I knew what was happening: I was gaining an awareness of all of the volcanos on Torus, thanks to my "Volcanic G.o.d" power. It started off as a slow process, but with each volcano that sprang into my awareness, the next one was able to arrive a bit quicker.

That said what was actually happening was odd, because I was gaining a "Tremorsense" style mini-map of parts of the world I had never been to before. And I felt the volcanos themselves submit, insofar as a planetary opening could submit, to my control.

It wasn"t just that either. I could sense long, steaming tunnels of magma deep beneath the ground. I could sense and call to their heat, and unleash them against my enemies. This was odd because I wasn"t sure how I knew this but I did. I sensed that if I mentally called the magma hidden beneath the planet"s surface to me, it would answer my call. Knowing this made me feel safe and powerful.

In my mind"s eye, I saw a new icon appear spontaneously. This one was odd because it resembled a mostly blue sphere, decorated with green dots. Curiously, I tapped on the thing mentally and immediately caused a new textbox to appear before me.

[h.e.l.lo! Welcome to the environmental menu. This is a powerful menu that is one of the powers granted to proto-elemental-overlords. It allows you to modify the environment and climate on regions, worlds, and dimensions you have influence over.] The menu revealed, greeting me warmly and like an old friend.

[You gained access to this menu in an unusual way. Thanks to your mastery over volcanos you can now exert significant influence over the world of your birth.] The menu announced.

[Volcanos, for now, can still erupt on their own but you can also will a volcanic eruption to occur. And even if a volcanic eruption occurs without your input, you can end it or minimize it. Or you could magnify it, and use it as a symbol of your wrath.] The menu declared, speaking energetically.

[That"s not all you can do either. As you inch closer and closer to becoming an elemental overlord all of your elemental abilities have received boosts. As such you can now cause a number of devastatingly powerful natural phenomena at will, such as earthquakes, tornados, avalanches and landslides, sinkholes, and worse.] The menu revealed, informing me as to some of the new powers I possessed.

[There"s also the odd reality of your status as both a G.o.d and a proto-elemental-overlord. That has resulted in some of your powers mixing and taking on new aspects. It"s actually been quite fun to watch. Your agricultural abilities are stronger now, and inversely so are your famine inducement powers.] My newest menu revealed to me, whispering as it did so.

All this new power was significant. And the ways that it mixed with my newfound knowledge of the world was even more significant. I gained a strange and alien awareness of new creatures.

I was immediately made aware of all manner of animals, plants, and various lifeforms from salamanders to fire giants, red dragons and drakes. Other things came into my awareness as well. Monsters like cherufes, phoenixes, and stranger, older things that lurked in the magmic depths of the volcanos.

In the cases of the ill-defined older ent.i.ties, I felt their minds connect with mine as well, and they turned their awareness towards me. It was a strange feeling.

I felt no resistance from these bizarre beings, creatures made up entirely of magma. All I felt was their strength and shockingly their obedience as well.

More than that, it wasn"t just a casual deference to my strength that I felt, but a legitimate and potent desire to serve me. Physically I took a deep breath and I smiled, as I began a careful exploration of the minds of these creatures and was delighted to find next to nothing.

More than anything else I found hazy memories and half-remembered emotions. These creatures seemed to be nothing but than semi-conscious magma, who could recall that they could shapeshift and little more. That was when I heard a surprised voice spoke to me.

"Althos... you"ve found angels. Volcanic angels. Their minds have been destroyed, but they are immensely powerful extraplanar beings that existed to serve the G.o.ds. It"s weird that someone destroyed their minds but these are... probably the strongest creatures you"ve met to date." The voice, which belonged to the domain of knowledge, told me. I found her reaction a bit strange, which she evidently picked up on.

"I know it may sound odd to be surprised that volcanic angels are found in volcanoes, but the truth is that we didn"t know that there were angels in this world at all. It"s not their geographic location that caught me off guard, it"s their cosmic location. I was told that there were no angels on this planet. So to see them... it raises a lot of questions." The domain whispered, explaining her shock.

I heard her sigh impatiently as she waited for something to happen. Whatever she was waiting for apparently didn"t happen right away.

"These angels are damaged. But not in a way that you can heal. Not yet anyway. I"m examining them right now, and they appear to be mostly fine but their minds were destroyed. Even now their minds are being restored to a functional state, by your power, but I can tell that whatever memories they had will be gone. That"s disappointing. It means we won"t know what happened to them until you get stronger." The domain explained.

It wasn"t the only domain that had something to say though. Another domain, one that I had only heard from time to time also had insights to share with me.

"You"ve just unintentionally achieved something significant. You"ve gained your first angelic servants. Volcanic angels like the ones that are now attuning themselves to your desires and orders, are powerful spirits of magma and ash. They are intelligent, and served volcanic G.o.ds zealously." The domain of civilization explained.

"If you use these creatures intelligently, once they"re back to operating capacity, you can quickly seize control of volcanoes and connect the creatures who live in and around them. That"d be an easy way to being to further establish your empire. Many volcanic civilizations are already martial cultures that"d be easy pickings for a G.o.d with as much power as you possess..." The civilization domain told me, suggesting that I use these angels destructively and mightily.

