"When you deliver the sphere, we'll bring that number to a nice and round... two million! Yay!"
The divine "yay" resonated in the chamber with such genuine enthusiasm that even i had to hide a smile.
Even after the tension, God's humor was contagious, despite his haggard face.
"Last ti I couldn't tell you enough how impressed I was," God continued, his beard moving erratically while he spoke. "You got here decades before expected! Though..." he paused, squinting his tired eyes, "I suppose that ans troubles will arrive earlier too. But hey! At least you're making this last supervision of humanity much more entertaining than the previous failures, so many failures... The last chance to avoid extinction and it's..."
"Previous?" i couldn't help but ask.
"Oops! Shouldn't talk about that," God waved his hand as if shooing an invisible fly. "The goddess would get angry, and believe , no one wants to see Nala angry. Though technically she already lost the bet about how long it would take you to get here... ha! You should have seen her face when..."
He stopped abruptly, as if an invisible soone had elbowed him. "Right, right! Limited ti."
Kriz smiled widely, finding this deity who seed more like a distracted professor than an all-powerful being increasingly endearing.
"Oh, right," God snapped his fingers as if rembering sothing important. "The city barrier won't be your only headache. You'll get a second barrier you'll have to feed in the deposits." He grimaced. "A million per deposit... so, uh... good luck with that!"
He then rubbed his hands enthusiastically.
"When you insert the fourth core there'll be a special surprise. I can't reveal it yet, rules are rules, but..." his eyes sparkled mischievously, "first you have to arrive alive, of course. Though I trust you'll make it... just, uh, take good care of that small blue sphere, okay?"
"Bah!" Brok stepped forward, unconsciously flexing his muscles. "The artromus aren't a big deal anymore. We defeat them more easily each ti."
God's smile turned enigmatic. "Ah, about that... You've surpassed what would effectively be a tutorial and..."
He stopped abruptly, as if an invisible force had covered his mouth.
"Oh, well, you'll discover it. The point is that now you know the elental weaknesses and... Oh! Almost forgot: you mustn't let any Artromus escape." He tilted his head. "Though I suppose none has escaped you, right?"
His tired eyes landed on the sword Elio had used to attack him. "Wait a mont! That's not just any sword... It's the fused sword! Oh, it'll be incredible when it has all four elents. The Tetraforce!" He giggled. "Get it? Like the Triforce, but with four..."
Faced with the group's confused looks, he waved his hand dismissively.
"Oh right, you don't... well, nevermind. Anyway, I think the Tetraforce is better. Four is more than three, right? I recomnd combining it as soon as you can... It's great."
"Oh! And speaking of power," God began tracing symbols in the air with his finger, leaving luminous trails that ford complex patterns.
"You have so many possible combinations with the new elents... though you'll have to discover most through trial and error. You know how these divine restrictions are..."
His eyes sparkled with childlike enthusiasm.
"But I can reveal three new ones! They're like... hints, let's say, to better understand your own power."
He traced the first rune in the air, the symbols glowing with tallic intensity. "This is for improving weapons. The previous enhancent was only 5 points, did you use it? This one is 100% and lasts 5 minutes. Use iron, carbon, and nickel like this..."
Enhanced Weapon Rune (tallica) 33Fe 3Ni C* Mana → Fe₃₃NiC* = Enhancent
The resulting enhancent doubles weapon effectiveness for 300 seconds.
While the god explained the specific sequence, Elio observed attentively, noticing a pattern. "The carbon... the less carbon, better results, right?"
"Exactly!" God clapped enthusiastically. "Always so perceptive! Now, the next one..." His fingers danced in the air, creating new patterns. "This is for speed. Helium, neon, nitrogen, and lithium in these specific proportions..."
Speed Enhancent Rune (Aether Wind) 2He Ne 3N* Li* Mana → LiHe₂NeN₃* = Acceleration
Noble gases combine with nitrogen chains, while lithium acts as an electromagnetic catalyst. Creates a personal field of reduced resistance that enhances movent speed by 10 for 300 seconds.
i stepped forward, her eyes shining with understanding. "The magnetic field... could be used to propel people. And the lithium..." her words faded while her mind worked through the possibilities.
Elio also realized that like he did with Lucien, he could add this type of impulse to his mobility, it was simple and obvious but he hadn't seen it. Though using the rune would be even better.
"Exactly!" God's smile widened at i's comprehension. "And the last one... oh, this one's fun." He traced a more complex sequence. "Use all elents from one to ten in ascending proportion order. It's basically like a silly password: 1,2,3,4,5..." he giggled. "But it significantly increases summons' power."
Summon Amplification Rune (Sacred Sequence) H 2He 3Li* 4Ni* 5Fe* 6C* 7N* 8O* 9F* 10Ne* Mana = Summoning Matrix
The first ten elents arranged in ascending nurical sequence create a perfect resonance pattern. The only real order exception is transitional tals.
"As you can see," God continued, "the nurical progression in the last one is almost ridiculously simple, but..." he paused, scratching his beard. "Well, let's say sotis the best passwords are the most obvious..."
"Like the previous runes," i murmured, "but these are more..."
"Complex? Powerful? Ridiculously specific?" God shrugged. "All of that. You'd be surprised by the number of formulas I co up with randomly. There are so many runes you haven't used yet... but rules are rules, I can only reveal these three for now."
His eyes lit up with a mischievous gleam. "Though between us, if you pay attention to the patterns... let's say these three are more than enough for you to understand the logic behind them. The rest is a matter of experintation and..." he stopped, as if an invisible force had elbowed him. "Oh, almost revealed too much. Oops!"
"Oh!" God's tired eyes suddenly lit up. "Almost forgot!" With a casual gesture, Elio's book floated to his hands. "This is for a leader to 'know' his subjects."
A small crystal appeared in the book's corner, glowing faintly.
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