After a few hours of marching through its bleak wastes, the devilish desert Althos and his party were within seemed to stretch on to infinity. The party of creatures who wandered through it quickly came to find an endless hike through vast flatlands and the occasional dreary climb over a sand-dune incredibly monotonous.

Althos was the only person in the party with a reprieve from this boredom. While he was physically enduring the same uninteresting walk as his companions, he was able to mentally access the three menus the deity had yet to touch. Althos looked through his Heads Up Display, or HUD, and readied himself to tap the first of the icons he had yet to activate.

The tiny image that was supposed to represent this menu in the deity's mind wasn't an image at all. Instead, it was multiple images that were displayed in rapid succession and showed a creature spontaneously growing bigger and stronger. This menu was the mysterious "mutations" menu.

Althos mentally tapped it, the activity not involving him actually making any physical motions, Althos saw a message spring to life in front of him and greet him.

[Hello! Welcome to the "mutations menu". Before proceeding any further we must perform a quick scan of you to see which mutations are at your disposal. Scan commencing.]

Althos willed away the notification and then patiently waited while the menu "scanned" him. This wasn't the first time such a thing had occurred and he even did it to other people, whenever he identified vestigial traits in his followers or other creatures he heard the system say it was "scanning" them so he had some idea, via context, of what that word meant, even though he didn't actually particularly understand it.

That said, his understanding wasn't necessary for the system to do its thing and in seconds he received another notification.

[According to a preliminary scan you are the young god known as "Althos". This is the "mutations menu". The next few notifications are all pre-programmed, and their purpose is to inform you about the nature of mutations.]

Althos didn't have time to assess that notification intellectually, because the instant he willed it away he received another notification.

[This menu is one of many menus accessible to gods who interact more regularly with mortals and allows gods to rapidly transform mortals in massive ways. Mutations are biological changes that can wildly change creatures, as well as be passed down to the children of mutants.]

Althos read this, willed the notification away and assessed his temporary surprise at what he read, before almost immediately recalling that the majority of it was explained to him weeks ago when he first gained access to the menu.

The main bit of new information that he received just then was that mutations could be passed down to children of mutants, which was intriguing to the young god, who due to his habit of stealing or otherwise acquiring memories had memories far beyond his mere weeks of life, including a fair number of memories of sex. However, the deity had yet to acquire any memories of pregnancy, childbirth, or parenthood.

Then he received another new notification as if the menu itself was having a conversation with him.

[At first, the number of stable mutations that are accessible to you and the sorts of mutations you can cause to your followers will be dependent on a number of factors. Some of those factors will include your knowledge of the anatomy of the creatures you seek to mutate, the number of their species that worship you, and the domains you have under your control when executing the mutations.]

This was new information to Althos, who ready over the notification quickly and eagerly. The part of him that hungered for knowledge analyzed every component of this with gusto and grinned even as he began to climb yet another sand-dune. He had read and reread the notification before willing it away, eager to learn more.

[To illustrate this, here's an example that uses a mutation that is already at your disposal. You can mutate dark elves into something considerably monstrous: a variant of a drider that instead of fusing a dark-elf and a gigantic spider, is actually a fusion of a dire-scorpion and a dark elf. You unlocked this variant by having more than one dire-scorpion worshiper, having several dark-elf worshipers, and by having stolen or copied the memories of multiple dark-elves which let you understand their anatomy.]

Althos was surprised to learn that he already had access to mutations, and was doubly surprised to learn that one mutation he could use this early on had such power. The young god was keenly aware that this meant that if he willed it, he could transform one of his dark-elven worshipers into a powerful arachnid, thereby demonstrating his incredible power.

That is... a lot of power. He thought to himself, quietly. He tried to mentally picture such a transformation, and in doing so he visualized one of the many dark-elves he had encountered in the city of Undermoon undergoing a transformation in the vein of Silander's awakening or Camaxtli's rejuvenation. However, instead of becoming younger or more humanlike, the targeted dark-elf became an imposing fusion of dark-elf and gigantic dire-scorpion. An even darker girtablilu.

When he willed away that notification, he was immediately met by a new one.

[Mutations are powerful and can outright create new species if misused or depending on the intent used expertly. More than one seemingly odd species has been created by a deity's mischevious usage of the mutations menu.]

Althos wondered if the system could provide an example of a true species who owes its existence to a deity's usage of the mutation menu. The system, ever eager, seemed to have a prewritten answer to that predictable question, as the second Althos received the next notification in the lengthy chain of notifications needed to be deemed ready to make mutants, he received an alert which answered his question.

[An example of this that you appear to have some knowledge of is the centaur species, which owes its existence, not to the loving, deeply sexual escapades of some god as centaurs themselves tell those who listen to their myths, but rather a byproduct of the dark temper and once-legendary stubbornness of a long-forgotten goddess of nature.]

