A few moments after walking into Dr. Cortes' laboratory I found myself staring at a familiar table. It was the table that was once filled with mortars and pestles, and now it was covered in papers. I approached it, and in doing so found myself standing on the other side of my teacher, the alchemist named Dr. Cortes.

"Althos, it's very good to see you." He told me, a goofy grin on his face. His face looked different this time. He had shaved the white beard he had when I first met him. He also had goggles like last time but they were hanging loosely around his neck rather than around his eyes.

I looked at the diminutive human's eyes and studied them for a moment. They were filled with genuine excitement, and after a few moments of silence, the good doctor tapped the table and motioned for me to look at it.

"Althos, my young apprentice." He said as I turned to study the assorted papers that covered the table I had performed my initial test on top of. I looked at the papers and immediately realized what they were: recipes.

"As of today, you are an officially an alchemist's apprentice, an alchemist in-training! How exciting!" Dr. Cortes declared, speaking boisterously. He was looking at me quite happily, while I visually scanned the various recipes my teacher had prepared for me.

I could see recipes for potions, beverages, poisons, and even a single one for a simple bomb. While glancing at them, I got to read some of their titles and mentally grinned at them. I could see recipes for items called "Spider's antidote", "Snake's kiss", "Manta-ray's sting", and "Regenerative potion". Seeing them brightened my mood, even as my tremorsense alerted me to something that didn't.

I sprung to action immediately. I looked at Dr. Cortes and began to speak, asking for directions.

"Dr. Cortes, my stomach is feeling... A bit strained. Before we dive into the wonderful lesson you have planned, do you mind if I go to the bathroom?" I asked, speaking somewhat urgently so as to explain why I'd have to run for a bit.

Unpleasant intruders were making their way towards the Rodan forest, and I intended to send them a powerful message. Plus they presented an opportunity for me to gain access to two subdomains I had wanted to gain access to but hadn't really had a chance to interact with yet.

When the Dr. pointed me in the direction of the bathroom, I smiled and excused myself. When I was out of eyesight of my teacher I teleported myself far from where I stood and to a land I had yet to visit: the area beyond the Rodan forest.

---

A pair of creatures that could only accurately be described as bipedal hyenas were gradually making their way out of the valley that housed them. The two creatures were stealthily trodding out of the region where their kind, hyenoids, lived and towards the territory inhabited by all sorts of Althonians.

The two scouts were lightly armored and armed. They deftly held stone spears in their pawed hands and wore armor made from the pelts of creatures they themselves had hunted.

They were silent as they inched closer and closer to the outskirts of the forest which they had been tasked with exploring. The two were highly skilled, but they were no match for the powers of a god which was why the newborn deity that happened to reside primarily in the forest and in the human settlement closest to it detected them the moment they began their approach towards his territory.

When they were close enough that they could see the forest, a strange event occurred. A shimmering wall of light several meters tall appeared between them and the forest. They could see through the wall, but the forest beyond it appeared hazy and indistinct as if viewed through a heat mirage. This caused the pair of creatures to pause and look uncertainly at each other.

That was before the wall of light opened up ever so slightly and a strange creature stepped through it. The creature hadn't been visible until the wall opened up, so the pair of hyenoids immediately put up their guards and tightened their grips on their spears.

The creature had an annoyed expression on his face. He had a plainly human face, but the hyenoids had never seen a creature do what he did: put up what an obstacle of some sort that blocked off their way out of the valley and into the forest.

The apparent human, a rather plain-looking member of his kind, studied the two of them. He made no attempt to hide his appearance or to appear extra intimidating. After a few moments, he was obviously unimpressed by them and casually began to speak to them.

"I am only going to ask you once to cease your exploration of the Rodan forest." He said, speaking calmly to the pair of scouts. The two creatures froze when they heard his words, as they understood them quite easily even though the human was speaking their animalistic language.

One of the scouts, the bigger of the two, lifted his spear threateningly in response to this command and snarled at the human. The scout practically spat out a reply, hissing it through broken teeth.

"Why should we listen to you? Who are you to command us to cease our exploration?" The creature hissed, speaking angrily. Althos chuckled and grinned at the creature.

"I am Rodan's new master. My name is Althos." Althos replied, speaking without any hesitation. He grinned at them and wondered how they'd reply to what he had just said.

