V4C66: Dimensional Domain
Once she saw that there seemed to be nothing else to worry about, Wei Yi put the otherworldly demon down onto the ground, supporting her for a little longer while removing the mental energy cloth from her mouth and letting her recover from the experience.
The others lowered their barriers after a brief while, with Luo Lia Kun outright dropping onto the ground while gasping for air. Whatever she had been doing, it had clearly taxed her greatly despite the lacking necessity for such action. Her superior, Great Dark, was faring far better due to relying upon his inscriptions, although he was also out of breath and keen to back away from the Ascendant and the demon, his eyes narrowed due to the bright light that had suddenly shined into them.
Still, Wei Yi was focused on Miyu, asking her, “How is it? What works, and what doesn’t?”
There was no need to guess that something wouldn’t go right, or that something would no longer be possible for her, since this was a hasty attempt at something that shouldn’t have worked out as easily as it did. For that reason, the Ascendant didn’t even entertain the idea.
“I… Is my left eye shut right now?” Miyu questioned back, immediately alerting the others to what she had lost.
Her eye was not shut, and it didn’t even seem like she would need to bother with it in the future, as it had gained a strange appearance that made it seem like a fake that had been inserted into her head. If this wasn’t just some temporary phenomenon but the true appearance of the eye from now on, perhaps prompted by the lack of an azure light to power it, then it might behave like one as well, no longer requiring her to blink or to even provide her blood and moisture to it.
Of course, mentioning such things right away would be a little inappropriate.
“No, it is not. Can you still make use of the otherworldly gift?” Wei Yi quickly brought her onto the other important topic. So long as the gift remained, it would mean that attempting to handle this type of otherworldly gift in such a manner could at the very least ensure that it remained with the owner.
“Uh… Wei Yi… Forty-one… eh… I can’t see much more than that… Oh god, I can’t see more than that?” she gasped, quickly turning to look at the others, “Luo Lia Kun, sixty-four-”
“Oi!”
“Great Da- no, Great Li-, no, Great… um… I… I think that we may have b-broken it? It… It can’t identify things properly anymore… Um…” Miyu’s breath accelerated as she looked at more and more people and things before ultimately returning her focus to Wei Yi, “Did I do something wrong? S-Shouldn’t the whole point of the ability to be able to see more than that? To verify truth from lies? To- ah!”
She stopped the moment that Wei Yi took a firm stride forward and embraced her, with the otherworldly demon’s head ending up near the Ascendant’s chest due to their difference in height. Although she did continue to hyperventilate for a few breaths, that was also ended when she felt a soft yet strong hand stroke her head, Wei Yi’s fingers brushing through her long hair and giving her little choice but to focus on them.
“Calm down, Miyu. From what I can tell, you have done nothing wrong. Your ability must have been one of those that was simply too powerful to be maintained by nothing more than a cultivation without any proper refinement, and so you can no longer tap into the heavens, or whatever it was that you used, in order to acquire the knowledge of truth and fiction,” the Ascendant explained, “If your ability works the same as the ones I have managed to pick up, then it will return to some semblance of its original strength as you get stronger, so, if you are concerned about it, why don’t I teach you a technique and let you have a go at it? Should be fun in the long term.”
“Um… Can I stay here instead?”
“After you were so excited to be able to cultivate and become stronger? No, I am afraid that I can’t let you remain in my embrace forever, although you can stay for a little while.”
The otherworldly demon nodded – as much as she could with her head pressed against Wei Yi’s chest – and finally calmed down, allowing the Ascendant to finally move her attention elsewhere.
Their experiment had taken a little over a quarter of an hour, with the actual extraction of the azure light occupying the last few minutes, and while that wasn’t enough time for anything major to occur either in the world or in the minds of those present, it had given Wei Yi a small idea of how to handle her current project of constructing a town. Naturally, her work would be limited once those keen on constructing came around, whether from the Planar Continents or Orbis, or some other realm entirely, but before then, she could optimise her newly created shadow of a technique, the Command of Law.
It was far from being complete, but she was able to ascertain from the attempt to remove the azure light that the empowerment of the Conqueror’s Eye could guide the Law to a certain extent, in a way that was not inconsistent with the way in which Law naturally functioned.
To a certain extent, the rules imposed onto people by themselves were bound by one’s interpretation and led to such things as following the spirit of a law, or the words of a law. At times, one contradicted or opposed the other, and so the one that was most often used came about as a consensus of the people’s vision of that law. In more overarching, natural terms, Law seemed less malleable, but if it demanded human input, it meant that it could be changed.
A demand of the land to rise was ambiguous, but what if she could simply instruct the land to form an abode? So long as everyone agreed upon the meaning of the word, and shared some vision of a residence within which they may reside, the chains of Law would be able to form the thing that they desire.
The only question now was which command would best stimulate the minds of those present, as well as accurately instruct the world. Something like ‘home’ wouldn’t work as it was not a verb, thus failing to actually satisfy the requirement of an instruction, whereas ‘rise’ could stimulate far too many other thoughts in order to actually be useful. It needed to be something clear, concise, with only one obvious interpretation for the otherworldly demons and the locals alike, although that was likely asking for too much for her second attempt.
