《Gods Don't Need To Sleep, Duh!》 Ch. 1 - I am the son of your boss Ferrudion sneered at the furry little creature in front of him. As the descendant of a greater god he had been blessed with a humanoid body that he could model as he pleased. The creature in front of him, on the other hand, was limited to the form it was born in. And said form resembled a ferret more than it did a human. While capable of walking on two legs, his father''s secretary spend most of its time scurrying around on all fours. Unfortunately, this creature had something he needed: an unlimited dimensional artifact. "Howdy mate," Ferrudion addressed the creature with a fake smile on his lips, "Father wants me to run an errand and needs me to borrow your dimensional artifact." The creature looked genuinely surprised. "I did not know his Glorificness had returned. Would you mind waiting for a moment while I confirm this?" The lesser deities grubby paws were already trying to invoke the communication magic as it spoke. "Hold it, he is not. If he were, why would he need me to run an errand, duh?" Ferrudion paused, waiting for some sign of agreement. Instead, the secretary''s face showed only a faint smile. ''What''s he smiling for?'' "Then how did his Glorificness communicate this ''errand'' to you?" the ferretoid inquired. Ferrudion groaned. "It''s a family secret, duh. Now stop yapping and give me your artifact!" A derisive grin slipped through the ferret''s trained mask, but Ferrudion did not notice. "I am afraid that without his Glorificness'' approval I simply cannot do so." "Oh shut it!" Ferrudion snapped and stomped his feet on the office floor. Fortunately, everything in his father''s realm had been built for gods, so the stomp did no damage. The noise, however, would have been deafening for a mortal. "But if you shared your task with me, I could see to it that..." You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. "No can do, duh. It is my task! Don''t you know who I am?" The ferretoid roled its eyes. This time, Ferrudion was paying attention. "You... I am the son of your boss!" Ferrudion manifested his nascent powers. Though nascent they may be, they were still greater god powers. The air itself seemed to shudder as free electrons were ripped from everywhere. The sudden currents were visible as sizzles of plazma shot toward Ferrudion. If the ferretoid had not shielded itself with its own powers, it would have fried. "I WILL tell your father," it commented before summoning the artifact and handing it over to Ferrudion. "Whenever he gets back, duh!" And with that Ferrudion channeled power into the glowing blue sphere without setting a location. ~~~ "Poof!" Ferrudion plopped out in the middle of the air, which was actually lucky. Since he had not bothered setting a location, there was a not negligible chance that he might pop out somewhere without air. Ferrudion, of course, did not bother with such contemplation. "Wheee!" Right now, he was enjoying falling. Spreading out his arms and legs like a certain dirt ball''s so-called sky divers might, he enjoyed the rush of air. Thanks to his godly abilities, he did not pass out. Only when his eardrums popped, did he recall the little matter of pressure... and landing. Naturally, turning his body into a splat would not kill a greater god, even a nascent greater god. Then again, reforming his body without aid might take him a few decades, even in this managy-rich environment so... Ferrudion expanded his soul, the enormously dense soul of a greater god, outwards and took control of the free managy outside his body. Using free managy was way less exhausting than rousing the condensed and tightly bound managy in one''s body. ''Up, up, up!'' he commanded it in his thoughts. And sure enough, the air suddenly started flowing up, countering gravity. Of course, he could use some more practice. "Whump!" He had barely managed to right himself before splashing into the water in a spectacular fountain at around 60mph (~200kmh). The speed drove him deep into the cool layer. He barely felt his left arm snap under the impact. And it was not the only part of him that hurt. His whole body was in shock. While his dense soul was already working to restore him to his desired state, the unfamiliar sensations left him in wonderment. ''Superb! Wow! I should do that again. Maybe if I align myself better, I won''t break anything..." Although he was not quite ready to move his body yet, he quickly managed to loosen some of the managy inside of him. Since he wanted to restore his body using the density of his soul to pressure the material dimension into his desired shape, expanding it outward to shape the free managy would and thereby decreasing its density would slow his healing. Instead, he loosened some of his bound managy, and pushed it outwards. ''Up!'' His order was the same if slightly less urgent, but the much denser water was more effective at pushing is body upwards. It swiftly moved his paralyzed form upwards until, finally, his head broke through the surface. He did not stop until even his feet were outside. Then, he allowed himself to fall backwards. Filling his lungs with air, he drifted like a dead man - or teenager rather - on the calm waves. Ch. 2 - Waves on the water Drifting on the sea while his soul restored his body, Ferrudion quickly grew bored. And he hated boredom! ''If only our souls did not need stupid bodies to interact with the material...'' Just then the clouds above him parted and Ferrudion''s gaze landed on this world''s sun for the first time: the pure and blinding white circle was not as bright as the flaming orange star of his father''s residence world nor as large as the beautiful blue illusion illuminating his mother''s entire realm, but Ferrudion liked it. The realization made him frown. ''It is just some youngstar in a lowly mortal realm. Why would I like it?!'' Still, he wondered... His soul should be large enough to reach out and envelop it, right? ''I wonder what that would feel like. Does it even have managy?'' A wave interrupted that line of thought. It was soon followed by another, rougher wave. Realizing the conditions would make it difficult for him to drift, Ferrudion tried moving his arm and winced. The restoration process was ongoing and using it in its current half-restored state might further damage it. And yet he doubted the increasingly wild waters would allow him to float for much longer. ''Bother! Restoring my managy in this wasteland will take me months.'' Nonetheless, he loosened another tiny bunch of his managy and sent it outwards. ''Calm.'' He imbued one simple, clear thought into the managy and waited for it to do his bidding. Moments later the waves fell and left calm waters around him. However, after only a few minutes, the calm started to crumble again; and so did Ferrudion''s face. ''Who dares counter my managy?!'' In fact... ''The first time could have been an oversight, but aggravating the waters around me after I released my managy? How insolent!'' If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Healing process or not, he needed to show whatever being had disturbed his space who they were messing with! Extending his soul toward the water, he felt a little surprised when he encountered condensed managy. Was the water itself a being? For, if not compressed and bound to the body by a soul, managy would surely expand instead of staying concentrated in the water. Unless it were dissolved... ''But it is not. I can feel the tightly wound strands. This must be somebody. And that means, there must be a soul!'' He focused on the spiritual dimension and his soul sensed the enormous thing covering the water. It was nowhere as dense, extensive, and impressive as his soul, of course. ''One more millennium or two and this thing might even become a lesser god. It should know better than to annoy a greater god.'' Touching its soul with his own, he expanded one less dense part of it outward and drove it into the other soul like a spike. The other soul recoiled and he felt a wave of horror extend out from it. ¡º¡°What are you? Why are you attacking me?!¡±¡» ¡º¡°Did you not see me? I''ve been here for ages, duh.¡±¡» There was a pause. ''Is this splashy ignoring me?'' ¡º¡°If I paid attention to every little thing in, on, and underneath me, I would go insane.¡±¡» ¡º¡°There are that many beings around you? Must be nice.¡±¡» Another pause. ¡º¡°Will you not tell me where you are, who you are, or why you attacked me, please?¡±¡» ¡º¡°Mate, how can you not see my awesome soul even after I poked you with it?¡±¡» ¡º¡°Of course, I see your soul, but where is your body? I should have noticed somebody as large as yourself.¡±¡» Ferrudion frowned. This being must be a newborn. ''Why would it think that the size of the soul had anything to do with the size of the body?'' ¡º¡°Stop pretending, mate. I am currently resting on your body, so I need you to stop with those annoying waves!¡±¡» He felt an intense sense of disbelief radiating of the other soul. ¡º¡°How?¡±¡» ¡º¡°What do you mean ''how''? Stop making waves and keep still, duh!¡±¡» ¡º¡°¡­¡­¡­¡±¡» ¡º¡°You don''t want to mess with me, mortal, I am a greater god!¡±¡» ¡º¡°You attacked me because of waves?¡±¡» ¡º¡°Yes, duh!¡±¡» ¡º¡°For managy''s sake, I do not make waves, little godling!¡±¡» Ferrudion''s face went red with fury for a moment before he managed to calm himself. A greater god had to act with dignity. Besides, if he destroyed this realm, his father would surely know. ¡º¡°Who are you calling a godling! I am the proper son of TWO greater gods and a greater god myself!¡±¡» ¡º¡°My apologies... But I do not make waves.¡±¡» ¡º¡°It is your body! Who else would be making waves?¡±¡» ¡º¡°¡­ You are in my body, correct?¡±¡» ¡º¡°Are you saying someone else in your body used managy to make those waves?¡±¡» ¡º¡°What happened when you entered my body?¡±¡» It took only moments for the water to explain the concept of waves as well as the basic mechanics of liquids to Ferrudion. ¡º¡°Then... Someone keeps punching you to make those waves?¡±¡» ¡º¡°No. There are all sorts of factors, but in your case, it''s simple.¡±¡» The water had finally located Ferrudion''s comparatively tiny body. ¡º¡°There is a ship approaching you. At its current course, I estimate that it will hit you in one-ninth of a day.¡±¡» Judging by the size of the sun, one day should be twenty-seven hours. ''A ship?'' Ch. 3 - I, Great God The image and concept the other soul had communicated to him were confusing. ¡®So it is some sort of transport vessel?¡¯ Ferrudion knew mortals could not use dimensional travel, but this ¡®ship¡¯ thing was unexpectedly complex. The information transmitted had been insufficient for him to understand it. ¡º¡°Then the waves are a side effect of the mortal vessel''s movements?¡±¡» ¡º¡°Exactly! It has nothing to do with me!¡±¡» That would explain why the waves reappeared after a few minutes. He had only used a tiny amount of managy to keep the waters calm; and while the ship was still out of its tiny area of effect, the waves it was creating were not. They continuously crashed into the artificially calmed area and quickly exhausted the managy. ¡®If I had used a proper managy construct, it would have lasted longer, but that is such a bother.¡¯ ¡º¡°What is a great existence like you doing in my body, anyways?¡±¡»the water inquired. ¡º¡°Being bored while restituting my body, duh.¡±¡» ¡º¡°Oh. Did something attack you?¡±¡» A big fat hint of worry carried over with the soul transmission. ¡º¡°Of course not, duh.¡±¡» If something had attacked him, he would have blasted it out of existence, discomfort or not. And if it were too strong for that, he would borp himself out of there, right back to his father''s boring realm. ¡®Father would be mad, but my absconding would quickly be forgotten if he saw me injured by another god.¡¯ ¡º¡°Then why are you injured?¡±¡» ¡º¡°Why do you care?¡±¡» ¡º¡°Maybe I could help you.¡±¡» Ferrudion snorted and sent a wave of disbelief at the other soul. ¡º¡°You? Help ME?¡±¡» ¡º¡°If it is a material injury, then I probably can. Healing magic is my forte.¡±¡» Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Magic. It was another term for managy construction. Managy being the only energy that was both spiritual and material, its applications were endless. Of course... ¡®Heh, if it thinks it can take over my body with such shoddily condensed managy, it will be in for a surprise.¡¯ ¡º¡°Sure. If you heal me, I will graciously forgive you.¡±¡» ~~~ To his surprise, the water had not tried to steal his body. ¡®It must not be so stupid, after all.¡¯ Instead, it had completely healed him and then comfortably carried him to the offender: the ¡®ship¡¯. And that''s why Ferrudion was currently staring at a giant wooden monstrosity cutting through the water like his father''s hands through matter. The part above the water was at least twenty times his height. And at 5''7" (~170cm) Ferrudion''s mortal body was not too shabby. ¡°Wow!¡± ¡®It is not bad for something built by mortals.¡¯ ¡º¡°Want me to get you up there?¡±¡»the water asked eagerly. ¡º¡°Yes.¡±¡» Ferrudion was too busy using the free managy around himself to carefully brush against the ship to notice the relief radiating off its soul. The god, young and ignorant of liquid mechanics, would be off its back. The water rose in a tall wave, carrying the greater god''s small body upwards and towards the ship before splashing harmlessly on its deck, depositing him there. Ferrudion blinked as his soul brushed against countless others. To prevent himself from accidentally smothering the tiny blips, he drew it inwards, only covering his body and immediate surroundings. Of course, his body and soul were in different dimensions, but the location in spacetime remained the same. If your definition of spacetime included the spiritual dimension, that is. He turned his head in the direction of the closest soul. A man stood there, gaping at Ferrudion. ¡°Asalanta pihish!o...¡± someone behind Ferrudion shouted. ¡®Must be the local mortal language.¡¯ Ferrudion had never studied mortal languages, but he knew they had them. And he had learned how to learn any language. Well, he had never tried this with a mortal, but what could go wrong? Extending a teeny weeny thread of his soul towards the dim blip that was the soul of the gaping man before him, he gently touched it. It was the same method he had used with the water earlier, just much less intense. ¡º¡°I,¡±¡»he transmitted a visual image of himself, trying not to overwhelm the mortal with something as enormous as his idea of himself. The mortal blinked in confusion. Unlike the water whose soul had been big enough to process a bunch of ideas and concepts simultaneously, this soul could be ripped apart by a single sentence. ¡º¡°Great god,¡±¡»he transmitted a vague outline of the idea of greater godhood. The mortal froze. ¡°Aaah! Gah! Urgh...¡± Moments after that series of pained noises, he fell to the ground, clutching his head and moaning. ¡®¡­¡­ It was but an outline of the whole idea! And it not even a concept, just an idea!¡¯ The voice behind Ferrudion shouted some more. Soon after, someone rushed past him toward the man convulsing on the ground. The shouting person, a man whose body looked as juvenile as the nascent god''s, finally gave up on shouting from behind and stepped in front of Ferrudion. Pointing a finger at the greater god''s chest with an accusatory expression on his face, he yammered something unintelligible in their mortal tongue. ¡®Should I give it another try?