'System, use the Doppelganger please.'
Ashton watched as lights converged in front of him, coagulating into a single mass that formed an approximation of a man.
A little bit later, the light transformed completely and turned into a mirror image of himself.
It was bizarre for Ashton. Having a Doppelganger felt like he stood in front of a mirror and then all of a sudden, his reflection greeted him. A bit freaky but also cool.
His Doppelganger was expressionless. Just from a single glance, anyone who knows him would be able to tell the difference. Still, from the fluctuations he could feel from his Doppelganger, it was the real deal.
Just like him, the Doppelganger is also a Warlock with 5 Virtues. It doesn't have access to the system without his permission but it could use its Magical Artifact and its sub-artifact has access and can cast the spells he knew and also had a copy of the Bone Scythe.
Truly, it was impeccable. No wonder the System said that this one could pass as him.
"Greetings, Boss." The doppelganger said.
"Hello. How do you feel?" He asked.
"Weird." It replied, "There's this subconscious thought that I am you but not really. It's wild."
"That should be normal, after all, you are a doppelganger." Ashton stated.
"Right." The doppelganger nodded. "Anyways, what do you need me to do?"
"First, I'll call you West Two, you know, for ease of mind."
"West Two." The doppelganger repeated, then shrugged. "Cool. I dig it."
"Great. Now, I'll give you some construction materials. You get inside the Grotto Heaven and start laying the groundwork for our foundation."
"Oh, we're starting that already?"
"Mhm!" Ashton nodded. "Since the System is back online, it's time for us to start with this. The plan hasn't changed much, only, we need to focus more on Human Resources. The more we have, the faster our progress will be."
"Right, changes in the System, got it." West Two nodded, "So I'm guessing that the Grotto Heaven will be your main base?"
"Yeah," Ashton confirmed. He didn't feel the need to keep it from his doppelganger. After all, it's connected to his thoughts. "That's why I need you to start cleaning up the place and start building the foundations for our future place."
"Understood. I'm ready whenever you are."
Ashton then handed a pouch to West Two. That pouch is a Storage Bag which is somewhat similar to the Inventory but its space was limited. It is big enough to carry all the resources needed to build the foundation they were talking about though, so this should suffice for now.
After handing him the resources, Ashton opened a portal that would take West Two to the Blue Marble Grotto Heaven. West Two walked inside the portal and disappeared.
Ashton scanned the Grotto Heaven's interior and saw that West Two was already doing something. Subtly, he adjusted the time flow where 1 day in the real world was 10 days inside the Grotto Heaven.
This is as much as he could go for now since the Grotto Heaven was still young. However, since the Grotto Heaven was linked to him, it will also grow with him so as he becomes stronger, it will naturally get bigger and would produce more resources for him to use.
That's far in the future though, for now, building the necessary foundations for Ashton's plans were enough.
Leaving West Two to finish his tasks, Ashton got up and went to Aria.
He told her that he was going out for a short trip and left her at home. Since he doesn't plan on staying out for too long, there's no need to take her with him. And it's not like she'd be in danger here so he could leave her behind.
Taking a flying bus ride, he sent a message to Oracle Felicia and went to where he met Gaia before.
Gaia's home is located at the heart of Fantasia. It's at the corner of the Capital City called Little Green Valley. It is a rather inconspicuous place, not a lot of people lived there and it's exceptionally peaceful.
Once we arrived at his destination, he got off the flying bus and walked the rest of the way.
There is a gate that filters out people. They were being segregated properly to minimize the risk, after all these are sensitive times, and there's no way of knowing when an attack will happen.
However, this little inconvenience didn't bother Ashton at all. Due to him being given a new badge which made him a 5-Star Citizen, there's no place in this whole metropolis he couldn't go.
5-star Citizens are basically VIPs. Their authority is practically at the same level as the Federation's President.
Gaia bestowed this to him as a gift. Ashton didn't expect it nor wanted it, but it's nice to have so he uses it anyways.
However, knowing that Gaia has this much authority over their political standing was something Ashton kept closely in mind.
It didn't take long before Ashton arrived at the Little Green Valley.
The first time he was here, this whole place was just as quiet and peaceful. He could feel his soul being at peace in this place which is rather nice.
He went towards the foggy sea and started walking on the surface of the water. It didn't take long before Gaia eventually manifested before him.
"Hello, I wasn't expecting you today." She said.
"I wasn't expecting to be back here this early either but things happened and I need your help." Ashton stated.
Before they could say anything, Oracle Felicia arrived.
Ashton nodded to her and said: "Good Morning, Oracle."
"Good Morning to you too." She said amicably greeting back. "You said you needed mine and Patron's help?"
"Indeed." Ashton then took out something he stored in a separate Storage Bag. It was the Beyonder's Astrolabe.
[Beyonder's Astrolabe]
A Transcendent Artifact with mysterious origins.
With this artifact, the user can shroud all types of fate/destiny scrying from specified targets.
This artifact can also misdirect unwanted people from infiltrating a specified area.
In case of emergency, this Artifact can cast an Absolute Protection Spell that can defend against anything for an entire month. Afterwhich, this Artifact will be damaged.
"...that is! A Transcendent Artifact!?" Oracle Felicia was shocked. Meanwhile, Gaia just stared curiously at the item.
"Its name is 'Beyonder's Astrolabe'." Ashton stated, "It is a Transcendent Artifact that could shroud all of Fantasia from Fate/Destiny Scrying."
"It could also form a zone which can misdirect all unwanted creatures and in case of emergency, it can protect us for a whole year before being damaged." Ashton explained.
Felicia and Gaia were shocked beyond words. They stared at the astrolabe with heated gazes as it was the rarest piece of treasure that they ever laid their eyes upon.
How can they remain calm? One has to know that an artifact that could avoid fate/destiny scrying was incredibly rare! There are only two of these and it's both being used by the Morning Sun Federation!
More importantly, those two artifacts can only be used by one person at a time! The Beyonder's Astrolabe though? It can shroud the entire Fantasia with it! So how can they remain calm?
And it wasn't just that! The misdirection and the protection were incredible functions too! They could hardly believe that something like this exists at all!
"If we can use this...it can bring us hope. We will no longer have to watch and raise the next generation to..." Oracle Felicia's voice was trembling.
The reason why the Invaders could casually pinpoint who the next Hero Candidate was because they could scry the fate of humanity.
Humans don't have anything to escape that and before they could even know who the next candidate is, the Invaders already know and would sometimes even tell them directly.
It's no different than knowing who the next fat sheep would be and already calling dibs for it. Such a thing was downright humiliating but Humans had no way of preventing this.
But with this Artifact, that might change from now on...
"I called you here because I know I could trust you both." Ashton stated, "However, trust is one thing. I have my own reservations too. Therefore, before I use this, I want you two to sign an Oath, more specifically, an NDA."
Ashton briefly discussed what the NDA does. It will leave a mark that would prevent them from disclosing anything about him and his operations. They'd have three chances, the moment they violated the clauses of the NDA three times, they'd lose all their memories about everything about Ashton and his matters and also all the benefits they received from him.
"Just from this alone, making you a 5-star Citizen is well worth it." Gaia stated, "I will sign the NDA."
"If my Patron is okay with it, I have no problems with it. I will sign too." Felicia stated, "Also, I swear that I will do my best to raise Alice well. I know that you know a lot of things, and I'm thankful for you being reserved so far."
"...you're welcome. However, that reservation is about to end." Ashton sighed as he passed on the forms for the NDA. Then he said...
"It's about time for a counter-attack. I'm afraid that all of us will be busy in the next couple of years."
