Zachariah was still in the Sanctuary the following day, but he did not look particularly pleased when David found him with a familiar elf. It wasn’t Melach, but a member of the Familia.

  I haven’t seen Melach for a while now, David realized. He recalled Maja saying something about Melach and others joining the Familia and otherworldly Champions in the attempt to return to their home worlds, but he hadn’t inquired about their progress.

  Frankly, he did not care too much about the Familia’s actions, and he was not particularly pleased about Melach either. The elf had a Favor bond, though it was fragile and in a constant battle with the bond of Conflict that had formed at the same time. David had no details, but he could sense the elf’s emotions.

  Melach blamed others for his fate rather than searching for solutions. He was injured, the core of a Nature Elemental fused into his heart to stabilize it, and his body was a mess. David could fix him, but Melach did not think it was necessary to approach him. Melach demanded that David come to him, heal him, and beg for forgiveness — for whatever reason. At least, that was what Melach thought, and it angered David.

  He did not consider Melach a close friend, but the elf had been more than an acquaintance to him. For Melach to think like that was… disappointing, to say the least. Despite that, David was willing to heal the elf. He knew it was not fair to pry into the emotions and thoughts of others, and he decided to stand above their differences — that is, as long as Melach approached him to request to be healed.

  “Please reconsider, Your Holiness!” the elf shouted, his despair almost visible to the eye.

  “No! How often do you want to hear it? I am not planning to claim a territory, be it now or in the future,” Zachariah snapped, bladed stars of his Sword Law conjured all around him, but it looked like the Familia elf didn’t notice them. “I won’t build a Sanctuary either. If you don’t like it here, leave! David won’t hold you back from leaving, neither will I. If anything, he may even help you get back to the nearest System Sanctuary.”

  “But… Your Holiness!!” the elf begged, tears streaming down his face.

  Zachariah cursed something in a language David didn’t understand and turned to him. “Are they always this dramatic, David?”

  “Dunno. I normally leave the most annoying tasks to others,” David shrugged.

  The Familia elf turned to him with a glare. “This is all your fault!” he snarled, but flinched and backtracked when he was met with an ice-cold stare. “Y-Your Excellency…”

  David raised an eyebrow and motioned for the elf to continue.

  It took the elf a few seconds, but his quivering lips parted. “Your people are avoiding us! We’re just trying to rebuild the Familia, but everyone with the authority to make decisions has been avoiding us when all we want is to help the Pantheon!”

  He stared David deep in the eyes, courage slowly returning to him. “Don’t we all want the same, Your Excellency? We hope to expand Orhain and transform it into a powerful Sanctuary, a fortress for those who cannot defend themselves…”

  David was sure the elf planned to say a lot more, but he raised his hand to stop him from spouting more nonsense.

  “I don’t have anything against the Familia. If we’re only talking about the building and a connection to the mission board and the Vaults, maybe the merchant network as well, I would accept you right away.”

  The elf’s eyes lit up, but David was far from done.

  “But I will never allow the construction of the Panthea. I can allow the construction of a few temples, and I might even help with the construction of Familia portals, but that’s about it. Oh, and I am willing to house more Protectors and noncombatants from other races if we fix the Familia portals.”

  They needed more Classers like the Tirac Artificer, the Dwarven Blacksmith, and many others. It would be even better if thousands of Protectors used the portals to reside in Orhain, preferably with at least one open spot for a Favor bond. In the worst case, David could always sever the Protectors’ bonds to make space for a Favor bond. That would probably stir trouble among the Pantheon’s gods, but it would work.

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  The elf deflated a little, which was exactly what David had been waiting for.

  “I am willing to sell the permission to construct a few temples,” he said lightly, and the elf’s ears perked up again.

  It would have been best if the Familia members had been more patient, if Orhain had expanded a little more before they approached him, but the cat was out of the bag.

  The existence of the Panthea within every Sanctuary granted the Pantheon gods a tremendous amount of power, and David was unwilling to share his bonds with others. Not only were powerful Classers unable to hold more than four bonds — even that was rare — each Classer produced only a certain amount of Might.

  The strongest Classers were closely connected to the Weave even if they couldn’t feel it, and the power trickling through each Classer’s connection would be split among the bonds, since Classers did not have a catalyst to utilize the Weave’s Might.

  That was what the Divine Seed was: a catalyst. It unraveled the connection that was already there and allowed the Classers — then Ascendant — to harness Might properly.

