Lilim, a silver-skinned, buck-naked succubus stopped bowing and turned back to the audience she had of reptilefolks. The odd lizard-people who had submitted to Althos in exchange for their lives and freedom from the tyranny of the dragon Ygaynth were now more fixated on their god's pet cleric than they were on their actual god.
Althos, the god in question, just chuckled at this. He didn't blame them, she was an incredibly beautiful creature. She radiated an air of both charisma and lust.
The woman who had pledged herself to the young god was clearly and proudly inhuman. In addition to her horns, a pair of long things that jutted out from the top of her head, she had thin wings on her back that her new followers had noticed after staring at her round ass when she had bowed to her dark overlord. She did lack a tail though, but to offset that her skin was the color of unmelted silver so as to ensure no one doubted that she was something other than human.
Althos himself was far from unattractive. Though his attractiveness was less sensually focused than hers was. And he was at least as inhuman as she was.
The god who had conquered the reptilian creatures was himself a creature of considerable attractiveness. His present form was that of a regal and magnanimous emperor. He was clad in a full suit of armor the color of the night, and the only part of him that was exposed was his face.
He possessed an incredibly muscular body that he hid underneath the obsidian colored armor, forged from darkness by his eerie powers. In his current form, he stood well over three meters tall, and he towered over the reptilian creatures he had made into the first members of an empire he had dark ambitions for.
He had a full beard that covered the lower half of his face and obscured his tanned skin. The facial hair was a distinguishing feature that he liked that made his apparent age ambiguous. Not that any adult form would have matched his age. The dark god had been alive less than a week and he was already a creature of dark majesty and truly sinister powers.
While the audience was silent, their new dark master quietly bestowed his newest subject with considerable power. He did this without even looking at her, by targeting her with one of his more unusual abilities: the power to grant classes.
He targeted her and did something he had never done before: he granted her two classes. And in the moments before she learned of this, Althos was asked a funny question by the system.
He was asked what kind of spells should his new cleric be given access to since he had never turned someone into a cleric directly. While he answered this question, time once more slowed to a near halt.
When Althos was done, his newest cleric received great news. She was alerted to this great news via an alert from the system. One that excited her ambitious heart and soul.
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[Alert:
Althos has targeted you and activated one of his godly powers. Thanks to his influence, you now have the first level in two separate but powerful classes: the necromancer class, and the cleric class.
Dual-class details:
You are now a possessor of the 'Cleric' class. Clerics are the most fervent of a god's followers. They are powerful spellcasters who cast spells granted to them by their divine lords and they seek to enact their god's wills.
Clerics can be of any alignment permitted by their gods. Althos is an accepting god who allows clerics of any alignment to serve him. As an Althonian cleric, you have been granted an interesting mixture of spells that grant you incredible healing powers, while also allowing you to reanimate the dead.
You are now a possessor of the 'Necromancer' class. Necromancers are feared spellcasters whose magical capabilities include the dreaded ability to raise the dead.
Statistically, the majority of necromancers are evil but this isn't actually a requirement of the class. Necromancers who naturally earn the class experience some limitations like a limited number of the undead at their command.
Necromancers like you, who are given the class as an award by a powerful higher-being or by the system itself have slightly different rules they abide by.
Dual-class features:
Spellcasting: Both clerics and necromancers are spell-casters. Clerics are given their spells by their gods, though all of the spells you've just earned the ability to cast you've been given by your god.
Necromancer spells you can now cast:
Cure cut (You can restore up to 10 HP to a living creature)
Reanimating spark (The most basic of the reanimating spells. Due to the fact that you earned this spell as the servant of a divine being this spell won't fail. Can only create zombies or skeletons.)
Etc.]
[Dual-class features, continued:
Prayer: You can pray to your god and if you ask a question your god or the system will provide an answer. This is a feature that is unique to clerics, though warlocks, witches, and wards all possess unique methods of communicating with their patrons.
Unlife energy channeling: You can channel unlife energy, the source of the reanimating spark that drives the undead. You can use this to invigorate the undead, or to harm the living.
Lifeforce absorption: One of the abilities of a first-level necromancer is that they can directly absorb the life-force that keeps others alive. You can use this to harm your foes while healing yourself.
Channel essence: This power is a fascinating one. Its effects are up to the god you serve and each cleric's might be a bit different.
Currently, you can use this power once per day, unless you perform an act pleasing to Althos, but you can cause a target to temporarily experience a mind-breaking amount of desire for you. This power allows you to control the target, and they do as you bid for one minute while they believe that in doing as you command they are currying favor and may get to have sex with you.
This is power is tied to the corruption subdomain and was chosen by Althos. If you wish to change the power you'll need to pray to your master to change it for you.]
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The look on his face was one of mild amusement as he studied the scene before him. He had eyes the color of the darkest hour of the night and his lips were upturned in a bemused smile. He allowed his subjects and worshipers to stare at Lilim for a few moments longer.
He wasn't kind enough to do this for no reason. He did it because he felt a handful of people beginning to turn over their hearts to him. He felt their awe become worship, and he relished that feeling. That said, he did return their attention to him by loudly clearing his throat. The audience the demon and the god had turned their gaze back to their god, looking somewhat sheepishly at him.
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After getting everyone to focus on me, I chuckled. I then motioned for my new priestess to come to stand beside me. When she did, she wrapped her arm around mine and pressed her warm body up against me. Even through the armor, I could feel the warmth of her skin, and it caused me to shiver. I turned back to the audience of gathered creatures and smiled once more.
