[Understood. Aborting unification. For now.] The system's more automated mode ominously replied, seconds after I told the thing to shut down what I had mistakenly set up. If I could have looked at the system and glared I would have. I sent a message to it that I hoped made it feel like I was shouting.
"Hey! What was that? What is 'unification'? I thought that if I used my 'Hivemind generation' power that it wouldn't subsume the wills of those in it." I asked the system two questions while I snapped, annoyed at the fact that what I had just learned contradicted what I thought would have been the case regarding my thus-far limited understanding of hiveminds.
[That power's description was created under the assumption that the god themself wouldn't be part of the hivemind. Hiveminds are dominated by single individuals, the ones with the highest intelligence or willpower and in literally any instance wherein you are a member of a hivemind you have the strongest will by a considerable margin.] The system revealed, sounding a bit annoyed itself.
I took a few seconds to sigh and then consider what to say next. And then I realized that the system only answered one question.
"What is 'unification'? You didn't answer that." I reiterated, curious to hear what it was, but well aware that it probably wasn't good. Or at least good from my point of view, as someone who doesn't have an interest in subsuming wills and thus becoming some sort of godmind.
[Unification is the process by which a group of mortals becomes one with their god. By undergoing unification a mortal sheds their will and becomes a beacon of the glory of their god and their most devoted servants. This was a fate many pious mortals sought out in the mythic age. Some gods lauded it as the highest of honors.] The system explained, telling me a bit about the state of mind of the gods of old.
"Yikes. That's... dark." I reacted, not being a fan of that at all. I heard a robotic chuckle emanate from the system, and sound off in my mind.
[There are absolutely some domains and subdomains that adore hiveminds and godminds. The domains of light and darkness both have godmind abilities, as does the domain of law, and the subdomains of order and fungi. Though all of theirs are a bit different.] The strange entity revealed to me.
"I'll have to form hiveminds with me in them one day won't I?" I asked, coming to that conclusion in the wake of the new information I had just received.
[Oh absolutely. But if it makes you feel better, gaining influence over the domains of light and darkness are both easy enough. And you've earned the right to complete the quests for both of them if you wish. They are interested in you, particularly the domain of darkness.] My companion revealed. I chuckled at that revelation.
"Of course they are. I'm afraid of the dark and so the darkness domain is interested in me. How fitting." I mused, and then heard the system itself echo my chuckle.
With that I continued my walk into the darkness, deeper and deeper into the earth itself. And without the distraction of the conversation I was having, I quickly became unsettled by the eerie journey I was undertaking, even though I could see perfectly and had near-absolute power underground.
"Why can't fear be rational?" I asked myself, knowing that my being afraid of the dark didn't make any sense.
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A few minutes after I and my servants, living and dead, began our trip into the darkness I closed my eyes. In doing so I came to a profound realization: the dark only scared me when my eyes were open in it. Using tremorsense not only allowed me to see even more than my own, presumably god-powered, natural ability to peer through darkness could, I also began to relax more easily.
I studied the map, and realized something strange: the earth underneath the island didn't really seem to stop. The tide of ants I was following through a handmade tunnel was diving deeper and deeper into the world under the island, and that world was getting wider somehow.
Upon realizing this, I was filled with questions. Some of which I could even get answers too. It was intriguing. But it didn't keep me from noticing things. One thing, in particular, stood out to me. Deep in the earth, there was a kilometers wide cavern with a single inhabitant. A lone black dragon.
That said, I quickly focused on my objective: figuring out where we were going. And to start figuring that out, I sent a mental message to the queen I had met before.
"What do you and your fellows plan to do?" I asked, mentally messaging the creature I had spoken with earlier. She was at the front of the swarm of ants, over ten thousand strong, that I was currently following closely behind. I received a response not long after I transmitted her my question.
"We plan to go home." She informed me, revealing that there was a plan in place. That made me sigh in relief. It felt nice to be in a conversation with someone with a goal.
