It didn’t take long for Aerial to respond to my message, though it seemed that she was likely in her world at the time, and needed to be called back to the Admin Room.

Aerial: Sorry for the wait, I’m back now.

EarthForceOne: It’s fine, really. I just wanted to let you know that the invasion was over.

There was a pause after I said that. Most likely, Aerial was checking the records to see what the end result of the invasion had been. However, once she was done, she quickly got back to replying.

Aerial: Congratulations! I was starting to worry whether or not the plan had failed. So void scripts really were the answer?

EarthForceOne: That’s right. It seemed like he shackled his worlds, and that’s why he was still in the third rank like this.

Aerial: That would make sense. It’s been too long since I fought him, there had to be some reason why he hadn’t managed to advance to this rank yet. Either way, this was your first time beating a wicked Keeper, yeah? I know you fought that blank slate, but still.

EarthForceOne: That’s right. BloodBrother gave me… a bit more than I was expecting. Even getting all of my people together to come up with ideas, it was hard to think of what to use the points on.

Aerial: That’s pretty normal. Usually when we beat an evil Keeper, we leave their worlds alone enough that we just repurpose them. For instance, the one time I did, I began sending expeditions to their worlds to gradually cleanse them and make them inhabitable.

Aerial: Given what we planned for BloodBrother, though… that wouldn’t really be possible. Yeah, you would have had to do a full reset on his worlds.

EarthForceOne: Any suggestions on what I should get, then?

Aerial: Sorry, but I don’t know enough about your world to make that kind of suggestion. All I can say is that resetting like you did would have easily given you enough points to break through to the fourth rank, even if you spent it carelessly.

I nodded my head at that, knowing that she was probably right. Quite some time ago, Sarah had told me that the big divide between the third and fourth rank was the quantity of divine beings. At the point I was at, I was already mass producing gods through the divine forge method. Now that I had Fragments of Acidia, that was another method for gods to begin appearing.

I thought back to my conversation with Sarah, and how she seemed to have a galaxy full of gods, a massive civilization that spanned the cosmos. It was to the point that she just considered it a number.

EarthForceOne: I’m curious… did Sarah shackle her worlds, too? It doesn’t make sense that she hasn’t been promoted after all this time.

Aerial: Hmm? Oh, no, Sarah doesn’t do things like that. She’s been at the fourth rank for ages, but that’s not because she’s shackled herself or anything. I asked her about it a while ago, and she said that it’s because she never accelerates her worlds anymore. If anything, she spends more time frozen while she is working on a new game world.

Aerial: Sarah is less concerned about advancing as a Keeper, and wants to run a business. Any profits she makes from one game, she tends to put towards making the next one. I think she told me that her next project she’s working on is a set of three games meant to be purchased as a package, with each one interacting with the others.

EarthForceOne: I’m… surprised that she doesn’t run into any problems with invasions if she’s not fast forwarding.

Aerial: The only ones that would cause her trouble are Monster Keepers. Even the other evil types won’t cause problems for SarahLasting, since she has customers everywhere. Out of the Keeper community, she’s the only one that will consistently release new ‘entertainment’ for other Keepers, or at least the only one of her quality level.

That made sense in a way. Even Oldbeard had been enamored with Sarah and desperately wanted to be in the same guild as her. It wasn’t an understatement to call her a celebrity of the Keeper community.

EarthForceOne: I see. Either way, I just wanted to let you know that BloodBrother had been taken care of.

Aerial: Thank you for that, really. He has caused a lot of Keepers to lose what was precious to them, and even killed several himself. I’m glad that we won’t need to worry about him anymore.

After that, I closed the conversation with Aerial, thinking about what I should do next. There was no real rush to spend the points that I had earned, since none of my companions could think of anything appropriate to spend them on. All that was left, really, was to make sure that I was becoming the best that I could be.

Ashley had finished gathering the documents on the different new systems, compiling them into one neat folder and making several copies. Now, she was taking these folders to the office building across the street from the main Admin Room.

Even now, her team continued their work. When they weren’t given a specific project, they made sure that the current system was well maintained on the main worlds, or came up with different simulations to try to push the boundaries in the test worlds. A small smile played at Ashley’s lips when she saw how dedicated they were. “Alright, everyone. We’ve got some work to do. This time, it’s a big project, so get ready. We’ve got a new game coming out, too. Anyone who does well for this next patch will get a permanent account set up for them in the new game world.

