“T-This is Deckan, sir. Is everything okay?” The young girl responded to his question, startled by his sudden appearance. She could feel a sense of strength from the man, but had no clue as to his identity. However, she did not find his question to be… too odd.
There were some rumors that strong enough magic could lead to crossing between worlds, though she had never had any contact with that herself. She was a simple hunter from a distant region, far removed from the capital. The only magic she had ever seen people actively using was the native magic of Deckan.
“Then, who sits upon the throne of Deckan?” When he left this world, the throne was still under contention. He wanted to know the outcome of that feud, and also use this to try and gauge how much time had passed since he disappeared.
This time, the man’s question definitely struck her as odd. No matter what world you were from, you must know of the God-Queen Udona, right? It should have been a huge deal no matter where you were from. “It’s… Udona, sir?”
A tremor ran through Sinclair’s body as he heard that. For the Goddess herself to have taken the throne, just how much time must have passed? He was just about to ask what year it was when the girl retrieved a card from her jacket and activated it. With these two questions of his, she seemed certain that he was some kind of madman, and that feeling of strength she felt from him gave her a sense of danger.
Thus, she used her teleportation card to quickly return to town. It was a pity that she couldn’t continue her hunt, but she had to prioritize her own safety first. Besides, she had already met the day’s quota for hunting, so she wouldn’t be blamed even if she teleported back.
Seeing the girl vanish from in front of him, Sinclair let out a helpless sigh. However, he soon heard a faint laughter echoing throughout the forest, like that of a young child. Ever-vigilant, he observed his surroundings, unsure if he had provoked some sort of monster with his presence.
He had seen many things in his travels, from mischievous pixies to hungering spirits that lured in travelers. Many of those things he had almost fallen prey to, narrowly escaping with the use of his random teleports. Thus, when he heard the laugh of a child, it was more harrowing to him than the roar of a giant beast.
“I was just in the middle of a game, but I had to check this out.” A light voice spoke up from above him, and Sinclair lifted his head to see a pink-haired halfling sitting on a branch more than a dozen meters away. “The lost traveler finally made his way back home? And… it looks like he returned as a god, even. When Accalia told me about that, I had to see for myself.”
“You are… the Goddess of Love, Aurivy?” Sinclair gulped, seeing one of the ‘old gods’ in the flesh for the first time. Although he was not particularly a worshipper of the halfling goddess, he still knew what she looked like, as her statue was present in many temples before he left.
“I’m the Goddess of Travel too, you know!” Aurivy puffed her cheeks out as she said that. “I could totally be considered your boss, in a way.”
In fact, Aurivy had long taken an interest in Sinclair, paying special attention to his travels. Had he ever prayed to her, she was even prepared to send him back to Deckan for a while. Yet, Sinclair was an ardent follower of a single goddess, Udona. The thought of worshipping other gods or goddesses for special benefits never even crossed his mind.
“I… I see.” Sinclair cleared his throat. “Is there something that I can help you with, Lady Aurivy?”
“Actually, that’s what I was going to ask you.” Aurivy smiled down towards Sinclair. “You’ve been gone a very long time… though not quite as long as you think, at least not on this side of things. There aren’t many people in this day and age that remember you, aside from those who see your name on old research papers.”
“So, I want to ask you, what do you intend to do? Our new God of the Lost, will you enter society once more, or will you continue your journey?” Sinclair could see the mirth in Aurivy’s gaze, but her words made him fall into thought.
“How many gods are there in Deckan now…?” He asked, curious to see if he would even be welcomed back.
“Hmm…” Aurivy closed her eyes, seeming to consider that. “At the current moment, there are… eighteen, including the two of us. Ah, seventeen now, it seems Thessa went back home.”
Sinclair gulped, feeling that was a lot less than expected, but not so little that he would be ostracized for his divinity. However, as he thought about that, Aurivy’s eyes opened in surprise, and she looked down at Sinclair. “Wait… that’s not right. Your powers should be restrained right now. I’ll be right back, don’t go anywhere!”
Sinclair was about to speak up when Aurivy vanished from the branch, leaving him alone in the forest. He could only let out a sigh, standing around and waiting. When a Greater Goddess tells you not to move, you plant your feet and stay exactly where you are.
“Well, that’s embarrassing.” Aurivy spoke up again, roughly thirty seconds later as she appeared standing next to Sinclair. “It looks like the Divine Registry was destroyed in the recent attack. At least the one used for this world.”
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“Attack?” Sinclair looked over towards the halfling goddess, a look of concern on his face.
“That’s right, some galactic empire showed up wanting to wipe out the planet. But, it’s fine, they were taken care of by a few gods, and you even got a brand new awesome moon out of it!”
Sinclair’s brow twitched at what he was hearing, unsure of how to process it. “The Divine Registry… that was the system that limited the power of unregistered gods?”
