A Solitary God In A Dark Multiverse

Regenerating the limb was something I did mostly on a whim. I knew that it"d benefit me in the long run, but I hadn"t thought it was going to be a big deal. I was wrong. Even now the goblin encampment was quiet, dozens of the creatures staring at me reverentially, and at Xiax as if he were a hero, a chosen champion of some G.o.d who had just saved them.

Xiax was just as surprised as his fellow goblins were. His mouth was still open in shock, even as he practiced balling his fists. It took him nearly a minute before he attempted to regain his composure, closing his mouth and adding stoicism to his facial expression, and as he did so he slowly began to move his arm up and down.

"Is it uncomfortable? Stiff anywhere?" I asked, concern filling my voice, as the goblin continued to grow accustomed to having the limb back. He made eye contact with me, and for a second his face morphed.

The goblin was a mature example of his kind. In his first interaction with he had behaved carefully, thoughtfully, and respectfully. But when he made eye contact with me there was a change in his eyes.

For an instant, there was something new in his expression. His bright green eyes were filled with awe and with adoration so much so that before he regained self-control once more he looked fanatical.

And as if the system were reading my mind, I heard a soft noise in the back of my mind. I had just received a historic notification and reading it would have made my heart pound a mile a minute if I had had a heart.

[Alert: The previous demonstrations of your power that you showed the goblins, combined with the fact that you not only healed Xiax, saving his life as his infected wound would have killed him but also regrew his arm, have caused him to fall under your influence. Substantially so.

This is due in part to the system informing him that he would have died without your intervention, but the fact of the matter is that even without that reality check the goblin would have worshiped you anyway.

Xiax"s conception of you as a divine figure is that you are a parental figure. He views you, "Cosecha", as a family-ent.i.ty who cares for living things and provides for them, while also protecting and healing them.

Your power has warped his mind, but not broken it in the same way that Okig"s mind was broken. He has been left altered, due to the suddenness of all of this, but in such a way that his fanaticism and love for you are heightened. The faith domain is pleased, and so is the healing subdomain.

The fact that you did this without using a faith domain power has empowered the goblin"s worship. Xiax has been left changed by the events of the past few minutes, and the potency of his reverence and awe of you has caused the system to award him by making him the first cleric in the world since the mythic age, the era in which G.o.ds and their kin still lived.

Influence over Xiax: 85%]

As I was reading the notification I felt the intense power of the goblin"s awe, love, and reverence pour into me. The sentiments the goblin felt, unknown to him, surged through every centimeter of my skin, even though I was currently in my guise as an omnielemental spirit. It felt wonderful to receive such potent feelings.

"Today is the day I break through the tutorial." I realized, believing what I had just told myself with every fiber of my potentially unlimited being. And then I spent nearly a minute lost in thought about the power I"d come to possess before the day was done. My mind spun with fantasies about my already world-shaking and life-altering powers being unfettered by the system.

"My arm feels better than it did before it was lost." The goblin told me, his voice bringing me back to the present. Xiax smiled at me after he told me that, and I could tell by the grin on his face that he was being sincere.

"Oh, that"s excellent!" I told the goblin, excitedly. I had no way of knowing if the goblin"s limb would be fully functional until he himself told me. I breathed a sigh of relief and felt genuinely happy that my healing powers were so potent.

And then I closed my eyes and opted to make things easier for myself by activating my handy religious fervor power. When I reopened my eyes an instant later there was a blue tint to everything around me, one which would help me wrap up the tutorial in an efficient manner.

It was at this moment that the goblins who had been watching Xiax and I finally reacted. They reacted in one instant, and their reaction transformed the encampment. Silence filled the encampment for one second, and then a second later, a delighted, almost delirious roar of joy and jubilation filled the encampment.

The delighted, tear-filled cries of over a dozen goblins were quite noisy. The sound filled my ears and brought a wide, arrogant smile to my face. The sound was so loud that it went into the hole and evidently carried far enough for the orc chief of the goblins to hear it. The orc and his pet began to move a bit faster in this direction, possibly driven by curiosity to inspect the noise.

I chuckled and wondered what he was like. And then I refocused on my surroundings. It was time to bring the tutorial to an end. And I had an idea of how I could do that. I just needed to ask the system a quick question. But before I did that, I closed my eyes and allowed the not-so-mini-map to dominate my vision.