That certainly got the attention of the workers, who had turned to look at Ashley with expectant eyes. Although they were indeed dedicated to their tasks, a reward always served as extra incentive. Besides, they could play these games even while they worked, as long as they didn’t allow themselves to become distracted.

“Jamira, could you distribute these documents to everyone?” Ashley asked, the mousey-looking team leader jumping to her feet and running over to collect the folders. “These are the market details of everything we have recently purchased, as well as our speculations on expanding those details. First and foremost, everyone familiarize yourself with these documents, and then take a look at our testbeds. I want any details you find that are not covered in the documents to be added. If a speculation is proven to be false, make sure to correct it.”

“Before you convert the new code for our worlds, I want to make sure that we have a full understanding of what we are getting. Additionally, I’ve added a note for the universal currency, and we’ll need to make a patch for our inventory system to allow the two to work together. You’ll find the details in the contained documents.”

“Finally, I want to know if anyone here is able to work on rebalancing the market prices to work with the new currency?” She asked, looking at each of the individuals, though none of them spoke up. “That… might be an issue. It’s fine, I’ll delegate the work elsewhere.”

The assistants nodded, going over the files as Jamira distributed them. Once she was sure that everyone had their tasks, she left the room, pulling a phone out of thin air and dialing a number. She was fully capable of using the mental chat like anyone else, but she preferred to direct it through the use of such devices once she got the hang of it. “Dale?” She spoke up, a voice speaking back to her a moment later.

“Yes, Ashley? Is there something you need?” One advantage to using phones like this was that she didn’t feel the voices appearing in the back of her head. While she was able to put up with it, it just felt… wrong.

“I think we may need to get a team to work for Ryone.” Ashley answered as she left the office building. “None of my people have any experience handling economic problems. In order to get our new currency up and running, we’ll need a team dedicated to that. Otherwise, we’ll just be playing catch-up, and that will cause some chaos for us.”

“Got it. I’ll talk to her about the situation. Is there anyone else you think could use assistants?”

Ashley pursed her lips at that, before nodding. “Fifi sent me a brief file about the requirements to run Fragments of Acidia. You should give Irena a few helpers as well, to make sure that the process of assigning named NPCs proceeds smoothly. They can work as managers for the golden palace in their spare time.”

“Got it. Thanks for the advice.” Ashley smiled at the genuinely thankful tone that she could hear from Dale, knowing that her help really was appreciated.

Once I was done talking with Ashley, I spoke with Irena and Ryone both, who agreed that it would be for the best to have helpers managing those respective fields. While they were both fully capable of taking care of the task themselves, they had seen how much having helpers had allowed Ashley to relax.

Even Irena, who usually gave the impression of a strict worker, willing to do everything herself, was happy for the offer of assistance. Ryone, meanwhile… well, she jumped at the opportunity. Having assistants covering her mercantile aspects would give her more time to focus purely on researching the limits of the arcane. That had always been her passion, and she finally had the chance to focus her attention on it once again.

So I set it up with Terra, getting ten assistants for each of them and making sure that they had their own office space, terminals, and apartments in the buildings across the street. Ryone’s team quickly got to work on rebalancing the prices for the market based on this new currency, while Irena’s took up the task of managing the karma system and selecting NPCs for Fragments of Acidia.

As for me, I returned to the Sky Citadel after taking care of these arrangements. There wasn’t likely to be a need for me to fast forward the world for the foreseeable future. At the very least, not until after the new patch was released.

Upon my return, I found the various Tsubaki and Dana avatars having frozen in place, causing me to blink. The two had connected to the virtual training room with their Virtual selves like I had, so there was no reason for them to be so distracted that even the avatars created through the ‘Servant Force’ were frozen.

Curious, I walked over and injected my World Sight into one of the closest avatars, finding that the energy was well and truly frozen. There was not a trace of activity in its entire body. My brows furrowed, and I expanded my World Sight to cover the citadel.

That’s when I found the cause, one that made my brow twitch in annoyance. There was an unfamiliar god walking the halls, looking like a robber appraising each item. Upon a brief inspection, I found that this was a God of Time. As for why I wasn’t frozen… my host must have activated the Time domain itself when this began.

Who would be foolish enough to want to rob the Keeper? I asked myself, getting ready to investigate. Did he just think that the domain of Time meant that even the Greater Pantheon wouldn’t be able to see his actions? Regardless, if he was here to cause any trouble, then I would need to deal with him swiftly.