"And? That is not a reason for us to obey you." The hyenoid closest to Althos quipped. Althos considered this for a moment and then sighed. At this moment he suspected that a conflict was inevitable.

"The reason you should obey me is that I am the strongest creature you've ever met. If you value your health, your mind, and the future of your community, I recommend you stand down." Althos told the pair, speaking to them calmly and urging them to stay peaceful. They didn't. Althos' minimap pulsed and the color of their dots on it changed and became red. The color of creatures hostile to the youthful god.

The other hyenoid inched forward, now also tensing up. Althos turned his gaze to her and remained unimpressed after a few moments of thorough study. That said, the creature's purpose wasn't to intimidate, at this moment it was to distract.

The hyenoids were impressive and coordinated combatants, as Althos discovered when the one he took his eyes off of quietly reared back and hurled his spear at the young god. Unfortunately for the hyenoid, Althos was well aware of the silent strike and replied to it decisively.

The god's hand flicked in the direction of the silent striker, flaring outward with a flourish and casting an incredibly powerful spell. One that disrupted the spear's trajectory instantly.

The spear was caught in a sudden gravitational shift and immediately stopped in mid-air. It slowly turned around, and then flew back towards and then past the hyenoids. It collapsed onto the ground not far behind them, and the two scouts turned to look at each other in confusion.

The gravitational well that Althos had just created wasn't a particularly strong one, so the hyenoids barely felt its effects and at the moment weren't aware of its effects on a conscious level. Althos had opted to create one that was more disruptive to their attacks than an attack on themselves.

The young god took a step forward and then rose a single hand towards one of the hyenoids. He aimed his appendage in the direction of the male, and then grinned at the creature. It was at that moment that a potent burst of flames exploded out of the god's hand and sped towards the scout.

The burst of flames was a significant one, a curtain of golden fire that the god conjured with a frightening casualness. The hyenoid was shocked and was only barely able to leap out of the way of the fire. And even then he couldn't dodge it completely. A patch of his exposed fur was caught by the flames and caught on fire.

The hyenoid reacted by leaping back from the self-proclaimed master of the forest and turning his attention to his fur. He desperately tried to put out the flames, even as they spread to more and more of his body.

Althos grinned at the hyenoid's desperate actions and turned his attention to the female scout. She was watching her fellow scout with an expression of abject terror etched onto her Hyaenidae face. For a moment the god wondered about how he ought to handle her.

When the hyenoid turned to flee, Althos shook his head at her and acted swiftly. A jet black orb sped out of his hand and made contact with the scout before she had taken even two steps away from the god.

The orb knocked her down, and then its darkness exploded outward and engulfed her in an onyx-black field of darkness that rapidly began to cause her to freeze, and began to feed on her life-force. Althos kept an eye on her and watched patiently for the few seconds it took for her to fall unconscious due to the draining effects of his spell. When she did, he quietly deactivated the spell.

Light returned to the area around her, and eventually revealed her unconscious form, lying face-down on the valley's grassy floor. Althos chuckled, as he easily earned the first tier of influence over the third magical subdomain he could influence.

The other hyenoid was still flailing about in an attempt to put out the flames that were inflicting harm on him. As Althos watched this, he gained access to the simple quest he needed to undertake to gain access to the subdomain of fire.

The system informed him that in order to gain access to the first tier of influence over the subdomain of flames, he needed to set something on fire, since he had opted to set someone on fire earlier. This simple quest was fulfilled when the deity used telekinesis to lift up the spear he had deflected earlier and hurled a single bolt of flames at it, which exploded across the shaft of the spear.

Althos chuckled as he gained access to another of the elemental subdomains. And then he used one of the abilities he gained to put out the fires that were rapidly spreading across the body of the hyenoids.

The male hyenoid watched as the flames that were devouring his fur vanished. It caused the dimwitted almost-beast to stop in shock. That was when Althos spoke again.

"You and your companion have lost this battle. She is unconscious, and her lifeforce has been considerably drained, to the point that she's nearly dead. And because of your stupidity, I am even stronger than I was before. I am letting you live, but only if you retrieve her unconscious form and head back to your community. If you do not, I will pay them a visit myself and you don't want that." The god told the scout. Althos was delighted by the collection of abilities he had just gained.

The male hyenoid slowly recovered from his shock, and looked up at Althos. He stared at the god, a mixture of awe and fear etched on his face. And then the bestial humanoid turned to the unconscious form of his companion.

