[Special alert notes:For the sake of simplicity until you read through the domain and subdomain notes for all of the things you just unlocked we"re send you domain and subdomain notifications in pairs rather than one large block of notes.
Dual subdomain details:
The subdomain of arachnids governs spiders, scorpions, and their relatives. This is the subdomain tied to both regular spiders and scorpions, as well as driders, jorogumos, tsuchigumos, arachnes, girtablilus, and other powerful spider or scorpion evolutions.
The serpentes subdomain governs snakes and their evolutions. This subdomain is tied regular snakes, as well as their evolutions into both bigger, more deadly snakes, and powerful hybrids of snakes and other creatures.
Both of these subdomains are tied to the subdomain of poison and thus both are strengthened by you influence over that subdomain. Both are also tied to l.u.s.t, and the serpentes subdomain is tied to the subdomain of enchantment.
To gain further influence over the subdomains build cults and make use of your powers.
Dual subdomain pa.s.sive powers:
Mastery: Whenever unevolved and unawakened snakes or arachnids detect you or otherwise become aware of your presence they become your worshipers. As you"ve been steadily acquiring influence over subdomains pertaining to animals this will now also increase their intelligence.
As you"ve gained influence over more and more animal subdomains your powers have begun to be able to influence evolved or awakened animals. Evolved or awakened snakes or arachnids are now less likely to attack you unless you attack them first.
As a gradual evolution of the mastery powers, you can also grant creatures the abilities and characteristics of the animals whose subdomains you possess influence over. This means you can grant creatures poison and venom, pit-organs, the ability to shed, wall-climbing, and silk generation. And of course you can make them were-creatures.
Web mastery: You can generate silk and create webs instantly. You can use this to a variety of ends, from capturing prey to marking territory, to binding enemies or sacrifices for future interrogation.
As part of the mastery over webs you"ve gained, you can also infuse your webs with other characteristics. You can make creatures trapped in them fall asleep, you can infuse them with acid or poison, burn creatures with them, petrify those trapped in them or a number of other things.
Monstrous forms: Redundant power due to your innate shape-shifting. Due to the influence you"ve earned over a number of animal subdomains you can now consistently take on monstrous forms related to the animals you have influence over. So now you can take on terrifying snake and spider forms that are in essence ma.s.sive snakes or spiders.
Shedding: You can shed. This power isn"t quite the same as a snake"s ability to shed. Yours leaves behind a full corpse that looks identical to the form you were in when you used the power.
Heat-sense: You can sense heat around you. You can also grant this to others.
Camouflage: Like the snakes you have influence over, you can now change the coloration of your skin at will.
Evolution: Due to the number of spider-based worshipers you had already acquired, you can now cause spiders to evolve directly into driders at will. Driders who come into being this way become fanatical worshipers of yours.
Limited limb mastery: You can now create and graft spider legs, pincers, eyes, venomous glands, venomous fangs, and scorpion tails onto creatures through your other abilities.
Dual subdomain active powers:
Hypnotic gaze: This synergistic power is a result of the subdomain of enchantment and serpentes mixing together. As a result twice per twelve-hour period, your gaze can just dominate a person whose eyes meet your own. This isn"t a themed charm or dominate ability like "Gratifying gaze", so it"s more universally applicable.
Snare: This arachnid power allows you to ensnare victims in a silk-coc.o.o.n even if wasn"t a web around them. This is a four-times per six-hour period power.
Dual subdomain blessing and curse details:
When blessed by these subdomains the type of creature in question is friendlier to them and they can attempt to tame one such creature per day, even if normally the creature was impossible to tame. When cursed by these subdomains, not only are such animals extra aggressive towards them, their poison is extra dangerous to cursed people.
When blessing an arachnid or a snake with its own subdomain it becomes larger, stronger, and more loyal to you. When cursing a creature with its own subdomain it becomes smaller, weaker, and afraid of you.]
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The moon shone high over the town of Comillas. As Isadora and I walked towards the outskirts of the town, my friend was showing a side of herself that I hadn"t really gotten to see.
"You know I wasn"t born here." Isadora told me, as we made our way past a few houses. I looked at her, a bit surprised by this, and tilted my eyebrows in an unspoken question. Isadora looked at me and giggled.
"Nope! I sometimes tell people I was, but I was actually born on the mainland of the Reconquista Empire." She explained, casually mentioning the empire Puerto Rico was a part of. She looked at me and smiled, and then asked me an important question.
"So Althos, where were you born?" She asked, her facial expression told me that she was genuinely curious. I chuckled at her and considered how to answer her question. It took me a moment to come up with a response.
"Well Isadora, I was actually born here. Well... Not in Comillas, obviously, but in Puerto Rico. I was born in a community that existed before the Reconquista empire arrived, decades ago." I explained, casually suggesting that Puerto Rico was my home. And in fairness, it was.
