49 Miracles And Mysteries (1/2)
I was gradually growing accustomed to the sensation of having a mind that's been stretched and pulled in various directions. I was able to adjust pretty rapidly to it if I'm being honest. I didn't doubt that this was because of my influence over the mind domain as well as my status as a lesser god.
Part of my mind dove into the tunnel to my left and began to shape what was a massive, solid chunk of earth. I grinned as I began to mold and shape the earth that was visible and crushingly present throughout the area to the left of the ant's tunnel.
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I mentally floated within a deep and gigantic natural wall of stones, soil, and dirt. I took a deep breath and willed a gigantic chunk of the rocky and naturalistic materials away, instantaneously creating an incredibly massive cavern that stretched over a kilometer long, was at least twice as wide, and was over five-hundred meters tall.
It wasn't illuminated, but I could peer through the darkness without difficulty and as I stared out at the featureless place I suddenly felt deeply grateful for one of the domains I had yet to make use of; the civilization domain.
I quickly and silently activated my ”Create building” power and envisioned a massive tower made of vanilla-colored stone coming up out of the ground at the far end of the cavern. The earth began to tremble as my power flared to life and altered reality in an incredibly real way, both crafting and pulling a shockingly tall tower out of the floor of the newly created cavern at the same time.
In the span of a few seconds a tower well over four hundred meters tall was visible from any point within the gigantic cavern. I smiled as I studied it, aware that it was the product of my own immense, possibly immeasurable power.
I chuckled and began to design the rooms of the tower, countless rooms as was befitting a god of unquantifiable power. My mind quickly designed bedrooms, a room for seeing audiences, dungeons, and armories. It made sense to me, since I was a sovereign, to have a tower befitting a monarch.
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Another portion of my mind dove deep under the surface of the island, psychically tunneling through kilometers of stone, tunnels, and soil in every direction. I was able to lay my eyes on thousands of small creatures, some of which were things like worms, rats, and snakes that I had never laid my eyes on before. The sight was inspiring.
I was also able to lay my eyes on the obscure civilizations that lurked in the lightless pits of the world beneath the world. Dark elves, dwarves, kobolds, and other, more brutal and vicious civilizations like those of magmic giants and driders.
Each of these civilizations was distinct, and in my eyes, worth gaining influence over. It stirred a part of me that was quickly beginning to gain a palpable sense of pride, a part that relished worship and wanted me to actively expand my forces.
On the other hand, I was able to lay my eyes on creatures that I had seen before. I was able to see all sorts of spiders. Some of the spiders I got to see were like the giant spider I had transformed into my undead servant, but the majority of spiders I got to see were small things called tarantulas. They still intrigued me though, and I liked the sight of them with their furred bodies.
As I psychically zoomed through the world beneath the world I wondered what I'd have to do to gain access to the quest needed to earn the first tier of influence over whatever subdomain governed spiders. And I was also curious about what the quest would be. A part of me wondered if it'd be a simple evolutionary quest like the one I had undertaken for the Hymenoptera subdomain.
I was lucky to have a companion that was ready and willing to answer my questions. As I dug through the underground world, zooming closer and closer to San Gerardo, my mental questions were heard by the system. It wasted no time in replying.
[Hello Althos. To gain influence over the flora and fauna subdomains it is necessary to interact with creatures from those subdomains. How you interact with them is up to you. It always takes interacting with a few of them, and then you'll get permission to do the quest needed to acquire the first tier of influence over the type of life in question.] The system explained, gifting me with that knowledge freely.
[It's true that a lot of the work required to acquire the first tiers of influence over the domains and subdomains will require grinding and practicing your skills, but so does gaining class levels. In a way... it's oddly mundane. Humbling even.] The system mused, and I chuckled at its observation.
[There's a few things you should know going forward. Not every flora or fauna subdomain will require you to conquer a world in order to acquire your final tier of influence over it. It's true that the subdomains that govern more aggressive things may ask you to do that, but that's hardly every subdomain that governs types of animals, plants, or other lifeforms.] My companion told me.
[There are a few subdomains that will instead ask that you render a planet habitable for life or to make a moon or asteroid habitable for life. These tasks are suitably epic ones that are beyond your present capabilities but won't be forever. Also, if you acquire enough tiers of influence over natural subdomains, including those of floral and faunal life you'll eventually begin to level up your druid class. That said, there are easier ways to do that.] The voice in my mind told me. I chuckled.
I didn't disagree with what it said though, and so I reviewed the powers I possessed thanks to my influence over the subdomain of healing in preparation for what I was about to do as well as to ”tend to nature” as the system had told me was the key to leveling up the druid class, hours ago. Doing so just took a thought.
[Passive powers:
Restorative energy manipulation: This passive power allows you to idly channel energy that undoes wounds and defeats discomfort. You no longer need to use magic to cure wounds, and any effects that suppress the effects of magical healing on those you intend to heal are ignored, allowing you to heal at maximum efficiency.
Natural healing: This ability is the result of having influence over one or more elemental subdomains. Through it you can create fonts of natural healing, locations wherein someone's natural ability to recover from sicknesses and from wounds are tremendously sped up.
Since you can currently influence the earth subdomain this power currently works on tunnels, on forests, and on mud. Mud can be taken and transported out of the affected area and can be used as a healing ointment. As you gain influence over other elemental subdomains the ways you can use this power will increase.
Sensory restoration: This power automatically restores a sense to a target who has lost one. If the target has only lost a single sense then this power automatically restores that sense.
