A Solitary God In A Dark Multiverse 89 Rewards For Hard Work

Althos, the G.o.d in question, just chuckled at this. He didn't blame them, she was an incredibly beautiful creature. She radiated an air of both charisma and l.u.s.t.

The woman who had pledged herself to the young G.o.d was clearly and proudly inhuman. In addition to her horns, a pair of long things that jutted out from the top of her head, she had thin wings on her back that her new followers had noticed after staring at her round a.s.s when she had bowed to her dark overlord. She did lack a tail though, but to offset that her skin was the color of unmelted silver so as to ensure no one doubted that she was something other than human.

Althos himself was far from unattractive. Though his attractiveness was less sensually focused than hers was. And he was at least as inhuman as she was.

The G.o.d who had conquered the reptilian creatures was himself a creature of considerable attractiveness. His present form was that of a regal and magnanimous emperor. He was clad in a full suit of armor the color of the night, and the only part of him that was exposed was his face.

He possessed an incredibly muscular body that he hid underneath the obsidian colored armor, forged from darkness by his eerie powers. In his current form, he stood well over three meters tall, and he towered over the reptilian creatures he had made into the first members of an empire he had dark ambitions for.

He had a full beard that covered the lower half of his face and obscured his tanned skin. The facial hair was a distinguishing feature that he liked that made his apparent age ambiguous. Not that any adult form would have matched his age. The dark G.o.d had been alive less than a week and he was already a creature of dark majesty and truly sinister powers.

While the audience was silent, their new dark master quietly bestowed his newest subject with considerable power. He did this without even looking at her, by targeting her with one of his more unusual abilities: the power to grant cla.s.ses.

He targeted her and did something he had never done before: he granted her two cla.s.ses. And in the moments before she learned of this, Althos was asked a funny question by the system.

He was asked what kind of spells should his new cleric be given access to since he had never turned someone into a cleric directly. While he answered this question, time once more slowed to a near halt.

When Althos was done, his newest cleric received great news. She was alerted to this great news via an alert from the system. One that excited her ambitious heart and soul.

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[Alert:

Althos has targeted you and activated one of his G.o.dly powers. Thanks to his influence, you now have the first level in two separate but powerful cla.s.ses: the necromancer cla.s.s, and the cleric cla.s.s.

Dual-cla.s.s details:

You are now a possessor of the 'Cleric' cla.s.s. Clerics are the most fervent of a G.o.d's followers. They are powerful spellcasters who cast spells granted to them by their divine lords and they seek to enact their G.o.d's wills.

Clerics can be of any alignment permitted by their G.o.ds. Althos is an accepting G.o.d who allows clerics of any alignment to serve him. As an Althonian cleric, you have been granted an interesting mixture of spells that grant you incredible healing powers, while also allowing you to reanimate the dead.

You are now a possessor of the 'Necromancer' cla.s.s. Necromancers are feared spellcasters whose magical capabilities include the dreaded ability to raise the dead.

Statistically, the majority of necromancers are evil but this isn't actually a requirement of the cla.s.s. Necromancers who naturally earn the cla.s.s experience some limitations like a limited number of the undead at their command.

Necromancers like you, who are given the cla.s.s as an award by a powerful higher-being or by the system itself have slightly different rules they abide by.

Dual-cla.s.s features:

Spellcasting: Both clerics and necromancers are spell-casters. Clerics are given their spells by their G.o.ds, though all of the spells you've just earned the ability to cast you've been given by your G.o.d.

Necromancer spells you can now cast:

Cure cut (You can restore up to 10 HP to a living creature)

Reanimating spark (The most basic of the reanimating spells. Due to the fact that you earned this spell as the servant of a divine being this spell won't fail. Can only create zombies or skeletons.)

Etc.]

[Dual-cla.s.s features, continued:

Prayer: You can pray to your G.o.d and if you ask a question your G.o.d or the system will provide an answer. This is a feature that is unique to clerics, though warlocks, witches, and wards all possess unique methods of communicating with their patrons.

Unlife energy channeling: You can channel unlife energy, the source of the reanimating spark that drives the undead. You can use this to invigorate the undead, or to harm the living.

Lifeforce absorption: One of the abilities of a first-level necromancer is that they can directly absorb the life-force that keeps others alive. You can use this to harm your foes while healing yourself.

