With the end of the conclave, I returned to my physical, mortal shell. The Divinity I invested in the Avatar beyond the spell cost returned, all of one point. I checked my Perks and they were all marked with [Soul-Bonded]. And {Fast-Learner} was back to powers of eight instead of five.

Would a fight against the Broodmother cause enough damage to warrant the attention of the Pantheon? I was forced to believe so. Because the cowardly bitch wouldn’t come at me alone. No, I was sure she would bring a dragon flight with her, clouding the skies and smothering the sun with scaled bodies. Given the dragons’ proclivity to mass destruction, they could very well lay waste to the place we fought.

And since she was the attacker, I had little say on the time and place of our fight. Although I had good reason to believe she would use all the time she had, coming down only at the last minute. And she would come at full power.

Defeating Bundeus was a fluke. I’d destroyed his church on two continents before Lakerta and then destroyed what was left of his temples along with his slave collar business. He’d lost a few domains and was running on fumes. I would even guess that he’d borrowed some Divinity. Therefore, I didn’t fight a God, I fought a guy with divine powers.

I could try to undermine the Broodmother’s support base. It was nearly impossible though. I doubt I would be able to pry from the other minor deities what she held over them and break those chains. It was a risk and a potential waste of time. The truth was that I was a total newb at this God business and had no idea how these deals were enforced. I only knew the Gods couldn’t go against their Domains. It was intrinsic. Weakening Windemere, or mass-murdering the Kin would cause me to lose the Domains and the power associated with them, along with other penalties. I had no idea what penalties but I was certain they existed. It was as if the Universe was telling me it was a bad idea to go against it.

In that regard, Loki had a lot of freedom. As the God of Mischief, behaving erratically was in his Domain. However, the Norse Trickster was an honorable deity. As shown in the Myth of Sif’s Hair, he honored his commitments. He saved himself from being beheaded on a technicality. He should be the patron deity of lawyers for all I knew. Tabletop RPG rules lawyers should pray to him.

Yeah, he might become the God of Geeks. Oh, by the All-Father. It would be hilarious.

Maybe it was a calculated move. Show my real intentions and paint the dragon-bitch in a bad light. Soften the impact of her demise. The worst she could do to me was to imprison my soul somewhere. I would eventually break free. For entities like me, time had little meaning if I had no attachments. For example, right now I had family, friends, and a plan to turn Windemere into a representative democracy. Right now, it would hurt me.

But first, the notifications.

> The Pantheon granted you the Perks:

>

> * Soul-Bonded Perks (unique): All your [Combined], [Heritage], and [Unique] Perks are now bonded to your soul and carry over to your next life. They cannot be removed in any way. You cannot grant your own [Heritage] Perks.

> * Eternal Reincarnator (unique): Upon true death, the System automatically captures and sets your soul for reincarnation.

> * Legacy Fast-Learner (unique): Multiply all Exp gains by 10^(Rank +1), where Rank is the Exp source’s rank.

I sat down and started to write a list of objectives. If the brood-whore intended to use her thousand years to prepare for the fight, I would use it to enjoy life. I had two timetables. One, three hundred years (give or take five years) to get Lorna back. And a thousand for the fight of the Millenium. Ugh. Terrible pun. With that much time in hand, I could balance work and life. Enjoy my companions, get Helger to put his grudge with Ridel behind and move on past Nozmizla’s death, grow some plants, spend time with my kitsune siblings. Make sure Windemere didn’t crash once the bubble of this golden age popped.

We had a lot of lands but too many people would lead to a degradation of the quality of life. Not to mention populational growth. We were in a situation where we couldn’t use the best method of population control, wars. There was nobody to fight around us. Sadian, Lonid, Ekar, our closest neighbors were all in an amicable relationship. Rabet and Pruinvel, the other two we shared a small border with, also weren’t too keen on fighting. No monsters came from Tuisto’s valley and the mountains around it. The only location where monsters could enter Windemere was from the southeastern mountains near the Godfall Swamp, and Mirina was fortifying the foothills there.

What we did have left was to turn people into Adventurers and shove them in the Dungeon. It was very profitable although monster presence in our tunnels wasn’t as prolific as the ones under Perenneth. It all had to do with spawn rate and monster migratory patterns. The former was rather uniform along the Dungeon tunnels, as far as scholars knew. The latter depended on having more tunnels around your location. It was literally a case of mileage.

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Monsters wandered from places with high populational density to deserted tunnels, attempting to eke out a living out of the Dungeon mana. Hence, tunnels that were constantly cleaned by Adventurers attracted monsters. Let’s not forget the free banquet from leftover monster carcasses. Our Dungeon tunnels to the north were shared with Lonid’s so neither monster wandered in from these directions for either country. Tuisto’s valley cut spawns underneath its borders, leaving Windemere with wandering monsters from only two directions against Perenneth’s three.

I burned the paper. I’d done enough for Windemere. Whatever happens now, it is someone else’s problem. It was time to look after my own interests. The church was educating the new generation on ethics and civics. In a few decades, we’d have elections. And if Windemere needed me, someone would raise an alarm. Yes, that was Mirina, Julia, Marlowe, Isengar, and Vanagon’s job. Not mine.