I came to life here. I had spent the entirety of my life to date here. I intended to protect this place, and to become its true ruler. Puerto Rico was my home as surely as it was Isadora"s. That said, I also knew that my time here was coming to an end.
I casually reached out and touched the mind of a simple spider. It was a small thing, the smallest of its brood. In touching its mind I gained it as a worshiper, and I immediately willed the thing to evolve into a drider. I had plans for it.
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A few minutes later, Isadora and I found ourselves on the very edge of town. We were where someone would walk if they wanted to go to San Gerardo, the only other Reconquista settlement in Puerto Rico.
I had learned a lot about Isadora"s childhood. And she had learned that I didn"t have one. We had been silent for a few moments when I decided to jump the gun. The first thing I did was activate my "Religious fervor" power, and wait for the familiar blue mist to rise up out of the floor and surround us. When it did I began to speak.
"Isadora I need you to know something. I... want you to know something." I told her, speaking hesitantly. I felt genuine hesitation as I prepared myself to speak. Isadora looked up at me sympathetically and cut me off before I could speak again.
"Oh Althos, it"s okay. I know. I know you probably aren"t going to spend another night in the Silver Xana." She told me, looking at me with a kind gaze. This shocked me, and I took a step back. The truth was, I didn"t mind her jumping to that conclusion but I hadn"t even really thought about that since I gained the power to teleport.
"What? Well... The truth is a bit more complicated than that Isadora." I told her, chuckling. She looked at me quizzically and I took on a decidedly more serious facial expression.
"Isadora, do you know anything about higher-beings?" I asked, meeting her gaze with my own. As she looked at me her face twisted in confusion. I could tell that I was confusing her, so it caught me off guard when she did reply to my question with a more detailed answer than I thought possible.
"Well... I know that they existed. I mean I don"t know much, but as a child books about mythological and ancient history were some of my favorite ones to read. Unfortunately, I had to get my uncle to read them to me." She said, reminiscing about the past. As she did her gaze grew distant and I could tell she was remembering a far off place and a time in her childhood.
"Oh! So you do know about us..." I said, so thoroughly surprised that I accidentally said the word "us" instead of "them". Fortunately, Isadora didn"t notice what I said as she was so engrossed in her silent recollection of her childhood. It took her a minute to return fully to the present.
"Sorry, what were you saying?" She asked when she finished her trip down nostalgia lane. I chuckled and felt emboldened. I quietly activated "Unfettered Divinity", wanting her to believe me and sensing that this was a worthwhile usage of the power.
Isadora and I were both bathed in a sudden and inexplicable column of radiant light. It illuminated Isadora"s tan skin and she sighed in relief as if the light were healing her or at least relieving of some long-standing affliction. She closed her eyes and allowed the light to wash over her.
I chuckled and watched her bask in the light. It took her a moment to come back to me and to the present.
"Isadora, you deserve to know the truth about what I am." I told her, as she gazed at me. She was studying me, or at least she was trying too. I could tell that she was having a hard time focusing. I grinned at her, happy that she was enjoying the feeling of the radiant light.
"Isadora the truth is that I"m a G.o.d. A member of the strongest species of higher-beings from the mythic age." I revealed, smiling at her all the while. Isadora"s eyes went wide at my confession, and a look of confusion suddenly etched itself onto her face.
"But... But that"s impossible. The G.o.ds, they all vanished. It was a total disappearance." She said, pain visible in her eyes. I looked at her in confusion, surprised that my power didn"t quite work on her as it had on the a.s.sorted elves I had brought to the zone of unfettered divinity yesterday.
Her face started to contort, and I was surprised to get domain-sense notifications alerting me to the fact that she was in pain. I quickly and almost immediately cast "Numb pain" and began to channel healing energy directly into her.
"Whoa... What"s going on? You"re standing in the area of one of my powers, you shouldn"t be able to deny its effects." I muttered, thinking aloud as I placed one of my hands on her face. I abruptly stopped receiving the notifications alerting me to her being in pain, which caused me to sigh in relief.
[Althos, a.s.sess her right now. The truth subdomain"s quest might have a hidden meaning behind it.] The system instructed me, which confused me but I didn"t hesitate to do as the system told me.
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[Name: Isadora Santiago
Species: Nephilim (Angelic ancestor: Angel of lies)
Alignment: Neutral good
Personal virtue: Diligence
Personal vice: Sloth
Magic sensing: Isadora is a nephilim. Nephilims are hybrids who had a mortal parent and either an angelic parent or an ancestor who was angelic.
Nephilims are naturally magical creatures, though it is possible for their angelic genes to enter a dormant state and only reawaken if they encounter another angel or nephilim or a higher-being. The sort of magic a nephilim is capable of using is dependent on their angelic parent or ancestor.
