out of the forest (5)
"... well of cause I missed you, you did save my life after all Info"
"that's good then... but you sure did find a old avatar, where is this even?"
Mars was about to answer Info's question when the cyan glow that came from her eyes flashed brighter for a second before she gave a few nods
"I see... Destra, the border town of Malrton with a population of 3437 and a flowing population of about 2000 hunters and mercenary's, but weren't you going to Green river?"
"well... I kinda killed and/or crippled a elite squad of elvers"
"well no need to cry over spilled milk"
Mars felt a little weird when he saw Info's casual attitude as he had expected some sort of punishment
"do you mind if I ask a couple of questions?"
"I don't, the official business can always wait a bit"
Info waved her hand and a table and 2 chairs made of pure white stone appeared in the middle of the room which she pointed at
"please sit"
Mars sat down on the chair and looked at Info on the other side of the table and gave a sigh before he asked
"what did the former living god of war do to earn the [Tyrant king] title? and what does it take to earn a curse title?"
the cyan glow in Info's eyes got a little brighter before she answered
"the former living god of war Drekriz conquered this continent after 56 years of bloody war, which raised his class level to 318 from there his class level stagnated and he began to send out expositions to find new land for him to conquer but after 14 years and 5467 ships lost he lost his patients and began to anomalously support rebels in his own empire which he then after they rose up annihilated with his army's, this worked for a time and his class level raised to 342 but after some 30 years of failed rebellion after failed rebellion his subjects no longer had the faintest thought of raising against him anymore... then he started to wage war against his own subjects on false claims, it was then the curse was bestowed and after 34 years he was finally sealed"
Mars gave a nod as he fell into thought for a bit until Info continued
"as for your second question I can't answer that, but know the bottom line for a curse to be bestowed is genocide or betrayal on a massive scale"
"i see... then is it normal for a living god to have nightmares?"
Info narrowed her eyes slightly
"what kind of nightmares?"
"well... I think they have something to do with my past life"
Info gave a deep frown and remained quiet for a few seconds before she floated into the air and landed on the table and walked over to Mars and touched his forehead
"hold still for a second"
Mars did as she asked and sat still while he felt some sort of force invade his mind like flowing water it spread though his mind for a few seconds before Info removed her hand and walked back to her chair and sat down and remained silent for a couple of minutes before she shook her head
"no it's not normal for living gods to have nightmares of their pasts... unless their souls are well... abnormal"
"so my soul is abnormal?"
"well I could be wrong... only the administrator knows for sure, and even it is like a child playing with rocket science when it comes to the true nature of the soul..."
Mars fell silent, he had really hoped Info could help him with his nightmares as they continued to wear down his mind night after night
"well don't look so glum I can teach you a spell that should suppress you nightmares somewhat and help you understand them"
"really?"
Info gave a smile and waved her hand again and Mars suddenly felt a spell appear in his mind
"it's a spell originally made by a small tribe of dream demons that perished many thousands of years ago after they began to use their dream spell to assassinate people by destroying their minds though their dreams"
"that sounds.... scary"
"yeah, even as I processed to information of the deceased I felt slightly cold"
Mars gave a small nod, if it could scare a archangel it would definitely be a frightening experience
"but enough about that, why don't introduce this cute child?"
Mars looked up and found Info had disappeared from her seat and looked around and spotted her in a corner where she was petting Victoria on the head with sparkling eyes and walked over
"oh... that's Victoria, shes a shadow death panther cub I formed a contract with about 2 months ago"
Info focused on patting Victoria while the panther seemed to be frozen from fear of the aura the avatar let out
"Mars... help..."
"don't worry she's not going to hurt you Victoria shes like my, well.... mother?"
when the last word left Mars's mouth Info froze and Mars felt the temperature in the room fall by several degrees
"...you make it sound like i'm some old woman"
Mars felt a chill go down his spine and sent his brain into overwork to quickly try and save himself
"sorry that was a poor joke, Info is like an elder sister to me that helped me when a was born"
"then... is she... a nice... person?"
Mars walked over and kneeled down next to Info and also gave Victoria some pats on the head
"yeah Info is a nice person"
"that's right i'm a very nice person, I also have a gift for you Victoria..."
