Cole barely made it to the edge of the clearing before his trek was interrupted.

A life elemental, far enough formed to actually be mobile, crawled towards him. It looked like a vaguely humanoid bush, with the two largest branches as an approximation of arms. The smith could feel dense life-affinity mana within the elemental, but it was still nowhere near the density or purity of the crystal. It crawled across the floor with all the speed and grace of a newborn, which is to say barely any.

It would likely take the Monster five whole minutes just to hobble its way over the Cole, and he could certainly just walk past it. But he wanted to test his new forcefire. And his forcefire wanted, no, needed to be unleashed. The small, barely detectable traces of pure entropy within the mana were practically begging their wielder to let them out. To let them take this embodiment of life and make it understand the futility of growth. All crumbles in the face of entropy.

And though he thought it was being a tad bit dramatic, the smith let a single spark go free.

The silvery flame wavered in the air, force magic distorting it into harsh geometric shapes before it reared up like fire, switching between consuming chaos and orderly ingot over and over and over. It was just a tad bit darker in color now, but that was the only visual change the entropy had created. The rest were evident the moment the spark landed.

A section of the elemental's arm just... vanished. One moment it was there, undeniably real and solid, the next not even its mana signature remained. As the smith peered into the magical layer of reality, he realized that that was simply how the new forcefire worker. It ate at its target's very mana, consuming it in order to further the destruction of whatever remained. A self-sustaining attack that only got stronger the longer it was left to fester.

Or it would have been, had the arm not been where it stopped. The mana inside the elemental was not environmental, nor did it belong to Cole, so the elemental still had control. Even with its very limited intelligence, the monster still only needed a moment or two to wrestle back control of its magic. But that was if the balance was equal. If the attack was less than or equal to the defense, the elemental could just shut down the invading essence, due to it being inside its own body. Not so much if the smith just dumped an entire forcefire blast into its body.

A pile of ash was all that remained after the second shot. Quantity was a quality all its own. Digging through the pile, Cole eventually found a small green orb that pulsed slowly, beating in a rhythm not unlike that of a heart. A life elemental ego. He summoned the doors to the Pocket Forge and tossed it in. He would really need to make an actual storage item eventually, his bookshelves were getting clogged.

He continued on his way back through the forest, following the path of devastation that the wolf had left as it tugged him along. It wasn't pretty. Trees were torn out of the ground, roots dangling in the air. Deep furrows were carved in the dirt from its claws, and more than once Cole had to step off the path to get around them. A trail of blood marked its passage along the left side of the path, the wolf's speed apparently having re-opened a wound or two.

It was about halfway down the path that he heard a shout.

"Found him!" Jace's voice came from the trees, muffled by distance. The Overseer had likely been using his Overbearing Gaze to search for the smith, and the sound of footsteps from further down the path proved the approach of his companions. Mary and Jace both trudged down the path, smiling more than he thought they would be after the battle.

"There's mister big shot!" Jace yelled. "When did you plan on telling me you were so important that literal Gods want to be on good terms with you? Or was I supposed to figure that out myself?"

Thinking back... had Cole or Mary even told Jace about the Chosen Creator Class? Cole had just introduced himself as a smith, and Mary hadn't refuted it. It would have been a bit odd that a simple smith could summon a pocket dimension and had access to a library of magical runes, but Jace himself had a completely undetectable drone and could teleport. Maybe he just assumed that the Overseer Class's level of power was the baseline.

And how had the man met a God?

"You've been getting the attention of people in very high places, Mr. Vance," Mary chuckled. "Very rich people as well. Do you know how many Credits a Wealth God can throw around if he gets the opportunity to be on the good side of the second strongest being in the world? The answer is a lot. A lot."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The very thought sent a shiver down the smith's spine. Wealth Gods? That implied that there were Classes and corresponding paths that relied on money all the way to Godhood. He knew about Merchants, but how many money Classes were there? Was there a Customer Class? Customer Gods? No, stop thinking those thoughts. Customer Gods aren't real, they can't hurt you.

"Well," The smith said. "If you had such a windfall, does that mean that I can keep the probably very valuable wolf skeleton? It would look great as a wall decoration."

The glare the Merchant sent him was as cold as the Void.