"I'm glad you're all taken with your new high priestess as she will serve a deeply important role. Lilim's role in this community will be to serve as my mouthpiece. She will be the first recipient of my will and will work tirelessly to ensure that you all are obeying me." I informed the gathered creatures. As I spoke about her role, Lilim looked out at those I had gathered and winked.
I glanced at her and smirked. I intended for her to do quite a lot of work so I was happy that she was enjoying herself right now.
"Among other duties, my priestess will be mediating conflicts, reanimating the dead, and leading in the... dark rituals you all will be performing." I explained, twisting my gaze back in the direction of the chapel's guests. I said the last part of my statement vaguely, as the truth was I did intend for the dark rituals to be sexual in nature.
Amusingly, some of the reptilian men I had turned into my subjects reacted to this news with cheers. I grinned at them and chuckled audibly when they broke the audience's silence with their childish reactions.
"I am a god of a variety of wonderful things. I am a god of death, and of necromancy. I am a god of the earth and of the air. I am a lord of the harvest and a spirit of starvation. By pledging yourselves to me, you all have guaranteed that your dead will never have to waste away in tombs or be a meal of last resort." I said as I stared out at the audience once more.
"I will reunite you with your ancestors. And when death comes for you, it will not be an ending of something, instead, it'll be a beginning. By serving me loyally and faithfully you can attain a kind of immortality." I suggested, grinning at the gathered creatures with a wide smile on my face.
The truth was that things like age and mortality were already things I could do away with if I wanted too. I didn't. Or at least I didn't want to do away with them for every single reptilefolk. One of the schemes another part of my mind was working was how to use the fact that I could bestow immortality to my followers as a way to secure fanatical minions and worshippers.
I wanted to use my full array of powers. I wanted to build a diversity of cults throughout the world who worshiped me for dozens of reasons and to attain dozens of results. I could tell that having a diversity of followers was one of the things that would make me more powerful and enable me to attain greater power and mastery over my surroundings.
"This moment was the destiny of your people." I told the reptilefolks who had come to hear me speak. I wasn't being insincere either.
"This moment, the one you're in right now, was always destined to be something that'd happen to you all. And where you go from here is up to you. You have two choices: You can accept this new position and work with me to increase the overall influence of your people on the world, or you can rebel against me. If you decide to not follow me and rebel, your fate is to join my service. In fact, allow me to demonstrate just what I mean." I explained.
At that moment I opened a portal from where some of the reanimated reptilefolk undead had been stored and tied to right outside of the chapel.
"Come." I commanded the newest of the undead to join my forces. Mere seconds after I commanded them to come to me, they did. The creatures walked through the portal, and opened the doors into the chapel.
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The sound of the doors being knocked on caused one of the reptilefolks nearest to it to turn and open them. He was the first to lay his eyes on the undead reptilefolk warriors who had clashed with the Althonian horde nearly half an hour ago. But their smell wasn't as slow as they were, and the scent of their recently deceased forms caused reptilians to turn around and face their nightmare without preparing themselves.
The sight that greeted the reptilians who did turn around was a macabre one. A pair of skeletons quietly shuffled into the chapel, followed by other, fleshier undead. The skeletons were nude, their bare-bones exposed to the chapel's inhabitants.
The other undead wore the armor they died in. It was miraculous really that they were still clad in the armor they wore to their final battle, and wasn't due to any particular desire by Althos to intervene.
The living reptilians fell utterly silent as some of their deceased brethren walked into the chapel. Althos himself chuckled at the dramatic display he had decided to put on for the sake of reminding the reptilians of what happened to his enemies. Lilim enjoyed the cruelty of it all and especially enjoyed the sorrow that etched itself onto the faces of those who lost their loved ones.
Althos was not a cruel god, but as he watched the lizard-people he had subjugated be shown the consequences of rebellion or disobedience he felt a cruel and pleasant shiver go up his back. He liked what he saw, what he felt, and the feelings of hate and fear he had caused some of his new worshipers and subjects to feel towards him. That said, he wasn't silent for long.
"This is the fate of those who oppose me. To be brought back and to serve me eternally. But this need not be your fate." Althos told the gathered community of the reptilefolk. They tore their gazes and their glares from the simple undead Althos had turned their companions into and back to him.
"If you serve me well, if you are faithful to me and if you work hard, you will be rewarded. You will come back after death. To this world. As something powerful. But that is to be earned, it is not to be given to the unworthy." Their new god explained, speaking powerfully of a future wherein death was merely an inconvenience.
The reptilefolks who heard him say these things had a variety of feelings about their new emperor. Many of them felt awe, even if they also felt other things when they looked up at his eerie majesty. Some of them felt fear when they looked at the alien god, who spoke with a startling coldness about murder, warfare, and invasions. Others felt pride in knowing that they were serving such a powerful god, one who was unafraid and willing to do what he had just done.
Althos himself had a smile on his face as if he were speaking of happy things and not exploiting the weakness of the lizardfolk warriors to remind them of what they had lost.
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Althos's mind was currently split in two. One portion of it was present in the moment of where his body was located and busied itself by interacting with his mortal followers. The other part of his mind was elsewhere.
The fraction of Althos's mind that was elsewhere was in many places at once. That was because it was using two of the powers owned by gods to allow themselves to feel present in more than one place at a time. This part of his mind was reading through prayers and keeping itself up to detect with a lot of different things at once.
