"What kind of a weapon is that?" Ana mused at Ryu. He was holding a three pronged spear but at the blunt end there was a loop of elastic string attached to it. He had looped the string around his hand and stretched it to the shaft and gripped tightly. He twisted the spear and explained to Ana "Its called a polespear. Its supposed to be more of a fishing tool but the string in this case is made from the tendons of some kind of a powerful beast. If i didn't have my werewolf strength there would be no way i could stretch it at all." He then loosened his grip on the spear and it immediately shot forward till its end reached Ryu's claw. It had travelled so quickly that they could feel the air pressure from the release. "Definitely enchanted or something, it's lighter than steel but harder. Its powerful enough to pierce through the hardened leather. I tested it. Plus, it'll help with fighting monsters my claws can't reach."

Sheila was shocked at the power shown. It was like a hand held cannon, albeit one with a shorter range. It could also be used as a spear if one wanted. "You seemed to be quite proficient with it. Your blessings helped you?"

"Nah. I've used a polespear before. When Glauc goes on holidays. He liked visiting beaches and fishing and stuff. Speaking of Glauc, hope he's doing alright." Ryu mused.

Sheila shivered as she remembered her first meeting with Glauc. Especially his lecherous attitude. "For a bodyguard, you're quite close with him. You guys family?"

"Nah he's not related to me. I do owe him everything though. We were childhood friends. We got separated when I started working but through sheer coincidence we met during one of my assignments. I was to guard a facility that he was having a meeting in. Long story short, the facility got attacked, I got injured and he saved me. Not only that, he hired me as his bodyguard and even helped pay off some of my debts." Ryu reminisced.

"It's not just bodyguard work is it? You mentioned escorting child sex slaves before." Jane interrogated. "I'd like to know what I would be told to do had I won the assistant position."

Ryu just shrugged his shoulders and replied "Why do you think we had to bribe politicians at all? You know Idunn's product? The nanobots that cures most diseases? Idunn basically stole the technology from another company, DivLabs. Funny thing was, Glauc told me that they were sitting on the technology for years. Not doing anything with it. Imagine having the magical cure and just letting people die knowingly."

"Didn't Idunn bought the patent from DivLabs?" Sheila inquired. She had actually worked for Idunn LLC for a few years and to her that was common knowledge.

"Sure. After he kidnapped their board's family members. That's the real story. Ironic huh? The company everyone says is the savior of the world actually did it through quite the evil way. Thing was, after Idunn LLC started selling the nanobot treatments, everyone involved with DivLabs started dying pretty horrible deaths. And Glauc swore he had nothing to do with those deaths." Ryu replied.

"Thats fucked up. Can't believe i wanted to be Glauc's assistant." Ana blanched. "Not only that, the nanobot treatments were extremely costly. Bet he planned to let the poor die off too didn't he? I'd imagine that would make such an evil guy happy."

"Idunn had to first gain power. And the easiest way was being the richest company in the world. Which meant selling the treatments to the rich at a ridiculous markup. The treatments would be released at a reasonable price to the entire world once Idunn LLC could afford to subsidize it all. It wouldn't be free but you could slowly pay it off. Honestly the extended lifespan would more than make up for it. And those who could not afford even the cheapest treatment would get it for free through a special programme. Trust me Glauc had the next twenty years planned. He might do some questionable things but he's being the evil guy to save the world." Ryu defended his employer.

Ana was quiet as Ryu revealed Glauc's plans. "So what's going to happen with Idunn now that Glauc got transported to this world? Will the plan still work? Will everyone on earth get treated in twenty years?"

"I hope so. Glauc did not reveal his plans just to me. They just have to follow his instructions. Maybe it might take longer but the basic idea is easily understood. I mean, even i kinda understand it without any business degrees. Even though i am the wolf of wall street. Heh. Get it? Min thought i was that heheheh…” Ryu replied.

"Well, nothing we can do about Earth for now. But there is something we can do you know. Slavery." Ana changed the subject.

"Drop it Ana. They were confident enough against the Bhukas. What makes you think we have a chance? Be grateful that we managed to rob them of their weapon and supply storage at least. Seemed like we got to their finer quality wares." Sheila pointed to the metal scepter and shield Ana was equipped with.

Ana relented. The equipments they got from Sinai was really of a high quality. Her chain mail draped over hardened leather armor was flexible and light enough that she could sprint without sweating. They were also strong enough to block Ryu's claws. Her kite shield had a mirror surface that could not even be scratched by steel. And the best part was her scepter. She did not have to wave around a wooden replica anymore. Her weapon now was made of a blueish metal. It was balanced well and she could fight a lot more confidently now.

She was the only one armoured amongst the champions though. The rest chose an enchanted robe to protect from the weather. It would slowly repair itself if you 'feed' it a special kind of cloth. The locals called it mana weave and the group had a reasonable supply of it, complimentary of Sinai. The robe was especially useful to Ryu, as the loose robe could still fit him even if he transformed fully into a werewolf. He just had to untie certain straps attached to it. Getting his shirt ripped off whenever he transformed was starting to annoy him.

From the first village, only two decided to follow the champions. Husband and wife, they wore similar outfit to Ana but wielded bows and daggers. Ana knew them to be Jack and Jill but they usually kept to themselves. Which surprised everyone when they decided to continue escorting the champions. Jack was a mute but Jill seemed to know every thought of his. He mostly cooked and did chores around the camp and Jill mostly weaved baskets. That they chose to follow the champions without much combat experience themselves made Jane ask the reason why.

"We're bored. We've lived in the village for almost three hundred years and you guys were the first champions to ever visit the village. No way we gonna wait a few hundred more just for the next champions. They don't always appear in the same place you know." Jill simply told her whilst weaving a rope at the same time. "Plus we decided it's time we have children and a spring is along the way."

"What's a spring got to do with having children?" Ryu asked.

It was then that they learnt that a majority of the intelligent species in Nugaia were sterile. To have children, the female first had to drink from special springs dotted around the world. These springs were usually heavily guarded but everyone was allowed to drink there no matter the race nor enmity. The gods had agreed and designated these springs as neutral lands and causing trouble in the vicinity will earn the curses of the gods, especially those related to fertility. Animals and many monsters did not require the spring water to reproduce though and many believed that the gods were initially responsible for making them sterile. Perhaps to prevent overpopulation.

The champions journey north can be summed up in one word. Dusty. The desert was fortunately not a sand dune but still, the dry cracked mud would release fine particles whenever a strong wind blew over.

Although Jill had plenty of knowledge about the surrounding plants, of which some were edible, the group still went through their rations quickly.

The party also had to watch out for the black vulture like monster that constantly hovered around them. Ryu had impaled one with his polespear when it got too close but the party found out that it had a black tar-like blood. They guessed that it was poisonous and not edible.

Sheila also found out that the blood was very combustible and told everyone to hunt more of the birds. She had the idea of using their blood as a makeshift oil bomb. The birds however maintained their distance after seeing one of their own easily taken down.

"Are we there yet?" Ryu prodded Jill. She had promised him that there was a river further into the journey. And all they had to do was follow the river east and a small fishing settlement named Baqiqi would be found.

"Another week, ten days top." Jill replied to the groans of everyone. The calendar of Nugaia was almost similar to one of earth that the champions barely bothered with converting it to Earth times. It had one sun that revolved around the world although the stars at night had a brighter glow. Unless one had knowledge of astronomy or stargazing it would be common to mistake Nugaia as just earth.

"We do have enough food but I suggest rationing just in case. We also have to trade for more supplies in the next village but all we have are spare armor and weapons. Lets hope they are interested in such products. Also do show me any interesting plants you see. I might be able to create something from it, hopefully with trade value. Jack also might be able to repair something for a little currency in Baqiqi."

"What about us? Is there anything we can do? Do villages have bounties for monsters or such? How bout an adventurer guild?" Ana asked.

"Adventurer guilds are usually located in larger cities but sometimes the village pool together money for a monster bounty. Hopefully they have something you champions can handle."

