As I had expected, a number of changes occurred once I chose to fast forward six months, as per Tsubaki’s request. It was not simply the seven people that she had chosen who had ascended, but a total of fifteen. Some of them were even names that I recognized.

First of all, Tsubaki’s group of seven had a perfect score. Each of them managed to ascend within the time allotted, though I noticed that three of them had become subordinate gods. Most likely, they suffered some mishap in the process and needed their ‘backup plan’ deities to step in.

The three human brothers-- Jordeth, Kristoff, and Mathias-- each became the Gods of Maps, Swords, and Iron respectively. Unsurprisingly, Jordeth was the leader of their group, and given the more strategic domain to match. Meanwhile, it was Kristoff that almost failed from their group of three, with Tubrock stepping in to save him.

The heroc, Alakor, had become the God of Eyes. I felt like it was a bit odd for Tsubaki to pick the ‘Eyes’ domain for the three-eyed race, but I knew she probably had a plan for it.

Next up was the dovah, Malahest, another one that almost failed. He became the God of Tracking, a subordinate to Accalia. This appointment made far more sense to me, as it emphasized the dovah’s natural ability to track a target.

Then there were the halflings. To my surprise, it was not the criminal that almost failed to ascend, but rather the more carefree halfling. Seran was slated to become the Goddess of Recovery if she had ascended on her own, but was changed to the Goddess of Hope after almost failing. This was because she was assigned to be under Udona, and would be able to use the Life domains for healing purposes.

And finally, Brenor, the halfling criminal. As per Tsubaki’s arrangements, he became the God of Traps. Thankfully, we were able to confirm that the brand on his soul remained unchanged after ascending to godhood, so it seemed like there would be no problem with letting him join the group.

Now… for the other gods. Among those I recognized was Kiria Sorin, the new God of Crafts. He had been the man that forged the body of my chakrams, and had in fact been making a substantial living forging weapons for powerful beings since then. Making the Keeper’s personal artifact was no doubt a highlight for his resume.

There was also Thessa Grid, the sister of the God of Balance. I was a bit surprised to see her name appearing in this batch, as I knew she hadn’t started her progress when her brother had already ascended. Most likely, he guided her through it without directly influencing her divinity, as per Aurivy’s advice. Looking at her suggested domains, I elected to make her the Goddess of Archery.

Finally, the last name I recognized from this batch was Libris Storn, the man that had helped Tsubaki find the rogue half-god previously. As per his previous path, I made him the God of Water without any hesitation.

For the rest of them, I couldn’t recognize their names, so I performed a quick background check for each to ensure that I wasn’t giving ridiculous levels of power to someone that would obviously use it to destroy the world. In doing so, I caught Reynard Kross, a man aiming to be the God of Kings. His ambition was to become the god of all kings. Seeing that, I contemplated changing his domain to Jesters, before ultimately making him the God of Knights.

The last four seemed fairly normal, taking the domains of Stealth, Journeys, Ice, and oddly enough… Paper. I wasn’t really questioning that last one, and thinking about other things instead. Like… how I was going to keep up with these ascensions once they became more widespread.

Although there were ‘only’ fifteen people this time, it took me nearly an hour just to go through the backstories of the five I was unfamiliar with. Once they start showing up by the hundreds… I’d never get done with it. Which meant that I’d have to likely relegate that task to one of the Companions, as their processing ability was naturally superior to a normal mind.

Tsubaki stood before the seven newly appointed gods, giving a faint nod of satisfaction. Over the last six months, she had guided those who had not yet converted their bodies to divinity, carefully explaining the process to them in great detail. She emphasized the pain that would be felt, and simulated it numerous times until each of them were able to withstand it unflinchingly.

Then, once everyone was at the same stage, she assigned a domain to each of them based on their own natural talents and the strategy forming in her mind. Once each person knew the domain that they were training for, they began to focus their divinity towards it, creating their own abilities unique to themselves.

At the same time, Tsubaki monitored their progress to determine suitable artifacts for them that would best channel their abilities. Of course, she wasn’t able to determine what abilities they would imbue in these items, and was merely creating a suitable vessel for them.

And now, seeing each of them armed with their own relics, she was feeling pleased as their teacher. “Congratulations. In these last few months, the seven of you have met all of my expectations. According to the word of the Keeper, it is now less than seven days before your mission officially begins.”

“In order to help you adjust to your new abilities, Dana and I have chosen to send you to an alternate world, where you will be able to wield the full power of the artifacts that shall be given to you.” As she said that, her eyes glanced towards Brenor with a look of warning. “Please do not do something foolish during this time. As it was originally explained, the power of the artifacts will once again seal themselves after you leave the alternate world.”

The halfling clicked his tongue, glancing off to the side as Jordeth stepped forward. “What about the Keeper tracking amulet? Have you finished its production?”

This item was something that they were most looking forward to. However, it was also something that Tsubaki herself had yet to complete. This was the reason why one of the valuable domain slots had been used for Tracking, just in case the item was unavailable.

