— — — — — —
Top floor of the Keystone Gate. The living room—
Ryo sat on the sofa, staring quietly at the empty couch across from him.
After the negotiations ended and they got the answers they wanted, Aswad and Giada had left this floor. Over the next half month, they would wrap up the remnants of their respective Empires, gather anything of value, and prepare to take it all to Little Garden.
At the same time, Ryo would be setting up a passage to Little Garden here on Itogami Island, at the Keystone Gate in the Strike the Blood world.
"Another five thousand points gone," Ryo muttered. "And I still need to make an early trip back to Little Garden to make sure the 10th and 12th Familiars inherit the Sun Authority legacy. That's another two thousand. Then there's finishing up the Cleansing data…"
He did the math carefully and came to the depressing conclusion that his points were still nowhere near comfortable.
He currently had thirty thousand points. Subtract fifteen thousand for the Cleansing, and that was already cut in half. Take away another five thousand for building the portal, two thousand for the familiars, and he was left with just eight thousand points.
"Hopefully observing the Strike the Blood world will earn me a lot more points," he muttered, a little heartbroken.
He then began to wonder whether he should indirectly target some pantheons again.
Normally, in observed universes, any existence that reached the five-digit level was basically guaranteed to be summoned to Little Garden. In most worlds, even six-digit beings were pulled in.
Those left behind were usually seven-digit nobodies.
And seven-digit existences simply couldn't influence the course of a planetary civilization, which kept everything stable.
That was the restraint imposed by the gods on historical progression.
Of course, at present this restraint mainly benefited the great pantheons like Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
Buddhism used it as a foundation to give birth to terrifying organizations like the Twelve Devas.
Hinduism concentrated its power into Vishnu's ten avatars, producing several two-digit existences as a result.
As for Christianity, under the limitations of its cosmology, it distributed faith among saints, holy maidens, and angels, creating miracles in such vast numbers that its three-digit population dwarfed almost everyone else in Little Garden.
Back in the early days, before he even had a Seventh Sense, Ryo had learned in the Arcadia Library that a certain French village girl was also a three-digit existence in Little Garden.
That information alone had completely killed any idea he had of provoking the Type-Moon world anytime soon.
After all, if he really dragged FGO Jeanne into Little Garden, she'd probably be hunted down immediately by her three-digit counterpart descending from above.
If your life wasn't sturdy enough, it was better not to try things like that.
"Still, with the Blood Deva added as a sub-concept, Leticia's spirit rank will definitely rise."
"Vampires in this world are generally physically weak. Other than their magic reserves, none of them are impressive. But their biggest advantage is that they're not afraid of sunlight."
"When the World Dragon created vampires, they were meant to act as watchers of species, shadows that opposed the dragon race."
"That's why pure-blood vampires in Little Garden are born with divinity and shadow authority. Those are gifts from the dragon race, but also shackles. They can't withstand the sun's brilliance and can only survive beneath Little Garden's great curtain."
"But the Blood Deva, or rather the Strike the Blood vampires, are different. They dislike sunlight, but they aren't afraid of it. Bloodsucking has turned into a sexual impulse, and they have contracted familiars to supplement their combat power. That lets them sidestep a lot of the flaws of pure-blood vampires."
"There will be some minor distortions to the life system, but that's something time can fix."
"And if we can resume Leticia's suspended status, then turn the Zodiac Dragon Ophiuchus into her contracted familiar… she might just reach the level of a four-digit rule breaker (freak)."
As Ryo reached that thought, his expression gradually grew serious.
That was almost the absolute pinnacle of power in Little Garden.
By conservative estimates, Greece had around thirteen to fifteen four-digit rule breakers in the lower levels of Little Garden.
In Little Garden, a community with even a single four-digit rule breaker had already reached its limit.
Beyond that was a "Collective."
God Collectives, Dragon Collectives, Star Collectives. The peak form after a community's promotion, each with at least four-digit standing.
To form a Collective, you needed either two four-digit rule breakers, or two three-digit gods.
This was the foundation of the most basic pantheon structure: dualism.
Classic examples were Zoroastrianism with its good-and-evil dualism, or the Twin Goddess system of the Thousand Eyes.
Arcadia currently fit this model. With Ryo and Campione Athena, two four-digit rule breakers, it qualified as a small pantheon. That was equivalent to having two three-digit god-kings and enough to construct the most basic cosmology.
"If Leticia really advances to a four-digit rule breaker, then…"
Ryo thought for a moment, then sighed, "Forget it. Thinking about that now is still way too early."
After sighing, his intuition suddenly stirred. He looked toward the door.
Knock. Knock.
Someone was knocking.
Ryo frowned slightly and asked, a bit surprised, "What is it?"
A moment later, Yukina's voice came from outside. "Your Majesty, Princess La Folia requests an audience."
.
.
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