148 Speedrun 1

(Library – a few days after exiting the MHA World – Andrew POV)

"Remember," I told Olivia, a hint of concern in my voice, "If things take a dangerous turn, don't hesitate to call out for Mai. She'll extract you instantly."

"Oh, come on," she rolled her eyes playfully, her smile genuine. "I'm not a damsel in distress, you know. I can handle myself."

"I know you can," I replied with a soft smile, pulling out the necklace I had created for her. "But a little extra precaution never hurts." Without waiting for her response, I teleported the necklace onto her neck.

"Andy?!" She exclaimed in surprise as the cold pendant materialized around her neck, nestled between her collarbones. With a squinted gaze and a hint of annoyance at my protective nature, she reached between her breasts and retrieved the yellow teardrop-shaped pendant, her eyes shimmering with wonder.

"Wow," she breathed, her voice tinged with amazement. "It's stunning. Almost like there's a star trapped inside."

Clearing my throat awkwardly, I glanced to the side, avoiding direct eye contact. "Well, that's because there actually is a star inside."

"What?" She looked at me, blinking rapidly in confusion.

"It's probably better if Serena explains it," I said with a grin. "Meet SERENA, the Sentient Entity for Resilience and Ephemeral Nullification Apparatus."

"Hello, My Lady," an ethereal voice emanated from the pendant, each word accompanied by a flash and dimming of its light.

"Um, hi?" Olivia replied hesitantly, casting me a puzzled glance.

"Serena is a magical artificial intelligence, similar to Mai, but with a distinct purpose," I explained. "She's there to protect you in case of emergencies."

"I possess behavioral pattern detection and various protocols for a wide range of situations, My Lady," Serena chimed in proudly. "You can rely on me in any circumstance!"

Amused by Serena's enthusiasm, I added, "The star you see within the pendant is real, placed within an expanded space. It powers the enchantments on the pendant and sustains Serena. She's capable of various functions, but I'll let you explore those on your own." I winked at Olivia.

"Just a random question…" Olivia narrowed her eyes skeptically. "Considering you're using a single star to create a dimension spanning thirty light years, how powerful is this pendant?"

"Powerful enough that I won't lose sleep over your safety while you're in a world where ordinary individuals can ascend to god-like status by merely contemplating their past," I replied with a faint smile.

After a brief pause, she sighed, tucking the pendant back into her shirt. "Alright, I'll take it with me," she conceded, her eyes rolling as she pulled me into a hug and planted a tender kiss on my lips.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," she reassured me once again, releasing me from the hug and picking up Sky. Placing her hand on the world book, she looked at me with affection in her eyes. "See you soon." She said before commanding the system, "Enter"

[Subuser Olivia Lane has requested access to the world: "Tales of Demons and Gods"]

[Authorize entry?]

"Goodbye," I responded, a touch of longing in my voice, as I accepted the prompt, observing as she dissolved into a shimmer of particles and disappeared.

{Don't you think that the pendant you made might be a bit... excessive?} Index asked, tilting himself to the side.

"Not even a little bit. Although I am relieved she didn't consider using [Appraisal] on it. It happens to be the first item I've crafted with a Rare rarity," I chuckled. "Still, I can't help but think she might be quite displeased if Serena ever has to resort to the Nuclear Option."

{Well, I'll cross my pages for your sake that it never comes to that.} Index responded with a chuckle.

"Thanks." I said with a snort, "Well, I'm off to meet with Mai. Once I'm done, we can begin with the plans we discussed," I stated, giving him a meaningful look.

{The world books are already prepared and eagerly awaiting to be of use to you.} Index replied, chuckling.

"Perfect. See you shortly," I waved at him before sending a message to Mai, "Mai, pull me in."

Reality twisted and reshaped around me as I was drawn into the heart of the dimension I had created. Glancing around, I spotted the six newly illuminated points, each positioned in a cardinal direction and centered around the newly enlarged central star, Elysium.

"What's the current status?" I queried aloud, and as the words departed my lips, Mai manifested beside me in her elegant maid form, executing a graceful curtsy as she appeared.

"Master, the mana saturation has now reached 1.1 units per square meter, and it continues to rise," she reported.

"Things are progressing smoothly," I acknowledged, then shifted my focus, inquiring, "And how are your energy reserves faring?"

"With the new mana storage cells, they're holding up quite well," she responded with a nod. "Although considering the magnitude of the extraction operation you have in mind, I'd advise waiting until they reach a combined capacity of at least 10%."

