Chapter 1023: New Moon
<span style="font-weight:400">After leaving Leowynn’s room, I found Terra standing outside, a knowing smile on her face. She brought her hands from behind her back, presenting me with a thick book with a ck cover. “I heard the whole thing, naturally. I thought you’d be needing this.”
<span style="font-weight:400">I nodded my head, a thankful smile on my face as I led Terra towards the living room. “Right… did Tsubaki miss anything in her report, by the way? I know you’ll have a clearer picture of what happened.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Terra put on a thoughtful expression. “She covered the important points. However, there is one thing that she failed to notice.” When Terra saw me looking over at her in caution, she shook her head. “We’ll need to reboot the servers for World Seed, Fragments of Acidia, and Vision Expanse. The apocalypse that struck Desbar manifested as a total shutdown of anything that required any form of energy to function. However, its true nature was a copse of any advancement. All data was wiped from servers hosted in Desbar, including the major games released by Darkme Technologies.”
<span style="font-weight:400">My brow twitched when I heard that. “And that was when it was nerfed by theyers of defense? Dare I ask what it would have been like otherwise?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Stagnation.” Terra answered simply. “No form of movement would be allowed in the universe. The longer itsted, the stronger the beast would have be, until it had the power to devour the entire realm.”
<span style="font-weight:400">I sucked in a breath, before nodding my head. “Does that mean that the Virtual worlds are all gone?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Only the ones hosted in Desbar. Your own Virtual self was there, but many were hosted in the Spica servers or the other backups.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Right…” I let out a faint sigh. “We’ll need to set up a universal backup in Fyor going forward. Obviously, those worlds aren’t very protected in Desbar.”
<span style="font-weight:400">After saying that, I turned to face her again. “So, there’s nothing that we can salvage from those two worlds?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Terra hesitated for a moment, before shaking her head. “Vivi, Chiho, and Fifi are still alive, because they retreated to Fyor’s servers when the evacuation order went out. Additionally, we still have the files for the games themselves, due to having bought them through the market.”
<span style="font-weight:400">I let out a long sigh of resignation. “For those people that scanned theirst seed with Digital Conversion, will they still be able to take it out to rent their old trees?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Terra smiled slightly at that. “That’s right. Digital Conversion is a multi-world system. In other words, it is integrated into the void itself, in a way. Unless we choose to remove it, that system won’t be damaged. However… with everyone needing to start fresh characters, they won’t have the ki or mana to create a seed like that.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Got it… ask Chiho if there’s anything she can do as a one-time event with her authorization. Otherwise, it’s fine to restart from the beginning.” It was disappointing for the survivors of this incident to lose their entire life’s work in the games, but that was just another truth that came with this incident. “And… keep an eye out for public outrage. I’m sure that there will be plenty of people trying to pin the me on us for not giving them a proper warning before this.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Terra groaned, but nodded in agreement. “We warned them to the best of our abilities, working up to it over decades to try to get them to understand. Still, they’re suffering, so they will look for anyone that they can me to vent. Do you want me to do anything about it?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“No… just make sure that they don’t get violent with those that evacuated. People shouldn’t be med for taking our advice. There’s going to be chaos for a while, especially in Deckan, but we can work through it.”
<span style="font-weight:400">After I said that, we started walking again, soon making our way into the living room. Leowynn seemed to have teleported ahead of us, changing into her ck, star-patterned dress that Ryone made her long ago. She was clearly trying to look professional, clenching her fists in front of her.
<span style="font-weight:400">I smiled towards the silver-haired elf, before closing my eyes. “Did Leowynn tell you all what we’re about to do?” I asked, turning to address everyone. They nodded their heads firmly. “There is only one thing that I’d like to ask you all. I’ve been thinking it through. We have the points. If we want to, we could create a rule so that exceptional deities and fallen deities will be preserved after their death in the same way.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“If we do this, I n to create more buildings like Ashley’s offices. Everyone we bring up like this will get their own home. I don’t want people to believe that they will be entitled to eternity simply because they sacrificed. Rather, their sacrifice must have significant meaning. Lyra died because she led the charge against an unknown foe of unimaginable power.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“If we didn’t have Fyor, I would have been forced to flee to the void as soon as the invasion began, trying to end the fight immediately. If I did so, and encountered that void god, I would have died. I have absolutely no doubts about this. If anyone other than Dana had stepped forward, they would have likely died. Without Lyra’s sacrifice, everything could have been lost. That’s why I am offering this choice. Those who make simr sacrifices in the line of duty, their sacrifices overturning a grim fate for one or more world, can be brought to the Admin Room.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I won’t be giving them the same authority as all of you. They won’t be running their own worlds, or anything like that. Instead, they will be residents of the Admin Room with the right to use the Heavenly Incarnation system.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Terra and the others all looked at me in surprise, this suggestion no doubt seeming toe out of nowhere. However… it was true. We earned nearly two hundred thousand points by fighting back against this invasion. Coupled with what we already had, this was not only possible, but could be considered an investment. Anyone we brought up would be able to retain their domains, and could then be reborn in the world when their mortal selves died again.
