It made me wonder if the domains were living ent.i.ties, which I had kind of suspected they were, but hadn"t really confirmed just yet. It also made me wonder if the system itself was a weirdly omnipresent living being. A part of me wanted to ask this question, but honestly, I was just happy that I could hear them. That I could chat with them. And so I started to.

"Hi! It"s amazing to get to hear all of you. The system has spoken about you, and often refers to not only itself but all of you, using "we" as its p.r.o.noun so often that it feels like the thing"s p.r.o.noun of choice." I told the ent.i.ties that I could now hear. They fell silent for a moment, but then began to laugh. When the laughter died down, a few seconds later, I continued to talk.

"I want to become a really strong, really knowledgable deity. I don"t feel as though I"ve had a whole lot of chances to expand my knowledge in meaningful ways, but now that I"m not constrained by the tutorial I feel as though that can begin to change. In fact, I hope to begin changing it right away." I told the domains, energetically.

The first thing I did to take advantage of the new opportunities I had, was to ask a question. "Are you all living creatures?" I asked, opting to be brave and ask what I wanted to know.

"We are! Of a sort. We"re... sentient concepts. Laws, ideas, and powers, given consciousness, to help govern the multiverse." One of them, not knowledge but another, explained. And then realizing that it hadn"t introduced itself it corrected that.

"I am the subdomain of necromancy. You"re intriguing to me. I hope to see what you do in the days to come. Especially if you opt to gain influence over the domain of poison, the domain of fungi, and the domain of disease. You"d be a downright terrifying deity if you did that..." The voice slyly suggested once it had revealed itself to be necromancy given a vague sort of consciousness.

I chuckled and spent a moment envisioning the potent armies I could raise in the deep, dark corners of the world if I devoted time to mastering the domains necromancy suggested just now. The smile that emerged on my face wasn"t one I hated, though it was one that came about because of the influence of the two dark domains I had influence over.

"Oh? You"re open to taking suggestions?" Asked another voice, one among several dozen. This one had a rough voice, but it was one that was silken, and in hearing it I felt gooseb.u.mps emerge across my skin. Metaphysically of course, since I was still in my omnielemental form.

"If you"re open to suggestions then might I suggest myself? There is no mortal species stronger or grander than dragons. And if you gain even one tier of influence over me your magnificence shall be grand that even dragons shall bow to you. And you already possess influence over the earth subdomain..." The voice whispered. The last part of that was clearly meant to be a hint, but it was a comically vague one that did little to help me understand what the speaker was thinking.

It seemed that it was whichever domain or subdomain possessed power over dragons. Having seen how naming conventions have worked to date I quietly a.s.sumed that I just spoke to the dragon domain.

"Althos, which domains and subdomains do you wish to gain influence over at the moment? Ignore the ones that are clamoring for approval, just tell me which ones you would like to have the first tier of influence over, right now." The voice of the domain of knowledge asked, speaking loudly enough for me to hear it over the voices of other domains and subdomains.

I chuckled and considered the question for a few moments. I searched my memories for things that I thought I would enjoy controlling and eventually mastering. It didn"t take me long to think of which domains and subdomains I thought it would cool to gain influence over.

"I think it"d be neat to possess influence over something that counterbalances my influence over the earth subdomain. So probably either the subdomains of air or liquid. I"d also like to have more influence over things in the forest, so if I could influence over the plant subdomain I"d happily do that as well." I explained, after having thought about which subdomains would most benefit me.

"If I"m thinking solely in terms of domains... I"m gonna a.s.sume these are greater domains, but if I could gain influence over the domains of life or death that"d be incredible. Although gaining influence over the night"s sky would be equally amazing..." I muttered, beginning to get lost in thought at that idea of having power over the endless void that was the night"s sky.

"Oh? You want to gain influence over me?" A new voice asked, audibly in my mind for the first time. It was a feminine sounding voice, one which marked it as distinct from the other voices I had heard so far.

"No, you dummy! He"s talking about us." Interrupted a new voice. And this one wasn"t alone, as its remark was immediately followed up by another voice.

"Yeah! He"s afraid of the dark. He wants to master his fears. He wants influence over myself, and the domains of the cosmos. He doesn"t want influence over you, void. He just doesn"t understand the nature of s.p.a.ce." The second voice added. This confused me.

