"...That's about enough learning, you've reached your daily quota"
"What daily quota?" Enigma retorted questioningly. But truthfully, he didnt even want to know the answer, as he knew why he was stopped.
"Apologies, I meant yearly quota"
The system changed its words, and Enigma had hunched that the more he defied the system, the higher the quota will rise. Thus he opted to just keep quiet.
"You're really serious about this aren't you?" He sighed and decided to accept his fate. He was good at doing that anyway.
"...."
Enigma feigned reluctance as he agreed to the system's words. But before he could finish his own sentence, "...Fine, I was about to—"
Tzzz
A unique buzz occurred within his head, that disrupted his words, shutting up instantly.
"Huh? What was that? A spiritual link? With the Pixies?" He paused then frowned as he wondered why would those guys contact him only three weeks after leaving him.
They couldn't be in danger right?
"Uhm, hello, who is this?" He decided to test the waters and lightly greeted the person on the other side, unfortunately it sounded more like a question than a greeting.
"G-Great Lord Enigma, this humble one—" Immediately after hearing a response, the other cried out hurriedly responded in panick as they stuttered their words, and bit their tongue.
But Enigma cut her off before she could continue with her words. It would a bit cringy to him if she bit herself with every word sge had to say.
"Stop stop STOP!!! Let us cut to the chase dear, what do you want? And forget those unnecessary greetings next time, will you?"
He finally knew who he was dealing with. 'Since when did those lasses create a spiritual link with me? Oh? Did I ask them to become my believers? How rare for me to forget...'
"Oh really?"
The system rolled its digital eyes as it retorted silently to his words. But Enigma ignored its words. Gods, especially true gods weren't omniscient, and juveniles have yet to become even nigh-omniscient.
"Yes...Yes, uhm, we, we were wondering..." Night began telling him about the idea that she and her sister had thought of. And truthfully speaking, it was like a godsend for Enigma.
She of course still stuttered, but a lot less now. And it seemed even though she had a plan for what she desired to say, the more she spoke, the more she lost more focus.
'A village huh? And a temple at that too, add up believers as well, how are they not my lucky charm? I mean, I haven't been actually trying this half a year. My peers might be far from me by now.' He thought to himself, but of course he wasn't going to say that to her.
"Oh? I see, it is fine with me. But here's the catch, the more you guys believe in me, the more I can better help you all. For example, an extra thousand of you guys, an extra blessed person.
Then another two thousand, another blessed person. Another four thousand, another eight thousand, more blessed beings on your side. And don't worry, each blessing would be at the same level as Noelle's.
"Or maybe not. As my first believer, she had had he unique, I guess. Anyway, what do you think?" He proposed as he believed the school's teachings came in handy in terms of believers and faith.
The carrot and stick method was the most highly taught method back in school. He didnt mind using it to gain more believers, there was never a case of a god complaining about having too much followers and too much faith.
"Really?! You'd do that for us, Lord?! Ahem, I meant, you, you would do such a thing for us, G-Great Lord sir?" Night excitedly responded at first, her emotions getting the better of her.
But she immediately realised her mistake, and changed her words. Enigma could even imagine her face currently blushing, leading to him shaking his head with a smile.
"How cute. Sure, I would love to do that for all of you." He affirmed, his tone gentle and soothing to listen to, but not hypnotizing.
"GREAT!! Ah, I meant, err, uh..." Once again, joy took over her rationale. She was still not used to being respectful, her elder sister was a goddess too, but they grew up casually, just like her other sisters.
To her and the other girls, it was a bit hard to show too much respect towards other gods. Especially a new and powerful one like Enigma. Luckily he was humble and down to earth... or so it seems.
"Hahaha, I get it, I get it. You should go spread the good news to your sister as well. I'll be fine right here by myself, for now." Enigma shook his head helplessly once again, but with a smile still.
"You know, lord. You're welcome to visit us anytime. This is your place we are dedicating to you." Night seriously said when she heard his words, he sounded quite lonely.
For once, she did not realize that she was not stuttering that much.
"...Sure thing. I'll pay a visit to you guys, one of these days. That's a promise." He said, with a bitter smile on his face, 'Who ever said I was lonely?'
"Hm. Please take care lord, may the Spirits be... ah, again!!" She was once again close to mistakenly blessing him just like how traditional elves did back at the Empire. Luckily she managed to stop herself.
Bless a god? While being a mortal? Wasn't she insane or stupid?
"May the spirits be with you as well, dear." Enigma did not shy away though, and finished the blessing ceremony of the elves to her. Causing her to blush in embarrassment and even stutter.
"Th-Th-Thank you!!!" She hurriedly said before shutting off the connection between them. Though It was a bit disrespectful, she unfortunately did not realize it due to her embarrassment.
And chaotic emotions. She never had an older brother figure, nor did she spend much time with those of the opposite gender. Especially a god. Interacting with Enigma was dangerous for her.
The admiration she had for him as a god, and as a man was too much. It might even become fanaticism at some point, which was what she feared.
Imagine... just imagine being a Fanatic.
"....."
Meanwhile, Enigma also had his thoughts on Night, and her sisters.
"What a bunch of nice girls. She reminds me of Mystica... I should check the extent of my newly acquired skills first then maybe pay them a visit soon. First of, how about "Self-Body Creation"?" He stood up and lighly stretched his body.
Self-Body Creation, the art of creating one's own body. Unfortunately the body requires faith power to form, the higher the faith power, the stronger the body. He only had less than 1 800 faith points though. And not enough, it seems.
~
~
He first cut off his hand casually and let it fall on the floor. He did not seem to register the pain at all, as he just watched the hand fall down, with no expression.
He then transmitted one unit of faith power into it, watching as it twitched and squirmed around. To be honest, it was a bit disgusting, but Enigma found it to be kind of cute.
After a minute of twitching and squirming, in front of him was a chibi - small and chubby - version of himself. His appearance didn't seem to help alleviate the cuteness at all, instead, it looked like he was glowing with boundless cuteness.
"...."
"...."
Not only Enigma, but even the system was speechless. One unit of faith power was only enough to make the little guy ten centimeters. But his appearance looked no different than Enigma himself, except he seemed lifeless.
"...Well, I guess I'll need almost 20 units to create a body like this one. Onto the next experiment." Enigma took his chibi clone and put it on his palm, he decided to name him, En-one.
Now the next skill, "Sentient Clone", he put his hand onto En-one and transmitted 500 faith points into him. The skill then brought mystical presence as it sorounded the little guy.
Slowly forming a consciousness within him, that was separate and individual of Enigma himself. And as this consciousness was nearly formed, and Enigma was not strong enough,
It was blank and dull. Just like that of a baby.
A moment later, the little guy gained life in his eyes, but he still looked dull and dumb, cute in another way.
After a few tests, he realised that the little guy now had the intelligence of half a year old human baby. So, one unit could've given him one year worth of intelligence?
He moved on to the last deific skill of the day, he put his hand above the little guy and used the remaining faith points to give him a few modifications.