Maybe we took it too easy. Perhaps because our main goal here was to study the gods, we never really focused on deeply developing the campaign.
Surely, important things happened, but Elise and I ended up ignoring them. To be honest, I never really understood the central purpose of this campaign. I only knew it was based on the legend of Merlin and King Arthur.
Beyond meeting Morgana and temporarily settling in her home, we didn't explore that story much. I thought the greatest reward we obtained here was what she gave us, so I didn't feel like we missed out on much.
Our time here was, in a way, relaxed. Elise and I focused our attention on developing the new world. We patiently waited for her divinity to stabilize before attempting the next step.
...
—In a black void, where nothing existed except a floating sphere of earth—
"Ready?" I asked, my finger just a centimeter from the floating screen.
"Just do it," Elise replied, impatient.
With her approval, I pressed the button to expand the territory. A sum of money vanished from my [wallet].
At that exact moment, the sphere doubled in physical size. I felt Elise's essence, which completely enveloped the planet, suddenly stretch, cracking like torn spiderwebs. But what truly made me realize the change was...
"AAAAAAHHHHhhh...!!!" Elise moaned, in a tone that wavered between pain and something harder to define. "It's... so... big..."
I turned and saw she had completely lost her composure, as if her bones had turned to jelly. Shaking, sweaty, and trembling, her body writhed uncontrollably in the void.
"I feel so full... like I'm splitting in two... it was so sudden... it's too much..." she continued, through confused gasps.
I didn't know how to respond. I fully understood what was happening, I knew she wasn't doing it on purpose... but the scene was full of potential misunderstandings.
I approached and gently held her, guiding her so she could regain control. I offered moral support while she repaired the damage done to her divinity and prepared to continue.
Weeks passed—maybe even a couple of months—before Elise stopped trembling completely and managed to restore her essence. It was exhausting... and, at times, quite boring. But everything returned to normal.
Well, almost everything.
There was an awkward moment when Elise mentioned all of this without any context, right in front of Morgana, who looked at me with a mix of confusion and doubt. Her expression seemed to say: "I'm pretty sure it wasn't that impressive last time," or "What kind of weird spells are you two practicing?"
After a long time, once the damage was repaired, we prepared to try expanding the world again. Elise was nervous, but with some comfort and affection, she calmed down. Even so, I saw her trembling.
I pressed the button again, and the planet grew by 50%. The stretch caused new cracks in her divinity, though not as severe as the first time.
Elise let out a stifled moan, biting her lip. She remained upright, but her body trembled, and the sweat on her forehead made it clear it wasn't easy to endure.
Once again, I was her support. This time, with more experience, Elise managed to repair the damage in a month, and stabilization took just a few more days.
Thus, we reached the third expansion. The planet grew by a third, and the damage was even less. Then the fourth, a quarter. The fifth, a fifth... until we reached the tenth expansion. In each one, the impact on Elise was noticeable, but increasingly tolerable. Over time, she adapted, and her divinity fused more deeply with the planet.
When the sphere reached a circumference of ten meters, the process became much easier. We'd take a few days, or a week, between each new one-meter expansion. The pace was steady, efficiency improved, and soon each expansion only required a single day of rest.
Watching that small planet grow week by week turned out to be surprisingly satisfying. Once we reached 100 meters in circumference, we stopped observing from the outside and started walking on its surface.
At first, the experience was uncomfortable for Elise, but she adapted with surprising speed. Perhaps thanks to her connection with the world, I even saw her enjoying a "trip around the world" at full gallop. Fortunately, this new orb didn't yet follow real gravity or physics beyond what was defined by the [fief]; otherwise, ridiculous phenomena would've occurred—at that size, real gravity would be practically zero.
Still, Elise's idea of "baptizing" the world by having sex on its surface was... at the very least, curious.
...
Our time in this world kept stretching on without us even noticing. Perhaps that's what long-lived beings feel: eternity sliding by softly, almost invisibly. Years had passed since our arrival—though if we counted the double-time in the [Feud], it had been even longer. The people of Avalon we had met at the beginning were no longer the same: some had grown up, others had aged, many had died. The only ones who seemed unchanging, eternal, were Morgana, Elise, and me.
While you're living in the present, you don't think much of it. But when you become aware of how much time has passed, the shock can be brutal—especially for those just beginning to brush against these existential latitudes. Even I, who had lived through many campaigns, felt the impact. It wasn't that I cared about strangers—after all, even in a short life, everything changes—but I couldn't help thinking about those I did care for.
