At the feet of the huge Tian Mountains, on the Saint continent, there's a tiny river spring where Agate is born.

And right beside this spring there is a castle made of pure ice. In the courtyard of this castle, a large ice table. Pef stood in front of this table, his senses active as the few surviving gods of this planet arrived to the conference.

Cellia, his friend and a water goddess. Now much stronger than before, but that was relative.

Artus, the god of the cold wind.

Volcanis, the god of fire. Or so he said.

Lastly, Gaia, the goddess of trees.

"Everyone has arrived, I see. Welcome to the Tian Mountains. We have some things to talk about." the man said glancing at his guests with a deliberately slow look.

Gaia was a rather mousy looking woman, keeping her face hidden shyly under green locks of hair. She wore a robe made of leaves, and seemed a bit scared. "Well, congratulations I guess. You've reached the Perfect Divinity stage, in just a few years. And I notice there's nobody else alive, even Harvester was killed." she said in a melodic voice.

Pef nodded towards her but instead turned to the godling beside her, the arctic god. "Artus, you have choice. Enroll in the Veritas Legion. We have a wonderful training program. I expect you'll reach next stage in a thousand years or less." he spoke in a grave tone. He wouldn't be as crass as to threaten the guy, but the future was always uncertain. Why risk leaving the planet at his mercy and come back to find a glaciation?

Artus was a tall and muscular figure, wearing an armor made of ice, with icicles serving as thorns. Imposing as he was, it meant little in the current new world order.

The man glanced towards Cellia for help, but there would be no help. Not in this. Cellia shook her hair, azure highlights jingling for a second.

"All hail our new overlords then. Should have expected this..." the godling muttered and slumped his shoulders.

Pef's gaze moved to stare at Volcanis. In truth, the fire god was close to his own ascension, and he would become rather powerful indeed. A dozen times stronger than Cellia, as she was now. He couldn't let him and his cult take over the planet, once that happened.

The fire god was dressed in a red leather armor of sorts, with a belt full of smithing tools and a huge magma-like hammer at his side. Volcanis was a crafter god archetype, and a rather accomplished one. His cult ruled one of the planetary superpowers, and he was aided by a Saint as well.

"I'm not the type to go and fight other people's wars, Lord Pef. Forging is my calling." Volcanis proclaimed in a dignified voice.

Pef smiled. "An army needs weapons, Volcanis. Many other items as well. Logistics is the basis of warfare, after all. The General makes these knives for her soldiers. She makes command gloves like this one. I think you'll do great once you gain some real methods." he explained holding his hand out, while grinning widely. His knife flew out and hovered in front of the fire god.

'So, you think he'll bite, dear glove?' Pef asked inward.

'Of course. I came up with this plan after all. He's burning to learn how to be a real smith. And now that metals have appeared, he only needs a body to get his hands busy.' the glove replied smugly.

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"You can make me the Legion's artisan? Just making weapons? Doesn't sound so bad..." Volcanis mused while poking at the flying knife with a cautious finger. One could almost feel his desire to take apart the knife and look inside.

"What about me then? You plan to make me grow your Legion's crops? Hmph!" the green-haired goddess exclaimed in near outrage. Gaia was helping grow crops anyway, and didn't need to be told what to do, thank you very much!

"As for you, Lady Gaia... You don't belong here. In this universe, I mean. Your Veridian Legion is gone, but you can rebuild it, once you return to your real strength." Pef argued back, bowing minutely towards her.

That surprised the life goddess, who looked at the sky wistfully. 

"Errr. I cannot leave this planet, God Pef. I tried. That strange force is binding me too tight to the surface. I cannot even reach the moon!" Gaia complained while pointing at the sky, and then drew back, hiding under her long hair.

The young god smiled gently and nodded towards Cellia. "Show her." 

Cellia's hand waved through Gaia. In a second, Gaia vanished, being drawn inside the dantian of Lady Cellia. A minute later she reappeared, a bit confused but happy. "There's an ice moon inside, and I wasn't bound to this planet anymore! A bit cold and sterile, but that wouldn't bother me much." she explained to the other godlings.

With a hand gesture, Pef drew the life goddess into his own inner world. It wasn't just a gesture, as it involved manipulating divine energy and protecting the life of the traveler during transition, but it did work. What mattered here was the intent, not the movement.

His inner avatar manifested beside Gaia, on sand beach. In front of them, there was an immense ocean, a billion kilometers of blue sea, while small waves were washing gently on the island's shore. There was no moon here, to create tides. Not yet anyway.

"How about my inner world?" Pef asked gently.

"This, This! Is amazing! There's everything you need to live. Well, except plants and stuff..." Gaia exploded in a loud voice. She took a deep breath, then did a round check of the island. It was kinda small, merely a kilometer in diameter, but once she seeded some plants...she could work with it, make it a paradise. 

Pef smiled at her eager expression, then gestured around, raising some rocks and a small hill. Landscaping the inner world was a bit difficult. His head already hurt, so he hurried to explain. "We can import some plants. Maybe some animals as well. I'm new at this, but in time the island's landmass will grow. For now,  a dozen people could live here, I guess."

"The sun...is that your very soul?" Gaia asked instead, her face illuminated by the inner light. High in the sky there was a blinding yellow light, a field of divine energy.

"Yeah. There's no sun in here actually, only my inner core. I just wished to be light. You remember, I'm very new at this..." Pef admitted with a slight blush.

"Pretty good for a novice. We'll need to adjust the wavelength a bit, as plants eat light to grow...and a new memory just appeared! Go away, this is important!" Gaia said in a demanding tone, sitting herself in a lotus position. She began meditating on the warm sand, ignoring Pef and everything else.

Our hero blinked a bit confused, then shrugged. The avatar vanished, leaving only the soundless waves crashing on the beach. Maybe he should implement background noises? Eh, maybe another time. Generating visual waves was hard enough. Sound waves could wait.

Back at the conference table, Pef turned towards Cellia.

"She likes it, like I told you. Just needs some plants." he explained while scratching his cheek.

Cellia nodded wisely. Damn Pef had a huge ocean in his dantian, and even an island. Of course Gaia would love it, compared to her own frozen moon. Plus she couldn't make a sun in the sky, yet.

"Okay then. You finished your recruiting. Now it's time for the hard part. Beat me in a duel." she demanded while manifesting her sword ki and creating an ice sword in her hand. Not that she would actually try to win. She wanted that baby, after all, which meant she had to let him win. That didn't mean she would make it easy for him.

Pef gulped and did the same, forming an ice sword and exploding with sword ki.

The other two godlings present eyed each other and exchanged some unseen message, and took off at speed. When monsters fought, it didn't make sense to stay near and risk getting snuffed.

The ice castle crumbled behind them, as the two gods fought, beams of sword ki flashing and illuminating the sky. Farther away, under the Etna fire cone, a Saint smith glanced towards the distant noisy reverberations and sighed. He needed better friends.