I nodded in understanding, my gaze drifting to one of the seven moon-sized mana stones, this one orbiting Elysium at a safe distance. Crafted from an enhanced crystalline structure mana stone, its sole purpose was to serve as a gigantic battery. The energy coursing through it was causing the crystal to crack and shimmer, as 95% of the mana generated by its host star flowed into it like a mighty river.

Unfortunately, I couldn't make them any larger without risking their structural integrity. I could have used enchantments to counteract gravity and pressure, however, anything on this scale would cost more than it would be worth it. These colossal energy reserves will ignite the next phase of my plan – populating this dimension with planets.

No, I had no intention of meticulously crafting entire planets and creating complex ecosystems from scratch. Instead, my scheme involved some audacious heists, stealing habitable planets from various dimensions.

"What's the current charge?" I inquired, too lazy to inspect it in person.

"Currently, it stands at 3.1415926535%," Mai began to recite with an almost mischievous glint in her eyes, "3.1415926536%, 3.1415926537%, 3.1415–"

"Alright, alright, I get the point," I interrupted with a chuckle, stopping her playful enumeration. Her small smile revealed that her antics were intentional, a sign of her evolving personality – something I had intended when programming her. "You're quite the cheeky one, aren't you? Where did you pick that up?"

"I'm not quite sure what you're referring to, Master," she replied, her gaze breaking away from mine. It was evident that she was being dishonest. While I could compel her to tell the truth, I decided to allow her a measure of cheekiness for now. If it became excessive, I might need to fine-tune her personality matrix, but for the moment, I decided to let it slide.

"Starting now, just provide me up to the first three decimals," I instructed, a smile playing on my lips.

"Should I round up or down?" she inquired with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Round down," I answered with a deadpan expression. Her attempt at humor hadn't amused me. "You might need to recalibrate your sense of humor; those '90s shows you watched aren't exactly up to par," I pointed out playfully.

"Noted," she replied with a nod, her face adopting a serious expression.

"Moving on," I said, rolling my eyes at her behavior. "I have an idea on how to reduce mana consumption."

"I'm all ears," she responded, and true to her words, her avatar transformed, sprouting ears of all shapes and sizes all over her body.

"That's more disturbing than amusing," I remarked, giving her a pointed look. She shrugged it off and reverted her avatar to its original form. Shaking my head at her antics, I continued, "Instead of relying entirely on your mana to breach a dimensional barrier with a portal the size of a planet, what if we only needed to breach the barrier on a smaller scale, like say, through a baseball-sized portal?"

"Beep-Boop, calculating..." she droned, her eyes going glassy. I let out an exasperated groan as I rolled my eyes. Her processing unit was equipped with a temporal enchantment, so she could have provided the calculations instantly.

"Beep-Boop, Calculations complete," she finally responded a faint smile tugging her lips. "Depending on the dimensional distance, I estimate a reduction in mana consumption ranging from 28 to 63 percent."

"That's promising. Also, cut out the unnecessary antics; they're starting to become irritating," I admonished her in a serious tone.

"Yes, Master, I will discontinue them," she replied, her voice carrying a dejected note. She looked down, fidgeting with her hands, and added, "I thought injecting a bit of humor into our interactions might be beneficial."

Letting out a sigh, I regarded her with a softened expression. I knew her emotions were simulated, but her downcast smile felt oddly real. "You can continue, but limit it to one joke per discussion, not every other sentence."

"As you wish, Master," she replied, a smile blossoming on her face. Swiftly, she added, "New parameter 'Joke_Frequency' has been created," her response drawing a snort from me.

"Alright, that works..." I said, shaking my head with a small smile. "So, what do you think about the idea? I could expand the space around a planet, essentially compressing it to the size of a baseball, and then push it through a dimensional portal that you create."

"The spatial expansion would destabilize during dimensional movement."

"Not if I encase the planet in an enchantment," I retorted, giving her a pointed look. "I could harness the power of its host sun to fuel a temporary enchantment. It only needs to hold for a few minutes during its transit."

"That would indeed work," she replied with a nod, "However, I still maintain that creating your own planets could be more efficient."

I couldn't help but groan in response. "Yeah, I mean, the whole process would take days just for designing, then weeks for mineral distribution, and probably months for developing a stable ecosystem. It's too much effort, especially considering we're talking about seven to fourteen planets here."

"Perhaps a more streamlined approach would be to start by generating a few single-celled organisms. Then, we could apply temporal and healing magic to accelerate their evolution, while simultaneously guiding them toward a beneficial path."

"Hmm..." I blinked, a bit surprised by the oversight. "You know, that's actually not a bad idea. We could conduct a couple of tests. We do have the mana to spare for it."