"So you"re saying I could go ahead and in a single moment demonstrate my awe-inspiring power and gain servants? Do you really think it"d be that easy?" I asked the domain, curiously. I heard a soft chuckle emanate from the domain.

"Althos... You are powerful. And now you can make a volcano erupt at will. That sort of power evokes awe and terror and in a race of creatures like say... fire giants, especially if you appear first and publicly strip them of their immunity to fire, they will worship you. Creatures that live near or in volcanoes are no fools, they know to serve and worship powerful creatures." The domain explained, encouraging me to think about the sort of power I now had at my disposal.

On an instinctual level, I knew what a volcano was, but this wasn"t something I sprung to life knowing. I could envision lava, and I knew what a volcano looked like, but I also knew that I didn"t really understand what a volcano did, aside from in a textbook sense.

That was an odd thing to realize given that if I wanted too I could unleash destruction on a worldwide scale now that I possessed powers over more kinds of natural disasters. And there was a part of me that wanted to do just that. It wanted to test my new powers and unleash them somewhere, even if no one else noticed the destructive power I unleashed.

This part of me grew stronger the more I considered giving in. The more I considered actually doing it, willing a volcano to erupt, the harder the urge felt to ignore. But I was able to do it since casually doing something like that ran contrary to my nature. It wasn"t easy, and I knew that sooner or later I"d give in, but for now, I was able to ignore it.

________________________________________________

"The poison we"ll be making today is a simple one." Explained the good doctor. He stood on the opposite side of the table and his back was turned to me. He was carefully handling an a.s.sortment of ingredients and preparing to transport them to the table in front of me, our mutual workplace.

"I"m teaching you this recipe, if you can even call it that, right away because I would like for you to go retrieve ingredients for me on your off-days. I"m hoping that that"ll be something you agree to do, and when you venture into the forest you"ll find that there are some creatures who"d really rather you not be in their homes." The doctor explained, as he turned and revealed the items we"d be using.

He held a tray that contained two mortars and pestles. These mortars and pestles weren"t the only things the tray contained. Inside of the mortar, there was some crystal clear river water, and beside the bowls were single, solitary fangs.

The doctor placed the tray onto the table and I winced at the heavy sound the impact produced. I reached over and gently took one of the two mortar and pestles. The doctor took the other. And then he began to speak.

"Making some poisons is easy." He told me, a grin on his face. He looked into his bowl and carefully studied the contents for a few moments before continuing to speak.

"The rookie poisons, the kinds that any alchemist and anyone with knowledge can make, are really simple. They are watered down poisons found in the real-world. In this case, we are literally watering down snake venom." Dr. Cortes revealed a wry grin on his face. When he looked at me he chuckled, after seeing my face.

This was so underwhelming that I physically reacted to it. I could feel the frown on my face. I was feeling a bit disappointed that my first lesson was one that was so simple, especially since I had been told to wait for two days to receive this lesson.

"Oh Althos, I can read your face well. I can detect your disappointment. There"s a reason why this first lesson is so simple. It"s to teach you an important lesson: something doesn"t need to be flashy to be effective." He told me, speaking smugly as he did so.

"This poison might not seem like much, but let me tell you the ability to make a poison this simple and judicious applications of such a poison have saved my life numerous times in the past." He told me, grinning.

"As a young and greedy alchemist, I made many enemies. Using this poison carefully I managed to either evade capture or escape from the grasps of my enemies on more occasions than I care to admit." The doctor told me. I sensed his honesty and took a moment to open my mind to the simplicity of this poison. And then I realized that I"d gain access to a subdomain thanks to this simple poison and grinned, now grateful that it was so simple.

"So... what are we going to do?" I asked the doctor, curious as to what process we"d need to undertake to be able to create the poison we were after. I watched as the doctor put on gloves, and gingerly picked up the fangs. He then deftly dropped the fang he had closest to him into the water.

"We"re going to dissolve the fangs. By dropping the fangs into the water we are dissolving the fangs. This dilutes the venom to the point of near non-existence, and leaves little more than the sole property we seek: their paralytic potency." Cortes revealed, a confident grin on his face as he told me that.

My eyes widened a bit when he revealed that. All of a sudden diluting the venom made sense. I could easily understand the value and potency of a poison that paralyzed its victims and did little else. It was a good weapon for kidnapping someone, or for escaping an awkward situation without fatalities. I grinned and then turned my attention to the fang.

I carefully reached out with my mind and picked up the thing. It was small so it was unexpectedly difficult for me to lock onto but once I did I was easily able to manipulate and move the object. I positioned it just over the water inside of my mortar and then lightly dropped it. It landed in the water within the mortar and immediately sank to the bottom of the bowl.

I watched as the water began to erode the fang. The fang, already a tiny thing, was shrinking before my eyes. As the fang shrank, the water changed color.