Of particular interest to that part of the strange god's mind were prayers related to infertility. There was a reason for this. It was because Althos was ambitious.
Althos had acquired a set of powers, one of many really, that he hadn't had a chance to use yet: powers over fertility and pregnancy. He was being careful with these powers though because he understood the reality that these powers were intense ones that created life. He was curious, sometimes to the point of recklessness, but most of the time he wasn't that reckless.
That said, in order for Althos to acquire influence over the domain of life he needed to complete a quest. And the quest's conditions were deceptively simple: all he needed to do was cause three pregnancies.
A part of him wanted to do this the easy way and just make three animals pregnant. But there was another part of him that felt that for a domain this potentially powerful he ought to do things formally, respectfully almost. He wanted to pick three special people. People who deserved to bring life into the world.
Althos had made a difficult choice, and he felt that a domain like this merited it. In his own way, Althos was a deity that was all about life. He didn't like fighting needlessly, he frequently healed people, and he was respectful to virtually all forms of life.
The god patiently sorted through prayers, diligently reading each and every one he received. When he read them they were stored in the back of his mind and he could effortlessly review them.
The god must have sorted through thousands of prayers before he found one he particularly liked. It was a delicate plea from a princess of a kingdom on Torus, the very planet the god himself lived on!
"Hello! My name is Rachel, and I come from a culture of pious dwarves. We have been told all our lives to pray when we need guidance or help. We know that no more higher-beings exist, but it is a tradition we have a long history of following and so I am giving it a shot. I am praying, though no part of me believes this will be answered, for intervention." The dwarf's prayer began.
"I am a high-born princess. I dwell in a subterranean kingdom named Atlantis and I am to be wed. The problem is that I don't want to be wed. For political reasons, I am to be wed to the king of a nearby dukedom that has the resources to go to war with my family." The prayer continued.
"There is a way out though; my culture has myths and legends about virgin births that dictate that virgin mothers are to acquire status as saintlike figures and to remain unwed all their lives. I am praying and asking for the impossible: for some deity to get me pregnant and give me a way out of this wedding. If there is a price to pay... Well, frankly I'd like to know what it is. I'm saying that I am flexible and want out of this wedding, so if you can help me then please do." The prayer explained.
The god who read it couldn't believe how perfect it was. He found himself surprised and overjoyed to receive such an ideal prayer. He was so overjoyed, that he immediately reached out to Rachel and established a mind-link with her.
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As soon as I established the mental link tying Rachel and I together I set out and began to compose an introductory message to her. I knew wherever she was she was still awake and that it was possible that I'd get a message back from her quickly if I was active now.
"Hello, my name is Althos and I know this will surprise you but I am a god and I have tied our minds together. I would like to speak to you. If you want to reply then all you need to do is think out your message." I mentally wrote, trying to keep things simple. I then sent the simple message to the young woman.
Immediately I received a form of reply through a sense of shock that I felt her display upon suddenly hearing a voice in her mind. It took a few moments after that for her to reply to me, but when she did it was with considerable politeness.
"Hello, Althos. You know my name, and I now know yours. Is there any way you could possibly demonstrate your divinity?" She asked me, curiously. I could hear a touch of desperation in her voice, but it was one that she was struggling to keep under control. I chuckled and focused on her.
I kept her locked in my mind, and honed in on her through the mental-link we now shared. When I was certain I had her targeted, I began to bless her. I kept it simple and targeted her dexterity.
I blessed it twice and then began to compose another message. I suspected that she'd receive a notification alerting her to the blessing and the source of said blessing. Composing my message didn't take long at all.
"You have just received two of my blessings. Both of which increase your dexterity. I want to aid you, and my price isn't very expensive at all." I told the young woman, ready and happy to help so long as she paid my price.
There were several moments of silence. Nearly a whole minute of silence. But after that, I felt a sense of relief wash over the person with whom I had a mental link.
"So it's true? You really are a god? If you are, and you possess the power to impregnate me... Please, name your price." She said, speaking in such a way that her relief was audible through our connection.
"My price is very simple. Worship and obey me. I am a god of life, abundance, and healing. I do possess the power to impregnate you. If you agree, I will not only impregnate you, I will advance the age of your pregnancy to the point where it is visible. Assuming you want that, of course." I told her, speaking honestly.
I had just acquired a considerable number of evil servants. The truth was that by freeing their slaves I had likely acquired a number of good worshipers, but I wanted to be as close to neutral as possible so for now, I was going to work to acquire more good-aligned worshipers and focusing on myself as a god of life and abundance was probably a profitable way for me to do that.
"Is that really all? What is that you wish for? A chapel in the nation? For your religion to be the state religion? I'm only asking because I want to know what to prepare for if I say yes, and if I tell people that a god is responsible for the creation of my child my people are going to want to know about you." She asked, speaking sensibly about all of this. I chuckled and was a bit impressed with her.
"I admire your caution and pragmatism. The truth is that I am an extremely young god and I am in the process of acquiring more and more power. I currently live on the colony island of Puerto Rico, and from here I am building a sort of theocratic empire bit by bit. But I am being sincere when I say that all I want is for you to worship me and serve me. And in exchange for that, I will grant you your desires." I declared, speaking truthfully and sincerely.
At that moment I received an alert. My mood changes when I read through it because the end of it contained a surprising quest. One I wasn't exactly a fan of.
[Alert: Your tendencies towards honesty and your good-faith bargaining with Princess Rachel of the dwarven kingdom of Atlantis have allowed you to take the quests for the domain of law, and the subdomain of truth.
