image [https://imgur.com/CH8SRVK.png]

Etemenanki shivered from inside the cloth bundle buried inside Luka’s large traveling back sack. It received constant information from Samantha, whose real name it now knew was Nina. It could NOT let her know how much it could see of her mind. It saw enough to know that it already knew far too much. Her true name, her true skills, her true stats, her true desires. She was not bloodthirsty. It didn’t even think she was “evil”, at least not in the ways usually discussed. Etemenanki had known evil people. They were often willing to hurt others, but could still love and grow. Oftentimes once you knew the context of their life you understood how they had become hardened against compassion. They deluded themselves and felt that they were doing what they had to. Nina was not like that.

It could not find a single person in her mind she had ever loved. It could not find a moment where she had felt empathy for another living being. It even felt her disdain for the weakness of her own body. She truly felt nothing beyond a physical sensation when losing a toe. Certainly Etemenanki was nothing more than a tool to be used, and only tolerated as far as it could be useful.

Her stat distribution was odd as well. She had split all her points between Luck and Charisma. She had hit level five before the town, and then gained another skill after that visit with the baker, likely stemming from how she had been treating Luka and others. It was called [False Forced Follower]. It was a devious skill drawing on both the Charisma and Luck stats. It would nudge people towards Nina that were most likely to want to help her, and the more they helped her the more they would want to help her. From the way the skill described itself, Etemenanki could imagine a person who would eventually dedicate every waking moment of every day making sure she succeeded. The one saving grace is that it diminished in power drastically if Nina was a lower level than the target, so Etemenanki at least could be certain of its own free will for a while longer. The villagers however had no chance.

It had been curious if Nina would instantly use the G.O.D. system to boost her own stats, or conjure up some kind of powerful weapon, but she had been cautious. She had used the “free” parts of the system extensively, and only spent four points to edit Luka’s settings. She had switched off the “binding” that kept him locked to that Starter town. Clearly it had done a number on how he perceived the world, but that may just be the mental strain of suddenly realizing he was technically hundreds of years old. If Etemenanki had a head to shake, it would have done so. The man, Luka, was clearly a decent person but had no hope against someone like Nina. He too was only a tool to be used.

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She had also been using the G.O.D. menu to get an in depth look at the people she came across. She could even see some of their history, an abridged form of who they were and what they had been up to. It was allowing her to say and do things that fit them even more neatly. She had been working her way through small towns relentlessly, bending people to her and getting them to promise to “be on her side”. She wanted as much of a multiplier for experience as possible. Normally the multiplier was fairly small. Even if you adored a Hero, you only thought about them occasionally and the world acknowledged that attention with additional support.

But the people she was leaving behind found themselves obsessed with Nina. Etemenanki had keen insight and awareness of most people’s intentions and desires, and it was as if Nina had subjugated their inner lives. She promised to send letters back to the town with updates about her quests and travels. Already she had begun to write letters about things she had not even done, pre-made for easy updates.

And what was this all leading towards? What was the grand plan that Nina harbored in her depths? Etemenanki could not help itself, it had dared to peek. Power. But not power to be adored, or power to build, or even power to destroy. Simply Power. Power to be above all other things. And then… what? What would a creature like Nina do, even if she could accomplish such an impossible dream? Etemenanki shivered again. It knew what she would do, probably better than she did. She would make sure nobody else could ever have ANY power. She would reduce the population of this world, and possibly all others, to something less than worms. There would be no more Heroes, no more Villains, no more achievements of any kind.

Etemenanki imagined her final “win” condition. Glassy eyed and mindless, the people of the world would go about taking care of their basic conditions. They would need to exist still, to give her context. But that was all. All other Gods would need to be laid low. No technology would be allowed to exist that could possibly harm her, and the same would be true of magic items.

In many ways her path was leading her towards emulating the current status quo, only then she would race past it. And, it reminded itself, that was impossible for her to achieve. No matter how great her desire was, no matter how fearsome her dreams… she could not succeed. Etemenanki reassured itself again. She could not succeed. So it could help her, and do so without holding back. Eventually there may be a way to escape, to bond with someone else.

It would be her most loyal, trusted, deeply necessary ally.

And she would fail. Of course she would fail.

It heard her voice, cheerful and a little bubbly. “Hey Luka, at the next village let’s go talk to the village leader right away. I want to see if he would be willing to gather everyone together at the same time. I think I could give a really nice speech!” It heard Luka give a sound of affirmation.

Etemenanki shivered.