Channel essence: This power is a fascinating one. Its effects are up to the G.o.d you serve and each cleric's might be a bit different.

Currently, you can use this power once per day, unless you perform an act pleasing to Althos, but you can cause a target to temporarily experience a mind-breaking amount of desire for you. This power allows you to control the target, and they do as you bid for one minute while they believe that in doing as you command they are currying favor and may get to have s.e.x with you.

This is power is tied to the corruption subdomain and was chosen by Althos. If you wish to change the power you'll need to pray to your master to change it for you.]

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The look on his face was one of mild amus.e.m.e.nt as he studied the scene before him. He had eyes the color of the darkest hour of the night and his lips were upturned in a bemused smile. He allowed his subjects and worshipers to stare at Lilim for a few moments longer.

He wasn't kind enough to do this for no reason. He did it because he felt a handful of people beginning to turn over their hearts to him. He felt their awe become worship, and he relished that feeling. That said, he did return their attention to him by loudly clearing his throat. The audience the demon and the G.o.d had turned their gaze back to their G.o.d, looking somewhat sheepishly at him.

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After getting everyone to focus on me, I chuckled. I then motioned for my new priestess to come to stand beside me. When she did, she wrapped her arm around mine and pressed her warm body up against me. Even through the armor, I could feel the warmth of her skin, and it caused me to shiver. I turned back to the audience of gathered creatures and smiled once more.

"I'm glad you're all taken with your new high priestess as she will serve a deeply important role. Lilim's role in this community will be to serve as my mouthpiece. She will be the first recipient of my will and will work tirelessly to ensure that you all are obeying me." I informed the gathered creatures. As I spoke about her role, Lilim looked out at those I had gathered and winked.

I glanced at her and smirked. I intended for her to do quite a lot of work so I was happy that she was enjoying herself right now.

"Among other duties, my priestess will be mediating conflicts, reanimating the dead, and leading in the... dark rituals you all will be performing." I explained, twisting my gaze back in the direction of the chapel's guests. I said the last part of my statement vaguely, as the truth was I did intend for the dark rituals to be s.e.xual in nature.

Amusingly, some of the reptilian men I had turned into my subjects reacted to this news with cheers. I grinned at them and chuckled audibly when they broke the audience's silence with their childish reactions.

"I am a G.o.d of a variety of wonderful things. I am a G.o.d of death, and of necromancy. I am a G.o.d of the earth and of the air. I am a lord of the harvest and a spirit of starvation. By pledging yourselves to me, you all have guaranteed that your dead will never have to waste away in tombs or be a meal of last resort." I said as I stared out at the audience once more.

"I will reunite you with your ancestors. And when death comes for you, it will not be an ending of something, instead, it'll be a beginning. By serving me loyally and faithfully you can attain a kind of immortality." I suggested, grinning at the gathered creatures with a wide smile on my face.

The truth was that things like age and mortality were already things I could do away with if I wanted too. I didn't. Or at least I didn't want to do away with them for every single reptilefolk. One of the schemes another part of my mind was working was how to use the fact that I could bestow immortality to my followers as a way to secure fanatical minions and worshippers.

I wanted to use my full array of powers. I wanted to build a diversity of cults throughout the world who worshiped me for dozens of reasons and to attain dozens of results. I could tell that having a diversity of followers was one of the things that would make me more powerful and enable me to attain greater power and mastery over my surroundings.

"This moment was the destiny of your people." I told the reptilefolks who had come to hear me speak. I wasn't being insincere either.

"This moment, the one you're in right now, was always destined to be something that'd happen to you all. And where you go from here is up to you. You have two choices: You can accept this new position and work with me to increase the overall influence of your people on the world, or you can rebel against me. If you decide to not follow me and rebel, your fate is to join my service. In fact, allow me to demonstrate just what I mean." I explained.

At that moment I opened a portal from where some of the reanimated reptilefolk undead had been stored and tied to right outside of the chapel.

"Come." I commanded the newest of the undead to join my forces. Mere seconds after I commanded them to come to me, they did. The creatures walked through the portal, and opened the doors into the chapel.

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The sound of the doors being knocked on caused one of the reptilefolks nearest to it to turn and open them. He was the first to lay his eyes on the undead reptilefolk warriors who had clashed with the Althonian horde nearly half an hour ago. But their smell wasn't as slow as they were, and the scent of their recently deceased forms caused reptilians to turn around and face their nightmare without preparing themselves.