And in a matter of moments, I received a welcome notification that alerted me to the fact that I had successfully created a poison: I received my first tier of influence over the subdomain of poisons.

I spent a second reading through the list of powers I had just gained and grinned as I read them. They were a bit more diverse than I was expecting, and also more supportive than I had antic.i.p.ated them being. Not that all of them were like that though, as one of my powers allowed me to create and command clouds that dropped acid or poison, which was a curious ability that I could see being amazing if used at precisely the right time.

These new abilities were well worth the price I paid to get them: the creation of a single somewhat underwhelming but still handy poison. Dr. Cortes came up to me and studied my mortar. He was quiet for a moment before idly reminding me of his silly theory from when we first met, that I wasn"t a newcomer to alchemy. Being reminded of such a silly theory made me chuckle.

[Details about the subdomain of poison:

The subdomain of poison governs both poisons and acid. This makes it an incredibly useful subdomain for inflicting devastation on your enemies, as you can unleash t.i.tanic acidic attacks or personalized poisonous ones at will.

This subdomain is a powerful one that grants you all manner of unpleasant powers to use against your enemies. This includes significant powers like the ability to create clouds that rain poison or acid on your enemies, to less direct powers like the ability to imbue an undead creation of yours with poison or acid.

To gain further tiers of influence over this subdomain use poisons and acids and build cults that worship you as a poisonous or acidic G.o.d.

Poison subdomain pa.s.sive abilities:

Acid/poison cloud: You conjure clouds that are filled to the brim with poison or acid. Poison is useful against living organisms, acid is fantastic when used to cause generalized devastation. The clouds you create freely unleash damaging rain on who can"t seek shelter against them.

If you didn"t possess influence over the subdomain of air this would be an active power with a cooldown, but since you gained influence over the subdomain of air first this power is free to use.

Acidic/poisonous grasp: This supportive power modifies your undead to naturally exude poison or acid, and allows them to pick which of the two they exude. This empowers their unarmed attacks and allows for the smarter ones to coat their weapons in acid or poison.

The poison they can choose to exude is paralytic, and at this tier of influence over the subdomain is only paralytic. Acid is more dangerous and allows them to dissolve enemies they face.

Acidic/poison manipulation: You can manipulate poison and acid. This power synergizes well with the subdomains of the air and the earth and allows you to create particularly dangerous areas that inflict incredible harm on living creatures who dare to pa.s.s through them.

If you are feeling hostile towards lifeforms you can fill the area around you with acid or poison, or both, and watch anything that comes close to you be ravaged by poison if they dare to breathe in your presence or endure acidic burns for boldly standing in front of you. You can also hit enemies and inflict acidic or poisonous damage on them.

If you want to inflict poisonous wounds or acid burns on someone or something with just a touch you can. If you empower your blows with poison they"ll wear down an enemy"s health over time and paralyze them, but if a follower of yours uses a poison you"ve divinely created for them it"ll just be paralytic.

If you want to improve the strength of your own poisons or the poisons of your servants empowered by ambient allies then gain further tiers of influence over the subdomain. You can also generate acid or poison and drip it on something or someone.

Enhanced ants: This power enhances a specific kind of your servants and worshipers: ants. Thanks to the influence you have over the Hymenoptera subdomain and your swarm powers ants that worship you immediately undergo a potent power boost to the potency of their acidic attacks.

Acidic flames: This synergistic power mixes the potent effects of fire with acid. At will you can conjure and control especially deadly flames that cause those who are hit by them to both burn and dissolve.

Corrosive necromancy: This synergistic power infuses your necromantic magic and powers with a paralytic touch, or makes them especially wasteful if used to kill an enemy. This also allows you to animate pools of acid or poison, which you can create using your manipulation ability.

Both sorts of animated creatures seek out living creatures hostile to you to murder or guard a location you designate against anyone hostile to you. You can also awaken pools of acid or poison as an active power and thus grant such ent.i.ties sapience. When you gain the power to create souls you"ll be able to create true lifeforms out of acid or poison.

Poisonous aura: The air around you is thick with poison and acid. Enemies who stand near you are unable to concentrate as their mind is wracked by poison. Allies near you find that their attacks are minorly poisonous, inflicting an extra hitpoint of damage on foes a few seconds after they attack.

Subdomain of poison active powers:

Corrode the mind: This twice per half-hour-period power is used to weaken a creature"s mental resistance. Many abilities can be resisted, but resisting the effects of a divine power requires a strong will. This ability poisons the mind and weakens efforts to resist G.o.dly abilities.

Awaken poison/acid: This twice per three-and-half-day period power can be used to awaken animated pools of acid or poison. Awakening them grants them sapience and transforms them into loyal oozes dedicated to serving you.

Subdomain of poison blessing and curse details:

Cursing someone with this domain causes them to excruciating pain as they are wracked by poison.

Blessing someone with this domain renders them immune to poison, and they gain some degree of tolerance towards acid.]

I waited for the good doctor to finish his examination of the poison I had just crafted. It took him a matter of moments to do so. When he did he turned to me and had a twinkle in his eyes.