This was the first I was hearing about things like a "void", "cosmos" and "s.p.a.ce". It was all new knowledge, knowing that I was grateful for, but had no way of conceptualizing or understanding without some critical context.

"Enough! You"re just confusing him." Snapped the domain of knowledge, its voice silencing the bickering domains and subdomains. All of them muttered apologies while complaining under their breaths, and then the knowledge domain began to speak once more.

"I apologize for their behavior. In their defense, they are all very excited to meet you. They just don"t realize that... there"s a lot you don"t know." The domain told me, respect and sincerity coloring her voice.

"I suppose I should give you some background as to where you are. You"re on an island named Puerto Rico, located not far from a continent named Iredale." One of my many new companions told me, whispering into my mind as it did so.

"The parts of Puerto Rico that are inhabited by humans are a part of an empire known as the Reconquista Empire. You came to life in the furthest surviving settlement on the island, one that is dozens of kilometers away from the port city of San Gerardo, the only official way on or off the island." The domain patiently explained.

"You are on a planet named Torus. This world is one of seven that all orbit a single, ultrma.s.sive ball of plasma, a celestial object known as a "star". The heat and light from this "star" allow this world and the six that surround it to be able to produce life." The knowledge domain told me, giving me a brief introduction into how life worked.

"The lifeforms on this world almost all need that star"s heat in order to survive. The undead don"t, and there are definitely lifeforms that do not need the star to survive, but the overwhelming majority of lifeforms would die, many in minutes if something happened to the star." The voice told me, filling me with curiosity.

"What could happen to the star?" I asked, unsure of if anything could be done to an "ultrma.s.sive ball of plasma", whatever that was. Though apparently if I wanted too I could punch through it, at least according to the notification I received earlier. I also knew that the sun was a thing that existed, but I hadn"t known it was a ma.s.sive ball of plasma, so I was learning a lot of today.

"Well... frankly, you could happen to it Althos. Gaining the first tier of influence over the subdomain of fire is enough for you to become immune to the effects of heat. And when I say immune, I mean it, not even a star"s heat would hurt you. And traveling to the sun is a necessary component in becoming a G.o.d who has influence over the domain of stars. It"s not the only step, but it is one of them." Explained the domain.

This knowledge surprised me and caused me to reevaluate my priorities. It made me want to go out and gain influence over the subdomain of fire. One of the ways I spent the next few minutes, was in quiet conversation with my allies, the domains and subdomains,

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While one part of my mind was engrossed in the conversation I was having with the domains, another part of my mind wasn"t. That part of me was physically present, and relaxingly waiting for the orc chief of the goblins to show himself. It was only at this moment that I opted to learn his name, using my tremorsense. It turned out that he was named Gnorl.

The ogresses stood on one side of me, with Okig standing closer to me than Iret did, and Guskaxa and Imbrosa on the other side of me. This was a peaceful moment.

I kept my eyes glued to the prostrated forms of the goblins while running an idle hand, which had once been a flaming tendril that I had transformed back into a regular hand over Guskaxa"s fur. It felt soft to the touch, surprisingly so all things considered since Guskaxa was a ghoul.

There was a part of me that enjoyed this moment of peace and tranquility. It was perhaps the first time, outside of dreams, I had been in a peaceful situation with other people who weren"t humans. It was also the first time in my life that I was being treated, in the waking world, as a greater being.

My followers and I listened as goblins chanted my persona"s name. Sure, they weren"t particularly good singers or chanters, but it was the thought that counted and the thought was that I was a powerful, protective, paternal spirit who sought servants but was also willing to work with people and protected those who came to me. And I liked that thought.

As an afterthought, I reached out with my mind and touched Okig"s. I immediately used healing energy to restore the parts of it that were damaged during the time that I had petrified her and imprisoned her in an eerie and excessive prison wherein she was endlessly pleasured.

The act was easy, something I could have done earlier even before my boost, but now it was a cakewalk. I also went in and cured her addiction to being a s.a.d.i.s.t to her underling, which would make it easier for the woman to begin to change her behavior. The ogress" eyes snapped wide open and she turned to me and glared. I chuckled and sent her a quiet mental message.

