“Have you found anyone to test these on yet?” I asked, looking at the sphere in Aurivy’s hand. However, unsurprisingly, she shook her head.

“No, I brought it over as soon as I learned what they are. I figured that the only one that can really handle something like this is James, right?” She questioned, to which I gave a small nod.

Theoretically, Ashley would be able to achieve the same effect with her divine power. However, having her do so every time that we wanted to bring in a new race would lead to her constantly being drained of energy. If there were a way, instead, for the people to create their own items like this, that would drastically increase our ability to extend our influence.

“Have these taken to the lab.” I told her, pushing the orb back towards Aurivy. “Let them know that the System Stone is the priority between these two. Once they figure out how to create it, ideally without the use of divine powers, let Ashley and Udona know. They’ll be the most equipped to handle the mass production.”

“Got it, chief!” She nodded her head, quickly turning and running out of the room. Since it was just right next door, she must have decided that it was a waste to simply teleport over. As she left, I began to wonder about the implications behind that stone. Oldbeard was surely gifting it to us in order to help us, but it felt like the possibilities wouldn’t end just with bringing people into the system.

For instance, the basic feature of this stone is to connect with the local game system. Even if it is in a read-only state, that means that it would not take much in the way of modification to create an item for invasions. This item would be able to connect to a local game system, displaying its features for the invading forces. Theoretically, they could even use this System Stone on invaders, allowing them to use the defending world’s system like a normal native.

If we take it a step further… Ashley could potentially use the stone as a reference point for her divinity to create a System Admin Stone. Maybe that would make future edits to the world system easier for her to handle.

Nora glanced up from her terminal with a surprised expression. “Thessa just sent me a confirmation. The Keeper is undergoing his treatment as we speak.” She announced to the rest of the group.

Treisha let out a long, relieved sigh, knowing that this meant that other gods would soon be able to start applying for the treatment themselves. “Should we let the Empress know?” She asked, glancing over the counter to look at James and Chel, who were tirelessly working on a new machine.

“I’ll let her know after the process is finished.” James said, waving an arm back to let them know he was paying attention. “She probably won’t be willing to supply additional portions until it’s taken hold, so there’s no rush.”

“Okay… what are you working on, by the way?” She asked, the project having been something that the two started up without really telling the others anything.

“You tell them, Chel.” James answered without ever removing his head from where he was working, the majority of his upper body buried within the metal frame. The whir of his omnitool could be heard while Chel pulled herself back, grinning to the group.

“This is a divinity encoder. Or, at least, that’s what we’re calling it right now. We’ve come up with methods for people to automate their divine ascension, but that still won’t work for an AI. Kinda makes them a minority, you know? Once we get this up, it will read through the code of a programmed intelligence, identify their divine code, and help them ascend. If we can get it to work, that is.”

Treisha nodded her head. To date, there were still only two gods among the AI, and both of them were subordinates to Ashley. “I see, I guess that would be pretty--”

Suddenly the door to the research lab burst open, Aurivy running in with wide eyes. “Bring me to your leader!” She called out, scanning over the group. One by one, they all pointed to the bulky machine being constructed.

“Eh? Why’s he in there?” She muttered, before shaking her head. “James! I have fun things for you to work on! Definitely world changing, and something that we can only really trust you and your team to handle.”

James let out a groan, prying himself out of the machine’s frame. “You know, we’re not the only cutting-edge research group around anymore, right? There are some that I would say aren’t any worse than us. In their own fields, at least.”

Aurivy simply rolled her eyes. “Not in the field of analyzing the nature of the energy which governs the system. Not exactly many people that have studied too deeply into that subject, or had the means to do so.”

James held up a hand, as if to retort, before slowly lowering it with a sigh. “Alright, what do you have for me?”

Aurivy quickly produced a pair of crystal spheres, one a soft blue while the other was pure silver. “Two items that just came in from another Keeper. One allows you to save and transfer your levels to other people, and the other one allows you to grant the system to an unaffiliated entity. That’s the blue one, by the way.”

After she said that, she tossed the blue sphere towards James, who caught it in surprise, fumbling it in his hands for a moment. “So, this would grant me access to levels and everything, you mean?” He asked with wide eyes, to which Aurivy nodded. “That won’t boost him any further than need be, will it?”

“Your designation in the world won’t be changing. Or, at least, it shouldn’t be. So there isn’t any need to worry about something like that.” Aurivy confirmed, James nodding after a moment.

“I assume that this isn’t the only one?” There was no way that he planned on using an item like this for himself, unless there were more for him to study afterwards.

