The light enveloped Gi until his consciousness faded into that grand sea of white. It was the space between reality and the beyond, steeped in divinity and all the trappings of mortality simultaneously.

Time didn't pass here, he knew, so he didn't have to worry about his odd alliance that he'd so swiftly left behind.

What he did have to worry about was that which hung just outside of his immediate space. Tendrils of darkness were dipped down even now trying to impede his existence.

It was hard to recall this state after he left, but he felt some relief that the darkness was without rather than within. The King wasn't the only one who'd offered prayers to The Father and Gi's death might have been the only reason that he himself wasn't corrupted.

Or maybe some of his aberrant behavior had been due to a slow corruption? Or perhaps, he'd simply been a fool.

It was hard to know.

First, he'd been driven by the First One's instincts then his memories of Danna and finally old heartaches remembered. Who knew if he even needed to be corrupted to act as he did.

If he could, he would have taken a deep breath. He had more weight on his shoulders now than before his death, but it felt easier.

It was possible that was a side effect of feeling close to his soulmate. Then again, maybe just being able to express himself had made him less stupid.

Whatever the case might be, it would get harder from here on out. From his conversations with the First One, he wasn't strong enough to take on the Emperor as he was.

He wasn't even strong enough to take on his empire.

Gi turned his attention to the blinking notifications of the system that hung in the void, waiting for him to make his selections.

County Stage has ended.

Primary Tasks completed.

No hidden tasks completed.

A cosmic string made of Gi's own Soul burst into being before his consciousness. The string was pulled tight as though the hands of fate hid just within that vast expanse of white, leaving three knots tied together.

The topmost one had a silver blue hue to it and a sheen flitted around within it like a Dragon Pike as though some piece of that Progenitor still survived within him.

My Quicksilver Body.

The rightmost one twinkled like the strings were made of glass that had been divided up into millions of panes and molded into the shape of the knot before him.

A sadness hung around it and Gi had to relive a harsher version of himself, ending the life of a suffering creature who wanted nothing more than to live. At the time, he'd made that decision only for power.

Heart of Crossroads.

The last knot shifted into the shape of a tree. Its branches seemed to reach towards the endless plane beyond, searching for Danna among the divine.

Its seed had protected him from the Old Ones before he even knew to fear them and its growth was the one he cherished the most as it brought him even closer to his soulmate.

Soul of Rebirth.

Gi knew that he was looking at his Knot. The internal aspect of his being that humans cultivated for and monsters devoured to obtain.

The lines between his Soul and his Heart melded together to form his Will of Subverted Fate. He could still hear Wane's cries as his Soul was ripped apart. That pain that drove him to reject what had already been laid before him.

Heart moved to Body and formed his Blood of Nobility. His Blood was a remnant from his father. While Gi had no desire to be like the man or the god, he was a part of him and he shaped who he'd become.

Just as with his Heart, there was some darkness mixed with the light, but it had brought him to where he was.

The last and most recent was his Mind of Forged Destiny that joined his Body and Soul. This cross section of him thrummed with music that made him feel like Danna was right there beside him.

If he could, he would have smiled.

All the pain and mistakes had led him to this new destiny - one where he could help those he cared about on his way to return to her.

Choose one of your Realized Aspects to bestow upon your Clan.

After defeating Queen Siht, he'd gifted his clan with his Heart of Crossroads, hoping that it would provide them some perspective on their path after his death.

It had, but the decisions came with their own burdens.

Samba searched for peace and found heartache. Tiria searched for redemption and found guilt. Kumo searched for vengeance and found darkness.

Yes, it had given them strength, but it was a different type of strength that they needed now.

The music of his Mind of Forged Destiny called to him, but ultimately, it was his Will of Subverted Fate that he selected.

They'd need to break the chains they'd bound themselves with if they were ever to be truly happy.

His decision wasn't entirely based around their emotional well being either. By bestowing the combination of his Divine Soul and Light Heart, any light based abilities would be infused with divinity, disrupting any hard type weaknesses that they may possess in the fights ahead.

That was where his Inquisitors were weakest as they didn't have a strong enough Physical stat for those to be a reasonable backup.

As Gi felt his Knot return into his being, he felt satisfied.

But he didn't just pass a single Stage.

Kingdom Stage has ended.

Primary Tasks completed.

No hidden tasks completed.

Gi had known his last Task had been simply to conquer a County. He didn't know what all that entailed, but he assumed it was a collection of cities since his Task before that had been to conquer a city.

