A Solitary God In A Dark Multiverse

"I"m... alright." I muttered to them, speaking slowly but still speaking. They looked at me, their body language suggesting they were concerned, aside from my first creation, the zombie deer which was mindless and hung behind me. It was still following my original directive which was for it to follow me.

I slowly got to my feet. As I did so I felt both my mini-map and my not-so-mini-map extending outward, unstoppably. It was an exciting, invigorating sensation. Not only were my powers growing, but my knowledge of the world around me was growing as well.

My radar-like power was extending around and below me. Perhaps the most exciting development of the day, an already incredibly significant day at that, was that I gained incredible awareness of the world beneath my feet.

Until a few moments ago my tremorsense only extended a few dozen meters underground. But as I was getting to my feet, I realized that the unlocking of some of my earth subdomain powers brought with it a significant expansion of my awareness of the world beneath me.

My mind was gaining an awareness of what was basically an entire world beneath my feet, and this world not only existed beneath the forest, it extended all the way to underneath Comillas, which was now also within my tremorsense range.

I began to study my expanding map and as I did so I received the longest and most exciting notification I have received to date. As it appeared I began to walk again, heading closer to both the ogresses I was to make my playthings and to the satyr corpse I wanted to reanimate.

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[Alert: The system has unlocked access to a pair of subdomains and to a domain that was innately influenceable by you but you were kept from influencing due to the tutorial. Each of these subdomains and the domain are all significant so this lengthy notification will try to summarize what you need to know as effectively as possible.

Details about the earth subdomain:

The earth subdomain is one of the four elemental subdomains, alongside fire, liquid, and air. It is a subdomain of the domain of nature, and it governs things like soil, rocks, stone, metal, and sand. All four of these elemental subdomains are incredibly powerful, even at their lowest tiers.

The first tier of influence over the subdomain grants G.o.ds the ability to masterfully manipulate the ground at their feet, particularly soil and stone. To gain further influence over this subdomain one must work to earn the worship of creatures who dwell underground, who are made of earth themselves, and work to build things out of earth as well as use earth creatively.

Sapient creatures who dwell underground include a.s.sorted types of reptilefolk, elementals, dark-elves, dwarves, and cavepeople. Communities of these ent.i.ties are all reasonable settings for the worship of an earthen G.o.d to spring up and such G.o.ds are usually able to gain a reverential or fearful congregation of followers without all that much effort.

Earth subdomain pa.s.sive powers:

Earth control: This is a dynamic power that makes you geokinetic. With but a thought you can control the earth under your feet and around you.

You can move the earth with but a thought, harden or soften it, change its weight, cause minor earthquakes or avalanches, create and remotely control statues, or even gift someone earthen armor. This power"s potency is reliant on you and your creativity, as it can be used defensively, offensively, creatively, or destructively.

Perhaps the most important aspect of this power is that it doesn"t have a range limit. Skillful and safe usage of this power is easily done using tremorsense. Oh, and your tremorsense is expanding and upgrading. It"ll do that again when you are freed from the confines of the tutorial.

Its new range is roughly 15,000 square kilometers, which is bigger than the dimensions of the island you are on. That said, it"ll take hours for it to reach that range, this is to give your mind time to adjust to its new power and range without backlash. Keep in mind that if you become an overG.o.d of the earth subdomain your tremorsense power would give you the ability to detect surface and subterranean life on entire planets in realtime.

Petrification mastery: Petrification refers to magical or natural processes that turn organic creatures, even corporeal undead, into stone and effectively deprive them of freedom. You can now do that with a strike, a kiss, or even a baleful gaze. But you can also do more than just petrify something.

You can command your stone creations, or the stone creations of other things like medusas, basilisks, or c.o.c.katrices, to attack, defend, or even do other things like self-destruct, which will kill the petrified individual. If you didn"t petrify the statues you"re commanding, you can even command them to attack their petrifier.

You can also now cure creatures of petrification, even ones that have been magically petrified, which would otherwise be beyond your healing powers.

Earth subdomain active power:

Stone and soil generation: You can generate stone and soil that you can manipulate. You can generate up to 50 kilograms of stone and soil before your power needs to be recharged for half an hour.

Create earth spirit: This power creates a weak earth-spirit that worships and serves you. This is a genuine, living earth spirit that is obedient to you and possesses lesser versions of your earth powers. This is an intelligent, truly living creature that does not dissipate. It can evolve and grow in power over time. You can utilize this power once a week.

