Chương 37: Chapter 36 – Prepping is half a victory

As Joshua arrived back home, he was in a surprisingly good mood. The date with Amistare had gone far better than he had expected, and despite all the scheming from Luna and Sophie, he had actually enjoyed himself. Before doing anything else, however, he found Princess and spent nearly an hour simply playing with her and petting her. The old dog happily followed him around, wagging her tail whenever he gave her attention.

Eventually, Joshua sat down beside her and scratched behind her ears, enjoying the simple familiarity of it.

"Hold on a moment." His hand stopped. Joshua frowned and looked more closely.

"I distinctly remember a small wound mark being here." He gently moved the fur aside and stared at the spot. The mark was gone. Joshua narrowed his eyes and examined Princess with his divine sense. There was something new inside his dog.

"Felix!" He immediately stood up.

"Yes, Master." The demonic butler appeared behind him only a moment later and bowed deeply.

"What... did you do to Princess?" Josh asked, already expecting the answer. Felix's face lit up with pride.

"Well, considering that your Lordship is going to live forever and that the so-called Princess is an ordinary dog at age nine, I figured she would pass away far too soon. So I gave her some demonic energy." Joshua just stared at him.

"Felix, ask before you do something like this..." He facepalmed.

"Will it change her?"

"Well, it did not change her the first time I tested it back in your old home, Master." Felix answered hesitantly.

"The... first time?" Joshua raised an eyebrow, looked down at Princess and carefully prodded at her mind with his divine senses.

"Happy, happy... my human will surely give me snacks now..." the dog's thoughts were basic, but way smarter then that of a common animal. Princess simply looked up at him with her tongue hanging out, completely unaware that her thoughts had just been exposed.

"You made her much smarter, apparently." Joshua shook his head.

"How long will she live like this?"

"Only a meager hundred years or so." Felix scratched his chin.

"Or maybe two hundred? I kind of poured more into her, as she seemed not to be affected in any negative way." Josh pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long breath.

"No changing people or animals without my approval from now on."

"As you wish, Master..." Felix lowered his head slightly before hesitantly asking, "Are you not happy?" Joshua looked back at Princess.

"Well, if you had asked me, I would be happy that I don't have to lose her so soon. But I'm conflicted. I would rather have done this myself. Demonic energy might have some kind of latent effect that we don't know about." He sighed.

"Please make sure to check on her once a month with magic. If you notice anything unusual, tell me immediately."

"Of course!" Felix saluted, already filing the entire conversation away as a success. As he walked away, he quietly muttered to himself.

"It's a good thing I didn't mess with Luna's pet lizards." Joshua stopped, slowly turned his head toward Felix before deciding to let it go… for now. Instead, he grabbed a steak from the kitchen and gave it to Princess, along with a nice thick bone for her to chew on. The dog happily trotted away with her prize, apparently far more concerned about dinner than the existential implications of suddenly gaining several decades of additional life. Joshua smiled.

"Good girl." As he passed the terrarium containing Luna's lizards, however, he glanced inside. His eyes immediately settled on the enormous golden dragon who was currently trapped in the body of a small lizard.

"Well, I think you're getting fat there."

"It's just the light, I'm sure." Ebraxius chuckled, his tiny lizard body barely matching the dignity of his voice.

"Though, if you want, we could have a fight for fun someday… a way to exercise. I want to learn those moves you used, my Lord Steel."

"Way to suck up." Karatt scoffed from the other side of the terrarium. Joshua laughed.

"I see he's still sour about it." He looked toward Karatt, who immediately turned his head away.

"Well, it wouldn't be a punishment if it was pleasant, now would it?"

"I find this relaxing." Ebraxius said comfortably.

"I haven't been this relaxed in seven hundred years."

"Hah! Luna also seems to like you." Josh chuckled.

"Maybe you can check out my world someday."

"It would be my honor." Ebraxius then casually flipped his tiny lizard body over, exposing his belly to the warmth of the heat lamp. - - - - - - - - - - - - - As Joshua was about to sit down in front of his PC, he suddenly felt an object passing through the magical barrier surrounding his home. He immediately sat upright.

Since the object had not collided with the barrier, he knew it had been deliberately allowed through, which meant it could only have come from one of his two elder-god friends or his sworn brother. When the scroll landed on his desk, he smirked slightly.

"Now I am curious... Gu Zhao rarely sends a scroll." He picked it up, popped the jade cap off one end, and rolled it open. It wasn't handwritten, but instead carried a magical seal across the parchment. Joshua pricked his finger and let a single drop of golden blood fall onto it, causing the seal to dissolve and the contents to open. His expression changed almost immediately. The scroll contained a memory rather than words, showing him the Void, the distant planet, several young gods, and finally Tsura.