Info collected some mana in her hand before she waved it and ripped a hole in space creating a dark rift where she pulled out a pure white collar which she handed to Mars that inspected it
'it looks like there's some sort of formation in this collar... it feels like a mama amplification formation like the one in the mages staff, just a lot more powerful...'
Mars looked at Info that had a smug 'i'm amazing right' expression on her face and gave a sigh before he showed the collar to Victoria
"what do you think Victoria, it might also make your magic stronger"
"if... I can get... stronger then... I want... it"
"okay then"
Mars opened the collar and set it around Victoria's neck before he closed it and watched as it adjusted it's size to fit her perfectly
"what do you think it's amazing right, not only is it self cleaning and able to adjust its size to fit the wearer it also have a high tier mana amplification formation along with a self repair formation"
Victoria gave a blank look and after blinking a few times her horns flashed while she tilted her head to the side
"so... is it... strong?"
Info crossed her arms and pointed her nose to the sky as she gave a few nods
"yes it's very strong!"
Victoria's eyes began to sparkle while she began purring loudly before her horns flashed again
"then... are you... also very.... strong Info?"
"yes of course!"
"then... are you st---"
Mars stood and watched the 2 of them go on and on for a few minutes until he noticed a small crack in Info's so far perfect smile and decided to intervene before Victoria praised her to death with a question
"hey Info you seem a lot more... animated why is that?"
"that's because I have tasked more of my consciousness this time"
"I see... and for reference how much is it you have tasked?"
"hmm about 0,7% this time"
Mars was monumentally stunned
"really?"
"yeah really, if it was a better quality avatar I would be able to do a more complete decent, but the max would still be about 10%"
Mars walked back to the table and sat down on a chair and he collected his thoughts while Info played more with Victoria
'that should be most of my questions... wait there is one more thing"
"hey Info, is there any punishment for talking about living gods with mortals?"
"no, but I would not advise it anyway, at least not before you have hit class level 100"
"why?"
Info gave a sigh and stopped playing with Victoria and walked over and sat down at the table and looked into empty air while the cyan glow in her eyes glowed brighter for a few seconds before her eyes focused again and she half laid down on the table
"let me tell you a story"
"...sure"
"about 220.000 years ago I reincarnated a living god of art, he was a bright child that joined a empire as a royal painter... his only passion was his brush and whatever medium he could use to express his art, but after 200 years people started to question how he still was alive so he told the current emperor he was a living god and the emperor spread word of it to raise his own prestige... less than 10 days later the empire was destroyed and the living god of art was killed more than 100.000 times before he finally died for real, now Mars do you know why?"
"...no"
Info gave a sigh before she sprawled down further on the table with her cheek against the cold stone she began speaking again
"the older living gods killed him for spreading information about them to the mortals..."
Mars didn't know what to say, as looking at Info's expression it was clear that the ling god of art and her had been quit close so he simply remained silent until Info raised herself of the table and gave a sigh before she locked eyes with him and said in a stern tone
"...do you understand"
"yes"
"good then, oh that's right..."
Info gathered mana in her hand again before she waved it slightly and tore space making another black rift where she pulled out a necklace with a 13 pointed silver star
"this is for you, it's called a necklace of the apostle and will help you with the mob of angry mortals outside of the temple"
"oh, thanks... that should spare me the time it takes to kick them around"
Info narrowed her eyes slightly before she asked
"why did you piss off the son of the baron anyway?"
"well after the whole Green river situation I decided on another 'dealing with mortals' tactic"
"which is?"
"kick them in the shin, if they fight back then kick them in the balls"
"...seriously?"
"yep"
Info closed her eyes and began rubbing her temples
"...well in that case I will leave you too it, be sure to visit another temple soon"
"sure, bye Info"
Info gave a wave to Mars before the cyan light disappeared in her eyes as the avatar returned back to a empty husk
[DECENT TERMINATED, RESETTING TEMPLE...]
Mars stood up from the chair and watched it and the other furniture Info had summoned disappeared before the avatar jumped back onto the altar and laid down
[RESET COMPLETE, POWERING DOWN ISOLATION BARRIER... COMPLETE, ENTERING SLEEP MODE]
the avatar fell silent and the sounds of the outside world returned
"well then, Victoria let's go kick around some mortals"
"that... sounds... fun"