Instead of making another list, I went to my little farm garden. I felt the need to eat some pears.

Here on my floating island, I had only one of each plant type and that was all I needed even if I had to feed the whole country. I had quite the toolkit to get as much harvest from them as I needed. First of all, were {Green Thumb} and {Infuse Plants}. The first was a passive buff for the plants under my care. It doubled the yield and quality of the plants from its base effects. The second required minor and frequent infusions of Energy to again increase yield and quality. Only those two already created what back on Earth would be super-premium-quality produce. The kind to win State fairs hands down.

But I had another two tricks. {Nature Magic Affinity} allowed me to manipulate the plants through {Sorcery} without the need for structured spell-forms. It was advantageous to do it that way because I could custom-tailor the effect on the fly depending on what I wanted for the plant. Like more fibers, more sugars, or a slight shift in acidity or taste. If I used spell-circles like a [Wizard], I would have to use only a limited range of effects. Last but not least, {Elven Royalty}. While its main use was to keep the covenant between the Fulgen elves and the Elder Fairies, it could also be used in minor ways to not impose my will over the garden but to guide and entice it to go one way or another.

The prospect of growing my own plants and fast-forwarding the selective breeding process with a bit of magical guidance inspired me to take my last Proficiency pick. I had several choices. [Gardener] could let me work with a few farm crops and ornamental plants but it was focused on aesthetics. [Herbalist] didn’t affect trees, only herbs, and bushes at most. Like what I did with [Metalsmith], a broader approach was the better one because I wasn’t limited to a single lifetime of training and development. Therefore, I chose [Botanist]. It would allow me to work with any kind of sessile life including fungi and some algae, which the System bunched up with plants. Interestingly, coral was not covered by it.

All my Proficiency picks so far were very utilitarian. All of them combined to give me the best edge in “the game”. More combat power, better equipment, stronger resistances. Except for [Baker], which was a comfort Proficiency. With [Botanist], I hoped to have at least one more that counted mostly as a hobby. I could still grow premium alchemical ingredients that would be stronger than what is commonly available in the market but that was not the point.

All that for some pear cobbler. I sang for the pear tree. Dozens upon dozens of the silken produce grew and weighed down the branches. The sight of the yellow-green pomes put a smile on my face. My tails and {Force Tongs} quickly plucked my prize from the tree. Then I went around, taking what was ripe and replanting what needed replanting. I also got cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and basil for my recipe.

I also got almonds and flaxseed to replace animal butter, milk, and eggs. If I wanted to grind [Botanist] Proficiency, I should bake a full-vegan pear cobbler. Let’s not forget my exclusive, 100% non-poisonous, and totally expensive deathberry sugar. It was different from beet or sugarcane sugar because it kept that faint taste of wild berries. I also popped some raw deathberries down my mouth, because they’re so delicious. Really to die for.

I summoned a {Shadow Workshop} in the middle of my lawn. Grind four types of flour, wheat, almond, flaxseed, and cinnamon. Extract the flaxseed and almond oils. Separate the fibers to use on enriched bread. Waste not, want not. Mix it with wheat flour, water, yeast, beat up good bread dough. A kitsune with twenty-three prehensile tails and flying magical pincers can multitask like nobody’s business. Summon more wheat seeds with {Granary’s Gatekeeper} because I need more flour. No plans, no recipes, just magic, and intuition.

Beat the almond cream, churn the almond butter. Add a dash of mermaid salt because why not? Mix the flaxseed “egg” with flour, cinnamon, ground nutmeg, butter, milk, sugar, and beat into a gorgeous batter. It smelled like Hearth and Autumn.

Slice the pears! As thin as one can possibly do! Show what a blade master can do with a kitchen knife! Maybe I should forge an Adamantite kitchen knife so thin I could get transparent slices! Glaze with sugar and create pear-stained caramel glass! Not that’s an idea for later!

I sang and danced as bowls, jars, and cups flew around me. Nenandil, even as tired as she was from dealing with the Lamias, came out of my soul to play with me. Blobs of bread dough were pulled by the tongs, shaped using Force molds, and placed in the shadow ovens of the magical workshop.

Now, the cobbler. Melt the butter in the trays, several of them because I have lots of people to feed, pour the dough, cover with the pear slices. Sieve a mix of ground sugar with cinnamon over the pears and into the oven they went to bake.

A recliner rose from the workshop floor with a thought and I let myself fall on it. Nenandil came to rest on my stomach. “That was fun,” the fairy squealed.

“It will be even better when everyone is with a belly full of pastries,” I giggled with her.

Baker [ 198 ]. Select one Ability.

* Fae Dough: Instill your dough with a random magical effect, granted upon consumption. (Proficiency/4)% chance of a beneficial effect, (20 - Proficiency/20) chance of a slightly harmful effect.

Botanist [ 17 ]. Select one Ability.

* Plant Health: Plants under your care are (Proficiency/2)% healthier.