North of the holy city built at the foot of the temple, a party of about a hundred humans was making its way north. At the head of this gathering, were three people, two women and one man. Behind them suspended in the air were supplies taken from the city. However, Most of these supplies weren't food or clothes but rock samples and records carved into stone tablets. Due to the untamed nature of this world, this group would be able to survive on hunts and gatherings of edible plants for most of their journey. This freed them to bring along most of their research and notes with them. Currently, the group was still located within the flatlands surrounding the city. The landscape around the temple and the holy city were mostly flatlands containing the descendants of ancestral grass. Forests were also dotted throughout the landscape and with Inpar's, one of the three leaders, ingenious idea, artificial forests have been planted closer to the city, allowing for easier access to wood for the residents. At the moment the proceeding was exciting a naturally grown forest. The morning sky heralded a new dawn and the group seemed to be in high spirits.

At the forefront, the three leaders of this expedition were discussing the specifics of the coming challenge. "I'm telling you, establishing the city on the mountain is a nonsensical idea. How do you plan to survive next winter, if we have nowhere to plant our crops?" This voice belonged to Inpar, who was the third son of Minsol. He was a young man, barely of age, and had dark disheveled hair. He wore an exasperated expression and had a seeming darkness lurk within his eyes. Behind him floated a few provisions as well as a few stone tablets. An observant person would notice, that behind Inpar were relatively few items floating in the air compared to his two conversation partners. "And I am telling you, that building the city on top of the mountain is the fastest way how we can complete Stella's holy mission." This voice belonged to the first of Inpar's conversation partners, a woman who was known as Feidi. Feidi had the countenance of a calm person and wore shoulder-length hair. Upon her neck was a string necklace with a stone shaped into a triangle. This triangle represented the temple where He resided. She was the second daughter of Minsol and had quite a few items floating behind her. "What's the point of traveling to the northern mountain range, if we won't build a city on the mountains? Didn't we all agree that we chose that spot for the easy access to the ores that are located there?" Inpar shook his head, as if in disappointment, "I don't get how you could even be saying something like this. Our priority is to establish a city, that is greater and better than the one established by Mundus. Stella, don't just walk there, say something."

At Inpar's prompting, Stella, the leader of this party and the one with the most items flying behind her startled and looked to Inpar and Feidi. "Sorry, I was zoned out, what were we talking about?" Stella apologized with an awkward laugh. Inpar left out an exasperated sigh and explained, "We were discussing where the location of the city should be. Feidi thinks it should be built at the top of the mountain so we could more easily accomplish your holy mission. I think that accomplishing your holy mission won't mean anything when half the population of our city will starve to death and the other will freeze to death. We need to build further away from the mountains so that we have enough farmland to sustain ourselves." Seeing that Inpar had finished his explanation, Feidi couldn't help but burst into the conversation. "And I tell you, there is nothing more important than to accomplish the mission stated by God. Let me say that again, God Himself gave you this mission Stella, you absolutely must accomplish it as soon as possible." Stella, hearing this heated argument let out a soft chuckle as she watched, while mulling over their words. "While it is true that God Himself gave me this mission, it is also true that our father and king, Minsol, is God's spokesperson and anything he orders is by relation an order from God as well. Now I agree with Feidi, that God's mission can't be delayed nor abandoned, but Inpar, you also have a good point, that first and foremost we must ensure the survival of the city. Especially with the coming winter." Feidi, at first seemed delighted upon hearing Stella's words, but a small frown formed once she heard the second half of Stella's statement. "Even so, God's mission comes first. We absolutely cannot build a city far from the mountain. At the very least, it should be at the mountain base." Inpar, as if waiting for this moment, hastily jumped into the conversation. "Yes, that should do just fine. If the city is built at the base of the mountain, then we should have enough workable farmland to produce enough food to tide us over the first winter. And it would still be close enough to the mountain, that we could continue our research unimpeded and maybe even speed up a bit." "So are we all in agreement, that the city should be built at the base of the mountains?" After looking around and getting confirmation from both Inpar and Feidi, Stella solemnly nodded her head and said "Then it's decided, the city will be built at the base of the mountains. Hopefully, we will be able to accomplish my mission soon."