Joshua watched the memory unfold and quickly understood what Gu Zhao had encountered. His eyes narrowed as he reached the end, and he slowly clenched his fist.

"Gods damn it, Gu Zhao... you could have killed yourself." The fact that his sworn brother had gotten so close to six gods, one of whom was powerful enough to notice him, was bad enough. The fact that Gu Zhao had apparently gone there alone made it even worse. Joshua stood and summoned his fancy fae clothing, changing into the outfit almost instinctively before calling his flying sword to his side. There was no point in waiting around when his brother had clearly stumbled onto something this dangerous.

"Felix! I need you to gather all the items I placed in storage room four!" About a minute later, Felix arrived carrying a large stack of objects.

"I have all the monster cores you saved up, Lord, and whatever this box of fae items is." He glanced down at the box with mild curiosity.

"Those are cursed objects." Joshua pointed toward it.

"I put an extra layer of magic on them, so if I throw them out, they seek out the first being close to them and put themselves on. They're not dangerous to gods, but they will be extremely annoying." Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Felix nodded thoughtfully before pulling another small object from the pile.

"And this pendrive?"

"Oh, that one?" Joshua's expression became strangely mischievous.

"I loaded it with the freakiest images I could find on the internet. A couple hundred thousand of humanity's worst. DeviantArt, Instagram and Snapchat. Better not look into it." Joshua felt a cold shiver run down his spine. Felix stared at the device for a moment before carefully holding it farther away from himself.

"And why do you need it?"

"It's something I call a freaky flashbang. I used divine essence so that once it's thrown, it explodes and anything within its range will see flashing images from it, regardless of whether they're using their normal eyes or divine senses." Joshua gave Felix an evil smile.

"That's horrifyingly cruel."

"Well, maybe," Joshua admitted, "but I'm not taking any chances. Besides, there's a god I wanted to punish for killing a good divine entity."

"Tsura?" Felix asked.

"Indeed. The fucker is in the human soul business, which honestly doesn't surprise me at all." Joshua's expression darkened as he reached into the pile and took out five super-creepy figurines, placing them carefully on the floor. He then began combining the monster cores he had gathered, fusing their powers together until he had enough material for each creation. With a decent portion of his divine essence sacrificed, the figurines began to change. All of them turned real and big.

Each creature was monstrous in its own way, yet when the transformation was complete, all five immediately lowered themselves before Joshua in obedience.

"You are the Death Korp of Eden," Joshua told them, his voice carrying the weight of divine authority.

"You are avengers who would stop at nothing to punish the god who murdered a peaceful god and its own siblings. Your target is Tsura. I will take you where he is, and you will fight as hard as you can. You were born to do so." All five monsters responded with terrifying war cries that echoed throughout the room. Felix stared at them with growing interest, recognizing two of them from the horror movies Joshua had shown him. An Alien from the horror series and a Demogorgon.

"They look like demons... Ahh, I shall bless them with some dark energy of my own, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead," Joshua said with a nod. Felix stepped forward and surrounded the five monsters with his own dark energy, strengthening their already unnatural bodies. Once he finished, Joshua pulled all five into a special card and secured it among his equipment. He then gathered the rest of the items and stored them inside a spatial object so he could carry everything without being weighed down. There was still one final thing Joshua wanted, although even he wasn't entirely comfortable admitting it.

He teleported back to Earth and appeared in North Korea, where he located several warheads still attached to their rockets. With his divine power, he carefully removed the dangerous components from seven of them, effectively gutting the weapons while leaving the surrounding equipment mostly intact.

"Don't mind it... I wasn't here," he muttered quietly as he finished.

"Besides, you don't really need dangerous toys, guys." With all his preparations finally complete, Joshua returned to the portal between realms. He checked the spatial object containing his equipment one last time, felt the presence of the Death Korp sealed safely inside his card, and then opened a passage toward Gu Zhao's world. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Cthulhu was watching as the two new gods prepared to strike against the human soul dealers. He was rather pleased with how everything was developing.

In fact, he wanted to reach across the realms and shake Oberon's hands for the idea, but decided that would probably be too much effort. Instead, he would simply send the Fae King a gift package later. The idea of turning the cultivator toward these idiotic young gods and, in turn, making Joshua act was brilliant. Cthulhu was almost annoyed with himself for not thinking of it first.

The moment Joshua began turning those eldritch-looking figurines into actual living creatures, however, Cthulhu nearly jumped directly into the young god's realm. He leaned closer to the view with genuine interest, his tentacles twitching with excitement as the five grotesque creatures took shape. Joshua's creations were already entertaining enough, but Cthulhu couldn't resist adding a little something of his own. While Felix's dark blessing was strengthening the monsters, Cthulhu quietly added his own boost to it.