I quickly scanned it and confirmed something that I had noticed before: this encampment, and the hole it is centered around, house and protect a number of goblin infants. This, in combination with one of my chaos powers, had the potential to allow me to easily acquire more worshipers.

"Goblins, it is time for one final miracle. Bring out your children. I shall show you something that only a spirit could do." I shouted, my voice audible over the din of their cheers, causing them to excitedly turn around and set about doing what I asked them to do.

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"So, system, I"ve come to a decision." I announced, my mental voice reaching inward and searching for the system. I was met with silence for a few moments before I faintly heard a soft chuckle and then saw and heard the system"s reply.

[Yes, Althos? What decision is that?] It asked me. I could tell by the tone of its voice that it was amused, and almost certainly knew what I was going to ask. That didn"t surprise me, nor did it deter me.

"The tutorial ends today. I am going to acquire nine more worshipers, nine more goblin worshipers, and free myself from the tutorial. I just need you to tell me something." I explained, proudly and arrogantly declaring that I was going to acquire nine more worshipers. The system"s reply was instantaneous.

[What is it that you need me to tell you? Or is it that you need us to tell you something?] The strange ent.i.ty that appeared to reside both within my mind and elsewhere at once asked me. I chuckled in the safety of my mind.

"I want to try and use my power over entropy to generate one more miracle. There are baby goblins here. I want to age them into young adults, thereby allowing them to contribute to the community. But I need to know a few things before I do that. This isn"t the same as regrowing a limb, this is age-manipulation." I explained, before justifying why I was even asking for an explanation.

"Can you tell me what happens to the minds of something as young as an infant when I manipulate its age? That"s probably my biggest question if I"m being honest." I asked, wondering what would happen to the goblins I used my powers to age. I was hoping to age them until they were adolescents at least.

[That"s a good question and it deserves an honest response. You using your powers to rapidly age infants has no negative effects on their minds. In order for this to make... any sense, I need to explain something to you.] The system began, shortly before launching into an immediate explanation.

[You are aware of synergistic powers, but you aren"t aware of synergistic boons... or regular boons for that matter. Domains and subdomains grant you boons. Boons are beneficial, ambient abilities you have access to by virtue of being a G.o.d.] My first companion, and also the ent.i.ty responsible for sticking me in the tutorial, told me.

[Each domain and subdomain you can influence grants you an original boon, and then synergistic ones. One of the synergistic ones is that unless you will it, your chaotic powers will not negatively affect the minds of creatures neutral or friendly towards you. This includes goblin babies. Because of this, their minds will instead grow and mature as their bodies do.] The eerie ent.i.ty declared, which was one of the best announcements I could have gotten.

[They will still need to learn how to do the actual tasks they"re being tasked with doing, but they"ll know how to speak and they"ll view you as their benefactor and G.o.d. Like the undead, they"ll worship you.] The system revealed.

Internally, I began to laugh. This was above and beyond what I could have dared to hope for. And while I chuckled, the goblins brought me three of their infants, two boys and one girl. I smiled at the goblins and thanked them for their help.

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The goblin infants were on the ground, having been placed at my feet quite gingerly by their parents. I smiled at the little creatures, before mentally targetting them by focusing on them to the extent that everything else lost focus.

"And now... I become a true G.o.d," I whispered, my voice audible to no one but the toddlers close to me. "Freed from a tutorial that has been limiting my power." I muttered as a grin pulled the edges of my lips upward.

I closed my eyes and allowed for darkness to cover my vision. When the not-so-mini-map attempted to appear, I willed it away for the moment. And then I asked for help.

"This power is unlike my other powers. This isn"t some concrete force or some internal thing that I"m manipulating. It"s... a natural phenomenon. Can you help me navigate it for the first time?" I asked the system, who merely chuckled in my mind before beginning to reply to me.

[We"re with you. Now select one of the goblins. Whichever you wish to age first.] The system explained, referring to both itself and the domains since it was using "we" again.

I focused on one of the males, a tiny green-skinned infant with coal-colored eyes. I could now still see, even with my eyes closed, which was interesting, but I knew there was a lot going on here. And when I did, a new notification appeared before me.

[Interactions: Would you like to use a power to interact with or modify this creature? If so, which power are you going to use?]

I was taken aback for a second. I had never seen a systems message like this one. I stopped to reread the message, before replying. Once I had reread it I was sure of my course of action.