¡¯ Ferrudion stretched out another tendril of his soul, this time towards the soul of the teen, which seemed much denser. Ch. 4 - Powerful and respectable? ¡®Hold up! What do I even want to say?¡¯ Ferrudion paused and contemplated his situation. Did he really need these lowly mortals to understand his greatness? Looking to the right of the pointy, loud teen, he saw the man he had communicated with still rolling on the floor in pain. At the same time, he sensed the man''s soul. To Ferrudion, it looked like an imploding soul. But people from a certain mud ball might instead compare it to a balloon almost out of gas: Whereas the man''s soul had been a tiny but nicely inflated one filled with dimly glowing gas, it was now barely glowing at all. Most of the gas had dissipated, leaving behind a leaky husk of a soul. ¡®Clearly, they are incapable of comprehending my greatness. Besides, Barrion said undercover trips are the best.¡¯ Relying on the words of the only other nascent greater god he knew, Ferrudion decided to pretend to be a mortal. ¡®Of course, I need them to know that I am a powerful and respectable mortal, lest they bother me.¡¯ Softly touching the soul of the pointy, noisy mortal, Ferrudion resisted the urge to stab it and began communicating. ¡º¡°I.¡±¡» He watched with satisfaction as the mortal flinched when Ferrudion flashed him a visual image of himself. ¡º¡°Powerful.¡±¡» He tried to convey the idea of power by sending an image of himself crushing a mountain, or rather a mountain-sized piece of rock, with his mangy. The mortal paled and lowered his finger. ¡º¡°Respectable.¡±¡» He transmitted visuals of the most mundane looking parts of his father''s favorite residence. The sturdy yet intricate mosaics in the garden, the insanely detailed carpets that sucked in sounds, his father''s collection of constructed metals, ... All the while, he paid close attention to the mortals soul. And it was good that he did! He abruptly ended their souls'' connection. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡®Phew, any more and his soul might have collapsed. But I think this should be enough to impress my greatness upon him.¡¯ Indeed, the mortal had stopped shouting and taken several steps backwards before making a curious motion. He bent forward about fifteen degrees, lowering his head, while holding his arms out before him, crossed with his palms up. Then he straightened and started walking around, talking in their strange language again. Around me, men and women, one after another, made the same sound, ¡°Ntak!¡± Judging by their demeanor, it seemed to be some form of acknowledgement. Finally, the mortal stopped talking to the various mortals around and returned to face me. He started speaking only to stop himself and try gesturing instead. He mimed lifting something to his mouth before pointing to something behind Ferrudion and shrugging his shoulders. Ferrudion raised an eyebrow at him. The man repeated the set of gestures, so, Ferrudion turned around to see what the teen was pointing at. It was a wall. ¡®Is there something noteworthy over there?¡¯ Shrugging, Ferrudion jerked his head in its direction and then started walking towards it, the mortal trailing half a step behind him. They stopped two strides before the wall. Ferrudion looked at the mortal quizzically. The mortal looked back, equally confused. ¡®Does he want me to knock the door down?¡¯ ¡º¡°I knock the wall down.¡±¡»He cautiously sent a vision of himself blasting the wall to pieces. Although he was unfamiliar with this material and the vision might therefore be inaccurate, he thought it would sufficiently convey the message. The mortal paled and made a series of incomprehensible gestures before reaching past Ferrudion to touch a protruding bit of the wall and exerting force on it. The part of the wall behind it swung inwards. Ferrudion whistled appreciatively. ¡®This is an entryway, huh?¡¯ Unlike the entryways in his parents'' realms, it was indistinguishable from the wall on a spiritual level. It must be purely material. After giving the interesting entryway one last lookover, Ferrudion stepped through it. The mortal followed and closed the entryway behind them by manually moving the piece of wall back in position. Its movements were interesting. ¡®I should play with it some time and try to figure it out.¡¯ For now, he planned to learn the language of these mortals, but he was sure that would take a year at most. Even the complicated ancient godly tongue used by many of the greater gods allied to his mother had only taken him a decade to master, after all. All the while, the mortal had started gesturing at him again. He sighed and send him another transmission. ¡º¡°I follow you.¡±¡» He sent the vision of himself walking behind the mortal. The mortal shook his right fist twice to the right side of his head. ¡®I sense a vague sense of agreement from his soul. Perhaps that gesture means yes?¡¯ Then he proceeded to lead me to a hole in the floor. There were many short steps leading down the hole to another room. After that came a corridor and a few more rooms before we ended up in a nice looking room. For one, it had a carpet. Well, something that could barely considered a carpet in the eyes of a god, but it was recognizable enough for Ferrudion to regard it as one. They walked up to another wall, whereupon the mortal rapped his fist against it. Ch. 5 - Pelou Dean The section of the wall he had rapped on swung inwards, revealing another room. ¡®Another new style of entryway, huh? I cannot detect anything in the spiritual dimension. Well, there is some sort of managy construct, but it looks nothing like an identification construct...¡¯ His guide held out an arm towards the entryway and through their soul link, Ferrudion got the impression that the teen wanted him to enter first. Shrugging, he did just that. After all, whatever the purpose of the puny mortal managy construct, it could not harm him. The new room looked even better than the last. For one, there was gold. His father, the God of Iron, loved gold almost as much as his namesake, which was why Ferrudion held a healthy appreciation for it as well. Behind a desk that seemed to be missing all the important details - the viewer, the con, and other such godly instruments that belonged on any good desk, was sitting a new mortal. ¡®His soul looks just as bright as my guide''s, but it seems a bit larger.¡¯ Ferrudion inspected him in both the spiritual and material dimensions. Materially, the man was broad shouldered but not much taller than Ferrudion''s guide. Ferrudion was about two inches (5cm) taller than the man. While Ferrudion had sized up the man, someone behind him had closed the entryway. Surprised, he noted the presence of two other beings. Their souls were so dim that he had initially failed to notice them. Then, his guide stepped forward and repeated the curious earlier motion. Bending slightly forward with his arms crossed in front of him, palms up, he addressed the sitting man, ¡°Palanihi Kalou Sahagam!¡± Ferrudion blinked and pondered the meaning of the motion, was it a formal greeting? The man replied with some other gibberish and the teen straightened. Now, they were both looking at him. ¡®I won''t be greeting any mortals first,¡¯ he thought and grinned. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. A pang of fear echoed over to him through the connection with the teen, and he watched as the teen repeated the motion in his direction. The man behind the table stood, made the presumed greeting motion, and said, "Palanihi sasanagam." The teen gasped. Ferrudion did not know what to say. Falling back on his godly etiquette lessons, he decided to bestow his name unto these mortals. After gently stretching a tendril out to the man''s soul, he projected, ¡º¡°I.¡±¡» A vision of himself was transmitted. Then he put his right hand on his heart and said out loud, ¡°Ferrudion.¡± The people blinked at him. The man looked especially shocked. ¡®Are they familiar with my great name?¡¯ Any such hope was dispelled by the teens next words: ¡°Lou Diho.¡± The man straightened, threw the teen a look, and said, ¡°Pelou Dean.¡± ¡®What did I expect...¡¯ Of course, these mortals would be incapable of pronouncing his great name. However,... ¡®Is that not a good thing? This way, it can be my pseudonym. I bet Barrion will be impressed by my foresight.¡¯ So, Ferrudion repeated the fist shacking gesture the teen had made earlier while transmitting a sense of agreement to the man. ¡°Pelou Dean,¡± he repeated. Then, the man put his hand on his own heart and said, ¡°Kalou Saha.¡± Pointing at the teen, he said, ¡°Kalou Dan.¡± The way they split every name in two was a bit peculiar, but Ferrudion pointed at each of them and repeated their names the way they had said them. They smiled and made the fist shaking gesture. Then they stood there awkwardly in silence. Eventually, Ferrudion decided to repeat his earlier actions and share his status with the man: ¡º¡°I. Powerful. Respectable.¡±¡» He showed him the same visions that the teen had received and the man blanched just the same. Unlike the teens, his soul seemed a bit more stable though. After mumbling some incomprehensible mortal gibberish, the man seemingly calmed down and made a gesture that Ferrudion interpreted as ¡°Come closer¡±. Thus, Ferrudion walked over to the man''s desk. For the next couple of hours they played, ¡®pointing at things and saying their names¡¯. After going through everything in the room, the man would draw things on a thin slice of something and name them instead. Finally, he showed Ferrudion a piece of abstract art from a big ¡°scroll¡±. Most of the things in this mortal realm were unfamiliar to him, but when he saw the colorful image drawn on the scroll, he immediately recognized it as abstract art. His father had made him take art lessons, and many of his teacher''s favorite works had looked just like the one in front of him: Brown, green, and blue tones were decorated with black and red lines as well as countless squiggles. Ferrudion repeated the word, ¡°Map¡±, while transmitting visions of other abstract art he had seen. The two mortals looked at him curiously, and he felt they were unsure if he had understood them correctly. He frowned. They quickly moved on to other words. ~~~ Ferrudion had been on the ship for two days now and he was very happy with his progress. Firstly, he had finally understood the word ¡°map¡±. It was a primitive tool for displaying locations. Secondly, he knew they were on the Pahina ocean. Thirdly, they were going to the Palevine Empire. Ch. 6 - Plans, intentions, and a lack of fun Ferrudion was still unsure what exactly the Palevine Empire was, other than a location, of course. But after wasting too much time trying to understand the mortals stunted language, he had told them that he would know when they got there. Right now, he was standing on the ship''s deck, Kalou Dan at his side, and tried to understand the various managy constructs involved in its movement. One helped minimize the friction of the material the ship was made of, ¡°Irontree wood¡±, and another rotated the ¡°wings¡± that pushed them forward. It was a curious way of inducing movement. ¡®I admit that it is less costly than using managy to move the ship directly, but those constructs are so... ugly!¡¯ Compared to the intricate constructs he had been studying, these lacked finesse. They were disappointingly simple. ¡°Please allow me to ask a question, Pelou Dean-agam.¡± Ferrudion had already gotten used of these mortals'' strange forms of address. Apparently, adding -gam or -agam to someone''s name signified respect in their culture. ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°When this ship gets to the Palevine Empire, what are your plans?¡± Ferrudion pondered the question. ¡®To do something fun!¡¯ Unfortunately, fun was a word he had not yet learned in their language. He had tried showing them some funny activities. The vision of him dropping out of the sky and plunging in the water had yielded the words for falling, diving, injury, and healing. Likewise, his various visions of him playing with his father''s secretary by setting him on fire had only earned him looks of incomprehension and fear. ¡®Father did forbid me from playing with his subordinates, but I thought he simply had no sense of humor...¡¯ For the first time in his life, Ferrudion considered the possibility that his own sense of humor might be abnormal. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡®Well, it makes sense that these mortals would be different. There are so many of them.¡¯ This single ship housed more souls than Ferrudion had seen in all his life. And he had lived longer than the oldest mortal on-board! Noticing that Kalou Dan had started looking tense, Ferrudion remembered that he had been asked a question. ¡°To do good things. Good like the falling,¡± he replied, hoping Kalou Dan would catch the reference to the vision. ¡°Like burning things?¡± the teen asked fearfully. ¡°Not that.¡± ¡®These mortals are so weak that it might kill them.¡¯ The teen smiled and Ferrudion felt that he was relieved. Before he could ask another question, Ferrudion held up his hand. ¡°Wait.¡± To further his understanding, he had spread out his soul. To not accidentally smother any mortals, the part outside his body was as thin as he could make it. Thin enough that even a mortal soul could push it aside. And right now, he was feeling a bunch of new souls doing just that. They were closing in from the direction the ship was going. He decided to ask the water. ¡º¡°Water, who are those souls moving towards me and the ship I am on?¡±¡» Communication with the weak mortals was tedious, so Ferrudion frequently opted to ask the water instead. After all, it could actually use its soul to respond. ¡º¡°I do not know. Hmm¡­ I do feel another ship moving towards you.¡±¡» ¡º¡°You should really pay more attention to what goes on in and around you.¡±¡» He felt the water''s annoyance through the soul link. ¡º¡°Unlike you, I am not immortal. If I wasted my time on lesser beings, I would never make progress.¡±¡» ¡º¡°Not immortal yet! I can feel that your soul is almost big enough. Even if you do not become a lesser God, as a deity, you will still be as good as immortal.¡±¡» ¡º¡°¡­¡­ Thank you for the compliment.¡±¡» Asking the water more would probably be pointless. Hence, Ferrudion sighed and turned to Kalou Dan. He pointed in the direction of the new souls. ¡°Kalou Dan, there are one-hundred-and-three souls on a ship in that direction. They are moving towards us. Do you know them?¡± ¡°There is a ship moving towards us?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Kalou Dan looked uncertain. ¡°It could be not their plan. Or they might be Pahipiti.¡± ¡°Not their plan? Pahi-what?¡± ¡°Yes, it could be unintentional. I need to tell Kalou Sahagam.¡± The teen bowed, that was what the weird bending movement was called, and ran off. Moments later, the man and a few others joined Ferrudion on deck. The man gave a ¡°spyglass¡± to a woman and she proceeded to climb the ship''s empty mast. As they were currently using the managy rotors, the sails had been stowed. ¡°Pahipiti!