Mateo, Isadora, and I stood in the man"s living room. Near us was a single couch, in front of which was a small table. Mateo placed the paper, the quest-request form, on that table and he reached his hand into the paper so that he could begin to pull out the protus plants contained within.

"Over the course of the last few years, farmers in Comillas have begun to suffer from worse and worse harvests. It was a slow decline, and we noticed it quick enough that we could begin to prepare, but if this pattern continues unabated then within... a decade, we might be forced to leave this place. All of us." The man told me, an edge of fear audible in his voice. There was a request hidden in his voice, which was surprisingly forward given that we had just met.

I studied his face for a second. He was a handsome man, with a smooth face tanned by years of hard, physical work. He had dark, green eyes and was looking at me as openly as I was looking at him. I allowed a few moments to pa.s.s before addressing the unspoken question.

"Oh really? I"ll definitely check that out for you all." I said, smiling at both of the humans. They both smiled back at me and exhaled a breath they likely hadn"t known they were holding. Isadora looked at me and began to speak.

"If you find anything it"ll definitely merit a reward of some sort, especially since we"re still early and this isn"t life-threatening. Yet. There"s still plenty of time for us to either find a solution or to make preparations to leave. We figured you might have been interested in this little situation of ours." Isadora told me, a smile still etched on her face.

I nodded at her understandingly, while Mateo pulled some money out of his pocket. The sound of the money smacking the table filled the room we found ourselves in, and Mateo began to laugh.

"Oh man, this is excellent!" He declared, enthusiastic about the sort of food he"d be cooking up for himself soon.

"Hey Althos, do you know how to cook?" He asked me. I turned to face him, or rather to give him my full and undivided attention. The word "cook" made sense to me, but I didn"t know how to do it. I shook my head at him, and he began to laugh when he realized that I was saying that cooking was not a skill of mine.

"In my defense, I"ve mostly eaten fruits and vegetables. You don"t exactly need to cook a carrot." I told the cousins. They both smiled sympathetically at my remark. Mateo chuckled at that, and nodded in understanding.

"That"s fair enough I suppose. Isadora told me that you were a druid... I don"t know much about them." Mateo confessed, readily admitting to his own ignorance. I smiled at him, approving of his honesty and internally remarking that I too didn"t know much about druids. Fortunately, the system itself stepped in to add some a bit to my understanding of druids.

[Humans who aren"t druids tend not to know much about them. Though many druids are loners, some form organizations called "circles". Members of "circles" tend to go about trying to fulfill similar or interconnected objectives. Non-druids who know about druids know more about druidic "circles" than they do individual druids. If you"re gonna lie to these people that might be the route to take.]

The system sounded rather judgemental at that moment, which made me chuckle. I mentally transmitted a message of appreciation to my constant companion.

"Druids aren"t known for our socialness so it makes a certain amount of sense that you don"t know much about us." I said to the muscular man. He nodded at me, likely appreciative that I wasn"t hurt by his proclamation of ignorance.

"Heck even I don"t know all that much about us. All of my abilities, personally, are related to animals and plants but I"m level 1." I told the pair, hiding my elemental powers for now. Telling them that I possessed animal and plant powers made sense to me, and I truthfully admitted my own relative ignorance about my own abilities.

They looked at me, surprisingly rather relieved to hear that. Isadora spoke up this time.

"Oh well that"s nothing to be ashamed of! You went into the forest, retrieved the items we asked you to retrieve and came back safely. You helped people. You have time to learn about your powers. And a safe place to do so." She told me, speaking rea.s.suringly. I nodded at her, myself appreciative of the words of kindness she had just spoken.

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I left Mateo"s house half an hour later with twenty more silver escudos in my inventory. I imagined I could hear the coins, even though I couldn"t since they were safely and magically tucked away.

Night had fallen over Comillas and I was armed with more knowledge than I had possessed an hour ago. All around me stood tiny houses, some dimly lit from within, filled with wonderful parents regaling children with bedtime stories while others had inquisitive sorts who were seated outside of their homes, watching pa.s.sersby like myself.

As I wandered back to the Silver Xana I mentally recounted all of the exciting events of the day. It was a surprisingly long list, and I wondered if tonight would be as remarkable. I doubted it, but when I told myself that in the safety of my mind I received a message from the system that revealed to me that I was wrong.

[Althos when you get back to your room in the inn we"ll fully unlock your first tier of influence over one of the domains all G.o.ds are born possessing an innate ability to influence: the domain of dreams.] The system whispered in my mind.

Hearing that made me walk faster, and I had to resist the urge to break into a full run to get back home. I couldn"t wait to be able to finally learn more about my true, divine abilities.