At first, while reading that notification Althos wondered how it was that he knew about centaurs. It took him a split second to remember that the goblin Amelie, the very first creature whose memories he ever made a copy of, knew of them.

The mutations menu wasn't done but was apparently trying to keep the notifications from being incredibly long blocks of text. Althos willed away the newest and it was immediately followed up by a continuation of the story.

[The goddess, tired of being enraged by an arrogant mortal cursed the target of her hatred and transformed him, a lone human, into a handsome and savage hybrid of equine lust and human dexterity. The man himself didn't hate what the goddess herself viewed as a curse and punishment, and so he embraced his newfound speed, and virility and went on and mated with human women.]

Althos read through this notification, and sensed that this unusually long story was beginning to near its end. He was right, as he found out when willed away this notification and it was replaced with another.

[The goddess, satisfied with what she stubbornly viewed as a punishment, inflicted it on other mortals who displeased her, and eventually, the creatures met each other and began to breed true, becoming not merely solitary mutants, but a true, independent species. Centaurs outlived their creator, and now cannot even remember their true, dark origins.]

Althos, now armed with knowledge about the considerable strength of the mutations menu, wondered about its weaknesses. The next notification he received began to alert him to them.

[The limitations to mutations aren't just that it takes effort to learn the sort of "blueprints" that already exist and are stored in mutations menu, but in the beginning who can even be targeted by mutations.]

Another short notification. Althos noted, grimly. He willed it away and waited the split second it took for another notification to appear.

[When a deity first gains access to the mutations menu they cannot target any creature anywhere with any mutations they have access to. Deities who lack experience with mutations need permission from those they seek to mutate, at least for permanent or possibly permanent ones.]

This surprised and disappointed Althos, but he was pleased that the menu specified that it was just for "Deities who lack experience with mutations" which meant, to the god anyway, that this limitation was eventually done away with.

The deity wasn't ignorant to what this suggested about the story he had just read through. So that goddess wasn't a newcomer to mutations, somehow lied to the person she mutated, the mutation might have been temporary originally, or perhaps the rules are different when making a mutation truly from scratch. The deity thought, his mind busy as he considered which of those he liked best.

It wasn't the menu that alerted him to the truth of the matter. It was actually Samyaza, his orb-angel advisor, who told the deity the true nature of the ruleset that governed the mutation that created Centaurs. Before Althos willed away the notification the sound of his thoughts were interrupted by the unusually solemn voice of his orb-angel advisor.

[The goddess who basically accidentally created centaurs, and in doing so made the aforementioned "blueprint" that is now the main basis of all mammal-human hybrid mutations did it by scratch. My master did something very similar when he created a probably now extinct species of human-snake hybrids.]

Samyaza stopped for a second, its mental breath hitching as if it were remembering something deep and painful. Then, seconds later as if nothing happened, the angel continued.

[When you create mutations by scratch instead of using a template the rules are different... Less restrictive. The goddess was enraged at the time, and she viewed the creation of something that in her eyes was so ugly as a devastating blow to humanity.]

Samyaza explained, its tone serious. And then it added even more detail to what it was saying, details that contradicted the apparent viewpoint of the long-gone goddess.

[Humans... well many of them didn't agree. You see centaurs don't just mate with centaurs. Humans often couple with the creatures and according to the centaurs themselves humans view the equine half of centaurs as majestic and are attracted to their beautiful faces and bountiful chests in the cases of females centaurs, or their skill in battle and their... prodigious manhoods in the cases of male centaurs.]

When the angel was finished explaining, Althos laughed. He quickly sent a message to his angelic advisor.

[Wait... are you telling me that the centaurs say that their survival is owed in part to their large dicks?] Althos questioned, amused but only understanding why that would be humorous because of the immature humor of the jackaloids, creatures whose memories swam through his mind, accompanied by memories from animals, orcs, and dark elves.

Samyaza laughed as well, surprising Althos, and then responded to the deity. [Yes. And hey, I'm not the one who came up with that nonsense, they are. If you have issues with it, take it up with them!] The angel said, and the two shared a quick peal of laughter before Althos refocused on the mutations menu.

He willed away the notification and was surprised to see what came next.

[Now that you've been informed as to the consequences of the mutation menu, know of a mutation you can use, and know about the weaknesses of mutations, you are now ready to use the menu. Congratulations! Have fun mutating things, and remember that at first, you're gonna need permission to mutate things. As soon as you will away this window, you'll be shown what mutations you currently have at your disposal.]

That notification brought a smile to the god's face. He quickly willed the notification away and was delighted to see that it was telling the truth. The window that replaced the departed notification was a series of textboxes that contained a list of mutations and the creatures they could be inflicted on.

