It was strange.

  On the surface, Phoebe’s “permission” hadn’t really changed anything. Percy had already been planning to share his alchemy and runecrafting knowledge with the rest of Remior – in fact, he’d even taken several steps toward both of those goals.

  The titaness hadn’t revealed any new information either. Even before being told as much, Percy had guessed that the gods tacitly approved of his recent actions, otherwise they wouldn’t have allowed him to stay in the hive or claim control of the Fungal Spire.

  Finally, Percy wasn’t even sure he cared about Phoebe’s opinion at a personal level. He’d yet to make his mind up on whether he should respect or hate her.

  Even so, being given a free pass to do whatever he felt was best for their world lifted a heavy load off his shoulders. For so long, Percy had lived as a wanted criminal, hunted down by every noble House on Remior. Everything he had, he’d earned by himself, fighting every step of the way.

  Granted, the past few months had been a little different, but even his current status wasn’t something that had fallen out of the sky – he had seized it by force after driving the elders into a corner.

  Having the titaness who stood at the very top of the Divine Order officially condone his actions was surreal. It was like finally being allowed to flip over to the next chapter in his life.

  Outwardly, he tried not to betray his inner turmoil. Before opening his mouth, he opted to sit down. Phoebe had also taken a seat a while ago, and looking down at the goddess felt weird.

  “So, what’s going to happen now? Will you resume spying on us from the shadows while we get everything in the Guild sorted out?” he asked. “I thought you’d have better things to do.”

  “You overestimate how much of my attention it takes to watch over a bunch of mortals,” she replied, shaking her head. “Most of my brainpower is being spent working on my Decree – which reminds me that I have yet to thank you for the inspiration that you’ve provided over the years.”

  Percy’s eyes lit up. He didn’t care about her gratitude, but he wouldn’t say no to an upgraded Status. “Are you improving it?! When can we expect the new ver–”

  “Forget it,” Phoebe cut him off with a wave of her hand. “It’ll be centuries at the earliest before it’s ready.”

  He nodded, not letting himself feel too disappointed. There were a million other things to focus on until then.

  “I suppose you’re right though,” Phoebe continued, oblivious to his thoughts. “I’ve seen enough to know that you’ve got everything under control. The situation here appears stable enough and you’ve already proven capable of thriving under far more dire circumstances. I don’t need to keep babysitting you. Besides, if you fail to handle the nobles with your current position and strength, it means that you were never worth cultivating in the first place.”

  “You’re leaving?” Percy asked, raising an eyebrow. “I can’t say I’m sad to finally have some actual privacy, but increasing the Guild’s elixir output would be easier if you got involved.”

  Phoebe chuckled. “And rob you of the opportunity to hone your alchemy and runecrafting skills? Practicing by yourself is good, but teaching others and solving real problems are also excellent ways to improve. Remior has waited millions of years for the Aurora Dew. I think we can wait another decade or two.”

  “Don’t you think that your approach is a bit inconsistent?” Percy couldn’t help but ask. “You were even willing to let Micky die so that he wouldn’t occupy my limited cords, but you don’t seem to mind me wasting time teaching apprentices or upgrading the Guild’s mana gathering enchantments.”

  The goddess gave him a long look. “Alchemy and runecrafting aren’t any less important than your spells. I thought that you of all people would have realized that by now, given how much you have gained from both fields.”

  Percy tilted his head in confusion. “I’m not looking down on alchemy and runecrafting. They’ve both served me well, but I’m starting to feel like I’ve already reaped most potential benefits. Between my enchanted equipment, the Gloomy Dawn and my Green potions, I already have everything I could have asked for. Any further improvements would be incremental at this point, no?”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  He left any mention of his artificial advancement out of the list, as he had no idea whether the titaness had realized what he was trying to do. It wasn’t like he had any reason to hide it from her, but he had nothing to gain by sharing the information either. As friendly as she seemed on the surface, it wouldn’t hurt to have a trick or two up his sleeve just in case.

  Regardless, he’d meant what he’d said.