The sight that greeted the reptilians who did turn around was a macabre one. A pair of skeletons quietly shuffled into the chapel, followed by other, fleshier undead. The skeletons were nude, their bare-bones exposed to the chapel's inhabitants.

The other undead wore the armor they died in. It was miraculous really that they were still clad in the armor they wore to their final battle, and wasn't due to any particular desire by Althos to intervene.

The living reptilians fell utterly silent as some of their deceased brethren walked into the chapel. Althos himself chuckled at the dramatic display he had decided to put on for the sake of reminding the reptilians of what happened to his enemies. Lilim enjoyed the cruelty of it all and especially enjoyed the sorrow that etched itself onto the faces of those who lost their loved ones.

Althos was not a cruel G.o.d, but as he watched the lizard-people he had subjugated be shown the consequences of rebellion or disobedience he felt a cruel and pleasant shiver go up his back. He liked what he saw, what he felt, and the feelings of hate and fear he had caused some of his new worshipers and subjects to feel towards him. That said, he wasn't silent for long.

"This is the fate of those who oppose me. To be brought back and to serve me eternally. But this need not be your fate." Althos told the gathered community of the reptilefolk. They tore their gazes and their glares from the simple undead Althos had turned their companions into and back to him.

"If you serve me well, if you are faithful to me and if you work hard, you will be rewarded. You will come back after death. To this world. As something powerful. But that is to be earned, it is not to be given to the unworthy." Their new G.o.d explained, speaking powerfully of a future wherein death was merely an inconvenience.

The reptilefolks who heard him say these things had a variety of feelings about their new emperor. Many of them felt awe, even if they also felt other things when they looked up at his eerie majesty. Some of them felt fear when they looked at the alien G.o.d, who spoke with a startling coldness about murder, warfare, and invasions. Others felt pride in knowing that they were serving such a powerful G.o.d, one who was unafraid and willing to do what he had just done.

Althos himself had a smile on his face as if he were speaking of happy things and not exploiting the weakness of the lizardfolk warriors to remind them of what they had lost.

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Althos's mind was currently split in two. One portion of it was present in the moment of where his body was located and busied itself by interacting with his mortal followers. The other part of his mind was elsewhere.

The fraction of Althos's mind that was elsewhere was in many places at once. That was because it was using two of the powers owned by G.o.ds to allow themselves to feel present in more than one place at a time. This part of his mind was reading through prayers and keeping itself up to detect with a lot of different things at once.

Of particular interest to that part of the strange G.o.d's mind were prayers related to infertility. There was a reason for this. It was because Althos was ambitious.

Althos had acquired a set of powers, one of many really, that he hadn't had a chance to use yet: powers over fertility and pregnancy. He was being careful with these powers though because he understood the reality that these powers were intense ones that created life. He was curious, sometimes to the point of recklessness, but most of the time he wasn't that reckless.

That said, in order for Althos to acquire influence over the domain of life he needed to complete a quest. And the quest's conditions were deceptively simple: all he needed to do was cause three pregnancies.

A part of him wanted to do this the easy way and just make three animals pregnant. But there was another part of him that felt that for a domain this potentially powerful he ought to do things formally, respectfully almost. He wanted to pick three special people. People who deserved to bring life into the world.

Althos had made a difficult choice, and he felt that a domain like this merited it. In his own way, Althos was a deity that was all about life. He didn't like fighting needlessly, he frequently healed people, and he was respectful to virtually all forms of life.

The G.o.d patiently sorted through prayers, diligently reading each and every one he received. When he read them they were stored in the back of his mind and he could effortlessly review them.

The G.o.d must have sorted through thousands of prayers before he found one he particularly liked. It was a delicate plea from a princess of a kingdom on Torus, the very planet the G.o.d himself lived on!

"h.e.l.lo! My name is Rachel, and I come from a culture of pious dwarves. We have been told all our lives to pray when we need guidance or help. We know that no more higher-beings exist, but it is a tradition we have a long history of following and so I am giving it a shot. I am praying, though no part of me believes this will be answered, for intervention." The dwarf's prayer began.