‘Alternatively, what if I provide a term and rely on the people’s perception of its intention for the sake of manifesting an effect, even if, speaking purely about the grammatical side of things, a term shouldn’t normally be used as a verb?’ she thought, “Everyone, could you think of a residence? Not the specifics, but the necessary concepts that you can all agree to, like a door, some windows, rooms and so on.”
“Hm?” Miyu shifted a little, seeming to have gotten a little distracted.
“You can keep resting, if you like. Otherwise, imagine the base essentials of a house, then focus on them.”
“Can I focus on-”
“No, you cannot. Stop trying to touch me there, as this is neither the time nor the place,” Wei Yi held the otherworldly demon’s hand at bay as the woman attempted to reach something that she should not have been touching, “Also, you are clearly acting this way due to the stress, so take a while to calm down and reconsider what you are doing. If, after that, you are still sure, then we can discuss it again. You alright with that?”
“… Alright, I’ll… mhm… you have a firm chest…”
“…” the Ascendant pondered whether to nudge her away at this point, or throw her into a bed in the Kong Prison Realm or Paragon, but decided to let her be for a moment longer, “Do remember who you are speaking to, please.”
She sighed, turning back to the field before them. The previously raised structure raised by her was mostly standing, but it was already showing a series of clear instabilities that would need to be addressed with greater precision, with something like the Shaper’s Grasp. Fortunately, some of these flaws came about as a result of the unstable and imprecise structure formed by the failure to accurately bring across the concept of a house. Some of them would be addressed the moment that a more accurate portrayal was created, but the rest could and should be kept in mind.
Once the blackened crimson around them got even deeper, with a portion of it almost manifesting into the shape of a strange residence at a certain point on the flat landscape.
It wasn’t a perfect shape, instead seeming to be more of a congregation of features one typically associated with a home that floated vaguely near one another, but it was sufficient for what she wanted. From that, all that she needed to do was coalesce the many concepts into something whole by giving them a clear direction.
“Now… Home!” she called out, stretching out one hand while manifesting another to keep Miyu’s hand away from her crotch. In a more regular situation, it would have been quite appealing to have someone chasing after her with such vigour, especially if they were female and understood that anything even approaching a romantic relationship would simply be impossible for now, but as she had already explained to the otherworldly demon, timing and location were important.
Her words provoked the world to twist once more, the chains shifting in order to accommodate her supposed command.
The ground twisted and cracked, with stone piercing right through the dirt and forming an enormous frame of sharp spikes that piled up further and further, increasing in quantity until they were almost as plentiful as the wooden planks that one might use when constructing a regular structure. A space for a door was present, as were several tall windows and even signs of a complex roof, internal furniture, and a set of several stairs and two additional floors. They were not put together with much competence, nor were they that well planned out, with some of the rooms seeming to be far too small or large to be useful, but this resembled a home far more so than before.
Even her own body wasn’t harmed all that greatly, with her enduring only a few minor internal injuries that began to recover the moment that most of the structure slid into place, locking into two or more of the other stone spikes to result in something that appeared to be able to endure the pressure of the world.
“Woah… That-”
“Is that thing what you’re intending to house us in?” a voice suddenly came to them, prompting them to turn around.
Wei Yi had been able to notice their presence some time ago, with her spiritual perception quite literally coating the world within the nearest half kilometre, but to the surprise of the fifth and sixth realm experts in the area, she appeared to be nearly entirely invisible, mostly because her energy was essentially absent from her body despite the fact that she was in the third realm by all appearances. Once they did notice her, they even noticed that her anchor was oddly misshapen, although they were unable to understand what it was meant to be.
Their Ascendant did have a better idea, but only because she had just been forced to observe how the concepts of a house came together, not even mentioning the fact that her trained eyes and perception were able to observe a certain absent spot within the approaching woman’s body.
Rather than all that, what caught their attention a moment after was that her body looked rather unusual for someone that comes from the Planar Continents, as her eyes were larger, her skin looked to be a shade most similar to that of someone from the Central Plains, and her body was quite full in the best places. Judging by the subtle gasp of Fu Zan, as well as his thoughts, her long blond hair would have also been somewhat unusual for the places that he lived in if not for the variety of the Planar Continents. In the Western Continent, at the very least, the hair and eye colours included almost literally every colour visible to the human eye, if not more, so few colours surprised others.
“I presume that you are not from this world?” Wei Yi decided to confirm.
“I am, and I have that otherworldly gift thing you had talked about. Tell me, why do you call us demons in one sentence and then call us poor souls in the other?” the woman questioned.
‘A fearless one, although I do not know whether this comes from her lacking understanding of the world or her belief that she could deal with me. Either way, I don’t dislike some confidence,’ the Ascendant thought to herself, replying right away, “You appear to have a similar misunderstanding of the term as your fellow otherworldly demon had. When I call you demons, I do not call you vile entities, but, in essence, agents of chaos. With your knowledge, your powers, and your different views of the world, people like you almost inevitably end up causing significant changes to the world. For example, have you heard of Yi City? I know it is a small place now, not one to pay attention to, but it was directly caused by an otherworldly demon.”