It was actually two weeks later before they saw any green vegetation. The desert had plants but their leaves were either thin and prickly or dry and yellow. The journey was delayed as the ox pulling their cart had got injured from overexhaustion. Fortunately it was something solved by a few days rest and caretaking.

Even with the slowly increasing lush vegetation they still have not seen a river. Jill was however able to replenish their water supplies by harvesting the long thin roots of some kind of weed. The water was bitter but it would do as emergency supplies. They also supposedly had some kind of medicinal effect, replenishing mana for those who had overexerted themselves.

The group happened upon a nest of giant scorpions in the plains. They were the size of a full grown cat and swarmed from their burrow. Sheila was quick enough to toss a ball of fire to the entrance of their nest before too many exited. It was enough to trap the remainder of the scorpions. They still had to deal with eight angry scorpions though.

"Uhh I've heard that the bigger the scorpions the less poisonous they are." Ana told Ryu.

"Skitters. Be careful of the sting in their tails, it paralyzes you, then lays eggs inside you. I've heard it's a pretty painful way to go. Also they are quick and are able to jump quite a distance." Jill warned then.

Ryu's face immediately went pale and he immediately retreated a few steps. "Wait a minute. Those are fucking facehuggers! Oh hell no I'm going near them! Sheila burn them! BURN THEM ALL!"

Although they were quick the scorpions were traveling in a predictably straight pattern towards the champion. Jane was able to hit two of them with her "sleep darts". She however hesitated to use more of her power. The more she used it the more tired she became and the idea of falling asleep to find that something had laid eggs in you was a nightmare.

That left six skitters still not incapacitated and still heading towards them. Jack and Jill shot their arrows and a few hit. The skitters carapace was unfortunately too hard and the arrows merely bounced off.

Sheila also threw balls of fire at the skitters. She had to concentrate on making the fire continue burning. Both the one in the nest entrance and the one she hit the skitters with. This meant that she could only deal with one skitter at a time. Although effective, a skitter had to burn for quite a while before it was dead.

She had taken care of two skitters before one was close enough to jump towards her. During its leap all she saw was a blur as it suddenly disappeared from the ground before stopping in front of her head. Fortunately its was interrupted mid leap by Ryu's polespear. He immediately swung the spear away to dislodge the skitter from the spear but the nature of the barbed spearhead meant that the bug was stuck. Ryu compromised by holding the spear like a baseball bat, ready to hit any airborne skitters.

Ana had imbued her scepter with but the skitters did not seem to be bothered by the light produced. At least the skill was able to increase the damage of her swings. Shields up, she waited for a scorpion to jump up to smash away.

Unfortunately she was unexperienced with using a shield and held it too much forwards. It ended up blocking some of her vision and it was too late before she noticed a skitter stinging her exposed legs. She immediately swung her scepter to the ground and crushed it but the poison soon took effect. She felt numbness hitting her leg before losing control of her body and fell down face first. She was however still able to speak and immediately cried out. "Oh my god one got to me! Help me I don't wanna die such a horrible death oh god no help waaahhhh! Help me! Wahhhhhh!!" The rest of her words were unintelligible gibberish mixed with crying. She could feel a few thin legs skittering up her back.

Ryu immediately swung his polespear at one of the skitters crawling on top of Ana and batted it away. His strength was enough to hit it over thirty meters away. The other skitter on top of Ana took opportunity of his exposed defence and jumped at him. It crawled to his back and started stinging him non-stop.

Jane, realizing that she would soon lose a meatshield, desperately used all of her power to shoot a few times at the skitter on Ryu's back. She managed to incapacitate it before fainting on top of the cart. Ryu also fell to the ground facefirst with the skitter still stuck to his back. "Oh fuck! Sheila! Jane! It's all up to you now!" He had not realized that Jane was also knocked out.

Sheila was face to face with the last skitter who had crawled back after being hit away by Ryu. One of its legs had been broken but it still moved effortlessly. Fortunately it still traveled in a straight line and Sheila immolated it.

Jack and Jill used their dagger to flip the skitters still sleeping and stabbed it into their softer underside. They tossed the carcasses on the cart and carried Ana too. Ryu in his werewolf form was too heavy so they just tied a rope to the cart and slowly dragged him on the ground while they retreated from the nest.

"Tastes kinda like lobster huh?" Ryu was chewing on a barbecued skitter. "If only we have garlic and butter this would be perfect."

"It’s really tough though. Should have pounded on the meat before cooking it. Anyway what are we gonna do about the nest? Travel around it or kill them all?" Jane asked.

Jack gestured to Jill and she spoke in his stead. "Their venom sacs are really valuable to hunters and doctors. We could easily trade a few weeks worth of supplies for just a single stinger."

"So kill quest?" Ana joked to Ryu. "We need a way to fight them from very very veeeerrryyy far away. Like miles away. No way I'm getting stung again. That was the scariest moment in my life." She blushed at crying during the scene.

"At least they can be shot with my sleep darts. Maybe we slowly hunt them down? How big is the nest anyway?" Jane was quite glad to be of use to the party for once. The sleeping scorpions that Jack and Jill killed also ended up giving their 'age' to Jane for some reason.

"Anyway we need to restate our ages. I'm eighty three years old now. Status wise I can easily lift up a man with one hand. I have night vision, my claws are harder than rocks but my regeneration still doesn't work in battle. Uhh and my polespear is really powerful. Umm. I'll add more info if I think of them." Ryu said.

Jane was the next "I'm fifty eight years old now. Powers wise it's the same, my magical sleep light pulse beam magic thingy. I'm just gonna call it sleep dart since it works like one. The power seems tied to my soul age too. I can at most shoot five before i collapse. 'Ammunition' wise my powers seemed to have plateaued despite getting older. I'm not sure aging will improve the consumption of energy. I'm not sure how Luna's blessings work to be honest."

"Yeah my flames ability seemed to have plateaued as well. I can conjure a flame roughly a meter in diameter." Sheila snapped her finger and demonstrated it. "I'm currently a hundred and sixty one years old. Seems like soul age is only good for so much. I get the feeling mana sight will be crucial to getting stronger. That sounds right Jill?"

"Yeah" she replied. "There are some who are able to use mana tools without mana sight at an early age but the usual way its done is someone has to reach about two hundred years old. Same for me. I started being able to see mana at that age. Magic tool basically are made of materials that bends the mana a certain way. Some transform the mana into a more visible form, its like rubbing two sticks together to make fire. But a lot more complicated. Honestly most don't bother learning about how mana works. It's a lot easier to make a fire with tinder and flint for example. With magic you have to find suitable materials and then construct the tool in a very specific way. Then you also have to use the tool in a specific way. The mana in the environment differs according to time and location and that affects how you use the magic tools. Not to mention the mana of the user and so many other different factors. It really is not worth it choosing a class."

"Choosing a class huh? So can a person have more than one class?" Ana asked Jill.

"Sure. A class is roughly something we group abilities by. For example master Jeff, he is considered to have the hunter class. They specialize in forests and animals and such. There are also many other classes that have similar skills though. A ranger, tracker, explorer, druid and so on for example learn how to trail mana that has been disturbed by living things.

I've tried learning from Jeff to be a hunter and well, everything is just so inefficient. Honestly though it's easier to track animals just by studying their tracks and habits.

God's champions are the exception though. You guys seem to be able to use magic without even knowing how it works. I'm told that champions have a much harder time with learning skills from a different class though. There was a well known ice mage champion that tried to learn from his thief friend for a few decades. He's still learning how to right now with zero success. Not sure why."

"Awww..." Ryu and Ana sighed at the same time. Both had wanted greatly to experiment with the magic and rules of this world.

"Anyway back to the skitter topic." Sheila interrupted "We should skip it for now. It's just too risky. And scary. Maybe mark the nest in the map and we'll get back to it once we are much better prepared."

Everyone agreed with her plan and started packing up for the trip to Baqiqi.

The group arrived a week later as they had to take a longer route away from the skitter nest. The first thing they saw was actually a statue. It was huge, over sixty meters tall. It was shaped like a gate or doorway. The statue was black but seemed to glow at the same time.

