Chapter 98: An Unprecedented Offer
"What is your offer?" Gaia said quietly.
Eridel smiled inwardly, pleased that she wasn't turning short-sighted enough to say something like 'I'll keep the secrets of my galaxy no matter what' or something like that.
Zealousness was a real thing. On the off chance that she was some kind of hero who had a penchant to save 'Galaxies' or at the very least her own World, his plans would collapse like sand, and he would have to use force. A slim chance but not impossible due to her now mortal soul that didn't quite let her grasp the bigger picture like it used to.
Fortunately, that didn't come to pass.
"You know what gods are, yes?" Eridel suddenly said out of the blue.
"...Yes. What of it?" Gaia replied, letting Eridel hear the confusion in her voice for the first time. A harmless and appropriate emotion for this moment.
"Tell me what you know about the gods." Eridel said with a slightly tense expression, making the situation look more serious than it actually was. The colourless World around them only added to this effect.
"Why-"
"Just tell me." Eridel said with a slight steel in his voice, using a bit of brute force to make her more reactive. He couldn't tell if it worked, but she began talking and that's all he wanted.
"..The gods." Gaia said after a 10 second pause. No doubt confused about the whole situation. "Beings who have managed to gain Faith Energy from genuine believers, and were able to turn the energy into Divine Energy when offered the god contract from the World's consciousness… They have dominion over a single Law in the World and also have a divine territory, personal pocket realm that comes with many benefits. On top of that, the more believers they get, the more powerful they become, this is the result of them converting the gathered Faith Energy into Divine Energy. They are very powerful individuals. However… they are unable to leave the World and they must forever protect it."
Gaia explained it pretty much perfectly. In essence, gods were the hired henchmen that High Worlds and on extremely rare occasions, Mid Worlds, were able to employ. There could only be one god per element/Law in the World and they had absolute hegemony over it. A Realm 7 god could beat a Realm 7 Immortal to death with a single slap and then drink a cup of tea right afterwards. However, power in spades they may have, they were forever bound to whatever World made them god.
For beings who had lived over 5000 years, talk less of tens of thousands, that was a big, big, big loss. Although death by monotony hadn't happened before, there were things that came close.
"That's right… Those are the gods. Individuals with great power but essentially no freedom. It doesn't sound very nice, does it? All that power, and yet unable to even pass the World's atmosphere. Pitiful. To an ex-immortal such as yourself who has tasted power at least close to theirs, but has been able to travel the endless depths of space. That must sound like a cruel trap, right?" Eridel said softly, looking towards the grass as if he were lamenting.
Gaia chose to remain silent and Eridel continued.
"...But have you ever wondered what would happen if a god was free to leave their World?"
Gaia just continued to stare at him impassively, knowing he wasn't finished. Eridel knew she was truly as indifferent to his question as she looked. Jokes and tales about such a concept were sure to be all over the place. Although unprecedented in reality, it wasn't anything new.
However, Eridel pressed on.
"Such a god would be able to do whatever an Immortal could do, gain whatever an Immortal could gain, and sweep over the cosmos with unparalleled power." Eridel spread out his arms as a charismatic smile adorned his lips. "What would you say if I could make you such a being-"
"I would say that your head is faulty." Gaia retorted, washing away the momentum that he had gained so far. She was most likely fishing for a glimpse of emotions to appear on his face, trying to figure what his deal was by saying all of this. Only, he had already foreseen such a possibility and he didn't waver.
Letting his arms fall to his side, Eridel let out a small sigh and gave a slight shake of his heads as if he was a teacher that was tired of his stupid student.
"I wouldn't expect beings from such a low-level galaxy like this to understand, but I ask that for you to broaden your mind and remember that there is always a bigger mountain. The heights of this galaxy that you think are lofty… don't even qualify to be used as public toilets for the truly important people in the big Galaxies."
Gaia's eyes narrowed and Eridel wasn't able to tell if it was from anger or focus.
'She's quite good' Eridel thought as he inwardly smirked. However on the outside, he once again had a serious expression.
"gods that can leave their own worlds truly exist, each possessing untold power that you couldn't even imagine." The truth. "And I can make you such a being." A lie depending on how you looked at it. "What do you say?" Eridel said as he gazed into the ex-Immortal's eyes.
There was a moment of silence as the 2 quietly stared at each other before Gaia finally spoke.
"...All of this in exchange for the map of this Galaxy?"
'...Tch.'
Eridel's face finally took on a cold expression. The way she said it, others might have thought that she was on the brink of agreeing, but he knew that she wasn't one bit closer than she was before.
As a matter of fact, she was indirectly calling him a scammer.
"Gaia, I do not have infinite patience so do not test my anger." Eridel said with frost in his voice. It was looking like he had finally lost a bit of control… But then all of a sudden he sighed.
"I would have thought that as someone seeking revenge you would have accepted my offer by now. What a pity."
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