The God smiled, relieved at my answer. Maybe it was because he was betting so much on the fact I’d say yes, or maybe he was truly interested in protecting the world as it is. However, this mattered very little in the grand scheme of things. The sentiment was almost unimportant when a Lord God was giving me free reign with his Court’s power. The God stood a little straighter, his demeanour a little more official. Even before he began speaking the words, the world around me began to shudder with an intensity I had only felt the barest effect of. The intensity of those pure, emotions he had felt exemplified hundreds of times as the God opened his mouth, his eyes beginning to glow with the flame of the campfire.

“I Gallar, Lord God and First One of the Hearth Court, grant Maximilian Avenforth the Authority and Divine Seed of the Hearth Court, with all its members in concert agreement. With words spoken by only those of the First Ones, does this decree hold true, and our Divine Souls put at stake for the future of a mortal. I grant a Court Blessing!”

With those words, whose syllables individually created pulses of pure authority, everything within me changed.

It was with immediacy that I felt a cord being cut and knowing immediately that it was my only lifeline to go home. I had abandoned my home for what I felt was right and I was only beginning to mourn the loss when the next wave hit me.

Something was being forced directly into my soul, and I had no choice but to simply accept. Every moment that passed pushed the strange thing into my soul. I let the small object in, focussing on the acceptance of it as me, creating a spot within myself for it to exist. The words of Gallar’s decree continued and, what I believed to be, the seed pressing itself into me, followed by a power that was quite undefinable to me.

It flowed into my soul like water into a pool, totally different from ether which seemed ever present. I felt it fortify my soul in a way that I was under the assumption was entirely impossible. The liquid metal that I view my soul as was reinforcing itself layer on layer, the pure power it was being offered made it reform itself into a protective casing of sorts, surrounding the seed.

It came as somewhat of a surprise to me that I was actually experiencing pain, in a detached sort of way. In fact, it was the worst sort of pain, one that seemingly cut through and defence you had against it, showing you how you truly mortal you were. I could only guess that this was an effect of my soul rapidly intaking this power and the seed at once, transforming itself to handle these things in concert.

The pain, however, was almost a freeing thing. It was like cutting away useless baggage off of yourself and transcending the need for a primitive body part. I started to get the impression that it was, quite literally, a divine ascension of sorts. My soul was becoming almost unrecognisable in its form and function, and even as the power it was being fed began to settle, my soul even felt like that of a different order. Like a highly advanced piece of technology given to a monkey.

The pain had stopped, but the rumbles of authority still surrounded me. It was authority over safety that radiated out of me, the flame of the fire seemed brighter and more comfortable as I sat near it now, my mind calmed by this visceral understanding that this was my place. My home.

I was truly home.

“Astounding. There has never been a Court Blessing granted let alone a Divine Seed, I had wondered if I would ever see it done.” Gallar laughed heartily, and I did as well, a clear connection of kinship strengthening us, “Never, in my many millions of years, would I have thought that I would be the First One to grant it.” The God, my God, extended his hand to me, glowing with a warm light. I grabbed it, feeling a link form between us on the highest possible level. An energy circulated between our souls, mutually singing in harmony.

“Welcome, brother, to being the first mortal God,” he paused for a moment, enough to allow my face to scrunch together in confusion, “well, more like a Demigod at the moment really. You are little more than what you were just moments ago, but with the potential to be everything.” His smile was warm, like an older brother greeting a new sibling into the world.

“You, my brother, are the first God to be created, and not born of lineage or of right. You are the only mortal to receive a Divine Seed. A being only theorised in the oldest tomes that our libraries have to offer. You are the only one, of any number of Gods, who is able to reach the heights of Godhood, and remain entirely in the mortal plane.” He smiled, his satisfaction with the statement obvious.

“So, I’m a baby God now?” I said with eyebrow raised, a little amused to be honest. Gallar was quite ticked by that and he began giggling.

“I guess you could put it like that, though other High Gods would probably be upset by you not using the right terminology. Boors, the lot of ‘em.” He continued to chuckle for a moment until he turned to me, more seriousness leaking into his expression.

“I guess I should explain what you get from all of this kerfuffle. The Court Blessing effectively upgraded your soul to be capable to handling a divine seed, though only to a rudimentary extent. It will make it effectively impossible for anything but another Demigod level being to really do much to your soul, so no enslavement is going to happen any time soon.” He grinned at the relief I felt, a worry dissipating, one that I hadn’t even thought about before, “Other than that, you are basically the same as you were before with two major changes. Your Soul Hammer should be markedly different, and your ability to control a domain.”

Changes to my hammer? The instant that I head those words come out of his mouth, I had a spike of worry. Quickly I summoned the thing, and sure enough, it was even bigger than before, and way heavier.

It had grown at least thirty percent bigger in most metrics, the silvery metal now slightly darker, and the wrapped leather of the handle slightly darker as well. However, the runes and engravings that once used to litter the shaft of the hammer and the axe’s head and the spike on the back of the hammer. Now those engravings had deepened considerably, and a soft white energy ran through it.