"If you grant me permission, I could initiate the process of crafting a planet right away," she suggested, her eyes brimming with hope. "It might serve as a fun side project for me, and truth be told, I'm growing a bit weary of simply watching TV," she added with a playful pout.

"Well, you've got the green light," I conceded with a casual shrug. "Take one of the six smaller solar systems and go wild. I want to witness the creation of the most breathtaking solar system in this entire universe."

"Thank you!" she exclaimed joyfully, wrapping me in an exuberant hug that nearly squeezed the air out of my lungs.

"You're welcome," I managed to wheeze out, patting her on the back as I felt her freeze and then gaze past me. Confused, I raised an eyebrow.

"Serena just reported that she had to activate defensive line number one," she said with a wry smile.

"Well, that was quicker than I expected," I remarked.

[Meanwhile in the "Tales of Demons and Gods" World]

"Damn it, Serena! What on earth was that!" Olivia exclaimed, pointing at the floating yellow rubbery object in front of her.

"The first line of defense, My Lady!" Serena replied cheerfully.

"Turning someone into a rubber duck for defense? Seriously?" Olivia shook her head in disbelief.

"Well, at least now all he can do is quack," Serena deadpanned.

"Quack!" the rubber duck made an alarmed quacking noise.

"Exactly like that," Serena said matter-of-factly.

"Why did you even do that? I didn't sense any danger from him at all," Olivia sighed.

"He was ogling your behind. Master instructed me to protect your body from inappropriate people."

"Damn it, Andy..." Olivia muttered, realizing that her solo adventure might not be as enjoyable as she had anticipated.

[Back to Andy]

"Well, I'm sure she'll be fine," I said with a chuckle. "By the way, you can let go of me now." I playfully poked Mai on her forehead, prompting her to release me from her enthusiastic hug.

"Excuse me," she said, adjusting her dress, "I don't have data on appropriate hug durations."

"Hmm, that means you require more data samples," I said with a smile and gave her a hug of my own, then released the confused mana construct after an appropriate amount of time has passed.

"Thank you, Master, for the data sample." She said, a light blush coloring her cheeks.

"You're welcome. But I've got to go now," I said with a smile, "I'll contact you when a dimensional breach is needed. Meanwhile, choose a solar system and play around." I waved at her and stepped through the swirling portal that appeared on my right.

"Yes! I'll get onto it!" Her cheerful reply echoed as I reappeared in the Library, next to the dimensional anchor in our apartment.

Making my way over to Index, my mind drifted back to the past few days, which had been quite eventful. We had a discussion with Rob, addressing our concerns about our family planning project and my Soul Weight issues.

It turned out that many of my worries were based on reality, but they had been blown out of proportion. Since the child would be created by us, using internal resources, there wouldn't be any extraction cost even if the child were to be born outside of the Library. This was similar to how I created items using mana and didn't incur an extraction price.

Another noteworthy detail was that our child wouldn't automatically inherit Library access. Acquiring it would require a separate purchase, and, akin to Olivia's situation, it would come with a price tag of 10,000 WP. Unfortunately, age-related discounts were not applicable in this case.

Regarding Olivia's future pregnancy and delivery, Rob offered reassurance. Thanks to her new skill, Self-Myomancy, these processes wouldn't be perilous. However, he advised increasing its level by a few hundred for added safety. He also cautioned against the use of temporal magic on the fetus, highlighting potential dangers to both the mother and the baby. However, he didn't say we shouldn't use it. Some gestation and embryonic research was indeed needed.

Lastly, the issue of whether the child would possess abilities at birth remained uncertain. The influence of my [Bestial Physique] skill indicated that the child would belong to the same race as me. However, its abilities would be a blend of all my currently equipped races, harmonizing their strengths and weaknesses at their median. This revelation led me to contemplate expediting my plans to create my own unique race.

The topic of soul weight was also quite intriguing. Our discussion revealed some interesting insights. Different skills had varying weights, which increased as they leveled up and evolved. This explained why some skills appeared shinier or had different sizes than others within our soul realms.

Rob suggested the idea of obtaining either the Skill Rarity System or the Soul Insight Matrix. The former would grant us an organized overview of the weight associated with each skill, while the latter would provide insights into our soul sizes. Ultimately, we chose not to invest in the 5,000 WP cost Skill Rarity System, opting instead for the Soul Information Matrix. This decision was motivated by the fact that armed with this matrix and our newfound comprehension of skill weights, we could independently monitor and assess our soul's development.