"That's Baqiqi's landmark. No one knows which god it represents but it had always existed since the beginning. Prayers never get any responses and when some asked the other gods they got some noncommittal answers. So they just refer it as Baqiqi's landmark."

As they closed in on Baqiqi a few citizen noticed their arrival. Contrary to their expectations a villager started to approach them in a relaxed manner. He was carrying a shovel, which he recently was using to dig some kind of a trench. Further inspection revealed that the trench connected to a wood wall. Sheila guessed that he must be expanding the area of the village. It seemed the village has been prospering to warrant an expansion. The villager himself was not a human. He was a lizardman. The champions looked at Jack and Jill and noticing their relieved faced surmised that lizardmen were friendly.

The lizardmen asked them. "Ryu, champion of Luna and his lovable harem i assume? I have to ask for your full name just to confirm if you will."

"We're not his harem!" Jane immediately interrupted. The reply pierced Ryu's heart and he had to blink his eyes a few times to hide his tears. That he actually had quite a fancy to Jane made it even more painful.

*cough* "Umm yeah they're not my harems. They're my adventuring party members. I'd never force someone to be part of my harems. I'm a gentleman! Of course if someone were to willingly offer themselves it would be rude to reject..." Ryu started trailing off and got quieter and speaking to himself.

"Full name?" the lizardmen ignored the reactions and pressed for the information.

"Ryudo Picklefarmer" Ryu replied.

"Picklefarmer?" Ana asked. "Really? That's your name? Heehee what did your parents farm pickles or something?"

"Actually they kinda did. We farmed cucumber and chilis and pickled them to sell." Ryu replied with a deadpan face.

"So Pickles, what made you turn into a bodyguard? Sick of eating pickles?" Sheila teased him.

"Honestly I still like pickles. Just wasn't very profitable so I decided to work elsewhere. That's it." The girls were entertained by his annoyance. They were still quite angry at his indifference to slavery. They might not be able to fight off slavery but at the very least they were against it in principle. Ryu in their minds seemed too accepting of it.

"Yep. Ryudo Picklefarmer. That's the one the fisherman mentioned. He's been waiting for all of you. Don't worry, food and rest will be prepared by the village of Baqiqi at no cost!" the villager seemed to speak with reverence when he mentioned 'the fisherman'

Sheila asked him "The fisherman? What's he or she like?"

"He arrived a while ago and has helped the village quite a bit. Teaching us about new tools and farming and fishing methods and even giving us some supplies for free. All he asked in exchange was for the village to bring Ryu and his group to him if they arrived." the lizardman eyes sparkled as he regaled the tale of this so called fisherman.

"We don't have much of a choice do we? Supplies are low and anyway I'm really curious about this fisherman." Sheila said. Everyone nodded and were lead by the lizardman. Baqiqi was relatively a small town but everyone seemed to build very close to one another. The roads also did not seemed to be planned at all and were small and had many bends. It was a while before they saw the river. The water was black but they were told that if you harvested the river water it would turn back into its normal colour. They came into a small pier. If it could be called that. It was merely a thin wooden bridge tied together towards the water. Tied to the pier was a wooden boat. It was about three meters wide and over ten meters long. The middle section was roofed with flat wood and sitting on top of the roof was a fat man wearing a conical straw hat fishing with a simple bamboo rod.

Ryu looked at the fisherman and immediately shouted. "Motherfucker! How the fuck did you get here Glauc?"

The fisherman noticed the champions and sighed. "Man you fuckers took your time. I've been waiting here for more than a week."

*** Back to the day the group was summoned to Nugaia:

Glauc was now staring at a lettuce. It was grown from a seed that he had planted. Problem was, the plant had apparently sucked out all of the water and plant lives around it, leaving Glauc with no source of water. And he was getting quite thirsty.

Fortunately he found plenty of fishes and marine life where a river or lake used to be. Blood tasted quite disgusting but he's had worse food. Like Crème brûlée. He never liked overly sweet food.

After a while he began to see blue wisps of smoke in the air. He had initially thought he had been poisoned by something he ate but started to remember something. He checked his age in the status screen and was surprised to find that he was over three hundred years old. And the number was still constantly increasing. Wait. Did planting the seed mean he was responsible for killing all the lives the lettuce took? Even indirectly? So he was absorbing the soul age of all the casualties? How did the absorption process work anyway?

Anyway he realized that the blue wisps of smoke he saw was mana. And he noticed that blue smoke was not its only form. In some rocks if he concentrated hard enough they seem to "shoot" out yellowish sparks randomly. Recently dead trees had certain vein like structures in them that was slowly decomposing into a greenish dust. The more he focused his eyes the more he was able to see strange lights and shapes to the point that it obfustcated his normal vision. It was a while before he learnt to shut off his mana vision. It was an interesting way to look at the world but made traveling hard.

Glauc focused his mana sight on the magical lettuce but found it had no visible mana. The lack of mana actually made it stood out. Even the air and dirt were emitting or absorbing or showing some form of mana. The lettuce was like an emptiness in space. A lettuce shaped space.

Glauc sat down and stared at his age in the status screen. He needed to be a thousand and two hundred years old to affect magic. He was anticipating being able to use his gravity based blessing. By now he was sure it wasn't a simple blessing. He could look at an object and rather accurately measure its weight. Not only that but he could also guess the object's gravitational pull, how it affected space and more importantly how the gravity of said object actually affected mana in an almost unnoticeable way. The blessings seemed to impart certain knowledge into his mind but Glauc felt it was more than that. It was like he was a part of gravity, or that gravity was a part of him.

When his age ticked to one thousand two hundred he felt it. He did not exactly have control over gravity but he could affect mana somehow.

Mana control was impossible though. It was not like taking a water from a river with a bucket but more like blowing in the river to increase the evaporation in the hopes that it would rain. Every thought, every gesture he did seemed to affect mana and yet at the same time seemed to reset the surrounding mana back into their original shape. Nothing made sense. Snapping his finger could cause the mana near his hands to change colour but snapping his fingers a second time produced a different result. It was like there was no order or rules to mana.

"How the heck am i gonna be a wizard? This mana is bullshit! There's no frikkin pattern to it at all!" Glauc groaned to no one in particular. He had hoped to combine the scientific method of Earth with the magic of Nugaia to create cool new spells but mana had no observable pattern. To add to that Glauc was not a scientist so he did not even know what pattern he had to look out for.

Suddenly, a rush of memories filled Glauc's mind. It was as if someone hammered a library's worth of encyclopedic knowledge into his brain. But yet at the same time the information did not feel new. It was as if he knew it all along but had forgotten and remembered all over again. It was as if his SOUL knew about this information. No one had gifted him this information, no gods, no blessings, no one except himself. Maybe it was from a past life?

Where the information came from was put behind by Glauc and he focused on mana. He realized that mana wasn't a thing per say, more of a waste product. Mana was, to grossly oversimplify things, the waste produced from a simulation. Glauc was metaphorically a simulation. Nugaia was a metaphorically a simulation. It was, incomplete yet at the same time whole. It was as if the whole universe was a computer simulation and mana was the heat produced by the processor. Glauc wondered if earth was similar. It was a very uncomfortable way at looking at the world yet he couldn't tear his eyes away from the truth.

Glauc believed that if he wanted to he could send a command to the universe or mana or program or simulation or whatever it was. He wasn't exactly a metaphorical high level admin but he could change his avatar into a dragon for example. However no matter how much he thought about it he did not want to change his form. Even though he thought it would be hilarious to transform into a pink unicorn or fun to fly like a bird, or be a perverted invisible ghost, there was some form of mental barrier that made him reluctant to change.

By now Glauc had no need to use the status screen to check his age. He could make a rough guess from the flexibility and size and denseness of his soul. As a matter of fact he was amused about the structure of the status screen Min had come up with. It roughly worked by having a couple of imps and pixies assess the age of the user and writing and updating it on a blue paper, then projecting the result into a person's mind when called for or thought about. The imps became slightly visible when he gained mana sight and Glauc could see their desperate attempt to fill his head with information. It was hilariously inefficient. Glauc thought that all Min had to do was have an invisible pixie follow the heroes around and shout the age to get the job done but she made a convoluted design for no reason or rhyme.

