“So, how are we going to do this?” Matthias asked the world spirit.

  “Do what?” she responded. She now looked like she was in her late forties.

  “Fight every other dungeon on the planet,” Matthias reminded her, his eyes narrowing. “I am only Mythic rarity. Surely the Legendary dungeons have something that I can’t just brute force my way past.”

  That was when the Clockwork Dungeon died.

  The wave of mana that struck Matthias was like a physical force. For a brief moment, he felt like he was drowning. Despite being seated, he still swayed as if he were about to fall over. The mana kept flowing into him as everything that dungeon had been poured into him. Matthias endured the deluge for nearly a full minute before it began to slow to more manageable levels, as his monsters picked off the last of the still-living defenders.

  If Matthias was being honest, he felt drunk. His vision swam as he tried to organize his faculties. He ended up pulling his mind out of his avatar and diffusing it into his dungeon for the first time since he had acquired the body. It was an instinctual response, but the shift seemed to help.

  To his surprise, though, his avatar had actually taken a degree of damage from the deluge of mana. It was apparently not designed to channel that kind of flow. It only took a few more minutes for the effects to taper off and his avatar’s regeneration to restore him to perfect condition.

  “You were saying?” the world spirit teased. She looked five years younger in that short span of time.

  “I used a trick to defeat him,” Matthias sighed. “I am sure countermeasures will be taken. Besides, that actually harmed my avatar.”

  “Only because you tried to channel it through the body instead of through your spirit,” the world spirit informed him, like a mother correcting a critical mistake.

  “But my core is in the chest of my avatar,” Matthias pointed out.

  “That does not mean it is not connected to your spirit,” she noted pointedly. “For a man who creates so many different creatures and ecosystems, you really are blind to the oddest things.”

  Matthias sighed and shrugged.

  “Matthias, you seem to be under a misunderstanding,” she continued. “Mana density is everything for a dungeon. The denser your mana, the more you can do with less.”

  “I have kind of figured that out,” Matthias confessed. “I have to be careful about my desires. If they get away from me, things just appear.”

  “Matthias,” the world spirit said more sternly, “your mana is many times denser than the other dungeons’.”

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  “What?” he asked.

  “The avatar state is normally reserved for Mythic cores, not because it is a feature of that tier, but because you need mana that dense in order to build and sustain it,” she continued. “Only when your mana reaches that density can you sustain the passive image individuals tend to have of themselves.”

  Matthias paused at that revelation, falling into introspection as she continued.

  “I am guessing information was lost while I was asleep,” she went on. “Matthias, the cost of a monster is only part of its effectiveness. Another factor is your mana density. It adds weight to the creation. Not to mention that most of your monsters are now capable of cultivation themselves. That only amplifies them further.”

  She gave him about a minute to process before continuing.

  “Matthias, your beasts are many times stronger than you think they are,” she explained. “It is not that you lack the strength to rival the other dungeons. It is that you have no frame of reference. You have seen their dragons and know the devastation they can cause. But your monsters are so well behaved and organized within your domain that you do not realize what you are capable of.”

  “I should have made that connection,” Matthias admitted with a sigh. “When my dungeon nearly defeated a Demon King unaided. The Demon Queen ravaged the mortal armies, but the Demon King only made it to the beach. I thought it was just the right counter—that I had the correct mix of offenses to negate his abilities. I never thought deeper about it.”

  “Nor have you thought deeply about your nature,” the world spirit pointed out. “The faith of those who worship you is also a source of mana.”

  “I am not a god,” Matthias countered.

  “Are you not?” she asked. “Can you not create on a whim? Can you not augment the land? What separates the current you from a god?”

  “I don’t want to rule,” Matthias sighed. “I don’t want to be a god, because it feels impersonal. It is a perspective shift I am not ready to make.”

  The world spirit snorted and began laughing. Matthias gave her an incredulous look.

  “That is why you reject your nature?” she asked between chuckles. “Child, who dictates what a god should be? Why would you need to change? They have faith in you for who you are now, not some distant eye in the sky.”

  Matthias frowned, trying to wrap his mind around her meaning.

  “Matthias, the only difference is the ability to accept yourself,” she explained with an eye roll. “Gods are who they are. They do not change for mortal perception. They do not shift perspective simply because they accept a mantle. A god is simply a being in whom others place their faith—an ideal of what they aspire toward.”

  “But faith—” he began.

  “Is an extra, not a requirement,” she interrupted. “If faith were important, those fools could not have sealed themselves away from reality. Why would a god be constrained by mortal needs? A god is not an elevated mortal. It is not a direct line of evolution. A god does not need to be divine. A god is simply what their followers need. It is a level of power, not a tier of existence—though for some it becomes one. The only rules a god must comply with are the rules they impose upon themselves.”

  “It can’t be that easy,” Matthias doubted.

  “And you think obtaining the power to bend reality on a whim is easy? That living up to an ideal so thoroughly that others use you as their template is easy?” she asked. “Matthias, you do not choose to become a god. That is why those children locked in their heavens caused so many problems. They demanded and craved power. They have power, but they are not truly gods. They are simply powerful entities. A real god would not fear as they do. A real god would not need to be so narcissistic.”

  “Were you not the one who said anything could be a god?” Matthias countered.

  “Do you see people praying to those fools? Or do you see them offering reverence in fear?” she shot back. “They are tyrants, not gods. They demand worship. You, on the other hand, are worshiped out of love. There is a big difference.”