"Where is home?" I asked her, as I scanned ahead of us in the tunnel she and her allies had created while heading towards me. I only had a rough idea of where their homes were, as ants modified the earth, and in many cases, the ants I had made aware of my presence weren't exactly near their homes when I made myself known to them.
"Not much farther from here Creator. Some steps away." She replied, after a few moments of careful thought. Her response was odd though. It made me think of a question that wouldn't be answered if I asked her, but might be if I asked someone else.
"So when I bestow blessings that increase someone's intelligence, what am I actually increasing?" I asked.
[You've asked something similar to this, vaguely at least, in the past. By increasing someone's intelligence you're increasing their ability to acquire knowledge and skills. You're not actually giving them specific skillsets or knowledge, which is why the queen you just spoke to had difficulty articulating the distance to their colony.] The system explained. I nodded my head, in understanding.
"So what if I improve their charisma?" I asked, curiously. The system made a curious noise as it contemplated my question.
[If you improve their charisma, which you can do, you'd be granting them an improved, intuitive understanding of how to be charming and how to be effective in social situations. I'm not entirely sure if you'd be increasing their effective attractiveness, which is one component of charisma until you gain influence over the right domains and subdomains.] The entity told me, indulging my curiosity a bit more.
"Thank you for that. That's... really useful actually." I told the system, appreciating its candor even if I was still a bit annoyed that I almost subsumed the wills of several million creatures. Only some of that annoyance was aimed at the system, most of it was aimed at me.
It took us a few minutes to finally reach the area wherein the ants we were following were leading us. We stopped just outside of a section of tunnel flooring riddled with small holes. And when we did I wasn't surprised to see it, but I realized that my companions were probably more confused than ever.
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"Why are we stopping?" Asked Okig, who sensed that she was affected by a rather abrupt loss of forward momentum. Her eyes couldn't pierce the darkness, but I didn't doubt that she could sense the fact that she wasn't moving anymore.
"We're here. Where we were going. Would you like to be able to see?" I asked her, aware that she couldn't see. She huffed in annoyance.
"Of course I'd like to see!" She said, clearly still bothered with me. Which was fair, all things considered. I chuckled and opened up my grimoire, hoping that I'd have something there that could grant me the power to allow her to see.
[Welcome Althos! You have new spells. Would you like to peruse them, or search for something specific?] The cheery voice of the grimoire asked me. I paused for a second to consider how to respond since I knew I didn't have that would have allowed me to grant Okig and Iret the ability to see in the dark. When I did reply it was with resignation.
"I can search for things? Can you see if I have anything that grants people the ability to see in the dark?" I asked the grimoire. That was when I received an interruption from an unexpected but welcome source.
"Hello Althos. I'll grant you a spell that lets people see in the dark. There's a necromantic spell that does such a thing. If you would like we could unlock it..." The voice told me, tempting me with such a thing. My eyes narrowed in suspicion for a number of reasons.
"What are your powers? Like... what can you do?" I asked, honestly curious about what and how it was that domains and subdomains did. I heard a soft laugh come from somewhere within me.
"Subdomains and domains alike are actually pretty limited in what we can do. We pretty exclusively handle things like determining the nature of our quests and allocating when a god can engage in our quests to gain influence over us. Oh and in the cases of schools of magic that are also subdomains we can distribute spells to gods, who can then distribute them to mortals." The entity revealed, and I could have sworn I felt the thing grinning, somehow.
"We have an innate ability to influence gods, but then again so do their worshipers so that's not as potent as it sounds. In fairness... we're sentient ideas, laws, and powers, so it makes sense for us to not be that powerful. That said... reality is malleable in the hands of a god. If a god wanted to change us and was strong enough they could." The thing hinted.
"You really like trying to give me ideas don't you?" I asked the odd entity. It didn't reply but it did give me a parting gift.
[The subdomain of necromancy has granted you access to a new spell.
Penumbra peer: This potent necromantic spell grants the target the ability to see in the dark.]
