Chapter 874: Unity
<span style="font-weight:400">For the next few weeks, the world had entered a lull. Most of the weaker gods had long since left to try to find their own world, some disappearing to the unknown dangers of space, while others found ces to call their own. This left Earth and the other simr worlds… not quite safer, but certainly more quiet.
<span style="font-weight:400">At the same time, James and his research team were beginning to set up defenses within the void to prevent most types of void monsters from interfering with the world. Thanks to them, I wouldn’t need to be worrying about random carnivorous clouds.
<span style="font-weight:400">That said, Dana finished her ‘Fallen God’ training not long after she returned to the Sky Citadel. In all honesty, I was still worried that she was going to fail, and was prepared to rush to the Admin Room to purchase her as a Companion. Thankfully, the prediction from the Terra twins held true, and she was able seed with the method that Chel came up with.
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<span style="font-weight:400">Giles slowly awoke, moisture soaking his brow as he found himself lying in a bed of leaves. A wet cloth was wiping his forehead, a familiar figure sitting next to him. “That was reckless.” The figure chided, though there was a gentle tone to her voice, almost worried.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Sorry, Sprigga.” Giles responded with a small smile. After the recent incident with void monsters, and the mass disappearance from Sprigga’s grove, Giles had decided that he needed to be capable of protecting himself, Sprigga, and theirmunity. The only way to do so that he saw was to be a Fallen God himself.
<span style="font-weight:400">Unfortunately, he had rushed through the process in his haste to protect those close to him. After reading through the methods of bing a Fallen God, he felt it would be easier to grit his teeth and do it quickly. The result was Giles lying in bed, most of his body beneath his chest having disappeared.
<span style="font-weight:400">The dreams were the worst part, each one feeling so real. If he had been much slower about waking up, it was likely that he would have left nothing behind. “So… did you make it, at least? Are you done?” Sprigga asked in that same concerned tone.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I did, and I am.” Giles responded with a happy sigh. The damage to his body would be easily fixed with just a bit of time absorbing energy. He nced over at the message that appeared in the corner of his vision, telling him that he had be the Fallen God of Unity.
<span style="font-weight:400">Sprigga nodded her head, a smile blooming over her face. “Good. While you were… asleep, your mother came to visit.” She said, Giles looking over and blinking in confusion. “She said that she was d that she finally found you, and wanted me to remind you to go back home once in a while.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Is she… still here?” He asked, Sprigga giving another nod. He hadn’t seen his mother since he came to this grove. There were times that he thought she might have died trying to avenge his father. Hearing that she was alive, and hade to see him, Giles couldn’t help wanting to go meet her.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Just focus on recovery first.” Sprigga told him, a hand on his chest to keep him on the bed. “If she sees you like this… no mother would want that for their children, even I know that.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Although reluctant, Giles nodded his head in agreement, closing his eyes to focus. “You’re right.” He muttered softly. Before he could face her, he needed to be able to stand on his own two legs. And for that, he needed to <i><span style="font-weight:400">have</i><span style="font-weight:400"> two legs again.
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<span style="font-weight:400">Aznod walked through the halls of the Pce of Ashtanu, carrying a silver tray in one hand. Udona had asked to take her meals for the day in her room, as there was ‘important business’ that she needed to take care of. This wasn’t the first time that this had happened, so the chef merely had a small smile on his face while carrying the Filling Cheese Steaks within the covered tray.
<span style="font-weight:400">Upon reaching her door, he gave a cursory knock, calling out. “It is time to eat, Lady Udona.” Before silently counting to ten. When she did note to the door, he opened it to step inside, as per her request in a previous rted incident.
<span style="font-weight:400">The reason that Udona wasn’t eating was because she wasying in her bed, a ck visor covering her head. Clearly, she was ying some manner of virtual reality game, but Aznod did not know which one had taken her fancy ofte. As the Goddess of Entertainment, Udona considered it her divine mission to inspect any popr video game being released to the market. It was to such a degree that her reviews of a game were often used in its marketing campaign.
<span style="font-weight:400">Aznod moved over to a small table set in the bedroom, removing the lid from the tray. As the smell escaped, Udona’s nose twitched. Aznod merely stood next to the table, hands sped behind his back while he waited.
<span style="font-weight:400">After roughly five minutes had passed, Udona removed her visor and sat up in her bed. She was wearing a long, silver dress, and smiled towards Aznod when she saw him. “Sorry, did I keep you waiting long?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Not at all, Lady Udona.” Aznod said, having been making sure to keep the meal warm and fresh with his divinity as he waited.
<span style="font-weight:400">Udona licked her lips, looking at the pair of sandwiches that had been delivered to her. “Thanks for this.” She said, climbing out of bed and moving over to the small table.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Of course, it is my pleasure.” The chef smiled at the appreciation, before voicing a question. “If I may, which game is it that you are ying this time? I don’t believe that I’ve heard of any new major titles likely to catch your interest.”
