The next few minutes were spent when Althos began connecting the new imps to the others via the gradually expanding network of mental links that allowed for communication even when it should have been prevented due to linguistic barriers. This network was becoming more and more extensive and it was perhaps the first thing Althos had invented in his life.
Althos waited and watched while the two imps introduced themselves to the other allies, servants, and familiars. They were spritely things who possessed undeniable energy and were strangely friendly. Althos found their chattiness and friendliness unusual but definitely not bad.
"Althos, what's this?" One of the little things, the blue one, asked while pointing to the floor of the arena. The blue-skinned imp had a curious gaze and a noticeable tendency to ask a variety of questions.
"That's the floor. In that case, it appears to be made of a type of paved stone but other places have different types of flooring." Althos, demonstrating surprising patience, took the questions in stride and responded to them with the calmness of an experienced parent.
The imp asked questions for almost a quarter of an hour, before seemingly becoming satisfied. When the tiny thing went silent, the arena itself fell silent as well. That was around the same time that Althos finished connecting everyone and creating an expanded connection that allowed anyone to speak to the entire party at once.
Althos felt satisfied with his work and turned to his allies. He used one of his favorite abilities, the ability to speak the universal divine language that could be understood by anyone to communicate what he wanted to do next.
"Since we met we've hopped from one event to the next. For now, I think it's time we head to the Cathedral of the Dark Saint, rest for a bit and take a few days to do some research into what we need to do next. We need to research the next trial the Second Dark Saint must overcome so that, when we're ready we can continue proving my... dark sainthood."
This surprised his party members who had begun adjusting to the deity's go-getter attitude but none of them found the plan disagreeable. In minutes the party was ready to begin the walk back to Tristan's home and to arrive there as victors.
Soon enough they began the trek back to their new home.
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The trek back through the dungeon was uneventful, as the dungeon had lost a significant amount of its features due to the approach the titan took to ruling over it and the party's infernal members had cleared out what little remained on their way to the arena. While on the way to its exit Althos busied himself by carefully scrutinizing his new dungeon menu.
Althos had quickly and politely interacted with the menu for a few moments before it took him to a status screen, a big text box split into three parts.
Dungeon Status:
Current living occupants: 8. Dungeon master's party plus the scorpion
Other occupants: 1 Floating Skull (aide to the dungeon master)
Current floors: 2
Total floors: 6
Entranceway: operational, empty
Room 1: Soul-Orb training, operational, temporarily occupied by the dungeon master's party and the scorpion.
Passageway: Operational, empty
Stairwell: Trap status, operational, empty
Long passageway: Operational, empty
Arena: Operational, empty
Dungeon-Heart Chamber: Operational, empty
Dungeon ownership: Property of Althos, the Fungal Lord
Dungeon's in-use features:
1: Deceptive Entrance
2: Accessible Dungeon-Heart
3: Deceptive Chambers
4: Alternative History
5: Trapped passageway
6: Major locking mechanism
Dungeon's Archived Features:
1: Rejunvitation chambers
2: Dungeon mobility
3: Creature Creator Framework
4: Guardians (1/5 available at the moment, more can become available with the proper investment of magical energy)
5: Spa floor
6: 1 floor devoted to training combat skills
7: 1 floor devoted to practicing communication skills
8: 1 floor devoted to honing administrative skills
The titan really did a number on this place... Originally it had 6 floors? A spa? Rejunivation chambers? This place was basically a small town onto itself in its heyday. Would it be possible for me to return this place to the way it was originally laid out? If so... it might not be the worst idea to find some way to fuse this place with the Cathedral and make a larger base.
As Althos contemplated that, the dungeon menu itself chimed in.
[Hello Althos, if you would like to restore the dungeon to its original layout, the layout both envisioned and at one point created by Agowraith all you have to do is ask to restore the dungeon. If you want that it can happen. It will take a few days though, and the proper investment of magical energy but... you have an unlimited amount of magical energy so it's basically free for you.]
Althos was surprised by this and informed the menu that he'd love that.
[Excellent! The renovation process will begin as soon as you exit the dungeon. It will take... about two weeks. Once it's done you'll get a notification that informs you that the restorations are completed.]
Althos did the mental version of a nod, acknowledged the menu, and then shut it off. The rest of the trip back was fairly uneventful, and it went by faster than it had taken the original party to arrive at the dungeon. Within an hour and a half, the party had arrived back at the Cathedral of the Dark Saint.
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When the party was within view of the Cathedral Tristan grinned at her home and quietly said, "There it is!" as she began to speed towards her home. At that moment the party was atop a hill and to speed her return home the young priestess actually leaped and glided back to her chapel.
She was accompanied by the other flying members of the party, which was everyone but Gallow. Althos, taking pity on the orc, helped him get there first by teleporting him there. One moment the orc was at the top of the hill, and the next he was at the entrance to the chapel.