"I apologize for that. I know there were worse things I could have done, but what I did to you was wrong and excessive. I was under the influence of one of my... well you could it a "source of power" I suppose, and because of that I somewhat lost control. I won"t do it again." I explained, sincerely.

I heard Okig sigh and huff in annoyance. And then I received a message back from her. "You really are something else. That said I suppose not many people would cure my addiction. So that... I"ll forgive you, for now, Althos." She told me, after careful consideration of what to say during a silence that lasted several heartbeats. I grinned.

And at this moment I turned this part of my mind to new things. Things that I could do now that I hadn"t been able to do before.

My thoughts turned to my swarm of ants and zombies. And to the blessings, I could bestow upon them. As well as to the fact that my tremorsense now covered the entire island, and there were many, many more ants in total all over the island then I had control over.

"I can change that though..." I realized, grinning smartly, in response to my own thoughts. And I began to do two things at once.

I began to bless the ant queens that I had control over, boosting their intelligence over and over, and I began to quickly and magically spread my influence using the delicious fruits I had at my disposal. At this moment I was quietly thankful for my unlimited magical power.

"As a lesser G.o.d, I am already so powerful... This is potentially world-altering power." I mused, amazed at the incredible growth I had undergone over the course of a few moments.

[Your power is world-altering. If you wanted too you could send out a wave of healing energy that cures the entire world of mundane diseases and restores any limbs they"ve lost. You are not limited Althos.] The system reminded me, seconds after I mused at the incredible power I possessed.

[G.o.ds are not like other beings. I know because you"ve spent your brief life in the tutorial you may feel like you"ve undergone a tremendous leap in power, but its actually simpler than that. You"ve become who you were always were, but a completed version. And now you can start to become whatever you want to be.] The ent.i.ty told me, saying something that was surprisingly inspiring.

[I understand that it can be hard at times, but you mustn"t limit yourself. Do not define yourself by comparing what you can do, what you are, to mortals. Even the very strongest of them are not as powerful as you. And you"re gonna come to learn that very quickly.] The system warned me, cautioning me against understanding myself in comparison to mortals.

At that moment I felt a series of powerful emotions pour into me. Most of them could be described as appreciation, some could be described as awe, and others could be described as ambition. But the ants felt emotion differently than goblins and the undead did. That didn"t stop me from recognizing that I had just gained the worship of several ant-queens.

That warning was necessary and it served to relax me. It also brought a smile to my face. As did the notification I just received, after a few moments of pouring blessings into ant queens.

[Alert: You have blessed several ant queens sufficiently to the point where they meet the minimum requirements to evolve into mrymekes queens. These creatures are the next natural evolutions in ant-life, being ma.s.sive ant-humanoid hybrids who take up far more room but are also far, far more powerful. To cause these creatures to evolve, please access the evolution menu. We will highlight it now.] Said the alert, shortly before one of the new icons at the top corner of my vision began to flash.

The icon depicted several creatures walking in a straight line, beginning with a monkey and eventually arriving at an ordinary human man. It made me chuckle, though it wasn"t exactly what I envisioned when I thought of the word "evolution". I mentally tapped it and was pleasantly surprised at what I saw.

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An expansive menu greeted me. It listed out which creatures had met the bare minimum requirements to evolve near me, listing things like bears, beetles, scorpions, spiders, snakes, fungi, and eventually ants. I chuckled and tapped on the part that said ants so that I could gain more information.

[Ants: Ants are insects and are a part of the Formicidae family, alongside wasps and bees. Ants possess a number of abilities, such as flight, group-think, and the ability to spit out acid at their enemies as well as inject them with venom, making them a dangerous sort of enemy in the proper numbers.

Ants naturally evolve myrmekes. Myrmekes are fusions between ants and humanoids, they have the same basic shape as centaurs but with an ant"s lower body instead of a horse"s.

Evolution refers to two distinct processes.

One of these processes is purely biological, the process by which small, gradual changes in a species over time lead to the birth of new and diverse species. Another is both biological and magical, the process by which an individual"s acquisition of power eventually causes them to spontaneously evolve into a newer, stronger kind of being. Not all creatures can undergo this secondary type of evolution.

In the cases of members of your swarm, and eventually other sorts of beings like fungi, you can control their evolution provided you are directly responsible for it. If they became able to evolve because of your blessings you are in charge of their evolution. And if you chose to evolve them they fall under your influence.