Isadora is in all likelihood capable of using enchantment magic naturally.
Faith sense: Isadora has strong emotional ties to her family, especially her uncle. Her uncle is a secular monk in Espana, the capital city of the Reconquista empire. She also has significant ties to her community, Comillas. As a child, the young hybrid dreamed of meeting a higher-being.
Authority detection: Isadora is a respected member of her community. She has worked at her family"s business almost her entire life. Isadora is probably the most respected young member of her community.
Soul-sense: Isadora"s childhood dream was to meet a higher-being. She was raised on tales of the mythic age and wanted to stand in the presence of a creature capable of creating life from nothing.
That said, Isadora is now a normal person and though she has a soul that leaves her likely to become an incredibly pious person she has too much of an independence streak to be a particularly skilled member of the religious cla.s.ses.
Special notes:
Isadora, as a hybrid with dormant genes, possesses many especially fierce vestigial abilities. Past attempts to a.s.sess her would have in all likelihood cla.s.sified her as a human. It was exposing her to the power of a truth-oriented ability that caused her quiet genetics to abruptly awaken.
Normally a nephilim would still be affected by your power. Isadora"s ability to resist comes from the fact that she has a special heritage: she"s descended from an angel of lies. Angels of lies are innately resistant to abilities that focus on truth, and even their children have some resistance to such powers.]
"So that"s why..." I muttered, shocked as I read through Isadora"s information. I was positively floored by this discovery.
[An angel of lies huh? Wow, those are rare. Though if they liked this planet that might be why we couldn"t detect the volcanic angels from earlier. That might even explain the minds of volcanic angels being broken... Angels of lies in large numbers can do... a lot.] The system muttered, providing an explanation and an excuse for its earlier ignorance.
[Still... a nephilim? Wow. And she was the first person you met too!] The system said, as shocked by this development as I was.
I chuckled and began to tend to Isadora, including taking her out of the range of my ability.
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A few minutes later Isadora was fully recovered and back to her old self. And more than that she still remembered what I said. And so she was currently looking at me with the expression of a mouse caught in a snake"s gaze. Or she was until she began to talk.
"So wait... You really are a G.o.d?" She asked, and I nodded at her. We were currently standing face to face, or at least face to chest. I was taller than she was.
"Wow... Wow!" She replied, as floored by this as I was of her status as some sort of hybrid of an angel and a human. I chuckled.
"Do you have a divine realm?" She asked, her eyes lighting up as she prepared to question me. I chuckled. I shook my head at this, and she deflated for a second. I could see her disappointment on her face and it almost made me audibly laugh.
"Can you enter dreams?" She asked, having remained deflated for an instant before perking back up. I nodded at her and grinned at that question. Her eyes widened when I told her that I could.
"How strong are you?" She asked a second after her eyes widened. This was a trickier question, so I actually had to speak to her to answer it.
"What are you asking precisely? Are you asking in terms of physical strength?" I asked, aware that that had a separate answer than if she was asking about something like divine strength. She contemplated my question for a second before giving it an answer.
"Physical strength." She said a smile on her face. I chuckled at her and nodded.
"I"m infinitely strong." I confessed, before adding to that statement. "I can do any feat related to physical strength." I explained, just to clarify.
We"d spend the next hour together and she"d ask me question after question. I took her home after a while, and promised that I"d answer more of her questions at a later date. I still had things I wanted to get done tonight so when I let her go I immediately teleported to my remote coastal community.
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I found myself standing on a beach. To my left I could see the ocean, teeming with aquatic life and even bioluminescent lifeforms. To my right, I could see the village I had created, complete with lit torches and other tiny sources of light. The truth was that I was here for a reason.
I walked down the sh.o.r.e to the actual edge of the water. The tide was low, so I had to spend a few moments walking before I reached the edge of the warm ocean. When I reached it I stopped and let the water lap at my feet.
The water was an exquisitely clear blue and was beautiful to behold. I studied it for a moment, before kneeling down and beginning to think about how to proceed.
"I need to use liquid in three ways. I"ve already used it to heal." I muttered to myself. I considered the wording of the quest for a moment.
"Use". So the liquid had to be the one to do whatever I wanted it to do. I mulled that over, while willing myself lightly into the air. I then began to walk over the ocean and look down into it.
Out of curiosity, I decided to perform an experiment. I targeted a fish, one of many dozen in this shallow part of the coast, and willed the water in front of it to turn poisonous, shortly before said water entered its throat.
I didn"t change the water"s state as a liquid, rather I just changed its qualities. The fish began to slow and shiver as the poison took hold, but I then immediately cured it of the damage it was suffering using magic.