“Yi Ci- Wait, you mean this whole nation? That’s called Yi City, isn’t it?”
“Indeed, it is. You were either in the Bai, Chao, or, as I think to be most likely, the Luo District, where I think I saw you standing somewhere in the distance, frowning. Did my words cause any significant concern, or were you in a bad mood at that hour?”
“Both… So that’s how you were using that word. I see… Frankly, I see no reason to trust anything you say, since any politician in Antania could say the exact same kind of thing at any time, but you seem to be the best choice so far,” the woman said, “You were called Wei Yi, right? I am Sarah Wilson, Sarah being the first name. I think I could offer something to this new town of yours.”
“An otherworldly gift, or some talent in architecture, the understanding of houses and the way in which to construct something useful and yet not entirely unappealing, or perhaps the knowledge of good land and where best to build something?”
“My brother was good at architecture, so some of his mutterings have stuck with me, but it is the former that I can contribute. Is that safe?” Sarah asked, looking at Fu Zan first, and the woman in Wei Yi’s embrace second, identifying them as fellow visitors from another world right away but not quite understanding quite what it was that she seeing right now, “You said that they corrupt the mind and all that, right?”
“I was a little vague, and for a good reason. You see, most otherworldly gifts are composed of two parts at least, and one of those is the gift itself, while the other is an azure light that provides it strength. The gift itself can contain memories and thoughts, but is generally harmless, so far as I can tell. If the azure light is removed, you can safely cultivate and do whatever else you want, but even with it remaining, so long as you don’t attempt to develop your cultivation and do not attempt to pursue power, it should not lead you into darkness,” she explained.
The otherworldly demon’s uncertainty and disbelief was blatantly expressed upon her face, but in a field as unfamiliar to her as this one, she had little choice but to trust the expert.
“My otherworldly gift, as you call it, is something apparently called Architectural Talent, but rather than granting me knowledge, it… Well, this is something that is best shown if you don’t know anything about our video games,” Sarah said, looking out at the two attempts at creating residences on the flat plain, “Do you mind if I use it?”
“Go ahead, but don’t destroy the stone structure if you don’t need to. I want to study it later.”
The blonde nodded and waved her hand through the air, calling upon something that could only be seen in the reflection in her eyes. Just like many of the other otherworldly gifts, a part of its manifestation appeared to be a grey flat interface, although in this case, Wei Yi could also see other colours within it. Judging by their quantity and complexity, this was something beyond a simple text box, so she was quite intrigued to see where this was going.
After staring at the screen for a little while, the woman touched certain points of it, by which point the Ascendant had gotten into her mind and was thus able to see a vague approximation of what the otherworldly demon was seeing.
It was a large grid, with one square being roughly sufficient to fit in either of the attempts at residences created by Wei Yi. Some were marked with labels that she couldn’t understand, and there were several fields above the grid with the symbols of coins, wood, stone and other materials being next to them. As the demon tapped one of the squares, a series of options presented themselves to her, with all of them seeming to be some type of building with an attached cost and potential revenue from their activity.
Some were unavailable due to the numbers at the top being insufficient, but despite the otherworldly demon seeming to be relatively new to the Planar Continents, she possessed enough for a number of fancy homes and even some commercial establishments. As otherworldly gifts did possess the ability to manifest something from nothing, or so it seemed, it could be that the resource values were currently false and were instead being pulled from the azure light when necessary, or that it had come with a certain amount that the light expected her to use to acquire more, perhaps creating a vast empire that she could construct in moments and thus acquire a significant portion of the world through that talent combined with the information that she would be able to obtain about her population, so long as Wei Yi was interpreting the various parts of the screen correctly.
Needless to say, this did not seem to be one of the weaker otherworldly gifts, but it was also not one that was likely to have an obvious physical item that would be left behind upon the user’s demise.
Otherwise, she might have killed the woman on the spot, had she been in greater need of such a gift.
“Are there any particular plans for the layout of the town, or were you just planning to put things wherever until it worked out?” Sarah asked after she had selected several structures and placed them onto certain parts of the grid, “If there was nothing, I think that I might be able to use my knowledge of city building games here.”
“Your people play with city building?” Wei Yi raised an eyebrow at Fu Zan and Sarah.
“Eh… No, it’s a game on the computer. No actual cities are created, so far as I’m aware,” the former said.
“Computer? Are you from some poverty-stricken portion of Enia? Everyone uses their watches for that kind of thing. Computers are mostly for storing porn and making more, since they have larger screens,” the other otherworldly demon said, eliciting a confused glance between Fu Zan and Miyu – or would have done so, had Miyu not had her face firmly in between Wei Yi’s breasts.
“You can do it your way. While your otherworldly gift is at full power, it should be aware of far more than we are, so it is more reliable, in a sense. Try to learn as much as possible from it while you still can, by the way, or at the very least write down some plan for the future if it turns out to suffer greatly from the loss of the azure light,” Wei Yi instructed, deciding to temporarily not bring up the notion of many alternate variations of Orbis to the blond woman. Depending on how her world thought about such things, it could cause far too much mental strain.
