On his journey back to the planet below, Dei found his mind quiet and weary after the first true manifestation of Hellish Divergence; it hadn't taken anything out of him, but the experience made him question his own sanity. He knew he was about to die, he just… hadn't really cared. He still didn't.

Sighing, he found his way to a random prairie on the planet and laid down, closing his eyes. His skin was too tough for any of the insects to penetrate, so he was content to doze as they crawled over him. He'd never been one to jump at bugs, and his nigh invulnerability outside of the quarantine only reinforced his mental constitution further.

A few minutes later, The Champion established a mental connection with him and pushed more faith into his storage- though it was a paltry amount compared to what both versions of The Champion had put forth.

"Donations from the rest," he said simply, then rescinded his connection as he sensed Dei trying to relax.

He didn't need to sleep, but right now, he was glad he'd retained the ability.

* * *

Meanwhile, with Perumah

Her two tagalongs quickly separated from her after they'd entered the capital city of this particular kingdom, and Perumah was fine to go alone.

She wandered for a time, noting the architecture and any other feature she could see just in case.

It was a city with variable levels of friendliness, and a large lower class which sat in the slums. She wasn't here to fix that, but it was interesting to her that in a world of magic without the System, the common folk had little to no idea of how to leverage their power properly.

In the center of it all was a massive white cathedral with a clocktower as the shining needle at the top.

She made her way to the more noble districts near the middle, watching the houses slowly become better until they were all manicured lawns and expensive estates. Connecting with a few plants in one of the more flowery gardens, she found the path to where she needed to go and set off.

With her star cloak, she wasn't out of place around the gaudy rich folk and nobody batted an eye at her. Even with her hood off showcasing her true body, there were only a few curious glances, likely as to her Race. She felt a couple requests for permission to Identify, but gently turned them all away.

When she finally arrived, she walked through the garden gate without anyone stopping her, making her way over to a bench and sitting down.

She wasn't here to admire the view, and didn't particularly care for how well-meshed everything was, so she immediately jumped into her goal, connecting with the nearby roots.

A hub of activity opened to her mind, many of the magical or sentient plants keeping at least a portion of their roots connected with this particular garden.

Something a lot of the fleshy folk didn't consider was the quiet society beneath their feet, as every plant was capable of tapping into the mycelium network, even those who could move around at will. With magic, it'd evolved past simple signals or nutrient sharing into an entirely new silent world.

She started with the basic introduction, stating what she was and declaring her particular signal, then began inquiring about information.

This was how she actually scouted out the planets so quickly. Everywhere had plants, even the frozen wastes of Caps despite them being much further down. When they entered a new planet, she would find the nearest connection with the local mycelium network and ask around. In exchange, she would send nutrients, magical guidance, or information of her own circulating through; there was no currency, only bartering.

That was also one of the reasons she required so much food. Convincing enough plants to get together and form a clear enough picture for her to understand exactly where to go was expensive, so her first order of business was bounties.

Plants across the world put out hits on damaging creatures, and she extended rapidly along the pre-existing paths, punching through the earth, finding these undesirable existences, and draining them of blood. Not only did she receive the stipend from the plants which put out the order for the hunt, she was able to find justifiably guilty targets.

It took a lot to get a plant to want you dead, after all; they had the tendency to be layabouts.

As the payments began flooding in, her inquiries changed to a different tune- sources of eccentric relicsmiths and what they might require as payment other than money, such as rare resources. It went fairly well… but she noticed a slow rise in attention focused on her. She ignored it for now, getting what she needed.

There were a few targets that fit her needs, but she chose a dwarven one because of the personal bias she had towards their artifact making; the Goraini and Hasi were the other two options, one being rock folk and the other a type of stationary core-like entity, but Perumah chose the dwarf because of the reputations their people had. Dei would jokingly call her racist if he knew, but it was the safe decision.

She did research on him next, a dandelion breaking through the roof of his workshop feeding her information on what he accepted as payment, and she was happy to see that he outright refused money. Said dandelion was considered a monster at this point with how powerful it was after years of feeding its knowledge of the dwarf to others, which she found slightly funny.

What she didn't find funny at all were the congregation of minds following after her, so she finally turned around, addressing them.

"What? What do you want?"

"Sturdy stalk… she's gorgeous."

"A grand sentience…"

"Bloomy? Sorry, Bloomy? Sorry…"

She was taken aback at the compliments filtering through, most of them hadn't even heard her address them; those that did, suddenly froze up or fled.

