(MC POV)
After being satisfied by the fluffy heaven, I gathered my disciples in my courtyard's pavilion to ask them a serious question.
Iris was standing behind me while Cai Hong was seated on my lap, my cute little dragon taking her afternoon nap in my arms.
"As you all know… I'm basically an omnipotent being now. All of you became my disciples to train and learn under me for one reason or another and we've been together for some time now. I think we've been together long enough and experienced enough for me to suggest this. Right now, I'm offering all of you the chance to become gods if you so wish for it."
All of my disciples stared at me wide-eyed for a few seconds.
"G… Gods, Master?" Brendan broke the silence.
I nodded, "I was the one who created gods after all, it won't be too hard for me to make you all into gods as well.. In fact, I can make you into beings higher than gods too."
I was also subtly stealing glances at Iris who remained standing beside me. Seeing that she made no comment about my declaration, there shouldn't be any problems in me doing so.
Either that… Or she really thinks it's fine for me to do anything I want even if I end up destroying the universe… Yeah, I think this is more likely her train of thought.
My disciples were looking at each other, still coming to terms with the fact that I had offered divinity to all of them so easily.
The first one to speak up was Lian Li, my golden haired disciple raising her hand in the air.
"Master… Is it possible for someone to attain Godhood without you granting it to them?"
Ok, this one I had to consult my omniscience for the answer…
I nodded my head, "Yes. As a Practitioner, you are already cultivating the ways of the immortal. Though most aren't able to get that far, you can actually cultivate to attain divinity if you work for it. That is to say, there are, of course, other ways of attaining godhood without needing me to grant it. But I have to say that it's definitely not easy and the number of instances someone can achieve this is less than one percent of those who tried."
My answer seemed to spark off something in my disciples as they all turned to look at me with resolute expressions.
Lian Li clenched her fists in front of her chest, "In that case, Master… Please grant us permission to reject the offer."
Hmmm? Grant them permission? Honestly I wasn't really surprised that they turned down my offer of godhood, I did teach them the differences between obtaining a power by yourself and gaining a power someone else gave to you.
What's surprising is the fact that she 'asked for permission' to do so.
I tilted my head at her, "Unn? Why are you asking permission to reject my offer, Lian Li?"
"Eh? Umm… I mean… Master is the All Creator… The Master of the entire Universe. For Master to offer something to anyone is already the greatest honor anyone in existence can receive. I'm sure that even Gods would bend over backwards to gain Master's favour, much less mortals. For people like us to think about rejecting Master's offer would be the epitome of rudeness… Is it not?"
Iris actually nodded her head, "Ufufufu~ At least you understand. If you didn't, I would have Ended all of you right here and now."
No, no. Don't End someone just because of that.
Quick question… Why are my disciples adapting to this so much easier than I am? I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around my role in this universe you know? And yet my disciples already figured out all of these things as though it was the most natural thing in the universe?
Who the hell decided that it would be the 'epitome of rudeness' to just simply reject something from me? At this rate, is someone going to start worshipping my used underwear and even enshrining it?
You know what, don't answer that, because I'm pretty sure that answer will be yes seeing the state of my fanclub.
That reminds me… There were cases of my underwear going missing from time to time… Don't tell me my disciples… Ok, I'll punish them later tonight and make them spill out where they have been hiding it.
If they wanted it, they just needed to ask, you know? It's just underwear, no need to steal them. I understand that they're at the impressionable age where their hormones are running wild so I don't blame them anyway.
Not that I was thinking of taking any of theirs, mind you. I've not reached that level of perversion and I'd rather the person than the object, thank you very much.
I sighed, "Well… I grant all of you permission to freely reject any of my offers from now on. There's no need to be conscientious about it, you are my disciples and you're all free to express your own opinions. Speaking of which, I already kind of know the reason but I still want to hear why all of you rejected the promise of godhood?"
Eris made a guts pose, "Dat's because we wanna get it with our own hands, Master!"
Kiyomi nodded beside her, "Master has already given us the opportunity to learn under you, if we still couldn't obtain divinity with Master's guidance then we truly do not deserve it."
I think this and that are two different things though? I never really was teaching any of you to become gods in the first place so you can't really say that's accurate too...
Manami came up and held my hand in hers, "Ufufufu~ What's more, we owe our everything to Master. I believe if we were to obtain it with our own hands, Master would be more proud of us, yes?"
I couldn't help but agree with her.
"Then that settles it!" Diao Chan grinned, looking more hyped than before. "We'll show Master that we can do it!"
Even Elaria was pumped, "Yes! I'll definitely crack the human genome, break through the walls of mortality and find a way to ascend as well! Just you wait, Onii-sama!"
That actually sounds dangerous but… You know what, knock yourself out, Elaria.
There's just one problem though...
I raised up my hand to stop them, "Why are all of you speaking as though I'm going to stop teaching you?"
My words caught them by surprise.
Tsuki looked at me with wide eyes, "E… Eh? Is Aniue… Still going to be our teacher?"
I was genuinely confused, "Why wouldn't I be?"
My disciples looked at each other again before turning back to me, looking really embarrassed.
"Umm… Umm… We kind of thought… Master might be going back to… Well… The centre of the Universe or something… You know? Where Master belongs?" Brendan admitted while poking his fingers together.
"We thought that Master's offer of Divinity might be so that we could follow you there as well…" Lian Li added, blushing up to her ears.
The rest of my girls nodded their heads in unison.
I looked at them for a moment before bursting out in laughter, "Ahahaha! Oh my cute little disciples! My home is where I want to be! And right now, it's where all of you are! If all of you had chosen godhood, I would have simply granted it to all of you and that was it. If you had rejected it, then I would continue to teach you all and guide you on the path to reach that stage yourself. I was never planning to leave."
Manami gasped, "Master… Will stay with us?"
I nodded.
"Even… Even though we're not gods?" Kiyomi asked.
"Especially because you're not gods yet, I will be here to guide you to that stage," I assured them.
Without warning, all of them rushed up to me and pulled me into a big group hug.
Cai Hong had also woken up to hug me as well, giggling "Papa, Papa~" as she did so.
Well… This feels nice…
Yep, this is definitely where I want to be. I'm not giving this feeling up for anything in the universe.
I'll even forgive them for stealing my underwear.