337. Nature of the Domain

{ Enter Origin Domain }

Assign Role: 1 Available

Roles have successfully been assigned to Alice Gutav and Nille Vermen

Ravenna offered a small, triumphant smile as the constant, low hum of "The Office" filled the air. Both Alice and Nillie stood frozen in the center of the white expanse, their eyes wide and their breath hitched in their throats.

“...Welcome to my Origin Domain,” she said.

Alice spun around, her voice trembling with a mix of awe and fear. “What is this place? How are we... Where did the study go?”

Nillie, however, was already moving. His eyes were drawn to a small automated assembly line nearby where firearms were being put together in a seamless loop. In another corner, a specialized environment had been partitioned off, allowing volatile chemicals to react safely under specific pressures to produce desired outputs.

“This is the secret I wanted to show you,” Ravenna began, her smirk returning. “It is a space over which I have absolute control, temperature, space, and most importantly, time. I first gained the ability to manifest this domain after Marie absorbed the second Odyssey Ring during the pirate attack.”

Nillie stood awe-struck, staring at the looping factory lines. “If... if what you say is true, then this space is indeed the future that can change the whole world. Not only can we develop our most advanced inventions here away from prying eyes, but if time flows differently... we can achieve decades of progress in a matter of months or days!”

The two of them roamed the vast, surreal landscape for a while, their boots clicking against the pristine floor. Eventually, Alice stopped before a floating, translucent interface that shimmered like a mirror.

“This screen... is this how those you’ve assigned ‘roles’ to interact with the space?” Alice asked.

“Wait, you have your own panels?” Ravenna asked, her eyebrows shooting up in genuine surprise.

Alice nodded slowly. “Yes... it appeared the moment I focused on my surroundings. It says... .”

Set Time: 00:00:00

Set Date: 3/10/1804

Set Temperature: 23°C

Set Humidity: 46% RH

Set Season: Winter

Set Brightness: Medium (350 Lux)

White Noise: On (Mild)

As Alice read out the options, Ravenna’s mind raced. “So those given roles act as sub-administrators... you can actually customize the environment yourselves.”

“It makes sense,” Nillie noted, already tweaking a dial on a nearby interface to adjust the flow of a production line. “A ‘role’ is an administrative position. It’s like you've given us the keys to the workshop I think.”

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

Alice, however, remained pensive. She looked up at the endless white ceiling and the rows of office desks that seemed to stretch into infinity. “But really... this odd space... it sounds exactly like the Divine Domains the scriptures describe. Did Goddess Herptian bestow this upon you? It’s even named an ‘Origin Domain.’”

Ravenna turned to Alice, her expression unreadable. “What do you mean by that?”

“Just that... every god has a space that represents their absolute authority,” Alice explained, her voice hushed. “The Celestia Castle belongs to Goddess Herptian. The Sun itself is the domain of Goddess Solious. There’s the Kairos Colosseum for God Glinto, the Secret Proscenium Stage for God Umbra... the list goes on.”

“Their homes in the Celestial Realm,” Nillie added with a nod, finishing his inspection of the chemical vats. “The places where the gods reside and exert their will upon reality.”

Ravenna felt a sudden chill that had nothing to do with the room's temperature. She looked around at her "Office," realizing for the first time that her System might be far more than just a convenient interface. If the gods had domains, and she had an "Origin Domain"... what did that make her?

“Why don’t we exit for now?” Ravenna said, her voice unusually clipped. “We can discuss how to utilize this space further once we’re back in the castle. I have... something I need to look into.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Alice replied.

“As you wish,” Nillie agreed.

With a flick of her thoughts, the white light intensified, and the hum of the office faded back into the quiet ticking of the study clocks.

Once Alice and Nillie had left, the weight of their words settled heavily on Ravenna’s shoulders. She didn't waste a second. She lunged for the leather-bound journal she had kept since the day she first awakened in this world: the book where she had scribbled every detail, theory, and half-remembered ideas she had written.

She summoned the System’s interface, navigating through the internet and the website of the original novel.

The sun began to dip below the horizon, casting long, blood-red shadows across her desk as she scribbled frantically in her notepad.

“The artifact that once belonged to the Hero Luminous...” she muttered, her pen scratching against the paper. “Known for a legendary magic that could alter the very foundations of reality: Universal Origin. The System was born from the artifact. It told me it was ‘attuning’ me to Universal Origin.”

She paused, her heart hammering against her ribs. “That means Luminous went through an attunement phase as well. But from what I understand...” Ravenna gulped, her eyes widening as the logic connected. “The only beings capable of altering reality on a large scale are the gods or the absolute being. Does attuning to Universal Origin actually mean... becoming a god?”

The thought was terrifying. She looked at the blue screen floating in the dim light.

“The Absolute Being was the one who created the twelve gods,” she mused. “And yet, Goddess Herptian couldn't see the System. She couldn’t even sense its presence when she was standing right in front of me. If a literal deity is blind to this power, then the Universal Origin must be tied to a source even higher. It has to be connected to the Absolute Being itself.”

It made perfect sense. Why else would the Cult of the Absolute Being plan such a high-risk attack on Serena’s wedding just to steal the artifact? It wasn't just a relic; it was a piece connected to the creator.

She drew a rough diagram of the realms on her notepad. “If the Origin Domain is truly a space of absolute authority, something only the gods possess in the Celestial Realm. Does that mean my ‘Office’ exists in the Celestial Realm alongside them?”

The questions were piling up, and every single one of them pointed back to two figures: Hero Luminous and the Absolute Being.

She threw the pen down and sighed, leaning back in her chair. “The original novel is useless for this. It was written entirely from Eugene’s point of view, and he was too focused on his 'righteous' quest and Goddess Solious to notice the cosmic mechanics behind the scenes…”

Ravenna felt a chill crawl up her spine. She was finally beginning to see the true shape of the world, but the image was incomplete.

“The Universal Origin is something the Absolute Being needs,” she whispered to the darkness. “The Witch said it herself... my ‘Attunement Level’ is the only reason they can’t kill me yet. They’re waiting for me to finish the process.”

She stared at the words she had written: Attuning to Godhood.

“Am I being groomed to become a god just so they can use me for whatever they’re planning?” she questioned herself, her voice trembling. “Is the growth of my Reputation System just a timer for the end of the world?”