I grinned, and targeted both Okig and Iret with the spell, granting my living servants the ability to see even in the deep darkness of the tunnel we were in. Their eyes took a second to adjust, but when they were finished adjusting the two ogresses' eyes went wide with shock at the sight that was revealed to them.
I nodded at the pair and set all of my servants on the floor. We were on flatland now, they could easily walk on their own without my assistance.
"It's... something right?" I asked, referring to the strange design of the alienly designed colony not far from us.
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"I think... I think this might be my new home." I told my gathered servants, even as they all studied the sight in front of us. It was beautiful, in its own odd way. And with the right amount of power usage, I had a feeling I could make it very roomy. And then I turned inward to ask the system a question.
"So you mentioned earlier that the domains of light and darkness are interested in me? I think... I'm gonna need some light in this place. If you could tell me about that quest, that'd be much appreciated." I asked the system, hoping that whatever quest the domain had in mind I'd be able to do easily and quickly.
[So you're gonna pursue the domain of light's quest?] The system asked me, sounding not particularly surprised by that.
"Yes I am. It'll be something easy right?" I asked, hoping and honestly pretty certain that it would be. So far I had only earned influence over two non-innate subdomains and no domains that weren't innate, but their quests weren't hard.
[For you, it will be. All you have to do is restore sight to blind five people. Other gods have struggled with completing this quest, in the ancient past, but you won't. Healing is deeply tied to your soul. It's... odd and the domains and I have discussed it in the past, but your healing... it's different somehow.] The system remarked, speaking of my healing reverentially. It was... strange to listen to.
I chuckled and grinned, my black chitinous mask hiding my facial expressions from my allies and servants. "Healing... Feels nice. I can't really explain it, but I like to heal. I suppose I'll think about it more deeply. Maybe I'll see why I enjoy healing if I ponder it, when I heal people." I remarked to the system, revealing that I enjoyed the power to heal. I also pondered how I knew what "blindness" was.
I was aware that I possessed some strange, intuitive knowledge. I knew now that most of what I knew was probably due to domains and subdomains innately filling me with knowledge that was ether pertinent to their areas of influence and expertise, or due to my wild traits, but it still felt strange to simply know things for no clear reason. I didn't know the mechanics of how I was given this information, or why, even though I suppose I could guess at both.
After I pondered that I closed my eyes and allowed the not-so-mini-map to overtake my vision. And I immediately dove into the filters, searching for applicable targets. At that moment I noticed something new.
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Just above the not-so-mini-map floated a few words. They said one, simple thing.
"Filter by quest". I chuckled wondered why they appeared not and earlier.
[Explanation: The new symbols have appeared because of your new status as a 'Lesser Deity' and because of your desire to find applicable targets for a quest. From now on you'll be able to use quests as a way to filter through the countless targets you can detect whenever you use tremorsense.] The system's more automated voice told me.
I appreciated the new filter and tapped it. The automated voice spoke up once more.
['Filter by quest' filter selected. You only have one active quest therefore this will automatically choose that quest.] The system announced, making me smile. And then all at once, the not-so-mini-map grew a lot less colorful as tens of thousands of the outlines on it lost their color.
A clear and comical majority of the millions of creatures visible on the not-so-mini-map weren't applicable figures that I could engage. In a matter of seconds, plenty of creatures still remained, their outlines variously colored revealing considerable variety to their relational status to me, but it was obvious that this only a small minority of Puerto Rico's creatures were blind. None of them were creatures of any sort located in Comillas but plenty were located in San Gerardo.
I thought about the quest for a second and then wondered why this was the effectively the entry-level quest for the domain of light. As soon as I did the system, being a handy pal when it wasn't giving me attitude, broke it down for me.
[You aren't a mortal so I suppose it doesn't make much sense to you, though not many mortals in this world would know why so unaware of this id hardly unique to you... Anyways mortal eyesight relies on light. Mortals can see objects off which light bounces thanks to the peculiarity of their eyes. Your eyes can pierce through anything, regardless of whether or not any light bounces off of them, thanks to your being a god and all but mortals aren't so lucky.] The entity explained.
