"Yes. You heard me right, my friend. I don't know if it's because of your lack of knowledge in human art of music, but you should have realized that. From the beginning, you never saw him play any other instrument that belongs to other civilizations. I think he should be enough, no?" The master pumped Woo's value even more.
This gave the numbers god another round of consideration. Was a human artist's worth enough in exchange? At first glance, because of their rarity, Woo should be enough. But as he mulled of the treasure's worth and application, Woo's value still seemed to be shrinking in his mind.
"Woo is still not enough. We both know that despite your great idea for the treasure, you will only be the one using it, yes? Unless you can let me produce more of your treasures and exchange them with other gods, I don't think Woo is worth the trouble of me creating your treasure. If you let me reproduce your treasure though, you can keep Woo, and I will give you larger shares of the favors I earn exchanging your treasure with."
Had it any been like any other idea, the master would immediately agree with his friend's request. The numbers god, like the master, is not that good in managing his realms. Despite both their shortcomings, the reason they still held their influence over their realms is because of the countless treasures they built together. Treasures they traded with other gods for favors.
This idea however is different. If they are to trade the treasure, then it's an automatic increase in the chance of other gods figuring out the real purpose of why such treasure was built in the first place.
Some gods are just as smart, if not smarter than him so they will immediately see the applications of the treasure he came up with.
Plenty of times before, did him and his friend felt almost cheated of their treasures because they failed to realize the potential of the treasures they built together in the hands of the other gods who traded for them.
Lucky for them that they still had, with the power of oaths from the Supreme, the freedom to change their treasures' price however they see fit as long as the price is reasonable.
In addition, this treasure may become a game changer. If the Supreme allowed his treasure to be used in the way he intended it, it will change how gods play their influence games.
This idea will also inspire other gods to come up with treasures of similar functions only in a different form and in accordance with their mastered laws. The Supreme has no problems of gods stealing other gods' ideas and making a version of their own.
"Let me change up the request then. I can give you Woo now, while you can give me just a few segments of the treasure you see fit, for now. How about it? After all, the deity who will receive the treasure will take time to digest the knowledge, so the rest of the treasure will only be in store. I will also take this time to decide what I can offer you for the rest of the treasure." the master amended.
Of course the master knew that Woo will not be enough for the value of the treasure he asked, but will the treasure he asked for really be intended for the purpose he claimed it will be used on?
The numbers god, finding this modification of the treasure reasonable, nodded in agreement. "Deal." He said, to the Master as he started working on the treasure.
"I'm sorry I can't stay for longer, I have other things to deal with."
"Very well, I also can't wait to work on the treasure. Pleasure doing business with you, my friend." The numbers god said as the Master dissipated away.
Soon after that, in another place, the Master gathered all the gods that had influence in the realm of his interest. They were having a chat amongst each other until the last god arrived.
"Fellows, thank you for agreeing to my request for a meeting." The master addressed.
"To what, in the Supreme's name, did you gather all of us here, Mr. Arts?" the haughty voice of the sports god questioned the Master.
The sports god's dislike for the Master rooted out of jealousy for various reasons. To the gods present, the sports god, who had a thing for the Master's wife in the past, is still bitter about being defeated by his rival.
Unknown to them however, after the master and the mistress fell in love, the sports god moved on.
To the sports god, his jealousy came out of the master's mastery of a law that is superior to his. His mastered law, sports/athletics, can only branch out to the law of health, law of heroics, and law of fertility.
Meanwhile, the Master's law of arts is almost limitless. As long as the Master can learn to express his creative skill, imagination, and emotions to something, it becomes Art.
This means that if the master can express his creativity and emotions in war, then the can master the Art of War. If the master can express himself in caring and health, then he can master the Art of Healing.
Even if the arts the master can learn are of inferior influence compared to their equivalents in Laws, he is still one of the most versatile and most influential gods with his mastery of Arts alone. Despite the Master's chosen Law though, it is still one of the most difficult laws to grow.
The sports god's original indifference towards the master, turned into ire because of one instance in the human civilization from the realm they share.
The sports god worked hard in establishing a dominant influence in the realm's human civilization's sports and athletics. While he was celebrating his achievement though, he felt something was wrong.