Spirits are immensely helpful to G.o.ds, and the spirit domain is one of the greater domains. If you become an overG.o.d of the spirit domain, you can create spirits powerful enough to be comparable to your power right now. Among other things you can command spirits to serve your more powerful followers as loyal familiars, use them as cult leaders, or anything else you may need them for.

There are similar versions of this power for the other elemental subdomains and for a few domains and subdomains.

Earth subdomain blessing and curse details:

Bestowing an earth subdomain blessing upon someone will improve their ability to craft items of stone and metal, increase their strength while both of their feet on solid earth, and improve their stamina as well.

Inflicting a curse upon someone centered around an earth subdomain will lessen the quality of their earthen and metallic craftsmanship, and also make the ground beneath them both less stable and also fragmented, causing them to suffer from constant distractions while their feet are on the ground as they get poked and prodded by the earth at their feet.

Details about the corruption subdomain:

This domain is effectively one of the children of the domain of evil. It is a malicious, destructive subdomain that encourages non-deities to indulge in their base desires. It is the subdomain that controls sin and temptation. Each tier of it is immensely powerful and grants numerous powers to those who gain influence over it.

This subdomain has seven tiers of influence. Upon gaining each tier of influence a deity selects one of seven vices, a particularly powerful, gateway sin, and gains immense power over that particular sin. The exceptions to this rule are the deities who are born neutral or evil, who come into being possessing a vice already. In your case, you have innate power over the sin of l.u.s.t.

At each tier of influence over the subdomain, you gain new powers related to the newest sin you"ve added to your inventory of sins and corruption overall, and the powers granted to you over other sins also improve in potency and usability.

Creatures who succ.u.mb to corruption fall under your influence as thoroughly as those who eat your food. Their minds are opened to your might and as they view you as a provider of pleasures, s.e.xual or otherwise and revere you.

To gain increased influence over the corruption domain you have to corrupt creatures and eventually build corrupt cults.

Special note about gateway sins:

The following sins are known as the "vices", the potent gateway sins; l.u.s.t, gluttony, sloth, wrath, pride, envy, greed. These are among the most potent sins because they lead to other sins. No one would say that l.u.s.t is worse than murder, another sin, but l.u.s.t can lead someone to commit murder. That"s why the vices are known, in some circles as the gateway sins.

Special note about the sin of l.u.s.t:

l.u.s.t is often conceptualized as a sin that revolves around immense physical desire, specifically the desire to engage in s.e.x. This is definitely part of l.u.s.t, but l.u.s.t as a sin revolves around immense and uncontrolled desire altogether, not just a desire for s.e.x or s.e.xual acts.

If someone has an immense desire for a sword, they are experiencing as much l.u.s.t as someone who wishes to f.u.c.k another person with all of their heart.

Corruption subdomain pa.s.sive powers:

Heart of corruption: This pa.s.sive power allows you to detect a creature"s personal vice, the gateway sin that most resonates with someone"s soul. Usage of the powers related to the personal vice of a target makes a creature far easier to thoroughly corrupt.

Corruption infusion: This power allows you to infuse corrupt energy into food. If creatures eat corrupted food they are not physically harmed, but they become less resistant to temptations.

l.u.s.tful aura: This is an aura that affects anyone attracted to males independent of their species and makes them either less hostile or more friendly towards you. You can also use it to invade the minds of those in range and discover what they desire, not just sensually but also in general.

Any neutral creatures affected by this aura view are easier to persuade to become your friends and find any propositions made by you difficult to resist. Any hostile creatures who are affected by the aura are easier to calm down and persuade to cease fighting. Becoming a greater G.o.d and gaining greater influence over the subdomain increase the range of your aura and its potency.

Velvet voice: This power makes your voice, even your mental one, a luxurious and sensual weapon and a useful tool in your a.r.s.enal. Creatures who hear your voice, be it physically, mentally, or even in their dreams, feel it on their skin and it lingers in their minds. Weak-willed creatures, and unintelligent creatures, can become charmed or even dominated by the sound of your voice.

Addiction and fetish infliction and curing: You can cause someone to become addicted to something. Addictions are psychological compulsions that if ignored cause people to experience withdrawal. Some examples of this include: you can make someone addicted to a certain behavior, to a certain sensation, food, drug, and other things. You can also cure someone of an addiction.