Glauc also realized how absorbing souls seemed to work. The lifeforms in Nugaia, or at least those in the forest had incomplete souls. It was as if they were cloned from another soul. Once released from their mortal cages, the incomplete soul would come in contact with Glauc's soul and be absorbed easily. Glauc could feel his own soul. Although it was like a constantly changing mass, everything seemed to be connected like a ball of chains and padlocks, making it hard for another soul to absorb his. He guessed it must be also true for Ryu and the girls. The incomplete souls however were more like wet mud, sticking and clinging to everything and also very easily taken apart.

Glauc noticed however that his soul was trying to drain a complete soul. The soul was quite far away but Glauc's soul seemed to unconsciously form a rope-like tendril that reached out to it. The soul was out of its mortal body and more therefore more vulnerable but Glauc's soul was being torn apart by this being. "What the fuck is that? And how do i make my soul stop trying to absorb it?"

As Glauc's soul was being torn apart it felt like he was losing something important. Every tear and break filled him with both a sense of sorrow and of doom. If he did not figure out something soon. He felt that today would be the last day of his existence.

Glauc and the strong soul were fighting one another when Nunu reappeared.

"Hi there! Just finished telling Min about the lettuce seed. Ooohhh would you look at that. Your soul is pretty dense already! Good job Glauc! That's my champion!"

Glauc frantically pointed at his soul tendril and shouted at Nunu. "How do I stop sucking souls? This one seems much stronger than me and it's tearing me apart!"

Nunu's eyes followed the soul tendril from Glauc and to where it led to. "Huh. You killed the physical body of the tutorial plane's guardian. He's a god. Kind of. Anyway we modified the souls of champions to absorb souls non-stop. To help with getting you guys stronger faster you see. Thing is, the only way to stop a champion's soul from absorbing remnant souls is to ascend to godhood. So it's easy! You just have to absorb the godsoul before he rends your soul apart! You'd be a god then!"

"And how do i absorb his soul before he rends me apart?" Glauc whimpered out. Every retaliation by the god felt like getting skinned alive and he could barely stay conscious from the pain.

"Ceh! Mortals. Do I have to tell you how to do everything?" Nunu crossed her arms and stared at Glauc. She tilted her head at the lettuce. "Eat it. It was designed to absorb souls of those that ate it. For the undead you see. They're vegan. For health reasons. Since your soul is already connected to the tutorial god the lettuce will aid you in absorbing him. Maybe. Or maybe it'll absorb your soul first. Then the tutorial god will get stronger. Either is fine with me." She shrugged.

Glauc paused for a second before diving at the lettuce, mouth wide open. He'd take the gamble. It's not as if he had another method to survive. When he had chewed off half of the lettuce and swallowed it, he felt something rumble in his stomach. The tendril connecting him and the tutorial god suddenly tightened. It immediately pulled back like a taut rubber band being released and Glauc saw a tree being pulled along. The tree was grey and partially translucent. It was a ghost tree and its trunk had the face of an old man.

"A treant?" Glauc asked Nunu.

"Nope, a dryad. Its fused with the plants of the forests. Looks like its soul was quite hurt from its physical death." Nunu answered with a malicious grin. It seemed the dryad had offended her somehow and seeing it suffer filled Nunu with glee. "Hello Boromir. You think i wouldn't notice you interfering with the mortal realm? Spreading your spores through champions? What a crude method. Anyway~ meet your doom." Nunu pointed at Glauc.

He was still staring stupidly at the dryad. His wide open mouth still showed some lettuce bits stuck in his teeth. The dryad was big, at least ten meters in circumference and perhaps three storeys high. It noticed glauc and lifted one of its branches to swipe at Glauc but before it came up mid swing the branch started to grow more and more translucent. By the time the swing reached Glauc it actually passed through his body. The treant stopped, looked at its translucent branch and just said one sentence. "Oh shit..."

The tendril from Glauc acted like a straw that suck out the dryad's soul and it no time at all it was fully absorbed. Glauc stood there while the whole thing happened and just stared. He then looked at Nunu. "So madam Nunu. Guess i won?" His skin started cracking like dried mud and he could feel his blood pumping around his body. The cracked skin fell off to reveal a new layer of baby like skin which glowed a light purple. Glauc raised his hands in front of his face and looked at it. "Huh. I kinda look like a budget version of Dr Manhatten now."

Nunu clasped her fingers together like a girl who just received her Christmas present. "Finally! Welcome to godhood! Oh, and the first rule of goodhood is you do not directly interfere with the mortal plane~!" She hummed while she pointed at where the dryad soul used to be.

Glauc gulped. The message was clear on what would happen if he were to break that rule.

Nunu summoned a gate made of water in front of Glauc. She then pushed Glauc in. He was immediately transported into some kind of underwater area. Fortunately he did not need to breathe to survive after ascending to godhood. His chest still felt quite tight at the environment but it took him not much time to adjust to the environment.

"Welcome to my domain! This is the border between the mortal plane and heaven or Valhalla or hell or underworld or whichever term strikes your fancy. Just to remind you again, the mortal plane is restricted for gods. You or your seeds may not set foot there without paying a divine tax. You may bless a mortal or even make her your champion if you wish to. Its the more economical choice usually. As a god you now have a job that you are responsible for.

All gods have one purpose in their existence. INFORMATION. You are to use your divine powers to create new information. For example we have some gods that create wines, some that create music and poetry, some that represents fertility or thunder and lighting. Whichever new information you create and more importantly propagate around the universe will increase your divine force. Most gods use mortal worshippers to spread their ideas around. The more souls believe in an idea, the more real it becomes! With the help of mana of course. Fortunately unlike earth i do not hide mana away from other souls so the gods are able to slowly grow their powers."

Glauc pondered over the news. Being a god was not what he thought it would be. You actually still had to get a job to get the powers to do what you want. "So i have to get worshippers? Actually before that i have to create some new kind of thing that has not existed before? Madam Nunu, I'm afraid I'm not that creative." Glauc shrugged at Nunu.

"Oh worry not! I have shared part of my domain with you! Gravity. Possession of an Information by a god is called a domain and luckily for you it can be shared! The divine force income i receive from gravity is partially yours. Can't let you work without getting paid now do we? A poor assistant is a useless assistant!"

Glauc thought to himself and felt a presence inside his soul. He held out his hand in front of him and a tesseract materialized. It held information pertaining to gravity and any mortal who viewed it would have gone insane from the information. "So this is a domain? It's... Interesting. And the white light it emits is divine force?"

Nunu replied to him "You're a quick learner aren't you? That's right! I'd advise you to absorb the divine force constantly. You'd need it to survive being a god. If you lose too much divine force as a god you will perish so do be careful with spending it. By the way a domain might take on different forms, it might be a bird or a cup of wine or even just the smell of morning. Either way you'll learn to identify them and perhaps you'd be able to create one soon! Anyway it's time for you to enter heaven! You'd have to find your own place to stay in though. I apologize but i don't own any real estate in the divine realm. And while you're there i have a job for you. Find Luna, goddess of the moon and convince her to help your friends." She pointed at a bright light and Glauc had to swim there.

When he touched the light Glauc was once again transported to a different area. This time it was to an opulent city. Tall marble structures adorned the landscape and the roads were paved with gold and jewels. The sky glittered with dazzling colours and every cloud seemed to have rainbows. Unicorns pulled ivory chariots and fountains spew out wine. A few gods in the distance noticed Glauc staring blankly at the sight and wryly smiled at him.

"Welcome to paradise."

"So you're now a god?" Sheila skeptically asked Glauc. "Where's your halo? And wings? Oh wait that's for angels. You look the same as when we left you in the forest. Very ungodlike."

"We did try coming back to save you but there was a magic barrier preventing our return!" Ryu interjected.

