My Energizing of Isotopes still took place every day, as I had the devoted Spell Slots for the Energize SLA’s and there was no reason not to use them. I could do up to IX Isotopes now, which was extremely helpful to many of the more exotic things the Artificers and Alchemists were doing on the high-end Toys for themselves and Allegiance members.

Legendary materials, like solidified Concepts or Virtues, were something I worked on with actual Valences, as nobody else could safely work with them except Sama and Briggs. Still, they held a lot of promise in various areas.

The Broom Closet was the only area I was making Blocks in at the moment. Erecting White Mana Zones at Coralost Communities was now something for others to do, even popular as they were. The only existing regular combat zones were the three Dead Zones that still remained aboveground, as I had no intention of taking my people underwater to take care of the Aquatics’ grand mess down there.

I still did my regular Magic Item Infusing, but I only worked on items that were going to be Legendary in power now, as anything else was a waste of my time and something someone of lower Level was better off doing. Like Sama and Briggs, a lot of that was now time spent Infusing Implements for our mages who would be reaching Sagedom, paying the cost of Eternal-class magicks over 100 days to break the mortal limit and allow them to wield some truly powerful Gear.

The body of knowledge we were building in the Markspace, basically an active Akashic Record, was beginning to rival the world’s internet for its content and depth, as we had people whose entire job was to surf the net and investigate sources of data, then post everything on Visual Files to the Markspace. My own personal data collection thoughtstream read newspapers and articles and clips uploaded from all over the world constantly via the Markspace, meaning I was being informed of stuff going on all over the world in real time, even though we had people there to call out and alert us of interesting stuff.

The ethics of using the data without paying for it, such as for reading books, was a point we made emphatically. Reading someone’s novel or borrowing designs cost money, payments were allocated to those responsible and with the proper rights. It often resulted in people who had nothing to do with Coralost getting checks in the mail or direct deposits from us, wondering what it was for, or those online spontaneously getting thousands of views as we replayed vids in Markspace and credited the makers for them.

Really helped our reputation, too.

I... had little more left to do, outside of working on the Broom Closet Pyramid here and trying to raise the profile of the Church of Heaven further. The quiet evangelical efforts the Church was involved in, coordinated in the Markspace and Allegiance, were bearing tremendous fruit in many locations, driven by the Kabbalists, extremely disillusioned ex-Church of Light priests, the many Coralost Communities scattered around the globe, and the equally many littoral regions we’d fought in, built defenses in, and healed so many people in.

Faith was rising, spreading from White Mana Zones and Spellhouses like flames eating at the parched wood of people fed up with how this world worked and the mighty abused them, hungering for something to believe in that was real, consistent, and was worth trusting and following.

That Faith was the single most precious commodity in the world right now, and nobody but us knew it.

That Faith was guiding Good people to the proper afterlife. The Heaven here was filling up, Angels and other Celestials were manifesting among them, and Heaven’s power was growing.

But there were still no gods there, nor Realm Lord equivalents. We didn’t know what the threshold was needed to bring us to the attention of the likes of Aru’s Pantheon, but I was sure it wasn’t enough.

The fall of Faith would hurt the Synod’s pride, but not really affect their power, although the Lords of Light were likely going to be disgruntled as their influence on the Prime waned and fewer and fewer mortals chose the path of Obedience and Obeisance. As they weren’t non-finite, they had no idea what was actually going on with the Church of Heaven, only that it was an irritant that was going to have to be eliminated in time to give them a hegemony.

In the meantime, the Church of Heaven was a dedicated foe of the Nether Realms, with a new Crystalheart Home opening on every continent and, indeed, every major city if we could, so that those with a Dark Element could purify them away and open their road to the next level of power, as had been proven time and again by Adepts and Mages who had undergone the harrowing process. Even those who’d been roadblocked for years and were well past the proper time to do so advanced after enduring the pain and trauma of losing an Element and making it Typeless, and having the Will to endure through the entire process.

More positive reputation.

The ‘Patron Saints’ of the Church were all Great Beasts, mostly Emperors who had proven their virtue and benevolent rulership. Auspicious Holy Radiant Butterfly Emperor was the beloved Patron of the Kabbalists and those who followed Light in general, her newly acclaimed ancient Tradition and the spells attributed to it capturing the imagination of countless Light-wielders.

Additionally, Cloud and Moon White Fox Emperor Kwan Yin was now credited with teaching the Psychic and Healing Elements to the Acropolis, which meant the dogma of the Acropolis was undergoing some revisions. The Gentle Lady of K’un-Lun was the teacher of Hera!

Son Wukong was publicly acclaimed as teaching Humanity the Earth Element, and defending many early civilizations of Humans across Africa and Asia. Even if he was a rebellious, cantankerous sort, he was Chaotic Good, motivated by no heart but his own, and by no means ever doing evil things. As one of the very most adept Earth Element users in the world, soon His Tradition of the Golden Monkey Kings was finding some eager adherents among more than Apes and Monkeys, His mastery of the Metal aspect of Earth was particularly sought after, and his Earth/Fire combination Elements quite admired by martial mages.