She thought back to that day, three years ago when God gave her His holy mission. Minsol never expressly forbade anyone from entering the temple, where God resided, but all of humanity and his children especially tended to avoid the temple. That was because those who gazed at God would feel an indescribable wave of awe and worship however, in some, this turned into fear. It was the act of gazing into that distant star outside of their time and space that shook the children of Minsol to the deepest part of their core. One gaze was enough to inspire the greatest worship or the greatest fear. So it came to be a tradition among Minsol's children to climb the temple on the day of their coming of age and to gaze at that distant star. Through their connection to God and Minsol acting as a proxy, when they gazed upon Him, they could feel His emotions at that particular time. For example, when Inpar gazed upon God, he felt God's immense disappointment. At the time, Inpar thought it was due to his lacking ability, but unbeknownst to him, it was merely due to God's repeated failure and subsequent frustration at creating a dragon. Be that as it may, this single gaze was enough to leave a permanent mark on Inpar's heart, one that he still carried to this day. Stella was the youngest of Minsol's children, so she was the last to undergo this tradition.

Three years ago, she climbed the temple and entered the main hall. There hanging next to a statue of an unknown man in the centre of the hall, she found God. For what felt like an eternity, she fell into a trance as she watched the creation and destruction of the universe play out within her mind's eye. It was only from that moment on that she fully understood what it meant to be God. The emotion that God was feeling at that moment however was curiosity. Specifically, He was curious about a certain idea. At the time, he had thought of another potential method to create a new body for himself, one that he continued to pursue until this day. Stella, feeling God's curiosity, asked what He was wondering about. God, hearing Stella's pure-hearted question merely chuckled and replied that it was something she shouldn't worry herself with. Then God asked her if she had any questions for Him. After thinking it through, she asked about something that she had been wondering about for a long time. She spoke of the scenes Minsol would describe when talking about His memories. One thing that fascinated her specifically was the shiny material used in many of the creations featured in many of God's memories. Nowhere had she ever seen anything that resembled that material. She asked if this material also existed in this world, or whether it was solely reserved for the gods. God let out another small laugh upon hearing Stella's question and explained to her what metal was, how it could be found in the ground, and what the recipe for bronze was. He also told her that if she was curious about that material, then she should make some herself. Ever since then, it was her holy mission ordained by God, to introduce metal into human civilization.

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"So how do you think Mundus is going to fare? I heard he's going southeast to the jungle." This question posed by Inpar broke the silence around the makeshift campfire. It was their eighth day of travel and they were nearing the halfway point of their journey. The reason why it took them so long, was because they had to take several detours due to the uneven terrain and dense forests within this region. Now that it was evening, they had already set up their camp and were sitting in various circles around campfires. Today, they were lucky to come across a herd of jumping deer, a subvariant of the common deer, however, this type had special tendons and special muscle groups, allowing them to leap and accelerate at incredible speeds. One would have to be an incredibly skilled hunter to slowly sneak up on this deer and to quietly throw their spear if one hoped to ever catch one. However, unluckily for this herd, they encountered the descendants of Minsol, who had the unfair ability to pursue them from the air and use their powers to grab them from afar. So it came to be, that two deers were captured by Stella and one by Feidi. Sadly, Inpar couldn't fly, so he was unable to participate in the hunt. Now that they had butchered the deer, they were being grilled over the various makeshift campfires. The juice flowed out of the meat, dripping onto the fire, making sparks fly out. A tantalizing smell permeated the camp, making many of the traveler's mouth water. The meat was said to be very lean, with little fat, making it the perfect evening meal during late spring. The three siblings shared a fire, where the best slices were currently being grilled. It was during such a cozy atmosphere that Inpar asked his question.

