Slowly, the first rays of sunlight, or whatever produced light to indicate time in his soul realm, crept up and woke him up from his nice long rest. A little annoyed for sleeping so long, he actually hated going to bed in his soul realm because mentally he rested, but not much physically.

As he opened his eyes, he found most of the Anna’s sleeping with him gone, probably to do their chores or tasks for the day. All but one, who right now was taking her nice slow time to ride his morning wood.

He yawned, not minding it at all, and stretched his arms up and out like a cat, arching his back a little as his spiritual body slowly came awake. He closed his eyes again and enjoyed the sensation of her for a while, thinking about everything that had happened yesterday such as reading the book Ren gave him, meeting that mosquito-kin, and creating those crystalline butterflies, before finishing up inside her.

Anna gave a light moan with a satisfied expression and worked the last of what he had left into her before getting off of him. She then made sure to clean him up and then left to change and prepare for her day, a happy smile on her face.

Van rested a bit longer, his thoughts back on the mosquito-kin, wondering what could it be that made her so unhappy and desperate to be loved. Thinking about it, he wondered if he could check what kind of prayers she threw at him, and was surprised that it was an option in his panel that covered his religion.

“Hmm… from what I can read… it’s because most people don’t like mosquitoes and thereby extension, mosquito-kin… makes some sense I guess… but because of it, most mosquito-kin are loners, desperate for attention, and they have a huge complex about their ugly wings.” which now that he thought about it, were pretty ugly…

“Actually… Now that I think about it, she was actually pretty cute except for her wings… How do ugly mosquitoes become such cute little girls?” He thought about that for a while since it didn’t make much sense to him, but he eventually shook his head and instead started to think about how he could help the poor mosquito-kin.

“I don’t think I can turn her into a fairy-like I did with Lyn… Lyn was a special case after all… but maybe a pixie? Or a sprite? Sprites and insect-kins aren’t that far from each other, at least in image… from what I remember Amie telling me, it goes… insect-kin, sprite, sometimes pixie, and then fairy… if we take into consideration the so-called pecking order of the fae… which if you think about it, helped cause all the animosity that started this war in the first place…”

“Hmm… maybe Venus can help, she has a few sprite followers after all. Maybe she won’t mind sharing a bit of their blood. I could then use it to help that poor mosquito to become a sprite of some sort, her wings would change and become more beautiful if we did that, and maybe she would have more confidence in herself. Not to mention… Thinking of a plan to increase the overall power of my followers isn’t a bad idea…”

And the more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. “Perhaps I should be a god of blood as well… that would make it easier to manipulate bloodlines and make my followers stronger more naturally… This can be followed by being a god of light and darkness since I already have strong affinities for those two elements… maybe a god of evolution? Since I always seem to evolve my followers?” He shook his head. “I’m thinking too much about this… I should ask other people's suggestions first before I commit anything to stone…”

He then got up, just as Anna had finished changing and was about to walk out the door, he asked her to stop. “Hey… could you ask for that mosquito-kin, I want to ask her a few questions, also maybe rank her up to see what might happen.”

“Oh? Are you sure that’s all you're going to do?” Anna asked, a coy smile on her face.

“Yes… plus I would like to ask you a question… Why do we have so many followers in the first place?” The confusion in his voice was very clear. “I know statistically that there are bound to be a few converts…” He paused. “No… what I guess what I want to know is why they are joining my religion in the first place…” changing the direction of his questions now that he thought about it some more. “What are their reasons?

Anna actually thought about that for a moment before answering. “Why do you think most people join a religion?” She instead asked in return.

Van blinked and thought about it himself and then hesitantly answered, unsure. “Well… I suppose maybe because they are unsure or afraid, or maybe they lack purpose and want one, maybe even they view it as some sort of coping or helping mechanism. Or it could just be that they are interested in the power they could receive from following a religion, looking for a community, feeling pressured by friends or family, and an assortment of dozens of other reasons…”

Anna nodded, “that’s basically it… there are too many reasons why someone would join. But if you're asking for what seems to be the leading cause of applicants… then it would be due to the fact that there was just a huge war that caused the destruction of their forest because of the hatred they had for each other. So when a religion comes in preaching equality, and said person at the top of that religion is saving hundreds of thousands of lives, plus having the biggest most amazing soul realm they ever did see… and well… you get converts.”

Van paused… “I… suppose that does make me look like some sort of… Savior of sorts…” he admitted.

“Indeed… it does…” Anna replied with some humor. “Anyway, I have to go now, I have a class to teach, I’ll send another me with the mosquito-kin your way.”