Sarah didn’t seem to be too bothered by the exchange, perhaps assuming that her guess had been correct but a little insensitive, and instead looked back to the grey screen and shifted around a few structures. Everything but the basic residential buildings had various shapes around them and presented a lot of information regarding their interactions with other places, so she attempted to optimise the initial layout.
To the Ascendant, much of that information looked like random characters being put together, but it seemed that the otherworldly demon understood whatever code the descriptions were in, quickly putting together something that caused her to show a slight smile.
“Alright, this should be good. I will have only a little wood and metal left if I put these down, but that store can apparently generate fifty-four units per working week…”
“If you are worried about resources, then, depending on which ones you require, the Arbiters and I may be able to assist you with them. We have a lot of access to nearly every kind of resource you might want, and in nearly infinite quantities as well, so we should be able to fill up whatever storage area you have quite quickly,” Wei Yi said, “Actually, do you have a storage method of some kind?”
“I, uh… don’t know, actually. I just had this much stuff, and thought that it made sense because most games gave you a little to start…”
“This world isn’t a game,” Fu Zan stated firmly, “It is very important to remember that, since one of our fellows had lost his mind believing everything to be part of a cliché story wherein he could do as he liked.”
“Yeah, this isn’t fake…” Miyu muttered, her voice failing to pass beyond Wei Yi’s chest.
“I will keep that in mind. It seems to offer some kind of storage linking function, so perhaps if you have a warehouse, I might be able to pull from it freely,” Sarah guessed, briefly going over the description provided of the linking function, “Yeah, it says something about automatically converting materials according to their value when it removes them from storage, so it may even be possible to substitute copper for gold this way!”
The Ascendant stopped herself from vocalising her confusion at the pleased astonishment the otherworldly demon seemed to have at the prospect. From her own second-hand viewing of the description, it did indeed seem like materials of any useful type would be converted to the required material in accordance with their value, so if things like ordinary copper and iron were indeed used, something like spatial metal could likely be used to exchange one ingot of spatial metal for several million ingots of the ordinary materials.
It did not answer where the initial quantity came from or was stored, but so long as the materials weren’t being used to empower the otherworldly gift and the azure light’s effect upon the user, it should be fine even if they were manifested from the cosmos.
“Okay, this is it. Let’s see how this works!” Sarah exclaimed, pressing the confirmation button.
To those that weren’t actively looking through her eyes, that being everyone but her and the Ascendant, the action looked significantly sillier than it likely needed to be – especially when the demon could have likely used her mind to press any of the options on the screen – but that could hold their attention for only so long when the earth suddenly rumbled.
Not far from them and the two attempts at creating homes, several spots on the ground seemed to suddenly sink in before being filled with various materials that appeared out of nothing. They modified themselves mid-flight, with wood being cut to just the right size and texture as it slammed down where one of the planks that would make up the wall needed to be, whereas other materials had even greater changes occur to them at the same speed. Right before their eyes, some invisible force rapidly assembled a series of buildings with a far greater quality than their own attempts.
All of them went up at once, and so, in exactly one minute, they had five residences, two shops and one workshop up and ready.
“… Wow. That is ridiculous. They even seem to be in the style of the Central Plains, so they are suitable for this world,” Wei Yi pointed out, keeping quiet about her worry that they might turn out to resemble the grey and dull structures that she had seen in the memories of otherworldly demons, “Is it always going to take a minute?”
“If this works like the free watch game I played in my spare time, then after the first go, it will almost certainly demand a lot of micro-transactions to keep the pace up. Otherwise, it can take hours, days or even weeks,” the demon replied, visibly shuddering at the thought, “Those were terrible…”
“Well, I’d say that a week to have a series of residences complete themselves is still quite sufficient for my needs, so that won’t be that bad if it does happen. If this will be something that gets worse after each set of buildings is constructed, I would recommend stocking up on as many resources as possible, then creating the entire town in a single go. Oh, and, technically, this should be called a minor district of Yi City, not a town, so if someone asks you about it, that is what you should tell them,” she recalled, “That being said, you don’t really have to speak with anyone, but I am reminding you just in case.”
“Thank you, I think… Does that mean that you are going to include me in your faction?”
“Anyone who wishes to keep the world safe and prevent the Greats from obliterating it is welcome in the Ascendant’s Arbiters, and since you seem to be capable of creating an entire town on your own, I wouldn’t mind letting you be one of the leaders of the Dimensional Domain, although I don’t yet know who the other leaders will be,” Wei Yi said, “I’ll have to think about that when we get a few more residents.”
“T-Then… could I also join?” another voice reached them, prompting them to turn around once more to see another figure standing some distance from them.
She was covered in fresh wounds, with blood still dripping from many of them, but she looked to be far more concerned with her question than any of those wounds. Perhaps the worst thing about them was that while Wei Yi was able to recognise the girl that seemed to be a young teenager at most, she was not able to recognise a single one of the girl’s wounds.
“What the f- no, what have you been doing to yourself?” she questioned.
“Ehehe… Would you believe me if I said that this was related to my otherworldly gift?” the girl asked, her giggling looking rather unsettling due to the blood that dripped from her forehead.