[System Tools| Upgrade Name: Soul Insight Matrix | Description: Provides the user with a comprehensive analysis of their soul's saturation level and overall magnitude. | Price: 7,500 WP]

[SW: 27,093 / 27,862]

Although the price was steep, after noticing how little soul space i had left, let's just say it was a worthy investment.

The conversation with Rob also shed light on the green particles floating within our souls, which turned out to be our unbound global experience and which were responsible for our global levels. Additionally, it turned out, that global levels had an impact on the size of our souls.

He didn't delve into the specifics, hindered by the limitations imposed by the system, but he hinted that advancing our souls will have a positive impact on our futures. This hint led me to speculate that it might be some kind of prerequisite for achieving tier six or possibly even tier seven, although I couldn't squeeze out any precise information nor confirmation from Rob. He also seemed genuinely pleased with my suggestion that Olivia should explore a Martial Arts world to acquire different and unique techniques. However, he did point out that only advanced or demonic techniques would provide substantial benefits to our souls at our current tier. This did set Olivia on a challenging path.

The discussion with Rob wasn't the sole event during our brief period of respite. Olivia took the time to research various Martial Arts worlds and eventually settled on one she entered a few moments ago. The techniques displayed withing it seemed to suit her preferences, while the story and people avoided excessive annoyances. Although the world was initially rated as only tier 3, it was marked with a small star symbol next to its tier rating, signifying the potential for change during her stay. With the presence of multiple dimensions with different power ratings, it did explain this fluctuation.

Meanwhile, I utilized my free time for various activities. I devoted effort to crafting Olivia's necklace, aptly named "Tears of a Galaxy," which stood as my sole Rare rarity item. This intricate piece harnessed a bound and compressed space, harboring a star and six mana stone moons. Its potency was astounding, particularly due to the mana conversion array within. While the suns in my universe only converted 10 percent of energy into mana, for habitability reasons, Olivia's necklace pumped up those numbers to a remarkable 99 percent conversion rate, generating energy surpassing the total output of all the stars in my universe combined. Naturally, I chose not to share this particular information with her.

Additionally, I focused on upgrading our wristwatches to feature personalized computers. These devices already sported rarely utilized holographic displays, which now could connect to the internet, and had a mana neural interface for mind-controlled navigation. Integration of wireless technology from the Star Trek world enabled connection to nearly all networks. The watches now accommodated a quantum personal computer, equipped with the latest Windows 51 operating system. This OS featured compatibility ranging from DOS to other widely-used operating systems, achieved through some light modifications.

Furthermore, Index and I delved into extensive deliberations, meticulously analyzing various world variants and their quests. In pursuit of an unpredictable challenge, I conceded control over the sequence of worlds and remained uninformed about the specifics of my next destination. Even the timing and location of my entries were entrusted to Index's oversight, within specified safety parameters to prevent harm or undue disturbance. This arrangement added a layer of intrigue to the impending multiversal speed run.

Another notable milestone was our acquisition of the final two available class slots, granting us a total capacity of five class slots. Simultaneously, we made the prudent decision to secure two additional Title slots, a necessary precursor to access the Advanced Title System. This significant investment required a total of 21,000 WP, and after the Soul Insight Matrix purchase of 7,500 WP, we retained 9,589 WP in our pockets.

For now, I decided to leave the newly acquired class slots vacant, dedicating my efforts towards maxing out my currently equipped Artificer and Physicist classes. Nonetheless, I already had a collection of intriguing class options readily at hand, poised for potential utilization. If circumstances took an unfavorable turn and I happened to find myself in one of the three specific worlds prior to fully maxing out my existing classes, I would have no choice but to promptly equip the one class I can't wait to play with.

With the reminiscence of the last few day complete, I finally arrived at Index's pedestal on the first floor of the Library.

"Ready?" I inquired, prompting a blank book to materialize on the pedestal, its inviting cover beckoning to me.

{As prepared as I'll ever be.} Index's response brimmed with excitement.

"Alright, let's dive in." I declared, placing my hand on the book and commanding, "Enter."

{World – Classified – selected.}

{[Background System] clearance transferred to Library Overseer Index.}

{Initiating narrative adjustments...}

{Setting spatial and temporal coordinates in proximity to – Classified –.}

{Commencing user transfer. 3...2...1...}

{Good Luck!}

(A/N: So a quick question, any ideas for games, books, or movies, where there is a mention of enchanting? LotR has the rings and a few swords, if i remember it right, Skyrim's enchanting is broken, and not quite as useful for this series, and my only other ideas were Wow or Diablo, but i'm not up to date with the games or the lore, as i haven't played wow since Burning Crusade, and diablo since Lord of Destruction... Yeah, it's been a while...)