To earn the first tier of influence over the alignment domain of law, you must strike and complete three bargains pertaining to your divine power.
To earn the first tier of influence over the subdomain of truth, you must tell the very first person to ever be deceived by your human appearance about your true nature as a god.]
"The subdomain of truth... Wow. Of all of the things to make me do..." I muttered, taken aback by the surprising nature of the quest I was asked to do.
That was the moment when I received an affirmative response from Rachel. I was grateful to read that message, given the bombshell of a quest I was just tasked with doing to acquire the first tier of influence over the subdomain of truth.
"Althos... If you can impregnate me, please do. I feel as though whatever you'll ask me to do wouldn't be as bad as being married to someone I don't want to marry, who'd also impregnate me. So personally I'd rather be single and pregnant than married, pregnant to someone I can't stand, and stuck with that person for the rest of my life. I'm that desperate here." She told me, sounding sincerely relieved to have someone in her corner.
I chuckled, and activated my "Pregnancy manipulation" ability, targeting Rachel with it. I immediately told the system that I was intending to impregnate Rachel, and the system did the rest. I was silent while the effect took hold, and when I heard Rachel begin to laugh I was unsurprised.
The next thing I did was activate my ability to manipulate time. I targeted Rachel's new pregnancy and advanced the pregnancy by just a few weeks, just enough that an astute observer might guess that Rachel was pregnant. That was when I received one of several domain notifications I was destined to receive over the course of the next few hours.
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The next few hours passed in a blur. I did a few big things and several smaller ones.
The first big thing I did was summon two more demons to aid Lilim. I summoned an incubus inquisitor named Alexei, and a powerful-looking monstrous demon with the body of a gigantic bear that I swiftly made a templar and commanded to begin to whip the warriors of the reptilefolk into shape. Shortly after that I finally departed from the encampment and returned to my home.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
I met the people who I had liberated from the cruelties of the reptilefolk. As soon as I explained who and what I was the majority of the seven-hundred former slaves bowed to me and vowed to worship me. Their feelings surged into me, and I felt my power grow in strange new ways.
I had a conversation with them about their futures. I asked if they wanted to return home, and was surprised when they almost universally said that they had no homes to return to. They explained that this was because when they were captured their captors burned everything they could to the ground so as to leave as little a trace as possible of what was left behind.
The conversation continued until I asked them what they'd like to do and officially extended them invitations to live in the proximity of my tower. I was surprised when half of them accepted my offer. This half included the driders and girtablilus, half-men half-scorpion creatures, the dwarves, and the dark-elves. The other half, humans, gnomes, and surface-elves, all wanted to return to the surface.
The next hour of my life at that point was filled with village construction. First in the area next to my tower, where I built the very bare basics and was grateful to leave the more advanced and challenging work to my newest worshipers.
At this point in the day, I received two new subdomain quests. One of them was for the subdomain of arachnids, and I was astonished to find that I immediately fulfilled it, having met its requirements through my treatment of driders. The other was for the Crocodilia subdomain and tasked me with healing seven Crocodilias, which I accomplished in a snap of my fingertips using my healing powers.
I transported the half of the rescued slaves who wanted to return to the surface to a remote part of the Puerto Rican coast. Together we set out to build a brand new settlement. And together we did. I built most of the buildings, around sixty or so, and the town walls. We built it on the very edge of the shores of Puerto Rico, and named it "Libertad".
I went and dove into the ocean and immediately received the quest for the final elemental subdomain: the subdomain of liquid. It was simple: I was to use liquid in three separate ways. I had already used it in one, to heal people through potions.
I went ahead and got bitten by a snake and then made it and a few of its siblings my friends evocation magic, completing the last of the original subdomain quests I had gotten days ago. All of this while also inching closer to earning the final subdomain I needed to earn to be able to do the quest to become a lesser elemental overlord.
While this was going on, the other part of me was hard at work accomplishing two tasks. The first task was finding and making deals with two other noblewomen who were hoping for babies.
One of the women was in the Reconquista empire itself, and the other was in a country named Menanam in another world. This not only netted me the successful completion of the quest to acquire the first tier of influence over the life domain, but it also earned me the first tier of influence over the law domain.
Successful completion of the quest to acquire influence over the life domain, resulted in another spectacular reward. I immediately gained the first tier of influence over the spirit domain as well, as the quest for that domain was to summon, create, or otherwise engage with three spirits. And I was shocked to discover that extraplanars were spirits.
The second thing that the other portion of my mind did was go ahead and convert two of Gustavo's companions into Cosechcians, earning the first tier of influence over the trifecta of the domains of trickery, lies, and the subdomain of enchantment.
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Night had fallen fully over the island of Puerto Rico when I finally made it back to the exterior of the Silver Xana. The truth was, after everything that had happened I just sort of stumbled over here uncertain of a number of things.
By coming here, even unconsciously, I felt that was indicating that I was ready to tell Isadora the truth. She was the first person who laid eyes on me as a human. I knew that to earn the first tier of influence over the substance of truth I needed to tell her who and what I truly was.
Though I was uncertain of a lot, I knew that if I told Isadora what I truly was my relationship to Comillas would change. I wasn't sure of how it would change, at least not entirely, but I knew that telling her would change things forever.
I stood in front of the door leading into the Silver Xana silently. By the time I finally mustered the courage to put my hand on the door handle that'd let me pull the door open, a full minute had passed. But it took me that long for a reason. My mind was swirling with the few casual memories I had, many of which took place in here. I was smiled when I pulled open the door and looked into the inn.
