Chương 271: Space-time orbs

When the sun rose the next morning Alex was arriving at the training center where Hajime and Seekvaira were waiting with proud smiles, and dark bags under their eyes. Behind them was a new door where the duo had worked on the project Alex asked them to, and nearby was the equally tired Sairaorg and Kaori who looked as if they were about to collapse at any moment. As he approached them both Hajime and Seekvaira narrowed their eyes slightly, but we're still smiling like madmen as Hajime said,

"I was somewhat skeptical at first, but I can't believe we actually finished it." Seekvaira nodded in agreement before adding,

"I never would have finished it without Hajime, and even though I've used it several times so far I still can't believe it works." Alex smiled at how the two were acting and said,

"The two of you seem to really get along well, you'll probably be working together quite a bit in the future as well since you both love mechas so much." Both their eyes started shining a little despite how tired they were, while Sairaorg and Kaori also seemed to come to some kind of agreement with each other. The group then silently waited for everyone else to show up, which only took a few minutes before almost all of those who were at the meeting the night before had arrived. After getting everyone's attention, Alex declared,

"Now for what I hope to be one of the biggest thing to come to Asora for years to come! I wanted to have something created that functioned like the storage rings that I'm hoping to mass produce someday, but instead of just for storing food or supplies, these could also hold people! With this idea we can literally create entire world's that we can enter or exit whenever we want, all within a single room!" The group looking at him was filled with several different reactions towards his declarations, some showed enthusiasm at the idea of several world's within their grasp, while others showed mostly skepticism and thought Alex was simply exaggerating the scale. Alex didn't let their reactions bother him however, as they'd see the truth soon enough as he passed the the focus onto the actual creators. At his cue the duo opened the door to show everyone what seemed to be a table six feet wide with several bumps under a cloth covering what was on it. As Seekvaira walked towards the table and grabbed the cloth, Hajime stopped and stated proudly,

"We spent several days over this last night working on this item, and thanks to both of our efforts we managed to complete it to be used before the fight with Ehito. It took a combination of Spatial magic to create and expand the space inside, Alteration magic to ensure living organisms would be able to enter it, and and Creation magic to put it all together. Along with all of that we even added Seekvaira's time manipulation so that every six hours equals a week within the space, meaning we can get roughly a month within a single day, except unlike the training rooms we've been using up until now you can enter or leave whenever you wanted without disturbing the time difference." There were a few small murmurs at this since the training rooms up until this point had been enclosed within completely encased stone rooms, and you would need to stay locked within for the whole duration unless you wanted to keep resetting the magic circle that manipulated time. With Hajime done speaking Seekvaira pulled on the cloth to finally reveal what was underneath, as a series of glass orbs came into view. There was five altogether, one in the center while the other four were connected to it with glass tunnels like a hamster cage, each one pointing directly to the north, south, east and west. Each one was clear, and seemed to have some kind of habitat within almost like a ship in a bottle, except the center one had a miniature castle. When Alex looked at Hajime questioningly about the detail within the orbs, Hajime explained,

"Originally I expected that we'd only be able to create blank spaces and we'd be able to add the details later, but then Seekvaira called Serafall who brought several Devils who'd helped set up something called Rating Games in the past. I was amazed to see be able to set this up so quickly." Alex nodded in understanding now that he knew how they added so much detail so quickly, and went back to appreciating the final product while Serafall puffed her chest out with pride. The sphere to the north was filled with various northern snowscapes such as snowy mountains, Arctic tundras, and expanses of water willed with icebergs and glaciers. The sphere to the west was filled with various forms of deserts, from seemingly endless expanses of sand, to large canyons and giant pillars of stone. The sphere to the east was various forested mountain ranges and plains, as well at expansive grasslands that seemed to spread out. Finally the sphere to the south was filled with a Savannah and expanses of jungle that would no doubt be home to various dangerous creatures in the near future. Then the sphere in the center looked to have a castle that was elevated on a platform above a seemingly endless sea of water, though there was various islands dotting the seas as well like the southern oceans. As everyone was examining the spheres Seekvaira then spoke up,

"No matter how you enter you will always enter the center sphere first, and it's also the only one you can't exit from; that's why we made the main residence within the orbs in it, while the rest can be visited from there for various environments to train in. We haven't added gravity difference yet since it would also be a permanent addition to the orb and we didn't want to cut off a specific area from those who would want to train there. Well enough explaining for now, let's enter it." Everyone looked up at what she said, before seeing Seekvaira place her hand against the glass orb and then disappearing before Hajime, Kaori, Sairaorg, and Serafall did the same. Alex smiled in excitement as he eagerly placed his hand against the glass orb, and also disappeared to join them inside. After a moment of darkness he opened his eyes to see a life sized version of the castle from before I front of him, while underneath him was a transportation magic circle along with several others nearby to transfer into the other orbs most likely.

