A golden cocoon suddenly enveloped Exile's avatar. At the same time, his body in the Divine Realms experienced the same thing, causing some panic in The Raider's Horn.

A golden cocoon suddenly enveloped Exile's avatar. At the same time, his body in the Divine Realms experienced the same thing, causing some panic in The Raider's Horn. 'What's going on?' Exile cursed as he felt his body changing inside the golden cocoon.

[Applying Dwarven Traits...]

Exile suddenly felt his beard growing longer until it reached his chest. A stinging pain appeared in his ears as they became pointed, but not longer. His muscles grew thicker, and he lost a few inches of height. His game avatar now stood at five foot nine inches. Golden bands appeared in his beard as a few braids appeared in it. 

[Modifying stats to fit racial changes...]

[-10 Speed]

[+5 Strength]

[+5 Endurance]

'My stats? These changes are bringing them closer to what I was before!' Exile grinned as he quickly spent his new free stat point on Endurance as well before the transformation could end.

[Congratulations! Your racial change is now complete... Race set to: Elemental Royal Deity (Custom Race)]

[Select three from the following as your Race's Traits...]

[(Human) Versatile: When killing a player, the Divine Orb they generate will focus on taking half of the player's Strength, Endurance and Speed Stats. (Adjusted according to Tier restrictions)]

[(Dwarf) Rocksteady: When killing a player, the Divine Orb they generate will focus on taking more points from the player's Strength and Endurance Stats. (Adjusted according to Tier restrictions)]

[(Human) Faithful: +5 Authority]

[(Dwarf) Unyielding: +5 Endurance]

Exile's eyes went wide as he read these new messages. 'Racial Traits? Custom Race? Does that mean I'm neither human nor dwarf now?' Exile hummed as he thought about it. 'Is this what happens if your influence spreads to other races? Will I go through this again if I gain more Oracles from the other races?'

He could not help but feel that perhaps he had gotten lucky this time. After all, how many other players would have come across something like this so far? 'It can't be many and if so they would try to keep it quiet... Wait... If it had been the Sommerdans then would I have stayed human and just gained some stats?'

There were many questions floating in his mind about that procedure. 'Perhaps I need to consider what races I want to bring under my protection if they can affect me like this... I would have to avoid anything that could weaken the stats I want to use...'

'Faithful and Unyielding are a given, since only the other two seem to go against each other. But it seems like this is where I need to really think about the future. Choosing Rocksteady will set me on a future path similar to what I went for when I ruled the Hearth Authority. It's good if I want to be the shield, as Ania put it for my Pantheon. While Versatile will keep me more balanced at the cost of specialising in anything.'

Exile hesitated for a long moment before letting out a sigh. 'It's now or never...'

[Congratulations! You have chosen Rocksteady, Faithful and Unyielding! These traits will now be permanently applied to your character stats.]

At that moment, the golden cocoon shattered. Revealing his new look to Ania and the Dwarves. Ania's eyes went wide as he appeared more distinguished, wise and powerful with the changes, while Thovok nodded his head. Happy to see that Exile was somewhat passable as a dwarven god. 

[Congratulations! More than 90 points of Divinity have been detected! You have reached Tier 1 Level 3!]

Thovok appeared excited as he looked over Exile's figure, but what really surprised Exile was that all of the Dwarves present appeared able to see him. 'Don't tell me they're all fanatics right away? What the hell is up with that?' They seemed to be patiently waiting for him to say something, but Exile let out a sigh instead.

'Seems like the Authority increase from the Race change won't bring me any new spells... Let's take a look at how my stats look now that it's over.' Exile focused on his stats while leaving the NPCs to bathe in his aura.

[Name: Exile]

[Pantheon: Ragnarok]

[Title: King of the Gods (Ragnarok), God of Lightning (Incomplete: 1/3)]

[Race: Elemental Royal Deity (Custom Race)]

[Tier: 1]

[Level: 3]

[HP: 225/225 (150+75)]

[DP: 61/61 (28+33)]

[Strength: 19]

[Endurance: 45 (30+15)]

[Speed: 23 (18+5)]

[Authority: 61 (28+33)]

"Lord Exile?" Ania stuttered, still unbelieving of how much he had changed in those moments. "Is it really you?"

"Yes, Ania..." Exile chuckled as he looked at her. His voice sounded like it bore the steadiness of a mountain. Deep and unfathomable. "Hm, it seems like I really have to thank you, Thovok. You've brought me a great gift this time for our first meeting without realising it."

"Ah, not quite Lord Exile. we already knew you would go through something like this if no other Dwarves worshipped you. We have stories, writings and even a few old folks that have seen it before." Thovok chuckled as he unashamedly walked around Exile and studied his clothing. "Hm, you look the part of a dwarf god physically except your height. You're still a bit tall, but it will do, I guess. But this armour..."

Exile cocked an eyebrow as he glanced at the other dwarves, who seemed to be nodding their heads while scrutinising him. Exile suddenly heard Thovok tutting away to himself as he tapped on the leather and steel, which surprised Exile. There had only been a few people so far that he could physically touch, but this dwarf did not seem to doubt that he could make physical contact at all!

"What have the Skardians being doing for all these years! This armour is pathetic! Just as well, the group I brought with me are all craftsmen this time! We'll have to rectify this! Tharin! Report to the King! We've reached an agreement with the god called Exile! Tell him to send the warriors and set up the Temple..."