"Hey Isadora, could you and I go on a walk? Outside?" I asked as I stepped into the inn. The young woman looked up at me and smiled. And she replied not with words, but by stepping out from behind her desk and walking over to me.
"Sure!" She told me, when she was almost right outside. I chuckled and opened the door for the two of us, waiting for her to walk through it and then stepping behind her and back out into the night.
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[Dual domain details:
The life domain and the spirit domain... Wow.
The domain of life is the domain that governs the creation of lifeforms that are actually alive. With it, and the domain of souls, gods can create actual lifeforms. It is also the domain that is needed to create an entirely new species.
The domain of spirits is the domain that governs extraplanars and other sorts of spirits. Spirits are a type of lifeform that doesn't need a physical body to interact with the universe. With this domain under your influence, you can begin to create creatures like you, ones that don't need bodies to be alive.
To advance in both of these domains, you need to use your powers and build a cult dedicated to worshipping you as a creator of life, and as a spirit king, respectively.
Dual-domain passive powers:
Life creation: The spark that is needed to bestow life is something you can create within yourself. With this spark of life, you can fill corpses with new life. This does not bring back the deceased person but allows a new life to fill the body. With it you can also complete the process for creating new life.
False resurrection: This synergistic power is a particularly wicked one. With it, you can fill a body with necromantic and evil energy while also investing a life-giving spark into the body. In doing so you can create a new life in the body that has the memories of old life but is instead entirely and holistically evil. This power can be used to easily create evil cults in places populated by good people.
True spirit creation: Synergistically fusing the domains of souls and spirits ensures that any spirits you create are born fully alive. It also invests any of your currently created spirits with a true soul.
Body creation: You can create bodies. This power is a synergistic one that fuses biology and life. Bodies that you are that are left without a life-giving spark are just inanimate corpses, but if they are given a soul and a life-giving spark they come to life. That said, we're sure you can find something to do with lifeless bodies.
Currently, you can only create bodies for ants, parasites, humans, elves, and dwarves. As you gain more worshipers that'll change.
Spiritual blow: Your attacks can now damage the spirit. You can damage someone's magical energy with your strikes. You can even choose to have an attack deal only spiritual damage. If someone loses too much spiritual energy at once they'll fall unconscious.
Spiritual replenishment: You can now heal someone's spirit. This is a synergistic power that you have been awarded due to your magical abilities, your healing abilities, and spiritual abilities.
Dual-domain active powers:
Extraplanar creation: Your influence over souls, spirits, and life gives you the ability to create extraplanars. At the moment you can only create angels. You must research and gain more experience with other extraplanars before you can create them.
You can construct angels related to each domain or subdomain you have influence over. This is an extraordinary power and as such can only be used twice per two and a half weeks.
Spiritual devouring: You can consume someone's spiritual energy. Upon activating this power you reach out and extract someone's spiritual energy and consume it. This power can be used twice per twelve-hour-period.
Dual-domain blessing and curse details:
You cannot currently bless or curse someone with the life domain.
If you use the spirit domain to bless someone, you increase their spiritual energy. This is more than their magical energy but that is a part of it. If you curse someone with this domain you lessen their spiritual energy and remove their ability to regenerate it naturally.]
[Special alert notes:
For the sake of simplicity until you read through the domain and subdomain notes for all of the things you just unlocked we're send you domain and subdomain notifications in pairs rather than one large block of notes.
Dual subdomain details:
The subdomain of arachnids governs spiders, scorpions, and their relatives. This is the subdomain tied to both regular spiders and scorpions, as well as driders, jorogumos, tsuchigumos, arachnes, girtablilus, and other powerful spider or scorpion evolutions.
The serpentes subdomain governs snakes and their evolutions. This subdomain is tied regular snakes, as well as their evolutions into both bigger, more deadly snakes, and powerful hybrids of snakes and other creatures.
Both of these subdomains are tied to the subdomain of poison and thus both are strengthened by you influence over that subdomain. Both are also tied to lust, and the serpentes subdomain is tied to the subdomain of enchantment.
To gain further influence over the subdomains build cults and make use of your powers.
Dual subdomain passive powers:
Mastery: Whenever unevolved and unawakened snakes or arachnids detect you or otherwise become aware of your presence they become your worshipers. As you've been steadily acquiring influence over subdomains pertaining to animals this will now also increase their intelligence.
As you've gained influence over more and more animal subdomains your powers have begun to be able to influence evolved or awakened animals. Evolved or awakened snakes or arachnids are now less likely to attack you unless you attack them first.
As a gradual evolution of the mastery powers, you can also grant creatures the abilities and characteristics of the animals whose subdomains you possess influence over. This means you can grant creatures poison and venom, pit-organs, the ability to shed, wall-climbing, and silk generation. And of course you can make them were-creatures.
Web mastery: You can generate silk and create webs instantly. You can use this to a variety of ends, from capturing prey to marking territory, to binding enemies or sacrifices for future interrogation.
As part of the mastery over webs you've gained, you can also infuse your webs with other characteristics. You can make creatures trapped in them fall asleep, you can infuse them with acid or poison, burn creatures with them, petrify those trapped in them or a number of other things.
Monstrous forms: Redundant power due to your innate shape-shifting. Due to the influence you've earned over a number of animal subdomains you can now consistently take on monstrous forms related to the animals you have influence over. So now you can take on terrifying snake and spider forms that are in essence massive snakes or spiders.
