While Mortelle and her companion Stella sat at the table with Eren, contacting the leaders, Arslan, Dynamos, and Selena walked past various beings seated at other tables, where they were drinking, gambling, and flirting. The variety of beings present was striking, and Arslan knew that most were Divines—real Divines, unlike him and Dynamos, who were only Godlings at best.
He understood that even if he used all his power, the Divines wouldn't budge. This was a sense given to him by his very Existence, which was as concrete as the five senses of a mortal.
When they arrived at a card game table similar to those found in some Luvi worlds, he saw a flamboyant man who was a little fat. The man wore a golden suit, a hat, shoes, wristbands, and a monocle, all of which were radiant. Arslan wondered why he hadn't noticed this being before.
The being turned, as if he had eyes on the back of his head, and smiled at Dynamos, then at Arslan. "Boys, come play a game with me." Then, looking behind them, he said, "Ah, you too, girl. I wouldn't want to miss a customer, and a potential friend."
Dynamos laughed heartily. "Arslan, look, this is my favorite God of Trade. And soon to be yours too. You can call him big brother. But others would call him Mr. Gold."
"Boy, you still won't get a discount," the God of Trade said, "unless you beat me at poker."
"You always say that, big brother," Dynamos said as he sat to the right of Mr. Gold. Then Arslan sat to Dynamos' right, and Selena followed. "But we've never had a trade that wasn't beneficial to both of us."
“You always bring good stuff,” Mr. Gold said. “Look at my robes. They are Divine. How could I have missed the chance?”
“My mom makes the best,” Dynamos replied, smiling and petting his own white toga.
***
In the center of the cosmos, at Luvi Prime, Işık and his father, the God of Conquest, gazed at the stars. One saw hidden dangers, the other saw hidden Divinities.
“That child,” Işık paused, “has surprised me.”
Fatih smiled. “You would be even more surprised if you really knew what is so special about him.”
“Have you learned something from outside the cosmos, Father?” Işık looked at the now God of Conquest, Leadership, and Transformation with utmost reverence. He was his father!
“Yes,” Fatih answered with a faint smile, carefree. “The things he reported are beyond priceless. To you, it was a day, but to me, my main body has conquered realms upon realms ever since my ascension. I have only heard of the things he mentioned, yet I haven’t chanced upon them. I haven’t even seen a Celestial yet, and maybe that’s for the better.”
“That’s why I have sent every treasure I acquired from those Divine Realms, except for those I need. Even the coordinates and ownership of those realms are tradeable. We have to acquire whatever he can. I have the strength, but no presence there yet to make friends.” He paused and gave Işık a fatherly smile, a smile that promised endless possibilities. “Don’t worry. Your time will come, my light, my eldest.”
***
At that moment, Arslan received a high-priority message on his InnatePad. Ancestors. But which one? he wondered.
He opened the message to see a video from the First Emperor, the exact person he remembered from his ascension to the throne. The man had white hair with no signs of aging, looking battle-hardened and vicious yet caring towards his descendants.
“Listen, Arslan,” he began, his tone serious. Arslan felt the same goosebumps he had when he first saw the man. “I saw the report you sent to the Empire servers, and it came to my attention after your ancestor Işık contacted me. The place you are in is very important to the Empire, and also to me. I personally sent items of incredible value. I want you to gather a list, if possible, and send it to me. I will choose what I can, and the rest will be chosen by you and your other ancestors. Of course, you will also get to choose for you and your family.” He paused, deciding. “As for the competition, I will personally try my best to help you with it. Once you learn the details of each round, you may contact me directly.”
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He then seemed to lock eyes with Arslan from an endless distance and said with dignity, “Among them, you might feel inferior." He paused, gathering the momentum that ruled the Luvi. "Don’t! You are not alone! Don’t ever forget that! You are a Luvi! You have the whole Empire behind you! And now, you come from a lineage that birthed a Divine!” He laughed with endless pride, and the video ended.
Arslan shook in his seat, his heart racing. He then smiled. Yes, he was not alone. He should never forget. Even though he had been carefree ever since he arrived here, he never felt like he belonged here. Until now, he felt that his Divinity and birth were not significant in the eyes of the Divines. But now... everything changed. Now, Ataluvi, his direct ancestor and the father of all Luvis, was a Divine.
