Chương 554: Chapter 522: Beyond the System

"I can't believe you just left. Do you have any idea what kind of damage you caused?" an illusion of Solan shouted at Thalion. Apparently the gods had grown so annoyed with constantly speaking through their Chosen that they had already sent plans for a formation allowing them to directly communicate with mortals.

"No, of course you don't. I had been bragging about your accomplishments and now Solarion is handing out footage of you defending his Chosen's base like you're his personal little servant. Do you have anything to say for your defense?"

"Well it felt like the right thing to do. Also I thought you were an ancient powerful god. If you think he's mocking you then just kill him." Thalion shrugged. He could somewhat understand the concern about appearances but the rest sounded completely ridiculous to him.

"It turns out Solarion is also an ancient god of light which makes him a rather unfortunate matchup and in my current situation I really can't afford running around fighting gods on my own level. No, no, no you're going to fix this. There is a show broadcasting across the entire multiverse and Solarion's Chosen will appear in the next episode for an interview and you'll be there too."

"Yeah no. I'm not entering your domain. Forget about it." Thalion replied calmly, refusing to get provoked.

"You don't need to. Simply standing on the transmission circle will be enough for you to appear on the next show and you better prepare yourself. We're going to send you new clothes from our faction. Gods, I'll even have to come up with a design." Solan continued rambling.

"Hmm I kind of like my red robe from the first system event and the mask too. Both make me stronger in a fight." That earned him quite the reaction though not from Solan himself because the god was suddenly shoved out of the frame when his wife Nyssa, with terrifying eyes stepped in instead.

"You are definitely not wearing a mask while representing our faction. The multiverse will probably think your face is too ugly to show."

"Fine, whatever. But since you're already here, what exactly are the limitations regarding dead beasts sent through the portal?" Now that was the actually interesting part. He still hadn't shown Ricarda the seeds and so far nobody had given him a proper answer.

"Eh I have no idea. Dear did you ever test sending dead beasts through the portal during the last few eras?"

"Why would I want to send dead beasts through the portal?" A loud voice came from the backround.

"I don't know, the human just asked. Maybe next time simply say you don't know before asking stupid questions." Thalion briefly considered hiding his ability but the downside of secrecy no longer seemed worth it. These were ancient gods and given their alliance they would probably find out eventually anyway. Better to be honest now and gain the maximum possible benefit. Ancient gods should know about some absolutely ridiculous forms he could acquire.

"Okay look. I'm a shapeshifter, right?"

"We know you're a shapeshifter. Do you think we're stupid?" Nyssa snapped.

"Good, good just making sure. What I'm trying to say is that I can take the form of dead beasts."

"Isn't that what all shapeshifters do? Kill a beast, touch it, get the form?" Nyssa replied with visible annoyance.

"Yes but for me it doesn't matter how long the beast has been dead. You could bring me something from twenty eras ago and I could still take its form. I figured there would probably be restrictions regarding what kind of bodies can pass through the portal but if those limits disappear once something is dead then I could get access to some pretty insane forms."

"Hmm understood, understood. Are there limitations on what forms you can take? Can you transform into elementals too? How many forms do you currently have? It probably can't be that many because otherwise—""Thirty." Thalion interrupted her.

"Thirty? You're serious?" Nyssa exclaimed in complete disbelief before narrowing her eyes when Thalion nodded.

"Hmm okay... How does it work with Vaultrons?" Nyssa asked, now genuinely interested. Thalion had absolutely no idea what Vaultrons were and apparently that was written all over his face because she immediately clarified.

"Machinaris, robots, prototypes, automatons?"

"Robots?" Thalion finally understood.

"Eh I haven't really had the chance to test it yet but I'm not sure if I can become a computer."

"What? Why not? You can become an insect or a hamster but not a machine? That makes absolutely no sense. Of course not the enlightened machines but there are several races partially categorized as beasts which should still allow you to take their form. We'll simply test it out but it'll take some time before we get the truly powerful forms." The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Great. So there is this weird show I apparently have to participate in tomorrow but how does everything else look and what should we focus on next besides claiming the teleportation circles to Integrated Space?" Thalion asked, very pleased with where this conversation was heading. Forms that even ancient gods needed time to locate sounded extremely promising. The issue however was body tempering. Simply possessing a form wouldn't be enough.

Yes the skills and racial abilities would likely be absurd and some forms might even possess unique powers but Thalion lacked the time to temper dozens of different bodies individually. Four forms already felt like a lot to maintain properly. Now that he thought about it, a skill capable of transferring or sharing body tempering progress between forms would be absolutely insane for him.

