World Keeper

Chapter 1199: Too Good to be True?

The next several hours was spent in relative silence, waiting for the machines to finish optimizing the flow of my energy. I wasn’t really sure what advantage this would bring, but it was worth a test, especially since I didn’t really have anything to lose from this.

Afterwards, I felt the machines humm to life once again, forming new energy cores within my body. One of them was in my head, near the core of my World Sight, and the other was in my abdomen. It felt… strange to have these energies taking shape without my direct control, but I was able to prevent myself from disrupting the process.

Once it was all done, James let me know and gave me the signal to stand up. At first, I didn’t really feel any different, looking down at my hands. “Is that it?” I asked, looking up at James.

As soon as I did, I saw a compressed bullet of ki flying at me. I didn’t see it with my eyes, but rather my more supernatural senses. The bullet was moving far beyond lightspeed, and he had clearly timed it for when I would be looking at him.

My brain entered a brief moment of panic, realizing that this attack was faster than anything I had ever managed to dodge before. However, before I realized what had happened, I brought my hand up, intercepting the ki bullet.

Despite its speed, the impact was little more than a puff of wind. Only then did I realize that there was no true danger behind the ‘attack’, and James was grinning knowingly in my direction. “Optimized energy flow, for a mortal, will mean that they are able to more easily activate their abilities. However, for an energy being like us, it drastically increases our reaction time. Because of this optimization, your body is currently in its peak condition, though that will slowly degrade over time if you don’t train properly. Take some time to study and adapt to the changes in your body before you start practicing with your new energies.”

I slowly nodded my head at that, still reeling from the sudden demonstration. Admittedly, he had properly shown me the benefits of the procedure I had undergone, it just would have been a bit preferable if he had let me know about that beforehand.

“Right. I’ll head back to Olympus to do that, then. Anything else, before I go?” I asked, and James shook his head, escorting me out of the facility.

Jonas sat within the control room, looking up at the map that was displayed before him. According to the information that Pierce had sent him, this was the region where there would soon be some form of disturbance. Unfortunately, Jonas had absolutely no idea as to what form that disturbance would take, so he had to prepare for a few different possibilities.

Thus, the elven man glanced over to Bria, offering a small smile. “Bria, please choose three people to send down to Sevast Pole and investigate. I’m going to work on scanning the local space for any disturbances.”

Bria gave a quick salute, nodding her head. “I’m on it.” She said in a serious tone, quickly leaving the control room. Looking off to the other side, Jonas looked at a human woman. “Trish, can you tap into the local census and see if there is anything that stands out?”

Trish, when she was still alive, had been a server analyst. Even after joining Jonas’s community, she had kept her talent of pouring over data faster than anyone else. Thus, she nodded her head, quickly typing on the console in front of her. “Anything in particular that I’m looking for, sir?”

With a sigh, Jonas shook his head. “I’ve got no idea, really. This is a request from Pierce, so it’s possible that just us being present is enough to resolve the problem, or we may need to enter a full-blown battle.”

This was why Jonas had sent an additional team down to the surface, while also having Trish check their records. Any information that they could find could help them determine what form the upcoming cataclysm would take.

Obediently, Trish nodded her head, scanning through the rapidly scrolling text. As she did, a look of confusion appeared on her face, alarming Jonas. “Is there something wrong?” He asked, and she gave a slow nod.@@novelbin@@

“You could say that. I’m not seeing anyone in the database with a criminal record.” She said, scrolling the text even faster while applying various filters. “Normally, there should be a note on prisoners that have either been released from incarceration, or from the prison itself. However, I’m not seeing anything. As far as I can tell, this entire planet doesn’t have a single prison.”

Jonas blinked in confusion, not understanding what he was hearing. “How is that possible?” He asked aloud, trying to think through various situations that could lead to this result. “It’s not one of those backwards worlds where they kill anyone who commits a crime, is it?”

“I can’t be certain.” Trish answered hesitantly. “I can’t tell that much from this information. Bria will be able to get a better understanding of that when she reaches the planet. According to the basic information I can see, this seems to be a rather prosperous area. Many families are registered with five or six children each. Despite being a low-level beastkin colony, the average age of death appears to be roughly two hundred, and all by natural causes.”

“No monster attacks?” Jonas asked, more and more confused by the moment.

I’ve reached the planet’s surface, Jonas. Bria suddenly commented, and Jonas turned his attention to her.

