With the current threat to the world having passed by, there was a calm that swept through Earth. Those nations that held their grudges towards one another briefly stayed their hands, pulling back their forces to allow time to recover. The impact of having the world possibly destroyed was simply too great on the minds of these rulers.

The commoners, on the other hand, had different reactions. Almost as soon as the battle had ended, temples across the world had a sudden influx of people. Many chose to devote themselves to the gods after witnessing not only how they protected the world, but also their strength.

Yet, at the same time, there were other reactions as well…

“So that is what a god is like in battle.” Jonas said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. He was thankful to the three for having defended the world, this is true. But at the same time, what they had done was a display of power on the level he was aiming for.

“It should be time to get started, now.” He pushed off from his desk, moving towards his basement while muttering to himself. “There are no known magic formulas that directly affect divine power within the geometric or runic systems. As for Deckan’s card system… there is a divinity card. But the trade of it is forbidden by the church.”

“I don’t suppose they’ll let me have one if I tell them that I want to use it to become a god, so I’ll need to handle this more carefully.” Jonas knew now that it was unwise to gather all of his slimes at once to attempt to break through to the next level. If, by chance, the first one failed while the others were copying it, he would lose them all.

No, it was better to bring them one by one. He only needed one success, after all. “The first step has to be the holy body.” He nodded towards himself, looking around the room for any materials that he could use to aid the slimes.

As he looked at the spell diagrams he had previously used on the floor, a thought occurred to him. “If I can procure one of the prayer mats, that should be able to help me.”

For the next week, he made his plans. After acquiring one of the prayer mats from the monk temples, he took just one of his powerful slimes and left, leaving the other four at home. Their destination was deep in the woods, somewhere that they would not be interrupted.

Eventually, the two of them arrived at a large clearing, the mere presence of the two having scared away any roaming monsters. “This should be good.” Jonas nodded to himself, moving to the center of the clearing and rolling out the mat. After sending a mental command, the slime walked over to stand on it.

In order to prepare for the next step, Jonas had trained himself as a bard, honing his divine energy and learning how to properly master it. His accomplishments in this class were… still suboptimal at best. However, that was by no means due to a lack of ability to control his personal divine energy. Rather… it was because he was tone deaf.

That being said, he had learned how to control his divinity enough that he was confident in his own ability. As confident as one could be when preparing five back-up plans, of course. Closing his eyes, he held one hand out towards the slime, and utilized a high level technique of monster tamers.

“Direct Control!” This was an ability that sent a fragment of his soul and mana into a tamed creature in order to personally control it. Typically, this power was used to either teach a monster new techniques, or control them to scout into dangerous territory. As the consciousness of the monster was not fully suppressed, they were capable of retaining any experiences that they gained during this period.

Immediately, Jonas felt as if his body had shifted drastically, his senses now spread out in every direction. This was not the first time that he had taken control of one of his slimes, and so he quickly took a moment to adjust. Admittedly the fact that his entire body was basically a tongue, eye, nose, and ear all rolled into one was disorienting the first few times. And the taste of the ground was entirely unpleasant.

Once he had finished adjusting, he caused the slime to sit down on the mat. Directing his focus inward, he knew that he first needed to determine where the divinity of this slime lurked. Scanning through the viscous form of his current body, he was somewhat disappointed to not find it anywhere.

It was only then that he remembered that there was actually another part to the slime’s true body. Immediately his senses shifted to scan through the halo and disc at his back. Once his senses passed through the latter, he found it. The tiniest spark of holy light shifting about within the core of the slime’s being.

Steeling his focus, Jonas began to pull that spark of divinity out of the disc, directing it towards the main body of the slime. As he did so, he could feel the change right away, how his slime gained an extra golden luster that spread throughout its form. However, at the same time, there was an instability. A trembling shook through the slime’s form, as if it were instinctively rejecting this change.

This was a new discovery for Jonas, as he had never had his slimes reject any sort of change before. Was this what pain felt like for a slime? Although he tried to maintain a firm grasp over the changes, the new sensation caused his concentration to slip.

“Gah!” With a shout of pain, Jonas was ejected from the slime. Immediately afterwards, there was an eruption of energy that shook through the forest, sending birds and beasts scattering into the distance.

When he opened his eyes again, Jonas found that his slime was no more. Various bits of gunk rained down from above, fading into strands of energy before ever hitting the ground. As for the prayer mat that he had prepared for this event… it now lay in tatters, torn apart by the energy of the explosion.