Tsubaki cleared her throat, nodding her head at the question. “I’ve already gathered all of the materials and created a working prototype. Once the Keeper returns, I will be able to test its ability. At this moment, I have no doubt that I will be able to provide you with this tool as well.”

Jordeth let out a sigh of relief at that, thankful for the extra layer of assistance. Even with the lineup that they had prepared, he wasn’t entirely confident in being able to kill a Keeper. After all, he had yet to experience the full power of the scepters that they would be wielding.

“If there are no further questions… everyone step forward.” With a wave of her hand, Tsubaki cut open a portal within the air, a swirling void that seemed to lead nowhere. “I’ve used a special key to open up this world. Once you’re inside, you will be unable to leave without my assistance, unless you are able to cast fourth-tier magic.”

There was a sharp gasp from the group at that. While fourth-tier magic was not so unheard of as it had been in the past, there were few people capable of properly casting it in groups, let alone by themselves. For those that these seven had personally met, it would probably only be Tsubaki, Dana, and the Goddess of Magic herself.

However, Jordeth still stepped forward, leading the way through the portal. As he was the one assigned to lead this team, it was only right for him to go first. Following immediately after him was Brenor, who felt a sharp pain in the back of his head whenever the one holding his brand was no longer in the same world as himself. In order to escape the pain, he had to quickly enter the other world as well.

One by one, they stepped through, before Tsubaki finally closed the portal behind them. In truth, the ‘special key’ she had spoken of was simply the dimensional coordinates of one of the worlds that she and Dana had created. As it was made for the purpose of testing their abilities, it was not one of Dana’s ‘altered’ worlds, but rather one that carried the same laws as Earth.

After six months of development under a self-contained time acceleration enchantment, this world had finally begun to develop planets. Although there was clearly no life within this world, it would be enough to simply give them a location where they would be able to test themselves.

Once the portal had been closed, Dana stepped out into the courtyard with a small smile. “Think they’re ready?”

Tsubaki hesitated at that, carefully considering the question. If it was them without the scepters that they had crafted, she was sure that the seven of them would be unable to properly kill a Keeper by themselves. The Keeper’s greatest strength was their almost inexhaustible supply of power and abilities, after all.

With the scepters able to produce a similarly inexhaustible supply of energy, that gap was greatly narrowed. This was one of the key reasons why Dana and Tsubaki had never revealed the method of creating the scepters to the public. If a sufficiently powerful combatant were to get their hands on one, they might have a decent chance to kill their own Keeper.

Instead, all that was known was that the Keeper’s aides had weapons capable of generating an endless supply of energy. This much had been known from the few events where they had been forced to use these weapons in public. Items that seemed at the pinnacle of the fourth tier of magic, using the power of an entire world to achieve their goal.

“It will depend on what they encounter… but I think they have a chance, at the very least.” Just looking at their last invasion, she knew that it was impossible to guarantee victory. The powers that the opponents had shown were so similar to their own, just enough that they had been able to blend in for a considerable period of time without drawing attention to themselves.

Dana hummed lightly to herself, before nodding her head. However, a moment later she noticed something hanging from Tsubaki’s neck. It looked to be an empty, black sphere of glass with endless swirling darkness within. She knew that that was the tracking item that Tsubaki had personally requested from the Keeper, and a smirk grew over her face as she eyed it.

Before she could bring it up to tease Tsubaki, though, a faint red line emerged from the center. As if a tendril was attempting to escape the darkness, it stretched out to the edge of the glass-like surface, pooling there. When Dana took a closer look, she noticed that the red pool within the pendant seemed to be pointing towards Tsubaki’s heart. Or rather, what was behind her.

Curious, Dana leaned to the side to look past Tsubaki’s nine swaying tails. Sure enough, she was able to see the Keeper standing in the doorway, holding his finger up to his lips. The little elf snickered quietly, drawing Tsubaki’s attention. Only then did she seem to notice the change in the item decorating her chest, and spun around on the spot. “My Keeper!”

As she called that out, she immediately dropped to a knee, one hand lifting to hold the item against her chest. Not to hide it… but more as if it had become an important treasure to her.

The Keeper clicked his tongue upon noticing that he had been discovered. “I saw the ceremony. They seem like they’ll have a good shot at winning this fight.” As he spoke, he walked over, patting Tsubaki’s head. Her tails stood straight up in shock, before starting to slowly lower with a sway as if melting.

“Your words… are too kind, my Keeper.” Tsubaki said in a subdued voice, while Dana smirked beside her.

“She’s just glad that her compass is working.” The elf said in a teasing tone, earning a half-hearted glare from Tsubaki. “Oh! Besides that, we got a really interesting result the other day from our world creation research! Have you had the time to look at it, yet?”

Seeing that Dana had quickly changed the subject allowed Tsubaki to relax slightly, but earned an interested look from the Keeper instead. “I haven’t.” He gestured for Dana to lead the way, the elf poking her tongue out at Tsubaki before practically skipping into the citadel.