"Interesting... Interesting..." Deep in thought, Horos rubbed his chin as he eyed the shiny piece of metal in front of him, quite frankly, he found that the people of this world had no real use for bronze, at all, though it can be argued that the metal can have its niches in the rich due to how shiny it is but in the end, that's what it would be, a shiny piece of thing that has no other use than making the aristocrats and royalty up top feel happy about owning it. Longevity did have its uses of course, but magic, in the end, trumps the bronze's natural properties.
"It is quite the item," Horos admitted, "Though I do not see any real use for it,"
"Why?" Jacob asked, confused, he tried his best not to look around the God's "realm", which all its own, is just one massive library filled with "books" - Horos has explained to him that with his max leveled [Commune], Jacob's sees the realm as something that makes him the most comfortable, so in the end, the massive library around him is the result of his own subconscious translating the God's home.
For Horos though, it is a world of mana that memorizes and speaks for him, like right now when he asked the energy to gather the knowledge and make as their own. A whirlpool of mana surged around the two of them for a split second before disappearing for as fast as it had come.
"Huh," Horos heard Jacob murmur, "what was it like for you?" He asked curiously as he took a look around, Horos smiled but didn't speak, making Jacob do so in his stead, "it was like the library came alive for me," he explained, "books and papers flew around in a tornado of sheets that swirled across the great library that I am seeing, it was... amazing, if I were to be honest."
Horos smiled, "Poetic," he said, his lips curving ever more upwards when he saw Jacob's confused expression, "what I mean is, you're explanation could've been poetic," and it was, though only for Horos, as one of the three Gods that manages the [One Language] of the world, he has the choice whether or not the language that he hears is what he wants, or, what the speaker wants.
Naturally, Horos prefers to hear things that are... amicable to him, the people of the physical plane can be quite crass after all.
"It is weird, I think," Jacob said, "that everything around here shifts into what is fitting for the looker to see," Jacob hummed as Horos tilted his head, intrigued at what his minor sense of recognition was telling him, "What was the saying again?" Jacob hummed as he tapped his thigh, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder?"
Ah. He's heard that before. "Indeed," Horos admitted, "Though it is more literal in my realm, or, any other Gods' realm when their... speaker has a commune as strong as yours,"
"I see," Jacob nodded sagely, "that is quite interesting,"
"It is, isn't it?" Horos replied, "Though a constantly shifting illusion spell is rather normal when you're in the same level of power as that of the Gods, after all, living in the same realm as the Fae would... often make anyone born there rather adept and quite resistant to illusion magic," Horos chuckled at the memory of a 20 Foot tall Fairy glaring at him while protecting her home because a younger him had invaded it, truth be told, that had been an accident, and it was mostly because he didn't know how to properly spot (and avoid) illusions yet.
Though he was glad that it happened, he did get his first Fae Friend out of it in the end.
"Wait, so Fae live here too?" Jacob asked, his head turning in all directions, which snapped back to Horos when he chuckled.
"They do, but not in my realm. They cannot go here." Well, except for a few of them, though that was mostly because he has connections to those Fae. Jacob mulled over that fact and when Horos deemed that he wouldn't be surprised by such news, he decided to let Jacob know about the state of the "lesser" [Fire Elemental] that he had summoned back when he fought against the Gnolls, "I know a few of them, the Fae, that is." Jacob perked up and the kid's focus was on him, "And that includes the [Prime Fire Elemental] that you summoned,"
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"Excuse me?" Jacob's confused expression meant the world to Horos as the God chuckled in good nature.
"I do believe I was being direct when I said that," Horos said with mirth, "I know of the [Prime Fire Elemental] that you have summoned,"
"But wasn't that a [Lesser Fire Elemental]?" Jacob asked and Horos shook his head, his collage like form shifting like ink with each minor movement.
"I'm afraid not," Horos joked, then when he saw that Jacob didn't get it, he cleared his throat- right, he most likely hadn't summoned a creature by accident yet. Continuing without missing a beat, Horos explained why things happened as they were, "See, on your hand back then was nothing more than a simple catalyst for summoning,"
Jacob nodded, understanding on his face, Horos knew that the kid got that much already, though explaining it would give context, "And items like that allow spirits to have a minor sense of the surrounding physical plane," shocked, understanding, then Jacob's expression cooled itself before nodding, "This means that spirits generally tend to watch out for anything that might endanger them through the catalysts and thus, back then, most elementals were wary of the Gnolls and the Warbeast, especially so for lesser ones."
"Wait, so I wouldn't have been able to summon something?" Jacob asked and Horos shook his head.
"Not... really." Horos explained, "Your System would've been able to create a [Lesser Fire Elemental] if it deemed the situation of being worthy as such,"
"So it's just my system again," Jacob replied.
"Yes." Horos answered, Jacob probably knew what possessing something like that meant- that being the Gods quite literally having no hand in Jacob's existence, be it through his creation of life, or even power. Making him completely independent. - "Though, thankfully that didn't need to happen because much like me, a few Fae have taken an interest in you," when Jacob flinched, Horos caught something in his mind- a.. Dryad. Huh. Interesting. He saved that for later. "and when you got that catalyst, it just so happens to be that one of my friends, the elemental who's piece you have summoned, realized who was holding that catalyst and decided to keep an eye on you,"
"I see." Jacob nodded in response. "So when I tried to summon something, it answered?"
"Yes." Horos replied, "He decided to give you a small piece of him in order to assist the battle, you should thank your lucky stars that you have gotten something so experienced, any other fire elemental would've just given in to their nature and set everything on fire, including yourself and your allies."
Jacob paled, Horos chuckled, "Worry not, the system most likely wouldn't allow for such a thing to happen, though, it's best not to rely on it."
"I know." Jacob said and Horos felt proud.
"Are you curious about its origins?" He asked the young man and to his surprise, he simply shook his head.
"Nope." He replied evenly, "I don't really care where it came from,"
"I see. Good." Horos smiled, guess the Tapestry has decided to pick someone more reasonable from the void this time, truly, out of all the countless souls residing there, how come the Tapestry picks egotistical and unreasonable bastards every time?
"Hmmm... then do you want to know about the responsibility of being given that System?"
Jacob reluctantly nodded, "Then I won't tell you," Horos replied as he stood up, his realm shifted alongside him and the world came to life, "and, I'm afraid that this is the limit of our conversation, though, I am glad to have it."
"Then this is goodbye?" Jacob asked with a tinge of regret.
"Yes." He said and with a wave of his hand, the young man sitting in front of him disappeared.
"Responsibility huh?" Horos muttered. Honestly, even he did not know about such things, for all the people before Jacob had simply come at the right time and in the right place- in this case, it would be the physical plane amidst a great war. Though as for why the System turned him into a [Mage], Horos can roughly guess, and those guesses are all bad.
After all, mages can potentially have the ability to interact with the Ethereal Plane, and the possibility of Jacob having the need to go to the Ethereal Plane the moment that he is done with saving the Physical Plane is... rather ominous.