"Yeah don't worry I don't blame you for what happened to me. Actually if my suspicions are correct it's probably all part of Nunu's plan." Glauc reassured Ryu. Suddenly the boat Glauc was on rose up due to a random wave in the river water. "SHE'S REALLY SMART AND BEAUTIFUL AND I'M TOTALLY GRATEFUL TO HER AND TOTALLY DO NOT BLAME HER FOR ANY BAD THINGS THAT HAPPEN TO ME AT ALL! NUNU IS THE BEST! BANZAI!!" Glauc immediately panicked upon remembering that he was still in Nunu's domain. He leaned in to whisper to Ryu and the group "Psst! The waters I'm on is called the river on Nugaia. Also there is only one river in Nugaia. No seas or oceans. Just. A. River. And its the border between the mortal plane and heavens. Also happen to be Nunu's domain so lets change the subject!"

Ana inquired to Glauc. "No offense Glauc but would you prove that you are a god? We actually got to Nugaia together and I’m pretty sure our team is a lot more capable of killing to age up and so on."

"Huh. Fair enough. Not a fan of wasting the little divine force i have but hopefully this would make things easier." Glauc pointed at the champions and the gravity around them disappeared. All of them started to float around in the air and Jack and Jill in particular stiffened with fear.

"It's true." Jill mentioned. "He casted the magic without affecting the surrounding mana at all. Even a dragon would need mana to cast spells." Her mana-sight had enabled her to quickly ascertain Glauc's divinity. Glauc dispelled his gravity neutralizing magic and she and Jack immediately kneeled on the ground in worship. "Praise to a new god! Might this humble mortal inquire to your creation and domain so that i may spread your teachings?"

"Cool. A worshipper." Glauc raised one of his eyebrows to look at Jill. He looked around and his eyesight met with Ryu's and he guiltily coughed out. "Umm. Yeah. For now I'm more of a part time god. No creation of a new Information yet. Until i help Nunu with some tasks first. But if i come up with something I'll let you be one of the first to know! Actually do you have any troubles or requests? I might create something to help with that."

"Thank you for your consideration. I'm sure you'll be a great and benevolent god! I don't wish to trouble you but if it might aid in creating your new domain the villagers always complain that its quite tedious to have children. Even the gods of fertility tell us to drink water from fertility springs far away. Is it possible to have children like animals? Without the use of such blessed spring waters?" Jill replied with a warm smile. The issue of infertility of the citizens of Nugaia was a constant problem and many noticed that certain species were able to procreate without going on a very long journey to drink the special fertility spring water. Many had asked the gods to solve the problem and Jill hoped Glauc would finally be the one to solve it.

There was an awkward silence as Glauc simply stared at Jack and Jill. He knew of the cause of their infertility but did not wish to reply to their prayer. The reason was classified even amongst some gods and he did not want to be the one who caused chaos with the revelation. He was sweating buckets and pondering what to tell them until he came up with a brilliant idea.

He ignored them and changed the subject.

"So Ryu! Undead! That's your quest isn't it! Well actually OUR quest! I still have to help you with the quest you see! They're a constant thorn in Min's side and actually pose quite a danger to the gods themselves! I can't exactly travel with you and magic them to death but i can give you tips and hints to fight them!"

"Why can't you join our party? A god would really be useful against some undead. I think." Jane asked.

"Sorry I'd like to but i don't have enough divinity to stay in the mortal plane for long. Think of divinity as water which i only have like a cup of? Maybe two. And the mortal plane is like a desert. Not the sweet kind. Actually it's more like a burning sun. Any divinity i have will be quickly burnt out and if a god runs out of divinity?

Game over man, game over!"

"So how can you help us, boss?" Ryu asked.

Glauc crossed his arms and furrowed his brows as he tried to think of the ways he could aid them "I can teach you how to get stronger more efficiently i guess. And what kinds of dangers to watch out for. Of course most of the knowledge i have is read from books and parchments. Granted they are books and parchments from the godly libraries of heaven but please take my advice with a grain of salt. I'm still learning about all these magic holy shits myself. But they should be more than sufficient to help you in the quests with the undead menace. I'll also try to ask your gods to strengthen your blessings again i guess. I already asked Luna to improve yours Ryu. How is it?"

"Wait she was actually talking about you that time? Huh didn't Luna have a pretty notorious rep? How'd you convince her to help us?" Ryu remembered the time that Jane had summoned Luna at her altar and blessed the two of them.

"Ah Luna huh? She's uh... Interesting to say the least..."

*** In "heaven" , not too long in the past***

Gods. Glauc soon learned that they were peculiar beings. For one they were really chatty. Problem was what they spoke of was mostly about themselves and their domains. Currently Glauc was trying to escape from Dionysus or as he called himself, Dino. A god of wine, Dino had mysteriously appeared when Glauc drank from and vocally complicated the wine fountain dotted around the landscape. Dino immediately pestered him about where and when the grapes were grown and the varieties of fruits and spices that added subtle hints to the drinks.

Glauc's biggest mistake was, in an effort to stop Dino from talking, he said that he preferred whiskey to wine. Instead of getting offended and storming off, Dino actually got more interested in the existence of a different kind of alcohol. He began pestering Glauc on how it was made and discovering that Glauc knew about many kinds of alcohols started following him like a starving puppy. He actually offered part of his domain to Glauc in exchange for more knowledge.

Glauc’s business acumen enabled him to immediately negotiate for two things from Dino. One was a large portion of his domain, which took on the form of a chalice. It slowly refilled with a divine infused wine. The more people of Nugaia made and drank wine, the faster the chalice refilled. The second thing Glauc asked Dino was to assist him in his god given quest. Glauc tricked Dino by saying that he was summoned by Min. It was only later that Dino realized that Nunu was actually Glauc's patron.

"Argh! How could you do this to me? Aren't we buddies? What if you fail your quest? Nunu might blame me!" Dino retorted.

Glauc simply slung his hands around Dino and grinned. "That's why we're buddies! We share the good and bad times, right? Besides, i haven't even told you about cocktails yet. They're actually popular with females. Not too many drunk girls in Nugaia yet is there? This knowledge will change everything!"

"Well some women do like wine but I've been trying to persuade more to drink. Many actually prevent their husbands from drinking! Can you believe that! Do tell me more about this cocktail thing..." Dino was very easily persuaded. Being constantly drunk might have helped.

"Well first we gotta please Nunu. She told me to look for Luna? Know where she lives?" Glauc said.

Dino wrinkled his bushy white eyebrows and stroke his long beard. "Luna is famous. Everyone knows where she lives." He pointed at a direction and both of them appeared in front of a gated mansion. "That's her house. She never goes out though. She's an ancient goddess. Means that she was born before Earth was created."

"Earth? You mean Nugaia?" Glauc tried to correct Dino.

Dino shook his head. "Nope. Earth. Thats where everyone comes from you know. Before Nugaia. You should visit a library to learn our history. Or ask someone with a knowledge type domain. The nerdy types, you know. Then again most of them are kinda jerks. Yeah, just visit a library. Anyway good luck with Luna. Imma try making whiskey now!" Dino tapped his staff on the cloudy ground and was swallowed up.

Glauc was now standing alone in front of the giant gates of the mansion. He noted that the area was quite desolated compared with the rest of heaven. There was always gods chatting with one another or just floating around spreading their domains or buying things with divinity. But this mansion which stood out amongst the apartment like towers surrounding it was noticeably devoid of people.

Glauc touched the golden metallic gate and it automatically swung open. "Guess i can come in?"

Although Glauc was now able to float or teleport to the front door of the mansion he actually walked all the way in the paved road. He thought it was the polite thing to do. Besides, it seemed prudent to save divinity even as his current reserves seemed to be increasing constantly.