While it pained Jonas’s heart to lose one of his five slimes, he had long since been prepared. If anything, he was amazed that this was the first time that he had lost one, having been sure that at least one would fail to achieve the ‘perfect self’. So, with a heavy sigh, he stood and began making his way back.

Now that he had this experience, he would be better prepared for the next one. There were still four more attempts left, after all. In the worst case scenario, he could instruct the last slime to multiply again to replenish the numbers.

“Tsk.” Aurivy clicked her tongue when she saw that Jonas failed his first upgrade. “Almost had it.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle, shaking my head. “You really can’t underestimate the difficulty of the divine body. The pain of being torn apart and reformed at the cellular level… I never want to go through something like that again.” Unlike Aurivy, I wasn’t surprised that Jonas had failed. I had been through the process before, and had only managed to complete it after considerable trial and error within the Admin Room.

“Yeah, but still!” Aurivy huffed, shaking her head. “What’s the point of being a champion if he blows up like that?”

“...You’re not talking about Jonas, are you?”

“Were you?” She asked curiously, turning to look at me with wide, blinking eyes.

“Right… I forgot you liked slimes as much as you do.” I could only shake my head helplessly when I realized that she was lamenting the loss of the slime, rather than Jonas’s own failure.

Since it would take some time before he tried again, I decided to direct my attention elsewhere. While Earth was the most heavily affected by this most recent disaster, that wasn’t to say that the other worlds had remained unfazed. Every world had the same renewed worship for the gods, tales of their battle spreading.

“So, why weren’t you in that battle?” Bria asked casually, her hands slowly stroking through long golden locks in front of her. Before becoming queen, she would have never imagined a day when the Goddess of Life would be sitting in her lap. But here she was, braiding Udona’s hair while the two talked. “It shouldn’t have been hard for you to participate with your power, would it?”

Udona simply shrugged her shoulders, not turning her head so as to avoid disturbing Bria’s progress. “I’m not a battle goddess. It’s really just as simple as that. The closest thing I have to a battle domain is Life, but Ryone’s better suited for combat in that regard.”

“Now, if there was some terrifying plague sweeping through the world, I’m your goddess. But you’ve gotta send the right people for the right job. My role is to heal the sick, guide the young, and ensure the happiness of the world.”

Bria thought about that for a moment, nodding her head. “I suppose. Still, it would have been nice for your temples to receive the same kind of support that their temples are getting now.” While there had been a general influx of new followers for religious occupations, the majority had gone towards Ryone, Keliope, or Ashley.

Udona let out a peal of laughter at that. “Maybe. But I’d rather not attract those muscleheads that only want to join a religion for its strength. I want followers who care more about following my tenets than standing out in the field of battle. I even had to reject granting my blessing towards some who came to my temple.”

Bria’s eyes widened at that, before the goddess explained. “I can read their hearts, Bria. I can tell when someone wants my blessing to help others, or simply to help themselves. If someone comes to me seeking to use my power to help others, I will gladly bestow it. But, if someone wishes for my power merely to help themselves, or worse to oppress others… that is not the purpose of my gift.”

The queen simply laughed, realizing that she shouldn’t have been surprised. “You’re a lot pickier in your followers than I had expected.”

Udona rolled her eyes with a playful smile. “You think I’m bad? You should take a look at Terra’s temples. With her domains, she chooses people to bestow blessings based on if she finds them ‘interesting’. As a goddess basically governing legends, she only wants to give the best blessings to those who will go down in the history books. Most of her own clergy hasn’t received the ‘best’ blessing from her.”

“Is that so?” Bria muttered, finishing one braid and moving on to another. “What about Lady Ashley? With her domains, I imagine that she must have a selection process as well.”

“Why, you thinking of jumping ship?” Udona asked in a playful tone, a hint of redness appearing on Bria’s cheeks.

“No, of course not! I’m just curious… you don’t usually talk about the others.”

Udona let out another bright laugh, her tail swaying against Bria’s stomach. “It’s fine, I was just teasing. I can read your heart, remember? For Ashley… well, she doesn’t honestly have a strict process. She favors inventors, just like Tubrock, and grants her blessing to those who seek to pursue new heights in technology. Aside from that, she’ll offer her blessing to anyone that earnestly seeks it.”

“Huh… she’s a lot more open than I imagined.” Bria muttered in surprise, a small smirk appearing on Udona’s face.

“No, she just doesn’t like to take the time to look deeply into every follower that comes to her temple. Too much of a pain, she says, and she’ll just take back the blessing if anyone abuses it.”