I was following Emir through the hall with the pictures. Noctaru chose to stay outside saying he had something to do. We arrived at the same spiral staircase, but this time instead of going up we went down. After some time we stopped at a floor. The walls of the underground section were made of brown bricks covered in roots, and the ceiling and floor were covered in glowing moss that illuminated the hall we were going through. At the end of the hall was a plain-looking brown wood door.

When we entered the room it was like we went to a completely different place from the woody hallway we came from. An expansive circular room with a dome ceiling. Everything was made of grey bricks. There were three short crystalline pillars around the room and in the center was a higher crystalline pillar with a semi-spherical slot. And everything was covered in spectacularly small runes that made up a gargantuan Ritual circle. When I tried to inspect the runes I got a massive headache trying to understand even their placement. I had to tune my energy senses out by making my ability focus on the nanites.

"Now you need to fill this bowl with your nanites and then place your core on the central pedestal," Emir said placing a small ivory bowl beneath the disk I was hovering on and went to do something with one of the other pedestals. I dropped some nanites in the bowl and flew over to the central pedestal. Then I moved over to it by making a lot of tentacles and found that the divot fit me snugly. I had my nanites spread out and covered the pedestal without disturbing the energy flow of the Ritual.

I saw that Emir put a giant closed flower bud glowing with energy on one of the pedestals, the silvery glass orb the size of his head. And on the last pedestal, he put a big blue crystal radiating pure mana. Then he came to the center and told me to cover myself in nanites, while he took the hover disk away. I followed his words and had the nanites cover me in a cocoon-like structure.

Suddenly I felt a surge of energy from outside of the cocoon. Then I heard the chanting,

"In the chamber of veiled dreams, where worlds entwine,

The Patrons descend, their essence divine.

From realms unseen, they heed the call,

To choose the one, the newest of all.

Young one of crystal, Chimeric might,

Guided by swarms through the boundless night.

A conduit of power, a vessel of fate,

In your presence, the Patrons await.

With whispers of ancient tongues, they convene,

Mystic echoes weaving through the unseen.

Through the cosmic dance, they draw near,

To forge a pact, devoid of tier.

By the threads of destiny, intricately spun,

The Patrons and the Chosen become one.

Bound by oath, sealed in sacred rite,

Their paths entwined, beyond mortal sight.

From divine realms, they bring gifts untold,

Wisdom and strength, from ages old.

In the crucible of time, their destinies align,

A union divine, where mysteries intertwine.

In the sanctuary of souls, the pact is sealed,

Through Sight and Knowledge, truth revealed.

The Patrons' blessing upon the chosen heir,

A covenant forged, beyond compare.

Now rise, young one, with purpose and might,

Bearer of the Patrons' divine light.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

In your crystalline heart, their power thrives,

As a traveller of realms, your destiny arrives."

The energy of the Ritual rushed into me and the world lurched. I suddenly found myself on a raised dais of stone. Below him was a circular stone floor floating in a dark void. Around the circular room were multiple arches of many styles with portals of many colours in them. It looked like I could choose which God I met.

I looked for the gate that might lead to the God of Monsters first. I found a gate made of bones, scales, hide, teeth and many more pieces, in there was a portal the colour of fleshy pink. I get down from the dais using the stairs on its side. And walked to the portal. Suddenly my mind focused on my hand as I noticed that I had my human body here. I guessed that this place was just a mental construct so my body would be what I wanted. I shrugged and went through the portal.

I found myself in a cave illuminated by glowing purple fungi. After walking for a bit I walk into a big room. In the room was a huge spider taking up most of the room. Then I noticed that where a spider's head should be was the upper part of a human woman wearing a green toga. Her eyes were like that of a cat with slitted pupils. Her visage was quite beautiful yet just not human.

"At last we meet little one! I was curious about who met the requirements for that project of mine. And when I saw that you were an Otherworlder I was ecstatic! So ask me what you want and I might answer you! But know that you can have me as your Patron Deity and I don't care if you want other Patrons." She sounded like a caring aunt yet sounded just like something not human trying to sound human.

I had read that Mother of Monsters is a God that favours Monsters more than other 'Civilised' people. So I was happy to see that she didn't act hostile towards me. And hearing that she was ready to be my Patron I was relieved more. I had a question in mind from when I picked this race, "How is this race different from other Chimera Cores? And why did it lose its 'Experimental' tag in my status?"

