After the ceremony ended, the group left the Spring of Origin with smiles on our faces. This was an event that we had been looking forward to for some time, and I could not say that I was disappointed with how it turned out. As we left the area of the spring, I couldn’t help but turn my head towards Terra. “So… what was that blessing about, anyways?”

Terra stuck her tongue out playfully. “Just symbolic, like the exchange of rings in your old world. If you had taken advantage of the situation to try to make an energy combination, you would have had a much higher chance of success, but that would have spoiled the mood. That’s why the spring won’t even appear for people that are just looking to take advantage of its properties during the meeting.”

I blinked, nodding my head. Once we exited the forest, the bulk of the group split away from myself, Terra, Ryone, and Irena. The rest of this meeting was going to be our ‘honeymoon vacation’, so the rest of the group would go off and do their own things now. Just as we were starting to walk away, a thought occurred to me.

“Wait… that spring is the key to creating an Origin normally, isn’t it?” I asked, to which Terra gave a soft smile. She had told me just how difficult it was to create an Origin when her incarnations managed to do so through the use of an accidental glitch. But now, realizing the spring’s power, as well as its name…

“That’s right.” Terra nodded her head in confirmation. “Now do you understand why it is so expensive? Water able to bridge the gap between chaos and divinity, to calm those energies to such an extreme that they can fuse. That alone should show you how strong it is. While it’s not absolutely necessary, it does make the process fairly achievable.”

I couldn’t help but nod my head in agreement. Even as a Rank Three Keeper, I didn’t dare try to pursue the creation of an Origin. Even if I managed to, my ‘reward’ would be for my rank to immediately jump again. Most likely, that spring was meant to be purchased by Rank Five or higher Keepers who had already begun acquiring their first Origins, and were using it as a way to increase their numbers.

“Well then, girls, what do you want to do next?” Dana asked with a wide smile, looking at the other three that had joined their small group after the main party dispersed. Naturally, there was Lifre and Tsubaki as fellow members of the Sky Citadel, but the other person was Keliope. It was rather surprising for the ursa goddess to join them, but Dana wasn’t going to complain.

“I thought about trying to accumulate points for my Keeper as a wedding present.” Tsubaki said, clenching her fist in determination.

“I don’t really know. This is my first time here, after all!” Lifre commented with a wide smile, while Keliope chuckled.

“I’m with Super Maid. Figured she’d be going after something like that, so I came to tag along. Maybe we can find some co-op games to challenge to earn points together?” She suggested, to which Tsubaki nodded her head firmly.

Dana smirked, clearly fine with that idea. “Sounds like a plan. In that case, Lifre, you’re with me. We’ll split up and roam the arcane for co-op games. If it’s the two of you, you’ll be perfect for fighting games, while Lifre and I are good for puzzle style games.”

Lifre let out a low whine, her form visibly shuddering to reveal her slime nature. “But I hate puzzles!” She said with an obvious pout.

Dana simply grinned, leaning in to whisper to Lifre. “The puzzles here are more like adventure mazes where you are inserted into the game.” When Lifre heard that, her eyes lit up, and she grabbed Dana’s hand to begin dragging her towards the arcade.

Dana let out a light laugh as she was being pulled away, using her other hand to wave towards Tsubaki and Keliope. Once the two were gone, the kitsune looked towards Keliope. “What games do you normally play when we are here? I don’t believe I saw you in the arcade the last time I was here.”

Keliope shook her head. “Usually, I look at other kinds of demonstrations. The last time I went to the arcade, I think it was before you started being brought to these meetings. Thus, I defer to your wisdom as the more expert gamer.” Keliope had a grin when she said that, causing Tsubaki to blink and slowly nod her head.

The two walked into the arcade, before following Dana and Lifre up to the second floor where all of the multiplayer games were. If they went against one another, there would not be many points that could be earned, so they had to find something where they were both playing against the system. “I think I know a good game for the two of us.” She said after some consideration.

“What, that Keeper Sim one?” Keliope asked with a chuckle, but Tsubaki shook her head.

“No, you do not seem the type to enjoy that type of game on a competitive level. This is a game that I saw when I was here the last time, and played by myself for a while. Though, it is perfectly compatible with multiple players.” As she said that, she seemed to focus, a pair of chairs appearing along one of the walls.

Above the chairs was a sign which read, ‘Variable Fighter Tournament’. Seeing this, Keliope blinked, finding her feet drawn towards the display. “What’s this game about, then?”

“I believe that the purpose of the game is to aid a Keeper in adapting to the various powers that they may find themselves with in their world. The game has two modes that I saw when I played it. The first allows you to choose from a selection which powers you want to have access to, while the second is a random selection.”

“Either way, once you have your powers, you have one hour to familiarize yourself with their function before the fighting starts. Combat starts off small, and slowly increases in intensity. The faster you can adjust to your abilities, the better off you will be. Additionally, your base stats will always be higher than those of your opponent, so the difficulty that ramps up is skill with your given power. “

“The game ends when you are killed by your opponent, or choose not to proceed to the next level. Once you exit, you are given points according to your progress, with more points awarded to those who choose a randomly selected power.”