He arrived at a wooden door that was painted pink. It was left half open and Glauc took the doorknob and swung it open. The inside of the mansion was actually quite simple for a god's abode. It looked more like a rich man's house with chandeliers and golden candlesticks. A red carpet flowed all the way to a staircase where a butler stood. Glauc immediately identified him as a lesser devil, a being that while born powerful, would never grow old and thus never become a god. They had powers rivalling a god's champion but usually lived on their own or served stronger beings in exchange for nickel coins. The devils have an economy based on nickels as their magics seemed to consume it in some way. Luna seemed to have hired this lesser devil to be used as a butler. The butler bowed gracefully at Glauc and politely apologised. "Ah I'm dreadfully sorry. I did not expect guests and did not greet you at the gate. Are you here to meet with miss Luna?"

"Ah don't worry! I did not make an appointment so it's not your fault! Is miss Luna free right now?"

The old butler's eye seemed to sparkle as he silently muttered to himself. "hmm a little chubby but beggars can't be choosers. Yes. Yes! I have to try!" He stood up to attention and ran to Glauc. He then quite forcefully led Glauc up the stairs and to a golden doorway. "This is Luna's room. Please enter!" He opened the door, pushed Glauc in and closed the door. Glauc was sure he heard the door being locked.

The first thing Glauc saw was a very big bed. It was at least as wide as a basketball field and teddy bears and other assorted toys were messily strewn about. The next thing he saw was a CRT television. In the dim lighting the flickering images stood out. It was showing some kind of animal documentary similar to one on the discovery channel. Watching the television was a figure draped over with a blanket. Glauc walked around the bed and saw that the figure hidden by the blanket was a very beautiful woman. She had silver hair and eyes and even her white skin seemed to glow. Her pajamas was slightly loose and Glauc could not help but notice her revealed cleavage was quite, ahem… bountiful. He looked away at it and towards the television. It would be bad to have his first impression be as a perverted man and he coughed out. "Luna? Pleased to meet you. I'm Glauc."

Luna ignored Glauc and continued watching the television. She acted as if he was invisible. Glauc tried to call out to her again but she still did not listen to him. He thought about blocking her sight to the television but instinctively thought that offending an ancient goddess did not seem wise. He looked around the room to find clues on a topic that might interest Luna. The more he looked around the room the bigger his suspicion became.

Glauc took a hairband that was on the bed. It had a cosmetic addition of some kind. Fake furry ears, one like a cartoon cat or dog. He put it on. Luna glanced at him. She dug around in the blankets and found something. She tossed it to his feet. Glauc looked down and saw that she had thrown a belt. It had an addition on it. A fluffy fake tail of some kind.

Glauc thought to himself.

Fucking furries.

Glauc was now wearing a cat hairband, a fake fox tail and a fluffy rabbit paw shaped slippers. He had to admit that the slippers in particular were quite comfy, and questioned himself why he had been wearing leather shoes all this time. "Can i keep the slippers?" He asked luna.

The goddess was now red faced and hyperventilating. "Yes, of course, i have more fursuits for you to wear!" She ogled at Glauc from head to toe.

Glauc actually felt quite flattered. He had always been quite obese and not too handsome and Luna was the first female that seemed to be pleased to look at him, at least before he paid them for certain services. He however remembered that Nunu sent him here and his survival instinct or perhaps cowardice prioritized asking Luna about aiding Ryu and the interviewees. "So uhh, esteemed night goddess Luna? I uhh was sent by Nunu. I was hoping you could help my friends? The other humans that were summoned to Nugaia..."

Luna listened to him and got into a thoughtful pose. She tilted her head to the left, then to the right, before cynically answering him. "Why? I already gave Ryu the compact fursui... I meant blessing of the werewolves. And I only did it for Min, the cute werebunny girl. I don't care about her mom..."

"You're not scared of Nunu?" Glauc was surprised. Every god he had conversed with seemed to view Nunu as some kind of evil calamity to be avoided at all costs. When he had asked passing gods for help, most had immediately disappeared in a poof of smoke or ran away at the mention of the name. "What goddess is she of again? Doom?"

"She's not a god. She's a Law. A Primordial Law of the Watery Abyss to be specific. And as long as i don't act in a way contrary to her she can't do anything to me." Luna waved her hands dismissively.

Glauc raised his left eyebrow. "Wait. So if i don't break any of her rules she can't do anything to me? As in she won't do anything or she CANNOT? That definition will change my life quite a bit..."

"Her actions are bound by rules. It's part of being a Law. That's just how they work. As long as someone does not break a Law's the Law cannot willfully harm that person." Luna explained. "If you want me to tell you what rules constraint Nunu i want something in exchange. First, i need you to sit here..." She said as she patted a spot on the bed.

Glauc shrugged and sat beside Luna and noticed that she shuddered when he did so. She tried to act calm but there was a look of ecstasy on her face. She leaned towards him and softly said, almost whispering "You must also let me, let me smell you. And touch you..."

Glauc simply nodded. Luna was quite an attractive female and he would be the stupidest man in the world to refuse the chance to be touched by such a beauty. He was disappointed when Luna chose to caress the fake tail he was wearing. He can't feel anything that way! Her being in close proximity meant that Glauc was able to smell her though. For someone who locked herself in a room for who knows how long she actually smelled pleasant and sweet. Like a certain flower. Then again, do gods need to take a bath? Luna then proceeded to sniff the cat ear hairband he was wearing. In doing so, it caused her chest to be at the same level as his eyes and Glauc gulped as he feasted on the bountiful sight. He unwittingly got an erection and Luna noticed the growing bulge in his pants. She gave a coy smile and her left hand dropped to his bulge. "Looks like someone is happy. I wonder if i should help?"

Glauc in his horny state simply forgot that he was dealing with a powerful goddess and groped her butt without fear of consequence. Fortunately for him said goddess was in the mood too and it was days before a very tired Glauc crawled out of the room. His divine force was almost fully depleted. Luna was a very demanding woman and he was forced to learn and use his newfound powers to please her in various unmentionable ways. In the end he even forgot about having her agree to help Ryu or learning about Nunu's constraints.

The butler that had previously locked him in the room with Luna was waiting near the door to Luna's room. He was biting at his handkerchief and seemed to be shedding tears of joy. "Finally! Finally the mistress has found a partner! Oh how long have I waited to cuddle the mistress' children! I have to tell everyone about this! And prepare the wedding! And..." he continuously muttered and ran out of the mansion, leaving Glauc too tired to stop him.

Waifu get?

"Luna is... Interesting? Please elaborate." Jane asked Glauc. She had chosen Luna as her main god and further information would be useful to gain her favour and blessings.

Glauc pointed at his feet dangling out of the boat. "She gave me these bunny slippers. Comfiest footwear I have worn, and i have spent hundreds of thousands on shoes on earth. Maybe even millions. Then again i did lose most of my divine force thanks to her..."

"So she's a greedy god? Can gods transfer divine force to one another?" Ryu asked.

"Uh. No she did not directly take my divine force. I actually willingly uhh... It's complicated. Anyway you guys don't have to worry about her. I can convince her to help with your blessings Ryu and Jane. Actually now that we're on the subject, she did give me permission to modify your artifacts. Come here Ryu, I'll start with yours. Get on the boat. It's too expensive for me to land on Nugaia." Glauc beckoned his friend.

Ryu easily leapt on the boat, landing on the roof just beside where Glauc was. "So boss, you can upgrade my power? Can you make me a dragon? And a necromancer? And also like uhh... Telepathy? And..."

Before Ryu finished talking Glauc stabbed at Ryu's chest and his hands went through to Ryu's heart. He searched around Ryu's chest for a while before pulling out a glass vial or bottle. It was crystal and had gold engravings on it and contained a purple red liquid inside. It had two handles and on one of it a shopping tag seemed to be attached. "Ooh an instruction manual! That makes it easier..." Glauc started reading the paper and started to frown.

>

Need to turn into a swan or golden rain to seduce someone? We at Zeus & Himeros Co. will provide you with all sorts of contraptions and elixirs to help in your divine right to love! Visit our shop at the top of Mount Olympus to find out more! Products come with no warranties and Zeus and Himeros Co. are not liable for any sexual misconduct resulting from the usage of our products.