________________________________________________

I quickly found myself back within the Silver Xana and within the room I woke up in. I had barely arrived when I began to receive a message from the system.

[Most types of humanoids, animals, and even some extraplanar beings have to sleep. Sleep is when their bodies and their brains enter into a mode of less activity than when they are awake and take time to recover from the stresses of the day, allowing them to regain energy.] The system told me, teaching me about the body and mind of living creatures bit by bit.

[Humanoids and other types of beings experience things called "dreams" while they are sleeping. Dreams are a series of thoughts, images, and sensations their minds show them while they are sleeping. Deities and other higher beings can either subtly influence these dreams or we can take them over altogether.] The voice in my mind revealed to me, causing my eyes to open wide in shock.

[The first tier of active divine powers this domain grants are both related to sleep.] My eerie companion informed me.

[Each tier of influence over a domain and subdomain grants you certain things. The main things of note that each tier of influence of each domain and subdomain grant you are active and pa.s.sive divine powers. Active powers are powers that require you to activate them, and they tend to have a cooldown period which is a period of time after you use them in which you cannot use them.] The system told me, beginning an explanation of the mechanics of divine abilities.

[Pa.s.sive powers are ones that are always active. A pa.s.sive power the first tier of influence over the domain of dreams grants each G.o.d is the ability to enter the dreams of humanoids.] The system revealed, and that was a revelation which brought a delighted smile to my face.

[Dreams are something ancient G.o.ds were obsessed with. Ancient G.o.ds, back when there was more than one G.o.d, made rules and laws that dictated their behavior and many of those rules and laws were ones that strongly suggested that G.o.ds shouldn"t directly interact with mortals. Deities entered dreams and interacted with mortals there] The voice in my head told me, which puzzled me.

"But... why not? Don"t G.o.ds get some of their strength from worshipers? Why would we do something that effectively hurt ourselves?" I asked, curious about this oddity and made doubly so when I recalled the system mentioning that G.o.ds wanted and that I myself should want worshipers.

[When there were more than one G.o.d, G.o.ds had to find ways to coexist. They had to cooperate or at least tolerate each other. The rules were made more with this pragmatic understanding in mind than the thoughts of the importance of mortal worshipers in the context of deities building up strength.] My companion told me, giving me a curious sort of history lesson.

At that moment the system"s attempts to educate me were interrupted by an important message. An alert. One that brought a big smile to my face.

[Alert: Goblins named Hagitha, Mawby, and Mianthus have uttered prayers to your persona, Cosecha. They have asked for bananas, oranges, and mangos respectively. Would you like to respond to their prayers affirmatively? If you do we can just cast the spell in your stead.] The alert asked, beeping into existence in my mind in a flash.

I immediately informed the system to create the fruits that the goblins sought. Knowing that Troik had been successful in getting others to utter the prayer filled my heart with joy, and with pride and I wanted to reward him for his successful effort.

[If you wish to reward your servant you can bless his dreams. Blessing them ensures he has an enjoyable dream, though the precise way in which he"d have an enjoyable dream depends on you and on him.] The system told me, resuming its speech once I had seen fit to reward my friend for his work. I went silent and waited for the system to continue telling me about blessings.

[A way that a deity can influence the actions of mortals is for them to bless the mortal. When a deity blesses a mortal they temporarily grant them gifts related to a domain or subdomain of the G.o.d"s choosing and the mortal is made aware of the fact that they"ve earned a deity"s good graces. If you bless Troik"s dreams then he"ll wake up in a good mood because he had a night full of good dreams]

I listened to the system"s explanation with interest. And at this point, I had a question. "Can I bless someone with regards to every domain and subdomain?" I asked, speaking aloud and also in my mind.

[Yes you can. The exact effects are really... contextualized. If you gain influence over the subdomain of necromancy and undeath and you bless someone they won"t be attacked by unintelligent undead. If you bless someone using the earth subdomain they"ll be stronger so long as they are on earth of some sort.] The system revealed, mentioning necromancy which was something I unconsciously knew was a school of magic.

[Inversely you can also curse someone. Cursing someone follows the same structure as blessing them, but leads to them being inconvenienced, at least until you gain more influence over whatever domain or subdomain you seek to curse them using.] The system said to me, warning me with its tone that this was a powerful ability.

[The more influence you have over the domain the more dramatic the impact of your curse or blessing. Cursing someone doesn"t require for you to identify yourself, and you can opt to use a false name or a t.i.tle, which are things you don"t have yet, when blessing someone.] The system announced.

[Anyways, we know you want to see the powers you gain via the domain of dream"s first and lowest tier of influence over them. Here you go.] The thing told me, wrapping up its explanation suddenly.

[Alert:

You have been awarded the powers and recognition that come with holding the first and lowest tier of influence over the domain of dreams. What follows is a list of the powers that come with that.