She inspected herself and compared her own presence to those following her, finding them to be miniscule by comparison. Aligning her view to what they saw, she realized she had an utterly golden aura about her, glowing like a demi-goddess as the image of her was complete and complex.

The experience of becoming a progenitor to her own Race left her changed in more ways than one, and she found that her mind was much more… refined than others who had the same connections to the affinities as her. Those that were born with the affinities hadn't been put through the crucible she had, so they appeared lesser when near her.

It was an odd phenomena as none of these plants were Sapients and neither was Perumah, which they could pick up. To them, she was an incredibly advanced monster which they could hardly comprehend.

She was an optimal specimen to them who would bear powerful offspring, which is what many of these were after.

She sent out tired exasperation, which most heard yet few respected. They simply shifted uncomfortably, unwilling to leave. If she had temples, she would've massaged them by now.

She simply sighed and continued her task, gathering information on the metals she needed. In barely three hours, she'd organized everything and finally sent a portion of her body toward the dwarf. She heard the swoons as many of the plants realized how quickly she could spread her roots but paid them no mind.

A root extended out next to the dandelion as it shifted out of the way, and the junior dwarf standing at the counter glanced at her, eyes widening as her structure began to take shape.

Stolen novel; please report.

He stumbled back, screaming "M-Master Terror! Master Terror, help!"

The booming footsteps from the back grew louder as Tegug Terror walked out, hammer in hand, to see what all the racket was about. He'd supposedly forsaken his former last name, creating his own in his career.

"What's the matter boy?" he asked his apprentice, though his eyes were already on Perumah's forming body. "Nevermind, I'll handle this."

Despite her initial expectations, he did not lunge forward or attack. Instead, he glared at the dandelion and loudly said "Dee I swear on my stones, you said you'd warn me next time someone would make an appearance through you."

Dee gave no explanation, though Perumah got the sense of amusement from the plant in question.

Her shape taking form was a near replica of her real body, though she covered her body in flowers to maintain the decency that Dei's sister and mother hammered into her; those composing her "Shirt" were predominantly red with stripes of black, while her "Pants" were predominantly black with stripes of red.

"Tegug?" she asked psychically.

"Aye, your folk tend to be direct, what's the request?"

"All artifacts you have on hand for every infused mineral in a two mile radius of a point eighty miles north of Hollow Deep."

"Deal."

She began transferring the minerals through her roots and Tegug quickly brought out several containers, telling her where to put each.

The payment seeped out of her roots, falling into the barrels as miniscule grains of sand as the junior dwarf looked at her in awe.

When she was done, she said "I will be here in person within the next day, please have the artifacts ready for my arrival."

"Aye."

Transaction complete, her body broke apart and receded into the wall. When it was out of view, she decayed the physical roots and gave the excess nutrients to Dee, having no use for them any longer.

'Now to deal with the big troublemaker,' she thought as she moved around the followers. She'd sensed the presence of another being lurking around her main body for an hour or so, but he was polite enough to wait for her to finish up whatever business she had on the network.

Many plants didn't see the significance of waiting near her body as that was no way to garner her attention. At worst, she might view it as a threat and attack them; at best? She wouldn't acknowledge their existence at all. These rules were implied though, and never quite spoken, meaning there was some left up for interpretation. This particular plant didn't truly immerse himself in the network though, it was more of a curiosity or hobby to him, and she could see why as she finally acknowledged his soul.

He was a plant-based Sapient, something called a Flowereti. The majority of the time they looked like walked on two trunks for their legs, with their upper halves composed of twisted branches that occasionally jutted out to show leaves. Looking at him sitting on the bench across from her, on the other side of the path, she saw multiple blooms along his entire body, a clearly flirtatious gesture.

Her body of roots could resemble the same twisting form the flowereti had, so it was obvious as to why he might recognize her as a peer; combine that with her blooming hair and refined presence on the network? Of course he would attempt to approach her.

"I am not a flowereti, and the blooms hold no correlation to availability for my Race, they are purely aesthetic. I must decline," she told him clearly but politely through the network.

He took her sudden declaration after an hour of silence in stride. "I know you are not flowereti, but I am still interested. Your mind is more dexterous than any I've ever seen, with power magnitudes greater than any I've even heard of, it would be absurd of me not to at least acknowledge you."

"I am also a monster, not a Sapient. Reproduction would be inconsistent and risky."

"Flowereti have Racial abilities which take the risk out of such things, we are more than capable of naturally smoothing out any complications."

