82 Prayer & Direction (2/2)
”Cosecha, in order to atone for my hesitation please give me a quest or a task for me to accomplish. I will do my best to make up for the fear I wrongly and ignorantly showed. Allow me to do something that strengthens you in some way.” Xiax offered, hoping that this would convince his divine master of his usefulness.
The goblin had no idea how intriguing this would be to the deity he served. Nor did he imagine that the offer would be the cause of a conversation the deity would have a few minutes after the prayer was transmitted to its recipient.
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A few minutes after Xiax finished and transmitted his prayer to his god, Althos's body was carefully following the instructions of the alchemical expert named Dr. Cortes. He expertly handled ingredients and showcased a natural skill at brewing potions owned more to his infinite dexterity than anything else.
The good doctor was showing him how to brew a handy potion: one that restored magical energy. The particular recipe the young god was being taught was a specialty of Dr. Cortes'.
The god memorized the recipe quickly and the first of the potions he'd finish brewing in the next few minutes would be an excellent one. But his mind was elsewhere. In fact, his mind was partaking in an active conversation with the system.
”So about this prayer...” The deity's mind wondered, directing a question to two separate entities. One of them was the domain of faith, and the other was the system.
The contents of the prayer were all intriguing to the young god to whom the prayer was directed towards. But it was the ending that was the most curious to the god, who sensed an opportunity in it.
Mentally Althos was all smiles as he reread the prayer. He confirmed that it said what he thought it said, and chuckled in the confines of his own mind.
[Yes Althos? What about this prayer?] The system asked, curious as to what was on the god's mind.
”Yes, Althos... What about the prayer? It seems pretty straightforward to me.” The domain of faith replied, also intrigued by the god's response to it.
”Well you see... I was just wondering if there was a particular way I could capitalize on it. I still need to complete the quest of the domain of souls. And the life domain. I think there might be a way for me to use Xiax to do just that.” Althos replied, transmitting the message to both the domain he was speaking to and the system once more.
The domain of faith listened to the message but didn't reply, though it was intrigued by what Althos had just said. Althos could sense the abject interest and chuckled.
[What do you have in mind Althos? Especially because those quests are very different ones.] The system replied, keenly aware of the differences between devouring three souls and being responsible for three pregnancies. They were very different quests and everyone, Althos included, recognized that. But that didn't stop the wheels in Althos' mind from turning and scheming.
”Well, I was thinking of giving the goblin a quest. And the more I think about it, the more balanced it feels. Because I'd like for him to take three lives and then create three more.” Althos explained, a confident grin etched on his mental face.
The two entities that were conversing with him silently considered what he was saying for a moment. After a few moments, a new and sinister voice chimed in with an intelligent counterproposal.
”Althos, your undead servants hunger. Why not use them instead? Because sooner or later their minds will begin to degrade if they are not properly used to either fulfill your will or take lives. They thirst for combat. They want to be unleashed. They are clamoring for it. You can be kind to your goblin and in doing so keep up your image as a kind and loving god, while encouraging him to create new life. And you can use the dead to inflict death.” The voice said. It was the smug and powerful voice of the subdomain of necromancy.
Althos mulled over this idea. He was quiet as he did so, as he was reaching out to the minds of his undead minions. He didn't converse with them, instead, he scanned their minds and studied what he found.
Much to his annoyance, the subdomain of necromancy was correct. He was unsurprised by this, but he had hoped it wouldn't be the case. Althos quickly conceded that the subdomain had a point and readjusted his plans. This was a silent process but at the end of it the god had a new and improved plan. And he eagerly shared it with the entities that resided within his mind.
”I will meet the requirements for the death domain, and use undead creatures to meet the requirements of the soul domain.” The deity eagerly explained, beginning the process of mentally readying himself for the labor he'd need to do over the next few hours.
There was a sinister part of him that was quite excited at the prospect of battle. A part of him that looked forward to seeing the blood of his enemies splatter across the floor, and also relished the idea of vanquishing his foes himself. Wielding the weapons that stole their lives away.
Althos did his best to ignore this part of himself. Instead, he focused on the subjective and objective good that could come of this. The subjective good that could come from this was him acquiring more power. The objective good was that in doing this he could free people from the shackles of slavery.
The moment he wisely accepted that it was better for him to use his undead servants to attack his enemies he had begun to recalculate his targets. He had switched from preparing to opportunistically direct Xiax to any injured animals, to instead focusing his desire for souls and a bit of murder on the areas with the most slaves.
A quick analysis of the not-so-mini-map revealed that the place containing the most slaves happened to be an encampment of reptilefolk located underground but not deep underground. Althos felt a wave of certainty wash over him as he began his preparations for what was to come.
And within him, numerous domains began to wait with bated breath to see what would happen next.