“Thanks, Anna, oh, and I'll be asking Venus to come by with a sprite or two to help out, please let them in when they come by,” Van said.

Anna nodded, and said her goodbyes, then left, leaving Van still in bed. Stretching one more time, he got up and made sure to give a mental notice to Venus and his desire for her to bring a few sprites to him. With that done, he got up and changed, using a cleaning cantrip and putting his clothes back on.

Then to pass the time, he decided to read more of the book Ren gave him, but it hadn’t been more than fifteen minutes when a knock came at his door and the mosquito-kin in question was ushered in.

She looked around with worry and confusion, a little nervous as to why she was called. The only thing she was told was that she was supposed to come to this room, and with the way Anna phrased it, it sounded very important. Upon seeing Van, she hovered closer, taking a quick glance left and right, hand to her chest.

“Umm… I was called here for something important…” she asked nervously.

Van closed his book. “Indeed you were, but you came a bit sooner than expected. The other person we are waiting on hasn’t arrived yet, so please take a seat wherever you wish while we wait for her.” He said in a nice calm voice as to not scare her.

The mosquito-kin looked left and right once more, the only place to sit was far in the corner of the room, with the closest place to sit being the bed the male was using. Taking a closer look, she realized it was recently used, making her blush a little, and confusing her more as to his importance or as to why he was here. Was he someone high in the chain of command of the religion? Anna’s boy toy? Or someone else?

With all these thoughts running through her head, she couldn’t help but stay hovering in place, racked with indecision. This was only made worse by the fact she knew that most people hated hearing her flying, due to the sound her wings made.

Van noticed her indecision, and looked around, realizing how uncaring his words were and the state of the room, he snapped his fingers and cleaned the bed, then scooted down and pointed to the other end. “You can sit there while we wait, terribly sorry for the inconvenience.”

The mosquito-kin looked back and forth between the male and the spot he indicated, then nervously flew over to the other end of the bed and sat down. Once she did and some time passed, she began to blush as she realized she was technically sharing a bed with a male. Her heart sped up.

Van also became aware of the awkward situation and prayed that Venus would come here soon. He then tried going back to his book, trying to portray some sort of self-confidence in the hopes that she would relax and not feel self-conscious. But it seemed to backfire a little as she took his ignoring of her in a bad way and became depressed instead.

“Venus… please hurry…” Van thought, checking how far she was to them.

It was another awkward half-hour before Venus finally showed up with two sprites in tow.

“Sorry, I'm late! I came as fast as I could!” Venus said.

Van closed his book once more, though he wasn’t really reading anything, too nervous to do so. “Not at all, if anything, I'm sorry to have bothered you during your busy time.” still trying to play and sound like a magnanimous person.

“Ah! I just remembered.” he turned to the mosquito girl, “I never got your name, do you mind telling me?” feeling like an idiot for not asking in the first place, though he had a feeling like he already knew the answer.

“Umm… I don’t have a name…” the mosquito girl said, sounding even more depressed.

“Well… maybe we can fix that…” Van said, sounding mysterious and drawing her attention back to him. He then began to properly introduce himself.

“Forgive me for not introducing myself before.” sounding a bit more self-important. “My name is Van… and I hear you have some confidence issues…” he then gave her a gentle smile. “We are here to fix that… with the help of Venus and her sprite friends of course.” waving a hand towards them.

The small little mosquito-kin had to process that for a minute or two until her eyes widened and she immediately bashed her head down onto the soft blanket of the bed. “M-m-my-Lord!” her tone was fearful. “I didn’t realize it was you! I’m so sorry! Please forgive my impertinence!”

“Now now, none of that…” Van said, with a slightly worried look. “We are here because I’ve decided to run a little test… you are doing me a favor by being here, so there is no reason for you to do that, please raise your head.”

She did a little, glancing upward with worry, fear, and a hint of awe that her god she should be praying to was right in front of her.

“You see… I've heard that you do not like your wings…” Van said in a knowing manner, making the mosquito-kin pale as she realized that all her complaints were probably heard by him and that she might definitely be in trouble for bothering such a being.

“So I've decided to run an experiment to turn you into a sprite, and do away with your old wings and turn them into new ones… what do you say? I know this might sound hard to believe… and it’s a big decision... Not to mention-” Van went on for a bit more, completely unaware that he already lost her.