¡± she shouted down. The teen looked excited and the man worried. ¡°What are pahipiti?¡± ¡°People that take other people''s ships away.¡± ¡°Without permission?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± That helped Ferrudion understand. ¡®These people are thiefs!¡¯ ¡°What is your plan?¡± ¡°To defend, to kill.¡± Ferrudion smiled and conveyed his approval. His father had told him about thieves. Those who dared to steal from a greater god deserved to die. Now, this ship was not exactly his, but who cared about the details. ¡°Do I kill them all?¡± he asked the man. The man stared back quizzically. ¡°You intend to kill the pahipiti?¡± ¡®Right, intend, that was the word.¡¯ ¡°If you approve.¡± The man looked hesitant. ¡°When they reveal their intentions, I would be happy to receive your aid.¡± Ch. 7 - Pahipiti Ferrudion shook his fist twice to signal agreement and then focused on the spiritual dimension. Through his soul, he could clearly sense the one-hundred-and-three distinct souls pushing through the thin outer layers of his expanded soul. Although the past few days had helped him grow accustomed to the sensation, he was not sure if he liked it. Comparing those one-hundred-and-three souls to the one-hundred-and-seventy mortals on this ship, he felt that his mortals were inferior to the newcomers. Except for Kalou Saha, Kalou Dean, and two mortals whose names he did not know, the presumed thieves easily bested them in soul strength. There were twelve thieves on Kalou Deana''s and unnamed mortal #1 and #2''s level, as well as two mortals with a soul that could match Kalou Saha''s. Finally, there was one dense soul that surpassed Kalou Saha''s by an order of magnitude. ¡®It is difficult to qualify these mortal souls. Their densities are all so low that the differences seem miniscule. Still, that soul should be about ten times as dense as Kalou Saha''s.¡¯ Since soul density influenced managy control and correlated with bound managy, Ferrudion concluded that the potential thieves would easily overpower the mortals on this ship. Ferrudion looked around and was happy to see that Kalou Saha was still on deck. He walked over to the man who was barking orders to a few mortals standing around him, and waited for him to finish. When the man turned to see Retrusion standing behind him, he gasped. ¡°I did not see you.¡± Ferrudion rolled his eyes. ¡®Stating the obvious much? I know you are to weak to sense souls, duh.¡¯ Ferrudion decided to ignore the meaningless comment. ¡°Kalou Saha, you are weak. Two pahipiti have strength like you, and another one has ten times your strength.¡± ¡°Ten times my strength?¡± the man did not seem to believe him. Ferrudion sighed. ¡º¡°You.¡±¡» He transmitted the sensation of the density and extent of the man''s soul. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡º¡°The Pahipiti.¡±¡» For a good few breaths, Kalou Saha stood there, motionless. ¡®Since he cannot sense souls on his own, is he incapable of processing the transmission?¡¯ Remembering the man whose soul had imploded, Ferrudion looked at Kalou Saha''s soul worriedly. Fortunately, it looked fine. ¡°You are aholomagam,¡± the man finally said. ¡®Communicating with beings incapable of soul speech is frustrating.¡¯ Learning a language was much easier when the other person could show you what the words meant. Sensing Ferrudion''s lack of understanding, Kalou Saha explained. ¡°This, the things you showed me, it is holo, yes?¡± ¡®Does holo mean soul?¡¯ Ferrudion sent him some more soul sensations and asked, ¡°This is holo (a soul)?¡± ¡°Yes! You can see holo (souls)!¡± ¡°Then is aholomagam the word for someone who can see souls?¡± While Ferrudion felt that ¡°see¡± was not quite the right word, he had yet to learn any equivalent of ¡°sense¡± in their language. Perhaps they did not have one. The man shook his fist twice in agreement. ¡°Then I am aholomagam (a soul-seer).¡± At this, Kalou Saha looked both happy and grim. ¡°You are a strong soul-seer to see souls from far away.¡± Ferrudion shook his fist. ¡®I am a greater god, duh.¡¯ ¡°That pahipiti has a strong soul. If he plans to kill us, I cannot defend us.¡± Ferrudion grinned. ¡°I can.¡± Although these mortals were not exactly fun, their world was mysterious and interesting. He wondered what killing a mortal would be like. Despite destroying countless bodies, Ferrudion had never actually killed anything. All his teacher''s had been lesser gods and deities capable of restoring their bodies. Kalou Saga bowed to him and then called over Kalou Dan before leaving. Having not witnessed their conversation, Kalou Dan seemed excited. ¡°Pelou Dean-agam, can we go to the bow and wait for the pahipiti?¡± Bow was the word for the front of the ship. Ferrudion shook his fist twice and lead the way. Soon, they were standing on the barely raised foredeck of the ship, waiting. Ferrudion felt the souls drawing closer and closer until finally, they were visible to the naked eyes. ¡°Hoaa!¡± Kalou Dan exclaimed and Ferrudion sensed his amazement. ¡°Their ship moves so quickly.¡± Ferrudion slightly increased the density of his soul and tried to sense the managy constructs layered unto the approaching ship. ¡®Less friction, check. Rotors, check. Increased stability? And what''s that?¡¯ He felt eighty-six tiny constructs that seemed to be related to fire. ¡°Kalou Dan, their ship has eighty-six very small magics. What are they for?¡± The teen pondered the question. ¡°Eighty-six of the same magic?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The teen scrunched up his face and then blanched. ¡°They have poupousa!¡± ¡°What are poupousa?¡± ¡°They are tubes,¡± the teen showed the shape with his hands, ¡°And they spit out balls. Very fast balls.¡± Ferrudion was just about to ask what kind of tubes would have lips and a tongue to spit with when a loud sound echoed over the water. Moments later, an iron ball splashed harmlessly into the waters 10ft (3m) to the front left of the ship''s bow. ¡°Poupousa!¡± someone shouted, followed by more discordant shouting. ¡°What are these balls used for?¡± ¡°To kill.¡± No other balls followed the first. Instead, Ferrudion witnessed the other ship hoisting a black square up their empty mast. ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°A flag. They are pahipiti.¡± Ch. 8 - The strength of a greater god ¡°Okay. Do I kill them?¡± If that black square meant they were pahipiti, did that not mean their intentions were clear? ¡°I will go get Kalou Saha,¡± the teen said and bowed, hastily running off. When he returned with Kalou Saha, the ship had stopped about 2000ft (600m) away from them. ¡°Please, could you wait?¡± Pelou Saha asked while catching his breath. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°We can talk to them.¡± ¡®They want to talk to thieves?¡¯ Ferrudion shrugged his shoulders. Either way this situation was new and interesting for him. ¡°Shout? Can they hear?¡± The ship seemed too far away for them to hear anything without a magic to help them. ¡°We can put a few flags on the mast. Then they send a boat with someone to talk.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Ferrudion watched as a few mortals hoisted a square blue flag, waited, switched it out for a blue flag with a white stripe, waited, and so on. After a series of twelve flags, he watched the other ship respond by adding a blue flag underneath their black flag. And indeed, just as Kalou Saha had predicted, soon a small boat was approaching theirs. Unlike the ships, it did not move through magics. It had neither a rotor nor a magic to remove friction. Instead twelve mortals moved it by pushing through the water with slabs of wood. Two other mortals simply sat in it, doing nothing. Ferrudion recognized their souls. One was a soul matching Kalou Saha and the other was the second strongest mortal soul he had encountered here: the soul ten times as strong as Kalou Saha''s. The mortals moving the boat were weaker than Kalou Saha and Kalou Dan but still stronger than most other mortals on this ship. ¡°The strongest is coming.¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°The soul stronger than mine?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Kalou Saha bowed to him, the angle a bit steeper than usually and said, ¡°Please, can you protect our lives?¡± Ferrudion instinctively wanted to agree, but he forced himself to consider what his parents had told him about mortals. ¡°Father said a good god makes his followers stronger and protects them. Mother said weak mortals are too short-lived to care for. Are these mortals weak or strong mortals?¡± He had not seen many mortals before coming here. To be precise, Ferrudion had met three mortals and they had all been as strong as the water, on the cusp of becoming lesser gods or at least deities. ¡®Whatever. I think I like these mortals. And I am a greater god. I can do what I want.¡¯ Having come to that conclusion, Ferrudion looked at Kalou Saha and shook his fist twice. ¡°I can. I intend to.¡± ~~~ The pahipiti arrived. The two strong ones used managy to jump up unto the deck of the ship while the others stayed in the boat. Kalou Saha bowed to Ferrudion before going there to meet them, and Ferrudion decided to follow him. ¡°Greetings strangers-gam,¡± Kalou Saha addressed the pahipiti with a bow. They were a man and a woman with the woman being the stronger one. Kalou Dan stepped up behind him to do the same. ¡°Cut the shosha and bring me your salaloteymme,¡± the male pahipiti said. ¡°Strangers-gam, we paluhisou the flags with the intention of talking. There is a soul-seer on board.¡± Ferrudion grinned. ¡®They intend to use me to scare these thieves off.¡¯ The female pahipiti guffawed. ¡°A soul-seer? On your ship? Are you not ameypanne from the Ironforest Kingdom?¡± Ferrudion recognized the name. This was indeed were those mortals were from. They had showed the area to him on the map. ¡°We are from the Ironforest Kingdom, but we are not all amipanu. My nepenu is amahopitu.¡± Ferrudion had trouble following their conversation as it contained a few words he did not recognize, and the pahipiti spoke the language with a strange accent. ¡°Amahopitu? Then give me your nepenne as well!¡± ¡°The soul-seer has agreed to protect us. But we do not want to be shu!oputa with all the pahipiti of your arm. If you leave, we will give you a little lotimu from our sala.¡± The woman grinned. ¡°Show me your soul-seer. Or better, soul-seer, show me your strength!¡± Ferrudion pondered for a moment. ¡®A mortal challenging a greater god?¡¯ He grinned back. Then he sent out tendrils of his soul not only to the two pahipiti standing on the ship, but even those 2000ft (600m) away. ¡º¡°The strength of a greater god.¡±¡» He transmitted his idea of the strength of a greater god to all one-hundred-and-three pahipiti. The man and the woman collapsed, and Ferrudion felt all but one of the mortals'' souls violently imploding. It had been an idea, not a concept. Still, the idea was too vast for those puny mortal souls to hold. The pahipiti in the boat immediately fell silent while the one on deck wailed for a while before likewise stilling. Only the woman next to him held on, groaning as she ground her head against the planks. Ferrudion felt fear radiating from Kalou Saha''s and Kalou Dan''s souls, but he was busy observing the female pahipiti''s soul. It shook violently but had yet to implode. While the other souls had already finished dissipating, it seemed to slowly stabilize. ¡®Interesting. Maybe I can send her a full sentence?¡¯ Ch. 9 - Contemplations Watching the final damaged soul wink out of existence, Ferrudion considered the mortal he had tried to communicate his greatness to when he boarded the ship. ¡®His soul imploded, but it was a minor implosion. It should have healed itself, right?¡¯ While using a part of his attention to carefully observing the surviving pahipiti''s soul, Ferrudion asked Kalou Saha, ¡°When I came to your ship, I saw a man. I injured his soul unintentionally. Does he live?¡± Kalou Saha needed a dozen of breaths to pry his eyes away from the male Pahipiti''s now soulless body. ¡°You killed him.¡± Ferrudion shook his hand. ¡°Him and the others. Only she lives.¡± Ferrudion pointed at the curled up woman. ¡°The others?¡± Kalou Dan asked. ¡°The twelve in the boat and the eighty-nine on the ship.¡± Both the man and the teen stared at him mouths agape. ¡®Did I do something wrong?¡¯ Ferrudion had barely considered it before remembering his mother''s words: might makes right. ¡®Since I am probably the only greater god in this lowly mortal world, I can only be right. Right?¡¯ Noticing that he had subconsciously lowered his gaze, Ferrudion straightened. ¡°About that man?¡± he repeated his earlier question. ¡°Yes, yes¡­ He lives,¡± Kalou Saha mumbled absentmindedly. Ferrudion frowned. ¡®Why are they so scared? The thieves are dead. I protected them!¡¯ As if sensing the god''s displeasure, Kalou Dan smiled at him and bowed. ¡°Thank you for protecting us, Pelou Dean-agam!¡± The words freed Kalou Saha from his stupor and the man repeated them, likewise bowing. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Yes. I am ¡ºpowerful¡» and ¡ºrespectable¡»,¡± Ferrudion said out loud while emphasizing the meaning with soul speech. ¡°What do you intend for her?¡± Kalou Dan straightened and asked while pointing at the last pahipiti. ¡°If she lives, she lives.¡± ¡®I want to see if she can survive more soul speech. The water does not speak any tongue, so it cannot teach me. But since her soul withstood my complete idea of the strength of a greater god, a mundane sentence or two should work as well.¡¯ ¡°Can we leave her there?¡± ¡°I intend to watch her.¡± Kalou Saha shook his fist twice, bowed one more time, and then left to speak to his crew. ¡°The man you asked about, you can see him,¡± Kalou Dan said. ¡®I am a little interested how well his soul recovered.¡¯ ¡°Okay. Lead.¡± Following Kalou Dan, Ferrudion walked inside the cabin, down two sets of stairs, and then through a corridor and into a room. Ferrudion had been slightly stooping the entire time as this floor was barely 5ft (150cm) high. In the small room, the air was poor and even though there hung but a single hammock, it looked cramped. Inside the hammock lay the man he had encountered after coming to the ship, a vacant look in his eyes as he stared straight up. Focusing on the spiritual dimension, Ferrudion inspected the man''s soul. ¡®Its density has decreased by at least a fourth. The energy must have dissipated after the implosion. Otherwise, it looks fine¡­¡¯ The nascent greater god was not an expert in souls, but it had been a part of his lessons. ¡°Can you help him?¡± Kalou Dan asked. ¡®If I knew what was wrong with him, duh.¡¯ ¡°Wait.¡± Ferrudion used his limited vocabulary to ask for more time and extended a tendril of his soul to the man''s. ¡º¡°You.¡±¡» A vision of the man''s body. ¡º¡°Talk.¡±¡» A vision of the man moving his mouth. A wave of hopelessness washed over Ferrudion through the soul link. He recoiled at the unfamiliar emotion and severed their connection. ¡°I don''t know,¡± he told Kalou Dan before turning around and briskly walking out of there. Although it had been but an echo of the man''s feelings, the secondhand emotion had disturbed Ferrudion. He did not want to feel it ever again. Thus, Ferrudion briskly marched back up to the deck with Kalou Dan hurrying after him. On deck, they were met with a curious scene: The frantic pahipiti woman who had been curled up on the floor was now standing, her back pressed against the ship''s mast. Ferrudion could sense the managy in the air around her. The construct was rendering it immobile through freezing, preventing all matter from passing through. Evaluating the magic, he found it wanting. ¡®She is wasting managy by using freezing. She should simply will it to repell. That way, it would only activate when necessary.