Glauc's eyebrows twitched a few times and he asked Sheila to burn the paper. He then coughed a few times and mentioned to Ryu. "Luna already made a few changes to the product... I mean artifact to endow the user with the strengths of their transformation. Holy crap she's good. Well this makes it quite easy for me. First, no dragon, the artifact focuses on furry mammals so if you want maybe i can turn you into a mammoth? Or a wombat i guess? Pick your poison. Or i can mix and match...horse's dick and anteater tongue." Glauc and Ryu started to laugh and gave each other perverted looks. The girls chose to blacklist the two of them even more.

Ryu and Glauc then argued about what powers were compatible but it ended up with Ryu keeping most of his werewolf form as that was the most powerful mammal that the two of them know of. For now, it was 90% werewolf with bats' echolocation. His transformed form's back also had sharp hair like a hedgehog to act as a form of defence against back attacks. They had tried to make Ryu a flying hybrid but realized he was too heavy. Some laws of physics were still present in Nugaia.

Glauc told Ryu that he would go check on heaven's libraries or animal gods when he has time. Perhaps there was a mythical mammal who could fart rainbows and breathe lightning or something. Of course he would have to check if the compact fursuit could handle such further modifications and thus he decided to upgrade Jane next. He motioned for her to come to the boat and when she did he started studying her hands.

This took quite a while until Glauc just shrugged his shoulders. "Uhh your artifact is too complicated. It works on every creature, modifying its effect on different genes and stuff. I have no idea how i can improve it to be honest. Sorry, I'm still new at this whole god divine thing. How bout i give you another artifact to use. Luna should be fine with me sharing her champion. I hope."

Glauc stared at the sky and his eyes glazed over for a while. A few seconds passed. Then he got to attention and nodded. "Yep she just okayed me. Awesome. So Jane, wanna be my champion? Part-time champion? You know what i mean."

Jane nodded. Any extra powers was welcome in the dangerous world of Nugaia. "So what kind of blessings can you give me Glauc?"

"To be honest I'm not sure. Plus my divine force is almost used up so nothing too powerful. I'll give you a choice. Wine or weight or tides. Those three are what I'm most familiar with right now."

"Whats with the weird choice? I understand weight probably has to do with your skill but wine? And tides?" Ryu interrupted.

"Umm I'll tell you later. For now, Jane, make a choice." Glauc waved Ryu's question aside

"Mind if i think on it?" Jane replied.

"Nope. That's a good idea actually. Also note that blessings are a two edged sword. You will be compelled to act a certain way when you receive a blessing. Like your sleep dart, notice that you spend a lot more time unable to sleep? It takes your 'sleepiness' and converts it to your enemies'. Stuff like that. Might even be a good idea to not be my part time champion." Glauc advised.

Glauc then faced Ryu. "As for necromancy and telepathy and fireballs, Sheila excepted, just accumulate enough age. You can do it quite easily because the souls of..." This time, a bigger wave splashed against the boat. It continued for quite a while. Glauc froze in fear and noticed Jack and Jill were paying rapt attention to them. "Oh yeah. That was close. Umm champions. Please get on the boat. There are some things i have to tell you in private... Sorry Jack. Jill."

Heaven was, well, heavenly. Glauc just fucked Luna for days and the only reason she made him stop was so he won't die from running out of divine force. After being taught on certain ways to use and refine divine force by Luna, Glauc understood just how powerful divine force truly is. It was something that can make thoughts into reality.

Granted, recently he had only used it to create zero gravity environments and increase stamina, temporarily grew fur and materialize slightly electrified, vibrating, flying dildos and leather straps and other, well, actually he mostly used divine force for sex toys and acts. But it still solidified his thoughts that divine force was gold. And his was diminished and slowly increasing at only a trickle thanks to Nunu's and Dino's share of domains. He needed more if he was to get anything done.

Instead of going back to Luna's mansion Glauc decided to visit a library where he could hopefully learn more about the gods and better understand his powers. Fortunately most gods were quite amiable. Being able to materialize what you want must make one quite happy and friendly towards one another. A god of flutes actually teleported Glauc to the entrance of a library. Glauc made a note to himself on learning how to teleport. It was such a convenient skill.

The library looked more like a quaint corner bookstore. It was small, barely five by five meters wide. On the left were a couple of book racks and wooden chest and in the middle of the room were two rectangle tables with benches to the side. The entrance was slightly to the right and upon opening the wooden door Glauc was greeted by a mature looking woman.

She had a sharp, pointed nose, yellow spotted skin almost like a cheetahs' but without fur and two downward curved horns on the side of her head. She was wearing a modern formal business suit. She pushed her glasses up her nose and nodded at Glauc, letting him know he was welcome in the library and went back to her duties of scribbling on a book.

Glauc walked to one of the shelves and picked a book at random. It was a biography on a dog named bob. He shelved the book and picked another and it was about how to juggle knives. He continued searching but the books in the shelves were useless to him. He walked to the librarian and asked her for help.

"Hi madam..."

"Miss."

"Uh sorry! Of course you're a miss! I just thought someone with your beauty would have plenty of suitors" Glauc smoothly apologized. His flattery however seemed to have no effect as she continued writing on the book with a deadpan expression. "So uhh miss librarian... Can you help me find something to read?"

The horned woman looked up at Glauc. Her lips cracked a smile at the mention of her as the librarian. "What do you want to read about?" She asked.

"Umm. I'm new to godhood so maybe a book on how to use my powers? And maybe a book about Luna? The moon goddess. Oh yeah about Nunu too if you have that!" Glauc was sure there were other books he could ask about but those three were the first to enter his mind.

"If you want to know more about the gods and laws just ask them. Most love talking about themselves. But here's a few things to help out with godhood." She grabbed the air and a book materialized in her hands. She tossed it at Glauc who barely managed to catch the heavy tomb. She did it a few more times until Glauc was handed several books and scrolls and even a stone tablet. "You already acquainted with Nunu? After you've done with these i suggest asking her about the history of Nugaia. There are some information that the library is forbidden to keep that she will be able to tell you about. If she wants to. No harm in trying, as long as you pay your taxes she can't harm you."

"Taxes? What taxes?"

"You do know that she is the Primordial Law of the Watery Abyss? Basically the origin of chaos. Means her affects almost everything. So everything you do, you should pay her a tax of chaos."

"And how do i pay this tax?" Glauc inquired.

"Easy. Either create more chaos or substitute it with divine force."

"That doesn't make any sense." Glauc replied.

The librarian simply shrugged. "You'll have plenty of time to learn. Just remember two things. Do not directly interfere with the mortal plane of Nugaia and do not do anything that will stop or reverse entropy. That should keep you save. She rarely harms another save for those two reasons. Oh and don't insult Min in front of her too." She then went back to scribbling on her book.

Glauc decided that he had bothered her enough and sprawled everything on the table. He sat on the bench and started reading. He looked at the stone tablet. It contained a single interconnected rune. He injected a little divine force into it and the rune glowed and the information contained within filled Glauc's mind.

It was a simple 'map and directory' of heaven and more importantly about the teleportation markers. It contained information on how to use the markers and passwords for certain public ones. They only worked if one was already in heaven but it was definitely useful. A large portion of the map was restricted, probably from gods that preferred to be alone or liked their privacy, but Glauc learnt that there were many libraries. Not only that there were markets and spas and parks and many other locations Glauc was interested to explore.

The other books and scrolls also all contained a single rune that copied information directly to the reader's mind. They contained information ranging from god's names and their domains to various ways to refine divine force. The information had not been recently updated so newer gods were not in the list but Glauc also learnt that many gods sacrificed part of their ego to form their domains. It was why most gods were obsessed with themselves and their creations to the point of forgoing massive amounts of divine force just to spread their information a little. It made him quite hesitant to form his personal domain.

He also learnt that the librarian was a goddess named Seshat. The publicly available information on her domain was that of a scribe and writing. He thanked her and offered to write a diary to help her domain expand a little. It got her to talk more about her domain and actually ended up with her offering Glauc part of her domain if he was able to spread the habit of writing dairies to a large enough population. Apparently writing diaries was not something done by the citizens of Nugaia.