V4C66: Dimensional Domain
Once she saw that there seemed to be nothing else to worry about, Wei Yi put the otherworldly demon down onto the ground, supporting her for a little longer while removing the mental energy cloth from her mouth and letting her recover from the experience.
The others lowered their barriers after a brief while, with Luo Lia Kun outright dropping onto the ground while gasping for air. Whatever she had been doing, it had clearly taxed her greatly despite the lacking necessity for such action. Her superior, Great Dark, was faring far better due to relying upon his inscriptions, although he was also out of breath and keen to back away from the Ascendant and the demon, his eyes narrowed due to the bright light that had suddenly shined into them.
Still, Wei Yi was focused on Miyu, asking her, “How is it? What works, and what doesn’t?”
There was no need to guess that something wouldn’t go right, or that something would no longer be possible for her, since this was a hasty attempt at something that shouldn’t have worked out as easily as it did. For that reason, the Ascendant didn’t even entertain the idea.
“I… Is my left eye shut right now?” Miyu questioned back, immediately alerting the others to what she had lost.
Her eye was not shut, and it didn’t even seem like she would need to bother with it in the future, as it had gained a strange appearance that made it seem like a fake that had been inserted into her head. If this wasn’t just some temporary phenomenon but the true appearance of the eye from now on, perhaps prompted by the lack of an azure light to power it, then it might behave like one as well, no longer requiring her to blink or to even provide her blood and moisture to it.
Of course, mentioning such things right away would be a little inappropriate.
“No, it is not. Can you still make use of the otherworldly gift?” Wei Yi quickly brought her onto the other important topic. So long as the gift remained, it would mean that attempting to handle this type of otherworldly gift in such a manner could at the very least ensure that it remained with the owner.
“Uh… Wei Yi… Forty-one… eh… I can’t see much more than that… Oh god, I can’t see more than that?” she gasped, quickly turning to look at the others, “Luo Lia Kun, sixty-four-”
“Oi!”
“Great Da- no, Great Li-, no, Great… um… I… I think that we may have b-broken it? It… It can’t identify things properly anymore… Um…” Miyu’s breath accelerated as she looked at more and more people and things before ultimately returning her focus to Wei Yi, “Did I do something wrong? S-Shouldn’t the whole point of the ability to be able to see more than that? To verify truth from lies? To- ah!”
She stopped the moment that Wei Yi took a firm stride forward and embraced her, with the otherworldly demon’s head ending up near the Ascendant’s chest due to their difference in height. Although she did continue to hyperventilate for a few breaths, that was also ended when she felt a soft yet strong hand stroke her head, Wei Yi’s fingers brushing through her long hair and giving her little choice but to focus on them.
“Calm down, Miyu. From what I can tell, you have done nothing wrong. Your ability must have been one of those that was simply too powerful to be maintained by nothing more than a cultivation without any proper refinement, and so you can no longer tap into the heavens, or whatever it was that you used, in order to acquire the knowledge of truth and fiction,” the Ascendant explained, “If your ability works the same as the ones I have managed to pick up, then it will return to some semblance of its original strength as you get stronger, so, if you are concerned about it, why don’t I teach you a technique and let you have a go at it? Should be fun in the long term.”
“Um… Can I stay here instead?”
“After you were so excited to be able to cultivate and become stronger? No, I am afraid that I can’t let you remain in my embrace forever, although you can stay for a little while.”
The otherworldly demon nodded – as much as she could with her head pressed against Wei Yi’s chest – and finally calmed down, allowing the Ascendant to finally move her attention elsewhere.
Their experiment had taken a little over a quarter of an hour, with the actual extraction of the azure light occupying the last few minutes, and while that wasn’t enough time for anything major to occur either in the world or in the minds of those present, it had given Wei Yi a small idea of how to handle her current project of constructing a town. Naturally, her work would be limited once those keen on constructing came around, whether from the Planar Continents or Orbis, or some other realm entirely, but before then, she could optimise her newly created shadow of a technique, the Command of Law.
It was far from being complete, but she was able to ascertain from the attempt to remove the azure light that the empowerment of the Conqueror’s Eye could guide the Law to a certain extent, in a way that was not inconsistent with the way in which Law naturally functioned.
To a certain extent, the rules imposed onto people by themselves were bound by one’s interpretation and led to such things as following the spirit of a law, or the words of a law. At times, one contradicted or opposed the other, and so the one that was most often used came about as a consensus of the people’s vision of that law. In more overarching, natural terms, Law seemed less malleable, but if it demanded human input, it meant that it could be changed.
A demand of the land to rise was ambiguous, but what if she could simply instruct the land to form an abode? So long as everyone agreed upon the meaning of the word, and shared some vision of a residence within which they may reside, the chains of Law would be able to form the thing that they desire.
The only question now was which command would best stimulate the minds of those present, as well as accurately instruct the world. Something like ‘home’ wouldn’t work as it was not a verb, thus failing to actually satisfy the requirement of an instruction, whereas ‘rise’ could stimulate far too many other thoughts in order to actually be useful. It needed to be something clear, concise, with only one obvious interpretation for the otherworldly demons and the locals alike, although that was likely asking for too much for her second attempt.
