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”Should I expect an explanation?” Jake asked the moment he entered the room.

”It is a welcome party,” Villy said as he lifted up and showed a can of beer. Lifted from a pyramid of beers made on the sofa table.

”I wasn’t gone for that long, only a few weeks,” Jake commented.

”Which is basically forever for you mortals, isn’t it?” Villy cheekily countered.

Jake shook his head and looked at the plump Duskleaf sitting on the couch just looking at him. ”Hey Duskleaf, been a while. I didn’t take you as the sort to join in for these kinds of things.”

Duskleaf looked a bit embarrassed and combed his beard with his hand as he tried to look wise. ”I am not here due to this welcome party but to discuss your recent commitment issues. I saw you headed back to your little planet not long ago after only being here for a short while, and I firmly believe that was a gross miss-prioritization of your time.”

”Oh. Well, I was asked by a friend to help out, so I had to head back,” Jake just shrugged.

”While that is an understandable sentiment, you must remember that alchemy always takes precedent!” Duskleaf argued with great fervor.

”I also needed to head back to gather the necessary items to participate in a system event that may eventually lead to taking partial control of a Great Wonder,” Jake added, shrugging again. ”But I guess you got a point. Titles giving percentage bonuses to stats and controlling Great Wonders probably isn’t worth my time.”

”I…” Duskleaf said as he just shook his head. ”Naturally, it is healthy to sometimes take a brief break to reflect on recent experiments and obtained data. But that break is over now, right?”

”I am back, aren’t I?” Jake just smirked. ”Thanks for the concern. I do plan on staying for a while. Now, with all that handled, why is everyone ignoring Meira just lying there?”

He finally decided to address the fainted elf in the room as he went over to her.

Villy shook his head and sighed. ”You know that is entirely your fault, right? Suppressing one’s aura and presence takes conscious effort, and as I said, it doesn’t really work if the individual knows who you are, and no way I will bother making myself invisible when visiting. We have gotten used to not needing to hold back our auras in your presence, so it is one-hundred percent your responsibility to make sure she can handle it.”

Jake looked over to Villy as he levitated Meira over to a chair and sat her down on it as he argued: ”And how do you expect for me to handle it?”

”Well, by either not caring that she faints or by training her not to,” Villy answered, giving a surprisingly reasonable response. Jake wasn’t really sure why he hadn’t considered using his special ”talents” to help Meira train her resistance to presences. It would make life a lot easier if she didn’t constantly faint whenever Villy stopped by. Then again, maybe she would still faint, presence or not? Either way, it seemed like something he should do.

”Are you confident that would be wise?” Duskleaf asked Villy. ”The elf is commonly known as Jake’s, and any development in resistance to presences such as the one he provides is outside the norm. Considering it is also known that his Bloodline offers resistance to presences, it wouldn’t be an overreach to conclude others would infer that he can also, at the very least, train this resistance to others if the elf gets it. Right now, only Umbra – due to Jake’s brother - and the two of us truly know. A few others may also, but it may spread and become public knowledge if he does teach her. Jake has chosen not to do so yet to hide this ability of his, right?”

Duskleaf asked Jake the last part, and he felt a little bad at seeing the level of belief the old alchemist had in him. Villy threw Jake a knowing smile as Jake just scratched his head a bit and chuckled. ”Eh, I don’t think it is a big deal if people know? Isn’t it actually pretty easy to hide the real truth? I can just say it requires a slave contract or something to share the resistance due to a skill or something.”

”That will work until people become aware of your brother,” Duskleaf argued.

”Do you really think Umbra will openly share it? I am sure people can come on a hundred different explanations as to why he is resistant,” Jake shrugged.

”Oh, I do think that would work, except you also helped train some of his people when you went to their city, who now also know,” Villy snickered. ”The dragon will be out of the egg soon no matter what you do, so I truly don’t think it is that big a deal. You may even be able to turn it to your advantage.”

”Ultimately, it is your decision,” Duskleaf sighed.

Jake smiled at him. ”Thanks for the concern either way.”

He then went over and began picking up some papers that Meira had dropped. Jake did find it a bit funny she still wasn’t used to the spatial ring he had gotten her, as he saw the papers all contained rather complex diagrams.

