Chapter 868: Make A Wish
<span style="font-weight:400">I had been more than happy to preside over the wedding of Geoff and Hanya, even though we weren’t announcing just what meritorious deed afforded them such an honor. In truth, there were many people confused about why I was doing what I was doing, but they still chose to attend the wedding regardless. After all, when the ruler of the realm hosted a wedding, anyone who could would choose to be there.
<span style="font-weight:400">From kings and gods to parents that could just barely afford a Virtual converter for them and their families. The digital venue that we prepared had to be expanded many times over, until we simply turned it into a boundless, procedurally generated map with Ashley’s help.
<span style="font-weight:400">When the main ceremony itself was over, everyone got together and cleared the floor. Udona reced me at the podium, which was itself reced by a microphone, her voice echoing out across the map.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Someone told me once</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">About this certain point of view.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">How dreams you hold to tight</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Are just waiting toe true.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">So here’s the secret.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Make a wish right now.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">When the world tries to hurt you</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Just remember this vow.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">It’s true.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">It’s all you need.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">A single hope, a single prayer</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">A single shining light to see.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">When darkness closes ‘round you</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">A single wish can set you free.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">It seems that often</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Our dreams appear so far.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">But when you look back at your life</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">You remember where you are.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">So here’s the secret.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Make a wish right now.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Hold it close, and hold it fast</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">‘Cause it’ll never let you down!</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">It’s true.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">It’s time to shine.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">When wishes glow like starlight.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">When true love feels divine.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">You look inside yourself and say</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">“I took this wish and made it mine!”</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">So tell the story now</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">About this certain point of view.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">How dreams you hold to tight</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Are just waiting toe true.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Because now you’ve felt it.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">You hold it every night.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">You see your dream beside you</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">So now it’s time to share the light.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">It’s true.</i>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">It’s your turn now.</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">I smiled as I watched Udona pouring her heart into the mic. It was clearly a song she wrote specifically for this pair, but at the same time, I could feel her own story in it. I shook my head, looking off to see Julia and Aurivy dancing together, or Hanya and Geoff, nk and Vivi, James and Chelse… so many familiar faces that had gotten together over the years.
<span style="font-weight:400">As I was thinking about that, I felt a hand on my arm. When I turned, I saw Irena standing there with a gentle smile on her face, her other hand extended in invitation. My smile grew wider as I took her hand, knowing that I had gained such connections myself as well.
<span style="font-weight:400">We danced into the night, sometimes switching partners and sometimes simply chatting with one another. However, I knew that it was a time that none of us would forget.
<span style="font-weight:400">Back in the real world, after synchronizing my memories with my Virtual self, I let out a long sigh. The wedding had dispersed, and it was time to focus on other things. Before I had left the Admin Room to descend to the world, I had asked everyone in the Admin Room to put together a list of things that they felt we could use to improve ourselves for up to four hundred thousand points.
<span style="font-weight:400">Assuming that they found anything appropriate, this would be my biggest spending spree since I became a Keeper. Closing my eyes, I focused on returning to the Admin Room. It was time to see what they had put together.
<span style="font-weight:400">When I arrived, I could see that the living room was remarkably empty. However, there were voicesing from further down the hall, so I turned to follow them. The destination that they led me to was none other than the meeting room that had not seen much use in quite a long while. It appeared that nearly all of the Admin Room residents were present, even Chel sitting off in a chair and listening to everyone’s opinions.
<span style="font-weight:400">Everyone stopped talking when I opened the door, turning to look at me. “Ah, there you are.” Ryone said with a soft smile, patting the empty seat between herself and Terra. “Just the man we were waiting for.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Sorry, wanted to stay till the end of the ceremony.” I said with a faint chuckle. Unlike this lot, I couldn’t return to the Admin Room while attending the ceremony, or else my Virtual self would freeze up.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, it’s fine.” Terra shook her head. “We were just discussing some of the things we’d like to get with the budget you gave us.”