Revelations of the Great Beasts teaching Humanity magic also eroded the power of the Magic Association and the affiliated Magic Courts, much of whose existence was predicated on the idea of Humans vs Beasts. They were very much against any idea of co-existence, tolerance, or understanding with the Beasts we shared the world with, insistent that we had to fight to justify our strength and territory.

Babe’s time to attempt becoming Low Emperor was approaching quickly. Divinations said the best time would be about a month from now, and things were quietly being put into place to help that out. Wasn’t that going to be a kick in the teeth to those who didn’t like Totem Beasts? Mere Humans helping a non-Contracted Beast to advance? What treachery was that?!

They could all kiss off, too.

-Lady Fae, there’s a message for you, from The Sea Emperor.- Edgar, a Blue Ox Mage and proud son of Michigan, had been elected to bug me. He was out on Kahoolawe, making Columns for the seemingly endless Emperors of the Sea, not all of them Dragons now, but all coming to get their own custom sets of Vivic Braziers.

-Go ahead, Eddie,- I /encouraged him patiently, having more than enough thoughtstreams to spare.

-The Sea Emperor would like to meet with you personally in His Court,- he /relayed to me carefully, aware of some of the implications of such a request. Like, the fact it wasn’t actually a request.

Huh. That had come out of nowhere. A High Emperor actually wanted to meet with me?

Perhaps He’d spoken with The Ice Emperor and knew Flowing Silver High Emperor was backing both me and Thunderbird’s Alliance of True Emperors? It wasn’t out of reason...

-Inform His Envoy that I will attend upon His Imperial Majesty in one week.-

Edgar was probably breaking a sweat as he relayed that to whatever Sea Dragon of the moment was the lackey. The quiet exchange was still no doubt a momentous moment.

A High Emperor calling for a Human! Ho, the Synod would turn purple-green with envy at me being recognized like that! The Archangels had been trying for years to get that recognition from the High Emperors!

A flicker of thought to keep that quiet within the Allegiance was probably unnecessary, but all the Earth mages out there making Columns agreed swiftly. News would spread regardless, and I was certainly going to inform Thunderbird and Flowing Silver Emperors.

“Dammit, now I need to visit Leviathan again!” I muttered aloud. I was going to need to know a lot more about The Sea Emperor’s Court, get good instructions on where to go, how to comport myself... and what kind of a gift to bring.

He was a Dragon, after all.

--------

The North Pole, a bit later...

Leviathan Emperor opened an eye as the presence came in from afar, and alighted on the Pyramid rotating slowly far above Him.

Her magic... had risen incredibly in power once again!

The Chords of Magic began to echo all around Him, down deep below the North Pole. Since the establishment of His Demesne with the Pyramid, He had found that He actually didn’t need to keep roving around and moving from place to place to address problems. No, He could simply reach out with His mind across the world, seeing where the presence of Himself or His vassals were needed.

Once that was done, He could either Waterjump there directly, or aid His subjects to do the same. Once their business was finished, He could either come home, or send His subjects off to where they were needed.

It meant long swims and migrations were no longer as necessary, and indeed many of the older Whales preferred to remain in His Domain, if they were not needed to protect the various pods. Whales were still constantly coming and going, but using the magic of the Pyramid to enhance their own magic helped the old and young alike, and His Domain was proving to be a very popular place to Sing and rest between hunts and feasts.

Whalesong instantly arose in response to the presence of the Worldsinger, was woven into the somber acclaim of the Sublime Chord, and washed back out to them in response.

Leviathan Emperor saw and felt that magic, and sighed to himself in quiet awe.

What had she done? Her magic...

“Healer Fae greets Leviathan Emperor!” her quiet Voice came through the waters, and she swirled down from above through the sea, flowing out from the Waters so subtly and smoothly He couldn’t even tell how she had come there.

Her control of Water Magic did not have the massive power that His did, but her handling over the small and subtle details of it was still astonishing, and... there were at least eight other Elements mixed into her magic. No, at least ten!

“I HAVE RECOGNIZED YOU, HEALER FAE,” he replied softly, feeling her pause as she floated down His side towards His right eye. She didn’t actually need to do that, as her Psychic and magical presence was far more distinct than mere eyesight. But it was a courtesy, and he was always impressed at her courtesy, despite her power.

She also recognized a courtesy extended in return.

Recognition. He was seeing her as an equal in power!

Perhaps a Human would have clung to a show of power, using age or wisdom to look down on those rising to become their equals. It was not the way for Beasts. Power was recognized, acknowledged, and bowed to. Without it, there was no hierarchy or sense of equality.

If he Recognized her, then all Beasts would Recognize her!

“I acknowledge Elder’s words,” she replied after a moment. He could actually feel the turn of her thoughts away from the prior protocol, and addressing him as both equal and elder as she should, eschewing needless humility. “I have come to ask Elder’s indulgence on a matter of importance.”

Once again, she impressed him with how she stated matters, and, knowing his mental prowess, the thoughts and emotions wrapped around such words.

It was not a matter of importance to only her. No, He was going to find it important as well, or she would not have bothered him. She was here because he would want her to be here!