A God in a Xianxia world

Chapter 5 - The Decision

"So, Jacob, what I propose is for your friend to go down to my planet, inhabit a vessel and cultivate Primal energy. Since my planet doesn't have his species on it and just sending him down there with a brand new body that has zero cultivation would make the task a bit too difficult, we'll use the second method and have him split his soul and take over an existing body. After all, if we use the first method he'd probably be dead within a week" explained Methis.

Although Jacob was somewhat relieved that Methis was Giving Tom this opportunity, Tom was feeling a bit conflicted. He too was happy to have this opportunity, but, the conditions made him feel a bit uncomfortable. Splitting his consciousness from his Essence and putting his true form into slumber actually made him very vulnerable. Although he was hardly a powerful god, he was actually on the weak side; there was still a degree of difficulty for gods to kill other gods. If he were to go through with this, although there would be an Old God and his friend Jacob, a Full God, watching over his Essence, there would still be a certain sense of defencelessness. In that condition, even a Demigod might be able to kill him if they had enough time.

What's more, in the plan that Methis was proposing, Tom would be taking over the body of another organism, of another species. This was actually somewhat understandable because none of Methis's worlds had the species that Tom was on them. Tom, unlike Jacob and Methis, wasn't human. In fact his name wasn't even Tom; he didn't actually have a name. Tom is just the name he permanently adopted after he went through this whole escapade. Tom's species was that of a carnivorous oceanic magic beast called a Liopleurodon. He was a 25m long sea creature, though he had sized down when traveling with Jacob, with a blue colouration to his skin, a long and powerful jaw and four strong paddle like fins.

Seeing that Tom had gone quiet and was in deep thought, Jacob gleamed some understanding about the doubts that Tom was facing and decided to chime in with some words of encouragement.

"This is the best opportunity you'll get for this, you should take it. On my honour I swear to you I'll protect your Essence and make sure it comes to no harm."

Tom was pleased to hear this; Jacob really was a true friend. Nevertheless, the conditions of the bet were still weighing heavily on his mind. After about a minute of silence Tom finally gave his answer.

"I'll do it"

Even though he had some concerns, ultimately he decided to go through with it. Although he found the whole situation to be frankly absurd, he would get nowhere if he didn't take a leap of faith and get over any personal qualms he had about the situation. He would later reflect on this situation and be glad that he'd hardened his resolve and took the plunge. He would also later reflect back on this and realise that this first meeting with Methis was a clear indicator that Methis, like many other Gods, was somewhat of an eccentric individual.

A slight smile appeared on Methis's face hearing Tom's answer. The smile seemed charming and harmless, but, for a moment, to Jacob, it seemed more like a smirk. Little did Jacob realise, he'd already gotten caught up in Methis's kindly atmosphere and forgotten that Methis was doing this not to help a fellow God out of the kindness of his heart but rather for his own amusement. Because Jacob had been drawn in by Methis's atmosphere he'd already put the absurdity of the bet and the situation out of mind.

"Right then, let's get on with it" Methis said cheerily.

"The first thing I'll have to do is find a suitable vessel. Hmm I don't want to make this too difficult, I'll have to give him at least a decent chance" Methis muttered to himself.

Methis then closed his eyes and concentrated. He reopened them and a 3D image of his world was projected in front of the group of people. He then proceeded to stare deeply at this 3D image and continued to mutter softly under his breath.

"A suitable vessel, one that hasn't started cultivating yet. Best if the soul has already been dispersed so something freshly dead. Hmm, best if it's human, more exciting to watch. Perhaps?... No, not that one, too easy. Not that one either, he'd have no chance. Perhaps? Yes, this one, this one should be perfect."

Methis looked towards Tom with a smile on his face.

"I believe I have the perfect vessel for you".

Methis then proceeded to stand up and walk towards Tom. He reached out his hand, palm facing Tom's head and asked "are you ready for this?"

"As ready as I'll ever be" replied Tom.

"Good. This will be ... disorientating".

As he said this, Methis moved forward placing his hand on Tom's head. Energy started to surge from Methis's hand and pervaded the surrounding atmosphere. A strong light shone from both Methis's hand and eyes, causing Jacob to temporarily look away. The strange power that Methis was using was causing Tom's consciousness to fade. Even though Methis was incredibly strong compared to Tom, the only way he was able to so quickly perform this operation was because Tom wasn't putting up any defences and was letting him.

Finally, the light started to dim until Methis and Tom could be seen clearly again. Of course a god didn't need to use his eyes to see, so Jacob could perceive what was happening the entire time, but still, most gods have eyes and prefer to use them.

"Is it done?" asked Jacob.

"Not yet" said Methis, "I'm still isolating his consciousness"

"And this is completely safe?" asked Jacob.

"Mostly" said Methis in a dull voice.

Jacob's expression changed as he asked "what do you mean mostly?"

"Well, even for Old Gods this sort of thing requires a bit of finesse, especially when doing it on another god. But rest assured I have performed this on other Gods before and countless mortal souls as well" said Methis.

"Mortal souls?"

"Yes. I initially did it to practice"

"Initially. Then what about now? You still do it?" asked Jacob a bit confused.

"ha ha" Methis chuckled to himself.

"As I'm sure you're well aware, there's not exactly much for us to do up here, so, sometimes, I'll take mortal souls from my different worlds and place them elsewhere. It can be fun to watch them adapt to a new world. Why do you think I'm watching this world at the moment and not any of the others?"

Jacob's eyes widened in shock and he said "Then you mean"

Methis just smiled, looked back at what he was doing and then slowly started to draw his hand away from Tom's head. Floating just above his fingertips was a small orb of blue light. Methis quickly pointed towards the projection of his world and the blue orb of light shot towards it. As it touched the projection, both it and the projection suddenly disappeared.

Methis turned to Jacob again with a smile on his face and said "Now, it's done"