  There might be more alchemic principles out there, but Percy didn’t expect to stumble upon many groundbreaking discoveries. His new elixir recipe and his ability to compress potions to higher grades were already impressive enough.

  As for core-cleansing and life-extending resources – well, those had diminishing returns, otherwise there would have been more than a handful of factions capable of turning their Orange-borns into gods. Percy was already well on his way to shattering that record, so he felt that there couldn’t be that many more promising avenues that he had yet to explore – except perhaps for a first-generation leaf and maybe another thing or two.

  The same applied to magiscript. Percy had already bought pretty much all the relevant books that could be sold for credits. The rest were either more variants of the same or too niche for him to bother. Other than that, there was knowledge that could only be claimed with bonus rewards from the higher grades, or things that Metatron wasn’t willing to share with outsiders at all. There shouldn’t be many places in the universe with runecrafting nearly as developed as the Vault’s either.

  That was not to say that Percy would stop looking for Decrees or other insights that might allow him to further develop his capabilities, but he figured that it was time to find new ways of growing stronger.

  “Hmmm… You don’t seem to understand the true value of alchemy and runecrafting. They have a lot more to offer than the brews and enchantments that you have enjoyed so far,” Phoebe said, breaking him out of his thoughts. Probably noticing his confusion, she continued. “Let me ask you this: how do you think a god’s strength is decided?”

  Percy considered her question for a few seconds. He’d wanted to learn more about the Concept realm for a while now, as it was something that he had to start actively working towards, so this was a great opportunity to clear some of his doubts.

  “I was under the impression that each affinity has a few associated concepts, and that a god’s strength is determined by the number that they have mastered.”

  Phoebe nodded. “That’s a bit of an oversimplification as there are many other factors to consider, but it’s mostly correct. You can think of the number of concepts a deity has integrated into their internal world as the equivalent of a mortal’s grade. Of course, it’s still important to weave them into their spells skilfully, but that’s a separate topic. However, your understanding of where concepts come from is incomplete.”

  Percy perked up, prompting the titaness to elaborate.

  “There is another category of concepts that aren’t tied to any specific affinity: external concepts. In theory, anyone can master them, though they are typically some of the toughest to comprehend. They are at least as valuable as regular concepts – often more so – but very few gods have mastered any of them.”

  Percy swallowed hard. These external concepts sounded like quite the cheat. If the number of concepts that a deity had comprehended was equivalent to their grade, then wouldn’t mastering one of these be like jumping from Yellow to Green?

  Obviously, he still had no idea how one was normally meant to progress through the Concept realm. Were gods limited by the affinities that they had possessed as mortals, or was there a way to branch out to new ones?

  Even if there was, it shouldn’t be easy, otherwise the Moirais’ Decree wouldn’t have been regarded so highly. Didn’t that mean that mastering an external concept was the only way to progress after a god was done exploring their affinities?

  He was tempted to ask Phoebe about that, but he was just as curious about what alchemy and magiscript had to do with any of this, so he decided to let her speak.

  “There are more than two external concepts out there, but that’s a topic for another time. The concept related to alchemy is admittedly still hypothetical – not even the most skilled alchemists in the universe have ever confirmed its existence. However, the one related to runecrafting has been conquered once already. Why do you think your buddy, Metatron, is regarded so highly – despite essentially lording over a chunk of metal that would barely qualify as a lesser spring?”

  Percy’s eyes widened. Was this why Metatron didn’t seem to care whether his runecrafting language leaked? He was the only genius to have ever reached the absolute pinnacle of his field and raised the equivalent of his grade as a result.

  Was it even possible for somebody to replicate his feat with borrowed knowledge? Percy had a hunch that anyone talented enough to master the same concept would be more than capable of developing their own runecrafting language on par with the Vault’s.

  “That sounds great, but if there’s only one god who has ever comprehended the runecrafting concept and zero for alchemy, why do you think that I stand a chance?” Percy asked.

  Not that he wasn’t confident in himself, but he knew that his odds of success were objectively low.

  Phoebe shrugged. “I don’t think you realize how impressive your brewing yield is for a Yellow.”

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