Jasper landed with a heavy thud, his body screaming at him as he didn't really brace for the impact. Thanks to the Endurance Domain, the god wasn't tired, despite it being in the middle of the night, and he had effectively been sprinting for hours on end.

Behind him, his wings transformed into a cloak as he took in the town he had landed in.

Ytruplund was a quiet town. It was nestled at the bottom of a large chain of mountains that isolated the Empire from the howling winds of the north. Jasper knew that there were a lot of hidden treasures further north, but that would be something for the players to find and use.

That did mean that the view from the town was amazing, with high looming mountains where a couple of flying silhouettes could be seen. The Father of Dragons was sure that the ones he saw in the distance were his grandchildren, but there would be no use in trying to defeat them outright. Instead, he would need to cull them in some way. It would probably be a job for the heroes guild.

Maybe slaying a dragon could be part of the initiation ritual. A dangerous quest to truly be considered a hero.

Jasper pulled himself from his thoughts. Getting lost in them was becoming much more frequent as his attention drifted more and more. Around him, lights slowly started to appear from small, cosy houses. They weren't built just to provide shelter, as many of the stacked slum houses had been in Salezstadt. Ytruplund was definitely much better maintained. Underneath Jasper was hard cobblestone roads that provided as smooth a ride as anyone would expect. An aqueduct brought water down from the mountains and gave the town citizens fresh water to collect.

The town itself had almost a thousand houses, making it quite big overall. There was a town hall and a church showing the symbols of Ewen and Kelllwan. And all around the town was a dirt mound but no real wall.

The sound of people talking gradually became louder as people noticed the stranger standing in the middle of the street. He hadn't landed with grace, and it had probably woken people up.

Jasper didn't care. He didn't really have time to rest or talk with people. He would need to find his old student before he was pulled into something else.

A quick miracle before sunrise told Jasper that his student owned a small manor just outside of town, which was producing almost 5% of all wine for the Empire.

Health 47/47 Energy 2/8

As the god made his way out towards the border of the city, a squat of guards came running towards him. He noticed their distinct blue and white colours. The crown was proudly displayed on leather badges signifying them as the townguard. He even noted a couple of mages in the back of the squat.

All in all, Jasper wasn't impressed with them. Not only did they seem haggard and kinda overwhelmed, but they also lacked any true cohesion. Jasper assumed that he had just woken them up or pulled them from a night of drinking. He felt a little bad about that. It was a shame that he had to pull them out like this.

Jasper froze for a moment. He couldn't try to talk his way out of this or fight them since that would waste his guaranteed success. It would be like using diplomatic immunity to get out of a parking fine.

Instead of talking to them, he manifested a spell, pulling on the school of mentalism. He forced their brains to think they couldn't see. As Jasper cast the spell, large sections on the houses around him lit up, creating The Hand of Magnus, the rune that he had made so long ago.

The spell still went off, but he actually had to put a point of Energy into casting it instead of just allowing it to pour from his hand. It was as expensive as casting an Ur-spell, and yet nowhere near as effective.

Jasper grumbled. He would have to consider the fact that using mentalism wasn't as effective in the empire.

Health 47/47 Energy 1/8

The bright side was that the guards were blinded and were suddenly screaming for help. Maybe that last part wasn't as positive, but it gave Jasper the option of taking flight once more.

From the air, he quickly spotted the house he was looking for. It was a kilometre from the town, located among some very beautiful fields. Underneath Jasper, he could hear people screaming about dragon attacks, and Jasper did his best to ignore them, at least for now.

Landing outside his old student's home, he knocked on the door. Only for a young man, barely out of his teen years, to open the door with a smile.

"I will be right there to help with the dra-" The smile seemed to freeze on the man's face when he saw Jasper.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Jasper didn't have to be the god of knowledge to know that he didn't recognize this man. Not only was he younger, but he had the bearing of someone who was used to hard work and not spellcasting. However, the man clearly knew Jasper.

The most realistic explanation was that this was Jasper's old student.

Jasper ran through the options:

* Necromancer - The boy was a lich in disguise.

* Ur-magic - The boy had used Ur-magic to prolong his life.

* Mentalism - Transfering a mind from one person to another was technically possible, though dangerous.

Jasper eliminated them one by one. There was no indication that what was standing before him was a dead man in any way. Clearly, it couldn't be a lich. There wasn't the sense that this man had any sort of great mana generation that would allow him to cast ur-spells, which left Jasper with one option.

To confirm his thoughts, he allowed his eyes to look deeply into the man's eyes and used A Truth That Burns.