Aurivy nodded her head approvingly. “That’s right. Though, at this point I should probably tell Tsubaki to take it offline. More and more of you are starting to crop up, and there are too many planets in the realms to monitor all of them properly. Not to mention Fyor. If any god really wanted to hide, they could just escape into space before their ascension, or run to Fyor.”
“Why are you telling me all of this?” He wondered curiously, finding the goddess incredibly talkative.
“Hmm? Oh! Right, I came to ask about your choice. I’ve got to get back to my game soon, before she starts cheating. So, what will it be? Want me to send you back to the city?”
Sinclair thought it over, before shaking his head. “I’d like to make my way there on my own, if that’s alright.”
Aurivy, who he thought would be disappointed by his denial, simply grinned. “Now you’re starting to act like the God of the Lost.” She said as her body began fading away. “The only real way to have a journey is to get lost, and see where you end up.”
Far away in another world, Aurivy’s body faded back into being, sitting on the floor in front of a small table. Sitting across from her was a certain elven woman, and a deck of cards was laid between them. Aurivy grabbed her own cards, lifting them up to look at them before letting out a gasp. “You cheater!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Julia glanced off to the side innocently, clearing her throat. “So, did he take the offer?”
“Nope!” Aurivy said with a grin, not really caring about how her cards had been swapped. “That just makes it more interesting.”
Julia nodded her head, her lips tugging slightly. “Hey, ‘Rivy?” She asked, looking the goddess in the face.
“Hmm?” Aurivy looked up, surprised that Julia didn’t want to continue their game now that she was back. Or maybe she was just feeling guilty about cheating, and wanted to apologize!?
“I’ve decided… I’ll be your subordinate.” Julia spoke in a soft tone, and Aurivy let out a gasp. Her grip on her cards loosened, and they fell to the ground.
“Wait, really!? You mean it!?” Julia had long since achieved the Perfect Self, so neither of them were worried about outliving the other. Still, Aurivy had always hoped that Julia would eventually become a goddess. Not necessarily a subordinate goddess to Aurivy herself, but just a goddess capable of standing against the dangers that were growing in the world every day.
Julia nodded her head, her smile growing. “There are so many new gods being born, and you keep going to check on the interesting ones… I’ve got to make sure I can keep my spot as your bestie, right?”
Aurivy lunged across the table, tackling Julia into a hug. “You’ll always be my best friend, goddess or not!” She declared. “I don’t want you to make this decision just because of that.”
“I know.” Julia laughed, lightly flicking Aurivy on the forehead. “But still, I thought it was time. I’ve even thought of the domain that I want, if you can help guide me that way?”
Aurivy nodded her head quickly, knowing that she could put in a word with Accalia to make sure that Julia got the domain she wanted. “Of course, what is it?”
“Wood.” Julia smiled, having given it quite a bit of thought. “I’d like to be the Goddess of Wood. Then, once I’ve ascended, we can go on a trip. Wherever you’d like.”
Aurivy gasped, nodding quickly again. “Okay… then, there’s something I want to give you.” She hadn’t expected her friend to decide to become an elemental goddess. But now that she was, it was time to unveil a project that she had been working on for quite a while.
Julia looked at Aurivy curiously, the latter waving her hand and producing a green seed, one which seemed to radiate elemental power. When Julia saw it, her eyes went wide in recognition. “Wait, isn’t that…”
“The purest wood element in Natural Seed.” Aurivy nodded her head. “The Eternal Wood Seed.”
“But that’s an item from a game… even you can’t bring things out from the games, you said that yourself.” Julia stared at the seed Aurivy was holding, disbelief written across her face.
“I can’t…” Aurivy agreed, passing the seed to Julia. “But I can figure out how they work, and then make them in the real world. If you assimilate this seed with your mana and ki, it should have the same effects as using it in the game. I’ve already tested a few others myself, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”
Julia took the seed, able to feel the familiar power within it. In the past, she and Aurivy had spent months in the game, traversing through the depths of a flourishing jungle and fighting all manner of plant-type monsters in order to find this seed. It had been given to Julia at that time, as well. As such, she could not be any more familiar with its feeling.
“A seed that can only grow in the heart of a tree which has existed within a ten thousand year forest.” Julia muttered to herself. “How could such a thing be made in reality?”
Aurivy stuck her tongue out playfully. “You just have to figure out how the different elements interact to produce the seed. I’ve learned the production methods for a few different ones. If you had asked to be the Goddess of Darkness, I might have run into some more trouble… Ash hasn’t been able to help me figure that one out yet. So, are you going to use it or not?”
Julia nodded her head, drawing the seed closer to her heart. At the same time, she reached out towards it with her energy. Her ki and mana stretched out, each one touching the energy released by the seed as it sank into her body.
You have assimilated the Eternal Wood Seed!
From now on, you may choose to have your spells or ki abilities carry the effects of ‘Eternal Wood’.