"I am a high-born princess. I dwell in a subterranean kingdom named Atlantis and I am to be wed. The problem is that I don't want to be wed. For political reasons, I am to be wed to the king of a nearby dukedom that has the resources to go to war with my family." The prayer continued.

"There is a way out though; my culture has myths and legends about virgin births that dictate that virgin mothers are to acquire status as saintlike figures and to remain unwed all their lives. I am praying and asking for the impossible: for some deity to get me pregnant and give me a way out of this wedding. If there is a price to pay... Well, frankly I'd like to know what it is. I'm saying that I am flexible and want out of this wedding, so if you can help me then please do." The prayer explained.

The G.o.d who read it couldn't believe how perfect it was. He found himself surprised and overjoyed to receive such an ideal prayer. He was so overjoyed, that he immediately reached out to Rachel and established a mind-link with her.

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As soon as I established the mental link tying Rachel and I together I set out and began to compose an introductory message to her. I knew wherever she was she was still awake and that it was possible that I'd get a message back from her quickly if I was active now.

"h.e.l.lo, my name is Althos and I know this will surprise you but I am a G.o.d and I have tied our minds together. I would like to speak to you. If you want to reply then all you need to do is think out your message." I mentally wrote, trying to keep things simple. I then sent the simple message to the young woman.

Immediately I received a form of reply through a sense of shock that I felt her display upon suddenly hearing a voice in her mind. It took a few moments after that for her to reply to me, but when she did it was with considerable politeness.

"h.e.l.lo, Althos. You know my name, and I now know yours. Is there any way you could possibly demonstrate your divinity?" She asked me, curiously. I could hear a touch of desperation in her voice, but it was one that she was struggling to keep under control. I chuckled and focused on her.

I kept her locked in my mind, and honed in on her through the mental-link we now shared. When I was certain I had her targeted, I began to bless her. I kept it simple and targeted her dexterity.

I blessed it twice and then began to compose another message. I suspected that she'd receive a notification alerting her to the blessing and the source of said blessing. Composing my message didn't take long at all.

"You have just received two of my blessings. Both of which increase your dexterity. I want to aid you, and my price isn't very expensive at all." I told the young woman, ready and happy to help so long as she paid my price.

There were several moments of silence. Nearly a whole minute of silence. But after that, I felt a sense of relief wash over the person with whom I had a mental link.

"So it's true? You really are a G.o.d? If you are, and you possess the power to impregnate me... Please, name your price." She said, speaking in such a way that her relief was audible through our connection.

"My price is very simple. Worship and obey me. I am a G.o.d of life, abundance, and healing. I do possess the power to impregnate you. If you agree, I will not only impregnate you, I will advance the age of your pregnancy to the point where it is visible. a.s.suming you want that, of course." I told her, speaking honestly.

I had just acquired a considerable number of evil servants. The truth was that by freeing their slaves I had likely acquired a number of good worshipers, but I wanted to be as close to neutral as possible so for now, I was going to work to acquire more good-aligned worshipers and focusing on myself as a G.o.d of life and abundance was probably a profitable way for me to do that.

"Is that really all? What is that you wish for? A chapel in the nation? For your religion to be the state religion? I'm only asking because I want to know what to prepare for if I say yes, and if I tell people that a G.o.d is responsible for the creation of my child my people are going to want to know about you." She asked, speaking sensibly about all of this. I chuckled and was a bit impressed with her.

"I admire your caution and pragmatism. The truth is that I am an extremely young G.o.d and I am in the process of acquiring more and more power. I currently live on the colony island of Puerto Rico, and from here I am building a sort of theocratic empire bit by bit. But I am being sincere when I say that all I want is for you to worship me and serve me. And in exchange for that, I will grant you your desires." I declared, speaking truthfully and sincerely.

At that moment I received an alert. My mood changes when I read through it because the end of it contained a surprising quest. One I wasn't exactly a fan of.

[Alert: Your tendencies towards honesty and your good-faith bargaining with Princess Rachel of the dwarven kingdom of Atlantis have allowed you to take the quests for the domain of law, and the subdomain of truth.

To earn the first tier of influence over the alignment domain of law, you must strike and complete three bargains pertaining to your divine power.

To earn the first tier of influence over the subdomain of truth, you must tell the very first person to ever be deceived by your human appearance about your true nature as a G.o.d.]