A truth that Burns Description [https://i.postimg.cc/PqZnL7Jh/image.png]

Text from image:

> A Truth that Burns

> Type: Activated ability.

> Energy usage: Until next loading screen.

> Full effect: Choose a visible target. Learn the knowledge of them or their plans that they least want you to know. Worthy foes get a Spirit saving throw to resist this subtle inquisition.

Jasper instantly knew what the man didn't want him to know, and the god felt disgust.

Jasper's former student had been seeking out unfortunate young men who could not pay their bills or support their families, offering them riches beyond anything they could earn in exchange for their bodies.

He would then transfer his mind from his old body to this new one and then introduce himself as his own son before becoming a renowned hero for the locals.

"I-i am sorry, sir. My father isn't here." The young boy said, clearly trying to hide his true identity.

The god's eyes felt like they were burning, looking at the wretched soul before him that had been pulled from body to body, all in the hopes of avoiding what was natural.

The gust of wind that Jasper produced would have been enough to knock over a cart. He even heard the sound of pottery hitting the ground.

The young man's magical defences sprang up, defending him from taking too much damage, even as he hit the brick wall behind him. The sound of the wall breaking could be heard loudly through the room.

"Talk," Jasper said, his anger threatening to boil over.

He could take away this man's knowledge and force him to forget every spell. Leave him a husk, just like he had left Longknife. He would never hurt anyone ever again. However, that would just leave him with no options for guildmaster of the heroes guild.

Why had his Knowledge Domain pointed to this filth as a potential guildmaster? As the young lad slowly got up from the fall, Jasper realized how stupid he was. For being the god of knowledge, he really was dumb.

Jasper's student had been willing to throw himself at a dragon with little hesitation. If he had lived for hundreds of years, it was obvious that with that attitude, he would have performed more heroic deeds than most.

"You know, I am not going to pretend to be the saviour of these people, but honestly, would you trade one person's life to save a hundred?" The young man said with a weariness that seemed far too deep-rooted to be natural. He was slowly getting on his feet but wasn't taking a combat stance.

The god of magic knew where the man was going with this. He might remove one person every hundred years or so, and to boot that would be a willing person, all so he could fight monsters and save those around him.

Jasper sighed, slowly walking inside, letting the earth burst from the floor and holding the new guildmaster in place. They had a lot to discuss.

It turned out Jasper's student had gone by Fabian Cremeheart. However, in this body, he went by the name Donagus Lysvalen. Over the last few centuries, he had been making a name for his family. Once it became clear that Donagus wouldn't try to fight a god, Jasper eased up on him a bit more.

The process that Donagus used to transfer his mind apparently wasn't perfect. He would usually lose some of the knowledge he had obtained, and his manapool would effectively start at a novice level again. He would still remember the life of the young man whose body he inhabited, but at the same time, he could remember his original life.

Jasper couldn't help but wonder if he truly was taking over the boy's body or if he was just giving him a ton of memories and lessons learned that essentially coalesced into the same lived experience, resulting in effectively the same person with only a slightly modified moral compass.

The question, however, was whether it mattered. Donagus truly believed that he was doing something morally corrupt. Otherwise, that wouldn't be the vision that Jasper had seen when he looked at Donagus' soul.

They talked a bit more through the night, only as the sun rose did Jasper feel like he knew what was going on.

"Fine, I will not bring down divine punishment on you." The god finally said. "But do not think that you have been absolved of guilt just because I have chosen not to smite you. Other gods might take offense to your unnatural acts... including my wife. If other gods do not deem this a crime, then know that the kingdoms of mortals certainly will. Anyone who lives forever is a threat to both kings and gods." Jasper concluded.

Donagus nodded. "That is understood." He said before looking at his old teacher. "So what now?"

Jasper pushed up his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. "How would you like a job as the guildmaster for the heroes guild?" He finally asked and smiled slightly when he saw the notification before him.

Divine Domain message: Luck [https://i.postimg.cc/13hR46Dr/image.png]

Text from image:

Divine Domain Message: Luck

Failures: 0/5

Donagus nodded. "Fine. If you think I am fit for that role, I will take it, " he said, his voice trembling with emotion.

As the sun hit the wooden floor of the foyer, Jasper could hear people moving outside the house. Apparently, Donagus had guests. Jasper checked his reserves before smiling and turning his attention to the door.

Health 47/47 Energy 8/8

"Let us go and calm down the cityguard. I think they might believe you are under attack from a dragon," Jasper said with a smirk, releasing Donagus and walking out of the house.