Chapter 269: Ch 269 : The Seed of Love

"Achooo~!"The sound shattered the silence of the Emperor’s Palace, echoing off the pillars and vanishing into the high ceiling that mimicked the night sky.

Sunny rubbed his nose, a frown hidden behind his mask. "Is someone thinking about me?" he muttered to himself, genuinely confused.

As a God, he was immune to ailments. A sneeze was a magical disturbance, a sign of intense focus directed his way.

[...]

In every corner of the multiverse, Thea’s particles fought the urge to laugh. She had to forcefully remind herself: I am an AI. I am the System. I do not have emotions. I do not giggle.

But it was a struggle. As the omnipresent administrator of the multiverse, she saw everything.

She saw the shrines built in Sunny’s honor in the private dimensions of goddesses.

She heard the hushed, giggling conversations in the cafes of the City of Gods.

She watched the goddesses swooning over his heroic sacrifices during the tournament.

The sheer volume of affection directed at her master was enough to announce him as a God of Love.

’Master,’ she thought, holding back her giggle, ’the question isn’t who is thinking about you. The question is, who isn’t?’

Oblivious to the fans focusing on him, Sunny returned to his work. Floating before him was the heart-shaped gem he had manifested earlier, pulsing with a soft, inviting pink light. It was beautiful, but incomplete.

He raised his hand, his Manifestation Affinity flaring. Strands of Adamantine, one of the strongest SS-Grade metals in the multiverse, wove themselves into existence from his potent mana.

Under his will, the indestructible metal stretched and thinned, becoming a delicate, shimmering silver chain that fused seamlessly with the ruby-red heart.

"It looks like something straight out of a fantasy novel," Sunny mused, admiring the artifact as it rotated slowly in the air. Then he paused, looking around his floating palace. ’Well... I suppose we are in a fantasy world.’

With the external vessel complete, it was time for the internal engineering. It was time to etch the Laws that would make this trinket a bridge between divinity and mortality.

"First talent will be Dreamer," Sunny commanded, focusing his will.

The concept flowed into the artifact. This was the heart of the Avatar Protocol.

On a basic level, the Dreamer talent allowed the artifact to act as a server, connecting the dreams of anyone in Sunny’s territory.

It could create a shared subconscious space where minds could meet. But its true purpose was far more complex.

Sunny reviewed the laws of life he had established with Uranus and Gaia.

When a new lifeform was conceived in Veridia or any of the subordinate worlds, a soul was eventually assigned to it by the Heaven Realm or created by the Law of Life around the fifth or sixth month of pregnancy for humans. (Differ according to race)

There was a gap where the body was alive, but the vessel was empty.

This artifact exploited that gap.

Before a new soul could claim the body, the Dreamer talent would latch onto it. It would signal the Law of Life, that this body is occupied.

Then, it would create a bridge. A God in the City could go to sleep, their consciousness streaming through the artifact and into the unborn child.

They would be born. They would grow. They would live a mortal life, piloted by a sleeping God.

"It’s perfect," Sunny murmured, a surge of satisfaction rushing through him. "No faith cost for materializing a body. No risk of the God’s soul crushing the mortal vessel because they are only projecting a dream of themselves"

"A random body, a random family, a random destiny. The perfect setting for a romance."

He nodded to himself. "I really am a genius. It is essential to acknowledge that occasionally."

But there was one flaw. If a God knew they were a God, they would act like one. They would be arrogant.

They would view their mortal parents as just mortals. That wasn’t conducive to finding true love.

"So the second talent would be The Seal," Sunny etched the new talent, unlike talents it was more like a constraint.

This talent was linked directly to Dreamer. When the God’s consciousness entered the mortal vessel, the Seal would activate.

It would lock away their memories, their identity, their power. They would grow up believing they were truly that mortal child.

They would feel pain, fear, joy, and heartbreak with zero filters. Only after a set time, or upon death, would the Seal break, returning the memories and the God to their true body in the City.

Though they could break the seal before it even starts sealing their memories, but that would ban them from becoming a dreamer ever again.

"If they find love, wonderful," Sunny said, finishing the etching. "If not... well, they can just buy another ticket and try again."

He held the finished necklace up to the starlight. It hummed with a potent yet subtle power.

"You shall be called The Seed of Love," Sunny declared.

The artifact was complete. He could add more features later, but for now, this was enough.

Now, he needed an administrator for this. He opened his system panel and messaged Nyx.

Cosmos: "Come to the palace whenever you are free."

He waited for a reply, but none came. He shrugged and closed the panel, preparing to meditate.

BOOM!

A sonic boom shattered the silence of the throne room. The massive doors were blown open by a sudden, violent gust of wind.

A streak of black-and-silver light tore through the palace, screaming across the hall and stopping right in front of the throne.

The light dissipated, revealing Nyx, the Goddess of Night.

She was a mess. Her hair was windblown, her chest was heaving, and her face was flushed with a vibrant, beautiful redness that had nothing to do with exertion.

"You... called... Your Majesty?" she wheezed, trying desperately to look composed and failing miserably.

Sunny stared at her, baffled. "Why did you... fly here?"

Before he could even finish the sentence, Nyx lashed out, her voice high pitched and frantic. "Do you know how big this city is?! It took me ten whole seconds at full speed to get here!"

She breathed heavily, smoothing her dress, her eyes darting around the room nervously.

Sunny blinked, genuinely dumbfounded.

"But... why didn’t you use a portal? You could have been here instantly without running a marathon."

Nyx froze. Her mind, which had been entirely focused on the phrase ’Come to the palace’, crashed.

She realized she looked like a lunatic who had just sprinted across a country because her crush texted her ’hi’.

She needed a lie. A good one. Fast.

"I... I was trying to cut some weight," she blurted out.

Sunny looked at her perfect form. Gods didn’t gain weight. Their bodies were manifestations of their will.

But then again, he reasoned, maybe she wanted to feel fitter? Physical exertion was a novelty for them now.

"Oh," Sunny nodded slowly, accepting the logic. "That makes sense. Exercise is good for the mind. Should I create a gym in the Southern District?"

Nyx stared at him. Her lie had worked. It had worked too well. ’Is he... is he a potato?’ she wondered, a mix of affection and frustration bubbling in her chest.

Sunny, lacking his God’s Eye activation to discern lies, simply stood up and walked down the steps of the of the high throne, he wasn’t used to look down on his friends.

"So," Nyx said, trying to salvage the mood. She lowered her voice to her usual flirty tone, stepping closer to him. "Why did you call me here... in the darkness of the night?"

She gestured to the dark, star-filled ceiling of the palace.

Sunny looked up. "We are in space, Nyx. There is always darkness here. It’s just physics."

Nyx’s smile twitched.

"Anyway," Sunny said, oblivious to the murder of the mood. He held out his hand.

The Seed of Love, the adamantine necklace with the pulsing pink heart, dangled from his fingers. "I called you here to give you this. Your reward for the idea about love."

Nyx’s brain short circuited. She stopped breathing. She stared at the heart.

’A reward for the idea about love?’

Her mind filtered the sentence. It removed the logic and left only the desire. ’I am giving you this heart because of love.’