The next moment he found out that the Master rode on his influence in sports to spread his influence in arts as well. Despite the sports god having a more dominant influence, he felt cheated when the Master spread his Art of Anatomy and Physiology through his efforts.
After this, while the humans studied sports and athletics extensively, they also had to study the Art of Anatomy and Physiology to boost their competitive performance, which in turn spread the arts god's influence too.
When the sports god confronted the Master about this, he was speechless and the master's response. "Come on, it was in mutual benefit. They study my Art to supplement your law, therefore more people interested in your law. Isn't that a greater benefit to you?"
What made the sports god bitter the most was that he could have also introduced ideas to supplement his influence, but he did not master his law to the extent of coming up with the study of the human body. This resulted in the Master, having mastered countless of arts under his Law of Arts, beat the sports god to the idea first and got a free ride in influence.
"The reason I gathered you all here is for a request. In exchange for treasures of your desire, I want all of your consents to turn our shared realm's time back to twenty years." The master stated his request.
This resulted to the group to bombard the master with questions. Despite the different questions, they share the same essence: "Why?"
"I just want to try something. No worries. Twenty years is inconsequential to all your influence to the realm." The master responded.
"I don't think so. If it was any other realm, I have no problem with acceding. We all know that the value of this realm to all of us is the unusually large number of humans. We all are satisfied how everything is going, so why disrupt it?" questioned the sports god.
"I may be disrupting it, but at what significant degree? What is twenty years out of the billions of years to come for the human civilization? Mr. Sports, aren't many of your sports prodigies either lost their path or failed to live to their potential for the past twenty years? Mr. Science, have you not have any significant progress with the technology in the past ten years? Mr. Agriculture, haven't the humans abused your Animal husbandry that affected Mr. Wellness' influence?" The master countered. Not only to respond to Mr. Sports but also to gain a reaction from the other gods.
The gods present fell silent as they considered his point. They knew that the master is also saying that they all have regrets. This also made many of the gods, aside from wanting to agree to the Master's request, wanted to increase the time will be turned back.
As the silence continued, the master was already very satisfied that it's going better than he expected. He further coaxed them.
"Look, the reason why I thought of twenty years is to minimize the disruption the time turn would cause. This is also the reason why I thought it as inconsequential. Look at the positives and negatives here, fellows. We can turn back time with almost no consequence, while gaining a chance for a few miracles. That's a great deal!"
The sports god, despite his resentment for the arts god, finally saw the possibilities of such move. The misled sports geniuses may find their way to the law of sports this time. The sports geniuses who ruined their potential due their excessive indulgence with various temptations may live their lives differently too.
Although he hated to admit it, but the arts god on the expense of his own treasures for a slim chance of great returns, is doing them a huge favor.
"This is a great idea, Mr. Arts and I hope the others present should also see that. I don't know about the others here, but you have my full consent on the matter. I just hope you do not retract your promise of treasures instead."
Not long after that, the rest of the gods agreed as well. They too, had the same thoughts as the sports god. Feeling their consents, the master in subdued excitement, showed a subtle nod of thanks.
"You all have my gratitude. I shall take the specifics of your preferred treasures, as long as I have them, after we are done with this. Shall we visit the Supreme then?" The master said as he led the group in the chant to seek an audience with the Supreme. Shortly after, they all vanished from their spots and reappeared at the Supreme's white void.
"Granted." The voice of the Supreme washed over the master and his fellows, as they felt the realm they share turn back in time. That single word, filled with mysterious power, is enough an indication of approval of their request.
The next moment, they all each found themselves in their own abodes. Unbeknownst to the group of gods, the Supreme appeared at the white void with a complicated expression.
"Interesting. I never expected such method to appear in my domain as well. Had I not seen you end your own existence, I would have mistaken him for you, old friend." The Supreme sighed to himself.
Mr. Arts' plan was something his old friend utilized in the past as well, only in a much larger scale, which the Supreme is sure that Mr. Arts' plans will fall on to as well.
He wanted to see his old friend's reaction when he was to see what this humble arts god is planning. Unfortunately, his old friend, despite his power that countless Supremes could never hope to match, got tired of his own existence and contentedly happily took his own life.
