Chương 34: Chapter 33 – Setting things into motion

Almost two years had passed since Cthulhu had found his newest favorite toy. He might have called Joshua his "Best Friend," but in all honesty, the ancient god was mad to a certain degree, just like most of his kin. As such, friendship meant something rather different to him than what a human might consider friendship. For Cthulhu, being best friends meant that he would not let the god die, but it also meant that he would not let the same god remain weak.

After all, what kind of friend would he be if he simply allowed Joshua to stagnate? No... no, no! Things were getting boring, and that simply would not do. Just when he had started to truly enjoy the show, too. None of the previous young gods he had messed around with had made him chuckle this hard in who knew how long.

"I better find a way to help him grow..." he murmured. Cthulhu then used his billions of eyes to scan through hundreds of trillions of worlds in search of a solution. It took almost seven decades... or perhaps seven seconds. He could never really tell, honestly. Time meant very little when his mind could literally fly into countless places, observe them, and return with all the memories as though he had never left.

Without skipping a beat, he looked into a world where two malicious gods had gathered divine power from lesser divine. They did not consume that divine power however. The reason was simple… if the two gods absorbed all that divine essence too quickly, they might make too much of a splash and get discovered before they could reach the status of greater gods. Getting noticed in the multiverse was the worst possible thing that could happen to them.

These two, called Mornaka and Tarnaka, were twin gods, and they specifically targeted god-seeds. No wonder there had been so few of them during the trials. The twins traveled from world to world, draining divine energy and converting it into a liquid form, killing the young gods before they could ever complete their ascension.

"I am sure the Eternals would eventually discover them and feed them to the Maw..." Cthulhu gurgled as his enormous form shifted through the Void.

"But why wait?" His countless eyes settled upon the main world of the two gods. A terrible grin spread across his face.

"Besides, I think my BFF could use some… entertainment." With that, Cthulhu fell upon their world. - - - - - - - - - - - - Monaka fed his ethereal jug of divine essence with three new drops of concentrated divine power while his sibling did the same with his own.

"Just a couple dozen more for each of us, brother, and we can consume all of this and become greater gods." His golden lion's mane and feline eyes shone in the late afternoon sun.

"Those last two were hilarious." Tanaka chuckled, his white-lion appearance a perfect copy of his sibling's, only without the rich golden tones. His red eyes greedily watched his own urn.

"Please... we let you have our divine essence. Just don't kill us. Ehhh!" He laughed.

"I always like it when they beg. After a certain point, it's like music, isn't it?"

"Indeed." Their home was built on the top of the tallest mountain, yet the air was warm and the breeze gentle. All the best fruits and herbs they had collected from a hundred worlds grew in pots filled with enriched soil. Their hunger for power was challenged only by their desire to create the finest drink in existence.

"We really need to expand our search... I had a hard time finding any more god-seeds," Tanaka admitted.

"Hah! And this is why I will always be the big brother." Monaka grinned, much to the amusement of his sibling, who simply shook his head with a silly smile.

"I found a kitty-cat with saber teeth in a newly made realm. I did not suck her dry, as the newborn god is very active in his realm and the cat is not yet grown enough for a harvest."

"You think we couldn't win against some lame newborn god? Come on..."

"I never said that, but this cat's divine essence is growing faster than usual. She might be a prophet of sorts. If we wait only a short while, we can have a much better harvest."

"I am so tired of waiting," Tanaka admitted.

"We have been collecting divine essence for almost three hundred years now. I want to become a major god." He licked his whiskers as his eyes drifted toward his urn.

"And we will... Remember what we discovered before we started." Monaka pulled a strange tool from his belt.

"All those gods who used these were punished by the Eternal Council. First, we collect enough. Then we get rid of these accursed gloves in the Void." His tone became serious this time.

"We must make sure no one could ever connect the dots to us."

"A bit late for that." A deep voice came from the sky, and from the twins' own shadows, dozens of tentacles suddenly shot out, wrapping around them and holding them tightly.

"NO! WHY YOU? We did not mess with any of your realms, Old One!" Monaka desperately tried to think of a way out of the situation.

"Yes! Just like my brother said... We avoided any major or old god's territory." Tanaka spoke hurriedly as the tentacles tightened around him.

"You were talking about messing with the prophet of my BFF just now." Cthulhu's deep, rumbling voice cracked the mountain itself.

"We will not go there... ever. I promise, Great One." Monaka clasped his paws together, his voice becoming increasingly frantic as the tentacles began to constrict.

"Oh? You do?" Cthulhu asked in a suddenly cheerful voice.

