It took time for the sensation of being observed to ease and finally vanish. It felt like cobwebs being dragged across their skin—subtle, invasive, impossible to ignore. Even after the feeling faded, it took several more minutes for Matthias’ mind to stop fraying at the edges.

  “How close were we?” Nefertut asked, slowly getting back to his feet.

  “A few degrees,” Matthias guessed. “Degrees of separation.” He then turned his attention to the world spirit and scowled. "Never force me to act like that again. I am no slave."

  "You were spiraling and we needed answers," the world spirit argued.

  "So you would violate my autonomy like your children did?" Matthias asked.

  The world spirit flinched at that.

  “So… there is no undoing it?” Nefertut ventured carefully.

  “It is a forced amalgamation of who knows how many concepts, all related to change and entropy,” Matthias explained. “It is… homogenous enough to have become a single entity.”

  “What was that sensation?” the world spirit asked quietly.

  “That was the barest brush of its attention,” Matthias said. “It did not fully awaken, but names have power. I created the fey, and with them, saying a name is the same as asking something to pay attention to you. The closer your power is to theirs, the more likely they are to notice.”

  “Why did it only react like that now?” Nefertut asked, shivering.

  “Probably because no one ever truly looked at it,” Matthias offered. “No one thought to check.”

  “It was sealed within the core of the world—my core,” the world spirit replied. “It was quite literally eroding our world with the power it radiated passively. It was only through Matthias’ concept that we were able to realign and process that energy into a usable state.”

  “So I can’t get my old powers back?” Nefertut asked.

  “Worse,” the world spirit sighed. “Until I am fully healed, there will be no new dungeon cores either.”

  Nefertut regarded the world spirit with a pained expression. “I see,” he said slowly.

  “So how do we deal with this?” the world spirit asked.

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  “We don’t,” Matthias replied immediately, rubbing his temples. “We let it sleep, process the energy it emits, and act like it does not exist.”

  “We can’t just ignore it,” Nefertut argued.

  “You misunderstand just how stupid your siblings were,” Matthias said flatly. “That is not something you reason with. It is not something you study. It is not even something you look upon directly. It is, for lack of a better term, a living spell. If triggered, there is no more reality. It cannot be reasoned with. It has no morals. It has no awareness. It exists to destroy—and the only reason it isn’t doing so is because it is dormant for reasons beyond our understanding.”

  He exhaled slowly.

  “So the most intelligent thing we can do is forget it exists. Perhaps let it drift into a pocket dimension if we are fortunate. This entity has power beyond divinity, and only two output settings: active or dormant. So we live with it.”

  “Surely—” Nefertut began.

  “No,” Matthias cut in sharply. “Forget it exists. One mishap and nothing exists anymore. Not the world. Not souls. Not even vacuum. Do you understand that level of annihilation? It isn’t even active, and the leveling system is already rotting from proximity. You do not control something like that. You let it remain dormant.”

  Nefertut grimaced.

  “Then tell me,” he pressed, “how do you plan to enter the heavens and kill my siblings?”

  “Why should I bother?” Matthias asked. “They’ve locked and sealed the only way in. They defeated themselves. They want their little pocket space? Let them have it. Let them fall into obscurity until they too are forgotten.”

  “I need revenge,” Nefertut growled.

  “I would enjoy some as well,” the world spirit admitted.

  “I have a plan,” Matthias reminded them. “But we have no need to make this harder than necessary.”

  “And what might that plan be?” Nefertut asked, narrowing his eyes.

  “To prune the remaining dungeons,” the world spirit interrupted. “They are resisting the world’s reawakening. I need them gone.”

  “And the celestial dungeons likely have a demon king equivalent forming,” Matthias added. “Better to prevent that.”

  “I heard you were instrumental in defeating the last two,” Nefertut said pointedly.

  “Be grateful I am not deducting the cost of that damage from you,” Matthias warned. “I am half inclined to prune you.”

  “You wouldn’t,” Nefertut gasped.

  “I have no reason not to,” Matthias replied calmly. “I have had more problems with your faction than with the celestials. You do not manage your faction well.”

  “We are dungeons,” Nefertut shot back. “We hate answering to authority. Freedom and all that.”

  “I am not debating ethics with a faction that creates literal demons,” Matthias retorted.

  “The pruned dungeons will also help Matthias reach his final tier,” the world spirit added.

  “But what about that bundle of unlimited energy?” Nefertut asked dryly.

  “Currently being used to heal the world,” Matthias replied. “We need to make it self-sustaining again.”

  “And why are you so focused on that?” Nefertut asked coldly.

  “Because it accomplishes two goals,” Matthias explained. “First, more food means more mortals. More mortals means more innovation. Second, the leveling system is dying, so we need cultivators. Once they begin refining concepts, if we are lucky, they will start siphoning the connections the gods have to their own domains.”

  He leaned forward slightly.

  “The sooner we nurture enough life for mass cultivation, the sooner mortals begin refining concepts at scale. And when that happens, they will erode the gods’ foundations. That is how you get your revenge.”

  With that plainly stated, the tension eased enough for them to move on to the rest of the matters the world spirit wished to discuss.