With none of the deities present having time related divinities, time progressed at a normal pace as the little amphibian continued to sucked up not just knowledge but love.

Cute things are naturally loved; even more so when those cute things have a good personality in addition to just being beautiful & lovely all around. Even if Alice wasn’t strong she most certainly made up for that in just being lovable. This was even more true when she managed to use humanisation before reaching 100 years of age let alone the more normal 300 or so years.

The skill allowed her to become an adorable little child with long lilac hair that bobbed adorably with the movement of the water they lived in. What was even more adorable was when she started following her father & mother around with a little curved golden dagger - acting like a little warrior protecting her people. Instead of stopping crooks though she ended up just receiving various kinds of snacks from the people she ran into… Something she happily accepted with an endearing smile & large cheeks that distended due to the food squirrelled inside of them which only got bigger due to her looking cuter the more food she gained.

Her reasoning for her actions were just like any other child - looking up to her parents.

When she miraculously managed to become humanoid before the age of ten her father was naturally overjoyed like any doting father was. Still, also just like any father, he immediately worried about the safety of his baby. Both Leviathan & Gaia knew immediately that their daughter didn’t seem to excel with physical strength yet also were more than happy to brag to others (mostly Tyrant Dealmaker) about how much she excelled in other matters.

It was disappointing her talent with beast skills couldn’t really be applied due to her little body, however the parents naturally didn’t want their daughter to be a warrior anyway. However that didn’t change the fact that Leviathan was a stern father who naturally would break the legs of anyone that approached her with unclean intentions. Something that happened quite a lot when she first hatched but… Well they learned their lesson since there was no exaggeration with the titan’s harsh words to those outside his circle.

On top of this he was a brave warrior himself so was more than a bit knowledgeable about the growing unrest in both the Heaven & Mortal realms. It may as well have been a daily occurrence that they received probing attacks into their seas, entreaties to ally, requests to stay neutral and threats to give up some treasure or another. As the husband of Gaia he naturally knew better than others that everything in the world was interlinked; if the smallest bacteria suddenly went extinct it could cause entire ecosystems to completely collapse which would likely in turn affect other facets of life only {The Mother} could foresee. In this way one could say relationships were an ecosystem all on its own.

The only grace was that beasts tended to be far more straightforward when it came to their dislikes and most tended to never consider underhanded means… Most.

With all his knowledge & understanding how could he not tell that his weakest link was the daughter just about everyone who wasn’t a starfish could understand he doted on. And, like always, whenever they had something to complain about they obviously ended up venting on the unfortunate Snake when they came to visit. Just like always Dealmaker came up with a solution for the dragon trio.

“Have you really not even considered training her with a weapon - much like that odachi Atlas made for you?” <Dealmaker>

“But I don’t have a sword her siz-” <Leviathan>

Before Leviathan could finish the snake only tuned out while shaking their head at the same time they overlooked the vast expanse under the ocean.

The pair were overlooking the entirety of the city by sitting upon the blue tiled roofs of the primordial gods temple/castle. Unlike above the sea space wasn’t as big of a problem yet they still seeked to use it efficiently which resulted in grand displays of magic to produce ‘floating islands’ which rested above the undersea vents which provided both heat & light. Islands were interlinked through large ‘wooden’ bridges with red torii gates on either side. The careful use of space resulted in something akin to a maze of walls topped by tiles making for a very strange but beautiful sight as these islands almost seemed like they belonged more in heaven. One may question the use of bridges yet the pressure so far under the sea in addition to the gravity being so close to the core of the planet made floating far more difficult. For the average denizen there was no way to overcome the weight of the sea to surface while swimming upwards could be difficult for even the most adept. As such there obviously was a need to build structures with the intention of crossing to the various other islands.

As a mighty warrior who had watched Atlas’ betrayal Leviathan also naturally guided these island's construction in a way to maintain tight security. Above each island was an orb which took in the rich natural energy to supply bright light on the islands below though with the main purpose of producing a barrier. Each island was different in size as were the orbs that protected them yet none of them were weaker than the others - it was merely an appropriate usage of resources to get the most out of the least.

In addition to that guards of various races, both mortal & beast, swam around with various equipment that perfectly matched their talents though all of a similar style. Deep under the ocean they had access to plenty of metals so this amount of freedom only came naturally while various buildings could be seen below to make use of the natural vents. These smithies were even more secure than the floating islands with various barriers being utilised in tandem thanks to the expert work of the primordial snake themselves.

Seeing how far these civilisations had come made Dealmaker nostalgic as well as hopeful that some day they would be able to create a similar scene above ground.

Turning to Leviathan who had stopped talking with a proud look on his face - likely having begun to gush about his wife or daughter at some point. The serpent took some meat from a plate though due to being a snake they just swallowed with no chewing. When they finished with that they decided to explain their suggestion properly.