“Are you okay, friend?” Mr. Gold asked with interest. The emotions Arslan was experiencing were as visible as the light around them. The raw feelings were enough to draw Mr. Gold’s attention away from the game.
“More than okay,” Arslan laughed. He really was.
“It’s always good to see young ones with a temperament like yours.” Mr. Gold smiled, clearly satisfied.
Although Dynamos hadn’t said anything, he also noticed Arslan’s unusual behavior. He felt curious but couldn’t glean into his karma to see what had happened. He furrowed his brows but ignored it. He looked at Mr. Gold and said, “Big brother, Arslan here is the son of the Celestial of Domination. And lo and behold, he has inherited that Divinity.”
“Oh,” Mr. Gold continued to play his game, though his senses were now attuned to both of them. “Do tell what you ask of me.”
“My friend Arslan here wants Divinity Book 1: Cultivation to Godhood, and Path Book 1: Endless Paths, for starters.” Dynamos said.
“For starters, eh?” He smiled. “Then make your offer, friend Arslan.”
“First, may I ask for a list of everything I could trade for? The transaction might be bigger than what I came here for,” Arslan asked.
Arslan saw Mr. Gold rubbing his golden ring before producing a paper with his Innate Energy. “Here. I’m used to it. The list will grow the more you look. For the top items, you have to send it to someone who can read. Explanations are also there.” He paused and looked Arslan in the eyes. “I hope you aren’t wasting my time.”
Dynamos had worried eyes upon hearing them. The items in Arslan’s possession didn’t seem valuable enough to even request a list of items. He could only guess that Arslan’s earlier reaction had something to do with it. Offending someone rich was never good.
Arslan looked at the item list and saw nearly ten thousand items. He looked up at the top, but could only see blurry words above the thousandth item. He utilized Domination towards the top hundred but only saw up to the fiftieth. He sighed, put the paper into his inventory, and sent it to the First Emperor. From his memories, he looked to see if there was something he wanted.
He saw that the Divinity and Path books he wanted were at the two thousand mark. They must be special, considering there were even some Divine items there.
However, before checking them, he first looked at the things the First Emperor had sent. He saw a couple of worlds filled with treasures inside rectangular realms. Upon closer inspection, each world was a manifestation held with Divinity. He wanted to gaze upon them, but his InnatePad sent a notification.
“DivinePad is needed to interact. Analyzing the requirements that have been filled…” After a second, another notification came. “The necessary requirements have been filled after noticing your inventory of Divine items had passed the necessary threshold. Please use Divine items or Divinity to power your InnatePad to access your inventory until you receive DivinePad. May Haven be with you.”
Haven? Was it a saying to that being or to the creator of these Pads? He had to ignore this for now.
He willed his Divinity towards his seal, and onto the InnatePad, and tried accessing the realms again. First, he saw numbers and words like coordinates. Then, the representation of each realm filled with details of what was inside them. Are all these realms outside of this cosmos?
He couldn’t begin to imagine what these realms contained. Each realm was different from this cosmos, and he didn’t have enough power to understand what they held. He went back and searched for something other than realms. He also saw a list similar to the one Mr. Gold had given him, but it was divided by the realm and their contents. While he could see all the categories, some particular items were similarly not visible. When he compared the lists, it seemed Mr. Gold’s had more invisible items, though he wasn’t sure if this meant it was more comprehensive.
He then sent his Mind Energy to Dynamos and asked, “How trustworthy is he? And would he try to gain more out of me?”
“If I had to trade my life, he would be my go-to because I know I would get my worth.” Dynamos answered without batting an eye. “If it was a small transaction, he would definitely make deals for personal gains. Both in terms of personality and Divinity, you would have no problems on a bigger scale transaction. After all, you saw his list too. You could also snitch on him to someone, but he is known for these traits, so they wouldn’t even act against him knowing this. Be at ease.”
Arslan decided to trust him. So far, Dynamos hadn’t failed him, and he wasn’t so insecure as to worry about everything. However, if they tried to scam him, they would understand he was not alone! The item list he was going to hand out would also prove they weren’t to be messed with.
However, he trusted in his senses that said their relationship would only improve.