Shedding: You can shed. This power isn't quite the same as a snake's ability to shed. Yours leaves behind a full corpse that looks identical to the form you were in when you used the power.
Heat-sense: You can sense heat around you. You can also grant this to others.
Camouflage: Like the snakes you have influence over, you can now change the coloration of your skin at will.
Evolution: Due to the number of spider-based worshipers you had already acquired, you can now cause spiders to evolve directly into driders at will. Driders who come into being this way become fanatical worshipers of yours.
Limited limb mastery: You can now create and graft spider legs, pincers, eyes, venomous glands, venomous fangs, and scorpion tails onto creatures through your other abilities.
Dual subdomain active powers:
Hypnotic gaze: This synergistic power is a result of the subdomain of enchantment and serpentes mixing together. As a result twice per twelve-hour period, your gaze can just dominate a person whose eyes meet your own. This isn't a themed charm or dominate ability like 'Gratifying gaze', so it's more universally applicable.
Snare: This arachnid power allows you to ensnare victims in a silk-cocoon even if wasn't a web around them. This is a four-times per six-hour period power.
Dual subdomain blessing and curse details:
When blessed by these subdomains the type of creature in question is friendlier to them and they can attempt to tame one such creature per day, even if normally the creature was impossible to tame. When cursed by these subdomains, not only are such animals extra aggressive towards them, their poison is extra dangerous to cursed people.
When blessing an arachnid or a snake with its own subdomain it becomes larger, stronger, and more loyal to you. When cursing a creature with its own subdomain it becomes smaller, weaker, and afraid of you.]
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The moon shone high over the town of Comillas. As Isadora and I walked towards the outskirts of the town, my friend was showing a side of herself that I hadn't really gotten to see.
"You know I wasn't born here." Isadora told me, as we made our way past a few houses. I looked at her, a bit surprised by this, and tilted my eyebrows in an unspoken question. Isadora looked at me and giggled.
"Nope! I sometimes tell people I was, but I was actually born on the mainland of the Reconquista Empire." She explained, casually mentioning the empire Puerto Rico was a part of. She looked at me and smiled, and then asked me an important question.
"So Althos, where were you born?" She asked, her facial expression told me that she was genuinely curious. I chuckled at her and considered how to answer her question. It took me a moment to come up with a response.
"Well Isadora, I was actually born here. Well... Not in Comillas, obviously, but in Puerto Rico. I was born in a community that existed before the Reconquista empire arrived, decades ago." I explained, casually suggesting that Puerto Rico was my home. And in fairness, it was.
I came to life here. I had spent the entirety of my life to date here. I intended to protect this place, and to become its true ruler. Puerto Rico was my home as surely as it was Isadora's. That said, I also knew that my time here was coming to an end.
I casually reached out and touched the mind of a simple spider. It was a small thing, the smallest of its brood. In touching its mind I gained it as a worshiper, and I immediately willed the thing to evolve into a drider. I had plans for it.
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A few minutes later, Isadora and I found ourselves on the very edge of town. We were where someone would walk if they wanted to go to San Gerardo, the only other Reconquista settlement in Puerto Rico.
I had learned a lot about Isadora's childhood. And she had learned that I didn't have one. We had been silent for a few moments when I decided to jump the gun. The first thing I did was activate my "Religious fervor" power, and wait for the familiar blue mist to rise up out of the floor and surround us. When it did I began to speak.
"Isadora I need you to know something. I... want you to know something." I told her, speaking hesitantly. I felt genuine hesitation as I prepared myself to speak. Isadora looked up at me sympathetically and cut me off before I could speak again.
"Oh Althos, it's okay. I know. I know you probably aren't going to spend another night in the Silver Xana." She told me, looking at me with a kind gaze. This shocked me, and I took a step back. The truth was, I didn't mind her jumping to that conclusion but I hadn't even really thought about that since I gained the power to teleport.
"What? Well... The truth is a bit more complicated than that Isadora." I told her, chuckling. She looked at me quizzically and I took on a decidedly more serious facial expression.
"Isadora, do you know anything about higher-beings?" I asked, meeting her gaze with my own. As she looked at me her face twisted in confusion. I could tell that I was confusing her, so it caught me off guard when she did reply to my question with a more detailed answer than I thought possible.
"Well... I know that they existed. I mean I don't know much, but as a child books about mythological and ancient history were some of my favorite ones to read. Unfortunately, I had to get my uncle to read them to me." She said, reminiscing about the past. As she did her gaze grew distant and I could tell she was remembering a far off place and a time in her childhood.
"Oh! So you do know about us..." I said, so thoroughly surprised that I accidentally said the word "us" instead of "them". Fortunately, Isadora didn't notice what I said as she was so engrossed in her silent recollection of her childhood. It took her a minute to return fully to the present.
"Sorry, what were you saying?" She asked when she finished her trip down nostalgia lane. I chuckled and felt emboldened. I quietly activated "Unfettered Divinity", wanting her to believe me and sensing that this was a worthwhile usage of the power.
Isadora and I were both bathed in a sudden and inexplicable column of radiant light. It illuminated Isadora's tan skin and she sighed in relief as if the light were healing her or at least relieving of some long-standing affliction. She closed her eyes and allowed the light to wash over her.
I chuckled and watched her bask in the light. It took her a moment to come back to me and to the present.
"Isadora, you deserve to know the truth about what I am." I told her, as she gazed at me. She was studying me, or at least she was trying too. I could tell that she was having a hard time focusing. I grinned at her, happy that she was enjoying the feeling of the radiant light.
