While Riezel and I celebrated our victory over the ant-like monsters that would have attacked us had we not overpowered and then sniped them, I started having a discussion with the system itself. I began the conversation, which was a necessary part of interfacing with the system, by asking it about the plan that I had devised so that I could eventually purify the Emerald Cavern. I watched as the text box in my mind's eye began to change as it filled with the system's response.
[So your plan is to gain the backing of your government, for the sake of purifying the dungeon, by revealing your true nature? That is certainly ambitious. If you are that determined then you should know that once you do this there is no going back. If you do this then you'll inevitably begin to gain followers. How is it that you want to do it, exactly?]
I read through it, and instead of answering its inquiry, I asked it a surprising question. In my mind, I transmitted a question about "system access" with the system. I was delighted to find that my question had the sort of response I was hoping it would.
[Why yes, you can "Bless" someone and give them access to the system. However, they will be on the same... metaphysical "Wavelength" as you, so to speak. So their access to me will be shared with your access. Questions they ask will be audible to you, as will the responses they get. This is true even if you give billions or trillions of creatures access, which you could do if you wanted.]
I almost cheered when I read that answer. I turned to my companion and began to speak.
"Riezel... We are leaving. I've gathered the information I needed to gather, and now it's time that we formulate our next steps. In our new home." I told her, smiling gently. I turned away from her and rose my hand while activating one of the powers I activated after having sex with her last night.
A swirling red portal appeared in front of the two of us. By peering into the portal both Riezel and I could see a plain where flowers were growing in tremendous numbers. I offered my companion my hand, which she took with some hesitation and then the two of us stepped through the portal and into my seraglio.
On the other side of the portal we found ourselves inside of a private dimension that was under my control. In its natural state it consisted of an endless field, where countless flowers of various sorts grew unbothered by any sort of pollution or communities that would otherwise take land that they could grow in. Riezel studied it for a moment before beginning to laugh.
"So this is your... Our new home? An endless field? How will we live here?" She asked, smiling at me as she took in the natural beauty of the dimension. I chuckled and closed the portal behind us with a casual snap of my fingers, before pointing that same hand in front of me and beginning to modify the landscape through pure willpower.
Riezel stared at me, unsure of what I was doing, as I spontaneously caused the earth in front of me to begin to rise dramatically. When the earth began to rise and it caused a shadow to fall on the two of us she turned and gasped as she watched the earth I was moving climb into the air. It didn't break away from the ground but it did climb for several moments before stopping. When the large circle of earth I had created stopped rising, I cut the air in front of me horizontally with my hand and instantaneously carved a circular path up the mini-mountain that I had created that if walked would allow us to reach the peak of the mountain.
I glanced at my companion and motioned for us to begin to walk the path I had just created. She sighed and glared at me before shaking her head and waiting for me to take the lead. I laughed, softly and began to walk the path with a smile on my face. As I did that I began to design what awaited us at the top of the hike we were taking.
A seraglio was a unique, private dimension that was accessible to higher beings. The types of creatures who most tended to actually use their seraglios were grand adonises, as for them to otherwise acquire private dimensional homes often took considerable effort, so they used their seraglios as their true seats of power. Every single grand adonis owned seraglio was an intricately and uniquely designed place, and the one that Raul began to build as he and his companion hiked up the hilly path he created was no exception to that trend.
At the top of the small mountain Raul immediately created a castle, surrounded by a thick and self-repairing wall. The castle that the grand adonis had in mind was intended to be his truest home, his private sanctuary where he could go and be alone with his thoughts. He modeled the castle off of the sorts of castles that he had heard about as a boy, through word of mouth by traveling adventurers who were the same men and women who inspired him to go on and become an adventurer himself.
The castle was, for now, not particularly complex. Raul knew a fair amount of things but he wasn't some sort of architect, nor did he need to be. This dimension wasn't accessible to anyone who didn't have his permission to enter it and so he could be lax about defense if he wanted to be. Plus he didn't have the knowledge needed to construct a defensive structure, and he was fine with waiting until he recruited someone who did before making his castle in his own private dimension an impregnable fortress.
