Uncle C gets into it, "Okay, so first up, you have the Tattoo Chamber from the Cabalist Viginte. It will let you store - at this point - four items in an extradimensional space, and use them without getting them out in the case of wands, staves, and other spell trigger items.”

  I nod, “That's better than the Warp Storage I'm using.”

  “Indeed,” Death agrees, “and you can use ‘sprites’ from the tech sphere to keep them charged. I recommend the Staff of Passage, The Hierophant, Power, and The Woodnds.”

  I consider, “Passage for travel, Hierophant for cssic priest spells, Power for cssic Wizard spells, Woodnds for cssic Druid spells… makes sense, and I still have the other set I ordered for if I want to spend time pretending at a specific role.” Not really a problem, despite the expense: Business is good.

  I fg a minion to handle the order as my uncle keeps going, “Next up dips your toes into time travel: He nabbed the Time domain for you, with the Past subdomain. It will let you retry most failed checks, and shift time back slightly up to three times a week… all keyed off of your Charisma, because he nabbed it via the Lineage Domain ability of the godling css.”

  Hmm. “That should be handy,” Mom used it for me once… it's going to be nice to be able to use it myself.

  “One word of warning…” the Comforter continues, “...I and all of my siblings will know every time you use it. We won't necessarily know it was you; most will bme your mother automatically because until now he was the only one who could do that. But all of us will know it happened and remember the original series of events that crossed our domains, the same as if you used the Chrono Location spell to go back in time.”

  It's not often he names a spell, “You're hinting at something, aren't you?”

  “You're not wrong, but don't worry about it yet.” I suspect my uncle is smiling, “Next up is the Pride domain, obtained the same way. It's particurly relevant because when you finally do run out of Divine Providence, it makes it much less likely that you'll fail to resist something.”

  “That would have helped with the gnome…” I shake my head; I suppose it's nice to be able to win the st war, but it's the next one I'm really concerned about.

  “He mostly had the advantage, what with it being his home territory,” Uncle C gives me a non-response, “And the st big ticket item: The Counterspell feat from Spheres.”

  I crinkle my forehead, “But I can already counterspell with Dispel Magic.”

  Death chuckles dryly, “Yes, but having this as an actual feat let's you use Enable Function to pick up Counterspell Mastery to deny magic to anyone nearby when they're casting, Imperious Counterspell to take over summoned creatures, Spellthief to take a buff for yourself, Translocating Counterspell to change the pcement, Harmonic Counter to affect technology, and so on. It should be much easier to beat saves if you don't need to make them in the first pce.”

  “I'll need to grab those, then,” I nod.

  “Of course you have the usual things as well,” My uncle chuckles, “skill points, hit points, and such.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Happy to help,” the deity replies, “Oh, and please visit Archibald Anderson in Northgate within the next few days, and let him know that his attempt at immortality will go poorly: The book he found is just some idiot cashing in, the sacrifice he's pnning won't make him a lich.”

  That gives me pause, “How is it you know that what Mr. Anderson is pnning, but didn't for Chard Wuodrazed?”

  “Specific activities,” my uncle pauses a moment, and I get the impression of a shrug, “Archibald has done some things that crossed into my realm while in pursuit of his goal, and will do so again soon; Mr. Woudrazed avoided such… he was basically done, but that final step was past my awareness window.”

  “‘Awareness window’?”

  “Yes… I can see future possibilities within certain limits. The gnome was pnning on putting off his death as long as he could possibly manage so he could have as many descendants as possible. How I and my siblings act based on what we see changes what will be, and we can't predict each other, so the future is less than precise; for practical purposes I can't ‘know’ anything more than a few weeks out, and even that isn't certain.” Death pauses a moment, “Unless Dad tells me something. He seems to account for EVERYTHING, including my actions based on what He tells me.”

  Wait… if He can know exactly how everything will py out… “Does that mean free will is an illusion?”

  I get a chuckle in my head, “That's something philosophers have struggled with for a very long time. You have to start by defining ‘free will,’ and that's a lot harder than it sounds, as you need a very precise definition suitable for answering edge cases. Dad says free will is real… of course, He also doesn't give that kind of response to what He means by ‘free will’, so you may not get the same answer even if you have all of His data… which I don't, and you definitely don't.”

  I scrunch my face, “That is a singurly unhelpful answer.”

  “Agreed,” my uncle actually ughs this time, “it's also the best one I have. I mentioned philosophers have struggled with the question for a very long time: They don't have a widely agreed upon answer.”

  I pause for a bit, “Right. I'll go visit Archibald Anderson after I finish repcing my buffs. Thank you again.”

  “Be seeing you…” my uncle's presence fades from my awareness.

  I shake my head, and duplicate Pne Shift, nding in my library. Uncle C named the feats, which makes it easy. I look them up… Spheres, huh? Okay… huh. With the ones he named, I can be the master of any magic occurring in a little over two hundred feet… anyone casts a spell, I take control of it, pick a new target, and even maintain ongoing control… applies to technology, too… what is that….

  I spend some time reading up, finding the “Starfinder” references… huh, some nice spells there, and every single one is in range of Dream Manifestation, nice… Adamantine Shot is generally better than even Disintegrate vs. single targets… I'll need to remember Battlemind Link when I mount Last Shadow… Bend Reality, I definitely want that as it allows me to use Divine Providence on behalf of others when I want…. I go on like that for a while, shoring up my buffs, getting some Cybernetics from Instant Upgrade, better damage reduction from Greater Resistant Armor, the ability to see some extra things (radiation and tech, from the associated Detect spells, not that I expect to encounter either), better attack and armor css (Mental Muscle, mostly), a sword that does extra damage and will cheerfully become a glove on command (the Junk sword spell), and a few other things - all with Invisible Spell, of course. I also update my general buffs.

  I also check out the Spheres in more detail; huh, I could make Last Shadow into a decent spellcaster if she at least has Basic Magic Training natively by way of making her treated as Fey via Share Link from Fallen Fey, followed by Enable Function with Attuned Mysticism to get her Advanced Magic Training and Extra Talent. Hmmm… and the Psychic Reformation power is in my range… huh. I could do that with basically anyone, and it's their hit dice that are going to be the big limit for how well they do. Interesting… for that matter, with literally anyone, I could give them a lot of magical at-will effects using my caster level and stats via Share Link and the Fallen Fey sphere… nice. I further grant myself a Personal Starship (Pilot Sphere), all the supporting talents from the sphere, a pair of full-strength Companion Vessels, and all the talents to go with those: I am really curious how those will turn out.

  When I'm done buffing myself, I Pne Shift back to the prime material pne, Greater Teleport to Last Shadow, update her buffs… and yes, make her a skilled spellcaster (at a caster level of sixteen for all Spheres she can have, thanks to the Additional Traits feat, Exempr Traits, and the Gift For Magic trait applied repeatedly; she's a stronger caster than I am when I'm done, although I have better flexibility, endurance, and that nifty permanent aspect to it all).

  Death speaks up as I am getting ready to head to Northgate: “That was a little on the pricey side, but that's okay. Your mother set you up with a Tug for your starship - thankfully a Small frame, as far as starships go - and a sports car and biped powered armor for your technological companions. The ship is in orbit, pending your use of Hyperwave Signal to nd it remotely; your newest companions are on board.”

  I smile as I focus on the ship… yeah, I can kind of see it, “Thanks. I'll bring it down now….”