<span style="font-weight:400">As one who served the God of Entertainment, Aznod had simrly assigned himself a mission, and that was to keep track of popr media that Udona would likely find interesting. In many such movies or games, there would be inspiration for a meal that she might want to try, and he would do his best to surprise her with it. However, it was a rather slow season for the video game industry, most people content with existing games or making their own virtual worlds. Even nk had not released a new game in the current year, though that was likely because he was working on a new one.
<span style="font-weight:400">“It’s a secret.” Udona said yfully, putting a finger to her lips. Afterwards, she giggled and shook her head. “I’m kidding, it’s fine for you to know. The Keeper has sponsored another game, and Ashley’s getting ready to open it for public testing. It’s called the Fragments of Acidia, and it seems really interesting.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Aznod nodded his head at that, making a mental note to watch for any news about that game. That is, until Udona looked up at him. “Maybe you’d like to y it with me?” She asked, and he could almost feel a spark of hope in her tone.
<span style="font-weight:400">Aznod blinked, having never been invited to y directly with the Goddess before. Still, it took him only a moment to regain hisposure. “This is quite new… Can you tell me a bit about the game?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Udona’s smile grew wide and bright, nodding her head. “The game incorporates a new feature called Power Trantion. It connects with the regr power profile of your virtual reality device, and trantes your levels and skills into the equivalent systems of the game.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Oh? How is that different from the normal power profile?” His confusion made sense, as what she described sounded quite simr to how most games handled profiles like that.
<span style="font-weight:400">“This game uses a different set ofws for mana and ki, and works based on a ssless system.” She said with a yful grin, Aznod’s eyes going wide. ssless systems were not unheard of, but they had fallen out of favor with the introduction of power profiles, due to the inability to properly trante one’s power into the game. “Additionally, the change functions in reverse, so if you get stronger in the game, you can still get stronger in reality.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Aznod thought about that for a moment. “This game… is it like Vision Expanse? Shall we be expecting to find it within our void?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Most games, even those released by nk or Darkme Technologies, did not have a ce within the void. To date, only Vision Expanse held that spot, being the only game to beposed of an entire universe. Those who traversed the void were even capable of entering the game with their real bodies, though doing so was rather dangerous.
<span style="font-weight:400">“That’s right.” Udona confirmed. “Thankfully, it has its own software to identify ‘glitches’ caused by void beasts. Anyways, if you y with me, you can y as a kitsune, and you might even learn some new skills. There is this bigpany called the Midnight Diner, a group of chefs that are unmatched in the gxy. ording to the game’s lore, they can cook with starlight itself.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Aznod’s eyes widened slightly at that, able to see how much she wanted him to y with that little enticement. “If you are going so far, I suppose that I can’t say no.” Udona pumped her fist happily at that agreement, before Aznod blinked in realization. “Are you just wanting me to y so that I can cook for you in the game, instead of interrupting you for your meals?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Uhm… no?” Udona nced off to the side at that. “Though it is a nice, added bonus.” After saying so, she gave a somewhat wry chuckle. “I haven’t really had anyone new to y with since I became the God-Queen. People don’t treat me as… well, me. I used to always hide my identity to keep stuff like that from happening, but that’s not really an option anymore. There are eyes on me no matter what I’m trying to do. It’d just be nice to have someone to hang out with and y games again, other than the other Greater Gods. Aurivy’s great and all, but keeping that girl focused is like pulling teeth. Whenever she sees something new and shiny, she’ll quickly get distracted.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Aznod thought about that for a moment, before a small smile spread on his face. “I would be happy to y with you, Lady Udona.” He promised, able to see how lonely she was.
<span style="font-weight:400">Udona’s eyes went wide, almost jumping out of her seat before remembering the food that he had brought her. “Thanks! I’ll have Ashley send over a copy of the game for youter today, try to get it set up tonight. We’re still working on integrating the Power Trantion system with the Virtual avatars, so for now you can only y it with your real self. Hopefully, the integration should be done by the game’sunch, but we’ll have to see what she can do.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Aznod gave a small nod of his head, d to see Udona so happy for his answer. “I’ll be sure to do so. Remember to include any instructions that I’ll need to start near you. If the game is as expansive as you say, I would not want to begin on an entirely different.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Udona gave an almost silly grin at that, her head nodding quickly as she took a big bite from her sandwich. “Mhm!”
<span style="font-weight:400">While Udona ate, Aznod considered what she had said about the Midnight Diner. If he could truly draw inspiration for new cooking techniques from this game, and apply them to the real world, what sorts of dishes would he be able to create? Would he even be able to maintain his culinary focus while adventuring together with Udona? Something told him that she’d be happy to let him branch out into his own path, as long as they stayed in regr contact within the game itself.