Type: Description: Who Can Be Mutated This Way: Method of Learning This Mutation: Drider-Variant

These fierce monsters resemble girtablilus in appearance, but in temperament, they differ wildly from the odd scorpion-men hybrids.

These creatures have the lower-bodies of massive scorpions and the upper-bodies of unusually muscular dark-elves of either gender.

These creatures shed the usual pride of dark-elves and the irate temperament of dire-scorpions in the presence of those who mutated them, particularly if their mutator was a god, whom they view as having blessed them by modifying them so dramatically no matter what they were before they became mutated.

At first, only dark elves can be mutated so wildly, owing their biological flexibility to their elven genes, but in time experienced mutators learn how to transform dire scorpions into Drider-Variants. Gaining the worship of both dire-scorpions and dark-elves is necessary to learn how to create these unusual cousins of pure-driders. As is gaining considerable knowledge of dark-elf anatomy. Jackal-Kin

Not many gods recognize or respect the power of jackals, but the gods who gain the fealty of an entire community of jackaloids gain the power to infuse their other servitors with the power to shape-shift into jackals.

Creatures who are mutated into jackal-kin become jackaloid-like creatures with humanoid forms other than those of humans. The attitudes these creatures exhibit run the gamut, and not all of them are grateful for the power to shape-shift.

Any non-human humanoid can be mutated and become a jackal-kin.

Masterful mutators, especially those with extensive influence over certain domains like the plant domain might be able to transform sentient creatures of their domains into jackal-kin, but if they do it'd be a first.

Gaining the worship and service of an entire community of jackaloids grants the god who converts the desert-predators into their servants this fairly specific type of shape-shifting mutation. Fungal-Folk

Fungal-folk only emerge naturally as the result of an extensive chain of evolution, usually from far more basic-types of fungi. Though no deity of fungi has never existed until now, this mutation has always existed to aid such a creature if one ever emerged.

A deity of fungi gains the power to mutate dying, willing, creatures into fungal folk spontaneously. Fungal-folks make the perfect servitor species to any non-discriminate god of nature, but until now have been largely ignored by the cruel and usually mildly superficial gods of nature.

Fungal-folks are high-tiered evolutions of assorted types of fungi that come in two variants. One variant is a peaceful type of creature who seeks to live in places where they can create fungal gardens.

The other variant is an aggressive type of fungus monster that seeks to conquer land, and forcibly resurrect other deceased creatures as fungal-folk, or use their bodies as fungal gardens.

Any willing, dying creature who consents to live-on in the form of a fungal-folk can be mutated into these odd, fungal freaks. This limitation can be overcome by gaining experience with this specific mutation, and eventually, the mutation transforms even hated enemies into fungal creatures. Be a god of fungi, and be worshiped by at fungi from two separate tiers of fungal-kind. Examples of creatures in two, separate tiers of fungal-kind include typical sedentary mushrooms and fungal lurkers.

After exploring the menu for several minutes, taking the time to both analyze and memorize the mutations already at his disposal, and with a wide grin at the power he was now conscious of, Althos finally clicked away from the menu.

Althos was treated to the view of another, larger menu containing far less significant mutations, and even temporary ones, but it was easy for him to will that menu away. He did memorize its contents, but it took the young god just a matter of moments to do so. And with that, he was finished exploring this menu. He hoped to have cause to use it soon, given its incredible power.

But it wasn't the only menu that the god wanted to explore. He still had two more menus to go through.

Before he'd get a chance to do that though, he and his party finally got close enough to another lifeform for the god to detect something other than them with his extensive senses. And he sensed the mysterious entity, not only long before his party members also became vaguely aware of it, using their sense of hearing.

Althos sensed a large and powerful creature, something he had never really heard of called a "Desert Titan" according to his radar, off in the distance, and seconds later the god sensed the thing beginning to stumble. And then it fell.

Althos' party became aware of the thing through its fall. Because when the thing collided with the ground, the thud was heard even across the vast distance that separated the giant from the party. Althos and his worshipers felt the ground at their feet vibrate, even though they were standing on top of sand and not actual solid ground.

In the distance, they could see a sand-dune. Before their very eyes, some of the sand on the dune was blown back and off of it, by the force of the giant's collision with the ground. All of them stopped and looked at each other, unsure of how large or heavy something must have been to cause such a powerful physical reaction with just a fall.

Seconds later, without even exchanging a word, each member of the party began to run. In the direction of the mysterious occurrences. The direction that Althos knew contained a desert titan. Althos, being the quickest of the party sped ahead of them and grinned when he was out of their sight.

Finally. More creatures. More worshipers, and a chance to make some progress in this blasted quest. The god selfishly thought, excitement glinting in his eyes.