“Thousands.” Aurivy confirmed again, allowing James to let out a sigh of relief. “Once you’ve used that one, we’ll be handing the rest of these over to you. As for the level spheres, they’ll be shared among a few different groups, so you can make these your priority.”

James didn’t really mind if someone beat him to the punch with either item, as it was the act of researching and designing new creations itself that he enjoyed. Thus, he gave a small nod, activating the sphere with a simple force of will. The System Stone shattered, wrapping his body in a soft, blue light. For the first time in a long, long time, James saw a number of windows appearing in front of himself.

Detected installation of World System.

Gathering biological data.

Data gathered. World System has been initialized.

Almost immediately, James created a series of high-end spells of the third tier, allowing them to hover around himself without activating. This brought his level as a Mage up drastically, followed by Archmage. Then, he began mentally recounting numerous advanced formulas and energy patterns, similarly increasing his Scholar level.

The light of the system continued to shine around James, his level rising nonstop in various classes related to the mind. For his Engineer class, he would only need to do the same work he ever did, but now he had access to the same systems as the rest of his team to make the process easier.

Clenching his fists, he gave a broad grin at the realization of what this all meant. Finally, the world was no longer working against him, and it was time for him to really be able to experience the same things as everyone else.

Of course, he didn’t forget to scan his body throughout the entire process, memorizing the wavelength of the energy that flooded into himself. This would be valuable research data to use in the reproduction of these spheres.

Once the process was done, James let out a long breath, looking at Aurivy. “Thanks for this. Though, can’t an item that performs this function be created through the Games divinity?”

Aurivy shook her head in response. “He says that he wants this to be reproduced without the need for divine energy.”

James furrowed his brow, before giving a small nod of his head. “In that case, we’ll need to start trading in energy crystals soon.”

Aurivy blinked at that, before letting out a sound of understanding. “You’re running out of power to keep everything maintained with just your group?”

“That’s right.” Chel groaned, standing up from the machine that they had been working on to look at Aurivy. “We aren’t running our God Forge for free, but we’re still supplying the necessary energies to run it ourselves. If you want us to start mass producing an item like this with a complex energy structure, we’ll need a stable supply of crystals representing all four primary energies.”

“At the very least, mana and ki.” Nora added on, raising a hand. “We can harvest spiritual energy directly from the Underworld to crystalize, and natural energy is abundant everywhere. It won’t be hard to make devices that can automate those processes, but both will need more mana to work.”

“So you need mana crystals…” Aurivy muttered. “I’ll have Ryone add them to the Boundless Caravan as an option for purchase with her tokens. That should take care of that problem. As for the ki crystals… I’ll see if Scarlet’s interested in getting involved with the caravan.”

“Scarlet?” James blinked in confusion. “Are you letting mortal gods do that? I assumed it was only members of the Greater Pantheon that had the right to enter that market.”

Aurivy stuck her tongue out playfully. “Scarlet got promoted a little while ago, but we haven’t really made a big reveal yet. Honestly, though, if anyone had anything special enough to offer on the caravan, we wouldn’t be against letting mortal gods do it. The only problem is that the existing gods cover such a wide range of services already, that it wouldn’t really be fair to announce that. Even if someone wanted to sell their services on the caravan, it’d just be a waste of their divinity, because they won’t be able to become a ‘mainstream’ god without anything special to offer.”

“Whereas Scarlet is the only Goddess in the world representing Ki.” Chel nodded, chuckling. “She’s able to get into the market where nobody else can. Though, how are you going to evaluate her coins in the market?”

Aurivy tapped her chin, thinking. “It’ll be up to Ryone to have the final say, but matching Scarlet to her would probably be a good bet. They’re both Goddesses of primary energy types, so it makes sense not to value one more than the other.”

“Out of curiosity, what are her other domains?” Treisha asked, looking at Aurivy. “All of the Greater Pantheon have three, right?”

Aurivy grinned mischievously. “Ki obviously, but she also got Blood, which was what she wanted for her first domain, and the color Red.”

James blinked in confusion. “The Goddess of Blood, Ki, and Red? Well, at the very least, being the Goddess of Blood means that it won’t be hard for her to continue the supply for the God Forge. I never saw anyone in my world that took a color for a domain, though. Aside from gold, but he used it more for the metal.”

“We prefer to call her the Crimson Goddess of Ki and Blood.” Aurivy pointed out with a shake of her head. “It just flows better off the tongue. Anyways, feel free to pray to the new Goddess of the Greater Pantheon! I’ll talk to her about being included in the caravan as part of her public reveal.”