Thanks, Bria. I need you to confirm the information we’re seeing in the census. According to Trish, this should be a highly prosperous area, with large families and no crime. In fact, there seems to be no need for a public safety organization at all. Can you confirm?

Hearing that, Bria fell silent, likely taking her team to observe the area. Jonas waited for a full ten minutes, foot tapping against the floor, before Bria responded again. We did a basic sweep of the city with our mana. As far as we can tell, the information matches what you said. None of us noticed a single law enforcement officer.

Were there any suspicious graves or empty houses? Jonas asked, growing more and more unsettled the more he heard just how ‘perfect’ the area seemed to be.

Let me check again. Bria said, and this time responded back in under a minute. Nobody saw anything suspicious. There are a lot of elderly people, but they seem just as happy as anyone else. We’ve already had four different people come up and ask if there was anything that they could do to help us.

Jonas hesitated again, briefly wary of the possibility that they could only be helpful on the surface, while harboring malicious intentions. However, Bria had once managed an entire, global empire. It had been many years since then, but she was an excellent judge of character. From what Jonas could tell, she didn’t even sound suspicious of the people around her.

Jonas’s eyes widened, quickly sending out another message. Bria, I need you to ask a question to the next person that offers to help you. Ask them what their Luck stat is.

Thankfully, Jonas didn’t have to wait very long. It was less than a minute before someone approached Bria on the surface again. One thousand, five hundred… isn’t that a bit high, Jonas?

That’s not a bit high. That’s incredibly high! Jonas responded anxiously. Even with his long lifetime of helping people, being the ‘father of divinity’ and saving heroes from untimely deaths, he had only received eight hundred points to his Luck stat when the karma system was removed. Get out of there. Jonas said in an urgent tone, looking around the control room.

“Everyone, prepare for an imminent battle. Push our deep space scanners to the limit, look for anything abnormal.” He ordered, and everyone in the room rushed to fulfill his command.

What’s going on? Bria asked in surprise, hearing the near panic in Jonas’s tone.

We found a karmic nexus. Jonas explained, staring at the screens in front of him, looking for anything approaching. This probably started as a small community of people, all of whom looked out for each other. When you help someone with positive karma, your own karma increases as well.

In very, very rare situations, this can create a feedback loop. With a large group of people, all with positive karma helping one another on a regular basis, they created a holy ground of karma. The people here aren’t suspicious, they are genuine saints. But that’s the problem. Their collective karma was so good that it would passively turn away anyone seeking to harm this place. Now, that karma is gone, replaced by the less effective Luck stat.

Hearing that explanation, Bria was still confused. Doesn’t that do basically the same thing?

On a small scale, yes. Jonas said with a nod, finally spotting a small blip on the scans. However, there is a difference. Luck is a passive bonus to one’s own subconscious. Your basic instincts that guide you on which action to take. It does this by making you more sensitive to information around you, putting that information together in a way that your conscious mind can’t understand.

Karma, on the other hand, worked externally. Instead of interfering with the information you receive, it directly influences the world to enforce its own balance. With bad enough karma, new tools can break unexpectedly, monsters strike out of nowhere, or even natural energy fluctuations that give rise to dangerous effects. While the end result is similar, the process is entirely different. Their Luck stat isn’t able to protect them from external threats anymore, and they are entirely unprepared to face such threats, due to their existence as a purely good-natured community.

“Incoming monster, sector eight!” Jonas shouted, looking around.

“I’ve got sector six, seven sightings!”

“Sector three, one enemy.”

More and more reading began to appear on the radar, monsters flooding in from all directions. Thankfully, this system’s void defense barrier was still active, preventing memetic monsters from being mixed into the lot. Jonas rose to his feet, placing two fingers on his forehead and calling out with his mind.

All combatants, this is an immediate mobilization order. The city, as well as the planet below, are being besieged from all directions. Noncombatants proceed to the secure shelters. This is not a drill. I am activating the city’s defensive turrets now. He reported, tapping into the divinity within his city. The ground shifted, and several tall structures began to rise on the outskirts of the city.

These turrets were typically hidden underground, as they were seen as an eyesore most of the time. However, at times like now, Jonas could freely activate them. His city’s defensive barrier began to glow with a bright, golden light as he entered into battle mode. Archmage division, deploy at will! You are free to operate at maximum output! Elemental division, prepare to reinforce them after the initial volley. Martial division, watch for enemies breaking through the attacks.

A thick swarm of bodies flew out of the city, forming organized columns that confronted the approaching monsters. This was Jonas’s strength in battle, the combined power of everyone in his community working together.