¡¯ Aside from making an air wall, she also used magic to keep her body from freezing. Outside the air wall stood three other mortals with their weapons drawn. ¡®Swords.¡¯ Ferrudion remembered the word. He drew closer, and when the pahipiti caught sight of him, she shuddered. Dispensing both her magics, she fell down on the floor. Everyone looked at her curiously, Ferrudion included. ¡®Time to give it a try.¡¯ ¡º¡°Why are you on the floor?¡±¡» Ferrudion conveyed a questioning intent aimed toward the idea of the woman being on the floor. ¡°Shtompe lamma denne xa¡­¡± Ferrudion was glad that not just he but everyone looked at the woman with incomprehension. ¡°What are her words?¡± he asked Kalou Dan. ¡°I do not know.¡± To the woman, he conveyed the intent of an order and his idea of the mortal language spoken by Kalou Dan. ¡º¡°Speak their language.¡±¡» Ch. 10 - My mortal translator, duh The woman shuddered and stopped breathing for long enough that Ferrudion decided to inspect her soul. It looked fine, no imploding going on. Finally, the woman gasped and drew in a rugged breath. ¡°Please, lu!upanne!¡± Ferrudion glanced at Kalou Dan who immediately understood and translated, ¡°Lu!upanne is a word for a good you do to others. To kill a bad person quickly, to not give pain to them, like that.¡± Ferrudion tried to find a concept that matched those words. ¡®Relief? No, that is a bit lacking. Favor? A bit much. Hmm, a bad person would be an enemy of mine. Giving an enemy a quick death... Kindness? Nah.¡¯ He shrugged and gave up. ¡°I do not intend to kill you,¡± he told her out loud. Through their soul link, he projected, ¡ºBut there could be pain.¡» He kept the communication to the idea level. It was less precise and not at all comprehensive, yet Ferrudion was sure that the concept of pain would obliterate her mortal soul. Even his godly soul had been damaged when his mother first conveyed the concept to him. It was such a vast concept¡­ ¡®Now that I think about it, I could have restricted it to the specific kind of spiritual pain that is soul overloading. Then again, who knows what the future holds.¡¯ All the while, the pahipiti remained motionless, her soul undoubtedly processing the sense of possibility enveloping the complex but vague idea of pain he had shared with her. Eventually, he received his response in an inkling of acceptance washing through the link. ¡°I help-ammenne you.¡± Ferrudion looked at Kalou Dan. ¡°She intends to help you.¡± ¡°What is this -ammenne bit?¡± ¡°It is her word. We say do-amunu something. It is like we intend to do.¡± ¡°They are two words for one thing, then?¡± ¡°Not exactly. It can be used for things. The water cannot intentionally calm, but sometimes it calm-amunu.¡± Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Ferrudion was now very confused. ¡º¡°Explain.¡±¡» He threw the idea of explaining at the woman. The woman clutched her head and grunted. Then she sighed and said, ¡°It is to talk about¡­ after. When the wind stops, the water calm-ammenne.¡± ¡°Ahh!¡± ¡®And here I thought mortal languages lacked such foresight. Why did they never teach me this useful form?!¡¯ ¡°I¡­¡± He had been about to say, ¡®I see, ¡¯ but since this new mortal had a resilient soul, why should he settle for anything but perfect words?! ¡º¡°Understand.¡» Instead of throwing everything at her at once, Ferrudion slowly transmitted the idea of comprehension to the pahipiti. ¡°Lamappe (understand),¡± she said after a moment. ¡°Very good. I understand,¡± Ferrudion repeated with a grin. Kalou Dan looked at him dubiously. ~~~ Ferrudion spent the last few hours of the day throwing ideas at the woman and waiting for her to utter the corresponding word in the language of these people. He also asked her about some of the words he had heard earlier. While greater gods did not always know everything they had heard, they could certainly recall it. Thus, he learned that Kalou Dan was Kalou Saha''s nephew. And while this was a merchant ship, Kalou Dan was actually something called a ¡°minor noble¡±. Unfortunately, while he could throw ideas at the woman, whose name was Lemme Om Apox, she could not do the same. Thus, Ferrudion did not have the faintest idea what a ¡°minor noble¡± was. Other than a type of mortal, of course. At this moment, he was having a conversation with Kalou Dan as he tried explaining just that. ¡°I showed you the area on the map, the Ironforest Kingdom, yes?¡± Ferrudion shook his fist twice in agreement. ¡°I am from there. There is a small area called the falunu ahini Forest paloni. My family is strong there.¡± Ferrudion sighed. ¡°Family¡± had been one of the words he had learned yesterday. And still there were so many that he did not know. He directed an idea at Lemme om Apox, ¡º¡°Control.¡±¡» She took a moment and said, ¡°Po!oheyppe (control).¡± Kalou Dan muttered ¡°Po!ohipou¡± under his breath. ¡°Does that mean your family controls the area?¡± Kalou Dan looked between them, clearly fascinated. ¡°Yes. But what is she?¡± Ferrudion grinned. ¡º¡°Mortal translator.¡±¡» Lemme Om Apox frowned as two complex ideas hit her soul, one after another. ¡°A-word-ppema (translator).¡± ¡°A-word-pouma,¡± Kalou Dan corrected her pronunciation. ¡°Translator teyleymeyshe (mortal),¡± she finished and shot the teen a murderous glance. The teen did not dare correct her this time. ¡°Right, she is my mortal translator, duh!¡± Ferrudion exclaimed. The ¡°duh¡± was the result of him asking her for a way to indicate a sense of disdain at someone''s failure to grasp the obvious. ¡°I want to switch topics. I have wanted to ask this for a long time. How do you have fun?¡± That''s right, Ferrudion had finally learned their people''s word for fun! ¡°Fun? Oh, fun!¡± the teen repeated the word as if only now grasping its meaning. ¡°I like to le!imou.¡± Instead of sitting through the teen fumbling with words to explain this one, Ferruduion stated determinedly, ¡°Show me.¡± An hour later, he regretted it. Although he had already learned the squiggles these mortals used to record their language when they had explained their map to him, he did not appreciate these objects filled with columns upon columns of them. ¡®There are too many words I do not know.¡¯ At least, he now knew the meaning of ¡°le!imou¡±. It was the act of staring at these objects filled with squiggles: reading. It had little to do with the kind of reading he was familiar with, but that involved concepts and required soul sensing. Since these mortals were incapable of soul sensing and their souls too weak to process concepts, he understood why they would use this inferior method. Still¡­ ¡°This is not fun.¡± ¡°Oh. What kind of fun were you thinking off, Pelou Dean-agam?¡± ¡°Falling out of the sky.¡± ¡°Oh, that''s what that was about.¡± Ch. 11 - The distant shore The next eight days passed in the blink of an eye. Ferrudion tried several activities that these mortals considered fun, among them various games involving cards and dice, as well as peculiar riddles: ¡°I saw one man cheat another and steal from him by force; But in this case might was right, so everybody thought. What did I see?¡± (1) Ferrudion did not understand this riddle. Was might not always right? Unfortunately, the other mortal riddles were just as strange. ¡°It is not mortal nor yet immortal; rather, it has a nature so mixed that its life is neither in man''s estate nor in a god''s, but its substance ever grows fresh and then dies again; it may not be seen by the eye, yet it is known of all.¡± (2) Ferrudion considered this riddle the result of imperfect mortal communication. If immortality and mortality had not been properly ¡ºconcepted¡», how could it even be contemplated? And as far as he knew, everything could be inside a god''s estate. It might not be, but it certainly could be! On the bright side, all this riddling and debating had greatly boosted Ferrudion''s language abilities. Not only did he now speak the dominant language of the Ironforest Kingdom fluently, he was also conversational in the lingua franca of the Palevine Empire. He still did not quite understand why these mortals had so many different languages, though. Lemme om Apox, the pahipiti that could process idea-level soul speech, had first raised the issue. Ferrudion frowned while recalling their initial conversation: ¡°Pelou Dean-agam, if you are going to the Palevine Empire, do you speak Pakpak?¡± ¡°Pakpak? Is that the language you spoke earlier, before I ordered you to speak the language of these people?¡± ¡°No. That would be Arxas. Though it influenced Pakpak, its influence is nowhere near as significant as that of Silusian or Bokka.¡± Ferrudion had sighed in annoyance and asked, ¡°Are all those different languages?¡± ¡°Yes, Silusian is the word for the two common languages in the northern Empire, and Bokka used to be the dominant language of the southern region. Before the Palevine Kingdom became the Palevine Empire.¡± The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. They had gotten sidetracked for a while as Lemme om Apox and Kalou Dan had tried to explain the difference between an empire and a kingdom to him. Ferrudion still did not understand the concept, but he had a vague idea: The most important difference seemed to be size. Empires were bigger. ¡°Back to this Pakpak, why did you ask me if I speak it?¡± ¡°While some people in the coastal areas might speak I!onian - that is the language we are speaking right now, they are a minority.¡± ¡°Then do you expect me to learn¡­ What, four more languages?!¡± At that, both Kalou Dan and Lemme om Apox had looked very uncomfortable. ¡°What?!¡± ¡°It is not uncommon to know three or four languages. Still, most people in the Palevine Empire know at least some Pakpak. Just learning that should be sufficient.¡± That was something he still could not quite believe. From what he had gathered, these mortals barely lived a century or two, how could they waste so much of it studying vague languages? ¡°How many do you two know?¡± he had asked the mortals. ¡°I am also fluent in Pakpak and Bokka. Right now, I am trying to learn the Eastern Silusian dialect. My uncle said it might be helpful for the shapalemu.¡± ¡°Shapalemme... It is a place for our youths to study together. The Shapalemme in the Palevine Empire is renowned throughout the world. Is that not also where you were going, Pelou Dean-agam?¡± As far as Ferrudion, there was no equivalent place for greater gods. Nascent greater gods were simply too rare. But lesser gods and deities... ¡®It must be the mortal equivalent of those academies. What was that place father''s secretary wanted to send me? Benevolence? Fie, as if lesser gods could teach a greater god!¡¯ ¡°Is it fun?¡± Kalou Dan had affirmed this enthusiastically, but ever since he had recommended reading, Ferrudion mistrusted his sense of fun. Thus, he had looked at Lemme om Apox. ¡°It can be,¡± she had said after shrugging noncommittally. ¡°What kind of studying? Reading?¡± ¡°Beyond that,¡± Kalou Dan had assured him, ¡°It is renowned for its magic and swordsmanship schools. The Palevine Shapalemu (academy) even has a pulepounu and a holepounu school.¡± ¡°Appeleppemma study the gods and how mortals may worship them while Aholeppemma concern themselves with plants, especially managy-rich ones.¡± ¡°It is apulepouma and aholepouma...¡± In the end, Ferrudion had decided to study Pakpak. And it turned out that learning a second mortal language was far easier than the first. Kalou Dan had called him a genius for his impeccable recall and ability to learn grammar on the fly. But as he looked at the shoreline on the horizon, he felt lost. ¡®Do I really want to go to this Empire? Kalou Dan said there will be thousands upon thousands of souls¡­. I cannot even imagine it. Showing these puny mortals my power is fun though¡­¡¯ Ferrudion grinned and turned around to find Lemme om Apox waiting for him. ¡°Have you come to a decision, Pelou Dean-agam?¡± ¡°I am going to the academy.¡± The woman shook her fist twice, but he felt her protecting hesitation at him through their soul link. ¡°What?¡± ¡°I was wondering what you intend to do with me. Adults are not allowed at the academy.¡± Ferrudion frowned. ¡®I need to find another translator?!'' ¡°That is too bad. Do you know any young mortals with your soul strength?¡± ¡°I am certain there will be some among those who attend the academy.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Suddenly, the woman bowed to him. ¡°I am eternally grateful that you spared my life after I offended you.¡± Ferguson pondered her non-sequitur statement. ¡°I did not care either way. It was your strength that saved you.¡± ¡°Will you allow me to continue to serve you? I want to atone for my actions.¡± Ferrudion frowned. ¡®Mortals are confusing.¡¯ Ch. 12 - Guardians and greater gods ¡°Did you not just tell me that only young mortals may attend the academy? Can you reverse your age?¡± Ever since he had shared the idea of ¡ºthe strength of a greater god¡»with her, the woman had been very useful and even a little fun. She had introduced him to the human sport of sword fighting. It was a little stupid and nowhere near as profound as godly sports. Then again, he had never been allowed to play the latter. ¡®After father drags me back home, I should try it on that annoying ferret of his.¡¯ ¡°I cannot. I can, however, assist you outside of it. Additionally, you will need a guardian to enroll¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± Ferrudion had semantically understood the word guardian since it was formed from the verb for guarding, but¡­ ¡°Greater gods do not require guardians, duh!¡± ¡°Of course not!¡± Lemme om Apox quickly agreed, ¡°But do you intend to reveal your identity for this?¡± ¡®That is true. I did tell her that I, the great Ferrudion, am undercover as a powerful and respectable mortal, the great Pelou Dean!¡¯ Later, when he shared his exploits in this mortal world with Barrion, it would not do for him to have revealed his identity so early. Barrion would surely claim that he could have awed the mortal world without revealing his powers. In fact, Barrion had done just that when he had expounded on his own recent exploits in a mortal world. ¡°I will not reveal my identity. But does a powerful and respectable being like myself truly require a guardian?¡± Once again, he felt Lemme om Apox''s hesitation through the soul link. ¡°Tell me.¡± ¡°Those visions you showed me when trying to find out the word ¡®respectable¡¯¡­ They were of your father''s estate, were they not?¡± ¡°And I am my father''s son! The son of a greater god! And not just any greater god, the God of Iron!¡± Iron was not a trivial concept to perfect. The qualities that would make a material be considered a kind of iron were very nuanced. And the materials encompassed by the term went beyond what denizens of a certain dirt ball might expect. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Having sensed what I have, I would never doubt your strength.¡± ¡°Then why mention a guardian?¡± ¡°Since you do not wish to reveal your own identity, you likewise cannot reveal the identities of your parents. In mortal society, parents or other guardians are held responsible for their charge''s actions. It might not be possible to enter the academy without one.¡± Ferrudion slowly shook his fist in agreement. ¡®No mortal is qualified to be my guardian. But if I do not have a guardian, I cannot go to the academy. ¡®Should I just do something else? Maybe do a little more falling? That was fun. I can also try doing the opposite and¡­ ¡®No, a greater god always stays true to their goals. I can force them to accept me. But can I do it without revealing that I am really Ferrudion, a greater god?¡¯ ¡°What exactly does a guardian do?¡± ¡°They usually take the role of your parents. It is common for parents to send a guardian if their child travels far away or they are too busy to fulfill their roles.¡± ¡®The role of my parents, huh?¡¯ For the very first time, Ferrudion pondered the nature of parenthood. ¡®What do parents do? Barrion''s father let him go on two excursions to the mortal realms but mine did not. ¡®Mother and father are different, too. Is there really some role they all have in common?¡¯ ¡°What is this role of parents?¡¯ Lemme om Apox did not respond immediately. ¡°Aside from taking responsibility for their children''s actions, mortal parents are expected to see to their children''s¡­ honappenne. The word means everything they must have to live and grow. ¡°Parents are also expected to educate their children. That is why they take responsibility if their children do something bad. It is usually accepted that it shows a lack of education if children do something bad.¡± Ferrudion shook his fist. His parents had certainly seen to his education. Both his mother and father provided him with many teachers and one decennial lesson plan each. His mother had nurtured his soul with her own soul energy; and his father had provided a managy-rich realm for his first managed binding. They had also shared a great many of their concepts with him, his mother more so than his father. ¡®Maybe father will finally share his concept of pain with me after this. I am not weak! And it cannot possible be worse than mother''s.¡¯ Lemme on Apox took his silence as an invitation to continue, ¡°One often overlooked aspect of honappenne is that it covers both the material and the spiritual. Parents are expected to take care of their children''s souls. That is why academy''s usually require absent parents to assign a guardian. ¡°Consider Kalou Dan. His father cannot leave their land, so he assigned Kalou Saha as his guardian.¡± ¡®The soul¡­ How would mortals do that when they cannot share concepts with each other?¡¯ ¡°Okay. Then I need a guardian for this academy? Can they be anyone?¡± ¡°The only requirement is that they must be an adult and acknowledged as your guardian by your homeland.¡± ¡°How would they know?¡± ¡°They often do not. Most places only register noble households. The Palevine Empire being a notable exceptions.¡± Ferrudion ignored the fact that he did not know what exactly a ¡°noble household¡± was supposed to be. He knew the words that made up the phrase, but the meaning did not seem to matter. ¡°Then I can just pretend any random mortal is my guardian?¡± ¡°Yes. Though that will grant him lepalanne power over you.¡± ¡°What strange power is that?¡± ¡°The power to make other mortals believe that they are a person who can tell you what to do.¡± Ferrudion grinned. ¡°You mortals consider everything a power, huh?¡± ¡°We take what we can get,¡± she grinned back at him. Ch. 13 - Messy coins Lemme om Apox had thought this through: she would become the young god''s guardian. After all, a she understood that Ferrudion was a being that could not only level a city or two but possibly their whole world. Receiving an idea of his strength had been the most horrifying experience of her life. She had known that she would die. During her time as a pahipiti, she had seen many of her men murdered. Now, all of them were gone. Still, that was nothing remarkable. It was not uncommon for a pahipiti ship to overestimate their strength, attack to big a target, and get wiped out. They weren''t saints. They became pahipiti with the understanding that it would require killing and that they would end up being killed themselves. After all, this was a harsh world. Nonetheless, the knowledge that there existed a singular, immature being that could annihilate everything she had ever known had somewhat changed her perspective: She had decided to spend the rest of her life protecting this world. And that meant attempting to aid and guide this being until his hopefully more reasonable parents showed up. The woman had always had a ¡®If the only way to avoid the ridiculous gambling debts my drunkard brother left me with is to join a bunch of desperados robbing and ransoming seafaring merchants, then I''ll need to try¡¯ attitude, so she tried. And surprisingly, she succeeded. ¡°Then you be my guardian. Remember, you are only the guardian of the mortal called Pelou Dean.¡± ¡°I will keep that in the forefront of my mind.¡± ¡°Good. Will I need anything else?¡± ¡°There are different ways to enter the academy. You could get a ho!apeyneymme from one of the schools, but then that school could dictate your lesson plan and¡­¡± ¡°Explain the word first.¡± ¡°Yes. It means that you won''t need to give the academy any tepeyte.¡± Realizing she had just used another word Ferrudion did not know to explain the first one, she added, ¡°Tepeyte is something you can exchange for other things. Every region has its own form of tepeyte. In the Palevine Empire, most tepeyte is made of valuable metals.¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Like irons?¡± ¡°Iron is not used but gold is.¡± Ferrudion frowned. ¡®Are irons too rare here?¡¯ Seeing his frown, Lemme om Apox added, ¡°You do not know the words for the other metals and they are difficult to describe. But you could ask Kalou Saha to show you.¡± ¡°Kalou Saha has this tipitou (money)?¡± ¡°I am certain.¡± Ferrudion had quickly located Kalou Saha''s soul, it was in the nice room where he had first met the man. With Lemme om Apox in tow, he happily skipped over there. Skipping was a new way of walking Kalou Dan had shown him. It was not bad. Now familiar enough with the mortals'' entryways to operate them, Ferrudion quickly opened the door and skipped into the office. Since this was not the first time he had done this, the mortals surrounding Kalou Saha quickly scattered. ¡°Pelou Dean-agam, how can I help you?¡± ¡°Show me money!¡± The man threw Lemme om Apox a glance. ¡°We were talking about the requirements for entering the academy,¡± she volunteered. ¡°Of course, we will give our savior''s academy tou!a-money.¡± Ferrudion frowned. ¡°I only asked to be shown money. I want to know what metals are used.¡± The man fumbled with the many layers of fabric covering his body before pulling out a round thing. It was pulled together at the top, and the man loosened it before upending it onto the table. ¡°This is the money used by the Palestine Empire.¡± Ferrudion touched the pieces one by one while expecting them with his senses. There were five kinds of metal disks on the table. Kalou Saha pointed at them one by one: ¡°This is a shipatou (silver coin). It is called Loupa in Pakpak.¡± ¡°Roupa,¡± Lemme om Apox corrected the man''s pronunciation. ¡°This one is a mix of gold and silver, about half of each, we call it lepatou,¡± Kalou Saha said and looked at Lemme om Apox while pointing at an electrum coin. ¡°Kreppa in Pakpak. It is worth ten silver coins.¡± Ferrudion touched the coin. It was indeed about half silver and half gold, though there was a significant amount of impurities mixed in. ¡®The silver coin was impure as well and there is not a hint of managy coming from either of them.¡¯ They introduced the gold coin to him, and despite being worth a hundred silver, it, too, held neither managy nor any kind of spiritual energy. The last two coins, however, were different. They both held magic. ¡°This is a moon coin. It is worth fifty gold coins.¡± The coin was made out of managy-rich silver. Well, rich by mortal standards. It could not compare to any of the silvers in his father''s collection. The managy in it had been spun into the ugliest construct Ferrudion had ever seen. It was complicated but not complex, and, more importantly, seemed to serve absolutely no purpose. The magic''s shape made it impossible for the managy to do anything. ¡®It would take me at least half an hour to unmake this mess of a construct. I knew mortals were bad at magic, but this is¡­¡¯ Unfortunately, the next coin was even worse. The sun coin, made out of managy-rich gold, held about ten times the managy of a moon coin. Unsurprisingly, it was worth five hundred regular gold coins. What did surprise Ferrudion, however, was that it''s magic looked even uglier than the moon coin''s. ¡®Bruh, it takes talent to make something so worthless. That construct is useless. No part of it makes any sense.¡¯ To compare what Ferrudion was looking at to something purely material, it was as if someone had taken carefully spun yarn, frayed it, bunched it up, given it to a goat to chew for a few hours, and then set that mess in glue. Disgusting! ¡°I intend to meet the person who made these.¡± Ch. 14 - Paleblue Harbor ¡°Pelou Dean-agam, is there something wrong with my money?¡± Kalou Saha asked nervously. Ferrudion shook his fist twice. There were five suns and ten moons on the desk. He had examined each and every one of them and found them wanting. ¡°Yes. I would be ashamed if anyone ever saw me in possession of such bad magics.¡± By anyone, Ferrudion was referring to any gods as these mortals were clearly too ignorant to shame him. ¡°Bad magics?¡± Kalou Dan asked. ¡°Yes. The managy constructs of these suns and moons are not only ugly but unfunctional. I have seen the magics on your ships, so I know that you can do better.¡± ¡°¡­¡± For a moment, silence reigned. Ferrudion did not understand why. ¡°You will show me to the one who made the money,¡± he clarified. ¡°Pelou Dean-agam, there may be more than one person.¡± ¡®I should have expected that. Being able to properly construct managy must be a rare ability.¡¯ He pondered how he could eliminate the problem, namely ugly magics, without wasting his time showing a dozen mortals proper construction techniques. ¡®It would be so much easier if their souls could handle concepts. Studying the basics of managy construction took me centuries. Using their mortal languages to communicate, it will take so long.¡¯ Then a different idea struck him: ¡®The money is the problem. The mortals need it but obviously cannot make it themselves. Instead of trying to show them, I can just do it for them!¡¯ ¡°My thoughts are different now¡­¡± ¡°You have changed your mind,¡± Lemme om Apox helpfully interjected the proper turn of phrase. ¡°Yes. I will make new money and destroy all the old money.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Do you intend to do it before or after attending the academy,¡± Lemme om Apox asked. ¡°Can I not do both at once? I am a¡­ I am powerful and respectable.¡± ¡°Can you be in more than one place at once?¡± ¡®More than one place, huh? Technically not. I have not learned soul splitting yet, duh. But could I not cover this whole world with my soul?¡¯ Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. He pondered this for quite a while, not noticing the pensive gazes of the mortals resting on him. He had never studied body language. ¡°Maybe,¡± he finally answered. ¡°If you focus on having fun at the academy for now, I will work on gathering magical money for you, Pelou Dean-agam. That way, you can destroy it at your convenience,¡± Lemme om Apox helpfully suggested. ¡®That''s right! I do not need to do everything myself. I can have others do it for me!¡¯. Ferrudion remembered. Although his mother had said relying on lesser beings was weak, his father employed many lesser gods. ¡®Besides, I am undercover.¡¯ ¡°Do that.¡± The mention of fun had convinced him immediately. ~~~ The next morning, they ship finally reached its destination: the Paleblue Harbor. Paleblue harbor was the Palevine Empire''s biggest harbor and Paleblue City a major tradehub with direct routes to most important locations in the Palevine Empire, including the capital, Vinevine City. Although they had arrived, they were not allowed to disembark yet. The mortals had created a backstory for Ferrudion. ¡®This will be fun!¡¯ Ferrudion could not wait for the harbor officials to show up and question him. Since neither he nor Lemme om Apox were mentioned on the ship''s manifest, they had some explaining to do. ¡°Greetings, I am Karla Sapuk. Welcome to the Palevine Empire,¡± an older woman greeted their group with a bow. ¡°This is Pelou Dean-agam from the Shashala Empire,¡± Kalou Saha introduced Ferrudion to the senior official, bowing slightly. The stout-faced woman studied Ferrudion for a moment before asking, ¡°Does his name follow the lokpa of the Ironforest Kingdom?¡± Although they were conversing in Pakpak, his mortals had prepared him for it, so Ferrudion had little trouble following the conversation. ¡°Yes, Pelou is his family name.¡± ¡°It is my pleasure to welcome you to the kingdom, Lord Dean Pelou.¡± Ferrudion moved dipped his head in acknowledgement. The gesture was the local equivalent to the double fist shake that Kalou Saha and the others used. ¡°To confirm, you were rescued by The Honorable Dan Kalou after pirates left you on the Mikan Islands?¡± ¡®Pirates¡¯ was the Pakpak term for pahipiti. ¡°Yes. He picked up myself and my guardian.¡± ¡°We have noticed an uptick in pirate activity in that area. Rest assured that we will take measures to rekrapuk the situation.¡± ¡°That is good.¡± ¡°If I understood Sir Kalou correctly, you are not from the Ironforest Kingdom, is that correct?¡± ¡°Yes. I am from ¡¸home¡¹.¡± This last word Ferrudion said in the ancient tongue used by many greater gods of his mother''s faction. It had been the first thing that came to mind when Kalou Saha had asked him where he was from. It sounded something like X''xala with the x being similar to a choking noise. ¡°Huhala? I am afraid I am unfamiliar with your¡­ Empire?¡± ¡°It is on the southern continent, across the Hum Mountain Range,¡± Lemme on Apox chimed in. ¡°That certainly explains his complexion¡­ Ah, my apologies. You are his guardian, I assume?¡± ¡°Indeed, I am Lemme om Apox. The Marquess of Pelou entrusted me with his youngest son that he may attend your illustrious academy.¡± At that the senior official brightened up. The Palevine academy was considered a national treasure, after all. For even people beyond the Hum Mountains to have heard of it filled her with pride. ¡°My, where are my manners. Sir Kalou, would you mind showing my colleagues here your ship while I take the young lords and Dame ¡­ ¡°My apologies,¡± she addressed Lemme om Apox, ¡°Is it Dame Lemme-om or Dame Apox?¡± ¡°It is Dame om Apox.¡± ¡°Well, the young lords and Dame om Apox, then. I would invite you to my opik to continue this conversation. Standing out here in the sun seems inadequate.