  Before that, all Might directed to the Classer would be split according to the strength of the respective bonds. That being said, David would lose some Might even if he was connected to Orhain’s residents, if he allowed the construction of the Pantheon.

  Thus, the creation of a few small temples was all he allowed… in exchange for a hefty fee.

  “The Pantheon… does not want you as the head of the territory, Y-Your Excellency,” the elf said as all the color in his eyes disappeared. Only the white of his eyes was left.

  “He’s talking to the emissaries of the Pantheon,” Zachariah clarified calmly, and the elf turned to the Regressor.

  His voice was as squeaky as before. “They want you to claim the territory. If you take the territory, they will make sure to transform the Sanctuary into the center of an empire. To ensure you will complete your part of the deal, Your Holiness.”

  “I reject,” Zachariah grunted and flicked the elf’s forehead. The elf’s head snapped back, and the color in his eyes returned for a moment, only to turn blank once again. He stared at the Regressor with wide eyes but remained silent as Zachariah pointed back at David. “The Pantheon should support David instead of asking me to do things that were never agreed upon. I am already fulfilling my part of the deal, and if the Pantheon does not plan to disrupt my plans, they better stop annoying me.”

  He sighed deeply. “We have the same enemy, and David has the means to defeat them. Antagonizing him won’t help anyone. If anything, the Pantheon may attract the ire of Bereth. The Ancient intercepted for a reason—probably.”

  Zachariah didn’t explain anything, but David guessed Zachariah was talking about the Guard of the Eternal Cycle, Bereth, who rewarded him with [Draining Touch], a Tier-2 Skill Slate, when he defeated a group of Kobolds on the first day of the integration. [Draining Touch] had been taken away and replaced by [Holy Touch], which turned out to be a lot more useful than he could have hoped for.

  He had one more encounter with Bereth as the Ruler of Blood invested his influence to adjust the evolution of David’s Primary Class. Bereth intervened on that day, and David hadn’t heard from him ever since. Then again, Asmodeus had been oddly silent ever since he showed David the last few Cycles. He had no idea why, but the gods hadn’t bothered him.

  Zachariah ignored the way both the elf and David looked at him, retrieved a small parchment, and showed it to David. “That’s a teleportation scroll. I anchored it to the heart of Orhain yesterday. I’ll come back once I figure out what the End is planning. Until then… I don’t know, make sure Orhain is growing. Push to 3-Star as soon as possible. I can tell you’re not far, but you better hurry up. The Earthen Union will be fully assimilated very soon.”

  The last part didn’t sound great, although David was more confused about what the Regressor said before.

  Why does he think I’m closer to 3-Star when I’m not even a 2-Star Ascendant? He doubted Zachariah’s perception was wrong. Was the Regressor confused and just mistaken, or did he truly think David was close to the third Star? If the latter was the case… why?

  Is it because I have a planetary bond, a territory, so many bonds, and more Sworn and two powerful Champions? David was fairly sure creating a Prime Champion cost more than a 2-Star Ascendant could afford. Fortunately, Electra had been his Champion from the get-go. Not only that, but she became his Prime Champion without an investment.

  Regardless, Zachariah was mistaken. David was only a 1-Star Ascendant, even if it was only a matter of time before he would create the second Star. By then… how strong would he be? Would he be strong enough to fight a 3-Star Ascendant? What about 4-Star Ascendants? How much stronger were they? Could he…

  David discarded the thoughts temporarily and met Zachariah’s eyes. The Regressor stared back, but the glimmer in his eyes was dimmer than before. He looked a little bit defeated, even more so than he had after their talk about the Divine Seed, Vitae Nihilum, and their little chat revolving around Earthen Union’s Champion. The latter had already been bad, but it felt more like Zachariah was still annoyed at how efficient Vitae was.

  “Make sure you cleanse more wastelands. You can also offer to cleanse the wastelands of other planets. Form more planetary bonds if you can. Gods and planets will be thankful for your service, if you offer it, and you can ask for repayment.” Zachariah looked pointedly at the elf who was still connected to the emissaries of the Pantheon. “The Pantheon gods have been struggling the most with Voidlings. It’s one of the many reasons they’ve been pushing the System and the Host harder than anyone. They pay a good price if you know how to negotiate.”

  David was not an excellent merchant, but he knew what he and his people needed. Still, he excelled in being shameless.

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