Using space teleportation to return to the city of E-Rantel, she was now able to use this ability proficiently. Along with her deification, all her abilities had undergone a certain degree of upgrade. The evolution of her Sword Saint State was particularly obvious, perhaps because she could now observe more information. In this state, even without leaving spatial coordinates in advance, she could teleport to any place she wanted at any time, because her current analytical ability was enough to encompass the entire planet.
She was no longer glowing now. The previous glowing was a natural phenomenon because her mana was still rising. However, as her power reached its peak and her state stabilized, she was able to restrain her divine mana aura, so people wouldn't be able to tell she was a god at a glance.
At this moment, Alice was making puppets. Those were works that Tsukasa had not finished back then. Originally, Tsukasa wanted to imitate the dolls from the anime "Rozen Maiden" and create her own Rozen Maidens to fulfill her past wish. But after creating Alice, she had to research too many things, causing this project to be temporarily shelved. Later, seeing that Alice seemed interested in making puppets, she tried to pass this skill on to her.
As it turned
out, Alice was indeed her greatest masterpiece; she actually managed to learn this skill. Tsukasa saw that Alice had already completed two works, Shinku and Suigintou, and was only one step away from activating them. However, looking at Alice, it seemed she intended to manufacture the other sisters of the Rozen Maidens before activating them. Of course, these weren't the real Rozen Maidens, just the same in appearance.
Besides, the life of a Rozen Maiden is a fragment of their father's soul. In a sense, the real Rozen Maidens might be even closer to humans than the Alice she created. However, her thinking was different from that dollmaker's. The other party wanted to create the concept of a "Perfect Girl," while she had created Alice from the start with the ultimate ideal of a dollmaker: to create a "Divine Puppet." The former wanted to resurrect a person; the latter wanted to create an existence that surpassed humans and was infinitely close to a god. However, she hadn't expected to become a god herself before Alice's awakening.
As a breeze blew into the room, Alice suddenly stopped her work, pulled back her chair, and stood up. Facing Tsukasa, who had already entered the room, she said, "Welcome back, Master. Do you need me to prepare hot water for a bath and make preparations for a meal?"
"No, I have something important to tell you. I believe you can already feel it through our mana connection; because of the Goddess Cult, I have awakened that power." When Tsukasa said this, she suddenly felt a bit embarrassed. "Ugh, my previous worries were unnecessary. This power didn't have any impact on my mind. In fact, it's hard to say if this is even a witch factor or not, because in the end, I didn't become a witch, but a god. But the result is fine, so it's okay."
"Congratulations, Master."
"...The thing I'm about to say next is the main point. Although it's just my speculation and an unfounded intuition, I might encounter some accident soon, and it's very likely I'll be separated from you because of it. So, I want to give this ability to you first."
Alice couldn't help but look up, and then she felt some new things added to her core. At the same time, she gained a new skill, one called [Travel to Another World]. She remembered this skill was the Space Magic her master had been researching. As for the fact that her master was not from this world but was a Transmigrator, she had known from the beginning, because her master had not hidden this from her, the puppet.
"As I thought, it works. When you learned Puppet Alchemy, I felt it should be like this. It seems I'm not bad; I created a perfect masterpiece like you on my first try, and even reached the highest realm of a dollmaker, being able to bestow one's own skills upon a puppet. Besides this skill, I have also fused a portion of my divinity into your core. You now fully possess the conditions to become a Divine Puppet, but as for the specifics of how to do it, because I'm also just a half-expert, I don't know the exact method."
Tsukasa felt somewhat helpless because her skills were learned through the system from her previous world, and she had never received professional courses. Although the power of the Sword Saint State was strong, as for what exactly a Divine Puppet was—a thing that only existed as a term without even a known concept—she couldn't create something out of nothing.
And she hadn't heard any rumors about dollmakers in this world, so it probably wouldn't give her any inspiration.
"Master."
"Hmm?"
Tsukasa saw that Alice's expression was particularly serious.
An Alice with this kind of expression was truly rare.
"Regarding what Master just said about encountering an accident, can you tell me about it in detail?"
How rare.
Alice actually wanted to take the initiative to interfere in her master's affairs. For a puppet who only acted by obeying her master's orders, was it because Alice was different from ordinary puppets from the very start?
"There's nothing I can't say. It's just a feeling, as if some unavoidable calamity is about to descend upon me. To be honest, I'm not sure what kind of danger could even cause harm to my current self, but..."
That feeling was very clear.
How to put it?
