The connection

'Whoah there! One step at a time. I still haven't manifested magic in its physical form. It's too early for me to come in contact with natural origin energy!'

I didn't have to be told that twice. Rallying all my power I flew up from the ground and levitated in the sky. I could see them now, white threads spearing for my soul trying to tie me down. I weaved left, right, up and down to dodge all the threads while ascending higher into the sky.

Meanwhile, my core was churning after strange energy had entered it. My next evolution had already commenced but it wasn't like the system had planned.

'How about you drop the charade. You are by no means a real system and this fate you speak of is just your own plan to save yourself.'

'You don't talk like a system, you can contact other people besides me and open portals over large distances. You are this world's will, admit it! The Nox Aeterna tried to warn me but I didn't get it back then. All this was premeditated by you! The humans finding me, my sapling being burned, the royal descendants having dragon bloodlines, and the convenient beginning of the undead invasion right after I woke up. You were just raising me like some house plant, shoving nutrition my way and motivating me to grow without letting anything to dangerous get to me! But you fucked up, the jade snake dowager defied you and decided to kill me so you had to reveal some of your abilities. Am I wrong?'

'And let you force me into eternal servitude? Do you think I don't know that a connection with the world can't be broken? I'd be bound to you for all eternity. But that's what you want, isn't it! I'm not the first individual you granted natural origin energy, am I?'

The threads grew more erratic, they waved around wildly trying to catch me but were ultimately unable to.

'But as soon as they became a deity they left. As a world that could afford to raise a deity but wasn't protected by one you then became a target.'

'So your solution is to just tie the next deity you raise down in order to keep them? If that's how you act I'm not astonished the first one left you.'

From the core of the world I could feel an individual approach. The world's will had already used him to threaten me in the past, the divine lumberjack! Technically I was already a deity and thus stronger than him but the second evolution wasn't complete yet. Him being my absolute nemesis really didn't improve my chances.

However, even if I was cut down here and now it would be a better outcome than being bound.

"Geez, Eldar, way to be overly dramatic. You should be well aware of what the little plate I gave you can do. There is no way you will die today."

I didn't know how the plate I'd received so long ago had managed to stay with me, no pockets and all that, but now it was glowing and a calm voice rang out from it.