A minute and a half after I first laid my eyes on the myrmekes queen she was standing in front of me. She, her three guards, and an army of ants stood between us and the tunnel. They weren't an obstacle or anything, that was just a literal description of the scene in front of me.

The tunnel was a massive hole in the ground, one far wider and far more noticeable than the hole in the goblin encampment. In the low lighting of the moonlight, it was absolutely foreboding as it was an area of utter darkness.

I didn't like darkness. I could see in it without any difficulty, but for an unknowable amount of time, all I knew was darkness. I wasn't fond of it. I didn't know if I ever would be. That was perhaps the biggest drawback of an underground lair.

I was alone with my thoughts for a second before a voice spoke into my mind. A soft, feminine voice. One I hadn't heard before.

"Hello, creator." The voice uttered, speaking reverentially to me. Her voice was unbelievably soft and delicate. It sounded fragile even. I looked at her, the myrmekes queen who was speaking to me and began to examine her.

She was a tall creature, standing an even two meters tall. Her chitin was a royal blue, which felt appropriate enough all things considered. Her humanoid portions were slender looking and made her feel more lanky than bulky, unlike the myrmekes warriors who protected her, and quite possibly myself as well.

Her face was entirely insectoid, and she had an abundance of antennae that seemed to serve an almost aesthetic purpose, framing her face like hair would on a human. She had both mandibles and a large looking proboscis that was visible whenever she opened her mouth even slightly. Her compound eyes were large enough that they almost resembled human eyes.

Her chitin hid soft-looking flesh, including some that was proportioned and placed in such a way on her thin upper body to suggest that she had human-like breasts, which... would have been odd. I stared long enough at that part of her body that she began to giggle, her voice buzzing into my mind faintly.

Her insectoid lower body included a thick gaster, a bulbous appendage below her thorax that included her stinger and was riddled with multiple armored sections protecting various internal organs. Hers was enormous and seemed to be filled with... something. I could hear something swishing around in it.

She had long arms that ended in three thin, clear, needle-like fingers. A quick glance at them was enough for me to get the impression that they were another way for her to absorb food. Perhaps it was similar to how fungi ate, using hypha? It was odd to look at because I could see... transparent liquid of some sort flowing through it.

"Hello little one. I may have helped you evolve, but I am not your creator." I replied back to her, after giving her body a quick look, up and down.

"I know you did not create me, but you did choose to elevate me. I would not be who I am... what I am, if not for your touch. If not for your blessing. You are my creator." She told me, simply. I chuckled and opted to accept her way of referring to me.

She began to study me. Her compound eyes inspected every facet of my physical appearance.

As she studied me I considered what I wanted to do. It was a difficult question with many layers.

"Some of my subdomains and domains are going to ask me to do what the Hymenoptera subdomain are going to ask me to do: build empires of specific types of creatures." I realized, keenly aware that if that deeply and communally minded subdomain was asking me to do such a thing others would too.

It didn't bother me, surprisingly. I wasn't overjoyed about it or anything, but I wasn't beating myself up over it either. When the time came I'd select a world well suited to that, and then do it. No big deal.

I could imagine that the subdomain of necromancy would have a similar request or one even worse that might involve the razing of several worlds. Same for the domain of evil, if it were a domain like chaos was, and for the domain or subdomain of war. Among others, no doubt.

But none of that meant that I needed to conquer this world using the swarm. When the time came, what would I do? Would I order my minions to burrow out of the places deep under the world and slaughter those who lived above it? Would I order the dead out of their graves and tell them to turn on those they befriended in life?

I knew other worlds existed. At least six other worlds. And based on what was said about the sun and the existence of other stars I didn't think it was unreasonable to assume other worlds with life existed either. Would conquering them be better? Be easier? Be something I could with less bloodshed?

I mulled over those questions for a few moments. Until I was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Creator... why do you look like that?" She asked, her voice seeping into my mind once more. I chuckled as I considered her question. It took me a few moments to formulate a reply.

And after creating a rough response I read over it and then opted to rewrite or rather, rethink it. It was too casual. I was in what might well have been "God mode", not interacting with a mortal on supposedly equal footing. I needed to work to upkeep that regal and divine image.

