There is no doubt that with the appearance and disappearance of Io, the God Above Gods, even those gods in the Pantheon who originally did not believe that creatures like the Eldrazi could have such terrifying destructive power have become cautious without exception.

Because what happened in the turbulent years has proved that His Majesty, who is above all gods, will only take the initiative to deal with things when the gods make unforgivable mistakes or when the entire world is in great crisis.

He doesn't care about good and evil, chaos and order, or the violent ideological conflicts and struggles among the gods. He only cares about the safety and survival of the world under his feet.

Therefore, Io's cautious attitude towards the Eldrazi determines that the gods of Faerun will, at least for a short period of time, regard them as something on the same level as the most dangerous ancient evil creatures.

Yes!

In the eyes of the gods, the emergence of Odrazi is just one more factor of destruction among the many factors that cause destruction in the world.

There is no way, because there are too many ancient evil creatures in this universe that can destroy the material world.

Just like the creator of the Aboleth, Paiskathesis, who is known as the Blood Queen, has the ability to easily distort, infect and destroy the material world.

In addition, there is the Chaos Hound Kozef who feeds on souls, the Devourer of Endless Worlds - Sosotugu, the mysterious God Slayer who was summoned by the mages and sealed in an alternate dimension prison, and the legendary giant snake - Dendel who feeds on the nightmares of all things...

In short, there is never a shortage of things that can destroy the world in Faerun, and all kinds of ancient evil creatures are plentiful.

Although the Eldrazi from the Dark Void may be more powerful and more unbeatable, is there any fundamental difference between destroying the world once and destroying the world a hundred times? At least for these gods and their believers in this world, there is no essential difference.

Perhaps the only difference is that this new and unprecedented natural disaster is controlled to a certain extent by a mortal, and this mortal has been given the same status as the gods by Io, the god above gods.

Of course, this doesn't have much of an impact on most gods.

Because Zuo Si did not promote "materialism" in his own territory, and allowed most gods from the good, neutral and even evil camps to build temples and spread beliefs and ideas.

New sects like Ilmater, the god of suffering, Oghma, the god of knowledge, Midnight, the goddess of magic, and Talona, ​​the goddess of poison and disease, have even received a certain degree of support and are expanding rapidly along the west coast of the continent of Faerun at an incredible speed.

Many other gods who hold corresponding priesthoods also reaped huge benefits from the prosperity of trade and commerce.

So overall, Zuo Si maintained a pretty good relationship with most of the churches of gods.

In addition, he does not discriminate against humanoid races such as elves, half-elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings, but gives them the same identity and status as humans, so his relationship with the pantheons behind these races is not bad.

Especially the main gods of the elves and dwarves, who applauded the massacre of orcs in the north.

Because the more orcs die, the more beneficial it will be for the survival of these two races in the north.

But where there are friends there will naturally be enemies.

People like Cyric the Prince of Lies, Shar the Goddess of Night, Mara the Goddess of Beasts, the Orc Gods, and the Goblin Gods, who were ruthlessly attacked, naturally regarded Zuo Si as a thorn in their eyes and a thorn in their flesh.

This meeting chaired by powerful gods was their secret plot. They wanted to take this opportunity to find out Zuo Si's background, or even suppress and restrict him in the name of the gods.

But unfortunately, they never dreamed that Zuo Si would directly choose to use the simplest and most brutal way to make the gods shut up, that is, to show his ability to destroy the world and even kill gods.

Now, with the God above Gods personally bestowing him with the same status as other gods, this farce naturally could not continue.

Countless gods also stood up and left the Pantheon, returning to their own kingdoms in the outer planes.

After all, as high-ranking gods, they are very busy, having to deal with the prayers of thousands of believers all the time and planning how to expand their influence in the material world.

After most of the gods disappeared, the magic goddess Midnight sighed and said, "Although I already knew that you would do something earth-shattering, isn't it a bit too much to summon a twisted monster that can destroy the world?"

Zuo Si shrugged his shoulders and replied, “There’s nothing we can do about it.

You have also seen how arrogant and condescending the gods are when dealing with mortals. Even Tyr, who represents fairness and justice, shows a condescending attitude.

If I want to have a chance at an equal dialogue, I must show them power, power that is truly enough to kill and destroy gods.

Becoming strong and then earning respect is a universal principle in any world."

"But this will also make you a lot of enemies." Midnight reminded helplessly.

"It doesn't matter. No matter what those hostile gods are planning, I am ready to face the challenge. What's more... I am not alone, am I?" Zuo Si asked meaningfully.

The Magic Goddess Midnight answered without hesitation: "Of course! At least the God of Knowledge and I will continue to give you our utmost support."

"That's right! And I noticed that you seemed to have gone to a very far place this time, and brought back a lot of interesting and taboo knowledge." Oghma's tone was filled with undisguised excitement and anticipation.

"I think I may need to share this knowledge and magic with you two later."

After saying this, Zuo Si bowed slightly to his two divine allies, then walked straight towards Talona, ​​who was already showing considerable impatience.

The goddess of poison and disease didn't say a word. She just opened her arms and gave him a warm hug. Then she said with great pride and pride: "You did a good job, my child. Look at the reactions of those gods just now. They are all scared by you."

"No, they are not afraid of me, but something standing behind me. Also, I brought you a small gift from another world. I hope you like it."

While speaking, Zuo Si opened the box in his hand and released two Nangdu leopard cubs from it.