Keliope furrowed her brows, nodding at that. “So I could end up with a strength type power that favors me, or some really complicated magic?”

“That’s correct.” Tsubaki said with a nod. “My last time playing this, I did four runs. The first one, I chose my normal powerset, while the other three were randomly assigned. For one, I had an imagination-type magic power focused around art. Another was the power to shapeshift my body into various weapons. Finally, I was given the power to collect and control spirits.”

“Huh… alright, I’ll give it a shot.” Keliope grinned, sitting down in one of the two chairs as Tsubaki took the other. “How did we get it started?”

“It has already begun.” Tsubaki smiled, and Keliope could see the world around them going black. Tsubaki stood up from the chair, looking around until she saw a red panel along one wall.

“Cooperative mode.” She announced, and one of the settings changed to match her words. “I would like to play a random power set.”

Keliope blinked, scrambling back to her feet. “Yeah, me too! A random power set, please!”

As soon as their choices had been made, the two appeared within a large building with a polished wooden floor. A pale blue window hovered in the air before each of them, allowing Keliope to get a brief introduction to her own power.

Power category: Ki manipulation

Detailed specifics: Your blood possesses a powerful energy. By shedding blood, you may manipulate it for a variety of effects. Please discover these effects through careful practice!

Keliope blinked when she saw the message. At first, she had been hopeful due to the category, but the specifics left her completely dumbfounded. “I need to shed my blood to use the effect?” She looked down at her palm when she heard that, as if thinking she needed to bite her thumb or cut open her hand.

Nearby, Tsubaki nodded as she had finished confirming her own power. “I have been granted the ability to use mana to manipulate metal.” She said, clearly happy with her power. Meanwhile, Keliope had an unusual expression on her face. “Is everything alright?”

“I need to shed blood to activate my power.” Keliope said with a grimace, though Tsubaki blinked.

“Did it specify that the blood needed to be your own?” When Keliope heard that, she abruptly looked at the system message, shaking her head. “If not, there is one of two possibilities that I can think of. Either the power is in your blood itself, or you are able to manipulate any blood your power comes in contact with.”

Keliope nodded, clenching her fists in anticipation. “Alright. How do we start training to familiarize ourselves, then?”

Tsubaki smiled, looking up. “Training environment, populated forest.” As soon as she said that, the world around them seemed to flicker. The wooden floor was replaced with dirt and grass, trees sprouting up from the ground around them.

Almost immediately, Tsubaki dropped to her knees, placing her hand on the ground and focusing. Keliope watched her with a somewhat bitter smile. “Aren’t you worried that your mana power is based on geometric magic or something?”

Tsubaki, however, shook her head. “When I fought using my own powers, I was given a library of spell diagrams that I was familiar with. Additionally, when I had the power to shapeshift, I was given a helpful manual showing various weapons. When powers are that restrictive, the system appears to offer a small guide to help get things started. Given that you did not receive one, your blood power should have a lot of uses.”

After saying that, she lifted her hand up slowly, and the ground began to rumble beneath her palm. Rough stone and ores rose up as if they had been drawn to her. With a satisfied smile, she brought her other hand to the mass of ore, carefully extracting it from the stone. Keliope could see that the metal appeared to melt as it floated in the air, before shaping into a dagger.

Once the dagger was made, Tsubaki threw it before Keliope’s feet. “You’ll want to give yourself a small cut to start training. If your power is blood based, it is likely designed that you would be the underdog going into fights by yourself. Only once you have access to some blood will your power shine.”

Keliope groaned, taking the dagger and wiping it off on her arm before using the tip to prick her finger. When she saw a small droplet of blood forming, she stared hard at it. “Okay, so what can you do--woah!?” She staggered back as the drop all but exploded forward in a surging current, creating a wave of blood larger than her entire body.

When Tsubaki saw that, she yanked her hand back, bringing the dagger back to herself and jumping onto a nearby branch. “Is that the basic ability, or just because she was focusing so much?”

Tsubaki’s question was not immediately answered, but it was clear that Keliope didn’t seem to be losing a dangerous amount of blood. Her complexion wasn’t becoming pale or anything like that, despite the wave of blood washing over the ground. Once Keliope finally managed to get it to stop, she let out several heavy breaths. “Okay… jumpscared by my finger… that’s a first.”

Looking around her feet, she saw that the area had been stained red. “If this doesn’t count as enough blood, I’m going to sue. I don’t know who I’ll sue, but I’ll sue!” She said, aiming her hand at one of the larger puddles. As she lifted her fingers, she could see a few tendrils rise up from the puddle like writhing tentacles. Keliope gave a small grin when she saw that. “Okay, I can work with this.”

She took a deep breath, focusing. The blood staining the ground trembled, before moving back towards her body. It crept over her skin, forming what looked like red plate armor that covered her form. “Yeah, I can definitely work with this.”