"I do not have a... true form little one. I look like this because it is an efficient disguise to walk among those who dwell above." I told her. I wasn't sure how I could tell, but I suspected it was because she and I had a sort of mental connection but I felt this remark intrigue her.

"But creator, must you fool 'those who dwell above'? Is there a reason why you must disguise yourself from them?" The queen asked, her voice filled with a few different emotions, close to my own but also... alien. I sighed and considered how to navigate this rather... interesting question.

"Little one, the world above is different from your society. It is... more individualistic. I need to learn to navigate it." I explained, hoping that that would placate her. She gave me a look, and prepared another question which quickly wormed its way into my mind.

"Do you like our society?" She asked, curiously. Curiosity was one of the emotions I could easily detect in its voice.

"I don't know your society little one. I would like to learn more about it." I told the myrmekes queen, sticking with my tried and true philosophy of being mostly honest with mortal creatures. This made the creature's antennae shoot up as a sort of physical sign of its excitement. I chuckled as I watched this.

This was when I began to quietly think of a new form to take on, one that would be better for the land I was about to enter and the creatures I was about to meet. I pictured something vaguely resembling a cross between Imbrosa and the myrmekes warriors guarding the queen I had just met.

The queen then abruptly turned and went back into the tunnel her minions had just created. I turned to my allies and motioned for them to follow after me.

That was when the other myrmekes and the regular ants all turned and retreated back into the tunnel. I was on the right behind the last of the ants into the tunnel, and as I took my first cautious steps into the tunnel I morphed into a more appropriate form mixing the powers of "Shapeless one" and "Exoskeleton manipulation" to create a distinctive form.

My body grew taller and wider as I stepped into the tunnel. My legs were the first things to shift. My human legs grew longer, tearing through the pants I wore, which should have bothered me more than it did. By the time I reached my designated height I was just under three meters tall, towering above the other creatures, aside from my undead servants.

My legs became long, lanky things that ended in barded hooks. I felt them stab into the ground whenever I took a step in the tunnel, securing me even without requiring that I use my powers to aid myself. As I stretched upward, I grew a thin outer layer of jet black chitin, which protectively surrounded my skin like a suit of skintight armor.

I grew a strange gaster-like appendage myself and felt it slide into position above my legs. My two front legs, or rather my only legs when I was disguised as a human, stayed out in front of it, but I also grew two more sets of legs which jutted out from my gaster and began to walk in sync with my initial pair.

My arms extended, reaching nearly all the way to the floor. I winched in annoyance as I felt the ends of my fingers sharpen so that they more closely resembled those of the myrmekes queen. My fingers didn't lose their lightly tanned coloring though, even underneath the exoskeleton I wore like a thin disguise.

I retained my largely human face but it was hidden underneath a mask of black-as-night chitin. The chitin itself covered everything but my eyes, allowing me to peer out into the world around me unobstructed by my own biology. As I trod deeper and deeper into the tunnel, I was making plans, including immediate ones.

The lightless tunnels were easy for me to navigate since I could latch onto the ground with each step I took. But that wasn't the case for my servants. They had stopped and were hesitating just outside of the curvy tunnel, aware that they might well slip and fall in the tunnel.

I rose a single modified limb and grabbed each of them using my mind. And then I lifted them into the air behind me. I quickly brought them over to me, not going to be slowed down by them and not going to leave behind either. Once they weren't far from me I didn't even turn around and quietly used "Earth control" to seal the rupture in the earth that my insectoid minions had created to come to me, shutting off the one source of light the tunnel possessed.

Behind me, I heard gasps from my living servants and felt surprise register within the minds of my undead minions. I chuckled and ignored their shock, for now. The only thing I did do was establish a mind-web with them, reaching out and tethering our minds together quietly.

"And now we're all connected." I said over the link, before allowing them to talk to each other for a few moments. I had to do something bigger than this now. Something more dramatic than anything else I had ever done to date.