Stella and Feidi both ripped their eyes from the glistening meat and turned toward Inpar. Feidi answered instantly as if the answer was self-evident. "Mundus is a nonbeliever. Without God's support, anything he does will inevitably fail. Is there any point in discussing this?" Within human civilisation the term nonbeliever didn't refer to someone who didn't believe God existed, but more so to someone who refused to worship God. It could be said that only the children of Minsol had the right to claim to be nonbelievers as were an ordinary person to claim to be a nonbeliever, they would get immediately persecuted. And even so, it is only due to Minsol's grace that his children could do as they pleased. "Nonbeliever or not, Mundus is a very capable person. Though his methods are uncouth they are certainly effective." So said Stella, as she flipped a skewer which was perfectly cooked on one side, but still undercooked on the other. It would seem like one side would end up slightly charred. Inpar gazed at the skewer, a silent longing hidden within his gaze. "Whether he is a nonbeliever has nothing to do with his leadership style. The real problem is how he treats his subordinates. He is too harsh on them. The way that it is going, if he were to become the next king of humanity, he would become a tyrant." This word was one that they had learned from Minsol. To their understanding, a tyrant was a selfish ruler, who didn't care about his subjects. Hearing Inpar's words, Feidi was quick to agree. "Exactly! He would be a nonbeliever tyrant who wants nothing good for his people. He would be a terrible king." Feidi nodded her head with a self-assured smile. Seeing this Stella decided to chime in. "I don't think any of us can deny Mundus's capability. I mean he is indeed ruthless, but it is precisely because of this, that he is so capable when it comes to tough decisions. I think it will be quite difficult to beat Mundus in establishing a greater city." Saying so, Stella took a skewer of the fire and inspected it. Satisfied that the skewer was fully cooked, she bit into it, resulting in a gamey taste to spread within her mouth. Seeing that Stella had already snatched the first skewer, the others hastily grabbed one skewer for themselves and started to enjoy the food.

"Well, whether he would be capable as a king, or not it is irrelevant when we consider what would be better for the common man." Inpar said between bites. "I mean, that's the whole reason why I came with you. Well, that and the thought of discovering new things. At least that's one thing we can thank God for." "Don't you say that!" Hearing Inpar's offhanded slight towards God, Feidi immediately intervened. It would have sounded fierce if she wouldn't have had half a skewer sticking out of her mouth when she cried out. "Calm down you two. We already agreed that there would be no infighting within our group. Feidi, I also don't like how Inpar is a nonbeliever but that doesn't mean that we're are not a team. Also, Minsol has already said that we are allowed to form our own opinions of God. As for you Inpar, don't just casually slight God. You may not believe that he plays an active part in shaping the fate of humanity, but that doesn't mean that you can just belittle Him." A few murmurs of apology and agreement were heard around the campfire, after which an uneasy silence ensued. It was only broken by the crackling of the fire, the indistinct conversations from other campfires, and the sound of the nightlife. Once almost all the skewers were gone, Inpars voice resounded once again. "I still don't get, how you can keep saying that God is ever present and keep worshipping Him. Minsol himself told us, that God cares not for whether we worship Him or not." It was also during that time, that Minsol explained why only his children were allowed to be nonbelievers. Humanity was created so that God could be worshipped by everyone. However, Minsol's children partially shared Minsol's bond with God, making them worthy of forming their own beliefs and opinions of Him. If they coincided with Minsol's, then good, but if not, then so be it. The only two humans except for Minsol's children to have that right were Caeluma, Minsol's wife, and Spreta, the wife of Venator, the first human to ever die. On the day when Venator died, Minsol made a vow to Spreta. A vow that had grave consequences even to this day, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the competition between Stella and Mundus wouldn't have come to be if it weren't for Minsol's vow.