Rejection of discomfort: In the case of gods an aura is an emanation that surrounds them and projects certain beneficial or harmful effects to lesser creatures who stand in their presence.
At the lowest tier of influence over the subdomain of healing, you gain an aura that grants nearby creatures that are neutral or friendly towards you the effects of a numbed pain spell. This aura extends beyond you in every direction for six meters.
Twice per twelve-hour period, you can supercharge this aura and for ten minutes it transforms into what you gain at the second tier of influence over the subdomain of healing: an aura of regeneration which heals neutral and friendly creatures in your presence for a hitpoint every half minute. Lesser creatures suspect that you are somehow responsible for their healing or abated discomfort but unless you wish for them to realize it they don't.
You can suppress this aura whenever you wish. This aura's effects can be mixed with the effects of other auras that affect friendly and neutral creatures. There exist auras that target hostile creatures as well, ones that drain their life-energy or sap their hostility from them.
Health map: This is a passive power that allows you to detect the health of creatures on your minimap. You have already seen a weakened version of it, innately, but this is greatly enhanced and is effectively the prognosis spell ambiently applied to your minimap.
Universal healing: This synergistic power is the result of you acquiring influence over the subdomain of necromancy as well as the subdomain of healing. Because of it, you possess the ability to heal creatures regardless of their type.
Holy energy manipulation: This synergistic power is yours due to your influence over the faith domain and the subdomain of healing. It allows you to create and manipulate holy energy, an energy that is repugnant and dangerous to the undead, and to evil extraplanar beings. Holy energy also heals and strengthens the living and good-aligned extraplanars.
Active powers:
Symptom removal: This power allows you to target a disease a creature is suffering from and do away with a symptom. At this tier of influence, this is only usable on non-magical diseases, but it can be used on any non-magical disease. You can use this power twice every twelve hours.
Pain immunity: This is a targeted power that renders someone unable to feel pain. It is usable six times per twelve-hour period, and each usage lasts for five minutes. If used before a battle it can be immensely powerful and free you up to not have to cast numb pain on creatures mid-battle.
Healing burst: This targeted power sends a tremendous burst of life energy into whatever targets you've chosen and the number of targets you can select is unlimited. It heals them of anything short of magical diseases and restores them to maximum hit points.
It also functions as a casting of ”Abate sickness” on a grand scale, causing affected targets to gain a forty-eight hour period of relief from even the strongest magical sicknesses. This power can be used four times per six-hour period.]
The powers I possessed made me smile, and for a moment I decided to test a single one of my more potent active powers. I began to mentally target every single creature in the forest above me, a wide grin on my face as I prepped my experiment.
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”This is the first time I'm truly unleashing my potent healing abilities isn't it?” I asked myself, once I had targeted the entirety of the inhabitants of the forest. I targeted every tree, every insect, every lifeform large enough for me to target that lingered within the boundaries of the forest was a target for the power I was about to unleash.
I had around three-quarters of a million lifeforms selected and as I readied myself to unleash my true power as a god of healing, I allowed myself to feel my hesitation. ”This is a truly powerful, genuinely world-changing ability.” I reminded myself, wanting to feel the nerves and the tension I recognized lingered in my heart.
”This isn't curing a disease, or even regenerating a limb. This is... genuine power.” I said to myself, wondering if I should stop if I should pull back and not use this ability. I considered this fear, for a second. It made sense for me to feel this way. This was, after all my first time using my powers on a wide scale since I hadn't created a hive-mind with the ants in my swarm.
But in time the fear I felt, the hesitation that made me stop, lost its edge. I wanted to do this. I wanted to experience the power of the subdomain of magic and this was one heck of a way to do it.
”I'm going to do it.” I told myself, grinning as I readied myself for the storm of notifications I was about to receive. As I did so, I heard indistinct voices in the back of my mind. I knew they were domains and subdomains chattering about what I was going to do.
”So it's true then... He's finally gonna perform a wide-scale miracle.” One of them whispered. Its voice was powerful, ancient, and majestic. A deep, almost oak-like timbre resonated from the throat if domains and subdomains even had throats, of whichever domain or subdomain was speaking.
”About time he used me to my maximum potential. If he only uses me on individuals than I feel like I'm just being used for glorified spells rather than true miracles.” Complained a soft, but audibly excited voice. I chuckled and made sure to remember that that was the voice of the subdomain of healing.
”So is he a restorative god after all? The multiverse could use authorities with an interest in healing.” Said another of the voices. This one was strange because each word had a different quality to it.
Some words felt hot to hear, while others chilled my mind. I wondered if that was the voice of the subdomain of evocation magic, and suspected that it was since evocation magic governed elemental, oftentimes destructive magic.
”Oh? He hears us. How intriguing, his connection to me might be stronger than we anticipated.” Spoke another, this one more sinister sounding. It sounded like it was coming from two places at once, not just in the back of my mind, but also the front of it. It was possible that this was the voice of the domain of the mind. I grinned in response to its observation, hoping that it was right.
And then I went ahead and unleashed my immense, divine healing energy. I did so with a relieved sigh, as at all once I felt thousands of lifeforms above my physical body sigh in relief and begin to cry tears of joy and delight.
The power that surged out of me was potent enough that even I felt it. I had to concentrate to stay on my feet, and not visibly appear exhausted. I felt weak for a second, as the burst I had just unleashed was so magnificently massive that even I felt the effects of its sudden loss. But that momentary weakness dissipated a few seconds after I had unleashed my magic.