He shuffled over to it dejectedly, picked it up, and began to walk back towards the hyenoid community. Althos watched as the creature retreated, and when the creature was suitably far away he teleported back to the workshop of Dr. Cortes.

---

---

When I returned to the good alchemist, he was waiting patiently for me. My encounter with the hyenoids only took me a few minutes, but it was enough for the doctor to fully prepare for the lessons.

Now the table wasn't just decorated by papers, but by two pairs of mortars and pestles. I was delighted to see the familiar tools and smiled as I approached them.

"Are you feeling better my youthful apprentice?" Cortes asked, a goofy grin on his face. I looked at him and nodded, my grin stretching up to my eyes.

"That's good news! Today I'm going to teach you how to make the three most basic items that alchemists are known for: potions, poisons, and bombs." The doctor explained. As soon as he said that I received a positively delightful notification.

I read through that notification and willed it away with ease. As soon as I did so, I looked over at my teacher and asked a question.

"Why do you say that alchemists are known for poisons and bombs?" I asked curiously. Dr. Cortes was himself a potion-maker, but since he was an expert I was unsurprised to hear that he had other skills as well. My instructor smiled at me and then launched into a lecture I suspected he had readied beforehand.

"Well you see, alchemists are some of the best inventors of poisons and bombs. Gathering ingredients for alchemy is a dangerous task, and so we tend to build things that can help us survive some of the more dangerous places we need to trek towards. Poisons can be useful to either weaken monsters who'd stop us from gathering our materials, or to scare them off." The medical professional told me, grinning all the while.

"Bombs are more for when we are attacked by other humanoids. Of the two I prefer poisons because they have more of a personal touch. Which is why I'll be teaching you how to craft a poison first." The doctor explained, eagerly discussing his plans with me.

This was deeply exciting to me, and the thought of gaining influence over another subdomain was one that filled me with joy. I nodded at him, and moved over to the table so that we could dive into our work.

Physically I stood in front of the table and waited for the doctor to act. But the truth was, a portion of my mind was elsewhere. It was internal, pondering on something odd: I could feel my awareness expanding. It was an odd sensation since it felt like the number of areas I could reach out and touch were increasing. In a way, they were.

I knew what was happening: I was gaining an awareness of all of the volcanos on Torus, thanks to my "Volcanic god" power. It started off as a slow process, but with each volcano that sprang into my awareness, the next one was able to arrive a bit quicker.

That said what was actually happening was odd, because I was gaining a "Tremorsense" style mini-map of parts of the world I had never been to before. And I felt the volcanos themselves submit, insofar as a planetary opening could submit, to my control.

It wasn't just that either. I could sense long, steaming tunnels of magma deep beneath the ground. I could sense and call to their heat, and unleash them against my enemies. This was odd because I wasn't sure how I knew this but I did. I sensed that if I mentally called the magma hidden beneath the planet's surface to me, it would answer my call. Knowing this made me feel safe and powerful.

In my mind's eye, I saw a new icon appear spontaneously. This one was odd because it resembled a mostly blue sphere, decorated with green dots. Curiously, I tapped on the thing mentally and immediately caused a new textbox to appear before me.

[Hello! Welcome to the environmental menu. This is a powerful menu that is one of the powers granted to proto-elemental-overlords. It allows you to modify the environment and climate on regions, worlds, and dimensions you have influence over.] The menu revealed, greeting me warmly and like an old friend.

[You gained access to this menu in an unusual way. Thanks to your mastery over volcanos you can now exert significant influence over the world of your birth.] The menu announced.

[Volcanos, for now, can still erupt on their own but you can also will a volcanic eruption to occur. And even if a volcanic eruption occurs without your input, you can end it or minimize it. Or you could magnify it, and use it as a symbol of your wrath.] The menu declared, speaking energetically.

[That's not all you can do either. As you inch closer and closer to becoming an elemental overlord all of your elemental abilities have received boosts. As such you can now cause a number of devastatingly powerful natural phenomena at will, such as earthquakes, tornados, avalanches and landslides, sinkholes, and worse.] The menu revealed, informing me as to some of the new powers I possessed.

[There's also the odd reality of your status as both a god and a proto-elemental-overlord. That has resulted in some of your powers mixing and taking on new aspects. It's actually been quite fun to watch. Your agricultural abilities are stronger now, and inversely so are your famine inducement powers.] My newest menu revealed to me, whispering as it did so.

