I tinker for a few hours in preparation for my fourth Excursion. I invent a few new useful items in response to the challenges the previous excursion presented. I infused my fortress armor with a special property that allows me to trigger a state where Lux (Light) Essentia passes directly through my body, rendering me invisible. I also created several small alchemical bombs I call Alumentum. They have the destructive force of roughly 12 hand grenades.

I elect to go on the excursion alone this time; last time, the praetors all got captured, and I’d prefer to have Tetrax stay and guard the tower should anyone attempt to attack. I wave the crimson cultists goodbye as I set out in search of another sealed flux riff. It doesn’t take long. I open it and step through, unsure of what awaits me.

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I step out into a large grassy area. It looks like a savanna. I see unfamiliar creatures resembling elephants and the like roaming the field. I have no time to dwell on that. Find the gods, get their souls, and get out.

I begin walking in a random direction, although with the boots of the traveler it’s more like I’m in a car. The goggles of revealing show extremely odd readings from creatures I pass; namely, two dimensional squares of vis follow each creature above their heads. What could that mean? In the distance, I see a large caravan going what I assume is East based off the sun’s position.

As I make my way to the caravan, they evidently see me and stop short. A few armed people run up to me. One of them, a relatively old woman, shouts to me,

"Demon! You have chosen the wrong group to attack! We will slay you!" Great. Another person eager to jump to conclusions. But then, the woman does something that confuses me at first. She says out loud, "Status!" When she does this, the goggles of revealing show me the vis square following her has spun into motion, and a transparent blue screen appears in front of her. Seriously? I suppose in a sea of infinite dimensions, literally everything exists. I can’t help but laugh out loud at the absurdity of such a system existing. The travelers holding their swords to me look at each other, concerned.

Evidently, something about my status was wrong, because the moment she started reading she collapsed on the ground holding her head, writhing in pain.

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"Since I’m trying to stop killing regular people I’ll let you off with a pass this time. You people are always so quick to jump to conclusions. I just want to ask a few questions." The woman’s nose begins to bleed and she stops moving altogether.

"What did you do to her, you bastard?" One of the younger men shouts. "You killed her!"

"No, I didn’t, she—" Before I can finish talking the young man runs up to me and hits me with his sword. My runic shielding tangs and a ring of yellow energy briefly flashes around me, indicating the runic shielding worked.

"What the hell?" He says. I place the Cognitio (Mind) Disruptor spell focus into my gauntlet and cast it at the remaining three aggressors.

"I pose no threat and I may talk to the leaders of this caravan to ask questions." After about 10 seconds the travelers regain their senses and simply walk away back to the caravan. I kneel down to the woman on the ground and use a healing spell focus on her. The goggles of revealing show she still emanates Victus (Life) Essentia. Glad that didn’t kill her. What exactly about me is so horrifying that checking my status caused her to convulse?

I walk back to the caravan. There are at least 40 carriages in it. People shrink away from me as I walk by. "Who is the leader of this caravan?" A little girl points to one of the carriages. I thank her by picking a flower I found on the ground and handing it to her. She smiles and laughs.

I walk over to the carriages. "Excuse me." The woman on the inside is startled by my appearance, but quickly calms down.

"Sorry about that. We thought you were a demon, but if our escort says you’re fine, we trust them." She explains.

"Glad to hear it. I only have one question to ask. Sorry if this is an odd question, but are there any gods in this world?" She is clearly confused by the question.

"This world? I’m not sure what you mean by that, but I don’t think so. Unless you mean the Voice of God. Legend says a mighty deity sits in the heavens beyond time and space and gives guidance to a select few. One of our very own escorts had that ability. The deity has never shown themselves, though…" I see. Some faux god must be hiding beyond my reach and influencing the world like some sort of puppeteer. This will be harder than I thought.

"Thank you." As I walk away, I realize what I must do. Although I must take a short detour to the tower to construct the device, the blueprints are already drawing themselves in my mind. I must construct the Deity Hammer.