He didn't want to interfere too much, as that would ruin the fun, but he couldn't resist giving the creatures one additional advantage. If they were killed by the first divine-powered attack, their bodies would dissolve into black goop before reforming shortly afterward, effectively giving each monster a single extra life.

"A single save..." Cthulhu murmured with a wide grin.

"That will probably double their effectiveness." He leaned back, practically vibrating with anticipation.

"Good... good! I cannot look away!" he laughed, watching the preparations continue. - - - - - - - - - - - Far away, Oberon had returned to the same cornfield he had created when Joshua was undergoing his god trials. The Fae King had apparently decided that the location was perfect for watching another spectacle unfold. With a wave of his hand, he conjured himself a large bucket of popcorn and settled down comfortably in the middle of the field.

"I can't wait to jump in and be the hero of this epic saga!" Oberon laughed as a mercury mirror appeared before him, its surface shifting until it showed him exactly what was happening. The mirror was rather heavy, so several tiny pixies struggled to keep it positioned correctly.

"A little to the left," Oberon instructed, crumbs falling from his mouth. The pixies strained against the mirror and shifted it slightly.

"Perfect." Oberon dropped onto his back in the cornfield, resting his head against his hands while munching popcorn and humming happily to himself. The scene playing out in the mirror was exactly the sort of entertainment he had been hoping for.

"Don't keep me waiting, Joshua..." he said with a delighted grin.

"Provide me with some good entertainment." - - - - - - - - - - - - Gu Zhao was almost ready to leave for Cloud City, where most god-level cultivators tended to gather, when he suddenly felt Joshua enter his realm. He turned around just as Joshua appeared, and a smirk spread across his face.

"You did not take long." He stepped forward and pulled Joshua into a brief hug.

"Well, I did have some preparing to do. How about you?" Joshua asked as they separated.

"Actually, I made a few friends over the last year. I mostly meet with them in Cloud City. How about you come with me? Maybe we can get one or two helpers and turn that human soul business into ash."

"I am in. I've always wanted to see more of the cultivation worlds." Josh grinned. With both of them ready, they boarded a flying ship and set off through the Void. The journey was surprisingly smooth, with the ship making a single jump between realms. When they emerged, Joshua found himself looking at a world where gods of the cultivation paths gathered to socialize, trade, drink, and occasionally beat one another in friendly bouts. Many of them were also pursuing the same ultimate goal: becoming greater gods.

Joshua looked around with open curiosity as they descended toward the floating city.

"I find it weird how cultivation gods and other gods differ so vastly," Gu Zhao admitted.

"We gain somewhat similar abilities, but my divinity comes from Qi, while yours is pure divine essence. The two work similarly, but they're not the same. I have to turn spiritual Qi into divine essence or gain it from followers, while you get that from the beginning."

"Well, true... but then what?" Joshua shrugged as the ship slowly descended.

"I don't have Qi, which would be amazing for using martial skills. In fact, I have to make my own Qi just to use what you taught me." He laughed and shook his head.

"If you ask me, you're the one with the superior system."

"Well, I guess." Gu Zhao smiled proudly, making absolutely no effort to hide how pleased he was by the compliment. The ship descended toward the outskirts of the floating city. It wasn't particularly massive compared to some of the enormous cities Joshua had seen, but it was grand in design. Almost everything was decorated in shades of red, gold, and rich wood.

Elaborate carvings covered the rooftops, bridges, pillars, and even the window frames, while glowing lanterns hung from several buildings and swayed gently in the breeze. The entire place felt ancient and prosperous. More importantly, it smelled incredible. The aroma of spiritually rich food drifted through the streets, carrying the scents of roasted meat, fragrant herbs, steamed buns, and something sweet that Joshua couldn't quite identify. His stomach gave a quiet rumble.

He hadn't eaten anything since his date with the dragoness.

"How about we talk with your friends over a meal?" Joshua asked with a smirk. Gu Zhao raised an eyebrow.

"I did not take you for a foodie." He chuckled.

"But yeah... why not? If they're here already." He reached into his robes and pulled out two talismans. After activating them, both began to glow before slowly pointing in the same direction. Gu Zhao followed their indication and immediately spotted the large, ornate building they were directing him toward. A gambling hall. He stared at it for a moment.

"Well, I guess they are here already." A slight smirk appeared on his face before he shook his head.

"Though I do not agree with that hobby." He folded the talismans away and started walking toward the building with Joshua beside him. Joshua glanced at the enormous sign above the entrance.

"I'm guessing your friends have a few hobbies you don't approve of."

"Not many… otherwise we would not have become friends in the first place." The two gods continued toward the gambling hall, completely unaware that the place was about to become the starting point for what would likely be a very expensive meal.