You can cause someone to have a particular fetish. Fetishes are a form of s.e.xual desire in which gratification is linked to a certain fashion, behavior, part of the body, etc. As an example, you can cause someone to have a fetish for a specific species, a specific hair color, or a s.e.xual dynamic. You can also cure someone of such a thing.

You gain knowledge of someone"s fetishes and addictions at a glance.

Incubi and succubi caress: You gain the seductive powers of succubi and incubi.

When you are kissed or embraced or you kiss or embrace someone they experience blissful, bodily and mental pleasure and are left drained of strength and will for it, their strength and will entering and empowering you instead. The drain is temporary and lasts for a day. That said, the power can affect someone more than once a day.

The sensation is addictive, and those who experience it once tend to want to experience it again, over and over. This power can corrupt someone over time and it can also kill over time if you will it.

Corruption subdomain active powers:

Gratifying gaze: This subdomain makes your body a powerful tool and this active power embodies that. Usage of this once an hour power makes your gaze a trap and dominates those whose eyes meet yours. Dominated creatures serve you willingly and obey your commands, experiencing s.e.xual fulfillment while doing so.

Whispers of corruption: This once an hour power uses your velvet voice to corruptively whisper in the ears of a target. It whispers sinful and corrupt things into their minds and lessens their ability to resist corruption for three hours.

Inhibition remover: This once a day power temporarily destroys someone"s sense of inhibition. For an hour they are unlikely to say "no" to offers to experience new sensations and are more suggestible then they"d otherwise be.

l.u.s.t: This once an hour power allows you to immediately learn something that someone desires.

Corruption subdomain blessing and curse details:

Blessing someone with a corruption-centered blessing is unique in that the precise effects can be picked by you. Since you control l.u.s.t and addiction, you can improve someone"s ability to inflict l.u.s.t on others, effectively increasing their charisma.

Your blessing can also cause someone to become immune to the symptoms of s.e.xually spread diseases. Just the symptoms. Or you can use your blessing to give someone the ability to learn another person"s fetishes, addictions, and desires at a glance. In time you"ll gain a wider range of blessing options related to corruption, vices, and sins.

Cursing someone using corruption increases the likelihood they"ll gain a s.e.xually spread disease, increases their vulnerability to l.u.s.t-based abilities, makes their addictions worse and harder to cope with. It also renders them more vulnerable to your l.u.s.t based abilities. This"ll also increase in diversity as you gain more influence over the corruption subdomain.

Details about the mind domain:

This domain governs intelligence, wisdom, thoughts, memories, secrets, and psychic abilities. It is an extremely potent domain, a greater domain even among the greater domains. This domain, mixed with the knowledge domain, provides you with a synergistic bonus that boosts your ability to process information. Basically it makes your mind faster.

Each tier of influence over this domain grants you a psychic power that you can bestow upon other creatures, aside from the first domain which grants you three psychic powers. To gain influence over this domain you must powerful powerful acts using your mind, and you must increase not only your own intelligence but also the intelligence of other creatures.

Mind domain pa.s.sive powers:

Mind-link: You gain the ability to tie minds together. These minds can communicate with each other over infinite distances and can ignore language barriers that would otherwise limit their ability to communicate. This includes your mind as well, which you can easily link to other creatures.

You can do this across vast distances, and don"t even need to have seen the creatures whose minds you are linking to do so successfully. Usage of this power doesn"t alert those whose minds are linked to the fact that their minds are now linked, though clearly you can tell them or you can be sneaky and only tell one of them.

Telekinesis: Telekinesis is the ability to manipulate objects and creatures with your mind. You can move objects and creatures without touching them by mentally willing them to move.

You have no limitations on your version of this power, and can bestow a lesser version of it upon mortals at will and you can also take it back as freely as you give it away.

The version of this power that mortals acquire allows them to only move one object or creature at a time, and it can only weigh half as much as they could lift with their limbs. As you gain more influence over the mind domain you"ll gain the ability to modify and eventually even remove these limitations altogether.

It"s worth noting that currently, no telekinetic mortals exist anywhere in this universe. When you grant someone this power, they"ll become the first mortal in this universe, to be able to do this since the end of the age of G.o.ds, the era in the ancient past wherein G.o.ds existed.

Mind-reading: You gain the ability to read minds. This is only surface level at the moment and you can"t dig up old thoughts for that is a power granted to you at a higher tier of influence over this domain but you can read someone"s loudest thoughts at will.