"Of course, Great One!" Tanaka quickly nodded.

"I will make sure of that, just in case." Two tentacles pulled the strange gloves from the twins and pressed them against their chests.

"NOOOOOOO!" The two screamed as their own divinity was stripped away. Their fur withered and turned into little more than ash on the wind, leaving their hollowed-out husks to collapse onto the marble floor.

"Hmm... They said the death cries of the god-seeds sounded like music." Cthulhu pondered as he replayed their screams over and over again.

"Nah... I don't hear it." He chuckled before pouring the stolen divine essences into the two jugs. He examined both and nodded. To make it less suspicious, he condensed the essence even further until it became a thick, almost white liquid, then poured it all into a beer can. He even sealed it with his own magic so that from the outside, it looked like an ordinary can. As for the concentrated divinity inside?

He knew Joshua would realize what it was the moment he opened it, so Cthulhu spent a few million points of his own essence to make the contents taste like beer and delay the effects. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Haha! Now he'll just think I just given him a drink." Cthulhu grinned.

"Now to deal with the Eternal Council." He sighed. Requesting that they not investigate Joshua's sudden elevation was likely to be a pain. Then again, his entertainment was on the line, so it was worth the trouble. Cthulhu left the realm, leaving the two barely alive lion beastfolk behind. He took the gloves with him as proof that his punishment had been justified, allowing the Eternals to destroy the corrupted objects themselves.

Gloves like these were relics from the ancient god wars, and they had been outlawed by the Council for a very good reason. - - - - - - - - - - - Joshua watched with proud eyes as his own little realm continued to grow. The four cities had formed something resembling an alliance, and several new, smaller towns and villages had popped up around them.

Farmlands spread farther and farther across the landscape, while an adventurer's guild was established with the help of Gaix's team, who were summoned once or twice to provide important information on dealing with dungeons and specific monster races. Euripa had thankfully gained some confidence and eventually became the head priestess of Joshua Steel.

She still performed the job with a bit of hesitation, but since her god was about as chill as one could get, she never held any grand ceremonies or anything of the sort. In fact, she used the paid position as an excuse to finally catch up on all those lazy days she had missed. Joshua often found the big cat simply lazing in the sunlight streaming through her window, apparently enjoying her position as much as the work itself.

As for the two new statues that had been made in his honor, Josh blessed both with the ability to remove all curses and negative status effects from anyone who prayed to them, while also accelerating the healing of their injuries. The wooden statue in Vancott was brought to the Warlock Wing of the Magister building. The one made from stone, metal, and two large sapphires by the kobolds in his realm received the same blessing, with one additional effect: anyone who prayed to it became completely clean and shiny.

Apparently, this was such a big deal that from that day onward, not a single kobold in the Steel Clan was ever seen looking dirty. It was hardly a surprise, considering the little buggers prayed as one before every meal. The Hetaru turned out to be amazing at acting as monster hunters, and the first fifty adventurers also came out of New Brustaria.

Jobs such as lawyers and other modern-world occupations were simply not needed, while those with strong bodies and magic-infused skills gained from the skill books brought by Gaix did their best to adapt to their new lives. As such, more and more people began finding themselves in jobs they had never considered before. Farming, surprisingly, turned out to be something many of those who had once lived in a massive metal city actually enjoyed.

The calm weather, beautiful scenery, and honest work seemed to do something for them that their old lives never had. Of course, the fact that the soil in this world was so incredibly rich that Terra Petra could be considered weak in comparison probably played a significant part as well. One harvest could feed a family for months, and watching something they had planted with their own hands grow so quickly gave many of them a strange sense of satisfaction. - - - - - - - - - - - Oberon knew Cthulhu far too well.

Joshua Steel was no longer quite as fun to watch or tease, so, not unlike the giant calamari, he too had a plan to spice up the current scenario. Joshua's sworn brother was that cultivator god named Gu Zhao. He was, as Oberon had found out, very much against gods using mortal souls inside cards. Even though the practice was frowned upon by the Eternals, the system was far too integrated into the lives of most major and ancient gods to simply disappear.

No one really knew who had started it, but there was another problem: no one knew how to make these cards anymore. The Eternals had made that knowledge a Taboo. Whenever a god managed to figure it out, the knowledge and all research related to it would simply disappear. There were only a few hundred thousand of the cards currently in circulation, with a few million more stacked away by the ancient ones.

The cards were also nearly impossible to destroy, which made them incredibly useful objects despite their controversial nature.