"I would like to use entropic manipulation to accelerate the aging of this creature." I informed the system, speaking politely to this odd and quite possibly automated message.

[Acknowledged. How old would you like to make the creature? Goblins reach adulthood, according to themselves, at around fourteen years of age, and live until their early twenties on average, but can live to be in their upper sixties provided they are healthy.] The system informed me. I added that bit of trivia to the collective knowledge I"d collected over the course of my brief life.

"I would like to make him 15." I informed the system, curious to see the sort of impact that would cause on the minuscule toddler in front of me.

[Acknowledged. Beginning the process now.] The system announced. The air around the goblin infant began to shimmer, and the goblin himself began to glow. And then he grew. And grew. Oh, and he grew a bit more too.

The transformation process took a few seconds, as the entropic power took ahold instantly and immediately began to transform the targeted creature. The goblin aged from an infant into adulthood over the course of what was at most seven seconds, and he went from stretching a few centimeters at most, to standing about a meter and a quarter tall.

He went from having the features of a newborn, to having the slight and soft stubble of a young man who didn"t know how to shave. His muscles grew, his head grew, and his limbs grew as well. And so did his intelligence. Which I found out when the goblin finished growing and immediately hugged me.

"Father!" He declared, his voice far deeper than I had antic.i.p.ated it being. I chuckled and patted the back of the creature with my watery tendril. As I did so, I spoke to the creature.

"I am not your father. But I am your... lord? I suppose lord, G.o.d, or spirit, would do." I said as I laughed, correcting the little creature. As I did this, I targeted the remaining pair of goblins and activated my power with but a smile.

I repeated the process I had just done for the goblin whose muscular arms were doing their best to wrap around me. Before my eyes and the eyes of the other goblins, as well as the ogresses and the undead, a trio of goblin infants were instantaneously transformed into adult goblins.

As the trio of goblins underwent this speedy transformation I felt a number of sensations as members of the goblin tribe fell to their knees and then prostrated themselves before me. My other followers, the undead and the living alike, stepped out of the shadows and walked until they were behind me.

"They must have been overwhelmed by what they saw. To them, this must look amazing." I muttered as I looked out at the dozens of goblins that had fallen to their knees and were silently in awe of my powers, and myself.

"A whole community..." I muttered, smiling as I felt the number of worshipers I possessed climbing higher, second after second.

And when the 10th goblin became a worshiper of mine, Troik himself, I heard a sudden and unexpected peal of laughter resound within my head. The laughter was coming from the system. It was immediately followed up by an announcement.

[Congratulations, Althos. The incredible, life-changing powers you possess have won over the goblins of this tribe. And as you have helped them, they have helped you. As you have fed them, they have fed you. You are now... free from the confines of the tutorial.] The system announced, its voice powerfully audible in my mind.

"Goblins... thank you." I told them, smiling. None of them dared to peek up at me, but if they had they would have seen me beginning to shake, as the power that had always been mine but had also always been locked away began to be freed.

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[Your actions throughout the forest, from reanimating a.s.sorted corpses, to taking some of those same bodies to the goblin tribe and allowing the goblins to feast on them, have been amazing. And some of them have been historic.] The system told me.

[You healed someone whose limb had been torn off, preventing them from dying. And more than that, you regrew the arm, an act beyond even the capabilities of mythic healing magic. You followed up on that by immediately causing a trio of goblins to age from infants into adults over the course of a few seconds.] My oldest companion said, sounding truly awed by the trajectory of my life so far.

[You saved a life, marking you as a G.o.d of healing. You chaotically transformed a trio of goblins, enabling them to begin to become productive members of goblin society, marking you as a G.o.d of chaos. We can tell that your story is just beginning Althos. And now, there are no chains weakening your ability to use your powers. You"ve earned this freedom. Congratulations.] The ent.i.ty declared, sounding thoroughly impressed by the events of the last three days.

My smile grew wider, as I began to hear more voices speak directly into my mind. Some of them were laughing. Others sounded excited. And a few complained that I had kept them waiting. The first one to ident.i.ty itself did so eagerly.

"Oh Althos, I never doubted you for a second! I can"t believe you got here this early. I thought it"d take you a week at least." It began. And then it sighed.