Glauc left the library with information about Nugaia's formation too. It was a new world, barely four thousand years and the gods had apparently left Earth to create their own little paradise. The so called 'heaven' was actually located in the single river that crisscrossed the planet. The Watery Abyss. Glauc had initially guessed that they were in the sky from all the clouds but it turned out to simply be a design choice by the residents.

Although he had not gotten Luna to help Ryu and the interviewees Glauc decided to head back to Nunu first. He was curious about the forbidden knowledge and besides, a river was close by and walking did not cost any divine force. He would have to teleport to Luna later on but he decided to put it off for now. Besides, Glauc roughly estimated that he would have to wait for weeks to replenish the supply of divine force he used up in the few days with Luna.

When he approached the body of water Glauc tapped the surface. "Dear Nunu?"

The water changed form into a maw with jaws and swallowed him. A passing god commented on how stupid Glauc was to even get Nunu's attention. Others agreed with his assessment.

"Glauc. You've not convinced Luna yet. To make a lady wait for so long. You're such a tease..." Nunu was in the form of a serpent but her body seemed composed of the stars and space. Her red eyes looked rather angry to Glauc and he instantly regretted his decision to meet her first. "Hmm. You've spent quite a bit of divine force already. What did you buy from the market?"

"Nothing! Its Luna! She made me use my reserves! I did meet her you see. I tried! And i haven't given up yet. Don't worry." Glauc assured her. "By the way i met Seshat. She said you could teach me a few things? You know? Maybe makes convincing Luna easier..."

"Interesting. Seshat deemed you worthy of that information? Alright come with me." Nunu transformed into a female human and summoned a gate. It was made of jade and had a simple arched shape with smooth surface. She disappeared inside the gate and Glauc followed her. It led to a white space with many doors and gates floating about.

Nunu pointed to a wooden gate studded with iron nails and ropes bindings. "Remember that one. Leads to Valhalla, the closest divine realm to the undeads." She pointed to another made of burnt wood. "And that. Try to avoid that. Leads to the eighteen levels of eastern hell. Not really a hellish place but its filled with gods that get offended really easily. The mortals too. Something about losing face and ancestors. If you happen to get there just remember they mostly use violence to solve everything. Stay away from young masters and pretend to be mute."

Glauc was distracted by a fiery gate made of gold and tar and crystals. Every gate has whisps traveling to and from it but all their travel seemed to connect to the fiery gate. Nunu noticed it and said. "Those wisps are souls by the ways. And all go through the gate of birth. That's where we're headed. Not all are allowed to see this and I trust you to keep what you learnt here to yourself."

The two of them floated to the entrance of the cave and Nunu touched Glauc on his forehead and then the gate. A purple tendril of electricity arced from the gate to Glauc and he felt a warm sensation in his eyes. Nunu then beckoned Glauc and both of them went through the gate.

A god generally has full control of his bodily function which meant that most gods tend to forgo going to the toilet and things like that. When Glauc went through the gate he was first stunned by the sight. Then he started vomiting.

Glauc was now in a room. If it can be called that. The walls and floors were made of body parts and guts and bones. And the 'room' was still alive. Everything seemed to be twitching and moaning in pain at the slightest touch.

Nunu floated Glauc up so he did not have to touch the floor. "Be careful. They are quite injured and in pain, do not cause further suffering to them." She then gestured to a mountain of stitched body parts. They must be bigger than the tallest mountain Glauc had climbed and he could see that many of the bodies' skins were torn off. Nunu spread her arms wide to introduce Glauc to the monstrosity. "Meet the citizens of Nugaia!"

Glauc thought for a minute, then concentrated what little divine force he had to his eyes and brains. He found out that the entire room and mountain were made up of souls cut up and reassembled with divine force. Every second, pieces of flesh would be forcibly torn off and tossed out of the fiery gate. Souls coming in from the gate would also attach themselves to a random part of the room. "What. The. Fuck." He started vomiting again and after a while said to Nunu. "No wonder the souls in the mortal plane were so feeble. You're telling me they were all part of of... THIS..!"

"Its a long story..." Nunu started. "You know that we all came from earth. Well, most did not leave to Nugaia willingly. Some of the gods, who now call themselves Immortals to differentiate themselves from us, convinced a primordial law, Entropy, that his and powers should be used on himself first. Thus, he committed suicide. They had wanted to try to stop the heat death of the universe, and they succeeded, to a certain point.

The ensuing fight for his body led to plenty of suffering. Most affected were the young souls, those who had not ascended to godhood. Pestilence, wars, the creation of new languages to divide the people and many more atrocities were created just so the new souls would be unable to ascend. Remember that a god's job is to create new information, and thus speed up entropy. The immortals feared that new gods creating more new information might revive Entropy somehow. Many gods were against the torture and retardation of young souls and fought the Immortals. However, the Immortals had the body of entropy and used it as a weapon against their opponents."

"I'm guessing the current gods of Nugaia lost and were banished here?" Glauc asked.

"You're half right, they lost. But they were not banished. Min, my dear daughter, tried to save as many lives as she could. Souls not yet affected by aging and diseases were taken to a secret dimension the gods had created. Unfortunately, she did not succeed, a few of the souls had been contaminated and it spread to the rest. Many gods of life and fertility gave up their domain to keep the curse under control but backed by a body of law, it was too strong. Min ended up sacrificing part of her mind to fight the curse, and she still fights now." Nunu pointed at the middle of the mountain, where a spirit laid in the fetal position. Her face was constantly in pain and once in a while, tentacles of flesh and bones would pierce into her, causing further harm and ripping off a substantial amount of divine force. The divine force would soon be replenished, but the pain of having your divine force ripped out was not one where many gods could withstand.

"Thats Min? Oh i see. That's part of her... No wonder the physical body was so childish." Glauc thought aloud.

"I had been neutral during the war all this time. A Primordial Law does not involve herself with the squabbling of gods. But maybe i should have interfered sooner." Nunu did not seem to have heard Glauc. "I hid them all in my body after that."

"So uhh. Why are all the bodies stuck together?" Glauc asked.

"The curse. One made with the body of entropy. It was designed to prevent a soul from achieving godhood. Min should have cured one soul at a time but my dear daughter was too kind and did not wish to prioritize one soul after another. She knew that many would be lost and thus she gathered all of the souls together to fight off the curse in one go. However, the domains of multiple gods and her mind was still insufficient. She and the souls would slowly be torn apart piece by piece.

I created the mortal world of Nugaia and placed the broken souls there. They would live in a physical body and slowly gain age, then when they die from war or some accident I would reattach them to this body. This prevents the souls from decaying too much and more importantly, gives Min's domain plenty of divine force. Hers is one of life, remember, but being cut off from earth means i had to find another way to replenish her divine force."

"So... Min grouped up all the souls and tried to dispel the curse. She failed and she and all the souls started falling apart. But making the torn pieces of soul live in physical bodies nullify the curse somehow? Why does the curse of aging still work in earth then?"

Nunu smiled. "Good question. The curse might be created with the body of a primordial law but it was created BY gods. And what do gods depend on most of all?"

"Divine force?"

"Correct. The curse is powered by divine force because it was designed by gods. It has the ability to absorb residual divine force but how would it fare in a plane that actually absorbs divine force?"

"The mortal plane tax."

"And right again! The curse is severely starved of power when in the world of Nugaia. Although it does not get removed and stays dormant during this period, at the very least it gives time for the souls to gain age and heal."

"So why don't you move this whole room to the mortal plane?" Glauc asked.

"Because Min will die."

"Oh." Glauc had forgotten that Min still depended on divine force. "So... What do i do with this information?"

"For now? Nothing. The undead is still your focus. So i suggest you talk to Luna now." Nunu snapped her finger and Glauc appeared in Luna's room. He fell on top of her, headfirst on her crotch. She was sleeping and the commotion woke her up. She looked down and licked her lips.

"Mmm. Breakfast!"