Jun Hopper was a man with many problems.

His best friend stole his pregnant girlfriend, and the world was about to end. Those were two separate issues.

Now an ageless beauty was staring him down with expectations that were simply too high.

Him? The next True God?

If he didn’t know how old some of these seniors were, he would have given it some weight, but he did know.

It took an average of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years simply to get to the 8th rank. What were they doing waiting for his skinny 4th ranked ass to play catch up?

This seemed like it was serious. Someone should really break through and handle this, like, right now, so that they could get to solving his problems.

Why was she still staring at him?

The meeting began.

The Elder that looked like a walking oak tree named Elder Deedles stood from his position and began making a report on the number of newly connected worlds, the number of stable worlds, the number of unstable worlds, the number of worlds in conflict, the number of worlds in peril, and the number of worlds that had fallen since the last Gathering.

They were alarming figures

While the other participants of the gathering were calm, if not slightly dejected, Jun and the small group behind him found it hard to bear.

So many worlds were in danger and so many had fallen in this single period. How many had fallen since the start of this conflict? What kind of burden was that statistic to these beings?

Like a cold basin of water, the truths laid before them drenched them all with an awful dread.

If it weren’t for Jun’s ascension to this table of extraordinary figures, their own world would have definitely become a part of those statistics.

After Elder Deedles was finished and took his seat, a bird headed man with silver wings named Elder Arawk arose and made a report of the numbers of newly arisen 8th ranked beings and some of the more notable characters and deeds.

A certain prince of an ocean world became the first 8th ranked being of his universe and destroyed the 7th Wave, after which, he successfully unified the universe and was proving to be a competent leader.

Another newly risen 8th ranked being was the most talented cultivator in their history, but was proving to be an even greater tyrant. The surviving 7th ranked Crowns of that world were requesting intervention, or to simply put him down and return peace to their world.

Elder after Elder rose and reported interesting aspects of the ongoing war that were only meant for the highest figures of the multiverse to hear. Mary, holding a napping Ella, and a hungover Juan were wondering if it was alright for two second rate Film Prompters and a bunch of children to participate, even as onlookers, while the children simply marveled at the fantastical characters telling fantastical stories of real life fantastical events. It was fantastical.

On and on it went, as the mysteries of the multiverse were unveiled one bored report after another. For the recently ignorant, every bit was fascinating.

There was a system of appeals for worlds to receive direct assistance from an Elder based on their danger rank, from worlds in conflict to those near total destruction, but there were hard limits to what an Elder could do.

Guidance was an important topic at the meeting, with several arguments erupting every few minutes and Elders threatening violence from several sides.

Elder Gior Je the Ever Inquisitive was very passionate about enhancing regulations on the rewards systems, arguing that Lady Cynth’s example of inflated pricing was a serious market disrupter, while Lady Cynth scoffed at his accusations and reminded the gathering of the monopolies the Sects and Schools had on certain resources and treasure lands.

When they reached the end, everyone perked up as the most important topic to many came on the agenda. Origin Seat Time Allotments Chart.

During the full minute of silence in which nearly every participant at the Table was focused on the complex web of lines and dots that appeared in the sky for all to see, Jun was looking around for help. What did that mess even mean? Were those timetables? Why was it so complicated?

“Why is my fifth slot on the 87th position?! I won the rights to the 78th fair and square! Oi! Sandani! You Bastard! That spot is mine!”

“Turka sees name in wrong spot. Turka demand see name in right spot! Turka cries injustice! Turka cries conspiracy!”

“Aidem! You didn’t report my winnings?! You think you can get away with cheating me?! AGAIN?!”

More shouts and screaming matches erupted, and this time it went on for some time.

It wasn’t a simple timetable.

While the initial allotments were based on rankings, the final positions rarely reflected those seats because Elders were often bored.

As existences that had lived for uncountable cycles and experienced uncountable highs and lows, entertainment was an important aspect of their lives that they took rather seriously.

One of the things they loved doing was making bets, and when Elders made bets, it was with a currency they all could accept. Time.

The most expensive time.

Every opportunity to sit on the Origin Seat was a culmination of their efforts and accomplishments. For some, that was billions upon trillions of cycles of hardship and tempering that made those opportunities possible, and when they first sat upon that magical place, each Elder treasured their allotments like their own children. Now they used it to compete with each other for resources and entertainment.

Jun wisely stayed out of the tempests of tempers and decided to ask the Old Dwarf about it later. For the moment, Jun just watched. For some reason, he thought that a gathering of demigod characters would have more dignity to it. It’s why he spent so much effort in crafting an appropriately dignified meeting place for dignified people.

“I will take my glargim and slap you in the tooples!”

“I’d like to see you fucking try. You’re all talk Spanky. You always were. We all know you won’t do shit Spanky.”

“Ah yeah?! Well, how you like the Spanky Special?! What?! Want a Double Dose?! Oh, yea! Eat it Beeeitch!”