Mind domain active power:

Inflict unconsciousness: This once a day power allows you to inflict unconsciousness on a target. If you will it someone can dream during this period, but unless you make them dream they won"t. This power causes them to be unconscious for an hour at most in its current state, though you can use dream domain abilities on them that could extend the length of their unconsciousness.

Mind domain blessing and curse details:

Bestowing a blessing upon someone while focused on the mind domain enhances any psychic powers they may have, increases their intelligence and wisdom and improves their memory.

Cursing someone with a mind-domain centered curse weakens their mind, temporarily lessening their intelligence, stripping them of any psychic abilities they may have, and weakening their memory.

Additional note: Your senses are getting an upgrade. Deities possess senses that are incomparable to those of mortals. Your sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell are being upgraded to reflect that. It won"t be immediate, but when it"s finished you"ll know. You"ll get another one when you are freed from the tutorial.]

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It took me several minutes to read through that immense wall of text. It took me long enough that by the time I finished reading it, I was actually back in the proper, tree-lined forest and not the nice clearing I had been in. The moment the notification vanished from view my tremorsense was still expanding, both downward and in a full circle around me.

I closed my eyes and allowed my mind to be overtaken by my now even more expansive not-so-mini-map. For the first time ever as I was able to see the map as my eyes closed. It was pleasantly exciting to not have to wait for the map to appear.

My overall knowledge of the world itself, something I didn"t possess much of if I was being honest, expanded as I studied the animated map. Before my eyes it was continuing to expand in almost all directions, revealing new things to me.

A simple study of the map gave me plenty of new information because the map was changed. Before now the thing had been a static image of my surroundings, a two-dimensional s.p.a.ce lined with dots of various shapes and colors but no words, and definitely not the strange thing I now stared at.

Now the thing was three dimensional, allowing me to see things like mountains and hills beyond the forest, as well as trees. Where this really mattered, however, was with regards to the upgrades to the map. One of them was that my map no longer had dots in lieu of people, animals and creatures.

The most immediate upgrade to my map was that now I could see things in it. And it wasn"t just natural features that I could see. I could see the outlines and silhouettes of actual creatures and buildings. They were faint, but they were mobile and more than that they had words beneath them as well.

Right beneath someone"s outline, I could see three lines. One of them was formatted in the following way: "Name:" and then revealed that creature"s name. Beneath that line was a line that said "Species:" and then revealed the creature"s species. The final line was the most complicated. It read "Status:" and revealed someone"s overall health and any major conditions affecting them.

All in all, in the range I could detect, which continued to expand, there were over one million living ent.i.ties. A number I could barely wrap my mind around, especially since even though a plurality of them were insects, there were still over 400,000 humanoids and other living creatures. The number of corpses was far bigger, and it delighted the part of me that enjoyed using necromancy.

But remarkably, that mind-blowing revelation was far from the only thing I got to learn. My new not-so-mini-map showed me the topography of what lay underneath me.

For the first time in my life, I could clearly see the world underneath my feet. I could see the composition of the soil and stone under my feet. And I could see more than just that.

I could see the strange, underground secrets my ignorance had blinded me too. I could see tunnels and caves, and I learned that Comillas wasn"t the only place with artificial buildings. My mental map revealed the existence of a number of strange and alien settlements deep underground.

These settlements were heavily populated by the sorts of creatures that the earth subdomain"s notification had mentioned: dark elves, dwarves, and reptilefolk. The outlines of the dark elves were lithe, the dwarven outlines were short and stocky, and the reptilefolk outlines varied in their shapes and sizes. And it was at this moment that I realized I was using another upgraded function of the not-so-mini-map.

I no longer had to consciously study the ma.s.sive map to understand it. My ability to process information was far faster than before, and I had an overall understanding of the map with but a quick study of it.

Of course, I wasn"t so skilled as to be able to divine specific information without conscious study, but even my ability to generally understand the ma.s.sively upgraded display was incredibly helpful since my map was so different and bigger than it had been a few minutes ago.

It was at this moment that I opened my eyes. The ogresses were now close enough that I could visually detect them. I laid my eyes on them and readied myself. They were almost a kilometer away, walking towards me.

I smiled and began the difficulty process of deciding how I"d most enjoy playing with them. After all, I now had many more tools to use on them than I had a few minutes ago, and the curious part of me was dying to experiment with the divine powers I now possessed.