Duskleaf also noticed when Jake brought them over and looked interested. ”Oh, are you teaching the girl alchemy?”

Jake nodded. ”Well, not really me per-se. You see, I have this plan…”

He explained his plan of making Meira a real member of the Order by properly teaching her and how he had her attend lessons and do her own thing. Duskleaf nodded along and motioned for Jake to hand him the papers. Seeing no reason not to, Jake handed him the diagrams.

The god looked them over and nodded as he muttered mostly incoherent words under his breath. ”Shoddy… acceptable… no… hm…”

Jake and Villy both just stared at him as Villy asked teasingly: “So, is the girl some hidden genius you just have to take a student?”

“Hm?” Duskleaf grunted as he looked up. “No, not at all. Her dedication to detail is respectable, but she made several mistakes, and her notes are all over the place. She does have a healer class, though, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Jake confirmed, not knowing why it mattered.

“Those are rare at least,” the old alchemist nodded.

“Wait, why are they rare?” Jake asked, confused.

“Not rare in the context of the multiverse, even if they are the rarest type of class. We are talking about here in the context of the Order,” Villy butted in. “If you haven’t noticed by now, we here in the Order tend to be self-serving assholes, so who would waste their class on being a healer? That is for those who even have classes. A lot only have one or the other, and considering they are in the Academy, they likely have an alchemy profession.”

“Oh,” Jake realized. “Makes perfect sense. I assume that gives her some advantages?”

“Some,” Duskleaf answered. “Minor, but there is synergy and overlap. Her knowledge of physiology is at a high level, likely from her class and learning how to be a better healer. However, her general skills when it comes to learning, studying, and taking notes are atrocious. I guess you cannot expect anything better from someone who has lived in servitude their entire life. Does seem at least a bit worth training if you think she has the dedication and mindset to progress.”

“I see,” Jake sighed as he got an idea and tossed Duskleaf a sly look. “Guess I will add teaching her some general stuff to my to-do list then, along with the resistance training. Going to be a busy stay.”

“What?” Duskleaf asked in shock. “Absolutely not. You need to focus on alchemy when here, not messing around. The resistance training is fine as you can do that passively, but spending dedicated time on teaching her is out of the question.”

Jake looked at Duskleaf and tilted his head. “She will have to be taught.”

Villy smirked in the background and nearly failed to hold back a laugh as Duskleaf shook his head. “I am not foolish enough to fall for something that childish.”

“Man, and here I was hoping I could do some more shenanigans with my arcane affinity and Bloodline in a ritual with the Bee Queen to make another creature a bit like Sylphie,” Jake sighed. “I was even hoping to ask you for advice and have you help and naturally observe the entire process.”

Duskleaf gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. “Are you blackmailing me?”

“What?” Jake said, acting shocked. “I would never do such a thing. I merely realize that due to my workload, I will have to re-prioritize my tasks and abandon the ritual. Such a bummer. I was really hoping to see what kind of being I could make now. Especially after I have evolved and even partly merged with a simulacrum from a Parallel World Simulation that realized it was in a simulation with whom we, together, reached an agreement by negotiation with a system entity.”

“After you did what?” Duskleaf jumped a bit.

“Eh, nothing. I already talked with Villy about it, and seeing how busy you are, I don’t want to waste any more of your time talking about such boring topics,” Jake waved him off as he made another exaggerated sigh.

“Jake,” Duskleaf suddenly said, turning far more serious than before. “Trying to blackmail a god will never end well.”

“Pretty sure I already clarified I am not blackmailing anyone?” Jake asked with a big smile. “And you keep forgetting that acting threatening has no effect when I feel more animosity and danger from the countertop than you.”

“Fine,” Duskleaf finally relented. He then stood up and took out a green fist-sized seed and prickled his finger to put a single drop of blood on it. The seed sprouted instantly and, within five seconds, formed a fully humanoid form that looked like an exact copy of Duskleaf himself.

“This is one of those high-level cloning techniques I told you about, Jake,” Villy said with a smile from the sofa as he asked Duskleaf. “How much of your power did you put into that?”

“Nothing. I improved the seeds,” the newly sprouted version of Duskleaf answered. “However, they have a limited duration as it runs on the seeds alone.”