They walked back to the site of the battle as all three filled the others in on what had happened. All three had received sponsorships, all from Gods that were in at least some way significant, and all with benefits that were clear and powerful.

Jace had been blessed by a Goddess of Curiosity. Doutrix was her name, and according to the Overseer, she had the demeanor of a child told she would be getting ice cream. She apparently had an innate need to be constantly learning more, and once she was running out of things to learn she was essentially in withdrawal. Her Domain was a bit like an addiction, and a very good example to think of the future when you were deciding on your path.

What she wanted out of Jace was information about Cole. Or rather, Cole's new maybe-friend in the Void God. The guy was secretive, as it turned out, and paranoid to an extreme level. In fact, Cole had likely been further into the true Void than any other non-Void being in history. Millennia of attempts, trillions of expeditions, billions of Gods trying to find the secrets of the God of Entropy's home, and all Cole had to do to surpass them was hit a button. So any secrets he found regarding or given to him by his Sponsor would be invaluable.

The 'signing bonus' was twofold. First off there was the psuedo-affinity, discovery. Through the Domain of Curiosity, Jace would have an innately enhanced sense of attention to detail when discovering or trying to find something out. It would be amazing for exploration or scouting. The secondary part of his payment was a small magical token, which was enchanted to teleport the three of them to the nearest population center when it was crushed. Some sort of 'go out and see the new world' gift. The runes on it were still far, far ahead of what Cole could do.

Mary had been sponsored by a God of Wealth known as Misadil. He was the second strongest Wealth God in the world, with his father being the number one. According to the Merchant, he gave off more 'spoiled rich kid' energy than all the customers Cole had ever met combined. Truly a dangerous force, to be avoided for all of his days. He wanted in because of the opportunity of the Void. Not its secrets themselves, but what he could sell them for.

The God wanted Mary to ensure a good relationship with the Void and 'its new champion'. The idea of in any way working for instead of with the Entropy God made Cole even angrier. Theirs was an understanding, a deal born of both wanting something from the other and providing something in turn. The Void God was stronger, but smart enough to not try and call himself superior. That never worked when dealing with Cole.

The bonus she got was a mass of Credits and a massive increase to her Credit limit. Suffice it to say, she would be purchasing everything on her shopping list. Gems for Cole to enchant, alchemy equipment and guides for herself, rare plants to grow in storage spaces, metals to forge with, and information would all be within her grasp.

And speaking of enchanting, the smith believed he was having a breakthrough.

They had returned to the clearing holding the crystal, along with the wolf's skeleton. While Mary put her new Credit limit to use selling the bones of the creature, which was apparently a wolf variant known as a fenroar, and Jace standing guard, Cole inspected the crystal.

He had gathered a few more shards for use in his eventual armor, which he intended to give a self-healing function. They were sure to be useful, but not as much as what was still in the main crystal.

The hole where the marble had been leveraged went deep into the pillar, at least half a meter. It was surrounded by cracks and ravines in the main crystal, the former homes of the shards now scattered across the clearing. The mana inside the life crystal glowed with a soft green light, glinting off all the facets and exposed edges. But not at the end of the hole. There, for just about a centimeter past where the actual opening stopped, there was an absence of mana. Like it had been pushed out of the way.

The doors to the Pocket Forge slammed down, and the smith hurriedly raced inside. There, on the shelf next to all the clutter and trinkets, were two marbles. One was the first he had ever made, barely the size of a pea. The second was larger but had been partially flattened into a curved disk. But peering into the magical side of reality, there were two marbles on the shelf. One was the first he had ever made, barely the size of a pea. The second was larger. That was the only difference.

The second marble had only been flattened in the physical world, while its mana specter had persisted as an orb.

He saw it now. It wasn't about separating the physical and the magical, but about shaping them in different ways. A block of ice and an ice sculpture looked and were different, but once everything melted they were the same. The physical marble and the mana specter looked and were different, but at the core of reality, they were the same. He understood. He could comprehend this, he could shape this.

They had already planned to use Jace's token soon and to reintegrate into a semblance of society. The smith didn't have time for a forging session right now. But once they had settled down for the moment and he had free reign, Cole would be diving back into the Forge. He could at least attempt two rune enchantments now, and together with the Grand steel he intended to make his previous weapon look like a child's toy.