¡± ¡°Lead the way,¡± Ferrudion agreed. He wanted to know what an opik was. ¡®But really, why are these mortals so obsessed with long names and forms of address. They are almost as bad as mother!¡¯ And so, Kalou Dan, Ferrudion, and Lemme om Apox left Kalou Saha and the other officials behind at the docks. Ch. 15 - Formalities and officials Walking in front of the group, Karla Sapuk, senior harbor official, made sure no one could see her grin. After all, she had just met the son of a Marquess! Sure, it was the Marquess of an Empire at the other end of the world, and it was his youngest child, but someone like her did not normally deal with upper nobility. She had been sent with Lord Dan Kalou in mind. Had they known a Marquess'' son would be on board, her superior, a baronet, would have been sent instead. After all, the Palevine Empire could be considered fairly egalitarian compared to the majority of other territories out there. Were she, a commoner, sent to welcome the son of a Pardean Marquess, for example, the Pardeans would have considered it a grave slight. She was taking the shorter route, leading them past several warehouses, and only remembered noble sensibilities when she heard gagging noises behind her. Lord Dan Kalou and Dame om Apox looked fine, but Lord Dean Pelou seemed to be on the cusp of retching. ¡°My apologies, my Lord, I should have taken a different route.¡± Ferrudion was debating whether he should shut down his sense of smell. On one hand this was a novel combination of smells he had never experienced before. On the other hand, it inadvertently made his body react disfavorably. ¡®I can detect the same smell as from the part of the ship full of animals. But there is something else as well¡­¡¯ Deciding to rough it, Ferrudion scrunched up his nose. ¡°Quickly lead the way.¡± The older woman bowed slightly before continuing on. It took them another ten minutes of brisk walking before they arrived at a marble building a good distance away from the warehouses. Here, the smell was still present but much more subdued, and Ferrudion could sense some interesting magics inside and on the building. A few of the warehouses held smaller managy constructs related to temperature, but this place was on another level. For one, the whole thing was covered in an unnecessarily elaborate construct to prevent entry to anything with managy below a certain threshold. The threshold, however, was set so low that Ferrudion was certain any of the mortals he had met could pass through if they knew how to cover themselves in a thin layer of their internal managy. ¡°Please wait here for a moment,¡± Karla Sapuk said and held onto a stone dangling from her sash before stepping through the managy construct. She rushed up the stairs and disappeared through the entryway. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The entryway was much larger than the ones on the ship but seemed to operate under the same principals. There were two handles on each of the two slabs of wood that one could push or pull to move the wood inward or outward. The ones on the ship had all been made of a singular slab and the wood had been different. ¡®Why do we need to wait?¡¯ ¡°Is there a reason not to follow her?¡± he asked his mortal companions. ¡°There is a barrier here,¡± Kalou Dan said in a hushed tone of voice. Covering his hand in a thicker than required layer of his internal managy, Ferrudion stepped up to the barrier and waved it in front of him. It passed right through. ¡°We can pass through.¡± At that moment, a burly man stepped through the marble building''s entryway and gasped audibly. ¡°Honorable¡­¡± he panted as he slowly hobbled down the stairs, ¡°Lord¡­¡± When he had made it to the bottom, the official that had guided them here stepped through the entryway behind him, an exasperated expression on her face. ¡°Dean¡­ Kalou¡­¡± The man stumbled up to the group before bowing deeply. ¡°On behalf¡­ of the Palevine¡­ hah¡­ Empire, welcome!¡± the stubby man panted. Ferrudion looked to his right, at Lemme on Apox, unsure what to say. ¡°My charge accepts your welcome, would you mind if we headed inside?¡± ¡°Of course not, of course¡­¡± the man seemed to gather himself before looking around, shocked. ¡°Karla, where is their carriage?¡± he said, snapping his head around to look at the woman leisurely walking down the marble steps. Unsure what a carriage could be, Ferrudion left the conversation to his mortals. Kalou Dan helpfully came forward: ¡°We walked here.¡± The man gasped again. ¡°You made a Marquess'' son walk?!¡± he shouted at the woman before gasping yet another time and turning back. ¡°My apologies, my Lord.¡± Ferrudion rolled his eyes. ¡®There is nothing wrong with my legs. Why should I not walk?¡¯ Flying using internal managy was way too exhausting. While he would have considered it out there on the water, the managy here on land was so thin, it would take him ages to recharge. ¡®And there is no water, so we could not have taken the ship here, duh.¡¯ Ferrudion considered that flooding the area would likely be more managy efficient than flying here. ¡°Can we go inside now?¡± he asked, annoyed. ¡°Of course, my Lord, please take these,¡± he handed Ferrudion, Kalou Dan, and Lemme om Apox one stone each, ¡°And follow me.¡± Ferrudion felt the stone''s magic and retracted his own layer so that the stone''s inferior managy could cover him. He frowned. Not only was the stone''s managy barely more compressed than the ambient managy, but the construct was as unnecessarily elaborate as the one maintaining the so-called ¡®barrier¡¯. He followed the man inside, nonetheless. The woman had already helpfully headed back up the stairs and was now holding the left half of the entryway open for them. Inside, lay a small hall with a marble staircase heading to the upper level as well as two wooden entryways to the right and one to the left. The floor was covered in a pattern of different blues, and Ferrudion extended his senses to inspect the material the various squares were made of. It was an interesting kind of carbide material he had never seen before. Cautioning himself not to stomp, for the material seemed quite brittle, Ferrudion followed the man through the first entryway on the right. Kalou Dan and Lemme om Apox followed him before the woman, Karla Sapuk stepped inside as well, and closed the door behind them. Beckoning them to take a seat in one of the plushy chairs before his desk, the man finally smiled, ¡°I forgot to introduce myself. I am Sir William Burk.¡± Ch. 16 - Immeasurable signature Sir William Burk was a baronet as had been his father and his father''s mother. In fact, it had been his paternal grandmother who earned the hereditary title through serving as a logistics advisor to General Kran for thirty-five years. She had used her title to help her children advance their careers, William''s father. Unfortunately, that drunkard and his anger issues had almost cost their family the title his grandmother had slaved most of her life away for. And now, here he was, managing a bunch of harbor officials. Sure, it was the biggest harbor in the Empire, but could it compare to his grandmotheras position? Even worse, his incompetent subordinate might have just angered the son of a Marquess. Fortunately, that son looked surprisingly laid back. Not that appearances could not deceive. In fact, if the noble were plotting to have them all assassinated for the slight, he would likely be just as relaxed. ¡°Lord Dean Pelou, in the name of the Palevine Empire I apologize to you and your guardian for my subordinate''s incompetence. Please rest assured that her attitude does not reflect the intentions of the Palevine Empire.¡± At that, Ferrudion frowned. He was almost finished inspecting the rooms interesting d¨¦cor and ready to move on. ¡°This is the opik?¡± he inquired languidly. ¡°Yes, my Lord.¡± Sensing Ferrudion''s impatience, the man decided to move on. Not that he could do much more than apologize, anyways. ¡°We will need you to confirm a few things before I can issue you a travel permit. Am I correct to assume that you will be heading to the academy?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Ferrudion and Kalou Dan confirmed almost at once. ¡°Very good. In that case, they will handle you and your guardians resident status application. We only need the temporary travel permit for foreigners.¡± Ferrudion sat and watched as Kalou Dan and Lemme om Apox were asked to place scribbles on several roles of paper. These were different from the scribbles they had used on the ship and he could not read them. But after they wrote their names, he noticed that there was a pattern: unlike the scribbles on his map and in most of Kalou Dan''s books, the scribbles did not stand for concepts but for sounds. He then started looking over Lemme om Apox''s shoulder and trying to sound out the scribbles in his head. Some of them seemed spelled wrong and he had to do a lot of inference. Still, when they finished their scribbling, he was almost certain he had them figured out. ¡°Finally, I need your honorable sisol, Lord Dean Pelou, Lord Dan Kalou.¡± William Burk said. Ferrudion watched with interest as Kalou Dan pulled out a stone from underneath his tunic. It was dangling from a chain around his neck, and he could feel the managy inside of it. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Kalou Dan then pressed the stone against the scroll, and Ferrudion observed as the magical construct embedded in it left the scroll with a copy of itself. ¡®Interesting.¡¯ ¡º¡°What is the purpose of this?¡±¡» Lemme on Apox winced, looked at him, and replied out loud but in I!onian, ¡°Please use your managy to leave the magic that proves your identity.¡± ¡®Is sisol their word for seal? That construct Kalou Dan used is too faint. Even at that low consumption level, it will run out of managy in less than a century. ¡®But I cannot use my godly seal since it could reveal me¡­¡¯ Ferrudion frowned. ¡®And that scroll is too weak to even hold it.¡¯ Ferrudion tried to build an elegant managy construct on the fly: Firstly, it needed to reflect the concepts most natural to him, so that it could not be imitated. Since he was still a nascent greater god, these were his partial understanding of the concepts his parents had used to reconstruct their souls: iron and salt. Secondly, it needed to be small and simple, lest it burn away this mortal scroll. And finally, it needed to last. Ferrudion was unwilling to leave a seal only for it to fade in a century or two. Sir William Burk looked a little awkward as Ferrudion stared at the paper in front of him. He wondered if the young lord had yet to master the imperial writing system and threw a glance at the lord''s assigned guardian. Unfortunately, she seemed content to let the young lord stare, so what could he do? They sat there in silence for a quarter of an hour when finally, the young lord moved. He carefully touched the scroll in front of him and then withdrew his hand. ¡°Done.¡± Sir William Burk looked at Lemme on Apox for confirmation, but the woman kept silent. Sighing internally, he pulled out the magical slate that allowed for viewing signatures and moved it towards the scroll. Before he could touch it, it lit up. ¡¶Unknown signature detected.¡· ¡¶Quantifying¡­ Please wait.¡· ¡¶Qualifying¡­¡­ Please wait.¡· ¡¶Analysis completed.¡· ¡·Quantities: ¡·¡·Managy level: OOR ¡·¡·Min managy density: OOR ¡·¡·Max managy density: OOR ¡·Qualities: ¡·¡·Elements: N/A ¡·¡·Partial Matches: 0 ¡·¡·¡­ Sir William Burk stared at the device and considered that it might be defective. Since the slate would simply not detect managy that was too faint, the only way for a measurement to be out-of-range was for the managy to be too high. To confirm his suspicions, he moved on to the other scroll and touched Kalou Dan''s signature with the slate. ¡¶Unknown signature detected.¡· ¡¶Quantifying¡­ Please wait.¡· ¡¶Qualifying¡­¡­ Please wait.¡· ¡¶Analysis completed.¡· ¡·Quantities: ¡·¡·Managy level: 15 Sp ¡·¡·Min managy density: 2.37 ¡·¡·Max managy density: 3.09 ¡·Qualities: ¡·¡·Elements: -D-I ¡·¡·Partial Matches: 12 ¡·¡·Partial Match, Baronet Kalou Saha ¡·¡·Partial Match, Baron Kalou ¡·¡·Partial Match¡­ Sir William Burk stared at the perfectly ordinary result. The total amount of managy contained was fifteen times the smallest measurable unit. That was not terribly high but not low either. The density ranged from 2.37 times to 3.09 times the average environmental managy density. Again, a perfectly ordinary result. The signature was almost omni-elemental, only missing the divine and infernal elements. This was common but a mark of quality nonetheless. Omni-elemental signatures were harder to replicate, after all. Finally, the device had found several partial matches and displayed them in order of similarity. This was also to be expected. After all, most families had one master signature and gave their individual members variations thereof. It was simply unfeasible to develop magical signatures for each and every individual. While Sir William Burk would not have been surprised to see that there were no partial matches for Lord Dean Pelou''s signature since their empires had not interacted much, the other results were¡­ unbelievable. For good measure, he tried a few more times before giving up. The young lord''s signature remaining immeasurable. Ch. 17 - You will not pay for me Ferrudion watched the mortal stare at the glowing plate of black stone. He was bored. ¡º¡°If I ask him for that plate, will he give it to me willingly?¡±¡»he asked Lemme om Apox. ¡°I do not know. But those plates are worth less than ten gold. We can get one later,¡± she replied to him in whispered I!onian. Noticing his companion''s waning enthusiasm, Palou Dan audibly cleared his throat in an attempt to get the official''s attention. After he had done so for the third time, Ferrudion asked, ¡°Is there something wrong with your body, Kalou Dan?¡± ¡°I could use some water.¡± The loud conversation finally made the official look away from his slate. ¡°Water¡­ Yes¡­ My apologies. Karla, get the young lord some water.¡± ¡°Is there anything else we need to sign? Otherwise, we would like to be on our way. We still need to find a gandim,¡± Kalou Dan interjected. ¡°It will take another hour or two for me to draw up the permits. Karla, why do you not help our esteemed visitors find a gandim? That way, she can inform me of your location and later deliver your passes to you.¡± Karla who had just opened the entryway to leave and get water, heard those words and returned inside. ¡°That is acceptable,¡± Kalou Dan agreed to Sir William Burk''s proposal. Then they finally left the building with the woman following behind them. As soon as they were outside, Ferrudion asked, ¡°What is a gandim?¡± ¡°That is the Pakpak term for a place to rest and spend the night.¡± ¡°Like the ship''s cabin?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Ferrudion shook his fist twice. ¡®These mortals spend so much time resting when they are not even processing a single concept. How weak are they souls to require rest just to exist?¡¯ He decided that he would explore the mystery of sleep eventually. He wanted to know how much the mortal need for sleep was really a requirement and how much of it was laziness. They were about to return to the ship the same way they had come when they had Kalou Saha''s voice behind them. ¡°There you are. Did you already finish getting our passes?¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°No, Kalou Saha-gam, but we were permitted to leave and find a place to rest.¡± Kalou Saha shook his fist twice. He and his secretary had been allowed off the ship to check up on his ward, but usually, travelers remained on board their ships until the relevant permits had been issued. This could take some time. While his ward''s status as a minor noble of the small Ironforest Kingdom would have assured a swift process, they likely would have still been required to spend one night on the ship. In fact, they would not have left it until then with the paperwork being taken care of then and there. It was thanks to Ferrudion''s imaginary status that the youths had been invited to the office in the first place. ¡°Good.¡± ¡°How much money does such a place for rest usually require?¡± Ferrudion was interested what the round disks were actually worth. Kalou Saha frowned and considered the issue. Ferrudion, as the son of a Marquess, could hardly stay in an inn for merchants. And as their savior and a powerful unknown, Kalou Saha felt beholden to pay for his expenses. Still, an appropriate establishment would strain his purse considerably. ¡°The best inn (gandim) in the city would be the Luminous Moon. A night''s stay costs two gold for a standard room¡­¡± ¡°Good. Take us there,¡± Ferrudion decided. He could easily create gold coins. While his father was the God of Iron, he was aiming to extend his power and become the God of Metal. For that purpose, he had spent a lot of time working on concepts of other metals, golds included. While there already was a God of Material Metals, metals without spiritual aspects that is, Ferrudion was sure that his father would one day unify the vastly different concepts of the endless metals into one unified concept of metal. Needless to say, although Ferrudion had been unable to fully process all the concepts his father had shared with him, his understanding of gold was sufficient to fabricate material gold. ¡®It will take a little managy, but it is necessary to show I am powerful and respectable.¡¯ ¡°Perhaps we should split up and¡­¡± Kalou Saha tried to suggest that he and his ward stay in a less expensive inn, but was cut off. ¡°You will not leave. We are going to the academy,¡± Ferrudion frowned, ¡°Or are you changing your plans?¡± Ferrudion was unsure why, but he would not allow those mortals to leave. ¡®They can be talked to. Finding new mortals would be tedious, that must be it.¡¯ Since Ferrudion had subconsciously transmitted a sliver of his displeasure through their soul links, Kalou Saha, Kalou Dan, and Lemme om Apox collectively shuddered. ¡°We intend to go to the academy but¡­¡± ¡®Intend not will, huh?¡¯ ¡°Then we will stay together,¡± he insisted. Kalou Saha paled a little while Karla Sapuk tried her best to pretend she could not hear their argument. ¡°I would be happy to pay for your accommodations, but my ward and I¡­¡± ¡°You? Pay for me?¡± Ferrudion felt irritated by these mortals assumptions. ¡®Do they think I am so incompetent that I cannot make a little gold?¡¯ Thinking back, all of the visions he had shown them during their initial meeting had illustrated destructive power. ¡®Later, I should show them some of my creations.¡¯ Since he was currently undercover and they were in the presence of another mortals, Ferrudion decided to wait for now. Deciding to create a gold coin, he frowned when he realized he had nowhere to put it. Greater god fashion did not favor pockets and pouches. Looking around, he saw Lemme om Apox. She was his guardian and her outfit contained more than enough pockets. Concentrating for a moment, Ferrudion decided to use some inner managy since gathering enough outer managy in this barren environment to create more than a handful of coins would take too long. Using a small part of his concept of holds tiny aspect of material gold, he began decompressing a drop of his managy and constructing it. This took him about five minutes. The awkward silence gave him ample time. Really, if he had not wanted to make sure he got it right on his first try, it would have only taken him one. Finally, he added one last strand of managy to the concept to activate it. It blitzed in and out of existence, efficiently expanding all its managy in a single instance. Ferrudion smiled. ¡°You will not pay for me. I will pay for you.¡± Ch. 18 - Next time, we will walk Ferrudion was very happy with his magic. Unlike the mortal magics he had seen thus far, it had been utterly efficient. Not a single strand of managy had been wasted and allowed to leak out. Thus, it would only have been detectable for the split second that it was active. Lemme om Apox, all the while, noticed that all her pockets had suddenly become heavy. Most of her possessions were gone with her ship that the merchants had left drifting on the sea. Actually, that had not bothered her. What was gold when you were in the company of a godly being? Still, she knew the feeling of a pocket full of gold. This was it. ¡°Lemme on Apox, empty one of your pockets to show the others what I mean.¡± Ferrudion confirmed her suspicions. She carefully reached for the pouch sown into the inside of her waistcoat and then removed her hand holding a handful of Palevinian gold coins. The people around her stared at the eleven glittering metal disks in her hand. It was not actually that much money, but it was peculiar to see someone keep so much money in their waistcoat. Remembering their backstory, Lemme om Apox explained, ¡°I would be a foolish guardian not to hide some wealth among my person before taking my charge to a different continent.¡± This simultaneously made sense and did not, but no one chose to question her. In an attempt to lighten the atmosphere, Karla Sapuk, the official and apparently their guide, asked, ¡°Would you like for me to call a carriage and take you to the Luminous Moon?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Ferrudion agreed. The woman ran back inside the office only to return a few minutes later. ¡°It will be here as soon as possible.¡± Ferrudion had felt the magic, so he knew the mortal had used a primitive managy communication method. ¡®I should think about getting a pouch.¡¯ It would be convenient to have a place on his person he could create things in without blowing his cover. ¡®A pouch has so little space. I wonder if there is something bigger.¡¯ He decided to ask his mortals later. They stood there waiting in tense silence while Ferrudion looked for a diversion. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. He noticed that he had not been looking at the material world in detail. In fact, it was difficult for him to do so. Looking at the ground, he immediately sensed the absence of both pure spiritual energies and managy. Instinctively, he turned away only to force his attention back. ¡®I am too used to living in places where everything holds energy.¡¯ The ground beneath his feet was uneven. It was made of small plates of sedimentary rocks stuck together imperfectly. Thus, lines of another, softer material shown between them. Ferrudion expanded his soul outward and grasped at the strands of free managy around him. They were feeble and short, but his powerful soul willed them to do this bidding. He sent them into the ground to observe the soft, brown substance between the rock slices: It was a mess. He could not believe how many materials had been mixed into the stuff. ¡®It is the impurest material I have ever inspected.¡¯ Both of his parents'' domains were focused on structure and order, so he knew very little about the more chaotic concepts that existed and could exist. He felt kaolinite, small grains of various minerals, and many organic compounds that he had no knowledge of. It was overwhelming. Releasing the managy, he shifted his focus away from the material. ¡®I should take a few years to study that stuff. Perhaps I can learn its concept and dump a heaping of it on that annoying ferretoid when I get back. I bet that would get his attention.¡¯ Before he could further his plans, he felt another three souls enter his inner perimeter. They were unremarkable, and he was about to disregard them when Karla Sapuk tried to break the awkward silence. ¡°That should be the carriage.¡± ¡®Let us see this transportation method that mortals prefer to walking.¡¯ Ferrudion had liked the ship, so he had high hopes for the mortals'' land-based vehicles, but when he saw the carriage, he was baffled. It was a small cabin moving on rotating rings. The reason for its movements were two curiously shaped mortals who wore an equally baffling contraption that connected them to it. They were walking at a steady pace, moving it forward. ¡®They want me to allow those¡­ husks to move me?!¡¯ Their souls were so faint Ferrudion doubted that they were even intelligent. The third soul was a man sitting on a bench before the cabin. His soul was a little brighter. It comparable to some of the souls he had felt on Kalou Saha''s ship. The man was just sitting there. ¡°This is the carriage?¡± Ferrudion asked in disbelief. ¡°Yes, my Lord. My apologies for calling such a humble carriage, please forgive me.¡± Ferrudion was torn between refusing and playing along. ¡®Since I am playing a mortal, is it okay to pretend to be weak? Do even powerful mortals lack the capacity to walk? Why do they show such weakness and allow others to move them.¡¯ There were things a greater god could delegate and things he could not. Ferrudion had never seen his parents allow anything else to move them. Then again, right now he was not a greater god but a mortal. At least, he wanted to pretend he was. Grimacing, he said, ¡°Okay.¡± Lemme om Apox rushed to the side of the carriage, and to the chagrin of the carriage driver, opened the entryway for him. Ferrudion sighed, and entered. Inside were two more benches. He sat down in a corner and waited to see Lemme on Apox and Kalou Saha take their places on the bench opposite him. Kalou Dan looked a little awkward. He was unsure if he should try to squeeze in between the two adults, a seemingly impossible task, or if he should dare sit besides Ferrudion. ¡°Sit down. I want to see how fast this vessel can move,¡± Ferrudion hurried him. The youth asked, ¡°Can I¡­ sit next to you?¡± Ferrudion frowned and noticed the situation. ¡°Yes.¡± Kalou Dan carefully sat down to his right, trying to give him as much space as possible. ¡®Will that woman want to squeeze in between us?¡¯ Ferrudion worried, but his worries were unfounded. The carriage started moving, and he sensed her soul next to the other human. She must be sitting on the bench outside with him. Disliking the cramped, shaking space, Ferrudion voiced his decision, ¡°Next time, we will walk.¡± Ch. 19 - The mystery of hair The only response to Ferrudion''s statement was silence and that irked him considerably. ¡º¡°Your reply?¡±¡»he asked Lemme om Apox through their soul link. The woman winced considerably and answered in I!onian, ¡°Of course, Pelou Dean-agam.¡± Ferrudion nodded satisfied and studied the woman sitting opposite him. Unlike his own hair which shimmered with the same glint as steel, her hair was a matte black in color and fell unto her shoulders in tight curls. Whereas his eyes were as golden as the godly flames in his father''s forge, Lemme om Apox''s eyes were reminiscent of the night sky, a blue bordering on black. Realizing he had never quite spend the time looking at these mortals, he compared her to the man sitting beside her, Kalou Saha. While her facial features were sharp, her prominent cheekbones giving her a strict appearance, his face was round with puffy cheeks. His eyes shone in an even darker hue than Lemme om Apox''s, but his hair was even whiter than the iron-grey mane on Ferrudion''s head. Another difference was the coloration of their skin. While he was not nearly as pale as my mother, the Goddess of Salt, he looked paler than the former pahipiti. Her skin was a slightly lighter, less reddish brown than Ferrudion''s. Turning to look at the young mortal beside him, Ferrudion noticed that while Kalou Dan somewhat resembled his guardian, there were marked differences. Although his face was as round as Kalou Saha''s, he lacked the older man''s puffy cheeks and frown lines. His hair was a vibrant black, but unlike Lemme om Apox''s, it was straight and short. ¡®Three mortals, three different hair colors, huh?¡¯ ¡°What determines hair color?¡± Ferrudion asked with great interest. He had not noticed the beads of sweat forming on Kalou Saha''s temples. Nor had he taken notice of Kalou Dean trembling as he inspected him. Despite his eyes registering the motion, his mind had assigned it no meaning. After all, he did not understand even half of the strange gestures and motions these mortals to communicate. Lemme on Apox was the only one with the peace of mind to respond, ¡°Usually, it is passed down along family lines.¡± ¡®Is it because their souls will be similar? Or because the newly formed souls happen to perceive those hair colors more frequently since they will be surrounded by family¡­ Wait, do mortals spend time with their family after birth?¡¯ Nascent greater gods spent their first few decades being nurtured by their parents. Proper nurture was important to help the freshly formed soul stabilize, lest it fall to be a lesser god instead. Since the first concepts they processed were granted to them by their parents, most nascent greater gods resembled their parents greatly. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Can spending time with people of other hair colors influence a child''s hair color?¡± Kalou Saha smiled and replied, ¡°Not as far as we know, Pelou Dean-agam.¡± ¡®That is barely an answer, duh. You mortals know next to nothing!¡¯ He added the hair colors of mortals to the overgrowing list of mysteries he wished to investigate. Fortunately, before he could return to staring at his mortal companions, they arrived at their destination. Eager to get out of the cramped space, Ferrudion pushed past Kalou Dan and hopped out of the carriage. They had pulled up to another marble building, this one both taller and broader than the office (opik) they had visited earlier. Ferrudion barely glanced at the opulent fa?ade of the building. Instead his eyes had already identified and locked onto the building''s entryway. ¡®Another big box, huh? Why do mortals enjoy enclosed spaces this much?¡¯ ¡®There is too much. Both the material and the spiritual dimensions of this space are chaotic and disharmonious.¡¯ For someone raised in the carefully crafted realms of two greater gods, the mess that was the mortal world was a little difficult to process. He wanted novelty. He enjoyed novelty. But for the first time in his life Ferrudion felt overwhelmed. He missed the ship. The environment had been constant and he had had plenty of time to get used to every aspect of it. This place, on the other hand, ¡­ The thinly spread out layers of his soul registered hundreds of mortal souls rushing about in no particular order. It also detected countless magics, ranging from magical coins to magic constructs big enough to cover entire buildings. One such construct was covering the entire complex in front of him, layering over the smaller magics he felt coming from its interior. It was ugly. Ferrudion felt the urge to isolate his soul. ¡°Are you alright, Pelou Dean-agam?