Be careful about what you wish for, this idiom is exactly what Debauchery members were hammering into their brains as they left the Dreamscape, heading out to find their targets and start their strenuous jobs. None of them was very happy, but they did not complain too much, grumbling beneath their noses as they made their plans to screw Yunan over, as royally as possible.
After the youngsters left, the old-timers stiffened, there was a very easy smile on Yunan, too easy for someone who pissed off those who knew how to hurt him. Still, no matter how it looked, either Yunan nor his teachers would, or could, stoop low enough to deal irreparable damages. This kind of relationship has intrigued the older gods to no end, things like that could not be quantified with words like love or friendship, it went far beyond that, probably even further than "sacrifice and selflessness". If Yunan had to describe the relationships he kept around, he would have called it symbiosis, mutual dependence, or plain simple "friends with benefits".
"We are making nice progress, but taking monopoly is going to get harder from here on out, therefore, you are to sit tight and cultivate, all of you need to get to certain standards before you are to take any other tasks, Luna baby, you need to be able to steal luck and lock probability in a location, it is optional to this last one but if you can go for it, I need you to be able to steal luck from fate itself"
Yunan turned to Apophis: "I want you to be capable of plunging a place into chaos and as easily take the chaos away, the optional goal is being able to briefly plunge fate into chaos, just long enough to obscure it for any readers, Hephaestus, you work on your creation, I want you to replicate this planet, but I want it to only imprison gods that do not have the imprint of universe Hosana, the optional goal is to create a fateless replica of this universe that can be overlapped with it and take damage instead, feel free to work with the Creator on this project. As for you Death, I have no idea if you are allowed to join our universe in the culling, considering your rank and experience, so you should be able to rip divinity out of any god that ranks lower than you, the optional goal is being able to inflict an aura of death on an entire universe, the point is weakening said universe and not kill it."
It took a moment for the words to sink in, they had been used to wait for Yunan to finish relaying his thoughts so as to comprehend the whole picture and therefore, the ramifications of his words did not hit them until he finished speaking, a collective "ha?" then after some ear cleaning later they burst into a roar "say that again! I dare you!".
Holding his hand up to calm the four down he said with a confident smile "I know that I am actually asking you to be over-gods, or maybe even on a higher level of control, this is your reward for helping me so far, it would be remiss of me to let you advance at the pace of normal gods, therefore, for 100 years, you four can tap into my effort divinity and directly absorb energy from it, in return I will take away your efforts and convert them into strength for all of us, any objections?"
Without waiting for a reply he opened his vessel and allowed the four to reach in and connect with his effort divinity. Death nodded and started talking as he reached in, "how can one lone divinity support all of us to the level of over-gods, let m … " his voice trailed, Luna gasped and Apophis fell to the floor and Hephaestus just stood there like a statue. "Sonnavabitch, how are you still mortal with that thing inside you" Death no longer held his gentlemanly demeanour, there was nothing to blame here, a divinity that was on cosmic proportions when compared to ordinary divinities, how else would you react when you see it.
"It's still growing" muttered Hephaestus in an unbelieving tone. That was true, the thing about effort is that it could never stop growing. Yunan now had dozens of divine realms under his thumbs, all connected to Dreamscape, and all of the realms pumped effort energy ceaselessly into Yunan, he was cultivating without even trying, growing in power just by existing. Then Luna said "with all our efforts, that thing is going to double in size, wait, oh, oh god, you are aiming to syphon the efforts of our primordials? Fuck it, I'm in". Without hesitating anymore she linked herself to the effort divinity and flew over to the little garden to start cultivating her powers.
The other three were not too far behind, they did not even question Yunan, it was a deal they would not get even from their patron primordials, who in their right mind would decline and energy reserve that was, for all intents and purposes, endless.
The Creator felt the urgency on the four gods and stood up from his little hammock, he found Yunan still at the table trying hard not to laugh, he too sat down and tasted some of the items on the table.
"Look at them, so giddy and in a rush to please their master, for the life of me, I can not see how you did it, even I, the creator, can not do that, so, tell me, what is the next step for me, if it was not because your war with the council, I would have left this place long ago.".
"Nothing" answered Yunan, "you need to do absolutely nothing; if you feel like it, then go and take a walk around the planet, it has changed notably, just keep in mind not to tangle with the avatars, they may already have orders to stir the pot as well, if anything happens, remind them they still have to touch me, make sure to pivot everything back to me, a mere mortal they could not even take down if they wanted to, that should set them on the correct path, as for the council, I would recommend chatting with them for a bit, ask about how they are doing and how is the food, make them feel like you already won the bet, be confident and don't get provoked, if they attack, just phase back here, it would do so much for me if you did, as long as you take no action, we win, for now"