Several hours earlier
“You’d better not make a habit of this, Thelenius. You know damn well how I feel about lending my Decree to the tournant,” Ishkuria spat while glaring at the younger god’s puppet.
Thelenius was an Inimit deity like her, but he had been born on a different planet, so he couldn’t directly set foot on Tanarill. Gods were able to form a second connection to the world they attained divinity on, but Thelenius had done that elsewhere too.
The enchanted machine that Thelenius was operating appeared identical to him, the liquid alloy perfectly mimicking his toned body down to the last brown feather and vibrant strip of cloth.
Ishkuria rarely used such puppets, since she wasn’t fond of travelling. Examining those of her guests reminded her that the latest models were a hundred tis more advanced than the old heaps of junk that had been all the rage a million years ago.
The new ones could share their senses and respond to their owner’s movents in real ti from as far as the radius of an entire solar system away, making them among the most practical tools for gods to visit planets that they weren’t otherwise welco on. It was no wonder they were so popular among greater springs.
Unfortunately, the person-shaped devices still had major shortcomings when it ca to more complex and demanding tasks, such as accurately conveying the concepts one could experience while ditating near an Elental Source or using a Ring of Sacrilege. It could be done – and it often was – but it was a far cry from doing those things in person.
Oblivious to her thoughts, Thelenius bowed slightly in apology, causing Ishkuria’s gaze to soften. She knew that this hadn’t been entirely his fault. His three colleagues had pressured the younger Inimit into demanding Ishkuria’s flowerbed for the competition, so she felt a little bad admonishing him.
“Lady Ishkuria, I don’t understand why you are so opposed to letting the Void Hand’s most talented mortals benefit from your masterpiece,” Hellenae, the green-skinned Maradorian deity croaked through her own puppet.
She, along with Thelenius, Forbat, and Dokorin – the Ollorian and Denyte representatives respectively – were the current organizers of the void tournant. All four were at the peak of the Self-Discovery stage – a respectable level anywhere else in the universe, but re children in Ishkuria’s eyes.
The alliance had plenty of deities far more powerful than them, but it was customary to pawn off the responsibility to younger gods who didn’t get a say, as their leaders had better things to spend their ti on.
The divine group was currently sitting in a eting room inside Ishkuria’s Jade Palace, though the titaness was the only one physically present. Resting leisurely on their shimring thrones, they were watching the contest unfold on the other side of the planet through a screen on the wall.
“That’s only because you didn’t pay attention the last ti I explained myself, Hellenae. My Decree is only operational for a few days every century or so, and I’d much rather reserve that precious window for our gods – who actually need it.”
“With all due respect, Lady Ishkuria!” Dokorin slamd his fists on the smooth table, showing no actual respect. Had the little prick been here with his own body, he wouldn’t have been nearly this bold. Thankfully, the puppet didn’t possess enough strength to damage her furniture, though it still sent a faint tremor across the colossal tree.
“As a founding faction of the Void Hand, your people are expected to share so of their resources with the rest of us. We all are. I understand the urge to put your kin first, but the future of the alliance must be taken into consideration,” he explained in a nasal tone, as if he were lecturing a toddler rather than a titaness several tis older than him. “Those accursed Moirai are already close to producing their first seven-elental deities, and we don’t have nearly enough candidates to match them.”
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Ishkuria couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the short god’s outburst. Luckily for him, she was more annoyed by their antics than genuinely angry. In fact, she had to stop herself from laughing at the ridiculous display of Dokorin’s glowing red hair fluttering with every sentence he had uttered in indignation.
“Spare the theatrics, child. I’m not speaking out of blind nationalism. When I said ‘our gods’, I naturally ant everyone from across the alliance – not just Inimits. I just happen to think that my Decree is wasted on mortals. Let ask you this: how many of them do you expect to attain divinity?”
She pointed at the screen with her beak. Coincidentally, it was a male Denyte like Dokorin who was currently competing, though the mortal’s hair sported a milky-white colour, indicative of a steam affinity.
“One? Maybe two?” It was Forbat’s puppet who humoured her question, coming to his colleague’s aid. His flawless skin and handso appearance looked out of place on an Ollorian. It was such a pity that nothing short of divine ascension could nd his people’s deformities. It was admittedly an effective redy, and it even ca with the unexpected benefit of their gods generating more Wiseman’s Dust than other races, but this thod was tragically out of reach for the overwhelming majority of their population.
“Aye… one or two.” Ishkuria nodded. “If we’re lucky, that is. Our elites are several tis more likely to succeed than the average demigod, but most will still fail. Even for the rare few who manage to form their internal world, experiencing new affinities won’t an much before they enter the Elental Acquisition stage. How well will they even rember their ti in my flowerbed hundreds of millennia from now?”
‘I would have been much happier sharing my Decree if you allowed them to form composite second cores, but you bastards want all of them to get a rare elent,’ she thought, though she kept that part to herself.
It wasn’t like she didn’t understand their reasoning. There was no known thod to acquire rare affinities after attaining divinity, so obtaining them early was mathematically a smarter investnt, as it gave their new gods a higher ceiling.
Unfortunately, it also ant that the Void Hand had no mortals with three or more common elents, slowing Ishkuria’s research down to a crawl. It prevented her from conducting certain experints with calamity affinities that would allow her to upgrade her Decree and offer more opportunities to everyone.
In that regard, the titaness was quite envious of the Moirai, who were all born with their second cores. The bald fuckers produced plenty of elites with one or two rare affinities, but that didn’t stop them from having countless people with three or four common elents as well.
Ishkuria’s scathing words shut the younger gods up, though the damage was already done. The demigod guiding the mortals had activated the Decree, so the clock was already ticking. As soon as the contest was over, they’d have to get as many gods as possible to use it, before it closed again a few days later.
Clicking her beak in irritation, the titaness leaned back on her throne, resting her head on the polished, gemlike piece of wood, content to watch the show for now. Most of her attention, however, was focused on the life concepts oozing out of the walls and furniture of her Palace.
She had carved her residence into the trunk of the first-generation sapling that had taken root on Tanarill eons ago, allowing her to take advantage of the fragnted Elental Source.
Having already mastered every common affinity and all their combinations, Ishkuria’s next goal was to acquire a rare elent – on paper at least. The third major stage of the Concept realm remained hypothetical, but it was what most of her peers spent their days working on.
Personally, she felt that it was best to let the next generation of gods – the chosen few who had begun their divine journey with one or more rare affinities – worry about that. They were far more likely to succeed, since they already had so experience with such mana types.
This was also why she had settled for ditation inside a re sapling of the World Tree, rather than one of the complete Elental Sources under the Void Hand’s control. Well, the fact that the mountain-sized plant was located on her own planet made everything more convenient as well.
That was not to say that Ishkuria had retired.
She still had plenty to contribute to the Inimits in particular, and the alliance in general. She felt that their gods and mortals had only scratched the surface of what was possible with common affinities, and that her Decree could still be improved further. Hell, one day, she might even figure out how to cast another one.
Pushing those thoughts aside, she tried to enjoy the show for now.
‘Hmm? Almost everyone has converted more than ten percent of the flowers. I suppose we have a decent crop this year.’
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