237. Detreereence

237. Detreereence

Year 239

Whos best to use the avatar? Lumoof shrugged. Anyone, really. Its just a chance for people to see the world for themselves.

I spawned one of the avatars, technically, the ones that are used by me can be linked and transferred to other pantheon members, but once they are transferred, they no longer can be changed. I suppose thats because this is my pantheon? Th.ê most uptodate novels are published on n(0)velbj)n(.)co/m

The avatar was surprisingly nimble, and could essentially take any shape I wanted to it take. It was like a living, flexible, ever changing tangle of wood and vines. It could form a face, and could even talk.

I think this ability came a little too late. Ken mused. Itll totally be a human form for you.

But its level capped at level 100. Its just a dummy. Prabu countered. Lumoofs ability is way better.

Lumoofs a domain holder. This is a destructible dummy. You could send it to places where you EXPECT it to be destroyed as a scout. Ken answered the archmage.

You mean use it like a summoned creature, like how Johann can look through his animal companions? Roon said as we analyzed the new ability.

Yeah, kinda like that. Johanns pets are way more precious than these spawnable avatars. Think about it, we could use it to communicate anywhere.

Johanns little pet dragon was actually a lot larger than expected. A spawn created from the dragonbones, it was some kind of fire dragon, with jet black scales. Based on my estimates, itll get stronger as it ages, but its still a long way to maturity.

It was also one crazily hungry creature, and Johann had to pack loads of meat for it. Its a great thing he had bags of holding that could easily store and preserve large quantities of meat.

Without bags of holding, the animal companion would probably suffer for it. Johann claimed that the pet could survive off his magical energy alone, but would not be able to grow during that period of time.

Within the Valthorns theres also a debate between whether its better to level up my domain holders, or just try to create more domain holders.

Ive mostly decided to focus on creating more domain holders, but this argument still comes out every now and then. But thankfully, it seems I still gain levels just by planning and supporting all the demon king battles.

Lilies was surprisingly interested in the avatar. They have made something of their own after all, but it wasnt all that interesting, and the limitations were so annoying that their avatar was functionally useless.

This one, at least, would retain some of their strength, at level 100, and allow them to gain experience from the other worlds.

Lilies language and sensation felt more keen, more interested, and so, if an avatar was what swayed their position, so be it.

Aria and Aispeng naturally booked one. Theyve been carving up various models of their avatar with ice, but their condition was really vain. I want to decide what my avatar looks like.

Thats a small matter.

Alright!

The second avatar was granted to Aria and Aispeng, and Aria tried her best to recreate how she looked like, from a long long ago, as a human. She really wanted to be a human once more.

Once I created the avatar and linked it to her through our pantheon, she was off fiddling with her avatar.

I also took the chance to offer it to Zhaanpu. Zhaanpu didnt accept my pantheon membership due to his concerns about the interactions with the gods pact.

Tempting.

But no answer.

***

This avatar ability on its own is pretty average. Lumoof said, But Aeon, the fact that you could share, really opened our minds to possibilities. Imagine for a moment, if all the domain holders abilities were concentrated in a single body.

Itll be as strong as a hero. Stella said. Or more.

It may be a good idea to explore the way it works, and to use Aeons soul-magic to explore whether we could link power.

So we are building off the power of friendship, literally. Stella laughed at how corny it was. But I like it. Linking and concentrating the powers of multiple souls in a single body seemed like a great way to create something where the whole is so much more than the sum of its parts.

It really made me have a different perspective of the soul-stitching mechanism of hexbombs and blood-soul magic.

If you could somehow adapt the links within hexbombs to amplify the power of multiple domain tier individuals, somehow allowing a single avatar to express their combined power, we could really create a god-level war machine. Hacking the avatar function to host multiple and allow them to amplify each others ability would really create something world breaking.

Looks like we have sort of a roadmap to the end. Cometworld as the delivery mechanism, and a multiple-avatar in a single unit as the weapon or warrior to destroy that damned demon sun.

Sharing power was always a part of my repertoire. My familiars were a means of sharing power, and so I really liked this idea. It seemed consistent with the path I took so far. It seemed plausible, even if it involved linking multiple people together.

Maybe its some kind of pantheon ability. Lumoof wondered. We know that sometimes, if we think about it enough, the system finds a way to give it to us.

What- Stella looked surprised. Oh. Youre trying to tell the system that we want this sort of pantheon ability.

Yeah. Ability to combine powers across the pantheon.

Well, then I want the ability to manipulate the movement of an object through the void sea. Stella pretended to pray to the system. And the ability to break down that void barrier.

Edna just laughed at her two fellow domain holders. Why dont you wish for the ability to destroy the demon sun while you are at it.

Yeah! But that sounds so vague, yknow. Stella said. I think what the system awards usually has some specificity, like we roughly know what we want. Itll give you a hammer if you know what exactly a hammer looks like, and what you expect it to do.

***

It wasnt hard to infiltrate the crystal kings territory. The Crystal King maintains nominal control of all the smaller kingdoms in his territory, just like how Zhaanpu controls all the smaller desert cities and nations, or how Hoofhall oversees the lesser centaur tribes.

That meant, it was very easy to disguise ourselves as people from other kingdoms and cities, and we also had invisible means of infiltration such as my trees. I was fairly sure the Crystal King sensed me, but it hadnt gone as far as to order outright deforestation.