"The subdomain of truth... Wow. Of all of the things to make me do..." I muttered, taken aback by the surprising nature of the quest I was asked to do.

That was the moment when I received an affirmative response from Rachel. I was grateful to read that message, given the bombsh.e.l.l of a quest I was just tasked with doing to acquire the first tier of influence over the subdomain of truth.

"Althos... If you can impregnate me, please do. I feel as though whatever you'll ask me to do wouldn't be as bad as being married to someone I don't want to marry, who'd also impregnate me. So personally I'd rather be single and pregnant than married, pregnant to someone I can't stand, and stuck with that person for the rest of my life. I'm that desperate here." She told me, sounding sincerely relieved to have someone in her corner.

I chuckled, and activated my "Pregnancy manipulation" ability, targeting Rachel with it. I immediately told the system that I was intending to impregnate Rachel, and the system did the rest. I was silent while the effect took hold, and when I heard Rachel begin to laugh I was unsurprised.

The next thing I did was activate my ability to manipulate time. I targeted Rachel's new pregnancy and advanced the pregnancy by just a few weeks, just enough that an astute observer might guess that Rachel was pregnant. That was when I received one of several domain notifications I was destined to receive over the course of the next few hours.

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The next few hours pa.s.sed in a blur. I did a few big things and several smaller ones.

The first big thing I did was summon two more demons to aid Lilim. I summoned an incubus inquisitor named Alexei, and a powerful-looking monstrous demon with the body of a gigantic bear that I swiftly made a templar and commanded to begin to whip the warriors of the reptilefolk into shape. Shortly after that I finally departed from the encampment and returned to my home.

I met the people who I had liberated from the cruelties of the reptilefolk. As soon as I explained who and what I was the majority of the seven-hundred former slaves bowed to me and vowed to worship me. Their feelings surged into me, and I felt my power grow in strange new ways.

I had a conversation with them about their futures. I asked if they wanted to return home, and was surprised when they almost universally said that they had no homes to return to. They explained that this was because when they were captured their captors burned everything they could to the ground so as to leave as little a trace as possible of what was left behind.

The conversation continued until I asked them what they'd like to do and officially extended them invitations to live in the proximity of my tower. I was surprised when half of them accepted my offer. This half included the driders and girtablilus, half-men half-scorpion creatures, the dwarves, and the dark-elves. The other half, humans, gnomes, and surface-elves, all wanted to return to the surface.

The next hour of my life at that point was filled with village construction. First in the area next to my tower, where I built the very bare basics and was grateful to leave the more advanced and challenging work to my newest worshipers.

At this point in the day, I received two new subdomain quests. One of them was for the subdomain of arachnids, and I was astonished to find that I immediately fulfilled it, having met its requirements through my treatment of driders. The other was for the Crocodilia subdomain and tasked me with healing seven Crocodilias, which I accomplished in a snap of my fingertips using my healing powers.

I transported the half of the rescued slaves who wanted to return to the surface to a remote part of the Puerto Rican coast. Together we set out to build a brand new settlement. And together we did. I built most of the buildings, around sixty or so, and the town walls. We built it on the very edge of the sh.o.r.es of Puerto Rico, and named it "Libertad".

I went and dove into the ocean and immediately received the quest for the final elemental subdomain: the subdomain of liquid. It was simple: I was to use liquid in three separate ways. I had already used it in one, to heal people through potions.

I went ahead and got bitten by a snake and then made it and a few of its siblings my friends evocation magic, completing the last of the original subdomain quests I had gotten days ago. All of this while also inching closer to earning the final subdomain I needed to earn to be able to do the quest to become a lesser elemental overlord.

While this was going on, the other part of me was hard at work accomplishing two tasks. The first task was finding and making deals with two other n.o.blewomen who were hoping for babies.

One of the women was in the Reconquista empire itself, and the other was in a country named Menanam in another world. This not only netted me the successful completion of the quest to acquire the first tier of influence over the life domain, but it also earned me the first tier of influence over the law domain.

Successful completion of the quest to acquire influence over the life domain, resulted in another spectacular reward. I immediately gained the first tier of influence over the spirit domain as well, as the quest for that domain was to summon, create, or otherwise engage with three spirits. And I was shocked to discover that extraplanars were spirits.

