… I had forgotten that basic fact, given that I still needed to train to use most of the techniques of the world. Although I could use the energies themselves in the same way, it took skill to use them properly. “I see. By the way, I wanted to ask, are you able to tell me what water ki does for its ki punch? I tried it earlier, but I didn’t see any results.”


    Terra frowned for a moment, closing her eyes and focusing. “Hmm, you punched a tree with it. With water ki,rger targets will show a reduced effect. It invades the target, spreading out through them. Typically, it tries to cover the skin of the target, and when it’s done it will attack inward from all directions. Kind of like a submarine that goes too deep in the ocean, it gets crushed under the pressure of the water.”


    I knit my brows together when I heard that. If that was the case, then it would make sense that I didn’t see anything happen when I hit a tree. “Thanks, that had been bothering me. Also, how is Udona doing? Better now, I hope?”


    Not only Terra, even Aurivy had an awkward look when I asked that. However, the halfling goddess was the one to answer. “Big sis Udona is taking a unique approach to her domains.” Judging by her careful expression, she had been looking for the right way to word that without sounding insulting. Terra, on the other hand…


    “She’s decided to be a shut-in. She’s still managing all of her godly duties just fine, and I even check on her periodically. To the mortals, there is nothing unusual about her. But… I kind of regret using your Earth’s culture as a way to help her cope with the whole family trauma.”


    Hearing her say that, my eyes widened slightly. “On a scale of one to ten, how bad we talking?”


    Terra briefly closed her eyes, and then smirked bitterly. “She’s currently hiding inside a pillow fort, munching on potato chips and watching a detective show.”


    Aurivy blinked her eyes in surprise. “It was dragonsst time you checked, wasn’t it?” Terra chuckled again, nodding her head.


    “Okay… Well, this’ll be interesting. She does know that she still has to show up for any important meetings and stuff, right?”


    Terra nodded her head, a relieved smile on her face. “She said we can call her whenever we need, and she’ll join in the meetings. Even said you can go to her room if you need her for something, since I exined you’re still getting used to using the mentalmunication in the Admin Room.” Thatst part sounded as if Terra herself found that to be a surprise.


    “Alright, what about the other two? Are they getting along okay?” I had spoken briefly with alia through the prayers when I was down on the, so I could guess that she wasn’t doing too bad. But, I wanted to be sure.


    “Yeah, they’re doing great.” This time, the smile Terra wore when she spoke seemed happier. “alia wanted to test out the Heavenly Game system you purchased. But, unless you feel like waiting a while her incarnation won’t be born until you fast forward. As for her main self, she’s checking out the library I set up for everyone. Keliope,st I checked she was sparring with Bihena.”


    “They’re sparring? Martial arts training, or just because they both have more violent domains, and wanted to test each other?” You can’t me me for being curious there.


    “Martial arts. The two of them each wanted a different martial art, so I made some manuals for them. Bihena wanted something to promote peace, so I gave her the basic teachings of Qigong. Keliope wanted something that would take advantage of her people’s inherent strength, so I gave her a manual from the Earth before yours. It has a lot of simrities with kickboxing, but also incorporates throws.”


    Well, that did sound useful for a race asrge and strong as the ursa. “Okay, but they can’t have made any real progress in it yet. I wasn’t gone that long.”


    “You’re right.” Terra agreed with a nod. “They’re just practicing the basic movements right now. I wouldn’t be surprised if the two of them n to use the Heavenly Game to speed up their training.”


    Again, that made sense. “Qigong, does that have anything to do with monks?” Judging by the name, the two did not seem unrted, even though monks did not exist in quite the same way for my Earth as they do here.


    “Not directly.” Terra grinned. “But the teachings from it do benefit that ss as well. I chose it because it was the calmest, most peaceful martial art I coulde up with, which still held just enough fighting ability that her people would be interested. If I used one that was purely peaceful, then her people would not bother with it even if Bihena herselfmanded it.”


    I had to nod at that. The current stage of humans in the world seemed very warlike. “Alright. Hey, Aurivy, got a minute?” I asked as I looked to the loli goddess, who nodded her head with a wide smile. “I wanted to see how that dungeon’s been going, maybe see if you guys ced any more since the meeting.”


    Aurivy’s smile turned into a full blown grin when I brought up the dungeon. “Oh, it’s growing really well! It still is pretty small, because there aren’t any monsters that regrly appear on its ind, but its intelligence has improved a lot! I managed to teach it the current writtennguage of the halflings, though sometimes it gets a few words mixed up. I’m hoping that it grows faster now, since we moved those two slimes in there. Of course, none of the people will discover it for a really long time yet.”


    That was true, too. I remembered seeing aquatic travel mentioned in one of the technology updates that I skimmed throughtely, but it was only the lowest tier. My guess is that they are just learning about rafts and canoes. Getting to an ind far removed from any continent is still a long ways off. Even in modern times, there could still bergely unexplored inds like that. Though, if it goes too long without anyone finding it, we could always arrange for something to guide them there.


