Joseph sat back, crossed his arms and regarded the ceiling above him. An old spiderweb dangled in the corner, so full of dust, he figured none of the cleaning golems had made it up to this floor in a long time.
"The only reason you regaining your power is worth anything to me, is because you can give me stuff without me having to purchase it through the system," he said, not making eye contact with the god.
"That's true," said the gnome, nodding his head in thought.
"The biggest concern you have here, is that NURKONG will send his demon minions, now that the city is raised, and take it over, thus stealing you of an opportunity of regaining your strength."
"Yes, that is also true."
"Well, I have a realm to save, and you are wasting my time," said Joseph, climbing to his feet.
"Wait! Are you going to help me? I said I would give you a good reward if you could!" cried the gnome god, jumping to his feet in panic.
"Of course, I'm going to help you. It will only take a few moments of my time, but sitting here and discussing what I'm about to do, instead of just doing it is annoying and time consuming."
The gnome nodded quickly to himself, wiping sweat from his brow before Joseph grabbed his shoulder and teleported the two of them next to Stella.
She was cleaning imaginary dirt out of her fingernails with the god-killing blade Joseph had made her, while the little brownie trembled in fear. Joseph wasn't sure exactly what was said, but the situation seemed to be in control.
"Stella, a magical contract please."
She didn't hesitate, pulling one out of her purse, and handing it to him, along with a long-feathered quill.
"I, Joseph Aurum, do swear to cause the gnomes in the city to worship their god, and remove them and the brownies to a safe place until I can restore the safety of the realm back in order. The gnomish god will reward me until I am satisfied, in the future, but no more than ten years from now. Breach of contract will result in the gnome god giving all of his accumulated divinity to the system, and his corpse to me."
As he spoke the words, they appeared on the contract, and the god swallowed audibly. "What's the quill for?" he stammered.
Joseph looked at him, as he stabbed his finger with the quill, and dabbed the spot of blood onto the bottom of the contract, before handing the quill to the god. Taking it, he looked over the contract one more time before swallowing again. Stabbing his own finger, he quickly dabbed the tiny speck of blood onto the contract, then watched as it rolled itself up and disappeared.
"What kind of quill is this, that it could draw blood on a god?" he asked, examining the quill in surprise.
Snatching it back, Stella returned it to her purse, as Joseph clasped his hands behind him.
"I placed a fragment of bone from the lesser god I killed on the tip. I wasn't sure it would work, but you have proved it would."
Surprise and understanding dawned on him, as the gnome shook his head. Even now, during such an important event, Joseph was experimenting and planning for his fight with NURKONG. It wouldn't be long now; the gnomish god knew, before Joseph was strong enough to go against the evil god.
Joseph turned to the brownie, who was still watching Stella in fear.
"Where do you keep your seeds, little annoying one?"
ANALYZE CREATURE.
CURE MADNESS.
With her eyes clear for the first time in ages, she turned to look at Joseph in confusion.
"Why would you care? I don't intend to sow any with you!"
With a shrug he half turned away.
TOTAL PARALYSIS.
The brownie went completely still. She could barely breath as every muscle immobilized in her body.
ANALYZE PLANT.
Strangely enough, this brownie was more plant than animal. Joseph was looking forward to this next bit.
GENETIC SCHEMATIC.
The genetic code for the brownie popped into his minds eye, and both him and Joe looked over it. Tweaking it here and there to remove the annoying traits and promoting ones that would be helpful to the race.
GENETIC REWRITE.
All of the tweaks they had made went into effect, and Joseph watched excitedly as each of the seeds she had within her body also went through the change. He had hoped that since they weren't 'planted' yet, rewriting her would also rewrite them, and it had.
"Wow, that was unexpected," muttered the gnomish god in shock.
(YOU'VE BEEN AWARDED POINTS FOR CASTING NEW SPELLS.)
(DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU MIGHT BE USING SOME OF THESE POINTS?)
'Soon,' answered Joseph with a small smile as he released the brownie from her paralysis. He could almost hear the sigh from the system.
"What did you do to me?" asked the brownie, looking at her hands and back at him suspiciously.
"Made your race more prone to survival in the area I am taking you. Your seeds should be more than capable of sprouting in safety there."
As she glanced back down at her hands, Joseph picked up the gnomish god and flew up into the sky. Casting flight upon him, he left him floating just above the barrier, as Stella followed.
GREAT VOICE.
Directing himself at all of the gnomes below him, who were still mesmerized by the real sky above them, Joseph said, "Hear me gnomes. Your god has protected you all this time from a great evil that covers the land. You are not safe here, so he has sent me to move you to safety. You must remember him, pray to him, and he will bless your workshops once again with insights and new inventions, he will bless you with new children and bountiful crops. Prepare yourselves as I move you to your new home. Once this realm is safe again, I shall return you, and you will in turn bless this land with your inventions. Those in this realm will wonder at you, and you will be respected!"
Choosing his words based on the desires of those below him, Joseph knew their god would soon be powerful again.
Joe appeared beside him. "I'll go to the generator again, if you are going to move the city."
With a nod from Joseph, Joe was gone, and Stella and the gnome god joined him above the city.
MOVE TERRAIN.
The city below them began to shrink, then floated up, landing in the palm of his hand.
GATE.
A small doorway opened behind him, and he led Stella and the god through it, into the other realm, where he had gotten the beast-kin. Below them was the area where the mountain had been. Joseph looked around and saw that the area was still safe as the destruction they had caused had ensured no one was around. Moving into one of the mountain valleys, closer to the dwarves, he chose a spot and flattened it before cancelling the MOVE TERRAIN.
Zakka was running across the courtyard, terrified, since his speech to the gnomes hadn't reached her.
SHATTER.
The barrier came down as he destroyed it with a single spell, bringing a wince of pain to the god beside him.
TELEPORT OTHER.
Joseph sent the brownie back to the site of the destruction he had caused with Selena. It was far enough from here that many years would pass before the brownies found the gnomes again. Plus, she would be safe to seed the area without worry of anyone or anything bothering her.
"Go to your gnomes and give them a reason to worship you. I'm sure you have plenty of ideas of things you can do to impress them. Do you want me to bring back the royal family as well?"
"No, they were the ones who caused the others to drift from me. Thank you, Joseph. I will repay you before the time limit is up."
"I know."
He took Stella's hand and teleported them to the main entrance of the dwarven keep. The guards rushed at them before realizing who they were.
"What in the blazes are you doin' back here?" asked one of the dwarves, dropping his axe so it wouldn't be so threatening.
"I figured that since I was in the neighborhood, I would drop in for a visit," said Joseph, walking past the guard.
"And we brought more ale," smirked Stella.
Those that heard her gave a cheer, and the doors were quickly opened.