"Anyways, I bet you"re wondering who I am. I"m... the domain of knowledge. It"s so nice to meet you! I"m so excited that you"re here. There"s so much we"re gonna learn, together! The multiverse has changed so much since the G.o.ds and their kin perished. But now... we can explore it. Together." The domain declared, its voice mixing excitement and politeness masterfully.

In the background of all of this, loomed a large notification. One I received in the aftermath of the system"s declaration which recapped my actions here. I smiled and began to read it.

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[Alert: The system has upheld its end of the bargain, freeing you from the restraints that the tutorial forced upon you. As you are no longer trapped in the tutorial, your powers are exponentially stronger than they were before.

The main reward for completing the tutorial is that you go from a newborn G.o.d to a lesser G.o.d. In the mythic age, there was an attempt to quantify the relative power of G.o.ds on a hierarchical scale. Newborn G.o.ds were at the bottom of the scale. A lesser G.o.d was the second weakest sort of G.o.d, but they were still unimaginably more powerful than a newborn G.o.d.

Right now your body is adjusting, but in a matter of moments, you"ll possess all of the powers possessed by lesser deities.

Lesser deity powers:

Immunity to poisons, diseases, and acids.

Immunity to shape-changing magic cast by someone else, and immunity to attempts to hamper or restrict movement.

The ability to teleport freely provided the desired destination is in whatever universe and dimension the teleportation initiated in. To put it simply, you could teleport to any other mortal world in this universe, onto stars or the moon, or into s.p.a.ce, but you couldn"t teleport into Infernius, the home of devil kind, as it is located in another dimension even though this universe"s Infernius is situated in this universe.

Lesser deities possess greater minds. These greater minds allow them to create a single avatar, a copy of themselves that can do what they can do and serves them utterly. Their greater minds also grant them an advanced awareness of whenever someone does something involving their domains. This power is known as "Domain-sense".

Lesser deities know whenever someone in the universe they are in, does something involving their domains or subdomains. If the subdomain of healing is used as the example, that means that whenever someone casts a healing spell, creates medicine, or attempts to use natural healing to recover from wounds, you"d know. This knowledge is stored away in your subconscious and can be accessed with but a thought.

All of the "once-an-hour" or the "once-day" or "once-week" parts of your powers have been significantly weakened. Powers that were originally marked as "once-day" powers now have a limitation of twice every twelve hours, the "once-an-hour" powers are now powers you can use twice every half an hour, and so on.

You can now bless or curse a creature"s stats directly, allowing you to modify a creature"s strength without using a greater blessing or curse that would alter other things. This can allow you to effectively awaken animals, as you can use it to increase their intelligence to humanoid levels, but it doesn"t give them the ability to talk.

Your strength is now maxed out, granting you the power to punch through mountains, moons, or even stars, if you felt like doing that. As you continue to increase your overall divine strength your other stats will naturally rise and eventually hit the maximum rank as well. Strength was the first of your stats to be maxed out because you have influence over the earth subdomain.

You now have access to numerous icons and menus. These are things like your grimoire, shortcuts that allow you to more easily utilize your powers and affect the world around you. Some of them affect individuals, like the religion menu and the evolution, mutations, and templates menu.

You can now utilize the menu to send creatures messages, though this power is similar to your ability to establish mental connections with them and send them messages that way.

You can create holy sites, locations of potent meaning to you and where your power can be found, even when you aren"t present. You can also create lesser artifacts, objects that wield your mighty power and can be used by your servants to greatly change the world around you.

Ultrsenses: You can see, hear, smell, and otherwise sense creatures at up to a dozen kilometers per divine rank, so in your case, your senses extend in every direction for twenty-four kilometers.

You can communicate with the domains and subdomains themselves directly, including ones you have no influence over. Oh and you gain access to all of the powers, pa.s.sive or otherwise, that are within the domains and subdomains you have a tier of influence over. And you gain the appropriate synergistic abilities. That list of abilities will appear soon.]

Eventually I managed to finish reading the extensive notification. In that time the range and potency of my senses exploded, awakening my mind to a whole new world, the world beyond the forest.

I spent the next few minutes enjoying the attention lavished onto me by the goblins. During this moment of relaxation, the orc chief made it to the ladder that led in and out of the hole the encampment surrounded. And he began to climb the thing. I figured this was as good a time as any to meet him, so I awaited his eventual emergence from the hole.