After being sent away, the Master felt the most excitement he felt in a long while. With his objectives smoothly being achieved and the anticipation towards the completion of his goal, how could he not feel excited?
"Mr. Logic, is my treasure done?" The numbers god, who was busy spreading his influence in his realms, was interrupted from his activity by another uninvited, but expected visit from his friend. "Fresh from the oven." Number god passed a sphere of light to the Master.
"Thank you my friend. I just got back from a meeting with other gods which got me busy again. Next time I visit, I'll bring my finest of wines that we can drink together." the master, who usually spends years playing with the numbers god, apologized for, albeit unintentionally, being rude.
"It's no fault, my friend. I understand." Numbers god just accepted. 'You don't understand it all, my friend. I'm sorry for the deception.' The Master could only apologize within his heart. He decided to use the exit of number god's abode out of respect.
As he was about to step into the portal, he was stopped by a familiar voice.
"MASTER! I have done wrong! Please don't abandon me here! I'll take any punishment, and I will find ways to serve you better!" Woo, who saw his master pass by, instinctively ran to him and pleaded on his knees and elbows.
His master, however, saw through his subject's intentions immediately and just chuckled. "Woo. Don't worry about it. You can still use my compendium from here. I've asked old numbers to give you a door to access the compendium from here. Here, take this lute, never out of tune and indestructible. Work hard."
Being exposed from his insincerity, Woo was horrified but relieved as well because his master spared him the punishment. It even moved him due to the gift and encouragement from his master. "Thank you for your mercy master! I will work hard and make you proud!" he said, sincerely this time as his master disappeared into the void.
Meanwhile, the Master's incarnation was finally done with his fifty years of time in the Mistress' realm and all its experiences were sent back to its owner.
The Master, after digesting his incarnation's experiences and all the things it experienced, was finally ready for the next step to his plans. Before that though, his wife who he had not seen for a while, questioned him of his activities. For the time he was absent, the mistress, no matter how hard she thought about it, could not figure out the clear purpose of her husband's recent actions.
"My love, what have you been up to? Do you miss being a mortal or something? Why would you give me a favor for something so mundane?" asked the Mistress to at least soothe her curiosity.
"I've been recently looking for inspiration to further my mastery of my Arts, my dear. Mortals have more to offer than just their potential." The Master replied mysteriously to his wife. The Mistress, who knows she will not be able to get a clear answer from her husband, dropped the matter for now. It's not like he did something as bad as asking for her human artists.
"I'll go over my incarnation's memories to see if there's something I can use." The Master excused himself. The Mistress, understanding this, just accepted it. It's not like they are not spending their time together enough.
The master then started his next step. The treasure, as assumed by numbers god, was to be used to train a deity. The treasure, as assumed again by the numbers god, was to contain the Master's insights toward arts.
However, who said that he will grant the treasure to a deity? Who said that he will put his insights into the treasure? He was going to put in all of the knowledge his incarnation gathered on its time in his wife's realm into the treasure.
Then, he will give that treasure to a mortal! Who said that a realm's knowledge of a law is not allowed to be passed on to a single mortal? Nobody did and this is the loophole the Master decided to exploit.
After dissecting, sorting, and classifying the knowledge his incarnation gathered, he cut a very tiny segment of the treasure he just gained from his friend, just enough to contain all of the knowledge that his incarnation gathered.
He kept the rest of the treasure for future uses. He plans on doing this again with other human civilizations or other civilizations that just as rare. He may even give some of the treasure, filled with his own wisdom, to a deserving deity to offset his deception to the numbers god.
He is finally ready to look for someone who can carry the treasure in his realm.
"Eeny, meanie, miny, mo… Wait, I've gone to so much trouble, I should at least decide better than this. Oh? This person feels right. Interesting. Countless realms, yet a small world. His name is the same as mine was when I was still a mortal. Very well, I choose you." After scouring his realm of interest, he finally decided on who he felt was a suitable, despite his choice seemingly ironic and narcissistic, host for the treasure.
"This is a long shot, but I hope you can give me a miracle, Tayaw." He said as a grain of light on his palm flew away and descended to the realm