She paused, genuinely considering the proposition. She would, naturally, have to reproduce eventually. As a monster, it was an inbuilt desire, and as a progenitor, she would need to create more offspring. While the child she created now wouldn't be of her new species, he was correct that it would be Sapient, a Flowereti at least. It'd reach the same end-goal as her, with her naturally powerful genes, just of a slightly different variety; the issue now wasn't anything with her, but this potential Flowereti.

He was pathetic.

His mind was very weak and untempered, though he did have some powerful- albeit neutral- spells. She could tell they were effective and reliant on social interactions. He was physically strong and quite dangerous, just in a… controlled sort of manner. He was no trailblazer, he was a noble who'd followed the optimal path to become strong, just as a status symbol, which she should have expected considering this garden was in the noble district. There was nothing inherently wrong with him, he just wasn't very great. Still, she did not want to cause issues or draw attention here, so she would do her very best to politely turn him away.

"You're correct that I'm more powerful than any on your planet. That is because I am from a different universe, and fully intend to leave this one to the next in a few hours. I have much business to attend to, and no time to raise a child."

"That is fine! I shall raise it on my…"

"No, any offspring I have would be powerful, and I would have a duty to guide them."

"Then I will come with you?" he said questioningly, "It would be more than worth it, even if I have to leave everything behind."

She was glad she had fully control over her physical form, because if she didn't she would've felt her eyebrow twitch. He… wasn't getting the hint, she would have to be more direct.

"No. I am not interested."

He seemed irritated at her refusal. "Why? I am a powerful figure in this city, my family is-"

"I don't like you," she said, forgoing manners entirely now and leaving him stunned, "You are weak and I do not wish to reproduce with you."

She watched his face contort with disbelief, acceptance, then anger.

"You… You bitch!" he proclaimed throughout the network, and there was an immediate flinch from hundreds of tiny minds hearing his words, an angry hum resonating throughout the garden.

"What gives him the right over any of us?!"

"Her intentions were clear, her grace excessive towards the whelp!"

"This fucking barksplitter!''

Perumah's potential suitor had ignored the hundreds of others who were attempting the exact same thing he was. The only reason he'd been given special consideration was because he was physically in front of her, and hadn't made himself easily ignorable. Though she didn't care about his insults, she found it amusing that those gathered around them were so dedicated to impressing her.

Her reaction to theirs was noted, and the joy it brought her fanned the flames.

"She heard us!"

"She agrees!"

Then, one final united declaration.

"LET'S KILL HIM!"

The flowereti immediately withdrew his roots from the network, but he was moments too late. Hundreds of plants sent parasites and draining signals to him, immediately sending him into a state of withering.

She watched his flowers lose color and fall off as he leapt up, stumbling from the bench. No longer was he glaring at her, instead focusing entirely on escaping.

Inside the network, she felt the plants further away begin paying those in the garden to attack or attach themselves to the flowereti somehow and reconnect him with the network. Despite them him standing on a paved pathway, she saw the stones begin to shift and crack, roots bursting forth, grasping at the man.

He took off running, doing everything he could to evade the lethal, albeit slow, attacks- and succeeding. Not many plants were as mobile as things like flowereti.

She stood up, ready to go out and search for Dei once again, but paused and decided her followers had come to her defence, even if it was unnecessary…

"Thank you all," she said to them, and felt pure joy emanate from the swarm.

Chuckling, she disconnected from the network and made her way out of the city.

* * *

POV: Dei

After a few hours of relaxation, an itch began to form in the back of his mind, and his face scrunched slightly but his mind was already adrift, and it didn't feel dangerous.

The various bugs crawling over him masked the sensation, as it was quite similar to how they felt to him. Twenty minutes after he first started feeling it, he finally acknowledged that it wasn't going away as it slowly became stronger, the feeling of something happening.

He huffed, standing up and shaking off all the creepy crawlies on him before looking around.

The sun was a bit further in the sky, but nothing was presently around. Without the bugs on him though, he was finally able to pinpoint the source of his irritation: somewhere within his own body.

He quirked an eyebrow and looked inward, right as the second most horrific sensation he'd ever felt assaulted his mind.

He lost a piece.

A portion of himself suddenly no longer listened, and Dei watched his System construct activate itself. The mind he'd sectioned off to govern it failed to respond to his inquiries, but the lanky spell launched free of his hold, slipping through his memories.

"STOP!" he shouted, then gave chase as it ignored him. Presence in hand, "Undo" at the ready, Dei sought to either catch or break whatever monstrosity he'd accidentally created.

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