— — — — — —
Helping someone go to war with the entire Little Garden? Yeah, that was obviously a joke.
Even if we put aside the Gene Lock (which, after experiencing it firsthand, Shiroyasha knew she could never abandon it), there were plenty of other reasons not to go against Veyron.
Like the chat group. That ultra-dimensional chat group had already shown its worth, especially the Point Enhancement feature that had clearly benefited her. Not to mention, Veyron—the admin—held serious authority. He could not only block access to the group, but even initiate a vote to kick someone out entirely.
So yeah, picking a fight with Veyron would've been brain-dead stupid.
Far better to make sure this visit to the Little Garden was smooth and pleasant, giving Veyron a solid first impression—not just of this place, but of herself too.
"Besides those power seeds just now, anything else you're looking for, lil' bro?"
Shiroyasha flipped open her fan, revealing the emblem of [Thousand Eyes], and said with a confident smile, "I know it sounds like I'm tooting my own horn, but the community I belong to—Thousand Eyes—is hands down the biggest and most powerful commercial alliance in the entire Little Garden."
"If there's anything you want, no one here is more likely to have it than us."
Shiroyasha paused briefly before adding with a sheepish smile, "Of course… if you're planning to go directly to the Core, then just pretend I didn't say anything."
"Something I want, huh?"
Veyron rubbed his chin, thinking back to the last time he was in the DC universe and got his hands on something thanks to Lucifer—Will of Creator. "If I'm being honest… yeah, I do have something in mind."
"Speak up!" Shiroyasha had brought this up as a way to win him over, so she was more than eager to hear it.
"First of all…" Veyron began, "based on what you told me in the group chat, this place—the Little Garden—is a stage that connects all eras and other worlds. A place created so those with powerful Gifts can live fun and interesting lives. Basically, a paradise for gods, demons, and divine spirits."
"I'm not wrong, am I?"
"Not at all!" Shiroyasha nodded firmly.
"In that case, there must be more than one 'sun' here besides you, right?"
As he spoke, Veyron released the constraints on his trait: Photosynthesis (Gold)—a part of his core nature.
The original Shiroyasha was once a Celestial Star Spirit who governed the total mass of the universe in Little Garden.
Back in the earliest dawn of the Garden's creation, the two Authority holders of creation and destruction had broken off a fragment of their divine nature to give birth to her.
Thus, the most powerful celestial spirit, the Celestial Star Spirit, became humanity's ultimate trial—the Geocentric Model.
As human history progressed, she suffered defeat after defeat, eventually forced to concede things like sunsets and the separation of day and night.
The divine status of the "Geocentric Model"—once the center of all cosmological thought—was eventually trampled under the rise of the "Heliocentric Model."
After her fall from her original position, Shiroyasha came to be known by two prominent titles: the [Sun Goddess] and the [Lord of the White Night].
Even so, as the White Night, Shiroyasha remained a Celestial Spirit who possessed more than half of all Sun Authorities and retained her Solar Divinity. She stood on equal footing with the greatest gods and ranked among the top ten most powerful beings in all of Little Garden.
And now, in order to descend to the lower layers of the Garden as the Floor Master of the East Side, she'd taken on a spiritual nature aligned with the Buddhist pantheon—one bearing the title of Yaksha.
But that didn't lessen her power in the slightest.
"…Didn't expect you to have a connection to the 'sun' on that level…"
Sensing that every single ray of sunlight Veyron absorbed translated into countless layers of growth and amplification, Shiroyasha looked at him with genuine surprise.
"So, do they exist?" Veyron asked, already knowing the answer.
"Of course they do," she replied with a cheerful smile. "And there are a lot of them."
"In fact, in almost every divine pantheon in the Garden, there's always at least one sun god. And in the stronger pantheons, the sun god is often the main deity."
"Buuuut..." she said, turning to him and holding out her hand, "I think this is what you're actually after."
Warm, gentle, brilliant—blinding, even. A radiant burst of light bloomed in her palm.
And then— DING!
Shiroyasha: "…"
Veyron: "…"
"Uh… I'm guessing you 'got the notification' too, right?" Shiroyasha scratched her head awkwardly with her folded fan, reabsorbing the light.
"Yeah, I got it."Veyron nodded.
What she had just shown him was a Sun Authority.
In the Little Garden—populated by all kinds of gods, demons, and celestial beings—every single star in the sky had its own form of sovereignty. And the Sun Authority, as the name suggests, referred to the ownership of the sun.
From what Veyron remembered, back during the Garden's earliest era, the sun's authority was divided into 24 parts based on the twelve zodiac signs of the ecliptic and the twelve divisions of the celestial equator.
There was one notable exception—the Sun Authority of Ophiuchus, which was currently held by the Vampire Princess Leticia Draculea, the Knight of Little Garden.
She received this Authority as a token of gratitude for her role in helping to establish the Floor Master system that protects the lower levels of Little Garden. In recognition of her contributions, she was also granted the title of Overall Floor Master.
Anyone who possessed a Sun Authority could summon the corresponding Star Beast, and each authority came with a unique ability tied to its star beast's legacy.
But the real value of a Sun Authority went beyond that. When fully gathered all of them, you can manipulate even the entire Akashic Record at will.
And if someone ever managed to collect more than half of all Solar Authorities? They could restart the whole human history and create an entirely new Little Garden.
Yeah… no wonder the central core freaked the hell out and even sent a message to the chat group system.
Even though Shiroyasha hadn't said she was giving it to him—hell, she hadn't even offered to let him borrow it—just revealing it was enough for the Garden's core system to instantly throw 99+ notifications at him.
"…Again?"
Shiroyasha was really dumbfounded this time. After the whole Spirit Rank thing, she was once again wondering if she was dreaming.
Otherwise, how else could someone actually negotiate with the Garden's core—and not just negotiate, but win?
---
Veyron shrugged and said to the system, "Yeah, I get that if I take a Sun Authority, I'll probably end up bringing it to other worlds. But I promise I won't lose it. If you ever need it back, Shiroyasha can contact me anytime and I'll return it."
「...」
"I mean it. I swear!"
「…Fine. You can have one. But it can't be from the ecliptic zodiac or celestial equator—the important ones are off-limits.」
"No problem. Honestly, with how I operate, just one should be more than enough."
「Within three years of Garden time, I expect you to establish a community here.」
"Any requirements on the size or scope?"
「No. Just that you must be a part of it.」
"Cool. Once I finish handling things in my world, I'll come back and get it started."
「Deal!」
「(^‿^)」
"…Did you seriously just send me a smiley face?"
The system's level of personification is… maybe a little too high.
After the connection to the Garden's core ended, Veyron turned to Shiroyasha—who was still frozen, slack-jawed, just like she'd been during the Spirit Rank incident.
For the second time, she found herself questioning reality. Was she sleep-deprived or something? Who the hell actually bargains with the Garden's core system… and wins?!
Veyron said casually, "I can't take the twelve zodiac and twelve equator authorities."
"So do you know where Ophiuchus's Sun Authority is?"
.
.
.