"Hahaha, this is amazing!" Alex cried out as he took a deep breath of the sea air around him, before other people started materializing as well. As they similarly admired the view around them Barakiel muttered,

"It truly is more amazing than I thought, but I wonder how this technology could actually be used outside of training or vacation homes..." Alex looked at Barakiel with a stunned expression and stated,

"Think about it, we can create any environment we need for purposes that would otherwise be harmful to Asora, for example we can make entire worlds covered in forests to harvest timber that would be able to quickly recover and replenish itself due to the time difference! Or we could make a world that's ideal for the creation of certain ores to mine from, essentially creating an endless supply of resources! We could even plant livestock and other animals into certain orbs to raise for food, their living conditions never being inhumane and once more the time difference allowing them to quickly replenish their numbers to prevent over-hunting. We could even do the same with crops as well so that they're always in the right climate and we wouldn't need to worry about the unpredictable weather in Asora interfering with them, can you imagine what a year of only winter would be like for us?" As Alex spoke Barakiel thought about the truth of his words, and started considering other uses he hadn't thought of previously along with everyone else present.

After everyone took some time to take in their surroundings, Serafall then eagerly led them on a tour of the castle and the surrounding courtyards, once again making Alex admire the capabilities of the Devils. True to its original purpose, there were several places for people to train at surrounding the castle along with what equipment they were already able to bring in, with plans to add more soon. Meanwhile the castle had been designed for both practicability and comfort for those that would be staying here in the future; first was a large mess hall and kitchen for meals which would be served at specific times, then they saw the various rooms that people would be able to stay in, most looking like smaller hotel rooms with a single bed and a small bathroom for personal use. These were for those who'd only be here temporarily for several days, while those who would be staying here for long terms would be given use of the better rooms on the upper floors. Of course there were also a couple of open air baths for those who wouldn't mind bathing together, obviously split between genders and with a small mixed bathing bath. The most luxurious room in the place was of course Alex's, complete with its own large bed and bath for anyone who'd join him. Though he appreciated this, Alex wasn't planning to use this training orb too much in the future, and was instead planning to have a similar one placed within the Misty manor for the residents personal use.

The tour then ended by the magic circle where they all entered, as Hajime and Seekvaira described which magic circle sent a person where, their destinations matching up with the directions they pointed in. They of course didn't go to see the different areas that were available, but were instead told that it took the same magic circle in each one to enter and return from them, meaning they better hope no one got lost in the future while in them. With the end of the tour those who had work like Barakiel returned along with Hajime and Kaori to go sleep, leaving just Alex with Anne, Tio, Shizuku, Rias, Grayfia, Kuroka, Yue, Shia, Miledi, Noint, and those who would possibly undergo evolution, Seekvaira, Sairaorg, Ravel, Ingvild, Roygun, and surprisingly Vali. Of course both Sona and Serafall who'd already undergone evolution stayed since they were planning on properly testing their new abilities during the assault on Ehito. As he looked around at the group Alex turned towards Vali and said,

"I'm surprised you decided to go through with it Vali, especially since you always say you want to get by only with your own strength." Vali grimaced at what Alex said, and reluctantly explained,

"It's because I also can't stand being the only one who'll get left behind as everyone else became super Devils; also it's technically still my own strength, someone else it just unlocking it for me." Everyone could tell Vali didn't actually believe that, but it was what he was trying to tell himself so they didn't say different as Alex continued,

"Firstly regarding evolution, it'll take roughly an hour to complete per person, and it's an incredibly painful process to undergo. Because I'm literally forcing your bodies to change on a cellular level it'll feel like each individual molecule is being struck repeatedly by lightning, for the entire duration of the procedure. If any of you want to back out now, then I'll understand." Though there were several pale faces when they heard Alex describe the pain Rias told him about, none of them tried to back out of what they'd already decided to do. For some like Vali and Sairaorg it was a matter of increasing their battle potential, while for others like Roygun and Ravel wanted to increase their usefulness to Alex, meanwhile neither Ingvild or Seekvaira wanted to be left out even though they didn't usually fight on the front lines. Ingvild especially had already learned the lesson that even if she didn't want to fight others, she may not have a choice; and had decided possessing strength to defend herself was better than hoping to never having to fight in her life. Seeing no one wanted to back out, Alex nodded and said,

"Ok then, we'll go into the sphere that leads to the snowscape for some privacy and to ensure we don't interfere with those who are staying here. Go in and I'll catch up." Nodding in confirmation, everyone started heading towards the magic circle to the north and teleporting to the place Alex told them, while he turned back towards those who were staying behind and said,

"Shia and Shizuku, while we're gone I'll also ask the two of you to think about possibly undergoing evolution since it'll most likely maximize both of your true potential, though you don't have to answer right away." As Alex finished speaking a certain black haired nekomata hopped onto his back and demanded,

"What about me~Nya?!" Alex smiled and replied,

"Focus on acquiring all of your tails first and then I'll consider evolving you, and don't use evolution magic to just get them all without effort." Leaving behind the pouting cat girl, Alex then turned back towards the magic circle and teleported to the snowscape to join the others. After being left alone everyone went to do as they were expected and started training, Grayfia, Yue, and Rias flew off to train with their magic, Shia went to find a place to spar with Tio, Kuroka found a nice place to meditate, and Shizuku made her way to one of the courtyards before splitting into three, having acquired the ability to create another clone after completing the last labyrinth. Miledi directed a look of hostility at Noint before turning and going to explore the place a bit, making Anne sigh before leading Noint to the kitchen, deciding it was best to help with meals for the time being.