    As if she saw that I was distracted with my thoughts, Aurivy was patiently waiting for my attention to shift back to her before continuing. “As far as other dungeons go… I think everyone’s ced one in their area but Tryval. Not sure why he never took the chance, but oh well.” After saying that, she shrugged her shoulders, indicating it wasn’t really her responsibility.


    I could understand why the centaurs might not be that fond of dungeons that typically grew underground. “Alright… If either of you two need anything, I’ll be in the room. There’s a new system I’ve been wanting to make for a while, and I think the world finally made it far enough to use it.” I couldn’t help but notice Terra’s ears twitch when I mentioned that, and a small smile form on her lips. I hadn’t told her what kind of system this was that I was making, so most likely she was just happy to see me taking an active part in developing systems.


    Leaving the two of them to continue watching their show, I walked back towards my room. When I passed the series of doors belong to the other gods and goddesses, I was tempted to take a peek in to see how Udona was doing. However, given that Terra had just given me an update on her, there really didn’t seem to be much point in that. Instead, I continued on my original path until I was sitting down at myputer.


    Pulling up the notepad, I began writing down the details of this system. The system itself was fairly simple, a new type of expanded ss system. My name for it was ‘Legacy sses’. With the Legacy ss system, people couldbine their understandings of different techniques, sometimes ranging from entirely different sses, andbine it all into one ss.


    Although it would not create an actual ss within the system, it would act as a training manual. For instance, say a Mage who has trained as a Warrior wants to pass on a way to fight using close ranged magic, they create a Muscle Wizard Legacy ss. Then, for that ss, they write down their teachings for someone to learn from, and that person follows along in the Legacy.


    The only real restrictions on this system are that you can only pass on techniques you actually understand and can use, you need to pass them on via a writing of some kind, and the medium used to pass the Legacy is consumed upon use. With this, there should be some interestingbinations that appear in the world, as mixed sses are more encouraged. Of course, with how the system is written, a Legacy can’t advance beyond what the former generation had. But, that just means that they need tobine it with more teachings to keep the Legacy strong.


    After I chose to confirm the system I wanted to design, I took a look at it in the market. The total cost of the system was a hundred and fifty points. Given my promise to leave the bigger purchases to Ryone, as she was my ountant, I wrote a quick message to her to look the system over. It didn’t take her long to write back to me, though the reply was simply a drawing of a thumbs up.


    Like that, I went ahead and spent the points to buy the Legacy ss system, enjoying the ten percent discount thates with having designed the system myself. I considered making another announcement to the world to let everyone know about the new system, but decided against it. Writtennguages were still new enough that the change shouldn’t be too obvious. Compared to that, I’d rather not increase my reputation as a Godking any further than it currently was.


    _______________________________________________________________


    The mountains had been a rough journey, some going higher than the skies themselves. Yet, journey was the very reason that halflings lived. One family,posed of just under twenty small halflings, had made the journey. With them were severalrge birds, bears, and even a creature with three long spider-like legs and a tiny body. Its mouth was a narrow tube extending forward, half a dozen sharp teeth lining the edge. This was a Pookajook, the name that the halflings had given the odd species.


    With their small horde of animals, they continued south, past the knownnds. Far in the distance to the east and the west, their birds had reported oceans on both sides. This was the first time any halfling had ever ventured so far south, but even further still was andmass that stretched as far as the eye could see. A whole newnd, untouched by halfling hands.


    One of the halflings smiled at the news, wanting to share it with others. “Kria.” He called, his high pitched voice summoning one of the birds. This particr bird was yellow, with onerger pair of wings and one smaller. Kria was often used to send messages to nearby towns, but this time it would be going further than it had ever gone before.


    The yellow birdnded on his shoulder, rubbing his head against the halfling affectionately. At the same time, a gentle voice entered into the halfling’s head. What is it?


    The halfling was not at all surprised by the voice. He pulled a small strip of leather from his pouch, and began writing crude symbols on it. It was a message, the best he could write with his ability, about a newnd to the south. “Can you send this back to the Rest for me?”


    The bird chirped sadly. A Rest was the halfling’s name for their cities, often left uninhabited unless a wandering soul wishes to stay for shelter and… well, rest. The reason that Kria was sad, though, was because thest Rest they passed was over a week’s flight away. He simply didn’t wish to be away from his Hunter for so long. Still, it nevertheless agreed to the request, its eptance registering in the mind of the halfling.


    The halfling Hunter rolled up the leather scrap, giving it to Kria who clutched it in one of its ws. “Fly well and true. You can find us when you return.” And with that, Kria flew into the sky, moving to the north to faithfully deliver the message. Even without the parchment, it was possible to convey the message, as long as a strong enough Hunter was staying in the vige at the time.


    With Kria having left, the family resumed their journey to the south, eager to explore the newnds.