"Yes the show is important and tomorrow you are definitely trying on the new clothes. That much is certain. Otherwise claiming the teleportation circles to Integrated Space and gathering as many crystals and pearls from the ocean as possible are currently crucial for this faction's survival." With those final words Nyssa disappeared and the connection abruptly ended. Those were honestly Thalion's thoughts as well.

Without proper defenses they would simply get overrun by a powerful Chosen force sooner or later and right now he still wasn't remotely ready to properly fight D-grade opponents. He needed more levels and definitely more tempering. His thoughts were interrupted by a hesitant Kargul.

"Ehm Thalion I don't want to be rude but could you call the woman back? I think she forgot the food." In hindsight it was probably good that the formation had already shut down because otherwise Thalion definitely wouldn't have felt comfortable allowing Kargul through the portal.

"We'll probably have to wait a bit before we can ask for food. Why don't you make yourselves comfortable for now? The large residence in the middle belongs to me and there are plenty of empty rooms while I go check on a few people. Bringing all of you here took far longer than expected so I need to get updated on a few things first." The suggestion was more or less accepted and Thalion quickly took off to find out where in the world Pikar was.

The man should definitely be able to bring him up to speed and Thalion also wanted to know where Ricarda currently was because carrying those massive seeds around all the time was getting increasingly annoying. <-- While Thalion searched for Pikar to finally get things sorted out, the rest of the multiverse was preparing for one of the greatest and frankly the only show broadcast to every planet in integrated space.

It was still a relatively new program with only four episodes released so far but the ratings had already been excellent. Besides all negative reviews mysteriously disappearing, the overall approval rate remained incredibly high. The show focused entirely on the newly integrated universe which made it fascinating for those already living within the system. Everyone wanted to learn how integration worked and how life on those worlds had changed afterward.

That the three gods running the show also didn't want to antagonize any powerful factions in Integrated Space was probably just a minor additional motivation behind keeping the focus on the new universe. Another major reason why the show was so popular across countless worlds was the fact that many lower-energy regions had become partially isolated.

It wasn't total isolation but very similar to what had happened to the newly integrated universe which meant entities above a certain level could no longer freely enter. Rumors already spread that many of those isolated worlds would eventually be connected to the new universe somehow and the show became the perfect source of information regarding what people could expect once that happened. The program itself was called Beyond the System, a title many viewers constantly complained about and wanted changed.

Yet when the most common criticism was merely the name, the show was obviously doing extremely well. Not that it mattered much anyway since those complaints mysteriously vanished too. Normally broadcasting a show across such absurd distances between galaxies and planets would have been completely impossible. Yet with a little assistance from the system everything suddenly became feasible.

Without the system itself acting as the connection between worlds, countless gods would have already killed the three showrunners and turned the program into propaganda for their own factions. But since such an action remained impossible, the gods instead resorted to threatening, bribing, and occasionally even fighting each other just to secure spots for their Chosen on the show.

So far only individuals blessed by gods had appeared because ordinary mortals from the newly integrated universe simply lacked the means to teleport into the studio. Yet the next episode of Beyond the System featured a guest the showrunners had dreamed about getting for a very long time. Thalion. A name already known throughout large parts of the multiverse. For Pinkype the Magnificent, lead interviewer and self-proclaimed greatest host in existence, this was especially exciting.

Even though the previous episodes had been successful, many viewers still stopped watching halfway through. Having only sixty percent viewer retention by the end of an episode was something Pinkype considered unacceptable. But could there possibly be a more exciting guest than a mere human without a blessing who had defeated multiple Chosen in not one but two system trials? Of course this wasn't everything Pinkype had planned.

No, this time instead of another boring interview between a Chosen and their sponsoring god, the episode would feature an actual discussion between multiple Chosen from the new universe itself. He had even managed to gather several from the same planet. Chances were incredibly high they had already fought each other before or perhaps even belonged to factions currently trying to wipe one another out. How could a show possibly become more exciting than that? Pinkyde of course already knew the answer.

He had invited the Three Oracles and intended to open betting pools allowing viewers across the multiverse to gamble on the outcome of the war unfolding on this planet. With high-grade materials, treasures, and resources on the line, people would absolutely keep watching the following episodes which would mainly exist to update everyone on the progress of the conflict. Pinkype could barely contain his excitement when imagining the engagement numbers.

After the war on this planet ended he would simply move on to the next. First the competition would revolve around conquering a planet, then a galaxy, then eventually entire clusters. This was going to be magnificent and he would keep everyone updated. Besides the betting itself, powerful gods would also use his platform to improve their own public image through their Chosen. Showing that a god genuinely cared about and supported their followers could dramatically increase the popularity of a faction.

A flood of new members would be only one of many advantages.