****(POV)

*Clang Clang Clang*

I suddenly stop forging. How peculiar!

I'm receiving feedback from my followers. Apparently, they are unable to determine a champion between them.

Instead, they were all beaten by an outsider, one of our allies. Someone from that little Village. Surprisingly the barrier I made them a while back got breached. Now it needs to be repaired.

This is actually easy. I will a bit of my divine power to send a temporary blessing to one of the clan leaders randomly. That will allow him to forge the item required. Now that this is dealt with there is one thing that intrigues me. Who is that human?

I send a signal for him to touch the statue of mine in the temple. That statue is special and the one that allows me such a great connection with the people down there. Of course, with every use its power gets diminished, then it has to recharge for a bit.

I feel like trying something big this time around. I'll bring the human's soul directly here so we can chat a bit. Of course, I'll have to be quick about it. A human soul can only last so long in the god realm. I can only do one summon too, that one thing will render my statue useless for a little while.

In a puff of fire, he appears, looking all around curiously.

[Welcome human, I am Forgar. Our time here is limited, how would you like to become my champion?]

I can hear him murmur that I look like my statue. He points at my forge nearby.

[Your specialty is forging, right? Shouldn't you get a champion that can do that?]

[The fact that you managed to beat the other clan leaders in a forging contest only proves that…]

[Nope, you are mistaken, dude. I only destroyed their swords, I never crafted any.]

[Then what about the second challenge? That proves your strength!]

[Well, yes but I just held the creature in place while they killed it. I did not participate in that challenge either, I just wanted to eat you know.]

What's with this human?! My people lost to someone that wasn't even trying to compete with them?!

[What about the third challenge? Did you join?]

[Oh yeah. I drank a lot!]

[It proves that you have an amazing fire affinity!]

[Brother, I can't even sense mana. What are you even talking about with the fire affinity?]

This shouldn't be possible…at all! How can one drink literal fire without any fire affinity? Wait…could it be?!

[Are you in a sect already?]

[Eh…. The Unnamed God Sect, I guess? Wanna join?]

[…. You do realize I am a god, right?]

[Yes?]

[You expect me to worship another god?!]

[No?]

What's with his confusing answers?!

[Sects are made to worship a specific god…]

[Not necessarily. So far, we are all about cooking, baking, and drinking. Interested?]

This is a first for me. A mortal trying to poach me, in my own divine domain! How am I supposed to react to that?! How did it go from me trying to recruit a champion to this?! I've never heard of that sect either.

[This oven looks kinda nice, bet it would be possible to bake some nice pies in there.]

What is he even doing?!

[That's a furnace! There is no oven in my place!]

[I mean…both have a fire, right? So technically it would be possible, right?]

[That would be a waste! This one is made to melt any metal in existence no matter how divine it is!]

[But you could lower the temperature, right?]

[Why would I ever do such a thing?!]

[To bake…]

[Enough! You should probably leave before your soul erodes completely! You should already be feeling faint right now and…]

[I feel fine? Are you just tired of me being here? If that's the case you just have to say so..]

[What?! Are you really fine?! How?! Mortals shouldn't be able to…]

[Oh that, maybe because it's not my first time in the god realm?]

[Y-you came here before?!]

[Yep, been a few months, however. Anyway, do you really only have a forge here and nothing else? That would get boring, no?]

[How?! Did another god summon your soul?]

[Soul? Naw, some random goddess summoned me by mistake as an extra alongside her champion.]

[Goddess? What about The Unnamed God?]

[I haven't seen that goddess in ages you know. She summoned and discarded me right away. There is no Unnamed God, it's just the name of a sect I created for fun. How about it, wanna join? You'd fit right in. We don't have a blacksmith yet either.]

How is he so nonchalant about all this?! Is he seriously trying to recruit me as a blacksmith?! I'm a god! A goddamn god!

[There is no way I will!]

[You should reconsider, we are really chill!]

[Never! I Forgar the Blazing am a proud dwarf that will never...]

[Wait…blazing right? Can you teach me how to start a campfire?!]

[….]

[Pretty please!]

I don't know how to react to this. He is earnestly begging a god to teach him how to…I can't. I just can't believe it. He keeps pleading. Ah, whatever.

[Fine, but I'll show you only once.]

I'll put him back in his place with this one demonstration.

[Watch carefully.]

I will divine energy to gather into a ball of fire. One so condensed it has as much energy as a miniature sun. Then I throw it toward a random corner of my domain where it finally explodes making the entire domain shake.

I turn toward him. He has been watching, except that his expression is weird. Instead of the stupefaction and the veneration that I am expecting…he is carefully studying the entire process.

[I think I got it.]

Or so he says. He said something about having no affinity towards fire. I don't think he was lying either. Now, it remains to be seen if… What the hell?!

Suddenly the divine energy all over the place starts rushing toward our location… No! It is all rushing toward him, right in his hand! No way!

[H-how are you doing this?!]

I ask him but he's concentrating on the spell. He is ignoring me. There is so much divine energy! More than even I a Mid-Tier god can handle! What the hell is he?! He's not human for sure! Impossible! Clearly impossible!

[Hmm, I think it goes like this.]

The sun I created beforehand is akin to a spark in the face of a blaze. He deserves the Blazing title way more than I!

Then he suddenly throws it. Wait! This is bad! This will totally destroy my domain!!!

[Wait! Stop! It…]

Too late. I see it leave his hand, reaching the edge of my domain. Then it explodes, destroying all. My forge is gone, my whole domain is crumbling, the very fabric of this realm is affected! Meanwhile, he is on the side looking …displeased?

[Tcht, this spell sucks. It consumes so, much divine energy! No way in Hell I can use that in the Earth Realm. Ah, is our time up? Seems like it, later Forgar! If you change your mind about joining you can apply later.]

Thus he disappears…as simple as that. I check my surroundings my domain is disappearing, there are also nearby god domains, those too are crumbling. They are obviously angry, but they run away upon seeing me.

[It wasn't me guys…I …]

I want to explain myself…I'm going to be homeless too…but even I have no clue what the hell happened.

Wait! There is something urgent! I rush to my place and use as much power as possible to send one last oracle! I do my best to make it as clear and concise as possible!

Hopefully, they will get it…ah it will probably be delayed because of the space turbulence. At least it should remain clear. Now I just wait…