Chapter 1047: Stepping Out


    <span style="font-weight:400">Chelsea and Treisha walked through the halls towards the source of the explosion, where they found a disheveled James sitting on the ground. In front of him was arge hole that had been blown into the floor, with cracks along the walls of theb.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Chelsea sported an amused smile, crossing her arms. “Trying to get ahead of yourself?” she asked in a teasing tone, to which James chuckled.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I thought that the energy fusion should work. Though… I’ll probably have to take it easy for a little while so that I can recover.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Chelsea’s smile disappeared when she heard that, and she all but teleported to his side. “What happened?” She asked with a serious expression on her face.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Huh? Ah.” James nodded his head, understanding the question. “My soul is damaged after that experiment. I created a familiar, and was trying to experiment on fusing with it by altering the structure of the familiar into something akin to a saint energy. Everything should have gone well, ording to my calctions, but… there was a strange mana surge out of nowhere, and the familiar detonated.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Chelsea thought about that for a moment, before nodding her head. “Got it. I’ll be right back.” She said, standing up and walking towards the door.


    <hr>


    <span style="font-weight:400">I rolled my shoulders, walking through the halls of Olympus. Tsubaki was working on her training again, and Dana was still on her secret project. As for Lifre, she had yet to return from Fyor. Thus, I was getting ready to go out alone and walk around.


    <span style="font-weight:400">However, before I made it outside, Chelsea walked out of the nearest elevator, calling out to me. “Dale!” She said, turning and running over.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m surprised… you don’t usuallye here.” I said with a small smile, before noticing the serious look on Chelsea’s face. “Did something happen?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Chelsea nodded her head, exining to me how James had been injured while attempting to perform an energy fusion with a summoned familiar. “Do you have any special systems in ce in regards to familiars? This is James we’re talking about. He won’t do a fusion like that if he hasn’t done the proper calctions.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">It took me a moment to realize what she was talking about, my eyes opening wide. “Right. I forgotpletely about that.” I nodded my head. “Back in the early days of Kione, I learned that there were people doing fusion experiments at the cost of innocent lives, turning them into abominations.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Because of that, I set up a mana storm to happen if someone did simr research. That way it would be a ‘forbidden path’, you know?” Honestly, I had always nned to release that restriction when the world became advanced enough to handle the process safely. However… that was one of the details that just slipped my mind as time went on.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I see…” Chelsea nodded her head in understanding. “However, I think it’s safe to remove that disaster setting at this point. With how long it has been, people will still consider this an abandoned path of research. Only our group would be aware that it is safe to do so now.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I nodded my head in agreement. “I’ll take care of that before heading out, then.” I said with a smile, causing Chelsea to blink.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You’re heading out?” She asked, tilting her head. I felt like I should feel offended… I go out! Usually for training, though. It’s hard to find somewhere that I could unleash my full power.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes… I thought that I would go out and enjoy the sights for a bit. Unless there’s another catastrophe lingering that I’m not aware of?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No, nothing like that. Though, are you not taking Tsubaki with you?” She asked, noticing the distinctck of a fox maid behind me.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“She’s in the middle of her own training, and I didn’t want to disturb her.” When I said that, Chelsea let out a long sigh.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“In that case, I’ll be going with you.” She said in a firm tone, causing me to blink.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Exactly as I said. I am well aware that you are strong enough to defend yourself, don’t worry.” She gave a cheeky grin when she said that. “However, even a warrior king needs his guards. If there is some unforeseen event while you’re out, something that you’re not equipped to deal with, that’s why you have a guard in the first ce. Besides, imagine Tsubaki’s face when she learns that you went out without anyone with you.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I let out a faint groan, knowing that Chelsea was right. Besides, she probably knew more about the area now than I did. “Fine. I’ll be back in just a minute.” I told her, before ascending to the Admin Room. It only took me a few seconds to find the option to undo the disaster setting, after which I returned to my body in the mortal world.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Noticing my return, Chelsea gave a firm nod of her head. “I assume that you are at least nning to change your appearance?” She asked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Naturally.” I chuckled, my body shifting into that of a burly ursa man with brown hair and green eyes. At the same time, I employed an illusion to disguise my Keeper abilities, making me appear as just a basic God of Illusions. With howmon gods were bing nowadays, I felt like this was a pretty fitting disguise.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Chelsea arched a brow, but nodded her head. Her body shifted, her spine popping slightly as she simrly turned into an ursa woman. “It’ll be more convenient for us to move around if we look like we’re part of the same group.” She said in a confident tone. “So, where were you nning to visit?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I thought about that for a long moment. “I went to Deckanst time, so I’d prefer going to one of the other worlds now.” In truth, I spent more time at Deckan than almost any other world. It was a rather convenient ce to visit.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Chelsea smiled. “In that case, let’s visit Hanbei on Earth. Thanks to the influence of Elisae, the crime rate there is astonishingly low, and there are a great deal of interesting sights to see.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I arched a brow, but nodded. Chelsea turned and walked back to the elevator to wait for me. As I got in, I looked over at her. “How has the process of Hanbei unifying the humannds been going?” I asked, to which Chelsea chuckled.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s already a done deal. The Human Empire is centered around Hanbei now, with Elisae as the Empress.” I blinked for a moment when she answered. Chelsea, catching my confused expression, went on to exin. “The biggest opponent to the whole affair was King Kross. However, on V-Day, he stayed behind rather than retreating to Fyor. He even made a public statement that he had to defend his homnd no matter what, and that the other nations would surely use his absence to trick away his people.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Then… the murder game…” I blinked, and Chelsea nodded her head. The first apocalypse to hit Earth was a game in which you had to take the lives of other creatures.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Not only the king himself, but all of his knights. Without hesitation, he ordered the sacrifice of civilians in fear of the void threat. It was onlyter that he realized that any life would do, but by that point… the second round required a more powerful life to be taken than the first round. At that point, crushing a bug was no longer an option.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“By the end of the invasion, he had personally killed six of his civilians, and one of his knights. Most of his knights had simr body counts, and the citizens refused to ept it. They fled to the Human Empire after V-Day and informed Elisae about what had happened.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Chelsea snickered as we exited the elevator, stepping out into the clearing outside of Olympus. “That was the first time that I had seen Elisae truly angry. In the name of every human under her rule, she made a single wish. She wished retribution upon those who had taken the lives of those under their care without a second thought.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Just like that, gods descended on his castle, putting an end to Raynard Kross and his knight’s order.” As Chelsea said that, she retrieved a golden token from her inventory, opening a portal for the two of us to step through.