Different species have different requirements for evolving, and can rarely evolve naturally, but as a G.o.d you don"t have to wait, especially for simple species. Oftentimes all it takes for a member of a simple species to evolve is for their stats to reach a high enough number.

In the cases of members of the Formicidae family, all it takes to evolve is for their stats to reach high enough numbers. Which specific stat is needed for which specific individual in any of these races depends on the roles the individual plays in their colonies. Soldiers, for instance, need their strength and const.i.tution to be high in order to evolve. Queens just need high intelligence.

Evolving thirty of them is enough for you to gain influence over the Hymenoptera subdomain, the name of the order of animals this group belongs too, and also power up your sovereign of the swarm t.i.tle. This will also grant you a new synergistic power, enabling you to create hive-minds.

We recommend you use it because myrmekes are independently intelligent. They"ll all serve you even without it, you are their G.o.d after all, but if you want them to work as efficiently as possible you ought to sync their minds together.

Would you like to evolve the ant queens who are smart enough to evolve? Doing so will grant them greater intelligence, empathetic language-learning and a limited form of earth control since you were directly responsible for their ascension. This allows them to warp and terraform their tunnels to their liking. This same basic rule holds true for all myrmekes who are members of your swarm.

If you allow the ants to evolve they"ll grow in size explosively, but not before warping their chambers, they"ll gain far greater intelligence, and in this particular case you"ll gain new powers.] The menu informed me.

I chuckled and informed the system that I wanted to permit the creatures to evolve. As soon as I did so, my mind was altered. I felt a change, a deeply sensory one, in a whirl of activity, as my vision... detached from my body.

________________________________________________

All of a sudden I could see more than one thing. I was no longer exclusively in the forest, surrounded by my allies, I was also elsewhere. I was deep underground, in a lightless tunnel that was explosively loud. I could hear the sounds of possibly millions of tiny feet skittering through the tunnel that surrounded me.

They were everywhere. It wasn"t enough that they clung to the floor beneath my feet, they were also crawling above and around me, mounted on the walls of the tunnel effortlessly. I could feel their bodies pushing mine.

I could feel their almost mindless drive to go out into the world and to grab food. Or to eat the fruit that had begun to appear yesterday, the golden, delicious fruit that filled up an ant in a single bite. These two competing drives drove the ants forward in an incredible flurry of activity.

I was in the middle of one of my swarms, possibly in the body of one of the ants since I felt them push me forward while they trudged along. I was surrounded by ants, ants that I had fed and empowered. Ants that I had altered.

I took a second to study the ants that surrounded me. Most of them were similar. They were small, slender creatures with two thick mandibles on the front of their faces. They had smooth, chitinous exoskeletons that protected their organs from a variety of attacks. All of the ones here had black exoskeletons and were workers, female non-reproducing ants who scavenge and forage for food as well as do other tasks vital to the overall success of the colony.

Up ahead of me I could lay my eyes on thicker, more muscular ants. They were near the edge of my vision, which was strangely effective in this odd, colorless and lightless world. I quietly chalked it up to my G.o.dliness and refocused. They had thicker mandibles, and acid frothed at their mouths and leaked out, dropping onto the floor at their large, spiked feet, and making stone begin to sizzle and hiss.

I took a second to stop and refocus. And when I did, I was able to draw myself back to the goblin village quite easily. But I could still keenly see the tunnel. I could still feel the horde of ants, more creatures than I had ever seen in any one place.

And then I questioned the system.

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"What was that?" I asked, annoyed. I was asking this internally, inwardly. I was replied to in an instant.

[That was the power of the "Sovereign of the Swarm". You got to see your people, the ants. Though to be fair, those ants are probably among the weakest of the hordes of ants you"ve got at your disposal, a horde which is growing.] The system replied, chuckling as it did so.

It was at this moment that I received a new alert. One which brought a smile to my face. I received it at the same moment that the goblins began to hear someone climbing and nearly ascending the ladder that led in and out of the hole in the ground. The time was nearly upon me for me to meet Gnorl.

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[Alert: Your actions regarding your ants have granted you a number of new powers, and awarded you with the first tier of influence over the Hymenoptera subdomain.