¡± Kalou Saha cautiously called out to him. ¡®These mortal cannot see any of it, huh? They will need a lot of help.¡¯ ¡°Is this place not to your liking, Lord Dean Pelou?¡± The guide, Karla Sapuk, had finished her dealings with the carriage driver and had returned to their group. ¡°It is ugly.¡± Through their soul links, Ferrudion got the vague impression that his mortals disagreed with his assessment. Everyone kept silent until he sighed and continued, ¡°We can go inside.¡± ¡®If they want to go here, it must be a fun place despite the ugly magics.¡¯ At those words, Karla Sapuk rushed past him and jogged to the two mortals stationed by the entryway. When Ferrudion slowly ambled up to them with Kalou Saha, Lemme om Apox, and Kalou Dean in tow, she had already finished her conversation. They opened the entryway and wordlessly allowed the group to pass through. An elderly man welcomed them as soon as they stepped inside: ¡°Honored guests, welcome to the Luminous Moon.¡¯ The man''s soul was surprisingly strong. While it could not match that of Lemme om Apox, it was slightly stronger than Kalou Dan''s. Their guide, Karla Sapuk, stepped forward and introduced them in Pakpak: ¡°My lords, please allow me to present Sir Fedinan Ksanten, the manager of the Luminous Moon.¡± Sir Ksanten bowed in greeting. Kalou Saha realized then that she had likely arranged this when she had called the carriage. Karla Sapuk proceeded with her introductions in order of precedence, ¡°Sir Ksanten, it is my honor to introduce Lord Dan Pelou, youngest son of the Marquess Pelou from the Huhala Empire beyond the Hum mountains, his guardian, Dame Lemme om Apox, a baronetess of the Huhala Empire, his companion, The Honorable Dan Kalou, son of Baron Kalou of the Ironforest Kingdom, and Sir Saha Kalou, the young lord''s guardian and a baronet of the Ironforest Kingdom.¡± According to the customs of the Palevine Empire, as Ferrudion''s guardian, Lemme om Apox took precedence over the higher ranked Kalou Dan when she was acting in that capacity. Ch. 20 - Mortal prejudices The others returned the bow while Ferrudion observed the other man a bit more closely. After all, he had decided earlier to spend more time looking at mortals. This man''s hair was as white as Kalou Saha''s and his eyes were as light as Ferrudion''s. Unlike Ferrudion''s golden eyes, however, this man''s eyes were a very light blue. ¡®I should investigate mortal eye colors as well,¡¯ Ferrudion mused. ¡°It is a pleasure to meet you, Sir Ksanten. Our guide, Miss Karla Sapuk here, highly recommended your Luminous Moon,¡± Lemme om Apox explained in Pakpak. Kalou Saha wondered not for the first time how a pahipiti had learned such good manners. ¡°I am grateful for the privilege to welcome you here at our humble establishment,¡± Sir Ksanten replied with a polite smile. All the while, Ferrudion continued his observations. Sir Ksanten and the other unnamed mortals in this room were all as pale as Karla Sapuk. And most of them, Sir Ksanten included, had angular faces with little to no facial hair. Sir Ksanten and Lemme om Apox had continued their exchange of nineties, but it had now reached a point where it required his input. ¡°Pelou Dean-agam, we can either stay in separate rooms for two gold per room per night or in a suite with three bedrooms for ten gold per night,¡± Lemme om Apox asked Ferrudion in I!onian. Frankly, the prices were outrageous, but Lemme om Apox knew that he could create gold from seemingly nothing. To Ferrudion, gold was indeed nothing but a material metal that could be made with a simple magic. ¡®Separate rooms, huh? I cannot leave these mortals alone, duh. They are so weak.¡¯ Besides, he wanted them nearby so that they could translate and answer his questions. ¡°The suite.¡± Lemme om Apox shook her fist twice in acknowledgement and turned back to Sir Ksanten, but he smiled and said in I!onian, ¡°The suite it shall be, Pelou Dean-agam,¡± revealing that he not only understood but spoke the language. ¡°How many languages do you speak?¡± Ferrudion asked the mortal with interest. The man''s soul was too weak for him to become a proper translator like Lemme on Apox, but Ferrudion wanted to know how many languages a mortal could learn. Switching back to Pakpak, the mortal answered, ¡°I grew up speaking Bokka and Eastern Silusian, Buka Silusian to be precise, and learned Pakpak at school. These three languages are the only ones I am truly proficient in. ¡°Later, I picked up a few other languages like I!onian, but while I can converse in them, my command of those languages is superficial. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°If you count all languages that I could greet guests in, that would be thirty-five languages in total.¡± Ferrudion blinked a few times while he processed the information. ¡®How many mortal languages are there? Why do they need so many languages?!¡¯ Gods rarely used these tongues, opting to rely on different methods of spiritual communication instead. The kind of soul link Ferrudion was using was usually reserved for trusted friends and family members; for, it was possible to use such links to harm another''s soul. Naturally, Ferrudion had little to fear from these mortals, but he would hesitate to establish such a connection with another greater god. Usually, greater gods relied on managy to transmit concepts without establishing a direct soup link. But even that could be used to harm another''s soul. Of course, unlike a soul link, harming someone''s soul with a managy construct was anything but trivial. Since the other god had to allow the managy entry, an attacker would need to hide their intent. Making an offensive managy construct look like communication magic was difficult. However, it was very possible. In fact, it had been done many times. All things considered, greater gods would rather use less direct communication methods when conversing with enemies, strangers, or particularly dangerous individuals. One such individual was Ferrudion''s mother. Her son''s aside, she never used anything other than her alliances chosen tongue. How did these god-made tongues work? They assigned standardized concepts to set words and phrases, structured the intent as grammar, and then propagated those lists through chains of trust. His mother had taught Ferrudion the language through soul link. Thus, he could likewise propagate it to his future subordinates, children, spouses, and whomever else he trusted enough to use spiritual communication methods with, thereby introducing them to the alliance. Such languages usually had a very large inventory and were very rigid. It was difficult to introduce new words as it required propagating them to all the parties involved. It was not uncommon for a conversation to start by one conversation partner, usually the one who considered their knowledge the most outdated, listing of all the words, phrases, and grammar they knew. The other conversation partners would then acknowledge that they knew the corresponding concept or intention; and should something come up that not everyone was familiar with, it would be excluded from the language for the duration of that conversation. Another thing of note would be that not all such languages were sound based. Different alliances had different preferences. Lastly, it would be important to note that there were also some other situations that might preclude the usage of a spiritual language: Soul ailments could destabilize a greater gods soul too much for them to handle the processing of new concepts safely. A greater god restructuring their soul could not allow outside concepts to disturb the process. The power difference could be too great to allow for a risk free spiritual exchange, as was the case with Ferrudion and most mortals. Still, Ferrudion had not thought it possible for so many different mortal tongues to exist. ¡®Are they really all different?¡¯ He remained doubtful. While he and Sir Ksanten had conversed, a new group of mortals had joined them. They had descended the stairs to his left while chatting in some unknown language. When the man in the lead caught sight of Ferrudion, however, he briskly strode up to them. Sir Ksanten turned to greet the man, but the man spoke first, ¡°I hopp zad will nod be z-daying here.¡± The man''s Pakpak had a strange accent, different from the softness that Kalou Saha and Kalou Dan had when speaking the language. Ferrudion looked around for the object in question while the rest of his mortals frowned. ¡°Viscount Daz, may I introduce Lord Dean Pelou, the youngest son of,¡± Sir Ksanten tried to introduce them, but he was cut off by the rude mortal. ¡°I will nod be acquainded wiz zuch an unlucky creazure.¡± ¡®Did that mortal just call me an unlucky creature?¡¯ Ferrudion wondered. Ch. 21 - Old beliefs Ferrudion was baffled. ¡º¡°Who is he?¡±¡»he asked Lemme om Apox, who was standing to his right, via their soul link. She replied in I!onian, ¡°He must be a foreign noble.¡± ¡®That is not helpful, duh.¡¯ He gave up on using his material senses to observe the man and turned to the spiritual dimension instead. ¡®Not bad.¡¯ The man''s soul was on the same level as Kalou Saha''s. If their carriage driver had been a one and Lemme om Apox were a ten, Kalou Saha and this man would be a solid six. Of course, if Ferrudion himself served as a ten, they would all be a zero, just like the creatures that had pulled their carriage. In fact, even his father''s secretary had a strong enough soul to relegate them to a zero. If Ferrudion were to put himself on a scale, he would likely chose the secretary as a one and his mother as a ten. On this scale, his father would be an eight while he himself would be a solid five. He still had a lot of growing left to do, after all. Ferrudion returned his focus to the material dimensions. The angry foreign noble''s companions had caught up to him and the group was talking heatedly in their foreign language. ¡º¡°What is wrong with them?¡±¡» ¡°It looks like they are trying to calm him down,¡± Lemme om Apox explained in I!onian. ¡®It is annoying that she needs to talk out loud like that. Should I teach her how to use soul speech? ¡®Her soul is probably too weak and her thoughts too messy for that though¡­ ¡®I should teach her a godly language first¡­ ¡®But if I use ideas instead of the proper concepts, can it still be considered the same language?¡¯ His contemplations were interrupted by Sir Fedinan Ksanten. ¡°I apologize for the commotion, my Lords, the Viscount Daz of the Faunahaz Principality has not been feeling too well¡­¡± Sir Ksanten tried to apologize in Pakpak but Viscount Daz, who must have overheard him, interrupted, ¡°And yed yoh invid zis zikibaduk do my place of res-d? Zould I dak zis as an addempd do bazaz-kill ze advisor of ze pikon?¡± Ferrudion was happy that he did not have to send a single message for Lemme om Apox to start explaining the new words, ¡°A sikibatuk is something that a group of people believes will likely harm them.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡®Likely? A group of people believes?¡¯ ¡°To basasa-kill someone means to secretly kill someone for money. ¡®Ah, an assassination!¡¯ This was a concept that Ferrudion was familiar with. ¡°A pikon is what you call a prince or princess in I!onian.¡± ¡°The child of a ruler, got it.¡± Ferrudion processed the man''s statement using this information, ¡°Why does he think Sir William invited something that will likely harm that pikon?¡± Since he did not know if the pikon in question was a prince or a princess, he used the Pakpak word. Unfortunately, this seemingly sent the viscount over the edge. ¡°Wad are yoh plodding do do do my pikon?!¡± Ferrudion grinned. The man''s accent was entertaining. Sir Ksanten opened his mouth to explain, but one of the viscount''s companions beat him to it. ¡°Calm down. They were discussing the meaning of the words you used.¡± The slender black haired youth spoke in clear, unaccented Pakpak. At this, the viscount visibly reddened before responding in their language to which the youth gave a two syllable response. Ferrudion watched with interest as the viscount bowed to the man, turned stiffly, and walked back the way he had came. The youth then smiled at Ferrudion and switched back to Pakpak. ¡°We embarrassed ourselves.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± One of the youth''s remaining companions audibly gasped. ¡°I like your honesty, I am Azhona Happonod Zana a Haz. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.¡± ¡°I am Pelou Dean,¡± Ferrudion replied simply. There was a moment of tense silence. ¡®Why are they silent? Ah, I forgot my guardian.¡¯ Waving at Lemme om Apox, he added, ¡°This is my guardian, Lemme om Apox.¡± The youth blinked. He had cold but dark blue eyes, Ferrudion observed. Finally, Lemme on Apox tried to salvage the situation, ¡°It is an honor to make your acquaintance, ¡­ my lord.¡± This last bit she said in a questioning tone as the youth had failed to include his title in his introduction. ¡°We are from beyond the Hum Mountains and know little of this continent¡­¡± ¡°I see, I should have introduced myself properly. I am Azhon Happonod Zana a Haz, fourth child of Pikon a Haz, ruler of the Independent Principality of Faunahaz.¡± Upon hearing this, Lemme om Apox bowed respectfully and intoned, ¡°Your Highness.¡± Ferrudion did not bow. Disguise or not, bowing to a mortal would be too much. But since the mortal had repeated his introduction with titles, he decided to play along, ¡°I am Pelou Dean, son of Marquess Pelou, from the¡¸home¡¹(X''xala) Empire. This is Dame om Apox, my guardian.¡± The long-named princeling grinned in response. ¡°Are you here to attend the academy as well?¡± ¡°Yes, among other things.¡± ¡°Then we will be classmates. Since we came close to dropping formalities already, what do you think of calling me Azhon?¡± Ferrudion considered the mortal''s offer. He did not know if he would ever talk to him again, but a shorter name would save him some time. ¡°Ok.¡± The following silence stretched out for a long while. ¡®Conversing with mortals is difficult.¡¯ This had been true from the start and little had changed since then. ¡®Maybe I can introduce the others¡­¡¯ He gave it a try. ¡°These are Kalou Dan and his guardian Kalou Saha. They are from the Ironforest Kingdom.¡± All things considered, Ferrudion now felt that their names could be optimized as well. ¡°You can call him,¡± he waved at Kalou Dan, ¡°just Dan and him,¡± he waved at Kalou Saha, ¡°Kalou. It is shorter.¡± The black-haired princeling chuckled. ¡°Your culture is unusual, but I find it refreshing. I should visit your¡­ Ggala? Your Empire some day.¡± ¡°It is a long and arduous journey. We were lucky that Lord Dan Kalou and Sir Saha Kalou rescued us after our ship fell to pirates,¡± Lemme om Apox provided their cover story. ¡°Why did the viscount believe something would assassinate a pikon?¡± Ferrudion preempted any questions the princeling might have asked with his own question. The prince sighed before replying, ¡°Our ancestors consider gray or white hair a sign of death. They believed that to be in the presence of a young one with hair as light as yours meant to invite death. ¡°After all, for death''s influence to have already changed someone so young, they must have dealt death themselves¡­ ¡°Or some such nonsense. It is an old belief that has no place in today''s world.¡±