Raul constructed a castle that was more form over function and he made it a beautiful, shining castle that he would be proud to call his home. He made it his strange seat of power, despite the fact that at the moment he had no power. He knew that was going to change, partially because he was fully leveraging his connection to the system and designing surprisingly well-crafted items in his mind to decorate his castle with.
It wasn't just a surprisingly gorgeous place to live, it was a well-stocked treasure trove of hand-crafted magical items that he could create using his "Creation" ability, aid from the system, and the knowledge held by several skilled, and well-traveled magi, which he absorbed for himself when freeing Riezel from her contract.
When he and his companion arrived at the top of the small mountain he led Riezel past the gates he had created for his castle, through his courtyard, and into the castle proper, where they quickly and quietly walked into an empty foyer, through a waiting room, and then past a throne room, before finally arriving at their destination. A strategy room.
Riezel and I found ourselves in a surprisingly small room where the central feature of the whole room was a magical table. The succubus ignored everything else in the room, all of which were things I made by hand, such as the ornate doors, the readily available refreshments, the background music in the form of gentle harps being played by themselves, and instead focused on the magical table. To be fair to her the magical table was an excellent part of the room.
It was a sort of scrying table. At the moment it displayed a real-time magical hologram of the city of Jasper, complete with symbols to represent every form of life in the city, down to the city's smallest and most annoying rodents. The hologram was projected directly over the table and it was filled with small symbols going about their business, all of whom had no idea about the role they were to play in events much bigger than themselves.
The display on the table was keyed to my mind. I could have changed it with a thought whenever I wished, but I wanted it to display the city of Jasper. It was a reminder for me to focus.
I sat down in a luxurious yet simple-looking chair that began to immediately massage my back and glanced at my companion with a delighted smile on my face.
"You should sit down. It's about time that you and I discuss what comes next." I told her, before gently using telekinesis to push a chair closer to her. She looked at me and for a moment there was a surprisingly serious and respectful look on her face, which only lasted until she sat down and began to get a back massage from her chair as well.
Her facial expression melted into one of bliss and relaxation as the chair worked its magic on her. I couldn't blame her for that, the chair's back massage actually did feel exquisite. That said, I wasn't joking around. I wordlessly blessed her and granted her "System access". I felt her heartbeat quicken as she gained her own text boxes in the corners of her mind's eye. She received a number of text box messages alerting her to the power I had just gifted her, including its connection to me in my capacity as a grand adonis. When she finished reading the messages I began to speak.
"We need to begin to plan our next steps. All three of us. You, me, and the system." I told the succubus, smiling as I felt my chair begin to really get into my back. Riezel smiled at me as I spoke, due to the pleasure of the massage, but also listened closely to my words. Now, in a dimension I controlled and having seen the sort of things I could create with my mind, she was beginning to truly respect me as a powerful being.
Over the course of the next five minutes, I explained to the succubus what I knew about dungeons. It was more or less a recap of what she knew because she had encountered dungeons before. She had seen them and even entered them while serving the National Arcane Academy in the past. She listened attentively and before I knew it I found myself at the part of the speech where I explained my motives. I took a quick breath, mostly to clear my head, and immediately began to speak again.
"I want to be as good a healer as I can be. That means, in part, doing what I can to make the universe... No, to make all of existence, a bit safer, and a bit happier. You see, I think that being a good healer isn't just about healing people after they get hurt, it's about creating conditions under which fewer people need healing. Purifying the dungeon through 'Seduce the world' makes this area a safer place. I will get that done, and I believe the most effective route to doing that is to involve the local authorities." I explained, before finally articulating the final part of my plan. The part of my scheme that has the most direct impact on it.
"And here's the thing... I already have a plan. Or at least the outline of a plan. I want to embrace my true nature as a divinity. I want to be a god. A real one. And more importantly, I want to gradually start my religion in the city of Jasper as the city's patron deity." I revealed, with a large and enigmatic smile on my face as I considered all of the information that the system had revealed to me about religions and gods so far.
"After all, what better ways are there to mobilize a city's guards than to become their deity?" I asked, chuckling as I began to speculate about the sort of impact that this moment would have on the future, on my future.
plot intensifies!
