Chapter 157 Mechanics

I watched as the hatch opened, two girls climbed into the cabin. One with golden hair and an angelic look, the other had snow like hair and a dragon's tail to match. Once they had finally reached the cabin from where they had climbed in I gestured for them to take a seat as I turned my head over to Aoif.

"Aoif?" I asked, questioning why she had had them come here.

"I had Delta call for them as soon as I felt their presence in the research hall, it was obvious what they wanted anyway." Aoif shrugged and finished with her explanation snuggled her head further into the crook of my neck.

"Ok" I sighed out. My attention had already gone from the warmth that Aoif radiated towards the system where I navigated the menu so as to let the two stay. They were Aoif's subordinates, it would be cruel to boot them to a different realm when she went through so much trouble to recruit them.

With a final nudge of my will and a click of a button the system had recognized them as having my permission to stay.

"There," I looked up to them as my eyes stared into theirs, "You can stay in the realm, is there anything else?"

"No," Gabriel said as she shook her head and with that they left, off to do whatever it was that they occupied their time with.

Though now that I was free of distractions I could finally take a look at what it meant to own a realm.

I had been ignoring it since I had wanted to talk to Aoif but it seemed like she didn't want to say anything until later so there was nothing I could do.

With another mental nudge the previous notifications were opened, several filling my vision as Aoif looked on curiously.

[Congratulations on taking ownership of your first realm.]

[With your ownership comes privileges, would you like to browse them?]

'Yes' I commanded, more messages popping up in my vision.

[You have selected yes… please wait as a comprehensive list is generated]

I readied myself to wait but it took no more than 10 seconds before the next notification appeared, it surprised me. When I thought of a wait, I thought it would take hours or even days but I guess the system is beyond human understanding.

[Thank you for your patience]

[As owner of the Darwanism realm you may blacklist certain entities and species from entering your realm, upgrade said realm, and expand your territory so as to completely envelop the realm. Note that certain items and powers may be able to force their way through the protections of the realm. To prevent this the upgrading of the realm is perimount.]

[To upgrade your realm you must invade and conquer the adjacent twenty realms]

[Realm: Darwanism]

[Grade: Lowest(conquer twenty lowest grade realms to upgrade the realm to low grade)]

…

With that final notification the messages stopped, Aoif next to me was sharing my vision which allowed her to see what I saw. This meant that she had seen the notifications just as I had.

A chuckle escaped my lips at the information that I had been blasted with.

"It seems we're just starting, I thought we were doing good but we haven't even begun" I laughed out, the sheer scale of what I would need to do to reach the peak hitting me. Next to me Aoif looked at me with concern in her eyes.

"I'm fine… I'm fine" I placate Aoif, though her worrying eyes never stopped looking at me. "I just- it's just I thought we were further along…" I rose, my feet carrying me towards the exit. "But now we can truly begin"

…

'System, how do I conquer another realm?' I asked, hoping that the system would be nice, at least for today and hand out some free answers.

[With sufficient power and/or technology you may traverse realms. The owner of a realm may also travel to other realms with two companions]

'So I can either have Delta or Tama find a way to other realms or I could bring them there to conquer the realms themselves.' I thought to myself, my gaze wandering everywhere around the room from the ceiling over to where Aoif was sleeping next to me.

"Darwin?" My thoughts and wandering gaze were interrupted by Tama who had knocked on the door and entered.

"Yes?" I asked, my eyes staring straight into her golden orbs.

"This may be presumptions but may I sleep with you" it was nothing more than a whisper but it seemed all but a shout. The embarrassed look on her face, the slight quivering of her lip, and the flush, it all seemed to scream how nervous Tama was.

"Of course" I smiled, doing my best to alleviate the anxiety that she was feeling.

A sigh of relief was heard from her as she stepped into the room, blue pajamas on her.

She walked closer, her tails wagged slightly behind her as she climbed into bed. Tama's hands reached to my neck as she got under the covers and snuggled into me.

"Ah… I-" she began, "I never told you this but my actual name is Tamamo no Mai, as my lord I thought it best not to give my actual name but… but now that you have my trust…

I think that I can give it to you."

There must have been some meaning behind her name and not just that it was a famous one. I furrowed my eyebrows trying to think of a reason but nothing came to me.

"Why…?" I asked confused.

"It is because names are important for us Kitsune… and I wanted to give you my true name, not the one I inherited."

"Inherited?"

"Yes, Tama was the name I inherited, the one my parents had given to me but my true name… the one that would always stick to me was Tamamo no Mai, a name with weight. If the others of my clan knew of it I would be raised in a pedestal, I would never have the opportunity to live, to experience new things as I would be expected to protect the tribe. But most importantly I would have never met you" I looked back and saw the most brilliant smile that I had ever seen, it was almost radiant in how pure it was. Though there was still one question on my mind.

"Why tell me this, why now?"