Not Wavecrest nor Nori's village nor whatever human demesne that Kumo had stayed in seemed to have counted for him to have a County.

The Thousand Islands did, however.

A Kingdom, Gi assumed, was a collection of Counties. With King Rellington bending the knee, he accomplished both tasks in one fell swoop.

Choose a Skill to form a Subdomain.

Gi's Soul beamed.

Like the last time, he'd chosen a domain. Gi could concentrate on each of his Skills to see how it changed. However, there was a big difference between a Domain and a Subdomain.

A Subdomain didn't evolve.

His initial excitement fell. His understanding from each Skill was just that it would be more Aether efficient and he'd be able to use it with his other Skills. Since his Realized Soul already gave him the ability to do the latter, it was just an Aether discount.

Still good, but... not a game changer.

His [God's Passage] Skill would benefit greatly from the discount, but its use was just an extra option in his bag of tricks and not a mainstay. [Divine Spouse] was an interesting idea as well, but he felt that he had to stick with his most faithful Skill first.

It had been called [Arcane Bolt] back when he'd been just a Slime then evolved into [Divine Bolt] all the way to [Divine Commandment]. That Skill had saved his life countless times on his journey and he knew that it would continue to do so.

Without hesitation, he chose [Divine Commandment].

As an additional reward for completing the Kingdom Stage, your race will receive your Domain as a Subdomain.

Gi had been expecting to get sent directly back, but his figurative mouth hung open in awe as a scene of his Otters charging forward in battle all with summons of their owns appeared before him.

With this, their army had easily just doubled in size.

That was a gamechanger.

The white light enveloped Gi and he found himself drifting back to the floor of the broken down inn. Most eyes were upon him, but Gi could see the otters in the room looking down at themselves as they felt [Papal Legion] become a Subdomain for them.

Even though they'd denounced him, both Samba and Tala had clearly received it as well.

That was good.

"That's the first time I've seen a monster evolve right in front of my eyes," Elder Altman said without his usual contrarianism.

Elizabeth was a consummate professional, even when not fighting, and translated for him.

Versha corrected the Elder. Once a monster reaches the same Stage as the Returner, it is not a monster that evolves but their clan.

Gi didn't want to nitpick details about it being sometimes his race and sometimes his clan which was probably the same for the Fighting Drakes that had evolved with the Queen.

The shrewd Elder cut his gaze towards the other Otters in the room and noticed them inspecting themselves. "Well, I hope it's something we can use. Right now, we're nothing more than a pack of street dogs dreaming of a palace filled with bones."

"Agreed," The King said, "We've talked enough about the why. Let us get to the how."

Elder Tisch cleared her throat. "Before we rush on to planning, Matar has seen fit to provide us some additional wisdom and I suggest we take that into account first."

The Elder gestured towards Eitina who had been hovering behind her. The young Cleric did not look eager to have all eyes on her, including those of Gi who'd murdered many of her peers, but she'd lived through quite a bit and quickly steadied herself.

"During our voyage, Matar visited me in my dreams. According to her vision, the demons seek to siege the capital of Veridia. They've burned her forests and blockaded her harbors. Their army has seen our footprints though and they send a commander to better coordinate with us."

The overall state of the war was mostly the same since his rebirth. While the demons seemed posed for a long siege, he doubted that they would actually commit to it for long.

If Gi's alliance didn't take the first blow, then the demons surely would.

This commander was new though. If Matar had seen fit to tell Eitina, then it must have come from the First One's camp.

"What do you know of this commander?," Gi asked.

Eitina froze for a moment at him addressing her, but then shook her head. "Matar's visions are not always so precise. I only know that he moves south to search for clues of us."

Alice bolted to her feet. "They're looking for Wavecrest! We pulled one of their armies from Thornridge. That must be why they seek us."

Gi nodded. "That makes sense. An unknown ally appears and then the enemy disappears shortly after. With the way things are, it would be foolish to assume they hadn't noticed."

Alice sat back down and the group all fell to their own thoughts. Gi already knew what their best tactical move should be. He'd planned it out with divine beings that possessed a nigh omniscient viewpoint.

He knew exactly where to strike, and yet, they'd sent him this commander.

That was important.

Gi needed to get to this commander not because of their place in the war, but to build his credibility before he asked of Veridia the same things that he'd asked here.

Them to kneel.

"All right," Gi said, "getting to the Veridian commander is our first priority. From there, we will commit our forces to our first target - Stonereach."