<span style="font-weight:400">I nodded my head at that, looking around. “So, what has everyone decided on so far?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Ashley was the first to speak up. “The first thing that we came to an agreement on was that we need to adjust the Quest system. It’s rather outdated at this point, and we can integrate it into the system itself now. However, that’s something simple enough that my team should be able to handle it. We’ll also make Quest Boards to have public quests visible for others to see and ept.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“After that was a better fast travel system.” Aurivy continued with a tired smile. “I mean, I can honestly do it with my divinity, but it does take a toll on me when everyone’s using it. So we talked about getting a simple fast travel system and connecting it to my shrines. For the people of the world, it’ll be the same as now, even for the same cost of tokens, but that divinity will just be returned directly to me instead of being spent on the teleportation itself.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Understandable. What else?” I asked, looking around. A fast travel system like that wouldn’t cost more than a few hundred points, so that left a lot open for us.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I suggested that we get some new techniques.” Keliope raised her hand. “We are doing okay right now, but we haven’t really had any top notch fighting styles in a while. Nothing pushing the boundaries of what we can do at our level. Since people are growing from level one every generation, it’s harder to develop styles.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I see… did you have any suggestions for what ones we could get?” I nced over at Keliope, who nodded her head.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I found a total of ten. One each for Ki, Mana, Spirit, and Natural energies, and one each for abination of two of the base four. We can introduce them as ten styles meant to help develop high-level individuals based on their personal aptitude.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Seeing how proud she was, I gave a small nod. “What was the price of them?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Fifteen hundred points each, for a grand total of fifteen thousand.” That alone showed how strong the styles she found were, as they were each ten times as expensive as the Thousand Arms, Ten Thousand Threads. I was honestly worried whether or not the people of our world would be able to practice suchplex techniques.
<span style="font-weight:400">As such, I looked around at those gathered. “You’ve all seen her suggestions, I trust. What are your opinions on the styles?”
<span style="font-weight:400">The first to speak up was Scarlet, the Goddess of Ki. “I can’t particrly speak for the others, but I took a special interest in the Ki style, and the one blending Ki and Spirit. For reference, those two are named the Twelve Shattering Hands and the Heart of Combat. Just going by their descriptions, I can’t say whether or not I’d be able to utilize them properly, but that would be true of any art.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I suppose. In that case, if there aren’t any objections, we’ll add those to the list to purchase. Does anyone else have suggestions or requests?” When I asked that, Bihena nodded her head.
<span style="font-weight:400">“This is one that I talked about with Aurivy, and I managed to get her approval on it. Just like Ashley said that our Quest Contracts are bing outdated, our dungeon system needs to be updated. I found a more advanced dungeon system, and I wanted to see what you thought about applying it as a racial feature to Dungeon Cores.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“What’s the system?” I asked, and Bihena slid a paper over to me.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<span style="font-weight:400">Instance Dungeons
</td>
<td>
<span style="font-weight:400">This system enables the Keeper to create instanced dungeons, each one fully customizable while sharing the worldws of the world it is built in.
</td>
<td>
<span style="font-weight:400">Game System Required
<span style="font-weight:400">50,000 Points
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<span style="font-weight:400">That was… certainly a far more expensive dungeon system than what we had. However, the description didn’t seem to be enough to warrant the price. “It’s the dungeon size.” Bihena told me, as if seeing my confusion. “The dungeons are instanced, meaning that they exist as alternate worlds. If we take the price into ount, along with the description, it’s possible that each dungeon could have a maximum size of an entire.”
<span style="font-weight:400">My eyes widened at that, and I nced to Terra. “Would the price change if we attached it as a racial trait to dungeons?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Terra, however, simply smiled. “Not in the slightest. It’smon for Keepers to purchase the ‘Bound System’ racial trait, which simply costs as much as the system being bound to them. For instance, if we bound the Private Messaging system to humans, they would be the couriers of the realm, with nobody else able to use the system. However, in exchange for the system not being avable to everyone, it is instead usable in any world that the humans would visit.”
<span style="font-weight:400">That was helpful, but there was still one other thing. “What about existing dungeons? Would there be a way to apply it to them, as well, or would I need to use Guided Evolution again?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“This is exactly the kind of thing that Guided Evolution was meant to handle.” Terra pointed out. “Given that dungeons don’t have a natural reproductive cycle, it’s highly likely that the evolution event will trigger for all existing dungeons, aside from perhaps Tower. Just as how the Psychic Song did not affect energy beings, this evolution would be unlikely to affect him.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Aurivy clicked her tongue, but ultimately shrugged her shoulders. “He’s already gotten a world-sized dungeon, so I don’t imagine that will upset him much. At most, he’ll ask one of the others to cooperate with him and put a new dungeon on his world.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Alright.” I nodded my head. “That’s sixty-five thousand and change so far. Anyone else?”
<span style="font-weight:400">At this point, the room wentrgely quiet. It seemed as if they were genuinely running into problems when trying to decide what should be purchased next. Perhaps that was what they were talking about when I arrived.
<span style="font-weight:400">“The Merkin.” Chel suddenly spoke up, leaning back in her seat as eyes turned to focus on her. “They’ve been a part of your world for so long, right? However, they’re only just now being properly integrated. Even then, the number that can walk onnd due to cross-breeding can be counted on one hand. Their adaptive trait isn’t a problem anymore, so why not get something for them?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“It could be a device that lets them live onnd, or a Guided Evolution to make them amphibians. Regardless, it would go a long way towards developing their culture and integrating them in the world.”
<span style="font-weight:400">I thought about that, ultimately nodding my head. An amphibious evolution would not cost much at all, so it was easy to agree to her request.