The second thing that the other portion of my mind did was go ahead and convert two of Gustavo's companions into Cosechcians, earning the first tier of influence over the trifecta of the domains of trickery, lies, and the subdomain of enchantment.

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Night had fallen fully over the island of Puerto Rico when I finally made it back to the exterior of the Silver Xana. The truth was, after everything that had happened I just sort of stumbled over here uncertain of a number of things.

By coming here, even unconsciously, I felt that was indicating that I was ready to tell Isadora the truth. She was the first person who laid eyes on me as a human. I knew that to earn the first tier of influence over the substance of truth I needed to tell her who and what I truly was.

Though I was uncertain of a lot, I knew that if I told Isadora what I truly was my relationship to Comillas would change. I wasn't sure of how it would change, at least not entirely, but I knew that telling her would change things forever.

I stood in front of the door leading into the Silver Xana silently. By the time I finally mustered the courage to put my hand on the door handle that'd let me pull the door open, a full minute had pa.s.sed. But it took me that long for a reason. My mind was swirling with the few casual memories I had, many of which took place in here. I was smiled when I pulled open the door and looked into the inn.

"Hey Isadora, could you and I go on a walk? Outside?" I asked as I stepped into the inn. The young woman looked up at me and smiled. And she replied not with words, but by stepping out from behind her desk and walking over to me.

"Sure!" She told me, when she was almost right outside. I chuckled and opened the door for the two of us, waiting for her to walk through it and then stepping behind her and back out into the night.

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[Dual domain details:

The life domain and the spirit domain... Wow.

The domain of life is the domain that governs the creation of lifeforms that are actually alive. With it, and the domain of souls, G.o.ds can create actual lifeforms. It is also the domain that is needed to create an entirely new species.

The domain of spirits is the domain that governs extraplanars and other sorts of spirits. Spirits are a type of lifeform that doesn't need a physical body to interact with the universe. With this domain under your influence, you can begin to create creatures like you, ones that don't need bodies to be alive.

To advance in both of these domains, you need to use your powers and build a cult dedicated to worshipping you as a creator of life, and as a spirit king, respectively.

Dual-domain pa.s.sive powers:

Life creation: The spark that is needed to bestow life is something you can create within yourself. With this spark of life, you can fill corpses with new life. This does not bring back the deceased person but allows a new life to fill the body. With it you can also complete the process for creating new life.

False resurrection: This synergistic power is a particularly wicked one. With it, you can fill a body with necromantic and evil energy while also investing a life-giving spark into the body. In doing so you can create a new life in the body that has the memories of old life but is instead entirely and holistically evil. This power can be used to easily create evil cults in places populated by good people.

True spirit creation: Synergistically fusing the domains of souls and spirits ensures that any spirits you create are born fully alive. It also invests any of your currently created spirits with a true soul.

Body creation: You can create bodies. This power is a synergistic one that fuses biology and life. Bodies that you are that are left without a life-giving spark are just inanimate corpses, but if they are given a soul and a life-giving spark they come to life. That said, we're sure you can find something to do with lifeless bodies.

Currently, you can only create bodies for ants, parasites, humans, elves, and dwarves. As you gain more worshipers that'll change.

Spiritual blow: Your attacks can now damage the spirit. You can damage someone's magical energy with your strikes. You can even choose to have an attack deal only spiritual damage. If someone loses too much spiritual energy at once they'll fall unconscious.

Spiritual replenishment: You can now heal someone's spirit. This is a synergistic power that you have been awarded due to your magical abilities, your healing abilities, and spiritual abilities.

Dual-domain active powers:

Extraplanar creation: Your influence over souls, spirits, and life gives you the ability to create extraplanars. At the moment you can only create angels. You must research and gain more experience with other extraplanars before you can create them.

You can construct angels related to each domain or subdomain you have influence over. This is an extraordinary power and as such can only be used twice per two and a half weeks.

Spiritual devouring: You can consume someone's spiritual energy. Upon activating this power you reach out and extract someone's spiritual energy and consume it. This power can be used twice per twelve-hour-period.

Dual-domain blessing and curse details:

You cannot currently bless or curse someone with the life domain.

If you use the spirit domain to bless someone, you increase their spiritual energy. This is more than their magical energy but that is a part of it. If you curse someone with this domain you lessen their spiritual energy and remove their ability to regenerate it naturally.]