<span style="font-weight:400">Since we would only consider those who performed important sacrifices, we were far less likely to get anyone with a wicked heart. And, if we did, there was always the option of simply rejection them from the start.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I like it.” Aurivy said with a grin. “We’ll finally start getting some more faces around here.”
<span style="font-weight:400">alia had a somewhat weak smile, seeming to still be thinking about the earlier invasion. “However… who is going to be in charge of choosing whose sacrifice was worth honoring?”
<span style="font-weight:400">I looked at alia, who seemed to flinch back. “Don’t worry, it’s not you. I’ve already put enough on your te choosing the domains of those that ascend through the three-step method. Instead… I know the perfect person for this job. In my opinion, it’s the only real choice, as only they could judge whose sacrifice brought meaningful change while preserving the individual’s identity.”
<span style="font-weight:400">After I said that, I turned towards the individual in mind. “Terra… would you be willing to do this task for me? You are not interfering in the functions of the world directly, and your changes would be limited solely to the Admin Room. With this in mind, I do not believe that the system would stop you from doing so.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Terra’s eyes went wide when she realized that I was talking about her, her ears standing up straight in rm. Because of her restrictions as a System Companion, her interactions with the world had been highly limited from the very beginning. The more we learned how to take care of things ourselves, the less she found herself needing, or even able to do. Most of her time was spent simply lounging while watching the world like the biggest soap opera imaginable.
<span style="font-weight:400">“You… want me to handle it?” She asked, to which I nodded my head.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Is there any reason for the system to prevent it?” I responded, and she seemed to seriously consider the question. “I would allocate you a budget, exclusively for this purpose. When you identify someone you deem worthymitting such a sacrifice, you will use your ability to reproduce their personality as a Companion, and assign them a ce to live in the Admin Room. If they are a god or a fallen, you will provide them with their domains they had in life.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I… I don’t think so.” Terra shook her head, a wide smile forming on her face. “If you’re sure that this is something that you want me to do, I’d be more than happy to.”
<span style="font-weight:400">I nodded my head, handing Lyra’s profile book back to Terra. “In that case…” I smiled, stepping aside and mentally assigning her a budget of twenty thousand points while defining the restrictions of using those points within the system. That should be more than enough tost her for quite a while.
<span style="font-weight:400">Terra held the book, seeming more nervous than I had seen her in quite a while. After she calmed herself, she focused, the book shattering. As it did, an elven figure took shape in front of her, her silver hair a close match for Leowynn’s. She wore tight leather armor, and had her eyes closed, as if embracing the death that she had previously suffered.
<span style="font-weight:400">It was a full thirty seconds before her eyes slowly opened, looking around. At this point, Leowynn’s shoulders were trembling, and she quickly walked over to wrap her arms around Lyra’s shoulders. “Wee back.” She said in a soft tone.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Eh?” Lyra bllinked. “What happened? Didn’t I die to…” Her eyes widened, quickly closing her mouth.
<span style="font-weight:400">“It’s fine.” I spoke up, hands behind my back and a smile on my face. “He’s already dead. The battle was won, thanks to your sacrifice.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Terra nodded her head, clearing her throat and speaking in a more official tone. “Thanks to that very sacrifice, we have taken it upon ourselves to offer you a ce in this eternity. This is the realm where the Greater Pantheon resides, and you are the third mortal to ever reach it. As with others here, you shall have the ability to be reborn in the mortal realm, living a new life and regaining your old powers.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“If you reject this, I’m going to be very disappointed.” Leowynn said quietly, causing my lips to tug up.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Huh?” Lyra blinked rapidly again. “I… uh… well, I ept? I don’t know what else to say here. What do I say here?!”
<span style="font-weight:400">Seeing her fall into a state of near panic, Leowynn, Aurivy, and the others let out a lightugh, Leowynn wiping her face. “You say that you ept.” She said simply. “Now… let’s get you a house. There’s not much to see here yet, but that should be changing over time.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Lyra nodded slowly, still having clear trouble processing what had happened. Leowynn grabbed her by the hand, turning to lead her out the door. Once they were gone, I turned to look at the others. “Obviously, Lyra will be helping Leowynn with the void as we discussed before. If any of you take an interest in the future residents that Terra brings us, you may recruit them into your individual teams for whatever purpose you feel that they are suitable for.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Several of the gods around the room perked up at that, causing me to chuckle. “If they’re going to be here, and you need people anyways, there is no reason not to ask them for help. Isn’t that right?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I won’t say no to extra hands if we get more people with travel-rted domains in the future.” Aurivy grinned, nodding her head excitedly.