At that moment, since my plans had changed, I decided to summon my new drider companion to my side. He appeared below me, standing tall and deeply confused as I teleported him to my side without warning. I chuckled as I looked at him, and commanded him to catch.
I looked at and targeted another fish. I grabbed the thing by chilling the water around it enough to slow it down but not freeze it and then used my power over air to hurl the thing at the drider. My monstrous companion, alerted to my antics ahead of time, was ready and caught the fish as it approached him.
He looked at it with hungry eyes and lifted the thing to his face using one of his human hands. As he did so, I received a welcome notification. One that alerted me that I had gained access to two new subdomains: the subdomain of evocation and the subdomain of liquids.
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[Dual subdomain details:
The subdomain of liquid is the final elemental subdomain you needed to unlock to gain access to the quest to become a lesser elemental overlord. It is the subdomain that governs water, blood, and other fluids.
The subdomain of evocation is a magical subdomain. With it you can manipulate energy and cast offensive spells that deal considerable harm to those struck by them.
Both subdomains require all of the conventional tasks for you to acquire more influence over them.
Dual subdomain pa.s.sive powers:
Animate element: This synergistic power stems from your powers over life, spirits, and elements. Now you can animate an area of flames, water, earth, or air. By animating it you bring it to life. Unless you grant it a soul whatever you animate will revert back to its natural state within an hour. Once animated you can give it commands it will follow.
Aquakinesis: You can manipulate water. This power is very similar to the manipulation abilities you"ve gained for all of your other elemental subdomains.
Aquatic freedom: You can grant others the ability to breathe and move freely underwater. You also gain these abilities though you had them naturally. Creatures who are granted aquatic freedom by you also gain immunity to the damaging effects of water pressure.
Cla.s.s granting: You both become and are now capable of granting the following cla.s.ses: magician, and sorcerer. Sorcerers are those who study magic academically and learn about it through conventional means, while magicians are innate spellcasters who are tuned to all things magical.
Cryokinesis u0026 Hygrokinesis: You can manipulate ice, water vapor, and steam. Ice is the solidified form of water, and by manipulating it you can launch powerful attacks, paralyze foes, or even create pathways connecting areas separated by water. Steam and water vapor manipulation allow you to obstruct foes, burn enemies, and make areas difficult to navigate without changing the landscape.
Elemental senses extension: You gain the ability to detect life and other things in water. Your power that was originally known as tremorsense has now reached a new level of power and range.
Evocation manipulation: Spells that manipulate natural energy are subject to your whims. You can make such spells fail altogether, bounce back at the caster, or be magnified several times over.
Generation: You can generate water, blood, and other elements you control at will.
Hemokinesis: You can manipulate blood. This is a weakened form of an upgradeable power, so, for now, you can only manipulate blood that is outside of the body. That said you can see through blood and even animate it.
Ooze mastery: You gain total dominion over slimes, oozes, and jellies. These lifeforms are among the simplest in existence, and now they are yours to command. They are animated puddles of water, acid, lava, poison, and other liquids that now serve you.
You can create and awaken these creatures at any time.
Water alteration: You can alter the traits of water. You can deoxygenate it, make it possible to be walked on, make it acidic or poison, superheat it, or other things.
Spirit creation: You can create any type of elemental spirit. By acquiring this power your overall spiritual power has increased.
Dual subdomain active powers:
True-Hemokinesis: For a period of an hour per half-day you can temporarily upgrade your hemokinesis power. By doing so you can manipulate blood anywhere it can be found.
Magic amplification: For a period of up to half an hour a day you can amplify the effects of spells cast by you or someone else.
Dual subdomain blessing and curse details:
Blessing someone with the evocation subdomain makes evocation spells stronger and cheaper. Cursing them does the opposite.
Blessing someone with the liquid subdomain grants them water-breathing and lets them heal faster while underwater. Cursing someone with the liquid subdomain makes liquids actively painful for them to touch and reduces their ability to hold their breath.
Special note:
You"ve obtained access to the quest to become a lesser elemental overlord. To do so, you must create a sustainable, flying island. Once you do you"ll gain access to the abilities granted to the weakest elemental overlords.
This flying island must have s.p.a.ces dedicated to all four of the elements.]
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And for the next few days, I entered into a routine that gave me valuable time to practice my current powers and establish a new normal. I"d continue to complete quests, and be trained by Dr. Cortes during the day, and then visit the four communities that were either officially or unofficially a part of my empire during the night.
During this time I was careful to not actively create more undead, or cause any major changes to the world. I used this time to make sense of the knowledge I had gained, and begin to slowly gain allies using dreams to meet intriguing creatures and making offers to creatures I suspected would be interested in power.
By the time I was 10 days old, I felt more organized and ready to take on the world than ever before. And so did my servants and worshipers.