As soon as they appeared, Talona immediately sensed the deadly germs contained in the poison sacs around the necks of these magical creatures. Her eyes lit up instantly and she stretched out her hands to release two streams of divine power.

moment!

The Nangdu leopard, which was so aggressive in the last second, crawled at the feet of the goddess and turned into a coquettish big cat in the next second.

If nothing unexpected happens, Talona will raise them personally and perform a series of transformations on them, turning them into a new species that will spread across the continent of Faerun and even the entire multiverse.

"Great gift! I love it so much!"

The goddess' face was filled with a smile of relief, joy and satisfaction, and she also showed off to the Goddess of Magic and the God of Knowledge not far away, as if declaring her ownership of Zuo Si.

Of course, neither Midnight nor Oghma reacted much to this low-level and boring provocation.

After all, these two are not the funny ones from the chaotic camp. They are quite calm in both character and behavior.

After noticing Talona's strong jealousy, he quickly chose to leave the Pantheon instead of staying and being an annoying light bulb.

At this moment, the huge Pantheon has already become empty, and all the other gods have left.

So Zuo took off his disguise and made a direct request to the Goddess of Poison and Disease: "I want a great druid."

"Archdruid?" Talona was slightly stunned.

Because although there are some druids in her domain and among her believers, their proportion is not high overall, and they are always on the margins of the church.

As for archdruids, there are even fewer of them.

After all, anyone who can be called a great druid must have a professional level of at least LV14 and be in charge of and dominate a large forest.

If we exclude the Archdruids that evolved from tree people, nature spirits and intelligent beasts, and count based on intelligent creatures such as humans and elves, I'm afraid the total number of Archdruids in the entire Faerun would not exceed one hundred.

Zuo Si knew how rare the Archdruid was, so he nodded immediately: "Yes, it's the Archdruid. I only need a name and address. As for who he is a follower of or what sect he belongs to, it doesn't matter at all."

"Oh? If you put it that way, I have a suitable candidate. His name is Angel Poison Core. He used to be one of my most valued believers, but later he suddenly became interested in mushrooms and various fungi for some unknown reason. He gradually fell in love with the demon lord Fungus Lady Zugmoi and is currently living in the Fungus Forest in the Underdark. Before he betrayed his faith, he was a LV19 Archdruid. He should be a Legendary Druid by now."

Talona stroked her chin and quickly gave the corresponding information.

It was not difficult to tell from the vicious light flashing in her eyes that she absolutely hoped that Zuo Si could get rid of this traitor on her behalf.

"Angel Poison Core? Follower of Fungus Lady Zugmoi? Sounds like a perfect target..."

Zuo Si pursed his lips and showed a playful smile.

"Tell me, what do you want to do with this guy? Are you going to use his soul to fill the special weapon I gave you?"

As she spoke, the goddess turned her gaze to the divine scepter hanging at her waist.

Since she had blessed the weapon herself, she could easily tell that the scepter's most powerful function had not yet been activated.

Zuo Si smiled and replied, "Yes and no. It is true that I need the soul of an archdruid to gain some special abilities of the druid profession, but I also need a body of an archdruid blessed by nature to conduct a very interesting but very dangerous experiment."

"experiment?"

Talona's eyes sparkled with curiosity.

"Yes! Experiment! Because... I want to create a god in another world with my own hands, a living god who only obeys my orders, a god who can be reborn no matter how many times he dies."

As he said this, Zuo Si subconsciously raised his hand and made a grasping gesture, his eyes flashing with unprecedented passion and ambition.

"Creating a God?!"

Talona was obviously shocked, her eyes widened.

Because in her knowledge, there has never been a case of a mortal creating a god, but there are many examples of gods helping mortals become gods.

Zuo Si noticed the goddess' reaction and took the initiative to explain: "Under the rules of Faerun, it is of course very difficult to do this. But the problem is that not all worlds are like here, with extremely strict and harsh restrictions on becoming a god. In many worlds, as long as the power is strong enough, you can complete the transformation of life, that is, be promoted from a mortal to a god. And there is only one prerequisite for completing this transformation of life, and that is sufficient energy."

"I see! Then why don't you become a god yourself, but create a god instead?" Talona continued to ask with some confusion.

But Zuo Si smiled and shook his head: "Becoming the god of a certain world means being bound to that world to a certain extent and fulfilling the corresponding responsibilities and obligations. I don't want to accept such constraints, and I don't want to be confined to a small world. And this is just an experiment for me to prove some of my conjectures."

There is no doubt that Zuo Si has always looked down on the gods in the world of Toril, who cannot even maintain their self-awareness and are easily influenced by their priesthood.

Most importantly, their power will also be subject to various restrictions.

For example, in the world of Toril, no matter whether they are gods born locally or gods traveling from the outside world, they all need to obey the will of Io, the god above all gods.

In the neighboring world of Klein where Dragonlance is located, there is also a god above gods who holds supreme authority.

In other words, when God enters a world, he must first obtain permission from the supreme god or creator of this world, or the will of the world, and act in accordance with the rules specified by the other party.

What's the point of being a god who is restricted everywhere and occasionally suppressed? In contrast, Nicol Bolas tried to seize the sparks of many planeswalkers to become a "god" without any restrictions, which is what Zuo Si really pursues and desires.

Using the energy from the soul well to create a living god is the first step in his ambitious plan to confirm a certain guess in his heart.

Of course, Zuo Si would not tell these words to anyone, not even Talona, ​​the goddess of poison and disease whom he had listed as trustworthy.

(End of this chapter)