I allowed myself to begin to walk automatically with no required mental input. I did this so I could free up my mind for what I was about to do. I continued walking in precisely the same way I had before, which was that I would lumber after an ocean of ants, their small and dark bodies hidden in the tunnel but perfectly detectable thanks to my non-visual sensory abilities.

I waited a few seconds, allowing my eyes to stay open and peer into the increasingly vertical tunnel. I did this mostly because I was in a new body and wanted to be sure I could handle what was coming, and if I closed my eyes now that might not end well for me, even if all that happened was that my pride took a blow.

When I was sure I could handle walking in my new form without conscious guidance I closed my eyes and allowed my not-so-mini-map to fill my vision. It sprung to life easily, and was now complete, no longer expanding and better yet showing me a lot in a lot of detail.

It showed me every earthbound lifeform in every direction for kilometers, even showing me beings deep underground and on the ocean floor. That brought a smile to my face. There were so many creatures to see! So many ants, so many bodies, and so many creatures to unite.

After allowing myself to get lost for a second in the sheer potential I could see on the not-so-mini-map I began to do two things at once. I began the notification-heavy process of reanimating as many deceased ants as I could without expanding my ability to remotely raise the dead.

My key to pulling that off without a hitch was that I had made use of my "Ant dominance" ability during the two hours between my time in the goblin encampment and a few minutes ago to contact over a million ants and make them my servants and worshipers instantly.

I had converted a few thousand of the veritable army of ants I now controlled into myrmekes, granting myself a vanguard of powerfully built warriors, queens, and even a few myrmekes drones and workers to be sure I was diversifying the creatures under my control.

I had also spread thousands of my created fruits throughout the places where the ants were most likely to be, giving them even more reason to worship me. I could feel the powerful tidal wave of emotions they sent me with every step I took. And I hadn't contacted all of the ants in the area either, there were roughly three million ants spread out throughout the island and I wanted all of them. But for now, I was satisfied.

It turned out that ants buried their dead, usually not particularly far from their hives. The burial grounds were perfect. They stored tens of thousands of little bodies for me to play with.

Bodies I didn't hesitate to reanimate, using my powers to effortlessly reanimate whole swaths of the things. As I began this I heard a subdomain begin to luxuriously sigh in my mind. But even it didn't fully accept this.

"I can't believe you're just making them skeletons." The necromantic subdomain complained to me. I chuckled and largely ignored it.

"Everybody joins the swarm." I muttered, somewhat under my breath. I ignored the sigh that escaped the mental lips of the subdomain and continued to channel my necromantic abilities through countless worker ants I had moved to the ant burial grounds.

I could feel their antennae and tarsal claws touching the bodies of their fallen comrades, only for me to channel my magic through them and instantly begin the process of bringing them back as my companions and worshipers.

As I did this, I divided my mind and allowed another part of it to quietly fiddle with my not-so-mini-map. That part of my mind was doing something that I hoped would be an incredible achievement.

A few seconds after I started fiddling with tremorsense I had selected all of the appropriate filters. I had selected all of the undead on the island and within it as well, and all of the ants. I targeted all of them, well over five million entities in total so that I could do what I was about to do next once and be done with it. I also included myself in the hive-mind, figuring that was the way to most effectively coordinate it.

My logic here wasn't that I sought to subsume their wills, I just wanted to coordinate them effectively. The description of the power was that it wouldn't subsume their wills, so I planned on that being the case.

I quietly activated my "Hivemind Generation" power. The power that would connect me with my swarm. And then nothing happened. For a few seconds anyway. Until I received a quiet, stern sounding message from the system.

[Oh Althos. Why do you have to be so chaotic? And so reckless? That said... it's not every day that a god unifies his mind with millions with the living and the dead at once. This could be fun.] The system's voice was filled with curiosity and with light-hearted laughter.

[Alert: You have begun the process of unifying your mind with that of your servants. Your will subsume their wills. Is that what you want?] The system's more automated voice informed me, alerting me to my mistake. My eyes went wide, and I immediately told the system to shut it off, mentally pumping my voice with urgency.

"Nope!" I told the thing, hoping that my urgency would cause it to shut down more quietly and not enact what would have been a disastrous action on my part.