Within moments the entire party had arrived at the closest thing they had to a fully operational base of operations. The newcomers to Infernius were invited into the chapel to take a look around and actually familiarize themselves with the place. They were accompanied by Salifinos and Tristan who had volunteered to give them a quick tour.
Althos was pleased that they indulged their curiosity, and took the moment to remain outside and scope out the terrain.
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The area directly outside of the chapel was exactly like its surroundings. A desert.
I expect nothing and yet... I'm still disappointed.
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It took the deity a quick flight around the premises to confirm what he had suspected given his past travels in this area coupled with the glances he had taken before. He and his companions were surrounded by an ocean of sand.
This isn't useful, or defendable at all really. I should fix it.
His next thoughts were about solutions. He considered how to modify the area in a more mundane way but quickly realized he had fairly little knowledge in that regard. So he decided to try out a creative, magical solution. While he was in mid-air he aimed at the area surrounding the chapel.
What if I just...
He gathered mystical energy in his palms. He looked out at the area he was targeting, a complete circle around the chapel that extended for a few hundred meters in every direction. He clearly pictured it in his mind, hyper-focusing on the boundaries that he had created for the magical effect he was about to will into being.
Modify the area with magic?
He pictured two important things happening to the area he was targeting. The first thing he imagined happening was that a powerful barrier would be erected along the boundary line he had mentally created. This barrier would prevent foes from getting near the chapel, as well as would deflect projectiles lobbed at the thing.
He spent time carefully crafting this barrier, thanks to the knowledge he had acquired from Qu'Ren, one of his servants and a powerful magic-user. Her knowledge of mystical barriers enabled him to learn the process of crafting a wide-ranging barrier would serve him well.
The second thing he pictured happening was that aside from the chapel itself the sandy area within the boundaries of the effect would transform. He pictured the majority of the sand transforming into verdant soil, perfect for planting both fungi and more conventional crops. He envisioned a bit of the sand transforming into water that he could use to care for the crops and fungi he'd be planting in the soil he was creating.
He needed to feed Silander, Gallow, and Tristan and he wouldn't have been surprised if his servants didn't feel comfortable eating fungi given his power over the things. He also wanted to experiment with the properties of a range of fungi and thought this was the perfect area to plant ingredients he could use in the future.
Once he had those things in his head, he rose his hands above his head and released the mystical energy he had contained within them. The energy exploded outward. So much energy was released from within the deity that the mystical explosion he created manifested visually as golden spores materializing around him and slowly descending to the ground far below him.
Wherever the spores touched, the effects Althos had willed to happen, happened. In some places, the spores touched the ground and instantly transformed the sand into water. In other places the spores transformed the sand they touched into healthy soil or even small trees. Some spores gave birth to giant mushrooms, bioluminescent ones like the ones Althos had befriended in the tunnels into the World Beneath the World.
The spores that made it all the way to the edge of the boundary Althos had mentally established quickly melted in the air, and where they melted the air itself began to glow a soft shade of yellow. Before Althos' eyes, his powerful magic was creating an intensely powerful barrier and transforming the chapel's surroundings into the first patch of healthy land the layer had seen in thousands of years.
He received two surprising notifications at that moment.
[New magic knowledge gained: Ecomancy
Ecomancy is the most complex school of magic that falls under the "basic" umbrella of magical schools. This school of magic relates to the manipulation and the transformation of the environment.
Spells in this category are capable of transforming cities into vibrant forests, deserts into deep seas, and mountains into canyons. Each spell in this school costs a tremendous amount of magical energy to cast, but the effects are truly epic.
Masters of this magic can transform entire countries or continents with but a single spell. The strongest users of this form of magic could create entire cities in the blink of an eye.
You can now mix and match ecomantic effects with other effects, and you actually already have. You used an abjuration effect to create that barrier you erected around the chapel, and abjuration is an advanced school of magic. Unfortunately, that is not enough to gain knowledge of abjuration magic as the process for being able to do that is a bit more involved than the process was for gaining knowledge of basic schools of magic.
Ecomantic spells known: zero.
Ecomantic spells gained: Create badlands, Create corps, Create canyons, Create dunes, Create minerals, Create cave, Convert biome, Convert region, Obliterate region, Create lava, & 200 more.
Your mastery of the innate mystical energy flowing through you and the source of your infinite magical energy has increased tremendously. Anti-magic weapons and properties no longer negatively affect you. Your spells can now be super-charged, making them twice as strong.]
[Alert: You have completed the side quest previously called "GAINING INFLUENCE OVER THE DOMAIN OF MAGIC." The rewards for that quest are now yours.
Reward #1: You are now fifty percent done with the tasks needed to gain the ability to exert the first tier of influence over the domain of magic.