"Isadora the truth is that I'm a god. A member of the strongest species of higher-beings from the mythic age." I revealed, smiling at her all the while. Isadora's eyes went wide at my confession, and a look of confusion suddenly etched itself onto her face.
"But... But that's impossible. The gods, they all vanished. It was a total disappearance." She said, pain visible in her eyes. I looked at her in confusion, surprised that my power didn't quite work on her as it had on the assorted elves I had brought to the zone of unfettered divinity yesterday.
Her face started to contort, and I was surprised to get domain-sense notifications alerting me to the fact that she was in pain. I quickly and almost immediately cast "Numb pain" and began to channel healing energy directly into her.
"Whoa... What's going on? You're standing in the area of one of my powers, you shouldn't be able to deny its effects." I muttered, thinking aloud as I placed one of my hands on her face. I abruptly stopped receiving the notifications alerting me to her being in pain, which caused me to sigh in relief.
[Althos, assess her right now. The truth subdomain's quest might have a hidden meaning behind it.] The system instructed me, which confused me but I didn't hesitate to do as the system told me.
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[Name: Isadora Santiago
Species: Nephilim (Angelic ancestor: Angel of lies)
Alignment: Neutral good
Personal virtue: Diligence
Personal vice: Sloth
Magic sensing: Isadora is a nephilim. Nephilims are hybrids who had a mortal parent and either an angelic parent or an ancestor who was angelic.
Nephilims are naturally magical creatures, though it is possible for their angelic genes to enter a dormant state and only reawaken if they encounter another angel or nephilim or a higher-being. The sort of magic a nephilim is capable of using is dependent on their angelic parent or ancestor.
Isadora is in all likelihood capable of using enchantment magic naturally.
Faith sense: Isadora has strong emotional ties to her family, especially her uncle. Her uncle is a secular monk in Espana, the capital city of the Reconquista empire. She also has significant ties to her community, Comillas. As a child, the young hybrid dreamed of meeting a higher-being.
Authority detection: Isadora is a respected member of her community. She has worked at her family's business almost her entire life. Isadora is probably the most respected young member of her community.
Soul-sense: Isadora's childhood dream was to meet a higher-being. She was raised on tales of the mythic age and wanted to stand in the presence of a creature capable of creating life from nothing.
That said, Isadora is now a normal person and though she has a soul that leaves her likely to become an incredibly pious person she has too much of an independence streak to be a particularly skilled member of the religious classes.
Special notes:
Isadora, as a hybrid with dormant genes, possesses many especially fierce vestigial abilities. Past attempts to assess her would have in all likelihood classified her as a human. It was exposing her to the power of a truth-oriented ability that caused her quiet genetics to abruptly awaken.
Normally a nephilim would still be affected by your power. Isadora's ability to resist comes from the fact that she has a special heritage: she's descended from an angel of lies. Angels of lies are innately resistant to abilities that focus on truth, and even their children have some resistance to such powers.]
"So that's why..." I muttered, shocked as I read through Isadora's information. I was positively floored by this discovery.
[An angel of lies huh? Wow, those are rare. Though if they liked this planet that might be why we couldn't detect the volcanic angels from earlier. That might even explain the minds of volcanic angels being broken... Angels of lies in large numbers can do... a lot.] The system muttered, providing an explanation and an excuse for its earlier ignorance.
[Still... a nephilim? Wow. And she was the first person you met too!] The system said, as shocked by this development as I was.
I chuckled and began to tend to Isadora, including taking her out of the range of my ability.
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A few minutes later Isadora was fully recovered and back to her old self. And more than that she still remembered what I said. And so she was currently looking at me with the expression of a mouse caught in a snake's gaze. Or she was until she began to talk.
"So wait... You really are a god?" She asked, and I nodded at her. We were currently standing face to face, or at least face to chest. I was taller than she was.
"Wow... Wow!" She replied, as floored by this as I was of her status as some sort of hybrid of an angel and a human. I chuckled.
"Do you have a divine realm?" She asked, her eyes lighting up as she prepared to question me. I chuckled. I shook my head at this, and she deflated for a second. I could see her disappointment on her face and it almost made me audibly laugh.
"Can you enter dreams?" She asked, having remained deflated for an instant before perking back up. I nodded at her and grinned at that question. Her eyes widened when I told her that I could.
"How strong are you?" She asked a second after her eyes widened. This was a trickier question, so I actually had to speak to her to answer it.
"What are you asking precisely? Are you asking in terms of physical strength?" I asked, aware that that had a separate answer than if she was asking about something like divine strength. She contemplated my question for a second before giving it an answer.
"Physical strength." She said a smile on her face. I chuckled at her and nodded.
"I'm infinitely strong." I confessed, before adding to that statement. "I can do any feat related to physical strength." I explained, just to clarify.
We'd spend the next hour together and she'd ask me question after question. I took her home after a while, and promised that I'd answer more of her questions at a later date. I still had things I wanted to get done tonight so when I let her go I immediately teleported to my remote coastal community.
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I found myself standing on a beach. To my left I could see the ocean, teeming with aquatic life and even bioluminescent lifeforms. To my right, I could see the village I had created, complete with lit torches and other tiny sources of light. The truth was that I was here for a reason.
I walked down the shore to the actual edge of the water. The tide was low, so I had to spend a few moments walking before I reached the edge of the warm ocean. When I reached it I stopped and let the water lap at my feet.