For as he was talking, it was like a bolt of lightning had struck the mosquito girl. Get rid of her wings? Become a sprite? No more annoying humming? No more ugly wings? No more being known as that mosquito girl? Or mosquito-kin? Evolving into a higher tier, a higher more powerful evolution with beautiful wings? No more discrimination? Maybe… just maybe… even make some friends…

“YES!” she shouted, cutting off Van to the surprise of everyone with an intense gaze staring right at him in the eyes. After a moment, she realized what she had done and blushed, then paled, mortified at what she had done, repeating herself more quietly. “Yes…” looking down ashamedly.

“Umm… okay… well… I'm glad you agree… so I suppose we can begin with the experiment.” Van then looked towards Venus. “Would your sprites mind giving me a few drops of their blood?” he asked politely.

Venus shook her head. “Not at all, I think they would be more than happy to help their savior.”

The two sprites nodded, and with a word, they came over to offer up their hands. Van gently took their hands and used some of his spiritual power to create a small cut and drew out a few drops of blood from them. Experimenting with his new control of his soul realm and practicing his skill with spiritual energy manipulation while he was at it.

“This should be enough…” looking at the amount he drew. He then smiled at the two sprites. “Thank you for your help, you two have done me a great service I won’t forget.”

The two sprites blushed and thanked him for some reason, then flew back to Venus.

“Sorry for calling you for something so trivial, I really do hope that I didn't take you from anything important…” Van said.

“Not at all, I’m just glad to help, if you need anything else from me, please don’t hesitate to ask,” Venus said happily. “And you know… maybe call on me some more in the future…” she said with a blush.

Van nodded with a gentle smile. “I will… promise…”

Venus blushed again and said her goodbyes leaving Van and the mosquito-kin alone.

“Right then, this is going to be a first for me inside my own soul realm, but it should also be a bit easier as well. Please give me a moment to set up.” Van said to the mosquito girl, who nodded and patiently waited.

He then started to tap into the spiritual energy of the world around him and soon created a three-dimensional rune circle for the purpose of ranking up. “This might actually be a lot easier than even I thought it would be…” as he realized what he could do right before his eyes. “I can create perfect magic circles just from memory, and the spiritual energy would flow to complete that circle as I have it in mind. No extra costs or power consumption… I should have done this in my soul realm from the very beginning!”

“Alright, it should be done now… please hover in the center of the circle I just made,” Van said to the mosquito girl as he concentrated on the task at hand.

The insect-kin looked towards the strange swirly pool of runes with some trepidation. Then took a deep breath, steeled her nerves, and rushed into the center, expecting something to happen. Only to blink when nothing did as Van was still preparing his spell…

“Just give me a moment more…” Van said, now focusing entirely on the mosquito-kin, he then levitated the drops of sprite blood into the circle and started to pour his power in, adding a drop of his own blood for good measure to really kick things up a notch.

Soon, the mosquito girl’s eyes began to glow with power and her body began to lose form. The tell-tale signs of a rank up… then her whole body began to glow a little and change shape right before his eyes.

Van then had an idea, that since he was already going through all this trouble, he might as well give her a name to see what else might happen and tie her to him. “Might as well for good measure… since scarlet was taken… how about…”

“I name you… RUBY!”

The glow intensified, and her body began to change at a faster rate, morphing into a more pleasing shape. Oddly, she gained some white puffy stuff around her neck, with red and black stripes on her hands and feet, reminding him of when Lyn first formed. Her body became slimmer, while other parts became more mature. Her hair became long, and her antenna more feathery. More importantly, her wings became a beautiful black and red color and looked more like a sprite's wings.

Van was amazed, to say the least, and activated his analyze ability, opening up a panel that explained that Ruby became a blood ember sprite. Alongside an awakened chimera race! He was very surprised, to say the least and began to wonder if anyone he helped rank up with his own blood also gained the chimera race and if that was the reason why unique evolutions came about.

But before he could think anymore about it, Ruby came to and marveled at her new body and more importantly, her new wings.

“Wha- this is- this is wonderful!” tears came to her eyes. “Thank you! Thank you!” she sniffed, feeling very emotional. She then rammed into him and gave him a big hug. “I’ll serve you forever, I’ll love you forever! Thank you! Thank you!”

It took some time for him to pry the little sprite off, but eventually, he did. “It’s fine, really, just make sure you use this power for good.” He said.

“I will! I will!” trying to rub all the tears from her eyes, but couldn’t because she kept crying tears of joy.

Van then spent the next half hour trying to comfort the poor sprite until she had some semblance of self-control. “Alright now, I have to go, I’ll come by to visit sometime in the future. Okay? Promise.”

She thanked him again, and then again, and then some more until finally, he was able to make her leave by convincing her she still had to go to her classes. Once gone, he prepared to leave, he still had much to do and plans to make. At least he learned something new and gained a new more powerful follower…