Sister Alexandria rolled her eyes.
"Of course he would. He's been blessed twice already."
The crab swung it's body side to side, as if to shake its head.
"Incorrect, Karkinos senses more than two gods, perhaps 4, maybe even 5."
Sister Alexandria looked confused by that statement, as she pondered that comment.
Richard was just lost. 4? 5? When would he have encountered two other gods.
Pandamonium rolled his eyes. "You're overthinking it you jumbo-sized freak seafood plate! Look over here you moron! Me and the worm! Notice anything?!"
Karkinos squinted his eyes as he stared at the two, before looking at Richard, squinting at the group.
"Perhaps. Karkinos cannot tell who those gods are. It is... ambiguous."
He sounded unsure, which also left Richard a bit anxious. clearly, however, clearly Richard was the only one who cared.
"WHO cares which gods were giving my stupid lizard the stink eye! Look at the F*%&ING forest! It's ruined, gone, reduced to nothing!"
Sister Alexandria clearly seemed nonplussed about this however. "It's fine" she said dismissively. "Give it a few years, maybe a decade or two, and it'll be back to normal"
"Oh, yeah, that's just fine and dandy, just wait a few years, yeah sure, I"M A FEW MONTHS OLD< MAYBE A YEAR OR TWO, A FEW YEARS IS LIKE A LIFETIME AROUND HERE!"
Richard was inclined to agree to a certain extent, though he wouldn't express it so.
Atlas was... chewing. Probably the only calm one, who'd luckily been carried over by sister Alexandria.
Still very cute, but now it was just a bit more obvious Richard would have to keep a close eye on the little critter, lest something similar happen again.
Wait.
Again?
Hopefully not.
That wasn't something to make a habit of.
How many of this... thing could be napping about.
Pandamonium clearly had no problem expressing his concern.
"WHY THE F&*k IS THERE A GOD NAPPING AROUND HERE ANYWAYS! WHY ARE YOU SO CALM ABOUT THIS! THIS ISN'T JUST A CASUAL THING !"
This, sister Alexandria conceded with.
"Karkinos is a friend of mine, who came from the East. He's a um... self-made god." She seemed linger on those words.
"Self-made?" blurted out Richard. He couldn't help himself. "What does that mean? Is he self-proclaimed or..."
"He's real alright." snorted the squirrel. "I can smell the divine aura all over this giant hunk of seafood. He's very much a god. You have to give him some credit for that." he said, clearly annoyed about that.
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"Indeed, Karkinos is a true god, who actually earned his place. Karkinos is a great god!" Boasted the crab.
"Oh shut it!" complained the squirrel. "What kind of god just drops down in the middle of nowhere and just naps! Some godhood this is! Man, what a perfectly good use of that stature of divinity this is. Napping out here, if you were going to do that, why bother even becoming a god!?" He mocked.
Richard had other priorities of course. "How did he become a god though? I didn't know becoming a god was possible. I mean, I always regarded it more as a fairy tale, the kind of stories spread by the church to spread their gospel."
"Well those are very much an entire other thing going on. As for Karkinos here, he is what the easterners call a "cultivator". They use a special technique of circulating that which they call "qi" to create a unique internal spiritual system, which they build and improve upon until they reach what they call the pinnacle and break through to becoming a god."
"Eh?" said Richard. He was still a bit lost. There was a lot to ask about in that statement, and currently he wasn't sure where to start.
Pandamonium sighed.
"Qi is some other energy running through our body. Don't worry about that. And it's basically just more complicated mana circle, that's made to help restructure their souls into divine souls."
"And that works?" Richard asked uncertainly.
"Well case in point:" Panda indicated towards the giant crab, who flexed his claws appreciatively.
Panda did clear things up for Richard, but regardless of the explanation, Richard had more questions.
Sister Alexandria had more important things to focus on though.
"Ok, look, whatever, we can talk some more about this later. Care to explain what all this is? You told me you wouldn't wake up for another few centuries"
She asked.
Oh yeah. No one had really explained this situation.
Including...
"Krackle..."
"Yes?" Krackle asked happily.
"... What have you been up to in the last few weeks?"
Clearly, Richards had been paying too little attention
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Krackle had been lurking, exploring, searching Krackle's new domain.
As Krackle grappled alongst the bottom of the lake, Krackle couldn't help but notice under the layers of dirt, there was more.
A weird course surface.
How odd.
Krackle found that by scrubbing the surface a blue surface made itself apparent.
Krackle found this interesting.
In it's free time when Krackle wasn't hunting, Krackle took the time to look for unique features in this blue surface.
Bumps, ridges, hills, so man unique features, it gave Krackle endless amusement!
Krackle also occasionally felt rumblings in the land as it moved ever so slightly.
Occasionally Krackle would find itself referring to itself in third person as a voice passed in and out of its mind.
Just as quickly as the voice appeared, it disappeared.
Krackle felt its encouragement, amusement in its voice, and in this, Krackle found great joy.
Nonetheless, the experiences came and went.
One day Krackle encountered 4 giant rocks, swaying in the water, which particularly stood out amongst the little obstacles in the water, leading Krackle to dust these swaying rocks.
The outer two gave way to red swaying whips, fervently moving in the water, and seeing them filled Krackle with anticipation.
And when she uncovered the final two rocks, she came face to face with two looming black holes, the abyss itself, and it welcomed her.
"My student" came the voice, finally clear and present.
"Karkinos looks forward to our next lessons."
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Krackle would spend the next few weeks learning tips and tricks from the rumbling voice in her head.
Despite her only awareness of their new master being two eyes coming out of the dirt, Krackle trusted their teacher fully for an unknown reason, learning all the hunting techniques he could offer, the camoflauge, even the earth controlling techniques.
One day, when their master handed them a shell to eat, Krackle told their teacher about the very same day, and their teacher chuckled, speaking of things Krackle could not understand.
And when Krackle finally gained the ability to fly, Krackle wanted to show their teacher they could fly. Sadly however, since their master was in the lake, he could not see them fly.
Their teacher understood Krackle's issue, and thus strived to fix the problem their student lamented over.
So teacher got up that day.
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"So you've been awake for the last few weeks?"
"THAT"S WHY YOU GOT UP AND DESTROYED THE WHOLE GODDAMN AREA! FOR A GODDAMN SHOW-AND-TELL! WHAT KIND OF HAREBRAINED, BASIC ASS BITCH KIND OF THINKING IS THAT! MY GOD WHY EVEN NAP LIKE THIS WHEN YOU'RE GOING TO DO SO-"
"Krackle learned earth control techniques?"
nom nom nom nom nom
Clearly everyone had different thoughts currently.