"My good friend Josh. What would you do if your so-called brother found out more about the soul stealers?" Oberon chuckled to himself. Just a little hint about where to look, and the brave and just cultivator would likely kick up quite a bit of dust. If he got into trouble, Joshua would almost certainly rush to help, and when both of them inevitably found themselves in trouble... Well, Oberon could always slip in and save the day.

"What a wonderful idea." He grinned.

"Though... I must make sure this Gu Zhao does not die before Joshua can help him. Or... hmm. Maybe if this young god dies, Joshua would become enraged. That could be entertaining too."

"Oberon, my dear, you are really pushing the limit. Do you really want to lose young Steel's friendship so quickly?" Titania asked.

"Right." Oberon chuckled.

"You are right as always, my sugarplum. Better to be safe and sorry."

"That's better to be safe than sorry, dear." The fae queen sighed.

"Sure, sure…" Oberon chuckled again as he began weaving his new plan into motion. - - - - - - - - - - - -"Welcome home, young miss!" Danny jumped, slid down the stair railing, performed a triple front flip, and landed right beside Luna.

"I'll take your backpack and coat," he said enthusiastically.

"Thank you, Danny." Luna nodded before stretching.

"Father?"

"He is in the back garden, to my knowledge. Doing something humans call a crossword puzzle while drinking lemonade."

"A lemonade would sound amazing. Ask Purra to make me a jug of that as well." Luna nodded before rushing upstairs to install her newest treasure: a new-generation video card and two sticks of memory. She needed them because the newest version of her favorite game was about to be released that weekend, and she had bought the same upgrades for Sophie, Timothy, and Gabby as well. All four of them were hyped to play it, especially since the developers had been bragging that it was the most immersive RPG ever made.

Why play a game when she could literally go into different worlds and have actual adventures? Simple. Her friends couldn't. Games just hit differently from actual life. There was also the rather important bonus that they did not smell like a real fight. Luna had a very powerful nose even when she toned it down. Blood, sweat, and other bodily fluids had distinct smells that she would rather not experience any more than necessary.

After installing the new graphics card and making sure the memory was working properly, she tested her PC. Once everything ran smoothly, she immediately joined her chat room and saw her friends already online, waiting for the countdown. - - - - - - - - - - - Joshua was leaning over his crossword puzzle, the butt of his pencil between his teeth. As he frowned and tried to figure out one particularly stubborn clue, he felt a portal appear beside him.

Just as he was putting the pencil down to look, the man stepping through the portal spoke up.

"The word you're looking for is 'masseter,' the chewing muscle," Big C. said as he placed an ice-cold six-pack of beer on the table. Joshua's eyebrow shot up as he looked back at the paper.

"Oh, shoot. You're right." He chuckled and wrote it in.

"Hey. Good to see you, buddy." He stood and offered a hand to the eldritch god.

"How you doing?"

"Bored, in all honesty." Cthulhu shrugged as he pulled a beer from the plastic wrap and offered one to Josh.

"Figured I'd stop by and see if you're good."

"Never been better." Josh laughed as he accepted the can and popped it open. There was very little fizz, but he shrugged and took a sip.

"Damn... good beer."

"Only the best for my friend." Cthulhu chuckled.

"So, I've been wondering. Would you be interested in a little off-world activity? I have a world that is a bit... how should I say, messed up. I could do it myself, but I am also now known for subtlety. I almost just wiped out the planet so it wouldn't cause issues."

"Oh, how come? What is this issue?" Josh asked, chugging his entire can before reaching for a fresh one.

"You know what?" Cthulhu shrugged, smiling as Josh started drinking his second beer.

"I should really not bother you with minor stuff. Oh... if you ever want to play seven-dimensional chess with someone, I'm up for a game... given you visit my realm. I grew tired of playing with the other eldritch gods, as they all tend to cheat."

"Well, I'll be sure to check out your place someday. Not sure how seven-dimensional chess is played, though." Josh chuckled and drank from his second beer.

"This tastes a bit different."

"Mine is fine." Big C. looked at his can and chugged the rest.

"Maybe an aftertaste." He shrugged.

"Well, take care."

"You're already going?" Joshua asked.

"I mean, you just got here."

"I mainly just checked in to see if you're all right." Cthulhu smirked.

"Have fun." With that, he was gone. The old god had a good feeling about his gift. Then again, he had sealed the liquid tightly beneath a divine spell, so it might be some time before the concentrated divine essence actually merged with Joshua. Back in his own realm, he returned to a very specific activity he liked to indulge in while waiting. Looking for someone to mess with.