‘Alternatively, what if I provide a term and rely on the people’s perception of its intention for the sake of manifesting an effect, even if, speaking purely about the grammatical side of things, a term shouldn’t normally be used as a verb?’ she thought, “Everyone, could you think of a residence? Not the specifics, but the necessary concepts that you can all agree to, like a door, some windows, rooms and so on.”
“Hm?” Miyu shifted a little, seeming to have gotten a little distracted.
“You can keep resting, if you like. Otherwise, imagine the base essentials of a house, then focus on them.”
“Can I focus on-”
“No, you cannot. Stop trying to touch me there, as this is neither the time nor the place,” Wei Yi held the otherworldly demon’s hand at bay as the woman attempted to reach something that she should not have been touching, “Also, you are clearly acting this way due to the stress, so take a while to calm down and reconsider what you are doing. If, after that, you are still sure, then we can discuss it again. You alright with that?”
“… Alright, I’ll… mhm… you have a firm chest…”
“…” the Ascendant pondered whether to nudge her away at this point, or throw her into a bed in the Kong Prison Realm or Paragon, but decided to let her be for a moment longer, “Do remember who you are speaking to, please.”
She sighed, turning back to the field before them. The previously raised structure raised by her was mostly standing, but it was already showing a series of clear instabilities that would need to be addressed with greater precision, with something like the Shaper’s Grasp. Fortunately, some of these flaws came about as a result of the unstable and imprecise structure formed by the failure to accurately bring across the concept of a house. Some of them would be addressed the moment that a more accurate portrayal was created, but the rest could and should be kept in mind.
Once the blackened crimson around them got even deeper, with a portion of it almost manifesting into the shape of a strange residence at a certain point on the flat landscape.
It wasn’t a perfect shape, instead seeming to be more of a congregation of features one typically associated with a home that floated vaguely near one another, but it was sufficient for what she wanted. From that, all that she needed to do was coalesce the many concepts into something whole by giving them a clear direction.
“Now… Home!” she called out, stretching out one hand while manifesting another to keep Miyu’s hand away from her crotch. In a more regular situation, it would have been quite appealing to have someone chasing after her with such vigour, especially if they were female and understood that anything even approaching a romantic relationship would simply be impossible for now, but as she had already explained to the otherworldly demon, timing and location were important.
Her words provoked the world to twist once more, the chains shifting in order to accommodate her supposed command.
The ground twisted and cracked, with stone piercing right through the dirt and forming an enormous frame of sharp spikes that piled up further and further, increasing in quantity until they were almost as plentiful as the wooden planks that one might use when constructing a regular structure. A space for a door was present, as were several tall windows and even signs of a complex roof, internal furniture, and a set of several stairs and two additional floors. They were not put together with much competence, nor were they that well planned out, with some of the rooms seeming to be far too small or large to be useful, but this resembled a home far more so than before.
Even her own body wasn’t harmed all that greatly, with her enduring only a few minor internal injuries that began to recover the moment that most of the structure slid into place, locking into two or more of the other stone spikes to result in something that appeared to be able to endure the pressure of the world.
“Woah… That-”
“Is that thing what you’re intending to house us in?” a voice suddenly came to them, prompting them to turn around.
Wei Yi had been able to notice their presence some time ago, with her spiritual perception quite literally coating the world within the nearest half kilometre, but to the surprise of the fifth and sixth realm experts in the area, she appeared to be nearly entirely invisible, mostly because her energy was essentially absent from her body despite the fact that she was in the third realm by all appearances. Once they did notice her, they even noticed that her anchor was oddly misshapen, although they were unable to understand what it was meant to be.
Their Ascendant did have a better idea, but only because she had just been forced to observe how the concepts of a house came together, not even mentioning the fact that her trained eyes and perception were able to observe a certain absent spot within the approaching woman’s body.
Rather than all that, what caught their attention a moment after was that her body looked rather unusual for someone that comes from the Planar Continents, as her eyes were larger, her skin looked to be a shade most similar to that of someone from the Central Plains, and her body was quite full in the best places. Judging by the subtle gasp of Fu Zan, as well as his thoughts, her long blond hair would have also been somewhat unusual for the places that he lived in if not for the variety of the Planar Continents. In the Western Continent, at the very least, the hair and eye colours included almost literally every colour visible to the human eye, if not more, so few colours surprised others.
“I presume that you are not from this world?” Wei Yi decided to confirm.
“I am, and I have that otherworldly gift thing you had talked about. Tell me, why do you call us demons in one sentence and then call us poor souls in the other?” the woman questioned.
‘A fearless one, although I do not know whether this comes from her lacking understanding of the world or her belief that she could deal with me. Either way, I don’t dislike some confidence,’ the Ascendant thought to herself, replying right away, “You appear to have a similar misunderstanding of the term as your fellow otherworldly demon had. When I call you demons, I do not call you vile entities, but, in essence, agents of chaos. With your knowledge, your powers, and your different views of the world, people like you almost inevitably end up causing significant changes to the world. For example, have you heard of Yi City? I know it is a small place now, not one to pay attention to, but it was directly caused by an otherworldly demon.”