The campaigns had made me feel that, no matter what happened, I could always replay that moment, live it again... but what about the real world? The main campaign?
I wasn't sure if I would get a second chance to relive that "main campaign." What if there was only one? What if this free, immortal life I'd built made me lose what I truly loved? The idea of losing something felt unbearable—hated, even—with an intensity I couldn't fully understand myself.
Of course, if someone important to me died, I would do everything in my power to bring them back. I had no qualms about the cost. I knew that very well after thoroughly studying the necromancy section in Morgana's personal library and adding it to my knowledge of undeath.
Even so, I didn't want to give fate even the slightest chance to take someone from me. I would make sure to protect those I love. I had seen that the [Feud] offered ways to ensure the safety of loved ones, even if the price was high.
As for aging... I had already developed a countermeasure: my rejuvenation ability. With it, I could make anyone immortal. And if the mind ever became saturated, a well-modified Obliviatem would serve to restore it, allowing someone to live as long as I wanted them to. But then I realized the true problem this campaign posed:
'What if I don't notice time passing?'
If, like here, I lose track of time and fail to act in time to restore someone's youth... that would be a regret I don't want to carry.
So, besides my ability, I needed to find more stable and permanent methods to grant longevity to those I care about. Maybe the next campaign I need to visit is the one about the Philosopher's Stone...
...
At some point, we reached the limit of Elise's divinity growth. In side campaigns, unlike the real world, there are restrictions: the Feud only allows upgrades up to a certain threshold. In contrast, in the real world, growth is potentially infinite.
The circumference of the planet we had created expanded until it reached a thousand meters. It couldn't go beyond that until we returned to the real world, but there were still many other things we could do.
Creating a single planet wasn't enough. Our goal was to complement this world, give it structure and meaning. Every stable element we added became a new law Elise could master and make her own.
The first thing I did was go to the [Market] and purchase from the merchant every possible book on astronomy, geology, biology, meteorology… basically, every scientific field that could help us understand and build our world on solid foundations. Of course, with the power of the Feud, we could have invented completely new and absurd existential laws if we wanted to, but we preferred to work from a real base.
We studied (mostly me), and then resumed the development of the new world.
I taught Elise about limits. Even though what lies beyond the planet looks like a pitch-black void, there's actually a finite boundary. An invisible barrier that encloses everything in all directions. The interesting part is that this boundary constantly retracts as the world grows, as if it were adapting to its internal development. If all went well, we could even make this expansion constant and infinite.
In the end, we decided the next step would be to give this world a day-night cycle. That meant creating a sun and, while we were at it, a moon. Although the Feud offered them for a price, we preferred Elise to create them herself.
To achieve that, we left the Feud space and spent several days outside, under the sky, watching the bright sun during the day and adoring the moon and stars at night. It might seem like a waste of time—and in part, it was—but it was also a well-deserved break, and a way for Elise to strengthen her perception of these celestial bodies. I also gave her science lessons to broaden her understanding and stimulate her imagination.
We kept working for a long time, while the outside world continued on without affecting us—or without us noticing.
I guided Elise to create a small flame, combining her magic with her limited divine power. It was a long process to get her to maintain the flame without constantly feeding it. There were several failed attempts, lots of trial and error, but we eventually succeeded.
Once we had a lasting flame—though not eternal—it was time to shape it. That part was simpler, but not necessarily easier. In the end, a small sphere of fire, with a soft golden glow, floated in space with no defined orbit. Only when Elise used her magic did it seem to stabilize in one place or move with a coherent pattern. For now, it would suffice—at least until it developed properly.
That flame was part of her divinity, so she had some control over it. In the future, once her power matures, she'll be able to give it the true essence of a sun.
With this new sun attempt, I decided to remove the automatic lighting provided by the Feud. That's when we realized how dependent we were on that artificial light—everything became much darker. Only then did we notice how weak the light from our creation was… a poor excuse for a sun.
There was still much to do, but we could take our time. Not just because we had it, but because, out there, the world kept moving. Major events—like the movements of a wizard and a king—could no longer be ignored, especially when they involved our host directly...
Considering that we're now in the home of one of the story's main antagonists, it's no surprise that trouble finds us—even when we're not looking for it.