“I didn’t mean it had to be anything particularly dangerous since all Alice needs to do is protect herself from others right?” <Dealmaker>

With that being said they reached a hand into their mouth to pull out an ornate golden dagger which has a curved blade that glittered with the ambient light of the deep sea. It was certainly a beautiful weapon yet Leviathan noticed that it was more than a regular ornate dagger; despite seeming like a ceremonial dagger it contained strong divine power. On top of that it was a power he was already familiar with…

“Atlas…” <Leviathan>

His stern voice turned even more rigid as he gazed at the blade with a longing that held untold amounts of feelings he could never express. To him Atlas was a being worthy of respect yet at the same time a friend who he would fight alongside for years to come… Years which would never come due to treachery of his fellow primordial gods.

“As you know Atlas had many hobbies with one of them being artefact creation; this was one of his last pieces which he gave the name [Forgiveness]. A name with great meaning as it’s a blade made never to kill as it will consume the energy of the one attacked to instantly heal any wound dealt to them. With it a human could theoretically capture a dragon alive.” <Dealmaker>

“And you took it out of your mouth because…?” <Leviathan>

Hearing the obvious accusation of their behaviour Dealmaker could only shake their head while also wagging their hands free finger as if telling Leviathan off.

“It’s a matter of deception when I’m in combat; it leads to the impression that I can only remove things from my maw yet when they unconsciously focus on my maw…” <Dealmaker>

Moving their dagger holding hand to their mouth, causing Leviathan to follow their movement, only for the snake to flick their free hand to have a plan but mighty dagger appear. This dagger sharply moved towards the unexpecting Leviathan’s neck yet he didn’t so much as flinch as his eyes remained closed to hold his pressure back. He did move his hand up to catch the blade between his fingers as well as catch Dealmaker's hand in the process.

“Seems like nothing but parlour tricks to me.” <Leviathan>

“Everything is mere tricks until you reach a high enough level in these supposed ‘tricks’ that they can’t say anything back on account of being dead ohohoho~.” <Dealmaker>

With another flick of their hand the simple dagger vanished while they presented the knife towards the old dragon once again. This time the dragon accepted with clear intentions to hand wrap it up for his daughter once he got the time… Or more likely when he began to ignore his duties tomorrow morning in order to wrap it up personally.

“Where did you get the weapon from anyway?” <Leviathan>

“The dragons above the sea; the primordial gods except for a few see weapons as nothing but toys so hand them down then their followers show their trophies off. With me having ‘visited’ so many of these ‘followers’ I picked up quite a large amount of their ‘trophies’ in the process of bringing freedom to their impoverished servants. In fact I have another sword that little Alice may be interested in, in the future.” <Dealmaker>

Upon saying that the Tyrant moved their hand up to their mouth again only for Leviathan to quickly grab their wrist to halt them.

“I think you can do it like a normal person between the two of us.” <Leviathan>

“Tsk such a stickler~” <Dealmaker>

Soon enough Dealmaker presented a shamshir to the primordial titan dragon that was truly beautiful in its simplicity. Compared to the somewhat gaudy dagger the lizard felt this sword far more fitting as a weapon as it had nothing to show off except it’s fine craftsmanship. A wooden handle was without any embellishment except for a star shaped guard - though the blade did have some engravings in gold it was far lesser than the previous offering. There was one thing holding it back however…

“It has to be sharpened, you dull snake.” <Leviathan>

“*Sigh* you really have no eye when it comes to artefacts do you? If you tried to sharpen this sword it would only result in destroying any grindstone you have - this weapon is the finished product as it was intended. You could call it the sister blade to [Forgiveness] as it is a sword that has no edge yet with proficient swordsmanship it cuts down the spirit of any opponent though in a far more painful manner than its sister; thus named [Mercy].” <Dealmaker>

Leviathan gazed at the blade once more, it indeed was similar to the former, yet he still looked up at the smug snake.

“... You sure you didn’t just forget.” <Leviathan>

“I’ve decided I’m no longer selling to you!” <Dealmaker>

Sticking out their black forked tongue in anger at the lizard - the other lizard took the blade back as if not allowing Leviathan to look at it anymore. Seeing this caused Leviathan some internal panic as it was true there was no better place to get these unique items than the peddler in front of him. More importantly Dealmaker was a close family friend that Alice liked thus would be sad if they stopped coming to do business with them!

After a long desperate petition Dealmaker 'hesitantly’ agreed to ‘let’ their dear friend buy the two weapons at a sky high price… Though it was still considerably cheaper than it probably should have yet Tyrant didn’t particularly care about profit that much.

Greed was something they didn’t understand quite yet.