“AhHarg! That’s disgusting! Hu~ I’m gonna throw up. Huuu~.”

This wasn’t quite what Jun had in mind. Which was strange, now that he thought about it. He already met the Old Dwarf and seen how the gorilla and the elf got along. What made him think they would be the exception? Optimism?

“Once you get to a certain age, you stop caring for things like decorum. It’s what you want and what you get and how you feel about it that matter. Small things remain small as long as our hearts can communicate with each other,” said a voice to his left from his seat as the 94th. The 93rd ranked Elder was an old blue-haired and white bearded sage with beautiful jade like antlers dressed in black robes. His eyes were kind and a tad mischievous and looked at Jun like a grandfather did his grandson before he shared a good joke.

Elder Mergen was feeling quite smug as he’d gotten his times augmented at the cost of several others. He generously shared his own experiences as an Elder and tips on how to best place his bets in the future.

Jun saw a group with a serious gambling addiction. He vowed to stay away from it in the future.

Once everything had settled, Elder Albara addressed Jun, thanking him on behalf of the group for hosting them in such a wonderful venue and allowing them to use the Table of History for the meeting, benefiting many and deepening existing feelings of indebtedness for more than some.

“Elder Jun, I understand it that several worries have plagued your heart. Why don’t you share them with us and see if any of us can help ease your burdens?” said Gior Je from his position as the 12th ranked, purposefully giving his friend the platform to squeeze these old geezers of some of their assistance. He didn’t believe that this group couldn’t assemble an adequate response to the young Elder’s concerns.

“Please speak Elder Jun. If there is anything this humble one can do to help your esteemed self, do not hesitate to call upon my meager services.”

“Elder Jun, we’ve all gained much from appreciating your work. Please allow us to return the favor in whatever ways we can.”

Dozens of voices encouraged Jun to share his burdens, emphasizing their willingness to be helpful.

While the Table was a united front of smiles and encouragements, the floating rings of bystanders were a united front of gawking.

For most in attendance, it was not their first gathering they’d witnessed. In fact, they’d seen more than they cared to count, and they never once saw what they were seeing now. Not even in their dreams did they dare to imagine what they were seeing now.

This group of immature and prideful immortal great-grand-daddys and great-grand-mommys was actually fawning on a literal child like the sycophantic officials they dealt with in their own kingdoms. It was supremely creepy.

They watched in shock and mild nausea as their prideful leaders rained down compliments like they were worthless on a being they didn’t understand. A 4th ranked being that was an Elder that Glimpsed. What did that even mean?

Only the Crowns among the entourages understood the uncomfortable display because they also experienced the Garden. It was not shameful for demigods to grovel before the creator of such a divine object. Just hard to look at. Like, really hard.

Feeling a welcoming warmth, Jun looked around at the smiling faces and gave an appreciative bow before clearing his throat and asking for guidance.

Long, long, long ago, his world was once an 8th ranked world. Though it survived near destruction, its rank of existence was diminished all the way down to the levels of a newborn unranked universe, unable to support the birth of even 1st ranked beings.

Before it could properly recover, humans had destroyed it a second time, eliminating all the superficial healing it had done over billions of years. And now it was dying.

But perhaps what would destroy his mankind would still be the Enemy, as the Second Wave approached at an accelerated pace, and they were not ready.

Jun looked towards a few different faces as he described the state of the world’s spirit, having seen the destructive histories from the Table and how close some had gotten to true death, only to pull through and flourish.

The last problem was perhaps the least important, but the most urgent. There was a group of kids he didn’t know what to do with that was currently undergoing emergency treatment.

Sophie kept assuring him that all their vitals were improving and that he needn’t worry, but he wasn’t comfortable with continuing a treatment he didn’t understand unless a proper professional took a look.

Some expressed nothing or very little when they heard the kinds of soul modifications the children, including Ella, had endured, while others straight up raged.

The Fairy King and his entourage of glittering mosquitoes were the most appalled, demanding swift and violent retribution to all those involved in the tarnishing of innocents, promising the most vile fates with the sweetest faces. They were legitimately scary.

“Elder Jun, would you show us these children?” asked Lady Cynth, her mood visibly low. She was already alert when the young Elder brought her an alarming example of soul mutilation, so she wasn’t surprised in learning that there were more. It just pissed her off.

“Yes, of course,” Jun agreed as he snapped his fingers.

The large round surface the Elders sat above opened with a blink, opening a giant hole in space that looked down into a room with seven floating beds with seven sleeping children undergoing treatment.

Perhaps a lot of interesting observations could be made by these esteemed demigods with their vast wells of knowledge and experience that had spanned significant amounts of time measured in eras on the conditions of these children and perhaps even a treatment plan. But in that surprising moment, no one gave a shit about that.

There was a rune formation under those floating obstructions.

Were those… all…. Origin runes?