Could it be that becoming a god is like cultivating to become an immortal, where there's a concept of 'undergoing a tribulation'? But that's not right; if there really were a tribulation, it should have descended before she became a god, not after she had already become one.
"Can I act together with you from now on, Master?" Although the change in Alice's expression was faint, her concern for her master was very obvious.
Tsukasa laughed as if she were carefree. Although she was panicking inside, she was unwilling to show such emotions in front of Alice. She said, "Don't worry too much. You don't know how strong I am right now. Maybe this is just me being paranoid again. After all, you know my personality is like this; I always overthink things. It's an old habit of mine."
No, only this time she could say for certain that this was not her suspicion acting up, but that a great disaster was truly coming. Because now, she was more confident than at any other time. Since she had reached a state of being truly invincible in this world, she wouldn't have such paranoid thoughts. Yet, the ominous premonition kept urging her to settle her affairs, which was why she had let the Platinum Dragon Lord go and returned to find Alice.
"Alice."
"Master, please give your orders."
""
Go prepare some food for me."
Alice obediently went down to help her master prepare food. At this time, after watching Alice leave the room, Tsukasa's eyes became incomparably solemn. She looked at the spatial cracks shattering around her body and finally understood where her premonition came from. So that's how it was; she could no longer stay in this world.
The reason wasn't clear, but it certainly wasn't because her power was too strong. The space around her was collapsing, and the aura coming from the cracks was familiar to her—it was the space-time tunnel she had traveled through before. But what made her feel a bit panicked was that the last time she traveled, there was a mysterious power protecting her, but this time that mysterious power did not appear. In other words, she might have to pass through the space-time tunnel using her own power.
To be honest, simply traveling between worlds was not difficult for her now. After all, although the space-time tunnel is of a void nature, as long as one doesn't stay for too long, even ordinary people can survive.
This was also why she dared to give the skill to Alice. As long as she traveled to a nearby world, there shouldn't be any danger.
But this tunnel was not actively summoned by her. In other words, which world it led to was unknown, and how much time she would need to spend inside was also unclear. Even a god might fall if they stayed in the void for too long, let alone her being just a new god. This thing was indeed very dangerous for her.
"So that's how it is. The ominous premonition actually came from me; no wonder I couldn't escape it."
Tsukasa watched helplessly as the surrounding space shattered, and then, just like last time, she was passively pulled into the chaotic flow of time and space. Although she could remain conscious while standing within this turbulence this time, the road ahead remained uncertain.
End of Volume Remarks, thank you.
The Departure Arc and the Godhood Arc are finally finished.
This book was originally set to be an 'invincible' type story, but because my writing skills are limited and I felt I couldn't write a true invincible flow, I unnecessarily added a lot of settings. As a result, the effect wasn't very good.
Also, regarding the protagonist's character design being criticized, to be honest, it was a bit unexpected. I didn't realize the requirements for starting character designs were so high now. In my view, while Tsukasa's personality has major flaws, she isn't actually trash. In the early settings, even when Tsukasa's grades at school regressed, she was still in the upper-middle range. Based on my understanding of the environment in Japan, the learning environment there is relatively relaxed. Unlike the teaching here, if you want to study well there, extracurricular tutoring is essential. Perhaps the choice of middle school as the starting point wasn't great.
But Little Tsukasa isn't trash, and I've never said she was. That was just her self-mockery. You should know that in high school, her grades were usually in the top hundred of her grade; with a little effort, she could even reach the top fifty. Moreover, she worked multiple part-time jobs simultaneously. She is a superhuman whom ordinary people can't hope to catch up with.
As for the personality issues... maybe I didn't lay the groundwork well enough. After all, this is an isekai transmigration story, not a slice-of-life. If I were to write about Little Tsukasa's daily life before the transmigration, it might take over a hundred chapters to finish. Furthermore, the bullying she faced from those girls in middle school was actually driven more by Jealousy and admiration. However, that's my setting; if I have free time, I might write a slice-of-life side story for her.
Overall, it's my fault, but I didn't plan on explaining. From the start, I didn't expect this book to achieve great results. My long-time readers know that I mostly write for self-satisfaction and entirely based on personal interest. I've never cared if the results got worse with each book.
As long as I can sign a contract, I'll basically keep writing. Don't bring up my previous book here; the biggest mistake I made then was trying to debate with people who flamed me, which caused my mental state to collapse. Later, I gave up on myself and wrote for a while but couldn't hold on, so I dropped it.
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I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"