I nodded, appreciating that explanation. And then I focused on the contents of the not-so-mini-map. I studied it carefully as I considered who to select to heal, attempting to figure out what would be the best-case scenarios for what happened once I healed creatures.
"Curing someone of blindness is a significant act, one of immensely powerful and personal magic. I can safely and reasonably assume that the system will be telling them who healed them. What comes after that matters." I told myself as I considered how to handle more than just the act of healing the blind, but also how to followup on that act of healing.
As I pondered that, an idea came to mind thanks to a handy power I had acquired when I first became a lesser god. A faith domain power that allowed me to give creatures visions whenever I wished.
"Bestowing a vision upon those I heal is a good idea. But what sort of vision should it be? What sort of message should it confer?" I wondered, silently asking myself this while my followers wondered what we were doing here. I chuckled and for a moment allowed myself to focus on the scene unfolding in front of me.
In fairness to them this being my lair was something I sprung on them out of the blue. Not that they had much input, I wasn't really asking them for their insights and importantly I wasn't telling them to stay with me, but they didn't' know this since I hadn't precisely explained what was going on.
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As I began to consider what all to tell my servants, I asked a friend a question. It was very similar to one I had asked the system at the beginning of my life, and I figured I owed it to myself to ask it to a relevant party this time around.
"Hey necromancy," I began. I was referring to the subdomain, but I opted to shorten its name. "What do mortals think of necromancers and necromancy? When I first came to life I asked the system what mortals thought of druids, I figured it was only fair to ask you the same thing just for necromancers and necromancy." I asked before I explained why I had asked it in the first place.
I heard a peal of mirth-filled laughter. And then speech. "Oh boy... I figured you'd ask me that question eventually. I'm glad you did before you went around showcasing your abilities to any humans. They tend to be... judgmental." The subdomain explained.
"Mortals are scared of necromancy and necromancers. In fairness to them, as the subdomain that governs these things they should absolutely be scared of me and what I govern. I definitely want to see dead worlds. Dead solar systems. Dead galaxies. Dead universes." Necromancy confessed, doing so with a chilling casualness that reaffirmed its ultimately violent and misanthropic nature.
"I know that you might be thinking less kindly of me in the wake of me saying that, but you've got to understand that I want my power and my influence to spread. The other domains and subdomains are the same way but a lot of them are lucky and don't have the bad reputation I do." The voice complained. It huffed in annoyance and then refocused.
"If you're asking me, as you did, about humanoids in general... Many of them would be scared if you confessed that you were a necromancer. Humanoids as a whole, even ones with thoroughly evil leaders and in unrepentantly evil civilizations, view necromancers in very generalized lenses." She revealed.
"At best you may find someone who values your power and would like to work with you to terrorize the living. Or someone after my own heart who hates life and wants to see it be extinguished. That said... These sorts of things always have exceptions." The subdomain told me.
"There are humanoids, and I'm not just talking about necromancers either, who recognize that I can offer them an endless existence, one free from the fear of death or a decaying body. Or that I can be used to transform their enemies into their allies. They recognize my worth. But you deserve to know that many humanoids would be scared if they learned you were practicing necromancy." The voice told me, speaking sincerely.
I nodded, mentally, and thanked the thing for its candor. It was useful in planning how to tell my allies about why I wanted a hidden home, far from annoying and moralistic eyes.
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"I suppose I should tell you what you're looking at," I told the assembled creatures. They were, reasonably, confused by what we were doing deep underground. "We are staring at an utterly gigantic ant's nest." I announced to my followers. They looked rather unsurprised by this revelation.
"I am a god of... these creatures. These ants. Among other things, mind you, but I came down here to learn more about them and to build a lair." I explained, my voice growing more confident the more I spoke. My explanation about my godhood over the ants shocked all of my servants, but especially the two ogresses. I figured, after seeing their reactions, that I ought to further explain.