Details about the domain of dreams:

The domain of dreams is a fascinating, central domain to G.o.ds and G.o.dliness. G.o.dly powers over dreams are hugely influential and for eons, the dreams of mortals were where they communed most intensely and most regularly with the G.o.ds.

G.o.dly powers over dreams are utterly absolute. G.o.ds can transform and modify dreams in a number of weird and awe-inspiring ways, though those powers aren"t available to you just yet. You need more influence over the domain.

In order to gain influence over the domain of dreams, you need to continue to use your powers over the domain and to gain worshipers who worship you as a G.o.d of dreams.

Pa.s.sive Powers:

He Sees You When You"re Sleeping: This pa.s.sive power affects your minimap and allows you to detect if a humanoid is sleeping.

Dreamwalker: You gain the ability to enter the dreams of sleeping humanoids. In order to enter the dreams of other types of creatures, you need to gain higher tiers of influence over the domain of dreams.

Active Powers:

Restless Or Restful Sleep: This power doesn"t affect dreams, it affects sleep. By using it you can affect how restorative a mortal"s sleep is.

When you use it on a mortal you are given a choice. If you choose for your target to experience restless sleep then for the next twenty-four hours their sleep will not positively affect them no matter how much they sleep. On the other hand, restful sleep is twice as restorative as it would otherwise be for the next twenty-four hours.

You can use this power on three creatures per day. If you decide to target the same creature two days in a row the second time you use the power on them it will cost you extra, causing you to only be able to affect one other person rather than the two you"d otherwise be able to target.

As you gain more tiers of influence over the domain of dreams, or as you become a more generally powerful deity, you"ll be able to target more creatures with it and customize how effective it is as well as how long it lasts.

This power can be used to weigh down enemies or to uplift and refresh allies and worshipers.

Dancing Dreams: This power is a vicious one. It can only be used on creatures who are already asleep but if used, and if not successfully resisted by its victims, it will cause them to be forced into a state of slumber for twenty-four hours. It can stack with "Restless or Restful Sleep" which can be an especially empowering or devastating combination if used cleverly.

That said this power can only be used once a day as a deity who can only exert one tier of influence over the domain of dreams and who one is at the lowest rank of deific might.

The domain of dreams covers dreams, unconsciousness, sleep, and nightmares. Many domains have subdomains a.s.sociated with them, but this one doesn"t.

Details about the domain of dreams blessings and curses:

If you bless someone with this domain you"ll cause them to have peaceful dreams and go to sleep quite easily. On the other hand, if you curse them with it you"ll cause them to endure nightmares and suffer from sleep that doesn"t restore much of their energy at all, which will eventually affect other parts of their lives.

That said this power can only be used once a day as a deity who can only exert one tier of influence over the domain of dreams and who one is at the lowest rank of deific might.

The domain of dreams covers dreams, unconsciousness, sleep, and nightmares. Many domains have subdomains a.s.sociated with them, but this one doesn"t.

Acquiring tiers of influence over domains and subdomains is a two-part process. The first part of the process is behaving in ways that intrigue or entertain the domain or subdomain in question.

As an example of this, your activities revolving around the creation of this false spirit "Cosecha" has intrigued and entertained the domain of lies, the domain of creativity, and the domain of spirits. Once any of them have been sufficiently amused by your actions they will offer you a quest. This system will appear in your HUD, your Heads Up Display, what you sometimes call your "mind"s eye".

Once you complete the quest you will gain the tier of influence you were offered.]

When I finished reading that lengthy message it vanished into nothingness. As it did I closed my eyes, and waited for the not-so-mini map to appear in the familiar darkness.

[Hey Althos, whatcha doing?] The system asked me, rather carefreely. There was a jovial tone in its voice that informed me that it had a suspicion of what I was up too. I grinned and kept my eyes shut. The not-so-mini-map appeared and expanded in my mind"s vision.

"I"m going to go and test these new abilities out! After all my ancestors were apparently experienced... dreamwalkers?" I said, starting off confidently but ultimately finishing with less confidence in my voice. I wasn"t sure if the name of the divine power I had acquired was a t.i.tle my ancestors once possessed or just a descriptor of what they did.

"I want to walk in their footsteps and become familiar with what they were familiar with. I want to familiarize myself with dream-based powers and learn how my presence affects dreams." I told the system, articulating why I was scanning my mini-map to find out who was sleeping and thus who I could introduce myself too.

[Oh boy... there are some rules you"ll want to know about as you prepare yourself for your first venture into the land of dreams. It"s gonna be a real trip.] The system told me, beginning to warn me about what my first venture into a dream would be like. I listened, curious and eager to learn more.