"Hs hs hs! The answer to your first question would ruin the fun! So I will not be telling you that but I will say that you will see when you tier up. And for your second question, it is for covertness as you don't want some people to know you have an 'Experimental' race. Now that I have answered your questions, Tata!" After saying that she snapped her fingers and I found myself standing on the stone dais, again.

I looked around to see the statue of a lady made of ivory wearing a green toga wearing an obsidian crown standing at the edge of the dais. She was hugging a black spider. I got somewhat angry for getting thrown out but I didn't fully express it as I wouldn't like to offend any Gods. I looked at where the portal to the God of Monsters was and saw that the gate was empty of the portal. I shrugged and looked around to see if any other gate caught my eye.

I found a gate that could be only described as futuristic yet magical. I got up to it and entered Its neon blue portal. On the other side was a lab with white sterile flooring, metal walls and ceiling illuminated by floating magical bulbs. On the opposite wall was covered in monitors. Beneath the monitors was a chair looking at the monitors.

When I was near the center of the room the chair spun around and I got to see who was sitting there. Sitting on the chair was a cyborg, his face was normal human but his body was made of metal. He looked to be in his 40s with salt-and-pepper hair. He had a smile on his face and I noticed that he was wearing glasses. Looking closer I saw that he was wearing a silver lab coat.

He then in a slightly synthetic sounding voice, "So you are the chap who brought that device through that fairy circle. I now feel that you have a high affinity for Technology. And that your race has a biomechanical component." He then nods his head, "I can be your Patron." Then I was back at the dais. I shrugged and saw that there was a new statue there. The statue was of a chrome man holding some kind of machinery. Now I noticed that there were plaques below the statues. The statue of the woman read, 'God of Monsters | Mother of Monsters' and the man's read, 'God of Technology | Father of Machines'.

I went down from the dais, again and looked for the gate that might lead to the God of Knowledge or Magic. I found a gate that looked like a bookshelf with a purple portal. I thought the purple portal was a bit weird as the previous portals matched their God's affinity. I didn't give it much thought and went through it.

On the other side was what looked like a theatre, with a big stage on the far wall and seats all around. Suddenly laughter echoed through the hall. Then the curtains opened and lights focused on the man standing on the stage. "The Phantom Thief fell for a trick!" And laughed some more. While the person on the stage was laughing I crept closer to the stage. When I got near the stage I saw that the person was a lithe and charismatic young man. He was wearing a tuxedo, white gloves and a top hat.

Then I noticed that the shadows were a bit not right, they didn't align with the spotlights shining on him. Then I realized that he must be an illusion as I had this type of problem when making shadows, so I said, "Your illusion needs a bit of work, the shadows are not aligned with the lights properly."

Suddenly the laughter stopped abruptly. When I looked up at the stage, the magician was gone and in his place was a pouting young girl wearing a pink T-shirt and overhauls. "It isn't my fault that your Perception of a trickster and place that shows tricks is such weird. This is a drama hall! Why would you think this was a place of tricks?" She almost shouted at me but still held a jovial tone.

"The first place I saw an unawakened man do something that he should not be able to do was in a hall like this. After the show when I asked him about how he did it, he chuckled and gave me a small booklet holding his secrets. I mean some tricks of sleight of hand, deception and distraction. Those later came in handy when I became an orphan and had to steal things to survive." I sighed as those memories resurfaced as I was explained how I thought this place was a place to trickery to the God of Tricks, The Trickster. Then I remembered how she said that it was my fault this place was like this, I then asked her for a bit of clarification.

She giggled and said, "Didn't you know? Those places where you meet the Gods and the first appearance of the Gods are dictated by your subconscious belief of what those should be. This is mostly because of the wonky Ritual you used to start this Rite. Normally we get more choices in what we wish to appear in but this wonky Ritual only allows us to only appear if you think the base appearance is false. This time it appeared as a bad illusion because of my Domain being connected to it. Now that you have seen through this illusion I will become your Patron and will give you a boon, you will get to see that when you get out of this place. Now bye!" When she said that I found myself on the dais, again.

This time the statue was of a magician showing a card trick with a little girl peeking from behind him. They looked to be made of stained glass and the little girl was a bit more transparent.