Details about the Hymenoptera subdomain:

The subdomain of the Hymenoptera order of insects is a subdomain that governs bees, wasps, and ants, all of which are among the most social insects out there, though they have some fierce compet.i.tion among a handful of other insect types.

To begin becoming a G.o.d of the Hymenoptera order is to begin a journey that will inevitably require you to unify an unimaginable number of small, individually powerless creatures and lead them to the point that they are the rulers of a dimension spanning empire. It will be an epic journey.

The first three tiers of influence over this subdomain are gained by taking over increasing numbers of ants, bees, and wasps, and guiding them to evolution. Each tier grants you and your Hymenopteric followers greater powers and a stronger connection, as well as access to stronger and stranger mutations.

The final two tiers of influence over the subdomain require you to build a truly impressive empire, culminating in the conquest of an entire world perpetrated by these creatures. To be clear it is required that these creatures have either enslaved or obliterated all non-Hymenopteric life on the planet in question.

This subdomain is tied to the domains of law, nature, and civilization.

Hymenoptera subdomain pa.s.sive powers:

Exoskeleton manipulation: This pa.s.sive power allows you to generate and manipulate your own exoskeleton, as well as forcibly manipulate the exoskeletons of other creatures, this is especially effective on ants and other Hymenopteric creatures.

Ant dominance: You become the undisputed master of all ants. Even evolved ants cannot resist you or your commands and begin to fall under your influence the minute they become aware of you. Unevolved ants become your worshipers and servants the minute they come into contact with you.

Hymenoptera subdomain active power:

Ant aura: Once per day whenever a creature hostile to you attempts to begin combat against you you can summon a phantom myrmekes soldier which will defend you.

Hymenoptera subdomain blessing and curse details:

If you bless a Hymenopteric being with this subdomain it is awoken and becomes a servant of yours, its will is utterly subsumed by the swarm. It is granted authority, power, and magic, in exchange for its the loss of its individuality.

If you bless a non-Hymenopteric being with this subdomain it is considered a member of the swarm and will not be attacked by swarm-members unless you command them to turn on it. Other hymenopteric beings, ones who aren"t part of the swarm, would also leave the creature alone unless it provoked them.

Cursing a non-Hymenopteric creature with this subdomain causes them to be endlessly targeted by Hymenopteric creatures. Cursing a Hymenopteric creature with this subdomain forcibly transforms them into the weakest possible example of their base species, the species they were at their birth. This subdomain is one of the few that can undo an evolution.

Sovereign of the Swarm alert:

This t.i.tle is undergoing a power boost. It is synchronizing with your other t.i.tles and the subdomains and domains you possess influence over. This is... well it"s not the first time it"s happened, but it"s rare. We suspect, the domains and I that is, that this might be a manifestation of that odd wild trait of yours, the one ent.i.tled "More than meets the eye", but we"re not sure.

That said, you"ve gained new powers that are worth taking a look at.

Sovereign of the Swarm pa.s.sive powers:

Expanded swarm: Your undead creatures become members of the swarm. All of them, not just zombies and other lesser undead.

Channeling: You can now channel touch or ranged based abilities through members of the swarm. This also applies to tremorsense, greatly increasing the range of the detection ability, and to necromantic magic and powers as well.

Power granting: You can grant weaker versions of your own powers to creatures who are part of the swarm. Creatures you cause to evolve are also granted lesser versions of your powers as well, and in exchange for that gift, they are filled with a desire to serve you.

Sovereign of the Swarm active power:

Emotional inducement: You can induce sensations in your swarm, or in specific portions of your swarm. These emotions can be jubilation, sorrow, love, or any other sort of emotion. This power can be used twice every six hours.

Mind domain synergistic power:

Hive-mind generation: This synergistic, pa.s.sive power is a result of intersecting the Hymenoptera subdomain, the mind domain, and the powers of the Sovereign of the Swarm. By using it, you can meld minds together and create a meshed, super consciousness.

For now, hive-mind generation doesn"t subsume the wills of those in the hive-mind. If you gain more power over the domain of minds, or the Sovereign of the Swarm undergoes another improvement, then that may change.]

It was as I reached the bottom of the notification that the top of Gnorl"s head popped out of the hole. He had a smooth, bald, green head.