The rifts soon spawned demons, and we were greeted with the large demons with axes and wings. In short, the regular demonworld.

One of the theories that developed from the void archmages, was that worlds that are closer to the source of the demons should be more regular-demon like, than those who possess unusual characteristics like the parasite world or the sandworld.

The idea was that the variance in the demons is something that accumulated over multiple invasions.

His idea was, Demons invaded world A. Demons spawned by world A possessed some additional characteristics adopted from the World As cores. Demons from World A then invaded World B, and captured it. Demons from World B thus had qualities inherited from World A and World B. Over time, the demons would be wildly different from each other, depending on the path it went through.

We also observed that each generation of demon king, even though they mightve come from the same world, had minor variations, so this suggested that the core of each world essentially had a certain degree of flexibility in the powers granted to its demon king. We saw this when we compared the Sabnoc demon king we faced, and the Sabnoc-type encountered by Adrian and Kelly.

Lies. One priest barked, but it took all his willpower to resist. If you brought us here to awe us into submission, no, we wont do it.

I decided I made my message quite clear, and lifted the oppressive presence. The color on their faces returned. I do not expect or require conversion to my faith. Hell, itll be great if you maintain your faith to the best of your ability.

Then why are we summoned?

Because this war annoys me. At that moment, a group of void mages appeared. And I realize, were fighting because you dont see the greater enemies we face, nor do you truly comprehend what the demons want to do to our world.

Greater enemies?

Perspective. It was a privilege of the Valthorns, and now, it was something I had to share with the others.

They may be my enemies, but I believe they too, deserve to see the truth.

Come, they will lead you to see the demonworlds.

***

The leading priests of this generation stared at the vast desolate lands of the Lavaworld, at the hordes of demons that we leave free to roam, so that my Valthorns could fight them for experience.

It was hell, and intentionally left so.

This is where you sent the strategists?

No. They were shown the place, but no, theyve not visited. Come, let us visit another. The void archmage led them back, and this time, we sent them through a riftgate.

A riftgate set for Ulara.

With our discovery of the riftgates dialing numbers, and the small amounts of core mana granted by the worlds core, we were now able to restore temporary rifts to the demonworlds such as the anti-magic world, Ulara, and many others.

Those more distant, or delayed by the void barrier were inaccessible for now. It cost a bit more void mana to form and link the two worlds, but now that we could, I used them to teach, to share and let them witness the world beyond.

I decided I would and should extend this experience to the rulers and nobility.

Perspective.

It was a weapon.

It was an idea.

It was letting them see the sword of Damocles that hung over all our heads. To see the extent of the demons true power, and to unveil the ignorance of their entire life.

What was remote wasnt so. It was a certainty in the future, even if not their own future.

The priests were silent, as they saw what happened to the Ularans. How they now live in little holes rather than the cities of their past.

The world is a lot more perilous than you know. We face demons who seek to do this to us. To our world. The void archmage said on my behalf. Honestly, those of us whove seen whats out there, cannot unsee it. Why is it even worthwhile to fight over scraps when there are entire worlds out there that can be reclaimed? Why is it even worth it to fight each other for power when well all get destroyed by something far bigger?

The gods will protect us. The gods grant us power to resist those who want to destroy us.

They do want to protect you. The void archmage didnt rebuke them. But they are drifting further away, and their power wanes over longer distances. Your god wants to help, but they are losing the ability. It is our speculation that their weakening power is why we have less heroes.

Its all Aeons fault. His presence blocked the gods' ability to help us.

Oh please. Aiva said so Itself. In about two centuries itll all be over. The void archmage said.

This is blasphemy. One priest said. One does not insult the gods this way.

Is it? The void archmage said. But no matter, with Aeon, we are reaching to the other worlds, to take the fight back to the demons. You folks can indulge in your jostling for position back home, but Aeon does not intend to let you disturb our greater war.

This system was created by the gods. Your attempt to go against the demons directly is not what the gods planned. I sometimes marvel at the priests ability to warp any position into an argument against me.

And thats why youre a fool. The void archmage said frankly. Do you not see that this system engineers all of us to die?

If that is how our gods want us to die, then it is how we shall die.

My archmage was frustrated, but not all priests were so stubborn. Some saw the other worlds, and now realize what we have become.

We were not just a temple ruling a continent. Were an organization engineering the goal of destroying the demons for good.

What is it that Aeon wants?

The void archmage sighed. It is not something I agree with, but Aeon wants a truce. Well let you fight your wars, but leave Aeon and the Valtrian Order out of it. We have bigger fish to fry.

Some of them were quiet, they took the offer seriously. One of the priests asked. Isnt this just a ploy to weaken us while you gain more power?

The void archmage laughed. Yes, but youre wrong on one point. We have no need to weaken you. We can crush you now, and it is Aeons mercy that prevents it from happening.

And you expect us to appreciate that your monstrous god stays his hand? A dictator is still a dictator. A monster.

The void archmages laughter continued. Oh, I think you are sorely mistaken. Were not looking for appreciation.

Then?

I expect you to have the wisdom of leaving the damned beetle nest alone.

There was a look of absolute horror in all the priests.

***

Spaizzer

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