“Yi Ci- Wait, you mean this whole nation? That’s called Yi City, isn’t it?”
“Indeed, it is. You were either in the Bai, Chao, or, as I think to be most likely, the Luo District, where I think I saw you standing somewhere in the distance, frowning. Did my words cause any significant concern, or were you in a bad mood at that hour?”
“Both… So that’s how you were using that word. I see… Frankly, I see no reason to trust anything you say, since any politician in Antania could say the exact same kind of thing at any time, but you seem to be the best choice so far,” the woman said, “You were called Wei Yi, right? I am Sarah Wilson, Sarah being the first name. I think I could offer something to this new town of yours.”
“An otherworldly gift, or some talent in architecture, the understanding of houses and the way in which to construct something useful and yet not entirely unappealing, or perhaps the knowledge of good land and where best to build something?”
“My brother was good at architecture, so some of his mutterings have stuck with me, but it is the former that I can contribute. Is that safe?” Sarah asked, looking at Fu Zan first, and the woman in Wei Yi’s embrace second, identifying them as fellow visitors from another world right away but not quite understanding quite what it was that she seeing right now, “You said that they corrupt the mind and all that, right?”
“I was a little vague, and for a good reason. You see, most otherworldly gifts are composed of two parts at least, and one of those is the gift itself, while the other is an azure light that provides it strength. The gift itself can contain memories and thoughts, but is generally harmless, so far as I can tell. If the azure light is removed, you can safely cultivate and do whatever else you want, but even with it remaining, so long as you don’t attempt to develop your cultivation and do not attempt to pursue power, it should not lead you into darkness,” she explained.
The otherworldly demon’s uncertainty and disbelief was blatantly expressed upon her face, but in a field as unfamiliar to her as this one, she had little choice but to trust the expert.
“My otherworldly gift, as you call it, is something apparently called Architectural Talent, but rather than granting me knowledge, it… Well, this is something that is best shown if you don’t know anything about our video games,” Sarah said, looking out at the two attempts at creating residences on the flat plain, “Do you mind if I use it?”
“Go ahead, but don’t destroy the stone structure if you don’t need to. I want to study it later.”
The blonde nodded and waved her hand through the air, calling upon something that could only be seen in the reflection in her eyes. Just like many of the other otherworldly gifts, a part of its manifestation appeared to be a grey flat interface, although in this case, Wei Yi could also see other colours within it. Judging by their quantity and complexity, this was something beyond a simple text box, so she was quite intrigued to see where this was going.
After staring at the screen for a little while, the woman touched certain points of it, by which point the Ascendant had gotten into her mind and was thus able to see a vague approximation of what the otherworldly demon was seeing.
It was a large grid, with one square being roughly sufficient to fit in either of the attempts at residences created by Wei Yi. Some were marked with labels that she couldn’t understand, and there were several fields above the grid with the symbols of coins, wood, stone and other materials being next to them. As the demon tapped one of the squares, a series of options presented themselves to her, with all of them seeming to be some type of building with an attached cost and potential revenue from their activity.
Some were unavailable due to the numbers at the top being insufficient, but despite the otherworldly demon seeming to be relatively new to the Planar Continents, she possessed enough for a number of fancy homes and even some commercial establishments. As otherworldly gifts did possess the ability to manifest something from nothing, or so it seemed, it could be that the resource values were currently false and were instead being pulled from the azure light when necessary, or that it had come with a certain amount that the light expected her to use to acquire more, perhaps creating a vast empire that she could construct in moments and thus acquire a significant portion of the world through that talent combined with the information that she would be able to obtain about her population, so long as Wei Yi was interpreting the various parts of the screen correctly.
Needless to say, this did not seem to be one of the weaker otherworldly gifts, but it was also not one that was likely to have an obvious physical item that would be left behind upon the user’s demise.
Otherwise, she might have killed the woman on the spot, had she been in greater need of such a gift.
“Are there any particular plans for the layout of the town, or were you just planning to put things wherever until it worked out?” Sarah asked after she had selected several structures and placed them onto certain parts of the grid, “If there was nothing, I think that I might be able to use my knowledge of city building games here.”
“Your people play with city building?” Wei Yi raised an eyebrow at Fu Zan and Sarah.
“Eh… No, it’s a game on the computer. No actual cities are created, so far as I’m aware,” the former said.
“Computer? Are you from some poverty-stricken portion of Enia? Everyone uses their watches for that kind of thing. Computers are mostly for storing porn and making more, since they have larger screens,” the other otherworldly demon said, eliciting a confused glance between Fu Zan and Miyu – or would have done so, had Miyu not had her face firmly in between Wei Yi’s breasts.
“You can do it your way. While your otherworldly gift is at full power, it should be aware of far more than we are, so it is more reliable, in a sense. Try to learn as much as possible from it while you still can, by the way, or at the very least write down some plan for the future if it turns out to suffer greatly from the loss of the azure light,” Wei Yi instructed, deciding to temporarily not bring up the notion of many alternate variations of Orbis to the blond woman. Depending on how her world thought about such things, it could cause far too much mental strain.