Reward #2: You may now bless anyone attempting a spell from the basic schools of magic. Your blessing reduces the cost of the magic by an amount you decide that caps out at 50% and increases the power of their spell by an amount that caps out at a 30% boost in power and effectiveness.
In practice, this means you can make the cost of the basic heal spell a measly 10 magical energy per cast and that you can make it heal its target for a total immediate recovery of 26 health per cast. There are adult humans for whom that'd be all of their health. Recovered at once.]
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Within the chapel, the party had split in two. One group, Althos' mortal followers and the demon, were with Tristan. Unsurprisingly the imps were together.
Both groups sped through the chapel, exploring different rooms at the same time. Tristan was within the nave, explaining the functions of each part of the main chamber of the chapel to the relative newcomers to religion. Silander and Gallow were deeply interested in it as they were mortal worshipers of Althos. Raverangos listened attentively but the demon wasn't a worshiper of Althos yet, it was just a familiar of his.
Salifinos taught his "cousins" about the assorted items gathered in the sacristy. He diligently answered their endless stream of questions, while doing his best to show them every corner of the room. He did his best to mentally justify their incessant questions.
I must be a good teacher for these new, little ones... their curiosity is annoying right now, but who knows? Maybe it'll lead to them becoming excellent at the jobs Althos gives them.
The imp demonstrated a surprising amount of patience. But his patience wasn't new. It was very much a learned trait.
Being with them reminds me of trying to teach Modred magic... he wasn't a very good magician, he was just very charismatic when he was at the height of his career. No... it's not fair to compare the two. Modred was bad at magic and just wanted fame. I wanted to teach him but he didn't want to learn. These kids want knowledge. A lot of it. They want to be taught.
The imp's thoughtful analysis of his past master's laziness distracted him for a few moments. It took the imps whining at him to snap him out of it.
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Althos admired his handiwork and took in deep breaths as he slowly descended. He had a greatly enhanced perception of the deep mystical power that flowed through him, coursing through every centimeter of his body. He explored the energy within himself while slowly descending to the transformed ground of the area around the chapel.
Within a matter of moments, the area he was meters above had transformed from a desert into a farmlike area, hundreds of meters across. The patch of greenery was a welcome sight in an otherwise all-encompassing sea of sand, and fortunately, there were hills between Bastille and the chapel that naturally protected it from view by anyone who sought it out.
Althos looked out at the impressive area that was now permanently marked as being his territory, and he wondered what his allies would think. He wouldn't have to wait long to find out though.
He landed directly in front of the chapel his allies had gone into, an area that was mostly windowless so his allies hadn't yet noticed the tremendous changes that had taken place.
The deity spent about twenty minutes peering out at the vast region he had transformed, visually exploring the newly modified area before him. It was at the end of those twenty minutes that his allies emerged from the chapel, wondering what had become of their master.
As they exited the chapel, they looked at their master and were surprised to see him radiating an aura of golden mystical energy just outside of the chapel. Then they were doubly shocked when they saw what had become of the area surrounding their new home.
The deity had performed an act of incredible mystical power in the minutes they were gone. Around them plant life grew freely and rapidly, surging through the newly created soil and causing trees, fungi, and crops of various sorts to rapidly emerge from the healthy dirt that surrounded the chapel.
The creatures in Althos' party slowly walked out of their building and into the odd farmland that their master had created. To their left, they could see a thick field of various types of fungi, some of which seemed to glow various colors. To their right, they saw large trees and fields of maneuvered soil that seeds could be planted in.
There were a few mystically generated ponds in the area, sources of clean and fresh drinking water for the inhabitants of the chapel. There appeared to be no animals, but the party wasn't entirely sure if the massive area transformed by their master didn't also come with any mystically created critters.
Before their very eyes, odd fruits and other crops grew out of a small handful of the fields already, which was perhaps the most shocking thing about the display of incredible magic their master had executed. They were speechless.
Althos turned and looked at them with a smile on his face. "Do you like what you see? I figured since we have... several mortals living here, we should have food and water that we can grow ourselves right?"
Their young master looked unusually deific at that moment. His skin had a golden glow that went well with the waves of golden energy he'd let loose every few seconds. After they fell silent he quietly added something to his last statement.
"Oh and I completed the first quest I need to complete in order to master the domain of magic. I now have knowledge of all ten of the basic schools of magic. While I was doing this I gained knowledge of the last school of magic: the school of ecomancy."
He spoke with a bit of pride clear in his voice, and his eyes contained a shocking amount of joy at his work. Althos had always had a soft spot for nature, and his expression at that moment really cemented that.
That was how the party began their days of research, information-gathering, and cooperation in the name of Althos' future dark sainthood in their new base, the Cathedral of the Dark Saint.