    <span style="font-weight:400">On the other side of the portal, we appeared just outside of a bustling city. Unlike Ashtanu, this city did not feel ‘empty’, as if it had grown toorge for its poption. Rather, it was full of life.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The two of us walked towards the city casually, Chelsea exining that this was the capital of the empire, none other than Hanbei City. “Is there a festival or something today?” I asked, looking at the lively atmosphere.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Chelsea simply chuckled. “No, this is pretty normal. Think of Elisae as the ultimate insurance salesman. Everyone devotes their faith to her in case something happens. For most people, they never encounter a problem that would outweigh the amount of faith that they provide. This lets Elisae constantly build her divinity while still answering the wishes of her people.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I slowly nodded. “And the more people believe in her, the less of them actually need her help, because everyone’s already cooperating.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Chelsea snickered in agreement. “That’s right. Unfortunately, nobody else has been able to copy her pattern. First of all, it requires incredible luck, which Elisae has by virtue of… well, her virtue. Secondly, they have to devote practically all of their own divinity as a ‘start-up’ fund. Elisae is basically the child of the karma system, so she is in a unique position to handle cases like this.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">As we entered the city, I was able to see people walking down the streets, smiles everywhere. Despite this, though, Chelsea’s eyes were constantly darting about, keeping an eye out for any potential assant. “Hanbei City is the safest ce in any world for most people. However, I would prefer it if you didn’t meet with Elisae yourself.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Any… particr reason?” I asked in concern, afraid that Elisae had changed after ordering the attack on Raynard Kross.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Chelsea chuckled again. “Like I said before, she is blessed by virtue. If her virtue decided that bing the Keeper would improve Elisae’s life, you’d probably need Terra in order to solve your fate. Though, Elisae would never consciously decide that.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Right…” I agreed without hesitation. Fortune didn’t always care about what the person gaining said fortune really wanted, after all. As someone literally married to the Goddess of Fate, I knew that from experience. “In that case, where would you suggest we go?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Chelsea closed her eyes in thought. “There’s a Mixed Reality Coliseum up ahead. Basically, contestants fight in virtual reality, while their battle is disyed in real time via three-dimensional holograms to give the appearance that they are still in the arena. This lets them fight with their full power, without worrying about civilian casualties.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Nodding my head, I simply gestured for Chelsea to lead the way. She knew this area better than I did, so she would make the best tour guide.