The water was an exquisitely clear blue and was beautiful to behold. I studied it for a moment, before kneeling down and beginning to think about how to proceed.
"I need to use liquid in three ways. I've already used it to heal." I muttered to myself. I considered the wording of the quest for a moment.
"Use". So the liquid had to be the one to do whatever I wanted it to do. I mulled that over, while willing myself lightly into the air. I then began to walk over the ocean and look down into it.
Out of curiosity, I decided to perform an experiment. I targeted a fish, one of many dozen in this shallow part of the coast, and willed the water in front of it to turn poisonous, shortly before said water entered its throat.
I didn't change the water's state as a liquid, rather I just changed its qualities. The fish began to slow and shiver as the poison took hold, but I then immediately cured it of the damage it was suffering using magic.
At that moment, since my plans had changed, I decided to summon my new drider companion to my side. He appeared below me, standing tall and deeply confused as I teleported him to my side without warning. I chuckled as I looked at him, and commanded him to catch.
I looked at and targeted another fish. I grabbed the thing by chilling the water around it enough to slow it down but not freeze it and then used my power over air to hurl the thing at the drider. My monstrous companion, alerted to my antics ahead of time, was ready and caught the fish as it approached him.
He looked at it with hungry eyes and lifted the thing to his face using one of his human hands. As he did so, I received a welcome notification. One that alerted me that I had gained access to two new subdomains: the subdomain of evocation and the subdomain of liquids.
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[Dual subdomain details:
The subdomain of liquid is the final elemental subdomain you needed to unlock to gain access to the quest to become a lesser elemental overlord. It is the subdomain that governs water, blood, and other fluids.
The subdomain of evocation is a magical subdomain. With it you can manipulate energy and cast offensive spells that deal considerable harm to those struck by them.
Both subdomains require all of the conventional tasks for you to acquire more influence over them.
Dual subdomain passive powers:
Animate element: This synergistic power stems from your powers over life, spirits, and elements. Now you can animate an area of flames, water, earth, or air. By animating it you bring it to life. Unless you grant it a soul whatever you animate will revert back to its natural state within an hour. Once animated you can give it commands it will follow.
Aquakinesis: You can manipulate water. This power is very similar to the manipulation abilities you've gained for all of your other elemental subdomains.
Aquatic freedom: You can grant others the ability to breathe and move freely underwater. You also gain these abilities though you had them naturally. Creatures who are granted aquatic freedom by you also gain immunity to the damaging effects of water pressure.
Class granting: You both become and are now capable of granting the following classes: magician, and sorcerer. Sorcerers are those who study magic academically and learn about it through conventional means, while magicians are innate spellcasters who are tuned to all things magical.
Cryokinesis & Hygrokinesis: You can manipulate ice, water vapor, and steam. Ice is the solidified form of water, and by manipulating it you can launch powerful attacks, paralyze foes, or even create pathways connecting areas separated by water. Steam and water vapor manipulation allow you to obstruct foes, burn enemies, and make areas difficult to navigate without changing the landscape.
Elemental senses extension: You gain the ability to detect life and other things in water. Your power that was originally known as tremorsense has now reached a new level of power and range.
Evocation manipulation: Spells that manipulate natural energy are subject to your whims. You can make such spells fail altogether, bounce back at the caster, or be magnified several times over.
Generation: You can generate water, blood, and other elements you control at will.
Hemokinesis: You can manipulate blood. This is a weakened form of an upgradeable power, so, for now, you can only manipulate blood that is outside of the body. That said you can see through blood and even animate it.
Ooze mastery: You gain total dominion over slimes, oozes, and jellies. These lifeforms are among the simplest in existence, and now they are yours to command. They are animated puddles of water, acid, lava, poison, and other liquids that now serve you.
You can create and awaken these creatures at any time.
Water alteration: You can alter the traits of water. You can deoxygenate it, make it possible to be walked on, make it acidic or poison, superheat it, or other things.
Spirit creation: You can create any type of elemental spirit. By acquiring this power your overall spiritual power has increased.
Dual subdomain active powers:
True-Hemokinesis: For a period of an hour per half-day you can temporarily upgrade your hemokinesis power. By doing so you can manipulate blood anywhere it can be found.
Magic amplification: For a period of up to half an hour a day you can amplify the effects of spells cast by you or someone else.
Dual subdomain blessing and curse details:
Blessing someone with the evocation subdomain makes evocation spells stronger and cheaper. Cursing them does the opposite.
Blessing someone with the liquid subdomain grants them water-breathing and lets them heal faster while underwater. Cursing someone with the liquid subdomain makes liquids actively painful for them to touch and reduces their ability to hold their breath.
Special note:
You've obtained access to the quest to become a lesser elemental overlord. To do so, you must create a sustainable, flying island. Once you do you'll gain access to the abilities granted to the weakest elemental overlords.
This flying island must have spaces dedicated to all four of the elements.]
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And for the next few days, I entered into a routine that gave me valuable time to practice my current powers and establish a new normal. I'd continue to complete quests, and be trained by Dr. Cortes during the day, and then visit the four communities that were either officially or unofficially a part of my empire during the night.
During this time I was careful to not actively create more undead, or cause any major changes to the world. I used this time to make sense of the knowledge I had gained, and begin to slowly gain allies using dreams to meet intriguing creatures and making offers to creatures I suspected would be interested in power.
By the time I was 10 days old, I felt more organized and ready to take on the world than ever before. And so did my servants and worshipers.