All this new power was significant. And the ways that it mixed with my newfound knowledge of the world was even more significant. I gained a strange and alien awareness of new creatures.

I was immediately made aware of all manner of animals, plants, and various lifeforms from salamanders to fire giants, red dragons and drakes. Other things came into my awareness as well. Monsters like cherufes, phoenixes, and stranger, older things that lurked in the magmic depths of the volcanos.

In the cases of the ill-defined older entities, I felt their minds connect with mine as well, and they turned their awareness towards me. It was a strange feeling.

I felt no resistance from these bizarre beings, creatures made up entirely of magma. All I felt was their strength and shockingly their obedience as well.

More than that, it wasn't just a casual deference to my strength that I felt, but a legitimate and potent desire to serve me. Physically I took a deep breath and I smiled, as I began a careful exploration of the minds of these creatures and was delighted to find next to nothing.

More than anything else I found hazy memories and half-remembered emotions. These creatures seemed to be nothing but than semi-conscious magma, who could recall that they could shapeshift and little more. That was when I heard a surprised voice spoke to me.

"Althos... you've found angels. Volcanic angels. Their minds have been destroyed, but they are immensely powerful extraplanar beings that existed to serve the gods. It's weird that someone destroyed their minds but these are... probably the strongest creatures you've met to date." The voice, which belonged to the domain of knowledge, told me. I found her reaction a bit strange, which she evidently picked up on.

"I know it may sound odd to be surprised that volcanic angels are found in volcanoes, but the truth is that we didn't know that there were angels in this world at all. It's not their geographic location that caught me off guard, it's their cosmic location. I was told that there were no angels on this planet. So to see them... it raises a lot of questions." The domain whispered, explaining her shock.

I heard her sigh impatiently as she waited for something to happen. Whatever she was waiting for apparently didn't happen right away.

"These angels are damaged. But not in a way that you can heal. Not yet anyway. I'm examining them right now, and they appear to be mostly fine but their minds were destroyed. Even now their minds are being restored to a functional state, by your power, but I can tell that whatever memories they had will be gone. That's disappointing. It means we won't know what happened to them until you get stronger." The domain explained.

It wasn't the only domain that had something to say though. Another domain, one that I had only heard from time to time also had insights to share with me.

"You've just unintentionally achieved something significant. You've gained your first angelic servants. Volcanic angels like the ones that are now attuning themselves to your desires and orders, are powerful spirits of magma and ash. They are intelligent, and served volcanic gods zealously." The domain of civilization explained.

"If you use these creatures intelligently, once they're back to operating capacity, you can quickly seize control of volcanoes and connect the creatures who live in and around them. That'd be an easy way to being to further establish your empire. Many volcanic civilizations are already martial cultures that'd be easy pickings for a god with as much power as you possess..." The civilization domain told me, suggesting that I use these angels destructively and mightily.

"So you're saying I could go ahead and in a single moment demonstrate my awe-inspiring power and gain servants? Do you really think it'd be that easy?" I asked the domain, curiously. I heard a soft chuckle emanate from the domain.

"Althos... You are powerful. And now you can make a volcano erupt at will. That sort of power evokes awe and terror and in a race of creatures like say... fire giants, especially if you appear first and publicly strip them of their immunity to fire, they will worship you. Creatures that live near or in volcanoes are no fools, they know to serve and worship powerful creatures." The domain explained, encouraging me to think about the sort of power I now had at my disposal.

On an instinctual level, I knew what a volcano was, but this wasn't something I sprung to life knowing. I could envision lava, and I knew what a volcano looked like, but I also knew that I didn't really understand what a volcano did, aside from in a textbook sense.

That was an odd thing to realize given that if I wanted too I could unleash destruction on a worldwide scale now that I possessed powers over more kinds of natural disasters. And there was a part of me that wanted to do just that. It wanted to test my new powers and unleash them somewhere, even if no one else noticed the destructive power I unleashed.

This part of me grew stronger the more I considered giving in. The more I considered actually doing it, willing a volcano to erupt, the harder the urge felt to ignore. But I was able to do it since casually doing something like that ran contrary to my nature. It wasn't easy, and I knew that sooner or later I'd give in, but for now, I was able to ignore it.