Sarah didn’t seem to be too bothered by the exchange, perhaps assuming that her guess had been correct but a little insensitive, and instead looked back to the grey screen and shifted around a few structures. Everything but the basic residential buildings had various shapes around them and presented a lot of information regarding their interactions with other places, so she attempted to optimise the initial layout.
To the Ascendant, much of that information looked like random characters being put together, but it seemed that the otherworldly demon understood whatever code the descriptions were in, quickly putting together something that caused her to show a slight smile.
“Alright, this should be good. I will have only a little wood and metal left if I put these down, but that store can apparently generate fifty-four units per working week…”
“If you are worried about resources, then, depending on which ones you require, the Arbiters and I may be able to assist you with them. We have a lot of access to nearly every kind of resource you might want, and in nearly infinite quantities as well, so we should be able to fill up whatever storage area you have quite quickly,” Wei Yi said, “Actually, do you have a storage method of some kind?”
“I, uh… don’t know, actually. I just had this much stuff, and thought that it made sense because most games gave you a little to start…”
“This world isn’t a game,” Fu Zan stated firmly, “It is very important to remember that, since one of our fellows had lost his mind believing everything to be part of a cliché story wherein he could do as he liked.”
“Yeah, this isn’t fake…” Miyu muttered, her voice failing to pass beyond Wei Yi’s chest.
“I will keep that in mind. It seems to offer some kind of storage linking function, so perhaps if you have a warehouse, I might be able to pull from it freely,” Sarah guessed, briefly going over the description provided of the linking function, “Yeah, it says something about automatically converting materials according to their value when it removes them from storage, so it may even be possible to substitute copper for gold this way!”
The Ascendant stopped herself from vocalising her confusion at the pleased astonishment the otherworldly demon seemed to have at the prospect. From her own second-hand viewing of the description, it did indeed seem like materials of any useful type would be converted to the required material in accordance with their value, so if things like ordinary copper and iron were indeed used, something like spatial metal could likely be used to exchange one ingot of spatial metal for several million ingots of the ordinary materials.
It did not answer where the initial quantity came from or was stored, but so long as the materials weren’t being used to empower the otherworldly gift and the azure light’s effect upon the user, it should be fine even if they were manifested from the cosmos.
“Okay, this is it. Let’s see how this works!” Sarah exclaimed, pressing the confirmation button.
To those that weren’t actively looking through her eyes, that being everyone but her and the Ascendant, the action looked significantly sillier than it likely needed to be – especially when the demon could have likely used her mind to press any of the options on the screen – but that could hold their attention for only so long when the earth suddenly rumbled.
Not far from them and the two attempts at creating homes, several spots on the ground seemed to suddenly sink in before being filled with various materials that appeared out of nothing. They modified themselves mid-flight, with wood being cut to just the right size and texture as it slammed down where one of the planks that would make up the wall needed to be, whereas other materials had even greater changes occur to them at the same speed. Right before their eyes, some invisible force rapidly assembled a series of buildings with a far greater quality than their own attempts.
All of them went up at once, and so, in exactly one minute, they had five residences, two shops and one workshop up and ready.
“… Wow. That is ridiculous. They even seem to be in the style of the Central Plains, so they are suitable for this world,” Wei Yi pointed out, keeping quiet about her worry that they might turn out to resemble the grey and dull structures that she had seen in the memories of otherworldly demons, “Is it always going to take a minute?”
“If this works like the free watch game I played in my spare time, then after the first go, it will almost certainly demand a lot of micro-transactions to keep the pace up. Otherwise, it can take hours, days or even weeks,” the demon replied, visibly shuddering at the thought, “Those were terrible…”
“Well, I’d say that a week to have a series of residences complete themselves is still quite sufficient for my needs, so that won’t be that bad if it does happen. If this will be something that gets worse after each set of buildings is constructed, I would recommend stocking up on as many resources as possible, then creating the entire town in a single go. Oh, and, technically, this should be called a minor district of Yi City, not a town, so if someone asks you about it, that is what you should tell them,” she recalled, “That being said, you don’t really have to speak with anyone, but I am reminding you just in case.”
“Thank you, I think… Does that mean that you are going to include me in your faction?”
“Anyone who wishes to keep the world safe and prevent the Greats from obliterating it is welcome in the Ascendant’s Arbiters, and since you seem to be capable of creating an entire town on your own, I wouldn’t mind letting you be one of the leaders of the Dimensional Domain, although I don’t yet know who the other leaders will be,” Wei Yi said, “I’ll have to think about that when we get a few more residents.”
“T-Then… could I also join?” another voice reached them, prompting them to turn around once more to see another figure standing some distance from them.
She was covered in fresh wounds, with blood still dripping from many of them, but she looked to be far more concerned with her question than any of those wounds. Perhaps the worst thing about them was that while Wei Yi was able to recognise the girl that seemed to be a young teenager at most, she was not able to recognise a single one of the girl’s wounds.
“What the f- no, what have you been doing to yourself?” she questioned.
“Ehehe… Would you believe me if I said that this was related to my otherworldly gift?” the girl asked, her giggling looking rather unsettling due to the blood that dripped from her forehead.