"Gaining powers as a god is a surprisingly modest-looking process. I gained some powers over these creatures before I met you all, but I gained powers over ants in general after we all had joined forces, while we were in the encampment. I just didn't demonstrate it." I told my worshipers and servants.
"I gained powers over the ants," As I said that, some of the ants came out of one of the nearby holes that riddled the floor. They came out of one of the thinner ones, one that was clearly made by regular ants and not myrmekes'. "By making some of them evolve into the massive ant-like humanoids you saw earlier. There are more of those creatures elsewhere." I revealed all while grinning.
Iret was the first individual to speak up in response to this. Her voice was soft, and she kept her eyes glued on the holes that riddled the floor, especially the handful of positively gigantic ones, ones that the myrmekes' ants were located within.
"Alright, I can understand all of that. Or pretend too anyway. But what's the deal with you saying you want to make this your home?" She asked, curiously.
I grinned at her, my mouth hidden behind my bizarre, organic mask. "I have a handful of reasons for wanting to make this place my home. But also... it's not precisely 'this place' I'll be making my home." I told the ogress all while gesturing to the hole-riddled floor.
"The first reason why I would like to make this place my home is that it's located deep underground. I am a deity of the earth, as you know. As you've seen," I told her, confidently. She nodded as she acknowledged the truth of my words.
"I am strong above the surface, but deep underground? Deep underground I'm virtually unassailable." I confidently asserted, telling the truth. I could sense all the ways I could manipulate my surroundings as if I were a painter and this was my painting. And then I moved on to explain more of my overall reasoning.
"You all know that I am not a god of goodness and healing. Other worshipers of mine have been led to believe that. Deliberately. But here, in this place I shall build, I can engage in more... let's call them 'dubious' acts without suspicion or judgment. I am envisioning that the place I build here be one I populate with darker servants and worshipers." I told the creatures I had gathered to my side.
I had spent a fair few minutes contemplating what sort of qualities I would like in a lair while my companions and I had walked deeper and deeper into this strange, subterranean region. One of the big reasons I had come up with was so that I could have located I could begin to build my forces, particularly my darker minions and allies. That wasn't really in reference to my ants, it was far more so in reference to the deceased beings I had reanimated and converted into my worshipers.
"I like the living. Even those of you who give me lip. You all, even those of you with more... 'spirit' have your uses. That's part of why I feed you and heal you. But a friend of mine has told me a lot about you." I explained, teasing what the subdomain of necromancy had just revealed to me about mortals and their rather judgmental nature.
"You see, I have a friend who knows a lot about necromancy. She and I were conversing minutes ago, divinely of course, and she told me that if I spoke openly about my necromancy to many humanoids they would fear me. That fear could be useful, in time, but it isn't what I really want right now." I told the creatures I had converted into my minions. The undead thoughtfully nodded at me as I said all of this.
"So part of what I need in a home is secrecy. The ants aren't humanoids and they don't share the sensitivities of light-hearted humans and other... in their own words 'more civilized' humanoids. You see, my worshippers don't care about the fact that I practice necromancy." I confidently asserted, without any particular basis for doing so.
"I would like my home to be a lair wherein I can conduct dark experiments and quietly accrue and arm my forces. I want this place to be my sanctuary." I told my followers, telling them the truth again. I did want a home from which I could do those things. I didn't know what sort of dark experiments I wanted to perform just yet, but having a place to perform them when I did know would be useful.
I envisioned a massive fortress populated by my minions, be they the undead, or waves upon waves of insects, or other as of yet unobtained minions. I wanted this place to be the seat from which I began to build the faiths dedicated to me. A place where I could thoughtfully devote my time to the acquisition of more power and more worshipers and where I could shape the world to my whims.
Envisioning it made me want to make it real. Which was what I began to do. I turned to face the tunnel's wall and began to make use of my immensely powerful ability to control the earth. As I did so I also connected myself and the mortals whose blindness I'd be healing in order to earn the first tier of influence over the domain of light.
A smile etched itself onto my face as I did so. I knew I was inching ever closer to acquiring a lair worthy of a god.