---

"The poison we'll be making today is a simple one." Explained the good doctor. He stood on the opposite side of the table and his back was turned to me. He was carefully handling an assortment of ingredients and preparing to transport them to the table in front of me, our mutual workplace.

"I'm teaching you this recipe, if you can even call it that, right away because I would like for you to go retrieve ingredients for me on your off-days. I'm hoping that that'll be something you agree to do, and when you venture into the forest you'll find that there are some creatures who'd really rather you not be in their homes." The doctor explained, as he turned and revealed the items we'd be using.

He held a tray that contained two mortars and pestles. These mortars and pestles weren't the only things the tray contained. Inside of the mortar, there was some crystal clear river water, and beside the bowls were single, solitary fangs.

The doctor placed the tray onto the table and I winced at the heavy sound the impact produced. I reached over and gently took one of the two mortar and pestles. The doctor took the other. And then he began to speak.

"Making some poisons is easy." He told me, a grin on his face. He looked into his bowl and carefully studied the contents for a few moments before continuing to speak.

"The rookie poisons, the kinds that any alchemist and anyone with knowledge can make, are really simple. They are watered down poisons found in the real-world. In this case, we are literally watering down snake venom." Dr. Cortes revealed a wry grin on his face. When he looked at me he chuckled, after seeing my face.

This was so underwhelming that I physically reacted to it. I could feel the frown on my face. I was feeling a bit disappointed that my first lesson was one that was so simple, especially since I had been told to wait for two days to receive this lesson.

"Oh Althos, I can read your face well. I can detect your disappointment. There's a reason why this first lesson is so simple. It's to teach you an important lesson: something doesn't need to be flashy to be effective." He told me, speaking smugly as he did so.

"This poison might not seem like much, but let me tell you the ability to make a poison this simple and judicious applications of such a poison have saved my life numerous times in the past." He told me, grinning.

"As a young and greedy alchemist, I made many enemies. Using this poison carefully I managed to either evade capture or escape from the grasps of my enemies on more occasions than I care to admit." The doctor told me. I sensed his honesty and took a moment to open my mind to the simplicity of this poison. And then I realized that I'd gain access to a subdomain thanks to this simple poison and grinned, now grateful that it was so simple.

"So... what are we going to do?" I asked the doctor, curious as to what process we'd need to undertake to be able to create the poison we were after. I watched as the doctor put on gloves, and gingerly picked up the fangs. He then deftly dropped the fang he had closest to him into the water.

"We're going to dissolve the fangs. By dropping the fangs into the water we are dissolving the fangs. This dilutes the venom to the point of near non-existence, and leaves little more than the sole property we seek: their paralytic potency." Cortes revealed, a confident grin on his face as he told me that.

My eyes widened a bit when he revealed that. All of a sudden diluting the venom made sense. I could easily understand the value and potency of a poison that paralyzed its victims and did little else. It was a good weapon for kidnapping someone, or for escaping an awkward situation without fatalities. I grinned and then turned my attention to the fang.

I carefully reached out with my mind and picked up the thing. It was small so it was unexpectedly difficult for me to lock onto but once I did I was easily able to manipulate and move the object. I positioned it just over the water inside of my mortar and then lightly dropped it. It landed in the water within the mortar and immediately sank to the bottom of the bowl.

I watched as the water began to erode the fang. The fang, already a tiny thing, was shrinking before my eyes. As the fang shrank, the water changed color.

And in a matter of moments, I received a welcome notification that alerted me to the fact that I had successfully created a poison: I received my first tier of influence over the subdomain of poisons.

I spent a second reading through the list of powers I had just gained and grinned as I read them. They were a bit more diverse than I was expecting, and also more supportive than I had anticipated them being. Not that all of them were like that though, as one of my powers allowed me to create and command clouds that dropped acid or poison, which was a curious ability that I could see being amazing if used at precisely the right time.

These new abilities were well worth the price I paid to get them: the creation of a single somewhat underwhelming but still handy poison. Dr. Cortes came up to me and studied my mortar. He was quiet for a moment before idly reminding me of his silly theory from when we first met, that I wasn't a newcomer to alchemy. Being reminded of such a silly theory made me chuckle.

I waited for the good doctor to finish his examination of the poison I had just crafted. It took him a matter of moments to do so. When he did he turned to me and had a twinkle in his eyes.