“How long?” Villy asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Around two billion years,” Duskleaf answered, looking disappointed. “Takes about the same amount of time to grow one.”

Jake listened in, and while some might feel bad about how he roped in Duskleaf and even made him spend a seed he had grown for longer than humanity on Earth had existed, Jake was totally fine with it. “So, that clone will stay here?” he asked.

“What? No. While it will be available, I can’t waste it too much. It can still display around ten percent of my full capabilities, you know,” the clone once more answered.

“It is as I said,” the real Duskleaf said. “I will leave this clone here and teach both the girl and you. Just remember to include me in the ritual.”

Jake gave him an affirmative nod before the god teleported away without any detectable spatial disturbance.

Villy just grinned and looked at the cloned Duskleaf. “You can still drink beer even as a little beansprout, can’t you?”

“Naturally,” Duskleaf – or Sproutleaf if Jake wanted to be cheeky – answered as he took a seat on the sofa where the real version had been before. Once he was sitting down, he looked at Jake. “And now you tell me everything about that system event and let us go over your plans for the ritual with the Queen Bee.”

Jake nodded and smiled as Villy tossed him a beer can. He popped it open, took a whisk, and began. “As I said, then Villy and I think the event may have taken place in something linked to a Great Wonder…”

Within a throne room on a planet far away from Earth, the servants waited expectantly. At times, some would appear, teleported there by the system itself, as they too joined the other servants in awaiting the return of their king. The grand palace in which they kneeled was a marvel of pre-system engineering and was created from a bronze-like metal native to their world. A material only allowed to be used by the royal family.

Soon, the room was filled with servants as finally, their leader appeared. Ell’Hakan was teleported right in front of the throne, and he had a big smile on his face. Minutes passed as he seemed to have an internal dialogue – or a talk with his Patron – before he turned and briefly regarded his subordinates.

”Has everything been delivered?” he asked one of the servants standing at the front – one of only fourteen people only kneeling on one knee.

She nodded. ”Everything has been prepared, and they signed the agreed-upon contract as expected. They are fast proceeding on their end but will still require some time to fully prime the array. It will be ready in time.”

Ell’Hakan thanked her, adding. ”We cannot expect too much from them. Even with the guidance of my Patron, there are limits to the competency of the lesser. However, I believe they shall play their role adequately.”

The woman nodded. ”Even if they are less skilled, they still possess heritages allowing them to do it. Humans are an adaptable breed after all.”

”That they are,” Ell’Hakan smiled, remembering his brief encounter with his fellow Chosen. His smile deepened as he looked forward to their next encounter. After assuring everything was as it should, he headed towards his chambers in the highest tower and the tallest structure on their planet – the Celestial Spire.

The top of the spire was the place closest to the stars, and only the king and his most trusted servants had ever been allowed there.

Standing on the balcony, he waited only a few moments before his most competent and vital companion appeared.

Ash and transparent flames shifted form as the air shimmered from the heat. Rapidly, an elemental-like being was condensed out of ash and transparent flames, taking a vaguely humanoid form. Space shifted ever-so-slightly in its surroundings as it appeared fully formed next to Ell’Hakan.

”So?” the being asked in a deep, echoing voice.

”Your kind truly does come in all shapes and sizes,” Ell’Hakan merely said as he added on. ”Like you, this creature that wanders the human planet was no doubt more powerful than I or even the Malefic’s Chosen. You shall have what you desire.”

”That we are supreme is a given, for such are the laws of the universe. Remember your promise, and I shall do as sworn,” the being said before it dispersed into nothingness, leaving only a faint shimmer in space behind along with a small pile of ash.

Ell’Hakan just smiled and shook his head. He gazed up at the burning red sun above and the two faintly visible moons only detectable due to his post-system improved senses. Some companions were harder to deal with than others, and the Ashen Phantom Devourer was certainly the hardest. Not that it was unexpected.

One couldn’t expect Unique Lifeforms to be loyal subjects. They were too prideful, too assured of themselves. One could never truly make them trust another fully. But they were easy to figure out and thus make use of.

He smiled as he gazed upon the cosmos above, enjoying the sight. “I hope you look forward to our next meeting as much as I, oh Malefic’s Chosen.”