“Ah, I guess that it makes sense that the divine energy would be visible on the weapon itself. That Soul Weapon is probably singlehandedly one of the most dangerous weapons in existence now. Divine weapons of any sort are incredibly rare. Though, good luck on wielding it.” He took a look on my face, a mixture between awe and sour defeat, and just laughed heartily, patting me on the shoulder with his meaty hand.

“You’ll figure it out, you are my brother now. We of the Hearth Court have always been good thinkers!” He smiled at me, a playful smile that was almost like a bet over a few drinks of who will black out first. I grinned at the subtext that was so in line with his–our domain.

“Wait, one second before we keep going on this train.” I held a hand up to the amused God and he gestured for me to carry on. “What about the God from back home? Won’t he be mad about this thing?” The moment I voiced the concern, it seemed a lot more legitimate, the anxiety momentarily coursing through me before Gallar’s hand rested itself on my shoulder.

“No need to fear. I don’t understand your world’s God very well, nor do any others within the Divine Realm. We don’t understand what he’s trying to do, or even what he wants, but we do know that he hasn’t cared about our God’s blessing the Champions before, so I struggle to see why he would now.” He grinned, and with a wink he moved on to the next topic on the roster within his mind.

“And finally, your domain. For now, you really only have safety as a concept in your domain. It’s the simplest to bind to a domain by far. Call it out, you shouldn’t have any trouble doing so.” He was right, a simple thought and I distinctly felt the surroundings around me become gentler, purer of intention. I felt the domain of safety take priority in the intentions of the world inside of my aura.

“This aura of safety, while rudimentary for now, is incredibly useful. Those around you will feel safer, more secure. You will be able to understand them better while they are thinking straight in your aura. And, even though the Hearth Court is hardly combat focused, the safety domain will weaken an enemy’s harmful intentions. When you grow powerful enough, you will be able to mediate a conversation between two courts of warring Gods.” He grinned in a knowing way. A quiet word, and a hidden power.

It just goes to show how much power over politics and how much we take the Hearth for granted when it comes to civility. Did civilisation not start with those who are hungry and cold huddled around a fire? I smiled, gaining this strange underlying truth of the world was an odd experience. A lens that I could now view the world through.

“I see you are coming easily to terms with all of this. This is precisely why you were the only candidate. You are possibly the only person that is both capable and willing of being granted this sort of power. The only person we can trust with it in its entirety. And so, with that, it is time for me to go.” He smiled and stood from his spot at the fire, his form being illuminated by the slowly dying campfire’s light.

“Will I be able to meet you or someone else from the Hearth Court often?” Gallar shook his head sadly.

“The other Gods are… very suspicious of us. We had been hording divine energy for millennia, and they have their ways of keeping track of us, just as we have of them. If there is someone of my profile, or any of the others capable of truly appearing here, constantly making appearances in the mortal plane, then I fear we would bring great danger to you. However, keep an eye out, we will keep in contact in our small ways, brother.” He smiled, in a way that warmed you to your very core, a true affection no matter how small.

“You keep yourself safe, Gallar. I will do my best down here.” The God nodded, as if it were a foregone conclusion, and then walked into the campfire, disappearing into the warm heat of the coals.

It was in the moment that he left that the sounds of the outside world leaked back in. The soft hum of insects and various wildlife, the sound of wind rustling through the grass and the trees, and, quite amusingly, Alena’s snores.

Those moments allowed me to think about what had transpired. A God had made me into a Demigod, tasking me with saving the worlds in truth, past my unrealistic expectations and pipe dreams. A God believed in my goal, so now it was a mission. A holy one, at that.

The heavy head of my hammer rested in the dirt near my feet, compressing it terribly. It was a lot heavier now. Before this ‘upgrade’ I was able to wield it with clever use of summoning and unsummoning as well as using the kinetic shifting to fill the gaps with attacks. Now that the hammer may as well be twice as heavy, I needed to relearn how to even use it properly. I sighed, wondering idly whether I should just use my hands as weapons for the fight against the forest wolves the day after next. I’d easily be strong enough, but it made me feel guilty that I wouldn’t be using the hammer in my first real fight, other than against Mayer that one time.

While I was thinking to myself, there was the sound of rustling coming from the tent. After a moment, Rethi came out of the tent, looking relatively well rested for just a few hours of sleep.

“Up for your shift?” I asked, impressed that he was able to wake without me doing so. He nodded slowly, before noticing my hammer. He had seen the thing probably more than Mayer had in total, there was absolutely no way that it was possible to tell him it hadn’t drastically changed.

“What happened to your hammer?” He said, with less of the respect than he usually put into his words when talking to me. I just chuckled.

“Well, Rethi. I met a God.” His eyes brightened, but didn’t seem surprised at all.

“A God! Wow, Master Max. What was that like?” I looked at him quizzically, a little amusement thrown in there for good measure.

“Not too shocked, are we?” The boy shrugged his muscled shoulders.

“I dunno, you’re a Champion Master Max. A human from another world, who actually wants to do good. Why wouldn’t a God come talk to you?” He had a point.

“Well, I’m not a ‘true’ Champion anymore,” Rethi’s face instantly became one of worry, “don’t worry, I think I may have gotten the better end of the deal even still.” Rethi’s hesitant worry became one of sneaking excitement, and I just grinned.

“I’m a Demigod now, Rethi.”